The music box at Immortal Pharma's CEO's office had appeared 14 years ago as well. Li Xue's teacher confirmed that this was the same music box.
After knowing the music box's past, the sentence underneath the music box was quite ironic.
The song inside the music box did not bring happiness and happiness to others, if anything, it turned itself into a monster that spread misfortune.
No one knew what had happened to Singing. Everything that had happened to her was a mystery.
Everyone related to the music box was dead and the victim's family had voluntarily given up on the case, so the case was left unsolved.
Li Xue's teacher could remember this so clearly because he had memorized all the murder cases in Xin Lu over the past 20 years to identify the Butterfly.
This old man was very unique. There was almost no information about him on the internet but even the captain of Xin Lu's Criminal Investigation Unit had to lower his head and show him respect.
He did not have a specific position and not many people knew about his past. The only thing Han Fei knew was that the old man had spent his entire life chasing after the Butterfly. Even if he died, he would drag the Butterfly into his coffin with him.
After getting what he wanted, Han Fei did not stay for long. After dealing with the police's questions, he left with the psychotherapy device.
Tonight was the night of the Return of the Soul, he had to cherish every second before nightfall.
When he returned to Jin Jun's place, the veteran paparazzi Jin Jun was chatting with Zhuang Ren about the entertainment industry. When Jin Jun found out about Zhuang Ren's real identity, his jaw dropped. He did not expect to meet the King of Bad Movies — Zhuang Ren again in his lifetime.
Jin Jun wanted to dig out some gossip from Zhuang Ren. Since Zhuang Ren needed Jin Jun's help to enter the game, Zhuang Ren did not reject the offer. Instead, he gave Jin Jun a huge gift.
The sanctimonious martial artist was playing a huge game in private. Jin Jun was like a hunting dog that had caught the scent of its prey, his eyes glowed as he stared at Zhuang Ren.
"You two are having a good chat, aren't you?"
"Brother Han, you're my lucky star. You've helped me a lot this time." Jin Jun initially planned to help Han Fei but he did not expect to be the biggest beneficiary. He stood on Han Fei's side even more.
"It doesn't matter if I help or not. We're all friends." Han Fei took out the psychotherapy device and signaled for Zhuang Ren to come over. He connected the various circuits according to the instructions and then had Zhuang Ren put the device on. "Do not feel pressured. You will appear inside a room and the room will change according to your mental state. Relax, do not resist it."
Han Fei was worried that Zhuang Ren would not be able to use the psychotherapy device. He kept his eyes on Zhuang Ren.
The indicator light lit up and the device started to operate normally. However, what happened next was different from the manual. Before Han Fei could initiate the psychological guidance, Zhuang Ren entered the deep treatment state. It felt like his consciousness was attracted to the virtual world created by the artificial brain.
'What did Immortal Pharma's CEO do to Zhuang Ren's brain?' Han Fei looked at the ruined Emotion Therapy Device inside the black box and he fell into deep thought.
Zhuang Ren's consciousness was different from a normal person's, it appeared to have been specially marked. This method of marking the soul was beyond Han Fei's knowledge.
In reality, Han Fei who lived at the bottom of the city did not have the chance to come into contact with the most advanced technology in the world. He only occasionally heard some very advanced terms on the internet.
'When is Director Zhuang going to wake up?' Jin Jun was nervous as well. He still had many questions that he needed answers to. Gossip and gossip were popular in any era.
"I have no idea." Han Fei only hoped that Zhuang Ren would be fine.
After having some food at Jin Jun's home, Han Fei decided not to waste any more time. He took out the Ziggurat from the black box and started to play.
Jin Jun looked at the two 'strange people' in his living room. He did not dare to say anything or ask any questions. He stood to the side obediently like he was the guest.
Entering Ziggurat Block 4 again, Han Fei appeared to be at loggerheads with the game creator. He purposely went to the door god to initiate the conversation.
To Han Fei's surprise, the Door God seemed to be an NPC with memories. He remembered that Han Fei had been here before, and the conditions he offered to Han Fei were different. He tried his best to tempt Han Fei, hoping that Han Fei would help him.
Han Fei wanted to help him but there was no such option in the game.
Han Fei forced himself out of the game and triggered the second warning. He wanted to see what would happen after triggering the third warning.
After the second warning, Han Fei's in-game character's clothes had turned completely red. When he returned to the door god, the door god had been chopped into pieces and his head was nowhere to be seen.
Han Fei tried to initiate the conversation again but once he got close, his in-game character was killed by the door god.
The Ziggurat had finally merged with the cryptic world's Ziggurat. Han Fei did not have the chance to trigger the third warning.
'It feels like there's an invisible hand inside the Ziggurat as well. It's keeping the game running, just like the manager in the cryptic world. The pair of red eyes that I saw after triggering the warning should belong to the manager.'
Han Fei memorized that pair of red eyes. If he ran into similar eyes again, he would be able to recognize them easily.
Since he could not trigger the third warning, Han Fei started to explore Block 4 seriously, hoping to find more clues.
A few hours later, Han Fei found some useful information from the Ziggurat.
Block 4 was different from other residential buildings, it had a basement. The stairs that led to the basement were locked by an iron door.
The 'monsters' in red clothes were unique to Block 4. Normal residents could not see them and to communicate with them, one had to go through a special ritual.
Han Fei once saw a child wearing teddy bear pajamas among the Red Specters. The child should be the child of the woman in the wardrobe. Han Fei did not forget his promise to the woman. As long as it was within his power, he wanted to help reunite the mother and child.
After dying multiple times in the Ziggurat, Han Fei noticed something else. Every time a character died in the Ziggurat, there would be more death curses. This was very strange.
The game would become more difficult after each death, this was something Han Fei did not expect.
'The Ziggurat mini-game is constantly improving, it's collecting more death methods and curses. Is this a hint that the Ziggurat in the cryptic world is also becoming scarier by collecting death? '
Time always flew when one was playing a game.
The sky outside the window darkened. At 7 pm, just as Han Fei and Jin Jun were about to pull the plug, Zhuang Ren finally woke up from his deep psychological therapy session.
Through the transparent screen, Han Fei saw Zhuang Ren's wrinkled face.
"What did you see? Why did you only wake up now? "
"I'm trapped inside a room. The room appears to be constructed from my own consciousness, all my memories have become some kind of image." Zhuang Ren removed the healing device, and the fear on his face had yet to dissipate. "I saw my eldest daughter turn into a handsome adventurer, my second daughter into a clingy kitten, and my wife used her bones to build the main body of the family."
"Isn't that nice?" Han Fei knew the basic functions of the device, one of them was to analyze the user's consciousness and build their own room for them.
"The key is … my room is a sea of blood, blood is everywhere and the room keeps expanding like there is no end. I can't control my room at all. Gradually, things that don't belong to my memory started to appear in the blood! " Zhuang Ren sounded like he had swallowed a block of ice. Even his words were chilly. "There appears to be someone else's memory hidden in my mind!"
"You haven't been building a room for your subconscious for the past few hours, have you?" Han Fei remembered the manual said the room would only take 3 to 5 minutes to build but Zhuang Ren's first step took him almost 5 hours.
"Yes." Zhuang Ren nodded.
"What did you see inside the blood room?" Han Fei tried to make his tone as warm as possible. Zhuang Ren was not in his right state, he was very nervous and afraid.
"People, people who were dying, and people who were already dead, their bodies were everywhere. There was no end to them. They filled up my room, and they were still expanding." Zhuang Ren gripped his head with both hands. Just the memory of that scene was scary enough. "I feel like I'm not in a room but standing at the source of a sea of blood."
"The source of a sea of blood?" When Han Fei used the Soul Farer power, he had to pass through a sea of blood. He was not sure whether the two were related or not. "Then have you tried to communicate with those who are still alive? Ask for their name and past? You should be trying to figure out whose memory has been stuffed into your mind, right? "
"I have. Those who are half dead will only repeat two words — resurrection and immortality." Zhuang Ren slumped on the sofa like the energy had drained from his body. "I have not done anything wrong in my life. The reason for this thing to appear in my mind is probably related to the device given to me by Immortal Pharma's CEO! But why would he do that?! "
"Don't panic, this might not be a bad thing."
"Han Fei, you didn't see the scene, so you don't know how scary and shocking it was. My subconscious room is filled with people who are about to die. It's as if they are all hidden inside my mind!" Zhuang Ren's grip tightened. His hair tore at his scalp. "Immortal Pharma is a company with immortality as their goal. Currently, there are two research directions for immortality. One is physical immortality, but that is impossible. The other is consciousness immortality. Every unique consciousness is their own soul. The people in my mind appear to be the consciousness of failed experiments! Really, I believe I've heard someone say this before but I can't remember who it was. "
"Consciousness immortality?" For a minor actor like Han Fei, consciousness immortality was too far away from him. Even if there was such a technology, he did not have the right to use it.
"I've heard of that before. Immortal Pharma's goal was to prolong human life and solve all the mysteries of the human brain. Then Deep Space Tech found them and the two giants started to collaborate on consciousness immortality. "Jin Jun had heard something similar before." In their eyes, the human soul has been materialized. "
Zhuang Ren and Jin Jun's words touched Han Fei. If they were telling the truth, then since the CEO of Immortal Pharma could hide his memory inside Zhuang Ren's subconscious, he could also take over Han Fei's consciousness and become the new owner of his body.
Han Fei suddenly shivered. He was reminded of the words of a scientist many years ago — There is a phenomenon so obvious that it makes my hair stand on end. Our human nature has fallen far behind our science and technology.
'The Butterfly has been trying to lure Zhuang Ren into the Ziggurat because they want to obtain the memory hidden inside Zhuang Ren's subconscious.'
Many scattered pieces of information were pieced together at that moment.
Zhuang Ren's wife and daughter were trapped inside Room 4144. They used the statue that trapped Fu Sheng's memory to summon his soul, hoping to lure Zhuang Ren into Room 4144.
The wife and daughter corresponded to Zhuang Ren and the statue corresponded to Zhuang Ren's memory that did not belong to him.
To get what they wanted, the Butterfly had gone through a lot of trouble.
'Looks like I can't just bring Zhuang Ren into the cryptic world anymore, I have to be careful.' Glancing at the clock on the wall, Han Fei walked to Zhuang Ren's side. "After midnight tonight, put on the healing device and stay inside to face that part of your memory."
"I can see my family just like that?" Zhuang Ren's expression shifted. "Is it possible that my family has been turned into memory fragments as well? They're also buried inside the 'dead bodies'? "
Shaking his head, Han Fei was about to say something when a commotion came from outside the window.
It sounded like something had exploded. Even though it was quite far away, they could still hear it clearly.
The three hurried to the window. They saw a pillar of fire burst out from the smart city.
"Something happened to the smart city?" Xin Lu's smart city was a masterpiece of modern urban development. It was completely controlled by the AI, normally there would be no traffic accidents but today, there was one.
The fire lit up the night sky. Even the giant virtual screen was affected. The large number '3' was distorted in the light.
In just half an hour, the internet was flooded with messages and videos. The fire broke out at the information database jointly managed by Immortal Pharma and Deep Space Tech. It stored many things related to Perfect Life.
'There's only 3 days left until the official launch, why did this have to happen now?' Jin Jun was a loyal fan of Perfect Life. Only in the virtual world could he relax and not worry about being recognized by the fans of the various celebrities.
The fire burned for an hour before it was put out. Han Fei stared at the fire. He was reminded of the night he obtained the gaming helmet, the whole street that sold the gaming helmet was engulfed in flames.
'It's already dark. Tonight is Return to Soul's Night, the Butterfly should make their move already, right?'
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