My ‘Healing’ Game
Chapter 474: The Infinitely Bizarre City (5000 Votes for Monthly Pass)

Chapter 474: Chapter 474: The Infinitely Bizarre City (5000 Votes for Monthly Pass)

"If the leader doesn’t approve your leave, just resign directly!"

Han Fei was genuinely concerned for Lin Lu. At present, the focus of contention between Ten Fingers and Boss Gu was Huang Li, who was at that hospital, so Lin Lu might get involved.

"That does sound reasonable at first listen."

"I know you’ve just been hired and it’s difficult for you to make the decision to resign, but please trust me this time. That hospital is very dangerous; don’t go there after work and just stay at home honestly," Han Fei slowed down his tone, as he seldom dealt with comparatively normal women, so he needed to slowly organize his words.

"But... your mother is still in the ward. When I went to ask for leave today, it seemed like the doctors were discussing your mother’s condition."

"What did they say?"

"It feels like there’s still hope, but the director and the doctors seem to have taken Boss Gu’s bribe. I didn’t hear the specifics, but I do know they seem to be planning to change the intensive care ward rounds time tonight."

After Lin Lu finished speaking, Han Fei’s eyes narrowed slightly, keenly sensing a problem.

"When has the round time been changed to?"

"Generally, they check the rooms twice during the latter part of the night. Before, it was once at midnight and once at four in the morning; now they have changed it to just once at two in the morning," Lin Lu shared the information she had overheard with Han Fei.

"Just a rounds at two in the morning and then until dawn, with the doctors absent during this interval? What if the patients have an emergency?"

"There are still staff on duty, but as long as there’s no emergency, they would likely be resting in the duty room."

"There must be a trick behind changing the round times. Boss Gu has been in touch with the doctors, and this morning he threatened me again using my mother," whispered Han Fei, "My mother clearly has a chance to heal, yet the doctors told me she has only a week left to live. It looks like Boss Gu wants to use my mother to target me."

Seeing Boss Gu’s bodyguard approaching him, Han Fei sped up his speech: "Be careful on your night shift tonight. Call me immediately if you encounter trouble; I’ll rush over as soon as possible."

After hanging up the phone, Han Fei put away his cell phone. His facial expression remained unchanged from start to finish, but his eyes were somewhat frightening.

Boss Gu left two bodyguards in the store, ensuring Han Fei was followed wherever he went and remained within their line of sight.

"The Master of Shrine’s mother is critically ill and still on medication. She cannot be moved and can only stay in the hospital. I wanted to transfer her somewhere else but couldn’t."

Han Fei walked around the store, wanting to check out the condition of the underground storage room to facilitate his next decision.

But as soon as he approached the entrance to the underground storage, one of the bodyguards blocked him.

In short, his movements were now restricted within the Secondhand Store; he couldn’t leave the store at will, nor could he enter the underground casually.

"Boss Gu has already cleared out the underground storage, and the altar has been set up. The next step is definitely to place the offerings and prepare for the sacrifice."

The loss of truth was a significant shock to Boss Gu, pushing all his plans ahead of schedule.

"I smashed a big hole in the Shrine, the foundation of Memory World is unstable, and an unseen future by anyone has emerged."

Han Fei looked out the window, his gaze piercing through the falling rain, staring at the city being washed by the downpour.

"The sky has darkened, and the time of night will get longer and longer."

Sitting behind the counter, Han Fei took out his phone and sent a message to Brother Snake’s men, instructing them to bring the old lady and the package to the vicinity of the Department Store by midnight tonight.

After waiting for a reply from Brother Snake’s men, Han Fei felt uneasy. He planned for double insurance, so he sent a text to Wang Ping’an, but unfortunately, Wang Ping’an did not reply.

"What are you doing?" The bodyguard who had just stopped Han Fei from approaching the underground storage came over, reached out his hand toward Han Fei, and demanded his phone: "Who did you just call?"

Looking at the bodyguard’s outstretched hand, Han Fei just smiled: "The landlord is pressing me for rent."

Han Fei stopped using his phone, picked up a secondhand book from the store, and began to read. Gradually, the night fell completely.

There were hardly any customers in the department store, and many shops were closed down. At over nine o’clock in the evening, the lights in the store were close to going out.

"Would you two like something to eat?"

Han Fei approached the bodyguards, but they didn’t reply; instead, they kept a close watch on the entrance to the underground storage, with some black hairs growing on their skin.

"It was normal before, how did it suddenly turn out like this?"

Gently patting the bodyguard’s arm, the bodyguard fiercely turned his head, baring his teeth at Han Fei like a mad dog, but in just half a second, he returned to normal.

"Do you need something?"

"I’m fine." Han Fei slowly distanced himself from the bodyguard. The two bodyguards sitting at the entrance of the underground storage were slowly transforming, and they hadn’t yet noticed it themselves.

"It’s only a little past nine o’clock, in the past Memory Worlds, certain things would only transform after midnight."

With a trace of unease, Han Fei looked out of the window. Tonight, the city’s lights were far fewer, and under the torrential downpour, the entire city seemed to start twisting.

"No wonder The Ten wouldn’t dare to casually destroy Shrines; when fate changes, transformation can also arrive ahead of time." In the Memory World, Shahe symbolizes death, and the well water from the Wish Well is a concentration of hatred and enmity. In this world, all things associated with water are ominous.

The night was already growing longer, and now with the heavy clouds, not a single ray of light could penetrate the darkness of the night sky...

"Ding dong," "ding dong"...

At ten o’clock in the evening, the door of the Secondhand Store kept opening, and there was a continuous sound of footsteps on the escalator that led to the underground storage.

The old shelves were filled with toys and dolls, their faces streaked with tears, and some of the originally clean secondhand goods began to show bloodstains.

The floor creaked and groaned, as if something was burrowing inside, and behind the cracked shelves was a pitch-black area, but if one shone a flashlight inside, several pairs of empty eyes could be seen.

The tables and chairs seemed to be shaking slightly, and a dull sound came from the underground storage, as if a giant heart was beating.

Han Fei didn’t know what exactly was happening in the underground storage, but he felt all the abnormalities were coming from beneath.

"The mission requires survival for thirty days, and the Master of Shrine’s diary has thirty pages, meaning he was probably sacrificed on the thirtieth day. But now, pressured, the store’s Boss has already prepared the altar in advance." Han Fei silently weighed his options, "Should I try to destroy that altar?"

The thunder roared, and the rain furiously pelted the glass. The screens of secondhand appliances, though not plugged in, began flickering, and within the black-and-white static, one could vaguely see the image of people being pushed into a well, screaming in terror.

At eleven o’clock at night, Han Fei approached the store entrance. Amid the sound of "ding dong, ding dong," he heard the system’s prompt.

"Player number 0000 please note! Your hunger level is at sixty, mood value is at thirty, would you like to begin today’s work?"

"Yes."

No sooner had the system’s emotionless prompt sounded than Han Fei felt a sudden weight on his shoulder. He turned his head to look and saw an arm covered in black hair resting on his shoulder.

"Stay here, don’t move." The appearance of the bodyguards had completely changed; their exposed skin was covered in long black hair, their bodies hunched, and their spines seemed forcibly bent, making them appear like people, but more like dogs.

"Okay." Han Fei turned around and quietly took out his phone to send a message to Brother Snake’s subordinates to arrive earlier. But as the phone screen illuminated behind him, Han Fei saw countless faces reflected on it.

Adjusting the angle, Han Fei aimed his phone at the glass showcase and discovered people lying behind the glass door of the shop.

Those people had mournful expressions, their hands pressing against the glass, faces plastered to the window, continuously looking inside. Among them, a few faces were familiar to Han Fei,

seeming to be the workers who had taken money from Boss Gu earlier that day.

"Bang!"

The sound of shattering glass erupted suddenly!

All those people lying outside the shop entered the building; attracted by some sound from below, they walked past Han Fei, one after another heading towards the underground storage.

The store’s floor had extra shoe prints on it, which were soon to be covered by new ones.

The night sky was dark as ink, the torrential rain as if intent on submerging the city; it was incredibly noisy, yet devoid of any sound related to humans.

"I can’t wait any longer!"

Han Fei decisively walked out of the Secondhand Store, but he only stayed outside for a few seconds before his mood value directly dropped a point - such an unprecedented rate of decline forced him to stop in his tracks.

"How is this possible?"

An oppressive growl reached his ears, that kind of sound as if a wild beast encountered danger was, unbelievably, coming from inside the Secondhand Store.

Han Fei slowly turned around and saw that Boss Gu’s two bodyguards had transformed into large dogs covered in black fur, with canine teeth protruding from their mouths, smeared with scraps of fabric and flesh. There was no trace of humanity in their eyes, and around their necks, they wore collars made of money.

"Mutated?"

In the eyes of the Master of Shrine, bodyguards were just dogs kept by Boss Gu, who didn’t distinguish right from wrong and would do anything for money.

The two Wild Dogs, with eyes full of greed, exhibited a strong desire to attack as they bared their teeth at Han Fei.

Upon leaving the Secondhand Store, one’s mood value would plummet. The lower the mood value, the higher the degree of monster mutation one would see, and the situations encountered would be even more dangerous.

But staying inside the store meant keeping company with these two rabid dogs, at risk of being attacked by them at any moment.

Perhaps sensing Han Fei’s reluctance to enter the store, one of the dogs lowered its back and lunged at Han Fei!

Its mouth wide open, human teeth and canine teeth were arranged in two rows, a thick scent of blood wafting from the mouth of the mad dog.

"Rebirth!"

Pulling out the Rebirth Saber, Han Fei, in an extremely short amount of time, noticed the mad dog’s gold-money collar was a hairless spot, still retaining human skin.

"That must be the weak spot."

The blade, formed of humanity, swept across in a flash of light, and the head of the mad dog was severed.

"Being killed by me means you must have killed quite a few people," Han Fei didn’t sheathe his sword; he decided to finish off the other mad dog as well.

Before he could act, the other mad dog had already come running over, greedily tearing at the body of its peer. It was hard to imagine that just before nightfall, they had still been watching over the store together.

Black and red blood seeped into the floor and the ground below. The mad dog that had been gnawing at its companion suddenly stopped chewing, its eyes fixated on Han Fei, with the vague silhouette of the Shrine emerging in its gaze.

Growing increasingly louder, the mad dog’s body began to inflate until, right before Han Fei’s eyes, it burst open.

Blood splattered everywhere, drastically altering the interior of the store. What was more eerie was that at this moment, all the clocks on the walls stopped ticking.

Han Fei felt an extreme unease; he knew the thing in the Shrine had recognized him.

Normally, staying in the store would keep the mood value from falling, because the Shrine protected the Secondhand Store. But now that the Shrine discovered the person who had "lifted its skull" last night was right here in the store, it wouldn’t even think about protecting Han Fei. If it didn’t do everything in its power to kill Han Fei, it wouldn’t live up to the name of the Evil God.

The heartbeat sounds emanating from the basement storage room became clearer. Han Fei looked at the ground; the powerful heartbeat was moving from far to near, quickly approaching him!

Han Fei turned and ran; every few seconds, his mood value dropped by one point. He hadn’t even made it out of the Department Store before his mood value had fallen to a dangerously low level.

His mind was filled with all sorts of terrifying thoughts, and he couldn’t focus at all. Outside the store, the torrential rain seemed like an ocean descending from the sky; if he dared to step half a foot outside the store, he would be engulfed immediately.

In this dire situation, Han Fei forced himself to keep moving outward; there was no other option, as staying meant death.

"Run west! Brother Snake’s men are coming from the West City District!"

Running resolutely into the darkness, Han Fei didn’t dare to stop. He didn’t know how far he had run when suddenly a light appeared at the end of the street.

"Bro, bro? Why aren’t you using an umbrella?"

The stammering voice reached Han Fei’s ears, and he looked up to see a slightly deformed face.

Wang Ping’an!

"I, I just saw your message, sorry."

"Ping’an, get to the People’s Hospital! Take me there, fast!" Han Fei climbed onto Wang Ping’an’s electric bike, feeling his mood value slowing in its decline only when he held onto Wang Ping’an.

Opening the Attribute Panel to check, Han Fei’s mood value was down to only sixteen points, and everything in his vision was mutating.

The night road seemed to turn into the Nether River, with pale arms occasionally reaching out of the moving water. The changing red traffic lights opened into eyes, and the dark bushes were hung with the figures of people who had been hanged.

In the pouring rain, unaware of the strange changes around him, Wang Ping’an put a helmet on Han Fei, then started the bike. "Brother, my dad said he wanted to give his helmet to you. He said you’re a good person and told me to call you ’brother’, to make friends with you, and he said you wouldn’t harm me."

The heavy rain mercilessly ravaged the city, and amidst the clamorous sound of rain, Wang Ping’an’s voice seemed to carry a special power, allowing Han Fei to tightly grasp his reason and avoid being influenced by the transformed ghostly figures.

"Your dad thinks I’m a good person, but what about you? In your impression, what kind of person am I?" Han Fei’s mood value slid to fifteen points, and he grabbed Wang Ping’an’s shoulders, his cheeks already drenched by the rainwater.

"I don’t understand what a good person is, or what a bad person is. I just feel you treat me like a person. You make me feel like I am the same as you, a person," Wang Ping’an spoke with a stammer but did so happily, as if riding a bike in the pouring rain with Han Fei was a very cool thing to do.

The electric bike rode across the stone bridge, where the railings were crowded with soaking wet people. They shouted loudly, hoping Han Fei would take them home too; they even chased after the electric bike, but they seemed never to be able to leave the stone bridge.

"Ping’an, go a little faster."

The mood value dropped to fourteen, and the city Han Fei saw had completely transformed into something else, something he had never seen even in his nightmares.

The rain washed away the facades of buildings, revealing the flesh within, and people were embedded within the structures, scattered haphazardly, finding even breathing oppressive.

Beneath the city ran blood and sweat, with unwanted smiling faces floating by.

All the souls were howling, but none could hear each other, and everything was eventually submerged by the heavy rain.

"Bro, Bro! You can’t fall asleep!"

"I’m not asleep."

"As long as you’re not asleep, that’s good. Once when I took a mother and child to the hospital, the mother kept holding the child, shouting loud—You can’t fall asleep. Bro, why can’t people going to the hospital fall asleep?"

It seemed that Wang Ping’an was afraid Han Fei would fall asleep, so he kept talking, but Han Fei’s attention was all on the Attribute Panel.

When the mood value plummeted to nine, they finally arrived at People’s Hospital.

The electric bike came to a stop, and Han Fei and Wang Ping’an looked up to find the building unfamiliar and grotesque before them, its white paint hiding black blood vessels like the God of Death wearing an angel’s mask.

In the Master of Shrine’s memory, this hospital had taken dirty money from Boss Gu and taken his mother away, which is why the entire building had become like this. Actually, the transformed world also represented a kind of confession of his inner self.

"We’re going to the fourth floor."

Upon entering the hospital, Han Fei’s mood value immediately dropped another point. He didn’t even have time to remove his helmet as he ran toward the fourth floor with Wang Ping’an.

The staircase that was usually easy to climb felt like a ladder to heaven that night.

The mere four stories seemed like a distance he could never complete in his lifetime.

"I know your pain, and I came here to change all this. The place you never reached in your life, I can go and see for you."

Han Fei took out the Wish Jar and shouted with all his might, "I’ve helped you all so much, now I just want to see my mother one last time."

Blood-red figures quietly emerged, first an elderly family, then several shop assistants, and finally, the woman from the third floor of the department store.

They climbed the stairs with Han Fei, staining all the white steps red.

With each step marked by a bloody footprint, they managed to take Han Fei to the fourth floor.

Rushing to the end of the corridor, Han Fei pushed open the disease-ridden door of the ward.

In this endlessly transformed bizarre city, the ward where the Master of Shrine’s mother lay was still exactly as he remembered.

On the clutter-free bedside table, there lay a bouquet of artificial flowers that would never wither.

The gaunt mother lay on the pristine bedsheets, with various medical devices on her left and a staggering drunk man on her right.

That man was pinching a medical tube with one hand and reaching to turn off a still-operating device with the other.

Looking at the man’s back, Han Fei clenched his fingers tightly together, his fingernails digging into the flesh.

"To hell with you!"