Chapter 12 The Man in the Hallway

"Brother Youfu?" The gaunt old man had no idea what Han Fei was talking about, "Are you Youfu's friend? But why haven't I heard him mention you before?"

"Please think a bit more carefully, my name is Han Fei." Han Fei looked at the old man sincerely, making the old man start to doubt whether he had forgotten, since it had all happened ten years ago.

"Now that you mention it, I do recall that Youfu indeed had some friends, but you seem quite young, don't you?" the old man was unsure.

"I am an actor, I make a living with my face, and because of the need to fit certain roles, I pay great attention to maintenance. I've been acting in other places before." Han Fei avoided dwelling on the topic, "Old sir, I genuinely want to do something for Brother Youfu."

"Youfu had too many unfulfilled wishes. He worked tirelessly to provide a home for Amay. Not long before they were killed, that child even came to see me, saying he had secretly saved some money and wanted to arrange a wedding ceremony for Amay," the old man shook his head, "But talking about this now is useless. I think his greatest wish would have been to catch the murderer, since the murderer killed the person he loved most."

"Home, wedding, catching the murderer." Han Fei noted these in his mind, he glanced at the gaunt old man, "Old sir, Brother Youfu must be worried about your health as well, you have to stay healthy. I will do everything possible to catch that psychopathic killer!"

With that, Han Fei took out his mobile phone, "This is my contact number, if you run into any trouble, give me a call, I will definitely help wherever I can."

After leaving his number, Han Fei gave a few more instructions, then left with Li Xue.

"Hey, why did you pretend to be Wei Youfu's friend? It seems like you really plan to take care of that old man," Li Xue asked as they walked out of the neighborhood.

"I..." Han Fei didn't quite know how to answer; he just looked back at the dilapidated apartment building, "I didn't pretend to be Wei Youfu's friend; we will become friends."

"What a strange person," Li Xue mounted her motorcycle, and as she passed Han Fei, she tossed him a helmet, "Get on."

"What are you doing?"

"Taking you home."

...

Back at his rented place, Han Fei sat in the corner furthest from the desk, staring at the gaming helmet on the desk.

The blood inside the helmet had dried, as if mysterious red patterns were etched on the inner walls.

Han Fei had once harbored a sliver of hope that this might be a prank, but what he saw and heard today made him completely abandon that idea.

"The game's task system said that by completing the tutorial mission, it could help me understand that world. It seems I still need to carry out the tutorial mission."

As night fell, Han Fei walked to the window, glancing at the skyscrapers in the city center.

Not to mention the gaming world, with rapid technological advancements, he even felt alienated from the real world.

As the times charged forward, living in an old corner of the city, he faced countless new things every day, always feeling somewhat helpless.

"I don't want to think too much about it. Surviving today is enough," Han Fei sat in front of the computer and began searching for the case from ten years ago.

As it was a matter of life and death, Han Fei was very serious. He printed out all the information released by the police and posted it on the wall in front of his desk.

The initially bare wall was quickly covered with dense notes and photos of case clues, and anyone who saw this might think he was some kind of private detective.

"The Human-body Puzzle involved eight victims. When the first seven victims were found, their bodies were all missing parts; the body of the eighth victim was mostly assembled. After comparing all the data, the police could not find the eighth victim in the citizen information, so they referred to the eighth victim as 'Number Eight' when publishing the case..."

Busy until late at night, Han Fei finally had a rough understanding of the case from ten years ago. As midnight approached, he looked at the time on the computer screen and picked up the gaming helmet.

"The victims appeared in the game, there are many mysteries, but my current priority is to ensure my own survival."

As the clock struck midnight, Han Fei connected all the wires and entered into the game.

The world before his eyes was covered in blood-red, and a sense of weightlessness and dizziness struck him simultaneously. Just as Han Fei was about to faint, a cold voice echoed deeply in his mind.

"Welcome to Perfect Life! Now you can choose your own perfect life!"

Opening his eyes, Han Fei was lying on the stairs on the first floor, surrounded by an eerie silence, as if there were no living souls in the entire building.

"First, find Meng Shi!"

With his first game experience behind him, Han Fei's goal this time was clear, to extract some task from the old woman and stay in her house for three hours after completing it.

After three hours, he could quit the game at any time, and then explore unknown areas.

This way, even if he encountered danger, he wouldn't need to worry, as he could simply quit the game.

In other words, the most dangerous time in this game was the first three hours after Han Fei had logged in.

The rusty iron handrail was sticky with some black filth, and the dust-covered walls were painted with various unsettling graffiti. Most of the figures in the drawings were only partially depicted, appearing incredibly eerie.

Not daring to make a sound, Han Fei picked up a kitchen knife from the ground and tiptoed to the old woman's doorway.

Next to the peeling door, the black plastic bags had been completely cleared, leaving only two dark, paint-like stains on the ground, as if the dirt from the bags had seeped out.

"Granny?"

He knocked lightly on the door, not daring to use any force, but even so, the knocking sound carried far in the silent corridor.

"Is anyone there?"

Han Fei pressed his ear against the security door, hearing no sound from inside the house; it was as if the place had been uninhabited for a long time.

"Where could they have gone in the middle of the night?" Han Fei knocked on the door again, and as the knocking sound rang out, he faintly sensed something was amiss.

Straining his ears, something seemed to be moving in the previously quiet corridor!

The other party was also deliberately slowing their footsteps, trying to be as quiet as possible, but Han Fei still heard a rustling noise.

"The sound is coming from upstairs, someone is walking towards me! Did the knocking attract them?"

Han Fei walked to the side of the staircase railing and peered through the gap in the middle of the stairs up to the floors above.

His neck slowly turning, Han Fei's body suddenly tensed, there on the sixth floor, a face was watching him!

Eyes meeting, both parties quickened their steps!

Han Fei began to run upstairs, while the owner of the face was bolting down towards him.

"Fourth floor! I must get to the fourth floor!"

Han Fei knew that the door to the stairwell was locked, and he couldn't leave the building, so running downwards was undoubtedly a death sentence, hence he could only return to his home on the fourth floor!

"I'm on the third floor, that person is on the sixth, I'm closer to the fourth floor! The key problem is that it will take time to open the door!"

He reached into his pocket and fumbled out a large bunch of keys; he had stuffed the keys into his pocket the first time he went to Granny's house for dumplings and had not taken them out since then.