My Healing Games

Chapter 454 Equivalent Exchange, Using Souls as Bargaining Chips

Standing on the wooden table on the seventh floor, with a bottomless abyss behind him, Han Fei had nowhere to escape and nowhere to hide.

This was the first time he had been forced into such a situation since entering the shrine's master's memory world.

The shadows, like rising sea levels, threatened to engulf his isolated island, the only place that could touch the moonlight. Soon, the mall would be devoid of light, losing all its brightness.

“I know you have also experienced something like this, but if things don’t change, the tragedy will keep repeating itself, and no one will be able to break this curse.”

A tearing pain shot through his legs, and his blood-stained fingers gripped the edge of the table as worms crawled out of his rotting skin and began to gnaw at Han Fei's legs.

There were too many terrifying things hidden in the darkness. Even though Han Fei had lived in the deep world for so long, he still couldn't describe the ugliness and bloodshed of the monsters in the mall.

"Are you all crazy?"

Han Fei could sense that none of the shadows in the mall were perfect; they were incomplete, lacking many things in their bodies or souls.

Some people have no brains, their skulls filled with sawdust; some have acquired superb culinary skills, but have become only capable of cooking with people; and there are the countless diners in the deli on the fifth floor, who are extremely indifferent and selfish, each retaining a human appearance but lacking human heart and warmth.

"What's wrong with you guys?"

The colorful ribbons above his head had turned into black hair, and huge eyes were staring at Han Fei, the only conscious person in the mall.

But when the whole world is full of monsters, being lucid becomes a sin.

Darkness descended, spreading wildly, and Han Fei was forced to take another step toward the table, bringing him even closer to the railing on the seventh floor!
"Boom!"

The sound of bells echoed through the dark mall, like the bells of the underworld.

The people who had been standing in the plaza on the first floor slowly dispersed, their expressions becoming incredibly devout. The old man whose head was filled with sawdust knelt on the ground, his hands clasped behind his back, his face pressed against the ground. Next to the old man was a sweet-looking girl, tall and slender, but seemingly mentally impaired, her expression blank, her hands and feet bound by ropes like a puppet. Behind the girl was a drunkard, covered in mud, his clothes tangled with long hair.

"Boom!"

Another bell rang, and blood seeped from the huge advertising banner hanging in the center of the mall. As the blood congealed and turned black, the massive advertising banner, which was over ten meters long, slowly slid down like a black cloth that covered the sky and the earth!
"Boom!"

The moment the black cloth fell, a black shrine appeared on the first floor of the mall.

The shrine was incredibly solemn and imposing, suppressing all darkness, and no one dared to look directly at it.

Amidst the dull, resonant tolling of the bell, the dark wooden door of the shrine slowly opened. The screams and wails ceased, and from behind the dark door, arms imprisoned within reached out.

It was like a world made entirely of arms, unfolding like a flower. Enveloped by countless hands, an arm covered with human faces slowly emerged from the deepest part of the shrine.

The face on the skin gradually transformed into Han Fei's likeness, and when that hand was raised, all the darkness surged towards Han Fei!

The mall was trembling, Han Fei's world was collapsing, his soul and consciousness were grabbed by that hand, and an invisible force was pulling him closer and closer to the abyss!

When a person is completely broken down, all words are superfluous, no one can save them, and all persuasion and comfort are useless. At this moment, death may become the only way out.

He moved his feet and stepped onto the edge of the railing. His body began to tilt slowly, about to fall down with the world!
The hand that reached out from the shrine grasped Han Fei's heart and burrowed into his skull, its blood-stained and sinful fingers piercing his soul.

"Boom!"

The sound of the bell was deafening. Just as Han Fei felt he was about to be dragged into the shrine, a part of his memories spontaneously separated out.

Whether it was a decision made subconsciously or his three souls having their own thoughts, the actively separated memories, carrying his most unfortunate and negative emotions, left his mind and crashed into the palm of that hand.

An evil and sinister soul was grabbed by an arm covered in human faces, and accompanied by the tolling of a death knell, the evil split soul jumped from the seventh floor in place of Han Fei!
Han Fei watched as another version of himself fell, a version filled with evil and madness. Rather than being captured, it was more like he actively embraced all the darkness and despair.

"The shrine took away a piece of my soul!"

Han Fei did not make any deal with the shrine, but the deal was completed under duress.

The evil soul was grasped by countless hands, which tore at him frantically, merging him into the boundless darkness inside the shrine.

The absurd and morbid world continues to mutate, with countless arms in the shrine spreading outwards, and no one dares to look up.

Just as the shrine's attention shifted away from Han Fei, a soft sound suddenly came from his arms.

Looking down, Han Fei noticed that the child puppet he had hidden in his pocket was covered in cracks, tears were streaming down its face, and its hand was pointing to Han Fei's left.

Turning to the left, a thin arm quietly reached out from the darkness, grabbed Han Fei, and pulled him out of the envelopment of countless shadows.

"Uncle, keep running to the left."

A familiar voice rang in their ears. At that moment, the shrine in the center of the mall seemed to realize something was wrong, and countless arms began to climb upwards rapidly once again.

At the critical moment, Han Fei dared not linger for even a moment, and he ran to the left like a madman.

The scenes on both sides were rapidly receding, and the door to the seventh-floor emergency exit of the mall appeared in front of them.

Without any hesitation, Han Fei rammed his head outside!
But the next second his face turned completely pale. There were no stairs or steps outside the safety door, only an empty abyss!

Everything about the shrine's owner was trapped in the mall; this maze had no way out, and its end was only death.

As the body plummeted downwards, in the instant the feeling of weightlessness appeared, an aged arm reached out from the other side of the abyss.

Grasping that hand with all his might, Han Fei looked up. Darkness spread out in all directions like a snowstorm.

The scene he saw with both eyes gradually became the same, and a wrinkled face came into his view.

Pain surged from all parts of his body. Han Fei stared wide-eyed at his surroundings. Half of his body was hanging outside the railing on the seventh floor, his right hand dangling down, and his left hand tightly gripping a slender arm.

"I almost died."

Regaining his senses, Han Fei grabbed the railing and pulled himself up, stepping on the edge of the seventh floor to climb over the railing.

Lying on the ground, Han Fei gasped for breath, and only then did he have time to look at the old man beside him.

The old woman had a face full of wrinkles, and next to her was a tattered cloth bag containing a blood-red sweater.

Even though Han Fei was now safe, the old woman still held onto his wrist. It was unclear whether she was too scared to let go or worried that Han Fei might do something foolish again.

Neither of them could speak. After a long while, Han Fei broke the silence first.

"Grandma, thank you."

Han Fei thanked the old woman, but she was still somewhat disoriented. She kept shaking her head as she looked at Han Fei, as if his appearance reminded her of her son.

In the period leading up to her son's death, he also seemed to exhibit many abnormal behaviors.

"I won't go near the railing anymore, don't worry." Han Fei tried to get the old man to let go, but he couldn't pry the old man's fingers open without using force.

Unable to get the elderly woman to let go, and with the seventh floor being too dangerous, Han Fei could only slowly help her up and let her hold his wrist as he led her downstairs.

"Grandma, what are you doing here?" When they reached the first floor, the old woman finally recovered from her shock, and Han Fei tried to communicate with her.

“I came to donate clothes, a sweater that my son wore when he was seven, but there was no one in the store… A child said you were on the seventh floor. He was soaking wet, and he led me to you…” The old woman’s hands trembled as she returned to the first floor before she let go of Han Fei.

"It was that child who came to buy toys who helped me." Han Fei took out a child's wooden puppet from his pocket. The puppet was full of cracks and looked like it would shatter completely if squeezed too hard.

"These customers who come to the store may be my hope for breaking the deadlock."

Upon opening the door of the secondhand shop, the old man, as before, went alone to the fake shrine on the first floor, muttering something to himself, and then handed the cloth bag in his hand to Han Fei.

"Grandma, this shrine is actually..." Han Fei hadn't finished speaking when the old woman shakily left again, walking out of the shop without looking back and disappearing into the night.

The old man would come over every night, do a good deed, and then leave.

She insisted that if she did a thousand good deeds, her son would come back, but in reality, even the shrine she worshipped was fake.

"There must be many people like her; they've all been deceived by the mall owner." Han Fei looked at the dense wounds on his left hand, and then thought of the soul he had just lost: "I must make everyone see the true face of the mall owner! This hypocritical demon!"

Sitting behind the counter, Han Fei opened the attribute panel. When he saw the old man's face, he had already shaken off the illusion of the shrine's owner and received a system notification.

At that time, half of his body was still hanging outside the seventh floor, so he didn't have time to look.

"Attention player number 0000! You have completed the Shrine Random Quest - Illusion."

"You did not get used to the hallucinations as I asked, but you found a way out that doesn't exist. You did what I couldn't do, and perhaps what you left me with is the right answer."

"The shrine owner's regret has been 45% alleviated! A large amount of experience has been gained! An opportunity to trade with the shrine without paying a price has been obtained!"

"Attention! You have gained the opportunity to speak by using your soul as a bargaining chip, but every transaction is always equal! Think carefully about the price of your soul before you speak."

Having narrowly escaped death to complete his mission, Han Fei also found himself gradually approaching the core of this world—the shrine.

After completing the "I" mission in the West District, he gained the shrine's initial approval. Now he has another chance to use the shrine. All the missions are progressing slowly, tormenting him into a devil while also making him more and more like the master of the shrine.

"It seems my evil soul was taken away by the shrine. Without its help, I couldn't break free from the illusion." Han Fei leaned on the counter. He didn't know the price of the evil soul, nor was he interested in using it for a trade. He wanted to release that remnant soul from the shrine.

"There seems to be a terrifying creature living inside the shrine. Once an evil spirit enters, will it be able to come out unscathed?"

In fact, this illusion mission also brought Han Fei many hidden benefits. It allowed Han Fei to see the various things that the owner of the shrine feared, and it also allowed him to meet the other shop assistants in the second-hand store. Perhaps he could find out the store owner's weaknesses from them.

After overcoming his illusions, Han Fei no longer intended to work diligently. He was going to fight back and use everything he could to expose the hypocritical mask of the mall owner.

(End of this chapter)