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“Notification for Player 0000! You’ve activated the Grade E Succession Mission. You shall not quit the game before you complete the altar owner’s final wish!

“Warning! The time flow in the memory world is different from the cryptic world, after all, you exist in the owner’s memory. Be careful. Once you die in the memory world, there is a high chance you will be assimilated into the altar owner’s memory, entrapping you in this world forever. Succession missions are highly dangerous, please be conscious and rational at all times. When you are in the memory world, there is a random chance for you to trigger altar missions. Completing these missions will provide you with rewards and aid you to fulfill the overarching succession mission.”

Holding his pounding head, Han Fei sat up in bed. He glanced at his menu, he was in a unique state and couldn’t go offline. ‘I find myself in this situation again.’ The exit button was Han Fei’s hail mary. When he was deprived of that choice, he’d be more careful than usual. ‘The system mission notifications are always succinct. The fact that the mission description this time is so long has to mean that this mission is extremely dangerous.’

Han Fei scanned his surroundings. This was a rental about 30 cubic metres wide. The bathroom was squeezed together with the kitchen, there was no bedroom. The bed was placed in the living room. The place was sparse. The wall was puffy from water damage, the ceiling was green with mold. The tiles were cracked with small worms wiggling through.

‘Shouldn’t I be at the mall? Where am I?’ Han Fei stood up to look for useful items. There were some rotten vegetables on the table, a small bag of rice in the kitchen, a broken fridge which was filled with books and study materials. Looks like the owner had turned the fridge into a bookshelf. ‘Looks like the owner of this room has just graduated, he’s studying for something.’ All the books carried notes at the margins, the owner was hardworking at his study.

“Hmm?” As Han Fei leafed through the books, he noticed a patient’s record and a photograph. The photograph was taken inside this room. A shy boy was sitting in front of the bed with a bowl of rice while a middle-aged woman was lying in bed. The woman looked at the boy with a deep apology. Oxygen pipes were connected to her nostrils and her skin was pale. She was in great pain but she didn’t want to worry the boy. The photograph looked old but the patient’s record was new. Based on the patient’s record, the mother’s condition had worsened recently and the operation required a lot of money. A charity organization had donated to the operation but the money had been taken away by the father. The neighbourhood started another charity fund after they found out but this time, no one was willing to donate anymore. The mother was burning money staying at the hospital and her operation couldn’t be delayed any longer. After much begging, the hospital finally agreed to perform the operation but the boy had to clear the debt one month after the surgery.

“Notification for Player 0000! You’ve triggered a random mission in the altar owner’s memory world—Wish 1, Surgery fee.

“Wish 1, Surgery Fee: The player has to obtain 50000 RMB within 30 days. The player can use any kind of method, completion of the wish will garner the player great reward. Warning! The decisions you make in the memory world will affect the final result.”

‘Earn 50000 RMB in 30 days?’ Han Fei could do that in real life but he was in the altar owner’s memory world, he had no idea what he could do to earn money. A date was marked on the last page of the book, 31st December. Han Fei had to collect the money before that day. Han Fei studied the book closer and he noticed something interesting. The notebook had 31 blank pages and each page had been marked out with a date, corresponding to the days in the month of December.

“Notification for Player 0000! You’ve discovered a unique item—Notebook.

“Notebook: Keeping a diary is a good habit, you can use it to record… the last month of your life.” Despite the less than stellar description, Han Fei kept the item, perhaps the altar owner had diary-writing habits.

‘I should be experiencing the altar owner’s life. Living in this kind of high pressure environment, it’s easy to go crazy.’ Closing the fridge, Han Fei’s stomach grumbled. ‘Wait, I can feel hunger and thirst in the memory world?’ This memory world was very different from the cryptic world. This place was very real. If he stayed here long enough, he’d easily mistake this place for the real world.

‘When I attempted the manager mission at Yi Ming Private Academy, Jin Sheng only reconstructed the feeling of pain and despair, but here, even the bodily needs like hunger have been reconstructed. Looks like the memory world of a Lingering Spirit and an Unmentionable are very different.’ The altar owner had been dead for a long time already but his memory world was still so fresh, this was the scariest thing. ‘I need to solve the issue of hunger but there’s not much rice left in this house anymore.’ Han Fei picked up the rotten vegetables and walked into the kitchen. He grabbed the bag of rice and poured it into a bowl. He opened the faucet to collect some water. The tap water was murky and even smelled funny. Han Fei didn’t have time to be picky. After he cleaned the leaves, he cooked a simple bowl of porridge. As the warm porridge entered his stomach, the feeling of hunger faded away and Han Fei didn’t feel so oppressed anymore. ‘To eat is to be alive, even in this dangerous world, one has to eat.’

Han Fei went to wash the bowl and at that moment, he heard a ringtone coming from under the bed. He dried his hands and rushed to grab it. Han Fei found an old phone under the bed. “This is the owner’s phone?” He answered the phone and immediately an angry roar came out from the speaker. “Where the hell are you? Are you going to be late on your first day of work?! You promised the superior that you will not disappoint!”

“Work?”

“Are you still asleep? Yesterday, you came crying and begging for a job at the mall. You said you desperately needed money. I pitied you so I gave you a part time job at night!”

“I’m sorry, I’ll be going now!” Han Fei hung up and the pieces fell into place. “So that is how the owner started to work at the mall. But why would working at a mall force a living man into an Unmentionable?” Han Fei adjusted his hair in the mirror. When Han Fei stared at the mirror, he felt like someone else was looking back at him. It was a very strange feeling. When he averted his eyes, it felt like his mirror reflection didn’t.

Han Fei grabbed the phone and found the keys. He opened the living room door. “Notification for Player 0000! Are you sure you want to leave?”

‘There’s a system notification for leaving the house?’ Han Fei was surprised. When he did other missions, the system rarely ‘spoke’.

Han Fei chose yes and when he walked out the front door, the system announced, “Notification for Player 0000! You’ve triggered a random mission in the memory world—Wish 2, Survive.

“Wish 2, Survive: Survive for 30 days, only by being alive can you change everything.

“Notification for player 0000! Your current hunger level is 30, when the hunger level is more than 70, your mood will turn bad; when the hunger level is more than 90, your physique will be affected; when the hunger level reaches 100, you’ll get sick and it’s easier for you to die.

“Currently, your physical condition is good. Physical conditions are delineated into 6 levels, perfect, good, normal, weak, bad, dying. Your physical condition will affect your physical ability.

“Your current mental condition is rather disappointed, and the maximum mood point is 50. When your mood point is lower than 50, your physical condition will slowly deteriorate; when your mood point is lower than 40, you will feel mentally unfulfilled; when your mood point is lower than 30, you’ll find it very hard to focus; when your mood point is lower than 20, you’ll see strange things and you’ll get sick easier; when your mood point is lower than 10, your fatality rate will drastically increase and you will suffer from suicidal tendency.”

After reading all the updates, Han Fei noticed something, “The wishes are all positive, one is to survive, the other is to cure his mother. So in essence, the owner is a good person.” But the purer one’s heart, the deeper they’d sink into darkness.

Han Fei walked out the door and he realized the memory world was just like real life. Walking down the dark staircase, the voice-activated lights were delayed. Han Fei had to clap several times before they lit up. This was an old building. It had 4 floors. Most of the tenants were on the 1st and 2nd floor. The landowner didn’t rent the rooms beyond the 3rd floor. Many warning signs were posted in the stairwell.

‘Everything feels so real.’ Even though it was already night time, the place was noisy. Han Fei could hear couple arguing, children crying, television ads and even people having sex. Han Fei’s room was at the end of the 2nd floor corridor. He didn’t hurry to leave but memorized all the rooms that had sounds coming out from them. From the sounds, Han Fei speculated about the tenants’ personality and age. Han Fei didn’t run into any danger walking out from the building but he didn’t dare put his guard down. He turned back to look and there were several families who had their lights on in the old building. Han Fei’s gaze moved and then turned to walk away from the building.

However, when Han Fei turned around, the light in his eyes changed. When he turned back to look earlier, Han Fei noticed there was someone staring at him from a dark room on the 3rd floor.

‘I better head to work first.’ Han Fei had no idea where the mall was, thankfully, there were posters for sales at the mall on the walls and telephone poles. They provided the location of the mall. Han Fei lived in an area meant for imminent removal due to government projects. There was no one out at night. To reach the mall, Han Fei had to cross 2 alleys and 1 abandoned small garden. These places weren’t that scary in the day but it was quite creepy at night.

Han Fei entered the first alley and noticed a man curl up at the corner. He was giggling dumbly. His clothes were tattered and his body and face were stained with mud. He leaned against a wooden box and a dog with an injured leg stayed inside the box.

‘A homeless man?’ Most people would stay away from a seemingly mentally unstable homeless man but not Han Fei. When Han Fei walked further into the alley, the homeless man suddenly stood up. He grinned at Han Fei and reached his open hands towards Han Fei.

“I’m sorry but I have no money.” Han Fei admitted. He walked away and the homeless man chased after him. Curiously enough, the man only stepped on Han Fei’s shadow and did nothing else. This continued until Han Fei left the alley.

‘I better move faster.’ Han Fei ran into the 2nd alley. The 2nd alley was lined with squat houses. The houses looked abandoned. Han Fei crossed the 2nd alley but he didn’t enter the garden, instead he took a longer detour. This was because he saw the swings in the garden move on their own and he believed he heard children laughing. There was a concrete bridge at the end of the garden. Standing on the bridge, Han Fei could see the mall already. Han Fei continued his journey but at that moment, he heard something drop into the water. It sounded like someone had jumped down from the bridge. Han Fei leaned against the bridge rails and looked down. Since the streetlights were all broken, Han Fei couldn’t see anything but darkness.

“This world feels like an absurd real world.” Han Fei walked down the bridge. He was only 10 meters away from the mall. He jogged the rest of the way and finally arrived at his destination. The streetlights near the mall were working normally but perhaps it was the voltage, the lights kept flickering. ‘I’ve finally arrived.’

Han Fei lifted his head to look. The large mall was shrouded in darkness, he felt strangely oppressed standing there. The mall had been built for years and the outer walls required a new paint. Even the giant neon sign board was not right. The mall was called 8888 Mall, an auspicious name.

However, some of the signboard fuses forming the individual numbers had burned so instead the board read, DEAD Mall.