My ‘Healing’ Game -
Chapter 402: Reputation? Or Hidden Virtue?
Chapter 402: Chapter 402: Reputation? Or Hidden Virtue?
Han Fei wanted to stop it, he had no interest in building a shrine, but it was already too late.
The god statue on the altar was like a snowman melting in the sunlight. As its size slowly shrank, the cracks on its body repaired themselves, and its face became more and more like Han Fei’s.
The eyes, nose, mouth, the statue in front of him looked almost exactly like Han Fei. The only difference was that the Han Fei in the statue was laughing recklessly.
Han Fei had never shown such a smile in reality, not even the Soul of Evil would laugh so crazily.
"The laughter from the Blood-colored Orphanage deep in my mind is affecting me!"
Han Fei’s feared situation had occurred. The Butterfly had drawn away his three souls, activating the blood-colored memories deep in his mind. Although the Butterfly’s consciousness had dissipated, the memories it had activated had not returned to their previous state.
"Warning! Building a shrine will bring misfortune and disaster! After the shrine is completely destroyed, the player will also suffer permanent severe damage!"
"Warning! Building a shrine requires a large number of items... Forcing it will cause severe damage to the player!"
"Warning! Upon successful establishment of the shrine, players will be perceived by the Unspeakable! Please decide carefully!"
The system’s warnings were not yet over and Han Fei now felt a tingling on his scalp, but he was powerless. "Just a warning? Why won’t it tell me how to stop it!"
After the statue turned into the laughing Han Fei, Han Fei’s life value started to rapidly drain, dropping to just one point.
What was worse, normally the life value would gradually recover on its own, but now any recovery of Han Fei’s life value was immediately devoured by the shrine, perpetually kept at one point.
What did having one point of life mean? A touch from a Fierce Ghost could possibly lead to instant death.
Han Fei stared at the rough wooden spikes on the edge of the shrine and the red ropes scattered everywhere; he now dared not even move.
Due to the Midnight Butcher talent, the lower Han Fei’s life value, the better his physical fitness and the sharper his senses. He could clearly feel the shrine establishing some kind of connection with him.
Seeing the abnormality around Han Fei, all the neighbors consciously surrounded him in the middle, not daring to let anything attack him.
Han Fei wanted to speak up and warn others, but he was unable to speak at that moment; he could only wait quietly for the system prompts.
The old shrine gradually started to change, not much in appearance, but the bizarre inscriptions, spells, and scars on the inner walls all disappeared.
Not a single person dared to make a move; everyone just stood at the center of the Ancestral Hall.
A full hour passed when suddenly the singing from the black coffin in the Ancestral Hall stopped, and faint laughter began to emanate from the shrine.
Everyone present heard the laughter, and it was clearly Han Fei’s laughter, but strangely, it felt completely different to others.
"Player number 0000 please note! As the Protector God of Yimin Street, you have successfully established a shrine for yourself!"
"Han Fei’s Shrine (???):Unknown item."
"Definition of Unknown item: An item that has never appeared in the night or appeared for the first time."
"It is impossible for a Level 15 player to successfully establish a shrine, fitting the definition of an unknown item."
"Shrine-level: Level zero."
"Please upgrade the level of the shrine to Level one as soon as possible. Life value will continue to be consumed until the upgrade is successful."
"Once the shrine is upgraded to Level one, the basic ability of the shrine will be unlocked! Behind every shrine hides a pair of Unspeakable eyes; each shrine has its corresponding Unspeakable ability!"
"Player number 0000 please note! You have successfully unveiled the black cloth of the shrine, gained the recognition of the god statue in the shrine, and unlocked the hidden attribute ’Reputation’!"
"Reputation value: 34."
"A reputation value of one hundred meets the minimum requirements for shrine upgrade!"
"Gaining friendliness from your neighbors can indirectly increase your reputation, increasing the hatred and anger of your neighbors towards you may also likely increase your reputation."
"Player number 0000 please note! You have successfully established a shrine! Unlocked hidden attribute ’Hidden Virtue’!"
"Hidden Virtue (???):80."
"Doing deeds of virtue in secret may possibly increase Hidden Virtue; the shrine can utilize Hidden Virtue for upgrading!"
"Shrine upgrade requires Reputation to reach one hundred and Hidden Virtue to reach one hundred!"
After reading the system prompts, Han Fei was stunned.
The shrine was related to the Unspeakable, and he had unwittingly taken a great step in life, although it seemed to have buried him directly into the nineteenth layer of Hell.
"Life value will continue to be consumed before the shrine upgrade is completed? If I don’t upgrade the shrine to Level one, do I have to maintain this one drop of blood state?"
In this Deep World filled with killers, madmen, and Fierce Ghosts, even with the neighbors’ protection, Han Fei felt completely insecure.
Not to mention, if the Big Evil woke up and brushed against him in excitement, then he would be gone for good.
"It’s better not to see Big Evil before the shrine upgrade is completed."
Holding back his restless heart, Han Fei didn’t even dare to eat the meals prepared by Xu Qin. Xu Qin’s cooking indeed could restore health, but it also contained curses.
Now was not the time to gamble on odds, although Han Fei’s luck had always been fairly good.
"Player number 0000, please note! Level F mission Ancestral Hall Street has been completed! You have exceeded the mission requirements and successfully repaired the shrine! You received a basic reward of three additional skill points!"
"The completion rate exceeded ninety percent, an additional reward has been added—an Ancestral Hall."
"Ancestral Hall (Special Building): The ancestral hall is a place to pay tribute to one’s clan, and your ancestral hall has only you in it."
"Grudges and regrets that enter this hall may increase your Hidden Virtue and Reputation."
The system was supposed to repair the shrine, not establish one. But in a sense, establishing a shrine was also a form of repair, with the only difference being that the god in the shrine was replaced by a person.
"I’ve heard of taking over someone else’s nest before, but I never imagined you could do the same with a shrine?"
Han Fei eyed the version of himself in the shrine; he never imagined he’d be placed on an altar at just over twenty years old.
The feeling was strange and indescribably terrifying. He knew that the person in the shrine was not himself, or at least, not the self he wanted to become.
As he slowly pulled down the black cloth over the shrine, Han Fei turned to the Mirror God in the mirror, "What do you think... I should do now?"
The Mirror God from building one and the Shadow Dog from building two were the earliest residents of Happiness Residential Community, both the most senior and experienced among everyone.
"The shrine has a special significance in this city, logically speaking, you should not have been able to establish your own shrine." The Mirror God squatted in the mirror, Han Fei seeing him close to the mirror’s edge for the first time, his expression grave, "Of course, being able to establish a shrine is a good thing. It paves the way for you to become an Unspeakable being, however..."
"However what?"
"You would definitely have to be thoroughly dead to transform into a Grudge, and then step by step become Unspeakable. Do you think what I’m saying makes sense?"
The words of the Mirror God left Han Fei unable to argue back, and he thought of the previous Building Chief, Fu Sheng.
Fu Sheng had a shrine, but in reality, apart from Fu Sheng’s brother, no one knew of his existence, as if he had already died.
Combining this with what Zhuang Ren had said before, the Chairman of Eternal Life Pharmaceutical had always been alone as a child and had never seen Fu Sheng.
Linking these two clues together led Han Fei to a certain possibility.
Seeing that Han Fei had fallen silent, the Mirror God, perhaps worried about Han Fei, added, "Of course, all shrines possess at least one Unspeakable-level ability. Let’s take good care of the shrine together; it might just give us an extra card to play in saving our lives."
The Mirror God always stayed inside the mirror and rarely came out, but he knew very well about shrines; he must have experienced a lot in the past.
"We can only do this for now." Han Fei did not conceal the conditions for upgrading the shrine; he needed to upgrade the shrine to level one as soon as possible to escape the forced blood loss state.
Sometimes, he felt that the shrines of the Deep World were monsters. Without Hidden Virtue to feed on, they would consume life values to sustain themselves.
The neighbors had all tried interacting with the shrine, but Han Fei’s Hidden Virtue did not increase. This hidden value was not so easily raised.
Ancestral Hall Street lay on the outskirts of the Death Building Area, which was still very dangerous. After discussing, they decided to split into two groups.
The owners of the Death Building continued searching for the whereabouts of the song with a music box.
The neighbors of Happiness Residential Community would first escort Han Fei back to the Death Building, ensuring his safety.
The reason they chose the Death Building over the Happiness Residential Community was firstly because the Death Building was closer, and secondly, because there was another player "exploring a hidden map" inside the Death Building, and Han Fei needed to ensure their safety.
Without meeting with Big Evil, Han Fei began trying to enhance the two newly unlocked hidden attributes within the Death Building.
Speaking heart-to-heart with each Death Building owner, long illness becoming a doctor, Han Fei leveraged his accumulated experience in psychological treatment to delve into the hearts of the owners, feeling their despair and understanding their obsessions.
In the process of these conversations, Han Fei was indeed moved by the past of these fierce ghosts and genuinely wanted to help them fulfill their last wishes.
Communication, guidance, promises—Han Fei felt less like a player entering the Deep World and more like a traveler walking through a maze of despair. He tried to rescue the "monsters" sunken in the maze, helping those "monsters" find their original pure selves.
Han Fei spent eight hours thoroughly understanding the pasts of all the surviving owners, including why the businessman was so greedy, the unspoken thoughts of Red Skirt before her death, and those who silently left in the corners of real life from the death chat group.
He memorized everyone’s past without missing a detail; he would be the last trace of those people’s existence in reality.
In eight hours, Han Fei’s Hidden Virtue increased by two points, now at 82. As for why it increased, he still could not figure it out.
"Hidden Virtue refers to doing good deeds in the Mortal World, the merit recorded in the ledger of the Underworld. Is this suggesting that I should do more good deeds in reality?"
Helping the victims’ families was a good deed, catching the real culprit to avenge the victims was also a good thing. Han Fei reflected on his life, and if that was the case, most of his Hidden Virtue should be tied to solving crimes.
"I’ll know once I try it in reality." After instructing everyone, Han Fei chose a safe room and logged out of the game.
As his consciousness ascended in the blood-congealed city, he could distinctly feel a blood silk connecting his chest to the shrine on Ancestral Hall Street.
Looking into the distance, within a building adjacent to the Death Building Area, the song cradled an old man’s head, silently watching him.
"What does this mean? Does the song want to lure me over in this manner? What exactly does it want to do?"
Opening his eyes, Han Fei took off the game helmet, but his mind was still consumed by the last look in the song’s eyes.
"Was he crying?"
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