678 My Path

 

Is the cryptic world a ghost? The first-generation ghost mentioned by Mad Laughter? Han Fei couldn’t verify those things yet. He felt like he was walking through a maze blindfolded.

“The human bodies will decay after death, and the soul perish. If the whole city is viewed as a person, the city is a rotting body in the day, and the cryptic world is the despairing soul at night.” While Han Fei pondered, the ragdoll’s big head opened and closed his mouth. The cursed black blood oozed out of his mouth. His blood capillaries were closing up. “Sa-save me. I don’t want to die inside the stomach of this doll.” The fetus pleaded with its last energy. His father couldn’t just stand there and do nothing. He moved forward.

“Don’t go over there.” Han Fei blocked the man with his knife.

“But he’s my son.”

“And that over there is your daughter.” Han Fei’s voice was cold. “It’s time to make a choice again. If you can only save one child, will you choose the son inside the ghost or the ghost inside your son?”

“I…” The man gripped his fists. He knelt before his son. “I’m sorry. I’ve already lost a daughter, I can’t lose my son. If I need to save one, I’ll save the son trapped inside the ghost.” The little sister was abandoned again. Since her birth, her life was made of abandonment. As the father made a choice, the son with the long hair giggled. A pretty smile appeared on his face, but gradually the smile twisted. His eyes bulged like they were bleeding!

The shrill giggles came from the boy’s lips. It was a girl’s voice.

“You’re quite sad. Even with a human body, you’re still abandoned by your family.” Han Fei’s words were barbed. “The emotion and bond between humans are hard to replace. You only have hatred in your eyes. You won’t understand.” Han Fei walked forward, pulling the red threads. “If there’s a next life, I hope you’ll have a better one.”

The boy had a terrifying expression. The hatred of abandonment pooled in his eyes. His bones cracked. The body turned macabre, like her life.

“Malice can escape from the theme park’s control because you can hide inside the body of the living. In the day, you play the role of your big brother. At night, you crawl back into the ragdoll to hunt the other players to gain more hatred and despair.

“Therefore, we can assume that a small part of the citizens of this city has ghosts hidden inside them. The ghosts feed on their twisted minds.” Malice is most likely an amalgamation of a specific emotion. Technically speaking, Xu Qin was a Malice too. Han Fei remembered something else. The black blade F yielded was an amalgamation of many different consciousnesses. However, the hilt was different from most Malice. It didn’t fit in this cryptic world.

The boy’s body changed drastically. However, as long as the little sister didn’t return to the ragdoll, she posed little threat to Han Fei. As the lock of memory loosened, Han Fei’s fighting ability and determination slowly returned, and he became stronger.

The boy lowered his head. His bulging eyes stared at Han Fei through the curtain of hair. The hatred in his eyes was palpable.

“Hatred is a stronger emotion than resentment. When one collects enough hatred, one can create a ghost stronger than Lingering Spirit.”

Han Fei had no fear of Malice now. As the boy came close, he went down on all fours and pounced at Han Fei!

Han Fei grabbed the boy’s neck and pressed him to the ground. He used the bedsheet and the red strings in his backpack to tie up the boy. “I have no idea if this ritual will work or not. I’ll try my best to see if I can save both your son and daughter.” Han Fei pressed his knee on the boy’s back. He took out all the items required for Resurrection. The kneeling middle-aged man was shocked. He saw Han Fei as a crazy murderer, but the murderer volunteered to save his daughter and son?

“I… Thank you?” He knelt on the ground. In the past, he had found many doctors and witch doctors for his son, but it was all pointless. But now, two fugitives charged into his house to deal with the ghost. Even though the process was scary, the result seemed to be positive.

“Are you two really fugitives?” The man asked.

“Come and help! Burn all the clothes on the bedframe. Write your son’s life chart on this mirror!” This was not Han Fei’s first Resurrection ritual, so he moved fast. He placed all the requisite items at their locations. Han Fei removed the boy’s clothes and drew the symbols on the boy’s body.

The father entered the room with a metal basin. He peeled off all the clothes under the bed and tossed them into the basin. The clothes looked normal, but they were strangely resistant to fire. It took ten minutes before the flames burned. The stench spread. Black, viscous liquid flowed out of the clothes. They could even hear the dead wailing. As more clothes were burned away, the boy struggled less. However, the hatred in his eyes didn’t fade away.

“Open the window. Let the sun in!”

The sun rose. The light that represented hope shone into the room. The boy and the fetus screamed at the same time. Han Fei tied the ragdoll and the boy with the red threads. The ritual taught by the mysterious black profile ended here. Han Fei didn’t know what would happen next, so he stood to the side and watched.

Both the ragdoll and the boy struggled in pain. The father’s heart winced. He turned his head away and poured more oil into the basin. As the last clothes were burned away, the little sister in the boy stopped struggling. The hatred also faded in the flame. The boy’s expression slowly returned to normal. He lifted his head to look at the man before him. His lips opened to list out the things that he had never owned.

The flame slowly extinguished. Just as Han Fei thought the ritual had failed, endless curses appeared on the red threads. The paper doll crawled out of Han Fei’s clothes. She slowly opened her eyes. The curse crawled into the boy’s and ragdoll’s bodies like chains. Both of them screamed. The boy struggled with all his might. The fetus in the ragdoll had his blood capillaries collapsed. There was a force yanking him out of the ragdoll.

This shocked the middle-aged man. He looked at Han Fei, but Han Fei didn’t move. Han Fei licked his lips. He had no idea what Xu Qin was doing, but he trusted her unconditionally. He would not stop her.

As the last capillary snapped, the fetus was gouged out by the curse and fell on the boy’s stomach. Its head landed on the boy’s heart. The fetus appeared to be controlled by some kind of power. He dug into the boy’s stomach like he wanted to crawl in from there. The boy was in deeper pain. Curses surfaced on his body before they gathered around his heart. The paper doll’s fingers closed. As the screams echoed, the chains formed by curses pulled a girl’s broken soul out of the boy’s heart. It didn’t look like a person’s soul at all. The child’s soul was patched together with other toys. There was only hatred in her eyes.

After the girl’s soul was pulled out, the fetus was crushed. A thin boy’s soul flowed along with the blood into the boy’s body. The body that was bound by the bedsheet and red threads stopped moving. The runes started to fade on their own. The boy died under the sun and flame but was reborn through curses. His mouth opened to spit out a pool of black liquid.

The red threads between the boy and the fetus snapped. The cursed chains dragged the ragdoll’s soul towards the paper doll. The paper doll was very hungry. She was very interested in the girl’s soul. The patchwork girl screamed. Other than hatred, there was finally a second emotion in her eyes, fear.

The chain rattled. Han Fei stood behind the red paper doll to help her block the sun. The ragdoll’s soul was dragged before the paper doll and was swallowed by thousands of curses. The hatred of abandonment was consumed by the red paper doll.

“Hehe. Daddy. Hehe…” At the last moment, the broken soul glanced at the father who abandoned her again. The hatred in her eyes dissipated with her soul. The chains returned to the paper doll. The paper doll put on a new set of clothes. They didn’t feel like paper clothes.

The doll opened her eyes. A weak black flame danced in the curses. She needed more food, hatred, and curses!

The curses were painted over the clothes. The paper doll landed beside Han Fei. “I’ve never seen someone so gentle.” Han Fei picked up the doll. His white smiling mask reflected the red paper doll. It was dangerous and romantic.

“Do you feel better?” The man picked up his son, who was still vomiting.

“He should be fine now.” Han Fei put away all the items. “The stench is too thick. Your neighbors will smell it soon.”

“I’ll walk you out.” The man stood up. “I’ve misunderstood you earlier. I’ll call the police to vouch for you…”

“There’s no need. Your wife in the main bedroom should have called the police already. Plus, you have no proof to verify that we’re good people.” Han Fei glanced at the man and waved at Lee Guo Er. “Let us go.” “Aren’t we going to silence them?” Lee Guo Er placed the knife on the man’s neck.

“We’re in a high-end neighborhood. Screams will attract the neighbors.” Han Fei walked out without stopping. Han Fei didn’t use much time to complete everything. He looked reckless, but his every step was calculated. The two left on another path. They leaped over the wall and entered the taxi.

“Where are we going now?”

“Ask Lee Guo Er. She is the more experienced fugitive. I am still an amnesiac.” Han Fei studied the red threads on his fingers. After eating the ragdoll’s soul, the threads became redder.

The others didn’t know what to say. If this version of Han Fei was the one that had lost his memory, they didn’t dare to imagine what he’d be like when he had his memory. The siren echoed the moment they left.

“Han Fei, how did you know his wife has called the police?” Lee Guo Er shivered. “Why did you stay to conduct the complicated ritual since you knew the wife had called the police? Killing them all will be safer.”

“I was only doing things according to my instinct. Actually, I want to know the kind of person I am.”

Soon, Han Fei let Xiao Yu go. He told her to go back to visit her family and to help them follow the police movement.

The sun was up, but the street was still deserted. The two fugitives went to an even more secluded location. At around 9 am, Han Fei received Xiao Yu’s call on Xiao Jia’s phone.

It was chaos in the city. Everyone was fearful. They hated and feared the 11 fugitives. All the media reported on them. The white mask also became a symbol of tragedy.

“We are only trying to save people, but we’re treated as fugitives, hated by everyone. We have to hide in the shadows. This feels so wrong.” Xiao Jia removed his toupee to wipe his sweat. “It’s one thing to be chased by ghosts at night, but we are also hunted by the police during the day. Is there not even a path of hope for us?”

“Path of hope?” Han Fei turned to look at Xiao Jia. “The night and day seem to represent two different choices. I think I just remembered something.”