“You haven’t seen him? He has to still be here!” Lee Daxing’s lost control of his emotions. He gripped his flashlight and moved towards Han Fei and Lee Long. “I have been talking to him when we were on the 5th floor but suddenly he stopped replying to me. However, the strange thing was his footsteps echoed constantly behind me so he should be following me! So how did he disappear? When I eventually turned around, the footsteps stopped and the man was gone.” More blood leaked out from Lee Daxing’s mouth. His face was eerily pale.
“We stayed on the 3rd floor, we haven’t been to the 5th floor…” Lee Long tried to communicate with Lee Daxing but he was stopped by Han Fei. “Don’t go over there, didn’t you hear him? The footsteps were there until he turned around. He couldn’t see his partner anymore so that means his partner has been hidden away at a place that no one could find.” Han Fei stared at Lee Daxing’s stomach. He didn’t want to imagine that possibility but Lee Daxing was acting too strangely. Lee Long followed Han Fei’s gaze and understood Han Fei’s meaning immediately.
“You think he has eaten his partner?” Lee Long was startled and then moved away from Han Fei. Lee Daxing was acting abnormally but Han Fei’s way of thinking was not much better. Stuck between Han Fei and Lee Daxing, Lee Long’s face twitched. Now he understood why his seniors told him to stay away from the mall.
“I need to find him! You have seen him right? Tell me where he is! Tell me! I really need to see him!” Lee Daxing opened his mouth wide, it was filled with wounds and blood. He waved the flashlight and charged at Han Fei. Just as he was about to reach Han Fei, his expression changed like he had seen something. “Why are you all here? Why are you all back here!” Mumbling nonsensically, Lee Daxing turned to run back into the mall.
Lee Long used his remaining hand to wipe away his cold sweat. The events that transpired that night were too much for him. “Are there no normal people at this mall?” Then Lee Long turned back and saw a family of 3 standing at the entrance. Lee Daxing escaped after he saw this family. ‘When did they arrive?’
The family of 3 didn’t seem to be freaked out by Lee Daxing, they walked right into the 2nd hand shop. “Stay here, I’ll have to attend to the customers!” Han Fei left in a hurry. The loanshark noticed the trails of water and mud on the ground and he was confused. The family of 3 was drenched like they had just been salvaged from the water. Their skin was bloated and their eyes were protruding like goldfish.
“Kid, we meet again.” Han Fei told the boy as his eyes slowly moved to the people behind the boy. Behind the boy stood a pair of couples. They loved each other so much that it appeared part of their bodies had joined together.
“Uncle, I want to buy back my toys.”
“I’ve kept them for you. Here” Han Fei took out the paper box from under the counter. The boy’s toys were all inside.
“Thank you uncle!” The boy took out several wet notes from his father’s pocket and then pulled out a small wooden puppet from his own pocket. “Uncle, these are for you!” Han Fei placed the wet notes on the counter, he cared more about the puppet.
“Now we don’t owe each other anymore.” The boy smiled happily. He carried the box of toys and bounced out from the shop. His parents followed behind him silently. The family left ‘happily’, Han Fei concluded his first business transaction in the memory world. After logging in the transaction, Han Fei placed the puppet the boy left him in his pocket. The money was for the boss and the puppet was for Han Fei.
‘What does the boy mean by we don’t owe each other anymore?’
The door chimed and an old lady appeared at the door. Han Fei had seen this old lady yesterday. She wanted to donate some clothes but the sack was filled with bloody feathers and animal skins.
“Granny?” Like yesterday night, the old lady left the sack by the door. She walked around the shop before shuffling to the altar. “Why do you come so late at night? It’s too dangerous for you to walk around alone at night.” Han Fei felt there were more stories about the old lady. He accompanied her. “Granny, the sack that you donated last time, our worker has already cleaned it for you.”
The old woman turned around. She stared at Han Fei’s face for a long time before she suddenly raised her arm. The smell of mold entered Han Fei’s nostrils. The old lady’s hand slowly approached, but Han Fei didn’t evade. The pair of callused hands stopped before Han Fei’s eyes. The old lady’s eyes filled with tears. Her mouth opened like she was trying to call a name.
“Granny, what is it that you want to tell me?” Before Han Fei could react, the old lady suddenly turned towards the altar, she wanted to knock it over.
“Granny, wait!” Han Fei stopped the old lady, he was much stronger than her but he didn’t dare use too much force lest he injured her. The old lady didn’t say a word. She scratched at the nailed doors with tears on her face. She kept making this guttural sound, she didn’t care if her fingers were bloody from the nails. After a long time, Han Fei finally managed to get the old lady to calm down. He picked up the black cloth and covered the altar back up.
“There is really no one normal at this shop, be it the workers or the customers.” Lee Long stood at the door. He stared at the old lady but didn’t dare to enter the shop. “I do remember this crazy old lady. Her son used to work here.”
“Her son? But Huang Li told me that the old lady has no children.”
“She’s not wrong. The old lady’s son was one of the earliest employees of this 2nd hand shop. He died from an accident and the old lady lost her mind. She believes that her son is trapped inside the altar. Only by doing 1000 good deeds could she help her son.” Lee Long walked the streets so he knew about these things.
“1000 good deeds? Who told you about that?” After the old lady calmed down, Han Fei let go of her. He went to prepare a glass of warm water for her.
“A senior who has already retired. We call him Brother Snake, it was him who told us to stay away from this mall and be careful of the boss.” Lee Long didn’t have a good impression of Han Fei initially but from the way he acted, Lee Long realized Han Fei was not a bad person. While Lee Long and Han Fei conversed, the old lady shuffled out of the shop. The old lady was already very old but she still insisted on doing 1 good deed per day. The sky was dark but it didn’t seem to affect the old lady. With her walking stick, she disappeared into the night. ‘She can walk through the darkness freely?’ Han Fei frowned. ‘Is the old lady’s son really trapped inside the altar?’
Han Fei had many questions. Why would the old lady’s son be trapped inside the altar? And how did she know that doing 1000 good deeds would free him? ‘When I pulled back the cloth on the altar in the storeroom, several voices came from behind me. Could one of them belong to the old lady’s son? Did they die because of the altar or they have accepted some kind of deal with the altar so their souls have been sold?’ The altar at the shop was just a decoration, the real altar was underground. Han Fei adjusted the black cloth and moved to the front of the shop to sit down. ‘It is dangerous outside the mall and it is hell inside the mall, what is the solution to this world?’
Han Fei tried to make himself calm down, to raise his mood points. Lee Long also relaxed as Han Fei acted more normal. Lee Long opened up the newspaper and the two of them sat in front of the 2nd hand store, neither disturbed the other.
“Do you want some sunflower seeds?”
“No thanks.”
At 3.50 am, Han Fei’s mood point finally returned to 50. He looked outside and the sky was brightening. “Lee Long, I’m going to the hospital. Are you going to stay here or come with me?”
“I’m here to demand money from you. Stop asking me things like that.”
“Then come with me, it’s too dangerous here.” Han Fei helped Lee Long up from the ground. He wasn’t going to abandon such a wonderful ‘partner’. After locking up the shop, Han Fei moved towards the hospital according to Lee Long’s direction.
Third People Hospital wasn’t that far from the mall. Perhaps it was almost dawn or it was the boy’s puppet, Han Fei didn’t run into any scary things along the way. When they arrived at the hospital, they saw Lee Hu in the lobby. The fatty in the suit looked quite despondent. He was the only person in the lobby.
“How is Huang Li?”
“I don’t know, I don’t speak medicine.” Lee Hu led Han Fei to find the doctor, but they were stopped by the nurse.
“Which of you is the patient’s friend?” The nurse saw Lee Hu and Lee Long with the scars and tattoos. She didn’t dare to let them into the ward. Eventually it was Han Fei who said, “I am Huang Li’s colleague. How is she?”
“Basically she is out of the danger zone but her brain was severely traumatized. She is in a deep coma, we can’t say when she’ll wake up, it could be tomorrow or it could be several months later.” The nurse was more willing to converse with Han Fei because he looked proper. “Which of you is going to handle her medical fees? There are ward fees, ambulance fees, as well as the following expenses.” Han Fei stopped when he heard that. “Can’t you contact her family?”
“We have contacted the manager of the mall but he still hasn’t arrived. Based on what the man said, Huang Li’s mother is dead and her father has Alzheimer’s. Not too long ago, she got a divorce due to domestic abuse. If her ex-husband found out about this, he would do everything to suck the patient dry, much less take care of her.” What the nurse said reminded Han Fei of something. When he borrowed Huang Li’s phone to call the deliveryman’s father, he did look through Huang Li’s phone records. There was a man called bastard who had been threatening Huang Li.
“Doesn’t this count as a work injury? Can’t she claim insurance?” Han Fei asked.
“We have already asked Zhu Wei, the manager of the mall. The man showed us the contract, it said that Huang Li already quit her job 3 days ago. She only stayed because she needed to show the ropes to a newbie.” The nurse was losing her patience. “She might wake up tomorrow morning, so can you please pay her bills? That way we can continue with her treatment.” Normally, the patient’s guardian had to pay before the patient could receive treatment but Huang Li’s situation was unique because it was an emergency. Now that she was rescued, the hospital needed someone to pay her bills.
The two loansharks took a step back. Han Fei held the 20000 RMB he just borrowed. He licked his lips. “How much is it?”
“The emergency treatment costs 3000 RMB. Please turn left on the first floor to make the payment.”
“And that is just for the emergency treatment?” Han Fei moved his feet, everything felt too coincidental. Ever since he borrowed the money, Huang Li got into this accident. ‘Is this one of the random missions? Has the owner made his choice too?’ The altar owner was forced to sign a loan contract so he probably wouldn’t use his own money to help Huang Li. ‘The altar owner didn’t help Huang Li so she died? If that was the case, then the correct choice is to help Huang Li.’
Han Fei handed over the money but he didn’t receive any notification. Dawn was coming but there was no progress with the mission. ‘Money can save a person’s life and I’m at the hospital. The mission’s name is choice. Other than saving Huang Li or not, is there another choice? Could it be related to the owner’s mother?’ Han Fei twisted his brows together as he thought back to the mission description. Seeing Han Fei in this state, the two loansharks didn’t disturb him. They assumed Han Fei was troubled because they knew he needed the money to save his own mother.
“This kid is a real dummy, if he doesn’t owe us money, we might be brothers.” Lee Hu’s eyes softened. He didn’t really blame Han Fei for breaking his bones, after all, it was his weakness that led to that result.
“He is a good man but that is all he has left.”
The 3 men stood at the payment booth. Soon the elevator opened. A man with a human skull tattoo on his neck walked out from the elevator. He wore a nurse’s outfit.
“You haven’t seen him? He has to still be here!” Lee Daxing’s lost control of his emotions. He gripped his flashlight and moved towards Han Fei and Lee Long. “I have been talking to him when we were on the 5th floor but suddenly he stopped replying to me. However, the strange thing was his footsteps echoed constantly behind me so he should be following me! So how did he disappear? When I eventually turned around, the footsteps stopped and the man was gone.” More blood leaked out from Lee Daxing’s mouth. His face was eerily pale.
“We stayed on the 3rd floor, we haven’t been to the 5th floor…” Lee Long tried to communicate with Lee Daxing but he was stopped by Han Fei. “Don’t go over there, didn’t you hear him? The footsteps were there until he turned around. He couldn’t see his partner anymore so that means his partner has been hidden away at a place that no one could find.” Han Fei stared at Lee Daxing’s stomach. He didn’t want to imagine that possibility but Lee Daxing was acting too strangely. Lee Long followed Han Fei’s gaze and understood Han Fei’s meaning immediately.
“You think he has eaten his partner?” Lee Long was startled and then moved away from Han Fei. Lee Daxing was acting abnormally but Han Fei’s way of thinking was not much better. Stuck between Han Fei and Lee Daxing, Lee Long’s face twitched. Now he understood why his seniors told him to stay away from the mall.
“I need to find him! You have seen him right? Tell me where he is! Tell me! I really need to see him!” Lee Daxing opened his mouth wide, it was filled with wounds and blood. He waved the flashlight and charged at Han Fei. Just as he was about to reach Han Fei, his expression changed like he had seen something. “Why are you all here? Why are you all back here!” Mumbling nonsensically, Lee Daxing turned to run back into the mall.
Lee Long used his remaining hand to wipe away his cold sweat. The events that transpired that night were too much for him. “Are there no normal people at this mall?” Then Lee Long turned back and saw a family of 3 standing at the entrance. Lee Daxing escaped after he saw this family. ‘When did they arrive?’
The family of 3 didn’t seem to be freaked out by Lee Daxing, they walked right into the 2nd hand shop. “Stay here, I’ll have to attend to the customers!” Han Fei left in a hurry. The loanshark noticed the trails of water and mud on the ground and he was confused. The family of 3 was drenched like they had just been salvaged from the water. Their skin was bloated and their eyes were protruding like goldfish.
“Kid, we meet again.” Han Fei told the boy as his eyes slowly moved to the people behind the boy. Behind the boy stood a pair of couples. They loved each other so much that it appeared part of their bodies had joined together.
“Uncle, I want to buy back my toys.”
“I’ve kept them for you. Here” Han Fei took out the paper box from under the counter. The boy’s toys were all inside.
“Thank you uncle!” The boy took out several wet notes from his father’s pocket and then pulled out a small wooden puppet from his own pocket. “Uncle, these are for you!” Han Fei placed the wet notes on the counter, he cared more about the puppet.
“Now we don’t owe each other anymore.” The boy smiled happily. He carried the box of toys and bounced out from the shop. His parents followed behind him silently. The family left ‘happily’, Han Fei concluded his first business transaction in the memory world. After logging in the transaction, Han Fei placed the puppet the boy left him in his pocket. The money was for the boss and the puppet was for Han Fei.
‘What does the boy mean by we don’t owe each other anymore?’
The door chimed and an old lady appeared at the door. Han Fei had seen this old lady yesterday. She wanted to donate some clothes but the sack was filled with bloody feathers and animal skins.
“Granny?” Like yesterday night, the old lady left the sack by the door. She walked around the shop before shuffling to the altar. “Why do you come so late at night? It’s too dangerous for you to walk around alone at night.” Han Fei felt there were more stories about the old lady. He accompanied her. “Granny, the sack that you donated last time, our worker has already cleaned it for you.”
The old woman turned around. She stared at Han Fei’s face for a long time before she suddenly raised her arm. The smell of mold entered Han Fei’s nostrils. The old lady’s hand slowly approached, but Han Fei didn’t evade. The pair of callused hands stopped before Han Fei’s eyes. The old lady’s eyes filled with tears. Her mouth opened like she was trying to call a name.
“Granny, what is it that you want to tell me?” Before Han Fei could react, the old lady suddenly turned towards the altar, she wanted to knock it over.
“Granny, wait!” Han Fei stopped the old lady, he was much stronger than her but he didn’t dare use too much force lest he injured her. The old lady didn’t say a word. She scratched at the nailed doors with tears on her face. She kept making this guttural sound, she didn’t care if her fingers were bloody from the nails. After a long time, Han Fei finally managed to get the old lady to calm down. He picked up the black cloth and covered the altar back up.
“There is really no one normal at this shop, be it the workers or the customers.” Lee Long stood at the door. He stared at the old lady but didn’t dare to enter the shop. “I do remember this crazy old lady. Her son used to work here.”
“Her son? But Huang Li told me that the old lady has no children.”
“She’s not wrong. The old lady’s son was one of the earliest employees of this 2nd hand shop. He died from an accident and the old lady lost her mind. She believes that her son is trapped inside the altar. Only by doing 1000 good deeds could she help her son.” Lee Long walked the streets so he knew about these things.
“1000 good deeds? Who told you about that?” After the old lady calmed down, Han Fei let go of her. He went to prepare a glass of warm water for her.
“A senior who has already retired. We call him Brother Snake, it was him who told us to stay away from this mall and be careful of the boss.” Lee Long didn’t have a good impression of Han Fei initially but from the way he acted, Lee Long realized Han Fei was not a bad person. While Lee Long and Han Fei conversed, the old lady shuffled out of the shop. The old lady was already very old but she still insisted on doing 1 good deed per day. The sky was dark but it didn’t seem to affect the old lady. With her walking stick, she disappeared into the night. ‘She can walk through the darkness freely?’ Han Fei frowned. ‘Is the old lady’s son really trapped inside the altar?’
Han Fei had many questions. Why would the old lady’s son be trapped inside the altar? And how did she know that doing 1000 good deeds would free him? ‘When I pulled back the cloth on the altar in the storeroom, several voices came from behind me. Could one of them belong to the old lady’s son? Did they die because of the altar or they have accepted some kind of deal with the altar so their souls have been sold?’ The altar at the shop was just a decoration, the real altar was underground. Han Fei adjusted the black cloth and moved to the front of the shop to sit down. ‘It is dangerous outside the mall and it is hell inside the mall, what is the solution to this world?’
Han Fei tried to make himself calm down, to raise his mood points. Lee Long also relaxed as Han Fei acted more normal. Lee Long opened up the newspaper and the two of them sat in front of the 2nd hand store, neither disturbed the other.
“Do you want some sunflower seeds?”
“No thanks.”
At 3.50 am, Han Fei’s mood point finally returned to 50. He looked outside and the sky was brightening. “Lee Long, I’m going to the hospital. Are you going to stay here or come with me?”
“I’m here to demand money from you. Stop asking me things like that.”
“Then come with me, it’s too dangerous here.” Han Fei helped Lee Long up from the ground. He wasn’t going to abandon such a wonderful ‘partner’. After locking up the shop, Han Fei moved towards the hospital according to Lee Long’s direction.
Third People Hospital wasn’t that far from the mall. Perhaps it was almost dawn or it was the boy’s puppet, Han Fei didn’t run into any scary things along the way. When they arrived at the hospital, they saw Lee Hu in the lobby. The fatty in the suit looked quite despondent. He was the only person in the lobby.
“How is Huang Li?”
“I don’t know, I don’t speak medicine.” Lee Hu led Han Fei to find the doctor, but they were stopped by the nurse.
“Which of you is the patient’s friend?” The nurse saw Lee Hu and Lee Long with the scars and tattoos. She didn’t dare to let them into the ward. Eventually it was Han Fei who said, “I am Huang Li’s colleague. How is she?”
“Basically she is out of the danger zone but her brain was severely traumatized. She is in a deep coma, we can’t say when she’ll wake up, it could be tomorrow or it could be several months later.” The nurse was more willing to converse with Han Fei because he looked proper. “Which of you is going to handle her medical fees? There are ward fees, ambulance fees, as well as the following expenses.” Han Fei stopped when he heard that. “Can’t you contact her family?”
“We have contacted the manager of the mall but he still hasn’t arrived. Based on what the man said, Huang Li’s mother is dead and her father has Alzheimer’s. Not too long ago, she got a divorce due to domestic abuse. If her ex-husband found out about this, he would do everything to suck the patient dry, much less take care of her.” What the nurse said reminded Han Fei of something. When he borrowed Huang Li’s phone to call the deliveryman’s father, he did look through Huang Li’s phone records. There was a man called bastard who had been threatening Huang Li.
“Doesn’t this count as a work injury? Can’t she claim insurance?” Han Fei asked.
“We have already asked Zhu Wei, the manager of the mall. The man showed us the contract, it said that Huang Li already quit her job 3 days ago. She only stayed because she needed to show the ropes to a newbie.” The nurse was losing her patience. “She might wake up tomorrow morning, so can you please pay her bills? That way we can continue with her treatment.” Normally, the patient’s guardian had to pay before the patient could receive treatment but Huang Li’s situation was unique because it was an emergency. Now that she was rescued, the hospital needed someone to pay her bills.
The two loansharks took a step back. Han Fei held the 20000 RMB he just borrowed. He licked his lips. “How much is it?”
“The emergency treatment costs 3000 RMB. Please turn left on the first floor to make the payment.”
“And that is just for the emergency treatment?” Han Fei moved his feet, everything felt too coincidental. Ever since he borrowed the money, Huang Li got into this accident. ‘Is this one of the random missions? Has the owner made his choice too?’ The altar owner was forced to sign a loan contract so he probably wouldn’t use his own money to help Huang Li. ‘The altar owner didn’t help Huang Li so she died? If that was the case, then the correct choice is to help Huang Li.’
Han Fei handed over the money but he didn’t receive any notification. Dawn was coming but there was no progress with the mission. ‘Money can save a person’s life and I’m at the hospital. The mission’s name is choice. Other than saving Huang Li or not, is there another choice? Could it be related to the owner’s mother?’ Han Fei twisted his brows together as he thought back to the mission description. Seeing Han Fei in this state, the two loansharks didn’t disturb him. They assumed Han Fei was troubled because they knew he needed the money to save his own mother.
“This kid is a real dummy, if he doesn’t owe us money, we might be brothers.” Lee Hu’s eyes softened. He didn’t really blame Han Fei for breaking his bones, after all, it was his weakness that led to that result.
“He is a good man but that is all he has left.”
The 3 men stood at the payment booth. Soon the elevator opened. A man with a human skull tattoo on his neck walked out from the elevator. He wore a nurse’s outfit.
