My ‘Healing’ Game
Chapter 560: The Choice That Changes Destiny

Chapter 560: Chapter 560: The Choice That Changes Destiny

The hotel was located at the end of the alley. Amidst total darkness, only a room on the third floor was lit.

Han Fei had stood downstairs for a while before starting to head upstairs.

He avoided all surveillance and silently appeared outside a specific room.

The dim light shone through the door crack, illuminating the corridor and allowing Han Fei to faintly hear the laughter of a girl inside.

The illness had not defeated the girl; she remained positive and optimistic in front of her mother, perhaps believing this was the only thing she could do for her.

Fu Yi and her mother were impoverished and struggled with life, in addition to the burden of high medical expenses, but when together in their small rental, it took the shape of a home.

Knocking lightly on the door, Han Fei did not want to keep running away.

"Who is it?" Fu Yi’s mother called out toward the living room door, asking Fu Yi to stay in bed while she approached the door.

As the door hinge turned, the woman opened the rental’s door slightly, and when she was about to pull the door further, the indoor light fell on Han Fei’s face.

The mother, possessing nothing but her daughter, stood in the light of the rental, while Han Fei, who seemed to have everything, stood in the pitch-dark corridor.

The half-opened door seemed to form a boundary between the darkness and light, dividing them into different spaces.

The hand on the doorknob clenched tightly as the woman, looking at Han Fei outside, could hardly believe her eyes.

She had imagined the scene of seeing Fu Yi again; she thought she would lose her sanity, be furious, but when the moment actually arrived, aside from the initial shock, only cold indifference remained in her eyes.

There was no hysterical screaming, no accusations or cursing; she spoke to him as if he were a stranger, "How did you find this place?"

"That day, Fu Yi was saving a kitten, and I happened to be passing by," Han Fei replied.

As Han Fei spoke, the woman had already stepped out of the rental, unwilling to let Han Fei enter the room she shared with her daughter.

The door closed, and the woman stood with Han Fei in the darkness.

"I’m here with no ill intentions, I just want to cure Fu Yi’s disease," Han Fei said in a low voice.

The child’s heart was sensitive; he did not want Fu Yi to hear this conversation or feel that she was a burden to her mother.

The woman did not respond, turning her head to walk downstairs, and Han Fei could only follow behind.

After leaving the hotel and walking out of the alley, the woman finally stopped.

She turned back to look at Han Fei, her eyes, numbed to life, now carried a trace of despair.

"Even if you hadn’t come to find me, I might have come to talk to you tomorrow. Over nine years, I have watched my daughter grow up bit by bit. I wanted her to be the happiest and most fortunate girl in the world, but who would have thought fate would punish me like this?" Fu Yi’s mother slowly clasped her hands; over the years, she had suffered tremendously, rushing around for a living, alone and breaking down countless times late at night.

"Before knowing you, I had my own job, my own life. Since meeting you, the liar, everything has been disrupted," the woman said bitterly with a wry smile. "The first year, I still believed you would change, thought you would repent, but it turns out you really have no humanity at all."

Han Fei continually reminded himself that the woman was cursing Fu Yi, not him, but strangely, in the Shrine Memory World, he not only assumed Fu Yi’s identity but also his feelings.

"You hate me, want to kill me, I can accept that, but could you wait until after Fu Yi’s illness is cured?"

Mentioning the disease Fu Yi suffered from intensified the despair in the woman’s eyes; the strength she had feigned in front of her daughter began to fade, her thin body leaning against the wall as if she was overwhelmed: "Some diseases can’t be cured, it’s difficult enough just to maintain them."

"I asked Fu Yi before, she said she was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy; after further investigation, I found that this disease, caused by genetic mutation, mostly affects boys, girls only make up a very small proportion," Han Fei spoke clearly, "Is it possible that it was a misdiagnosis?"

"We’ve seen many doctors and, with the help of kind people, even consulted the most authoritative expert here."

The woman’s words caught Han Fei’s attention: "Help from kind people?"

Through communicating with the woman and observing her condition, Han Fei could confirm that the person distributing flyers at his company during the day was not Fu Yi’s mother.

The person had impersonated Fu Yi’s mother’s identity and without any prior contact, went straight to distribute cheap black-and-white flyers, making blood-soaked grievances against Fu Yi, clearly not intending to solve the problem but deliberately wanting to escalate the situation.

In other words, those people didn’t care about the lives and well-being of Fu Yi and her mother, they just wanted to ruin Fu Yi completely.

"Was that kind person very beautiful, with a not so pleasant voice? Does she go by the surname Du?" Han Fei had figured out Du Shu’s character; that woman wanted to experience the thrill of pushing Fu Yi to death by her own hands, so she likely wouldn’t let her subordinates handle these matters, as it would be a very interesting "game" for her.

"Yes, the doctor’s surname is Du, how did you know that?"

"Don’t trust her."

"Then should I trust you?" Fu Yi’s mother shook her head: "Actually, I don’t trust anyone, but I have no choice."

"Forget that Doctor Du, when you took Fu Yi to other cities for treatment before, what did those doctors say?"

"They also said it was a genetic disease."

"Did doctors in other cities tell you how much the total treatment would likely cost?" Han Fei genuinely wanted to save Fu Yi; he wouldn’t abandon her just because she wasn’t as important as Fu Sheng.

"It would cost about two hundred thousand, and over the years, I’ve also accumulated some debts to treat her, totaling four hundred thousand," Fu Yi’s mother said conservatively. After she finished speaking, Han Fei suddenly heard the system’s voice in his mind.

"Player number 0000, please be aware! You have successfully triggered the Shrine Random Task—’Life’s Debt.’"

"Life’s Debt: This is the debt of your life, you can choose to repay it or deny it."

"Task Requirement: Repay the debt within seventy-two hours!"

"Option one for completing the task: Take 720,000 from your current family savings and give it to Fu Yi’s mother to clear the debt."

"Option two for completing the task: After the creditor disappears, all debts may also be written off."

Hearing the voice in his mind, Han Fei’s expression slightly changed, as this newly appeared Shrine Random Task was precisely the choice Fu Yi had faced originally.

Was it to pay the debt, or to kill the creditor?

Two pieces of noteworthy information remained. First, Fu Yi’s mother had only asked Han Fei for 400,000, but the system required Han Fei to pay 720,000. This indicated that Fu Yi’s mother had spent a lot of money herself and had suffered greatly, money she did not intend to ask from Han Fei.

The second point was even more critical. The first option required Han Fei to take out the money from current family savings, implying that the system restricted Han Fei to the same situation as Fu Yi.

He couldn’t use these seventy-two hours to "borrow" money from others or earn it himself; he could only take it from his existing family savings.

"What, think it’s too much?" seeing Han Fei not responding, the last glimmer of hope in Fu Yi’s mother’s eyes dimmed: "I have raised this child for eight years, and most of that time, she has been in treatment... "

"400,000 is too little. After I left your home, I also inquired with some doctors, who said it will take at least 600,000." Han Fei’s words startled the woman, who had believed it would be extremely difficult to obtain this sum, especially since in her eyes, Fu Yi was a person devoid of any humanity.

"Give me three days, I will do my utmost to gather the funds," Han Fei promised the woman. "After three days, I will bring 600,000 to you, but I also have a small request."

"What request? Not to tell your current wife and company leadership about this?" Fu Yi’s mother looked at Han Fei, her gaze numb and cold: "Rest assured, I have no interest in destroying someone else’s family, I just want to protect my daughter."

"You misunderstand." Han Fei looked squarely at the woman. He knew Du Shu would certainly escalate the matter: "People at the company probably already know, and soon I will also lose my job. I hope what you do won’t be connected to this."

"Then what do you want me to do?" The woman was truly puzzled.

"Don’t continue any dealings with Doctor Du Shu, she misdiagnosed Fu Yi’s condition and harbored ill intentions. Once I give you the money, go find a more professional doctor to treat Fu Yi." Han Fei handed the woman 5,000 in "hard-earned money" from his pocket: "Fu Yi’s condition will gradually improve."

Fu Yi’s mother, holding the money, stood still. She always felt that after not seeing Fu Yi for eight years, he had changed from before.

The change wasn’t in his appearance becoming mature or his demeanor becoming steadier, but a qualitative change in his soul.

Han Fei turned and left, and the system notification rang in his mind again: "Player number 0000 please note! You have repaid a debt of 5,000 yuan, with 715,000 yuan remaining."

Recalling the Building Chief Manager tasks and combining them with Du Shu’s numerous actions, Han Fei felt Du Shu was likely to have approached Fu Yi’s mother and daughter under some pretext, purportedly to help them, only to push Fu Yi into a corner step by step, then create an opportunity for Fu Yi to personally kill the mother and daughter himself.

Even if the family was ruined and the people perished, Fu Yi would have to personally kill his own daughter, and the surviving family members would live in despair and pain for a lifetime.

"Such a vicious woman." Having solved so many murder cases, Han Fei’s insight was far beyond ordinary; he felt that his only chance now was to regain the trust of Fu Yi and her daughter.

"Given the current situation of Fu Yi’s family, it’s absolutely impossible to come up with 700,000 in cash unless they sell the house in the city center." His brain whirring rapidly, Han Fei suddenly felt his vision blur, nearly losing his balance and falling to the ground.

He touched his nose with his hand, and this time not only was there blood from his nostril, but also some fibrous impurities.

Han Fei wiped off the bloodstains and took the bus home.

Upon entering the neighborhood, Han Fei straightened his clothes before going inside. He didn’t want to bring the exhaustion and pain from outside into his home.

As he opened the door, a confident, warm smile appeared on Han Fei’s face.

He looked at Fu Tian, who hurried over to open the door for him, and Fu Sheng, who was already sitting at the table. It felt like he had regained strength.

"Did you work overtime today?" His wife came over to take Han Fei’s briefcase, "You must be tired, wash your hands and come eat. The porridge is still hot."

"Yes, thank you."

The family gathered around the dining table. Fu Tian secretly tried to put the carrots from his bowl back onto the plate, only to be caught by his wife. In the end, with a stubborn expression, he declared that he would create a world without carrots when he grew up.

Fu Sheng ate while studying, preparing to go back to school.

Han Fei was quite confident in Fu Sheng’s performance; after all, Fu Sheng was a person who had changed the era.

After stealing a glance at the book Fu Sheng was reading, Han Fei’s expression slowly turned strange, "Fu Sheng, what are you studying here?"

"I’m looking at material for my essay." Fu Sheng sipped some porridge and turned the page of the book:

"Through my soul and body, I have come to know that degradation is necessary. I must go through greed, I must pursue wealth, experience disgust, and fall into the abyss of despair. Learn to love this world, not to compare it with a world conjured from some desires and imaginations, some false, idealized fantasy. Learn to accept the true face of this world, love it, and be joyous to belong to it. — Hesse ’Siddhartha’"

"That’s good." Han Fei didn’t offer any objections; his approach to Fu Sheng’s education was laissez-faire.

The warm dinner ended quickly. Fu Sheng went back to his room to study, and Fu Tian clung to Han Fei to play Hide-and-Seek.

By ten o’clock at night, his wife had put Fu Tian to sleep, and Han Fei also returned to his own bedroom.

He prepared his bed on the floor and covered it with blankets. Just as he was about to sleep, he suddenly felt the blanket being lifted, and his wife lay down behind him.

"The floor is cold, come back to bed." Han Fei sat up, but his wife didn’t leave.

She lay on the other side of the mattress, watching Han Fei’s face, silently observing him for a while.

"Have you encountered something?"

Han Fei leaned against the wall and did not immediately answer.

The room was quiet, with only the sound of the clock ticking.

After a long while, his wife turned over, her back facing Han Fei, and covered herself with the blanket, "I also want to lie here today."