Han Fei, out of the crowd, returned to his weakened state. He looked half alive.
“Gao Cheng! Stop wasting time. The headmaster wants to have a morning meeting!” Crow called all the teachers to the conference room. The thing that happened this morning angered him a lot, but he wasn’t blinded by rage. The most important thing was still the exam or rather to sacrifice to the black building. Capturing the murderer would come after the exam. The headmaster told everyone to pay attention. After that, the headmaster chased everyone out except Yan Lan.
“Nice acting.” Wang Chuqing followed Han Fei. He whispered to Han Fei, “You should consider being an actor. You have the potential.”
“I was not acting. It was all real.” Han Fei took out the white stick from his pocket. “What else did you take from Shiwei Eatery last night? I remember there was also the heart of a Lingering Spirit.”
“You can remember some strange things. Only some very rare Lingering Spirits would have a heart. If you want it, trade it with the white stick.”
“Tomorrow night is the exam. Come to An Kang Pharmacy tonight, and I will give the stick to you.”
Han Fei’s ready agreement surprised Wang Chuqing. He looked at Han Fei hesitantly and asked cautiously, “You’re not planning to kill me, are you?”
“Am I that kind of person?” Han Fei was speechless. Everyone was prejudiced against him. He had no idea why. Wang Chuqing quickly ran. “Teacher Wang sure is shy.”
Han Fei returned to Class Seven and allowed them to self-study again. He took his stool and went on his tour again. Han Fei noticed that No. 4 looked very tired. He was sleeping. Han Fei knocked on the table. “Wear some jacket, or you’ll catch a cold.” No. 4 frowned. His eyes radiated death. His persona was spiraling out of control. Clearly, No. 4 exhausted a lot of his power yesterday night.
“Right, I have something to ask you,” Han Fei placed the stool beside the desk. He looked at No. 4 seriously, “How do you trigger the power of the persona? I know what kind of persona I have, but it is hidden in my brain.” No. 4 didn’t expect Han Fei to ask these things. Han Fei was the teacher.
No. 4 turned to No. 1 and 2. Since they didn’t object, No. 4 continued, “Persona is the brand of your life. It’s the gem of your memory and experience. It can help you experience despair but can also push you into the abyss.”
“Can you explain it clearer? I wish to use the power inherent in my persona too.” Han Fei had mastered the usage of the greed persona. If he could awaken his healing persona, then he’d be more powerful.
“The world has been changed by tragedy. Emotions are percolating everywhere. Ghosts are made from these emotions. Persona is the power to transmute these emotions into power.” No. 4 touched his heart. “Adjust your emotions and don’t be affected by anything. Immerse in your world and embrace your persona. Then you can control it and unleash its true potential.” It was not hard for people like No. 4. “If you really can’t awaken your persona, then you can try doing something related to it, like people with fearless persona needs to be fearless. You can do risky challenges.”
“Is that so?” Han Fei had a healing persona, so he might need to go around helping people. The students of Class Seven had their broken minds but Han Fei wouldn’t experiment on these kids. He needed a target with who he could experiment freely.
“For most, even though they’ve awakened their persona, they normally need something to channel it, like a song, an action, an object, or so on.” No. 5 walked over. “That’s all we can tell you.”
“The healing feeling and something to channel it…” Han Fei didn’t disturb these kids. He took the stool and left the classroom. Han Fei ran into Yan Lan. The female teacher had an imposing aura.
“Good morning, Teacher Yan. Did the headmaster make things difficult for you?” Before Han Fei spoke, Yan Lan’s fist brushed past his ear and hit the wall!
The wall behind Han Fei cracked. The metallic spikes were drilled into the spine. Her dark face approached Han Fei. “You madman. What are you planning?”
“Have you seen such a passive madman?” Han Fei didn’t dare to move. He could see the murderous intent in her eyes.
“Are you related to the 27 lives?” Yan Lan’s voice was icy. “They were killed by one punch through the chest. You’re framing me!”
“I’m not that capable, but those 27 people were not innocent. They didn’t care about others after they gained power. They sacrificed other people’s children to ensure their safety. Isn’t that unfair?”
“Fair?” Yan Lan’s knuckles cracked. “There is no fairness in this city.”
“It might not exist in the past, but that’s because I haven’t decided to change yet.” Han Fei’s expression didn’t change. He was calm and rational. “The aim of the school is to protect the survivors and resist the ghosts. This is not a canteen for ghosts. If no one is willing to bring change, then I’ll be the change.”
“The headmaster will kill you!”
“I’m touched that you said that. At least you’re not the one going to kill me.” Han Fei tapped Yan Lan’s arms. “The fearless persona is humanity’s best song. But you’ll only be fearless on the right path, so I hope that you don’t waste it.”
Yan Lan didn’t sell out Han Fei. This proved that she had been moved. Class Seven’s plan might be to frame Yan Lan, but Han Fei made a better choice.
The bell rang for class. Han Fei listened to the other classes and brought the info back to his class. As the day of the exam drew closer, the atmosphere at school became severe. Every teacher tried to teach their students, hoping to raise their survival chances. The time passed quickly in the day. After the students left, Ma Jing blocked Han Fei in the corridor. “Teacher Gao, you seem to be getting closer to Teacher Wang lately. When did you two get so close?”
“Teacher Wang is kind and passionate. He gave me cursed objects and ghost blood!” Han Fei smiled at Ma Jing.
“You have to think about it. Ghost blood is delicious but being alive is more important.” Ma Jing took out a picture. “I have more of these. The headmaster is wondering how to answer the base citizens. Don’t be that scapegoat.”
“We’ll trade at An Kang Pharmacy tonight. I want to ensure that you’ve destroyed everything.” Han Fei lowered his voice.
“Why are we going there? Are you going to work together with the black merchant to kill me?” Ma Jing’s eyes under the glasses were like snakes.
“I can’t confirm that you’ll destroy everything, so I need you to commit to a trade with the black merchant too.” Han Fei narrowed his eyes. “Who knows if you have an extra copy? After I give you the white stick, you might turn on me. Or what if you use the same thing to extort me in the future?”
Han Fei made sense. Ma Jing started to think. They didn’t trust each other.
“Alright.” Ma Jing held Han Fei’s shoulder. Gao Cheng’s image was reflected in his glasses. “Don’t play any tricks, or else I’ll make you pay, and your students won’t survive too.”
“See you at nine.” Han Fei pushed the man’s hand off.
Han Fei walked back to the teacher’s apartment alone. He submerged his consciousness in his mind and pieced his memory fragment together, but no matter what, he couldn’t form the healing persona, but the greed persona kept growing in his mind.
“Gao Cheng has been tortured for years in this world. I can’t underestimate him. I need to awaken my own persona.”
Han Fei left the school one hour later.
…
At 8.55 pm, the tightly-wrapped Ma Jing came to An Kang Pharmacy. He was in disguise and released the presence of the ghost in his glasses.
“Gao Cheng won’t trick me, right? He’s at the edge of madness. He shouldn’t be able to use his persona power so he can’t win me in a fight.” After Gao Cheng exited the Strange Bu8ilding, he had high mental corruption. This was something everyone knew. Even though ghost blood could cleanse the corruption, consuming ghost blood was suicide. Ma Jing didn’t think he could lose. “Time passes so slowly.” He hid in the dark and looked around with agitation.
At 9 pm, another figure appeared. Wang Chuqing appeared at An Kang Pharmacy on time. Yesterday night, he just saved Han Fei. Wang Chuqing believed that Han Fei would be a man of his word. Wang Chuqing brought the Lingering Spirit's heart and his remaining ghost blood to show his sincerity.
“Wang Chuqing?” When Ma Jing saw Wang Chuqing, his eyes turned dark. “He’s here too?” Ma Jing quickly weighed the situation. But before he could figure out anything, he heard the sound of a coin flipping. The shadow around Ma Jing yawned and ate him like an abyss.
“How dare you scam me?” Shadows of students appeared in Ma Jing’s glasses. Their necks were white from strangulation. They were Ma Jing’s puppets that he ordered to charge at the abyss. As a teacher, Ma Jing had a special selfish persona. Everything he did was for himself. The black abyss consumed all the students. Ma Jing removed his glasses, “Bunch of trash!”
His memories rushed into his pupils. His parents and elder brother’s images appeared in his eyes. To survive, he turned his parents and elder brother into ghosts. The strong brother blocked the black mist, and the parents floated through.
“Gao Cheng, don’t let me find you, or I’ll make you into ghosts too!”
Ma Jing was looking for Han Fei when he heard Han Fei’s painful scream, “Help me! Ma Jing wants to kill me!”
Ma Jing, who was trapped in the mist, was confused.
Outside the mist, Han Fei was pierced through by a red paper doll. He struggled to crawl out of the black mist. He puked out red papers. The curse had crawled into his heart.
“Ma Jing wants to kill me. Stop him…” Han Fei crawled and collapsed not far from Wang Chuqing.
When Wang Chuqing saw this, he was shocked. “Who tortured you like this?”
After completing the blood feast mission, Han Fei could access his inventory once. He chose the red paper doll. The curse came from Xu Qin. This was Xu Qin’s hug, but it was scary-looking.
“It was Ma Jing who killed the managers! He has been cooperating with the black merchant! He wants to sacrifice the kids at school!” Han Fei pointed at the black mist. “Kill him! We have to!”
Seeing Han Fei like this, Wang Chuqing took out the blade wrapped in black cloth. He removed the cloth and charged into the mist of greed.
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