Chapter 36: Love and Affection, A Family
Among all the victims of the human puzzle pattern, Wei Youfu was the most unique one.
The killer targeted beauty in their murders, but Wei Youfu was truly ordinary. There was nothing particularly attractive about him, although it might be impolite to say so, it was the truth.
Han Fei searched through all the information available online. According to the forensic reports, Wei Youfu's death was deemed an accident. He stumbled upon the murder scene, and in the killer's panic, he was also killed.
However, some people on the internet held different opinions. The killer's actions, from the method of the crime to the escape, were all meticulously planned. It was unlikely for the killer to overlook any loopholes.
Some believed that the killer had targeted Wei Youfu from the beginning, just like how they killed Cui Tianci and Cui Caiyi on the same night. They thought that the killer saw Wei Youfu as a target from the start.
They even speculated that the reason the killer targeted Ah Mei was because of Wei Youfu.
While the online discussions made some sense, there was no evidence to support it. Han Fei didn't pay much attention to it initially, but now, after seeing Wei Youfu in the game, his perspective began to change.
Looking at Wei Youfu's life, it was plain and ordinary. He hadn't done anything out of the ordinary.
He deeply loved his wife and father, worked hard, never complained even when exhausted, and always seemed hopeful about life.
In this ordinary person, there was something beautiful—his heart or rather, his soul.
Han Fei didn't know if the killer saw this aspect in Wei Youfu. He had no evidence, but he remembered something he noticed when he first went to Wei Youfu's house.
It was a detail he almost overlooked. He found many LEGO toys and various puzzles on the cabinet in Wei Youfu's living room.
LEGO was a popular educational toy from many years ago. These plastic building blocks had studs on one side and holes that could fit the studs on the other side. There were over 1,300 different shapes, each available in multiple colours. They could be assembled into infinite variations, earning them the name "magical plastic bricks."
As time passed, fewer children played with LEGO blocks, but some adults still enjoyed buying and collecting them.
Wei Youfu and the killer might both be puzzling enthusiasts, but while Wei Youfu assembled LEGO blocks, the killer assembled lives.
At a certain moment, a strange thought crossed Han Fei's mind—could the killer be Wei Youfu? Or someone who knew him well?
After all, appearances could be discerned by sight, and information about models could be found online. But to determine if someone possessed a beautiful and flawless soul, one would have to interact with them and get to know them better.
"Is the killer of the human puzzle pattern Wei Youfu's friend?"
As Han Fei pondered, footsteps could be heard from the innermost room.
At three minutes past three in the morning, the seventh victim appeared.
This person, named Gu Ye, was a famous model in the industry. His body was said to have the golden ratio, but unfortunately, he had a severe facial injury from a car accident during the peak of his career.
He was saved but left with scars. After undergoing plastic surgery, his career started to decline.
Among the seven victims, Gu Ye was the oldest. His appearance seemed to indicate that the night was about to end and that changes were about to occur.
After Gu Ye passed by the bedroom door, Wei Youfu also left in front of Han Fei's room. The seven victims all sat on the sofa in the living room.
They faced away from Han Fei, silently gazing at the TV.
The images on the screen seemed to correspond to reality, and Han Fei noticed a problem.
When he watched TV earlier, he saw a surreal and abstract animation, resembling a child's nightmare.
At that time, a monster stood behind him as he watched TV, and the seven victims were pieced together in a state of frenzy, filled with despair and murderous intent.
The current situation was different from before. The seven victims appeared individually, and they seemed to maintain a certain level of rationality when not assembled into a monster. At least, they didn't exhibit the overt desire to kill Han Fei as they did before.
Time passed second by second, and as the temperature in the house dropped to freezing point, the images on the TV finally changed.
Wei Youfu remained seated on the sofa, but in the TV, he picked up a photo frame from the table and gently wiped it.
Pointing at the figure in the photo frame, he leaned closer to Ah Mei, who appeared shy and tried to push him away but eventually gave up. She seemed to be scolding Wei Youfu in a soft voice, while her eyes were filled with happiness.
The other victims in the screen also stood up and engaged in their own activities. Xiao Qing enjoyed cooking and food, Tian Ci and Cai Yi, the brother and sister, bickered with each other. The younger brother, Tian Ci, couldn't win the argument and couldn't beat his sister either, almost crying out of frustration.
News anchor Zhang Lingfan applied makeup to herself in front of a small mirror, and Gu Ye, the oldest of them all, took out a beer from the fridge. He put on headphones, listened to music, and drank the beer.
The TV seemed to be playing their only beautiful memories. This last trace of beauty was slowly fading, but they seemed unwilling to forget, so they watched it repeatedly.
They had once experienced happiness and beauty.
"When assembled into a monster, the TV plays a nightmarish underworld program. When the victims separate from each other, the TV plays their individual beautiful memories."
While the outside world of the haunted house was becoming more bizarre and dangerous, the atmosphere inside remained calm.
Han Fei hid under the covers, silently observing everything. The more he understood, the more uneasy he felt, empathizing with the emotions of the victims.
"No one wants to become a monster."
Han Fei glanced at the digital clock on the wall—it was now half past three in the morning.
The bathing task had to be completed before four o'clock in the morning, and he didn't have much time left.
At three thirty-five, Han Fei made a bold decision. He slowly lifted the blanket.
If most people woke up in the middle of the night to find seven ghosts watching TV in their living room, they would probably be terrified, some might even call the police, others might choose to flee, or they would continue pretending to sleep under the covers.
But Han Fei's reaction was different from all the above. He chose to step out of the bedroom and watch TV with the seven ghosts.
Assembled into a monster, they couldn't communicate with each other. To understand one another, they had to be separate from each other.
The sleep task was already completed, and the game time had exceeded three hours. Han Fei tried to calm himself and walked out of the bedroom.
The seven victims were watching themselves on the TV, paying no attention to Han Fei.
He quietly sat at the end of the sofa. By only looking at their backs, he seamlessly blended in with them.
Suffering from social anxiety and being not good at
expressing himself, Han Fei had never considered how to communicate with family because he had never experienced the feeling of having one before.
Leaning against the sofa, Han Fei didn't disturb the victims watching TV. He simply sat together with them, accompanying them as they watched.
"On New Year's Day, I had a meal of dumplings at Grandma's house. I wonder if on New Year's Eve, I'll be watching the Spring Festival Gala with these seven."
The killer targeted beauty in their murders, but Wei Youfu was truly ordinary. There was nothing particularly attractive about him, although it might be impolite to say so, it was the truth.
Han Fei searched through all the information available online. According to the forensic reports, Wei Youfu's death was deemed an accident. He stumbled upon the murder scene, and in the killer's panic, he was also killed.
However, some people on the internet held different opinions. The killer's actions, from the method of the crime to the escape, were all meticulously planned. It was unlikely for the killer to overlook any loopholes.
Some believed that the killer had targeted Wei Youfu from the beginning, just like how they killed Cui Tianci and Cui Caiyi on the same night. They thought that the killer saw Wei Youfu as a target from the start.
They even speculated that the reason the killer targeted Ah Mei was because of Wei Youfu.
While the online discussions made some sense, there was no evidence to support it. Han Fei didn't pay much attention to it initially, but now, after seeing Wei Youfu in the game, his perspective began to change.
Looking at Wei Youfu's life, it was plain and ordinary. He hadn't done anything out of the ordinary.
He deeply loved his wife and father, worked hard, never complained even when exhausted, and always seemed hopeful about life.
In this ordinary person, there was something beautiful—his heart or rather, his soul.
Han Fei didn't know if the killer saw this aspect in Wei Youfu. He had no evidence, but he remembered something he noticed when he first went to Wei Youfu's house.
It was a detail he almost overlooked. He found many LEGO toys and various puzzles on the cabinet in Wei Youfu's living room.
LEGO was a popular educational toy from many years ago. These plastic building blocks had studs on one side and holes that could fit the studs on the other side. There were over 1,300 different shapes, each available in multiple colours. They could be assembled into infinite variations, earning them the name "magical plastic bricks."
As time passed, fewer children played with LEGO blocks, but some adults still enjoyed buying and collecting them.
Wei Youfu and the killer might both be puzzling enthusiasts, but while Wei Youfu assembled LEGO blocks, the killer assembled lives.
At a certain moment, a strange thought crossed Han Fei's mind—could the killer be Wei Youfu? Or someone who knew him well?
After all, appearances could be discerned by sight, and information about models could be found online. But to determine if someone possessed a beautiful and flawless soul, one would have to interact with them and get to know them better.
"Is the killer of the human puzzle pattern Wei Youfu's friend?"
As Han Fei pondered, footsteps could be heard from the innermost room.
At three minutes past three in the morning, the seventh victim appeared.
This person, named Gu Ye, was a famous model in the industry. His body was said to have the golden ratio, but unfortunately, he had a severe facial injury from a car accident during the peak of his career.
He was saved but left with scars. After undergoing plastic surgery, his career started to decline.
Among the seven victims, Gu Ye was the oldest. His appearance seemed to indicate that the night was about to end and that changes were about to occur.
After Gu Ye passed by the bedroom door, Wei Youfu also left in front of Han Fei's room. The seven victims all sat on the sofa in the living room.
They faced away from Han Fei, silently gazing at the TV.
The images on the screen seemed to correspond to reality, and Han Fei noticed a problem.
When he watched TV earlier, he saw a surreal and abstract animation, resembling a child's nightmare.
At that time, a monster stood behind him as he watched TV, and the seven victims were pieced together in a state of frenzy, filled with despair and murderous intent.
The current situation was different from before. The seven victims appeared individually, and they seemed to maintain a certain level of rationality when not assembled into a monster. At least, they didn't exhibit the overt desire to kill Han Fei as they did before.
Time passed second by second, and as the temperature in the house dropped to freezing point, the images on the TV finally changed.
Wei Youfu remained seated on the sofa, but in the TV, he picked up a photo frame from the table and gently wiped it.
Pointing at the figure in the photo frame, he leaned closer to Ah Mei, who appeared shy and tried to push him away but eventually gave up. She seemed to be scolding Wei Youfu in a soft voice, while her eyes were filled with happiness.
The other victims in the screen also stood up and engaged in their own activities. Xiao Qing enjoyed cooking and food, Tian Ci and Cai Yi, the brother and sister, bickered with each other. The younger brother, Tian Ci, couldn't win the argument and couldn't beat his sister either, almost crying out of frustration.
News anchor Zhang Lingfan applied makeup to herself in front of a small mirror, and Gu Ye, the oldest of them all, took out a beer from the fridge. He put on headphones, listened to music, and drank the beer.
The TV seemed to be playing their only beautiful memories. This last trace of beauty was slowly fading, but they seemed unwilling to forget, so they watched it repeatedly.
They had once experienced happiness and beauty.
"When assembled into a monster, the TV plays a nightmarish underworld program. When the victims separate from each other, the TV plays their individual beautiful memories."
While the outside world of the haunted house was becoming more bizarre and dangerous, the atmosphere inside remained calm.
Han Fei hid under the covers, silently observing everything. The more he understood, the more uneasy he felt, empathizing with the emotions of the victims.
"No one wants to become a monster."
Han Fei glanced at the digital clock on the wall—it was now half past three in the morning.
The bathing task had to be completed before four o'clock in the morning, and he didn't have much time left.
At three thirty-five, Han Fei made a bold decision. He slowly lifted the blanket.
If most people woke up in the middle of the night to find seven ghosts watching TV in their living room, they would probably be terrified, some might even call the police, others might choose to flee, or they would continue pretending to sleep under the covers.
But Han Fei's reaction was different from all the above. He chose to step out of the bedroom and watch TV with the seven ghosts.
Assembled into a monster, they couldn't communicate with each other. To understand one another, they had to be separate from each other.
The sleep task was already completed, and the game time had exceeded three hours. Han Fei tried to calm himself and walked out of the bedroom.
The seven victims were watching themselves on the TV, paying no attention to Han Fei.
He quietly sat at the end of the sofa. By only looking at their backs, he seamlessly blended in with them.
Suffering from social anxiety and being not good at
expressing himself, Han Fei had never considered how to communicate with family because he had never experienced the feeling of having one before.
Leaning against the sofa, Han Fei didn't disturb the victims watching TV. He simply sat together with them, accompanying them as they watched.
"On New Year's Day, I had a meal of dumplings at Grandma's house. I wonder if on New Year's Eve, I'll be watching the Spring Festival Gala with these seven."
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