When it came down to it, Lin Qiushi had no way of dealing with Ruan Baijie whenever she began sobbing like this.
While the two were talking, Xiao Ke and Xiong Qi came out of the kitchen with food. And so, Ruan Baijie put their conversation on hold for a while. She smiled brightly and began talking about other things with Lin Qiushi.
Dinner was quite simple, but no one focused on the meal before them. As they ate, they began to deliberate about the possible locations of the gate.
"I think we should also search around the carpenter"s house." Xiong Qi stated. "That man doesn"t feel like an ordinary villager."
"Yeah." Now that the most worrisome matter was solved, Xiao Ke"s mood seemed to have gotten much better. She actively suggested various locations for where the gate might"ve appeared.
While everyone was voicing their own opinions, Cheng Wen was quietly sitting at the side. Compared to when he had just woken up, his expression right now wasn"t as lifeless, but he was still as gloomy as before. He didn"t blame Lin Qiushi for rendering him unconscious; or rather, it"d be more accurate to say that he didn"t say a single word to Lin Qiushi ever since he woke up.
Seeing that everyone was discussing the same thing, Cheng Wen slowly opened his mouth and croaked, "Lin Qiushi."
Lin Qiushi stared at him warily. "What"s the matter?"
Cheng Wen wondered, "Was w.a.n.g Xiaoyi a monster?"
Lin Qiushi shook his head, indicating that he didn"t know. But, taking this into consideration, Cheng Wen posing this question was an obvious sign that his current condition was very grave.
Cheng Wen continued, "She must"ve been a monster. We all saw it." He slightly crooked his head to one side and distressingly asked the others, "You all saw it, right? Her shadow, and what she coughed up…"
No one uttered a word. As a matter of fact, Lin Qiushi felt as though there was a great probability that w.a.n.g Xiaoyi was actually human. Otherwise, she wouldn"t have died so easily after being struck with Cheng Wen"s shovel. Nevertheless, she was dead now; it seemed quite pointless bringing up this topic again.
And yet, Cheng Wen wouldn"t give it a rest; he was so caught up in this matter. He repeatedly asked whether w.a.n.g Xiaoyi was a monster. At last, Xiao Ke was so fed up with his incessant questioning, and she snapped, "Hasn"t the monster been killed by you? Are you having fun talking about this over and over again? Or could it be that you"re just afraid you made a mistake and murdered the wrong person?"
Cheng Wen"s face turned extremely ugly upon hearing this. He frantically stood up from his chair, turned on his heels and hurried away.
Xiao Ke continued to sneer, "How is it that he was so tenacious when it was time to kill, but now, he"s shaking in his boots? He dared to act, yet he dares not accept the consequences of his actions? That coward."
"Is killing a teammate in this world something very serious?" Lin Qiushi had always wanted to ask this question.
"All living things possess souls in these worlds within these gates. That is to say, when something dies, it may become a ghost." Xiong Qi had a complex expression on his face. "Therefore, one must never, ever kill arbitrarily."
Lin Qiushi hummed, then thought about it again. "But aren"t there exceptions to this? You said that there would be at least one person who gets out of here alive. If that person kills everyone, wouldn"t he technically have fulfilled the condition of being the only person here?"
"As if." Xiao Ke responded. "Would everyone really sit around and wait for someone to kill them? As long as that person can"t wipe everyone out in one shot, then run away as fast as he can, he will definitely die here."
"Killed in the morning. Those things will probably come look for him at noon," remarked Xiong Qi. "I"ve seen it before." He used his eyes to point in the direction Cheng Wen walked off in, then shook his head in pity.
So it turned out to be like this, Lin Qiushi finally understood it.
In the morning, they transported the coffin. In the afternoon, they scoured the entire vicinity for the gate until dusk arrived, but despite how much they searched, they still couldn"t find a single clue pertaining to the gate"s whereabouts. Lin Qiushi and Ruan Baijie decided to visit the carpenter"s place. On the way there, Ruan Baijie imparted information to Lin Qiushi. She told Lin Qiushi to stay sharp for the evening and that they"d depart at night.
At the thought of finally being able to leave this place, Lin Qiushi"s strides became more vigorous, more urgent and determined. He stretched out his arm and touched his earlobe; there was now a red gemstone stud earring that looked to be made of gla.s.s on his ear. He didn"t know where Ruan Baijie had gained such a skill and learned such an art; regardless, he barely felt anything when his ear was pierced, for all of his thoughts were on the gate. But now that he had some spare time, he decided to ask Ruan Baijie what exactly was up with this stud earring.
"I only gave you a small gift." Ruan Baijie replied. "The string of fate intertwined our destinies, bringing us together by leading us to this gate. Cherish this predestined relationship…"
Lin Qiushi could hardly care about the details he just heard from her. After all, as soon as they left this world, the two might not even encounter each other again. He secretly gazed at the side of Ruan Baijie"s beautiful face, then heaved a sigh of regret in his heart. It would"ve been fine, if only he hadn"t met her in such an unusual place…
At around four in the afternoon, darkness began gathering.
It didn"t snow today, but the skies were gloomy and shrouded in heavy clouds. The penetrating sensation of the wintry winds blowing in their faces and stinging their skin was painful. When Lin Qiushi and Ruan Baijie returned, Xiong Qi and Xiao Ke had already arrived home.
"Did you find it?" Everyone asked each other.
After receiving negatives from everyone, Xiong Qi sighed and said there was no need to rush with this; it seemed as though they"d be spending another night here, so he put forth that everyone should go to sleep a bit early and that they"d continue with their search tomorrow.
Ruan Baijie and Lin Qiushi agreed. Thereupon, the two individuals returned to their rooms early. However, they didn"t go to bed and sleep as usual. Rather, they simply sat on the bedside, waiting for the day to grow darker.
Ruan Baijie sat near the oil lamp and leisurely munched on some melons seeds to kill some time.
Lin Qiushi had originally thought they would immediately depart once night fell, but he certainly didn"t expect an accident to occur. Cheng Wen, who lived next door to them, suddenly issued a mournful shriek. His plaintive cries were extremely harsh, as if he"d damaged his throat from shouting.
"Help! Help!" Cheng Wen constantly banged on the walls. "Ah! Ssave me, anyone—”
"Wu wu wu1." Accompanying his miserable screams was the sobbing of a woman. Lin Qiushi had heard this voice many times before; the voice belonged to w.a.n.g Xiaoyi.
Before, w.a.n.g Xiaoyi was the one who had cried for help, but now, the person crying for help became Cheng Wen.
Cheng Wen"s shrieks grew weak within a few seconds. It wasn"t long before the fleshy sound of a sharp weapon hacking at meat echoed from the outside, again, and again, and again; it was as if the person holding onto the sharp instrument would never tire out.
Cheng Wen"s cries for help soon came to an end, but w.a.n.g Xiaoyi was still weeping.
Ruan Baijie"s expression gradually turned solemn. She glanced at Lin Qiushi and asked him, "Are you scared?"
Lin Qiushi replied, "I"m fine."
Ruan Baijie said, "It seems that things might have changed. We can"t delay any longer. Let"s go."
Lin Qiushi nodded and followed Ruan Baijie out the room.
When he left the room, he caught sight of a pool of blood on the right side of their room. Cheng Wen had, evidently, met a tragic disaster. Although a dead person was the last thing he wanted see, Lin Qiushi clearly understood that there were some things that he was powerless against. He was merely an ordinary human being, nothing more. In the face of these ghosts and monsters, he had no way of fighting back.
Ruan Baijie naturally took ahold of Lin Qiushi"s hand and pulled him along. The two headed straight for downstairs.
Lin Qiushi was just about to ask Ruan Baijie where they were going, when he saw Ruan Baijie leading him to the courtyard downstairs.
There was absolutely nothing in the courtyard besides one empty well. Ruan Baijie walked over to the side of the well with him, then leaned over to peer inside.
Upon seeing this, Lin Qiushi learned from Ruan Baijie"s actions and also took a look inside the well.
The inside of the well was pitch black; nothing could be seen. The acrid stench of mud was so potent, and it evoked feelings of dread and discomfort in people.
Lin Qiushi was still staring intensely, when he suddenly felt someone shove his back fiercely. He staggered and tried to regain his balance, but the person behind him was relentless, they didn"t remove their hands from his back and pushed him even harder.
Ruan Baijie uttered, "Go." The moment her words fell, a strong force that he couldn"t withstand struck his back, and Lin Qiushi was directly shoved into the well by her.
This situation happened so abruptly, and Lin Qiushi was caught completely off guard. His whole body fell into the well. He frenetically stretched out his arms, trying to grab at anything near him, but the walls of the well were too slippery; there was absolutely no chance for him struggle. Just when Lin Qiushi thought he was going to meet a very painful and tragic end once he fell to the bottom of the well, he felt himself falling on something soft.
The thing was awfully soft, like a satin plush mattress. Lin Qiushi lightly fell on top of it, and he didn"t suffer the slightest injuries. After some difficulty, he managed to climb up from the mattress. With the faint moonlight hitting the inside of this well, he finally got a clear view of what was underneath him.
What he"d first suspected to be a mattress was actually a bunch of thick, black hair languidly squirming about. Lin Qiushi"s complexion changed slightly; he never expected to come across such a scene inside this well. Fortunately, he quickly calmed down, surveyed his surroundings and found an inconspicuous path at the bottom of the well.
Lin Qiushi had also wanted to called out to Ruan Baijie, but he was a bit worried that his shout would disturb the bizarre hair under his feet, so he eventually gave up and took careful steps forward, slowly advancing down the trail.
The path was very narrow, but one could tell it was built for special purposes. Lin Qiushi had to walk with his head lowered. The black hair boundlessly extended down the path, like a carpet paving the way.
Lin Qiushi didn"t know how long it took before he reached the end of the trail. He soon discovered the source of the hair. Surprisingly, this hair seemed to be growing from the walls, and at the end of the wall stood a tall, black iron gate. A striking bronze lock hung from the iron gate.
This was the door Lin Qiushi had once saw in his own hallway. The only difference was that there was no lock on the door back then. He fished out the key from his pocket and steadily approached it.
A bronze key, a bronze lock. Lin Qiushi inserted the key into the keyhole and twisted gently; a furtive click sounded, and the locked opened.
When he pulled the lock apart, he spotted something from the back of the lock fall to the ground.
It was a white piece of paper. Lin Qiushi stooped down to pick it up and saw two words written on the note: Fitcher"s Bird2.
Lin Qiushi didn"t know what these two words signified, but he honestly didn"t want to waste any more time than he already had, so he conveniently crumpled up the slip of paper and shoved it into his pocket. Afterwards, he gripped the bronze handle of the gate and forcefully pulled on it.
The gate opened, and a soft light shined from the other side. Though nothing else could be seen, the sight nevertheless gave people a great peace of mind.
Lin Qiushi turned his head around and glanced behind him. The inky hair seemed to have been provoked by the light, and it began to stir restlessly. Lin Qiushi didn"t dare stay here any longer. He strode through the open gate, stepping into the radiant halo of light.
"Ruan Baijie, you have to come out alive…" This was the very last thought that ran through Lin Qiushi"s mind before he left this world.
Author"s Comment:
When Lin Qiushi sees Ruan Baijie again, he might not cherish this relationship as much, hahahahaha.
Lin Qiushi: Yours f.u.c.king turned out to be bigger than mine???
Ruan Baijie: Wah wah wah!
1呜呜呜 (wu wu wu)—Crying sounds or "boo hoo".
2German name: Fitchers Vogel. Famous Brothers Grimm fairy tale. Naturally, as all other Grimms" fairy tales, this one is quite gruesome and morbid. LINK to Wiki to Eng. version of full tale