Kaleidoscope of Death

Lin Qiushi and Gu Longming sat in the hall, listening to a story about the Yu family compound.

In the story, there was the mistress of the Yu family, the young prince Yu Cai-chul who was sacrificed, and many other stories that they had not guessed.

After the sacrifice of Yu's son, Yu Jae-chul, the incessant rain stopped, as if the god of the river had really been moved by the sacrifice. The people in the town were so overjoyed that they designated this day as the birthday of the river god as if it were a festival, and hung red lanterns all over the streets to celebrate.

However, before the celebration lasted for a few days, something unexpected happened in the city again.

People started to die in the town, as if their bodies had been gnawed by something, not even bones were left, only some hair and nails were left on the ground.

At first the people thought it was a beast that had entered the town, but this was soon disproved, for no beast could eat a man so quietly. The mystery of death was soon solved, and the thing that ate the people of the city was not alive at all. Rather, it was a river brat with puffy cheeks and a mouth full of fangs.

For a moment everyone is in a state of panic, no one has ever seen such a thing before, and no one knows what to do with them.

Just as everyone was about to be overwhelmed by fear, the mistress of the Yu family stepped forward, saying that her son, who had been used for the ritual, had given her a dream and told her the way to solve the matter.

The people were about to rejoice, but then they heard Mistress Yu's solution. She said, "Only an oil lamp boiled in human oil can stop the devil."

The people of the city were silent, although lamps made of human oil could stop those things, but where would the human oil come from....

The Mistress was not eager, but waited quietly.

And soon her purpose was accomplished, and some who could not stand the fear began to strike at their own kind.

"They are the ones who offered to take little children to sacrifice to the river gods." Such voices began to appear in the crowd, and grew in intensity.

Eventually, these people who offered to use them for the sacrifice of the youngest son of the family were taken as the first victims.

They were killed mercilessly, and the mistress, with a gentle look, boiled their bodies into an oil lamp.

The oil lamps were distributed into the hands of the inhabitants, so that no one died at the hands of the brats.

The inhabitants thought that this was the end of the matter until the next birthday, when it began to rain incessantly again.

Once again the inhabitants went into panic and the Mistress told them the solution.

"A new river god is needed." So she said, "We need a new river god." With a click of her red cardamom-painted finger, she nudged a child, still befuddled in her mother's arms, and smiled, "See, this lovely child, you would fit in perfectly as the new river god."

The child's mother looked startled, then cursed angrily, just as the original mistress had done.

The mistress cursed the same when Yu's young son was chosen to be the river god, but to no avail, her child was still snatched away, brought to the river, and thrown into the swift waters of the river.

He was so young that he could only call for his mother, and was taken from her, and never to return.

There were others now going through what she had been through, and the mistress was extraordinarily satisfied as she watched the mother and child separate, the child being thrown into the river, the pouring rain stop, and the bright human oil lamp in her hand.

"Whew." With a breath of air, the mistress blew out the human oil lamp gently, her smile even wider.

The rain had stopped, but there was a new kid inside the small town.

The oil lamps are starting to run short...and the vicious cycle begins.

The entire town was enveloped in this cycle of despair from which no one could escape...until, the Outlanders arrived.

"Since they don't know anything, let's use them as oil lamps." Tiny voices appeared in the crowd, speaking of the deepest malice within the people, "Anyway, they know nothing..."

"Yes, yes, what do you think, what do you think about using them as human oil lamps?" Another question was asked warily.

The hostess, dressed in a red dress, sat among the crowd and she whispered, "Yes."

People were overjoyed.

It had been hundreds of years, and the mistress still maintained her youthful appearance. But no one bothered to ask how she had gotten to all of this, and no one dared to question whether she was still human or not, because without her, the town would be without a human oil lamp, and everyone...would have to die.

Therefore, the people tacitly pretended that they could not see the appearance of the mistress as if she was sealed by the dust of the years, and treated her with caution, as if they were treating an easily offended god.

Their bodies will turn into lamp oil, emitting a warm glow and protecting the whole town from the monster.

This is where the story ends, and there are parts of it that Lin Qiushi has filled in with other clues. However, the storyteller still provided him with a very important background and framework to fill out the entire story.

With another startling wooden sound, Mr. Storyteller ended this long story.

"It's dark." By the time Lin Qiushi and Gu Longming reacted, the sky outside was already sinking and the streets were starting to become empty, with only red lanterns spinning in the cold wind.

"Come on, let's go back." Gu Longming shivered, as if he was feeling a little cold. He whispered, "Why is it so chilly here, in my hometown... I've never even felt cold..."

Lin Qiushi looked at him, "Can you not be cold in short sleeves in this weather?" Twelve or thirteen degrees of temperature, this person just wears a short sleeve, it's really a ghost if it's not chilly.

Gu Longming helplessly said, "I didn't bring any other clothes, otherwise I would wear a little skirt?"

Lin Qiushi thought to himself you might as well not wear anything at all.

The two of them slowly walked back to the courtyard, where the people were eating dinner.

Compared to the first day's dining hall, it was a lot emptier now, and as soon as Lin Qiushi entered, he felt Yan Shihe's gaze on him.

This ordinary person who had stolen something would probably feel a bit guilty, but Lin Qiushi had been completely lost under Ruan Nan Candle's teaching, so he rudely looked back and said, "Something wrong?"

"Nothing." Yan Shihe smiled, "Just worried that you guys came back too late, it's already dark."

Lin Qiushi ohs and said, "Thanks for your concern."

The two of them found a random place to sit down and started eating dinner.

As everyone else left one after another, Lin Qiushi and Gu Longming also settled their dinner and headed to their residence.

Because of what happened last night, the window paper of the original place they were staying was all broken, so they changed to a room that had one window paper intact.

Lin Qiushi entered the house and lit the oil lamp they stole from Yan Shihe.

Flames burned on the wick, illuminating the entire room, and Lin Qiushi watched the fire for a while, no one would have thought that the fat boiled from the bodies of their kind would emit such a bright glow.

After a while, Lin Qiushi took out the genealogy they had stolen from Yan Shihe.

Gu Longming sat on the edge of the bed, "You still want to read it?" They had looked at it carefully many times during the day.

Lin Qiushi said, "Well, take another look." He always felt that this genealogy was something very important.

By the light of the oil lamp, Lin Qiushi flipped through the first page, the first page was a picture of the mistress and Yu Caizhe, only this picture of her with a smile that was real and bright. When he first saw this family tree, Lin Qiushi just felt strange, but then all his doubts were solved by the storyteller's story, she wasn't a god who saved the small town, just a mother who lost her child.

Lin Qiushi fondled the photo with his fingers for a moment, and with a sigh, he turned the second page.

However, when he looked at the photo on the top of the second page, his breath held and his eyes showed astonishment.

Gu Longming noticed Lin Qiushi's difference and asked, "Lin Lin, what's wrong?"

Lin Qiushi didn't say anything and waved at him.

Gu Longming stood up and walked behind Lin Qiushi, and when he saw the changes in the family tree, he couldn't help but stare at it, "This... this picture..."

Under the illumination of the human oil lamp, the woman who originally held the child completely changed her face, and the fake smile on her face even disappeared, leaving only a gloomy indifference, while the child who should have been in her arms was being held by her in this photo, she was holding the child by the neck, as if she was lifting an insignificant chicklet, and there was not even a disguised tenderness.

The child's body, on the other hand, is completely limp, its cheeks showing a kind of soaked and swollen posture, its mouth wide open and full of tiny teeth, attempting to bite towards the person next to it.

The black and white image added a bit more horror to the photo instead, Lin Qiushi flipped back a few pages and not surprisingly found that almost all the photos behind were like this. The only difference was that some blood red highlights started to appear inside the background of the photos, at first glance it looked like it was caused by the photos not being taken properly, but when Lin Qiushi looked at the highlights, he remembered the countless pairs of eyes he had seen on the ceiling of the shrine.

The attitude of the mistress towards these children who were sacrificed as offerings was not a bit soft at all, her eyes were full of resentment and indifference, as if a vengeful ghost was tormenting everyone in her own way.

Gu Longming looked at this genealogy and rubbed the goosebumps on his arms hard as he said, "I finally know why that Yan Shihe refused to carry this on his body."

Whoever looked at it's scalp exploded ah.

Lin Qiushi didn't say anything as he looked at the photo.

Gu Longming looked at the pensive Lin Qiushi and said, "Lin Lin, what are you thinking about?"

Lin Qiushi said, "Naturally, I'm wondering where the key is."

"Have you got a clue?" Gu Longming said, "The River God Festival seems to be arriving soon..."

Lin Qiushi said, "There's a little bit of it, but I'm not sure."

Gu Longming said, "Well..."

Lin Qiushi said, "These brats obviously don't like their mistress."

"Who would like someone who took them to be sacrificed, it's already generous to not come back for revenge." Gu Longming muttered, he obviously didn't like the genealogy in front of him and averted his eyes from it.

"What did you say?" Lin Qiushi's mind was suddenly blessed.

"What?" Gu Longming looked confused, "I mean... who would like to take them to be sacrificed..."

Lin Qiushi: "No, it's the latter sentence."

Gu Longming: "Can't come back for revenge... Wait, what do you mean?" He also comprehended the meaning of Lin Qiushi's words.

Lin Qiushi's hand slapped on the table and said, "Have you forgotten how the River God Ritual began?"

Gu Long Ming: "It's the child who was thrown into the river and turned into a brat who came back for revenge!"

Lin Qiushi: "Yes, vengeance, vengeance-" he stood up, "the Mistress' children are vengeful, and the Mistress is vengeful, and their enemies are dead, but what about these brats, these brats' vengeance remains No report!"

They were not active perpetrators, but innocent victims.

Chosen by their mistress, they were forcibly taken away from their parents and thrown into the turbulent waters of the river in the form of sacrifices.

The grudge thus endured.

But because of the human oil lamp boiled by the mistress, they had no way to take revenge, and Lin Qiushi felt that he had grasped the most crucial clue.

Gu Longming said, "You mean, we have to kill Mistress? But don't we know she's not human anymore?" Something that could live for hundreds of years couldn't still be human.

"That's right, she's not human anymore." Lin Qiushi's voice was soft, "We can't kill her, but those things can."

Gu Longming understood what Lin Qiushi meant, "You're going to use a brat? But wouldn't that be too dangerous!" Those brats were clearly not easy to manipulate, and a double-edged sword used poorly could also hurt them.

Lin Qiushi said, "The River God Festival will be here soon, we can't wait any longer." He closed the genealogy in front of him, "On that day, we might not even survive, and with luck we might only survive one - but one in seven chance, you bet?"

It was true that Gu Longming didn't dare to gamble. He looked at Lin Qiushi and smiled bitterly, "Alright, I'll listen to you, after all, you're much more experienced than me."

Lin Qiushi nodded, returned to the bed, lay down, and said, "Go to sleep, or the oil lamp might come on again at night."

Gu Longming Oh sounded, turned off the oil lamp and lay down beside Lin Qiushi.

Lin Qiushi slept outside and could just see the window next to him, when there were shadows on the window paper, the silhouette on it looked somewhat like the shadow of a tree blown by the wind, but if you looked carefully, you would find a tall, thin figure standing in the shadow of the tree. This silhouette was very familiar to Lin Qiushi, it was the mistress of the courtyard. When Lin Qiushi closed his eyes, he could recall how she looked standing in the middle of the courtyard in her red dress, quietly watching the room they were in.

The wind was blowing stronger and stronger, and the whistling sound of the wind was like the howling of a man, and the night was already late.

This night Lin Qiushi finally didn't wake up halfway through the night, and slept until the next day, woken up by the sound of Gu Longming waking up.

Lin Qiushi rubbed his eyes and after changing his clothes and simply washing up, he went to rush off to breakfast. He wasn't really too hungry, but he was just curious to know if something had happened last night or not.

After arriving at the restaurant and counting the number of people, Lin Qiushi made sure that no accidents happened yesterday.

But he didn't have much of an appetite, drinking the porridge in front of him with a hitch, and Gu Longming was the complete opposite of his appearance, happily holding the bowl in front of him, just about burying that face of his.

After finishing his meal, Lin Qiushi planned to make a trip to the woman's residence, although that place was particularly dangerous, he had a detailed plan in mind.

Gu Longming followed behind Lin Qiushi and asked him what he was planning to do there.

"Find a big bag." Lin Qiushi said, "Steal all her lamps."

Gu Longming was shocked, "Steal the lamps? Why are you stealing lights?"

Lin Qiushi said, "Have you forgotten what a lamp does?"

Gu Longming suddenly said, "You mean that woman didn't die, all because of the lamp? But if we go in to steal the lights like this, will we be hacked to death on the spot if we're discovered?"

Lin Qiushi: "...that possibility exists." He turned his head to look at Gu Longming, "So it's a choice between being gnawed to death by a brat or being hacked to death by the mistress."

Gu Longming thought about it and compromised, "It's better to be hacked to death, at least we can leave a body." Gnawing to death would leave nothing.

Lin Qiushi: "It may not stay ah, maybe it will be refined into lamp oil by her."

Gu Longming: "Then I'm willing to illuminate you and turn it into spring mud to protect the flowers..."

Lin Qiushi thought to himself that the poem Friend really wasn't used that way.

The two of them quietly went outside the mistress's courtyard and Gu Longming supported his head to look inside, "She doesn't seem to be there."

The door was still open as before.

There was indeed no sound inside, and Lin Qiushi said, "You give me a look outside, I'll go in first."

Gu Longming said, "Don't, let's go together-"

"No." Lin Qiushi said, "At least if something really happened, there's a care outside."

Gu Longming wanted to say more, but he saw that Lin Qiushi was resolute, so he had no choice but to stop, standing outside the courtyard and watching Lin Qiushi go in.

As soon as Lin Qiushi arrived in the courtyard, he quickly locked his target in the house he had gone in before, he didn't dare to waste any time, and after going in, he stuffed the oil lamp into his backpack. After stuffing the backpack to the brim, he threw the rest of the oil lamp on the shelf into the fire that was burning not far away.

The oil lamp came into contact with the flame, giving off a strong smell of grease. If one didn't know that this smell might still feel nothing, but once one knew that it was the smell of human fat, one would inevitably feel extraordinarily disgusted.

Lin Qiushi was the same, he held back the feeling of wanting to feel nauseous and threw all the oil lamps into the fire. Just as Lin Qiushi threw away the last lamp, the sound of a child's wailing came from the back room, which was so sharp that Lin Qiushi even felt his ears hurt. He was about to go to the back room to take a look at the crying thing, but then he heard Gu Longming's voice again.

Gu Longming, who was looking out at the door, suddenly cursed profanities and rudely scolded a string of Quality Eighteen Lian in that northeastern accent.

Lin Qiushi instantly understood Gu Longming's meaning, he didn't dare to enter the house again, he picked up his backpack and turned to run, he didn't dare to run towards the entrance of the courtyard, but first went to a remote place.

As expected, at the entrance of the courtyard, a woman in a red dress appeared, she seemed to have heard the wailing of a child coming from the house, her black eyes slowly widened, and a kind of anger that could not be suppressed appeared on her expressionless face.

Lin Qiushi was trembling with fear as he watched.

The woman's next move was to hang a large lock on the inside of the courtyard as usual, then turned around and planned to enter the house.

Lin Qiushi knew he only had one chance, he held his breath and after the woman entered the house, he raced towards the large lock hanging at the door.

He quickly pulled out his hairpin and tried to open the iron lock in front of him.

Faster, faster... Lin Qiushi's forehead was spilling cold sweat, but his hands were steady, and he forced himself to calm down, no longer caring about the sound of footsteps behind him, but instead, he was intent on opening the large lock in front of him.

The padlock clicked open in response to the sound, and the sound of the woman's footsteps had reached behind him, and the moment Lin Qiushi pulled the door open, he felt a strong wind slightly behind him. Gu Longming, who was standing at the door, had an extremely frightened expression behind him, and he roared, "Lin Lin - run!!!"

However, it was already too late, Lin Qiushi saw a shadow that slipped behind him, and then something struck down heavily towards his back - he finally understood what that shadow was at this moment. It was the long knife that the woman was carrying in her hand, and this long knife, which had cut into his back, he felt an extremely powerful force that knocked his entire body out of the sky.

Lin Qiushi fell to the ground.

Gu Longming couldn't help but curse a foul word and rushed forward, "Yu Lin Lin, Yu Lin Lin, are you alright!" As he examined Lin Qiushi, he turned his head and saw the woman standing in the courtyard with a twisted smile towards them, clearly certain that Lin Qiushi must be dead.

She didn't seem to be able to leave the courtyard when she was carrying her knife, which made Gu Longming's heart sink slightly, but thinking about Lin Qiushi's condition. In his opinion, Lin Qiushi, who had been struck by such a blow, was afraid that he was in mortal danger.

However, just when Gu Longming thought that Lin Qiushi was gone, he saw Lin Qiushi coughing heavily several times, and with great difficulty, he climbed up from the ground and said, "I..."

"Fuck, you're all right with this!" Gu Longming involuntarily said dirty words, "Yu Lin Lin, you're awesome."

Lin Qiushi also thought he was dead, he turned his head and looked behind him to find that his backpack had been hacked open, revealing the oil lamps he had stuffed in the back - the oil lamps had an additional deep hack mark on them, no doubt it was these lamps that had helped him block the fatal blow.

He had managed to survive!