694 Reunite

 

The resurrection ritual had a need of eight items. A mirror with one’s astrology chart was the most important. It reflected the past, split up dreams and reality. It was instrumental to the ritual.

“Why would a boy be inside the mirror?” Xiao Jia leaned close to Han Fei.

“Apparently, when a person dies, part of their soul will be left in the mirror they used most often when they were alive. The same probably works here.” Worm stood on Han Fei’s other side. Ever since he saw Han Fei’s scarred arms, he felt a kindred spirit in Han Fei. Han Fei ignored the two and continued to move forward with the red string.

“The plastic surgery hospital is decorated as a shrine. The eight buildings correspond to eight items. Dream wants to complete the resurrection ritual here…’” Han Fei initially thought Fu Sheng was the choice of the theme park’s three managers, but now he realized Dream was also targeting Fu Sheng. Fu Sheng should be the ‘product’ of negotiations and compromises of all the managers.

The basement of Building Seven had collapsed. Du Jing was responsible for the rebuild. Unfortunately, she had been taken control over by Dream. The hospital was modeled after what Dream wanted it to be. The endless dead bodies became Building Eight. Despair and negative emotions festered. It seemed to correspond to the cryptic world. The surface of Building Eight was the clean Building Seven that represented healing, hope, and death. The recovered patient found their smile and left with their families. The patients who failed to be rescued were transferred underground. Their dead bodies became a brick to construct the cryptic world. Han Fei climbed on the dead bodies. He gripped the black hair that dangled in the air as climbed to the spot connecting Buildings Seven and Eight.

Han Fei took a deep breath and ignored the stench in the air. His fingers encased into the festering bodies as he approached the mirror.

The young man in the mirror heard the sound. He turned away from the mirror, curled up in the corner, and buried his head between his knees. He didn’t dare to face the outside world or leave the mirror.

“Fu Sheng?” Han Fei stopped before the giant mirror. When he saw the young man in the mirror, the broken pieces of memories in his mind slowly joined together. The young man in the mirror was just like Fu Sheng in the previous memory world. Everything returned to when they first met. Fu Sheng locked himself up in his room and refused to communicate with anyone. The world was hostile to him, and he faced it alone.

“Fu Sheng!” Han Fei screamed at the mirror. The young man didn’t even respond. The young man curled up in the corner was the real Fu Sheng and not Fu Sheng’s memory fragment. “You should remember me! We’ve eaten and fed stray cats together in that small park.”

Han Fei’s hands touched the mirror, but the cold mirror was like a cage that refused to open. Han Fei’s voice couldn’t travel through either.

“The mirror only retains the soul. Dream can use the mirror to control that young man until he fully takes over him.” The injured Yan Yue suddenly spoke. Yan Yue’s mother wanted to prove her value, “Dream has prepared eight vessels for himself. Yan Yue and Fu Sheng were two of them. However, Fu Sheng was special because the other managers also valued him.”

“How do you know all these?”

“I’ve met him at the park at night. Humans and ghosts want to pour their thoughts into the kid so that he’d become the park’s new owner.” Yan Yue’s expression was grim. It was still her mother controlling the body, “The family compound and the plastic surgery hospital, other than these two places, there are six more places in the city where Dream has hidden his vessels. If you want to stop his ritual, you have to destroy all the vessels.”

Dream was very cunning. He had prepared eight backups.

“It looks like we don’t have much time.” Han Fei had Xiao Jia carry Fu Tian over. They worked together to place the young Fu Tian before the giant mirror. Before Han Fei said anything, Fu Tian collapsed on the mirror, shouting his brother’s name. He was just a child. He had been separated from his mother and mingled with a bunch of fugitives. He controlled his emotions normally, but when he saw his only family, his fragile side appeared. Fu Tian cried. He was devastated when he saw his brother trapped inside the mirror. “Mother has been looking for you! She lied to me and said you went overseas to study! She made many calls at night to find clues. She really misses you!”

The young voice trembled. The young man’s ears twitched, but he didn’t do more than that.

“Big brother!” As Fu Tian’s voice grew, the silence of the hospital was shattered. Worms appeared to crawl out of the bricks of dead bodies. The dangling hair swayed even though there was no wind underground.

“Dream has placed traps near every resurrection ritual. The trap on Yan Yue is the butterfly that can enter people’s dreams. I don’t know what trap is here. Be careful.” After Yan Yue’s mother said that, she grabbed the previous Brain by his arm. She gave him a signal and told him to retreat.

The young Fu Tian didn’t know these things. He had been scared along the way. When he saw his big brother, the anxiety in his heart exploded. He wanted to be with his brother. After his father left, his brother was the pillar of the family. They said they’d look after mother together, but his brother had escaped on his own and disappeared among the crowd. He didn’t understand, but he didn’t ask lest his mother became sad.

“Your brother has his own difficulty. He has chosen people between people and ghosts, and the city between home and city. In a way, he is not a bad person. At least compared to me, he is a good person.” This memory world showed Han Fei everything that had happened in the past. In a way, this was Fu Sheng’s last plea toward Han Fei.

“There is no need to retrace a wrong path. I also understand how hard it is to make a new path. I’ll face both new and old obstacles, but I can’t give up because it’s difficult.”

Building Eight started to change. The dead bodies were punctured by hair. Their chests rose and fell. After they were connected, it felt like the building was breathing. Han Fei pulled Fu Tian back as he took out Rest in Peace. His thoughts were simple. Since Dream had trapped Fu Sheng’s soul inside the mirror, he would cut open the mirror.

“Rest in Peace gets sharper the more sins the target has committed. This mirror has conducted endless murders, so it should cut through it like butter.”

The mutation of Building Eight sped up. This place had gathered the hospital’s staff and patients. The number was staggering. Even if they were just the lowest-level Animated Regrets, they could kill everyone except Han Fei easily.

“Han Fei, we need to retreat!” Xiao Jia was closest to Han Fei. The things he had experienced recently were scarier than all his nightmares combined.

“Bring Fu Tian with you. Go back to the surface first!”

“What about you?”

“Leave me be!” Han Fei held the knife. He aligned himself with everyone inside the hilt. He concentrated and focused.

A brilliant light flashed in the underground building. The beauty of humanity formed a blade that slashed at the mirror surface. Han Fei used all his energy, but the mirror didn’t shatter as he expected. Han Fei looked up in surprise. He noticed the surface of the mirror rippled. Rest in Peace had cut into the mirror, but it was unable to shatter it. If anything, it started to combine with it. As the blade entered the mirror, strangers’ faces appeared on the mirror. They didn’t show any pain or despair, only smile and release.

“What is this mirror made of that even Rest in Peace can’t cut through it?”

With that cut, all the bodies that made up Building Eight started to mutate. They became angry, like someone had ruined their only hope. The eyes on the walls opened, the scabs bled, and the departed glared at Han Fei.

“I think I get that butterfly’s trap now.” Han Fei figured out the key. “Dream is an expert manipulator. He can create nightmares, but he can create beautiful dreams too. He must have stripped these staff and doctors of their good dreams and used their hope and dreams to create the mirror.

“The mirror hanging over the hell hole is a cage for Fu Sheng’s soul, and it is also the amalgamation of all the dead’s most beautiful memories. Once someone tries to damage the mirror, they are damaging the dead’s good memories. It will naturally cause them to go rampage.” Dream had created a special balance. The human world was above, and the cryptic world was below. The two worlds were united with humanity’s most beautiful memories. Despair and hope existed side by side. Even more impressive was all the beauty had nothing to do with Fu Sheng. The human world he wanted to save didn’t love him and left him with the deepest despair. It was why the soul trapped inside the mirror didn’t respond to the outside world.

“Dream pulled out everyone’s good memories and made a mirror to trap his soul. I tried to use the humanity to cut through the mirror.” He touched the mirror surface. Han Fei stared at the young man curled up in the corner. He felt like he had returned to the last memory world. “You have to suffer too many things. Perhaps that is the fate for those chosen by the black box.”

Han Fei had more things to say, but the whole building was changing. If he stayed any longer, even Xu Qin couldn’t ensure his safety.

“I think I’ve missed something…” Just as Han Fei prepared to turn, he saw from the corner of his eyes, the chain around the young man’s neck. It was a phone casing chain. The young man’s knees were squished together, and there was something stuck there.

Han Fei was reminded of his last encounter with Fu Sheng. After some hesitation, he shouted at Xiao Yu, “Give me your phone!”

Xiao Yu sent him her mother’s bloody phone. Han Fei tried to remember that last number. The memory pieces came together. He keyed in the number. Soon, the call connected. The familiar ringtone rang inside and outside the mirror. Fu Sheng shivered. This was his first response to the outside world. He slowly raised his eyes to look at the caller ID on his phone. After a temporary buzz, his gaze changed. He held his phone and stood up. He looked around. At that moment, he looked just like a normal child who was lost.

The mutation in Building Eight had started. Han Fei’s legs were gripped by the hands of the dead. However, he didn’t move. He stared at the young man inside the mirror and placed the phone beside his ear. The phone rang. Fu Sheng stared at the screen for a long time before he answered the call. The sound of his breathing came through. After a long hesitation, Fu Sheng uttered his first words. “Is it you?”

“It’s me.”

The phone screen blurred. “Where are you?”

“I’m outside the mirror. I’ve been looking at you.”

Fu Sheng walked out of the darkness. He didn’t know where the surface was. The world inside the mirror appeared to be in total darkness.

“It’s okay. Don’t worry. Just follow my instructions. Keep going forward, yes.” Han Fei’s voice came out of the phone. Just like before, the young man slowly moved to the mirror with Han Fei’s help. His hand also touched the mirror surface. “Are you outside?”

“Yes. There’s a mirror between us. I can see you, but you can’t see me. However, even when you’re in the dark, I want you to stand back up.”

Through a few simple words, Han Fei confirmed the Fu Sheng in the mirror was the Fu Sheng he had interacted with in the previous memory world.

“I can’t see you.” Fu Sheng’s hand was pressed on the surface. “I can see all the ghosts, but I can’t see you and mom.”

“I need you to take a step back. I’ll stab my knife into the mirror. See if you can grab it.” Han Fei wasn’t the kind to give up easily. He raised Rest in Peace again. Everyone cut at the mirror. The brilliant light was like a lifeline everyone extended towards Fu Sheng.

 

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