My ‘Healing’ Game
Chapter 441: A Thousand Good Deeds

Chapter 441: Chapter 441: A Thousand Good Deeds

"Haven’t you seen him? He must still be in this department store!" Security Guard Li Daxing became uncontrollable, clutching his flashlight, moving his body toward Han Fei and Li Long.

"When I went up to the fifth floor, I kept talking to him, but he didn’t respond to me. Yet, I could clearly hear footsteps behind me. He should have been following me the whole time!"

"Why would he disappear then?"

"The footsteps were still there until I turned around, but I couldn’t see him anymore."

Blood seeped from the corner of Li Daxing’s mouth. His lips had been bitten through, and his entire face was frightfully pale.

"We’ve been on the third floor all along, we never went to the fifth floor..." Li Long said coldly, trying to communicate with Li Daxing, but Han Fei interrupted him.

"Don’t go over, didn’t you hear what he just said? The footsteps were still there until he turned around, but his companion had vanished, and he’s sure he can’t see his colleague anymore, which means his companion has been hidden, hidden somewhere nobody can find." Han Fei stared at Li Daxing’s belly, not wanting to think in that direction, but Li Daxing’s actions were too strange.

Hearing Han Fei’s advice, Li Long also looked at Li Daxing’s belly following the direction of Han Fei’s gaze, and he instantly understood what Han Fei meant.

"You think the other security guard was eaten by him?" Scar-faced Li Long stood frozen, then subconsciously started to move away from Han Fei.

Security Guard Li Daxing was acting abnormally, but Han Fei’s idea was also extremely terrifying, this was surely not the way ordinary people solve problems.

Caught between Han Fei and Li Daxing, scars on Li Long’s face twitched slightly. He now realized why the veterans on the streets had forbidden them from messing with this department store.

"I need to find him! You’ve seen him, haven’t you? Tell me where he is? Please tell me! I really need to see him!" Li Daxing’s mouth open, filled with wounds and blood, waved his flashlight charging towards Han Fei. As he was about to reach Han Fei and Li Long, he seemed to suddenly see something, and his expression changed instantly.

"Why have you come back again? Why have you all returned?" Speaking words that nobody could understand, Li Daxing turned and ran deeper into the department store.

With a false scare, Li Long wiped away the cold sweat with his remaining fingers, tonight’s ordeal was indeed too much for a street thug: "Is there anyone normal in this department store?"

No sooner had he spoken, than he turned his head and saw a family of three standing at the entrance of the department store; Li Daxing seemed to have fled upon seeing this family: "When did these three arrive?"

Ding-dong, ding-dong, the sound rang. The family of three seemed unaware of the abnormality inside, and directly entered the secondhand store.

"You stay outside, I’ll go in and welcome the customers," Han Fei left quickly, leaving Li Long standing alone.

Seeing the muddy and wet shoe prints on the ground, this thug looked bewildered. The family of three was soaking wet, as if they had just been dredged from the bottom of a river, their skin pruned and their eyes swollen like those of a goldfish.

"Little friend, we meet again," Han Fei stared at the little boy in front of him, his gaze slowly moving behind him.

Next to the boy, stood a couple, very affectionate, clinging to each other, their bodies as if partly dissolved into one another.

"Uncle, I would like to reclaim my toy."

"I’ve kept it for you all along, just waiting for you to return," Han Fei pulled out a cardboard box from under the counter, all the boy’s toys were inside.

"Thank you, Uncle!" The boy took out several soaked hundred-yuan bills from his father’s pocket, and then pulled a little puppet from his own pocket: "Uncle, this is for you!"

Han Fei hung the soaked money on the counter, he was more interested in the little puppet.

"All right, we are even now." The boy grinned joyously as he hopped and jumped with the box of toys in his arms, while his parents silently followed behind him.

The family of three left "happily," and Han Fei had completed his first deal since coming here.

After recording the transaction, Han Fei stuffed the small puppet left by the boy into his own pocket.

Money was the proof of the transaction and should be given to the boss, while the puppet was the proof of friendship and should be kept for himself; this was called separation of public and private matters.

"What did the boy mean when he said we were even now? Does it mean that once the secondhand goods are sold, the past obsessions can no longer be picked up?"

Ding dong, ding dong...

The store door was opened again, and an elderly person with white hair appeared at the entrance.

Han Fei had seen this old person just last night; she wanted to donate her handmade red sweater, but the package containing the sweater also had a bunch of blood-stained feathers and animal skins.

"Granny?"

Just like last night, the old woman placed the package at the store entrance and then wandered around the store, finally staggering over to the shrine.

"Why do you always come so late? Can you walk home alone at night?" Han Fei always felt that something had happened to the old woman. He carefully stayed by her side. "Granny, the package you brought last time has been cleaned by our staff here."

The old woman turned around woodenly. She looked at Han Fei’s face for a long time, then suddenly raised her arm.

A faint musty smell wafted into Han Fei’s nostrils. As the old woman’s hand drew closer, Han Fei did not dodge.

The hand, rough with calluses, finally stopped beside Han Fei’s face. The old woman’s cloudy eyes brimmed with tears as her mouth opened, seemingly saying a name.

"Granny? What do you want to say?"

Before Han Fei could react, the old woman suddenly lunged at the shrine, trying with all her might to topple it.

"Don’t be impulsive!" Han Fei quickly restrained the old woman. He was much stronger than her, but he dared not use force, fearing he might hurt her.

The old lady said nothing, scratching at the shrine’s nailed-shut door, her face streaked with tears.

She kept making strange noises from her throat, unconcerned even as her fingers bled.

After much effort, Han Fei managed to control her.

He picked up the fallen black cloth and covered the shrine again; only then did the old woman slowly calm down.

"There’s not a single normal person in this store, from the employees to the customers." Li Long stood at the store entrance. He stared at the old lady, hesitant to enter: "I have some memory of this mad old lady, her son used to work at the department store."

"Her son worked here? No, that’s not right. I remember Huang Li mentioned that the old woman had no children."

"I heard that the old woman’s son was one of the earliest employees of the secondhand store. He died in an accident later, and the old woman went mad, always believing her son was trapped inside the shrine and that performing one thousand good deeds could save him." Li Long, who had been around the streets for years, was familiar with these bizarre incidents.

"One thousand good deeds? Where did you hear all this from?" Seeing that the old woman had quieted down, Han Fei let go of her and prepared to get her a cup of hot water.

"The senior on the street, whom we call Brother Snake, had warned us not to mess with your department store. In this city district, you shouldn’t offend the boss of the Department Store," Li Long initially had no fondness for Han Fei, but judging from Han Fei’s attitude toward the elderly and some minor incidents that occurred earlier, Han Fei seemed to be a decent person.

When he borrowed money, he said, "I am a good person," which indeed came from the heart.

As Li Long and Han Fei were talking, the old lady, who had regained her composure, tremblingly walked towards the store exit.

This old woman, who was almost one foot in the coffin, still insisted on doing a good deed every day. At this moment, the outside was completely enveloped by night, yet she didn’t care at all, leaning on her cane, she slowly disappeared into the darkness.

"Can she move freely in the night?" Han Fei frowned slightly. He remembered what Li Long had said, "Is the old woman’s son really locked in the Shrine?"

Han Fei’s mind was full of doubts now. If Li Long wasn’t lying, why was the old woman’s son locked in the Shrine? And how did she know that doing a thousand good deeds would release her child?

"When I lifted the black cloth over the Shrine underground, I heard several voices behind me, men and women, old and young, all were there. Is the old woman’s child among them? They all died because of the Shrine, or rather, they all made some sort of deal with the Shrine. Their souls have already been priced!"

The Shrine in the Secondhand Store was just a decoration. The real Shrine was underground. After Han Fei carefully covered it with the black cloth, he moved a chair and sat by the store entrance.

"There are dangers step by step outside the department store, and it is like a hellish Asura inside the store. Where exactly is the answer in this world?"

Clasping his hands together, Han Fei tried to calm himself, regulate his emotions, and let his mood value quickly recover.

Seeing that Han Fei was gradually returning to normal, Li Long also slightly relaxed.

With great effort, while dressed in a suit, Li Long spread out a newspaper and sat back down at the store entrance. The two of them guarded the door, neither disturbing the other.

"Do you eat sunflower seeds?"

"No, thanks."

At 3:50 in the morning, Han Fei’s mood value finally recovered to fifty points.

He looked outside, and the sky was about to brighten.

"Li Long, I need to go to the hospital. Will you continue to watch the store here, or will you come with me?"

"I’m here to collect a debt. Your request for my opinion makes me feel passive."

"Then come with me; it’s too dangerous here." Han Fei helped Li Long up. Of course, such an outstanding "partner" should not be casually abandoned; good steel must be used on the blade’s edge.

Closing the store door, Han Fei ran toward the hospital following Li Long’s guidance.

The Third People’s Hospital was not too far from here. Additionally, whether it was because the day was about to dawn or because of the little boy’s Puppet, Han Fei did not encounter anything too terrifying.

Upon entering the hospital, he and Li Long immediately saw Li Hu, a fat man in a suit with both hands in plaster cast, looking fierce yet pitiful and helpless. He was the only one in the entire hall.

"How is Huang Li doing?"

"I don’t know, I didn’t quite understand what the Doctor said." Li Hu took Han Fei to find the Doctor, but they were stopped by a Nurse even before entering.

"Which of you is a friend of the patient?" The Nurse, seeing Li Hu tattooed with a descending tiger and Li Long with a scar on his face, felt they weren’t good people and was wary of letting such individuals into the sickroom.

None of the three men responded, until Han Fei finally stepped forward, "I am Huang Li’s colleague. How is she doing?"

"She has basically escaped life-threatening danger, but it seems her brain has received a severe shock, causing her to fall into a deep coma. We can’t guarantee when she will wake up. It could be tomorrow morning, or it might be several weeks from now." The nurse, seeing that Han Fei looked gentle, was happy to converse with him, "Who among you will pay for the medical expenses, ambulance fees, emergency fees, hospital treatment fees, and follow-up treatment costs?"

Hearing that payment was needed, Han Fei also stopped in his tracks, "Can’t you contact her family?"

"We notified the department store manager, but they haven’t arrived yet. According to that manager, Huang Li’s mother passed away early, her father suffers from dementia, and recently she seems to have divorced due to domestic violence. If her ex-husband knows about her coma, not taking care of her would be the least of her worries; not trying to seize everything from her would be a relief."

The nurse’s words reminded Han Fei of something; he had secretly looked through Huang Li’s chat records while borrowing her phone to call the deliveryman’s father.

In Huang Li’s contacts, there was someone labeled as worse than a pig or dog, constantly threatening to kill her entire family.

"Given her condition, should this be considered a work-related injury?" Han Fei asked softly.

"We asked the department store manager, Zhu Wei, who showed us the contract stating that Huang Li had resigned three days ago. She was there because she had to train a newcomer, so she hadn’t left the department store," the nurse was getting impatient, "She might wake up tomorrow morning. Can you prepay the medical fees so that we can start the follow-up treatment soon?"

Normally, payment is made first before any treatment, except in emergencies, but once the condition stabilizes, the hospital surely still charges.

The two thugs consciously stepped back, Han Fei covering his pocket with the freshly borrowed twenty thousand yuan, licked his dry lips, "How much is it approximately?"

"Initial treatment costs three thousand, turn left on the first floor to make a payment."

"Is that just the initial costs?" Han Fei moved his feet, now feeling that everything was too coincidental.

He had just borrowed money from a loan shark, and right then, Huang Li had an accident; he had barely even warmed the money yet.

"Is this that random task selection? Has the Master of Shrine made his choice too?"

The original Master of Shrine was forced to sign the note; under those circumstances, it’s unlikely he would spend his own money to help Huang Li.

"Could it be because the Master of Shrine chose not to help Huang Li, which led to her death? If that’s the case, then the right choice would be to assist Huang Li."

Han Fei briskly moved forward, very decisively paid the money, but he did not hear any system notification.

It was almost dawn, yet there was no progress with the mission.

"Money can save a person’s life, this is a hospital, and the name of the mission is ’Choice’. Besides deciding whether to save Huang Li or not, are there other choices in the hospital? Could it be related to the Master of Shrine’s mother?"

Han Fei frowned deeply, recalling the mission hints carefully.

Seeing Han Fei’s deeply distressed demeanor, the two thugs unusually did not disturb him; they thought Han Fei was heartbroken about the payment, knowing well that his own mother was ill and urgently needed money.

"This guy is really a simple-minded fool; if he didn’t owe us money, maybe we could have become brothers," Li Hu’s grudge dissipated a lot from his eyes. Getting beaten up in a street fight and losing was just a matter of lower skill, no need to hold a grudge, but mainly because he was scared from the beating.

"He is a good person, but he’s so poor that all he has left is kindness."

The three stood at the payment counter, and before long, the hospital’s elevator doors slowly opened, and a man wearing a nurse’s uniform, with a facial tattoo on his neck, slowly walked out.