Chapter 12: 12

“Brother Youfu?” The old man was naturally suspicious of Han Fei. “You said you were Youfu’s friend so how come I have not heard of you before?”

“I’m sure he had. My name is Han Fei, does that ring a bell?” Han Fei looked at the old man with such sincerity that the latter thought maybe his memory had really failed him. After all, this was from 10 years ago.

“Well, now that you mention it, Youfu did have plenty of friends, but you did not look their age.” The old man commented.

“I’m an actor so I have to take good care of my appearance. Due to official characterization, I have a stringent skin care routine.” Han Fei quickly changed the subject before his lie was caught. “Sir, I really just want to do something for Brother Youfu.”

“Well, he did have plenty of unfulfilled wishes. All he ever wanted in his life was to build a family with Ah Mei. Not long before their accident, the kid came to me, telling me that he had saved up some money because he wanted to compensate Ah Mei for the wedding ceremony that he owed her. When they registered, they did not have one because of economic constraint.” The old man shook his head, “But it’s pointless to talk about these things now. If you ask me, the biggest wish he’d have now would be for someone to catch their killer, after all, the person had murdered the love of his life.”

“Got it, family, wedding, and catch the killer.” Han Fei memorized these details. He took a look at the old man, “Sir, I believe Brother Youfu would be greatly concerned about your health as well. You have to take good care of yourself and I promise I’ll try my best to catch that sick killer!” After leaving his phone number, Han Fei chatted with the old man for a while before he left with Li Xue.

“Hey, why did you lie to the old man by pretending to be Wei Youfu’s friend? You’re not going to take advantage of the poor old man, are you?” After they left the building, Li Xue voiced the suspicion in her mind.

“Of course not!” Han Fei did not know how to explain his situation. He turned to glance at the dilapidated apartment behind him, “But I was not technically pretending to be Wei Youfu’s friend, because we will be actual friends soon.”

“You’re one strange fella.” Li Xue hopped on her bike. When she passed Han Fei, she tossed him a helmet, “Come on.”

“Where are we going?”

“I’m dropping you home. Where else?”

…

After he returned home, Han Fei curled up at the corner furthest away from the study table and stared at the gaming helmet sitting on it. The blood stains inside the helmet had dried and they seemed to form a strange red pattern on the inner wall. Earlier a part of Han Fei prayed that this was just an elaborate prank but after everything that happened today, he had completely abandoned that hope. “The game did say that completing the New Player Missions will aid me to better understand the gaming world so that should be my next goal.”

Night eventually fell. Han Fei walked to the window and glanced at the skyscrapers situated around the city centre. As the world around him changed with the advancement of technology, sometimes Han Fei felt detached to even the real world, much less a gaming one. Time rolled continuously forward, leaving those like himself, who had no resource to catch up with the rapid footsteps of technology, behind. Facing new technology that surfaced every few days, Han Fei sometimes felt so helpless.

“O well, hopefully, I’ll live to see another day.” Han Fei sat in front of the computer and started to research the cases from 10 years ago. Since this was deeply related to his survival, Han Fei was extremely serious. He printed out all the available information and pasted them on the wall before the study table. The originally empty wall was soon covered in clues and crime scene photos of various old cases. Those who did not know him would assume he was a private detective from his living arrangement.

“There are 8 victims from the human jigsaw case. When the first 7 victims were found, they were all missing a body part. The 8th victim was mostly pieced together from these missing parts. After comparing all the databases, the police failed to find actual information on the 8th victim, therefore, when the case came to the press, they simply referred to the 8th victim as Number Eight…” Han Fei busied himself until late into night. By then he had a rudimentary grasp of these old cases. He glanced at the time at the lower corner of the computer screen. He reached for the gaming helmet as the clock was about to strike midnight. “Dead people are appearing in game, and there are so many mysteries to be solved but for now, my most immediate concern is to ensure my own survival.”

His sight was swallowed up by blood. The sense of dizziness and suspension arrived at once. Just as Han Fei was about to faint, a robotic voice rang deep inside his brain. “Welcome to Perfect Life where you are free to choose your own perfect life!”

When his eyes reopened, Han Fei realized he was leaning on the ground floor staircase. His surrounding was tomb-like quiet. ‘I better go find Meng Si first!’

After his previous gaming experience, Han Fei had a clear goal this second time around. He would try to get some quests from the old lady and attempt to overstay his welcome for the whole 3 hours at her house. This was because after 3 hours, he could quit the game any time he wanted and that would make it perfect for exploration. He could quit should the situation get too dangerous. In other words, the most dangerous period for Han Fei was the first three hours he logged into the game.

Some unknown black substance stuck to the rusted steel banister. Eerie doodles decorated the dusted walls. Han Fei noticed most of the human caricatures were incomplete, they looked bizarre. Han Fei tiptoed up the stairs and came across the cleaver on the steps. He picked it up and headed to the old lady’s home. The black plastic bags outside the house had been cleared away. Only two black stains remained of them. They seemed to leak out from the mysterious stuff which was wrapped inside the plastic bags.

“Granny?” Han Fei knocked lightly on the door. He used the lightest force possible but the echo still sounded loud in the silent corridor. “Is no one home?” Han Fei leaned his ear against the door. There was no sound coming from inside. It was as if the place had been abandoned.

“Where could they have gone to so late at night?” Han Fei knocked on the door again and as he listened for a possible reply, he noticed something was not right. He pulled his ear back from the door and tuned up his sense of hearing. Yes, something was moving down the quiet corridor!

The person purposely moved slowly so as to not make too much noise but Han Fei still captured the sound of rustling footsteps. ‘The sound came from upstairs. Someone is heading my way! Did it get notified by my earlier knocking?’ Han Fei sidled back to the staircase and he looked up through the gap in the stairwell. Han Fei’s neck slowly twisted as the muscles in his body constricted. On the 6th floor, there was a face looking down at him! As their eyes met, both parties picked up their paces!

Han Fei started to race upstairs while the owner of the face flew downstairs.

‘4th floor! I need to get back to my room!’ Han Fei knew that the apartment front door was locked so he’d trap himself if he ran downwards. His only option was his own home on the 4th floor!

‘I’m now on the 3rd floor and the thing is on the 6th floor! Technically I’m closer to the 4th floor but I have to take into account the time needed to find the key and open the lock!’ He reached into his pocket and pulled out the large ring of keys. When he returned home from granny’s yesterday, he used one of the keys on the ring to open the door and left it inside his pocket ever since.