My ‘Healing’ Game
Chapter 444 Trapped Beast (Thanks to the Silver Alliance of the "casual reader is okay")

Chapter 444: Chapter 444 Trapped Beast (Thanks to the Silver Alliance of the "casual reader is okay")

"These people are too arrogant, I really want to give them a taste of their own medicine!" Li Hu clenched his teeth, a fire burning in his heart.

Just now, when those thugs had walked past them, they did not regard Li Hu and his brother at all, with one even spitting on the ground right in front of them.

"Don’t get involved. We’ve already left West City, let’s not mix ourselves into this again." Li Long was very clear-headed, yet his complexion was poor, and his eyes were filled with a cold light.

"What’s the background of that group? They all look quite young." Han Fei, who was hiding behind them, spoke up. Just by looking at his innocent and simple face, no one could guess his true thoughts.

"Before, West City was Brother Snake’s territory. The Department Store boss decided to build a department store here because the land was very cheap. He gathered a group of people, handing out flyers by day and pretending to be us at night to violently drive away vagrants and demolish the homes of holdouts. Brother Snake was furious when he found out, thinking the Department Store boss had broken the rules and started a ruthless fight with him. In the end, most of Brother Snake’s disciples were crippled, but the Department Store boss also gave up on getting this area of West City." Brother Long recalled the past events, "That had a huge impact on West City. It wasn’t this poor in the past, at least on the surface, it seemed quite prosperous.

"The Department Store boss built his department store elsewhere, but the thugs he had gathered stayed in the West City District. Those guys have no principles and would do anything for money." Li Long sighed softly, "The world has declined, and I quite miss the times when I worked under Brother Snake. Back then, I was still young. I never expected that in a blink of an eye, I would already be in my thirties."

"Have you seen the man leading them before?" Han Fei interrupted Li Long’s reminiscence, dragging him back to reality.

"He looks familiar, but when I think about it carefully, I don’t really remember him." Li Long gestured with his hand, "Let’s go, we’ll see Brother Snake and talk while we walk."

Li Long walked ahead, while Li Hu quietly moved closer to Han Fei, "Are you so concerned about that man because you want to take him down?"

Li Hu was just joking, as he didn’t really think Han Fei would do such a thing.

"No, I’m just thinking about all the children in their group, only seventeen or eighteen years old, probably underage." Han Fei shook his head slightly, "Their future is a blank canvas, it shouldn’t be tainted black straight away."

"What do you mean?" Li Hu was taken aback.

"I want to lead those underage kids onto the right path and prevent them from continuing this aimless life." Han Fei tapped Li Hu’s shoulder, "When we see Brother Snake later, speak well of me. We’ll figure out a way together to drive those bastards out of West City."

"It’s too difficult, those guys won’t leave easily."

"If they don’t want to leave, then they can stay here forever." Han Fei’s voice was very low, audible only to himself.

West City was the most chaotic district, making it extremely convenient to take action without drawing too much attention.

"Ten fingers come in, but I wonder how many will remain when they leave."

Walking through the intricate alleys for a long time, the view suddenly opened up, and Li Long led Han Fei to a relatively bustling street.

"Come with me."

Li Long and Li Hu, the two brothers, entered a teahouse where the male waiter at the counter became very friendly upon seeing Li Long, leading them directly to the second floor.

"Brother Snake is listening to music. Would you like to have tea and wait or go directly over?"

The male waiter’s words carried an undertone, and after hearing it, Li Long cast a glance at Han Fei before saying, "Let’s go over now, we’re in a bit of a hurry."

The door to the private room was opened, and the three of them, including Han Fei, entered. This was also Han Fei’s first time meeting Brother Snake.

Unlike the fierce gang leaders one might imagine, Brother Snake was an elderly man, dressed simply, listening to tunes, sipping tea, and with books like The Book of Changes on his table.

"Didn’t I tell you two not to come back to the West City District?" the old man said without lifting his head, his voice authoritative and commanding. As soon as he spoke, Li Long and Li Hu hardly dared to speak.

"Brother Snake, we came back mainly to find someone in West City," Li Long hesitated for a long time before organizing his words, "This kid’s mother fell ill, and their family had raised the money for treatment, but his father stole it."

The old man still didn’t look up and continued to drink his tea.

"Now he’s borrowed money from us, and if we can find his father, he should be able to pay us back," Li Long said, pushing through with what he had to say.

"Are you done?" The old man put down his tea cup, "Do you really think that after his father took the money into the West City District, he could keep it safe?"

"We have to try..."

"West City has changed from before," Brother Snake said, flipping through a book on the table, "Now in West City, I don’t call the shots anymore."

Li Long and Li Hu stood there dumbfounded, until the waiter they had encountered earlier came to break the ice, "Some time ago, two madmen came to West City, one called Seven Fingers, the other Eight Fingers. They gathered a large gang of riffraff and outlaws, disregarding rules, causing trouble everywhere. Several of our peripheral stores have already been smashed by them."

"Such an uproar? What do they want to do?" Li Long was startled.

"Those two madmen don’t fear pain, and their physical strength is outrageously good; even if a knife pierced through their arms, it doesn’t affect their speed at all. They don’t show any clear purpose, and when they fight, they mainly torture people. Any of our brothers who fell into their hands, if not dead, would be skinned alive." The waiter had thought Li Long and Li Hu had come back to help, but now he was somewhat disappointed, "You shouldn’t have come back."

No matter what the two brothers said, Brother Snake was not prepared to help. As they were about to give up, a commotion suddenly arose from outside the teahouse.

The waiter ran down to check and soon hurried back up, bringing Han Fei and two others into the room next door.

Footsteps sounded in the corridor, and four or five people entered the room where Brother Snake was.

The private room of the teahouse had good soundproofing, and Han Fei couldn’t hear what was being discussed on the other side.

After about five or six minutes, Han Fei’s "Brain Sea" suddenly received a system notification: "Player number 0000 please pay attention! You have successfully triggered the Shrine Random Task—Beast Trapping."

"Beast Trapping (Shrine Random Task): The person locked in the cage has turned into a beast."

"Task requirement: Do not get locked in a basement without lights."

The sudden task reminder made Han Fei wary. He hadn’t done anything, but the task was triggered, which could only mean that something bad was happening around him.

"You two watch out and protect yourselves," Han Fei advised Li Long and Li Hu before he could finish, the door to the private room was opened.

The male waiter entered the room, giving Han Fei a sympathetic glance before instructing the three to go to Brother Snake’s room.

The air was filled with the fragrance of tea; the tea cup on Brother Snake’s table had been overturned, and tea had splashed all over the floor, but no one in the room cared.

"Is he the one we’re looking for?" a man in his fifties asked, looking at Han Fei as he touched the pox marks on his face, his gaze dark, "Didn’t expect to find the person here, good. Saves me a second trip, just hand over both the goods and the person."

"What is it?" Li Long and Li Hu’s eyes were full of confusion.

But Brother Snake spoke up at this moment, "Does this young man owe you money?"

"Yes."

"Give the IOU to Wang Quan, and from now on that debt is no longer your concern." Brother Snake seemed to have struck some deal with Pox-faced, who took Han Fei and the IOU away, while Brother Snake would also get some compensation.

Hearing Brother Snake’s words, Li Long hesitated, sensing that something was off, "There’s no IOU, it was a verbal agreement."

"Verbal agreement?" Not only Brother Snake, but the others present also furrowed their brows, since when did the high-interest loan business become so civilized?

"Whatever, verbal is verbal, but we’re taking the person." Pox-faced looked at Han Fei greedily as if taking Han Fei back would earn him a large sum of money.

"That doesn’t seem quite right." Li Hu was the only one who stood up to speak for Han Fei, this fat man with a tiger tattoo, showed some loyalty at the crucial moment, "The debt is ours to collect, so the person should follow us."

"Enough with the nonsense!" Pox-faced stood up impatiently, he didn’t even glance at Li Long and Li Hu, and went straight towards Han Fei, "Come with us for a bit."

"I don’t owe you money? Why should I go with you?"

"I’d advise you to be compliant."

Pox-faced Wang Quan spoke deliberately, and a male waiter also whispered to Han Fei, "They are in cahoots with those two Madmen, you better go with them, the more you resist, the worse it’ll be for you later."

"Those fingers work with Wang Quan?" Han Fei thought of many things in an instant, his first suspicion was whether he had been exposed, but he quickly dismissed that option.

The Fingers still didn’t know that someone else had entered the Shrine, otherwise, they might have clashed in the alley already.

Han Fei recalled the task introduction and connected many things together in his thoughts.

It was the Department Store Boss who had sent him to West City District, and not many knew he was together with Li Long and Li Hu brothers, and the Department Store Boss was one of them.

Now that he had barely settled in here, Wang Quan had come knocking, to say this had nothing to do with the Department Store Boss, Han Fei was the first to disbelieve it.

"The task name is Beast Trapping, and the requirement is not to enter the basement, if this is also part of the Master of the Shrine’s regret, then it means he was brought into the basement by the other party before."

"What kind of torture must a person endure to become a trapped beast?"

On the surface, the Department Store Boss seemed kind and benevolent, and he didn’t get angry when Han Fei refused, but the moment he turned his back, he sent someone after him, that old man’s heart would probably be black if you cut it open.

"Relax, we’re just taking you to a place." There were also two thugs with Wang Quan and the three of them approached Han Fei, as one of them reached out to grab Han Fei, Li Long stepped in front of him.

"We are his creditors, we haven’t agreed yet."

"Creditors? You’d better think carefully." Wang Quan didn’t bother speaking with Li Long, turning back to look at Brother Snake instead.

Pox-faced Brother Snake wrinkled his brows and shook his head at Li Long, signaling him not to interfere.

"Make way!" Following Wang Quan’s two thugs, they pushed Li Long and Li Hu aside. They were ready to grab Han Fei from the left and the right when the silent Han Fei finally spoke up.

"You want to take me away, but it seems you haven’t asked for my opinion."

"Does your opinion matter?" Wang Quan looked at Han Fei with a smile that resembled someone looking at a thick wad of cash, "There was a kid who ran away from home to West City District. He was spoiled like a little prince at home, said and did things without considering the consequences. Later, for taking what he shouldn’t have, his fingers were broken one by one, and now it seems he’s been crippled and left begging on the street. Oh, and the money he begs for is also taken by us. You seem quite like him. How about we go and meet him later?"

Wang Quan and his two thugs laughed brazenly. Seeing them so happy, Han Fei also showed a smile on his face.

He took a half step back, anchored his feet firmly, his leg muscles tensed, waist twisted, channeling all his strength into his shoulders, and then with full force, he struck the chest of one of Wang Quan’s thugs!

"Bang!"

Ribs almost instantly snapped, and the thug’s body toppled backward.

Before the others could react, Han Fei had already closed the distance. The close-quarters combat skills he honed while fighting with Fierce Ghost were beyond ferocious; every move was aimed at vital points.

His physical strength at near thirty already crushed most ordinary people, plus his exceedingly rich combat experience, once Han Fei got close, there was only one outcome: going down. The only difference was in how quickly it occurred.

No one expected Han Fei to strike so suddenly, and they even less expected that Han Fei could end the fight against three in under ten seconds.

To be precise, he had taken out three men with just three moves, and he spent the remaining few seconds wiping his store uniform.

It was too fast, too fierce; Han Fei had reset the understanding of those thugs present.

"Power comes from the ground, force from within. If you want to learn, I can teach you," Han Fei said, dragging the incapacitated Wang Quan to sit across from Brother Snake, placing Wang Quan’s hand on the table.

"What do you want to do?" Brother Snake was somewhat unable to see through the young man in front of him. He had seen countless people, but he couldn’t guess Han Fei’s thoughts from his facial expression.

"I heard from Li Long and Li Hu that you were particularly impressive when you were young, you called the shots in West City District." Han Fei grabbed Wang Quan’s fingers and suddenly exerted force, breaking Wang Quan’s little finger immediately, causing him to scream out in agony on the floor.

"Now you know pain, why didn’t you feel it when you were breaking the beggar’s fingers before?"

"You’re seeking death! Ah!"

Han Fei kicked Wang Quan down, then continued to hold Wang Quan’s hand while talking to Brother Snake, "You now seem forced to agree to these thugs’ demands, probably worried about the two Madmen who recently came to West City District. If I can help you deal with those two Madmen, could you lend me a hand?"

"You can handle those two?" Eight-fingers and Seven-fingers were indeed a big concern for Brother Snake.

"Of course." Han Fei broke another finger of Wang Quan, "If you agree, you’ll still call the shots in West City District in the future. If you don’t, I’ll cripple Wang Quan, and you’ll have to face their mad retaliation as well as my all-out war with you. After all, just now you were about to hand me over to them for money."

Hearing Han Fei’s coldly delivered reply, Brother Snake’s eyelids twitched, then he glanced at Li Long and Li Hu in the distance, thinking to himself, ’What kind of evil fiend had these two brothers brought back?’

"I have no reason not to agree," Brother Snake tapped the wooden table, and several people ran out from a room deep in the hallway, "I give you until sundown, find this kid’s father and bring him to the teahouse."