My ‘Healing’ Game
Chapter 345: The Security Guard Who Has Lived Until Now

Chapter 345: Chapter 345: The Security Guard Who Has Lived Until Now

Han Fei didn’t know the layout of the former Building Chief, and he also wouldn’t completely trust Fu Sheng.

The reason was simple, the path chosen by Han Fei after retrieving the Black Box was different from that of Fu Sheng.

Fu Sheng wanted to completely destroy the Deep World, sealing everything away from reality, while Han Fei aimed to destroy what should be destroyed, and redeem what should be redeemed.

If Fu Sheng was considering issues purely from his own perspective, then Han Fei was looking at things from a standpoint of fairness.

At that time, Han Fei, who was in a state of unconsciousness, followed his instincts and opened two different sides of the Black Box, unleashing the devil while also embracing hope.

No one had ever dared to do what Han Fei did, not even a Building Chief.

It was also because of the choices Han Fei made that he and Fu Sheng were no longer on the same path; perhaps Fu Sheng would try to guide Han Fei now, but at some moment in the future, they would inevitably differ.

That kind of difference wasn’t something that could be resolved by persuasion. Everyone had staked their lives and futures on this, making it very difficult to turn back now.

Han Fei wrapped up his hair with a paper strip. He now dared not return to room 4144 immediately. Fu Sheng’s memory had been fragmented into countless pieces. The Memory Fragments in the Death Building and those in the Happiness Residential Community, though originating from the same person, could form distinct personalities due to different emotions contained within.

Everyone has a dark side to some extent, let alone someone like Fu Sheng, who was chosen by the Black Box. The darkness he suppressed inside was perhaps even more terrifying than the Butterfly.

"Leave the 14th floor first."

Han Fei carried the middle-aged man and entered the hallway, but the woman stopped in place, unmoving.

"Did you notice something?"

"We should take the elevator instead. I have a feeling that if we go down from here, we will die." The woman clutched the fruit knife in her hand, "My intuition is very accurate."

Dim light filtered through the pitch-black hallway. At first glance, it seemed ordinary, but upon closer inspection, the light appeared to draw nearer.

It was as though it was not light at all, but a pair of huge, icy eyeballs.

Han Fei had no time left to hesitate. Every doorplate on the 14th floor bore two fours, making the entire floor a den of ghosts.

Just looking at the Paper Money scattered on the floor gave Han Fei goosebumps; it seemed like all the Owners on this floor were performing Soul-summoning rituals.

As the "light" below slowly approached, Han Fei, with the middle-aged man on his back, arrived on the 13th floor: "Let’s hide here; the 14th floor is too dangerous."

Han Fei quietly closed the safety door, letting the middle-aged man and woman hide behind it while he ventured alone into the corridor.

The 13th floor was slightly more normal, but there were still Paper Money scattered along the hallway, and every household had red couplets posted on their doors. However, the black characters on the couplets were all Curses, and there were various substances smeared on their security doors, along with broken Red Threads and fragments of mirrors.

Soon, Han Fei arrived at the door of room 4134. Before he could turn his head, a chill breeze brushed past his ear!

He whirled around sharply!

Han Fei saw that the door of room 4134 had a security guard uniform smeared with black and red paint pasted on it. The uniform had a huge hole in the chest and abdomen, as if it had been ripped open by hand.

He took a half step back just as the uniform pasted on the door slowly slid down and the door panel creaked open slightly, revealing a man’s voice inside.

"Soul-returning Night is almost here; there can’t be anyone in the hallway. Hurry up and come inside."

"Soul-returning Night?" Han Fei noticed that the man used "you" rather than "you all"; it seemed that he didn’t know of the existence of the woman and the middle-aged man.

"It’s a long story. In short, if you don’t want to die, come inside quickly." The man’s voice was serious, his urging incessant: "If I hadn’t seen you wearing a security guard uniform, I wouldn’t have even thought to save you. Hurry up! I’m taking a big risk here!"

Han Fei was a master of Master-level Acting and couldn’t directly tell if the other was lying, but he could discern if someone was deliberately Acting.

"I have two friends, just outside the door. Can you let them..."

"They’re also security guards? Three living security guards this time? Quick, come over!" The man’s words held surprise, but he still decided to take Han Fei in.

A moment later, Han Fei brought the other two over. Seeing the middle-aged man and woman without security guard uniforms, the occupant inside immediately considered reneging, but Han Fei was too quick. As the man tried to close the door, Han Fei had already jammed it open.

"Are you looking to die?" The man gritted his teeth in anger: "If I had known neither of them was a security guard, I wouldn’t have bothered saving you either!"

Although he spoke fiercely, the man still opened the door.

Once the three of them were inside and the door was shut, heavy footsteps echoed through the external safety passage.

"Shh." The man inside gestured for silence, standing by the door. Everyone remained still, watching him.

The owner of room 4134 was dressed in a clean security guard uniform, but it didn’t fit him well. What puzzled Han Fei even more was the large number of security guard uniforms piled up inside the room, some with holes, others shredded.

Besides the one the owner was wearing, there was hardly a single intact uniform to be found.

Only when the footsteps faded away completely did the resident breathe a sigh of relief, looking as if he had escaped from the jaws of death: "If it hadn’t been for me, you all would be dead by now!"

"What were those footsteps?"

"Never mind what they were. Don’t be curious—curiosity killed the cat," the resident whispered: "Each of you owes me a life. Don’t forget it."

"How come we owe you our lives now?" The middle-aged man was dressed in Blood Clothes, looking horrific enough.

"You want me to throw you out right now? I didn’t even plan to save you in the first place," the resident said, glancing at Han Fei and his security guard uniform now and then as he spoke.

"You seem very interested in the uniform I’m wearing? The room is also full of security guard uniforms. You don’t happen to have a collection obsession, do you?" Han Fei was not polite, thinking about his chances if a conflict really broke out.

"I have no habit of collecting clothes; I’m also a security guard for this building." The man took out his work ID from the uniform, his name was Brother Kui.

"Don’t mock my name. My surname is Hua; my parents aren’t very educated, so they asked a fortune-teller. He named me Kui, meaning the leader, saying that this name could extend my underworld lifespan. My parents thought this was a good omen, so they named me Hua Kui," he said.

"A big guy named Oiran?" The middle-aged man clutching his wounded lower back seemed as though he couldn’t straighten up from laughing.

Unlike the middle-aged man, Han Fei actually thought that the fortune-teller had some real skills.

All the security guards in the building were like flower pots used by the Butterfly to cultivate human pupae, with only those who could blossom the most beautiful "flowers" being kept until the end. In that sense, the name Hua Kui suited the male security guard quite well.

"Hua Kui, how long have you worked here?" Han Fei asked casually.

"Don’t call me so directly. I am your lifesaver, and besides, we aren’t familiar to the point of calling each other by name," the man said irritably. However, his anger dissipated quickly, and the look in his eyes grew complicated as he watched Han Fei and the others as if they were dead men.

"Brother Kui, have you saved many security guards like myself?" Han Fei changed his wording and tone, using Master-level Acting that made every word sound intimate and natural to Hua Kui.

"That doesn’t sound too bad," the man gestured for Han Fei to enter the room. He dared not turn on the light and, after drawing the curtains tight, lit a candle: "Everyone in this building is insane. I entered this building fourteen days ago, and the security guards who came with me have all been taken away by the residents."

"Taken away?"

"Yes, gone without a trace, dead or alive," the man said in a low voice: "Every four days, they hold a special ritual; they call it Soul-returning Night. The whole building goes mad, as if the dead return that night. Anyway, that night is the most terrifying in the building! If it weren’t for finding this room, you probably wouldn’t be seeing me right now."

"During your escape, did any new security guards come in?"

"There were. Whenever I see them, I try my best to save them, but unfortunately, I can’t save them most of the time. At best, I can only bring their uniforms back to this safe room."

The man spoke confidently, thoroughly believing his own words, but Han Fei didn’t believe him.

It wasn’t that the man had deceived him, it was that his memory might only span fourteen days.

This room was filled with countless uniforms, of which the man claimed only a few were picked up by him. Han Fei felt that all the uniforms were retrieved by him; he just didn’t remember it.

Every batch of security guards who came in all died, with crooked flowers blooming in the corresponding flower pots. Only Hua Kui was always able to survive.

In other words, the man had survived, not because he was lucky or because room 4134 was safe, but solely because he met some requirement of the Butterfly.

If someone more suitable than him appeared, the Butterfly would not hesitate to kill him.

"Why do I feel... that this building is even more dangerous than the wardrobe?" The middle-aged man had run out of the wardrobe full of hope, only to face an even more desperate abyss instead of reality.

"You’d better figure out a way to leave tonight. Tomorrow night is another Soul-returning Night. After midnight, you won’t be able to run away..."

Hua Kui had not finished speaking when suddenly a mournful music began to play in the building. Hearing this sound, Hua Kui’s face changed immediately; "This isn’t right. Before, this music only played at the start of Soul-returning Night. Every household would welcome spirits, followed by the most dangerous and terrifying soul returning in the latter half of the night."

"Has it started early?"

"I’m not sure either!" Oiran’s face was filled with tension, and he was becoming incredibly agitated and uneasy.

"The pattern of Soul-returning Night shouldn’t be every four days. It should occur on the fourth of each month, and April fourth must also host one, and that day is likely the most terrifying." Han Fei recalled the calendar he saw at Zhuang Qing’s house, including the dates that were circled. Tomorrow is April fourth, and though Soul-returning Night has not truly arrived, some things have already started to emerge.

"The Soul-returning Nights every four days aren’t the real Soul-returning Nights. They’re just minor disturbances. The real Soul-returning Night should be on April fourth of each year, which is also the day the Building-jumping Ghost and the Female Live-streamer died." Han Fei had always been curious about this date; he was certain that there were more victims on that day than just the Building-jumping Ghost and the Female Live-streamer. "Why does the Butterfly want to kill everyone on the same day? Could it be trying to use everyone’s grudge energy to break through some kind of restraint?"

Mournful music started playing somewhere inside the building, and although it was unclear which floor it came from, Han Fei heard something different in the music—a song mixed in, an Unspeakable entity lurking just outside the building. It couldn’t enter, and it seemed to be searching for Han Fei, floor by floor.

"On Soul-returning Night, will the Butterfly’s true form appear as well?"

Han Fei was also very tired now, but he dared not quit the game. He feared that if he left, the next time he logged on he’d be facing the most horrifying Soul-returning Night directly.

"Zhuang Wen also ran into Building Number Four, but why is there no activity inside? With her crazed state, she definitely should be causing some kind of disturbance!"

"The door plate number of the Building-jumping Ghost’s own room contains two fours. Now that Zhuang Wen has fused all the Fragments, her strength has surged, probably lying somewhere between two fours and three fours."

Han Fei quickly made a plan for himself. The first task was to find Zhuang Wen, followed by finding Feng Ziyu. He had to complete one of these objectives before quitting the game.

"You two stay in this room, and I’ll go outside and take a look." With his passive abilities and Professional Talent, ordinary residents in the building would find it quite difficult to catch up to him.

Quietly leaving room 4134, Han Fei noticed that the atmosphere outside had changed since earlier.

As the mournful music played, the Paper Money in the corridors fluttered in the wind, and on the security doors adorned with red couplets, there was a faint and abrasive sound of nails scratching.

If one got close, they would realize that it wasn’t an Illusion at all—the security doors were slightly twisted, as if they were enduring immense pressure.

Han Fei put away the landlord’s ring, worried that it might crack when confronted with Hatred. The destruction of the item was a minor issue, but revealing his location was a serious matter.

He attempted to communicate with the Big Evil, hoping that it could help warn him of danger.

Within his arm, the Big Evil agreed decisively, which actually made Han Fei a bit worried. He wasn’t sure if the Big Evil understood his intention; it might be too preoccupied with excitement to warn him. By the time a Ghost could have bitten off Han Fei’s head, then the Big Evil might issue a warning.

After all, the danger seen by the Big Evil was different from that seen by normal people—it only wished for Han Fei to be in a near-death, not quite dead state.

"The architectural layout of Building Number Four is similar to that of Building Number One." When Han Fei reached the middle of the corridor, he saw an old elevator. He had never used the elevator inside Building Number One.

The silver-grey elevator doors were covered in random graffiti, which vaguely formed a human face. If one stared at it for too long, it seemed as though they would be sucked into the elevator.

"Better keep my distance from this thing."

Just as Han Fei was about to leave, the numbers on the elevator display suddenly began to change, as if someone was using the elevator to come here.

The mournful music by his ears became clearer, and Han Fei took one last glance at the elevator display before quickly dashing into the safety passage.