My 'Healing' Game

The black shadow that had been beside the sofa somehow appeared at the bedroom door. Han Fei could vaguely make out the outline of a person; it was squatting on the ground with its head hung low.

His body felt as if it had turned to stone. Han Fei half-knelt on the bed, still draped in the slightly moldy, large red blanket.

"If I had known beforehand that this was a combat or puzzle game, I definitely would've prepared myself psychologically, but the problem is, both the Boss and all the information online said that this is a healing-type game. Who the hell knows how to escape in a healing-type game!"

He stared unblinkingly at the bedroom door, his brain rapidly whirring back to life after a brief shutdown.

What had happened was now past; pondering why he couldn't exit the game was pointless. He needed to survive within the rules!

To quit the game, he had to meet two conditions: first, the game duration had to be over three hours, and second, he must complete at least one task.

"I've already completed the task of installing a fuse at Granny's place. I remember the clock on the wall showed midnight when I first opened my eyes entering the game, and the last time I checked, it was 2:44 am, which means I just need to find a way to hold out for no more than sixteen minutes to get out of here!"

Han Fei's thoughts had never been so clear. He kept a close watch on the bedroom door, muscles tense, his fingers tightly gripping the kitchen knife.

"I've checked earlier; there's no one in the bathroom, nor any place to hide a person. What the hell is this thing? Why would it open the bathroom door in the middle of the night?"

As long as Han Fei held out for sixteen minutes, he could survive. The question was, how to last those sixteen minutes? The situation was worsening, and he wasn't sure if the kitchen knife in his hand would be of any use. Clutching the knife was just the body's instinctual search for a sliver of psychological comfort.

Lying in bed in the dead of night, waking to see someone squatting next to the living room sofa, and in the blink of an eye, finding that person at the bedroom door—just the thought of it made his scalp tingle.

Stay calm! He had to remain calm!

Being unable to exit the game had dealt a great blow to Han Fei. He was still reeling from that shock when he was baptized with sudden fear. An ordinary salaryman, hammered by such blows in succession, astonishingly hadn't collapsed. Even Han Fei found it somewhat unbelievable.

"The elder said this house had issues and wasn't safe, likely referring to that person squatting on the ground. Other residents in the building haven't moved out, which means this guy rarely leaves the room. If I can escape, I should be temporarily safe."

Easy to say, but hard to do. Looking at the blurred human shadow squatting at the bedroom door, Han Fei had no courage to approach.

"No, the situation isn't yet as hopeless as it could be! It's blocking the door and not coming over; I can just play for time with it and exit the game as soon as the sixteen minutes are up. If it moves further inside, then I'll dash out of the bedroom!"

In this critical emergency, with his life on the line, Han Fei couldn't care less about any newbie tasks.

His gaze slowly moved, sweeping toward the digital wall clock in the living room. But before he could make out the time, a bone-chilling coldness surged into his heart!

His pupils contracted, Han Fei looked back toward the bedroom door, and the person squatting there had vanished.

At that moment, Han Fei made the smartest decision—he didn't foolishly turn on the light, he didn't move back, and he didn't look around for the other party. Instead, he jumped straight out of bed and bolted for the living room door!

He knew that the thing had entered the bedroom. Lingering there for even a second longer was suicidal. Rather than hope for luck or be curious about what the thing actually was, it was better to leave immediately.

Every second counted, no stopping. Han Fei felt he had never run so fast in his life.

He rushed to the security door and opened it as quickly as he could.

The sound of the door opening and closing set off the hallway's motion-sensitive lights, and dim yellow light flooded into the apartment, but Han Fei didn't dare look back. In the moment he descended the stairs, he only glanced back with the corners of his eyes.

In the decrepit, deserted room, a person with limbs twisted at odd angles lay under the bedroom light, and had Han Fei turned on the light just then, he might have seen the ghastly pale face!

He slammed the door shut, fearing pursuit, and soon after, harrowing sounds came from inside the apartment, as if someone was frantically clawing at the door with their nails.

"Does that thing want to come out?"

Without daring to linger, Han Fei ran downstairs with the kitchen knife in hand. He knew the elder below had issues, but compared to the unknown entity, the threat from the elder seemed smaller.

Han Fei arrived at the third floor, only to smell the familiar scent of meat again. He noticed the old man's door was ajar, and there were a few black bags thrown at the entrance, different from the ones he had seen in the fridge before.

Taking a few steps back, he bumped into the door of another apartment on the third floor. A cracked Mirror of Eight Diagrams fell from above the door, narrowly missing him.

Turning his head, Han Fei noticed that the door of this apartment was covered in Talisman Paper, creating an extremely terrifying sight.

"Is there not a single normal person in this building?"

Being continuously shocked, Han Fei's nerves were on edge, and at that moment, all the sound-controlled lights in the corridor went out. No matter how loud he shouted, the lights remained off as if they were broken, never illuminating once more.

In the dead silence, Han Fei clearly heard the sound of a door being slowly pushed open, something in the darkness was approaching.

His heartbeat accelerated, Han Fei desperately ran downstairs, sensing something chasing him through the dark.

With gritted teeth, Han Fei rushed to the first floor, only then did he realize that the hallway door was locked, and he could not leave the building.

Swinging his arm, Han Fei used the kitchen knife to hack at the door lock, until darkness enveloped him, and something seemed to appear behind him.

As his neck was constricted, Han Fei, who appeared to go crazy chopping at the door lock, actually focused all his attention on the Attribute Panel.

A chill soaked through his body, Han Fei could no longer hold the knife, and as he was about to lose consciousness, the grey exit button finally lit up.

Three hours had passed!

"Exit!"

Boom!

A loud bang sounded in his Brain Sea, the world was spinning, and intense pain emanated from deep within his brain.

Enduring the agony, Han Fei regained control over his body the moment he removed the gaming helmet with both hands and slammed it down on the table forcefully.

Night had fallen, and the wall-mounted projector screen displayed that it was now 3:01 AM.

Han Fei had entered the game during the day, but by the time he returned to reality, it was deep into the night.

Exhaustion emerged from every part of his body, and Han Fei still felt an unreal sensation, as if he had not truly escaped from the game.

"Player number 0000, please note! You have completed your first game in the initial version of Perfect Life, please accelerate your exploration!"

A cold mechanical synthesized voice echoed in the depths of his mind, Han Fei froze on the spot upon hearing it, certain he had removed the gaming helmet, and the voice had appeared directly in his head.

"How is this possible?"

"Player number 0000, please note! You have completed your first game, please start your second game within 24 hours!"

"Why do I have this voice in my head?" Han Fei touched the back of his head that kept throbbing with pain, picked up the heavy gaming helmet, and only then did he see that the inside of the helmet was covered with blood.

Thinking back carefully, Han Fei vaguely remembered that after putting on the helmet, it felt as if something had pierced into his head.

"Isn't this attempted murder?" Han Fei took out his phone to call the police, but as soon as he thought of calling, the voice in his Brain Sea came again.

"Player number 0000, please note! Do not disclose any information about the game to anyone, or the Black Box will explode in your brain, ensuring brain death at precisely 00:00:01."

"Black Box? Brain death?" Han Fei looked at the label on the helmet indicating a Healing-type Game, and for a moment, his headache worsened.