A tense silence befell the entire room at Ruan Nanzhu"s words. Although his playful tone made it seem as though he was trying to lighten the mood and joke around, no one in this situation could laugh. Having already suffered so many ordeals, everyone couldn"t help but believe that this light-hearted comment would surely come true; after all, even their wildest imagination could come true in this torturous nightmare.

Xiao Yi"s corpse had inexplicably vanished. They had been here for three days, and there were only four days left until the birthday party. Xiao Yi had been met with such a tragic death yesterday, and at the time, her mother wept so outrageously, to the point that even others found her reaction a bit too exaggerated; and yet, not even a full day had pa.s.sed, before she seemed to have already recovered from her deep grief. While repeatedly muttering that it was time to prepare the birthday cake, she scurried back into the kitchen. No one knew what exactly she was up to; they only heard loud crashes, shrill noises, and rushed footsteps echoing from within the kitchen as she busied herself.

The atmosphere was dark and complex. Everyone"s hearts were heavy, and a bad premonition kept haunting the back of their minds, but at this very moment, no one could put a finger on the emotion they were feeling, or why they were feeling this way; they just subconsciously knew that something dreadfully ominous was approaching.

Tang Yaoyao believed that the old grandmother and the youngster living downstairs were especially vital to solving this mystery, so she and Zhang Xinghuo both headed back downstairs to discreetly gather more information from the two of them. Ruan Nanzhu, however, didn"t bother joining them. Instead, he and Lin Qiushi began discussing some matters in the room. Accompanying them as they conversed were a pale and haggard Xu Xiaocheng and Zeng Ruguo. Unable to endure any more of this terrifying nightmare, the pair of dazed individuals just remained seated, huddled into a ball, completely frightened out of their wits.

Amongst all the rustling noises coming from the kitchen, there was one distinct sound they couldn"t turn a deaf ear to—the mother humming a tune to herself. Her eerie voice pierced their ears, causing their blood to run cold.

The bedroom doors were shut tight, and the two surviving identical little sisters were hiding somewhere in their room, doing G.o.d-knows-what.

Zeng Ruguo, who drank too much water because of nervousness, announced that he wished to go to the bathroom. As he said this, he slowly swept a pitiful upward glance at Lin Qiushi, the pleas shining in his wide eyes couldn"t be any more obvious.

"What"s up?" Seeing that sad puppy dog expression on a fully-grown male like Zeng Ruguo made Lin Qiushi"s hair stand on edge. Feeling awfully disturbed at being stared at by the other like that, Lin Qiushi cautiously withdrew, then asked, "Why are you looking at me like that? What are you trying to say?"

"Big brother1 Yu… Ummm, that"s…" Zeng Ruguo seemed rather embarra.s.sed. But he soon gritted his teeth and, throwing his pride away, he begged, "Can you go with me? I"m a little too scared to go alone."

There was only one public bathroom available, and it was the same public bathroom where Lin Qiushi spotted that deformed baby"s corpse. Seeing the fear and worry on Zeng Ruguo"s face, Lin Qiushi gave a brisk nod and responded, "Sure. To be honest, I just had an urge to go to the bathroom too, so how about we go together?"

Beyond ecstatic, Zeng Ruguo energetically bobbed his head in agreement.

Thereupon, the two headed off to the bathroom.

Before they knew it, it was already afternoon. Although it was only about three o"clock, it might as well have been dusk, for pitch-black shadows were already enveloping the skies outside. There was a window beside the toilet, allowing one to view the outside scenery through the gla.s.s. Before Lin Qiushi went to the toilet, he gazed outside the window, only to be faced with curtains of dense fog concealing the world. He couldn"t see anything past that dark fog; in fact, he might as well have been trying to see with both of his eyes closed.

Lin Qiushi quickly finished his business. After noticing Zeng Ruguo was urinating in one of the innermost stalls, he said to the other, "I"ll wait for you outside."

"Okay." Zeng Ruguo let out an awkward chuckle.

Lin Qiushi walked to the doorway and began waiting for Zeng Ruguo there. He fished out his mobile phone and looked at it, only to strangely discover there was actually signal on his cellular phone. After pondering over it for a while, he didn"t dare make any calls—he was afraid of what freakish things in this G.o.dawful place might end up answering his call.

Lin Qiushi had originally thought Zeng Ruguo would finish up soon, but even after waiting for four to five minutes, there weren"t any signs of him coming out of the bathroom; as a matter of fact, there weren"t any signs of movement inside, not a single sound could be heard. Suddenly, an unpleasant sense of dread struck Lin Qiushi; that bad gut feeling tormented the pit of his stomach, causing every nerve in his body to tense. It wasn"t long before the faint scent of iron a.s.saulted his nostrils. Lin Qiushi was awfully familiar with this metallic smell, as he"d smelled it countless times before. At once, he knew what it was—the smell of blood.

"Zeng Ruguo!!!" Lin Qiushi didn"t charge directly inside. Rather, he loudly shouted Zeng Ruguo"s name from the door.

There was no response from the bathroom, only an unsettling silence that was all but rea.s.suring.

Lin Qiushi hesitated for a moment; he then lifted his foot and entered the bathroom once again. But the moment he stepped foot into the bathroom, he caught a sound that was difficult to describe with mere words.

Lin Qiushi had never heard such a sound before. It he had to describe it simply, it was like someone was smashing an extremely hard object in one strike with all of their might. Again, and again, and again… But presumably, that hard object wasn"t particularly st.u.r.dy, because Lin Qiushi clearly heard a resounding crack, as if something just shattered into numerous fragmented pieces.

By now, a thin layer of cold sweat coated Lin Qiushi"s back; his voice trembled ever so slightly as he tentatively called out, "Zeng Ruguo, you still there?"

Yet, there still was no response. Lin Qiushi"s instantly heart sank in his chest. He knew it with certainty, Zeng Ruguo had definitely been met with wretched misfortune. Through the small crack in the stall, Lin Qiushi looked at the spot Zeng Ruguo should"ve been located, only to see bright crimson liquid painting the floor, flowing endlessly. His gaze followed the trail of the blood that was slowly trickling along the ground, running down the crack in the ceramic floor tile. Seeing that the blood was about to touch his feet, Lin Qiushi swiftly hopped back, quickly evading it.

"Zeng Ruguo, are you still there?" Once again, Lin Qiushi called out to the other. But he soon noticed that the blood on the floor seemed to have come to life. As if they were twisted hands trying to seize his shadow, they writhed around and began to reach out, relentlessly pursuing him and trying to catch his steps. At first, the speed at which the blood flowed towards him was slow, but gradually, the speed increased; it was growing even faster and harder to avoid. Lin Qiushi had just barely managed to escape being stained with blood.

Upon witnessing this, Lin Qiushi didn"t dare stay in the bathroom any longer. He frantically ran out of the bathroom and rushed back to the room, "Bad news, you two, this isn"t good. Something terrible has happened to Zeng Ruguo."

Ruan Nanzhu and Xu Xiaocheng immediately stopped talking. They both turned their heads around and looked up. "What"s the matter?"

Between his shallow pants, Lin Qiushi gasped out, "I was waiting for him outside, but because I didn"t hear anything for a while, I decided to go back in and check. When I entered the bathroom again, all I saw was blood on the ground." He knitted his brows, the corners of his lips curled downwards. "The blood just kept flowing towards me, it seemed to be chasing me, as if it wanted to catch me. I didn"t dare stay there any longer. I just left the bathroom as fast as I could."

Ruan Nanzhu asked, "Blood? Did you get any on you? It hasn"t touched you, right?"

Lin Qiushi shook his head no.

"Oh, then it"s fine." Ruan Nanzhu said, "Come, let"s go take a look at it together now. Besides, it"s not like we can just avoid going to the bathroom for the next few days."

Xu Xiaocheng"s expression began to distort and her complexion turned paler, the more she listened to Lin Qiushi"s account. According to Ruan Nanzhu, Xu Xiaocheng was a very popular celebrity in reality, and this also wasn"t the first time she had entered the door world. But whether she was truly terrified or merely pretending to act scared was something Lin Qiushi could never figure out for the life of him; he just stood there blankly, lost in his thoughts, trying to guess if her reaction was genuine or not.

"What are you thinking about?" asked Ruan Nanzhu upon seeing his distracted appearance.

Lin Qiushi shook himself out of his daze. "Nothing."

"You"re getting used to this." Ruan Nanzhu commented. "Your ability to adapt is quite remarkable."

Ruan Nanzhu walked ahead of the group. His face didn"t contain the slightest trace of fear or shock; it was as though he"d already antic.i.p.ated the death of Zeng Ruguo. But if he had to be honest, Lin Qiushi also felt the same as Ruan Nanzhu; although he didn"t know exactly why he thought this way, he just had a hunch that Zeng Ruguo would be the very first to die.

Ruan Nanzhu headed for the bathroom and strolled right inside. He glanced at the ground and warned the others, "Don"t step on the blood."

But within a few minutes, the bright red blood before their eyes coagulated into a thick, black liquid, as if it had long been dried up.

Ruan Nanzhu stepped over the blood and caught sight of Zeng Ruguo"s corpse. He softly clicked his tongue and announced, "Dead."

At his words, Lin Qiushi shuffled forward to observe the situation in the stall. Zeng Ruguo was indeed dead; in fact, he couldn"t have been any deader.

His whole body lay strewn across the cold tiled floor, and his head seemed to have been bashed in by some instrument. Foul blood surrounded chunks of bone and macerated flesh meshed together, creating a noxious stage of grotesquerie.

Xu Xiaocheng covered her mouth and began dry-heaving, once again.

Lin Qiushi, on the other hand, was too distracted with other thoughts to feel the need to vomit; he recalled that strange thwacking sound he heard at the entrance of the bathroom. As of this very moment, he finally realized what that noise was—that sound obviously couldn"t be anything other than someone smashing Zeng Ruguo"s head in with a hammer.

"Hmm…" Ruan Nanzhu tilted his head as he mused on something. "Don"t you guys think there"s something missing?"

Lin Qiushi wondered, "What"s missing?" But after examining the scene carefully, he finally discovered what exactly was missing. "His…his brain?"

Ruan Nanzhu: "Mhm, it"s as gone as him."

Lin Qiushi fell silent.

Zeng Ruguo"s skull had been cracked like an egg. It was nearly impossible for Lin Qiushi to recognize its original shape, and the other"s brain, which should"ve been smearing and bespattering the tiled floor like the pieces of fragmented bone and putrid flesh that were scattered across the ground before them, was nowhere to be found.

"f.u.c.king h.e.l.l." As it eventually registered in his head, Lin Qiushi, who rarely cursed before experiencing these incidents, spit out a string of unpleasant profanities. "Don"t tell me we"re the eggs?"

Ruan Nanzhu: "Most likely."

"Why did they take away his brain?" Lin Qiushi shuddered at the thought of someone crouching near Zeng Ruguo"s corpse, meticulously cracking his skull and scrupulously carving out his brain, removing it from its original place, then once again smashing his head to pieces once the person obtained what they wanted. Utterly appalled, he murmured, "I just don"t understand."

"Well, it must have some use," replied Ruan Nanzhu. "However, its specific use still has yet to be determined." He sighed, "Anyways, let"s head back."

"What about the corpse?" Lin Qiushi asked.

Ruan Nanzhu said, "Don"t touch it, just leave him here." He smiled calmly. "Perhaps it"ll also disappear before we know it."

In the end, it was just as he"d predicted. By the time the people who had went down to the first and fourth floors returned, Zeng Ruguo"s body had vanished.

Only the congealed splatters of blood on the ground proved that what they"d just seen wasn"t a figment of their imagination.

"Zeng Ruguo"s dead?" Tang Yaoyao was rather shocked upon hearing this news. "How"d he die?"

Lin Qiushi briefly explained the story.

"Well, we can"t do anything about it; if he"s dead, he"s dead." Surprisingly, Tang Yaoyao"s reaction was quite insipid. It was evident she was an experienced person who had long become accustomed to death. She chuckled mockingly, "If you look at it from another perspective, he"s also one lucky b.a.s.t.a.r.d. Any other person who ran into that thick fog would"ve already been six feet under, but he was still able to have some fun for a couple more days."

Lin Qiushi: "…"

"So, where"s the corpse?" demanded Tang Yaoyao, "I want to see it."

"In the bathroom." Lin Qiushi responded.

However, once the group entered the bathroom, they found that the corpse had vanished. Aside from a couple of bloodstains, the stall was completely clean.

"It"s gone?" Tang Yaoyao wondered aloud. "Who took the body away?"

"I don"t know." Lin Qiushi shook his head. "We were in the room the entire time and didn"t pay attention to what was going on in the bathroom. But, in any case, he definitely didn"t die by the hands of a human, so it would be easy for whatever killed him to also take away his corpse, if that thing wanted to."

Ruan Nanzhu shot a glance at the toilet bowl and said, "His corpse was probably dragged through the toilet bowl."

"What"d you just say?" Tang Yaoyao couldn"t believe what she just heard.

"There"s some human tissue and flesh in the toilet." Ruan Nanzhu observed. "And hair, too."

After scrutinizing the area Ruan Nanzhu indicated, everyone discovered that it was exactly as Ruan Nanzhu said. Stuck to the narrow pipe hole inside the toilet were pieces of mangled human tissue and shredded strips of flesh, entangled in strings of black hair. If this were the real world, it would be impossible to drag a human body into the toilet bowl; however, this wasn"t the real world, but the world of the door. Any inexplicable happenings within these unconventional, unimaginable worlds could not be explained using common sense; after all, anything was possible here.

After being in contact with Ruan Nanzhu for a while, Lin Qiushi realized just how astonishingly impressive Ruan Nanzhu"s observations skills were. Many of the easily-overlooked details they had failed to notice were all effortlessly detected and pointed out by Ruan Nanzhu. If not for Ruan Nanzhu, their little "trip" inside this door world would undoubtedly be even more dangerous.

"What about you all? Did you get any new information from downstairs?" Ruan Nanzhu turned around to face Tang Yaoyao.

"No." Tang Yaoyao seemed a bit irritated. "When the young man opened the door and saw that I was standing there, he immediately slammed the door shut and yelled at us to leave—we"re both women here, but why"d he open the door for you?"

Having heard this, Lin Qiushi quietly thought to himself, of course, it"s only because Ruan Nanzhu looks so good… All of the males present thought the same exact thing, but no one dared voice it; their faces just held similar confused expressions, as if they honestly didn"t understand why there was such a difference in treatment.

"Probably because I"m taller." Ruan Nanzhu also didn"t reveal the truth that everyone was thinking, and just used a random, downplayed excuse to sugarcoat the reality.

"That senile old lady also couldn"t be any more of a dotard." Tang Yaoyao hissed in vexation. "I found that there isn"t anyone else living with her, and that she"s the only person living there. We asked her what she was trying to say, because we couldn"t understand anything that was coming out of her mouth, but she just kept repeating, "I have eaten, I have already eaten". As if anyone here gives a s.h.i.t whether she"s eaten or not!"

When Ruan Nanzhu heard this, there was slight change in his expression, but in the end, he remained silent.

"What should we do? I don"t think there are any more clues to find now. Does this mean we can only wait until the day of their birthday?" Tang Yaoyao asked.

"Whether we can live long enough to wait until then is the biggest problem. I feel like the incident with Zeng Ruguo is only the beginning." Zhang Xinghuo grimly muttered. "It"s like the domino effect. Generally, the first death is what initiates the fire, and that"s when whatever follow afterwards starts becoming even more heated and troublesome."

Everyone held their breath at his words. It wasn"t long before Xu Xiaocheng"s uncontrollable sobs shattered the hushed silence.

Tang Yaoyao was more than annoyed by her weeping; she criticized the other, exasperatedly asking if the other would stop crying since nothing good came out of it anyway; after all, if crying was even the least bit useful to anyone here, no one would be dying.

Through her snivels, Xu Xiaocheng pitifully whimpered, "Sorry, I"m sorry."

"Alright." Ruan Nanzhu interrupted, "It"s also no use attacking others or making others worried about some things." He added, "If it"s meant to be, then it"s meant to be; whatever happens, happens."

Tang Yaoyao sighed, "We can only do so much…"

Because of Zeng Ruguo"s death, the atmosphere in the room became heavier, grimmer.

They weren"t feeling cheerful at all, but the mother of the triplets seemed to be in an awfully pleasant mood. She cooked them another meat dish in the evening, and as before, they simply stared at the meal presented before them without picking up their chopsticks.

But the woman didn"t mind one bit. Chewing loudly and sighing in great pleasure with every bite, she eagerly finished the meal by herself. Xu Xiaocheng could only bear so much, as she had the worst tolerance; she only took two bites of that bland bread, before she left the table.

Zhong Chengjian, one of the newcomers who was rather withdrawn and didn"t talk much, also decided to return to his room, but just when he wanted to leave, he ran into the two identical sisters at the doorway. As always, these two strange sisters appeared as unpredictably as ever; no one knew just how long they"d been standing at the doorway.

One of the little girls suddenly opened her mouth and asked Zhong Chengjian, "Do you know who I am?"

Zhong Chengjian was already on edge, and hearing this question made the string keeping his wits intact nearly snap. He impatiently snarled, "You two, get the h.e.l.l out of the way. I"m trying to leave and you"re blocking me." This was the very first time he had entered the door world, and unexpectedly being welcomed into this inconceivable, insufferable world that only conjured up his deepest fears, coupled with the despairing thoughts of imminent death that corroded his mind, caused him to be on the verge of collapse. So, when he caught sight of these two children in their cute skirts, he just wanted to steer clear from them as much as possible; he certainly didn"t have the heart or energy to answer their question.

Yet, this little girl was unwilling to spare him. Persistent, she repeated her question, still awaiting his answer. "Do you know who I am?"

Lin Qiushi just stepped forward, wanting to help the other, when Zhong Chengjian abruptly extended an arm and harshly shoved the little girl. Vile profanities spewed from his mouth as he hastily exited the area, enraged.

The little girl crashed heavily against the wall. She then slowly picked herself off the ground, body straightening up. Her deep black eyes stared unblinkingly in the direction Zhong Chengjian walked off.

Standing right beside her was her sister, coolly watching the scene unfold. Her lips twitched and moved ever so slightly. No one knew what she said to her sister, but it wasn"t long before an eerie smile crept onto the little girl"s face.

Lin Qiushi paused in place and glanced back at Ruan Nanzhu.

Ruan Nanzhu merely shook his head.

"This guy might not be much of a talker, but his does have quite a big temper." Tang Yaoyao didn"t appreciate Zhong Chengjian"s att.i.tude. She added, "And he even has the guts to provoke one of the triplets…" She bit down on her bread, chewing and swallowing, before heaving a sigh, "When I get out of this place, the first thing I"ll do is have a good meal."

Who didn"t want to leave this dreadful place? Who here didn"t want to return to reality, to bask in the sunlight of the real world that was filled with vitality? Unfortunately, the cold hard truth of reality was that reality never bent to the will of the people, and they would have to spend several more days in this h.e.l.lhole.

The darkness of the night gave rise to a sense of unease and terror.

Lin Qiushi remembered what Ruan Nanzhu had once said. He recalled how a conflict broke out between Zhong Chengjian and two of the triplets, and reckoned that something would happen later tonight.

"It could be that I made a mistake. Perhaps the condition of death I guessed is incorrect." Ruan Nanzhu, who was lying down right next to Lin Qiushi, knew what the other was thinking, and he comforted him. "Your heart is too soft. In this world, it"s necessary to abandon some things."

Lin Qiushi didn"t speak at the moment and, instead, sighed softly, "I could have done something; I could have prevented it…"

Ruan Nanzhu: "You don"t have to be responsible for any of their lives."

Lin Qiushi smiled wryly upon hearing this, "Just who exactly is taking responsibility? I just don"t want any more people to die." His own life was being protected by Ruan Nanzhu, so, naturally, he wouldn"t be arrogant enough to believe he could heroically protect and save the lives of everyone.

"Well." Ruan Nanzhu hummed. "In the end, life and death are ruled by fate, and we cannot do anything about it; those destined to die will pa.s.s on, and those fated to live will continue to live until death comes around for them." However, if Lin Qiushi couldn"t care any less about the lives of others, if he was just a cowardly and selfish good-for-nothing, Ruan Nanzhu also wouldn"t treat him as he did now; in fact, he wouldn"t even spare the other a glance.

Some things were just inherently contradictory.

The dim lights scarcely brightened up the narrow room. Lin Qiushi pressed the switch and the room was submerged in darkness.

Because of what happened the night before, they changed sleeping locations and didn"t dare rest their heads near the corridor wall.

"I"ll be counting on you tonight." Ruan Nanzhu straight-forwardly stated before going to bed. "I"m like a pig when I fall asleep. I can"t hear anything, unless someone wakes me up."

Lin Qiushi: "…" For the first time, he felt that his acute sense of hearing was such a pain. It would"ve been nice to be like Ruan Nanzhu, not hearing anything and being able to sleep through the night peacefully until dawn.

Both of them thought that Zhong Chengjian would die tonight, but the result was that no incidents broke out that night. Which is why when Zhong Chengjian arrived at the table to eat breakfast the next morning, everyone turned their heads in his direction, fixing their attention on him and staring at him strangely.

"Why are you all looking at me like that?" asked Zhong Chengjiang, perplexed by the abnormal looks he was receiving.

No one replied to his question. They simply bowed their heads and continued eating the meal in front of them.

Today"s breakfast was bland porridge and dry bread. Having eaten like this for a several days in a row, Lin Qiushi really didn"t have an appet.i.te when he laid eyes on that tasteless bread, but he still had to eat.

Zhong Chengjian took a seat and picked up the bowl of porridge. He raised it to his mouth and began slurping on it. However, he barely took two sips from the bowl, when his body stiffened and he suddenly stopped moving. That"s when his expression changed greatly. He instantly put a hand over his mouth and began hacking violently, as if thick phlegm was lodged in the back of his throat, choking him, unable to be removed despite his sharp wheezing and gagging.

"What"s wrong?" Tang Yaoyao, who was sitting right next to him, was surprised at his sudden bout of coughing.

"Cough, cough, cough! What the h.e.l.l is this—" Zhong Chengjian coughed up what he just ate, only to see that the porridge he just spit out onto the floor was dyed red with his blood. He then thrusted his hand into his mouth, and using his fingers to dig inside his throat for a while, he finally pulled out a thin object.

Everyone who saw what he just retrieved from the inside of his mouth sucked in a cool, startled breath, utterly shocked at the sight before them, for what that object actually turned out to be was a thumb-sized needle, sharpened at both ends and stained with crimson blood. Fortunately, Zhong Chengjian did not swallow it directly, or else he surely would"ve died if it lacerated his esophagus. Nevertheless, even though he discovered the needle sooner, he had still been injured by it, and the thick blood continuously dribbling down the side of his mouth was proof of this.

"Motherf.u.c.ker!" Pure rage consumed Zhong Chengjian, and he wrathfully threw the needle to the ground. "Who the f.u.c.k put this in my bowl!"

Not a single person uttered a sound. Fraught silence filled the air, straining everyone"s nerves.

"That woman prepared the porridge." Tang Yaoyao finally spoke. "It was already set up before we arrived at the table. We all just randomly took a seat."

"No." Ruan Nanzhu disagreed. "Zhong Chengjian is usually the one who arrives the latest." Because he was normally the last to sit down at the table, everyone habitually left the outermost position for him. “This person"s target was Zhong Chengjian."

"So you"re saying the woman put in the needle in his bowl?" Tang Yaoyao asked in disbelief.

Ruan Nanzhu gazed at the bloodstains on the ground. "Maybe."

Trembling all over in sheer fury, Zhong Chengjian rushed into the kitchen to find the woman and demand an explanation from her.

The woman didn"t even bat an eyelid at being confronted by a raging Zhong Chengjian; her face was expressionless. Donning an ap.r.o.n and with a cooking spoon in hand, she told him, "I don"t understand what you"re saying."

"Did you put a G.o.dd.a.m.n needle in my bowl?" Zhong Chengjian quickly demanded, simultaneously pointing at his bloodied mouth. "Are you trying to kill me?"

The woman looked at him indifferently, unsympathetically, as if all she was staring at was a mere carca.s.s.

One after another, everyone chased after Zhong Chengjian into the kitchen and urged him not to act so rashly. Zhang Xinghuo gently tugged him back and openly advised him to not start a fight with the woman head-on.

"You"re all cowards!" Zhong Chengjian completely lost his cool. The toxic fear and anger that he suppressed in his heart ever since he arrived in this world finally erupted. No one could"ve imagined that his next action would be to run towards the cutting board and pick up the knife the woman often used when preparing the meals. "f.u.c.k it! What ghosts, huh?! G.o.ds or demons, just kill them, and it"ll all be over; they"ll all be gone!!!" With the swing of his arm, he aimed at the woman directly in front of him, cutting her down.

Everyone was paralyzed on the spot at this unexpected scene. Ruan Nanzhu was the first to react. In that split-second, he grabbed ahold of both Lin Qiushi and Xu Xiaocheng, who stood in front of him, and swiftly retreated, dragging them back, as well. Tang Yaoyao, who was still in shock, didn"t react, and her entire body was splashed in warm blood.

"Ahhhh!!!" As the woman was being sliced and hacked to death, she emitted the most miserable screeches. At long last, her body limply flopped to the ground, and it was in that very moment she took her last breath.

"Die! I"ll kill you! I"ll kill you!" Pure insanity and evil shone in Zhong Chengjian"s blood-red eyes. As if he were possessed, he stabbed the woman again and again, relentlessly chopping her up even after she no longer resembled a human.

It wasn"t until exhaustion overcame him and he sat on the ground, panting heavily, that the madness in his eyes gradually faded away, leaving behind a strange sense of emptiness and devastating panic. The quivering of his weak voice revealed how unstable the man was. "I-I…I killed a person?"

"Zhong Chengjian, are you mental?! You"re a f.u.c.king psycho!!" Tang Yaoyao"s shrill voice rang in from all sides of the room. "Do you have any idea what you"ve done—"

"I killed someone?" Zhong Chengjian sounded as if he was on the verge of sobbing; his voice cracked, words got caught in his throat, and mournful cries seemed to be threatening to bubble up from within.

"The point isn"t that you"ve killed someone, but whether that someone you killed was a person or not." Although Tang Yaoyao soon backed away, her body was still stained with blood. Fuming, she glared at Zhong Chengjian and hissed, "Can you be so sure she won"t come back for you tonight?"

Zhong Chengjian slowly heaved himself up off the ground. He looked as if his mind and spirit had long collapsed. He lifelessly chanted, "I killed someone. I killed someone," then released the knife in his hand, allowing it to fall to the floor.

"And this is why I hate rookies." Ruan Nanzhu leaned his chin against Lin Qiushi"s shoulder. He grumbled, "Their nerves are as thin as hair. Someone who can"t keep themselves in check, who doesn"t tread cautiously and meaningfully, will almost always run into danger.”

Lin Qiushi asked, "What happens if someone kills an NPC."

Ruan Nanzhu whispered back, "Well, one can a.s.sume nothing good will come out of that, obviously." He then paused, "In any case, it"s all death in the end. The only difference is that the manner in which they die may be slightly more tragic than the rest; but other than that, there"s nothing more to say."

Lin Qiushi: "…"

Author"s Comment:

Ruan Nanzhu: His nerves are way too thin; he"s no good. Do you like them thick or thin?

Lin Qiushi: No questions asked, I prefer them thick.

Ruan Nanzhu: Hehehe, well you"re in luck, "cause I"m extremely thick.

Lin Qiushi: …….

1Here he used 小哥 (Xiao Ge). Ge or Gege means "big brother" and is normally used to address blood-related older brothers or males older than you (as seen with how Cheng Qianli address his older twin and RNZ). However, "Xiao Ge" is used by those who know they are older than a younger person, yet still want to kiss up to/flatter the younger one by calling them "Big Bro" (as seen with ZRG calling LQS "Big bro", despite clearly knowing that LQS is much, much younger.)