Kaleidoscope of Death

It seemed like it had been a long time since Lin Qiushi had seen such good weather. The wind had stopped and so had the snow, the warm sun hung in the sky and the warmth returned to the earth, as if what had happened last night was nothing more than an insignificant nightmare.

Lin Qiushi rarely followed Ruan Baijie to bed for a while, chatting from poetry and song to philosophy of life.

Finally, Ruan Baijie was hungry and urged Lin Qiushi to get something to eat.

When Lin Qiushi went to the kitchen, he saw that everyone had already woken up early and was discussing about going to the carpenter's place later after eating.

When Xiong Lac saw Lin Qiushi greeting him, he asked Ruan Baijie where she was.

"She's still in bed." Lin Qiushi said, "Said it's too cold and doesn't want to get out of bed, so I'll bring her some food back."

Xiong Lacquer oh-so-sounded and said they were planning to go out later, so Lin Qiushi had better come along. If this was on a normal day, then people would probably suspect that Lin Qiushi and Ruan Baijie had done something, but Nai Nai, after what happened last night, if Lin Qiushi and the others still had the interest and energy, they were truly gifted.

Going to the carpenter's today, Xiong Lacquer mainly wanted to ask about filling the well, how and when to fill it they didn't know. But the most important thing should be why the well should be filled in.

It had been a while since he came here, and Lin Qiushi was also sure that almost every house here had a well, most of which stood in the middle of the courtyard, blocking the way for people to go out. This was inherently unscientific in terms of its structure, and seemed to hide some strange custom.

Two people had died yesterday due to the carpenter's misinformation, and everyone was in a bad mood when they saw him again. Even the always kind bear lacquer expression was a bit colder, so it was good that the old man didn't really care, still holding that smoking gun and squinting his eyes to swallow the smoke.

"Old man, what do we need to do after paying our respects?" Bear Paint asked.

"Naturally, we'll fill the well," The carpenter said, "Pick a night and put a dead thing in the well."

"Dead things? What dead thing, what does that mean?" Curt felt bad, and his tone was suddenly much heavier, "What do you mean?"

Carpenter said, "Literally."

"As long as it's a dead creature?" Bear Paint confirmed evenly.

"Yes, as long as it's dead." The carpenter said, "Chickens, ducks, dogs, and geese, as long as you can find them, throw them in the well within three days, cover them with dirt, and this coffin will be made."

Hearing that anything that was dead would do, Xiong Lac was relieved, but before he was done with that, Ruan Baijie, who was standing next to him, came to say, "We haven't seen anything alive in this village for so many days, so where are we going to find any chickens, ducks, dogs, and geese."

"But didn't we eat the eggs?" Lin Qiushi remembered that basket at home, "If there are eggs, there should be chickens."

"You're not looking closely at that basket," Ruan Baijie Dao, "No outsiders came in our house at all, and there were no villagers either, the things in that basket turned out to be more by themselves."

Lin Qiushi: "...so what the hell is that egg raw."

Ruan Baijie: "Whatever it is raw, it tastes good anyway."

Lin Qiushi: "...he didn't feel his stomach too well.

Under Ruan Baijie's reminder, everyone seemed to remember that there was indeed nothing alive in this village, it was in the middle of winter, and there was even less likely to be anything in the mountains and fields, Xiong Lac was also smart enough to grasp a certain key point at once, and the color of his face gradually faded and began to turn white: "Old man, what exactly do you mean?"

The carpenter said, "I'm just a coffin maker, there's only so much I can say and do, and I won't intentionally harm you."

He said this, and finally someone couldn't hold back, and the man slapped the table and roared, "What do you mean you won't deliberately harm us, you let us go into the temple one by one to pay our respects, and now all who go in alone are dead-"

The carpenter said coldly, "What is the coffin for?"

The crowd froze.

"Isn't it just for the dead, what's a coffin without a dead person." The carpenter laughed, his wrinkled face looking bizarre, "Besides, why don't you listen to me..."

Nguyen Baijie: "Listen to what you're saying?"

The carpenter pointed at them, "There are so many people left, and she's not full."

"Full...?" When Lin Qiushi heard the word eat, he instantly remembered the corpses chewed into pieces above the third floor, and the details that everyone had mentioned yesterday, the people who had been hacked to death by that terrifying ghost seemed to have been dragged back to the temple, and now he finally knew the last whereabouts of those corpses.

"What the hell is that." Xiong Lacquer couldn't help but ask, "That woman..."

The carpenter waved his hand, refusing to continue.

Nguyen Baijie's eyes began to drift, and finally lingered in some empty corner, muttering, "Why did you put the stick away."

The carpenter almost didn't laugh, thinking I'm not putting it away waiting for you to pick it up and threaten to beat me up like last time.

Ruan Baijie: "The stick is gone, but it's good that I have something else ready." She said pulling out a folding knife from behind her, "Old man, let's talk about it properly, if you don't make it clear anyway, we'll all have to die here, it's good to take you with us as a companion before we die."

Carpenter: "......."

No matter the carpenter, even Lin Qiushi was dumbfounded, and the crowd fell into a strange silence, most of them thinking in their heads that there was still this kind of shenanigans?

The carpenter was so angry that he couldn't do anything about Ruan Baijie, so he could only bite his teeth and say something about "that woman".

It turned out that the woman was a god worshipped in the village. Although she was a god, she was an evil god, who blessed the village with peace and at the same time liked to eat raw flesh and bones. Every winter, people in the village would sacrifice live animals to the god. But this year, there was an accident in the village and all the live animals were gone....

Well, here come a few outsiders who are willing to help them make the coffin.

With that said, everyone understood that they were the live animals in the eyes of the villagers.

"Must they be fed? What happens if you're not fed?" Bear Paint asked.

The carpenter said, "Not fed...she'll come to you, and the coffin makers will have to make offerings to her, so this year no one but you will make coffins." He took a drag on his cigarette, "That's all I can say, as soon as you guys go fill the well, I'll start making coffins."

Ruan Baijie didn't say anything, her head lowered and played with the knife in her hand, her fingers were long and slender, the sharp blade flew through her fingertips, dazzling people to watch.

The carpenter also fell silent, he seemed to be quite scrupulous of Ruan Baijie, often looking at her twice when he spoke.

Just when everyone thought that Ruan Baijie would say something else, she sighed and said, "Let's go."

"Going back this way?" Bear Paint said.

"Or else." Ruan Baijie was a bit impatient, "That's all he knows, he can't ask any more questions." She turned around and pushed out the door with a very determined attitude.

Everyone followed suit and walked out, Lin Qiushi felt that Ruan Baijie didn't seem to be in a good mood, he chased her out and asked her what was wrong.

Nguyen Baijie said, "Be careful tonight."

"What do you mean? Meaning there's still a chance that thing could come for us?" Lin Qiushi could only think of this reason to be careful.

"Heh." Ruan Baijie laughed, she suddenly turned her head, leaned in to Lin Qiushi's ear and whispered, "Sometimes ah, people are much scarier than ghosts and monsters."

Lin Qiushi was stunned.

"Go back." Ruan Baijie turned to go forward, and Lin Qiushi looked at her back, suddenly feeling that this girl really couldn't see through it.

If before going to the carpenter's place, people would still occasionally say a word or two, then after returning from the carpenter's place, the atmosphere among the crowd had completely turned into a pool of stagnant water, or the kind that was about to stink.

Lin Qiushi didn't understand why this was the case, and Ruan Baijie ate a baked sweet potato and slowly explained, "You're silly, because before, everyone would still think about working together to survive, but now well..."

"Now?" Lin Qiushi was confused.

"Right now, we're all hoping that the other side will die soon." Ruan Baijie leaned back in her chair, "As long as someone dies, there will be dead objects to fill the well, coffins will be made, and everyone can leave alive..."

Lin Qiushi: "..." he didn't think of this at all, and he looked a little trance-like after hearing it, "Is the world in the Gate all like this?"

Ruan Baijie continued, "That's actually kind of nice, but don't you dare go out tonight, or..."

Lin Qiushi: "Will you meet that female ghost?"

Nguyen Baijie shook her head, "I might encounter something more terrifying than a female ghost oh."

Lin Qiushi actually guessed something inside, but he still didn't quite want to admit it. After all, born in a legal society, his mind hadn't been able to think out of the frame. Ruan Baijie hinted that someone would kill their companions for this in order to obtain a dead object that could fill the well, but he was reluctant to believe that someone would actually do it.

That night, Lin Qiushi has trouble sleeping.

Ruan Baijie lay next to him, still sleeping like a carefree pig.

Lin Qiushi, on the other hand, looked at the ceiling and thought about what had happened during the day, the windows and doors were closed, and he had wanted to use his chair against the door, but then Ruan Baijie came next to him and said, "Aren't you afraid of that thing suddenly appearing inside our room...?"

Lin Qiushi: ".......!" Makes sense.

So he obediently moved his chair away again.

What was supposed to happen, however, was bound to happen sooner or later, and at two in the morning, Lin Qiushi, plagued by insomnia, once again heard the screams of humans.