My 'Healing' Game

The blind boy shivered as he crawled backward until his back hit the table's candlestick.

The burning candle rolled off the edge of the table, and just as the hot wax was about to drip onto his face, Number Three reached out to shield his head.

"Answer my question."

Number Three felt no pain; his ordinary face was very close to the boy, and now, no matter what the boy did, there was no escaping from his eyes.

"Ah, ah..." The boy stammered, reaching into his throat with his fingers. Only after Number Three pried open the boy's mouth did he discover an iron piece lodged at the back of his teeth, blocking his throat.

In this "Hope Pharmacy," the children who worked there didn't need eyes or mouths; even if they heard the "Boss's" orders, they couldn't reveal any secrets.

After removing the iron piece, the boy lay on the ground gasping for air. The first thing he did after regaining his strength was crawl over to the middle-aged man's corpse, pick up the knife, and fiercely stab it into the man's chest again.

Having exacted his revenge, he even touched the middle-aged man's wounds with his hands, "appreciating" his "work" in this manner.

Spitting out the blood in his mouth, the boy discarded the knife and stood blankly in front of the clay statue: "My name is Xin, and out of the batch of nine children who were deceived, only I survived."

It seemed he hadn't spoken for a long time; his voice was broken and uncomfortable to hear.

"My parents and brother were survivors who fled to the New City. We thought this place was Heaven, but after settling down, we realized it was only Heaven for some people."

"My father and mother lived cautiously. I often despised them; before, I only thought they were embarrassing. Now I realize how despicable a bad child I was. To get me and my brother into the Central District, they went into buildings occupied by Ghosts and Monster to steal Curse Items."

"A single successful attempt meant nothing. After leaving on one morning, they never returned."

"The Guard Team members who arranged survivors to scavenge knew about our situation. Considering the contributions made by my parents, the Deputy Captain brought us into the Central District."

"However, the life we imagined never began. He sold me and my brother to the 'shop,' and after losing our value there, we were sold to the 'pharmacy.'"

"I lost my eyes in the pharmacy, and you have seen everything that happened next. I became a clerk, responsible for preparing the Sacrificial Offering needed for the ritual in the dark cellar."

The boy's speech became increasingly fluent. Even after experiencing such terrifying events, he still hadn't given up hope for survival.

"You still haven't answered one of my questions." Number Three wiped the solidified wax from the back of his hand, then clutched the boy's neck with his fingers: "What is the thing you regret most that you have done?"

"What I regret the most is not stopping my parents on that morning a few years ago. If they were still here, none of these tragedies would have happened." The boy didn't struggle at all; he was like a fish on the cutting board, allowing himself to be slaughtered.

"Are you sure?" Number Three asked the question again, as if it was very crucial.

"Of course." The boy nodded with effort.

Seeing him so certain, Number Three pulled out a notebook from his pocket: "You regret not stopping your parents but not regret making them sad all along? Not regret selling your brother to the merchants of the Guard Team? Not regret offering your Soul to the pharmacy's Evil God? Not regret personally killing the other eight children to survive in the pharmacy?"

With each sentence Number Three spoke, the boy's face grew darker. He thought that after the middle-aged man died, no one would know the things he had done. Unexpectedly, Number Three and Number Two had investigated everything thoroughly.

"The more desperately you struggle, the darker fate will lead you to. You are the most pitiful, despicable, hopeless, least deserving of sympathy child." Number Three closed the notebook and turned his head to Number Two: "We found him."

"That's right, I can't see this child's fate clearly. In the Shrine Memory World, only those related to Gao Xing have such a situation." Number Two's hand touched the boy's eye sockets, breaking all the invisible chains on him, forcibly altering his original destiny track.

"I don't know what you're talking about? I admit I've done some bad things, but that was only because I wanted to survive! How could you young masters living in the sunlight possibly understand the life of a drifter in the Outer City District?" The blind boy was exposed, and his emotions became agitated.

"We are children living in the sunlight?" Number Three and Number Two laughed: "The simulated sun in the laboratory is indeed dazzling, almost every child's eyes have been scorched."

"I really don't understand what you're talking about! Nor do I understand why you're targeting me; I have no value to you. My organs were stolen, my body transformed, barely surviving underground. I've given everything, and you're still not willing to let me go?"

"Maybe even you don't know your own value?" Number Three twisted the boy's deformed legs, pulling his foot out of the large black lock, then sealed the blind boy's mouth again, tied him up, and stuffed him into a sack.

Dragging the sack with one hand, Number Three carried Number Two on his back and walked out of the pharmacy.

The people around seemed completely unable to see them, and no one stepped forward to stop them. They passed through the dark alleys and into the crowded night market, disappearing into the noisy hawking.

"Notify the others, Gao Xing's Soul Split has been found. Have them all gather at the predetermined location."

A Guard Team member passing by Number Two, upon hearing what seemed like a self-talking voice from Number Two, had a gradually changing expression. After a brief hesitation, he quickly turned and sprinted in a different direction.

Ten minutes later, as the street became less crowded, Number Three dragged the sack to the boundary between the Central District and the Inner City District.

As they came within a hundred meters of the Inner City District, two Guard Team members personally opened a side door for them.

Everything seemed arranged, the Guard Team members along the way had strange glances, numb and absentminded, like manipulated Puppets.

Until later when they changed shifts, their gaze slowly recovered, except for Number Three and Number Two, who had long entered the heavily guarded Inner City District.

"Alright, it's nothing to do with you here anymore." Number Two said to the two Guard Team members leading the way. After hearing this, the two of them unexpectedly drew their blades and stabbed them into each other's chest without hesitation.

"Cough, cough!" Number Three coughed once, and the two Guard Team members stopped their actions, bewildered, turned around, and left.

"Everyone will die, why make it complicated?" Just from listening to Number Two's voice, one couldn't tell his mood as he spoke.

"No particular reason, I just did it subconsciously." A smile appeared on Number Three's ordinary face: "In life, many moments are done casually. I think these unconscious actions constitute the destiny with countless tributaries."

"Just the excuses of a failure. They always blame all causes on destiny, I don't want you to become such a person." Number Two's attitude towards Number Three was completely different from other kids. In his eyes, only Number One and Number Three were seen as equals.

This equality held no special significance; it merely meant, in Number Two's view, Number One and Number Three were not the ones to be protected, but those who should step forward to protect other kids.

"I have no intention of controlling destiny. I just don't want to be changed anymore."

Upon hearing Number Three say this, Number Two didn't speak again. Number Three's Personality Ability was quite special, his words seemed to have another layer of meaning.

The Inner City District was evidently more prosperous and tidy than the Central District. Almost everything produced by the previous human society could be found here. The Inner City District of Hope New City was believed to be the last seed of human society, at least by those who lived here.

Walking all the way to the end of a clean, tidy road, in the premium priced Inner City District, in front of Number Two stood an independent building with a fairly large garden attached.

At the end of the courtyard full of blooming flowers, hung the advertisement for Hope Pharmaceutical Headquarter.

"I also want to save many people, but is it worth it?"

Number Three entered the building, the other kids were cleaning the bloodstains. They covered all the blooming flowers with black cloth and blew out all the candles in the pharmacy.

"We are all ready, we can start anytime." Number Four pointed to the clay sculpture at the center of the headquarter: "It took quite an effort to move this God Statue out of the cellar."

"Thank you for your hard work." Number Two nodded, he signaled Number Three to release the blind boy.

The boy with his eyes gouged out and suffering severe deformities lay on the ground, whimpering helplessly, anyone who saw him would feel very pitiful.

"Is it this child? He does indeed look quite miserable." Number Four walked to the child's side, frowned: "But there's not a hint of Death Intent on him. He has a strong survival instinct in himself. If we don't intervene, he might just live this miserable life continuously."

"I've already manipulated destiny, let Number One come, and proceed according to the original plan." Number Two seemed unaffected by the complexities of ordinary human emotions, all his actions were aimed at ultimately rewriting destiny.

"What exactly are you trying to do!" The blind boy lying on the ground suddenly spoke, spitting out the iron piece from his mouth, along with two teeth.

The blind boy was not as obedient as he seemed; he had never given up trying to escape the pharmacy, to gain the ability to speak smoothly, he had long secretly knocked his teeth loose.

"What we're going to do is simple, kill you in advance, plunge all surrounding Hatred into madness, disrupt your Blood Sacrifice process, and take all Sacrificial Offerings for you."

"You lunatic! I don't know anything about Hatred and Blood Sacrifice! What does it have to do with me!" The blind boy had never felt as desperate as now, Number Two posed an unprecedented threat to him.

"Stop struggling, Gao Xing." Once Number Two said the name Gao Xing, the rotting flesh in the boy's dark eye sockets shifted, then blood flowed out, he painfully clutched his eyes.

"It's impossible! I have never done those things! I just want to live! I just want to live well like others!"

The rotten flesh in the eye sockets showed a crack, he clawed the dirt on the ground with his five fingers, trying to stand up.

"In reality, you must have had such a day too, where anger and fear tormented the mind, bearing heart-wrenching pain, refusing to yield to destiny, even if you eventually turn into a Monster that everyone fears." Number One pushed open the door and stepped out from behind the clay sculpture. His tall figure brought comfort to all the kids.

Seeing Number One appear, Number Two also slightly eased.

"I don't have anything! I'm not like you freaks who are born with Personality! I just want to live, have I done anything wrong!" Blood slid down his eye sockets, the rotten flesh being slowly torn, two foul-smelling black eyeballs turned inside.

"Did those people you killed do anything wrong?" Number One raised his arm, at that moment, all the faceless clay sculptures hidden within Hope New City began to tremble, invisible chains wrapped around Number One's wrist.

Those Destiny Chains resembled the ones Number Two had used before, only they were entirely constituted of Dead Souls, with filthy blood flowing atop.

"When the destinies of the many can be determined by the few, destiny itself loses its original meaning, my existence is to break it." Dragging all the Dead Souls Chain, Number One's conviction gathered at his right fist, slowly approaching the boy's eyes.

"Daring Personality?" As the pupils fully opened within the rotten flesh, another person's voice appeared in the boy's mouth.

The Destiny Chains tightly bound Number One's arm, cracks started appearing on all the clay sculptures at the other end of the chains!

"Daring is just the first step towards a miracle."