My ‘Healing’ Game
Chapter 466: Come Down Here! (5000)

Chapter 466: Chapter 466: Come Down Here! (5000)

In the pitch-dark underground storehouse, next to the drilled-through wall, Han Fei held a candle, using its faint glow to peer at the water’s surface.

Floaters littered the murky well water and below the clouded surface crowded faces, pairs of eyes turned towards the flame, their mouths agape like fish starved of oxygen, opening and closing.

With his arm frozen mid-air, Han Fei could feel an intensely dangerous presence, one momentary lapse in attention might result in being dragged straight into the well.

The fingers holding the candle began inching backward, the faces within the well fixated on the light. As the candle almost moved away from the water, something abruptly leaped up from beneath the murky surface!

Chilling splashes flew in all directions, and Han Fei decisively let go, stumbling backward.

The lit candle fell into the water, the light extinguishing in an instant.

With lingering fear, Han Fei watched the well, the turbid surface now bearing a single candle, with no trace of the faces.

"The photo is right before my eyes, yet I cannot grasp it."

Han Fei wanted to find a suitable tool within the storehouse, but as he turned, he discovered that the black cloth covering the shrine had fallen to the floor at some unknown time, and the pitch-black shrine stood silent as a breathless person on the other side of the shelf.

The temperature in the underground storehouse had dropped to a level unbearable for the average person, and the crack in the landlord’s ring was slowly widening.

"How did the black cloth fall? Is there someone else in the storehouse?"

Scanning the rows of shelves, the silence around him was unsettling.

Han Fei pocketed a hammer from the tools next to the shrine; he tried to turn on the storehouse lights, but the bulb overhead flickered a few times then died out.

"Midnight is nearly here, it’ll be even more dangerous in the latter half of the night, I must act quickly and decisively."

Han Fei remembered when he used fishing line to hook the photo last time, it was directly yanked away. This time he learned from his past mistake and selected a piece of hemp rope.

He fastened a hook to one end of the rope, while the other end he tied securely around the shrine and the shelf.

If something from the well tried to drag the rope down again, the shrine would be pulled along, eventually getting stuck at the entrance.

"This time it should work."

Unable to turn on the storehouse lights, Han Fei had no choice but to light two candles again.

He placed one outside the hole, and the other he held in his hand.

Taking a deep breath, Han Fei gripped the candle in one hand and the rope in the other, slowly approaching the opening.

The temperature in the underground storehouse continued to drop, coldness creeping up from Han Fei’s feet, as if intent on freezing his heart.

Gradually squatting, Han Fei stared at the murky water. He gently shook the hook in his hand, aiming for the photograph.

Regulating his breathing, he inched forward. After extending his arm into the hole, he threw the lit candle to the left side of the well, quickly followed by casting out the rope.

The flame danced above the water’s surface, reflecting the faces beneath. As the candle touched the water, Han Fei’s rope snared the photograph.

All the faces turned their gaze to the flame, seizing the opportunity, Han Fei pulled with both hands, dragging the rope outwards with force.

The top half of the photo emerged from the water, but at that moment, Han Fei saw a pale, swollen hand that had been soaked white, grab the rope!

An indescribable tremendous force pulled Han Fei along with the rope towards the mouth of the well. As he moved forward, Han Fei glanced into the well, where heads adorned the rope inside, each biting on it, their expressions twisted with eyes full of hatred.

As the shelf moved forward being dragged, the shrine stood unmoved, rock-steady. The hemp rope suddenly went taut, and it seemed the well’s inhabitants were set on dragging someone from the outside in at any cost!

"Snap!"

The rope, thick as a finger, was torn apart from the middle!

The part that fell into the well water disappeared without a trace, and the half of the hemp rope bound to the shrine was left draped over the opening, hanging down vertically, about a few centimeters away from the surface of the water.

"The well is filled with people who were sacrificed; it has accumulated all of their hatred and loathing."

Perhaps the well started off as somewhat unusual, but as more and "more important items" fell into it, the well’s power grew increasingly strong. It was the evil at the heart of humanity and the insatiable greed that created this monster.

Standing between the well and the shrine, Han Fei’s gaze slowly moved: "Could it be that what’s called a god was also ’created’ in this way?"

With doubt, Han Fei looked towards the black shrine, and to his surprise, he discovered that the door on the shrine had been opened a crack, as if an eye within the shrine was watching him!

A very ominous premonition rose in his heart, and Han Fei picked up a black cloth from the ground, intending to cover the shrine again, but at that moment, a system prompt came into his mind.

"Attention, player number 0000! You have triggered a random shrine quest——Wish Well."

"Wish Well: There is a legend of a well that if you throw something important to you into it, you will receive a corresponding reward. However, all items thrown into the well cannot be retrieved, which is why the well also has another name in the legends, called ’Regret’."

"Quest requirement: The choice you make cannot be taken back, but you can do your best to atone for your mistakes. If you want to retrieve something from the well, then exchange it with yourself. Please jump into the Wish Well before midnight and retrieve any three items."

Upon hearing the quest prompt, Han Fei’s eyelids twitched several times, certain he hadn’t misheard.

"You want me to jump in?"

Licking his dry lips, Han Fei took out his phone to check the time, and it was 11:50 PM. Only ten minutes remained until midnight.

The crack in the door of the shrine was slowly widening, as if something inside the shrine would come out in the latter half of the night. The temperature in the underground storeroom had also become alarmingly low.

Opening his attribute panel, Han Fei read every word of the quest information carefully: "They really want me to jump into the well? Even a rope thrown in gets pulled apart by ghosts, will I be able to come back up if I jump down?"

Below the surface of the water were faces of people; when the rope had been lowered earlier, countless heads were biting onto it. If Han Fei jumped down, it might be his body that those heads would be biting on.

"Does this system think I’ve lived too long and wants to send me on my way directly?"

Shaking his head, Han Fei would rather fail the quest than jump into the well: "It’s too dangerous, I should think of another way."

Time passed by second by second, and Han Fei tried many ways but couldn’t retrieve the photo; worse yet, he found that the water level in the well seemed to be slowly rising.

The faces hidden in the murky well water seemed to want to climb out.

"I’ll try one last time; if it still doesn’t work, I’ll have to leave for now."

Han Fei glanced at the little door on the shrine; every time he entered the underground storeroom after midnight, something bad happened. The first time, he was trapped inside the storeroom. The second time, he fell into an illusion created by the Master of the Shrine.

He found climbing rope and a bungee cord safety lock, fixing them above the shrine. Han Fei was preparing to throw the climbing rope toward the well when suddenly a "ding-dong," "ding-dong" sound came from overhead.

"Someone’s entered the store? The boss?"

Draping the black cloth over the shrine, Han Fei quickly returned the shelves to their original places. Watching the time, he ran towards the escalator, but just as he went to push the barrier, he found that it wouldn’t budge!

"Damn it!"

It wasn’t midnight yet, but an accident had already occurred—the only exit from the underground storeroom had been sealed.

"What now?" Several ideas flashed through Han Fei’s mind: run to the middle of the shelves and pretend to rearrange the goods, or pretend to faint, claiming someone attacked him. If he wanted to be bolder, he could lie in wait underground to ambush the person entering the store.

Footsteps came from the secondhand store above his head; the person had entered the store.

Han Fei listened intently. The footsteps paused momentarily at the counter, then headed directly toward the entrance to the underground storeroom.

Holding his breath, Han Fei quietly took out the Rebirth Saber, but just then, the "ding-dong," "ding-dong" sounded again.

Another person had entered the store!

If it were just one person, Han Fei might have been able to launch a sneak attack, but with two people, he could only retreat for now and decide based on the situation.

"Are you sure other Outsiders have entered the Shrine World?" The footsteps ceased, and the two people who had entered the store began conversing near the partition.

"Seven Finger and Eight Finger can’t be reached, and Six Finger has suddenly disappeared as well. The Memory Fragments in this Shrine World indeed have the ability to kill them, but before their death, they would definitely leave a message as agreed. It’s not possible for them to vanish without a trace, alive or dead."

"We’ve explored this world for nearly ten years, but we still haven’t seen through it completely. I feel their disappearances have little to do with the Outsiders; it’s very likely due to someone touching a key Memory Node..."

"Five Finger, I called you here not to hear you contradict me," the cold voice was slightly impatient, and it sound just like the Chef Han Fei had met before.

"The others have already found Pei Yang, and Ten Finger also believes that Pei Yang is the true Sacrificial Offering. I advise you to follow the process honestly and not to open the Shrine prematurely, disrupting the ritual." The other person utterly disregarded the Chef’s words, "Don’t forget the situation outside. A new Unspeakable has shown up in the Deep World; we don’t have any more chances to try, we must act cautiously."

"I won’t touch the Shrine. I’m here only to capture that diner. Compared to Pei Yang, I think he’s more likely to become the final Sacrificial Offering."

As the words fell, the basement storeroom’s partition began to warp, with a cold breath surging all around.

"Bang!"

The tightly closed partition was forced open by an external force, with a bone-chilling cold rushing out from the basement storeroom.

"Five Finger, after using my ability, I will be expelled from the Shrine World. By then, you help me deliver that person to Ten Finger. Even if he isn’t the final Sacrificial Offering, we must clarify why he appeared in the Shrine." The Chef descended into the basement storeroom via the staircase, the four human heads tattooed around his neck came to life, swimming under his skin like black fish.

"There are so many people in this Memory World, it’s normal for one or two unfamiliar faces to appear occasionally." A dwarf followed behind the Chef, dressed like an elementary school student, but his voice was incredibly aged.

"I’ve smelled countless ’meats,’ so I can assure you, the scent on that person is very special!" The Chef scanned the rows of shelves, "Don’t be negligent; the scent of meat lingers in the air, he must still be in the storeroom."

"Even if we died here, it won’t harm the soul, I don’t understand your concern?" The dwarf hopped down from the staircase, his clothing almost entirely covered by face tattoos, "Considering our usually good relationship, I can help you, but next time before you cook, could you let me play with the ingredients first?"

"Don’t disturb me." The Chef closed his eyes, his nostrils flaring as he sniffed the remnant odor of meat in the air.

He turned slowly to the dwarf who hadn’t descended the staircase yet and said, "The scent seems to be coming from here?"

When he opened his eyes, the Chef saw a figure standing behind the shelves near the staircase, wearing a ferocious beast-faced mask, holding a bladeless knife in hand.

"Be careful!"

Despite the loud warning, it was still a step too late, Han Fei, who was prepared, had already thrust his knife toward the dwarf’s back!

Splendid light pierced through the dwarf’s body, his hands not even managing to touch the tattoos on his skin before his torso was cleaved into two!

The gaping mouth slowly widened, and the dwarf felt his memories and soul ignited simultaneously.

"He, he can harm us beyond our memories..."

The small body fell from the staircase, disintegrating before hitting the ground.

The dwarf’s screams echoed through the basement storeroom, but neither Han Fei nor the Chef paid any attention to him.

Having struck successfully, Han Fei immediately attacked the Chef. The Rebirth Saber could harm the entity of Ten Finger within the Shrine Memory World, a secret that must remain hidden, and the only card he had to play against Ten Finger.

"There’s definitely something wrong with you!" the Chef screamed, a face tattoo on his arm shattered into countless Blood Pearls, with dark energy ceaselessly pouring into his body.

Han Fei’s reaction was swift, but still, his blade edge couldn’t touch the Chef.

Han Fei had indeed considered the possibility of encountering Ten Finger’s people, but he hadn’t expected two of them to come together.

"You killed Six Finger and Seven Finger, didn’t you?" the Chef’s arms began bleeding, his skin eroding, forcibly absorbing the Memory World’s dark energy.

"What do you think?" Han Fei retreated, secretly hiding the Paperman inside his coat on the side of a shelf.

"Once I capture you, all questions will find their answer." The aura emanating from the Chef had already surpassed that of ordinary Grudge Energy.

"I’ve heard that once you’ve used abilities not from the Memory World, you’ll be expelled from this world. Let me calculate, how much time do you have left?" Han Fei, who obtained the beast-faced mask from Beast Alley that could block outside perceptions, still had his Shrine ability to hide his soul’s aura. Yet even so, he was sniffed out by the Chef, suggesting the opponent’s special ability must be related to enhancing the five senses.

"It seems you know quite a lot. To prevent you from interfering with Wish Well’s plan, I have no choice but to kill you," said the Chef, stepping forward. In the next moment, he appeared in front of Han Fei, "I’ll kill you here first, then kill you again outside, so that your soul will scatter."

His skin began to dissolve, and every inch of his flesh was filled with grudge energy, a mere fist brought considerable pressure to Han Fei.

Swinging the saber upward, but before Han Fei’s blade could make contact, the Chef’s arm flesh had already split apart and wrapped around Han Fei like tentacles.

"However sharp your saber is, it’s just a piece of scrap iron if you can’t hit anyone with it."

With a swing of his arm, Han Fei’s body was slammed heavily to the ground. There was too great a gap in strength and speed between them; in an open space, Han Fei was no match for the Chef.

When Wish Well touched the human head tattoo, it would release a portion of its power, which would continue to grow until expelled from the Shrine Memory World.

"I can’t drag this out."

Picking himself up, Han Fei stumbled towards the depths of the storeroom.

Knocked down again and again, tossed about repeatedly, Han Fei gradually grew weaker, seemingly unable to even stand firmly.

"Such a peculiar soul, yet only this much strength? And here I was hiding some of my abilities," the Chef, grasping Han Fei by the neck, slammed him against the last row of shelves, "You can’t escape."

The Chef drew a knife made of blood and grudge energy from his own flesh, "I’ll slice your body bit by bit to see what color your heart is."

"Only beasts are curious about the color of a human heart," Han Fei’s voice came from beneath the mask, his speech already becoming difficult.

"Sharp-tongued," said the angry Chef, grabbing Han Fei’s neck and repeatedly smashing him into the shelves.

Han Fei seemed to have completely lost the ability to resist; his body was injured in many places, his fingers couldn’t even grip the Rebirth Saber tightly.

With the advantage wholly his, the Chef laughed. His gaze upon Han Fei was like that of someone admiring a rare ingredient.

"I’ve already seen your face. Once you leave this Memory World, you’re on a dead-end path; you can’t escape," he said.

The knife made of blood slowly raised, the Chef swung it towards Han Fei’s chest.

At the brink of death, Han Fei seemed to use his last bit of energy to raise the Rebirth Saber to block, but the Chef had already prepared for that, easily dodging the blade.

"So you’d rather die than let go of that saber? In that case, I will sever your hands!" he exclaimed.

The night is long and full of dreams; the Chef hesitated no longer. But as his knife was about to hit Han Fei, Han Fei, who seemed to be at death’s door, suddenly kicked at the already askew shelves.

Shelves cluttered with various items toppled forward, momentarily obstructing the Chef’s view. Fearing Han Fei had some trick up his sleeve, he stabbed downward recklessly.

This time Han Fei didn’t dodge. He firmly grasped the Chef’s arm and leaped backward with all his might!

"Isn’t there a wall behind?"

A pitch-black hole appeared before them, and by the time the Chef realized what was happening, Han Fei had already dragged half his body into the well water.

Water splashed everywhere, the sensation like flames scorching skin.

Agonizing pain pierced to the bone, and with teeth clenched, Han Fei used the secret of touching the depths of the soul, firmly gripping the Chef.

The Professional Talent of the Midnight Butcher was triggered, and as Han Fei’s blood volume dropped to a critical level, his body’s statistics began to double.

"Come down with me!" he bellowed.

The sound of the midnight chime echoed through the mall, and the Chef, caught off guard, plummeted with Han Fei into the deep well.