My Iyashikei Game

443 Father

The system notification startled Han Fei, this was the first time he encountered a status that could buff his attribute directly. After all, he had been using curses as blessings and this was the first time he got an actual blessing.

‘The drop rate of mood points will be lowered, that’s easy to understand but what does it mean by the mutation speed of the world? Is the memory world mutating?’ From Han Fei’s perspective the memory world hadn’t changed but the system provided him with a great warning.

The woman in bed was very weak. After she touched Han Fei’s face, her arm lowered weakly. “Sorry for being such a burden. As a mother, all I can give you is a blessing.”

“That is already the best present I have ever received.” Han Fei had a feeling that the woman could remember more things that she should. He helped her with the bedspread. “Everything will get better. The regrets will cease.”

Han Fei didn’t stay, he had more important things to do. He needed to figure out what it meant by world mutation and he needed to be prepared for it. Han Fei stood up and left. When he closed the door, he glanced through the window again. Remembering the smile on the woman’s face, he understood something. ‘For the altar owner, the only regret in this world is his mother. That’s why her blessing is so powerful.’ From that moment on, Han Fei had gained some kind of approval.

“Well, what is your decision?” The boss and his 4 bodyguards waited outside the door. The man held a credit card, ready for Han Fei.

“Thank you for your kindness but I really can’t infringe on it.” Han Fei almost ‘broke down’ carrying so much on his shoulders but he only showed his ‘weakness’ when he was out of the ward because he didn’t want his mother to worry. Using masterful acting, Han Fei played a young man in despair to perfection. He rejected the aid from the boss. The man might act crazy from the rejection. To ensure that the boss didn’t suspect anything, Han Fei tried his best to mimic the altar owner. Each microexpression radiated despair. The boss captured all the despair on Han Fei, he had no idea perhaps one day he would experience the same despair.

Even though he was rejected multiple times by Han Fei, the man didn’t get mad. His expression never changed. “My offer is always open. If you need it, come and find me.” Then he turned to leave. But after a few steps, he stopped like he just remembered something. He turned to Han Fei. “I heard from Zhu Wei that your family actually has collected some funds but your father has stolen all of them?”

Han Fei had a feeling that this man was purposely bringing up all of his sad past. “Yes.”

“You should go to the western city downstream from the river. My employee has seen him there.” The boss coughed, his face’s rotten skin bled. Seeing him like this, the guards immediately surrounded him.

“That is all I can do to help you. The area is rather chaotic so if you are going, you better bring some friends with you.”

The boss left with his guard. As he left the hospital, the first ray of dawn showered into the mother’s ward. Han Fei survived the second night. He saw the boss leave and a question surfaced in his mind, ‘Why is he so kind to give me the location of the altar owner’s father?’ Han Fei was very suspicious of the boss, he had a feeling the boss was behind all the tragedies that happened to the altar owner. It was not fate who was toying with the altar owner but this seemingly weak man. ‘After I rejected him, he’s still so kind to tell me the location of my father? That’s just suspicious.’

If the boss really wanted to, he could have told Han Fei the location of the father earlier and not after Han Fei rejected him. ‘I might have missed something.’ Leaning against the door, Han Fei started to think. The old lady’s son once worked at the 2nd hand shop but he was eaten by the altar. However the boss was still alive. Based on the boss’ plot, the altar owner would slowly walk into his trap but in the end, it was the altar owner who took over the altar and became an Unmentionable.

Each Unmentionable was cunning and scary. They were masters at manipulating people’s negative emotions. Pain and despair were the fuel for them to light the black hatred. So how could an Unmentionable be forever kind and pure?

Han Fei lowered his eyes to study his wounded arms. It was stained with invisible blood. If he didn’t change history, the owner would have killed 1 person already. ‘Something big must have happened, changing the altar owner from a kind person to the other extreme, and he consumes the boss instead. This should be his regret too, but I have no idea what this something big is.’

Han Fei was very careful and avoided many dangers but even so, he only rectified 20 percent of the altar owner’s regret. The incident that turned the altar owner into an Unmentionable hadn’t arrived yet.

‘Before becoming an Unmentionable, one has to go through the path of a Pure Hatred. Who is the source of the altar owner’s hatred? The loansharks? The mall guards? The unfair destiny? Or the father?’

Han Fei closed his eyes, he thought back to the things that had happened after he entered the memory world. When he did the Toys mission, he encountered a killer who murdered his wife and child, Han Fei indirectly caused his death; Then he encountered Ten Fingers who was disguised as a hospital nurse, he trapped his wife at home and until now Han Fei had no idea if the wife was alive or not; Lastly, it was Huang Li. Han Fei sneaked a look at her phone record. Huang Li’s husband beat her and even after the divorce, he still threatened her.

Han Fei initially didn’t connect all these but now that he thought about it, this was the altar owner’s memory world. The memory was subjective. Be it the murderer or Huang Li’s husband, their existence influenced the altar owner’s memory. This was the owner’s memory world, there were stories for every single character but not the owner himself. But in a way, wasn’t this mutating world the reflection of the altar owner’s heart? All the regrets and experience were the answers.

‘The boss wanted me to lead me to do certain things but he didn’t expect me to reject him.’ Han Fei was certain that the boss’ plan had been foiled. ‘Looks like I need to hurry to this western city.’ Han Fei felt like he needed to go see the altar owner’s father. ‘Just what has a man who believes in light experienced that he gave up on hope completely to embrace darkness?’

Han Fei and the 2 loansharks left the hospital and came to the bus stop. No one dared to get close to them.

“The mall is not far from here, we can walk back there. Are you planning to go home?” Lee Long had a new understanding of Han Fei after what happened at the hospital. His attitude towards Han Fei was softer but he still needed to ask for the debt or else he couldn’t answer to his boss.

“Earlier Boss Gu told me that my father was seen in the western part of town. Are you guys familiar with that area?” Han Fei turned to Lee Long and Lee Hu.

“You’ve worked for a whole night already, aren’t you tired?” Lee Hu grumbled. Han Fei was not tired but he was.

“We’ll go there first. If we can find my father, I can you return the money instantly!” Han Fei promised.

Hearing that, Lee Long spoke, “The western city is the most backwards part of town. A few years ago, the government started a project there and it has gathered many homeless people and temp workers. It also bred many parasites.”

“Parasites? You mean people like you?”

“You can’t say that, we’re still principled people.” Lee Hu grumbled, “Granted that is where our old lair is.”

“Bring me there. If we can find the man, I’ll return you the money plus the interest.” With Han Fei’s insistence, Lee Long and Lee Hu decided to bring Han Fei to the western city.

“Other people evade us when they are in debt but you insist on going to the place where our gang is centrally located. If I didn’t know the truth, I’d believe you’re an undercover cop.” Lee Long and Lee Hu sat beside Han Fei as they took the bus to western city. As time moved, more people got on the bus but the last row where Han Fei occupied still had many seats. An old man with a limp got on the bus. Han Fei stood up to surrender his seat but he was pressed back into the seat by the old man.

The bus rode for 30 minutes and they arrived at their destination. Once they descended, Han Fei was hit by the dust. There were construction sites and buildings meant to be torn down everywhere.

“If we run into our colleagues, I hope you can give us some face.” Lee Long gave a reasonable request. If others knew they were led here by Han Fei, they wouldn’t need to survive on the streets anymore.

“No problem, I will cooperate fully as long as you help me find my father.” Han Fei took out his phone to look through the phone album. Han Fei wanted to find a picture of the altar owner’s father to show Lee Long but Han Fei had a new discovery. The phone album had the picture of the owner’s mother and father but there was no picture of the altar owner. All the group photos had been deleted. There was not even a voice message from the altar owner.

‘This is worth noting.’ Han Fei sent the father’s picture to Lee Long and Lee Hu. After they received the photo, Han Fei became more low profile. “Even though this place has a lot of homeless people, we will still pay attention when there’re new faces.” Lee Long walked ahead. He led Han Fei through a construction site and entered the alley at the back. Soon they heard sounds of people begging and screaming. Lee Long told Han Fei to stop, “There’s an unlucky chap being caught, we better don’t go over there now.”

The screaming stopped about half a minute later. Several men holding metal pipes walked out from the alley. The leader among them was as tall as Lee Long but he looked larger than Lee Long. The pipe he was holding was stained with blood. As the group of people came over, Lee Long moved out of the way. Lee Hu was not that satisfied but he too did the same.

“Don’t get entangled with them?” Without any reminder from Lee Long, Han Fei moved to the wall. He just wanted to find the owner’s father. He thought there wouldn’t be any conflict but when the group passed Han Fei, they stopped. The leading man studied Han Fei, “A new member?” Han Fei was flustered. He was very afraid and turned to Lee Long for help. Lee Long said, “He owed Brother Snake money and Brother Snake told us to bring the kid to him.”

“Don’t worry, we won’t steal your stock.” The man raised the pipe to point at Lee Long. “The scar on your face sure is ugly. You should let me carve another scar on your face so they’ll appear symmetrical.”

The people behind the man laughed. Lee Hu wanted to counter but he was stopped by Lee Long.

“Such trash, no wonder you’re badly beaten up.” Since Lee Long didn’t resist, the people lost interest and they wandered away. The man laughed, he didn’t realize that when he turned around, Han Fei’s eyes changed.

‘Human skull tattoo!’ Han Fei glared at the back of the leader’s neck. There were two lifelike human skulls there. The tattoo was so lifelike, Han Fei could see the faces filling in over the bones, ‘He’s one of the Ten Fingers?’

Han Fei’s plan was forming. He was already deciding where he’d buried this man.

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