My Healing Games

Chapter 128 I'm Just a Temporary Worker
There are good people and bad people in the world.

The same is true in the deeper world. Some ghosts were full of malice when they were alive, and became even more vicious after death, spreading despair. But some wronged souls, even if they died unjustly, still harbor kindness in their hearts.

"What's your name? When the time comes, I'll take you to meet your brother."

"Fireflies, my mother said there is a kind of insect in the world that can glow in the dark, it is called a firefly, but I have never seen one."

"There are many parents who hope their children will become dragons, but this is the first time I've seen one who hopes their children will become worms." Han Fei told the child to take the ball and leave quickly: "Don't come here to play anymore. Tell me your home address, and I'll come find you."

“My mom and I are staying at a hotel next to the convenience store. My mom is reluctant to leave, as if she is waiting for my brother to come back.”

The child had some difficulty speaking, but after giving Han Fei his home address, he ran off with the ball in his arms.

"This kid is quite interesting..." Han Fei stared at the wall of the back alley for a long time. In fact, what Han Fei was more concerned about was the dark shadows on the wall. It seemed that all the "people" who had worked here as shop assistants were killed in the end, and some of their remnant souls were imprisoned on the wall of the back alley.

Over time, the walls of this back alley are covered with faint human figures, each representing an employee.

"This must have been the first time Firefly had run into the back alley to play, but the ghosts on the walls of the back alley not only didn't kill Firefly or take his soul, they even played games with him willingly."

"When I opened the door just now, the ghost on the wall seemed to be trying to help the firefly hide, and no one made any unusual movements that would reveal the firefly's location."

The remnant souls on the wall seemed to be in perfect unison, wanting to protect the fireflies. Based on this alone, Han Fei felt that those remnant souls could become his friends.

"It seems that most of my colleagues and seniors are good people!"

Han Fei glanced at the wall of the back alley and bowed slightly: "This is my first day on the job, please take good care of me, seniors."

Seeing that there was nothing unusual on the wall, he went inside. However, as he was about to close the door, he vaguely saw the human figures on the wall begin to move slowly, as if they were discussing something.

"All the former employees were sealed inside the walls. I'm curious why the manager didn't just kill them to eliminate any future trouble? Does the manager perhaps need their remnant souls to control their power?"

A soul burdened with regrets isn't particularly powerful, but when hundreds or thousands of regrets come together, they become a terrifying force.

"jingle!"

The soul bell at the door rang again. Just as Han Fei was about to walk into the house, the landlord's ring on his hand suddenly emitted a bone-chilling cold.

Gently stroking the crack on the ring, Han Fei hid in the garbage disposal room and glanced outside.

The one-eyed shop assistant stood behind the cashier, in front of a woman in red who was nearly 2.5 meters tall.

The woman wore a blood-red veil and a bright red wedding dress, but a white flower was pinned to her chest.

Almost at the same time the woman appeared, the temperature inside the convenience store dropped to freezing, and the one-eyed clerk became very polite, treating her with utmost care.

Most of the time, it was the one-eyed clerk who was asking questions, while the woman would only nod occasionally. Han Fei didn't hear their conversation clearly; he only vaguely heard words like "seventh day after death," "return of the soul," "death building," and "number 144."

A few minutes later, the one-eyed clerk came out from behind the counter and gestured for the woman to follow him into the storeroom.

As the woman, who was over two meters tall, turned around, she paused for a moment in the garbage disposal room where Han Fei was hiding. Her veil was blown by the cold wind, and Han Fei saw a split mouth.

"She found me?"

The woman didn't make things difficult for Han Fei. She carried a blood-soaked package in her hands, which were much larger than those of an average person, and slowly entered the warehouse.

There were no unusual noises; the light in the warehouse simply dimmed considerably.

A coughing sound rang out, and the one-eyed shopkeeper carried a paper figure as tall as an ordinary person out of the storeroom. The paper figure had a smile on its face and covered the shopkeeper's eyes with its hands.

The woman in the wedding dress also came out, but the blood-stained package in her hand was gone.

The soul bell rang, and the one-eyed clerk, carrying the paper figure on his back, left the convenience store together with the woman in the wedding dress.

"The one-eyed paper figure that was carried away was completely different from the ordinary paper figures. The expression on its face was just like that of a living person. Was that paper figure the shop owner?"

The temperature inside the store returned to normal. Han Fei quietly walked to the door of the warehouse. The white candles in the warehouse had been extinguished, and it was pitch black inside.

"Even if the paper figure that the one-eyed man carried away wasn't the shop owner, it should still contain some of the owner's consciousness. After all, the paper figure's expression was almost indistinguishable from that of a living person. It even knew to cover the shop assistant's eyes, as if it was worried that the one-eyed man would see something."

Han Fei didn't believe that an ordinary paper figure could be so intelligent; he suspected the shop owner was manipulating things behind the scenes.

"That woman in the wedding dress is very powerful. She seems even more terrifying than Xu Qin. She entered the shop as if she wanted to ask the shop owner for help. The package in the package should be the reward for the shop owner."

Following the trail of blood on the ground, Han Fei arrived at the last row of shelves in the warehouse.

Being stared at by a group of paper figures was not a pleasant feeling, but after getting here, Han Fei realized something.

When he first came here, the gazes of those paper figures were no different from those of living people, containing all sorts of emotions.

But this time when they came in, the paper figures had a blank look in their eyes, as if they had lost their souls.

"The bloodstains stop here." Han Fei stared at the paper figure in front of him and took it down.

There was a gap between the paper figure and the wall. Han Fei peeked inside and discovered a coffin hidden behind the last row of shelves.

"It's well hidden." Han Fei memorized the location of all the paper figures, then took down a few and crawled behind the shelf.

When his hands touched the coffin lid, Guiwen let out a heart-wrenching scream. The pain was unbearable, but the problem was that it wasn't Han Fei who was in pain.

"Brother, just bear with it a little longer."

The package delivered by the woman in the wedding dress had already been opened, and the blood-stained red cloth had fallen to one side. Han Fei pushed the coffin lid open with both hands.

Inside the coffin were the bodies of different people, and in the middle of this assembled corpse was a palm-sized, blood-red paper figure.

The paper figure had its eyes closed, as if it were asleep.

If you look closely, you'll find that there are countless vengeful faces screaming on the paper figure, many of which Han Fei has seen in photos in the staff preparation room.

"Does this paper doll want to have a real body?"

Han Fei was completely focused and in a state of high tension when a sound suddenly came from somewhere in the room.

"Help me, help me..."

Han Fei was so startled that he almost fell into the coffin.

He opened his eyes wide and looked around, finally realizing that the sound was coming from the white wax.

Squatting down next to the candle, Han Fei stared intently at the other person, his face seemingly screaming "murder to silence him."

"You're a new shop assistant, aren't you? The curse you're under isn't too severe yet. Hurry up and take me away from here, and I'll repay you!" The face on the white wax was very blurry, but he tried his best to speak: "That paper figure is gone. It rarely leaves the shop. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

"You think you can sway me with just a candle? My loyalty to the shopkeeper is unwavering, and you can't sway me with a few words." Han Fei's eyes were filled with murderous intent.

"You dug up the store manager's coffin lid on your very first day at work. How is that loyalty?"

"I just want to know more about him."

"You're a smart man, let's not waste any more time." The face on the candle kept crying out, "Do you know why the candles in this shop can burn all night? Do you know why the light emitted by these candles makes the wandering ghosts feel comfortable?"

"why?"

"All the candles in the warehouse are made of adipocere, crafted from the bodies of monsters and the lingering remnants of shopkeepers. It enjoys the wailing sounds of burning remnants." The face on the candle began to distort: ​​"If you don't leave, you'll turn into a candle sooner or later! I know how to remove the curse. Take me with you, and I'll remove it for you!"

"You seem to know the store manager quite well?"

“I used to be a shop assistant here too. The shopkeeper’s true form is the blood-red paper figure in the coffin. It’s a special cursed item that slowly developed its own thoughts because it constantly absorbed resentment. Everyone who enters the shop becomes its target. They either become its merchandise or its employees, but those who act as its accomplices never have a good ending! We shop assistants also die! And we die without peace. Our remaining humanity is absorbed by the paper figure and becomes a part of it.” The face in the candle said with a sobbing voice.

"Was all the humanity of the shop assistants absorbed by the blood-red paper doll?"

“Yes.” The face in the candlelight glanced at the coffin behind the shelf: “It absorbed more and more humanity and resentment, gradually forming its own consciousness. Usually, it hides its consciousness in a paper doll, keeping its true body in the coffin and nourishing it with flesh and blood. All the paper dolls in this shop are probably its clones…”

"So, does that mean we've already been seen by it?"

"But tonight is different! The ghost in the wedding dress delivered the most crucial head and heart to the paper doll shop owner. In return, the shop owner needs to help the ghost in the wedding dress kill someone." The face on the white wax figure knew many things; it had been sitting in the counter, eavesdropping on many things: "That person lives in the Dead Building, which is extremely dangerous. The shop owner can only succeed in killing him by gathering all the resentment and power. Once he succeeds, he can obtain more things, accelerating his own growth, and then we will have even less chance of escaping."

"So tonight is the only chance?"

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!" The face on the white wax frantically urged, "The shopkeeper's curse will prevent you from approaching its true form and forbid you from leaving the convenience store. Once you trigger the curse, you will suffer immense pain. But if it is severely damaged, the curse will be weakened, and the pain you suffer will lessen. So don't hesitate, take me with you! This is our only chance to escape. I will tell you how to lift the curse."

"Wait a minute, if the store manager has been seriously injured, why should we leave?"

"You're under its curse; you're powerless against it! Please listen to me! Take me away with you right now."

"Don't rush, I have a better idea now." Han Fei stared at the coffin behind the shelf with a strange expression: "If I bankrupt the store on my first day, will no one hire me in the future?"

Han Fei glanced at the mission panel and vaguely understood why the mission required him to survive for one night, because after that night, the shop might be gone.

(End of this chapter)