495: Chapter 495: Atop the High-rise (Seeking 4000 monthly votes) 495: Chapter 495: Atop the High-rise (Seeking 4000 monthly votes) Last night, when Han Fei t the Liuli Cat in the ga, he felt sothing was off.
The player had a very weak will to survive, even contemplating suicide to escape from Deep World.
She seed indifferent to everything she had in the ga; as if nothing around her could pique her interest or give her hope to continue living.
Losing all attachnt to the world is actually a very terrifying thing.
It took Han Fei only twenty minutes to reach Liuli Cat’s residence, an old neighborhood situated between the Old City District and Smart New City.
“Room 1031.”
Looking at the address in his phone, Han Fei started running into the neighborhood.
“Are you a resident here?
I’ve never seen you before,” the Security Guard at the door said as he approached Han Fei, wanting to inquire.
“I’m here to find soone, she lives in room 1031,” Han Fei replied, his pace too fast; the two Security Guards following him couldn’t keep up.
“Stop!” The Security Guard quickly called for backup with his walkie-talkie, his eyes firmly fixed on Han Fei, afraid that if he blinked, Han Fei would disappear, “Hurry and help!
A stranger ca in!”
“What does he look like?”
“He’s running too fast!
I didn’t get a good look!”
Entering building one, Han Fei glanced over the door numbers.
His brain worked like a precise machine, not wasting any ti and instantly making the most accurate judgnt.
Reaching the third floor, Han Fei knocked on the door, calling out Liuli Cat’s na, but there was no response.
The more this happened, the more anxious he beca.
“Stop knocking, stop knocking,” the door of the Liuli Cat’s neighbor opened, and a middle-aged woman with a watering can ca out: “That girl isn’t ho.
She seems to have gone out.”
“Do you know where she went?”
“Not sure, ever since her family died, she rarely goes out.
I saw her leaving this morning while I was moving Flower Pots on the balcony and found it quite surprising,” the woman thought for a mont: “She seed to be on the phone a lot, but whoever it was didn’t seem to answer.
She also had a backpack with the Welfare Ho’s na on it.
Anyway, she was acting strange today.”
“A backpack with the Welfare Ho’s na on it?” Han Fei recalled the text in the last video from the woman; she seed prepared to leave in so way, to return the gifts the world had given her, to retrieve the initial despair and then destroy it all together.
“The Welfare Ho that Eternal Life Pharmaceutical once built!”
Han Fei turned and rushed downstairs, just in ti to run into the Security Guards who had co over.
“You’re looking for soone, right?
We can help you search…”
“Thanks.” Han Fei didn’t let the Security Guard finish speaking; he abruptly grabbed his arm, “Let see the surveillance footage at your gate!”
The Security Guard was just being polite, trying to temporarily placate Han Fei, but by the ti he realized what was happening, he was already being dragged away by Han Fei, powerless to resist.
With wide, innocent eyes, the Security Guard looked toward his colleagues, who were still standing there dumbly, not having reacted yet.
“Don’t be afraid, I used to be a Security Guard myself, a Security Guard won’t hurt another Security Guard, unless you don’t cooperate with ,” Han Fei said.
Entering the duty room, Han Fei stood in front of the computer and started checking the surveillance, his movents far more skilled than those of the neighborhood Security Guards.
Han Fei soon spotted the silhouette of the Liuli Cat in the surveillance footage; an hour earlier, she was holding her cellphone, her head bowed, with a tattered backpack in her hand.
“Who is she talking to on the phone?”
Even after zooming in the surveillance image, Han Fei couldn’t make out the details and had no choice but to give up.
“Eternal Life Pharmaceutical once built two welfare hos in the northern part of the Old City District, and indeed, Liuli Cat was heading north.”
Upon leaving the surveillance room, three security guards were on high alert, while Han Fei thanked them politely before rushing out of the neighborhood.
He called for a car and hurried to the Welfare Ho built by Eternal Life Pharmaceutical many years ago; fragnts of mories about that place still lingered in his mind.
“Driver, go faster,” Han Fei thought that he should save up to buy a car, as it was indeed inconvenient to go out; if he couldn’t afford a sedan, he might consider a motorcycle first.
Fifteen minutes later, Han Fei could see the Welfare Ho; so many years had passed, and the building remained the sa as before.
Although its exterior was constantly renovated, the overall structure had not undergone any changes; judging by its appearance, it looked more like a Children’s Hospital than a Welfare Ho.
After paying the fare, Han Fei ran towards the Welfare Ho but suddenly noticed many people gathered across the street from the Welfare Ho, with more running towards that direction from afar.
“Soone jumped from the building!
There’s a girl on that building!”
“Call the police quickly!
Soone jumped from the building opposite to the Welfare Ho.”
Various sounds ca from the crowd as Han Fei too stopped and looked over at the building opposite the Welfare Ho.
The building across from the Welfare Ho also belonged to Eternal Life Pharmaceutical and had seven floors; no one knew what exactly the building was used for, as there were no billboards or anything on it.
As his gaze traveled upward, Han Fei saw a girl atop the building; with the worn-out children’s backpack in hand, she stood at the edge.
The high winds whipped around her, making her body seem like a leaf hanging on a tree branch in autumn, fragile and liable to fall at any mont.
“Liuli Cat!”
Han Fei had seen other people who attempted suicide before.
So were emotional and extrely agitated, their suicide more a cry for help.
They could find no reason to keep living, were overwheld by the harsh realities of life, and had already collapsed.
Such cases were comparatively easier to persuade.
The truly difficult to convince were those of another kind.
These people were numb to death, or rather their contemplation of death was a deeply thought-out decision.
By the ti they stepped onto the high ledge, they might have simulated the fall in their minds thousands of tis, convincing themselves over and over again until they could no longer find any reason to turn back.
They climbed the steps with a look in their eyes that lacked any spark.
Liuli Cat fell into the latter category.
She had the worst kind of childhood, participating in so kind of experint by Eternal Life Pharmaceutical, dragged to various locations, leaving her personality shattered to pieces.
If she had never seen the light, perhaps she could have adapted to the darkness.
She resembled a kitten curled up in a storm, and when she was on the verge of death, the old lady adopted her.
The childhood personality and mories smashed to pieces were gradually picked up by the old lady, who used love and care to piece them back together.
Maybe her personality was still fragnted, but at least it had beco a whole; she now had the belief and hope to live on.
But the most cruel step of this experint was the old woman’s death from sickness, the pillar of Liuli Cat’s life collapsing, and the painstakingly assembled fragnts cracking once again.
During the ti the old man and the Liuli Cat spent together, the old man indeed treated her as if she were his own granddaughter, giving her all his love and gradually forgetting the original purpose of the experint.
It was only until the mont before death that she uttered those words at the brink of passing, telling the Liuli Cat the truth.
The old man must have truly wanted to save the Liuli Cat at that mont, which is why he told the truth; otherwise, he could have easily woven a lie and let the Liuli Cat continue living in falsehood.
Hope was false, but love was real, yet none of these mattered to the Liuli Cat anymore.
“Make way!
Make way!”
The police arrived at the scene, followed by the fire and rescue squad.
The sound of sirens shattered the noon-ti quiet.
Rescue air cushions were deployed, and firefighters, carrying various tools, entered the building with the police.
The building manager also ca out, a portly middle-aged man, sweating profusely, incessantly speaking to the police about sothing.
“Why would such a lovely girl think of such a thing?
She’s at the age of a blooming flower.”
“Probably a broken heart, I bet.
Young people nowadays are all so fragile, always looking for ways to end their lives.
I don’t believe she will really jump.”
“Watch your words.
That girl doesn’t seem to be troubled by love problems.
There’s not even a trace of tears on her face, and her pupils look shattered.”
“Well, aren’t you observant?
How can you deduce so much just from a pair of eyes?
Are you a psychologist?”
The onlookers gathered below all took out their cell phones to record, with so zooming their cara lenses to the max, clearly capturing the girl’s face.
“Is she going to jump or not?
I’m about to be late for work.”
“What a drag; I’ve been recording for quite a while.
I bet she doesn’t really want to die and will probably be saved in the end.”
“I’m still waiting to get so material from this…” A particularly sleazy-looking man was filming the scene above when his cara lens suddenly turned black.
Moving his phone away, he saw Han Fei standing in front of him, covering his phone cara with his hand: “Are you sick?”
“If you’re so eager to watch soone jump, why don’t you go up there yourself?” Han Fei’s voice was very calm but it sent a shiver down the sleazy man’s spine.
He wanted to say more, but was pulled back by a companion.
The two of them apparently thought Han Fei was not soone to ss with and, after muttering softly, they retreated with their phones to the outskirts of the crowd.
After morizing the man’s face, Han Fei made his way through the crowd and into the building.
The elevator was occupied by the police, so Han Fei took the service stairs, climbing up to the rooftop in one go.
“Hey!
What are you doing?
You can’t go over there!” A young policeman stopped Han Fei, who didn’t try to force his way through but instead carefully explained the Liuli Cat’s situation.
While he was talking with the young officer, an older policeman ca running down from the rooftop: “What are you still doing here?
Did you notify the girl’s family?”
“She’s an orphan, and the old lady who adopted her passed away not long ago.
I think she couldn’t bear such a blow, which is why she made the most extre choice.” The young officer also seed distressed: “She has no family left.”
“If she has no family, then we are her family.
Now is the ti when she’s most upset, when her emotions are at the breaking point.
We need to think of a way to calm her down.” The older policeman looked towards the edge of the rooftop, where a female officer was trying to communicate with the Liuli Cat.
“The wind is strong up there, so why don’t you sit down slowly, and we can talk things through slowly, okay?”
Regardless of what the policewoman said, Liuli Cat didn’t respond, her gaze constantly fixed on the Welfare Ho across the street.
Standing on the high building, one could clearly see the scenes within the high walls of the Welfare Ho; all these years had passed, and children were still being abandoned and living inside.
They all had so sort of deficiency, so ntal, others physical.
“It feels like she is waiting for a specific ti.” Han Fei thought of sothing and grabbed the police officer next to him, “Check the ti of death for Liuli Cat’s grandmother, was it this morning?
How much longer is it until the ti she passed away?”
The young police officer intended to refuse, but the older police officer heard Han Fei’s voice and turned around, surprised, “Han Fei?
I didn’t recognize you earlier, how co you’re here?”
“You know ?” Han Fei felt a sense of relief, “That’s right, I am sort of an actor, being recognized is pretty normal.”
“I don’t watch movies.” The old police officer spoke up, “While we were issuing a warrant for Butterfly, they distributed your photo, saying that Butterfly was likely to take action against you, and instructed us to ensure your safety.”
“Then I really should thank your leaders.” Han Fei approached the older police officer, “I’ve seen this girl before; she spent her childhood in the Orphanage next door.”
“You’ve seen her?” The old police officer was surprised; it felt like Han Fei was everywhere.
“I won’t go into details right now, but this girl is not just simply emotionally collapsed, she has lost all hope in living.
The usual persuasion won’t be much use; she’s not going to listen.”
Looking at his watch, Han Fei said, “First, check the ti her family mbers died, I suspect she might be planning to leave when that ti cos.”
“Found it, the old lady passed away in the hospital at 10:34 in the morning.”
“It’s 10:24 now, we have ten minutes.” Han Fei looked at the police next to him, “Could you let go and speak to her for a mont?”
“That’s absolutely impossible, inexperienced people trying to persuade soone not to jump off a building might prompt them to make a rash decision.” The police officers on the scene imdiately refused Han Fei; they had to be responsible for everyone and couldn’t just take a gamble.
Indeed, Han Fei often acted as a Righteous Hero and was very intelligent, but persuading soone against suicide required a wealth of experience, professional knowledge, and a strong empathy.
The firefighters were on standby on the seventh floor, but with the great distance between the seventh floor and the rooftop, they didn’t dare to act rashly.
On the rooftop, two police officers, one male and one female, slowly approached, but they couldn’t get closer than five ters to Liuli Cat because her body had already begun to lean forward, ready to fall at any mont.
Ti trickled away second by second, and the rescue was at a stalemate.
Three minutes before 10:34, Han Fei suddenly rushed onto the rooftop.
He wanted to save her, but doing so was very risky!
If Liuli Cat fell from the building while he was speaking, his acting career could end then and there.
The entertainnt companies that had torn into him before would certainly portray him as a murderer, with endless trolls saring him, and he would never be able to prove his innocence, because he indeed had spoken.
Because speaking up could be so costly, more and more people have grown accustod to silence.
Yet, at this mont, although Han Fei could have chosen to remain silent, he took the initiative to step up onto the rooftop.
“I know where the old woman who adopted you is!
I’ve seen her!
I can take you to see her!” Han Fei’s voice rang out in the center of the rooftop, followed by another sentence, “Your singing voice is so beautiful, there must be many people in this world who think the sa as I do.”
After Han Fei uttered these words, Liuli Cat, who had shown no reaction to the outside world, slowly turned her head.
The last sentence Han Fei said was what he had told Liuli Cat as he used his Soul-returning Talent to bring her out of the Deep World.
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