My ‘Healing’ Game
Chapter 495: Atop the High-rise (Seeking 4000 monthly votes)

Chapter 495: Chapter 495: Atop the High-rise (Seeking 4000 monthly votes)

Last night, when Han Fei met the Liuli Cat in the game, he felt something was off. The player had a very weak will to survive, even contemplating suicide to escape from Deep World.

She seemed indifferent to everything she had in the game; as if nothing around her could pique her interest or give her hope to continue living.

Losing all attachment to the world is actually a very terrifying thing.

It took Han Fei only twenty minutes to reach Liuli Cat’s residence, an old neighborhood situated between the Old City District and Smart New City.

"Room 1031."

Looking at the address in his phone, Han Fei started running into the neighborhood.

"Are you a resident here? I’ve never seen you before," the Security Guard at the door said as he approached Han Fei, wanting to inquire.

"I’m here to find someone, she lives in room 1031," Han Fei replied, his pace too fast; the two Security Guards following him couldn’t keep up.

"Stop!" The Security Guard quickly called for backup with his walkie-talkie, his eyes firmly fixed on Han Fei, afraid that if he blinked, Han Fei would disappear, "Hurry and help! A stranger came in!"

"What does he look like?"

"He’s running too fast! I didn’t get a good look!"

Entering building one, Han Fei glanced over the door numbers. His brain worked like a precise machine, not wasting any time and instantly making the most accurate judgment.

Reaching the third floor, Han Fei knocked on the door, calling out Liuli Cat’s name, but there was no response.

The more this happened, the more anxious he became.

"Stop knocking, stop knocking," the door of the Liuli Cat’s neighbor opened, and a middle-aged woman with a watering can came out: "That girl isn’t home. She seems to have gone out."

"Do you know where she went?"

"Not sure, ever since her family died, she rarely goes out. I saw her leaving this morning while I was moving Flower Pots on the balcony and found it quite surprising," the woman thought for a moment: "She seemed to be on the phone a lot, but whoever it was didn’t seem to answer. She also had a backpack with the Welfare Home’s name on it. Anyway, she was acting strange today."

"A backpack with the Welfare Home’s name on it?" Han Fei recalled the text in the last video from the woman; she seemed prepared to leave in some way, to return the gifts the world had given her, to retrieve the initial despair and then destroy it all together.

"The Welfare Home that Eternal Life Pharmaceutical once built!"

Han Fei turned and rushed downstairs, just in time to run into the Security Guards who had come over.

"You’re looking for someone, right? We can help you search..."

"Thanks." Han Fei didn’t let the Security Guard finish speaking; he abruptly grabbed his arm, "Let me see the surveillance footage at your gate!"

The Security Guard was just being polite, trying to temporarily placate Han Fei, but by the time he realized what was happening, he was already being dragged away by Han Fei, powerless to resist.

With wide, innocent eyes, the Security Guard looked toward his colleagues, who were still standing there dumbly, not having reacted yet.

"Don’t be afraid, I used to be a Security Guard myself, a Security Guard won’t hurt another Security Guard, unless you don’t cooperate with me," Han Fei said.

Entering the duty room, Han Fei stood in front of the computer and started checking the surveillance, his movements far more skilled than those of the neighborhood Security Guards.

Han Fei soon spotted the silhouette of the Liuli Cat in the surveillance footage; an hour earlier, she was holding her cellphone, her head bowed, with a tattered backpack in her hand.

"Who is she talking to on the phone?"

Even after zooming in the surveillance image, Han Fei couldn’t make out the details and had no choice but to give up.

"Eternal Life Pharmaceutical once built two welfare homes in the northern part of the Old City District, and indeed, Liuli Cat was heading north."

Upon leaving the surveillance room, three security guards were on high alert, while Han Fei thanked them politely before rushing out of the neighborhood.

He called for a car and hurried to the Welfare Home built by Eternal Life Pharmaceutical many years ago; fragments of memories about that place still lingered in his mind.

"Driver, go faster," Han Fei thought that he should save up to buy a car, as it was indeed inconvenient to go out; if he couldn’t afford a sedan, he might consider a motorcycle first.

Fifteen minutes later, Han Fei could see the Welfare Home; so many years had passed, and the building remained the same as before.

Although its exterior was constantly renovated, the overall structure had not undergone any changes; judging by its appearance, it looked more like a Children’s Hospital than a Welfare Home.

After paying the fare, Han Fei ran towards the Welfare Home but suddenly noticed many people gathered across the street from the Welfare Home, with more running towards that direction from afar.

"Someone jumped from the building! There’s a girl on that building!"

"Call the police quickly! Someone jumped from the building opposite to the Welfare Home."

Various sounds came from the crowd as Han Fei too stopped and looked over at the building opposite the Welfare Home.

The building across from the Welfare Home also belonged to Eternal Life Pharmaceutical and had seven floors; no one knew what exactly the building was used for, as there were no billboards or anything on it.

As his gaze traveled upward, Han Fei saw a girl atop the building; with the worn-out children’s backpack in hand, she stood at the edge. The high winds whipped around her, making her body seem like a leaf hanging on a tree branch in autumn, fragile and liable to fall at any moment.

"Liuli Cat!"

Han Fei had seen other people who attempted suicide before. Some were emotional and extremely agitated, their suicide more a cry for help. They could find no reason to keep living, were overwhelmed by the harsh realities of life, and had already collapsed.

Such cases were comparatively easier to persuade. The truly difficult to convince were those of another kind.

These people were numb to death, or rather their contemplation of death was a deeply thought-out decision. By the time they stepped onto the high ledge, they might have simulated the fall in their minds thousands of times, convincing themselves over and over again until they could no longer find any reason to turn back.

They climbed the steps with a look in their eyes that lacked any spark.

Liuli Cat fell into the latter category. She had the worst kind of childhood, participating in some kind of experiment by Eternal Life Pharmaceutical, dragged to various locations, leaving her personality shattered to pieces.

If she had never seen the light, perhaps she could have adapted to the darkness.

She resembled a kitten curled up in a storm, and when she was on the verge of death, the old lady adopted her.

The childhood personality and memories smashed to pieces were gradually picked up by the old lady, who used love and care to piece them back together.

Maybe her personality was still fragmented, but at least it had become a whole; she now had the belief and hope to live on.

But the most cruel step of this experiment was the old woman’s death from sickness, the pillar of Liuli Cat’s life collapsing, and the painstakingly assembled fragments cracking once again.

During the time the old man and the Liuli Cat spent together, the old man indeed treated her as if she were his own granddaughter, giving her all his love and gradually forgetting the original purpose of the experiment.

It was only until the moment before death that she uttered those words at the brink of passing, telling the Liuli Cat the truth.

The old man must have truly wanted to save the Liuli Cat at that moment, which is why he told the truth; otherwise, he could have easily woven a lie and let the Liuli Cat continue living in falsehood.

Hope was false, but love was real, yet none of these mattered to the Liuli Cat anymore.

"Make way! Make way!"

The police arrived at the scene, followed by the fire and rescue squad. The sound of sirens shattered the noon-time quiet.

Rescue air cushions were deployed, and firefighters, carrying various tools, entered the building with the police.

The building manager also came out, a portly middle-aged man, sweating profusely, incessantly speaking to the police about something.

"Why would such a lovely girl think of such a thing? She’s at the age of a blooming flower."

"Probably a broken heart, I bet. Young people nowadays are all so fragile, always looking for ways to end their lives. I don’t believe she will really jump."

"Watch your words. That girl doesn’t seem to be troubled by love problems. There’s not even a trace of tears on her face, and her pupils look shattered."

"Well, aren’t you observant? How can you deduce so much just from a pair of eyes? Are you a psychologist?"

The onlookers gathered below all took out their cell phones to record, with some zooming their camera lenses to the max, clearly capturing the girl’s face.

"Is she going to jump or not? I’m about to be late for work."

"What a drag; I’ve been recording for quite a while. I bet she doesn’t really want to die and will probably be saved in the end."

"I’m still waiting to get some material from this..." A particularly sleazy-looking man was filming the scene above when his camera lens suddenly turned black.

Moving his phone away, he saw Han Fei standing in front of him, covering his phone camera with his hand: "Are you sick?"

"If you’re so eager to watch someone jump, why don’t you go up there yourself?" Han Fei’s voice was very calm but it sent a shiver down the sleazy man’s spine.

He wanted to say more, but was pulled back by a companion.

The two of them apparently thought Han Fei was not someone to mess with and, after muttering softly, they retreated with their phones to the outskirts of the crowd.

After memorizing the man’s face, Han Fei made his way through the crowd and into the building.

The elevator was occupied by the police, so Han Fei took the service stairs, climbing up to the rooftop in one go.

"Hey! What are you doing? You can’t go over there!" A young policeman stopped Han Fei, who didn’t try to force his way through but instead carefully explained the Liuli Cat’s situation.

While he was talking with the young officer, an older policeman came running down from the rooftop: "What are you still doing here? Did you notify the girl’s family?"

"She’s an orphan, and the old lady who adopted her passed away not long ago. I think she couldn’t bear such a blow, which is why she made the most extreme choice." The young officer also seemed distressed: "She has no family left."

"If she has no family, then we are her family. Now is the time when she’s most upset, when her emotions are at the breaking point. We need to think of a way to calm her down." The older policeman looked towards the edge of the rooftop, where a female officer was trying to communicate with the Liuli Cat.

"The wind is strong up there, so why don’t you sit down slowly, and we can talk things through slowly, okay?"

Regardless of what the policewoman said, Liuli Cat didn’t respond, her gaze constantly fixed on the Welfare Home across the street.

Standing on the high building, one could clearly see the scenes within the high walls of the Welfare Home; all these years had passed, and children were still being abandoned and living inside.

They all had some sort of deficiency, some mental, others physical.

"It feels like she is waiting for a specific time." Han Fei thought of something and grabbed the police officer next to him, "Check the time of death for Liuli Cat’s grandmother, was it this morning? How much longer is it until the time she passed away?"

The young police officer intended to refuse, but the older police officer heard Han Fei’s voice and turned around, surprised, "Han Fei? I didn’t recognize you earlier, how come you’re here?"

"You know me?" Han Fei felt a sense of relief, "That’s right, I am sort of an actor, being recognized is pretty normal."

"I don’t watch movies." The old police officer spoke up, "While we were issuing a warrant for Butterfly, they distributed your photo, saying that Butterfly was likely to take action against you, and instructed us to ensure your safety."

"Then I really should thank your leaders." Han Fei approached the older police officer, "I’ve seen this girl before; she spent her childhood in the Orphanage next door."

"You’ve seen her?" The old police officer was surprised; it felt like Han Fei was everywhere.

"I won’t go into details right now, but this girl is not just simply emotionally collapsed, she has lost all hope in living. The usual persuasion won’t be much use; she’s not going to listen."

Looking at his watch, Han Fei said, "First, check the time her family members died, I suspect she might be planning to leave when that time comes."

"Found it, the old lady passed away in the hospital at 10:34 in the morning."

"It’s 10:24 now, we have ten minutes." Han Fei looked at the police next to him, "Could you let me go and speak to her for a moment?"

"That’s absolutely impossible, inexperienced people trying to persuade someone not to jump off a building might prompt them to make a rash decision." The police officers on the scene immediately refused Han Fei; they had to be responsible for everyone and couldn’t just take a gamble.

Indeed, Han Fei often acted as a Righteous Hero and was very intelligent, but persuading someone against suicide required a wealth of experience, professional knowledge, and a strong empathy.

The firefighters were on standby on the seventh floor, but with the great distance between the seventh floor and the rooftop, they didn’t dare to act rashly.

On the rooftop, two police officers, one male and one female, slowly approached, but they couldn’t get closer than five meters to Liuli Cat because her body had already begun to lean forward, ready to fall at any moment.

Time trickled away second by second, and the rescue was at a stalemate. Three minutes before 10:34, Han Fei suddenly rushed onto the rooftop.

He wanted to save her, but doing so was very risky!

If Liuli Cat fell from the building while he was speaking, his acting career could end then and there. The entertainment companies that had torn into him before would certainly portray him as a murderer, with endless trolls smearing him, and he would never be able to prove his innocence, because he indeed had spoken.

Because speaking up could be so costly, more and more people have grown accustomed to silence.

Yet, at this moment, although Han Fei could have chosen to remain silent, he took the initiative to step up onto the rooftop.

"I know where the old woman who adopted you is! I’ve seen her! I can take you to see her!" Han Fei’s voice rang out in the center of the rooftop, followed by another sentence, "Your singing voice is so beautiful, there must be many people in this world who think the same as I do."

After Han Fei uttered these words, Liuli Cat, who had shown no reaction to the outside world, slowly turned her head.

The last sentence Han Fei said was what he had told Liuli Cat as he used his Soul-returning Talent to bring her out of the Deep World.