732 Hero or Sinner

 

The old man, who personally handed the black box to Han Fei, didn’t choose to be reborn with Han Fei’s body. He showed his past to Han Fei, how he morphed from a child to an Unmentionable. Looking back, the period he missed the most was from before he owned the black box.

Guided by the altar, Han Fei hidden deep inside the first-generation ghost’s brain slowly approached Fu Sheng’s altar. The young man slowly accepted the glowing candle from the old man. When Fu Sheng’s face blurred, Han Fei’s features appeared on the figurine. This represented a kind of inheritance and the turning of two eras.

The old man who held the world on his shoulder would disappear, and Han Fei would take over. To be a ghost of a million sins or to be the hero of the real world was up to Han Fei. Fu Sheng’s test for Han Fei was over now. Han Fei had to rely on himself from now on. There would not be any hope and kindness in the future memory worlds and altar missions. Han Fei would start to face true darkness.

“Fu Sheng, you’re not dying that easily!” A chilling voice came from the decayed cocoon, spreading cancer and all the sacrifices. Dream finally made its move. It activated all the traces it had left in this memory world. It was the disease of this memory world. It was in hibernation, waiting for this explosion.

Fu Sheng’s memory world had been scoured by Dream, but Dream hadn’t found the thing it wanted so it didn’t damage the altar. But things were different now. It wouldn’t allow others to have things that it couldn’t get. Therefore, it’d rather destroy the altar than allow Han Fei to gain Fu Sheng’s memory.

The poisonous cancers were summoning the real Dream. A scary presence came from the poisonous boils. It had no shape, just a voice. But it was extremely powerful.

“Fu Sheng!” The voice traveled for miles as it forced its way into the altar. The dark sky above the theme park was torn apart. Bloody stars appeared in the sky. They connected to form a pair of giant butterfly wings. When the giant butterfly appeared, the altar world started its irreversible collapse. The skyscrapers crumbled. The giant butterfly flew at the altar inside the heart. The theme park was covered under the butterfly’s wings. The real ending had arrived. The night sky no longer belonged to Fu Sheng, but he didn’t react. It was like he couldn’t see it. He was saying his final goodbye.

“There are some living people’s consciousnesses in my memory. They don’t know that they’re dead. I hope you can treat them well.” The buildings, monsters, and ghosts blurred along with Fu Sheng’s face. However, there were some people who were not affected. As Fu Sheng said, they were not created from his memory. Fu Sheng had dragged them into this world and created a white lie for them.

The blond kid, Xiao Jia, and Lee Guo Er’s bodies disappeared. In the crowd, only the wife and Little Eight stood there. The woman looked at Fu Sheng melting into the black mist, and she slowly remembered something.

“So…” The wife’s face aged, and her skin wrinkled. She could no longer retain her image in Fu Sheng’s memory. She reverted to how she looked when she died.

“The kid has left me in his mind.” The wife was Fu Sheng’s stepmother, but she treated him very well. If Fu Sheng really wanted to revive someone, it wouldn’t be himself but Fu Tian’s mother.

The night fell from the sky. Everything in the city was targeted by Dream. If no one stopped it, everyone would die. But the problem was no one was able to stop this Unmentionable.

Even Fu Sheng couldn’t protect everyone. The only thing he could do was to send the living souls in his mind out. Before they were destroyed, he tried to find new hope for them.

“It’s over now. I’ve received the black box in despair. I’ll be buried in the cryptic world with regret. I’ll pay the price of being forgotten by everyone to trade for a small hope.

“Han Fei, you’ll have the walk the rest of the road on your own.

“In the end, I want to apologize to you on Fu Tian’s behalf. Mad Laughter’s tragedy was an accident. Your appearance was another accident. If you want to treat Mad Laughter, you first have to treat yourself…” Fu Sheng’s face on the figurine fully disappeared and it was replaced by Han Fei’s face. When he took over the figurine, endless souls in the city morphed into white light and shot at the altar. They crawled into the altar before the butterfly closed its wings. Me and Human disappeared from the theme park. Mad Laughter was forced to enter the altar and reunite with Han Fei so that he wouldn’t be destroyed.

In the end, other than Han Fei, there was only one soul who didn’t enter the figurine. The wife crawled on the first-generation ghost’s body. Everyone feared this monster, but in her eyes, he was an unruly child. She picked up the broken altar with difficulty and slowly moved to guard beside the altar. Han Fei inside the figurine shouted for the wife. The wife only waved at him and smiled. “Lead everyone to safety. I’ll stay to accompany Fu Sheng. He’s my life’s pride. I will not leave him alone.” The wife hugged the pieces of the altar and leaned beside the altar. She looked up at the endless butterfly and seemed to be admiring it with Fu Sheng. “He could be a sinner or a hero in your eyes, but in my eyes, he’s always my child.”

Han Fei didn’t expect that Fu Sheng’s final request was not to kill Dream, make a choice with the black box but to protect these souls that he had saved.

The butterfly wings fell. The altar was shattered. Han Fei heard the system notification.

“Notification for Player 0000! You’ve used 99 deaths to find yourself. You’ve welcomed a new life!

“Notification for Player 0000! You’ve completed Grade D Inheritance Mission—Fu Sheng! You’ve completed the mission on the greatest difficulty. Obtained triple EXP!

“Congratulations for gaining the altar owner’s approval and successfully inheriting the fully damaged Level 7 Altar—Resurrection.

“Resurrection: Level 7 Altar’s unique power, revive the dead!

“The altar’s ability might change in the future due to the figurine’s changes. Please check after the altar is restored!

“Notification for Player 0000. You’ve rectified part of the altar owner’s regrets. The former owner will fulfill one of your wishes. Please pick one of the following.

“Increase level by 1 (Limited to players below level 40); 4 random increases in attributes; fully heal a soul under Pure Hatred without conditions and increase their friendliness level towards you by 15; awaken a Grade E talent you had inside the altar world; bring one item or ghost (under Pure Hatred) out of the altar world.

“Notification for Player 0000! The hardest character to play is yourself. In the memory world, you’ve used 99 deaths to understand yourself. Your masterful acting has risen to level 4.

“Notification for Player 0000! Fu Sheng has gifted you 1000 Afterlife Karma.

“Notification for Player 0000! You’ve obtained all the souls protected by Fu Sheng’s lingering memory fragment! This is Fu Sheng’s most precious treasure for you! “Notification for Player 0000! You’ve reached level 25 and obtained 1 free attribute!”

The thunder exploded. Han Fei saw Fu Sheng’s altar being crushed by Dream’s butterfly. As the altar fell, the memory city that recorded Fu Sheng’s past disappeared. The holes in the sky tore open to expose the permanent night in the cryptic world. When Han Fei opened his eyes again, he had escaped from the altar world. He fell heavily to the ground. He had 99 scars and was at the edge of death.

Han Fei added all the free points into stamina. He was level 25, but he had 42 stamina points. Han Fei had another breakthrough. When he climbed up from the ground, he felt an endless pool of energy within him. As long as his mind didn’t break, his body wouldn’t fall.

The thunder didn’t spot because he had left the altar world. Han Fei looked around. He was at the highest spot in the theme park. There were altar and figurine pieces around him.

“Han Fei!”

“What happened?”

The familiar voices came from the theme park. Han Fei saw the worried faces of his neighbors. Their bodies were almost transparent. Many things had happened in the cryptic world’s theme park when he was inside the altar.

“Get down! Get away from there!”

An indescribable pressure pressed down. Han Fei looked up. The night sky became so colorful. It was a dreamlike butterfly.

“Dream’s consciousness?” The giant butterfly slid past Han Fei and slammed at the maze! The maze collapsed. A path made from endless life chains appeared before them. The path was connected to the cryptic world on one end and the layers of dream on the other.

With the butterfly’s constant slamming, the maze was punctured by Dream. The people on the other side of the tunnel managed to see the scenery on this end.

“The path in the maze is connected to the surface world. Dream has fully opened the path!”

Han Fei immediately reached into his backpack to put on the beast mask.

On the other side of the tunnel, the players in the theme park looked over. They all locked their gazes on Han Fei.

“Is that a hidden map?”

“Who is that man in the strange mask? Is he a player too?”

“Why does he look so familiar?”

“Is the former director’s treasure hidden here? Brothers, let’s go!”

The news of the professional players missing in the maze couldn’t be hidden anymore. Therefore, many players came to the theme park maze every day. At this moment, they were all witnesses as the two worlds overlapped.

The players attempted to enter the path, but once they did, they would be killed by the monsters still residing inside the maze. They’d die before they even realized what had happened.

“Dream is a master manipulator. It used its energy to open the path so that the normal players would see me and make me into the eternal sinner.” The path to the cryptic world would bring endless tragedy. Han Fei on the highest platform was the only living person the normal players on the other side could see. His image had been imprinted in everyone’s minds. With Dream’s manipulation, Han Fei couldn’t easily be painted as everyone’s mortal enemy.

Han Fei chose to open the black box from both sides. In a way, he was different from Fu Sheng. Dream was going to use that to ensure that Han Fei was betrayed by those he wanted to protect so that he’d fall into darkness.

Forcing the path to the cryptic world was just the first step. Dream still had plans for Han Fei.

“I need to find a way to close the path.”

Many players died. But more players gathered. The news spread. Eventually, people knew a path had opened inside the maze. The theme park had been destroyed by Dream, and Fu Sheng’s altar was crushed. This was very dangerous for Han Fei. One wrong step, and he’d bury himself.

He picked up the remaining half of the figurine and jumped down from the platform. His voice couldn’t pass through the path, and he couldn’t stop the other players. So he had to leave first.

He reunited with his neighbors, and he knew from them what happened after he entered Fu Sheng’s altar.

Xu Qin and Youfu entered the altar with Han Fei. The falling woman and the painter got into a serious conflict with the clown at the park. They were still fighting when the night turned colorful. Dream’s consciousness flew out of the deepest part of this world and marked the theme park.

There were many other smaller stories, but Han Fei didn’t have the time to listen to them. The most important thing was to deal with the open path.

“A lot of players have seen me. I need to create an alibi for myself.” Han Fei entered a room and had Zhuang Wen guard the door. He then used Spiritfarer.

The ghost door opened. Han Fei summoned Bai Xian to the cryptic world.

“Han Fei? What’s wrong with you? Why are you so heavily injured?”

“Brother Bai, I need a favor.” Han Fei removed his beast mask and handed it to Bai Xian. “Can you play a role for me?”