Once dawn came, the horrors of last night dissipated.
Lin Qiushi was walking down the corridor of the second floor to go to downstairs when he heard some hushed whispers and scuffling noises coming from the third floor. It appeared that several people were having a conversation. He didn"t intend to go and take a look, but no sooner, he heard the anguished wailing of a woman. This sorrowful cry was full of grief and heartbreak, as if this woman had encountered something terribly tragic.
Lin Qiushi hesitated for a moment before turning around to follow the staircase to the third floor in order to check out what happened upstairs.
This building was entirely constructed out wood. The planks on the staircase were somewhat aged; they would suddenly creak and groan the moment one stepped on them. There were also some places that would tremble slightly, as if these boards could hardly support the weight of the human body.
Lin Qiushi arrived at the third floor and saw quite a few people standing in the corridor. However, what specifically caught his attention was the potent stench of blood in the air.
This sanguinary odor was so strong that it stung people"s noses. A feeling that was all but rea.s.suring grew inside Lin Qiushi. He gently took a couple of steps forward, cautiously walking over to stand behind their backs.
"I knew it." Xiong Qi, the large man who had greeted Lin Qiushi yesterday, spoke in a low, grave voice; he was in the middle of discussing something with the others. "Sure enough, something went wrong yesterday…"
Xiao Ke also joined in on the conversation; she added, "I also felt it, but I thought it"d be…" At this point, she turned around and glanced at Lin Qiushi who stood near her back. "Forget it."
Lin Qiushi thought, what do you mean by this? Who"d you think it"d be? Don"t tell me you thought it would be Ruan Baijie and me? He raised his eyes and looked at the door behind Xiao Ke.
The door was ajar, and there were splatters of blood on the floor. Because the weather was freezing, the blood had already congealed; however, one could still see that a ma.s.sive amount of blood had been split.
"What happened?" Lin Qiushi asked.
"Death happened." Xiong Qi"s voice was extremely dull.
Lin Qiushi: "…Death?" If it were yesterday, he probably would"ve felt incredulous after hearing these people casually mention such a thing with a flat, insipid tone, as if the matter had nothing to do with them. But after experiencing yesterday"s events, he clearly realized that common sense couldn"t be used to explain the world he was in right now.
"Yeah," grunted Xiong Qi.
Lin Qiushi shifted around, changing his angle, and cast another glimpse at the door. At this one glance, he involuntarily sucked in a cool, startled breath. Coagulated blood caked the entire room. Two corpses were messily strewn across the floor. The degree of goriness and mutilation was beyond grotesque, to the point that one completely couldn"t recognize the original bodies. Rather than saying they were human beings, it was more accurate to say they were merely two chucks of skinless meat. Blood trickled along the room, flowing all the way down to the floors outside. From the walls to the floorboards, there was hardly a single place on this third floor that was clean.
Although Lin Qiushi was mentally prepared, he was still revolted by the scene. He covered his mouth tightly and whirled around. Xiao Ke was surprisingly very understanding, and she indicated, "There"s a toilet in the next room."
Without delay, Lin Qiushi rushed to the toilet and began vomiting his guts out.
While waiting for him to finish vomiting, Xiao Ke remarked, "I didn"t expect you to throw up."
Lin Qiushi: "Hah?"
Xiao Ke faintly stated, "You and Ruan Baijie are already the best rookies there are. Generally, the circ.u.mstances of the first gate for newcomers are especially bad, and the survival rate is no more than 20%."
Lin Qiushi: "…"
Xiao Ke suggested, "Let"s go downstairs and have some breakfast."
Lin Qiushi interrupted, "Are we just going to ignore the two corpses?"
A strange expression flitted across Xiao Ke"s face the moment she heard this. "You want to do something about them?"
Lin Qiushi had nothing to say. As he followed the people downstairs, he suddenly recalled something. Puzzled, he wondered, "Hold on. When I was on the second floor, I heard a woman crying on the third floor…" He regarded the scene and determined that the only girl amongst the few people here was Xiao Ke. He looked at her unperturbed appearance; she didn"t seem like someone who would wail.
"A woman crying?" repeated Xiao Ke. "We didn"t hear anything. You must"ve heard wrong."
Lin Qiushi: "…I see."
Breakfast on the first floor was ready to be served; a piping hot meal was arranged on the table. The cooks were apparently regular villagers, they appeared no different from ordinary civilians.
After he ate his breakfast, Lin Qiushi borrowed several thick clothes from them then inquired about the village.
"There"s nothing in our village." The villagers didn"t seem to give any useful information. "Just a few tourists that come to visit every winter."
Lin Qiushi: "Oh… And what about your daily necessities?"
The villagers answered, "We go outside to buy them. Although the mountain road isn"t easy to travel by, there"s always a way. But if it snows, there absolutely no way to leave. The mountain road would be completely sealed off, and you"d have no choice but to stay here all winter."
Lin Qiushi contemplated for a moment, then he suddenly asked, "Are all the wells in your village situated in the middle of the courtyards?"
Lin Qiushi didn"t know if it was just his illusion, but the very moment he posed this question, the villagers" faces seemed to have become tenser, more strained. However, they didn"t offer any other particular information; they merely nodded their heads, agreed with a ‘yes", then turned on their heels and walked away.
Lin Qiushi mused on this, but he still had no clue as to what was going on, so he simply decided to hand the clothes to Ruan Baijie first, then speak with the others again later.
When he entered the room, Ruan Baijie was sprawled across on the bed, playing with her cellphone. She saw him come into the room, and she softly humphed, "You"re so slow."
Lin Qiushi laid out the borrowed clothes on the bed. "Get up. There"s breakfast on the first floor."
Ruan Baijie groaned.
Lin Qiushi added, "I"ll be waiting for you outside."
"Wait!" Ruan Baijie abruptly cried, "What"s that on the top of your head?"
"What?" Lin Qiushi was utterly confused.
Ruan Baijie rose from the bed and beckoned him towards her; Lin Qiushi approached her.
“It"s red all over…" Ruan Baijie reached out and touched Lin Qiushi"s head with her flawless hand; she then turned her palm over. "What is this?"
A bad feeling engulfed his heart the instant he caught sight of that stuff on Ruan Baijie"s hand, for what was on Ruan Baijie"s hand uncannily resembled frozen blood.
“I"ll take a look at it." Lin Qiushi hurriedly darted to the bathroom. Sure enough, it was as Ruan Baijie said. He observed that his hair was full of fragments of crushed ice and slush. The slush was dark crimson and occasionally hidden by his hair, so he didn"t even notice it at the time. He also didn"t know when this stuff got on his head.
“f.u.c.king h.e.l.l." Lin Qiushi cursed under his breath and wiped his head with a towel. Yet, rubbing his hair wasn"t good enough. The more he rubbed, the ghastlier and more shocking the sight became. The warm towel was practically dyed red, but his hair still wasn"t as close to clean.
Now wearing thick clothes, Ruan Baijie strolled over to him and awfully bluntly commented, “Well, it"s a good thing that stuff"s not green."
Lin Qiushi: "…Have you ever seen green blood?"
Ruan Baijie: "That"s blood?"
Lin Qiushi sighed and briefly mentioned that something happened on the third floor. Upon hearing news of two deaths, Ruan Baijie once again began to weep delicately and whispered, “Brother Lin, I"m so scared. Will we be the next ones to die?"
In the end, which person"s heart could bear witnessing a beautiful girl cry so miserably like this
Lin Qiushi stepped forward to comfort her, and Ruan Baijie was also prepared to lay her head on his shoulder, but all of a sudden, she wondered, “Brother Lin, how tall are you?"
Lin Qiushi: “…180 centimeters1."
“Oh." Ruan Baijie uttered. “You"re shorter than me."
Lin Qiushi: “…" You"ve been wronged, ah.
Lin Qiushi swiveled back around and continued washing off his hair; while doing so, he pondered over where the blood could"ve come from. At last, he arrived at a very frightening conjecture…it couldn"t possibly be that it dripped down…from the ceiling of the third floor, right?
"I want to go to the third floor to check it out a bit." Lin Qiushi declared. "You just head on to the first floor and get yourself something to eat."
"Going alone?" Ruan Baijie said. "Let"s go together."
"You"re not afraid?" Lin Qiushi was in doubt. Just moment ago, this tearful Ruan Baijie was clearly weeping.
"Are you not going to be with me?" Ruan Baijie tucked her silky black hair behind her ear and smiled gently. "With you here, what"s there to be afraid of?"
Lin Qiushi gave it some thought. That"s right, ah. All in all, if we take last night into consideration, you can certainly run faster than I can.
Thereafter, the two individuals headed down the corridor and went to the third floor.
As before, the area was covered in blood, and the corpses that hadn"t been taken care of were still lying around. But as of this moment, Lin Qiushi"s attention was fixed to the ceiling above. He lifted his head and, just as expected, streaks of blood were spotted on the ceiling. It"s just that these traces caused people to feel extremely unsettled; it seemed as though something had attached itself to the ceiling and slowly slithered away. Since a good while had pa.s.sed, the bloodstains on the ceiling froze, but the stains created from the blood dripping to the floor were vaguely visible.
Upon seeing this scene, Lin Qiushi"s scalp tingled. He honestly didn"t want to think of what was stuck to the ceiling when he first appeared on the third floor…moreover, to think that none of them managed to discover it from the beginning to the end.
Ruan Baijie gazed at the ceiling for a long time.
Eventually, Lin Qiushi asked her what she was staring at.
"I"m staring at the ceiling," replied Ruan Baijie, "What else am I supposed to see besides this? A starry sky? Dreams?"
Lin Qiushi: "…"
Her courage was also quite great. After eyeing the ceiling for a while, she strode over to study the mangled corpses. The entire time, she never showed any signs of discomfort; in fact, she even appeared rather excited.
Right then, Lin Qiushi looked at her suspiciously and questioned, "Are you not scared?" In an instant, she seemed to have remembered something, and, as usual, she began wailing like a child2.
Line Qiushi: "… Stop with that crying. Do you still want to eat breakfast?"
"Eat eat eat!" Ruan Baijie shouted. "I"m hungry."
The two individuals went downstairs; they saw that everyone had finished eating breakfast and seemed to be waiting for them.
"Where were you guys?" Xiong Qi asked. "We were waiting for you."
Facing the crowd"s scrutiny, Ruan Baijie wasn"t at all nervous. She gracefully sat her body down at the table and picked up her bowl of breakfast to eat.
Lin Qiushi, on the other hand, didn"t have Ruan Baijie"s thick skin. He quickly explained that he had blood in his hair, and he also mentioned that they noticed some strange marks on the ceiling of the third floor.
After hearing this, everyone"s complexion didn"t look too well; some of them even reflexively raised their heads and glanced upwards at the ceiling.
In the midst of their conversation about the people who died last night and those weird traces on the third floor, a middle-aged man above the age of forty entered through the door. Donning a green military coat and carrying an oil lamp in his hand, the man ambled into the hall.
"h.e.l.lo." The man started. "I am the head of this village. Are you the ones I requested for help?"
The moment he opened his mouth, everyone in the room fell silent.
"The day is chilly. Our village wishes to build coffins in preparation for the coming year." With a hoa.r.s.e voice, the man continued, "I entrust you all with the task of helping the carpenter."
No one responded to the village chief, and it seemed that the village chief also didn"t expect to receive any replies from them.
Once he finished speaking, he coughed a few times, then raised the oil lamp, lightly swinging it back and forth as he strolled out of the room. Although the snowfall had stopped, the wind unceasingly roared. At first, the eerie sounds generated by the fierce winds striking the door and rustling the treetops resembled the mournful shrieks of humans.
"Begin." Xiong Qi softly announced.
As soon as his words came down, a gust of wind blew, slamming the ajar door to the wall; at once, a deafening bang resounded, and the wooden door that looked fairly solid was directly smashed into pieces.
The entire room turned quiet. Eventually, Xiong Qi was the first to speak again. “We should build a coffin."
"How could this be! Why did this happen!!" An ear-piercing cry echoed from somewhere within this room. Lin Qiushi turned his head and swept his eyes around only to realize it was actually one of the men in this group who was having a mental breakdown. "This was actually such a difficult world—how can we even survive; who"s even able to build a coffin; we"ll die, we"re all going to die here—"
Xiong Qi seemed accustomed to seeing such scenes; there wasn"t the slightest change in his expression.
The man, who had emotionally collapsed, snarled and flung everything on the table to the ground. Tears and snot streaked his face. "Thirteen people came in, two people died on the first day…I"ve never encountered this level of difficulty before!!!"
"Good!" Xiong Qi impatiently roared. "Is crying going to stop you from dying? Venting all your emotions like this, you think you"re still a newcomer?! Just take a look at the potential of these rookies!"
Lin Qiushi was utterly bewildered because, at this sentence, the man directed a vicious glare towards him; Lin Qiushi thought to himself, to think possessing outstanding mental apt.i.tude turned out to be his own fault, ah!
However, it wasn"t strange that this man had a nervous breakdown. This was completely different from the phenomena of the ordinary world, there were numerous harbingers of terror, all sorts of horrifying omens; it was awfully difficult to keep calm in such circ.u.mstances.
"Now then, let"s first discuss what exactly we have to do." Xiong Qi specified. "The village chief said to build coffins. This is definitely the key."
Lin Qiushi: "Pardon me, what are you referring to when you say "key"?"
Xiong Qi glanced at him. "It"s something used to open the gates. After we enter, we need to search for a key according to the clues given to us by the characters inside. After that, we have to search for an iron gate, and then, we can leave this place."
Lin Qiushi: "Is there a time limit?"
Xiong Qi chuckled grimly, "Of course. It"s before we all die."
So it turned out to be like this. Lin Qiushi"s heart was relieved, at least there was still a way to leave. What he truly feared the most were unsolvable horrors, the ones that a person couldn"t escape from, the ones that a person couldn"t leave behind, the ones that were doomed to futility regardless whatever one did.
"The hint is the coffin." Xiong Qi observed the weather outside. "Let"s first seek the village"s carpenter and inquire about the situation."
"Fine." Xiao Ke spoke. "I"ll go with you."
Lin Qiushi raised his hand. "I also wish to go."
Xiong Qi nodded indifferently, "Okay." Unwittingly, he had become the leader of this team. He ordered, "You guys inspect the building and see if there are any other useful clues."
At this moment, Ruan Baijie came forward, gently tugged on Lin Qiushi"s sleeves, and whispered, "I"m scared. I want to be with you."
This girl was indeed quite tall, and she certainly didn"t give off the feeling of a feeble, helpless, innocent little bird who constantly relied on others, and yet, her good looks really made people feel some pity for her. In the end, Lin Qiushi was touched, and he nodded. "Fine. However, I can"t guarantee your safety or protection."
Ruan Baijie beamed. "It doesn"t matter." She flipped her hair. "I"m at ease whenever I"m with you."
Lin Qiushi thought, girl, you"re seriously a tease.
Thereupon, the four took advantage of the young night and hurriedly departed.
On the road, Lin Qiushi asked Xiong Qi about a few details pertaining to these worlds; he learned that, in general circ.u.mstances, ghosts here didn"t indiscriminately kill people. However, there were exceptions. If a problematic world was encountered, the ghosts would have no restrictions; whenever they wanted to do something, they would immediately set off to do so. In such cases, there was undeniably an extremely slim chance of surviving.
"For what reason do these worlds exist?" Lin Qiushi put forth the question that he was most curious about.
Xiong Qi heard this question and looked at him deeply. "You"ll know the answer when you get out alive."
Lin Qiushi: "… Oh."
They figured out the address of the carpenter from the villagers. It was rather difficult to travel by these snow-covered roads; pa.s.sing through took more than an hour.
In the pa.s.sing, Lin Qiushi regarded the circ.u.mstances of the village.
The village wasn"t large; it was surrounded by dense thickets. At normal times, it was fine, but currently, the snow practically cut off the path to leave. There weren"t many people living in this village; occasionally, two to three people would be spotted walking along the roadside. It was reasonable to say that encountering foreigners at this place was a once-in-lifetime occurrence. But, judging from the villagers" expressions, they didn"t seem the least bit surprised or curious about Lin Qiushi and the others" arrival.
The carpenter"s house was located east of the village. From outside, they could make out the faint glow of a lit kerosene lamp.
Xiong Qi knocked on the door. After a moment, a little old man appeared from behind the door. He was between sixty to seventy years of age; his face was layered in wrinkles, his hair was thinning, and he had incomparably cloudy eyes. Wearing a shabby, grey cotton-padded jacket, he grumbled, "Is something the matter?"
"It"s too cold outside. May we speak inside?" Xiong Qi asked.
The old man didn"t reply; he simply turned and stepped aside from the doorway.
The four individuals outside entered through the door in a single file line.
The house was rather small; the entire place was in a complete mess. Lin Qiushi surveyed the area and noticed the window was broken; the man coa.r.s.ely nailed a few planks to the window frame to cover up the hole, easily keeping out the wind.
"Elder, we were requested by the village head to build a coffin." Xiong Qi began. "But we do not understand this very well. We heard that you’re a famous carpenter in the village. Would you please give me some advice?"
The old man looked coldly at Xiong Qi. "In order to build a coffin, you first cut down a tree, chop the wood, deliver the wood to me, go to the temple to pay your respects, then you’re ready to start."
Xiong Qi caught this hint. "Go to the temple and pay respects?"
The old man gave a brisk nod. "There is an ancient temple next to this village. Building coffins is bad karma, so we must first go to the temple and pray, pray, pray, pray as many times as possible." An indescribable feeling of unease and discomfort rose from listening to him repeatedly stress the phrase ‘pray".
"And after we finish praying?" Xiong Qi inquired.
The old man didn"t utter a word.
Xiong Qi: "Elder?"
The old man still didn"t respond.
Under Xiong Qi"s incessant questioning, the old man finally grinned; his grin was particularly sinister under the dim light of the small blaze. He lowered his voice and hissed, "Wait for when you"re still alive, then come and ask me again."
Xiong Qi"s complexion instantly turned ashen.
Ruan Baijie wasn"t in the least polite, and she scoffed, "Ah, just stop that, old man. Today"s extremely cold. What should we do if you end up dying before we complete the task?"
The old man sneered, "This old man"s tough."
Ruan Baijie: "From what I see, the only thing that"s going to get tough is your life."
Old man: “…"
The others: “…"
Lin Qiushi thought to himself, just where on earth did you learn something like this, ah? Do you truly have no issues with attacking NPCs? Generally, most people would feel a bit scared or timid if they encountered a terrible person. However, judging from the way Ruan Baijie rolled her eyes so hard, she completely didn"t find there to be any problems.
"Okay, okay." Lin Qiushi chimed in. "Since he doesn"t want to say anything, don"t force him…"
Ruan Baijie retorted, "Can"t force? If we"re the first to feel helpless, then we"d have to accept it. But, what is he feels helpless first?" The girl rolled up her sleeves as she said this; her eyes roamed around the room before finally stopping on a wooden stick that was as thick as one’s arm.
Lin Qiushi cursed like h.e.l.l in his heart; he just knew it, she seriously planned to use violence, ah. This was a motherf.u.c.king world of horrors, yet it was still totally fine to beat up NPCs?
Who would"ve imagined that Ruan Baijie didn"t even need to pick up the stick before the petrified old man fl.u.s.teredly exclaimed, "After you pray, fill up the well, then the coffin will be ready!"
Ruan Biajie: "Wah wah wah, Qiushi, he glared at me~"
Lin Qiushi: "…" The look you had just moments ago was, by far, scarier than his.
Xiong Qi apparently didn"t realize they could do something like this; he and Xiao Ke were in a daze for a while. When they first entered the world, they were always polite for fear of offending someone. But who would’ve known Ruan Baijie would be completely out of line. Nonetheless, because of that, they easily obtained an answer—even if this answer wasn"t necessarily correct.
When they came out of the carpenter"s house, Xiong Qi, who was in a complex mood, hesitantly requested for Ruan Baijie"s name.
Looking as lovely and pitiful as ever, Ruan Baijie replied, "My surname is Ruan. My full name is Ruan Baijie. But, elder brother, you can just call me Jiejie."
Xiong Qi addressed her as Jiejie, but he always felt that there was something inexplicably and unbelievably odd with it. In the end, along with Lin Qiushi, he just called her Baijie.
Nearly a whole day had pa.s.sed since they arrived here, and only now did Xiong Qi learn Ruan Baijie"s name. He saw yesterday"s tearful Ruan Baijie wailing like a helpless heroine, and he immediately a.s.sumed Ruan Baijie wouldn"t be able to survive in this world for long. As a result, he didn"t even bother asking for her name.
However, after Ruan Baijie"s outstanding performance, Xiong Qi felt that this girl wasn"t as soft or delicate as she appeared.
"Were you not afraid?" Xiong Qi asked her.
Ruan Baijie"s answer was impressive, and it won everyone over. She responded, "Afraid? What"s there to be afraid of? It"s understandable if you"re afraid of ghosts, but even if you"re afraid, it"s too bad; there"s nothing you can do about it. But this person was a vital NPC. If he really died, we"d only be left with inadequate information, and if that happens, how are we supposed to survive in the end?"
The three people were stunned speechless, but they actually felt she was utterly reasonable.
In any case, they obtained some vital information from the carpenter. With everyone"s minds now at peace, they decided to head off and return home to discuss this with everyone else.
Although it was daytime, the sky was shrouded by dense, dark clouds. It stopped snowing, but the shrill howls of the chilling winds lingered. Wearing that long, white dress and two thick cotton jackets on top, Ruan Baijie followed behind Lin Qiushi. Her dainty and fragile frame seemed as if it would be blown away by the winds at any given time.
Lin Qiushi"s heart couldn"t bear to watch any longer. He extended his arm and pulled on her, allowing her to walk in front of him while taking her place and blocking the wind behind.
Ruan Baijie was moved to tears. She slowly blinked her beautiful eyes and murmured to Lin Qiushi, "You"re so kind."
Lin Qiushi: "It"s common courtesy."
Ruan Baijie: "Are you this nice to everyone?"
Lin Qiushi: "…You think I"d do something like this for Xiong Qi?" He joked, "It"s only because you look good."
Xiong Qi who was walking up ahead: "I heard that, ah."
Upon hearing this, Ruan Baijie exposed a thoughtful expression. "So it"s fine as long as they"re good-looking?"
Lin Qiushi thought she was merely kidding around, and he said, "Of course, must also be tall."
Ruan Baijie: "Oh…"
Author’s Comments:
Ruan Baijie: Wah wah wah!
Lin Qiushi: Stop with that wailing. You always remind me of this one thing
Ruan Baijie: What?
Lin Qiushi: The eagle catches the little chicks.
Ruan Baijie: Oh, then are you a chick?
Lin Qiushi: …
T/N:
Tell me if you guys would rather I omit all ‘the author has something to say" sections.
Anyway, the author"s comment above is kind of lost in translation… For the gist of it, here"s a . Naturally, there"s more to it—play on characters, cultural nuances, etc.—but I won"t get into that…
1Original: 1 meter 80 or 1.80 meter. Equivalence: 180 centimeters or approximately 5"11" (feet and inches). In other words, LQ actually isn"t that short. It"s just that RB is taller…
2嘤嘤嘤— Yingyingying (onomatopoeia). "Cute" sobbing of little girls and/or boys that apparently makes people"s hearts clench. Also, "ying" by itself is a bird"s call.
3损阴德