To be honest, even Han Fei had underestimated the merchant's courage.
To get his money back, this miser was dancing on the edge of a knife, he was dancing on the edge of death. As long as there was a sliver of hope, he would give it his all. Even if he was facing a neighbor who was more powerful than he was, he would keep trying.
'What happened to the merchant? His obsession seems to be money. He died for money and then he appeared because of money. For him, money is the best cure. '
Han Fei followed behind the merchant and saw some 'tenants' that he had not seen in the game. He realized there was a difference between the Ziggurat and the cryptic world.
Almost all the rooms in the Ziggurat were occupied but in the cryptic world, most of the tenants stayed in the rooms with the number 4.
Han Fei had a feeling the tenants in the cryptic world had been cleaned out once, only the most important tenants were left behind. Take the Happiness Neighbourhood for example. When the previous building manager was still around, there were many neighbours but when Han Fei took over, there were only a few neighbours left.
Holding the red dress and following the merchant, Han Fei carefully inspected the rooms inside the Ziggurat. Soon, he noticed a detail.
Following the paper money on the ground, the merchant came to the 6th floor. When he saw the child who often sleepwalked at night, he hesitated but in the end, he led the child to knock on the door of Room 1064.
The child's mother stopped at the door and revealed her face.
For some reason, Han Fei thought she looked similar to the woman with the syringe on the 22nd floor.
To confirm his suspicion, Han Fei controlled his character to run to the 22nd floor. He found the wounded child next to the door.
The child stood alone outside the door, sobbing softly. The madwoman with the syringe was hiding behind the door on the 22nd floor.
Han Fei sneaked closer and then controlled his character to pick up the child and run down the stairs.
What happened next was similar to the cryptic world. The madwoman rushed out from the door, waving the syringe. She chased after Han Fei.
Through the screen, Han Fei studied the face of the woman on the 22nd floor. She looked so similar to the woman on the 6th floor, it felt like they were one and the same.
To Han Fei's surprise, when he carried the child to the 6th floor and planned to make the merchant the scapegoat, the woman stopped chasing him. She did not enter the 6th floor corridor. Instead, she kept slamming her head into the 6th floor security door. She waved her claws at the door and slammed her head against it.
"The door is not locked. Why doesn't she dare to come in?"
Just as Han Fei was wondering, a loud bang came from upstairs. It sounded like the window was shattered. Then Han Fei saw a woman fall from the window.
"Jumping Ghost!"
Calculating the time, the Jumper Ghost appeared exactly half an hour after Han Fei entered the Ziggurat, which was basically the same time as the cryptic world.
"If anyone is not killed by the Death Curse within half an hour, the Jumper Ghost will be triggered?"
Several seconds later, the creepy voice of the Jumper Ghost came from the stairwell. Han Fei was on the 6th floor, he was too close to the ghost.
Not long after that, the Jumper Ghost climbed up to the 6th floor. The stairwell behind her was covered in blood and flesh.
Han Fei did not panic when he saw the Jumper Ghost. He stared at the woman's face that he could barely recognize.
'This Jumper Ghost looks similar to the woman on the 22nd floor and the mother who kept taking in children from the 6th floor! Is there some kind of connection between the 3 of them? Could it be that their consciousness has been separated into 3 parts? '
The more Han Fei thought about it, the more likely it seemed. The Jumper Ghost was completely dominated by hatred. There was only murder and death in her mind. She did not even have a single memory related to humans. This was very abnormal even for a Lingering Spirit.
'Could it be that the Butterfly has separated her different memories to make it easier to control the Jumper Ghost? These 3 different women actually represent 3 different memories. '
Seeing that the Jumper Ghost was approaching, Han Fei thought of something very important.
He put down the game controller. He did not resist and allowed the Jumper Ghost to tear apart his character.
Under Zhuang Ren's confused gaze, Han Fei took out his phone and started to search for information about the terminally ill female streamer from 14 years ago.
The incident caused quite a stir on the internet, Han Fei managed to find the information easily.
When he saw the female streamer's picture, his eyes widened. His suspicion was confirmed.
The female streamer who died 14 years ago looked exactly the same as the female streamer on the 1084th floor (see Chapter 309 for details)!
In other words, the Red Dress from Room 1044 and the female streamer from Floor 1084 should be the same person. However, the female streamer from Room 1084 who was curious about everything probably represented the sunny side of the Red Dress.
The appearance of the picture proved one thing.
For existences as scary as the Red Dress and the Jumper Ghost, their memories were also tampered with by the manager. Their consciousness was separated. Han Fei had no idea why the manager did this but he had a feeling that if he wanted the Red Dress and the Jumper Ghost to control him, he had to reunite their scattered memories.
'The female streamer from Room 1084 was curious about the tragedy that happened in Room 1044. She retained some of her memory but she thought it was someone else's story. She thought she moved to the Ziggurat out of pity and curiosity. There's an obvious connection between the Red Dress and the Jumper Ghost but what's the connection between the Jumper Ghost, the syringe woman and the divorced mother with her sleepwalking child?
'Zhuang Wen jumped off the building, her cause of death has nothing to do with the syringe; the divorced mother's experience is also different from Zhuang Wen's … but their child's experience is similar to Zhuang Wen's.'
Han Fei had a feeling the Jumper Ghost was not that simple, there had to be more to it than meets the eye.
The Jumper Ghost was the scariest and strongest Specter in Apartment 1, it was a monster that failed to morph into hatred. For Han Fei, if he could gain the Jumper Ghost's support, his chance of survival at the Ziggurat would greatly increase.
'Perhaps this game will give me the answer.'
Picking up the controller, Han Fei continued to clear the game. Han Fei was very familiar with the Ziggurat by now. It was like he was racing through the game.
Han Fei entered the Ziggurat again. The previous steps had not changed. However, after obtaining the red dress, Han Fei did not go after the merchant but went to Room 1084 instead.
The female streamer in Room 1084 was the only person who treated Han Fei well. She had no intention of harming Han Fei, her personality was similar to the female streamer who passed away a few years ago.
Han Fei confirmed his suspicion. He tried to have the female streamer put on the red dress but the moment she put on the dress, she transformed into a ghastly monster and slapped Han Fei's character to death.
'Why not? Did I miss something? '
Han Fei frowned in thought. Zhuang Ren beside him was confused. Han Fei's actions were not something a normal person could come up with. Han Fei's thought process was as bizarre as the Ziggurat game.
He tried again. This time, Han Fei planned to do both.
First, he lured the syringe woman from the 22nd floor to the 6th floor. When the syringe woman went berserk, Han Fei led the children who were hiding behind the security door to the 8th floor.
Calculating the time, when the Jumper Ghost was about to appear, Han Fei knocked on the door of Room 1084 and had the female streamer put on the red dress.
While she was putting on the red dress, Han Fei carried the two children and ran out.
After the female streamer put on the red dress, she turned into a monster. She chased Han Fei all the way to the 6th floor.
At that moment, Han Fei knocked on the door of Room 1064. The divorced mother refused to leave the room so before her eyes, Han Fei carried the two children and rushed towards the syringe woman.
To protect the children, the divorced mother also ran out.
At this crucial moment, the Jumper Ghost appeared.
Han Fei calculated the time and gathered the divorced mother, syringe woman and the Jumper Ghost together. Something unexpected happened.
The Jumper Ghost, who was completely dominated by hatred, avoided the divorced mother, syringe woman and their children!
'There is a connection between them!'
From the other side of the corridor, the red dress appeared. Everything was as Han Fei predicted. The female streamer who had turned into a monster and the Jumper Ghost got into a brawl.
Han Fei put down the two children and ran to the top floor. The door to Room 1244 could not be opened, he needed the key.
With no other choice, Han Fei returned to the 6th floor. He wanted to see if he could steal the key that pierced into the Jumper Ghost's heart. However, once his character got close to the fighting ghost, he would be killed instantly.
After replaying the game 3 times, Han Fei calmed down. Each time he replayed the game, he would have to waste time to clear the previous levels. He was going to enter the cryptic world that night, he did not have that much time to waste.
'There should be other ways. If I get too close, I'll be killed by the Jumper Ghost. But when the Jumper Ghost first appeared, it did not harm the divorced mother or the girl. Perhaps I can rely on them to get the key.'
Han Fei changed his strategy. He led the children to a safe place and told the divorced mother that the children might be hidden at the top floor by the Jumper Ghost. To save the children, he had to get the key first.
The divorced mother agreed. Then Han Fei lured the monstrous red dress over. After the Jumper Ghost tore the red dress apart, the divorced mother plucked the key from the heavily injured Jumper Ghost.
However, when Han Fei touched the key, black death curses appeared on the divorced mother's body. Originally, the curse was only focused on the Jumper Ghost.
Han Fei ran to the top floor. Halfway up the stairs, the divorced mother seemed to be reminded of something very scary. She was slowly morphing into the second Jumper Ghost.
When Han Fei touched the key, his life entered a countdown. When the death curse spread to his whole body, that would be the time of his character's death.
Han Fei did not dare waste any time. He controlled his character to the top floor. He inserted the black and red key into the keyhole and successfully opened the door to Room 1244!
The heavy black door slowly slid open. The back of the door was covered in blood red talismans. The whole game screen appeared to be dyed red.
The room was littered with various strange statues and talismans. The walls were written with strange words and spells. The ground was littered with books with strange drawings.
There were blood stains everywhere. Han Fei controlled his character to approach the bedroom door. As if hearing his footsteps, the sound of crying came from behind the door.
Pushing the door open, Han Fei saw an old and ugly middle-aged man tied to the ground by chains. Paper money was scattered around him and there were many tools used to summon spirits. His lips were mumbling words of remorse and pleading for mercy.
From this man in strange clothes, Han Fei finally understood the horror that the Jumper Ghost had experienced.
Zhuang Wen was locked up in the storage room no matter if she was sick or mentally ill. The more painful and crazy she was, the more the man thought she was possessed. He forced her to drink all kinds of strange things, drew talismans on her body, and hit her repeatedly.
Reading the chilling words on screen and listening to the voice that came out from the game, both Han Fei and Zhuang Ren felt chills fill their hearts.
After exiting the room, Han Fei opened the door to the storage room. There was a single bed placed inside the cramped storage room. It was dirty and messy. The bed was littered with chains, feces and various syringes.
The room that once trapped Zhuang Wen now housed the middle-aged man's son and daughter. They were scared senseless, they could only cry.
Han Fei ignored the middle-aged man's son and daughter. He pulled back the bedsheets and sheets. They were filled with curses, they recorded all the pain and despair in Zhuang Wen's memory. Just looking at them sent chills down Han Fei's spine.
Zhuang Wen hated everything, including her own mother. When she was young, Zhuang Wen's mother used her as a bargaining chip to threaten the then director, Zhuang Ren. Then Zhuang Wen's mother went mad.
From then on, the seed of resentment had been planted.
Zhuang Wen hated her mother, she hated Zhuang Ren and she hated her adoptive father even more. For her, the world was just a smear of darkness.
'The syringe woman used her son as bait to beat him up. Zhuang Wen was also tortured like that. Zhuang Wen's mother also used Zhuang Wen as a bargaining chip to threaten the director, Zhuang Ren! The divorced mother's child was trapped at home and Zhuang Wen was once imprisoned by her adoptive father's family. At the time, her greatest wish was to find the non-existent key and then leave that home forever! Just like how a sleepwalking child always manages to find the key to the door and escape at night! '
The three memories were connected. Han Fei gripped the game controller and his heart chilled.
'How can a human be like this?'
Zhuang Ren also saw the vicious curses on the game screen. He stared at his blood-red name on the bedding, his hands trembling.
'Is it because of this child? She trapped my whole family in the Ziggurat? '
Zhuang Ren's tone was obviously not normal. His breathing was rapid and his hands gripped his chest. His expression was twisted.
Resisting the pain, he grabbed the pills from the table and swallowed them. Only then did the pain lessen.
'Han Fei, I beg you, please look at the other rooms, my family might be in this room!'
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