My Healing Games

Chapter 959 Flame
As Han Fei was still debating which pair of shoes to take, the smell of burning garbage in the air suddenly became stronger, and smoke drifted in through the crack in the door.

"Is there a fire outside?"

Taking the shoes his adopted daughter had made for the sanitation workers with him, Han Fei quickly ran out of the secret room.

Firelight flickered in the darkness, and smoke billowed from the stairwell, filling the castle.

Hurried footsteps sounded, and three players, two men and one woman, ran into the hall. They were covered in sweat and looked very flustered.

"You set fire to the castle?" Han Fei walked out of the painting studio, his eyes fixed on the three players.

His sudden appearance startled the players. When they saw Han Fei's face clearly, their eyes were filled with surprise: "Han Fei?! Didn't your Happy Community clear the sixth level of Nightmare? Why are you appearing in the third level of Nightmare?"

"This is the sixth level of the nightmare!" Han Fei frowned.

His words threw the three players into a panic. The female player seemed to realize something, and her face turned pale: "I heard from a friend in the Merchant Alliance that each nightmare requires at least five players. You're tackling the sixth level of the nightmare. If you can't gather enough players, the shrine will randomly select players from the same building to make up the five players in the nightmare!"

"There's such a rule?" Nightmare requires at least five players to enter before it can be activated. For high-difficulty Nightmares, top players not only have to face fear, but also have to be careful not to be dragged down by newcomers. Moreover, Han Fei suspects that Nightmare arranges it this way to give those players who choose to join Nightmare a chance to show off.

Players like Han Fei, who were planning to speedrun solo, were previously unfamiliar with these group rules: "Which guild are you from?"

“We come from a very small casual guild. We’re all friends in real life, and we enjoy adventure and puzzle-solving.” The players lowered their voices when they spoke to Han Fei.

Did you start the fire?

"No way! We need to find the princess's glass slipper in the castle. We haven't even found the slipper yet, how could we set it on fire?" The three players jumped directly from the third nightmare level to the sixth level. After hearing this news, they were dumbfounded and completely panicked.

"If you didn't set the fire, that means there's a fifth outsider in the castle. The fifth player who entered the Nightmare should also be here!" Smoke drifted out of the castle, and the heavy sound of horses' hooves echoed in the street. Han Fei knew that the princess was coming back!

"Hurry up!" Han Fei led the three players out of the window. They felt the ground shaking and the whole street was covered with a dark curse. Ping An Street looked like a flowing black river.

A tall black horse pulled a pumpkin carriage into the castle. The fire was now out of control, the snow-white walls were charred, and the flames spread rapidly.

None of the surrounding shopkeepers came out to help; they stayed at home, happily watching the flames illuminate the night sky.

The fire quickly engulfed the entire castle, and the pungent smell of burning garbage in the air became even stronger.

The favorite castle was burned down. A scream broke the silence of the night. The sound of hooves rang out, and the princess stepped out of the pumpkin carriage, the firelight flickering on her silver mask.

The Black Knight charged into the inferno, only managing to carry out a few burnt handmade shoes.

The castle roof collapsed, and flames twisted the building and the princess.

The enraged princess ordered the Black Knights to find the arsonist. They violently smashed open doors and dragged out the merchants inside.

The merchants all acted as if they were completely innocent; they had already conspired to deny everything.

Her home was burned down, and all her most precious possessions were reduced to ashes. Unable to find the culprit, the princess's eyes grew increasingly cold. She stepped out from behind the black knight and stood in front of the group of merchants.

Who burned down my house?

The princess's voice was clear and melodious, but she seemed unable to withstand strong stimulation; her body was somewhat contorted.

The merchants trembled with fear, but an elderly man seemed to have had enough of the princess. He looked directly into her eyes, raised his cane, and pointed it at her: "The fire has nothing to do with us. Don't blame all your misfortunes on others!"

"My misfortune has nothing to do with you?" As if a skirt woven from crystal and silver threads fell to the ground, the princess removed her pure white gloves, revealing a charred and deformed hand.

Han Fei, watching from a distance, stared at the princess's hand and had a very bad feeling: "When the sanitation worker's house caught fire, his daughter was still at home?"

The glove fell off, black flames burning on her skin, and the princess stretched out her ugly hand: "Isn't this your masterpiece?"

"I don't know what you're talking about! You madman, stop trying to gain sympathy with your insane nonsense!" The old man took a few steps forward: "Ping'an Street belongs to everyone. You're not welcome here, and I hope you won't stay here any longer..."

The elderly man was emotional, and he may not have really been involved in the fire, but halfway through his sentence, one of the merchants behind him "accidentally" pushed him.

The aged body leaned forward, and a hand covered in flames grabbed the old man's shoulder.

Black flames instantly engulfed the old man, scorching his soul and causing him to scream in agony.

"Murder! The princess has killed someone again!" Merchants scattered and fled, and Ping'an Street was in chaos, as if all the misfortune and disaster were brought by the princess.

Flames burned his body, and the old man writhed in agony on the street, but no one came to his aid, and no one spoke up for him.

"Yes, it seems like if I touch you, you'll blame me for everything! As if you'll die if I touch you!" The princess looked at her charred hands. "Since you all think that way, I might as well become that person. Don't you all say I kill people when I have an episode? Tonight, I'll kill you all!"

She removed her other glove, and flames burned along the princess's arms and onto her dress. Bright gems and crystals turned into plastic slag in the black fire, revealing the princess's true form: a monster whose entire body was burned!

"Burn you! Burn you!"

The sound of chains rattling could be heard from within the flames, and the princess herself was enduring immense pain while wielding the black fire.

The Black Knight silently followed the princess, refusing to retreat even as he was scorched by flames. However, his face was hidden by a mask, and Han Fei, who was in the distance, could not see the Black Knight's expression at that moment.

The fire spread from the castle to the streets, filled with cries and screams. The two brothers also ran out from their hiding place, mingling at the back of the crowd: "Why can she still use fire even after the glass slipper has been burned? Those outsiders deceived us?"

According to the brothers' plan, the death of the watch shop owner would incite the princess's anger. As the glass slipper was burned, the princess's power would be rapidly weakened. At this point, all the merchants would join forces to kill the princess and reclaim Peace Street.

Why haven't the flames died down?

The enraged princess was like a mentally deranged madwoman; she went on a killing spree on Peace Street, seemingly intent on burning the entire street to the ground!

"Han Fei, should we stop her?" The tall player hesitated. He trusted Han Fei, but in this situation, if they didn't stop the princess, the players would also be burned to death. The nightmare was so big that there was nowhere to hide. "If we had burned the crystal shoe earlier and joined forces with those merchants, would the outcome have been better?"

“If you really do that, you’ll die a horrible death.” Han Fei took out the photo album: “The master of the nightmare is between the Black Knight and the princess. I used to think it was the princess’s nightmare, after all, this place is like an absurd fairy tale. But now I’ve changed my mind, I’m more inclined to think it’s the Black Knight’s dream.”

Watching the princess control flames to slaughter the streets, Han Fei recalled the princess's logical words just now. These didn't seem like things a real "adopted daughter" would do. It was more likely that she was a daughter imagined by the adoptive father after losing his adopted daughter.

A princess who is no longer bullied and is respected by everyone!
"The adopted daughter suffers from mental illness. Whenever her adoptive father is away from home, she is secretly let out by the manager's child, causing chaos and making all the merchants hate her. The adoptive father, who is away, does not know that his adopted daughter is being let out by others, which is why he always humbly apologizes and pays compensation. Later, when the adoptive father finds out the truth, he must feel guilty. But simple guilt cannot breed such strong resentment, nor is it enough to warrant a massacre. There must be something else that happened in between!"

Han Fei stared at the princess's burned body. When his gaze fell on her wrists, he noticed obvious ligature marks; it seemed her wrists had been bound by something before. A terrifying thought flashed through his mind. Han Fei considered a possibility, put away the photo album, and ran as fast as he could towards the west side of Ping'an Street!

Han Fei walked past a naked madman whose neck was chained, and entered the wooden shed next door. Inside, next to the pink bed belonging to the child, he found the rope.

"Perhaps it was because the adopted daughter would always run off and cause trouble after her adoptive father left, so he eventually tied her hands to the bedside? Or perhaps the shopkeepers on the street demanded that the adoptive father keep her at home during the day so as not to affect their business, and only allow her to go out at night. Whatever the truth is, the end result was that the crazy girl was unable to leave the house when the fire broke out."

Han Fei looked out the window and saw that the princess and the black knight both hated the street administrators, but even so, they still didn't lock him inside.

Han Fei initially thought this was a deliberate attempt to humiliate the administrator, but now he realized that it was the princess's final act of kindness.

"Did the things they did to the managers happen to the crazy girl in real life?"

The madman, bound in chains, completely naked, and living like a dog, seemed to be some kind of special suggestion.

“We’ve been to this house before. We heard from the nearby shopkeepers that it used to be where the princess lived. The two children who managed the place were very naughty and often teased the silly princess, trying to lure her out in various ways. Once, when the two brothers saw that the princess wouldn’t take the bait, they even threw a still-burning cigarette butt at her…” The three players now see Han Fei as their only hope and are relentlessly pursuing him.

"A cigarette butt that hadn't been extinguished?" All the clues connected, and Han Fei knew the cause of his nightmare.

The firelight flickered outside the window, and screams filled the air. At the alley entrance, a madman bound by chains struggled desperately, his face filled with pain and fear.

"Are we going to be burned to death too? That princess is covered in black flames, and we can't get close at all. Is this the difficulty of the sixth level of nightmare? Players can team up to defeat the murderer in the first level of nightmare, and the little devil in the second level of nightmare can be sealed with talismans, but this princess ghost is ridiculously strong!" The players were in despair: "We should try to burn the crystal shoe. That's our only chance."

“I’ll reiterate, this isn’t the merchants’ nightmare. Cooperating with them will only lead to our demise. Even if we manage to kill the princess in the end, we won’t be able to leave. Those merchants will become new monsters, making us part of the nightmare as well.” Han Fei remained clear-headed: “The only way to break this deadlock is to focus on the master of the nightmare. Perhaps we should give the crystal shoes that the princess made herself to the knight who loves her most, to help him not be consumed by resentment.”

"What are you talking about? I don't understand at all!" The three players were all bewildered; this was quite different from the Cinderella fairy tale they had heard.

"The crystal shoes represent all of her adoptive father's love, and also all of the crazy girl's love for him. Those shoes, covered with her favorite stickers, are the bond between those two broken souls." Han Fei started to stretch his body: "How's your stamina, you three?"

"We all have average strength, so we might be a bit stronger than the average person." The temperature is rising, thick smoke is billowing, and the fire is about to spread here.

"If possible, please help me distract the princess while ensuring your own safety. I will help them regain their senses." Han Fei opened the door of the wooden shed. Ping'an Street had been turned into a sea of ​​fire, with merchants everywhere engulfed in flames. The princess was in a bloodthirsty rage, and everything that could move was her target for burning.

Thick, black smoke coalesced into a gigantic, malevolent figure, its resentment and vicious curses threatening to devour the souls of the princess and the knight.

Taking a deep breath, Han Fei ran wildly through the fire and the night, rushing towards the flames amidst the shocked gazes of the three players!

(End of this chapter)