“Once my consciousness is joined with the first-generation ghost, I won’t exist anymore.” Han Fei knew that he had reached the cortical moment. The next few minutes were all he had left in this memory world. “First, I need to destroy Dream and chase his consciousness out of Fu Sheng’s altar!”
The giant body slowly sat up. The city was crushed by despair. Han Fei ignored the gaze of the watchers. He controlled the body’s arm to grab the flesh around the abdomen. The sharp snails pierced into the flesh. Han Fei tore off the skin that was stained like a butterfly. Everyone was shocked.
The maddening crowd was stunned. No one expected the first-generation ghost to self-mutilate the moment he woke up. The pain shocked his mind. Endless despairing souls howled. The night sky trembled. Every ghost related to the cryptic world cried with Han Fei. The skin was torn out. However, the trace left behind by Dream hadn’t been fully wiped away. The unknown black substance soaked into the internal organs. A giant cocoon was being bred inside the body. The cocoon had a rather unisexual face. It was both handsome and pretty. It was genderless, but one look at it could draw one into a dream.
The beautiful face was implanted in the disgusting cocoon. The worm had a beautiful face, but it crawled out of nightmares. After the cocoon was exposed, all the disciples went insane. They carried their sacrifice and charged ahead. Even if they lost their lives, they wanted to be closer to their God.
When Han Fei saw the cocoon, he reached for his abdomen again.
“Are you sure you want to pick this path?” A gossamer-like voice traveled into Han Fei’s brain. The voice came from the body itself.
“Destroying you has nothing to do with the path I pick.” Han Fei said firmly. “No matter which path I choose, I will destroy you. Even if I fall into the cryptic world and become the world’s most evil boss, I will kill you first.” Dream had done too many evil things. All the live sacrifices and resurrection rituals were started because of it. The monster had caused much death directly and indirectly to resurrect itself. Many people died in extreme despair. Even after they died, they were still tormented both physically and mentally. Han Fei had to destroy this pure evil as soon as possible.
“You will regret this.” The human face on the cocoon twitched. It struggled to open its eyes. It was getting born early.
“I have made many different choices compared to Fu Sheng, but with regards to you, we’ve reached a consensus. You have to die!” Han Fei controlled the body’s arm to grab the cocoon. He had no idea how long the cocoon had been inside the body. Many tendrils grew out of the cocoon surface and attached themselves to the dead body. The body had to be injured to destroy the cocoon.
“You can co-exist with me! Why would you harm yourself to harm me? All your despair came from real life. You’ve been abandoned and isolated by them. They’ve left you inside a small room. Can’t you remember how sad you were? You have even forgotten how to laugh!
“You’re willing to risk your life to save these people? The same people who want to kill you?
“They have shown you kindness occasionally, but that is because you can bring them benefits. No one really cares about you in real life!”
Han Fei ignored the voice. He grabbed the cocoon with both hands and severed the blood capillaries and tendrils. He used his bloody hands to slowly yank the cocoon out!
“You will regret this! You’ll be abandoned by them! You’ll see this soon! When you leave this altar world, you’ll see their selfishness! You’ve saved them, but they’ll personally kill you!” The voice became sharp. He was not only scaring Han Fei but was also telling the reality.
“I have sunk many people into despair and destroyed much bliss and happiness but don’t forget I was merely using what was inside them. If they didn’t have those cruel desires, how could I succeed so easily?” No matter what the cocoon said, Han Fei didn’t listen. He took out the cocoon. The cocoon was stuck with the body’s organs and blood. They had grown together at some parts.
“You can pick another path!”
The cocoon knew that it was about to get destroyed, so its shell changed rapidly. It started to suck the blood from the body. The disciples were part of the sacrifice. Once they got close to the body, their bodies and the sacrifices they carried exploded in a blood mist. The blood butterflies flew out of their bodies. With the help of the blood butterflies, the cocoon sucked the blood faster, but Han Fei was crazier than it was. He pulled both arms up. He didn’t consider the consequences. He forced the disconnection between the cocoon and the dead body. Black blood flooded the theme park. The human face screamed. “I know your name. You’ll soon be abandoned by them, just like the former Fu Sheng! You’ll become a sinner!” The surface cracked, and the thing inside was forcing its way out. Han Fei had to face many enemies, but in his eyes, Dream took top priority. Han Fei controlled the dead body and pierced the fingers into the cocoon. He raised his arms like he was holding the red moon and then slammed it to the ground. Endless butterflies swarmed in to stop him. Han Fei realized he had to change tact. He had to cut through the cocoon first. Han Fei grabbed the butcher’s knife that was impaled in his heart. When he tried to pull it out, all the theme park workers tried to stop him. The butcher’s knife was the key to sealing up the body. The consciousness and the body combined. Han Fei howled in despair as the knife was yanked out inch by inch. The dead heart started to beat again. The blood pulsed into the land. The theme park fed by the dead started to consume the rest of the city like a monster out of control. Han Fei felt it was not going well either. He had a few minutes before, but now he only had a few seconds.
“This is bad. The first-generation ghost is fully awake now!” The eternal night descended. It covered the whole city like a cloth. The body controlled by Han Fei was the source of despair. Everyone looked at him like he was the final bad boss. No one understood that Han Fei was pulling out the knife to cut the cocoon. The roars thundered and shook the memory world. As blood lightning flashed, Han Fei pulled the knife out of the heart!
The unimaginable essence of life flowed out of the heart. The despair hibernating inside the body was invoked. The body started to change too. Han Fei didn’t care about all these. His target was only the cocoon.
“Han Fei!” A consciousness far more powerful than a Pure Hatred came out of the cocoon. Just the two words almost caused Han Fei’s consciousness to be shredded. If Han Fei weren’t in the dead body’s brain, he’d be dead already.
“Since I can’t figure out Fu Sheng’s last secret, then you won’t inherit his last altar either!” The face on the cocoon twisted, “The theme park at the cryptic world has the channel that leads outside. Once the altar collapses, the channel will open. I will make you the real sinner! You’ll be hated forever!”
“Do Unmentionables only know how to threaten someone?” Han Fei plunged the broken butcher’s knife into the cocoon without hesitation. He knew he couldn’t give the Unmentionable any chance. The butcher’s knife sliced through the cocoon easily and killed the monster being bred inside. There was a scream and all the blood butterflies scattered to the ground. As the cocoon shattered, a man who looked just like Fu Sheng fell out. His heart was punctured, and his body was covered in butterfly tattoos.
Han Fei could guess Dream’s plan. It wanted to use its lingering consciousness inside the altar to create another Fu Sheng. Then, it’d consume Fu Sheng and become the altar’s new owner. Dream managed all these with just its consciousness. It was very scary. However, it didn’t expect that Fu Sheng’s successors, Han Fei, managed to enter the theme park and initiated the inheritance mission at level 21. Back when Fu Sheng was in the cryptic world, he only left the first building when he was level 19.
Even the Unmentionable couldn’t understand why. Dream believed the reason was that Han Fei and Fu Sheng had chosen different paths. Since Han Fei chose to help the cryptic world, the difficulty had been lowered. It was why he managed to enter the theme park at Level 21. Due to this preconception, Dream was tricked by Han Fei.
Han Fei’s response to Dream’s scream was to deliver more stabs. He chopped the cocoon and the monster inside into pieces. But he was not yet done. He summoned Big Sin to consume Dream’s lingering spirit.
Big Sin was another unique existence Dream didn’t anticipate. One of the reasons it wanted Han Fei to sink into the cryptic world was Big Sin. Dream had cultivated many cocoons, but it had not created something as unique as Big Sin. However, in this situation, Big Sin became the thing Dream feared the most. Its plan had failed. The Fu Sheng it cultivated was made into a meat pie. Dream had not hated a person so deeply before.
“We’ll make sure that Fu Sheng’s secret is forever buried.” Dream seemed to have come to a decision. The butterfly pattern on the cocoon and the body spread like cancer. It then soaked into the dead body and turned the blood vessels black.
“Its goal is the first-generation ghost’s heart!”
Han Fei lowered his head and noticed the thing hidden deep inside the first-generation ghost. After the butcher’s knife was pulled out, the blood vessels surrounding the heart crumbled. The heart shattered to reveal a channel made from despair. Endless black mist was unfurling from it.
“Where is the first-generation ghost’s heart connected to? Is it the first-generation cryptic world?”
1 comment:
Thank you for the chapter, LonelyTree!
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