367 The Comedy Actor

 

Death Curse swallowed the young couple. The man used the shadow inside the room to shield his wife. He didn’t get close to Lai Sheng but merely looked at the sleeping boy from afar. The single eye was heavy with regret but he had no other choice. The father in the red clothes slowly bowed at Han Fei. When Han Fei picked up Lai Sheng from the sofa, the father’s single eye flashed with appreciation.

The men didn’t say much as one picked up his wife and dragged all the shadow inside the room towards the mirror while the other picked up Lai Sheng and headed out the room. The separation came earlier than expected.

As the front door closed, Han Fei could feel the boy in his embrace tremble. He lowered his head and realized the boy’s face was wet with tears. Perhaps he had dreamt of the separation or he had not fully fallen asleep.

“I will bring you back to real life and I will also save your parents so you’ll have the chance to reunite again. Of course, the premise is that I can become the new manager of this place.” Tears slid down the boy’s face. His small fists tightened.

The door to Room 4064 closed. Han Fei didn’t stay for long. He had to find all of his lost souls before 4.44 am. ‘I remember all 3 of my souls have escaped upstairs, I’ll have to start the search on the 7th floor.’

There were many rooms at Ziggurat, searching through every single one of them on the Night of Resurrection was no different from committing suicide. ‘Or should I go to Room 4144 first? Since the Butterfly is still not here, I should have Zhuang Ren meet his family. After I get his family to help me, I’ll use Resurrection to send Zhuang Ren back.’

Spirit Farer was Han Fei’s trump card and Resurrection was his biggest secret, it was these 2 talents that made it possible to summon Zhuang Ren to the cryptic world. Han Fei meant to hit 2 birds with one stone, it would satisfy Zhuang Ren’s lifelong dream and he would get necessary aid at Ziggurat. However, when he really thought about it, Han Fei hesitated. With Butterfly’s cunning nature, it would have done something to Room 4144. Perhaps Zhuang Ren’s family had already been turned into monsters. After seeing the tragedy with Lai Sheng’s mother, Han Fei had the feeling the moment Zhuang Ren saw his family, it would be the moment his family turned into monsters. Every tenant at the Ziggurat had a Death Curse planted on them. Before finding out about the Death Curse on Zhuang Ren’s family, Han Fei decided not to take things too rashly.

Walking through the safety door, Han Fei left the 6th floor. As he stepped on the stairs to the 7th floor, the boy’s eyelids flickered like he was waking up. Seeing this, Han Fei started to understand Lai Sheng’s father’s silent love. With the father’s power, he could have put Lai Sheng fully to sleep but he didn’t. He trusted his child so he only put a temporary spell on Lai Sheng so he could hear or feel everything around him. He didn’t want his son to run away from the truth forever and wallow in sadness. He hoped that his son could learn to overcome the pain, or at least face it.

“Actually I quite envy you. Your mother is so gentle and has planned everything. Even though your father isn’t much of a talker, he is silently protecting you.” Lai Sheng’s father didn’t follow after them but Han Fei had a feeling that if they ran into mortal danger, the father would appear. Perhaps he was in the shadows watching over them at this moment.

“My childhood is happy too, I think…”

Han Fei scanned the ashes of paper money on the ground as he entered the 7th floor. If a soul had been called into one of the rooms, then their footprints would be left among the ashes. The dirge was like a constant threat. If Han Fei stayed at a spot for too long, it would head his way. To prevent himself from being ambushed by the paper doll procession, Han Fei moved very quickly. He glanced around cursorily. If none of the rooms had footprints, then he would figure out another way.

7th floor, 8th floor… When Han Fei came to the 9th floor, he noticed this floor was different from the others. Since he was too busy running for his life earlier, he didn’t have the time to observe the corridor.

Even though each family also had the red couplets, firepots and paper money, the corridor was extremely clean. The burnt ashes were inside the firepot, and the floor was spotless. It was like someone cleaned this place daily. ‘I doubt Ziggurat has a cleaner, but it would have a group of people who are professional at hiding traces of gore.’

Other than these, Han Fei spotted many hand-painted drawings on the wall. There were green trees, sun, playing children and smiling adults. There were also slogans to stop theft and fire prevention. These were a stark contrast to the eerie atmosphere of Ziggurat. Even for Han Fei, he’d feel more comfortable if the drawings were all painted red.

‘Vandalizing the Ziggurat’s walls with drawings? Who would be so daring?’ The dirge sounded in Han Fei’s ears again. This time it came from downstairs. He didn’t hesitate and moved immediately.

When Han Fei passed by room 4094, he noticed there was no firepot before this room. It looked perfectly normal. That was why it was so abnormal. Every tenant was in the middle of the ritual so why not this tenant?

The dirge was getting louder, the paper doll procession was heading upstairs. Han Fei decided to take a gamble and knocked on the door of Room 4094. “Is anyone home?” He knocked a few more times. On the 8th time, the door suddenly opened. A young man in pajamas opened the door. “Who is it?” The young man was about Han Fei’s height and size. He was quite handsome but his hair needed some cutting. He had heavy dark circles and his pajamas were not even buttoned up fully.

Han Fei scrutinized the man before him, trying to find something strange about him like a lack of shadow, a knife hidden in his pocket, blood stains on his clothes. However, Han Fei realized with a shock that this person really did appear to be a normal person.

“You look familiar, are you one of my neighbours? Why are you carrying a child in the middle of the night, is he sick? I get it now, you’re here to borrow my car, isn’t it? The boy needs to go to the hospital?” Before Han Fei said anything, the man already provided the explanation for himself. “Wait a minute, I’ll go change now!”

The young man didn’t even close the door as he turned to run into the living room to grab a jacket, shouldered it on and prepared to leave.

“The boy is not sick but I have something to discuss with you.” The dirge was coming closer. Han Fei carried Lai Sheng and entered the room. “Let’s go in and talk.” Han Fei had a sense of familiarity with the young man, it was like their souls were attracting each other. When the young man recovered, Han Fei was already inside his room and he even closed the door for him.

If a strange man barged into one’s room with a child at midnight, it was something worth worrying about, but perhaps it was Han Fei looked too harmless or Lai Sheng looked too pitiable, the young man in Room 4094 didn’t chase them away but showed concern for them. The young man was so kind that Han Fei was unsettled by it. Han Fei was prepared to face all kinds of strange monsters at Ziggurat but he was not prepared for a completely ‘normal’ person. In real life, this young man would definitely be seen as a Good Samaritan but Good Samaritans wouldn’t last long at Ziggurat. Kindness often could be a beautiful shell to hide a rotting heart. Han Fei shielded Lai Sheng and carefully watched the young man and his room.

The layout of Room 4094 was different from Room 4064. The living room was large and it had a big television. Under the screen was a black cabinet, where a collection of movie literature and cds was stored.

The wall facing the tv had posters of many comedy movies. Under the posters was a large sofa. Currently a blanket and remote control were placed on it. The young man probably fell asleep watching the movie. “You seem to like watching comedy movies?” Suddenly it hit Han Fei. ‘Wasn’t this exactly how I dreamed my life would be when I was just starting out in the acting business?’ A large television to play his own movies, a soft sofa to plant himself in and a large living room for him to exercise. So many things had happened since then that Han Fei had already forgotten about this former dream of his.

“I don’t like movies.” To Han Fei’s surprise, the young man shook his head.

“Then why are there so many comedy posters on your wall?” Han Fei never heard these movies before but the style of the posters showed that they were all comedies.

The young man ruffled his messy hair shyly. “Actually I’m a comedy actor, these are my works.” The young man was extremely shy, especially after he mentioned his career. Like he was afraid that he was unable to live up to his on screen persona.

“Please take a seat.” The young man didn’t have many guests. He tossed the blanket and some clothes to the side. When the blanket was moved, several bottles of medicine hidden underneath it rolled to the ground, there were sleeping pills, anti-depressants and so on.

The flustered young man picked up the bottles and apologized profusely. He hauled up all the bottles and moved them to the bedroom.

“How is your child faring?” The young man awkwardly tried to change the subject. Rummaging sound came from the bedroom like he was looking for something. When the young man was cleaning up the bedroom, Han Fei saw the screen of the phone the young man left on the coffee table light up. The screen wasn’t locked, he was probably using it earlier.

With curiosity, Han Fei leaned towards the screen. The search column had this written on it—how to leave this world painless…

The question was not finished as the therapy intervention and emergency number appeared below the search column. Following the number was the statement—Honey, you are not alone, because we will always be with you.