My Iyashikei Game

Han Fei wanted to ask the white cat more questions, but a sudden scream came from the street. He quickly ran out. “What happened?”

A pool of blood was left on the street. Red Meat held his hand and said nervously, “The little ghosts captured Tragedy!”

“The player with the ghost words talent?” Han Fei inspected Red Meat’s wounds. “Where did they go?”

“I don’t know. We were about to head back to the garden, but we didn’t realize the rubber ball had been following us. When a player realized that, both Tragedy and the rubber ball were gone!” Red Meat’s face twisted from pain. “We chased after them, but the ghost children started to block us.”

“There are so many players. Why did the ghost children take him?” Han Fei looked around and discovered Tragedy’s footprints. “Take care of the others. I’ll go look.” Han Fei followed the trail out of the village.

It was a dead zone outside the window. Strange trees twined together. Bushes were filled with thorns. There were several graves. 𝓯𝓇𝘦𝘦𝑤ℯ𝓫𝑛𝓸𝑣𝓮𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓶

“It’s not easy for Yao Qiang to find a place like this to move to.” Han Fei followed in their footsteps until they disappeared. He just pushed away the bush when he heard the ball bouncing. He turned around and saw several kids in tattered clothes around him. They walked with no sound. A normal person would be shocked, but Han Fei was unfazed. If anything, he could see that the kids were honest people. He touched the head of the kid closest to him. The kid was stunned too. The kid sucked on his snot and raised his dirty face to study Han Fei.

“Do you want me to play with you? I know many games.” Han Fei’s piped piper talent triggered. The kids didn’t dare to answer. They shook their heads hesitantly.

“If you don’t want to play with me… Does that mean you want to kill me?” Han Fei ruffled the boy’s head gently. The words he said scared the kids, and they shook their heads even faster.

“You don’t want to kill me or play with me. Then, why did you find me?” The kid holding the rubber ball waved at Han Fei. He led Han Fei through the bush. Han Fei found Tragedy fainted on top of an old grave.

“You didn’t kill him? What a considerate group of kids.” After Han Fei praised the kids, he moved to the players. “How could a player with supernatural talents be scared unconscious by ghosts?” Han Fei tapped the man’s face. “Wake up. It’s time to meet Catwoman.”

Tragedy opened his eyes blurrily. Then, he immediately hid behind Han Fei. “Be careful of those children. They’re very strange!”

“I know.” Han Fei carried Tragedy and continued to follow the kids. They eventually stopped before an old well. The mouth was sealed off by wooden boards, and a large rock was placed on top of the wooden boards. The boy gestured beside the well as if hoping Han Fei could move the boards to save the people inside the well.

“The well is sealed for a reason. Don’t be fooled by these ghosts! They want to make use of us. Yao Qiang didn’t lie to us. This village is very haunted!” Tragedy grabbed Han Fei’s arm tightly. He knew that they had to rely on Han Fei to clear the nightmare. “If you really want to open the well, let me do it.”

“Have you considered one question? Yao Qiang cares about his son that much. Why would he move them to a place filled with ghosts?” Han Fei asked, “Yao Qiang said that the city had even more ghosts. He came here to avoid them, but then ghosts started to appear in the village too.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“Simple. The ghosts in the village came because of Yao Qiang and his son. They mutated this village.” Han Fei moved the rock and yanked off the talismans. “These talismans are similar to the ones at Yao Yuan’s home. I believe it was Yao Qiang who sealed off this well.”

Once the mouth opened, a light resentment floated out of the well. Han Fei could hear children crying from inside the well. The other children crowded over nervously and worriedly.

“The well is so dark. Should we go back for a torch?” Tragedy asked.

“Too troublesome.” Han Fei climbed onto the well’s edge. “I’m going down.”

“Don’t!” Tragedy hugged Han Fei. “Are you crazy? What kind of people will jump down a well to check whether it’s haunted or not? Do you want to die?”

“If we wait to go back to get a light, it’ll be too late.” Han Fei pushed Tragedy back and jumped down. Tragedy was befuddled. With his hands on the walls, Han Fei shimmied down. The crying became clearer. Han Fei landed on his feet. He searched in the dark. His fingers touched a robot toy brought over from the city, and then they touched a cold face. “Don’t be scared. I’ll bring you out.”

The crying died down, and then a boy asked weakly. “Why are you telling me that? Shouldn’t you be scared?”

“Who threw you down the well? Yao Qiang said there were human-faced wolves outside the village. Did they do this to you?” Han Fei didn’t feel any fear. The boy was very weak.

“There’s no human-faced wolf. It was Yao Qiang who threw me down here! He said the village children are ghosts, but we didn’t even do anything!” The boy argued, and his resentment grew.

“I also think Yao Qiang is not a good person.” Han Fei finally found a ghost he could communicate with. “Can you tell me how you know him? Why did he seal you here?”

“They moved over from the city. My friends and I saw how lonely his son was, so we decided to ask him to play with us. His son was very introverted. At first, he wouldn’t even say a word. But eventually, he got close to us. We looked after him, and no one bullied him.” The boy grumbled. “Yao Qiang was so mad when he saw his son playing with us. He scolded. Yao Yuan is very scared of his father. He said nothing and left.”

“But why would he throw you into the well?” Han Fei felt there was something else.

“The village is only so big. Whenever we played, Yao Yuan would look at us from his window. He is a sad person. He is like a prisoner. Whenever his father discovered this, he would chase us away and shout at us. Eventually, we also started to hate Yao Yuan. We were scolded because of him.” The resentment gathered in the boy. “Soon after, Yao Qiang sealed up the windows of Yao Yuan’s room. Apparently, it was to make sure that Yao Yuan could focus as he was attending some competition. Yao Qiang even made up rumors that we were children carrying diseases.”

“So you weren’t ghosts, but because of Yao Qiang’s rumors, you became actual ghosts?” Han Fei guessed.

“I don’t know about the others because my situation is different.” The boy’s voice tinged with hatred. “I pitied Yao Yuan, so I would sneak fun stuff for him like rare clovers, hairballs made by kittens, new manga from the bookstore… But one time, I accidentally heard Yao Qiang arguing with someone on the phone. He was scared that someone might hear him at home, so he left and went out of the village.”

“You followed him?!”

“I was curious. I heard that Yao Qiang was planning to find a new mother for Yao Yuan. The woman’s name was something Qian.” At this point, the resentment of the boy reached its climax. “I was discovered by Yao Qiang, and he tossed me into this well.”

“It sounds like Yao Qiang is the scariest ghost.” Han Fei picked up the boy. “Come. I’ll carry you out.”

“Wait. All the young men in the village have left the village. Who are you?” The boy was confused. Even though he felt that Han Fei was a good man, his parents did tell him to be careful of strangers.

“Yao Qiang hired me to exorcise ghosts, but now, I feel like he has the biggest problem!” Han Fei tapped the boy’s hands. “Hug my neck. I’m going to climb now!”

The small arms grabbed onto Han Fei’s shoulders. He didn’t know why he trusted this man so much. Han Fei climbed out of the well, and he was surrounded by all the kids. He was really popular.

“Thank you for saving me.” The boy was very polite. He slid down Han Fei’s back and said. “I don’t know whether I’m a ghost or a human now, but if you need any help, you can come to find me.”

Han Fei nodded and was about to leave when something loosened in his mind. The greed persona was triggered, and at that moment, greed almost ate the boy up.

“It’s not so hard to eat ghosts in the nightmare.”

Han Fei quickly carried Tragedy and ran to the bookstore so that he wouldn’t scare the kids.

“Brother Han, what’s your profession? The ghosts are so kind to you!” Tragedy had supernatural talent, but he felt like he was so much weaker compared to Han Fei.

“I didn’t use any power. I merely empathized with them.” Han Fei didn’t tell the truth. After the greed persona was activated, blood vessels popped inside his eyes. His ambition wanted to consume everything. The boy’s words cause the fire to burn in Han Fei’s deep abyss.

“I can take out three ghosts from each altar world. Can this nightmare be considered a mini altar world?”