My 'Healing' Game

The baby's cries echoed behind him, and the third son gritted his teeth, knowing he still had a task left unfinished.

Amidst falling rocks and screams, the third son quickly found the passage left by the village chief. He climbed the rock walls covered with debris and blood stains, indifferent to the wounds on his hands.

At this moment, he had only one thought in mind, which was to see through the task given by his father and send the will out of the Deep Pit.

"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, I'll take you away! You'll be safe!" The words his brothers once used to comfort the third son now emerged from his own mouth as he continuously soothed the baby behind him.

The third son was an abandoned infant adopted by the old village chief. He had once clung to his own father's back in the same way, feeling incredibly secure and reassured no matter the horrors faced.

Now, his brothers and father were gone, and his back had become the new solace for the child.

Blood dripped down his arms as explosions continued, dust soared, trash mountains crumbled, and the third son's eyes were full of blood silk. He was terrified but kept climbing upwards relentlessly.

"We will get out; it's possible!"

Neither the villagers of Tomb Village nor the malice-filled living on the surface expected anyone could climb out of the Deep Pit under such circumstances.

Fingers gripping sharp rocks, the third son mechanically repeated the climbing motions, uncertain how much time had passed until he felt the starlight growing nearer.

Stepping onto a protruding stone, the stench in the air had dissipated. As the starlight fell upon him, the third son took a deep breath and exhaustedly climbed out of the Deep Pit.

Utterly exhausted and wounded all over, the third son could no longer suppress the Curse within him. Having followed his brothers into the Big Grave over the years, the ominous aura of Disaster had seeped through his entire body.

"I feel like my world suddenly became a lot lighter." The vitality in the third son was rapidly diminishing, and his heartbeat was slowing down.

Gently settling the baby in the black package, the third son hummed a children's rhyme, seemingly hoping the baby would stop crying.

"I may not be able to continue taking care of you, but I have to tell you, you have not been abandoned. You are a very good child."

The third son's Gesheng seemed to harbor special Power, able to quickly calm, as he lightly teased the baby with one hand and took out the old village chief's will with the other.

"Father said it should only be opened after leaving the Deep Pit."

With effort, he tore open the letter, discovering it contained only three words—I'm sorry.

The reaction varied for different people upon seeing these words. The third son did not know why his father apologized, perhaps because his father's decision turned the three children into ghosts, or perhaps he, as the village chief, was responsible for the death of everyone in Tomb Village, or perhaps he foresaw everything but still chose as he did.

Placing the father's will in the baby's package, the third son struggled to rise from the ground. Tomb Village was massacred, and he was tainted with the Curse from the Big Grave, unwelcome by those on the surface.

With nowhere to go, he carried the baby forward in confusion.

He didn't know where he should head; he merely felt he should take the baby farther away from the Deep Pit, so the little one's chance of survival would increase.

"I'm not as great as my father or brothers. I have no ability to save the world; I can only try my best to help those around me."

Away from the Deep Pit, the third son carried the baby towards the city, humming a lullaby as he slowly advanced.

His wounds were severe, yet he kept moving forward, time slipping beneath his feet until he collapsed, unable to rise again.

Starlight shone upon the third son's gradually cooling body, the baby, and the will.

Another long while passed, and blood suddenly seeped from the will within the baby's wrap, a near-dissipated arm extending from it.

Memory Fragments pieced together, forming the old village chief with white hair.

Now completely dead, only upon soul scattering can the Memory Fragments hidden in the will be activated ahead of time.

The old man's body was no longer robust, as he gazed upon his third son's corpse with an expression infinitely complex.

He had done right by everyone in the city under his protection, and everything under the sunshine, but he had wronged his own children and those villagers.

"My father cast a shadow over my entire life, dragging me into a hopeless Abyss, but I never expected to become an even worse father than he was..."

In a sorrowful embrace of the third son's corpse, the village chief's white hair lay against his face. From the moment he made his choice, his fate was sealed. He would lose everything and be forgotten by all.

When the last Memory Fragment broke, he would vanish entirely.

"The Buffer Zone between the surface and the Big Grave is under construction. More and more people and Ghosts will touch each other safely. Despair will eventually be diluted, and the Black Box will no longer be handed to the next child." The old village chief personally buried the third son, picking up the baby in his arms as he set off toward the distant horizon of the city.

Night dispersed, and the Nightmare shattered simultaneously.

The sky, city, and Deep Pit all became illusory, the white-haired old man fading away, leaving only the rapidly growing baby in his arms.

The baby found by the first son, carried out of the Deep Pit by the third son, and embraced into the city by the old village chief was none other than Han Fei within the nightmare.

In this most peculiar Nightmare, Han Fei lost all ability, reduced to a vulnerable baby, endangered at every turn.

The entire Nightmare kept Han Fei constantly on edge, brushing past death countless times.

Initially, he was on the brink of death atop a garbage pile, the old village chief's eldest son appearing a moment too late, causing him to die at the start.

Later, he mustered all his strength to crawl into a package, staying with the old village chief and the others, narrowly escaping the massacre of Tomb Village by the living.

In the end, the third son carried him away, the journey perilous, several times thinking himself doomed.

"I can't resist, I have no ability, I can't even speak, yet I survive in this nightmare." Han Fei found it unbelievable himself.

"You survive because you embody hope, like a newborn child filled with endless possibilities for the future." A gentle voice suddenly spoke, and Han Fei looked around.

The dream collapsed, leaving a dilapidated shrine, imprisoning a dying divine spirit inside.

"Your voice sounds a lot like the village chief's eldest son." Han Fei walked towards the shrine, sensing a faint unspeakable aura.

"You should have noticed by now, right? I am Fu Sheng's first child, and my nightmare is the final scene of my life." The voice from the shrine was weak, but it was clear there was no malice towards Han Fei.

"The old village chief is Fu Sheng, the Big Grave represents the Deep World, Tomb Village represents the Paradise managed by Fu Sheng, the surface represents the real world, and what you've shown me is the scene before Fu Sheng's soul scattering?" Han Fei had noticed the problems while experiencing the nightmare and remembered all the details.

"I can feel my father's aura on you, but you're not him, indicating he didn't succeed in rebirth but entrusted everything to you." The Divine Door slowly opened, and colorful blood flowed out: "My nightmare is hidden within my heart, a dream has always wanted to peek, now I show it to you willingly, as a reminder of three things - Fu Sheng was killed by his second son, the carpenter, but the carpenter is still trustworthy and will help you; Secondly, Fu Sheng's box should have been given to you, and once you release all despair, you can become a very special ghost; Third, we were betrayed by those we protected, I don't know what choice you'll make, but please do not easily trust reality. You should understand one thing, the reason the Deep World is so terrifying is because such filthy emotions were once born in reality."

"I understand."

"You are the one my father chose, so let me give you one last gift." The cracked god statue in the shrine lifted its head, looking at Han Fei: "If the unspeakable doesn't take the passage and wants to forcefully descend from the Deep World to the real or Shallow World, another unspeakable must be sacrificed. The stronger the unspeakable sacrificed, the more power can be preserved by the descending unspeakable."

"The dream sacrificed you to establish eleven shrines in the Main City District of the Shallow World?"

"Yes, over the years, the dream has continuously extracted power from my body, using my hope for a beautiful world to weave deadly traps." The blood flowing from the god statue dripped onto Han Fei: "I am Fu Sheng's first child, because of his unfortunate childhood experience, he wished to place all his love and hope on me, he wanted to be the best father in the world."

The colorful blood contained past memories of the divine spirit, filled with the father and son's vision of beauty: "In my heart, he is the best father, he showed me a beautiful world, taught me everything, left me the most beautiful memories..."

The gentle blood slowly wrapped around Han Fei, it was an incomparably gentle and bright power.

"Therefore, no matter what, I will not hate him. He simply didn't need to apologize, I know the most painful and desperate person is him, and he bore the most as well."

The red rope and blood on the god statue were suppressed by some power, but the cracks on the statue's surface kept increasing, as if the imprisoned god wanted to ignite the final Divine Fire.

"Since he chose you, I will follow his choice, because he is the person I trusted most in my life."

An incredibly dazzling blaze ignited inside the shrine, burning the weapons, the Red Rope, and nearby nightmares into ashes; the flame carried initial beauty and final hope, breaking the shrine's constraints, entering Han Fei's body.

As the flame fused with Han Fei, the god statue turned to ashes, and the dilapidated shrine disappeared along with the nightmare.

The divine spirit, imprisoned for decades, chose Han Fei, risking soul scattering and being forgotten by all, to use all its light to illuminate Han Fei's path.

The unspeakable flame scorched Han Fei's body, tearing the nightmare apart, and the dream's will was stirred, its established rules entirely shattered at this moment.

In the deep darkness, a terrifying pair of eyes slowly opened, looking at Han Fei.

It remembered Han Fei's face and uttered a venomous voice: "Fu Sheng's son chose you, it seems...what I'm looking for is on you!"

Countless nightmares came biting, Han Fei instinctively opened the Item Bar, drawing out the Rebirth Slaughter Saber.

The resplendent saber light formed by humanity and the bright unspeakable flame attracted each other, the past of Fu Sheng's eldest son surged into the saber, as if he stood behind Han Fei, swinging the saber forward with him!

One by one, nightmare bubbles shattered, cutting a huge gap through the endless darkness and gray fog outside.

"Player number 0000, please note, your exclusive Slaughter Saber Rebirth has reached B-level limit! The unspeakable soul will accompany you!"

One swing exhausted all of Han Fei's strength, and when he opened his eyes again, he was back in the Main City District Hospital shrouded in gray fog.

However, compared to when he arrived, the fog enveloping the building had significantly thinned, as if the Shrine Power forming the fog had been severely weakened.

"How long have I been in the eleven-layered nightmare?"

After leaving the nightmare, Han Fei realized his whole body was injured, his spirit extremely fatigued, with severe pain constantly emanating from the back of his head, making it hard for him to stand.

"How did this happen?" Checking the system time, Han Fei found he had actually been inside the eleven-layered nightmare for a whole day and night!

The unspeakable nightmare is entirely different from ordinary nightmares, as Han Fei immersed in it did not notice the passage of time at all.

Supporting himself against the wall, Han Fei gradually walked out of the Main City District Hospital, and as his figure appeared on the street, all the players around stopped, their eyes at Han Fei filled with envy, jealousy, worry, and greed.

"Why are you looking at me like this? Did something happen during the day and night I was gone?"

The players didn't clear a path for Han Fei; they seemed hesitant, many pointed at him, while others discreetly took out Communication Devices, starting to report his location.

"Did someone clear the tenth layer of nightmares and reveal the hidden task disguised by the game's system?"

Previously, Huang Ying received a similar task, where killing Han Fei would award the Black Box and a method to leave the game, something fatal for the players.

The crowd grew denser, not daring to attack Han Fei, yet seemingly unwilling to let him go.

When the atmosphere on the scene became subtle and tense, the crowd suddenly parted by some force, and several figures emerged from the darkness at the end of the street.

"Good evening." Zhang Mingli puffed on a cigarette, surrounded by neighbors from Happiness Residential Community: "Not good, but damn evening anyway."

A frigid, terrifying aura emanated from his body as Zhang Mingli helped Han Fei up.

"Who are you? We discovered him together, so why do you get to take him away?" Some players tried to stop him, but before they could approach, blood splashed.

Zhang Mingli spat out the cigarette and stamped it out with his foot: "My name is Zhang Mingli, I used to teach ethics, so if anyone tries anything shady, I'll kill them. No joke."