Chapter 950: Reunion Dinner

Han Fei came to the main hub to do three things, save people, kill God and open the channel.

"The rest can stay here. I'll go take a look." Han Fei told his neighbors to stay at the base. He, Bai Xian, and Wu Chang left from the backdoor.

"Han Fei, are you sure you're only taking the three of us?" Bai Xian hesitated. Han Fei had many ghost friends, but he picked the one who looked the most normal.

"It's enough." Han Fei didn't wear a mask, so he was recognized by many players. The trapped players followed Han Fei because they wanted to know what the first player neighborhood was going to do. Happiness Neighborhood became their symbol of hope.

"It's Han Fei! Follow him!"

"They appear to be heading to an altar! Are they going to challenge a nightmare? Quick! Tell the boss!"

"They had so many supplies transferred here. Naturally, they're going to do something."

"But why are there only three of them? Aren't they being overconfident?"

Even though they were trapped, humans were still curious. Han Fei didn't care. It was why he didn't wear a mask. If Han Fei wanted to rebuild Immortal Pharma in the future, he needed public support. If he could help 4000000 people, then his path would be easier.

The main hub was huge. Even going to the nearest altar took a while. The crowd behind Han Fei got bigger, but the atmosphere became darker. As the grey mist-covered buildings appeared, the crowd went silent.

"This place originally is the hospital. It has been consumed by the mist, and dream dust is everywhere." Bai Xian led Han Fei and Wu Chang to the western door of the hospital. "This hospital has four entrances. The west door is the least guarded. We'll wait for five minutes. If no one else shows up, we'll enter it together."

"Is there anything else to pay attention to?"

"We better hold hands and take the first step together." Bai Xian was very careful. "Don't be careless. This nightmare is really scary."

With endless players watching, Han Fei's group of three paused at the door. After some time, they grabbed each other's arms and stepped into the hospital. After the first step fell, Han Fei and Bai Xian appeared in the mist, but Wu Chang disappeared.

"Where is he?"

"The nightmare arranges people randomly. Other people should be here already, so he was assigned to another person's nightmare." Bai Xian grabbed Han Fei tightly. "Look up. The altar is beside the window of the tallest floor of the main building. We need to go there."

"Each step equals one nightmare. How many steps do we need to get to the top floor?"

"The nightmare will decide how far you can go depending on its difficulty. The basic first and second layers of the nightmare will allow you to take one step. But according to legend, you can take three steps if you clear the third layer of the nightmare." Bai Xian looked around. "Even though we can't see other players, it doesn't mean that they're not there. The grey mist hides the presence of other players. Once we let go, we won't be able to see each other. Similarly, we don't know how many players in total are here." Han Fei and Bai Xian took the second step together. Bai Xian was sweating, and his eyes twitched. "Are you ready? We're entering the third layer soon."

"Relax." Han Fei and Bai Xian took another step. The grey mist disappeared, and the surrounding turned dark, like they had fallen into darkness. They felt vertigo for a moment. When Han Fei and Bai Xian reopened their eyes, they were in front of an old apartment. Next to them were three other players.

"Are we inside the nightmare?" Han Fei tried to open his inventory, but he couldn't access the menu. His ghost tattoo was blotted out, so he couldn't summon Executioner. The only thing Han Fei could use was the healing and greed personas.

"This is rather similar to the altar world. Is Dream's altar world not a singular world but a jigsaw made up of endless nightmares? Am I experiencing Dream's past? Or is it a past Dream had stolen from someone else?" Han Fei looked around. The world was very small. It only included one apartment building. Beyond that was darkness. The building was at least decades ago. It had five floors. The only light came from the room in the middle of the third floor. The other rooms were dark.

"The third layer is clearly larger than the second later. There has to be more than one ghost here." Bai Xian whispered.

"Hello." There was a bespectacled man among the three players. "I'm Hao Xue. I'm the vice president of Xin Lu University's game club. I'm level 30, and I'm an astrologist. This place is very dangerous. If we die here, it might cause permanent damage to the brain, so I hope we can work together."

"Of course!" The other male player agreed. He was burly and tough. "I'm Love Cigarette. Level 33. I haven't joined any guild. I just gained my profession, muscleman. I'm good at close-quarter combat."

"We need to work together to escape." The only female player smiled. "You can call me Ah Qi. I'm Level 32. I'm one of the unit managers from the Merchant Union."

"Merchant Union?! That's one of the top 10 guilds!" Love Cigarette gasped.

"Merchant Union is huge. I'm just a small fry." The female player didn't explain her profession.

The three turned to Han Fei and Bai Xian. The two actors looked familiar to them.

"I'm Bai Xian, and this is Han Fei. We're from Happiness Neighborhood." Happiness Neighborhood was the best introduction.

"We can clear this layer then." Love Cigarette was so happy. He was so scared, but when he found out his teammates were from the top guilds, he relaxed.

Han Fei was the first to enter the building. He was not interested in introductions. Other people wanted to survive, but he wanted to do a speed run.

"We'll go straight to the room with the lights on." Han Fei was very sharp.

"Shouldn't we explore the other floors first? There might be items that can help us." Hao Xue wanted to negotiate, but Han Fei didn't give him a chance.

The yellowing walls, the rusted doors, and the stained floor felt so real. They felt transported to their parent's age and time.

Han Fei knocked on the door on the third floor. Footsteps came from within. The door opened. A kind middle-aged man appeared. He opened the door happily, but he didn't see the person he was waiting for.

"Ol' Lee, is it our son?" A middle-aged woman in an apron walked out of the kitchen. She was even holding a ladle.

"He's not back yet..." The man asked hesitantly. "It's the night before Lunar New Year... What are you doing here?"

"We're your son's friends. We live far away, so your son invited us to spend the night with his family." Han Fei said very naturally.

"You should have said so earlier! Come in!" The couple was very generous. They took out food to serve Han Fei's group. They even brought the heater over.

"Uncle, you're too kind. Why don't you sit down and rest?" Love Cigarette felt such warmth in a nightmare for the first time, and he was shocked. "I can help you."

"No. How can I let the guests work?" The middle-aged man put on the apron to cook more dishes since they had more guests.

The couple busied themselves in the kitchen. The players outside felt uneasy. Hao Xue didn't touch the candies and food served. He was confused. "In the first nightmare, we were chased by ghosts. In the second nightmare, I had to seal a ghost in a haunted house. Why is this third nightmare so different?"

"Something is wrong." Ah Qi stood up. "Don't just sit there. Look for clues."

Han Fei looked at the couple inside the kitchen. This reminded him of his first experience inside the cryptic world and his experience with the old lady. All the warmth was just a candied surface to hide the poison within.

"Wait a minute! The food will be ready in another ten minutes!" The middle-aged woman shouted.

"Ten minutes. Is that all the time we have?" Han Fei scanned the living room. He saw a large stack of newspaper under the table. "There's no dust, so someone read them daily. Is there any big news?" Han Fei moved the newspaper out. He read through them. Five minutes later, he found something interesting. There was an article that featured an apartment building picture that looked not so different from the one he was in.

"After finishing the internship, a university student got in a car accident 500 meters from his home after taking an 11-hour train ride. He died on the spot. The driver left the scene. We're now showing the message of the driver and the info about the vehicle.

"It's darkness around the apartment, so we can't leave. In other words, we can't stop the accident even though it's only 500 meters away." Han Fei was silent. He looked at the date on the paper and compared it to the date on the television. "The car accident happened last year. This couple has been living this nightmare for a whole year already."

The atmosphere turned scary. The couple seemed to twist too.

The food would be ready in five minutes. Han Fei moved towards the bedroom. He didn't make any sound. The main bedroom was the couple's bedroom. There was a second bedroom. It was the new year, but the door was closed. Han Fei opened the door and entered it. A poster of an athlete was on the wall. The books were clean. The gym equipment beside the bed had no dust.

"This is their son's room. They still clean it daily."

Through the items in the room, Han Fei could guess the son's personality. He liked to go to the gym. He was strong on the outside but was actually a loving person. He was a very filial son.

Han Fei sat on the bed, and his nose twitched. He smelled something familiar. It was light. Han Fei bent over to turn over the sheet. He moved the mattress away. A fully-rotten carcass appeared. Compared to the rotting appearance, the body wore a set of clean clothes.

"The food is ready!" The woman shouted from the kitchen. Han Fei flew out of the bedroom and closed the door.

"Did you find anything?" Ah Qi smelled the strange scent on Han Fei.

"There's a dead body under the bed in the second bedroom. When you escape, remember to bring it with you." Han Fei whispered. It shocked Love Cigarette so much that his candy fell to the ground.

"There's a dead body in the bedroom?" Love Cigarette lowered his head to hide his nervousness.

The couple served dinner. The two smiled. "Why aren't you eating? Are you waiting for my son?"

No one moved their chopsticks.

The middle-aged man grabbed a bottle of alcohol and poured a glass for himself. He kept turning to look at the clock on the wall. "Don't you work with my son? How come he hasn't returned? Did the superior give him extra work?"

A chopping sound came from the kitchen. It was harrowing.

"Why is he not back home yet? Did something happen?" The lights in the room flickered. The man finished the glass of alcohol. He scratched his neck until his neck bled. He still kept on scratching.

"He called that he was coming home half an hour ago. He should be here now." The man picked up the glass with his bloody fingers. "Did you see him on your way here?"

The lights flickered faster. The sound from the television became shrill. The food on the table rotted and gave off a horrible smell.

"Did he get into an accident?" The man left the dining table to grab his phone to call his son. Han Fei's group heard clearly that the ringtone came from the second bedroom. The man was confused at first. Then, his body slowly cracked and snapped as he moved to the second bedroom.

"Hao Xue, Ah Qi, I need you to leave. Brother Bai, you block the kitchen door. Muscle, I need you to help me fight for the dead body." Han Fei spoke quickly.

"My name is Love Cigarette."

"Got it, Muscle." Han Fei stared at the middle-aged man. The warm room had started to change. Ugly things corrupted this dream. When the middle-aged man was at the bedroom door, Han Fei signaled Love Cigarette. They moved and stopped behind the man. The bedroom door was slowly pushed open. The middle-aged man saw the dead body in the bed. The flesh on his face was torn apart. After witnessing the truth, he lost his mind.

"Now!" Han Fei carried the carcass and the phone in the dead man's pocket. "Move!"

Bai Xian blocked the kitchen door, but the next second, a bloody knife cut through the door. The room mutated. The only light in the building went out. The middle-aged man's bones pierced through his skin. He crawled towards them.

"Move!" Even though this group met for the first time, they cooperated quite nicely. They escaped the room and shut the front door. Ah Qi and Hao Xue were nervous. "The building is only so big, and we can't run anywhere! What are we to do?"

"Block the door for now. Don't let them escape!" Han Fei carried the carcass to the corner of the corridor.

The mutated couple slammed at the door. A lot of dark blood leaked out of the door gap.

"The blood is spreading! If it touches us, we'll be affected too!" Hao Xue shouted. He thought Han Fei was being too rash. "The couple has completely transformed into monsters! We can't reason with them!"

"We can't hold them back any longer!"

The players put their hope in Han Fei.

"They just want their son to come home. Their sadness was being used to form this nightmare. If their son returns to spend the New Year with them, the nightmare will end." Han Fei thought back to the personality trait of the son. He removed the clothes from the dead body and put them on.

"W-what are you doing?" The others were stunned.

"I just want to end this nightmare."

Han Fei switched on masterful acting and assumed the role of the son. He took out the young man's phone and messaged the number that kept calling him--Mom, Dad, I'm coming home soon.