My Iyashikei Game

The kids refused to communicate, and the father was hiding something. This case was not simple.

“I’ll bring you to familiarize yourself with the surroundings first. I’ve marked out all the places where ghosts have been seen.” Yao Qiang chased Han Fei out of the third floor and closed the door. “It’s now 10.30 pm. My son will be possessed at midnight. You better find the ghost before midnight.”

“The mission time is one and a half hours.” Han Fei nodded. “That’s good enough time.”

“I’ll bring you to take a look around first. The ghost has once appeared in the nearby few areas!” Yao Qiang moved to the second floor and knocked on the closed door. “Honey, the exorcists and I will go out for a moment. If you need anything, call me.”

A shrill voice came out of the bedroom. “I know. Be careful.”

They returned to the first floor. Yao Qiang pointed at the television in the living room. The television looked old, and it was covered in talismans.

“The ghost first appeared on television. It hid among harmless cartoons, luring my son to get close to it! It wanted to steal my son’s soul!” Yao Qiang said nervously as if the television was something extremely scary. Then, Yao Qiang searched under the couch and pulled out a sealed wooden box. He chanted something and carefully pulled back the talismans. He placed the box before the players. “This is where the ghost likes to stay!”

The inner walls of the box were slathered with the dog’s blood. Inside the box was a broken phone.

“My son used to attend school in the city. The teacher would use the phone to give homework, so I bought one for my son. But the ghost was hiding inside it! I saw the ghost inside the phone with my eyes. It wanted to drag my son into the phone!”

The player was surprised to see a broken phone inside the box. They believed that ghosts could attack people through electronic devices. Yao Qiang closed the lid and chanted some spells. He pasted the talismans back and finally stood up.

“Come. I’ll lead you outside! There are ghosts around here too!” Yao Qiang led the players out of the villa. They left the garden and came to the village outside. Compared to Peace Street, this nightmare was bigger and stranger.

“The ghosts are very good at playing with people’s emotions. The exorcists I hired in the past have fallen for their tricks. You need to be careful.” Yao Qiang was certain that ghosts were real.

“Be careful of the building on the left.” Yao Qiang looked at his left neighbor. “A strange old lady stays in the old house. She likes to keep cats, but her cats are all abnormal. They will turn into something else at night?”

“What can cats turn into?” Some of the players were curious. The player called Donated to Tragedy asked, “Will they turn into catwoman?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, but if you see what I saw, you wouldn’t be joking.” Yao Qiang continued to walk forward. There was a bookstore and a supermarket at the end of the street. They looked normal. However, Yao Qiang acted like he was at war. “You have to pay attention to these two buildings. They are built on top of graves! One time, when I was shopping at the bookstore for my son, I noticed the bookshelves bleeding! It’s true! Broken arms and laughing heads reach out of the books!”

A rubber ball fell from a high slope. It stopped before Yao Qiang. His face paled even more. “Did I say too much? Why would the ghost children appear earlier than normal?”

“What are ghost children?”

“They are a group of zombies. They are controlled by some kind of power. Once you’re captured, you’ll be dragged into graves!” The village was filled with danger, according to Yao Qiang.

“You have to be careful of the abandoned field outside the village too. I hear that there are human-faced wolves there. They will carry the kids into the well and feed them to the monsters inside the well.

“The streetlight on the northern side of the village is broken. There’s ghost fire there. The elders there have rigor mortis spots, and they emit this horrible smell.

“Also, the pond on the western side. You can’t see the bottom of the murky pond, but you’ll see human shadows underwater at night.”

Yao Qiang told many scary stories. It scared the players, but Han Fei was curious. Yao Qiang sounded like he was telling warning stories to scare children. Parents would say there were monsters in the mountain because there were monsters there. Most of the players didn’t consider this. They were too scared. They stuck together and started to form little groups.

Yao Qiang didn’t look like he was purposely trying to scare the players. He sincerely wanted to complete the exorcism to help his son. Perhaps the man had some secrets, but it was certain that he cared about his son.

The seventh layer was huge. Yao Qiang led the players halfway through the village when his phone rang. He walked to the corner to answer the phone in private.

“The person who called him should be called Qian. They probably have a complicated relationship.” A female player about 50, walked to Han Fei’s side. “My name is Shi Hua. I’m a retired high school tired. I’m Level 21, and my talent is called Invigilator. I can see things people would miss.”

“Thank you, Teacher Shi.” Han Fei was always cautious regarding sudden kindness. “You look so young. How have you retired already?”

“I couldn’t teach after I lost my daughter. I didn’t know how to face the kids. After that, I was ‘asked’ to retire.” Shi Hua had a presence that was regal but not off-putting.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. That was a long time ago.” Shi Hua didn’t mind. “I once placed all my hope in my daughter, so I have a special feeling once I entered this nightmare.” She hesitated and then added, “Perhaps the ghost is not outside the house but inside the house.”

Shi Hua had more to say, but the three from Absolute Truth came over and interrupted her. “Han Fei, how shall we split up the group? Yao Qiang said that his son would be possessed at midnight. We have about one hour left. This nightmare is rather large. We need to split up.”

“Ghosts might not be ghosts, and humans might not be humans. All the ghost stories we heard came from Yao Qiang, but what if the ghost was Yao Qiang?” Han Fei looked at the separated groups. “My suggestion is for the three of you to stay behind with the other players to keep an eye on Yao Qiang. Leave the outside exploration to me.”

“How can you handle all the ghosts on your own?” Red Meat didn’t mean anything bad. He was just careful.

“Alright. I’ll be direct.” Han Fei looked at the three players. “You are too weak. Before Yao Yuan acts up, the villa is safe. I just want to protect you.”

“We’re all players, and your level is just slightly higher than ours. Can you really take on thirty enemies on your own?” Red Meat believed Han Fei was over-exaggerating. Absolute Truth and Happiness Neighborhood were both Top 10 guilds. There would be a difference, but it wouldn’t be huge.

“Thirty enemies? You underestimate me.” Han Fei didn’t argue. He turned to Shi Hua. “Teacher Shi, I agree with you. I’ll need your help to stay at the villa. If possible, try to get close to Yao Yuan’s mother. I think there’s some issue with her too.”

“Okay.” Shi Hua didn’t stay in the village. She immediately moved back to the villa. Han Fei moved away from the players and operated on his own. He moved to Yao Qiang’s neighbour's house. The wooden door wasn’t locked. Han Fei knocked on the door. The door slowly swung back, and a white cat popped its head out.

“You’re cute.” Han Fei picked up the white cat. The cat didn’t struggle. It was very kind of humans. “I hear you’ll turn into something else?”

Han Fei entered the house and noticed there were many vegetables planted in the garden. There were cats fighting among the patch.

“Is someone there?”

Coughs came out from inside the house. The fighting cats immediately ran towards the house and knelt obediently outside the door. It was like they were waiting for Han Fei to enter the house.

“This place feels like a cat-themed homestay. It’s much warmer than Yao Qiang’s house.”

He opened the door, and silver cat fur flew in the air. Instantly, Han Fei sensed something was wrong. A rotten smell lingered in the room. The coughing became more consistent, but it didn’t sound like humans, but something was mimicking humans.

“There are so many furs in this house. Are they keeping cats or puppets?”

Han Fei opened the doors as he ventured deeper into the house. The smell of rot increased. When he pushed open the last door, the coughing turned into shrill cat hissing. A wrinkled face covered in cat fur appeared before Han Fei. Seeing the pair of aged eyes that mirrored a cat’s, Han Fei didn’t do anything. A slightly uneven scale appeared in his left eye.

“Sorry for disturbing you.”

A lanky arm reached out from underneath the loose smock. The nails were unusually sharp as she scratched Han Fei’s neck. Han Fei moved to the side, and five deep gouges appeared on the door behind Han Fei.

If Han Fei didn’t move away, his neck would have been snapped already.

Han Fei shielded his body with his arms. He focused and realized that his attacker was an old lady. Cat fur grew out of her body. Strange patterns appeared on her face and body. She looked scary. However, she looked like she was dying. She’d cough whenever she moved.

“How did you become like this?” Han Fei thought that Yao Qiang was lying, so he didn’t expect there to be a real ghost in the house.

The old lady got down on all fours. It felt like her soul had turned into a cat. She was extremely hostile. As a new fight was about to occur, a soft cat meow came out. The dresser opened, and a white cat in dead people’s clothes walked out. It jumped between Han Fei and the old lady. The mutated old lady also calmed down when she saw the white cat. She used her head to nudge the white cat. The scene appeared to be in reverse. The old lady was the cat, and the cat was the old lady.

“Have you two switched your souls?” Han Fei encountered this for the first time. He raised his hands in surrender.

The white cat nodded. Its eyes were sharp and clear. They were human eyes!

“Is that true?” Han Fei sat beside the white cat. “You were about to die, but your cats didn’t want you to leave, so they exchanged souls with you? They entered your body to die on your behalf, and you stayed behind to accompany the rest of the cats?”

The white cat nodded again. Her eyes were very gentle, like every creature in this world was her kid. Even if she were a ghost, she would never harm anyone.

After communicating with the cat, Han Fei got the gist.

“Yao Qiang didn’t lie. There’s a supernatural event at his neighbor’s place, but he hid important info again. His neighbor’s ghost never wanted to harm his child.

“The other places might be haunted too, but those ghosts aren’t the reason why his son is like how he is.”