My Iyashikei Game

“There’s no one around anymore. You can stop acting.” After entering the building, Huang Yin’s persona disappeared. He looked at Han Fei wordlessly. Han Fei was still in the zone. He looked at Huang Yin with admiration.

“Aren’t you being a bit exaggerated?” Huang Yin felt like his mask had less effect than Han Fei’s acting. Then, he remembered acting was Han Fei’s job.

“I’ve cleared the eighth layer before you came. I used the power I shouldn’t have in the nightmare, so I’m being targeted. Are you sure you want to come with me to the ninth layer?” Han Fei held Huang Yin’s arm. “But since we’re here, should we give it a try?”

“Okay.” Huang Yin and Han Fei walked forward. They passed the lobby and moved upwards.

“Dream’s altar is on the top floor. With each clearing of the nightmare, we’ll get closer.” When they turned the corner on the second floor, vertigo came. Han Fei and Huang Yin were consumed by darkness.

A hot breeze touched the cheeks. Han Fei and Huang Yin opened their eyes to see a burning two-story building. Not far away was a strangely-dressed man dragging a gas tank to the fire.

“Shouldn’t he try to stop the fire?” Huang Yin pointed at the man. “Should we stop him?”

“We’ll wait and see first.”

The gas tank was thrown into the fire. Soon, there was an explosion. The roof was blown off, and the windows shattered.

“Haha!” The man’s fingers were scorched, but he didn’t seem to mind. He picked up the axe beside him and smashed the flower pots outside the building. After everything was destroyed, he sat in the yard, looked at the burning house, and smiled. “So fucking beautiful!”

The man grabbed the axe and turned to leave. That was when he saw Han Fei and Huang Yin. “What are you looking at? Do you want to call the police? This is my home! I can burn it down if I want to!”

“If you walk down the street and see someone burning down their own home, you’d stop to look too.” Han Fei said casually. “Is your house haunted? Why did you burn it down?”

“Because I wanted to!” The man was quite the desperado. “You two don’t look like good people to me. Do you want to follow me and escape from this place?”

“Escape?” Han Fei looked around. The nightmare included only the burning building and nothing else. Based on his past experience, players couldn’t venture into the darkness. Perhaps exploration was possible with an NPC.

“If you don’t leave, you’ll be stuck here forever, being an inmate of life.” The man said. He dragged the axe to the road and entered the only car.

“The ninth layer should be larger than the eighth layer. We can’t be trapped at the starting point. Let’s follow him.” Han Fei and Huang Yin opened the backdoor and got in.

“This is good. With the two of you as my company, this midnight journey wouldn’t be so lonely.” The man placed the axe on the passenger seat and raised the volume of the speaker. “Life is short. When you need to let go, you should. Don’t wait until you’re old, and then you’ll regret it.”

“But what does that have to do with burning your own house?” Huang Yin was still confused.

“It’s saying goodbye to your past! That house had my past that was like trash. Only by burning it that I can be reborn!” The man handed the Ipad to Han Fei. “Pick the songs you like. Don’t be limited. My car is your home!”

Han Fei scanned the playlist. ‘This is a misunderstanding.’ ‘It’s not what you think.’ ‘Out to drink and nothing more.’ “I was drunk and couldn’t remember.’ ‘I can’t help it if you want to think that way’…

“Your playlist contains quite a story.” Han Fei didn’t pick a song. He scanned through the other info. Other than some games, the Ipad contained a lot of pictures of one girl. However, the girl’s faces were all blurred out.

“The story is a fucking painful one too!” The man cursed. “But enough about the past. What’s your name?”

“I’m Han Fei, and this is my older brother, Huang Yin.”

“You two don’t share the same surname? Your stories are not simple either.” The man was direct. “I’m Zhang Mingli, an internet programmer and the representative of Xin Lu Photography Club. I was a substitute teacher once too. I taught language, music, and morals.”

“Morals?” Han Fei glanced at the axe in the passenger seat.

Huang Yin was very calm. After all, Han Fei was even a teacher once. Therefore, this wasn’t so weird.

“I’m a very civilized person, okay?” Zhang Mingli argued. He was about to explain further when an elder in a dead person’s clothes appeared on the road. The elder moved slowly to the middle of the road. When the elder saw the car, he even stopped.

Zhang Mingli’s reaction was quick. He stepped on the oil. He had just burned his house so he was living crazily. The car sped up.

“Calm down!” Huang Yin was nervous. Han Fei calmly put on seatbelts for the two of them.

“Calm down? This road is haunted. Why would a person stop in the middle of the road wearing dead people’s clothes? He has to be a ghost!” Zhang Mingli sped up the car again.

As the car approached, the elder finally felt afraid. At the last moment, he rolled to the side.

“Are you crazy? Didn’t you see someone on the road?” The powder on the elder’s face was washed off by cold sweat. “Why did you drive so fast?”

Zhang Mingli rolled down his window and poked his head out. “Fuck you! Damn you to hell! Go and die already!”

Zhang Mingli was very hostile. Even through the powder, one could see that the elder’s face had darkened.

“I’ve met this old man three times already. He tries to scam me every time. I suspect he has memorized my car plate number. No! I can’t stand it anymore!” Zhang Mingli stepped on the brake. He opened the door, grabbed the axe, and got down. “Get over here! Don’t run!”

Han Fei and Huang Yin sat inside the car and saw Zhang Mingli chasing after the elder with an axe.

“Is this the ninth layer?”

“This is different from the other nightmares I’ve experienced.”

Several minutes later, Zhang Mingli returned with uneven breaths. “The old man is quite a runner. No wonder he dares to scam people.”

Zhang Mingli got back into the car and continued the journey.

Han Fei glanced at the GPS. Zhang Mingli had a destination. Han Fei was curious about where the destination was.

“Why aren’t you two speaking? We need to get to know each other. Why are you so quiet?” Zhang Mingli was afraid of silence. Huang Yin was in no mood to chat due to the unstable mental state of the driver.

Han Fei thought back to the clues he had seen. He said casually, “Actually, I’m very lost about life and love. I’ve lost a few months of sleep because of it already.”

“What a coincidence! I can consult you.” Zhang Mingli smiled. “At your age, normally, you’ll fret about two things, money or love.”

“I do have a love problem.”

“Tell me. Does the person you love not love your back? Or did she betray you?” Zhang Mingli drove with one hand. The other lit a cigarette.

“Actually, I have 11 girlfriends.”

“How many?!” Zhang Mingli almost snapped his cigarette. This was not a story he wanted to hear.

“11.” Han Fei nodded. Huang Yin beside him turned his head to look out the window. He didn’t dare to say anything.

“Then, what are you so worried about? You’re not allowed to listen to my playlist!” Zhang Mingli was not young, but his mental state was very ‘pure’.

“Some of them are my subordinates. There’s my school teacher and my bestie…”

“Alright. Stop the introduction.” Zhang Mingli shook his head. “Bestie? I haven’t heard that term in so long. The girls who came from my village couldn’t wait to get away from me.”

“Even though I have so many girlfriends, I don’t know what love is.” Han Fei acted very professionally. Sadness, desire, and pain were on his face.

“Since you got love so easily, you wouldn’t know what love is.” Zhang Mingli lit another cigarette. “Let me tell you. Love is pain! Love is injured! The greater the pain, the deeper the love!”

“Has Teacher Zhang had a similar experience? What was your love like?” Han Fei asked the question that was really on his mind. The strange playlist, the girl with the blurred faces, all these had to do with love.