My ‘Healing’ Game
Chapter 120 Knock on the bowl, scatter the rice, burn the photos

Chapter 120: Chapter 120 Knock on the bowl, scatter the rice, burn the photos

"Player number 0000, please pay attention! You have successfully accepted the Grade G main quest—One Hundred Ways to Die at the Crossroads!"

"One Hundred Ways to Die at the Crossroads: This task must be completed alone. Find the bowl placed next to the shrine at the entrance of the residential community, take a step and knock on the bowl, walk alone to the other side of the street to complete the quest."

Looking at the task introduction, Han Fei felt it wasn’t too difficult; the road outside the residential community was only seven or eight meters wide, at most twenty steps needed to get across.

"The difficulty of the main quest lies between hidden tasks and regular tasks, so one cannot be careless."

Actually, Han Fei was quite averse to leaving the community now. If possible, he wanted to stay until level twenty before venturing out, but the system seemed to have guessed his thoughts, as practically no quests could be found inside the community.

"Let’s go take a look first. If it’s really dangerous, I’ll abandon the quest."

Walking quietly to the entrance of the community, Han Fei observed the street shrouded in the night. The whole city was steeped in deathly silence, not to mention cars and pedestrians; there wasn’t even a ghostly shadow.

"The quest requires completion alone, which means I can’t rely on the power of neighbors. I just don’t know whether the ghost pattern on my body counts as a ’neighbor’ or as ’Special Items’." Han Fei didn’t want to trouble his neighbor, but he had no confidence in returning alive after leaving the community.

To be safe, Han Fei still sought out Youfu. He originally intended to have Youfu take Little Eight to meet him on the other side of the street.

However, Youfu told him that Little Eight couldn’t leave the Happiness Residential Community arbitrarily. Once the eighth deceased left the community, it would immediately attract something. This was the reminder from the former Building Chief.

Unable to leave the community at will, Han Fei had no choice but to find Xu Qin.

"Sis, I want to leave the community and go to the other side of the street. Could you stand in the distance and keep an eye on me?"

"Do you know what lies on the other side of the street?" Xu Qin didn’t immediately agree.

"Is it very dangerous over there?"

"Of course, there’s no place in this city that isn’t dangerous." After pondering for a moment, Xu Qin said, "If you insist on going, I won’t stop you, but you need to pay attention to a few things: First, don’t stay in the open area for more than ten minutes; second, do not speak to anyone; third, if you hear someone calling your name, run back to the community immediately; and fourth, the most important, if you get lost, regardless of what you see, do not believe it. Stay in place and wait, I will come to find you."

"I’ve got it."

"And..." Xu Qin took out the shortest dinner knife from the kitchen and wrapped it in a table mat from atop the dining table. "Keep this knife hidden in your pocket, do not touch it directly with your hands, only take it out when you’re in danger."

"Okay."

The tablecloth on the dining table was made from the skin of Outsiders. After wrapping the dinner knife with their skin, the curse emitted by the dinner knife had much less impact on Han Fei.

After all the preparations, Han Fei and Xu Qin left Building One together and arrived at the entrance of the community.

"From here on out, I have to go alone."

"Remember what I told you and go on."

Pushing open the rusty iron gate of the community, Han Fei looked back. The two dilapidated apartment buildings stood out in the night.

"I’ve played so many games, yet this is the first one that has made me so reluctant to leave the Newbie Village."

In order to log off successfully, Han Fei eventually stepped out of the Happiness Residential Community.

Through the rusty iron gate, Han Fei saw Xu Qin waving at him. Her tongue lightly licked her bright red lips, as if considering which method of cooking Han Fei would be best.

Massaging his temples, Han Fei felt that Xu Qin wouldn’t do such a thing. However, since leaving the community, his mind had begun to generate all kinds of malicious thoughts.

"Stay calm, quickly complete the quest. I can’t linger here for too long."

Remembering the words Xu Qin had said, Han Fei planned to complete the task within five minutes and then quickly return to the community.

"The first step is to find the bowl placed next to the shrine..."

Looking around, Han Fei saw a battered shrine not far from the iron gate of the community, beside the crosswalk.

The shrine was covered with a black cloth, and it was unknown what resided within.

Suppressing his curiosity, Han Fei did not lift the black cloth to check. Instead, he picked up a ceramic bowl placed in front of the shrine.

The bowl was full of cracks yet remained unbroken. It was filled with white rice, and it seemed as if something was written on each grain.

"Take a step and knock on the bowl, but will the bowl shatter from the knocking?"

Handling the porcelain bowl with care, Han Fei had yet to take the first step when suddenly, he heard an old man’s voice.

"Put the bowl down and return from whence you came, quickly."

Turning around, Han Fei saw an old man squatting on the curb at the entrance of the Happiness Residential Community, holding a brazier with a thick stack of paper money in it.

"The crossroads are heavy with dark energy. All sorts of things come and go. If you stand here holding the bowl, soon the Hunger Ghosts will come looking for you!"

The old man nagged once more, seeing that Han Fei wasn’t listening. The old man gave Han Fei the impression that he was concerned for him.

"Don’t disbelieve me. In the past, people used to perform rituals near water mouths, and this road is like water, the crossroads are water mouths, gathering darkness and evil. Heed my advice, put the bowl down quickly, burn some paper money for the shrine, apologize for the intrusion, and perhaps nothing will happen."

After the old man finished speaking, he quietly took out a wrinkled photo from his pocket and placed it into the fire bowl.

Han Fei would not abandon his task just because of what someone said. He took the first step onto the road and then knocked on the bowl.

Startled by the sound of the bowl being knocked, the old man immediately walked towards Han Fei, "Are you calling for souls? Are you trying to deliberately attract them here?"

Han Fei still did not speak. In fact, he had initially thought the old man was good, until the old man put the wrinkled photo into the fire bowl.

Burning paper money at a crossroads is a sign of respect for the deceased, but burning a photograph, especially one of a living person, is completely different.

Lonely Ghosts passing by would think that the person in the photo set to burn alongside the paper money was going to die tonight and that they could possess that person’s body for rebirth.

In addition, during the Manager’s tasks, Han Fei had seen burning fire bowls and photos. In this Underworld world, photos seemed capable of taking away a bit of a person’s soul.

The photo the old man took out was from a long time ago, the faces in the photo were blurred and unclear. Han Fei felt it was very likely that the old man intended to harm him. If he spoke to the old man, his own face would probably appear on that photo.

While the old man warned Han Fei to be careful of the Hunger Ghost, he himself could possibly be a Scapegoat.

Without a word, Han Fei continued forward with a calm, icy gaze.

He took the second step and knocked on the bowl again.

Laughter came from across the road. A little boy in red clothes was holding his sister’s hand and walking towards him.

"Brother, brother, can you bring me and my sister home?" the boy in the red coat blocked Han Fei’s path.

Han Fei gave them a cold glance. He muttered to himself that he could not bring them home, but if he had the chance in the future, he could see to their last rites.

Ignoring all outside distractions, Han Fei took another step forward.

Just as his leg was about to touch the boy, the boy stepped aside, "Brother, brother, my sister and I can’t find our way home, can you come home with us?"

Han Fei did not listen to what the boy was saying. He simply noticed that when he walked forward, the boy had moved out of his way.

Normally, a Ghost would have attacked him like crazy and would not have moved aside on its own.

"Could it be because of the bowl in my hand?"

The more Han Fei thought about it, the more he felt it was possible: "The bowl from in front of the shrine seems to be protecting me, so I don’t need to be too concerned."

The most pressing task was to complete his mission. Han Fei had been so cautious before because he was worried about unexpected occurrences. Now that he had let go of those concerns, he immediately quickened his pace.

With each step, he knocked the bowl, moving very quickly.

"Brother, brother..."

"Don’t go there! Young man! The Hunger Ghost has already come!"

No voice could interfere with Han Fei. He walked step by step forward. But after walking over a dozen steps, he suddenly stopped.

"Why haven’t I reached the end yet?"

Looking ahead, there was a clear bloodstain on the opposite wall. The distance between Han Fei and the other side of the road had not shortened. Instead, the bloodstain was growing more pronounced, barely outlining a human form.

"Young man, come back quickly! This intersection is wicked; there are frequent car accidents. A few days ago, two children were knocked down by a van, and that car ended up stopping on the opposite side of the road."

"Brother, brother, let’s go home together!"

"Living people walking at night, if you go over, you may not be able to come back!"

The noise around him grew increasingly chaotic, but Han Fei, struggling to resist the urge to draw his knife, took a few more steps forward.

He still couldn’t get to the other side of the road, and the voices of the old man and the children were gradually fading away.

"Have those Ghosts finally left?" He turned his head slowly and glanced back with his peripheral vision; Han Fei’s expression changed.

Behind him, Happiness Residential Community had disappeared. What lay behind him was an entirely unfamiliar road.

"Can’t go back?"

Han Fei carefully observed his surroundings. The bloodstain on the wall across the road was growing denser and denser, as if someone was about to crawl out of the wall.

"Staying in an open area for more than ten minutes might attract some unknown terror Monster. But if I walk around aimlessly, I may end up getting farther and farther away from Xu Qin. By now, my senses have probably been obscured by something."

Silently raising his finger, Han Fei felt for the Landlord’s ring. However, the ring remained devoid of any cool sensation.

"From the old man’s appearance, to the children’s emergence, to the disappearance of my way back, the ring has not reacted at all. It seems that the old man and the children were both traps."

Having figured out many things, Han Fei started to browse through his Item Bar, but he did not find anything that would help him break the situation.

"Xu Qin said that if I ever got lost, no matter what I saw, I should not believe it. Now, the most important thing is to not panic. I must hold on until Xu Qin comes." With a decision made, Han Fei felt less anxious. He took out a cigarette from the Landlord’s belongings in his Item Bar, "Panicking is useless. I might as well light a cigarette and calm down a bit."