Kaleidoscope of Death

After a simple breakfast, everyone went their separate ways in the restaurant.

This time, Wang Tianxin, who had lost his female companion, didn't want to go out, and looked like he wanted to go back to his own room. Someone asked him very rudely, saying, "Wang Tianxin, are you planning to just stay in the house and not go out?"

Wang Tianxin was suddenly asked, although he looked a little embarrassed, but his attitude was very determined: "Yes, I'm not feeling well, I don't want to go out today."

The person who asked him sneered: "I'm afraid you'll be feeling uncomfortable for the next few days."

Wang Tianxin became annoyed, "What's it to you, so what if I'm uncomfortable, if you're capable of accompanying me to be uncomfortable!"

That was just very shameless, and everyone showed their contempt for him after hearing that.

Except for the two newcomers, most of the people here had passed through several doors, and had also encountered participants like Wang Tianxin who were incredibly negative within the doors.

This kind of person wouldn't take the initiative to look for clues, all they could think about was how to stay alive, with no team value at all, purely a burden.

Ruan Nanzhu looked at Wang Tianxin and left with Lin Qiushi without saying anything.

Only after leaving the hotel, Ruan Nan Candle came in a nonchalant sentence: "According to my previous temper, someone like Wang Tianxin won't be able to leave here alive."

Lin Qiushi: "Didn't they say that no one could be killed inside the door?"

Ruan Nan Candle seemingly smiled, "I'm a law-abiding citizen, why would I kill someone, there are so many ways to make someone die, why would I do it myself."

Indeed, the world within the Gate was inherently dangerous, as if human life had become the most worthless object.

Ruan Nanzhu: "Once two or three people like him appear, it would be easy to wipe out the group."

Lin Qiushi: "What do you mean?"

Nguyen Nam Candle: "Think about it, people compare themselves to each other, you're working hard to find clues while someone is hiding in a room doing nothing, can you feel balanced?"

Lin Qiushi: "That's true..."

Ruan Nanzhu didn't continue this topic, but his expression was clear, as long as Wang Tianxin dared to toss out any more moths, he was afraid that he really wouldn't be able to walk out of this door.

Today, they planned to go to the ones in town with children to take another look, although Dong Tianwei from the team said that those houses were dead set against letting them see the children, but Lin Qiushi always felt that these children could be the key clue to the breakthrough. He and Ruan Nam Candle crossed the town and arrived in front of a row of very dilapidated-looking two-story buildings.

These buildings had almost lost their siding, with traces of rain eroding the corners of the walls, the doors were locked tightly, and the modest courtyard was separated from the outside world by a barbed wire fence, filled with dense weeds - honestly, if it wasn't for the lights on inside, this really didn't look like a place where people lived.

But the style of these rows of buildings were all very similar, and they all had an atmosphere of being inhabited by people.

Lin Qiushi asked Dong Tianwei about these families in detail in the morning, and Dong Tianwei replied that although they had managed to enter these houses, they hadn't seen any children at all, and that these families were very cold and didn't answer any of the questions.

Lin Qiushi said, "Then did you check the rooms?"

Dong Tianwei: "The inspection did take place, but there's nothing to be gained, there's no child in it anyway."

Lin Qiushi was clear.

While Lin Qiushi was thinking, Ruan Nan Candle had already rang the doorbell.

After the clear ringing of the doorbell, the old door in the house creaked softly and an old lady showed her eerie face from the other side of the door, she looked around with her cloudy eyes and saw Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nan Candle standing at the door.

Lin Qiushi originally thought she would ask them what they were doing here, who knew that the old lady didn't say anything, walked up to them and opened the door, then turned around and went back to the house, acting like I won't tell you anything, you guys are on your own.

Ruan Nan Candle: "Old man." He called out, but the old lady didn't pay any attention at all, as if she couldn't hear anything and went back to the house.

Since she didn't want to talk, Lin Qiushi and the others didn't force her.

Before entering the house, they checked the small courtyard in front of them and did not find any useful clues. Ruan Nan Candle and Lin Qiushi said, "The information the town gave us is that there is a seven year old girl in this house, and she is not missing yet, if the town mayor's information is correct, there is definitely a child here, but it is hidden by this family."

Lin Qiushi nodded, this was something Dong Tianwei had also said.

"So, let's look for it." Ruan Nan Candle pushed open the wooden door in front of him and they entered the house.

The house was a mess, with all sorts of strange junk piled up all over the room, and the old lady who had just opened the door for them was sitting on a rocking chair, looking drowsy. The entire house was dim and stale as it was lit by the faint glow from a tiny light bulb overhead.

"Find them separately, and holler if you need anything." Ruan Nan Candle whispered to Lin Qiushi, "There's no need to worry too much when it's crucial." After all, people's lives are used to deceive people, and they're dying.

Lin Qiushi nodded and pointed to the second floor, then typed, I'll go to the second floor.

Ruan Nanzhu gave a hmmm.

When Lin Qiushi indicated that he was going to the second floor to take a look, the old lady raised her eyes to look at him, and although the movement was very subtle, Lin Qiushi still caught it. He had a bit of an idea, and felt that the child should be hidden on the second floor.

Crossing the long staircase, Lin Qiushi reached the upstairs.

The second floor should be the master's bedroom and study, equally old, but at least it didn't have the messy junk downstairs.

Lin Qiushi checked room by room, but there was no sign of the child, he even checked the wardrobe and the bottom of the bed, but he still didn't find anything.

This house was so big, where could a living person hide?

Lin Qiushi really couldn't figure it out.

Just as Lin Qiushi was in doubt, his keen hearing caught an unusual sound.

It was somewhat like fingernails scratching on wood, very subtle, but Lin Qiushi was sure he heard it. He raised his eyes and looked around, quickly finding the source of the sound... it was the corner of the house.

Lin Qiushi went over to take a look and saw a wooden box about half a meter in the corner. With the size of this wooden box, it definitely couldn't fit a person, perhaps there was a secret passage inside the box.

Thinking so, Lin Qiushi bent down and checked the wooden box to make sure that it was the source of the sound, but there was a brass lock hanging from the wooden box, Lin Qiushi decided to call up Ruan Nanzhu from downstairs and ask him to open the lock.

"Is this the place where the sound is coming from?" Ruan Nanzhu asked Lin Qiushi.

Lin Qiushi typed it to him: yes, there should be a secret passage here.

Ruan Nam Candle: "Good." He half crouches down and starts to unlock the door.

The lock wasn't complicated, but in a few moments, Ruan Nan Candle was able to open it, yet the moment the lock opened, Lin Qiushi stared violently - he saw what was inside the box.

"Ah... Ah..." the child whose body was broken and trapped in the box in a twisted posture moaned faintly, her body was almost completely twisted and hardened to fill the box in front of her, it was hard to imagine that she was still alive just by looking at her appearance.

In the meantime, Ruan Nanzhu saw this scene and raised his eyebrows.

Lin Qiushi was about to step forward to get the child out, but Ruan Nan Candle reached out his hand to stop him: "No need, she's already dead."

Lin Qiushi: "What... but... she..."

Ruan Nan Candle: "Look at her neck."

Lin Qiushi took a look and realized that the child's neck was folded almost to ninety degrees, it was absolutely impossible for a normal person to still be alive when they were folded like this. This was something that couldn't happen outside the door, but inside the door, it was possible for it to happen because she was no longer a living person. The child in front of her raised her black eyes and looked at Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nan Candle with resentment, her pale lips mumbling unintelligible words, as if she was cursing something.

Lin Qiushi cursed in a low voice.

"The way they hide children is really incomprehensible." As Ruan Nan Candle was speaking, a growl suddenly came from behind him.

Lin Qiushi turned his head and saw the old woman who was sitting on the first floor appear outside the door at some point. She saw that Ruan Nan Candle and Lin Qiushi had opened the box, let out an angry scream, and jumped towards the two of them.

After Lin Qiushi nimbly dodged, he discovered that the old woman actually had a knife in her hand-...

"Go!" Ruan Nan Candle called out and planned to leave, Lin Qiushi followed him and raced towards the stairs, the two of them hurriedly ran down the stairs and left the courtyard, expecting the old woman to chase them out, but the house was quiet.

"She didn't chase them out?" Lin Qiushi breathed heavily, looking a little stunned at the wide open doorway.

"There doesn't seem to be any." Ruan Nanzhu was also looking to make sure that no one had indeed chased them out, wondering, "How about I go back and take a look?"

Lin Qiushi: "...Do you really want to go back and look at it?"

Ruan Nanzhu: "You stay here, I'll go back and keep an eye on things."

Lin Qiushi thought: "Forget it, let's stay together, we can take care of it in case something happens."

Ruan Nanzhu said, "Okay."

So the two people who ran out went back to the house, this time they were very careful, first they watched carefully outside the door to make sure the old woman wasn't there before they went in again.

The two of them cautiously climbed the stairs to the second floor, and as soon as Lin Qiushi reached the top of the stairs, he heard a bad sound... It was crisp, a bit like the sound of bones being snapped.

Ruan Nan Candle looked at Lin Qiushi and it was obvious that he had heard it too.

The two of them walked towards the room they had just been in, and after reaching the door, they saw what was happening inside clearly.

The old woman was grabbed by a pair of hands that were sticking out from the box, long and slender, with pale skin, wrapping the old woman up like a snake, then grabbed the old woman's body and started dragging her into the box.

The already small box was already stuffed to the brim, but because of the strength of those hands, the old woman was forced into half of her body, her bones were obviously broken, her body twisted and twitched in an abnormal posture... and also lost her life.

This scene was so horrifying that Lin Qiushi's arms were covered in white hair sweat after watching it.

"What to do?" Lin Qiushi asked Ruan Nan Candle.

Ruan Nan Candle was silent for a moment and lit a cigarette: "Go to the other house."

Lin Qiushi: "Hmm..."

They tacitly closed the wooden door in front of them and turned to walk away.

"The old man stuffed that girl in there, didn't he? Is it because you're afraid she'll be taken by the noodle man?" On the way, Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nam Candle discussed.

"It should be." Ruan Nam Candle.

It's strange, the family is supposed to protect the children, but in order to "protect" the children, they even put them in the small box and let them die a horrible death. Even so, they didn't want to see the children taken away by the noodle man.

"Hey, why does that person's back look so familiar?" While they were walking towards the remaining few houses, Lin Qiushi saw a familiar back, and he carefully identified it for a moment before saying in surprise, "Isn't that Wang Tianxin's missing female companion?"

Ruan Nan Candle looked at it: "It's really her."

The two of them stood by the side of the road and saw the girl named Liu Ya cross from a remote path in the town towards the desolate thicket of trees, her look was cold and completely unlike the cowardly with a bit of pleasantness that Lin Qiushi remembered.

"Follow up and take a look?" Ruan Nan Candle proposed.

Lin Qiushi nodded.

The two of them then followed behind Liu Ya, trying to see where she was going.

As Liu Ya went on, she soon broke away from the town and walked into the desolate bushes that were surrounded by fog, only the path in front of her was clear.

"Will following her like this take her out of the realm?" Lin Qiushi asked Ruan Nan Candle in a low voice.

Ruan Nam Candle: "It shouldn't be, she's in a very wrong state... I think, she shouldn't be human."

Lin Qiushi pursed his lips, actually knowing that yesterday when Liu Ya followed Lauren's sister away, they felt that this girl had a lot of bad luck. After all, this was the world within the door, and even if they saw a person, they might not really be "human".

Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu were afraid that Liu Ya would find out and didn't dare to follow too closely, through the fog, Ruan Nanzhu saw Liu Ya's footsteps stop, he reached out his hand and pulled Lin Qiushi to indicate that Lin Qiushi should stop.

At this time, they arrived at a ruin, which was once part of the town, but was now abandoned. There were remnants of buildings and overgrown weeds everywhere, and it looked filled with a strange desolation.

Liu Ya stood quietly in the depths of the ruins, as if she was waiting for something.

Lin Qiushi heard a rustling sound coming from the thick fog, like something walking inside.

Ruan Nanzhu and he crouched behind a piece of ruins, both of them holding their breath, not daring to make any noise.

Soon, a dark shadow walked out from the depths of the fog.

It was a tall man, wearing a black suit and a tall hat, he had no facial features, his face was white, his hands and feet were slender and twisted like a snake, he slowly walked in front of Liu Ya and stopped.

Liu Ya silently gazed at the man in front of her.

Then, the noodle man made a move that Lin Qiushi hadn't expected, he reached out, grabbed his hat, and then started trying to take it off.

However, the hat seemed to be stuck to his head... Lin Qiushi even heard a sound like brocade tearing - the long, thin ghost had actually torn off his own skin along with the hat.

This image looked too painful, and Lin Qiushi found it unbearable to watch.

Ruan Nan Candle gently held Lin Qiushi's wrist, calming him down.

Lin Qiushi wanted to say that he was fine, but he was afraid of making a sound, so he could only stop.

After pulling the cap off hard, the slim ghostly figure handed the cap to Liu Ya.

Liu Ya looked solemn as she received the bloodstained hat and gently stroked it for a moment before placing it on her head.

Then, her body began to undergo a bizarre change.

The figure began to pull up, the arms and legs began to become slender, the skin became even whiter, and the facial features began to disappear... In short, Liu Ya was transforming towards the appearance of a slim ghost.

And with Liu Ya's change, the original long and thin ghost shadow let out a sharp cry, and he opened his mouth, revealing a large blood-red mouth and fine, dense teeth... To be honest, it was the first time Lin Qiushi had seen a long and thin ghost shadow open its mouth.

The original long and skinny ghostly figure began to grow shorter and shorter, as if its body had been drained of water.

In the end, it directly turned into something like a piece of human skin, as if all the flesh and blood had evaporated.

Liu Ya, on the other hand, had completely turned into a long and thin ghost, her clothes were bursting because of the change in her body, so she bent down, picked up the suit that had fallen on the ground, put it on one by one, and then held on to her bowler hat, and after letting out a strange laugh, she reached out and picked up the shriveled human skin.

Lin Qiushi watched as the newborn slender ghostly figure stuffed the dried human skin into his mouth and swallowed it in one gulp.

This scene should have been disgusting and terrifying, but Lin Qiushi was focused on something else - he clearly saw that there seemed to be a metal-like object wrapped inside the human skin, and although Lin Qiushi wanted to deceive himself, he was very sure that he saw what the metal was... Yes, it was the key to leave this door.

The key to this door was actually inside the body of the slender ghostly figure.

For a while, the atmosphere between Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nam Candle became heavy.

After Liu Ya ate his predecessor's human skin and showed his satisfaction, he turned around and disappeared into the fog, looking at his departing back, Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nam Candle tacitly did not speak, but turned around and walked away until they returned to the town, only then did they let out the breath they were holding.

Ruan Nan Candle's expression beside him was deep: "Did you see that?"

Lin Qiushi: "I see."

Ruan Nam Candle: "It's long..."

Lin Qiushi looked stunned, "What's very long?" Hands and feet?

Ruan Nan Candle smiled and didn't say anything.

Lin Qiushi got a taste of derision from his smile and finally reacted to what part of Ruan Nam Candle's very long ah was referring to, his face twisted, "...are you looking that closely?"

Nguyen Nan Candle: "Actually, I didn't want to, I blame my eyesight for being too good."

Lin Qiushi: "Grieving you?"

Ruan Nan Candle: "Not bad."

Good, great, so far after their pervert-like tracking, they finally determined whether the gender of the long and thin ghosts was male, or a certain part that was very standard or even very long, they were really getting a lot... Lin Qiushi thought so sadly.

"It seems like there's a uniform template for them to turn into long and skinny ghost shadows." Nguyen Nam Candle finished his joke and got down to business, "The hat is the delivery device."

Lin Qiushi, "What about the key?"

Ruan Nan Candle: "Two ways, one, we'll go and fuck over the slender ghost and cut the key out of his stomach."

Lin Qiushi: "I'd rather choose two." He didn't feel like he could fuck over that thing with his own fighting strength, in fact even with the addition of Ruan Nan Candle, he thought it was pretty suspenseful.

Ruan Nan Candle: "Two, do it while they're exchanging."

Lin Qiushi pondered.

Ruan Nan Candle: "I guess that hat is very important, so let's do it when the first ghost shadow takes off their own hat and interrupt their legacy."

Lin Qiushi: "It makes sense."

The reasoning made sense, but exactly how to interrupt it was indeed a problem, and the worse thing was that if the interruption failed then they would probably all be cold on the spot. The lanky ghostly figure didn't look like a temperamental character.

"It doesn't have to be the two of us doing this," Ruan Nan Candle said, "Although the clues are important, lives are more important, we can tell everyone about it and come together then."

Lin Qiushi felt that it was quite reasonable, at least there was strength in numbers, more people and more methods, but the problem also existed: "What if they refuse to do it?"

Ruan Nan Candle: "Won't..." he smirked, "If you won't, just wait for death." He laughed and looked at Lin Qiushi as he spoke seriously, "I guarantee they will die before us."

Lin Qiushi felt that Ruan Nanzhu was indeed not joking.

After running around all day, they were both a bit tired now, so they planned to go back to the inn to recuperate.

As they passed by the square, Lin Qiushi noticed that the missing person notice he had posted yesterday was once again on the notice board, only this time there was an extra one.

The photo Lin Qiushi saw posted on the extra one was the same girl who had been stiffed into a box by her parents.

"It always feels like we're like a disaster." Lin Qiushi said casually, "All the kids we've talked to are going to be unlucky."

Ruan Nan Candle listened to him and said, "Maybe it's true."

Lin Qiushi: "Eh? What do you mean?"

Ruan Nan Candle said, "Meaning, we are actually the accomplices of the Slim Ghost Shadow, not only do we have to turn into that thing, we also have to find children for him."

Lin Qiushi: "..." he actually felt that what Ruan Nan Candle said made sense.

But Lin Qiushi always felt as if he had forgotten something but couldn't remember, he pursed his lips and looked like he was sad.

"What's wrong?" Ruan Nan Candle asked him.

Lin Qiushi: "...I feel like I've overlooked something." It was a wonderful feeling, as if his head didn't remember for a moment, but his intuition kept reminding him.

Ruan Nanzhu: "There's no rush, take your time to think."

Lin Qiushi nodded.

The two of them went back to the inn and ate something random.

Lin Qiushi had thought that Ruan Nan Candle would just tell everyone about it, but he didn't expect him to mention it at all.

Faced with Lin Qiushi's doubts, Ruan Nan Candle's explanation made sense as he said, "Let's wait until we're sure we're going to get the key, after all, there might still be people here who will turn into that thing, it's better not to tell the enemy clues."

Lin Qiushi: "Also."

He sat by the window, looking towards the view in the distance, and suddenly his soul blessed: "I remember!!!"

Ruan Nam Candle: "What?"

Lin Qiushi: "I think I overlooked something - do you remember how I said I saw a couple of long, thin ghosts before?"

Ruan Nan Candle nodded his head to show that he remembered.

Lin Qiushi said, "But the slender ghostly figures I saw didn't wear hats."

Ruan Nan Candle frowned.

Lin Qiushi said incredulously, "Could it be, that there are actually two long, skinny ghostly figures in this town?"

Ruan Nan Candle's eyes were sunken and his voice was somewhat low: "Most likely."

If that was the case, then things were even worse.