Chapter 515: Come Down To Play, Brother Bai
“It’s fine now but we need to leave.” Han Fei grabbed Bai Xian by his shoulders, afraid for the man’s behalf. The white shoes and the painter were looking at Han Fei but Bai Xian walked out and blocked their line of sight. The man couldn’t be blamed because he couldn’t see them. He was very brave but it was very dangerous too.
“Get in the car. This man and I will sit at the back.” Han Fei dragged Ugly Scar up from the ground. Bai Xian only then saw the man on the ground. When he saw that ghastly face, his eyes twitched. “You came all the way here to save him?”
“That’s right.”
“Then is the culprit who broke his limbs still around?” Bai Xian was even more nervous when he saw how horrid Ugly Scar’s conditions were.
“The culprit is indeed still around.” Han Fei didn’t explain. He opened the door and tossed Ugly Scar in. “Go to Xin Lu Police Station.”
“Police station?” Bai Xian hurried into the car. “Just like that? We don’t need to call them first?”
“It’ll be fine.” After the engine started, Han Fei looked back. The staircase was a hollow hole. The car sped out of the neighborhood. Weak light came from the streetlights. At the place where light and darkness met, a painter held a child’s hand and slowly turned around. Bai Xian had no idea what was happening outside. Only specific people could see these things.
“After what happened last time, I’ve upgraded my car. The windows are bullet-proof, there’s an auto-alarm in the seat and there is a stun gun in the bag behind you.” Bai Xian kept telling Han Fei about the new toys he had bought.
Han Fei didn’t pay him much attention. He took out his phone to call Li Xue. He needed to hand over Ugly Scar to the police. Han Fei didn’t have much choice. Ugly Scar was too unlucky because he knew Immortal Pharma’s dark history. Now only the faceless woman wanted to kill him but once Immortal Pharma knew about the man, they would want to kill him too. Han Fei needed to log into the game at night, it was unwise to keep such a dangerous man around him so the only party Han Fei could count on was the police.
At around 9 pm, Han Fei met Li Xue and a few officers at the station. When they saw Ugly Scar hauled in by Han Fei, they were shocked. The man was too heavily injured. “The man has a serious suicidal tendency. When you interrogate him, better blindfold him.” Han Fei couldn’t take on a big company like Immortal Pharma alone. He needed help and from his experience, the Xin Lu Police was his best choice. After giving the police some explanation, Han Fei left. He gained enough clues from Ugly Scar but he couldn’t guard over the man 24/7 so he left him with the police.
“That’s all? You’ll get the reward money tomorrow?” Bai Xian sat in his car. Celebrities like him won’t enter the police station so easily or else the reporters would go to town on him. Of course, Han Fei was an exception. The police station was his second home.
“The case is only beginning.” Han Fei had a feeling that the hospital would bring a lot of secrets to the surface, including his missing childhood memory.
“Indeed, this is more exciting than shooting a movie, your unique presence comes from these special experiences of yours.” Bai Xian drove Han Fei home. When Han Fei got out of his car, Bai Xian reminded, “Remember to meet in the game tonight!” Han Fei gave him an okay sign and turned upstairs.
“Ugly Scar is clearly a fake name, the police might draw out bigger fish through him.” Han Fei just reached home and his phone rang.
“Han Fei, I’ve found something among the stuff my grandmother left behind, they might be of help to you.” Seaglass Cat video-called Han Fei. She showed Han Fei a few old pictures. Some of the pictures were heavily charred. “These are pictures of the orphanage where she used to work at. See if you recognize any of the kids.” Han Fei stared at the screen for a long time before his eyes settled on the 2nd picture. A boy was wearing white shoes in the corner. Everyone was squeezed towards the center of the picture but he was off to the side, chasing after a rubber ball.
“Do you know the kid in the second picture? The one who is chasing after a ball?”
“My memory is blurry but I think he was the most popular kid at the orphanage. Everyone liked to play with him and grandmother took good care of him. He was very kind to everyone.” Seaglass Cat thought for a long time. “Right, he was also the first kid to be adopted. He was the first to leave the orphanage.”
“The most popular kid with a kind personality who was the first to disappear…” Han Fei concluded a few important points. “The building in the background is the orphanage?”
“Yes, but strangely enough, I can’t recognize this place. It doesn’t look like the orphanage I grew up in.” Once Seaglass Cat said that Han Fei’s eyes narrowed because he felt the same way. The most direct evidence was the orphanage in the picture didn’t match the blood-red orphanage in his mind at all.
“After I was adopted, I accidentally knocked over my grandmother’s bag one time and many children’s pictures fell out. The orphanage in each picture was different. I remember asking grandmother about it and she said because every kid had a different personality, they saw different buildings. I didn’t understand it. My grandmother tussled my hair and told me seriously, some kids would be trapped at the orphanage only in their childhood but some would be trapped there for life, she hoped I was the former.” Seaglass Cat still didn’t quite understand the meaning of the words but Han Fei was moved when he heard the statement. There was a version of himself forever trapped inside an orphanage in his mind.
“You should continue to look for clues but take care of yourself first.”
“Okay, I’ll call you if I find anything new.” After hanging up, Han Fei was processing what Seaglass Cat said when Huang Yin called him. Before he started playing Perfect Life, Han Fei’s phone would only ring during his set alarm time but now more people contacted him daily.
“Han Fei, congratulations on winning the best male supporting actor award.” Then Huang Yin jumped to the point. “Perfect Life’s first big event is about to wrap up soon, I am ranked first on 5 rankings. I will have 5 chances to draw special rewards and the right to build the game’s first permanent comprehensive neighborhood.”
“Permanent comprehensive neighborhood?”
“You can understand it as a guild but Perfect Life has taken that concept further. They will award me a piece of personal map in the game. The map is not that big but the map and every data on it will be permanently mine. I can do anything I want on that map.” Huang Yin sounded excitedly. It was not easy for him to compete with the global players to stay at the top spot. “In today’s age, the most valuable thing is data. Deep Space Tech and Immortal Pharma offer this price to simulate the other players. Now many big gaming guilds and professional organizations are desperate but they won’t have time to catch up to me.” After Huang Yin knew the reward, he was excited for a long time too.
“This is a good reward.” In the future, when he found a channel between the two worlds, Han Fei could send his neighbors to Huang Yin’s private map.
“But there is a problem.” Huang Yin chuckled sadly, “The minimum requirement to own a neighborhood is to have at least 5 players in the neighborhood. I have always been alone and our secrets can’t be exposed so where am I going to find 4 other players?”
“They have to be players? Can ghosts qualify?”
“I… don’t think so.” Huang Yin asked, “Do you have anyone you can trust? I remember you said the director Zhuang Ren can be trusted.”
“But he can’t enter the game due to specific reason.” Han Fei thought about it. “When you go online, find a player called Seaglass Cat, she can be trusted.”
“You only have 1?”
“I don’t have that many friends who can breathe.”
Huang Yin and Han Fei didn’t have many friends, much fewer people whom they could trust. Han Fei didn’t plan to draw Bai Xian into the game so soon but it seemed like the plan had to be pushed ahead.
“It’s better to build the neighborhood as soon as possible. The first player neighborhood will be written into gaming history. Plus I can invite NPC into my neighborhood. I plan to build an altar and collect many supernatural objects. I’ll build structures to collect Yin Energy and see if I can invite your friends over.”
“You can try. Your luck might bring miracles. I’ll teach you how to summon souls when there’s a chance.” Butterfly still had many things at the Ziggurat left from his soul-summoning ritual. If Huang Yin needed it, he would take everything. Butterfly’s consciousness was destroyed. Huang Yin who was murdered repeatedly by Butterfly in his nightmare gained Butterfly’s talent—Nightmare. Other people could not use Butterfly’s items but Huang Yin might.
“Okay.” After ending the call, Han Fei sent a message to Seaglass Cat to update her about the issue with Huang Yin. After he got the reply, Han Fei called Bai Xian. Bai Xian sounded very excited. He was very ready.
Han Fei crawled into the gaming hub and put on the helmet. Blood fell. Han Fei glanced at the scary figure and then opened his eyes.
“Where’s Feng Ziyu?” Han Fei ran out of the room to find the patrolling guards. “There’s a newcomer coming tonight, you need to prepare a full service for him.”
“The most despairing, unfortunate kind?”
“He’s a friend. Just help me train his courage.” Han Fei notified the tenants of Ziggurat and went to find Doctor Yan. The large lingering spirit sat in the middle of the room and used the sewing needle to sew the word, fate on his blank face. He tried very hard but every time he was about to succeed, the thread would unravel, as if signifying that he would never control his fate.
“Doctor Yan, is there any building resembling an orphanage inside the hospital zone? The white shoes have been wandering around the hospital zone, I believe he is looking for something.” Han Fei sat before Doctor Yan. He looked at the 3 meter tall ghost but there was no fear in his eyes. The room sunk into silence. Doctor Yan thought for some time before he wrote in blood on the ground. “There is a mall to the north of the plastic surgery hospital and near the mall is an abandoned orphanage.”
“Has the white shoes been there?”
“The orphanage is painted with windows. If you go in, you can’t leave.” After writing that, the doctor’s arms hung by his side like he was asleep.
“I was only asking, I didn’t expect there to be an actual orphanage.” Han Fei got the answer he wanted. He left the room and called Laughing and Xu Qin. He drew the important locales on the map. “Now the Pure Hatreds from the hospital are paying attention to this side of the mist. We can approach from the other end. The orphanage might hold the secret to one of the Pure Hatreds.”
They wouldn’t win the hospital in a frontal attack so Han Fei wanted to go for a more tactical approach. “The orphanage is close to Midnight Mall. We can go together and Mirror God can protect us. Perhaps we can capture Ten Fingers too.”
Han Fei had to be careful because this mission was very dangerous. He planned to stay for a full 3 hours before he departed. The neighbors went to prepare and that meant Han Fei had a period of free time.
Han Fei opened his menu. He clicked on his spirit-farer ability. As the gate of hell opened, he called the man’s name. “Bai Xian!”