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“How come… it feels like the white shoes have gotten closer to us?” Bai Xian held onto Han Fei’s arm. “Have the police told you how to deal with this situation?”

“If I was alone, I would run but now there are 4 of us.” Han Fei’s expression didn’t change but if one looked closer, one would realize his muscles were tense.

“I don’t think I’ll be useful in this kind of situation.” Bai Xian wanted to leave but Han Fei dragged the murderer deep into the corridor. Bai Xian who didn’t dare to be left alone had no choice but to follow Bai Xian. They were walking down the corridor where the white shoes were captured on video. The deeper they went, the lower the temperature. The chill crawled through the sleeves and collars.

Han Fei didn’t switch off the videos on the murderer’s phone, the video played one after another. The hidden folder was filled with videos of children being tortured. However, when Han Fei studied the videos closer, he realized things were not that simple. Compared to torture, it was more like the person behind the camera was doing some kind of experiment. He was using different methods to invoke the pain and fear within the boy. His final goal was to destroy the boy’s existing personality so he could implant a new one. The videos kept playing, with the meat shield’s help, Han Fei slowly approached the white shoes.

Due to his experience dealing with the Butterfly, Han Fei knew the Pure Hatred in the cryptic world couldn’t appear in real life at random. ‘The monster from the cryptic world has to use some kind of method to influence things in real life. I wonder what secret do the white shoes have?’

Han Fei became more confident after he cleared the Ziggurat. He initially thought the plastic surgery hospital wouldn’t be more dangerous than Ziggurat but as he looked deeper, he realized that was not the case. This hospital which was related to Immortal Pharma involved many things.

“Han Fei, did you realize that the footprints underneath us are moving with us? These were the footprints we saw earlier but they’re now here.” Bai Xian didn’t dare to look ahead but then at this place, looking anywhere was scary.

“Don’t be nervous. Remember, there’s one other person in this building other than us, he might have placed the white shoes there.” Han Fei said that to console Bai Xian, it was like adults telling children that getting a shot won’t be painful. The corridor which was 10 metres long took them about 3 minutes to cross. When they approached the white shoes, both Bai Xian and the security guard sighed in relief. The scary scenario they imagined didn’t happen. The shoes stayed there quietly.

“When a person is extremely nervous and afraid, they’re prone to imagine things.” Bai Xian and the guard comforted each other. With the threat of the ghost, they had put away their differences and became each other’s support. Removing the murderer’s jacket, Han Fei wrapped it around his hand. Through the fabric, he picked up one of the white shoes. Han Fei studied the shoe. It looked normal and dusty.

‘Was it the ghost running in these shoes? Or someone placed the shoes at the end of the corridor when I was dealing with the man?’ Han Fei glanced at the other shoe on the ground. He noticed the shoe was pointing at a locked room on the corridor like it was about to enter that room. Han Fei placed the white shoes inside the jacket’s pocket. He turned to the room. He tried the door knob, and strangely enough it had been unlocked.

A smell of paint drifted out. This was a playroom meant for kids, but the decoration was dated and toys were low quality toys from 10 years ago, nowadays kids wouldn’t play with them anymore. ‘Something’s not right.’ The back of Han Fei’s head pulsed with pain. A cackle came from the back of his mind. Some blurry fragments of memory surfaced.

Han Fei dropped the fainted murderer on the ground and strode into the room. His eyes scanned the broken toys and various colorful pictures. He stopped in the middle of the playroom.

“Han Fei, are you alright?” Bai Xian was flustered. From the moment Han Fei picked up the white shoes, he panicked. In normal horror movies, people like that would be the first to die.

“Don’t come in!” Han Fei held the back of his head as he slowly squatted down. His fingers touched the old toys. “I’ve seen these toys before…”

“Don’t, don’t scare me! Should we wait for the police?” Bai Xian noticed Han Fei was acting strangely. At this creepy place, his only teammate was spiraling out.

Han Fei ignored Bai Xian. He picked up the toys one by one and then tossed them aside. He walked deeper into the playroom. When he saw the pictures of windows on the wall, similar images appeared in his mind.

The grey cement walls appeared dull and lifeless. To see the outside world, the group of children painted windows on the walls. Inside the painted windows, there were flowers from spring, trees from summer and a group of kids playing together. The memory and real life overlapped. Han Fei and the laughter in his head opened their eyes at the same time. “Happiness Orphanage?”

Han Fei then realized this children’s playroom was decorated similarly as the one from the Happiness Orphanage where he came from!

The orphanage was surrounded by a cement wall and the yard was filled with various low quality toys. The happiest time in the day for the children was when they were allowed to play with these toys.

‘Why would the hospital build a room to mimic the yard at Happiness Neighbourhood? These toys can’t be found on the market anymore, unless…’ To verify his suspicion, Han Fei walked through the toys towards the wooden horse at the corner. The wooden horse’s paint was peeling. In today’s age, no child would play with it anymore. Staring at the undamaged wooden horse, Han Fei shook his head. Even though the toys were of the same type as the ones from Happiness Neighbourhood, they were not the same ones.

‘I remember clearly the wooden horse at the orphanage was carved through with a knife and there were wooden splinters everywhere…’ Han Fei’s mind suddenly froze. He could remember the wooden horse in the yard but he couldn’t remember who destroyed the wooden horse…

Pins stuck in his mind. Han Fei resisted the pain and tried to think.

‘Who ruined the wooden horse? These toys… they should have knife marks!’ Han Fei stood up and moved to study the painted windows on the grey wall. There were four seasons painted in the windows but inside the room, it was grey and quiet. ‘This hospital has the ability to change a kid’s personality, how did they gain that technology? Have they succeeded?’ With the pain surging through his brain, Han Fei was suddenly reminded of something unimportant.

When he first obtained the black box, the police once brought him to be examined. The photon supercomputer rated him as having 0 danger rate, he was an extremely rare healing personality type. Someone with this personality type could not only heal others, bringing others hope but could also heal themselves even though they might be lost in despair.