My Healing Games

Chapter 638 Cannot Exit

"You're a wanted criminal?" Han Fei's tone showed no surprise. He tried to force a smile, but he couldn't: "What a coincidence, I'm being chased by the police too."

"Why are you able to chat with me so comfortably while you're chained up? Do you have some kind of peculiar fetish?" Li Guo'er pulled a knife from her bag and held the tip to Han Fei's chin. "I can tell you very clearly that I've never seen you before. Maybe you've mistaken me for someone else. But since you were willing to save me, I won't kill you. Just stay here and wait until I've accumulated enough Paradise Points to leave before letting you go."

"What exactly are these Paradise Points you've been talking about?" When Han Fei went to the amusement park that day, he saw Fu Tian holding a Paradise Points Card with many stamps on it. But it looked like something to fool children. How could adults fight to the death for something like that?

“I didn’t believe in this thing before, until something happened later…” Li Guo’er sat opposite Han Fei and crossed her legs: “I used to work at a game company. After experiencing some very painful things, I chose to resign. At that time, the game that our department made became a hit, and the company gave us a lot of money.”

"Money didn't appeal to me. At that time, I always felt empty inside, as if it could never be filled. So I wanted to try some things to revitalize my life."

“But before I could even set my new goal, the police came knocking on my door. They believed I was involved in planning a kidnapping and murder, and the victim was a very important person in the city.”

The sweet expression on her face slowly disappeared, and Li Guo'er played with the knife in her hand: "But in fact, I have no recollection of it at all. How could an ordinary office worker like me be involved in a kidnapping?"

“I tried to explain myself in every way, but the situation only got worse and worse for me. I felt like someone was targeting me.”

Hearing Li Guo'er's words, Han Fei was very confused: "What does this have to do with Paradise Points?"

“At that time, I was completely helpless. I had already lost the most important thing in the world, and now I was framed and made a scapegoat. My life was sliding step by step into the deepest despair. It was after the last interrogation that I broke down due to the immense mental pressure. That night, I wanted to leave this world with him, but a strange person found me. He said that as long as I could participate in this game, I could get rid of despair forever and make up for all my regrets.” All smiles disappeared from Li Guo’er’s face.

"Why does your experience feel so familiar? It's like I've gone through something similar." Han Fei's eyes were somewhat confused. "What did that strange person look like?"

“He wore a smiling mask and said he could see the future and could help all those who were in the deepest despair.” After Li Guo’er finished speaking, she looked at Han Fei and said, “At first, I didn’t take what he said to heart. After all, he looked just like you, a crazy person who wasn’t very bright. But what happened later changed my mind.”

"What happened next?"

“He gave me an invitation to the amusement park and a mask, and then left. Not long after he left, I was followed and stalked by a madman. I didn’t know him at all, but he wanted to kill me!” Li Guo’er’s fingers traced the tip of the knife. “Whether I want to participate in the game or not, the game has already begun. If I don’t want to be killed, I can only try to fight back.”

"I still don't understand." Han Fei had lost all his memories, but Li Guo'er's occasional words would light up his chaotic and dark mind like sparks.

"In short, we may all be trapped in a deadly game from which there is no way out. Only the most desperate people are qualified to participate in this game, and the ultimate reward should be a way to help us escape despair." Li Guo'er's eyes slowly turned cold. "As for the game process, it is a bit bloody and cruel. You can get a point for each participant you kill, which is the safest way to get points."

"Killing is the safest way? Then what are the other ways to gain points?"

"Catching ghosts." Li Guo'er's face was bloodless. She was very beautiful, but she looked somewhat frightening. "I don't know if ghosts exist in the world. It is said that those who know the answer have all been killed."

"Ghosts?" Han Fei thought of the scripts in his room, ninety-nine scripts that seemed to be ninety-nine real ghost stories: "Has anyone ever earned points this way?"

“Yes,” Li Guo’er said with certainty. “There are scoreboards next to all the rides in the city park. Most of these scoreboards record the scores of the visitors, but at midnight, a special scoreboard will randomly appear in the park. That scoreboard will list the numbers and scores of all the participants in the Despair Game. I saw it once. There were 32 participants, and the highest scorer had 99 points.”

"Is it possible that he killed ninety-nine players?"

“There weren’t that many participants in total, so he must have successfully caught the ghost!” Li Guo’er leaned against the wall: “Once you have a hundred points, you can have your wish granted and be free from despair forever. I wonder if he got the last point later.”

“The game isn’t over, so he most likely didn’t succeed.” Han Fei frowned. The number ninety-nine was somewhat special to him. He had cut ninety-nine wounds on his arm and written ninety-nine scripts as a screenwriter. Now he heard that the former number one had accumulated ninety-nine points: “Is it possible that I am the number one person? Or that I have done it before?”

Upon hearing Han Fei's voice, Li Guo'er rolled her eyes dramatically, her face full of speechlessness: "You doubted my feelings for you when we first met, and now you're saying you're the number one player on the leaderboard?"

"It's just a feeling."

"So you feel pretty good." Li Guo'er didn't intend to kill Han Fei. She put Han Fei's backpack on the table and took out all the contents.

The little cat, covered in wounds and with fur that looked like it had been pieced together, was also lying on the table. It looked aggrieved and didn't dare to meow too loudly.

"There really isn't an invitation?" Li Guo'er searched carefully several times, and finally only found the white smiley face mask.

"Could you tell me what the invitation looks like? Maybe I can remember something." Han Fei didn't sense any threat or fear from Li Guo'er, so even though he was bound by iron chains, he remained calm. He would rather be imprisoned in a cell and laugh than go back to that unfamiliar home and cry.

"The invitation is a pure black card. You can see different words from different angles. It has your number on it. Only with it can you enter the park at night and see something different." After thinking for a moment, Li Guo'er added, "Only with the invitation can you participate in the ghost-catching game every night and the hundred ghosts parade before dawn."

"After killing other people, do I also need to obtain their invitation to get the points they've accumulated?"

"The points in the invitations cannot be converted; each invitation only counts as one point." Li Guo'er is not the kind of person who is bloodthirsty. Most of the time, she just takes the other party's invitation. Of course, for some players, this may be more painful than killing them.

"What a terrible game."

"This Desperate Game doesn't encourage players to kill each other; it wants everyone to work together to catch ghosts. But human nature always brings 'surprises.' When shortcuts exist, someone will always be willing to take the risk." Li Guo'er yawned and casually flipped through the script in Han Fei's backpack: "You used to be a screenwriter?"

“It must be the screenwriter and the actors.” Although Han Fei was locked up by Li Guo’er, his heart gradually calmed down. This private prison gave him a rare sense of security: “Thank you for talking to me for so long.”

"You're thanking me?" Li Guo'er was surprised herself. "Do you really have this kind of hobby?"

"I don't remember." Han Fei shook his head. Because of his amnesia, he was uncertain about many things. "I haven't spoken this much in a long time. I don't dare to communicate with people casually. I feel like they all want to kill me."

With his head bowed, Han Fei stared at the dense scars on his arms: "I usually only speak when I'm alone."

“If anyone else had kept rambling on to me, I would have stabbed them long ago.” Li Guo’er looked Han Fei up and down: “Well, it seems you really aren’t faking it.”

"I think I once owned a knife, a knife without a blade."

"That's enough, that's enough, stop nagging." Li Guo'er sat back down at the table. She herself felt a little strange. Although it was the first time they had met, she didn't seem to dislike Han Fei's words too much, as if they had been friends before.

The thought of the word "friend" brought back some unpleasant memories for Li Guo'er. She stopped thinking about those things and focused on reading Han Fei's script.

In the dimly lit underground prison, a man, a woman, and a cat spent a peaceful evening.

The next morning, Han Fei smelled a fragrance and groggily opened his eyes.

"Your nose is pretty sharp." Li Guo'er sat down in front of Han Fei. "Is there something wrong with you? I imprisoned you here, and you slept so soundly last night? I had a knife to your throat, and you didn't react at all? Isn't that disrespectful?"

“I haven’t had a normal night’s sleep since I woke up in the hospital. I’ve been drugged and knocked out. I feel panicked and uneasy anytime I’m outside. Only here do I feel at ease.”

"I won't argue with anything you say." Li Guo'er sat at the table and ate the food she had made, while Han Fei just watched her.

"No way? No way? You don't actually want to eat my cooking, do you?" Li Guo'er felt Han Fei's gaze: "Are you really not treating yourself like an outsider?"

“I have a special craving for meat. If you can provide me with enough meat, I can tell you some information.” Han Fei directly stated part of his guess: “Those scripts may all be true stories. Each script should represent a ghost. If you want to quickly increase your points, you can use my scripts to catch ghosts.”

"Your true colors are showing? Did you deliberately try to get me to go to those places and then kill me?" Li Guo'er raised an eyebrow; she looked even cuter without her glasses.

"I just want to eat meat." Han Fei's eyes were incredibly innocent; he really just wanted to eat meat.

After hesitating for a while, Li Guo'er nodded slightly: "Okay, I'll trust you this once."

She got up and left. Half an hour later, she squatted down and walked into the basement with a plate of cumin lamb: "Eat up. Tell me after you're done, which script is the easiest to catch ghosts in."

Smelling the aroma of meat, Han Fei's stomach growled, and he ate heartily, the plate of mutton disappearing in no time.

Looking at the empty plate, Li Guo'er swallowed hard: "This is the meat I was planning to eat for a week. Do you have a monster living inside you?"

“I probably still prefer pork, especially pork heart.” Han Fei licked his lips. “I always feel like something is missing from the meat you make. I remember the most delicious meat I ever ate had something very dangerous hidden in it. Every bite was like walking between heaven and hell.”

"How about I just send you to a mental hospital? The food there is better." Li Guo'er was a little unhappy. She held all the scripts in front of Han Fei: "Tell me, which script is the safest?"

"The script simply tells you that ghosts exist and gives you some hints, which greatly reduces the difficulty and allows you to choose with a clear goal in mind."

"So, you yourself don't know either, right?"

"I forgot."

Li Guo'er picked up the sharp knife, then slowly put it down again: "I'll trust you this once, since you kindly saved me."

She hid the dagger, memorized the lines of a script, and left alone.

"Be careful, ghosts are not the same as people."

After Li Guo'er left, Han Fei sighed softly. He felt a sense of familiarity, but he couldn't remember it at all, which caused him great pain.

"Meow..." After a night's rest, the kitten, which was covered in wounds, was much better. It ran out of the cardboard box that Li Guo'er had prepared for it and came to Han Fei's side.

Its ugly-cute head rubbed against Han Fei's leg, and the nine black stripes on its body were slowly becoming clearer, as if they were about to form some kind of pattern.

"Are you really my cat?" Han Fei looked at the pitiful kitten. "I feel like you still recognize me, but I've forgotten you. Didn't I give you a name before?"

As Han Fei counted the patterns on the cat's fur, he suddenly blurted out a name: "Xiao Ba? Is that you? Were you called Xiao Ba before?"

Upon hearing the name, the cat became happy and rolled around on the ground.

"Is that really its name? But why would I name a cat with nine stripes 'Hachi'?"

(End of this chapter)