My Healing Games

Chapter 121 Knocking on the Bowl, Scattering Rice, Burning the Photograph

"Attention player number 0000! You have successfully accepted the G-rank main quest—One Hundred Ways to Die at the Crossroads!"

"One Hundred Ways to Die at the Crossroads: This task must be completed alone. Find the bowl placed next to the shrine at the entrance of the community, take a step, tap the bowl once, and walk to the other side of the road alone to complete the task."

Looking at the task description, Han Fei felt it wasn't too difficult. The road outside the residential area was only seven or eight meters wide, and he could cross it in at most twenty steps.

"The difficulty of the main quest is between that of the hidden quest and the normal quest, so don't be careless."

In fact, Han Fei was very reluctant to leave the community now. If possible, he wanted to stay until level 20 before going out. However, the system seemed to have guessed his thoughts, and he couldn't get any tasks in the community at all.

"Let's go check it out first. If it's really dangerous, then abandon the mission."

Quietly walking to the entrance of the residential area, Han Fei looked at the streets shrouded in darkness. The whole city was lifeless, and there wasn't a single car or pedestrian on the road, not even a ghost.

"The mission requires me to complete it alone, which means I can't rely on my neighbors. I just don't know if the ghost mark on my body counts as a 'neighbor' or a special item?" Han Fei didn't want to trouble his neighbors, but he really didn't have the confidence to leave the community and come back alive.

Just to be on the safe side, Han Fei still sought out Youfu, intending to have Youfu and Xiao Ba meet him across the street.

However, Youfu told him that Xiao Ba could not leave Xingfu Community casually. Once the deceased No. 8 left the community, it would immediately attract something. This was the previous building manager's instruction.

Since Youfu couldn't leave the neighborhood at will, Han Fei had no choice but to find Xu Qin again.

"Sis, I want to leave the neighborhood and go to the other side of the street. Could you stand at a distance and keep watch for me?"

"Do you know what's on the other side of the road?" Xu Qin didn't answer immediately.

"Is it dangerous there?"

“Of course, there’s no safe place in this city.” Xu Qin said after a moment of contemplation, “If you insist on going, I won’t stop you, but you need to pay attention to a few things: First, don’t stay in an open area for more than ten minutes; second, don’t talk to anyone; third, if you hear someone calling your name, run into the neighborhood immediately; and fourth, and most importantly, if you get lost, don’t believe anything you see, just stay where you are and wait, I will come find you.”

"I remember."

“And…” Xu Qin took out the shortest knife from the kitchen, then used a placemat on the table to cover it: “Keep this knife in your pocket and don’t touch it directly with your hands. Only take it out if you encounter danger.”

"Ok."

The tablecloth on the dining table was made of the skin of outsiders. After wrapping the knife in their skin, the curse emanating from the knife had a much smaller effect on Han Fei.

After everything was ready, Han Fei and Xu Qin left Building No. 1 together and arrived at the entrance of the community.

"Then I went there alone."

"Remember what I said, and go."

Pushing open the rusty iron gate of the residential area, Han Fei glanced back and saw two dilapidated apartment buildings standing out conspicuously in the darkness.

"Of all the games I've played, this is the first one that makes me so reluctant to leave the starting area."

In order to successfully log off, Han Fei eventually left the Happiness Community.

Through the rusty iron gate, Han Fei saw Xu Qin waving at him. Her tongue lightly licked her bright red lips, as if she was thinking about the best way to cook Han Fei.

Rubbing his temples, Han Fei felt that Xu Qin wouldn't do such a thing, but ever since leaving the neighborhood, all sorts of malicious thoughts had been running through his mind.

"Calm down, finish the mission quickly, we can't stay here for too long."

Han Fei remembered what Xu Qin had said. He planned to complete the task within five minutes and then hurry back to the neighborhood.

"The first step is to find the bowl placed next to the shrine..."

Looking around, Han Fei saw a dilapidated shrine near the crossroads not far from the iron gate of the residential area.

The shrine was covered with a black cloth, and no one knew what lived inside.

Han Fei suppressed his curiosity and did not lift the black cloth to look inside. Instead, he picked up a ceramic bowl that was placed in front of the shrine.

The bowl was covered in cracks but hadn't broken. It was filled with white rice, and each grain seemed to have something written on it.

"If you tap the bowl every time you take a step, will the bowl break?"

Han Fei carefully picked up the porcelain bowl. Before he could take his first step, he suddenly heard an old man's voice.

"Put down the bowl, and go back to where you came from."

Turning around, Han Fei saw an old man squatting on the curb at the entrance of Xingfu Community. He was holding a brazier with a thick stack of paper money in it.

"The crossroads are filled with yin energy, and all sorts of things come and go. If you hold up a bowl here, a starving ghost will come looking for you soon!"

Seeing that Han Fei wouldn't listen, the old man muttered something else, giving Han Fei the impression that he was concerned about him.

"Don't disbelieve me. In the past, people would perform rituals by the water's edge. This road is the water, and the crossroads is the water's edge, where evil spirits gather. Listen to me, quickly put down the bowl, burn some paper money for the shrine, apologize to it, and maybe everything will be fine."

After the old man finished speaking, he quietly took a crumpled photo out of his pocket and put it into the brazier.

Han Fei wouldn't abandon the mission just because of what the other party said. He took his first step toward the road and then tapped the bowl.

Hearing the banging on the bowl, the old man was terrified and immediately went to Han Fei: "Are you trying to summon their souls? Are you trying to deliberately provoke them?"

Han Fei remained silent. In fact, he initially thought the old man was quite nice, until the old man placed the crumpled photograph into the brazier.

Burning paper money at a crossroads is a way of showing respect to the dead, but burning photos, especially photos of living people, at a crossroads is a completely different matter.

If a wandering ghost sees a living person's photo mixed with paper money being burned, it will think that person is going to die that night and that it can take over the person's body to be reincarnated.

In addition, during the manager's tasks, Han Fei also saw a brazier and a photograph. In this underworld, photographs seem to be able to take away a trace of a person's spirit.

The old man took out a photo that was very old, and the faces in the photo were blurry. Han Fei felt that the other party might want to kill him. He thought that as soon as he spoke to the other party, his face would probably appear in the photo.

The old man warned Han Fei to be careful of the starving ghost, as he himself might be a scapegoat.

Without uttering a word, Han Fei's gaze remained calm and cold as he continued forward.

He took a second step and then tapped the bowl again.

Laughter came from across the road, and a little boy in a red shirt was walking towards them, holding his sister's hand.

"Brother, brother, can you take my sister and me home?" A boy in a red coat blocked Han Fei's way.

Han Fei gave the other party a cold glance. He muttered to himself that he couldn't take them home, but he could take them to their final resting place someday.

Ignoring any external interference, Han Fei took another step forward.

Just as his leg was about to touch the boy's body, the boy dodged away: "Brother, brother, my sister and I can't find our way home. Can you come home with us?"

Han Fei didn't listen to what the boy was saying at all; he only noticed that the boy deliberately avoided him when he walked forward.

Normally, a ghost would go berserk and attack if it saw itself; it wouldn't take the initiative to avoid it.

"Is it because of the bowl in my hand?"

Han Fei thought about it more and more and it seemed very likely: "The bowl in front of the shrine seems to be able to protect me. If that's the case, then I don't need to worry too much."

The most urgent task was to complete the mission. Han Fei had been so cautious before because he was worried about unexpected events. Now that he was at ease, he immediately sped up.

He takes a step and taps the bowl once, very quickly.

"Brother, brother..."

"Don't go over there, young man! The starving ghost is coming!"

No sound could disturb Han Fei. He walked forward step by step, but after he had taken more than a dozen steps, he suddenly stopped.

"Why isn't it over yet?"

Looking ahead, there was a clear pool of blood on the wall on the other side of the road. The distance between Han Fei and the other side of the road did not decrease. On the contrary, the pool of blood gradually became darker, and the outline of a person could be vaguely seen.

“Young man, come back quickly! This intersection is very dangerous; there are frequent car accidents here. Just a few days ago, two children were hit by a van, and the van ended up coming to a stop on the other side of the road.”

"Brother, brother, let's go home together!"

"If a stranger walks alone at night, you might never come back!"

The noise around him grew louder and louder. Han Fei suppressed the urge to grab his knife and took a few more steps forward.

He still couldn't get to the other side of the road, and the voices of the old man and the child gradually faded away.

"Have those ghosts finally left?" Slowly turning his head, Han Fei glanced behind him out of the corner of his eye, and his expression changed.

The Happiness Community behind him had disappeared; behind him was a completely unfamiliar road.

"Can not go back?"

Han Fei carefully observed his surroundings. The bloodstains on the wall across the street were getting thicker and thicker, and it seemed that the person inside the wall was about to crawl out.

"Staying in an open space for more than ten minutes might attract some unknown, terrifying monster. But if I wander around aimlessly, I might get further and further away from Xu Qin. My five senses must be clouded by something right now."

Silently raising his finger, Han Fei felt the landlord's ring, but there was no coolness from it.

"From the appearance of the old man to the appearance of the child, and now the escape route has disappeared, the ring has not reacted. It seems that the old man and the child are both traps."

Having figured out many things, Han Fei began to look through his inventory, but he didn't find anything that could help him break the deadlock.

“Xu Qin said that if you get lost, don’t believe anything you see. My main concern right now is not to panic. I need to hold on until Xu Qin comes.” Having made up his mind, Han Fei was not so flustered anymore. He took out a cigarette from the landlord’s inventory: “Panicing won’t help. Let’s light a cigarette and calm down.”

(End of this chapter)