Huang Ying provided Han Fei with a lot of information about "Perfect Life," and after a long exchange, they decided to take action together after the official game beta test commenced.
Deep Space Technology had yet to announce the date of the final beta test, but according to the internal information Huang Ying received, "Perfect Life" will start its global beta test within a month at the latest.
By then, "Perfect Life" will become the second world for many gamers and it will also become the first game in the world to be managed and monitored by a Smart Brain.
People were filled with confidence about the future, as with the development of technology, some industry giants professed themselves as God, claiming they could do what God did, and they even tried to do what God could not.
It seemed as if everyone was looking forward to that day, except for Han Fei, who had always lived in the Deep World, and was not so optimistic.
He knew very well that if one day the barrier between the Deep World and the Shallow World was broken, "Perfect Life" would probably become an intersection between the Underworld and the Mortal World.
The perfect life of a few is built on the imperfections and regrets of the majority.
In the Shallow World, "Perfect Life" is devoid of any negative emotions and undesirable things because all darkness, despair, pain, and the evil in human nature are all confined within the Deep World.
When the two worlds are connected, those disasters and despair will take back what they lost, tenfold, a hundredfold.
After seeing Huang Ying off, Han Fei returned to the film crew.
He followed the staff to the game venue, preparing to film the confrontation between Meng Chang’an and Meng Changxi.
Interestingly, Deep Space Technology, fearing that Meng Chang’an’s appearance would affect "Perfect Life," did not agree to allow Han Fei and his crew to enter the venue for filming. The company representative present even hoped that the production team would change Meng Chang’an’s name to something else.
With no other choice, Han Fei and his team had to switch to another venue at the last moment to complete the filming.
After the filming ended at a little past seven in the evening, Han Fei didn’t stay in the Smart District and went straight back to his rented cabin.
He ate something casually and then started reading and studying.
To understand how Meng Chang’an went mad step by step, he read all the books Meng had ever read, from the origins of neurology to brain anatomy atlases. Some of the books had no translations, forcing Han Fei to turn on a translator and read them bit by bit.
The more he read, the more he realized his ignorance and the more he became aware of the danger posed by Butterfly.
Time flew when he was focused on studying, and before he knew it, it was midnight.
Han Fei washed his face with cold water and then put on his game helmet.
"Welcome to Perfect Life!"
After some light stretching, Han Fei noticed Wei Youfu sitting next to him, who seemed to have known his secret for a long time but never asked about it; perhaps that’s the trust between family members.
"Are you feeling better?"
"I have regained my sanity, and I’m now stabilizing the emotions of others." Wei Youfu was a good person; among all the victims of the jigsaw, he was the only one willing to believe the homeless man, "They should be able to move around freely like me soon."
"Can you only leave the bedroom after regaining sanity?" Han Fei glanced toward the deepest part of the Haunted House. Each time, it was only Wei Youfu and Little Eight outside, with others seldom showing themselves.
"They’re afraid of harming innocent people since they could lose control at any moment."
"You’re so inherently kind, you don’t even resemble ghosts." Han Fei didn’t know what to say. He sat down next to Wei Youfu when suddenly, a crisp sound came from the kitchen, "What’s going on?"
"Don’t mind it, Little Eight is trying to cook," Wei Youfu said with a bitter smile on his face, as if he had gotten used to it.
"I’m trying to foster some hobbies and interests for her."
Worried, Han Fei ran into the kitchen and saw Little Eight standing amidst a pile of garbage, looking helpless and pitiful.
"Cooking isn’t suitable for you; maybe you should try another hobby, how about gardening?" Han Fei swept the garbage on the floor to one side, then took out a pack of flower seeds left by Huang Ying from the Item Bar. "Fill this bowl with soil, water it regularly, and one day, very beautiful flowers will bloom here."
Han Fei didn’t know if flowers from the Mortal World would bloom in the Underworld. He just wanted to keep Little Eight busy to prevent her from dismantling the house.
Understanding Han Fei’s words, Little Eight reached out to catch the flower seeds, and her expression at that moment was almost sacred.
Leaving the kitchen, Han Fei went to the window and looked through the gaps in the wooden boards, "The situation inside the Happiness Residential Community apartment building has mostly stabilized. Starting today, we will begin to explore outward bit by bit."
"I’ll come with you," Wei Youfu also came over.
"You can just cover me in the corridor," Han Fei said, and after leaving the Haunted House of 1044, he ran towards the fifth floor.
"Sis? Are you home? I have something I’d like to discuss with you."
When Han Fei appeared at Xu Qin’s door, the shadow in the next room stretched lazily, showing no intention of attacking Han Fei.
"What is it?" The door opened, and Xu Qin was holding a dripping dinner knife.
Any normal person would have been frightened by this scene, but Han Fei found it quite normal and not at all strange.
"There’s a mirror on the seventh floor, do you know the story behind that mirror?"
"It’s probably better not to mess with it, that mirror and the Dark Dog of the second building are among the oldest residents of the district. They were already here when I moved in." Xu Qin rarely displayed such rationality, which also highlighted the mirror’s extraordinary nature, "Do you have any other questions?"
"Besides the mirror, it seems there is a Picture of Hundred Ghosts on the wall between the seventh and eighth floors. The first time I passed by, they almost snatched my soul away..."
"The resident of the eighth floor has tortured and killed too many ghosts. After their deaths, their dark energy lingered and gathered on the wall, eventually forming a malicious killing intent that bullies the weak and fears the strong."
"Isn’t there just one person living on the eighth floor? She tortured and killed many ghosts?" Han Fei conjured up the image of Ying Yue in his mind.
"Don’t be fooled by her appearance. That little girl’s room is filled with many pairs of eyes, each representing a ghost. After killing those ghosts, she kept all of their eyeballs. That girl is a complete psycho and madwoman." Hearing Xu Qin calling someone else psycho and madwoman always felt a bit strange.
Having obtained the information he wanted, Han Fei went to the eighth floor again.
Originally, he just wanted to suggest to Ying Yue to remove the malicious killing intent on the corridor wall to ensure there were no safety hazards inside the building.
But he hadn’t expected that, upon hearing Han Fei almost fell victim to the killing intent, Ying Yue immediately stepped out of her room and took Han Fei to the corridor.
Standing in front of the wall, Ying Yue slowly opened her tightly closed eyes, which seemed like deep, dark oceans.
As Ying Yue opened her eyes, screams emanated from the wall. Subsequently, countless black mists drifted out from her eye sockets.
The black mists pulled figure after figure from the wall, and Ying Yue locked all those figures into her dark eye sockets.
When the black mists pulled out the last ghostly figure from the wall, Han Fei suddenly spoke, "That ghost who stopped me from looking for you is him! Because of him, I almost couldn’t tell you the secret of the fish tank!"
Upon hearing Han Fei’s words, the black mist around Ying Yue thickened, and the ghostly figure from within the wall looked astonished and scared. Staring at Han Fei’s face, the ghost was nearly crying.
The ghost remembered Han Fei. When Han Fei had passed by, all the ghosts were tearing apart a middle-aged man, all except for that one, which had turned back to give Han Fei an extra glance.
"Ying Yue, why don’t you let me deal with him? After all, he once harbored malicious intentions towards me."
Ying Yue had helped Han Fei find the most precious gift, and she had no idea how to repay him. Hearing his words, her eyeball-less eye sockets slowly turned towards Han Fei, and then she nodded.
The surging black mist rushed towards Han Fei’s body. Once the black mist dissipated, Ying Yue closed her eyes again, looking quite exhausted.
"Attention to player number 0000! You have successfully acquired a Grade G blood-colored item — Ghost Pattern."
"Ghost Pattern (Grade G blood-colored item): Patterns drawn with ghost blood, pain, and despair, trapping the souls that have passed inside. Continuously feeding Grudge into the Ghost Pattern can make it more vivid, while not feeding it over a long period will cause the pattern to gradually fade until it disappears."
Han Fei admitted that he had somewhat embellished the facts. He hadn’t expected Ying Yue to take action and eliminate the opponent directly, let alone endow him with the Ghost Pattern.
Looking at the faint red pattern that spread from his back to his arm, Han Fei could hear the screams and wails within the pattern, making him feel as though he had imprisoned a ghost himself.
Creating the Ghost Pattern was energy-consuming, and after teaching Han Fei how to use the Ghost Pattern, Ying Yue returned to her room.
"Adding more Grudge to the Ghost Pattern can make it stronger, does this thing have the potential to grow?"
With Ying Yue helping him this way, Han Fei silently resolved to somehow get that family of three into the game.
With his previous experience, next time, Han Fei would prepare even more thoroughly.
He left the eighth floor and started chatting with neighbors everywhere, trying to trigger a quest.
However, he spent three whole hours traversing buildings one and two without triggering a single quest.
To receive quests, he would have to deal with ghosts, but the problem was that the building’s residents already knew Han Fei well, and they didn’t need him to do anything for them.
As for the malicious Outsiders, they had all been cleaned up by the Dark Dog of the second building. What’s worse, during the time Han Fei was offline, the residents of the second building had taken the initiative to go out and kill and devour all the Lonely Ghosts wandering around the Happiness Residential Community.
They had taken Han Fei’s previous instructions seriously, making the Happiness Residential Community much safer than before.
While this should have been a cause for celebration, Han Fei couldn’t bring himself to be happy. He needed to complete a quest to log off, or he would be trapped here forever.
"The game is on a one-to-one time ratio with reality, and it’s already past three in the morning. I need to complete a quest as soon as possible."
Opening the quest panel, ever since he became the Building Chief, it no longer updated quests related to the Happiness Residential Community.
All quests that appeared on the panel required going outside the community to be completed. It seemed like the system was intentionally forcing Han Fei to explore beyond the residential area.
"Grade G main quest Crossroads of a Hundred Ways to Die: Task requirement, cross the crossroads at the entrance of the residential community."
"Grade G main quest Convenience Store Clerk: Task requirement, become a temporary night shift clerk at the Yimin Convenience Store, survive one night."
"Grade F main quest The First Formal Job: Task requirement, find your first formal job in this city! A perfect job is an important step toward a Perfect Life!"
"Grade F main quest Yimin Private Academy: Task requirement, become a teacher at the Yimin Private Academy, bring positive guidance and encouragement to the children!"
Just by looking at the names of some of the quests, it feels like a very ordinary nurturing and healing game, but Han Fei knows that things are not so simple.
He glanced at the community’s Exit, hesitated for a moment, and then chose to accept the first main quest.