Chapter 798: Brain
“Have you found the kid?”
“Yes. But I’m now trapped inside the skyscraper with him. And his situation is not doing so well. The bloodred persona you mentioned earlier is consuming him!”
“He’ll have to overcome this himself.” The dancer sounded tired. “Try to get to the 50th floor as fast as possible. The gardener and I have left you many useful things in the small hut.” The few sentences caused the radio to crack. Mr. Mo still had more questions, but the radio had stopped working. He had no choice. He held his pen, dripped it in his blood and wrote the word for Calm, and slowly approached Han Fei.
“This is the most I can do to help.” The elder was ready to place the word on Han Fei’s head, but as his hand touched Han Fei’s head, he was pushed back by an invisible power. His word was torn apart, and his arm was twisted and bent. Han Fei woke up slightly. He struggled towards the door. “I can’t suppress him much lower. I’ll go for a walk.”
Blood slid down Han Fei’s eyes. His gaze shocked everyone. No one dared to match his gaze. Han Fei exited the room. When he closed the life door, Han Fei released all prohibitions on Mad Laughter.
“You can do anything you want. We should stand by each other’s side and not be each other’s binding.” The Red Orphanage had been sealed up in Han Fei’s brain and his normal memories. Someone wanted to use Han Fei to change Mad Laughter to balance Mad Laughter’s pain and hatred. Han Fei saw Mad Laughter as an ally. Han Fei was not sure of that in the past. However, after experiencing the theme park altar, Han Fei figured it out. His body belonged to Mad Laughter, and Mad Laughter had been supporting his most painful memory. If Mad Laughter wanted to return, then Han Fei would help him. The blood vessels in the eyes shattered. Han Fei’s expression didn’t change that much, but his lips slowly curled upwards. The smile turned maddening.
Han Fei pressed Big Sin’s head and sat on its shoulders. Big Sin, that normally liked to play with Han Fei, became so obedient. It started to charge down a direction. On the walls around it, many children appeared to be its guide.
“Are we letting him go alone?” Li Rou was worried. She wanted to open the door but was stopped by Ji Zheng.
“You should be more worried about yourself. He’s a Sin Seeker. He can resist God on a mental level.” Ji Zheng sat before the Life door. “But he’s the evilest Sin Seeker I’ve ever met. I wonder where the False God finds him.”
“He entered the skyscraper of his own volition. It has nothing to do with God.” Mr. Mo was a member of the elderly murderer’s clubhouse. He had some info from the dancer. “God made human souls into flowers and wanted to turn the city into his own garden. The young man is a flower God has been meaning to get, a twinflower that shouldn’t exist.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Ji Zheng sighed. “I just hope that he doesn’t die. The dude has promised to lead me out of here.”
The lights went out again, but this time, Han Fei was the wandering hunter. He flew down the corridor at a location that resonated with his memory. Along the way, Han Fei met some criminals, but they all became names on Big Sin. A normal Sin Seeker could only support that many names. They would go insane after they went over the threshold. However, Big Sin didn’t have that concern.
The God in the Skyscraper wanted to create the ultimate monster. Big Sin and Butterfly matched his requirement, but Big Sin became Han Fei’s pet, and Butterfly was slaughtered. After the lights went out for the fifth time, a new Life Door appeared before Mad Laughter. He paused and sensed the door for a moment before getting Big Sin to go somewhere else.
The lights went out longer. The walls and floor became fully rotten. It was like they were running down a festering wound. The children surrounding Big Sin started to become more afraid, but the smile on Han Fei’s face grew bigger. The blood tears on his face never stopped. After killing the owner of Nine of Hearts, a Life Door covered with tape appeared before Han Fei. The red eyes swept over the tape left by God to warn off outsiders and Taboos. However, Mad Laughter didn’t care, tore the tape down, and kicked the door down. When he opened this most unique life door, the entire floor sunk into darkness, and the lights never came back on. The shrill sobbing mixed with laughter. Han Fei noticed that after Mad Laughter walked through the door, he regained control of his body. He looked around. He appeared to have left the skyscraper and gone somewhere else. “There’s a snippet of No. 2’s memory behind every Life Door. My consciousness probably has been drawn into No. 2’s memory.” Han Fei could feel that the room was different from others. Everything felt too authentic. The sound of studying came from the adjacent room. Han Fei nudged the door open, and a very thin child was reading. The boy loved to read. His room was stuffed with books and a lot of notes. Han Fei couldn’t understand most of them.
“Are you the new caretaker?” The boy didn’t even raise his head. He read as he communicated with Han Fei. “Don’t step on my books. Don’t come to bother me unless there’s a test. I don’t have time to waste.”
“The other children are playing outside. Aren’t you going to join them?” Han Fei moved the books away carefully so that he could find a place to sit.
“Humans have collected a lot of knowledge over millennia. This is humanity’s greatest wealth. If I don’t spend every moment of my life studying, I might not reach the peak of a field even at the end of my life. Forget it. You won’t understand.” The boy’s reading speed was very fast. He read and took down notes. “Where’s Doctor Fu? He promised to make me a side brain, but I haven’t seen him for a week already.”
“What is that?”
“A brain that can allow me to do more things.” The boy talked to Han Fei like Han Fei was an idiot. “That sounds impressive.”
“Does it?” The boy looked at Han Fei as if realizing he couldn’t be a caretaker there. “You have to have something impressive about you to be hired here. Every caretaker has a special skill that they can teach us.”
“I… am good at acting.” Han Fei showed off his masterful acting skills. He could place himself in another person’s life perfectly to play them.
“How did you do that? Through talent?” The boy was attracted by Han Fei’s skill. He tried to mimic Han Fei’s expressions. He succeeded easily but he didn’t have any soul.
“So there’s something you can’t do too.” Han Fei had seen this kid in Mad Laughter’s memory fragment before.
“I yearn for knowledge. I don’t quite understand anything related to emotions.” The boy wanted to say something else when the bell rang. He stood up to grab Han Fei’s arm. “Hide under the bed! I know you’re not a caretaker here. Wait for me to come back!” The bell rang three times. The real caretaker and doctor entered the room. They were covered in Hazmat suits like the child was extremely dangerous.
“No. 2, are you sure you want to replace others in the experiment?” A chilly voice came from under the suit. “I just want to confirm once more with you.”
“Don’t waste time on trash. You’ll get more results experimenting on me once than ten times on them.” The boy sat beside the bed and arranged his bedsheet indifferently.
“I’m surprised you’d use the privilege given by the doctor like this.” They entered the room and tied up the boy’s limbs. “Bring him away.” The door closed, and Han Fei crawled out. He wanted to follow them, but he noticed there was a note on the boy’s open book, you’ll die if you leave. Han Fei closed the book. He decided to follow the boy’s advice. Han Fei sat on the bed and looked at the books and notes around him. He couldn’t imagine how No. 2’s life would be like. However, one thing was certain. No. 2 was different from the other children. After waiting for some time, when Han Fei’s consciousness wavered, footsteps came from outside. He hurriedly crawled back under the bed. The door opened, and a wheelchair was slowly pushed into the room.
“It’s okay now. They’ve left.” The boy’s voice was calm. Han Fei crawled out from under the bed. When he saw the boy, his pupils trembled. The boy’s eyes had been dug out, his left leg had been sawn off, and there was a metal chain around his waist that bound him to the wheelchair.
“Why would they do this to you?”
“Maybe they’re afraid.” The boy smiled. “They’re very careful, but I still have time.”
“Is there anything I can help you with?” Han Fei knelt beside the boy. He looked at the child known as the genius.
“I can’t see temporarily. Can you help me… read the book I haven’t finished this morning?” The boy didn’t mind his wounds. He was so calm that Han Fei was worried.
“Just reading?” Han Fei didn’t expect this request from the boy.
“Reading is the simplest way to absorb knowledge.”
“You have the brightest brain and such a hardworking attitude. No wonder you’re a genius.” Han Fei praised.
“Genius?” The smile on the boy’s face was forced. “I never see myself as a genius, but they told me that only the greatest genius could survive.”
“So, you have been forced to do this? But I don’t sense any despair or pain from you.” Han Fei noticed that No.2 had no hatred and resentment in his heart. Or rather, those emotions had been transmuted into something else.
“Hatred will affect judgment and waste my time.” The boy leaned back and turned to the window, but his eyes were gone.
“The ending of pain comes from thought and rationality. I do not believe that there’s unsolvable despair and will not place my hope on something untouchable. There’s only one person that will help you unconditionally in life, and that is yourself.”