CH 534

11-14 minutes

From his previous experience, Han Fei knew that the longer he stayed inside the memory world, the more complex the mission. ‘Mirror God’s mission required me to survive for 30 days, but I lost the ability to fight back after 15 days. I need to finish this as soon as possible.’

Han Fei walked down the street carefully. He was afraid that someone might suddenly grab a knife to stab him. After all, he was the owner’s most hated person. ‘If this is the same as last time, I need to rectify the owner’s regret before I can access my inventory, so my main goal now is to find out what Fu Sheng’s regret is.’

Han Fei searched for his company address. Suddenly, the window of a shop before him shattered. The shards flew everywhere, and then a masked man rushed out, holding a bag of jewelry. The man moved faster than average. He ran into a side alley with his loot. ‘Was that a normal burglar or a player?’ Han Fei used his phone to capture the man’s retreat. He felt like the man did not belong to this world. The shop owner ran out to ask for help, but the burglar was already long gone. Han Fei provided the owner with the picture he took before leaving. Han Fei circulated the city before finding his working location. It was a skyscraper about 30 stories tall, and his company rented a whole floor.

“Fu Yi, you’re getting worse by the days. Look at your watch. What time is it now?” Han Fei just squeezed into the elevator when a woman in a business suit glared at him.

“Sister Qian, I ran into a jewelry burglar on the way to work. I have pictures as evidence.” Something never changed about Han Fei. He showed the woman his phone.

“A jewelry burglar?” The woman frowned as she leaned in to see Han Fei’s phone. Han Fei used this chance to study the woman. The woman’s name was Zhao Qian. She was two years older than the owner’s father, but she looked much younger than he was. She had a mature woman’s charm. She exuded professionalism, fashion, and wealth. When such a beautiful woman leaned close to Han Fei, the first thing in his mind was, would she kill me and how?

The woman confirmed Han Fei was not lying, so she let him go. “Get to work then. We’ll see what excuse you’ll come up with tomorrow.” The heels clicked against the ground. The woman entered her office.

“I’m part of the design group.” Han Fei walked to the room next to Zhao Qian’s office. He opened the door and saw four hardworking employees. ‘This is my workplace?’ Han Fei walked to the desk at the back. He glanced at Lee Guo Er as he walked past. The bespectacled Lee Guo Er was focused on her work. She did not look like she wanted to kill Han Fei. Compared to Zhao Qian, Lee Guo Er was dressed younger and more casual, like a recently graduated student.

Han Fei took his seat and clicked on his work files. He had no idea what they were, so he started to play Plants versus Zombies instead. ‘When will I get off work?’ Han Fei was not trying to be lazy. His resume was too scary. He was afraid that the company would collapse if he threw himself into work. He did not want his colleagues to lose their jobs because of him.

‘First, I need to find out why Lee Guo Er wanted to kill me. From the chat records, she is my junior colleague.’ The office door was pushed open before Han Fei could finish a round of Plants Versus Zombies. A man shouted at Han Fei, “You need so long to come up with an animation proposal?”

“The core of an action game is its animation, so it’ll naturally take longer,” Han Fei answered readily.

“Fu Yi, are you trying to find trouble with me?” The man was very dissatisfied. “I know you’re not happy from being replaced. You should take the issue up with Sister Zhao. Why take it out on me?”

“I will finish the design. Don’t worry.” Han Fei closed the game and then started a new round of solitaire. Then he turned to study his work files. Immortal was an extensive exploration game. It described a future where humanity had achieved immortality. They had created a massive metropolis. The main character didn’t have immortality due to his genetic problem and was thus part of the lower-ranking citizens. Fu Yi initially led the big project, but the higher up swapped him out for someone else because they thought Fu Yi was not good enough. Fu Yi was sent to design a dating sim game.

“Why do you need an action sequence in dating sim anyway?” Han Fei just read the project introduction when Lee Guo Er sent him a document. Han Fei clicked it open, and it was filled with indescribable action scenes.

“These are too much…” Han Fei felt the need to communicate with Lee Guo Er, so he walked to her. “Even though our game is for adults, aren’t the pictures too lewd?”

“But that was your requirement. You said we only need to sell skin in a dating game. I have done market research, and you are right. Everyone is trying to challenge the bottom line of human indecency.” Lee Guo Er spoke quickly.

“Since everyone is doing the same thing, we shouldn’t follow the trend. How about we add another element like horror into the game?”

“The male lead is a horrible man who has hurt many good girls. One day, the girls turned on him and wanted to kill murder him.” Han Fei explained, “The man realized his mistakes after the girls went after his life, so he tried to fix his mistakes and regrets before he was killed.”

“Sounds interesting. Leader, how did you come up with this ‘interesting’ idea?” Lee Guo Er turned to Han Fei. Her gaze behind the glasses was quite scary.

“When you put your heart into your work, the ideas will come to you. Past mistakes cannot be changed, but they can be rectified.” Han Fei picked up the document and said, “Since we haven’t decided on the main plot, there’s still time to change it.”

“Leader, are you serious? We’ve worked overtime for two days already.” The three other members groaned.

“Don’t worry. I hate working overtime the most. We will get off work on time. If there’s a delay, then I will shoulder the responsibility.” Han Fei discussed the details of the horror dating sim with his team members. He had a unique experience in this matter. “This scene with the meat chopping can be pushed to 3 am. The wife also wants to kill him. Don’t worry about it being too scary. That’s our target audience.

“Too pitiful? He has cheated on his wife so many times, so what if she cut him back two times?

“I realize your mind is shackled by confusion. Why is death the end? Can’t there be ghosts?

“You’ve come to the right person to ask about curses…”

With Han Fei’s guidance, the four members were inspired. They finally understood why Fu Yi was previously the company’s lead game designer. This fantastic idea, this plot that was absurd yet arresting, an average person wouldn’t come up with them.

“Leader Fu, someone is looking for you downstairs.” The office door opened, and someone shouted.

“Okay.” Han Fei shared a few more words with his members before he left. He had just come to the lobby when he saw a woman in a yellow dress standing at the door. The woman looked like she was in university. She looked shy as she carried two cups of coffee.

‘Who is this?’ Han Fei tried to think back to the messages on his phone. The girl was someone Fu Yi got to know on the internet. He had used his secret account to chat with her before. ‘I’ve seen her picture. Her name is Wang Meijia. After high school, she dropped out and is currently working at her relative’s boutique.’

Fu Yi was married, and a young girl came to find him at the company. This caused many people to talk. Fu Yi, in the past, would have scolded the girl.

“Why did you come to find me?” Han Fei stood before the girl.

“I don’t like milk tea anymore. I think coffee is not bad.” The girl handed the coffee to Han Fei. “I’ve asked around, and they said you work here.”

“Come and take a seat. We need to talk.” Han Fei and the girl took the couch in the lobby. They had a safe distance between them. Han Fei picked up the coffee, and he noticed the girl’s eyes were glued to it. Han Fei understood something.

Han Fei asked the girl for her recent updates. The girl answered mindlessly at first, but Han Fei was an excellent conversationalist. He soon got her to open up. The relative was unkind to her. Her mother and stepfather scolded her. Fu Yi promised her something, but he didn’t live up to his promise and disappeared. “Where are you living now? Still with your mother?”

“My stepfather has chased me out. He said my brother is getting older, and he needs his own room.” Wang Meijia said casually, of school fists were tightly bound together.

“You should find a place to stay. Since you’re alone, you need to look after yourself. I’ll try to find you a job as soon as possible.” Han Fei transferred some money to the girl and advised her many things like he was her father. When Han Fei spoke, how Wang Meijia looked at Han Fei became complicated. “There is a motel nearby. It shouldn’t be that expensive for you to stay there if you ask to stay for a whole month. It’s close to my company so you can come to find me if you face any problem.” Han Fei maintained a distance from Wang Meijia, but his words were warm. He was using actual actions to help the girl. It was unclear whether the girl heard him. Her eyes kept flitting between Han Fei and the coffee he was holding.

“Come, I’ll bring you to that hostel now.” Hearing that, Wang Meijia shivered. She lowered her head. They left the company together. Han Fei walked Wang Meijia to the hostel, but he didn’t walk in. He was very concerned about her as an old father to her daughter. When Han Fei prepared to leave, the girl suddenly charged at him. “Why are you suddenly so nice to me? You liar!” The girl screamed before running away.

Han Fei stood his ground, but the coffee was knocked over. The dark coffee splattered everywhere. Compared to usual coffee, the girl’s coffee had a strange smell.

‘She wanted to poison me?’ Han Fei shook his head helplessly. He hadn’t been in a relationship before, and already four women had tried to kill him. ‘Looks like the altar owner has a bad impression of his father.’ Han Fei sighed. He was about to leave when a stray cat walked over and tried to lick the coffee.

“You are not supposed to touch this, silly cat.” Han Fei grabbed the cat by the back of its neck. Then he went to borrow a mop and pail from the hostel. He cleaned up the coffee before leaving.

He returned to the office. The way the employees looked at him was strange. People had already talked behind his back. Han Fei was used to the gazes. He greeted everyone like usual and returned to the design team office. His four members worked seriously. However, the curtain in the room was pulled back, so they were probably looking at Han Fei through the window earlier.

Han Fei walked past Lee Guo Er’s table and noticed she had a new draft. “What’s this?”

“I wanted to have the university student poison the main character.” Lee Guo Er said without raising her head.

“Good idea. Put it in.” Han Fei returned to his seat with a sad smile. He turned to look at the clock and then began another serious battle of Plants versus Zombies.

Lee Guo Er glanced back to see the hardworking Han Fei. She added a cute stray cat beside the male character of the game. The man had a knife in his chest. He was surrounded by disdainful eyes. Only the stray cat stayed beside the man’s body, licking his cold hand.