My 'Healing' Game

After losing his job, Han Fei played many games. He did this mainly to vent the pressure inside his heart, hoping to adjust his state as soon as possible and regain the motivation to live.

Now his goal has been achieved. After playing "Perfect Life," he deeply understood the beauty of life, and realized that the unfairness he had faced was so trivial compared to Fierce Ghosts and psychopaths.

In a way, he really was healed.

It's just that this method of healing was rather crude, as if he had a splinter in his finger but ended up chopping off his entire arm.

Helpless, he collapsed to the ground. Anguish and exhaustion tormented every nerve, Han Fei didn't know whether he had fallen asleep or passed out.

...

Thump! Thump! Thump!

At seven in the morning, Han Fei was woken up by the sound of knocking. He clambered up from the ground, still a bit dazed.

It wasn't until he saw the gaming helmet on the desk, and the blood inside it, that he realized that last night's game was not a dream.

"The difficulty of the newbie task is so high, the later tasks must be even more terrifying. Isn't this sending me to die? I'm just a comedy actor, I can't even fight, how can I confront those utterly vicious 'neighbors' on the entire floor?"

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The knocking continued. If this had been before he started gaming, Han Fei, who suffered from severe social anxiety, would most likely pretend that no one was home and quietly wait for the person to leave.

But after playing that game, he didn't think too much and just went straight to open the door.

"Hello, we are police officers from the Happiness Road Police Station in the Old City District. My name is Zhao Ming, and this is my colleague Zhang Xiaotian."

"Police?"

Seeing the two uniformed officers at the door, Han Fei's eyes lit up. The thought of that thing called "Black Box," which threatened him with brain death if he contacted the police, crossed his mind, but now the police had come to him on their own.

"Please, come in!" Han Fei had never been so eager to communicate, inviting the two officers into his home and then running to the fridge to look for drinks.

"We are here to ask about something. There was a fire in our jurisdiction, and the surveillance caught you at the scene of the fire," the two officers said, sensing something odd about Han Fei's eagerness. Zhao Ming even took out his phone to check; he found that Han Fei's behavior was not the same as indicated on the police investigation files.

"Actually, I have something I want to tell you too," Han Fei said, sitting opposite the officers with a drink in hand.

"Oh?" The two officers exchanged glances, their expressions growing serious as they intently focused on Han Fei: "What do you want to tell us?"

"Last night..."

"Warning! Player number 0000, please note! Do not disclose the existence of the original version of 'Perfect Life' to anyone! After three warnings! The Black Box will explode inside your brain!"

It felt as if someone had grabbed hold of his brain's nerves. The trembling sensation from the depths of his mind made Han Fei open his mouth, but he found himself completely unable to continue.

The two officers watched Han Fei's half-open mouth, and for a few seconds, all three of them were motionless.

"What happened last night?" The officers waited, unaware of the pressure that Han Fei was under at that moment. Beads of sweat rolled down Han Fei's cheeks, the terror of destruction lingering in the depths of his brain.

A vein bulged on his forehead, and Han Fei clenched his teeth. He suddenly punched the couch, ultimately keeping the existence of the game to himself.

The two officers were startled by Han Fei's actions, "Calm down, let's talk this out. Resisting with force is the most foolish thing to do."

Racking his brains, Han Fei deliberately avoided mentioning the game; he tried to express his trouble from another angle.

To prevent the 'Black Box' in his mind from exploding, he spoke each word very cautiously, "Last night at midnight, take note of this time, an old lady invited me over for dumplings. Her grandson just slammed the fish soup down, saying the ingredients were taken out of a coffin, but they were actually taken out of the fridge. I felt like their fridge seemed to be hiding a corpse."

"Having such thoughts, shouldn't you reflect on yourself more?" The officers, seeing how earnest Han Fei was, Zhao Ming quietly activated his law enforcement recorder, while Zhang Xiaotian's hand subtly moved behind his back, "Then what happened?"

"I went back home and started sleeping. The bathroom door started moving by itself, and something came out from there. Do you believe in ghosts in this world?"

"What?"

"Ghosts! It was squatting on the ground, then suddenly disappeared. It had an ashen face, and its body seemed boneless! The moment I opened my eyes, it was hiding right by the bedside lamp!" Han Fei's emotions grew more intense. Afraid that the officers would leave and miss his chance for help, he gesticulated wildly, fully showcasing his solid acting skills.

"I've got my law enforcement recorder out, and you're telling me about ghosts?" Zhao Ming took a deep breath, trying to keep his tone as even as possible, "If you're only here to tell us this, then let's forget it. We will ask you a few questions next, please answer them truthfully."

"Upon my conscience, everything I've said is true!" Han Fei wasn't acting; he blinked desperately as if he were a hostage, except his captor was not a kidnapper but a game.

"First question, why were you in the Old City District's Antique Street yesterday at one-thirty in the afternoon?" Zhao Ming did not continue to beat around the bush but directly asked.

"I went to buy a secondhand game. Right! We can go find the shop manager! Comrades of the police! Come with me to find that shop manager..."

"What shop manager? Many of the buildings on that old street are dilapidated, and all the stores were closed three months ago."

"Impossible! I've been buying games at that secondhand store for three days straight! Let's go right now! I'll take you to the store!" Han Fei stood up abruptly.

"Do you really not know or are you pretending to be confused? There was a big fire on Antique Street yesterday afternoon, all the secondhand stores were burned down. Luckily the stores had been closed for a while, so no one was injured."

"All the secondhand stores are burned down?" Han Fei stared blankly at the officers, then after a moment his gaze became resolute again, "Impossible! There's a loophole! I clearly remember the shop manager's appearance! If you find this person, you can prove that I am not lying!"

Han Fei was a professional actor with an excellent memory. He took out paper and pen at this point and wrote down the old shop manager's physical characteristics, "Just look based on this! You will definitely find him!"

"I can tell you responsibly that it's impossible for any store to be operating there..." Zhao Ming was about to say more when his phone suddenly vibrated. He signaled to Zhang Xiaotian to watch Han Fei as he stepped out of the room.

"Hello? Captain Wang?"

"Have you arrived at the suspect's home for the Antique Street arson case? Any findings?" The voice of a middle-aged man came from the phone.

"We've arrived, and after some conversation and questioning, we've found that the person is indeed a bit off." Zhao Ming glanced into the room and then lowered his voice.

"Explain."

"According to the personality model established from big data on citizen information, he's a very introverted, hardworking comedian. We also checked his psychological counseling records, the file says he has severe social phobia."

"A comedian with social anxiety?"

"That's what the citizen information and data analysis shows, but our actual interaction showed that the suspect is overly excited and behaving abnormally. I suspect his social phobia has healed, it's just that..."

"Just what?"

"Just that the man seems crazy."