My Iyashikei Game

442 Mother's Blessing

“Excuse me.” The nurse walked past Han Fei, his voice was cold and his expression aloof. He didn’t care about the feelings of the people around him because they were all fake anyway.

“What does this guy do here anyway? He smells so strange.” Lee Long frowned. The nurse didn’t care. He pushed his cart into the room at the end of the corridor that didn’t have its lights on.

‘Is he looking for something at the hospital?’ Han Fei memorized the stench on the man. ‘Is it related to my mission?’ Han Fei knew that for the nurse, all the locals of this world were just part of the background. Other than the altar owner, everyone else was built from memory so he would not waste any time on them. Of course it was also possible that Ten Fingers had ‘inspected’ all the locals but couldn’t find anything on them so they ignored them. Han Fei left the payment booth and intended to follow the nurse when a series of rapid footsteps came from the front entrance.

The hospital door opened and the cold wind blew into the hospital. 4 large bodyguards shielded a man about 50 as they entered the hospital. The old man suffered from muscle atrophy, his exposed skin had rotting wounds. When the nurses saw the man, they immediately called a number and ran over to him.

“I heard from the mall manager that one of the workers at my shop is in a coma?” The man coughed when he spoke, his physical condition was weak.

“CEO Gu? You’ve come in person?” After getting the nurse’s call, the doctor on duty walked out. He appeared to be napping earlier but he was pretending like he was hard at work.

“You know me?” The senior was surprised. He stood among the 4 guards, his voice incredibly weak.

“I was lucky to have met you once.” The doctor said with a big smile. “An elder from your shop passed away from an accident, he was my patient too.” The doctor was strangely happy as his eyes shone with anticipation.

The man nodded. “How is the patient now?”

“She is already out of the danger zone but she is still unconscious. I’m afraid she’ll have to be prepared for prolonged treatment. Her colleague has already paid for her emergency treatment but the fees for her extenuating treatment…” The doctor’s face glowed like he was looking at the God of Money.

“Her colleague?” At that moment, the man finally noticed Han Fei. However, there was no surprise in his eyes like he had already expected Han Fei to be there. Han Fei noticed this but he didn’t show it on his face.

“CEO Gu, you have such an eye for talent. Your employees are all good people. When we told him the situation, the kid immediately volunteered to foot the bill.” The doctor sounded like he was praising Han Fei but his every statement revolved around money.

“Fine, I understand. Bring me to see the patient first.” The old man entered the ward with his 4 bodyguards. He walked out about 10 minutes later. The old man paid the rest of the fee and even demanded the bill Han Fei had paid from the doctor.

“CEO Gu, Huang Li has already resigned. Technically speaking, she is not our employee anymore.” After knowing CEO Gu was at the hospital, Zhu Wei who was supposed to be here 30 minutes ago finally arrived.

“Regardless, it doesn’t change the fact that she has worked for me for a very long time. She is now in a coma, how can I just let her be?” The old man was physically weak. Just saying a few words took a heavy toll on him. Holding the money, CEO Gu walked towards Han Fei. The bodyguards made to follow but the old man waved for them to stay.

“Kid, you’re a kind person. I knew I made the right choice.” CEO Gu handed the money to Han Fei. “This is the money you’ve paid for Huang Li. I know you have a mother who needs your care. You’re working several jobs to collect money to save her.”

Even though Han Fei had entered the memory world for days already, this was his first time meeting his boss. From the short interaction, his boss was very nice to his employees, caring, he was the perfect boss.

“Thank you, boss.” Han Fei accepted the money and he immediately discovered something was wrong. “You’ve given me an extra 1000.”

“Good people have good karma. You deserve it. I’ve always encouraged my employees to do good deeds.” The boss looked at Han Fei as if waiting for him to make a choice.

“It’s okay, I’ll only take the money I deserve, I won’t take those that I don’t.” Han Fei handed the 1000 RMB back to the old man. Seeing that, the boss and the 2 loansharks were stunned.

“It’s wonderful you have such strong principles.” CEO Gu smiled for the first time but his smile made Han Fei strangely uncomfortable. “I remember your mother also stays at this hospital, let’s go visit her.”

With the doctor leading the way, they came to the ward for the altar owner’s mother. Through the window, one could see a woman who looked much older than her actual age lying on the single bed. Her body was thin and frail. Pain made it so that she couldn’t rest and she had to rely on sedatives.

“His mother will have her surgery next week and the success rate is only 5 percent.” The doctor told CEO Gu outside the ward.

“If all the equipment is traded for the best kind, will the surgery have a higher success rate?” The old man’s eyes stared at the woman in bed. His eyes were cold like he was the one being tortured by sickness.

“No.” The doctor shook his head but he noticed CEO Gu was still looking at him. After some hesitation, the doctor changed his tune, “If everything is updated to the latest model, the surgery’s success rate might increase by 1 percent.”

“1 percent is better than nothing.” CEO Gu thought for a long time before he turned to Han Fei. “I have no idea your mother’s situation is so dire. How about this, I’ll help you upgrade your mother’s services for free, her life is more important.”

“For free?” Han Fei was confused. The altar owner’s biggest wish was to collect 50000 RMB within 30 days to help his mother with her surgery, but now this hardest wish became the easiest to complete. The moment he said yes, Han Fei didn’t need to worry about the money anymore. Honestly Han Fei was tempted. From the altar owner’s perspective, he should be at the edge of a mental breakdown. He couldn’t ensure the basic quality of his own life, he owed the loansharks money, he worked all day and most importantly he had accidentally killed a man. All these added to the pressure on him. He was a child who was told by his mother that good people would have good karma but his good intention had led him to kill a man.

“I…” Saying yes would solve many things. Han Fei’s lips opened but he couldn’t utter the words. A detail flashed across his mind. Before CEO Gu arrived at the hospital, he seemed to have already realized Han Fei would be there. He was not shocked when he saw Han Fei at the hospital. The boss of the mall came to visit his former employee at the hospital in person, he was indeed a good boss but what if he had an ulterior motive?

Han Fei looked touched but his brain was spinning. He connected all the details that he had encountered in the memory world and he noticed something scary. Tonight when Han Fei first arrived at the 2nd hand store, he heard from Huang Li that the boss requested them to organize the storeroom before dawn. It was because of that request that Han Fei encountered the real altar. If not for his firm constitution, he would have opened the altar and caused unimaginable consequences.

The other suspicion was the black cloth over the altar. When Han Fei entered the storeroom, the black cloth had already been partway peeled back. In other words, someone knew Han Fei would enter the storeroom and this was all a trap!

Lastly, Huang Li had already quitted her job. So she would leave after teaching Han Fei the ropes. She was no longer a useful staff member and coincidentally she had that accident. As the only nightshift staff, if something happened to Huang Li, Han Fei was the person most likely to send her to the hospital. If the boss had planned all these, then he wouldn’t be surprised to see Han Fei at the hospital.

However these were not the scariest things. Han Fei had thought further. It was the man with the colorful shirt who introduced Han Fei to the job at the mall. The man with the colorful shirt was related to the loansharks, could the loansharks be related to the boss as well?

The altar owner was the boss’ prey, all his misfortune were man-made!

When the altar owner was cornered, he met his boss. At this moment, he wouldn’t have rejected his boss’ kindness.

Han Fei thought of another detail. The old lady who frequented the shop couldn’t speak, her only son once worked at the 2nd hand shop but was said to be consumed by the altar. This incident was not as simple as it seemed. Perhaps the rumors were real and the altar owner was the boss’ next target.

‘The price of one’s soul…’ Han Fei’s eyes glowed, he already knew what choice he needed to make.

“Thank you but it’s okay. I’ve already collected half of my mother’s surgical money.” Han Fei rejected the offer.

“Your mother has worked hard all her life, she shouldn’t be subjected to this kind of pain.” The old man whispered, “Please don’t be pressured from accepting my kindness, both of you deserve it.”

“It’s really fine.”

“Why are you so stubborn? Have you not considered your own mother’s situation?” The doctor scolded. Everyone surrounded Han Fei. While he was berated by these people, sound came from inside the ward. The mother appeared to be woken up by the commotion. She turned with difficulty and saw Han Fei surrounded by the crowd. She called weakly, she appeared to be calling Han Fei.

“The patient is awake.” The woman wanted to help Han Fei. Even though she was sick, she didn’t want to see her boy bullied. The door opened and Han Fei was the first to walk in. This was his first time seeing the woman but part of the memory in his mind was activated. He acted on instinct and leaned down beside the bed where the woman’s hand could touch him. “Mom, I’ve come to see you.”

The illness drained the blood from the woman’s face. However she smiled when she saw Han Fei. She didn’t say a word but she grabbed Han Fei’s hand and refused to let go. The memory that didn’t belong to Han Fei influenced him. He felt immense guilt. He couldn’t pay the rent, couldn’t find the father who had stolen all of their money, owed the loansharks, even his wounded arms were stained with blood that couldn’t be washed away. “I have made a choice, but I don’t know whether it was right or not, I…”

“It doesn’t matter.” The woman looked at Han Fei silently, “You have already made the best choice.” This was the first time Han Fei saw a smile like that, he couldn’t describe it. Even with his masterful acting he couldn’t replicate it because it was something he had been missing.

“Don’t worry about me. You better go back to work, it’s almost dawn.” The woman let go. After some hesitation, she caressed Han Fei’s cheek. “Don’t leave behind irreparable regret because of me.”

“Regret?” When the woman said that, the system announced, “Notification for Player 0000! You’ve completed the random mission—Money!

“The choice that you made I can’t make again. You can’t change things that have already happened in the past.

“You’ve rectified 20 percent of the altar owner’s regret! You’ve obtained a large amount of EXP and mother’s blessing.

“Mother’s Blessing: Decrease rate of mood points lowers, the mutation speed of the world slows down! Permanent +1 to intelligence!”