Chapter 721: Chapter 721: The Inn Where Personality Rests
“No wonder I didn’t receive an invitation this ti, my na and soul have been stolen by Kuangxiao…”
Excruciating pain spread throughout his body, especially his face, as if Han Fei’s features were being scorched by fierce flas. He lay in the darkness, clenching his teeth.
Kuangxiao had taken away part of his mory; the true nature of the trade was unknown to Han Fei.
He struggled to stand but his body felt like it wasn’t his own. After crawling a few ters in a certain direction, he collapsed.
The hysterical laughter slowly faded away, and Han Fei felt abandoned by the world, surrounded by nothing but endless darkness.
Kuangxiao had taken Han Fei’s face and wanted to replace him, to live his life in this world. People would see a new Han Fei erge, never imagining that the real one had been left behind in this black room.
He didn’t know how much ti had passed when the pain in his face subsided a bit. He faintly heard a phone ringing continuously and seed to see a faint light.
Barely lifting his head, a remnant wrapped in goodwill squatted in front of Han Fei, holding a phone.
“Fu Sheng?”
The remnant in front of him was indeed Fu Sheng, who had been imprisoned in the mirror by “Dream.” In the Plastic Surgery Hospital, Han Fei had helped him leave the mirror and enter the Rebirth Slaughter Saber.
In the mory Shrine of the Plastic Surgery Hospital, Han Fei had changed Fu Sheng’s fate, but later Fu Sheng still chose to return to his old ways. He left his kind thoughts and mories in the hospital and went to Paradise alone.
Seeing Han Fei awake, the remnant smiled at him. He handed Han Fei the mask and the Slaughter Saber that lay on the ground, then walked away into the distance.
In the black room at the center of the labyrinth, amidst boundless despair, Fu Sheng’s kindness seed like the only candle fla, his faint light leading the way for Han Fei.
This final black room was vast, seemingly without boundaries, making Han Fei feel like he was inside the Black Box itself.
Ti lost its aning; with no landmarks, no direction, Han Fei just followed Fu Sheng’s kindness silently for what felt like an eternity.
Only when the wounds on Han Fei’s cheeks stopped bleeding and the stinging sensation gradually eased did Fu Sheng walking in front halt.
He turned back to smile at Han Fei, his body dissolving into the darkness, rging with the despairing wind.
“Fu Sheng!”
Han Fei reached out to grab him, but caught nothing. Looking in the direction where Fu Sheng’s kindness had vanished, there was a faint light not far away.
“Is that the exit?”
Moving forward, the light in Han Fei’s vision slowly beca clear, and after a few minutes, he could finally see everything.
In the heart of the boundless darkness stood a dilapidated inn, riddled with cracks; the light was coming from the windows of the inn.
“Why would there be such a building in the center of the labyrinth? And why did Fu Sheng’s kindness bring here?”
Approaching, Han Fei saw the inn’s signboard; apart from a “heart” character that could be barely made out, the rest had been erased by ti.
“Is this inn called Heart the deepest secret of the labyrinth?”
At the door of the inn, Han Fei hesitated for a mont before pushing the door open, enduring the pain, he put the smiling mask back on.
“Looking the way I do now is quite frightening; it’s better to wear the mask.”
Slowly pushing open the door of the inn, with a creak, Han Fei felt everything related to the Black Box rapidly fading from him. Just entering the door, a simple action, stripped him of all his Ghost Patterns.
The sensation was very peculiar, as if soone had jumped into water and, at the mont of imrsion, their body and soul had separated. The body floated on the surface, while the soul plunged deep down into the water.
“I must be inside the Black Box now,” thought Han Fei. The Black Box had many layers, each opening to reveal the secrets within. He felt he was in one of its layers.
He cautiously looked inside the inn; the dilapidated building had nothing special about it.
Next to the main entrance was a lobby for guests to rest, with a corner leading to a back corridor and a wooden staircase to the second floor.
Everything was ordinary, except for the travelers gathered inside the inn at that mont.
Hearing the sound at the door, several sets of eyes turned toward Han Fei. Aside from him, many people had already arrived at the inn.
Scanning the figures, Han Fei’s gaze finally settled on a handso young man in the lobby who looked exactly like him, squatting next to the sofa, tenderly attending to a woman who lay unconscious on it.
The serene young man, who bore an uncanny resemblance to him was Kuangxiao, and the glass-wearing, unconscious woman on the sofa was Li Guo’er.
Kuangxiao, who had stolen Han Fei’s face, had brought Li Guo’er to the inn, intending to entirely replace Han Fei and take over everything he had once owned.
Noticing Han Fei’s gaze, Kuangxiao smiled at him politely, as if they were eting for the first ti.
Apart from the maniacal laughter, the expressions of the other people in the hall were serious, and the air inside was stifling, as if sothing very terrible had just happened not long ago.
“Find a seat and sit down,” the man standing in the center of the hall motioned Han Fei to co over. He was dressed in a police uniform, tall and burly, with regular features, exuding an air of integrity.
On a wooden chair beside the officer lay a middle-aged man who was badly injured. The man wore a bloodstained shirt, had only one arm, and his face and neck were covered with large bruises.
“One arm, seriously injured…”
Han Fei thought of soone, but instead of speaking, he found a wooden chair in the corner of the hall and sat down.
“There shouldn’t be any other visitors, right?” The officer scanned those present, paused for a mont, then lifted the black cloth from the table in the hall, “Which ans the murderer is among us.”
The sll of blood rushed into his nostrils; hidden beneath the black cloth on the dining table was a male corpse, its occipital bone pried open, and its brain excavated.
Next to the deceased’s head was a black box.
“How long have you been trapped here? Don’t you know the outside world is in complete chaos? Our priority should be finding an exit, not continuing to weaken ourselves with infighting,” said the man who also seed to be a visitor who had entered the Paradise for amusent but had unexpectedly ended up here, lost and unable to find the way out.
“Are you defending the murderer with what you’re saying?” The officer stared at the man, “Or do you all want to live with a killer? Aren’t you afraid he’ll continue his cris and target the next one of you?”
No one in the hall retorted, and the officer was very pleased with everyone’s cooperation, “Everyone, give your nas, professions, and tell us where you were and what you did last night, all of it.”
Deathly silence filled the hostel, and after a long while, the oldest man coughed twice. His health was poor, and he couldn’t maintain the sa sitting posture for long, “I’ll start, I’m the owner of this hostel and have been running this shop. But I have severe amnesia. I don’t even rember when I started the business here; it seems that it was before the Paradise was built that I was already here.”
He moved his body with so difficulty, “Last night I boiled water and left it in the hall, but I didn’t see anyone suspicious. I certainly couldn’t be the murderer, even if I wanted to kill, I don’t have the ability.”
As the hostel owner coughed, a young man wearing a Ghost Face mask quickly poured a cup of water and handed it to him.
“Little Fu is the only waiter in the shop and my grandson. I’ll leave the shop to him to manage in the future. He has no reason to commit murder either,” the owner defended the young waiter beside him.
While they conversed, Han Fei’s gaze lingered on the waiter for a mont; there was sothing about him that felt very similar to F.
The officer nodded and looked at the only sober woman in the hall, “Are you also a visitor?”
The woman looked extrely tired, but her gaze was resolute, “I am not a visitor. I entered the maze to find my child. His na is Fu Sheng; I want to bring him ho.”
Hearing the woman’s voice, Han Fei averted his gaze. Even with Master-level Acting, he feared he couldn’t control his emotions and might give himself away.
The only sober woman in the hostel was his wife, who had managed to reach this place step by step without a map or guide.
“Don’t make rush you. Speak in turn, and no one should try to muddle through,” the officer didn’t trouble the woman but turned to the next person.
“I am a Magician from the Paradise, took refuge here; outside is already in chaos.” The man sitting next to the woman was particularly handso, with a neutral voice and rings on each finger, and his body adorned with many dolls.
“I also ca here to escape those madn,” the middle-aged man who had argued with the officer earlier spoke up, “You can call a Screenwriter. I ca to the Paradise for inspiration, but I didn’t expect to be so full of ideas that it would burst my brain open.”
“Screenwriter?” Han Fei’s gaze lingered on the middle-aged man for a while, his backpack had once been full of scripts, but unfortunately, the backpack had long been lost.
After the middle-aged Screenwriter finished speaking, silence fell in the room again, everyone looked past him to the person behind.
In the corner of the hall sat a dirty little girl, her face filled with terror, curled up, seemingly a mute with so ntal issues.
“This little girl couldn’t possibly be the murderer, right?” The middle-aged Screenwriter picked up a cup of water from the coffee table, “But she might be a witness. She’s so frightened she doesn’t dare to speak, perhaps because she saw the murderer.”
“Next.”
“Is it my turn?” The young man with a face identical to Han Fei’s stood up; he was gentle and reserved, “My na is Han Fei, and I am an actor.”
As soon as he announced this na, everyone in the hostel stared at him, each with a different look in their eyes.
“What’s your relationship with this woman? Why have you been looking after her?”
“She is my subordinate and friend. Without her help, I couldn’t have survived to get here, so I will not abandon her no matter what,” said Han Fei, and his voice was just like Kuangxiao’s.
“You seem to value loyalty,” the officer pulled up the hemp rope and pushed the one-ard man to the side of the table, “I am a criminal police officer who followed a fugitive into the Paradise and eventually captured him successfully. This guy is that fugitive.”
The middle-aged man on the table was very weak, his eyes filled with regret and pain as he looked at the officer. After the officer finished, he shouted with all his might, “Don’t believe him! I am the police chasing the criminal, this ‘person’ is the fugitive!”
No matter how the middle-aged man shouted, no one around was willing to speak out. The officer also silently watched him, his mouth curled in a cold smile.
“One last person,” The officer ignored the one-ard fugitive and, along with everyone else, turned to the masked Han Fei, “What is your na?”
“I…” The blood crust under Han Fei’s mask hadn’t solidified yet. He knew Kuangxiao was watching him, and after a mont, he said hoarsely, “My na is Fu Yi.”
Almost the instant she heard that na, the sober woman’s eyes changed; her gaze shifted between Kuangxiao and Han Fei, finally settling on Han Fei.
Reviews
All reviews (0)