My ‘Healing’ Game
Chapter 366: Retrieving the Soul of Childhood (4000)

Chapter 366: Chapter 366: Retrieving the Soul of Childhood (4000)

Laisheng could never open his bedroom door, but it opened on its own when his life was in danger.

What stepped out was his father, who had transformed into a monster.

The man seemed afraid of being seen by Laisheng in his current state; he had been hiding, but when a hand marked with the Death Curse was about to touch his child, he let go of all his reservations.

Even if he were to be feared and loathed by his own child, he had to intervene.

The only eyes that retained sanity showed a trace of pain; he felt utterly useless, unable to even craft a beautiful hope for his child.

But unexpectedly, Laisheng immediately recognized him despite his monstrous form. There was no fear in the child’s words, as if no matter what he turned into, he was still the father in the child’s eyes.

His lips sewn shut by the Death Curse, the man struggled to open his mouth, but this action merely caused the curse on his face to spread even further.

Unable to speak, as if an invisible wall stood between him and his child, both made tremendous efforts to break it, to no avail.

"You really came back, Mom didn’t lie to me! She also said that if I didn’t sleep, I wouldn’t be able to see you..." The little boy spoke and his eyes reddened; only in front of his father could he drop his pretense of strength. In that moment, his grievances and longing burst forth, and the little fellow burst into tears; for a child, the Deep World was still too terrifying.

Laisheng wanted to approach his father, but the father, now a monster, dared not touch Laisheng, his body written with the Death Curse billowing out like a massive shadow, exuding black mist from the bedroom.

The Red-clad Monster did not expect that there was a Soul Chaser hiding in the bedroom; moreover, instead of capturing souls, the other was hindering it.

The eyes scribbled with black text rotated in confusion, followed by a fist filled with Death Intent that heavily smashed into its face!

The entire face caved inward; the flesh and Death Curses mixed, sinking deep into the skull.

Laisheng’s father was like a robust tree, his roots sprawling throughout room 4064, causing the whole room’s shadows to shift with his movements.

As the room lights flickered, the man had already appeared behind the Red-clad Monster; his five fingers gripped the monster’s head, lifting it high before slamming it forcefully onto the ground.

Grabbing the wrist of the Red-clad Monster, the man crushed its arm and dragged it into the room.

The man was intent on killing; the script of Death Intent on his body pierced into him like needles, seemingly a warning to the Soul Chaser.

Pain and torment did not alter the man’s resolve; one eye continuously produced a black curse, while the other eye reflected Laisheng’s figure.

The little boy still stood in place, unaware that his small self was the only light for his father in the Deep World.

The door closed, and sounds of tearing and smashing echoed through the corridor, as if a bag full of items was being shredded bit by bit.

Several minutes later, when the mournful music once again arose on the sixth floor, the man returned to room 4064.

Enraged, frantic, emanating a dense Death Intent, but in this monster’s left eye, there was a hint of tender gentleness.

His mouth was sewn shut and his ears were blocked by the Death Curse, so he couldn’t communicate with his child, nor could he clearly hear his child’s words, but he could still feel Laisheng’s emotions.

Blood oozed from his lips, and the man struggled to open his mouth, the black threads filled with curses stretching apart. He seemed to be trying to call out the child’s name, but even this simple act was beyond his reach.

The light inside the room dimmed, the man seemed to be a shadow himself, his presence swallowing up the light.

Father and son met in the Death Building, the Soul-summoning Ghost, meeting again the child he couldn’t bear to part with.

Laisheng reached out to the man, he had become very strong, yet he was still a child.

Seeing Laisheng’s pitiful appearance, even Han Fei, an outsider, wanted to embrace him, let alone Laisheng’s biological parents.

The man’s hand gently lifted, but as Laisheng approached, he put his hand down and even stepped back.

He didn’t want his child to see such an ugly version of himself. If possible, he wanted the boy to retain the past impressions of him.

"Sigh." The bedroom door slowly opened, and a woman, her body tightly wrapped, stood at the doorway, her eyes tender yet sorrowful as she looked at the father and son in the living room, "Laisheng, don’t go any further."

The boy did not listen to his mother and insisted on moving forward.

"Laisheng! Stop!" The woman’s voice grew stern, but she dared not get closer to Laisheng.

Looking at the woman’s hands hidden in her long sleeves, Han Fei seemed to understand something. He walked up to Laisheng and gently stopped him, "I think it’s better to tell the child the truth, even if tonight is just a ’dream’ for him."

Laisheng burst into tears, finally acting like a typical child in front of his parents.

The woman in the bedroom and the man who had turned into a Monster both gazed at Han Fei for a long time. Finally, the mother spoke up, "I know where your lost soul is hidden, I can hand it over to you, but I hope you can help us with one thing."

"What is it?"

"Take Laisheng away."

Hearing his own mother say this, Laisheng’s face showed an incredulous look, his mother, who loved him most, actually uttered such words!

Standing in the middle of the living room, tiny body trembling, Laisheng wiped the tears from his face, now helpless and heartbreakingly vulnerable.

"Laisheng, mom lied to you." She looked at the incessantly crying Laisheng, her face full of anguish, "Dad left your world long ago, I always felt I could take care of you, I swore to give you double the love, to make you the happiest child, and your memory stayed here. But you forgot what happened later, I fell sick, you stayed by my sickbed, accompanying me, but in the end, I still left."

"I..."

"Without mom and dad, we really couldn’t let go of you. That obsession was used by others, that’s why you ended up here. All the Soul-summoning Ceremonies were prepared for you."

The woman spoke, lifting her sleeve, the Death Curse spread like an indelible mold on her arm, "We thought by turning into monsters ourselves, we might get the chance to see you again, but when you arrived, we realized, it was really after you."

"Is it referring to the Death Building Manager? Even using children, is this still human?" Han Fei really hoped this couple could help him, and he had already started paving the way.

"It’s not human, not even an animal, it’s a true devil, representing the ultimate form of evil." The woman was also turning into a monster, but she wasn’t worried about herself at all. Her eyes were only on Laisheng: "Our deaths were not accidental. All coincidences were just its methods to kill us, all to drag Laisheng into the Death Building."

"Knowing that doing this would harm Laisheng, you still chose soul-summoning for your own one-sided longing?" Han Fei probed.

The woman gave a tragic smile: "The child’s father has become a senseless monster, my memories were tampered with, and I once mistook this place for reality, thinking I hadn’t died. Not until the soul-summoning ceremony succeeded, until I personally summoned my own child to this filthy and terrifying world, did the memories that the Manager had altered in my brain sea restore."

Her fingers were tightly clasped together, already turning white: "It did this on purpose. It wanted me to clearly realize that I was indeed the murderer of my own child."

Leaning against the door frame, the woman had lost her strength, the mere thought of personally killing the person she loved and longed for most, enduring pain and torment.

"The Death Building Manager utterly detests anything good in human nature, it desperately manipulates humanity, torturing the living, seemingly to prove the fragility of human nature. This also exposes its own weaknesses, for it has never received love or help from anyone." Han Fei knew about some things the Butterfly had done, and for such a thing, no sympathy or understanding were necessary.

Since it does not believe in the goodness in humanity, then simply show it the most terrible side of human nature, letting it die the most miserable death.

While Han Fei and the woman were talking, the boy kept struggling, not understanding why, on a day that was supposed to be about family reunion, his father and mother were in such pain.

Seeing the Death Curse also starting to appear on his mother’s face, Laisheng became frantic. He pleaded with Han Fei to let go, begged his parents not to leave, pleaded with all the adults present, but his pleas were destined to be unheeded.

"Why are you doing this? Didn’t you say adults never lie to children? I’m not afraid of you turning into monsters, I’m not afraid of turning into a monster myself, as long as we are together, that’s fine."

Even if this is a nightmare, as long as everyone is here, he would rather keep dreaming it.

The summoned souls would forget they were just souls, still following some old memories and habits; it was his purest self at this time.

"Laisheng, although your mom and dad can no longer hug you, we will always be with you. We’ll become the wind, turn into the rain, become a certain pine tree on a tree, the occasional bird flying across the sky. We will always be with you."

"You’re lying to me, you’re lying to me again!"

"With only three hours left until 4:44, Laisheng, it’s time for you to leave. Being able to see you on this last day is already our fortune," the woman said, not delaying any longer. She signaled Han Fei to let go.

The moment Han Fei released his hold, the boy rushed toward his mother. He ran very fast, as if a step slow, the mom in front of him would vanish like foam.

The small body ran toward his mother, but it couldn’t close the distance between them.

Passing by the mirror next to the sofa, the silen father took out the colored photo behind the funeral picture, looked at his child, and tore the photo personally.

Pieces of paper fluttered down, large shadows poured out from the living room’s central mirror, and the entire room 4064 completely transformed.

Mold and dust covered all the furniture, the ceiling cracked inch by inch, dark energy overflowed, the floor was scattered with paper money, and the room was filled with lit soul-guiding candles.

This was the original appearance of room 4064.

After the shadows had dispersed throughout the room, they surged towards Laisheng.

As one soul-guiding candle after another was extinguished, Laisheng’s consciousness gradually became blurred.

A moment later, the shadows dissipated, and a boy lay on the sofa, gently enveloped in dark energy, sleeping soundly.

"There’s no time left; you must leave with him as soon as possible," the woman, whose neck was also starting to show signs of the Death Curse, said, unconcerned, her gaze fixed on the child on the sofa, "If you can’t leave by 4:44 AM tonight, I fear you may never be able to leave."

Before losing his own soul, Han Fei couldn’t see the Soul Chaser with his eyes, but just now, both he and Laisheng could clearly see what the Soul Chaser looked like, indicating that Laisheng, like him, was on the brink of death, with one foot already in the coffin.

"Will the Manager perform the soul-returning at 4:44?" Han Fei was well aware of the significance of this time, perhaps he could meet the true form of Butterfly tonight.

"Yes, you’d better find a way to leave while it’s still away. Once it returns, all of our eyes will become its eyes, our ears its ears, and our love for Laisheng will become the knife that kills Laisheng," the woman’s face continued to deteriorate.

"We used to not dare leave because, in this building, without our protection, Laisheng would surely die. It exploited this, so it let our family reunite here."

"But now, we are fortunate to have met you in the Death Building. I will return your soul to you, and I hope you can fulfill our promise and take Laisheng back with you."

"I really liked what you once said, and now it is also time for us to hand life over to Laisheng."

"Leaving him is our last act of love."

After saying this, the woman slowly walked over to the sofa. Before the Death Curse completely engulfed her face, she gently kissed the boy’s cheek.

"Daddy and Mommy didn’t lie to you; we truly love you."

The Death Curse crept over her lips, and the woman no longer suppressed it, allowing it to fully take over her face uncontrollably.

Blood seeping from her skin stained her clothes red. With her last rational breath, she said, "The Residual Soul containing many of your childhood memories has entered Laisheng’s consciousness. We couldn’t stop it in time, in fact, the Laisheng just now wasn’t purely him; he also had part of your personality."

"My Residual Soul entered Laisheng’s consciousness?" Han Fei was waiting to retrieve his own Residual Soul, but was taken aback by the woman’s revelation.

"Memories from different periods of your life, which are missing in your soul, are likely drawn into others’ consciousness. I don’t know whether this was planned by the Manager or because your soul is special," the woman’s voice faltered; her body was gradually transforming into a Soul Chaser.

"To find all the Residual Souls, you need to find the matching living people and then lead them out together." The woman’s head slowly drooped, the veins in her skin becoming starkly visible. When she lifted her face again, her delicate features were completely overtaken by the dense Death Curse.

Before Han Fei could speak, the woman had lost her sanity. Her sharp fingers pierced towards Han Fei’s chest.

Just as Han Fei was about to be stabbed, the shadows in the room protected him.

His father, with only one eye remaining lucid, stood in front of Han Fei. He embraced his wife, who had also transformed into a Soul Chaser, and remained silent.