My Iyashikei Game

Han Fei was all the actors and audience. The suicidal young man, the landlord, and the parrot, the three characters, were played by one person, but it didn’t feel weird. The reason to live was Han Fei’s life. One side was hope, and the other was despair. They kept arguing. Han Fei had memorized the lines of all three characters. He switched between them easily.

“I want to live, but I can’t find the reason to live.”

“I am not willing to die just like that, but when I realized it, I was already at the edge of the roof.”

“I am poor, but the biggest poverty is not lacking the money for instant noodles but having not even experienced love before. At least they have people to love, at least they have people to provide them shelter, at least they have the warmth of home… but I have nothing.

“Parrot, parrot, tell me, what is the reason to live?”

“Parrot, parrot, stop mimicking other people’s happiness. After all, it is not your life.

“Perhaps, I am just a prop that will never become the main character.

“I am a lonely person. I die alone.”

Negative emotions entered his mind. Han Fei had reached the first turning point of his life. He had experienced all the defeats with his roommates, but after his partners left, he was still hanging on. Compared to others, he didn’t even need to pretend to be tough. He had no family. He was born to be accompanied by despair. His voice lowered. There was nothing in the world that was reason enough for him to stay. He tried to make others laugh, but the people didn’t even have the wish to glance at him. The shackles of fate turned heavier. He couldn’t breathe due to the panic in his heart.

The show was approaching its end. The young man who attempted his 11th suicide picked up the prop knife. Even though it was just a prop, the blade was still sharp enough to pierce his neck. The world in his eyes turned into fog and blinded his eyes and ears. Han Fei raised the prop knife and aimed it at his throat.

The landlord’s makeup was blurred by sweat. The parrot stopped talking. The three roles slowly overlapped to become Han Fei. The despair of the whole city pressed down on Han Fei. He held the knife. The play was portraying his life. The young man was Han Fei. He had once held the knife in the same position. The blade moved down. No one knew about Han Fei’s past, and no one cared.

Actually, Han Fei also didn’t know the true meaning of despair. Despair meant that he could slash his throat without any hesitation. The blade fell when laughter and applause came from the empty theatre. These were the things Han Fei rarely heard. His hands trembled, and he turned to the audience.

There was a single member sitting in the audience. He hugged his stomach and laughed heartily. It was like he was watching the best show in the world!

This man looked just like Han Fei. The difference was one was pushed on stage, and the other was sunken into madness. When he saw that man, the mist that clouded Han Fei’s eyes and ears disappeared. Mutated monsters rushed out of his brain. The slower monsters disappeared in the laughter. The past was like a shattered mirror. The prop knife fell to the ground. He looked at the laughing monster under the stage. His ruined makeup turned into ghastly tattoos. The despair around him was consumed.

“Thank you. Without you, I’ll always be alone.”

Han Fei shared the same thought as Mad Laughter. Han Fei on stage and Mad Laughter under the stage walked towards each other. Han Fei waved at Mad Laughter. The two souls with healing personas held each other. All the memories rushed back like waves. The grey city started to crumble. The eighth layer told the story of a comedy actor. That was Han Fei’s past.

Dream used stolen memories to weave the nightmare, but he had severely underestimated Han Fei and Mad Laughter. The city morphed into pieces. Everyone Han Fei had seen turned into dream demons and charged at him, but Han Fei and Mad Laughter didn’t avoid them.

Mad Laughter melted into Han Fei’s body. A giant axe made up of resentment cut through the dream demons.

Actually, this nightmare should be very long because Han Fei’s past was endless despair. However, Mad Laughter appeared to cut the performance short. The screaming dream demons and crumbling city were absorbed by the ghost tattoo. After consuming two nightmares consecutively, the ghost tattoo changed categorically. Unfortunately, Dream had this nightmare of targeting Han Fei, so Han Fei didn’t get any black-and-white fragments after clearing it. Once again, Han Fei used a power beyond the limit of the nightmare, but strangely, Dream didn’t come after Han Fei. Dream appeared to be laying some kind of trap for Han Fei.

“Dream’s real body shouldn’t be in the surface world. The eleven altars were built by Dream’s disciples. As long as Dream doesn’t arrive, I shouldn’t be in too much danger.”

Han Fei had control of the paths leading to the surface world and the real world. Dream could influence the two worlds with his power, but if it wanted to descend into real life, it would cause a big commotion.

Han Fei led his neighbors through the tunnel to the surface world. Along the way, they were bound by the limits of the surface world. Wu Chang lost his power, and Executioner was forced into the ghost tattoo. If they didn’t go through the tunnel, they would have to pay a greater price!

The stronger the ghost, the harder it would be for them to leave the cryptic world. This was why Dream didn’t send Gao Xing back to the cryptic world after his altar was attacked. It would take years to send an Unmentionable back to the cryptic world.

“The eleven altars could be Dream’s trap. At the same time, it’s our way to lessen its power.”

Dream wanted to turn the 400000 players into his puppets to spread the seeds of evil. However, Han Fei had his own plan too. He planned to take on Dream in the surface world to hold it back. The grey mist dispersed, and Han Fei opened his eyes. He was inside the hospital again. He was now inside the stairwell. He was closer to the altar on the roof.

“Dream can draw from the player’s memory to create a nightmare targeted at them. I have to share this info with the other players.” Han Fei left the hospital.

The eighth layer wasn’t that hard for Han Fei, but in reality, he had spent a long time in it. When he pushed open the hospital door, it was already dawn.

Han Fei hurried to the central pavilion and shared his experience. Once the guide for the seventh and eighth layers was out, it attracted many players. All the guilds were stuck at the eighth layer, and Han Fei was the first player to clear it.

Then, Han Fei entered the nightmare mission lobby. He offered the highest price to purchase the black-and-white fragment. Most players were stuck in layers below the fifth. There were not that many fragments. Only by clearing the nightmare perfectly that one would get the fragment. Therefore, even though Han Fei offered a very high price, no one was willing to sell the fragments. “I need to talk to the guild leaders. The fragments are useless to them, but they can help my black box…”

Han Fei was planning how to convince the other guilds when the players around him rushed to the door. Everyone looked spirited.

“What’s going on?” Han Fei grabbed a random person to ask.

“Don’t you know? Look at the chat! Huang Yin is online! The first player is here to save us!”

More players ran to the main city gate. They were under a lot of stress after being trapped in the game. There was no end to the layers of the nightmare. Huang Yin’s appearance carried a special meaning for all the players. Huang Yin was a living legend. He had created one after another miracle. There was nothing Huang Yin couldn’t do!

The main gate of Perfect Life opened, and a ray of sun shone through. The players who waited at the gate held their breath.

The sun paved a golden path through the city. A man walked through the gate and entered the city. Some said he was a bloodthirsty doctor, some said he was a mysterious cheater, some said he was a wealthy merchant, and some said he was the best fighter.

“Huang Yin!”

The city exploded. This was the power and influence of the first player. A rescue team of about 100 people followed Haung Yin. They knew that they would be trapped here, but no one retreated.

The city gate closed. Huang Yin spoke. “We’re just the first batch of the rescue team. Every day, we’ll have more rescue teams entering the main hub.” He opened his menu and unhid his name on the ranking.

Perfect Life had 21 rankings. Soon, all the players realized that for eighteen of the rankings, Huang Yin was number one!

“I’ll do my best to bring everyone out of here! Don’t worry. I won’t leave as long as there’s one person still in the city! I promise everyone that I’ll be the last player to leave Perfect Life!”