The four Hatred hints from the system all seem related to longevity, with one even sharing a name with Eternal Life Pharmaceutical. This makes Han Fei even more curious about the relationship between Eternal Life Pharmaceutical and these Hatreds.
Fu Sheng founded Eternal Life Pharmaceutical after acquiring the Black Box. The secret of longevity seems to be hidden within the Black Box.
"To attract the rich to invest regardless of cost, immortality is indeed a good gimmick. Fu Sheng likely obtained many things from the Black Box, and extending lifespan is just one of them."
Han Fei had also opened several layers of the Black Box, but he hadn’t discovered anything. This might be because the outer layers of the Black Box had already been removed by someone.
"I wonder if locking away all four Hatreds of Longevity, Tiannian, Undying, and Eternal Life into the Greed Abyss will cause them to merge into a new Ghost and Monster."
A gigantic heart named Longevity fell into the Black River, absorbing the despair accumulated in the Mortal World. Severed wounds rapidly sprouted new blood vessels.
The Flower of Resentment, blooming on the cliff, seemed to discover something interesting. Its roots and stems intertwined with blood vessels, and it began to grow rapidly.
Petal by petal fell off, and new flowers began to bloom. After obtaining the blood that flowed from Longevity’s blood vessels, the Flower of Resentment radiated an unprecedented vitality.
"Can such beautiful flowers bloom atop despair and death?"
Gao Cheng’s Greed Personality was born from the constant torment and torture by Gao Xing, resulting from the extreme distortion of human nature. Yet now, this twisted personality has become the only reliance Gao Cheng has against Gao Xing. In the Abyss filled with Death Intent and mental pollution, a flower bloomed that no one expected.
"My Brain Area is completely different from an ordinary person’s. As the instances of Personality Awakening increase, my mental world continuously expands, gradually forming into a new world."
Before imprisoning Longevity, Han Fei had not realized that his mental world and the Shrine Memory World constructed by the Unspeakable were becoming increasingly alike.
Using Personality as the foundation, utilizing various Ghost and Monster abilities to perfect it, constantly filling in past memories, eventually forming a world of one’s own.
"When the Brain Area of a living person and the Ghost Creature of Hatred expand to a certain extent, will they possess the qualification to become Unspeakable?"
Han Fei had entered many Shrine Memory Worlds. In his view, each Shrine Memory World is like a colossal Ghost Creature, representing the Unspeakable past, embodying the Unspeakable obsession.
"If I continue to strengthen myself, could I become Unspeakable in this Shrine Memory World?"
A thought flashed through Han Fei’s mind like lightning: "When I become Unspeakable, that should mean the God Stealing has succeeded, right?"
The cracked earth had already healed, and the twisted blood vessels in the underground dark river had all disappeared, retreating towards the direction of the Elderly Care Home for Healthy Aging. This village, which Han Fei had investigated, now no longer held a single survivor.
The Ghost Creature of Longevity had been eradicated, and the starlight dotted across the night sky illuminated Han Fei’s path. After drinking two bottles of Ghost Blood, he concealed all his aura, entered the dense forest, and stealthily approached the Elderly Care Home for Healthy Aging from the other side.
Han Fei had not forgotten his mission, but that seemingly simple Shrine Random Task was actually exceptionally difficult.
The area surrounding the Elderly Care Home for Healthy Aging was completely shrouded by a Ghost Creature. The flow of time was different from the outside. Although one could see the various buildings within the Elderly Care Home, no matter how one walked, they could not close the distance between themselves and the Elderly Care Home.
In comparison, among the three Deceit Buildings recorded by Gao Cheng, the Deep Sea Aquarium turned out to have the lowest difficulty level.
"Proceeding isn’t a solution." Han Fei retreated to the edge of the Ghost Creature and communicated with Longevity in the Greed Abyss. Under the "persuasion" of numerous Ghost and Monsters, that beating heart began to guide Han Fei.
The Greed Black Fog was infiltrated with Longevity’s blood, turning the mist into a dark red hue.
Interestingly, after merging with Longevity’s blood, the special effects carried by the Ghost Creature of the Elderly Care Home had their impact on Han Fei reduced to the minimum, allowing him to adapt to the time flow within the Ghost Creature.
Spending an hour, Han Fei finally got close to the Elderly Care Home for Healthy Aging.
This care home was much larger than he had imagined, with a dozen or so buildings standing together, their architectural style extremely eerie, as if unintentionally entering the nightmare of a terminally ill patient.
"Am I seeing reality, or is it an illusion?"
Han Fei tried to clear the blood-colored fog, and the care home in his eyes instantly returned to normal. There were no bizarre, twisted buildings and no horrific, dreadful atmosphere, only a harmonious complex of structures.
But when he looked through the blood fog again, all the buildings within the care home twisted once more.
"This place appears bright and healing, yet it’s an extremely twisted place. Everything is rapidly transforming, practically a nest of nightmares."
Due to the different time flow, various monsters appeared in the Elderly Care Home for Healthy Aging that couldn’t be found elsewhere. Outside, the great disaster had only occurred for a dozen years, but here, it might have affected over a hundred years, potentially evolving anything.
Using the blood fog to cover his left eye, Han Fei’s eyes saw different scenes, one side normal, the other highly evolved.
"The Shrine Task asks me to rescue Anian from the Security Room. Do you know where the Security Room is?" Han Fei tried communicating with Longevity, but this Hatred dared not utter a word, as if leaking secrets related to the Elderly Care Home would result in death by some unknown force.
"There are at least three Hatreds in the Elderly Care Home for Healthy Aging, and this Longevity, without even igniting Black Fire, should be the easiest to bully."
Han Fei didn’t force it. He followed a small path to the side door of the care home and quietly slipped in.
In his right eye, the care home was clean and tidy, stylish, and grand, practically an international first-class wellness care home, with everywhere catering to the elderly’s needs. There were thoughtful details everywhere, such as readily visible emergency pull cords, full-range handrails, underfloor heating, all with rounded corner design for seats, floors treated with anti-slip surfaces, and even soft anti-glare lights installed on the walls.
In his right eye, he saw nothing but humanity and care, showing utmost respect and reverence for the elderly. But Han Fei’s left eye, shrouded in a blood mist, revealed a completely different picture.
On the bedroom doors of the elderly, dual peepholes were installed for nurses to check on the elderly conveniently. Yet, wedged in one of those peepholes was a black eyeball continually blinking.
To prevent the elderly from falling, the floors within the Elderly Care Home had no height differences. It looked flat, yet blood water flowed along the corridors outward.
The home’s passages were usually wide to facilitate wheelchair access for the elderly, but here they were absurdly wide, with scales and extensive scraping marks remaining on the door frames. The ones entering and exiting were not wheelchair-bound elderly but other things.
Such abnormalities were everywhere, but the thing that made Han Fei feel most horrified was seeing the introduction and portraits of the home’s consulting doctors.
This Elderly Care Home, founded by Eternal Life Pharmaceutical, had consulting experts from authoritative hospital doctors. Various nursing facilities were fully equipped and closely connected with top-tier hospitals, providing medication delivery services.
At first glance, everything appeared for the benefit of the elderly, but in reality, those consulting doctors were all ghosts!
The medications they were dispensing to the elderly were concocted using Curse Items like Longevity Pupa and Eternal Life Well Water. Those so-called secret drugs were even more terrifying than lethal poisons, turning the elderly within into real monsters.
"This home is nothing like a care facility; it’s hell on earth. The elderly have become their toys and experimental subjects, with death turning into something highly desirable."
The cries of the elderly still echoed through many rooms, sadly, all interiors had been repainted, covering all truths with the passage of time.
With Longevity’s help, Han Fei avoided potential dangers, walking down the corridors for a long time before spotting a fire evacuation map.
"Calligraphy and Painting Room, Music Room, Faith Room, Chess and Card Room, Elderly University, Nursing Room, End-of-life Care Room..."
Han Fei stared at it for quite a while and noticed the Security Guard Room tucked away in an unobtrusive corner.
Security in the Elderly Care Home for Healthy Aging was handled by a professional team, with all guards undergoing rigorous training. They could deal with most dangers and also possessed basic nursing knowledge, doubling up as nurses when manpower was insufficient.
Although he confirmed the location, Han Fei’s unease hadn’t abated in the slightest. In the Deceit Building, dangers lurked around every corner, risking deadly consequences at any misstep, forcing him to tread cautiously.
"The clock on the wall has stopped, yet I feel my body is accelerating its aging. Even hiding in the blood mist doesn’t work; this Ghost Creature seems to be consuming my life."
Proceeding according to the map, Han Fei hadn’t gone far when the screams of the elderly in the wards suddenly grew louder. At that moment, a tragedy seemed to be occurring in the wards.
Approaching the door, Han Fei peered inside through the peephole; the slaughter had ended, and the entire ward was covered in bloody grime.
To his surprise, the blood grime was solidifying and peeling off at a rapid speed, and within minutes, the walls had returned to normal.
Han Fei tried pushing open the door; traces of slaughter could faintly be seen in the ward, but both the corpse and the killer had vanished, as if they disappeared into time.
A violent impact suddenly hit Han Fei from behind, as if he’d been grazed by a car, his left shoulder deformed, and his body tipped forward onto the ground.
Han Fei noticed nothing unusual, not even a shadow of a Ghost or Monster.
While checking his surroundings, a cold sensation hit his lower abdomen unexpectedly, and a wound appeared on his belly, as if stabbed by a sharp blade, with blood flowing freely, soaking his clothes.
"Who’s attacking me?"
Covering the wound, Han Fei dared not stay in place. He sprinted toward the other end of the corridor as fast as he could.
After a dozen meters of wild running, Han Fei glanced back, seeing a nurse with a head covered in black cloth appearing where he’d stood before, wielding a sharp dagger.
The nurse acted very strangely, colliding against empty space, then raising the dagger to stab at the air!
At that sight, Han Fei’s pupils shrank abruptly.
The nurse stabbed exactly where Han Fei had lingered before. On closer look, it was precisely his lower abdomen’s position!
"Can he attack me from the future, mere seconds ahead?" Han Fei had never encountered such a bizarre Ability, making prevention extremely difficult.
The nurse with the black cloth-covered head slowly turned, standing about ten meters away from Han Fei, once again raising the dagger. Realizing the danger, Han Fei dodged decisively, the next moment ripping through the blood mist, a slash appeared on his cheek.
"Unveiling the Ghost Creature here would awaken the Hatred in the Elderly Care Home for Healthy Aging, making the situation more disadvantageous." Han Fei turned and ran. He wasn’t ready to engage the home entirely now, primarily due to a huge disparity in strength, and he couldn’t win: "This nurse can break through the blood mist’s protection, not a simple Ghost or Monster, best to avoid for the time being."
Han Fei and the nurse with the black hood had a time lag; it was as if they lived in different time streams, making it tricky for Han Fei that the opponent could utilize the entire time lag to attack him, making countering almost impossible.
"The nurse’s Ability must have certain limitations, likely requiring visual contact with the target or keeping a certain distance to function."
Fearing his real thoughts might be guessed, Han Fei continuously switched hiding spots between several rooms. Once he confirmed the nurse wasn’t following, he headed straight for the Security Guard Room.