“Uncle, you seem to be very interested in us.” The student with the spectacles was polite and mature. He didn’t feel like Gao Ming was crazy, but he was not a good person either.
“Do you remember the name of the student who can’t make it?” Gao Ming’s attire was different from that of the investigators in their uniform. He looked more like a private investigator aiding the police.
“Gao Min has a weak constitution. He never joins us on the events.” A girl in the second row answered Gao Ming. “He is our class librarian. He normally likes to keep to himself with the books.”
“Gao Min is a transfer student. I heard he didn’t use the name Gao Min before he came to our school.” A girl with freckles added, “The reason for his transfer is also very mysterious. Some said he was bullied. Others said something inexplicable happened to him. A rumour was that Gao Min was addicted to the taboo game and always skipped class.”
“Don’t listen to those rumours.” The bespectacled student said seriously. “Gao Min is very clever and good at his studies. He always scores full marks in chemistry and biology. He merely likes to be alone.”
The students seemed to have a lot to say about the missing student. They successfully alleviated the nervous atmosphere.
“Gao Min? Gao Ming?” Gao Ming remembered the information he got when he was at Li San Hospital. He seemed to have forgotten his name. Gao Ming was a name given to him by fate.
“There is no signal here. I planned to take some pictures of the event for him.” The freckled girl was kind. She was once Gao Min’s deskmate.
“You mentioned that Gao Min was addicted to a taboo game. What is this taboo game?” Gao Ming heard from Wan Jie that his batch of investigators had their training in Xin Lu’s taboo game before they were recalled back to Han Hai.
“Those who like that game are useless people who feel disappointed and bored of real life.” Putting down a book, an ace student who sat by the window frowned. “They want to escape from reality and place their hope in a different reality. How laughable. People like them will still be cannon fodder in another world.”
“Lee Wen, no one asked you.” The freckled girl appeared to have played the game before. She retorted, “I feel like it’s not a bad thing to have two realities. Furthermore, don’t you think what’s happening to us now is similar to that taboo game? The thick fog that won’t disperse, the uniformed group who is not the police and the empty small town that could be the hideout for many criminals…” As she spoke, she slowed down because everyone’s eyes were on her. A thought bubbled up in their eyes.
“The fuck! Are we really inside the taboo game?!” The students looked out the window. The buildings flickered in the fog. They were reminded of their friends who had disappeared into thin air.
The bespectacled man looked at Gao Ming like he was an NPC. These people from outside of Han Hai encountered this situation for the first time.
In truth, even Gao Ming had a moment of self-doubt when he heard the girl. Could he be an NPC?
Fate had written the script for everyone in Han Hai. The shadow world would infiltrate Han Hai and turn this city into a giant horror game filled with anomalies!
Lightning flashed in his mind. After Gao Ming and Xuan Wen escaped from Li San Hospital, Xuan Wen told him something strange. In one of the sickrooms, Xuan Wen discovered a special map. The map contained all the cities, but where Han Hai should be, there was only the sea!
“Was that map the real map? Does Han Hai not exist? But how do these students and the driver know about Han Hai then?”
Gao Ming watched the black mist, and a chill emanated from his heart. He remembered the conversation the driver had outside the car. He seemed to subconsciously believe that Han Hai was a city that existed, but he was an outsider.
Did the black mist change their memory? Was the black mist corrupting everyone’s memory that came into Han Hai? It tried to rationalise everything to accept the script fate had prepared for them!
The black mist drilled into their bodies like bugs. Gao Ming didn’t dare to expose the God of Flesh and Blood’s power but if he didn’t do that, the black mist would slowly corrupt him. However, if he did something, the black mist might target Gao Ming and lure over the Unmentionables.
Gao Ming gripped his hands and thought of the message the big dog had carried back from headquarters. He and Zhang Ding entered the scariest building at the headquarters. When the big dog asked Zhang Ding what he saw, he only said one word, the truth.
Touching the death portraits that he kept on himself, Gao Ming slowly calmed down. What if Han Hai was not real? What if the city was filled with dead people?
Nothing could stop him from killing fate. Nothing could stop him from waking up from the dream to see the real world.
The students on the bus rambled among themselves. Perhaps they had seen too many similar movies or animes. The students didn’t show too much fear. Most of them were quite excited.
The bespectacled student and Lee Wen stared at Gao Ming. They seemed to have decided that Gao Ming was an NPC.
“Hi. How shall we refer to you?” Lee Wen asked politely. “Or rather, is there anything that you need us to do for you?”
“You can call me Gao Ming,” When Gao Ming spoke, the students became quiet. They were even more attentive than when they were in class. “There are five students from Class 13 who have gone missing in the hotel. I need a few students to come with me to find them.”
The students looked at each other. The bespectacled student was the first to stand up. “Is this your first mission for us? I’ll go!”