362 What is Death?

 

Seeing as the boy put his guard down, Han Fei sighed in relief. Then he had the time to look around. The wall of Room 4064 was painted white. It was a unique kind of paint because as the light shone on it, it did not reflect the warmth of the light, but instead made the room cooler. The room had a lot of furniture and they were placed haphazardly. Other than that, there were plenty of mirrors. Just in the living room alone, Han Fei spotted 4 mirrors. They were placed near the living room door, behind the television, beside the dining table and behind the sofa.

“Did daddy send you?” The boy noticed how Han Fei kept looking around the house and as the temporary master of the house, the boy summoned his courage to talk to Han Fei. When he asked that question, the boy’s eyes shone with anticipation.

“No, I’m here to look for someone. Did someone who looks just like me enter the room earlier?” Han Fei knelt down before the boy. He tried to make the boy feel as comfortable as possible. Hearing Han Fei’s answer, the boy was quite disappointed. He shook his head, “I’ve been staying in the living room, I didn’t see anyone come in but you.”

“You sure?” Han Fei looked at the other closed doors inside the room. “Can I look into the other rooms?”

“Mommy is sleeping, you’ll wake her up.” The boy opened his small arms to block before Han Fei. He looked very cute, being mommy’s bodyguard.

“Your mother is at home too?” Han Fei knew that this was a room with two 4’s in its room number. The scariest ghost hadn’t shown itself yet, he believed that might be the boy’s mother.

“Mommy said tonight is the night of resurrection and daddy will return after midnight. She told me to go to bed because he would only come see me after I’m asleep.” The boy said innocently, he believed everything his mother told him.

“Then how come you didn’t follow your mother’s order and go to sleep? Instead you’re here, hiding in the living room.” Han Fei found the boy to be quite interesting. After he got the Pied Piper skill, Han Fei realized he hoped to interact more with children. He found children to be cute and innocent, and that childlike innocence was a slight reprieve in the cryptic world.

“I…” The boy stammered, “I don’t want to go to sleep, I can’t use words after I’m asleep, I still have many things to tell daddy.”

“Hmm? Like what?”

“In the past, no matter how busy he was, he would wake me up every morning. But now he only comes back once a year, I don't want him to be that busy anymore.” The boy, in his stained pants, said his simple wish.

“He comes back only once per year? Is that what your mother told you?”

“Yes.”

“Then did she tell you what is the night of resurrection?” While Han Fei held the conversation, he pushed open the door to one of the bedrooms, this should be the bedroom previously used by the boy’s parents. The double-bed had a new mattress, it had no wrinkle. Someone cleaned this room daily but no one slept in here anymore.

Creak… When Han Fei pushed open the bedroom door, something crawled past the dresser next to the bed. It sounded like a rat or some kind of bug. Han Fei knew the dressers at this place were not simple. Before the boy could get too close, he pulled the black dresser open. At the top layer of the dresser, there was a death portrait of a young man. The portrait was placed there so the boy couldn’t reach it. Next to the portrait was a bowl of white rice. Half a piece of yellow paper was buried in the rice, it had a name on it—Lai Sheng. It also had the various steps necessary for the soul summoning ritual.

“Lai Sheng?” The name immediately got Han Fei’s attention.

“This is daddy’s picture. Mommy stored it inside the dresser because she said she’d get sad whenever she sees it. But after she put it away, she would sneakily take it out to look at the picture.” The boy didn’t understand his mother’s action, he was still too young. “The neighbor's aunties and uncles told me that my father is dead. I asked them what they meant by that and they told me dying means going to a faraway place to work so he can only come back here once a year. I don’t get it, why would daddy get a job like that?”

The boy looked at his father’s picture inside the dresser. He was too small to get the picture himself so he hoped Han Fei could get it for him. After getting his father’s picture, the boy stared at his black and white father. Suddenly he lifted his head and the pair of clear eyes stared at Han Fei. “You said adults won’t lie to kids, but I felt like they were lying to me. Do you know what death really is?”

“Death?” Han Fei was not expecting such a question from a young boy. Han Fei didn’t brush him off with a common lie but instead thought seriously about it before answering, “I hear people say death is like water dissolving into water.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s like they’ve really gone home, not this home but a home that belongs to all of us. We came from that home and eventually we will all go back to that home.” Han Fei had no idea why he was explaining these things to a child, perhaps it was because he never treated the citizens of the cryptic world as NPC but people just like him.

“Death is going home? Then why are so many people afraid of death? Why would mommy cry about it?” As if he finally found a person he could talk to, the boy desperately wanted to get the answers.

“Because after we leave home, we will pick a path, a path that you can’t even turn your head around. The end of this path will be our home. This is the only way to go home but along the way, we would encounter many different scenarios and lights. We would warm others and be warmed by others. We are like little lights, brightening the night sky as we make our way home.”

“Little lights?” The boy’s brows frowned. He gave it some thought before he pointed at the white ceremonial candle beside him. “I get it now, we are like candles. We start as wax, and then we burn with light before we end up as wax again. But our body is no longer the same, turning from a straight candle into a pool of wax.”

Han Fei was surprised by the boy’s comprehension. The boy was young but he was very clever.

“The analogy of candle is not that suitable.” This was also the first time Han Fei gave it such a thorough thought. “We were led out from home by our parents, but we are not candles, we are simply who we are.”

“Then how can a person give out light?”

“A person cannot, but each one of us will be given a torch handed down by our forbearer. This torch, that can chase away the darkness of the night, is called life. We feed the torch with our experience and memory. Life will then burst in flames. We will raise the torch high and carve our way through the dark.” Han Fei looked at the boy who was deep in thought. He smiled and ruffled his hair. “When you’re almost home, you will hand your torch to another person, that way, we will always keep the night bright.”

The boy looked up, his eyes filled with confusion, “But daddy didn’t give me any torch, only toy models.”

“Perhaps he has given it to your mommy and when you grow older, she will give the torch to you, so that your life can glow bright and warm.” Han Fei pulled his hand back. Perhaps it was an illusion, he felt some warmth from the boy. But even more surprising was the notification from the system. “Notification for Player 0000! Friendliness level with the owner of Room 4064 increases by 10! Your personal charm has won their approval!”

Turning around, Han Fei noticed the bedroom door, that the boy refused to let him enter, had opened a gap. Two pale faces were staring quietly at him. Han Fei took an involuntary step back. His body knocked into the bookshelf. A coloring book that belonged to Lai Sheng fell to the ground. The book fell open to a painting where there was the father and mother but the boy was conspicuously missing.