My ‘Healing’ Game
Chapter 468: A Hidden Profession That Ordinary People Can’t Handle (6000)

Chapter 468: Chapter 468: A Hidden Profession That Ordinary People Can’t Handle (6000)

Ever since Han Fei arrived at this department store, two night shift security guards, one disappeared, and the other died mysteriously, his colleagues either hospitalized or kidnapped. Basically, everyone who had spoken to him had more or less encountered problems.

"When I first came to the mall, at least I had a companion to talk to, but in just a few days, I’m the only one left in the entire mall. I don’t know if it’s because I’m tough, or they’re just unlucky."

Stopping in the center of the mall’s hall, Han Fei looked up. Multicolored advertising ribbons dangled from above, twisting in the darkness although there was no wind inside the mall.

"Their deformed appearance is so much like this world."

Picking up the sack, Han Fei walked up floor by floor along the escalator. As he reached each floor, the temperature there would drop as if something in the dark had been awakened.

Of course, it wasn’t Han Fei himself who had such "charm", the problem lay in the photos he was carrying in his sack.

"It seems that it’s no coincidence the Boss set up the Shrine at the very bottom of the mall. He must have wanted to use the Shrine to suppress those he killed."

Upon reaching the third floor, the moment Han Fei stepped out of the elevator, he sensed something abnormal.

All the mannequins in the shops were facing him as if countless eyes in the dark were watching him.

"A good actor becomes the focus wherever he goes." Han Fei put on the uniform that had been soaked in well water. The resentful well water, though it brought him pain, also kept ghosts and monsters at bay.

Quickening his pace, Han Fei headed towards the store where the woman had appeared in his memory. He had only gone halfway when he suddenly noticed someone standing in the aisle opposite him.

The person maintained the same pace as him, hunched over and moving in an extremely uncoordinated manner – it looked very strange.

"Harmony is precious; I won’t bother you if you don’t trouble me."

Han Fei passed the first shop and noticed that apart from his own reflection on the shop window, there was a red dress following him.

In the pitch-black aisle of the mall, a piece of bright red clothing was silently trailing a man.

Such an abnormal scene did not make Han Fei feel the need to look back at all. He had been followed by many people before who never made it back home.

"The first and second stores only have mannequins, while the third is where Huang Li met with trouble. Last time, the mall owner’s wife was trying on clothes in the fourth women’s wear store."

Han Fei had only worked in the mall for a short time, but he remembered the location of every store.

He pushed open the door of the fourth women’s wear store, with a faint scent of perfume wafting in the air. This store was considered the most upscale women’s wear store on the third floor. Even though the woman was deceased, her taste remained high, suggesting indirectly that she had retained at least a sliver of her memories from her lifetime.

What Han Fei had to do now was to use the dress in his hands to foster the seed of memory in the woman’s mind, allowing the flower of humanity to rebloom.

As soon as Han Fei entered the store, the red dress that had been following him and the figure on the other side of the corridor all stopped in their tracks.

It was clear who was the most terrifying presence on the third floor.

Rustling sounds emanated from the artistically decorated shop; they didn’t sound like someone changing clothes, but rather like someone was incessantly scratching their skin.

Following the sound, Han Fei noticed the curtains of all the fitting rooms were moving, as if people were hiding in each one.

"Compared to the last time I came in, this store seems even more sinister. It looks like those wronged dead in the mall become crazier over time."

The things fished out of the well were Han Fei’s reliance, and he mustered his courage to enter the store.

Gripping the sack tightly, Han Fei first looked at the large dressing mirror outside the fitting rooms.

The night flowed on the mirror surface like ink, filled with deep unease.

The reflection of Han Fei became a blurred shadow; he even hesitated, unsure whether the person in the mirror was truly himself.

"It seems that since I entered the Memory World, I haven’t had a proper look in the mirror. Every time I pass a mirror, I feel the person inside isn’t me. When I try to see the person’s face clearly, it seems incredibly unfamiliar and obscure."

Han Fei felt as if he had forgotten something: "Why do I care so much about mirrors?"

The longer one lives in the Shrine Memory World, the easier it is to be assimilated by this world, becoming part of the Shrine World. But it seemed that Han Fei was unaffected, as he hadn’t lost any memories.

It was as if another being had borne the curse of the Shrine World for him, silently enduring all the negative effects for Han Fei.

His gaze lingered on the mirror as he walked step by step towards it. But just as he got close, the mirror surface suddenly made a cracking sound, and cracks appeared on it.

The marks were like scars, and even more eerie was that blood started oozing from the cracks.

Touching the blood that flowed from the mirror, Han Fei vaguely recalled something: "Aside from me and the ten fingers, there should also be another Outsider, but why can’t I remember what he looks like?"

More and more cracks appeared on the mirror, and the reflection of Han Fei was fragmented. Just when the mirror was about to shatter completely, the Han Fei inside the mirror lifted his hand.

Han Fei maintained his original posture, standing still, whereas his reflection dipped into the blood and struggled to write something on the shattered mirror surface.

But his action seemed to breach some rule; the moment his finger touched the mirror, the dressing mirror completely shattered.

Glass shards flew in all directions, like a shower of crystalline rain.

The loud shattering officially broke the tranquil night of the department store, and dark energy drifted from the corners, forming frost patterns on the display window of the women’s clothing store.

The curtain on the dressing room door ceased its movement; in the midst of this oppressive silence, a hand lifted the curtain.

Blood flowing from the scar stained the blue dress she wore, her black hair cascading to her waist, seemingly to cover the wound that pierced her chest and abdomen.

The woman walked over one garment after another, each exquisitely made—but none of them were what she desired.

Moving forward, the clothes stained with her blood were all subjected to some kind of curse, resembling people lying on the ground.

In the blink of an eye, the woman stopped in front of Han Fei. She slowly raised her head, which had been hanging low; accompanied by the creepy sound of twisting bones, her crimson eyes peered through the gaps in her hair at Han Fei.

"Your dress, I have found it for you."

Pulling the red dress out from the cloth bag, Han Fei compared it to the woman’s shoulders, "This is the most suitable dress for you in the world; it represents all the beauty that the world owes you."

As soon as the red dress was removed from the bag, an indescribable aura of terror began to spread throughout the women’s clothing store. It seemed endless, first sweeping through the third floor, then crashing directly down towards the underground.

Brushing aside the woman’s black hair, Han Fei saw a face twisted by hatred, terrifying and macabre, yet there wasn’t a trace of disgust or aversion in his eyes, only sympathy.

"The person who pushed you into the well has become the most respected boss in Shahe, standing on a mountain of corpses, yet posing as a philanthropist," Han Fei handed the red dress to the woman: "This topsy-turvy world needs us to rectify it together. What is right, and what is wrong, you should know better than I."

As the red dress drew near the woman, a cord with strange symbols on it appeared at the hem of the dress. The cord pierced through the wound in the woman’s chest and abdomen and became entangled with her soul.

If the red dress is not reclaimed, the woman will be bound by the well and the shrine, forever denied rebirth.

All those pushed into the well, their souls were plainly priced, becoming the private property of the shrine. Only by entering the well and retrieving their belongings left in the well can they find freedom again.

Even so, this cannot completely free them from bonds; they will still be influenced by the shrine.

Once the transaction is complete, it cannot be changed, unless someone can destroy the shrine, allowing everything to start over.

The dress was red, elegant, and exquisite, only it still bore the well water condensed from resentment.

When Han Fei brought out the dress, the woman and all the transformed clothes in the store froze in place.

Droplets fell, and the woman’s hand slowly moved away from the wound on her chest and abdomen; she took the dress handed over by Han Fei.

The well water stung her skin like poison needles, but she didn’t mind at all. Her pale arms, holding the dress, trembled violently; a crazy smile gradually appeared on her contorted face.

The blood washed away the blue garment she’d been wearing, and Han Fei immediately averted his gaze. After a few seconds, the landlord’s ring suddenly issued a warning; when Han Fei looked back, a woman nearly three meters tall, with black hair spread across the floor and wearing a sinister red dress, stood before him.

The deep red dress concealed the wound on the woman’s chest and abdomen. She and the dress complemented each other perfectly, as if it had been made just for her.

All the bloodstains were imprinted on the hem of the dress, forming a cruel decoration. The woman furiously absorbed all the dark energy in the mall, her skin and face gradually returning to normal, and a glimmer of light appeared in her crimson eyes.

In the Memory World, it was difficult to use the standards of the Deep World to compare the strengths of people and ghosts. Han Fei could only roughly estimate their power based on the degree of their transformation.

If the child with six fingers were a point of reference, then this woman, nearly three meters tall, possessed at least ten times the strength of the other.

Bearing the immense pressure brought by the woman, Han Fei silently awaited her to vent the rage in her heart.

His thought was good, but he clearly underestimated the hatred the woman had accumulated over the years, and even more so the dark energy residing in the department store itself.

"Crack!"

The display window glass shattered, and Han Fei glanced outside the store.

Just a glance made him break out in a cold sweat.

In the pitch-black mall, silhouettes in blood-stained clothes emerged from the depths of the shops. They stood at the edges of the aisles on each floor, staring at the open space in the center of the mall.

"What do they want to do?"

Han Fei’s question was soon answered when the woman, nearly three meters tall, walked past him and stepped onto the railing of the third floor.

The towering ghostly figure glanced down at Han Fei from her loft, her face bearing a cruel and pitiful smile.

The red dress trailed behind her, and then the woman leapt downward; what happened next was enough to make even the well-traveled Han Fei’s skin crawl.

The figures at the edges of the aisles, like autumn leaves, followed one by one, jumping down!

They fell in silence. Only blossoms of blood were left on the ground.

The woman stood amongst the sea of flowers, frantically absorbing all the hatred and pain.

The people who jumped off were like a rain, the mall had been shrouded in dark clouds for too long, and this blood rain seemed to be the self-release and catharsis of all souls.

"This is not good," Han Fei gave the dress back to the woman, feeling he had only done a trivial deed, but he did not expect it to trigger unimaginable consequences.

The department store owner’s wife was the first person to die in the Department Store, and likely the first person the owner pushed into the well; her grudge energy was the deepest, her hatred the most intense, and she bore the initial pain and was the beginning of all despair.

"All the display window glass on the third floor has been damaged, what excuse can I find to cover this up tomorrow?"

Han Fei looked towards the center of the mall, and quickly realized his thinking was too narrow. The woman’s target wasn’t to destroy the mall, but the Underground Shrine!

Shadows fell like raindrops to the ground, and Han Fei even spotted the figures of the two security guards amongst them, living people, turning into droplets of grudge energy in this moment.

What surprised Han Fei even more was that the vast majority of these people did this willingly; it seemed they had reached a consensus during countless dark nights.

Blood flowers blossomed, and blood flowed to form rhizomes which interlaced with each other, weaving a well in the center of the open area of the mall!

The woman in the red dress stood at the mouth of the well, and the moment the rain stopped, she began to frantically attack the ground in the center of the mall.

It was not yet the top of the hour, but the large clock at the top of the mall kept sounding off, and a vague outline of a shrine could be seen under the bloody well.

Han Fei had seen this scene in the illusions of the Master of Shrine, except the situation was different now, not everyone in the mall stood with the Shrine but instead, they all wanted to destroy the Shrine!

"Illusions are just illusions, no matter how terrifying; luckily, I wasn’t scared by that false scene."

What he was seeing now was real, and Han Fei knew tonight presented an opportunity. He took out the Rebirth Saber and quietly went downstairs.

The door of the Shrine’s phantom image was half-open, and the woman, standing in the middle of the blood well, kept hitting the Shrine with her completely transformed body.

"Let me help you."

Han Fei noticed several key nodes on the blood-colored well; the skeleton of the Blood Well was made up of several employees from the secondhand store, including the man who drowned in his own drunkenness, the elderly man who knelt before the Shrine, and the female staff member tied up with ropes.

Opening the cloth bag, Han Fei returned their respective photos to them.

The Blood Well instantly became more real; the blood flowing within seemed as if it could burst and flood the entire mall at any moment.

The mourning bell on top of the mall rang, and an angry roar came from the Underground Shrine beneath the mall.

"I always thought the Shrine was invincible and always felt that I was the only one who wanted to destroy it. Now it seems the reason I thought this way was entirely due to being misled by the boss of the mall."

The phantom image of the Shrine started to wobble, the Divine Door opened, and hands like blooming Red Spider Lilies reached out directly towards the woman.

The two sides were locked in a stalemate, but as the Blood Well gradually dried up, the woman was slowly pulled toward the inside of the Shrine.

In the end, she couldn’t escape her fate and could only keep issuing piercing screams.

"It seems like I can’t be of help to them if I stay here."

Backing away, Han Fei returned to the inside of the secondhand store, where an excellent idea emerged in his mind.

"All the wronged dead are fighting against the Shrine’s phantom image; the Shrine’s real body in the basement storage must not have much ability for self-protection."

Stealing had become a habit for Han Fei; he wanted to try it even if it was dangerous.

Opening the partition, Han Fei did not heed the orders of the mall boss; he entered the basement storage after midnight.

The storage, which had been as cold as an ice cellar just a while ago, was now back to its normal temperature. Han Fei, holding the Rebirth Saber, went to the deepest part of the storage and lifted the black cloth that covered the Shrine.

"I used to feel very uncomfortable just being near the Shrine, but now it feels no different from an exquisitely crafted wooden box."

A smile slowly appeared on Han Fei’s face, "To destroy a god, you first have to destroy his shrine, making the world stop believing in his existence."

Picking up the tool hammer beside the Shrine, Han Fei did what the Master of Shrine had always wanted to do.

"I don’t believe in gods or fate; if everything is destined, then I’ll just smash it all!"

The tool hammer, not present in the memory of the Master of Shrine, represented another choice, and now Han Fei raised this "choice" high, smashing it down on the Shrine with the Master of Shrine’s endless regrets!

"Bang!"

Wood shavings flew and blood flowed; the Shrine seemed like a monster that had gorged on human blood.

Seizing the opportunity, Han Fei continuously swung the tool hammer in his hand, splattering the blood oozing from the Shrine all over himself.

The Shrine tried to tempt Han Fei into a deal, but Han Fei wanted the Shrine’s very life; it was as if a devil had encountered a Demon, a feeling of meeting one’s match.

Distant screams whispered in his ears, but Han Fei did not dare to linger.

Opportunities were rare, and he had to seize them!

The top of the shrine was smashed open, and for a second, it seemed as if time in the entire Memory World came to a halt.

Just as Han Fei was preparing to press on with his efforts to completely overturn the shrine, a terrifying presence suddenly emerged.

Not daring to hesitate, Han Fei quickly retreated; he absolutely couldn’t stay in the underground storehouse anymore.

The ground shook, and the well water underground began to rise furiously.

Han Fei was decisive, his speed was astonishing, and he escaped the storehouse before that power could fully return to the shrine.

At the same time, the sound of ding-dong rang out, and an old lady with an umbrella, carrying a stinky wrapped parcel, entered the store.

Like always, she headed straight for the shrine at the back of the shop.

"Granny! Your son isn’t in the shrine!"

The underground shrine was smashed open, triggering a chain reaction, and he could no longer stay in the secondhand store.

There was no time to explain in detail to the elderly woman; Han Fei directly picked her up and charged out of the secondhand store.

The old lady who had just entered the store hadn’t even reacted before Han Fei picked her up and ran at an extremely fast pace to the department store’s main hall.

The wind messed up her hair, she tried to say something, but as she opened her mouth, cold air kept pouring in.

"Granny, your child’s photo is with me! You’ll be reunited soon!"

Han Fei comforted the old lady offhandedly, then headed straight for the woman in the red dress.

The shrine had been damaged by him, and it likely wouldn’t have the power to suppress the ghosts and monsters in the mall for a while.

When he arrived at the center of the department store, the battle had already ended, the bloodstains on the floor had become blurred, and the only ones left on the vast empty space were the woman in the red dress and the three employees of the secondhand store.

They were extremely weak at this point, their incomplete bodies branded with part of the Blood Well, and it seemed that after paying a huge price, they had managed to break free from the shrine’s control.

"Let’s get out of here first!"

Han Fei took out a Wish Jar from his Item Bar and ushered the three employees of the secondhand store into it, then he endured the bone-piercing Grudge Energy and approached the woman in the red dress.

"I’m the one who damaged the shrine, please trust me once more, perhaps I can bring you true freedom."

The woman in the red dress was the most powerful, since most of the wronged dead in the mall had become the patterns on the hem of her dress, essentially gathering their hatred.

Han Fei looked at her earnestly, and after the constant abnormal noises from underground, the woman no longer hesitated and entered the Wish Jar as well.

Sealing the lid, Han Fei ran towards the exit of the store, when suddenly the system prompt echoed in his mind again.

"Player number 0000 please take note! You have completed the preparatory task for the Hidden Profession Pretty Man, after harming three Grudges, you still managed to gain their trust! Would you like to start the next phase of the Pretty Man’s task?"

"No!"

Han Fei ran for his life, not daring to look back; "The Butcher is outrageous enough, who would dare mess with the Pretty Man Profession?"

"Player number 0000 please take note! The Hidden Profession Pretty Man is an extremely rare profession, possessing this profession will make your life experience more complete, enrich your experiences, promote your reflection on human nature, and unlock exclusive personal abilities, greatly enhancing your attraction to resentment and hatred from the opposite sex. Would you like to start the next phase of the task?"

"No! It’s because I believed your nonsense that I’ve ended up in this mess!"

Han Fei ran with all his might, bursting out of the department store like a ghostly shadow.

The sound of pouring rain entered his ears, Han Fei looked up to see the night sky of the Shrine Memory World, holed like a sieve, and suddenly there was a downpour of rain.

"It had been clear skies for the past few days; how could it suddenly start raining so heavily? Could it be because I opened a hole in the top of the shrine?"

Han Fei remembered that the Ten Fingers had once mentioned that damaging the shrine would have a significant impact on this Memory World.

"If the Memory World has changed, does that mean that certain things that are fated to happen will also change?"

Carrying the old lady on his back and holding the Wish Jar, Han Fei looked at the city being washed away by the heavy rain, and his thoughts gradually became nimble.

"The mall is already in total chaos, and I’ve smashed the shrine as well, so there’s no point in staying here. Why not take advantage of the boss’s pursuit of the Ten Fingers to quickly find his weakness?"

Everything mutates during the night in the Memory World, which is very dangerous, but Han Fei had discovered something a long time ago.

Granny and Wang Ping’an could walk freely at night; they seemed to not be targeted by the monsters.

"Granny, can you do me a small favor?"