From the others" perspective, Lin Qiushi being able to share a room with a great beauty like Ruan Nanzhu was such a blessing, but Lin Qiushi was very clear on this matter, for he knew the truth. Ruan Nanzhu was absolutely nothing like the person he disguised himself as; he certainly wasn"t as gentle, delicate, or cute as the rest of the world perceived him to be.
"Let"s take a look at the other rooms first." Ruan Nanzhu suggested. "That way we can determine where everyone will be staying."
The others nodded in agreement.
The lady of the house gave them four keys, each of which corresponded to four of the many rooms on the fourteenth floor. Ruan Nanzhu turned around to observe the locked doors, then he began opening the doors that could be unlocked. When all four doors were opened, they discovered that the rooms were practically identical. There was one door, one window, and one bed, the room pretty much resembled a small casket with its rather constricted s.p.a.ce and awfully low ceiling; truthfully speaking, lying down on the bed made them feel as if they were actually resting in their very own coffins.
"I want to take a shower." The middle-aged man who had previously went on a violent rampage suddenly spoke up. "Is there no bathroom around here?" Blood streaked his entire face, and a hint of bewilderment and terror shone in his wide eyes. But at the very least, his mood had now stabilized, and he no longer held the naïve idea that this was a mere prank.
"There actually is one, it should be at the end of the corridor." Lin Qiushi replied. "When I came up, I saw that there was a public bathroom. How about we check it out later?" Having to stand next to a person covered in blood constantly made him feel uncomfortable; there was always this emetic stench of blood, which couldn"t be any more potent and gut-wrenching, coming from the other"s body.
"Okay." The middle-aged man nodded and introduced himself, saying that his name was Zeng Ruguo and that he ran a jewelry business. His words carried quite a bit of arrogance; it seemed as though he thought very highly of himself in the real world. It"s just a pity that after entering this door world, the reality he prided himself in became a handful of insignificant dirt; after all, it wasn"t like the dreadful ghosts here would be lenient or show any mercy to someone who had money.
"Choose your rooms and who you"ll be sharing with." Ruan Nanzhu declared. "I"ll be staying with Yu Linlin. You guys do as you see fit."
The rest of the crowd stared at each other in dismay. At last, they all came to a decision and chose their companions after some discussion. Xu Xiaocheng and Tang Yaoyao would share one room, the two other males would share another room, and Zeng Ruguo, who was naturally rejected by everyone else, would inevitably be by himself. His complexion turned ashen, and he choked on his words in anger. He was struck speechless for a long time, but not a single person here gave him any face. Everyone treated him as air, pretending not to see his distraught appearance.
Ruan Nanzhu"s att.i.tude towards him wasn"t as ice-cold as before. With a warm tone, he gentle advised him to clean the blood off his body as soon as possible.
"Don"t tell me I have to live by myself?" Although Zeng Ruguo didn"t know for certain that if he died in this world, he would also die in reality, a vague suspicion haunted the back of his mind. His voice trembled with fear, "What if something happens? What then?"
The way Tang Yaoyao treated the middle-aged man was awfully rude, "Rest a.s.sured, you"ll die sooner or later. It"s the same with everyone here, everyone will eventually die one day."
Zeng Ruguo still had more to say, but seeing that no one had any intentions of answering him, he had no choice but to swallow back his words and drop the subject.
Once everyone decided who they"d be rooming with, Ruan Nanzhu proposed that they all go to the roof to see if there was anything particularly special or unusual.
Tang Yaoyao agreed.
The fourteenth floor of the building was the uppermost floor, and above that floor was obviously the roof of the building. A bulky, rusty lock hung from the door to the roof; from the looks of it, it hadn"t been used in quite some ages.
Lin Qiushi then peeked outside at the roof through the crack of the door. He didn"t spot anything worth taking note of. "Let"s go observe the situation back downstairs. There doesn"t seem to be anything really important up here."
"Let"s wait until tomorrow morning before checking it out again." Tang Yaoyao suggested. "It"s starting to get dark. We should all hurry back and go straight to bed after washing up."
"Can"t we just all stay together and take turns watching out for each other during the night?" The young boy who had first entered the door world posed the same question Lin Qiushi wondered about before. "If we all band together, our strength will be great. But if we all split up like this, then who knows what will happen to us when night comes."
"Absolutely not." Ruan Nanzhu immediately rejected. "If everyone gathers together at one spot, then all of us would end up falling asleep at one point. As someone who has some experience, my advice to you is that the earlier you voluntarily fall asleep, the safer you are. You shouldn"t purposely look for trouble for yourself; don"t go out to take a look at any accidents that happen at night."
Having heard what was said, the boy had no choice but to nod, indicating that he understood.
"Let"s wash up first." Ruan Nanzhu urged. "Fortunately, it"s still a bit early; take advantage of this time."
The time was six o"clock in the evening. Even though the sun had yet to set, dark clouds covered the entire sky, shrouding the heavens in curtains of black, making it seem as though the world would fall into the shadowy abyss in the very next second.
The four men in the team decided to head off to the public bathroom first. Zeng Ruguo found a change of clean clothes in the room he would be living in by himself, and he seemed to want to take a shower.
On the other hand, Lin Qiushi felt that taking a shower would be too troublesome and inconvenient, so he planned to return to his room after a simple rinse.
Judging from the rapid movements of their hands as they hurriedly washed up, the others also didn"t plan to stay in the bathroom for long.
As Lin Qiushi washed his face, he began to survey the area. This unpleasant, nauseating bathroom made one feel awfully disturbed. Unrecognizable grease stains marked the entire floor. Whether it was the walls or the toilets, everything was repulsively filthy. Because the sky was getting darker, the lights on the ceiling lit up. When cast on the bathroom, the dull yellow glow emitted from the lights gave the impression that everything around them was being projected through an old, dirty lens filter.
The two men who decided to room together already finished up their business and were ready to return to their room. They called out to Lin Qiushi, "Yu Linlin, we"ll be heading back first."
Lin Qiushi nodded. He was pretty much done as well, so he picked up his towel and intended to leave with them.
"Yu Linlin." Zeng Ruguo, who was still in the middle of showering, unexpectedly stopped him. "Are you leaving?"
Lin Qiushi hummed, "Mhm." He knew with certainty that Zeng Ruguo was rather frightened. "How long will you take? I"ll wait for you for a while, how"s that sound?"
Zeng Ruguo repeatedly thanked him.
And so, Lin Qiushi stood at the doorway of the bathroom, waiting for Zeng Ruguo to come out.
There was a small shower curtain covering each shower stall, and behind each curtain stood a showerhead. Apart from the sounds of rushing water hitting the floor and flowing down the drain, the bathroom was deathly silent.
"Huh? Why can"t I clean it?" After a while, Zeng Ruguo"s panicked voice suddenly echoed in the bathroom. "Why can"t I wash off the blood on my body, ah?"
Lin Qiushi asked, "What"s wrong?"
Zeng Ruguo replied, "I can"t clean it…" Incoherent sentences flew from his mouth; he couldn"t hide the great fear and apprehension in his trembling voice. "Blood, there"s blood everywhere."
Lin Qiushi glanced in the direction Zeng Ruguo was showering. Although the lights were somewhat dim, he could clearly see the endless flow of thin blood running underneath Zeng Ruguo"s feet and going down the drain. Even if Zeng Ruguo"s body was caked in blood, it would"ve been quite strange for it not to have been cleaned off after spending this much time in the shower.
Zeng Ruguo was becoming more and more afraid. "It"s still not clean—"
A terrible sense of dread struck Lin Qiushi. Feeling something was horribly wrong, Lin Qiushi cut him off, "If you can"t wash it off, then don"t try to clean it anymore. Just quickly get out of there."
Zeng Ruguo suddenly stopped speaking.
Lin Qiushi was just about to ask what was up, when the thin shower curtain was abruptly flung open by two hands. Lin Qiushi saw Zeng Ruguo standing behind the shower curtain—and he finally understood why the other couldn"t wash off all the blood from his body.
Sticking directly on the showerhead of the shower was a piece of blood-red, mangled flesh. This moist chunk of meat resembled the corpse of a deformed infant. Diluted blood continuously trickled down the showerhead, which only sprayed Zeng Ruguo"s body with decontaminated b.l.o.o.d.y water—like h.e.l.l he would be able to f.u.c.king wash it clean, it was a ghost!
Lin Qiushi shouted, "Quit showering! Get out of there, now!"
Upon seeing that Lin Qiushi"s expression was particularly ugly, Zeng Ruguo promptly scurried out the shower room with his towel; he didn"t even have enough time to grab his clothes.
The instant Zeng Ruguo ran out, the lump of flesh on the nozzle sluggishly lifted its head. Lin Qiushi didn"t dare stare at it. He rapidly whirled on his heels and darted out of the bathroom.
The two men rushed out in a haste, and happened to come across Ruan Nanzhu in the corridor.
As of this moment, Zeng Ruguo was b.u.t.t-naked, and his whole body was still painted in blood. Ruan Nanzhu was momentarily baffled. "…What on earth were you two doing in the bathroom for so long?"
Lin Qiushi: "I watched over him as he took a shower!"
There was a subtle change in Ruan Nanzhu"s expression. "…That sure is one h.e.l.l of an interesting hobby you"ve got there."
Lin Qiushi: "You trying to pick a fight???" He exposed a look of helplessness and weakly explained the situation in the bathroom to Ruan Nanzhu. After listening to the story, Ruan Nanzhu faced the shivering Zeng Ruguo and gave him the once-over. "Go back and put on some clothes. Don"t catch a cold."
Zeng Ruguo nodded. Looking pitiful as ever, he soon returned to his room.
Seemingly deep in thought, Ruan Nanzhu silently gazed at Zeng Ruguo"s pathetic retreating figure. Lin Qiushi saw the solemn expression on his face and a.s.sumed the other was earnestly contemplating something grave. Just when Lin Qiushi was about to ask the other a question, he heard a sentence come from Ruan Nanzhu: "So tiny, ah."
Lin Qiushi: "Hah?"
Ruan Nanzhu: "Nothing. Let"s hurry back and go to bed."
Lin Qiushi was caught in a daze for a while. He hadn"t reacted to Ruan Nanzhu"s remark, as he momentarily wasn"t able to process what the other was trying to say. Only when he finally realized what Ruan Nanzhu was referring to did his expression twist. "You, you"re a girl right now! To look down there, staring at other people"s—”
Ruan Nanzhu: "Yeah, and what about it?" His voice deepened. "Did you forget that this "girl" can also pull out something bigger than what you"ve got down there. Are you not ashamed? You feeling embarra.s.sed enough yet?"
Lin Qiushi: "…" He had to admit it. This Ruan Nanzhu bluntly declaring such shocking, cruel things with that beautiful face of his was just too much for the frail Lin Qiushi to handle. Lin Qiushi"s weak mind and fragile heart took a harsh blow.
Contrary to what one might expect, Ruan Nanzhu had a very naughty and spoiled nature hidden beneath his disguise. After saying those words, he said they should get going and hurry back to their room to sleep, as the day was getting darker.
The two returned to the room and lay down side by side on the wooden bed.
Frankly speaking, this room was way too stifling, stifling to the point that it was hard for one to breathe. Lin Qiushi turned over on his side and stared at the gloomy ash-grey walls. If not all, the grimy, low ceiling seemed as though it would crush them at any moment now. Yet, as always, Ruan Nanzhu was easily able to fall asleep. As he had described, once you closed your eyes, it would practically be midnight, for there would be nothing to see but utter darkness.
Lin Qiushi also closed his eyes, and he gradually fell into deep sleep.
Author"s Comment:
Lin Qiushi: I can"t compare at all to that ‘girl" who goes by Ruan Nanzhu.
Ruan Nanzhu: Well, you look tastier than me at least.
Lin Qiushi: ???
TL Note:
I"ve decided to change the cover for KoD to the official [film] poster because I couldn"t take the cats seriously, lol… When the official paperback comes out later, I"ll probably change the cover again…
And I promise I"ll get back to updating EIC, SQ, and IWY after I release Chapter 21 of KoD, the longest chapter in the novel–so don"t worry, I haven"t dropped any projects and don"t have any plans to do so. I can only ask you guys to be patient for a while longer! ORZZZ