Chapter 667 - A Shadowless Child [2 in 1] (1/2)

The familiar cigarette evoked Chen Ge’s memory. He had never been an overly sentimental person, but at that moment, his footsteps slowed to a stop.

“Just how many things were you guys hiding from me to abandon me and come to such a dangerous place on your own?” Chen Ge knocked on the door, but there was no reply, then he called out softly, “Is anyone in here?”

As he finished saying that, a gasp of pleasant surprise came from inside the room. “Boss Chen‽”

The iron lock behind the door slid out of place, and the intricate lock system started to move. After a long time, the door that looked so normal on the outside finally opened. Fan Chong dressed in his pajamas stood behind the door. There was sign of tears left on his face. When this overweight fellow over one hundred kilograms saw Chen Ge, he stampeded at the latter, preparing to bury Chen Ge in a bear hug.

“Please control yourself.” Chen Ge took a step back. He could see how excited Fan Chong was.

“I knew you would come! Boss Chen, you have no idea how close I was to not being able to see you again!” Fan Chong’s voice started to break when he was telling his story. He had many things to tell Chen Ge, but he did not know where to start. He paced back and forth in the room, the folds of fat on his stomach shuddering with his every step.

“Calm down first, do you have your phone on you? We spoke on the phone several hours ago, so let me check your phone records.” Chen Ge was testing Fan Chong. When Fan Chong disappeared, he had dropped his phone inside his room. In fact, it was Fan Dade who latter picked up Fan Chong’s phone and had a brief conversation with Chen Ge.

“I don’t have it with me. I was in too much of a hurry when I was trying to escape, and I dropped the phone in my room.” Fan Chong pointed at his extra-large pajamas that did not come with any pockets. Chen Ge nodded and looked into the room; this was a normal rental room. There were beds, tables, and electric fans—there was nothing that jumped out at Chen Ge.

“Why would you be hiding at a place like this? Who brought you here?” Chen Ge was under the impression that Fan Chong had been kidnapped by the shadow, but from the looks of it, that did not appear to be the case.

“Honestly, I have a hard time believing what happened myself.” Fan Chong nudged his oversized body to the side and walked to the window.

“This is the underground basement. What’s the point of building a window in the room? Is this some kind of self-hypnosis?” Chen Ge gripped the hammer tightly and stood at the door, afraid that this might be a trap.

“She brought me here.” Fan Chong pulled back the thick curtains. The cement wall outside the window had a painting that had been done with cheap crayons. There was a mountain, a river, a smiling sun, flowers that would never wilt, and a family full of smiles.

Chen Ge’s gaze followed the movement of the curtain before resting at the corner of the windowsill where a little girl was seated. She was in a red dress, staring at the painting on the cement wall like it was some kind of ageless art.

“Xiao Bu?” This was not the first time that Chen Ge had seen this girl, but every time, the feeling that he got from her was completely different. Sometimes, she came with a warning, other times detachment, and this time, there was a certain helplessness.

“It was she who dragged me away when we were on the phone earlier.” Fan Chong’s eyes twitched like he was still afraid when he thought back to what happened then. “Tonight, it was not my big brother who came home; it was someone else. I still have a hard time believing it. I failed to notice anything out of the ordinary and shared the same room with him for so long.”

“Your big brother was replaced by the shadow?” What Fan Chong said matched Chen Ge’s earlier suspicion. “Is this what Xiao Bu told you?”

“Yes, my brother did not come home tonight, and I am worried about him.” Fan Chong sat on the bed, and the old bedframe creaked under its weight. It felt like the thing could collapse at any moment. Compared to his size, the bed seemed so small.

“These beds seem to have been prepared for children,” Fan Chong explained as he sneaked a glance at Xiao Bu. He was worried that he might damage the bed as well.

“Prepared for children?” Chen Ge sensitively caught the key term that Fan Chong used. “On the phone, you told me that after clearing the game, Xiao Bu entered this building. What is so special about this building? It looks not so different from other buildings in Li Wan City whether you look at its interior or exterior.”

“I’m not sure, but I heard this from Xiao Bu as well. Many years ago, an epidemic swept Li Wan City, and this was the only building that was avoided by the infected.”

“Only building avoided by the infected? What do you mean?” Chen Ge still did not quite get it.

“It’s a long story. You’ll understand everything once you finish Xiao Bu’s game. The game uses Li Wan City as the setting and perfectly replicates what happened in Li Wan City at the time.” Fan Chong had cleared all the side quests, so he was familiar with all the plot. “Human nature is a very complicated thing. It can shine like the sun to bring warmth and comfort to the weak and helpless, but it can also be a dark abyss, dark and cold, dangerously bottomless.

“The source of the epidemic was Li Wan Hospital. The doctors were at a loss, and they could not do anything to stop the spread of the disease. Some of the patients knew that they were not long for this world, so some of them came up with the idea of taking revenge. They contaminated several medical devices and food supplies with their own blood, and soon, the disease started to spread.

“First, it was mostly the other patients, but eventually, it caught onto the doctors before spreading to half of Li Wan City. The epidemic continued to grow, and people were living in constant fear. Many who caught the disease contracted symptoms like they had gone mad. Even though they did not commit direct murder, many innocent people died because of them, so in reality, they were not that different from actual serial killers.

“At the time, the whole of Li Wan City was thrown into chaos, and the only serene oasis was this very building.