My ‘Healing’ Game
Chapter 426: The Second Choice (Happy Mid-Autumn Festival)

Chapter 426: Chapter 426: The Second Choice (Happy Mid-Autumn Festival)

The owners of Happiness Residential Community had just stepped out of the Plastic Surgery Hospital Area when the building they had just left was enveloped by a layer of black curse. The densely packed curse words spread over the building like moss, devouring all the traces they had left behind.

After dealing with the residual Dark Fiend Energy from the Fierce Ghost, that strange curse followed closely behind the group, keeping a distance that was neither too far nor too close.

They moved along a lightless path in the labyrinth of alleyways. If it hadn’t been for Han Fei, who had seen the map of the previous Building Chief, they would have had no idea that a passage lay hidden here.

The owners from Happiness Residential Community and Death Building hurried along, the closer they got to the Death Building Area, the safer they were.

As the group gradually began to relax, the Mirror God furrowed his brows and kept urging everyone to move faster.

Just as they were about to enter the Death Building Area, the Mirror God, sealed in the mirror, suddenly shouted loudly, "Stop!"

The swift-moving shadows all halted in the alleyway and looked ahead.

At the exit of the alley, there was an old man’s severed head.

His gray and white hair clung to his face, and the old man’s eyes were open, his gaze fixed on Han Fei in Xu Qin’s arms.

Seeing the old man’s head, all the owners from Happiness Residential Community had odd expressions on their faces; they were all too familiar with that face, having lived in the same community as the man it belonged to for nearly ten years!

"Fu Sheng?" Xu Qin’s lips, smeared with blood, parted slightly as she whispered a name.

What’s noteworthy is that she no longer referred to him as the Building Chief, for in the eyes of all the residents of Happiness Residential Community, the only person now worthy of being called Building Chief was Han Fei.

The old man’s eyelids struggled to blink; he was incredibly weak, and his gaze invoked pity.

"Do you know him?" Ha Ha broke into a cold sweat at the sight of the old man’s head. He knew that Butterfly had, to prevent the resurrection of the Death Building Manager, torn the latter into countless pieces and suppressed them in different God Statues. The old man’s head was the consciousness that had coalesced from those statues.

"Don’t be drawn in by him! Watch your back!" The Mirror God changed completely after seeing the old man; he became anxious and hypersensitive. It seemed he knew something about Fu Sheng’s past and therefore had an innate fear of him.

Hearing the Mirror God’s warning, only then did everyone realize that the alley behind them was already completely covered by the curse, all light devoured by it. In that profound darkness stood a blurry figure of flesh and blood.

He had no tangible form, ephemeral and intangible, as if he were merely a soul-summoning song of the mortal world. As long as someone sang this song in the night, he would never disappear.

A faint singing voice arose beside everyone’s ears, but the source of the song did not come from behind; instead, it emanated from within Han Fei’s clothes.

Xu Qin lifted Han Fei’s outer garment, and an old music box fell to the ground. The words carved on the box were like the point of a knife, piercing into the eyes of all those present.

"The music box in the black coffin? How did the Building Chief manage to bring this thing out?"

"The music box hides a persistent obsession with the song it plays. The soul-summoning song it contains has an unspeakable aura. Han Fei carried it with him to play the part more convincingly," Mirror God said, staring at the head not far away. He understood everything in a flash, it all seemed to have been part of Fu Sheng’s plan.

He left behind his broken shrine and the music box, then fled Ancestral Hall Street to take refuge.

As long as Han Fei was greedy enough to want to take over the shrine, or as long as he got close to it, everything that followed would be triggered.

To establish a shrine, one must be remembered by more people. He knew that Han Fei would definitely leave the Death Building Area after establishing the shrine, and even if Han Fei didn’t want to leave, he would be forced out by certain things.

And the map that Han Fei had was the one he had left behind in the Happiness Residential Community, so Han Fei was likely to take this little-known "shortcut" from here.

They had just escaped from the clutches of hatred, only to encounter the unspeakable song. Everyone felt uneasy, not knowing how much strength the song had regained.

"I am the manager of the Death Building, and I am still the manager of the Happiness Residential Community. All the shrines in that area were left by me. Although I am dead, my memory is still etched in your hearts," the old man’s mouth opened slightly, his voice almost blown away by the night wind.

What once was an unspeakable and lofty presence, now reduced to an old, wrinkled head.

"You once wanted to kill everyone," Mirror God said, enunciating each word carefully as he looked at the distant head.

The old man’s head didn’t argue, but instead weakly raised his eyes to look at Han Fei: "Hand him over to me, you can’t save him. His soul is already in tatters, and even if he could be restored in the Deep World, that would no longer be his true self."

"Living people using abilities granted by shrines consume their souls and wills. You knew all this from the start! You deliberately made him inherit that shrine!" Mirror God said coldly, his gaze toward the old man through the mirror showing only indifference. Fu Sheng had never trusted anyone; in a sense, he was a kind person, but Mirror God didn’t like him.

"I never forced him to make any choices. Every path he took was of his own choosing, including at the very beginning..." The old man’s head spoke softer and softer, "I know you want to protect him, but now I am the only one who can save him. Your only choice is to hand him over to me."

The head had no intention of fighting with the crowd. He had avoided this option from the very beginning when he set up the plan.

No matter how much the old man pleaded, the people of the Happiness Residential Community had no intention of handing over Han Fei, and they all firmly protected him. Seeing their resolute stance, the old man’s gaze grew complicated.

"I have known some of you for nearly ten years. Can’t ten years of companionship outweigh these few months?"

The song cut off their retreat, and the old man’s head blocked their advance, leaving the atmosphere heavy in this unknown alley.

"Alright, I think I know the answer now. Perhaps I chose the wrong path from the start." The old man managed a slight, bitter smile on his face, "You must have noticed, he’s a living person. His skin has warmth; his heart beats strongly. He’s different from you all; even deep bonds and attachments can’t change this fact."

The old man paused before deciding to say what came next reluctantly, "Both he and I come from where the sun rises. We were fortunate to have seen what hope looks like, and that’s why we value everything there so much more. The decision I made to kill everyone was also for that last bit of hope. His soul isn’t whole yet; perhaps one day he’ll make the same decision I did."

"At least for now, he’s not the same person as you," the Mirror God said coldly. "I don’t know how many Memory Fragments your memory has shattered into, but if you dare to destroy our last hope, we will certainly obliterate every single one of your Memory Fragments!"

"Did he also agree to help you find a substitute? Why did you not believe me when I made the same promise to you, yet now you trust him?" The old man’s head, representing another Fragment of Fu Sheng’s memory, differed in personality, temper, and memory from the previous fragments.

"You must remember Ying Yue from the eighth floor. You clearly had the ability to help her, but you refused on the grounds that Soul-summoning should not harm the living," the Mirror God noted, seeing Ying Yue beside him. The blind girl who lost her eyes stood in front of Xu Qin, the little girl protectively lingering close to Han Fei.

"Killing the living with Soul-summoning, hands stained with fresh blood, how is such a person any different from those malevolent ghosts in the Deep World?" The old man had his own principles. He had exhausted everything to change the Deep World but ultimately found that he had managed only to remain unchanged by it in the end.

"Then continue to be your own kind of person!" The Mirror God slammed the mirror surface, making cracks appear on it. His anger was evident, yet he couldn’t leave the mirror.

The negotiation fell apart, and it seemed the old man had long anticipated this outcome. He looked at Han Fei, protected in the center by the Owners, a trace of worry in his eyes, and a deeply hidden envy as well.

"I will not lay a hand on you, and I can promise you that I will never harm him," the old man said, his tone softening. "I was the one who sent him here, the one who gave him my Shrine. He is my last hope. How could I possibly harm him?"

"His spiritual wounds and consciousness will become gravely injured, have you not noticed his body temperature dropping continuously? If this drags on, he will be left here forever, becoming a ghost just like you," the old man’s cloudy eyes surveyed everyone. "None of you would want to see our last hope destroyed, nor would you wish to see Han Fei fall into the same despair as yourselves, right?"

Mortals utilizing the abilities granted by the Shrine can’t sustain it physically. The Owners of the Happiness Residential Community and the Death Building did not know how to heal Han Fei. The only option left before them was to trust the Memory Fragment of Fu Sheng.

This was planned by Fu Sheng; even a small piece of his memory could set a perfect trap. This also showed how terrifying the complete Fu Sheng had been.

Yet, even such a man had ultimately failed.

As they watched Han Fei’s body temperature drop continuously and the Flower of Soul withering, the people had no choice but to believe in Fu Sheng.

"I won’t do anything to him, I just want him to make a choice." The old man gestured for Xu Qin to carry Han Fei into a room in the old mansion, then he asked everyone else to leave the room.

In the empty room, only the old man’s head and the unconscious Han Fei remained.

"Actually, there are many things I couldn’t discuss with them. If there were other choices, if there was still another hope, who would willingly become a madman destroying the world?"

The old man looked at the unconscious Han Fei, his head making contact with the back of Han Fei’s head.

Fu Sheng’s Memory Fragment, upon touching Han Fei, began to fade away, using his own consciousness to fill the gaps in Han Fei’s soul.

"No matter what choice you make this time, I hope you will succeed. I can help you now, but further ahead, you might have to face those true darknesses on your own."

As the old man’s head began to fade away, Han Fei, who had been unconscious, opened his eyes. Yet he remained in an unconscious state, similar to when he completed his first task as Manager, dazed and only able to make decisions by instinct.

"Alright, you can start making your second choice now!"

Hidden inside Han Fei’s body was a Black Box, which now lay exposed in the gap in his consciousness. Fu Sheng beckoned it forth, then watched Han Fei expectantly.

The black box symbolized both destruction and redemption, continuously opening it would reveal what lay hidden at its core!

The Black Box represented all secrets, concealed the whole truth, and even Fu Sheng didn’t know what was inside.

Completely unconscious, Han Fei raised his arm. Having undergone life and death crises in the Deep World, it had been a long time since he was a Building Chief. By now, he had grown accustomed to the Deep World, understanding it more deeply.

His left hand rested on the edge of the Black Box, and then Han Fei’s right hand grasped the other side of the box. Just like the first time, he opened both redemption and destruction simultaneously.

Inside the opened Black Box was another black box, no different, beyond Han Fei’s reach at the core.

However, as the outer box opened, a mix of Death Intent and vitality entwined, pouring into Han Fei’s consciousness and soul. His injuries began to heal quickly, and his consciousness and soul became much stronger than that of an ordinary person.

"Having seen so much cruelty and lunacy, after living through the Butterfly’s torture and maltreatment of the living, why would you make such a choice?"

The old man expressed disappointment in his words. He sighed softly, but in the last moment of his head’s dissipation, he still blessed Han Fei, "The path you’ve chosen is incredibly challenging. I hope you can go farther than I did."

Fu Sheng’s second Memory Fragment completely disappeared, having used all its power to repair Han Fei’s consciousness.

As Han Fei regained his senses, the old man’s head also vanished, everything repeating just like in the ninth floor of the Happiness Residential Community.

Getting up from the bed, Han Fei could distinctly feel his consciousness had grown stronger, his Brain Sea had expanded immensely, now encompassing the Blood-colored Orphanage.

"Attention Player Number 0000! Unspeakable Song reduces your hatred value by five, current hatred value is ninety-five! When the hatred value reaches zero, you will have an opportunity to raise its friendliness."

"Attention Player Number 0000! You have gained complete control over your Shrine, and can force Soul Fog to appear by consuming Life Value, deducting one Life Value per second!"

"Attention Player Number 0000! Congratulations on receiving the first Unspeakable Blessing! Brain Power permanently increased by one! A random negative status has been removed!"

System notification echoes in his ears, Han Fei came back to his senses. "Did Fu Sheng’s Memory Fragment just appear?"

He opened the door and stepped out; Gesheng was nowhere to be seen, leaving only the neighbors of the Happiness Residential Community outside.