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412 Blood Paper Doll

The Singer carrying the old man’s head was still hiding inside the building near the plastic surgery hospital. His eyes stared closely behind Han Fei. Other than the Singer, deep down the city, there was a hue of crimson floating about, looking for the bug who had destroyed its altars.

Opening his eyes, Han Fei appeared inside Yi Ming Private Academy as the smell of mould drifted into his nostrils. Han Fei waited and he sighed greatly in relief when he didn’t hear system notification. He was so afraid that Big Sin had gained him a few more curses when he was not around.

Opening his character profile, Han Fei noticed the curse, Blood Debt had changed. It was now a Compound Curse and it was appended with the label, Undying Debt. This was proof that Big Sin had truly incensed that Unmentionable.

‘My reputation is now 84, seems like Big Sin has destroyed another altar. My afterlife karma is now 96, 4 more to 100.’ Han Fei’s fists tightened. ‘Another 2 more days and I should be able to escape this near death state.’ The system did say that the fatality rate for players to build an altar before level 15 was 100 percent, it was not lying. If Han Fei didn’t have the aid from his neighbours, he wouldn’t have survived until now. Furthermore, Han Fei had merely set up the altar, this was just the first step.

Han Fei opened the door and he encountered Drake, Zhang Guanxing and Ying Yue, who was holding a fishbowl. They guarded Han Fei’s room in turn. “Boss, the school is not safe anymore.” When Drake saw Han Fei, he quickly walked over. His face didn’t look so pretty.

“Have we been infiltrated by the monsters from the hospital?”

“We discovered broken life threads around the school and strange things that have ventured in from other areas.” Drake described the situation yesterday. “Initially we thought they were just wandering souls but after we interacted with them further, we realized they were different from normal souls. Their bodies, faces and even consciousness have been operated on.”

“What do you mean?”

“It felt like someone had cut through these people’s souls, carving them into shapes of sin to release their despair and madness.” Drake said darkly, “These people lost even the shape of human beings, it’s more appropriate to call them monsters.”

As Drake explained, Ying Yue suddenly pulled on Han Fei’s shirt. Then she kept gesturing. After a long time, Han Fei finally understood her. “You mean the previous building manager has similar power?”

Indeed, the previous manager also had the power to carve people’s souls and change their forms, however, he used them to seal the souls’ pain and despair. He had used this power on Meng Si and Ying Yue before, to help them seal up their painful memory and hatred. The perfect example was Meng Si, until now, the old lady still lived in the fabricated memory, believing she and her grandson were still alive. In the past, Han Fei tried to tell her the truth, he accidentally triggered the pain in Meng Si and a ghastly monster appeared from the back of her mind.

“The monsters you saw probably came from the hospital. The previous manager has the same power as the Pure Hatred from the hospital?” Han Fei was reminded of something. The CEO of Immortal Pharma often visited the plastic surgery hospital he sponsored too.

“Plastic surgery in real life works on people’s appearance but plastic surgery in the cryptic world changes people’s souls.” Han Fei remembered a rumor that he saw online when he did his research on that hospital. Immortal Pharma was the pioneer in brain and nerve research. The plastic surgery hospital they owned even offered the service to change a person’s personality, to make a meek individual more successful and brave. Of course, these were just rumors. With the closure of the hospital, all the records were gone. “Looks like Fu Sheng is indeed related to the plastic surgery hospital somehow or else the Singer wouldn’t have wandered into its territory, as if waiting for me.”

Ying Yue didn’t know much else about Fu Sheng. Han Fei turned to look at the infirmary. Fu Sheng was once a teacher at Yi Ming Private Academy and Jin Sheng was another one of his experiments. Unfortunately Fu Sheng failed to heal Jin Sheng, instead he caused Jin Sheng to sink deeper into his despair. Han Fei tried to call Jin Sheng’s name but there was no response. Jin Sheng appeared to have exhausted all of his power to carve down the latest ghost story on Han Fei. Currently he was hibernating. “If Jin Sheng continues to slumber, then this school won’t be safe for long.”

After a moment’s thought, Han Fei walked into a random classroom. Before he left Yi Ming Private Academy, he had one more thing to do. “Spirit Farer!” He chanted Huang Yin’s name at the torn door. Among the sea of blood, a bloody carp swam against the current and leaped through the surface. The tables and chairs were tipped over and a man in an extremely rare outfit appeared. Compared to the first few times, Huang Yin’s presence had changed. He looked more imposing.

“Brother Huang, you appear to have gotten stronger.” Han Fei tapped Huang Yin’s shoulder to check his attribute. Huang Yin was now level 19. With his level A talent, Nightmare, he could pick up skills related to intelligence very fast. Currently he had raised all the abilities of the Blood Doctor to the maximum. He could defend himself if necessary. Even in the cryptic world, Huang Yin could now easily escape from Animated Regrets. However, he wouldn’t fare well against Lingering Spirit because Lingering Spirits would have their special power too.

“Why is it that I still shiver involuntarily when I see you even though I’m already level 19?” Huang Yin sighed. Before Han Fei, he felt like he was only level 1.

“You’ve already tried your best.” Han Fei consoled the man. The players on the surface world couldn’t compare to Han Fei. Han Fei had 2 hidden professions, a bunch of titles and passive skills. Even though Han Fei’s level was lower than Huang Yin, he was more powerful. Furthermore, the cryptic world was like hell. Only the best could survive here. In fact, Huang Yin probably couldn’t even beat Han Fei’s pet, Big Sin.

“Grab your things and prepare to go. The guard uncle is making his patrol here soon.” Once Han Fei said that, Huang Yin immediately jumped into action. He kept shoving the stuff into his inventory. He didn’t want to waste even a second. His lips kept quivering. Han Fei shook his head when he saw Huang Yin like this. Who would have thought the most powerful man in the surface world would be so afraid of an old guard?

With his bigger inventory, Huang Yin took away more items. After sending Huang Yin back with Resurrection, Han Fei locked the classroom door. With Drake and Ying Yue’s help, Han Fei completed another reserved Grade G mission and then hurried towards Ziggurat. The black mist had disappeared. On their way there, Han Fei saw many broken life threads. The monsters from the hospital were slowly approaching Ziggurat. The only reason they hadn’t launched a full assault was because they didn’t know the Butterfly had died.

“The monsters in this world cannot be cleared as long as the dark night is still around. Nowhere is really safe.” Han Fei did a lot to clean the area around Ziggurat but now he needed to face new challenges. He barely had the time to rest.

“Nice to see you!” A man’s voice came from the corridor. The businessman shuffled over. After he got to know his mother’s latest update, he was much friendlier to Han Fei.

“You’re helping the patrols?” Han Fei saw the businessman as a friend.

“No… I’m collecting money.” The businessman swept up the paper money from the ground and shoved them into the wooden box behind him. On the Night of Resurrection, the Singer destroyed the 3 other buildings at Ziggurat so a lot of paper money was left scattered around.

“Okay then, be careful.”

“Wait, I almost forgot.” The businessman stopped Han Fei. He took out a cracked soul bell from the wooden box. “After the Butterfly died, most soul bells exploded, this is the only one still relatively intact. You like to collect cursed objects so this is my gift to you for saving my life.” After handing the soul bell over to Han Fei, the businessman took out a large pile of paper doll pieces. “I remember you have a blood red doll. It is similar to the paper dolls here. I’ve been picking up their pieces. They possess curses and other things, they should be useful to you too.” The businessman had a sharp instinct.

“Thank you.” Han Fei felt like he should pay more attention to this businessman. After all, having a merchant friend was instrumental in an Iyashikei game.

“You’re welcome.” Dragging the wooden box, the businessman went over to the ruin of Building 1. He continued to collect his money.

At that moment, the robotic voice said, “Notification for Player 0000, the collective friendliness level with tenants of Ziggurat has reached 10, you’ve obtained a daily random reward—Spirit Faring Bell.

“Spirit Faring Bell: Important item in the soul-summoning ritual. This will greatly increase the success rate of Spirit Farer.

“Notification for Player 0000, you’ve obtained the businessman’s gift—Shredded paper doll pieces.

“Shredded paper doll pieces: Paper doll pieces dipped in curse and death. They can help you repair specific cursed objects.”

After reading the notification, Han Fei valued the businessman even more. Of the many tenants at Ziggurat, only the businessman realized what Han Fei really needed. The man appeared greedy but he was actually very astute.

“I almost lost another talent. Thankfully I thought to save him. Perhaps I should move him to Yi Ming Convenience Store, his talent will be more useful there.”

Han Fei didn’t waste time, he found a safe room and released the blood red doll. Then he fed it the shredded doll pieces. After all the paper pieces were absorbed, the paper doll grew in size until it was about the same size as Xu Qin.

“Human-sized paper doll?” Han Fei had seen a human-sized body pillow before, but not a human-sized paper doll.

“Notification for Player 0000! Your cursed object has been repaired.

“Cursed Paper Doll: Its eyes are filled with the darkest curse, its body is soaked in the coldest death. It should be buried forever but the person who loves you the most has given it new life.”

Grade F and G Cursed Objects were two different concepts. Even just placed there, Han Fei didn’t dare to get too close. ‘What is the deal with its description? Only love can bring paper dolls to life?’

Han Fei was ready to put the paper doll away, but when his hand touched the paper doll, the doll’s eyes opened and at that moment, it was like Xu Qin was staring at him. ‘This paper doll has Xu Qin’s blood. Perhaps she can look at me through this doll’s eyes.’

After putting away the paper doll, Han Fei planned to do the last thing on his itinerary. He found Feng Ziyu, arranged some things and then led Ying Yue to the top floor of the Ziggurat. Han Fei planned to commit another Spirit Farer even though he already used Resurrection on Huang Yin. This meant that Han Fei didn’t plan to let this second person return to the surface world that night.

“For the players at the surface world, the higher their spiritual affinity, the easier they’ll be summoned. It doesn’t matter, I’ll try every night. They are watching me in real life and so I’ll be watching them in the cryptic world.” After Han Fei knew the deeds these Star Shooters had done, Han Fei knew what he would do with them. Thinking back to the info given to him by Jin Jun, Han Fei used his only active skill, Cursed Words.

“Tonight, you will be enveloped by yin energy. When you open your eyes, you will see another world.

“You bully the weak because you are weak. But tonight, you are the weakest. You shall never escape.”

The bell chimed. Han Fei stared at the blood red door and utilized his skill. The door of hell was torn open by the sea of blood. The ghost faces surfed on the sea. Han Fei thought back to the pictures provided by Jin Jun and then chanted a name.

The bell rang. A bloated corpse turned over in the blood sea. A small maggot was pierced through by blood thread. The door of hell closed and another person appeared before Han Fei inside the toilet.

The man was naked and his face was flushed. He shouted the name of the NPC guide like a pig in heat.

‘I’ve succeeded?’ Putting away the bell, Han Fei closed Ying Yue’s eyes and led her out of the room.

Blood spread on the ground as shadows entered the room.