My Iyashikei Game

“Home? Does Gao Xing have a home?” Han Fei didn’t mean anything bad by that. He was just curious as to where the monster would consider his home. Gao Xing’s mother still hadn’t gotten used to the AI butler’s body. Of course, there was a possibility that her consciousness was damaged when she was moved out of the game.

“I remember Gao Xing used to live in the poorest part of the outer city when he was young. The place is abandoned now.” For Gao Xing, his childhood was his permanent nightmare. He wouldn’t return there. However, the AI butler nodded.

“Is he a masochist? Why would he go back there?”

In any case, Han Fei made his move. He moved the butler to Huang Yin’s car and called Li Xue. Then, he moved to the old city. Gao Xing’s home was a poor people’s zone a few decades ago. With the construction of the intelligent city, the place was directly abandoned. After meeting up with the police, the few cards headed down the empty street. The buildings here still looked like they did a few decades ago, but the walls were cracked.

“Clinic, school, convenience store…” The shops were recognizable through their old signboards. These old buildings made up Gao Xing’s wounded past. Part of the scenes Han Fei saw in the altar world overlapped with the scenery in the real world. The alley where Gao Xing was bullied by his classmates, the route where the thief took after he killed Gao Xing’s parents…

This was Gao Xing’s cage but also the nest where the demon was born. Han Fei, Huang Yin, and the police entered the dirty alley. They found Gao Xing’s former home in the smelly alley. It was an apartment with a courtyard. There were three kinds of rooms. Gao Xing’s family had the smallest room. Their window faced the residential area’s trash dump site.

“Don’t let your guard down. Our enemy is very scary this time.” Han Fei rejected the police’s kindness and walked in front. The altar was destroyed. Gao Xing might have left and set up a trap.

“The apartment’s courtyard has been dug up. Something is buried here.” Han Fei noticed this immediately. The police took out the tools from the car. He dug a few times and found a broken arm. The arm had the tattoo of the murderer’s club. It should belong to Gao Xing’s victim.

“Keep on digging when this is over. There should be a mass grave under here.” Ever since Han Fei entered the yard, he felt uncomfortable. It was daylight, but he kept shivering. He walked to the building where Gao Xing’s home was. When the light was blocked, a dark presence stuck to everyone. Han Fei moved up the stairs. At first, everything was normal, but as they moved upstairs, they felt more oppressed. The dusty walls started to have unknown drawings on them. They looked like the scribbling of a child or the work of an abstract art master. Every picture was strange. If you look too long at them, you’d be sucked into them. The strangest thing was after you stared at the pictures long enough, a name would appear in your mind.

“Remember. Do not dwell on anything you see here. Do not mention anyone’s name.” Han Fei knew how scary the enemy was. Based on the info he gained in the altar world, Han Fei came to Gao Xing’s home. The people behind him were ready for battle. They opened the door with a lockpick. The smell of blood wafted out. Even the police frowned. Han Fei slowly entered the room. The small room was filled with many handmade toys. This appeared like a normal home.

“There’s no blood in the living room so where does the smell come from?” The police following Han Fei was very careful. Han Fei had proven that he was never wrong with his instinct. There had to be something very wrong here.

“The kitchen and bathroom are left open. Only this bedroom is close.” Gao Xing’s home was tiny. There was only one bedroom. His adoptive parents gave the room to Gao Xing because he was the only one who could see. He minded his privacy, but that was nothing for his blind parents.

“The blind parents live and work in the living room. The bedroom is Gao Xing’s room.” Han Fei pushed open the bedroom door. There was a large mirror in the narrow room. The mirror was covered in blood. Every person in the mirror appeared to be bleeding.

“Scatter! Do not look at your reflection in the mirror!” Han Fei shouted, but it was too late. One officer and Huang Yin’s reflections appeared in the mirror. At first, the officer felt fine, but as blood dripped, he touched his head, and his face was covered in blood. In other people’s eyes, he was normal, but the man went insane.

Huang Yin’s situation was unique. He had been tortured endlessly by Butterfly. He was no longer afraid of death. In the mirror, his clothes were covered in blood and butterfly patterns, but he was fine.

“Han Fei, there’s one more person in the mirror.” Huang Yin mentioned. After the officer was dragged away, there were three reflections in the mirror, even though only Han Fei and Huang Yin were left in the room.

“The additional person… should be the person we’re looking for.” Han Fei wanted to take out Rest in Peace, but he gained nothing. He was in the real world. However, this also meant that Gao Xing’s power was limited as well. The additional figure in the mirror started to move. In the end, he stood before Han Fei.

Han Fei tried his arm and tried to punch the man. Without any warning, Han Fei suddenly attacked the mirror. To his surprise, the pain came from the back of his head. Greed bound his fists.

The mirror shattered. The invisible power that originated from the back of his brain could affect ghosts in real life to a certain degree. The crack on the mirror spread. Han Fei resisted the pain and swung his fists again and again. The strange man in the mirror approached. He stood beside Han Fei. His face bled, and he leaned intimately toward Han Fei’s ear.

“It’s pointless even if you’ve seen the future.

“You can’t do anything. You can only see the future happen again and die. No. 0 can’t sustain the despair, and that’s why you were born. Your birth is to sustain the despair. He never told you the truth. He would only throw you away when he’s done with you. Twinflower is my life. You and No. 0 are my perfect creation. Your ending will be the same as mine. Dream has written the script at the start. I know you won’t believe me. How about we make a bet to see if you can change my future?”

In the cracked mirror, the strange man leaned close to Han Fei like they were close friends.

“You sure like to talk. You can’t even save your own eye, and you want to talk about your version of the future? Why don’t you go back to the cryptic world? But your altar has been taken over by No. 0. Thankfully, you have escaped, or your wife would have torn you apart.” Han Fei retorted. The fists continued to fall. The mirror crumbled.

Standing in the pile of broken mirrors, Han Fei saw the wall which was previously covered by the mirror. On it were several strange children's paintings.

In the first picture, a boy dreamed that a giant black cocoon came out under his bed after he fell asleep. He was scared, but a voice came out of the cocoon to calm him. It said that it could fulfill the kid’s three wishes if he helped it.

The second painting depicted the boy making his first wish. He hoped that his parents would recover their sights and become rich. The cocoon agreed, but the boy’s life didn’t change. The boy thought the cocoon was a liar, but the cocoon insisted that the boy had already been fulfilled. It led him to find evidence.

In the third painting, the boy held a bloody knife. His face was filled with red pens. He made his second wish. He hoped that everyone who bullied him would die. The cocoon granted his wish.

The fourth painting was made a long time after the third painting. The style was very different too. The cocoon forced the boy to make his third wish, but the boy was clever. He seemed to know that once he made his third wish, the cocoon would swallow him.

Underneath the fourth painting was the sentence—They call me the devil. Is it because they know that I also live in hell?

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