Kaleidoscope of Death

If there is one thing that sets this apartment apart from others, it's the mirrors that are everywhere.

Whether it's in the hallway, on the floor, or on the ceiling, you can see yourself in countless mirrors just by turning your head. Even in the dining room, the floor-to-ceiling windows that are supposed to have a view of the outside world are installed with bright mirrors - two-way mirrors, too.

The thought that people outside could see them made one feel uncomfortable and like one was being watched.

There were thirty-four floors in total, and when they went to the other floors to check the general situation, they found that almost every floor was occupied, although the number of people was small, but the whole apartment was not empty. Nguyen Nam Candle also asked them about what had happened in the apartment two years ago, but found that almost all of the residents had moved in recently and didn't know anything about the fire accident two years ago.

After a day of running around outside, they got very little information, except that it was a mother and son who died in the fire.

"Why a mother and son?" Lin Qiushi thought about it carefully, but he felt something was wrong, "Wasn't it a family of three that came to visit? What about the father?"

"Father's body was never found anyway," Nguyen Nam Candle, "Maybe he had the breakthrough we were looking for in him."

The sky was darkening now, and the setting sun cast a golden glow over the outer layer of the mirror-lined apartment.

"But where to find him." Lin Qiushi frowned, "There doesn't seem to be anyone who knows him in this building."

Ruan Nam Candle shook his head, indicating that he hadn't been able to make sense of the situation.

The city at night was getting quiet.

The noisy streets were empty and dark and out of reach.

Lin Qiushi stood at the window and looked out, in fact it was the only time he could feel that the world they were in was inside his door, because the world outside his door couldn't be this quiet at night. Even if it was late at night, the city center would at least hear the sound of cars driving by. There wouldn't be a single pedestrian on the roads either, and the strange silence outside at this time gave people a very uncomfortable feeling.

Ruan Nanzhu and Cheng Yixie had both finished washing up and had climbed into bed.

Lin Qiushi went into the bathroom and also planned to simply wash up.

He turned on the hot water switch and took a towel to pour hot water over it. There were also many mirrors inside the toilet, and Lin Qiushi had mirrors hanging in front and behind him. These mirrors became a little blurry amidst the smoke, Lin Qiushi lowered his head and covered his face with the towel filled with hot water.

Lin Qiushi lowered his head and suddenly felt that something was wrong, a very mysterious feeling. Lin Qiushi's movements paused slightly, observing the surroundings with his remaining light.

After a few seconds, Lin Qiushi discovered something wrong - he lowered his head, but the person in the mirror in front of him still remained upright, looking at him quietly with a face that was identical to his.

Lin Qiushi's mind was made up, and he took the towel in his hand, twisting it dry as he walked towards the outside, and when he reached the door of the toilet, he took another look towards the mirror there, but he saw that it had returned to normal, doing the same thing as him.

Lin Qiushi cursed lowly.

"What's wrong?" Ruan Nan Candle looked up at him.

Lin Qiushi said, "The mirror..." he closed the toilet door, "Just now the mirror appeared different from the reality of me."

Ruan Nam Candle said, "Different? Are you okay?"

"Nothing." Lin Qiushi said, "I pretended not to see and came out." He said, "It didn't feel good."

He'd love to smash all the mirrors in the house if he could, but they didn't know if smashing the mirrors triggered a death condition, so he had to bite the bullet and keep it just to be safe.

"What to do." Lin Qiushi lowered his head and had a look at his feet, "I haven't washed my feet yet..."

Ruan Nan Candle blinked and looked at him and smiled, lifting up his own bed, "It's fine, come up, I don't mind you."

Lin Qiushi: "........"

Cheng Yixie was beside herself with her eyes and nose, looking indifferent, pretending as if she hadn't seen the pair of dog men.

The first time I saw it, I thought it would be a good idea for me to take a look at it, but I didn't. Just as Lin Qiushi was wondering whether he should go in and wash his feet again, a fierce quarrel broke out outside the house, accompanied by the sound of a mirror breaking.

Lin Qiushi went to the door and looked out from the cat's eye, only to discover that it was the newcomer that Xia had brought in earlier that had a situation.

"I don't want to go in, don't you pull me in, there are monsters inside the mirror!!!" The one who let out a hiss was a young girl who angrily yelled at another girl standing next to her, "Don't touch me, I'm going to find Xia! If you want to sleep in there, sleep in there by yourself! I don't want to be with you!" As she spoke, she saw a mirror on her side, and actually smashed it with her hand straight up, and it shattered in response, the sharp lenses falling all over the floor.

The girl went to the other side of the corridor, raised her hand and knocked on the door, seeing that this door was supposed to be where the summer sister lived.

A moment later, the door opened.

"Sister Xia, I don't want to stay in my room anymore." The girl said, "There's a ghost in my room!"

Because of the angle, Lin Qiushi couldn't see Xia's expression, but he could hear her voice, her tone wasn't too good and she even sounded very cold, "Where else can you stay if you don't live in your room? My house can only accommodate two people."

"I can sleep on the couch instead of the bed, okay..." the girl begged.

"The couch?" Xia rudely refused, "Didn't you hear what that man said when you were dividing the room? The number of people living in each room is fixed, you can't just increase it, if you move in and trigger the death condition, wouldn't that be bad luck for a whole room full of people." She probably felt that she was talking a bit too much, so she deliberately softened her voice again, "There are a lot of scary places in this world, you'll have to learn to get used to it yourself, tell me, what exactly did you see?"

The girl grieves, "I saw the one in the mirror and I made a different move..."

Lin Qiushi was stunned at the words, thinking that he seemed to have just encountered the same situation.

"A different action?" Xia said, "Are you reading this wrong..."

"I wasn't mistaken!" The girl was a little angry at being so perfunctory, "Sister Xia, can't you think of a way to help me? I don't want to go in that house!"

"How about this," Xia said, "Since you say it's the mirrors that are the problem, you could simply break all the mirrors so you don't have to be afraid."

The girl said, "But..."

Sister Xia interrupted her, "Otherwise, I have no other way."

The girl fell silent, at this point, no matter how slow she was, she would have noticed that something was wrong with the attitude of the person she called Sister Xia in front of her. She had only passed through two doors before, or this woman called Sister Xia that she met on the website, Sister Xia claimed to be able to help her jump straight to the ninth door, that's why she followed Sister Xia into this place, but after coming in, she found herself completely confused, and Sister Xia, as promised, did not protect them as well.

"I know." The girl muttered and saw Sister Xia close the door directly.

She looked helpless and had to turn around and go back to her room with the other girl. A moment later, Lin Qiushi faintly heard the sound of breaking glass in their room - the girl seemed to have broken all the mirrors in the room according to the method that Sister Xia had said.

Lin Qiushi told Ruan Nanzhu and Cheng Yixie what he saw and heard.

"This Sister Xia is smart, though." Ruan Nan Candle's voice sounded a bit cold, "Take the one you brought with you and test it."

Lin Qiushi sighed softly. Indeed, if it was fine to smash the mirror, then they could also smash the mirror, and if it was fine to smash the mirror, then Sister Xia had nothing to lose. It seemed like she was risking these people's lives by bringing in so many newcomers, just as Ruan Nan Candle had said.

After the sky darkened, the smell of something being burnt began to fill the air again.

Cheng Yixie's sense of smell is very sensitive, and when she smelled this smell, she started to cough lowly, and had no choice but to take a wet towel to cover her nose and mouth.

Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu hadn't planned on going out to see it, but as they lay in bed and forced themselves to sleep, there was a noise in the corridor again, this time it was a woman's miserable scream, and the location of the scream was the room where the girl who had just smashed the mirror was.

"The miserable scream was particularly piercing in the silent night, and Lin Qiushi saw through the cat's eyes that the girl was struggling to get out of her room, her expression in agony, stumbling as if she was going to fall to the ground next moment and never get up again.

Ruan Nan Candle appeared behind Lin Qiushi, he reached out his hand and gently pressed down the door knob, pulling the door open a crack.

The gap allowed them to see outside more clearly, and Ruan Nan Candle looked through the gap towards the mirror on the ceiling of the corridor, then tsked softly.

Lin Qiushi followed Ruan Nan Candle's gaze and also saw what was inside the mirror.

Only the girl in the mirror was wrapped in red flames, her body was charring and carbonizing a little bit, but she was still struggling, the image was horrifying to the extreme.

Lin Qiushi even smelled the smell of burnt flesh.

"Ahhh, ahhhh..." she eventually collapsed, if she just looked at it like that, she would find that there wasn't a single wound on her body, but only through the mirror would one know what kind of painful torture she had gone through.

Just when Lin Qiushi thought that this was the end of it all, his hand was grabbed by Ruan Nan Candle, who raised his chin slightly, gesturing for Lin Qiushi to look in a certain direction.

Lin Qiushi looked towards that place and found that at some point, a person exactly like her appeared in the mirror opposite the girl who was burned to death. The same look, the same clothes, but with a somewhat strange and stiff smile on his face, the person in the mirror looked at the burned person outside the mirror, and actually slowly reached out his hands - those hands peeked out of the mirror, grabbed the girl's wrists, and then pulled the girl's charred corpse, slowly into the mirror.

This scene was so horrifying that Lin Qiushi's breath was slightly held.

Ruan Nan Candle stretched out his hand and slowly closed the door in front of him, his burning exhale was right next to Lin Qiushi's ear, his voice had some faint laughter in it, "Scared?"

Lin Qiushi turned his head, "No." He paused for a moment and sighed, "Good thing I didn't smash the mirror."

It seems that mirrors really can't be smashed, and when they are, there will be serious consequences.

Ruan Nan Candle, however, said, "The house at the end of the corridor is burning again."

Lin Qiushi was stunned: "The one from last night?"

"Right." Ruan Nan Candle said, "Only this time it's a little different again."

Lin Qiushi had just been so focused on the girls in front of him that he hadn't paid attention to what was happening at the end of the hallway.

"There's an extra room where it's burning up over there." Ruan Nam Candle said, "The fire is spreading towards here."

He grabbed Lin Qiushi's wrist and pulled Lin Qiushi back into the room so that Cheng Yixie, who was leaning against the bed, could also hear what they were talking about, "Our room isn't in a good location, so if the fire continues to burn this way, it will soon reach where we are."

"Change rooms?" Cheng Yicher opened his mouth to suggest.

"I don't know if we can change it." Ruan Nanzhu said, "Go ask that waiter tomorrow, it's okay if he doesn't give us the room card." He laughed, "Although the electronic lock is a bit troublesome, it's not impossible to open."

Hearing his confident tone, Lin Qiushi's heart felt a deep admiration for him.

"Alright, let's sleep first." Ruan Nan Candle looked at his watch, "It's already this late, if we stay up any longer, it'll be dawn." He looked at Lin Qiushi, "Want to join me?"

Lin Qiushi declined Ruan Nanzhu's kind offer and decided to sleep on the sofa himself. Of course, before going to bed, he still plucked up the courage to go into the bathroom again, and washed his feet seriously, and this time nothing happened in the mirror.

The second half of the night was very quiet, with no further incidents.

The next morning, Lin Qiushi was just opening his eyes in a daze when he saw that Ruan Nan Candle had already changed his clothes and was ready to go out.

"So early?" Lin Qiushi looked at the time, it was only about six o'clock, it was just dawn, it was three in the morning when they slept yesterday, and Ruan Nan Candle had only slept for three hours.

"Something's up." Ruan Nan Candle's voice was soft, "I'll just go by myself, you guys go back to sleep."

Lin Qiushi looked towards the bed, Cheng Yixie was a child in the end, he was in the middle of sleeping now and didn't wake up, he lowered his voice, "Wait for me to join you."

"No need." Ruan Nan Candle said, "It's not something dangerous." After he said this, he had gone to the door, opened it lightly and went straight out.

Lin Qiushi watched his back, but in the end, he couldn't go back to sleep, he sat up on the bed, because he was afraid of waking Cheng Yixie, and was extra careful when changing his clothes.

By the time Lin Qiushi had changed his clothes and gone out, Ruan Nanzhu had already disappeared, so Lin Qiushi thought about it and simply went to the second floor restaurant.

Lin Qiushi noticed that Luo Qianshui, the one who didn't see eye to eye with Ruan Nancandle yesterday, was sitting in the corner. She looked a little agitated and looked at her watch frequently, as if she was waiting for someone.

Lin Qiushi casually took something to find a table, and his first reaction after sitting down was to look at his watch. After looking at it, he was shocked to realize that he and Luo Qianshui's reactions seemed to be somewhat similar, and was dumbfounded, after which he controlled his movements and took out his phone to continue playing Sudoku.

About ten minutes later, two figures appeared at the entrance of the restaurant.

Luo Qianshui stood up from a distance and shouted happily towards the door - Luo Qianshan was here. Behind Luo Qianshan, another person was also walking inside, it was Ruan Nan Candle, whom Lin Qiushi was waiting for.

Luo Qianshan walked up to Luo Qianshui's side, and although they lowered their voices, Lin Qiushi still heard their conversation clearly.

Luo Qianshui asked, "Brother, has the change arrived yet?"

Luo Qianshan said, "Change to it."

"Which one?" Luo Qianshui asked, "Is it the innermost one?"

"No." Luo Qianshan said, "He moved a little faster than me, and I only moved to the penultimate room."

Luo Qianshui cursed a few times in a low voice, hearing the wording clearly scolding some girl, she said, "Don't you have a tougher attitude?"

Luo Qianshan sounded helpless: "I'm tough."

Luo Qianshui: "That?"

Luo Qianshan: "Didn't get hard over her."

Luo Qianshui: "........"

The girl who was even harder than Luo Qianshan now Shi Shi walked to sit down in front of Lin Qiushi and in a rather good mood picked up a boiled egg and started peeling it. Lin Qiushi looked towards Ruan Nanzhu: "Changing room cards to go?"

Ruan Nan Candle pulled out a card from his pocket and handed it to Lin Qiushi, "Hmm."

Lin Qiushi took the card and saw that the number on it was at the far end of the corridor, which was the farthest from the burning room.

"This is probably the time limit." Ruan Nam Candle said, "Get out of here before the hallway is burned down." He opened his mouth, his white, neat teeth leaving a beautiful tooth mark on top of the boiled egg, "That Luo Qianshan is good at it."

Lin Qiushi was stunned, "You had a fight?"

Ruan Nan Candle faintly said, "Mm."

If this was in the world outside the door, then it might be necessary to say ladies first, but where is there any priority or no priority in matters of life and death, Luo Qianshan made his move on Ruan Nan Candle after making sure that he had the best room number.

If Ruan Nan Candle was really a girl, he might have been bullied, but he wasn't, so he mercilessly backhanded Luo Qianshan and beat him up.

Lin Qiushi could see from Ruan Nanzhu's expression that he definitely didn't suffer and said, "It feels like they're brother and sister, they're pretty good too."

Ruan Nan Candle gulped down the boiled egg, "As good as me?"

Lin Qiushi: "No, no, no, you're the best."

Only then did Ruan Nan Candle nod his head in satisfaction.

The time was now close to 7:30, the sky outside was already bright and the people living on the 34th floor were entering the restaurant one after another.

Lin Qiushi saw Cheng Yixie.

Cheng Yixie walked next to them and sat down, sounding a bit annoyed, "Why didn't you guys call me."

"Children should sleep a little longer." Ruan Nanzhu said, "Besides, you can't help much if you get up."

Cheng Yicher was silent.

Lin Qiushi said, "What do you want to eat? I'll get it for you."

"No need." Cheng Yixie rejected Lin Qiushi's good intentions and stood up to get food himself.

Ruan Nanzhu looked at his back and sighed softly.

Lin Qiushi said, "How old were you when you first entered the door?"

Ruan Nan Candle snapped his fingers, "I can't remember too clearly anymore, eighteen or nineteen."

Lin Qiushi sniffed and thought to himself, from the first door to the tenth door, Ruan Nan Candle had spent six or seven years, and he didn't know what he had gone through in those six or seven years.

When Cheng Yixie returned to the table with the food, Lin Qiushi was about to say something to him, but he noticed a person walking in from the doorway. His expression solidified for a few seconds when he was sure he wasn't seeing things.

The person who came in was a girl in ordinary clothes with ordinary looks, everything was ordinary, she still had a smile on her face, she walked to the place where the food was kept and started to pick breakfast, at first glance, there was nothing striking about her - if Lin Qiushi hadn't seen those images from the door yesterday, he might have also thought that what was in front of him was just an ordinary person.

That's right, she was the girl who had smashed the mirror last night and ended up being burned alive before being pulled in by the person inside the mirror. At this time, she appeared intact in front of everyone, as if everything that happened last night was just a dream illusion.

Ruan Nan Candle also saw her, and his expression became somewhat serious.

The girl took the food and walked over to Xia's side of the table with a smile on her face and started to eat.

Lin Qiushi noticed that the expression of the girl who lived with her started to become uncomfortable, and even started to show fear inside her eyes. In the end, that girl was a little out of control and rushed straight out of the restaurant after getting up in a mess. The others at the table didn't seem to know what had happened to the girl last night, so they didn't show any repulsion - they didn't even know that the girl in front of them had changed.

"When she smashed the mirror last night, it was with her right hand." Ruan Nan Candle opened his mouth to say something.

Lin Qiushi was stunned, then he understood what Ruan Nam Candle meant, and he looked towards the girl again, not surprisingly finding that the girl's hand holding the chopsticks had changed to her left hand.

"Was it the mirror that came out?" Lin Qiushi felt a bit difficult to swallow the food in his mouth.

"I guess so." Ruan Nan Candle propped up his chin and casually lifted a strand of hair by his ear, he said, "It's a good thing I didn't smash the mirror, otherwise... I might be able to see two of me today." He actually laughed very subtly at this point, "It seems to be quite interesting when you think about it."

Lin Qiushi: "...What are you laughing at? Why is the smile so weird.

In the meantime, Cheng Yixie is a bit unhappy: "She stinks."

Ruan Nan Candle: "Stinky?"

Cheng Yicher: "Yes, it smells like it's burnt." He put down the food in his hands, as if his appetite was severely affected by this smell, and some confusion appeared in his expression.

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

"I think I smelled it on my first day," Cheng Yicher said.

"First day? The first night?" Lin Qiushi thought about what happened last night.

But Cheng Yicher shook his head, his eyebrows knitted to death, his lips slightly parted and he said something that neither Lin Qiushi nor Ruan Nan Candle had thought of, "No, not the first night, but the first day in the hall."

Ruan Nan Candle looked in awe, "The hall?!"

Cheng Yixie nodded, "Yes, the smell is faint, I thought I was smelling wrong at the time." He seemed to have thought of something and was about to say it, but Ruan Nan Candle made a gesture of silence, indicating that he should not say what he guessed.

But even though he didn't let him say it, Lin Qiushi understood what Cheng Yixie's words meant, meaning that there might be people who had been burned to death mixed in with the crowd on the first day in the hall - or even, there might be more than one. When Lin Qiushi thought of this, he involuntarily licked his dry lips, but a phrase popped up in his head: mirroring people....