When Feng Ziyu visited Ewha Neighbourhood earlier, he ran into the man once. After a short conversation, Feng Ziyu believed the man was not mad, he was merely faking it due to some kind of pressure.
Han Fei believed the director knew something, the fact that the man had been staying at Ewha Neighbourhood for so long was suspicious.
After memorizing all the information, Han Fei destroyed the document. He called Li Xue to report his itinerary. Then he left the room with the baton.
Ewha Neighbourhood was also located in the old city but it was built in a secluded area. It had changed its name many times. It took Han Fei a long time before he found the place with the help of the GPS.
Looking at the dilapidated entrance and the banners hanging on the walls, Han Fei felt like he had returned to a few decades ago. The place still looked the same, the technological advancements did not bring much change to the city.
'Why is the director still staying at this place after he became famous?' Han Fei searched for the director's name on his phone. After he keyed in Zhuang Ren, many results appeared.
10 years ago, the director was quite popular. Every one of his movies was a flop with ridiculously low ratings but he still made money from the box office.
Many people didn't watch his movies because they were horror movies. They watched them with the idea of appreciating comedies.
On the director's social platform that had not been updated in the past 6 years, there were still his' followers' who called him the King of Comedy and hailed him as the Godfather of New Comedy.
Zhuang Ren's comment section was very familiar, it was the same for his own social platform.
He was an actor but he was misunderstood by many netizens as a bounty hunter.
In this aspect, Han Fei could understand Zhuang Ren.
The gate was locked and there was a water cut off notice on the wall. The trash can at the entrance had not been cleaned for a long time, it was dirty and messy.
This was once a decent neighbourhood but as time went on, the place was forgotten by the city, just like the people who still lived here.
Walking past the bumpy road, Han Fei glanced at the sign on the roadblock. The road had been under construction for half a year and it would not be finished in the next half of the year.
Ewha Neighbourhood was not big, there were only 4 buildings in total and they were not tall.
The fourth building was completely sealed off. It was said that Immortal Pharma had bought this building a long time ago.
Shaking the welded iron door of Building No.4, Han Fei couldn't help but sigh at how good it was to be rich.
The chairman of Immortal Pharma used to live here but unfortunately, Han Fei could not go in to investigate. At least he did not dare barge into the residential building during the day.
Han Fei walked around Building 4 and arrived at Zhuang Ren's Building 1. He walked straight up to the 4th floor. He did not see a single person along the way. This residential area was like a ghost town, it was scary even in the day.
"Is anyone there?"
He knocked lightly on the door, but there was no response. It seemed that the room was unoccupied.
Han Fei leaned his upper body forward and pressed his ear against the door. He could vaguely hear the sound of the news.
"May I ask if this is Zhuang Ren's house?"
Han Fei knocked on the door for a full 3 minutes before he heard footsteps coming from inside.
The door was pushed open a gap and a bloodshot eyeball appeared. The owner stared at Han Fei without saying a word.
"My name is Han Fei, I'm here to ask you some questions."
Hearing that Han Fei was there to ask questions, the owner immediately moved to close the door but Han Fei was prepared. His fingers reached into the gap and gripped the door.
"I'm not a bad person. If you're worried, I can help you call the police and have them come with us." Han Fei's tone was gentle, but the content of his words was hard to answer.
It was just a question of whether to close the door or not, why did he have to involve the police?
Han Fei slowly pulled the door open. To prevent the owner from getting too angry, Han Fei politely stood at the door and did not step into the room.
"I've read about you online and I know about your past. Calm down and listen to me." Han Fei stared at the face behind the door and slowly lowered his voice. "I know you're not crazy because I've encountered the same thing as you. My family is trapped somewhere. They're not dead, or rather, they're existing in a different form."
The bloodshot eyeball moved slightly, the person seemed to understand the deeper meaning behind Han Fei's words.
"I know where they are but I cannot save them, I need to get some information from you." Han Fei said for a long time before a hoarse voice finally came from behind the door.
"Where do you think they are?"
"Have you heard of the Ziggurat?" Instead of answering his question, Han Fei tossed out another question. To his surprise, after he mentioned the name of the Ziggurat, the door slowly opened.
A man with a dirty face and a white beard appeared at the door. He looked like he was in his 60s but he looked like he could pass away at any moment.
"Come in, you'll be treated as a madman if you talk about this outside." The man then entered the room without even closing the door.
Han Fei confirmed the position of the stick and then entered the room.
Avoiding the trash on the ground, he glanced around. The room was littered with medicine bottles.
It was morning but all the curtains were drawn. The living room was very dark.
Han Fei closed the door. When he lifted his head again, the man walked out from inside the room with a fruit knife in his hand.
He stared at Han Fei blankly, his bloodshot eyes bulged out.
After a long time, as if sensing no reaction from Han Fei, the man finally said, "Do you want some apples? The community support group delivered them yesterday. "
"There's no need for that, I'm not here to eat fruits." Han Fei sat down on the sofa. He studied the television that was playing a video and the notes that covered the coffee table. "You don't seem to like using modern electronics?"
"I've gotten used to the old things." The man sat down on the other side of the sofa. Both of them turned to look at the television.
The screen was playing a news report from many years ago. The bus ran off the bridge on a stormy day and drove into the middle of a rising river.
"Was your family on the bus at the time?" When Han Fei asked that question, the news reported the names of the victims. One of them was Zhuang Ren's family but Zhuang Ren shook his head decisively.
"They're not dead, they're just trapped inside the Ziggurat, I'm sure of that." Zhuang Ren tied up his messy hair. "Everyone thinks I've lost my mind but I'm actually more clear-headed than anyone else."
Han Fei did not answer immediately. After a long silence, he asked, "Have you been inside the Ziggurat before?"
"I've been trying to find a way in but I can't find the way." The man widened his bloodshot eyes. He mysteriously opened the video game console under the television and handed Han Fei a game controller.
"What are you doing?"
Zhuang Ren stopped talking. After he took the controller, his mental state became even more unstable. His pupils kept twitching as he focused all his attention on the television.
After connecting all the wires, the game started. A game with poor graphics appeared on the television. The name of the game was — Ziggurat.
Red letters on a black background, it was simple but it made Han Fei's heart ache.
"My family is inside this game! They're waiting for me to save them! I just need to clear the game! "Zhuang Ren's tone turned crazed. He did not look like a normal person at all.
"You mean the Ziggurat you mentioned is this game?" Han Fei was disappointed. He put down the controller but just as he was about to stand up, he saw the game on screen.
In this Ziggurat game, the first map was called Happiness Neighbourhood!
Coincidentally, the game inside the neighbourhood was also about finding puzzles. However, it was not a human jigsaw puzzle but a child's normal jigsaw puzzle.
Through questioning different NPCs, the player had to find 8 puzzle pieces at the corners of the large map to clear the game.
Zhuang Ren had lost count of how many times he had played this game. He controlled the blurry character with great familiarity and triggered many missions. In the process of finding the puzzle pieces, he learned about the neighbours' problems and helped them solve them one by one.
The first map looked very rough, but it contained quite a lot of content.
Han Fei did not think Zhuang Ren was crazy anymore. He watched quietly from the side.
After 15 minutes, Zhuang Ren found all the puzzle pieces. The final picture that appeared on the puzzle was a child reaching out to catch a butterfly.
After clearing the first map, Zhuang Ren entered the next map. The second map was called Qiu Yun Apartments. Here, Zhuang Ren needed to help the deliveryman deliver the items inside the complex building.
While delivering the items, Zhuang Ren would interact with different people to experience the fickleness of human nature.
Judging from the first two maps, the creator of the game had a bright and optimistic heart. He probably wanted to create a healing mini-game.
After 10 minutes, Zhuang Ren completed all the missions. Then he entered the third map — Happiness Road Temporary Shelter.
There was a problem with the quality of the shelter. The mission required Zhuang Ren to convince everyone to leave within the stipulated time.
The design of these games was very interesting, but Zhuang Ren did not know how many times he had played them. He clicked on each option like a machine, taking the shortest route to obtain the corresponding item. He should have memorized all the strategies in his heart.
The third map, the fourth map …
When it was almost noon, Zhuang Ren reached the 8th map. The map was called Ewha Neighbourhood.
When he played this map, his movements were slow. It felt like he was watching his own life from another perspective.
Half an hour later, the 8th map was cleared. Even though the game was difficult, it was not impossible.
Just as he thought the 9th map was about to appear, the game returned to the beginning. Only the words' Ziggurat 'remained on the screen.
'That's it?'
'No, the door to the Ziggurat has just opened.' Zhuang Ren clicked start again. The 8 maps that he had played earlier were like 8 jigsaw puzzles at Happiness Neighbourhood.
Seeing this, it was as if a bolt of lightning had struck his mind. He was reminded of something, these things might be related to each other.
After the 8 maps were put together, the 9th map appeared.
It was a very strange building. Whenever Zhuang Ren's character got close to it, it would suddenly explode.
He tried many different locations but none of them worked. He could not find the entrance to the building.
The blood vessels in his eyes grew thicker. Zhuang Ren's control became more and more violent. Finally, he slammed the controller on the coffee table. Then he screamed like a madman and pushed everything to the ground.
After a long time, Zhuang Ren finally calmed down.
His hand was cut by the glass shards but he did not seem to feel the pain. He picked up the controller, exited the game and started a new game.
'I must've missed something, perhaps I need some kind of item to enter the Ziggurat.' Zhuang Ren's hand was bleeding but his eyes were glued to the screen.
Seeing Zhuang Ren who had returned to the game, Han Fei touched the controller and suddenly asked, "Where did you find this game? And who told you that your family is trapped inside the Ziggurat? "
Even if a normal person was traumatized by the loss of their family, they would not believe something like that so Han Fei believed something must have happened to Zhuang Ren.
"You might not believe me, you might even think I'm crazy." Zhuang Ren explained as he played. "The Ziggurat was given to me by the chairman of Immortal Pharma when he was young, about 40 years ago. At the time, he lived here."
"The chairman of Immortal Pharma?" Han Fei's eyes glinted with disbelief.
"Of course you're going to say that. After all, they're already dead, I can make up anything I want. Actually, at the time, I couldn't understand why the man who was said to be closest to God would give me this game. That was until about 10 years ago when my family passed away … "Zhuang Ren turned to Han Fei. Han Fei's eyes widened as if reminded of something.
"That's right, you should've seen the game map at Ewha Apartments. This game predicted the death of my family." Zhuang Ren put down the controller. "Everyone thought I was crazy. Slowly, I started to doubt myself. I wondered if it was me or the world that had gone mad."
No one spoke, the room was dead silent.
After a long time, Han Fei asked, "Did the chairman of Immortal Pharma tell you anything else?"
"It's been too long, I can only remember a blurry scene. That night, I saw him mumbling to himself at the corner of the residential area. It was like he was possessed, he kept saying that he had a big brother. " Zhuang Ren leaned back on the sofa. "I was still young then. Out of kindness, I wanted to help him but he asked me a question that I still can't understand."
"What question?"
"He asked me whether there are ghosts in this world."
"How did you answer him?"
"I said no and then he gave me this game." Zhuang Ren stared at the television screen and the wrinkles on his face seemed to deepen. "He also told me that if I lost the most important thing, I should go look for it here. Perhaps they haven't left, they're just trapped inside a black building, unable to come out."
Everything matched up but Zhuang Ren did not get it. The Ziggurat mentioned by the chairman probably referred to the Ziggurat in another game.
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