74hy

“Pingan, can you ride faster?” Han Fei was nervous. He left the mall with Wang Pingan but Huang Li showed no response, in fact, the lights at the 2nd hand shop became dimmer.

“O, okay.” Wang Pingan rode down the dark road. The darkness was suffocating. The streetlights that lined the road were mostly broken. Their lights looked strangely twisted. In this dark night, light brought no sense of security. Wang Pingan rode out from the alley and reached a main junction. The light turned red. Even though there was no traffic, Wang Pingan obediently stopped at the red light. His fingers tapped on the handle, his lips mumbling something that only he’d understand.

As desperate as Han Fei was, he didn’t have Wang Pingan run the red light. He knew Wang Pingan’s father would have spent a lot of time teaching him to follow the traffic rules. To learn to be a good person is hard, to destroy a good person is very easy.

Han Fei’s eyes kept darting about. The bad feeling within him grew. ‘Something is watching me, I can feel its gaze.’ His heart raced and Han Fei was highly stressed, it caused his mood points to lower from 50 to 48. ‘Calm down!’ The night wind crawled into his sleeves. Han Fei glanced at the traffic light, it would be green in a few seconds.

“Pingan, when it’s green, leave immediately!” Han Fei said seriously. He didn’t feel so good. It was against the rules to leave the shop at night because his mood points kept decreasing.

“3, 2, 1!” Han Fei stared at the red light. At the last second before the red light disappeared, Han Fei noticed the red light turned into a bloodshot eyeball! The bike moved forward and the traffic light turned green. ‘That was the thing watching me?’

Han Fei opened his character profile. His mood point had dropped to 45 and he merely had passed a junction. With Han Fei’s constant urging, Wang Pingan slowly picked up speed. They moved out from the main street and entered a pedestrian alley. The street was lined with various shops. The colorful sign boards were everywhere and the merchandise could be seen through the windows.

‘The windows…’ Han Fei looked at the windows and his reflections looked back at him. But even after they rode past the windows, his reflections were still looking at him. The alley was not that wide. Rubbish from the day littered the ground. There were some curious items among them, like a coke bottle that smelled of blood, a black shadow that was strung beside the counter. It looked like a stray cat but sounded like a crying baby.

‘This place sure is crowded.’ Han Fei’s mood point dropped to 42, he had no idea how long he could hold on. Compared to Han Fei, Wang Pingan was unaffected. The end of the alley was a very deserted road. There were houses meant to be moved and a sandy river not far away.

“Almost, almost… home.” Wang Pingan sounded happy when he said that but Han Fei only became more anxious. At the mall, he called Wang Pingan’s father and the latter said he’d come to the mall but so far, they had not seen the father.

“Pingan, do you use this road every time you go home?” Wang Pingan didn’t answer. He focused on driving and he kept making this strange laughing sound. “Brother, I’m trying to help you, so can you cooperate with me?” Han Fei’s arms that grabbed the deliverybox pulsed with veins. He could feel the bike turning slow like the wheels were stuck in darkness.

Down the distance came the sound of the river gurgling. Han Fei stared at his character profile. After his mood point dropped below 40, his anxiety was amplified and he could see the things hidden at the corner clearer. The road was badly damaged and there was little light. Han Fei stuck close to Wang Pingan. He had this feeling that if he fell from the bike, he would be dragged deep into the darkness.

When Han Fei’s mood point reached 36, they finally exited that dark road. The rushing water echoed in his ears as his field of vision widened. Beside them was the bank of the river and further down was an abandoned pond which was filled with smelly mud. Han Fei took a deep breath and planned to pull his gaze back when he saw something moving at the bank. It was a person crawling, a wheelchair was tipped over beside him.

‘What’s that?’ Han Fei wasn’t given much time to think. Wang Pingan didn’t notice the man at the bank because he was eager to go home.

“Stop!” Han Fei tapped Wang Pingan’s shoulder and said, “Stop!” When the light of the bike shot past the bank, Han Fei confirmed it was a person on the bank. With his mood points dropping, Han Fei led Wang Pingan to the bank after the bike stopped. Hearing their footsteps, the struggling man waved and called weakly for help. When the man spoke, the dazed Wang Pingan suddenly ran with anxiety on his face.

“Slow down, it’s too dangerous!” Ignoring his mood point, Han Fei chased after Wang Pingan. They jumped over the broken fence and landed on cement, grass and mud. The closer he came to the bank, the greater his fear. For the altar owner, this river appeared to represent death and misfortune. When the person on the bank saw Wang Pingan, he called Wang Pingan’s name, his voice filled with shock and pain.

“Do you 2 know each other?” Overcoming his fear, Han Fei rushed to the man. The man lying on the bank was around 60. His legs had atrophied and he was very weak. “Are you Wang Pingan’s father?” Han Fei and Wang Pingan dragged the old man to the cement road. The old man grabbed Wang Pingan and Han Fei’s hands, his face filled with gratitude.

“Sir, you should have told me that you have problems with your legs!” Han Fei was scared for the old man. He had seen too many scary things that night. If he didn’t insist on stopping, the old man would sink into the mud.

“I’ve taken this road for decades already and this has never happened. But it was too dark and the fence was destroyed so I accidentally fell.” The old man thanked Han Fei while the latter studied the fence. At the broken part of the fence, there was a piece of cloth, it appeared to come from a children’s outfit.

‘Have I missed something?’ Han Fei’s brain spun. ‘The mission of Go Home hinted for me to send Wang Pingan back as soon as possible or he might not see his father again.

‘That was proven right because his father did fall into the bank. Even though this place is isolated, the river didn’t reach the old man. He would struggle for some time.’ Studying the cloth in his hand, Han Fei’s eyes narrowed. He noticed the cloth was similar to the shirt of the boy who came to the shop earlier!

‘The river, the abandoned pond, the mud…’ Han Fei examined the fence, and the destruction appeared manmade. ‘Could this be where the father buried the bodies? When I told him the toys were bought by a boy, could he have rushed back here to check on the bodies?’ Han Fei sucked in a cold breath. If that was true, the boy’s father should still be nearby!

‘I get it now, the real danger for the old man is not the river but the boy’s father! Because of what I said, the murderer had returned to the crime scene. When he encountered the old man near the pond, he would silence him.’ Han Fei’s blood chilled. It was he who called the deliveryman’s father and sent the boy’s father away. He did those things out of kindness but he almost caused someone’s death.

‘Is it one of the altar owner’s regrets?’ Han Fei had Wang Pingan pick up the old man. Han Fei jumped down the bank. When he helped pick up the wheelchair, he turned towards the abandoned pond. The wind had died down but the grass at the pond moved. There was a person lying on the muddy ground. Through the grass, he stared at Han Fei quietly.

‘Is he watching me?’ Han Fei picked the wheelchair up. With the company of Wang Pingan and his father, they went home. Wang Pingan’s father kept thanking Han Fei and Han Fei reminded him to be more careful in the future. The three of them walked very fast. When they turned a corner, Han Fei heard a sound coming from behind them. He glanced from the corner of his eyes and he saw a human shadow flit through the broken hole in the fence.

“What are you looking at?”

“It’s nothing.” Han Fei said with a warm smile. “Sir, what’s wrong with your legs? You shouldn’t run about like this anymore, you should stay at home and lock the doors and windows.”

“I got into a car accident a few years ago and my legs were ruined because I had no money for surgery. If my legs were fine, I wouldn’t have sent Pingan to do all this work.” The old man grabbed Pingan’s arm, he really loved his child. “But Pingan is very good now. He even knows how to make delivery on his own, he’ll only get better. I don’t need much in life, as long as Pingan is safe and sound, that’s enough.” The old man’s words chased away the chill of the night. After a few minutes of walking, Han Fei finally escorted both of them home.

After Wang Pingan entered the door, Han Fei noticed his mood points had stopped dropping but instead it was slowly increasing.

“Notification for Player 0000! You’ve completed the random mission—Go Home.

“You’ve corrected 5 percent of the altar owner’s regret! You’ve obtained a lot of EXP and Wang Pingan’s trust! You’ve gained the title—good person.

“Good person: The biggest mistake of his life was trying to be a good person. With this title, your mood point will decrease slower.

“Notification for Player 0000! You’ve completed a random mission, you obtain a chance to open your inventory. You can choose an item to bring into the memory world.”