My Healing Games

Chapter 356 Night Falls (4000 words)

The music box in the chairman's building of Yong Sheng Pharmaceuticals also appeared fourteen years ago. After confirmation by Li Xue's teacher, it should be the same music box.

Knowing the music box's past makes the sentence below it seem ironic.

The music from this music box did not bring joy or happiness to those around it; instead, it turned itself into a monster spreading misfortune.

No one knows what happened to the song; all the changes remain a mystery.

All those connected to the music box were dead, and with the deceased's relatives giving up, the case was dropped.

The reason why Teacher Li Xue was able to remember so clearly was that in order to identify the case committed by Butterfly, he had memorized all the murder cases in Shanghai over the past twenty years.

This old gentleman is also very special. There is almost no information about him on the internet, but even the captain of the Shanghai Criminal Investigation Brigade would lower his posture and treat him with utmost respect.

He didn't hold a specific position, and few people knew about his past experiences. Han Fei only knew one thing: the old man had been obsessed with butterflies all his life, and even in death, he would drag butterflies into his coffin.

Having obtained what he wanted, Han Fei didn't linger. After answering the police's questions, he left with the psychological support device.

Tonight is the night of the return of the spirits, and he must cherish every second before nightfall.

Back at Jin Jun's place, the veteran paparazzi Jin Jun was chatting with Zhuang Ren about entertainment gossip. After learning Zhuang Ren's true identity, Jin Jun was so shocked that he couldn't close his mouth. He never expected that he would meet the king of bad movies from back then - Zhuang Ren - again in his lifetime.

Jin Jun wanted to dig out some gossip about the senior figures in the martial arts world from Zhuang Ren. Zhuang Ren might need Jin Jun to enter the game, so he didn't refuse and unintentionally gave Jin Jun a big gift.

The seemingly respectable senior figure in the martial arts world actually had a very wild side. Jin Jun was like a hunting dog that had caught the scent of its prey, his eyes gleaming as he stared at Zhuang Ren.

"You two seem to be having a good chat?"

"Brother Han, you're truly my lucky star. You've helped me a lot this time." Jin Jun originally intended to help Han Fei, but unexpectedly, he became the biggest beneficiary. He stood even more firmly on Han Fei's side.

"It doesn't matter whether I help or not, we're all friends." Han Fei took out the psychological support device and gestured for Zhuang Ren to come over. He connected all the wires according to the instructions and then had Zhuang Ren put it on: "Don't feel pressured. You will appear in a room next, and the room will change according to your psychological state. Relax and don't fight against it."

Han Fei is very worried that Zhuang Ren will be unable to use the psychological support device, and he keeps a close eye on Zhuang Ren.

The indicator light came on, and the device started normally. However, what happened next was different from what was in the manual. Before Han Fei could even begin psychological guidance, Zhuang Ren went straight into deep therapy. It felt as if his consciousness and the virtual world created by the AI ​​were attracting each other.

"What did the chairman of Yong Sheng Pharmaceuticals do to Zhuang Ren's brain?" Han Fei looked at the destroyed emotional therapy device in the black box and fell into deep thought.

Zhuang Ren's consciousness is different from that of normal people; it seems to have been specially marked, and this method of marking the soul is beyond Han Fei's comprehension.

In fact, Han Fei, who lived at the bottom of the old city, had no opportunity to come into contact with the most advanced technology of the time. He had only occasionally heard some very high-end terms on the Internet.

"When will Director Zhuang wake up?" Jin Jun was also very nervous. He still had many questions to figure out. People have always enjoyed exploring gossip and scandals, no matter the era.

"I don't know either." Han Fei now only hoped that nothing unexpected would happen to Zhuang Ren.

After eating something at Jin Jun's house, Han Fei decided not to waste any more time and took out the Dead Tower game from the black box to play.

Jin Jun looked at the two "strange people" in his living room, but dared not say or ask any questions. He stayed quietly to the side, as if he were the guest.

Upon re-entering Building 4 of the Dead Building, Han Fei seemed to be at odds with the creators of the Dead Building game. He specifically went to the gatekeeper to trigger a dialogue.

To his surprise, the doorman seemed to be an NPC with memories. He remembered that Han Fei had come before, and the conditions he offered Han Fei were all different, trying his best to tempt Han Fei and hoping that Han Fei could help him.

Han Fei also wanted to help him, but there was no option to help him in the game.

Han Fei forced himself to quit the game, triggering the warning for the second time. He wanted to see what would happen after triggering the warning three times.

After the second warning, Han Fei's clothes had turned completely blood-red. When he returned to the door god, the door god had been dismembered and his head was gone.

Han Fei tried to trigger the dialogue again, but as soon as he got close, his character was killed by the gatekeeper.

The Dead Tower game has finally merged with the Dead Tower in the Deep World, and it seems that Han Fei will no longer have the opportunity to trigger the third warning.

"I always felt that there was an invisible hand in the Dead Tower game, maintaining the game's operation, just like the administrator in the deep world. The blood-red eyes I saw after triggering the warning should belong to the administrator."

Han Fei remembered that blood-red gaze, and if he encountered a similar gaze again, he would be able to easily recognize the person.

Unable to trigger the three warnings, Han Fei began to seriously explore Building No. 4, hoping to find more clues.

Several hours passed, and Han Fei discovered several more pieces of useful information in the Dead Tower game.

Unlike other residential buildings, Building No. 4 has a basement, and the staircase leading to the basement is locked by an iron door.

The "strange people" dressed in red are unique to Building 4. Ordinary residents seem unable to see them, and a special ritual is required to communicate with them.

Han Fei once saw a child wearing bear pajamas among the red-clad monsters. This child should be the woman's child from the wardrobe world. Han Fei had not forgotten his promise to the woman, and within his power, he wanted to help the mother and child reunite.

After repeatedly dying in the Dead Tower game, Han Fei also discovered something strange: every time a character died in the Dead Tower, the number of death curses in the Dead Tower would increase.

The game difficulty increases with each death, something Han Fei hadn't anticipated.

"The Dead Tower mini-game is constantly being improved, collecting more ways to die and death curses. Does this imply that the Dead Tower in the Deeper World is also becoming more terrifying by collecting deaths?"

Time always flies when you're playing games.

The sky outside the window darkened without them noticing. At seven o'clock in the evening, just as Han Fei and Jin Jun were about to forcibly unplug the power, Zhuang Ren finally woke up from his deep psychotherapy.

Through the transparent treatment device panel, Han Fei could see Zhuang Ren's wrinkled face.

"What did you see? Why are you only waking up now?"

“I was trapped in a room that seemed to be constructed based on my own subconscious, and all my memories became some kind of image.” Zhuang Ren took off the treatment device, the fear on his face still lingering: “I saw my eldest daughter become a handsome adventurer, my second daughter become a clingy cat, and my wife used her body and bones to build the main structure of our home.”

"Isn't this quite cozy?" Han Fei knew several basic functions of the psychological auxiliary therapy device, one of which was to interpret and analyze the user's subconscious and build a consciousness room for him.

"The key is... my room is covered in blood, blood everywhere, and the room keeps expanding, as if it has no boundaries. I can't control my room at all, and gradually, things that don't belong to my memories started to appear in the blood!" Zhuang Ren seemed to have swallowed a block of ice, his voice chilling: "It seems that someone else's memories are hidden in my mind!"

"You haven't been building your subconscious room for the past few hours, have you?" Han Fei remembered that the instructions said that building the room should only take three to five minutes at most, but Zhuang Ren had spent almost five hours just on the first step.

"Yes." Zhuang Ren nodded.

"What did you see in that blood-red room?" Han Fei tried to make his words sound warm. Zhuang Ren was in a bad state; he was very nervous and scared.

“People, dying people, and dead people, their limbs were everywhere, boundless, filling my room and still expanding.” Zhuang Ren covered his head with both hands, the scene was terrifying just to recall: “I felt like I wasn’t in the room, but standing at the source of a sea of ​​blood.”

"The source of the sea of ​​blood?" Han Fei had to pass through a sea of ​​blood when using his soul-summoning ability, and he wasn't sure if there was any connection between the two: "Have you tried to communicate with those who are still alive? Ask them about their names and past? You probably also want to figure out whose memories have been implanted in your mind, right?"

"I asked, and those half-dead people only repeated four words—'resurrection' and 'immortality.'" Zhuang Ren sat on the sofa, seemingly having lost all his strength. "I've never done anything outrageous in my life. The fact that this thing is in my head must be related to the treatment device the chairman of Immortal Life Pharmaceuticals gave me! Why would he do that?!"

"Don't worry, this might not be a bad thing."

"Han Fei, you didn't see that scene. You don't know how terrifying and shocking it was. My subconscious room was full of unfamiliar dead people and people who were about to die. It was as if they were all hidden in my brain!" Zhuang Ren's hands tightened, pulling his hair and scalp. "Eternal Life Pharmaceuticals is a company that aims for immortality. There are two directions for research on immortality. One is physical immortality, which is almost impossible. The other is consciousness immortality. Each unique consciousness is its own soul. The people I saw in my mind seemed to be the consciousnesses of failed experiments! Really, I think I've heard people say this before, but I don't remember who said it."

"Immortality of consciousness?" For a minor actor like Han Fei, immortality of consciousness was too far removed from his reality. Even if such technology truly existed, he was not qualified to use it.

"I've heard of that before. In the past, the Immortal Pharmaceuticals pursued extending human lifespan and unlocking all the mysteries of the brain. Later, people from Deep Space Technology approached them, and the two giants began to collaborate on research into consciousness immortality." Jin Jun had heard similar news: "In their eyes, the human soul has already been objectified."

Zhuang Ren and Jin Jun's words deeply affected Han Fei. If what they said was true, then since the chairman of Yong Sheng Pharmaceuticals could hide his memories in Zhuang Ren's subconscious, he could also take over Han Fei's consciousness and become the new master of his body.

Han Fei suddenly shivered. He remembered what a scientist had said many years ago: "There is a phenomenon so obvious that it makes my hair stand on end. That is, our humanity has fallen far behind our science and technology."

"Butterfly has always wanted to put Zhuang Ren in the Dead Building, probably because she wants to obtain the memories hidden in Zhuang Ren's subconscious."

Many scattered pieces came together in that instant.

Zhuang Ren's wife and daughters were imprisoned in room 4144. They used a statue that imprisoned Fu Sheng's memory fragments to perform a ritual to summon Zhuang Ren into room 4144 as well.

The wife and daughter correspond to Zhuang Ren, while the statue corresponds to memories in Zhuang Ren's mind that do not belong to him.

Butterflies go to great lengths to get what they want.

“It seems I can’t just take Zhuang Ren into the deeper world anytime soon. I have to be careful.” Han Fei glanced at the clock on the wall and walked to Zhuang Ren’s side: “After midnight tonight, you will put on the assisted treatment device, stay inside, and confront that part of your memories.”

"So this way I can see my family?" Zhuang Ren's expression changed. "Could it be that my family members were also turned into fragments of consciousness and buried among the 'corpse pile'?"

Han Fei shook his head, about to say something, when a sound suddenly came from a certain direction outside the window.

It sounded like something had exploded; although it was very far away, they could still hear it clearly.

The three quickly went to the window and saw flames shooting into the sky from the smart city area.

"Something went wrong in the smart city?" The Xinhu Smart City is a landmark of modern urban construction, completely controlled by an intelligent brain. Normally, even traffic accidents don't happen there, but today an accident actually occurred.

The firelight illuminated the night sky, and the giant virtual screen connecting heaven and earth was also affected, with the huge number "3" distorting in the firelight.

Just half an hour later, the internet was flooded with videos and text messages. The fire occurred in an information database jointly managed by Deep Space Technology and Eternal Life Pharmaceuticals, which contained a large amount of information related to "Perfect Life".

"There are only three days left until the server opens, why did this have to happen now?" Jin Jun is a loyal fan of "Perfect Life". Only in that virtual world can he completely relax without worrying about being recognized by fans of various celebrities.

The fire burned for an hour before being extinguished. Han Fei kept watching the flames. As he looked at the raging fire, he remembered the night he got the game helmet, when the entire street where the helmet was sold was engulfed in flames.

"It's getting dark. Tonight is the night of the returning souls. Shouldn't Butterfly make her move?"

(End of this chapter)