74hy

Wherever the blood touched, it would turn red. Everything was swallowed by the bloody shadow. The collector finally understood Han Fei’s warning. He tipped his body out of the elevator booth and then gritted his teeth, and used his knife to cut off his legs. The collector resisted the pain and crawled to the corner. “What monster is this? Why is it after him?” Even though the collector was not the bloody shadow’s target, he was heavily injured by it. Temporarily, he lost his mobility. This was very dangerous.

“The thing moves so fast!” Han Fei was running at full speed. He didn’t have time to care about the collector. “The elevator cards are on the collector. The chef’s card is with Ji Zheng. I only have a broken card now. If there’s no other choice, I need to enter the stairwell.” Han Fei’s mind was clear. “I’ve stayed here long enough. I should have a few minutes left to have the exit button. I can survive that.” Han Fei held his breath and sensed his heartbeat. His connection to the monster was made through Spirit-Farer. There was a connection between him and the monster that only they could see. “I finally know why those people in the horror movies would be haunted when they start to randomly summon ghosts. However, this is also good because the monster will want to keep me for it alone. It won’t allow me to be taken by the other monsters.” It was hard for Han Fei to keep his mind fresh. He wanted to chat with the monster coming from behind the ghost door, but clearly, the monster didn’t have the intention of doing that.

Han Fei turned back to look. The bloody waves crashed through the corridor. Wherever it passed, the walls and floor would turn blood red. This reminded Han Fei of the bloodred city he saw whenever he logged in and logged out of the game.

“I’ve used all my Resurrections tonight. Even if I want to send it back, I need to wait for tomorrow.” All Han Fei could do now was to drag things out. He knocked on every door he passed. He followed Big Sin’s direction and ran towards the most dangerous location.

Big Sin, hidden inside the ghost tattoo, was very excited. It had the best life after having Han Fei as its master. Other than Xu Qin, it was closest to Han Fei in the cryptic world. With Big Sin’s lead, Han Fei successfully reached the most dangerous zone on the 15th floor. All the corridors were dominated by mold and trash. There was not one living person. All the rooms had transformed into Mausoleums. With some rustlings, the strange figures hidden under the trash piles started to crawl out. There were so many of them. They no longer looked like humans. Their skin was dominated by mold and rotten wounds. Their eyes spoke of death.

“Rest in Peace!” Han Fei took out his knife and activated the Ghost Tattoo. He had Xu Qin’s pet stick to him, and he tried to cut through the zone. Compared to Han Fei, the monster from the blood sea had fewer things to worry about. The meaning of its existence was to turn everything red. No matter who the enemy was, it wouldn’t escape. The 15th floor was like an oil painting covered in mold. But now, the red paint was rapidly spreading through it.

“Notification for Player 0000! You’ve triggered Grade E Hidden Map Mission, Grave Digger!

“Mission Requirement: Destroy 44 Mausoleums. Current progress: 6/44!

“Warning! After completing this mission, you’ll get a clue to unlocking a hidden profession and some high rewards.

“Notification for Player 0000! Current progress: 9/44!

“Notification for Player 0000! The hatred Deviants has towards you has coagulated into a curse! You’ve been hated by many Deviants who have more than 70 percent mutation!

“Warning! A Deviant’s power is directly correlated to its mutation percentage! Whenever the percentage crosses the 10th percentile, its power will greatly increase! The first Deviant in the skyscraper might be God’s creation too!”

Han Fei had no time to study the system notifications. The further he ran, the quicker his heartbeat. Big Sin perfectly led Han Fei to barge into the 15th floor’s forbidden zone. The mold floated in the air and fell on Han Fei’s body. It tried to dig into his body. The scary thing was there were a few Mausoleums that were connected by brownish red mold. Something big was living there. A deep growl came from the Mausoleum. In the dark, six eyes suddenly opened.

“Notification for Player 0000! You’ve discovered an extremely rare Deviant who has reached 80 percent mutation! Please leave immediately!”

The system was too late. Han Fei saw the meat mountain in the Mausoleum move. A humanoid creature crawled out of the meat mountain. It had six eyes but an extremely slender body. Endless tentacles grew out of its back and chest. The face leaned against another face. Brownish red liquid leaked out of the mouths. When the monster awakened, the connected Mausoleums started to tremble. The monster’s tentacles stuck into the bodies of the other Deviants.

“Will Li Rou become like this in the future?” Han Fei didn’t fight this large Deviant. He turned into an adjacent Mausoleum. He was ready. If this were a dead end, he would summon Big Sin and create his own path. The howl came from behind him. The bloody shadow chasing after Han Fei clashed with the Giant Deviant. Blood dyed the Mausoleum, but it didn’t affect the Deviant that much. The Deviants were originally humans. Before they died, they were tormented too much. The hate in their hearts refused to dissipate. The hate slowly combined with the death inside the building. In the end, they were reborn through the trash. They lost their rationality and memory. Most residents would avoid Deviants because they were already dead. The bloody shadow slowed down. It used brute force to raise a blood storm to crush the Giant Deviant. However, no matter what it did, the Deviant’s soul remained defeated. It became uglier. With the Deviant’s help, Han Fei used this chance to escape.

“I can’t stop! It’s still not safe!”

When Han Fei was about to leave the 15th floor, he finally saw the exit button light up. Just as Han Fei was about to sigh in relief, the monster seemed to sense something. It abandoned the Deviant and chased after Han Fei.

“I can’t do this anymore.” Han Fei doubted he’d find any other chance like this. He ran into the stairwell and clicked the quit button. Blood descended. As time stopped, the monster from the blood sea was still moving. “It can still move?!”

As Han Fei’s consciousness was detached, he saw a human face hidden in crashing waves moving toward him. Han Fei focused, and his breathing stopped. The human face was his face. However, the face was slightly younger. He looked like Han Fei from about two years ago!

“Why would the version of me from two years ago be in the bloody shadow? Why did it become a monster in the blood sea? Is that really me?” Han Fei felt a jolt of pain in his brain. He opened his eyes. He returned to real life. Han Fei crawled out of the gaming hub. He held the back of his head. He couldn’t recover from the shock. “The person in the blood is not Mad Laughter or me! He looks too young!”

Han Fei could use Resurrection and Spirit-Farer. These two talents were related to the blood sea that connected the cryptic world and the surface world. “It isn’t a coincidence that I can use this power. I’ve paid heavily for it, but I probably have forgotten about it.” Han Fei felt numb all over. “I feel like I’m getting closer to the final truth…”

The sudden knocking broke Han Fei’s thoughts. He resisted the pain from the back of his head and slowly approached the room door. “Who is outside?”

“We’re the police unit sent to protect you. We heard you scream. Please open the door now!” The plainclothes appeared at the door. They had been guarding Han Fei to ensure his safety.

“I’m fine.” After hearing the familiar voices, Han Fei opened the door. The police checked his room. “I merely had a scary dream.”

“It’s good that you’re fine. Sorry for disturbing you.” The two police were about to leave when Han Fei caught up to them.

“Can I follow you to the station? I have something important to discuss with Li Xue’s teacher.” Han Fei wanted to look through all the murders and unsolved cases over the past 50 years in Xin Lu so that he would understand the skyscraper better.

“At 3 am?” The officer was shocked. This was his first time hearing such a strange request.

“This is very important.”

“Okay… I’ll help you ask.” The officer knew Han Fei’s background. After layers of connections were made, Han Fei left with the officer at 4 am. Li Xue’s teacher personally sent people to fetch him so that they could meet at the headquarters.

It was 5 am, but the police at the headquarters were still busy. Recently, Xin Lu was not peaceful.

“Han Fei!” Li Xue stood at one end of the lobby. She waved at Han Fei. With Li Xue and her senior’s accompaniment, Han Fei walked down the long corridor and came to the headquarters’ file room.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t open the room for you.” The middle-aged man who was responsible for the file room rejected Han Fei’s request to enter. “I know what Han Fei has done for the city, and I know he is a good man. However, this place is forbidden to outsiders. The biggest compromise I can do is to allow the two of you to enter but not him.”

“Uncle Liu, my teacher called us to come today.” Li Xue’s senior walked to the door. “You might not trust Xiao Xue, but do you not trust me?”

“Why would Uncle Liu not trust me?” Li Xue didn’t argue. She took out her phone to call her teacher.

“Don’t call. Even if your teacher came in person today…” Before the manager finished, the ringtone came from the end of the corridor. He looked down the distance, and two special agents came over, pushing an old man in a wheelchair.

“Teacher!” Li Xue and her senior ran over. However, the elder’s eyes were fixed on Han Fei. He seemed to have noticed something.

The manager quickly straightened himself. “You’ve really come in person?!”

“Xiao Liu, open the door.” The elder’s voice was even. “Han Fei is my student too. If anything happens, I’ll be responsible.”

At this point, the manager stopped hesitating and opened the door.

“All the cases that have happened over the past few decades in Xin Lu are here. Which case do you want to look at?”

“All of them?” After Han Fei thanked the elder, he walked into the file room without wasting any time.