My ‘Healing’ Game
Chapter 867: Their Fear is Beneath Me

Chapter 867: Chapter 867: Their Fear is Beneath Me

Zheng Li heard the familiar voice on the phone, and she couldn’t control herself as she started to scream, clinging desperately to her hair. The wounds that Han Fei had just bandaged began to bleed again.

"I didn’t tell anyone! Go away! Go away!"

She seemed to see something that Han Fei did not, staring at the empty room and crying out in agony.

Han Fei could feel Zheng Li’s body temperature dropping. As his time with Zheng Li lengthened, the room in his eyes also slowly began to change. Blood dripped down the cracks in the house, and an invisible hand was rummaging through the bedding and sheets in the room. The unseen monster seemed to want to hide in the girl’s room, waiting for her to come home.

Normally, Han Fei wouldn’t feel fear at all, but his heart was shaken by an unknown power. Although Impermanence and Executioner were clearly standing beside him, it felt as though there was an invisible barrier between them and Han Fei. No matter how much Han Fei called out, the two large-scaled Grudges remained unresponsive.

"Fear is contagious!"

The fear from Zheng Li’s heart seemed like a highly contagious disease. Everyone who touched her was being dragged step by step into an unknown illusion.

"The director understands human nature very well. He knows that the stronger a person’s will, the harder it is to deal with them, so he started with those group members who haven’t completely emerged from their inner shadows, using them as a breakthrough point to let fear spread within the group."

Han Fei tried to trigger the Greed Personality, ready to release Hatred directly, but something unexpected happened again.

His consciousness seemed to have been isolated somewhere, and he could no longer communicate with the personalities in his brain sea nor contact the ghosts and monsters within.

"I get it. This Hatred’s ability doesn’t target the body. From the moment I stepped into the ghost creature, he tried everything to attack my mind and will, wanting to imprison my consciousness."

"I am now likely in a state of separation between consciousness and body. The director’s talent should allow him to forcibly extract a living person’s consciousness."

The third mental hospital is indeed the best "mental disease control center" in Xinhu, retaining various "treatment plans" for "mental issues." Han Fei was likely considered the primary target, as he had been in once before and had taken the mourning girl with him.

"As expected, no hatred can be underestimated." After realizing this, Han Fei suddenly felt his back getting heavier. Turning his head, he saw that Zheng Li’s body began to grow a large number of black flowers. She was swelling continuously, and her face, which was quite delicate before, had now deformed, bleeding from the seven orifices, looking somewhat horrifying.

The flowers growing from Zheng Li’s body also wanted to drill into Han Fei’s body. He had no choice but to put Zheng Li down first.

"Those black flowers should be the plague of the spiritual consciousness world. To truly save Zheng Li and the other group members, the director must be resolved from the source."

Without further hesitation, Han Fei prepared to leave. He tried to recall Impermanence and Executioner, but the forms of the two large-scaled Grudges gradually became illusory. They were struggling to resist something, seemingly hearing Han Fei’s voice but unable to locate him. Ultimately, they did not follow Han Fei’s command, choosing to disappear on their own instead.

The screams still echoed from other parts of the building, but this time Han Fei did not go towards them: "I can’t contact others temporarily. I must prevent myself from being invaded by the black flowers."

The stronger a person’s will, the longer they hold out. Fear will keep doubling until, in the end, all the fear presses down on one person.

Han Fei was already prepared for the worst—to bear everyone’s fear and to find the exit of the consciousness ghost creature!

Looking out the window, the gap the middle-aged woman had opened had disappeared. Oppression, despair, and tragedy were the true themes here.

Not even a minute had passed while standing in place when Han Fei heard rustling above his head. Looking up, he saw a palm-sized spider hiding next to the door frame. Its body was only slightly larger than a normal spider, but what was eerie was the human head the size of a football on it, making it look strange and terrifying.

"Whose fear is this?"

As more people were hit, the frightening things would increase. Han Fei didn’t linger. He patted his pocket, but the paper airplane, Rebirth Slaughter Saber, and blood-colored Paperman given by Number Two were all missing; only his consciousness had been dragged in.

"The director’s ability is really disgusting."

The oppressive atmosphere of fear grew thicker. Han Fei was about to choose a random direction to explore when suddenly Number Two’s voice echoed in his mind.

"Go forward, enter the corridor, always go down, after passing three seventh floors, head to the second room from the left."

Even though the paper airplane stained with Number Two’s blood couldn’t be brought inside, Number Two, who had dealt with the director before, seemed to have anticipated this situation. The bloody words on the paper airplane turned into Number Two’s voice, directly resonating in Han Fei’s consciousness.

"No matter how powerful the director is, he shouldn’t be able to simulate Number Two’s voice, right?" Han Fei suddenly accelerated, shaking off the human-headed spider, and dashed into the dark corridor.

The filthy corridor was covered in black sticky liquid. The walls were painted with various bloody scenes, as if the madmen had captured a doctor and were treating him as they would a normal doctor.

With his extraordinary memory, Han Fei memorized most of the patterns on the walls.

He raced downstairs, but it seemed like he had entered another loop. The building appeared not to have a first floor; from the ninth floor, he’d run to the second, only to find himself back on the ninth again.

The only difference was that the scenes on the walls had changed. The patients’ surgeries had become increasingly brutal, and the number of surviving doctors had decreased.

"What do these things represent?"

The screams inside the building became even more concentrated, and many were voices familiar to Han Fei. The investigation bureau had made extensive preparations in advance, yet unexpected situations still occurred. The director’s use of power was completely different from ordinary Hatred.

With no time to think about anything else, upon passing the seventh floor for the third time, Han Fei suddenly changed direction and rushed into the second room from the left of the corridor.

Behind the pure white door was a ward undergoing transformation. The bloodstains on the walls began to fade, and the room’s original setup was being concealed by some force, and Han Fei was witnessing it all.

"What is that?"

During the transformation of the ward, a doctor in a white coat suddenly appeared, holding a black box in his hands.

Upon detecting Han Fei’s presence, the contents inside the box seemed to come alive, banging against the lid.

"Stop!"

Han Fei swung his fist at the doctor, who raised the black box instinctively to defend himself, taken by surprise. His fist knocked the black box over, and a head riddled with holes fell out.

Ordinary features were shrouded in some emotion, that face always smiling.

"Player number 0000, please note, you’ve discovered the Joyful Personality, a special personality from the mental hospital patient, stripped away by Hatred."

Before Han Fei could react, upon touching that smiling face, the head disappeared, the ward ceased its transformation, and the mental pollution Han Fei bore seemed to worsen.

"Is this mental ghost creature constructed through countless personalities? Did I just damage one of its hubs?"

He wanted to ask the doctor for clarification, but at the moment when the black box was opened, that doctor let out a scream, his body igniting in black flames, being burned to ashes.

The doctors in these hospitals seemed to have their souls bound with the black boxes storing personalities. Once the black box they guarded was opened, they too would be killed. Hatred had arranged it this way to prevent doctors from stealing his collection of "personalities."

"Get out! Don’t take the stairs, find the elevator, stay inside it! Wait for the next doctor to appear!"

Number Two’s voice rang again in Han Fei’s consciousness. He immediately opened the ward door, took a step, and splashed into a pitch-black swimming pool.

"How could there be such a large swimming pool in a mental hospital?"

A large mass of black shadow spread beneath the water surface not far away, and a corpse floated on the water. It seemed to be a member of the Investigation Team Nine.

"Everyone’s fear has been stimulated, and the ghost creature will become increasingly complex and dangerous."

Struggling to swim in the water, Han Fei felt as if he was in a nightmare he could never wake up from, with the shadow beneath the water always a bit faster than him.

The more anxious and eager to escape he was, the closer the shadow approached.

When Han Fei turned back again, something brushed against his face. Upon a closer look, the corpse had drifted behind him, its hair seemed to be trying to wrap around his neck.

"His greatest fear is related to water, and the exit might be hidden in a place he’ll never pass."

Han Fei looked around; the pool seemed to be expanding on its own, the more he feared, the farther he was from the shore.

"There’s no ladder on the shore either; could the exit be beneath the pool?"

The sound of crying echoed in his ears, the skin on the corpse’s face wriggled as if something was about to emerge from its features.

Han Fei no longer hesitated, taking a deep breath before diving into the water.

Corpses floated and sank in the water, Han Fei swam in the direction they were drifting from, seeing a blood-red number behind a large shadow, with a closed elevator door hidden at the bottom of the pool.

"Everything I’ve experienced is someone else’s fear. Only by escaping others’ nightmares can I find a way out."

Han Fei plunged into the large shadow at the fastest speed, hearing various strange sounds and seeing the scenes of the Investigation Bureau member’s fear.

In the same swimming pool, a few bullies were forcing him to take off his clothes and jump into the water, then threw all kinds of insects and snakes he feared into the pool.

The shadows in the heart turned into nightmares, with all manners of terrifying things lurking in the water.

"Luckily, I’m not afraid of these."

No matter how terrifying the insects were, they were not as nauseating as butterflies, with pure malice in the human heart beating poisonous snakes by miles.

Passing through the underwater shadows and enduring mental torment, Han Fei reached the underwater elevator and pressed the switch, the numbers on the elevator display began to change.

A dozen seconds later, the elevator doors opened, and Han Fei fell inside.

What just happened seemed like an illusion; he panted heavily, retching constantly, yet his clothes were not damp at all.

The pure white elevator doors slowly closed, as Han Fei sat in the corner, he could confirm this was the mental hospital’s elevator, with the familiar pungent smell of medicine lingering in the air.

"Number Two told me to wait for the doctor in the elevator, but what if something terrifying enters?"

Having slightly recovered some spirit, Han Fei stood up again, unsure of where he should go, having no choice but to passively follow the moving elevator.

The numbers on the display kept changing and soon stopped at the third floor.

The elevator doors opened, and an old man in a patient’s gown entered the elevator, with a hanging ghost riding on his shoulder.

"Young man, why are you staring at me?" The old man touched his neck, feeling his shoulder a bit sore lately.

"I think your hairstyle is quite trendy, you look to be just over sixty?" Han Fei maintained a calm expression, as if he couldn’t see the hanging ghost at all.

The old man’s facial skin twitched slightly: "Next year is my fiftieth birthday, if you can’t speak well, try being more introverted."

"The old man sees people so accurately, I’m usually quite socially anxious." Han Fei showed no hint of fear, even as the hanging ghost got close to his face, he continued staring in the old man’s direction, chatting merrily.

Before long, the elevator stopped on the fifth floor, accompanied by the crying of a child, a pregnant woman with a large belly entered, followed by a particularly big-headed deformed child.

"Baby, you must be obedient in the future, never cause trouble like your ugly brother did, falling into the lake, causing trouble for so many people." The pregnant woman seemed in high spirits, as if resolving a long-standing issue.

"Falling into a lake?" Han Fei glanced at the child with his peripheral vision, who was soaked with water still dripping, his skin bleached pale from being soaked.

"That happened a few months ago, we haven’t found his body yet." The pregnant woman’s words carried no hint of sadness, highly abnormal.

The elevator nearly stopped on every floor, more and more bizarre patients entered, all invariably accompanied by ghosts, yet everyone seemed unable to see them.

Han Fei remained remarkably composed, chatting about daily matters with everyone, the crowded elevator car was filled with harmony and joy.

But even amidst the laughter and joy, the elevator stopped on the ninth floor where an Investigation Team member appeared outside.

A completely packed elevator full of ghosts, airtight, so much so that the Investigation Team member didn’t even see Han Fei.

He wanted to take the elevator to escape, but upon opening the elevator, was met with such a terrifying scene.

His double eyes expanded, his face contorted with fear, he screamed and ran!

Upon realizing the person could see ghosts, the elevator’s previously celebratory atmosphere instantly turned somber, with all those patients and ghost and monster intently staring at the Investigation Team member, their mouths opening and closing, repeating the same words, then chased after him.

"Can’t afford to feel scared!"

Han Fei wanted to save that person, but Number Two told him to stay in the elevator: "It’s too late."

The elevator doors slowly closed again, and when it reached the eleventh floor, they opened once more, revealing a doctor holding a black box outside the door, with a blood-stained corridor behind him, yet the elevator appeared normal.

"What personality will it be this time?"

The doctor was somewhat puzzled to see only Han Fei in the elevator but instinctively entered.

When he turned back to press the button on the panel, he suddenly felt a chill creep up his spine; the display screen reflected Han Fei’s face, the man showing an extremely terrifying smile.

"The old man told me to be an introvert, so I’ll spare you the small talk."

Locking his arms around the doctor’s neck, Han Fei slammed him against the elevator door, forcibly opening the black box containing the personality.