Chapter 297: 298

When Feng Ziyu paid a visit to Pear Blossom Neighbourhood, he did encounter the guy but after a brief conversation, Feng Ziyu had a feeling the man was not crazy but had to act crazy due to certain pressure. He believed the horror movie director should know something, the fact that he continued to stay at Pear Blossom Neighbourhood was suspicious too. After memorizing all the data, Han Fei destroyed the document. He called Li Xue, reported his schedule and then left his house with the nunchucks. Pear Blossom Neighbourhood was at Xin Lu Old City as well, but it was situated at a very secluded place. Furthermore, the name of the place had changed so many times that even with the GPS, Han Fei needed a long time before he found it.

Taking in the dilapidated neighbourhood gate and the banners that hung on the wall, Han Fei felt transported to several decades ago. The technological advance didn’t bring much change to the bottom layer of the society.

‘The director has accumulated quite a bit of wealth from his movies, so why is he still living in a place like this?’ Han Fei pulled out his phone to key in the man’s name, Zhuang Ren. It returned him a lot of results. About 10 years ago, that was the time when this horror film director’s fame was at its height. Each of his movies was worse than the one before, and the critic lampooned them greatly but somehow he had the box office and none of his projects lost money. Many people went to the cinema not to be terrified but to see how low the standard his works could get.

At the social media account of the director which hadn’t been updated for years, there were his ‘fans’ who were still active. They called him the titan of the comedy world, revering this horror film director as the godfather of unconventional comedies. Han Fei felt a sense of familiarity when he saw the director’s comment section, his own comment section was the same way. He was an actor but many netizens mistook him as a bounty hunter. In a way, he could empathize with Zhuang Ren.

The neighbourhood’s guardhouse door was locked and the notice for the city cutting off water supply to this place hung on the wall. The trash cans in front of the gates hadn’t been cleaned for a long time. This neighbourhood was once quite a nice living space but as time moved forward, it was slowly forgotten like the people who still lived here. Walking down the roads with many holes, Han Fei glanced at the sign placed above the roadblock. He noticed the construction on the road should have been finished half a year ago, it probably wouldn’t finish in his lifetime.

Pear Blossom neighbourhood wasn’t that big, there were 4 buildings in total and none of them that tall. Building 4 had been fully sealed off. Based on research, Immortal Pharma had bought this building a long time ago. Shaking the iron door which was welded shut, Han Fei couldn’t help but sigh. Such was the privilege of the rich. The director of Immortal Pharma once stayed here but Han Fei couldn’t enter the building, or at least he didn’t dare to trespass in broad daylight. Passing Building 4, Han Fei came to Building 1 where Zhuang Ren stayed. He walked up to the 4th floor and encountered no one along the way. The place appeared haunted even during the day.

“Is anyone home?” He knocked lightly on the door. There was no answer, the place appeared abandoned. Leaning his upper body forward, Han Fei placed his ear against the door, he could hear the sound of the news. “I’m sorry but is this Zhuang Ren’s home?” Han Fei stood for a full 3 minutes at the door before he heard footsteps coming from inside the house. The anti-theft door eased open a gap. A bloodshot eye looked out. The owner said nothing and only stared at Han Fei.

“My name is Han Fei, I’m here because I have some questions for you.” Hearing Han Fei was there to ask questions, the owner immediately closed the door but Han Fei was prepared. He squeezed his fingers into the gap and held the door. “I’m not a bad guy, if you’re worried, I can call the police and have them come with me.” Han Fei’s tone was gentle but his words were incongruent with the gentleness. This was just an issue of talking, why would he involve the police?

Han Fei pulled harder and forced the door to stay open. To leave a good impression, he stood politely at the door and didn’t force his way in further. “I’ve seen your info online and I know about your past, I just need you to hear me out first.” Han Fei stared at the face behind the door and lowered his voice to a whisper. “I know you’re not crazy because I’ve encountered the same thing as you do. My family is not dead, they’re trapped somewhere, or rather they’re still surviving in a different state.” The bloodshot eye moved slightly as if taking in the hidden meaning in Han Fei’s words. “I know where they are but I can’t save them, I need to get some information from you first.” Han Fei said many things before a low and hoarse voice finally replied from behind the door. “Where do you think they are now?”

“Have you heard of Ziggurat?” Han Fei answered the question with his own question. But to his surprise, once he said that, the door slowly opened. An unkempt man with white in his hair and beard appeared. His actual age was around 60 but this man looked like he was about to die soon. “Come in, if you’re heard saying these things outside, they’ll think you’re crazy.” The man then turned into the room, he didn’t even close the door. Han Fei confirmed the location of his nunchucks and entered the room. Avoiding the trash on the ground, he took a quick look at the room. There were medicine bottles everywhere. It was morning, but since all the curtains were closed, the living room was extremely dim. Han Fei closed the door. When he lifted his head again, the man walked out from an inner room, holding a fruit knife. He stared right at Han Fei, his bloodshot eyes practically bulging. After a long time, seeing a lack of reason from Han Fei, he asked, “Would you like some apples? They’re given by the community service people yesterday.”

“Thank you but I’m not here for fruits.” Han Fei sat on the couch and looked at the television which was playing a recording and notes that scattered across the table. “You don’t seem to fancy modern electronics, do you?”

“I’m used to these old things and can’t bring myself to change.” The man sat down on the other end of the couch and watched the television with Han Fei. The screen was playing the news from years ago. A car was carried away from a bridge by a deluge and washed into the lake with rising water level.

“Were your family in this car?” When Han Fei asked that, the news showed the names of the victims. Among them were Zhuang Ren’s family but he shook his head. “They are not dead, they’re just trapped at Ziggurat, I’m sure of that.” Zhuang Ren tied up his messy hair. “Everyone else thinks I’m mad but my mind is clearer than most.”

Han Fei didn’t answer immediately. After a long pause, he asked, “Have you been to the Ziggurat?”

“I’ve been meaning to but I can’t find the path.” The man glared with his bloodshot eyes. To Han Fei’s confusion, he switched on the gaming console under the television and handed Han Fei a gaming controller.

“What is this?”

Zhuang Ren didn’t answer. As he held the controller, his condition became even more unstable. His pupils kept shaking but his attention was fully on the screen. After connecting all the wires, the screen started to play a game with horrible graphics and the game’s title was… Ziggurat. It had a black background and red font. It was simple but it gave Han Fei the chills. “My family is in there! They’re waiting for me to go rescue them! I can do that by clearing the game!” Zhuang Ren’s words became more unhinged, no one seeing him now would believe he was sane.

“The Ziggurat you referenced is this game?” Han Fei was quite disappointed. He was about to put down the controller and stand up when he saw something that caught his attention. In this game, the first map was called Happiness Neighbourhood!

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Even more coincidentally, the goal of the first map was to find puzzle pieces, but instead of finding human body pieces, the main character had to help a boy find normal puzzle pieces. The player had to locate 8 puzzle pieces on the large map by asking the various NPCs. Based on the familiar way he controlled the character, Zhuang Ren had played this game many times already. As he triggered the missions and searched for the puzzle, he got to know the neighbours and their troubles. He helped them solve their conundrums. This first map looked unfinished but it had a lot of content. By then Han Fei no longer thought Zhuang Ren was a crazy person, he sat back down and watched quietly.

Zhuang Ren used 15 minutes to find all the puzzle pieces. The finished puzzle was a picture of a child reaching for a butterfly. After finishing the first map, Zhuang Ren entered another map. The second map was called Qiu Yun Residence. Here, Zhuang Ren had to help the deliveryman deliver the packages through the complicated building pathways. While delivering the goods, Zhuang Ren would interact with different people and hear their stories of humanity. From the 2 current maps, Han Fei saw that the game creator encouraged a message of hope and hard work, in essence, they were trying to create an Iyashikei game.

After 10 minutes, Zhuang Ren finished all the mission and he entered the 3rd map, Happiness Street Temporary Homes. The temporary homes had quality and safety problems and the mission required Zhuang Ren to persuade all of its current citizens to move out. The game design was very interesting but Zhuang Ren hit on the button mechanically because he already played this who knew how many times already. He used the quickest path to finish all the missions. 3rd map, 4th map….

When it was around noon, Zhuang Ren reached the 8th map and the map’s name was Pear Blossom Neighbourhood. When he reached this map, Zhuang Ren’s speed conspicuously slowed down. It was like he was watching his life from another angle. Half an hour later, he cleared the 8th map. The game was hard but not impossible. Just as Han Fei thought they were going to proceed to the 9th map, the game restarted and the title Ziggurat reappeared on screen.

“That’s all?”

“No, the gate to Ziggurat is just opening.” Zhuang Ren clicked on the start game button but this time, he was sent into the 9th map. Just like how he had once helped piece the 8 puzzle pieces together at Happiness Neighbourhood to unlock that picture, the player had to finish the 8 maps once before they could access the 9th map.

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The 9th map revolved around a very strange building. Whenever Zhuang Ren’s character tried to approach the building, they would die for no reason. He attempted entry from different directions but it was to no avail, he couldn’t find the entrance. The blood vessels in his eyes thickened and Zhuang Ren handled the controller rougher and rougher. Eventually he slammed the controller on the table and shouted angrily as he swiped everything to the ground. Shouting, screaming, lashing out, Zhuang Ren only calmed down after a long time. His hands were injured by broken glass but Zhuang Ren didn’t seem to feel the pain. Picking up the controller, he exited the game and restarted everything.

“I must have missed something or I need some kind of item that will grant me access to the Ziggurat.” Zhuang Ren’s hands were bleeding but his eyes were transfixed on the screen. Seeing Zhuang Ren who was lost in the game, Han Fei touched the controller and suddenly said, “Where did you find this game? And who told you your family is trapped at Ziggurat?” It might be grief but grief wouldn’t push someone to such extremes, Han Fei believed something else had happened to Zhuang Ren.

“You will not believe me, you’ll think I’m crazy.” Zhuang Ren worked the controller and said, “The game was given to me by Immortal Pharma’s director when we were young, it was about 40 years ago, at the time, he lived in this neighbourhood.”

“Immortal Pharma’s director?” Han Fei’s eyes shone with disbelief.

“I know, you’re thinking I’m creating stories. After all, the man’s already dead. To be honest, I don’t get it myself either. Why would the man who people claimed closest to God give me such a game? It was a mystery until I lost my family about 10 years ago…” Zhuang Ren looked at Han Fei. The latter’s eyes widened. “Yes, you saw the map for Pear Blossom Neighbourhood yourself. The game was given to me before the tragedy befell my family. The game had predicted my family’s death.” Zhuang Ren put down the controller. “Everyone says I’m crazy. Perhaps, I am really crazy or the world is crazy.” No one spoke and the room was eerily quiet. After a long time, Han Fei broke the silence, “Did Immortal Pharma’s Director say anything else?”

“It was so long ago, I could only remember one blurry scene. That night, I saw him talking to himself alone at the corner of the neighbourhood like he was possessed. He kept mumbling about his older brother.” Walking down memory lane, his body leaned into the sofa. “At the time, I was still young. Out of kindness, I wanted to help him but he turned to ask me a question that I couldn’t understand until now.”

“What question?”

“He asked me whether there are ghosts in this world or not.”

“How did you answer?”

“I told him there wasn’t and then he gave me this game.” Zhuang Ren stared at the screen and the wrinkles on his face seemed to deepen. “He even told me, if I ever lost something important, I could look for it inside here. Perhaps they haven’t left, they are just trapped inside a black building and unable to leave.”

Everything matched but what Zhuang Ren didn’t get was the Ziggurat mentioned by the Director was a Ziggurat inside another game.

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