Chapter 0667 – The Man Without a Shadow
The familiar cigarette evoked Chen Ge’s memories, he wasn’t a sentimental person, but at this moment he still stopped in his tracks.
”Leaving me alone and running to such a dangerous place by yourselves, just how many other things are you guys hiding from me?”
Tapping on the door of the room without any response, Chen Ge shouted in a low voice, “Is anyone there?”
Just as he finished speaking, a surprised voice came out from inside the door.
”Boss Chen?!”
The chain behind the door slid, the card spring popped open, and it took a long time before this seemingly ordinary door was opened.
Fan Cong in pajamas stood behind the door with tear tracks on his face, when this two hundred plus pound fat little guy saw Chen Ge, he rushed over head on, wanting to give Chen Ge a bear hug.
”Show some restraint.” Chen Ge retreated a step back, he could tell that Fan Cong was very emotional.
”I knew you would come over! Boss Chen, I almost never saw you again!” Fan Cong even brought a hint of crying as he spoke, there were many things he wanted to tell Chen Ge, but he didn’t know where to start, he walked around the room, his belly full of fat meat gently trembled along with his body.
”Calm down first, do you have your cell phone with you? We spoke on the phone a few hours ago, let me see your call log.” Chen Ge was testing Fan Cong, Fan Cong’s cell phone was left in the room when he disappeared, and later on, Fan Dade even had a brief exchange with Chen Ge through Fan Cong’s cell phone.
”It’s not with me, it was in too much of a hurry when I escaped and I dropped it in the room.” Fan Cong pointed to his oversized pajamas, which did not have pockets on them.
Chen Ge nodded and looked towards the room, it was a very ordinary rented house, bed, table, electric fan, nothing special.
”Why are you hiding in this place? Who brought you here?” Chen Ge had always thought that Fan Cong had been kidnapped by Shadow, but now it looked as if that wasn’t the case.
”Saying it out loud, I actually can’t believe it myself.” Fan Cong moved his chubby body and walked over to the window.
”What’s the point of fixing a window on the second basement floor? Lying to yourself?” Chen Ge gripped the skull-crushing hammer tightly and blocked the doorway of the room.
”She’s the one who brought me here.” Fan Cong pulled open the thick curtains, and the concrete wall behind him had been painted with cheap watercolors, with mountains, water, bright sunshine, flowers that would never fade, and family members with smiles on their faces.
Chen Ge’s gaze moved along with the curtains and finally settled on the side of the window frame, where a little girl sat.
She was dressed in red and stared blankly at the painting on the concrete wall.
”Boo?” Chen Ge had seen this girl more than once, but each time the girl brought her a different feeling; there was warning, gloom, and this time, helplessness.
”She was the one who took me away when we called.” Fan Cong’s eyelids fluttered, as if now remembering the scene at that time there still seemed to be some fear: “The one who came back that night wasn’t my brother but another person, I really can’t dare to imagine that I didn’t notice it at all, and stayed in the same house with him for so long.”
”Your brother was replaced by a shadow?” What Fan Cong said matched Chen Ge’s previous speculation, “Is this what Boo told you?”
”En, my brother didn’t come back at all that night, and I’m a little worried about him now.” Fan Cong sat on the bed, and the worn out bed boards made a creaking sound as if they would be crushed at any time.
Compared to his size, the bedpan looked even more extraordinarily small.
”These beds are for small children.” Fan Cong explained, sneaking a glance at Boo, who was also worried that he had collapsed the beds.
”Prepared for children?” Chen Ge keenly captured the keywords in Fan Cong’s words, “You told me on the phone that after that game was cleared, Boo entered the middle of this building, is this building special? It doesn’t look like there’s much difference between its internal structure and the other buildings in Liwan Town.”
”I also heard from Boo that years ago, Liwan Town was once plagued by an infectious disease, and this building was the only one that was shunned by the infected.”
”The only one that was shunned away? What does that mean?” Chen Ge didn’t quite understand.
”It’s a long story, if you go through Boo’s game in its entirety you’ll be clear about everything, that game is set in Liwan Town, a true restoration of the Liwan Town of that time.” Fan Cong has raided all the branch lines, and he is clear about all the game plots: “This thing called human nature is very complicated, it can be like the blazing sun sacrificing itself to bring warmth to the weak, or it can be like the abyss, dark and gloomy, with no lower limit.”
”The source of the infectious disease outbreak is in Liwan Hospital, the hospital can do nothing about the disease, those few patients know that they can’t survive, some of them began to deliberately retaliate by stealing their own blood and other things on the fruits and medical equipment, soon the infectious disease spreads.”
”First the other patients, then the doctors, and finally it spread to half of Liwan Town.”
”The disease was rampant, people were terrified, and many of those who developed the disease were like crazy, although they didn’t kill anyone directly, innocent people died because of them, and they weren’t really that different from those homicidal maniacs.”
”At that time, the entire Liwan Town was in chaos, only this building was different.”
”The building was constructed previously as an orphanage, the developers thought that the eastern suburb would develop very fast in the future and bought the land and built a new building, at that time they promised very well that they would build new homes for all the orphans and staff and retain the existence of the orphanage. Only after it was actually built did they realize that they used the first floor and second floor to house the orphans.”
”After the outbreak of the disease, all the staff of the orphanage strictly forbade the children to come out and then they guarded the entrance to the ground floor themselves. They had made the decision not to let anyone in, including themselves.”
”After a day and a night, someone came from above, no one knew the exact solution, and I couldn’t find any information on the internet, all the game said was that all the orphans were rescued and none of them were infected.”
Fan Cong said here, his voice had a slight change, “To be honest, I admire those staff members of the orphanage, they can be said to be the only good in Liwan town.”
People are a very special kind of life, even in the middle of the dirtiest and ugliest environment, they can still blossom with kindness and beauty.
”No wonder all the buildings have humanoid stains among them, just this one doesn’t.” Chen Ge figured out the first question, but then more questions popped up, “But why did Boo enter this building in the end in the game? To represent her single-mindedness?”
Anyone who could push open the door was deep in despair, and self-redemption was extremely difficult for them.
”You should have noticed those posters in the basement hallway, right? There was a branch line in the game where a young couple entered Liwan Town, they found Boo and set up this building as Boo’s shelter.” Fan Cong tried his best to recall the last few moments of the game, “They wanted to help Boo, but demanded that Boo had to agree to a condition.”
”Condition?” Chen Ge knew that the young couple Fan Cong was talking about were his own parents, smoking familiar cigarettes, carrying around haunted house posters, and hating the whole world to come and play in a haunted house was something only his own family could do.
”Yes.” Fan Cong looked back at Boo, seeing that Boo didn’t react in any way this is when he continued, “They want Boo to be their child’s shadow.”
”You elaborate.” Chen Ge narrowed his eyes.
”You’ve seen the dialog in the game before, it’s hard to decipher, the general idea is that they lost their child’s shadow, so they hope that Boo can become their child’s new shadow. I know it’s unbelievable, but that’s what the game says. In the middle of the game Boo didn’t agree to come down right away, so they built a shelter in Liwan Town, saying that if Boo thinks it over he’ll enter the shelter and wait for them, and then they’ll help Boo get rid of the shadow.” Fan Cong didn’t realize how much of a shock what he said had caused Chen Ge.
”Getting a red coat as a shadow, it’s really thanks to them for thinking of it.” Now that Boo had entered the shelter, it meant that the person had agreed to be Chen Ge’s shadow, but not only did his parents not get rid of the shadow as agreed, they instead made themselves disappear, which made Chen Ge a little unsure of how to face Boo: “Don’t want to think about it, as long as I can get rid of the shadow, no matter who did it, it’s considered to be fulfillment of the agreement.”
Entering the room, Chen Ge walked next to the window, Xiao Bu looked to be only seven or eight years old, her blood-like red dress contrasted sharply with her pale face, just by being close, Xu Yin gave a strong warning.
”She looks strong.” It was the first time Chen Ge had seen an out-of-control door, and he wasn’t sure what effects it would have on the door pusher after it went out of control, but from the current situation, it seemed that the door pusher would become even more terrifying after it went out of control.
”The ones who had an agreement with you before were my parents, and I’m the one who lost their shadow in their mouths.”
Hearing Chen Ge’s words, the eyelashes of the girl who had been in a daze moved gently, she slowly turned around, and an oppressive feeling that made Chen Ge about to suffocate came from in front of her.
”This ……”
Red clothes floated up, and Boo had no hands or legs, and her heart was empty.
”This child is just like that door! Where the door was removed, it corresponds to her body except for the head which was replaced with a heart.”
Silently looking at each other, no one would voluntarily give up their freedom, Chen Ge finally realized why Boo had escaped into the shelter.
Against the oppression, ignoring Xu Yin’s warning, Chen Ge took another step forward, there was a hint of heartache in his eyes, “I didn’t come here for any pact, you’ve suffered too many injuries, I ask myself that I can’t experience a thousandth of your pain, so I won’t stand on the sidelines to comfort you, I understand that all that comforting is futile.”
”Blood will pay for blood, I will help you take out the shadow, and then I will make sure that you are no longer alone.” Chen Ge stopped in front of Boo, slowly squatted his body down, and looked at that numb face flatly, “The scenery in this window is painted, after taking care of the shadow, I’ll take you outside the door, go to all the places you want to go, and see all the scenery you want to see.”
Chen Ge no longer mentioned any pacts, and he wouldn’t let Boo be his shadow.
Possibly sensing that Chen Ge was not lying, Boo blinked, and blood seeped out of the window frame, the drops of blood converging into a few words – A person without a shadow cannot live long, are you sure you won’t let me be your shadow?