There were good and bad people in the world; it was the same in the cryptic world. Some ghosts were a worse version of themselves when they were alive; but some ghosts managed to retain kindness despite their circumstances. “What is your name? When the opportunity arises, I’ll bring you to meet your big brother.”
“Firefly Ying. My mom said it’s a kind of worm that glows in the dark but I’ve not seen it personally before.”
‘There are plenty of parents who’d wish their children to become dragons and phoenixes, but this is the first time I’ve met a parent who named their son after an insect.’ Han Fei had the child hurry away, “Don’t come back here to play again. Give me your home address, when the time is right, I’ll go find you.”
“My mother and I live in the hostel next to the convenience store. My mother is reluctant to move away because she has been waiting for my big brother to return.” It seemed to take a toll on the boy to hold such a long conversation. After he told Han Fei his address, he grabbed his rubber ball and toddled away.
“The kid is quite interesting…” Han Fei turned to stare at the wall in the back alley. Apparently everyone who worked at the convenience store would eventually end up trapped on the back alley wall. The wall was filled with faded human shapes, each of them representing a former worker. ‘This is probably not the first time Firefly has come here to play but the ghosts on the wall did not harm him or take over his body. In fact, they even played with him. When I opened the door earlier, the shadows crowded around Firefly’s hiding spot. That was the shadows trying to help him.’ The broken souls on the wall wanted to protect Firefly. Just that fact alone made Han Fei believe that he could be good friends with all these broken souls. ‘Looks like all my seniors are good people!’
His eyes scanning the wall, Han Fei took a slight bow. “This is my first day on the job, please take care of me, dear seniors.”
There was no response from the wall. Eventually Han Fei walked back into the store. But just as he was about to close the door, he believed he saw the human shadows on the wall moving, they seemed to gather to discuss something. ‘All the former employees have been sealed into the wall, why didn’t the boss just kill them? Does the boss still have a need for them?’
These shadows were weak Animated Regrets. But their power might be overwhelming if they gathered together.
The bell above the door tingled again. As Han Fei walked towards the store front, the landlord’s ring chilled. Heeding the warning, Han Fei hid inside the trash disposal room. He creaked the door open a gap and looked out. The single-eyed young man stood at the counter. Across from him was a woman about 2.5 metres tall. The woman had on a red veil and a lavish red wedding dress. However, there was a white flower pinned on her chest. Almost at the same time the woman appeared, the temperature in the store dropped to subzero. The single-eyed young man was so polite, he served the woman seriously. Most of the time though it was the young man talking, the woman merely nodded occasionally. Han Fei could not catch their conversation clearly, but he did overhear terms like Soul, Ziggurat, and 144. Several minutes later, the young man walked out from behind the counter and signaled for the woman to follow him into the warehouse.
As the woman turned to follow the young man, she stopped when she faced the trash disposal door. Her veil lifted from the wind and Han Fei saw a torn mouth. ‘Did she discover me?’ The woman did not expose Han Fei. Her unusually large hands were carrying a bloody package. She shuffled into the warehouse. There was no other sound after that even though the light from the warehouse did dim.
Then the coughs echoed. The young man came out from the warehouse carrying a paper doll that was the size of a normal human. The doll had a smile on its face and its hands closed over the young man’s eye. The bride walked out later. But her bloody package had disappeared. The bell rang and the young man carried the paper doll out from the store with the bride trailing behind them.
‘That paper doll did not look like a normal doll, its expression is practically alive. Could that be the boss?’ The temperature around him slowly returned to normal. Han Fei sidled to the warehouse door. The white candle inside was extinguished, the room was shrouded in darkness. ‘Even if the paper doll isn’t the boss, it should contain part of the boss’ spirit. After all, it was too alive to be a normal object. It even knew to cover my colleague’s eye, as if worried about what the young man might see.’ Han Fei did not believe a normal paper doll would be that astute, the boss should be controlling it one way or another. ‘The woman in the wedding dress is very strong, she gave off a presence even scarier than Xu Qin. She came here to seek the boss’ help, the package should contain the payment for the boss.’
Following the blood trail, Han Fei came to the last row of the shelf. It did not feel good being stared at by the rows of paper dolls but when Han Fei was there, he noticed something different too. When he was there the first time, the paper dolls looked at him like they were alive. They seemed to contain individual emotions but this time, the paper dolls’ eyes were dull like their souls were gone.
‘The blood trail stops here.’ Han Fei stared at the space before him. There was a paper doll in the way and Han Fei took it down. Behind the doll and the wall was an extended space. Han Fei reached his head into it to investigate. He realized there was a coffin sitting inside it. ‘Well, this is quite a secret.’ Han Fei memorized the arrangement of all the paper dolls before he took them all down to clear a space big enough for him to crawl behind the shelf and into the hidden space. When his hands touched the coffin lid, the ghost tattoo wailed. The pain was unbearable but Han Fei wasn’t the one bearing it. ‘Brother, it’ll just take a little longer.’
Han Fei noticed the package at the corner. It had been opened. The bloody cloth was left to the side. With enough strength, Han Fei eventually got the lid open. Various body parts were placed inside the coffin and right in the middle of the amalgamated creature was a blood red paper doll the size of Han Fei’s palm. The doll’s eyes were close as if asleep. Han Fei looked closer and he noticed there were various screaming faces on the doll’s body. Han Fei recognized many of them from the staff breakroom. ‘The paper doll is trying to build itself an actual body?’
While Han Fei was studying this new discovery, a voice came from the corner of the room. “Save me, save me…” Han Fei was so startled that he almost fell into the coffin. He widened his eyes to look around and realized the voice came from one of the white candles. He went to the white candle and stared at the carved face. The man did not look like a kind individual.
“You’re the new worker right? The boss’ curse on you is still weak, bring me with you and get out of this place, I will repay you massively!” The face tried his best to speak. “The paper doll has left, it rarely leaves the shop, this is a rare opportunity.”
“A candle wishes to convince me to betray my loyalty to the boss?” Han Fei countered vehemently.
“You removed the boss’ coffin lid on your first day of work, I don’t really see much loyalty in you.”
“I just wanted to get to know my favorite boss better.”
“You’re a clever person, let’s not waste time.” The face argued. “Do you know why the candles here can burn through the night? Do you know why the candles here are precious merchandise for the other ghosts?”
“Why?”
“All the white candles are made from grave wax, literally parts of monster bodies and the previous worker’s lingering spirit. It likes to hear their wails from being burnt.” The face turned twisted. “if you do not leave now, you’d be turned into a candle eventually! I know the way to undo the boss’ curse, if you take me away with you, I’ll help you remove your curse!”
“You seem to know the boss quite well…”
“Because I used to work here. The boss is the blood red paper doll inside the coffin. It is a cursed object but it has come alive from absorbing too many resentments. Everyone who enters the shop will become its target, either they become its merchandise or become its employees. Neither has a good ending! All the employees will eventually die! And it will be a horrible death. Our remaining humanity will be sucked away by the paper doll, becoming a part of it.” The candle face said chokingly.
“All the former workers’ humanity has been absorbed by the boss?’
“Yes.” The face turned to face the coffin. “The more it absorbs humanity and their resentment, the more alive it becomes. Normally, it will hide its presence inside one of the many dolls while its real body is kept nourished by flesh and blood. In other words, all the paper dolls in the shop are a part of it…”
“Doesn’t that mean we’ve already been exposed?”
“But tonight it’s different! The bride just dropped off the precious human heart and head for the boss. As compensation, she needs the boss’ help to kill someone.” The candle face knew a lot. He must have overheard many secrets just sitting there on the shelf. “The person lives at the Ziggurat. They’re very dangerous, so dangerous that the boss has to gather all of its power to have a chance to kill it. Once it kills the target though, it’ll gain more energy and increase its growth. Then it’s basically impossible for us to escape.”
“So tonight is our only chance to escape?”
“Yes! This chance won’t come ever again!” The candle face persuaded. “The boss’ curse will prevent you from leaving the shop and touching its real body, once you do, you’ll be placed under great pain. However, today, the boss will enter a big battle, there is no way for it to get away without being heavily injured. When it’s weakened, its curse will be weaker than usual. That means we’ll be in less pain even if we trigger the curse. Therefore, we have to leave now. This is our chance to escape, after we leave, I will tell you how to undo the curse.”
“Wait a minute, if the boss is going to be heavily injured, why are we escaping?”
“You’re powerless before it if you’re under its curse! It doesn’t matter how weak it is! Please just listen to me! Take me and run away from this place!”
“Let’s not rush it. I have a better idea.” Han Fei stared at the coffin behind the shelf. “After all, if I cause the shop to close on my first day of work, it’ll look so bad on my resume.”
Han Fei glanced at the mission interface. He now understood why the mission required him to survive for one night because after tonight, the convenience store might not exist anymore.
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