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“Do you think they can put down their obsession without this happening? Most people in this world aren’t rational. Despair is a contagious emotion. If the separation between the two worlds isn’t done, tragedies like yours where people accidentally enter the cryptic world will keep on happening.” The old man painted red eyes on the doll. “Don’t you feel the despair? If not for fear, why are you so desperate to leave?”

“If you continue to inject it with negative emotions, the cryptic world will produce unimaginable ghosts. Then, the real tragedy will happen.” Han Fei insisted. “You should be more familiar with that than I do. They are once people too. Perhaps some of them are even your family.”

The old man’s hands shook, and he accidentally punctured through the doll’s eye. After a moment of silence, he looked up at Han Fei, “You’re a special exception. For most people, the best solution is complete separation of the two worlds.”

“Not necessarily.”

“You have two friends with you. Why don’t you ask them for their choices?” The old man started to rummage for broken paper pieces to fix the doll’s eye.

“If the price is to pay is never to see my mom again, I’ll never agree to the separation.” Xiao Yu held her mother’s phone. Even though she had been scared witless, she said with determination.

“I…” Xiao Jia had always lived alone. He seemed to have thought of something and paused. The three entered the ghost realm. They all disagreed with the old man, and that was something the latter didn’t expect.

“It’s normal if you can’t forget the past. But for a person to move forward, you have to learn to put it down…”

“Then, can you put it down yourself?” Han Fei sat before the old man. “The people with the surname Fu want to kill me. But you’re the sole exception. If you have really put everything down, you wouldn’t be here.”

The old man focused on fixing the doll’s eye and ignored Han Fei.

“Since you won’t reveal to me my past, then can you tell me who you are? They all have the surname Fu, but only you are willing to share with me your full name. You are different from them. You should be the only one who questions the voice in your heart!” When Han Fei said this, he was surprised. He seemed to be preparing this speech for many lifetimes, and he finally had the chance to say it.

“I’m just a paper craftsman. It’s not as complicated as you think.” The old man tried fixing the eye for a long time, but it was futile. “It looks like I really can’t claim things that are not mine.”

He tossed the doll casually on the pile of garbage by the door. He stood up, holding the armrest. “You will think like this because you haven’t experienced true despair. Completely separating the cryptic world from the real world is wrong. If possible, I want to destroy the cryptic world so that the despair won’t even have the chance to grow.” The old man started to cough violently without warning. Han Fei tried to help, but he was waved back. “Stay in the city. Take a look at the past, the future, and your heart. I anticipate seeing your choice.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Everything started in this city. Try your best to survive. Hopefully, you won’t let down my last kindness and insistence.” The soul bells rang. The old man’s face paled as if he had touched upon a taboo subject. He stopped Han Fei from talking and rambled on. “You need to be careful of five types of people in this city. One, those who have the surname Fu; two, those who can’t stop laughing; three, those from the theme park; four, those who believe in the occult and various rituals; five, those who love you.”

“Those who love me?”

“The ones with the surname Fu want to kill you, the ones who can’t stop laughing want to take over your body, the ones from the theme park will kill every player who violates the rules, the ones favoring the occult will turn you into their sacrifices, the ones who love you are lying to you because there is no one who loves you in this city.” The old man hacked harder. “There are two exits deep inside the theme park. One leads to the outside, and the other leads to it.”

“It?” Han Fei could see the old man was not in a good state.

“Don’t ask. Certain things are unmentionable.” The old man covered his bleeding mouth and rushed into the room. Before he closed the bedroom door, he pointed at the garbage pile. “This is our first meeting, so you can pick one thing from my shop. Perhaps it can turn your situation around.”

The old man left in a hurry, leaving behind the confused trio. The ringing soul bells caused their hearts to shake. “I have a feeling that something is coming! We better go and hide!” Xiao Jia urged.

“Wait a minute.” Han Fei recalled what the old man said, “It’s very strange. When I met him the first time, he also gave me something that totally changed my life.”

“Big brother, stop wasting time! Shall we hide inside the pile of paper dolls?” Xiao Jia picked up the doll, which had the spine made from human heads. “How about we hide behind this largest paper doll? It looks frightening.”

“But he was pointing at the garbage pile.” Han Fei came to the door and picked up the paper doll the old man abandoned. The paper doll was fully red, and it only had one eye. “It feels like he purposely left this for me.”

In this city, all the people with the Fu surname wanted to kill Han Fei. Only this paper craftsman was different. Han Fei had no idea if this was fate or it was something he arranged.

Han Fei took out his paper eye and pasted it on the paper doll’s face. When the two touched, the abandoned paper doll seemed to come alive. Its hands unfurled like flowers. The cracks spread. The paper pieces fell to the ground. The paper body started to change. It became a woman with a heavily injured body. The woman’s body was covered in wounds. Thirteen of them were ghastly. The woman was dismembered. Holding the frail paper doll with both hands, Han Fei slowly moved the body around. A piece of paper fell to the ground. It had the words, my first time meeting you.

“Who is she?”

When Han Fei had this question in his mind, the soul bells chimed crazily. The roomful of paper dolls seemed to turn to look at him. The handwriting on their bodies rapidly faded away.

“Guys?” The messages appeared in Han Fei’s mind. Each message corresponded to a paper doll’s face. Han Fei couldn’t remember their names, but he didn’t want to be separated from them again. He knew these people were very important to him. The pain came from deep inside his brain. Han Fei gritted his teeth and stood there. The pain from his body couldn’t compare to the pain from his mind.

Capillaries bulged on his arms and face. He gritted his teeth so hard that his gums bled. The images of the paper dolls and their corresponding messages clashed into the black curtain that sealed up his memory. After endless trials, Han Fei’s eyes flew open. He stared at the blood-red doll in his palm, and his lips moved to mention a name. “Xu Qin?”

The lock deep inside his mind loosened. Han Fei’s eyes reddened. The stimulation the name had on him was far more intense than he expected. “So there is a name. Forgetting her is more painful than forgetting me.” Collapsing on the wooden chair that the old man once took, a clear gap appeared in the black cloth over his memory, and the gap was the name, Xu Qin. When he remembered Xu Qin, Han Fei finally heard the icy voice from deep inside his mind. “Notification for Player 0000! You’ve reached stage 4.”

“Who is speaking? Is there another person in my mind? What is stage 4?”

Han Fei had no impression of the chilly voice. He had no idea who he had awakened. “Am I supposed to walk through all the different stages to reach the end?”

“Han Fei, wake up!”

Xiao Yu was very nervous. Her mom’s phone kept vibrating. Something scary was coming. It frightened even the ghost.