Sunday 14 August 2022

558 The Urban Legend

 

“I… I want to go home. I haven’t finished my homework, and my family is looking for me.” The blond saw the light after he encountered Han Fei. His darkness was chased away. He just wanted to focus on his studies, escape from this city, and never return. Han Fei was different from the ruffians who bullied the blond. He was a man of justice, overly so.

“You want to go back home? You want to focus on your study?” Han Fei studied the young man’s regretful face. ‘I guess this is a good thing to have inspired this transformation in the young man.’

“So, can I go now?” The blond looked at Han Fei with anticipation. But he quickly averted his eyes. Two things couldn’t be seen directly for too long, the sun and Han Fei’s gaze.

“You can go anytime you want. But there are many lost children like you. I remember there was a bunch of you who bullied Fu Sheng. I believe your friends need salvation too.” Han Fei picked up the kid. The blond shivered when Han Fei was kind to him. “Should I get them over for you?”

“Sure, you can leave once they arrive.” Han Fei felt quite accomplished. He could help these fallen children find the right path.

“But what if they don’t want to come…” The blond finally knew the danger of the adult world. In comparison, the school was cleaner. He decided to focus on his studies.

“You’ll stay here until your friends arrive. I will protect you.” Han Fei smiled, watching his rising EXP. The Good Samaritan title suited him. Each session’s EXP wasn’t high so that Han Fei had to repeat it many times. Technically, Han Fei didn’t do anything wrong. He didn’t force the bad guys to rob the blond. He didn’t harm the innocent pedestrian. If anything, he helped improve the town’s security.

In the Mirror God’s world, the mall boss used people’s greed to turn the wishing well into an Unmentionable Cursed Well. As the new mall boss, Han Fei also used people’s greed to raise his own EXP. As the sun was about to fall, Han Fei called the blond into the alley. The whole day of doing good work increased his EXP. If there were no accidents, he would reach level twenty tomorrow. In Perfect Life, every ten levels was a threshold. Han Fei was curious what he’d unlock when he reached level 20.

“What kind of friends do you have? You’ve made so many calls, but no one came to find you.” Han Fei grabbed back his watch and money. “I know your home address, your phone number, and your school address. Tomorrow, you should come back to help me.” Han Fei took out 200 RMB to give it to the blond. “This is your salary for the day. Buy something nice for yourself. Isn’t it better to earn money the right way?” The blond held the money. He almost gave up his life for this money.

“See you tomorrow.” Han Fei put his suit back on. “If you don’t come to find me, I’ll go find you.” The blond shivered. This was probably no different from being haunted. Han Fei returned to the company to check on his members’ progress. Everyone was working hard. They were close to the finish line. “It looks like everyone is treating this seriously.” The team members had been with Fu Yi for a long time. They were affected when Fu Yi was demoted. However, none of them left his team. Fu Yi was a talented person. He was very good at dealing with interpersonal relationships. Han Fei brought the music files to find Zhao Qian. He had been wandering around for the day, so he had to show some results for it. Zhao Qian hadn’t heard his ‘curse’ before, so this was the perfect opportunity. Han Fei entered the office after knocking on the door. He placed his song before Zhao Qian. “CEO Zhao, listen to this.”

“You really went for a recording? I heard from your team that you’d recorded a theme song. I thought they were kidding.”

“I have an edited version. Listen to this. This song hides many things I want to say.” Han Fei passed the headphones to Zhao Qian. He sat to the side and observed quietly.

The early note began, and the darkness rose. The song had its own soul. Zhao Qian was surprised. She looked at Han Fei, and Han Fei didn’t avoid her eyes. The song was a soul opening itself. Han Fei imbued his emotions in it. This was the first time Zhao Qian walked into Han Fei’s heart. Instead of a world filled with debauchery, Han Fei’s heart was pure. However, it was covered in a layer of darkness, so the others couldn’t get in.

“I am an irrevocable sinner. My death is coming. I know I can’t get your understanding. I only hope to lower your hatred towards me.” Han Fei used Cursed Words in the Nameless Song. When the song was over, he heard the system. “Notification for Player 0000! Zhao Qian’s hatred towards you lowers by 1, accumulation of 2.”

Zhao Qian still hadn’t gotten over the shock as she removed the headphones. “The melody is very special. It’s not that amazing, but it makes you want to listen to it. It feels like the darkness is embracing you no matter what you do. It envelopes you like a second skin.” As if realizing how inappropriate her words were, Zhao Qian coughed and added, “It looks like I’ve underestimated you. This song is very suitable for the game. Well done.”

“Tomorrow, I will edit the background music and score.” Han Fei smiled happily. He had the reason to skip the job tomorrow. Zhao Qian didn’t know Han Fei’s real thoughts. She assumed Han Fei was happy about getting her approval. She recalled the early days Han Fei joined the company. He didn’t know anything, and Zhao Qian taught him everything step by step. Fu Yi back then was clever, young, and highly capable. He only had Zhao Qian in his eyes.

Zhao Qian only snapped back to reality after Han Fei left. She stared at the door, and she was irked.

Han Fei couldn’t help his team members. He asked them what they wanted to eat. He ordered take-out for everyone. After that, Han Fei left for home since he had nothing else to do. Han Fei saw Fu Sheng when he reached the neighborhood. The kid was in his school uniform. He sat on the neighborhood’s gym equipment.

“Why aren’t you home?” Han Fei didn’t ask if Fu Sheng had gone to school. Compared to that, Han Fei wished Fu Sheng could come back home so they could sit down together as a family. Fu Sheng was still not used to talking to Han Fei. He held his school bag, and after a long time, he said, “I didn’t go to school today. It reminds me too much of the past.”

“Don’t worry. Take it slow. There’s still time.” Han Fei saw Fu Sheng, and he was instantly reminded of the other version, which was in the patient’s outfit, tied to the bed. That was a bad future. Another thing was the house in the Manager Mission was very small, it was very different from Fu Yi’s current house. This meant that something huge was about to happen to this family.

‘I need to be prepared.’ Han Fei picked up Fu Sheng’s bag. He smiled. “Come, let’s go home.” Han Fei made dinner for his family. Fu Sheng joined them at the table. Han Fei had no idea how long these good days would last. He tried his best to leave more good memories for Fu Sheng. Fu Sheng had changed Han Fei’s world, so Han Fei wanted to change Fu Sheng’s world.

After dinner, Han Fei calculated the time the ghost might appear, and then he fell asleep. The following morning, Han Fei and Fu Sheng woke up on time. Fu Sheng tried to go back to school. Han Fei went to the company to log in and then came out to find the blond kid. The blond didn’t come so Han Fei had to go to his home to find him. The blond came from a rich family. He lived in a two-story bungalow. However, his parents were often busy with work. It was why the kid had the chance to stray from the right path. Thankfully, when God closed the door, he would open a window.

The blond kid was lucky to run into Han Fei. When Han Fei’s face appeared at the kid’s window, the kid almost fainted like he had seen heaven’s angel. “If you don’t go find me, I’d come find you. You have to understand that.” Han Fei led the kid away from the bungalow. “Come. Today, we’re going to stroll around places where the security is worse…”

The downtown was the city’s most unruly location. This place was not poor because the city’s nightlife was located here. It had many illegal centers and certified pubs, restaurants, and hotels; this place was not rich because the downtown was home to many homeless people.

The downtown was a headache for the police but everything was changing. From an unknown date, a very scary urban legend spread in the downtown area. Whenever the sun rose, a young man with blond hair and dispirited eyes would appear in unknown alleys. He would make faces at pedestrians, whispering voiceless curses. Those who encountered him would faint.

Some people said the kid was an innocent young man killed downtown; some said the kid was God Incarnate.

A mafia leader ran into the kid. As the head of a gang, after the man ran into the kid, his personality changed completely. No one knew what happened to him inside the alley, but everyone knew the gang leader started to turn towards charity.

Things at downtown started to charge. New forces saw the chance and the old forces were uneasy. No one knew who would stay and who would leave.

The sun rose. Han Fei put on his suit. He stood along the empty street and looked at his attribute with satisfaction. When no more bad guys dared to come out, Han Fei finally reached level 20!

‘This is crazy. Other people leave the beginner’s map when they’re level 20. When I’m level 20, I’m already deep in hell.’

2 comments:

ThabithTheYinglet said...

lately I haven't been feeling too good, but thank you for the chapter, Lonelytree!

Anonymous said...

I really keep forgetting that Han Fei is actually doing things way above his level, man's just too much of a chad.