My ‘Healing’ Game
Chapter 518 Old Wolf, What Time Is It? (6000 Request for Monthly Tickets)

Chapter 518: Chapter 518 Old Wolf, What Time Is It? (6000 Request for Monthly Tickets)

The boy clutched a stinky rag doll, his clear, clean eyes seriously watching Han Fei.

"Have you always thought of her as your mother?" Han Fei had seen orphans refer to staff as ’mom,’ but it was rare for one to consider a rag doll as their mother. Most of them had their hearts wounded in some way.

"She is my mom," said the boy cutely as he raised a finger to his lips. "Don’t tell anyone else, or they will try to take my mom from me. It seems like all the other kids here can’t find their own moms and dads."

"Was it this doll who told you that the outside was very dangerous?"

"Mom has always been protecting me. If it weren’t for her, I might have been..." the boy suddenly covered his mouth, "Mom told me not to tell anyone else."

"Your mom is afraid of you being bullied, so she doesn’t want you to tell the people who bully you about these things, but I just helped you block that stone. I’m not one of the bullies; I’m your friend," Han Fei said as he took the boy’s hand and ducked into the shadow of the wall. "Friends are on each other’s side, do you understand?"

In the eyes of these children, Han Fei had a special aura about him; he was like the coolest big brother in the neighborhood, making people instinctively want to join him in his play.

After hesitating for a while, the boy seemed to be persuaded by Han Fei. He felt Han Fei made sense, "There are seven different rooms in the orphanage, each with a different purpose. There’s one room specially for the naughty kids. If you don’t behave or if everyone dislikes you, they’ll lock you up in that room."

"What happens to the kids locked in that room?"

"I don’t know," Han Fei shook his head. "Kids locked in that room never come out again. It’s absolutely forbidden to enter; terrible things happen there."

"Did your mom also tell you these things?" Han Fei glanced at the doll.

"Yes, Mom knows a lot about what has happened in the orphanage. She also said the most dangerous person here isn’t the nanny or social worker, nor the director or the chef uncle, but a kid who never grows up." The boy hugged the doll’s neck, "I’m telling you because I see you’re an adult. Many people in the orphanage don’t know this secret, not even the director."

"A kid who never grows up? Do you know what he looks like?"

"Mom only told me to be careful of him, but even she isn’t sure who he really is. Anyway, be cautious around those kids." Holding the rag doll, the boy peeked outside, "Where should I hide Mom this time? Last time, I hid her under the bed, but the nanny found her immediately. This time I need to find a safer place."

As the boy looked outside with his arms wrapped around the doll’s neck, suddenly several arms reached out from around the corner and grabbed his hair, pulling him to the ground.

"Caught you! Keep on running now!" Several kids emerged from the other side of the wall, snatching the rag doll from the boy’s arms, "Auntie said we shouldn’t sneak toys, and you dare bring it with you! I’m going to tell Auntie!"

"That is not a toy! She’s my mom!" As the boy watched his doll being taken away, he suddenly got up from the ground and rushed at the leading boy with all his strength, but being too frail, he was stopped by two other kids and pinned down to the ground.

"Stinky jerk! Still want to hit me?" The leader held the doll by the neck, seemingly preparing to tear it apart.

Unable to stand by, Han Fei pulled out the Rebirth Saber, but just as he approached, a voice echoed in his mind from the system.

"Player 0000, please note! You have triggered a Grade E Regular Mission — White Orphanage."

"White Orphanage (Grade E Regular Mission): Within the depths of this dark building lies a pure soul."

"Mission Requirement One: Find the child who will never grow up."

"Mission Requirement Two: Play at least three games with the children in the orphanage."

"Mission Tip: Playing games with the children in the orphanage can raise your friendliness level. The higher the friendliness level, the greater the likelihood of the child appearing."

"Warning! Hatred may occur in a Grade E mission! Players should carefully decide whether to accept!"

"Warning! Each completed game will reward the player! The more games completed, the richer the final mission rewards will be!"

Han Fei pressed down the saber he had raised, his gaze warming towards the group of children, thinking a scolding might suffice. After all, who doesn’t have a childhood?

"Who knew triggering a Grade E mission here, it really seems related to those three hatreds."

Using Touching the Soul’s Depth Secret, Han Fei grabbed the leading boy’s arm, preventing him from damaging the rag doll.

"How can you be so rough when we’re all friends from the same orphanage?" Han Fei said, using his grown-up strength to subdue a small boy.

"Who are you?" the oldest boy among the children, not intimidated by Han Fei at all, looked defiant despite his hands being caught by Han Fei.

"I’m a new nurse here," Han Fei started, but before he could finish, the oldest boy tossed the doll to another child and ran far away with it.

"I don’t care who you are. If you want that ragged doll, go get it yourself!" The boy taunted Han Fei with a laugh, a look of ’what can you do about it’ on his face.

Focusing on the boy’s head, Han Fei maintained an adult’s composure and first covered the boy’s mouth, then slapped him hard on the head.

"It is the father’s fault if his son is not taught."

Covering the mouth was to prevent the boy from making noise. The boy was stunned, his face still bearing a frozen smile, his eyes filled with malevolence unusual for his age.

He struggled with all his might, constantly trying to open his mouth as if he wanted to bite off Han Fei’s fingers.

As the boy’s movements became more violent, Han Fei realized that his level of physical strength was somewhat unable to control the opponent. To prevent getting bitten, he had no choice but to push the boy away.

"You dare hit me!" The boy seemed to have lived on the streets before, with a fierce personality, baring his teeth when angry like a stray dog guarding its food.

"I’m just trying to make you see reason; perhaps my recent actions should be considered a stimulus," Han Fei didn’t want to escalate the situation. After all, there were adults in the orphanage, and it wasn’t necessary to take action unless absolutely needed. It was better to keep a low profile to avoid attracting resentment, "Return the rag doll to the child. If you are really bored, I can play with you."

"You’re going to play with us?" The boy glared at Han Fei fiercely, his eyes full of mischief, "Fine, you just need to play one game with us. If you win, we will return the rag doll to him. But if you lose, you will have to obey our orders, and do whatever we tell you to do."

"Playing one game seems too simple, why don’t we play three games instead? How about best two out of three?" Han Fei made a helpless expression, as if he particularly disliked playing with children.

"Okay!" Several kids became excited, looking at Han Fei as if he were an animal in a zoo.

"What’s the first game? You guys decide."

"A simple game, one that the teacher often plays with us, this game is called — ’Do as I do.’" The boy pointed to his face, "You just have to mimic my actions exactly. If you can’t do it, you lose."

Han Fei listened to the game instructions and paid full attention. After all, this was a Grade E task. Even though regular tasks were nowhere near as difficult as hidden tasks and shrine inheritance tasks, malice could still arise in this task.

The kids and Han Fei stood under a gray high wall, the leading boy with a hint of provocation, "Watch closely."

He slowly stuck his tongue out from his mouth and then, with much effort, touched his nose with it.

"That’s it? Just this?"

Han Fei was always ready to retreat, holding onto the Rebirth Saber in his pocket, but the kid did not make any dangerous moves.

"Can you do it? If not, you lose," the boy seemed already to be thinking about how to torment Han Fei.

"It doesn’t seem too hard." Master-level Acting could help Han Fei control every single muscle in his face, allowing him to make the most subtle expressions. His tongue was indeed not as long as the boy’s, but he had technique.

After several attempts, Han Fei finally grabbed his tongue and managed to touch his nose with it.

His tongue root hurt a bit, and Han Fei moved his tongue around, "Does that count as my win?"

"We have five people altogether, you need to mimic all of us!" The lead boy seemed to have predesigned exploiting the numerical advantage against Han Fei.

After he spoke, he pushed a Little Fatty forward, who then looked at Han Fei and squished his face into a cross-eyed expression, then relaxed one eye while squeezing the other toward the corner.

"It really does feel like playing games with kids," Han Fei crouched in front of the boy, his eyes moving more flexibly than Little Fatty’s.

Seeing Han Fei successfully mimic two people in a row, the oldest boy started to panic. He pushed a particularly skinny girl forward.

The girl tried to do a split, but possibly because she was scared, her upper body did not fully go down.

The boy cursed and, along with Little Fatty, began to push the girl down.

"Stop tormenting her," Han Fei easily performed the split. As a professional actor, these basic physical exercises were not challenging for him: "You have two more chances."

The boy kicked the girl who couldn’t get up yet away. He no longer had his initial calm and stared fiercely at Han Fei, "Don’t be too proud too soon."

He gritted his teeth and said to Han Fei; in reality, if you think about it, there wasn’t much enmity between him and Han Fei. Han Fei had just stopped him from tearing up the rag doll.

But just because of this, rage surged in the boy’s heart. One could not see any trace of childish naiveté or innocence on his face, only pure hatred and malice.

"Could this child be the embodiment of malice?"

Han Fei held the small boy’s hand, following the boy through the orphanage. They bypassed the main building of the orphanage and came to the side.

The boy quietly opened the wooden door in front of him, a foul smell of rot wafted out, and he led the way inside.

"You will definitely lose."

Vegetables, most of which had turned yellow and with insects crawling on them, filled the room without windows. Beside the baskets of vegetables was a freezer, from which the foul odor was emanating.

"This seems to be the kitchen of the orphanage."

Several of the children ran to the back of the dining hall; the eldest one picked up a kitchen knife from the chopping board.

He snatched the rag doll from the child, then handed the kitchen knife to him.

The child shook his head repeatedly, afraid to take it.

"If you don’t play, next time we’ll play with you!" the oldest child threatened, trying to force a kitchen knife into another child’s hand, scaring that child to tears as he constantly waved his hands in refusal.

Eventually, the kitchen knife fell to the ground, the crisp sound startling everyone in the room.

No one dared to move; after a few seconds, seeing no abnormalities outside, the coerced child turned and ran out—he escaped.

"Coward!" the oldest child cursed, then handed the kitchen knife to the youngest child next to him.

The child had a congenital facial deformity and seemed to also have some intellectual disabilities, needing both hands to hold the kitchen knife.

The oldest child made a gesture, apparently asking the youngest to chop at himself.

He stood behind the little kid, his face twisted in a terrifying expression.

Without proper guidance, children could become distorted, cruelty ingrained in their bones, making them have no reverence for life.

What’s worse, they could take pleasure in hunting their own kind, completely dominated by destructive desires.

"Just do it! Let’s see if he dares to learn from you!" The boy’s eyes were full of blood silk as he grabbed the child’s hand, eyes fixed on the child’s neck, his face beginning to tremble involuntarily emitting some strange sounds.

"Wait a minute." Han Fei took out the Rebirth Saber. "You just want him to harm himself, then see if I dare to learn from it; this already goes against the very nature of this game."

"What? You don’t dare? If you don’t want to learn, then just admit defeat," the oldest boy stared dead at Han Fei.

"You indeed lack education." Han Fei slowly closed the kitchen door, making sure there were no ghosts and monsters outside, then he raised the Slaughter Saber in his hand.

The blade, emitting a warm glow, appeared in the kitchen. Han Fei aimed the Rebirth Saber at his own arm and chopped down without any hesitation.

The blade formed of human nature dispersed like ripples when it touched Han Fei’s skin, leaving his arm unharmed.

"Where else do you want to chop?" Han Fei didn’t know what this child had experienced in the past to become so cruel, he prepared to have a serious "heart-to-heart" talk with the child.

The dangerous blade completely failed to injure Han Fei; the oldest boy clenched his teeth and then violently raised the kitchen knife in his hand: "It’s the knife! Your knife has a problem; it can’t kill people at all!"

"Can’t kill people? You can even say such a thing?" Han Fei’s gaze grew even colder; he held the Rebirth Saber, walked towards the boy, towering over him, and looked down at him: "Since it can’t kill people, do you dare to let me test it on you?"

The bright blade seemed like it could split anything, the boy took a step back, but ultimately, he did not dare to try.

"Alright, count the first game as your win." The hatred in the boy’s eyes almost spilled out; he slowly placed the kitchen knife back on the chopping board.

As the boy conceded, Han Fei also received a prompt from the system.

"Attention Player Number 0000! You have successfully completed the first game with the children! Reward earned—Clue One."

"Clue One: The child you are looking for has a problem with his brain."

When Han Fei heard the clue, he was initially pleased, but looking around, every child here seemed to have a problem with their brain.

The little boy next to him treated a rag doll as his mother, the oldest boy was psychologically and mentally abnormal, and the youngest seemed to suffer from congenital brain disease.

Most children abandoned at the orphanage had physical or mental issues.

"So what if you won the first game? Didn’t we agree on best two out of three?" The oldest child seemed to have thought of something and suddenly laughed: "I know what game to play next; I hope you can last till the end."

The boy didn’t leave the kitchen but led the remaining three underlings deeper into the kitchen.

The room had no windows, making it incredibly oppressive.

The boy walked to the very back of the kitchen and opened a door, which seemed to lead to the orphanage’s dining hall.

In the sealed hall, the only light came from two small lamps on the walls.

"Why have you brought me to where you eat?"

"We’re going to play the second game here," the boy’s expression was somewhat frightening. "This game is called ’What Time Is It, Mr. Wolf?’ We’ll pick one person to stand at the end of the dining hall blindfolded, and everyone else will ask together—’What Time Is It, Mr. Wolf?’ When that child normally tells the time, we can walk forward. When that child turns around, we mustn’t move, pretending to be statues. If that child says either twelve o’clock or that it’s dinner time, we must run back quickly; whoever gets caught will die."

"How do we win then?" Han Fei sensed this game was not so simple. The boy had specifically brought him into the orphanage’s dining hall because yelling "dinner’s ready" here would really summon something.

"Whoever first touches Mr. Wolf and successfully runs back, wins," the boy said simply, moving two chairs to the sides of the dining hall: "Who wants to go to the other side of the dining hall to be Mr. Wolf?"

He scanned the room, finally turning his gaze to the small boy next to Han Fei, "Why don’t we start with you in the first round?"

"We’re already short on people, better choose one from among the four of you," Han Fei pulled the boy behind him, feeling that since entering the building, all the games had turned abnormal.

"Then... you!" The boy pushed Little Fatty forward, "Hurry up and go!"

Little Fatty, seemingly afraid of being hit by the boy, reluctantly walked to the other end of the dining room.

The dining room wasn’t actually big, but Han Fei felt as if Little Fatty had walked a great distance.

"Would shouting here attract other adults?"

"No," the boy’s eyes were filled with cruelty, "They won’t come to the dining room at this time."

Little Fatty had taken his position, standing with his back to everyone at the far end of the dining room.

The second game began, with Han Fei and the other orphans standing near the kitchen end of the dining room, and they chanted in unison, "Old Wolf, Old Wolf, what time is it?"

No sooner had this phrase left his mouth than Han Fei heard an irritating laughter near his ear, and his brain was tumultuous with memories—as if the maniacal laughter from the Blood-Colored Orphanage was coming alive!

"Did I play a similar game before? These things seem to have brought me special memories?"

Han Fei stood still, and after he had suppressed the laughter, the other children had already moved forward two steps.

"Old Wolf, Old Wolf, what time is it?"

"Three o’clock," said Little Fatty, his back facing everyone, casually stating a time.

In order not to lose the game, Han Fei also started moving forward. As everyone entered the center of the dining room, the wall lights suddenly began to flicker, and one of them went out completely.

The dim light shone on their faces, half of each face hidden in shadow.

"Old Wolf, Old Wolf, what time is it?" Han Fei and a few orphans asked, among them the skinniest child continued walking as Little Fatty did not turn his head.

"Four o’clock."

After Little Fatty uttered this, the Skinny Kid had already run to the middle of the dining room, just a few steps away from reaching Little Fatty.

"Old Wolf, Old Wolf, what time is it?" the Skinny Kid deliberately elongated his voice, speeding up until he was only two or three meters away from Little Fatty before suddenly stopping.

Something seemed off about Little Fatty; he noticed that his body seemed much taller than before.

"Why aren’t you speaking? It’s your turn to tell the time."

The Skinny Kid felt uneasy and dared not move forward anymore, but then the oldest boy shouted again.

"Old Wolf, Old Wolf, what time is it?"

Hearing the shout, Little Fatty’s body began to tremble violently, and the Skinny Kid was terrified.

He saw Little Fatty grow taller and taller until his feet lifted off the ground!

Using the only light inside the room, the Skinny Kid saw something in the darkness bite onto Little Fatty’s head!

"Dinner time..."

A strange voice appeared in everyone’s mind, and then the Skinny Kid saw Little Fatty’s head vanish into the darkness, as if it had been bitten off by something.

He sat on the ground in fright, while Han Fei turned and ran back with the small boy in his arms.

The few remaining night lights in the dining room flickered a few times, and Han Fei didn’t dare look back until he had returned to the starting point.

The headless Little Fatty still stood in his original place, his back to everyone, as if he was still playing the game.

The Skinny Kid sat slumped three meters away from Little Fatty, his body trembling continually, as if he had seen something in the darkness.

"The game cannot end until a victor is decided," the oldest boy stared dead at Han Fei, his expression completely different from that of a normal child—it was a face marred by sickness.

With a twisted resentment, the oldest child spoke again.

"Old Wolf, Old Wolf, what time is it?"