Kaleidoscope of Death

That night, Lin Qiushi's spirit was in an extremely tense state. His senses told him that the images were all fake, but the charred face of Ruan Nam Candle kept appearing in front of him. Worst of all, Lin Qiushi began to have doubts about the Ruan Nam Candle who sent him the text message.

Did the person on the other end of the phone really exist? If something happened to Nguyen Nam Khuk, would he choose to hide it and continue to text himself and pretend to be alive? This suspicion is highly probable, after all, Ruan Nam Candle had a precedent for this. Lin Qiushi held the phone in the dark night, as if he was holding a bomb that could blow him to pieces at any moment.

Lin Qiushi remembered the promise he made with Ruan Nancandle - if something happens to one of them, he would not ask the other to live.

At this moment, Lin Qiushi's cell phone suddenly vibrated, and he hurriedly picked it up and saw a new text message appear on the screen, which was sent by Ruan Nanzhu, the one he missed so much.

Ruan Nanzhu said, "I'm fine, Qiushi, how are you doing?

Lin Qiushi dropped his eyes, typed two words, deleted them again, and finally just replied: I'm fine, you don't have to worry.

A moment later, Ruan Nanzhu texted back: "What's wrong with you? Did something happen?

Lin Qiushi sighed, the two of them tacitly understood so far, even if he didn't say it, Ruan Nancandle had already guessed something, although his answer was vague, but with Ruan Nancandle's intelligence how could he not figure it out. Just as Lin Qiushi was sighing, Ruan Nanzhu sent another text message, and the content of that text message turned out to be: "Qiushi, I saw you inside the door.

Lin Qiushi: "......." he looked at the text on the screen, but he didn't know what to say for a moment.

Are you the real Akashi? Do you really exist? Another message from Ruan Nan Candle, only the question above hit Lin Qiushi's soul: I'm also thinking about this right now.

Lin Qiushi replied back, "Then do you have an answer?"

"No." Ruan Nam Candle said, "There's no answer."

Lin Qiushi asked again, "Are you afraid?"

Ruan Nan Candle slowed down for a while this time before returning to Lin Qiushi, he said, "I'm not afraid of anything, I'm just afraid of not being able to die with you."

Lin Qiushi lost his smile at the content of the text message, but at the same time, a great courage sprang up inside him and he typed slowly, "Ruan Nan Candle, I'll come over to you, okay?"

Faced with Lin Qiushi's question, if Ruan Nanzhu had the slightest hesitation, Lin Qiushi wouldn't even continue, because the difficulty of the two together would instead overlap, and if Ruan Nanzhu didn't want to, he couldn't go over there and give him trouble that would cost his life.

But Ruan Nan Candle returned fast, with only one word on it: good.

Seeing Ruan Nan Candle's answer, Lin Qiushi's face, which was full of fatigue, instantly revealed a brilliant smile, and he laughed so hard that tears leaked out of the corners of his eyes, then stuffed his phone into his pocket and compared his middle finger to the building behind him, cursing rudely, "Don't fucking try to scare me, I'm going to find him now! Stupid thing!"

The most frightening thing about living was having no hope, and Lin Qiushi had a thought, so it was as if the long, endless night had a temperature and no longer made people feel bone-chilling cold.

In the second half of that night, Lin Qiushi was attacked by several waves of ghosts and monsters, but he managed to survive without any danger.

When the warm sunrise erupted from the ground, Lin Qiushi was already lying on his bed at home, sleeping deeply, as if everything that happened last night was just a horrible dream.

The next day, after a full day of sleep and a big meal, Lin Qiushi went to the school he had been to yesterday, sat in the cafeteria and started to pick up his phone to play Sudoku again.

As he played, he also thought about whether there was something special about the door Ruan Nam Candle passed through, wouldn't he also be able to meet Ruan Nam Candle's former friends? Thinking about it, Lin Qiushi couldn't help but smile, he couldn't control his expression as he would curl his lips whenever he thought of Ruan Nan Candle.

The daylight passed exceptionally fast, the sun slowly disappeared into the horizon and night came with it.

After nightfall, fearing that he would be kicked out by the school security, Lin Qiushi found a secluded corner of the school to hide in, watching the noisy school grow quiet and only the sound of insects rising and falling could be heard.

The moon hung over the treetops and the stars were everywhere, but it was a clear night.

Lin Qiushi sat on a stool next to the school pond to feed the mosquitoes. The mosquitoes are particularly numerous here, and Lin Qiushi's arm was bitten by a series of red bumps, which hurt and itched.

But this is completely trivial, compared to the excitement of meeting Ruan Nanzhu soon. As the saying goes, a small parting is better than a new marriage, and Lin Qiushi truly experienced this feeling at this time.

Time passed by minute by minute, along with the ticking of the watch on his wrist, twelve o'clock arrived.

Almost instantly, the quiet but still peaceful atmosphere inside the school instantly changed, and an unpleasant stench began to fill the air, and although Lin Qiushi didn't have a keen sense of smell like Cheng Yixie, he recognized the source of the smell - it belonged to the smell of decaying corpses. Even though it was faint, it gave rise to an unpleasant feeling in one's heart.

Lin Qiushi headed towards the place he and Ruan Nan Candle had agreed to meet in the playground, they had previously agreed to meet in the playground, the playground was more open, so even if they encountered something, it would be easy to dodge it.

But when Lin Qiushi arrived at the playground, he found that the playground was empty and Ruan Nan Candle's figure did not appear.

Lin Qiushi's heart was fiercely tightened and was wondering if something had happened to Ruan Nan Candle when the sound of hurried footsteps suddenly came from behind him. Before Lin Qiushi could react, he was grabbed by someone's hand, and a young boy's crisp, oriole-like voice sounded, "Lin Qiushi, follow me!"

As Lin Qiushi was pulled forward by him, he turned his head towards the back and saw several highly corrupted corpses appearing on the road, limping towards them.

"This way!" The teenager held Lin Qiushi's hand and ran so fast, because the night was too dark, Lin Qiushi couldn't see the teenager's face clearly for a while, until he passed by some street lamps, and he finally saw the pretty androgynous face of the teenager in the shadows of the lamps.

"Nan Candle!" Lin Qiushi was surprised, "You actually look like this at night?!" When he thought of Ruan Nan Candle's arrogant and indifferent appearance as an adult, he couldn't help but bring some laughter to his tone, "You were so cute as a child?"

The teenager stared back at Lin Qiushi at the words, but the pretty appearance was not intimidating at all, and Ruan Nan Candle said, "You said I was cute?"

Lin Qiushi: "It's quite cute."

Ruan Nan Candle: "Please change the word thank you."

Lin Qiushi laughed, although they were now running for their lives, I have to say that Lin Qiushi had never been so happy while running for his life.

Ruan Nan Candle brought Lin Qiushi to the side of the gymnasium and they stood there for a moment to rest, Lin Qiushi said, "What's with those corpses?"

Ruan Nan Candle's tone was somewhat indifferent: "Who knows, I've already forgotten all about this kind of small goods, so many doors, do I have to carefully remember a passerby?"

Lin Qiushi looked at Ruan Nan Candle, if it was an adult Ruan Nan Candle who said such words he would about think that Ruan Nan Candle was exceptionally handsome, but looking at this delicate little face in front of him, Lin Qiushi didn't hold back a smile and said, "Fine, fine, we Nan Candle are right."

In the meantime, Ruan Nan Candle looked at Lin Qiushi, "Lin Qiushi, you want to rebel?"

Lin Qiushi: "I didn't want to either."

Ruan Nam Candle: "I'm just physically smaller-"

"I know I know." Lin Qiushi quickly said, "I know it's your body that's getting smaller and your soul that's bigger."

Ruan Nan Candle gritted his teeth, where he wouldn't be able to hear Lin Qiushi's tone of voice that coaxed a child.

While the two were talking, a treacherous singing sound came from the jungle not far away, like a child chanting a nursery rhyme.

"Shit." Ruan Nan Candle cursed obscenities, "Why is this door-"

Lin Qiushi said, "How many fans is this?"

Ruan Nan Candle: "My eighth fan, a child who claims his life." As his words trailed off, Lin Qiushi heard a child's silvery laughter, then the wind gusted in front of him, and the street lamps by the side of the road went out one by one, shrouded in darkness all around.

Ruan Nan Candle whispered, "This thing listens to the sound and identifies the location, so follow me and don't make any noise."

Lin Qiushi knew that Ruan Nan Candle had superior eyesight and could recognize the path even in the absence of light, so he held Ruan Nan Candle's hand in his back hand and let Ruan Nan Candle lead him forward.

Ruan Nan Candle's human hands were small, so Lin Qiushi was able to wrap his entire hand with the slightest effort.

A small rustling noise moved to the side of them, and Ruan Nam Candle and Lin Qiushi walked carefully, trying not to make any noise.

Lin Qiushi, on the other hand, heard the sound of breathing that stayed next to them, it was so close to them that even Lin Qiushi felt a breath brushing against his hand that was draped over one side.

But Ruan Nan Candle, who was walking forward, suddenly stopped in his tracks, he seemed to have seen something, and his grip on Lin Qiushi's hand tightened slightly.

Lin Qiushi didn't dare to move casually, in fact he could clearly feel a pair of cold hands on his shoulders, they seemed to be children's, very small, the temperature was like a piece of ice, even through his clothes, the cold feeling was still being transmitted to Lin Qiushi in a steady stream.

And Ruan Nan Candle seemed to be in some kind of predicament, Lin Qiushi felt his hands sweating, he couldn't see anything, but he also clearly sensed the condensation.

However, just when everything seemed to freeze, a loud glass shattering sound came from the school building not far from them, followed by the sound of heavy objects falling to the ground, the hands that originally held Lin Qiushi's shoulders disappeared in an instant, and Ruan Nanzhu grabbed Lin Qiushi's hand and turned around to run.

The street lamp that was originally extinguished around them came on again, and Lin Qiushi saw the scene around them.

Just in but a few minutes of darkness, the forest around them actually hung dense spider webs, and in these spider webs, a pair of red eyes gazed at them with malice, Lin Qiushi initially thought it was a spider the size of a human head, but after a closer look, he realized that it was clearly a huge spider with a human head hanging on its body, these heads did not die, and even the eyes were still rotating, their eyes grumbling as they went away, refusing to move away.

Ruan Nanzhu's head and body were covered in spider webs, and only when he reached a safe place did he relax and start pulling down these white webs on his body.

Lin Qiushi stood behind Ruan Nan Candle, but he didn't get much of it, he also started to help Ruan Nan Candle pull off these webs, saying, "What just jumped off the building?" If it wasn't for that jumping sound that distracted the monster, they might both be accounted for now.

Ruan Nam Candle said, "My friend."

"You have many friends," Lin Qiushi said, "In the door."

"Count on it." Ruan Nam Candle sighed, "But just know that they're having a good time in the Gate."

Lin Qiushi thought of something, "You've met your seniors too, right? Since he disappeared in the twelfth door...that should provide some clues?" Whether it was the eleventh door or the twelfth door, as a person who had come over, the clues he could provide should be very important.

But Ruan Nanzhu laughed bitterly, "It's not that good."

Lin Qiushi: "Eh?"

"I've asked all the questions you can think of, but he says he doesn't know," Ruan Nan Candle said, "Whether it's the eleventh door or the twelfth door, he has no memory of it."

Lin Qiushi: "......." he didn't expect this to be the answer.

"I didn't feel it when I was outside the door, but now it's a bit strange." Ruan Nan Candle said, "When Senior passed through the eleventh door at that time, I was still a newcomer and didn't ask too many questions, but others would definitely ask about the details of the eleventh door and record them... but these were not available."

In the meantime, Lin Qiushi said, "We don't seem to be aware of this either?"

Ruan Nan Candle nodded, "It's like..."

Lin Qiushi said, "It's as if the memories about this have been deliberately diluted?"

It should have been something very important, but in their minds this importance was forcefully erased, and no one felt out of place until they entered the eleventh door, where it became awkward.

"Yeah, now that I think about it, how could it not be recorded," Ruan Nan Candle said, "Senior still has so many friends, would he want them to not pass? And the twelfth door..."

Lin Qiushi said, "What happened to the twelfth door?"

Ruan Nan Candle said what Lin Qiushi hadn't expected as he said, "After passing through the eleventh door, Senior disappeared."

"Disappeared?!" Lin Qiushi was stunned, "But I thought you said he was still in Obsidian?"

"Yes, he's still at Obsidian," Nguyen Nam Candle said, "but all the people are starting to downplay his presence, and so am I. It's like he's become an invisible man at the villa..." he deliberated over his phrasing, trying to describe the strange feeling that "It's like we all know he's there, but, we can't see his people."

After Lin Qiushi was silent for a moment, he mumbled, "...Nan Candle."

Ruan Nan Candle looked up at Lin Qiushi.

Lin Qiushi's throat moved and said, "I... remember that you didn't mention your senior's name."

Ruan Nan Candle was stunned.

Lin Qiushi said, "Do you still remember what his name was?" He had seen that senior's objects at Ruan Nan Candle, but now, recalling carefully, he found that the appearance of those objects were almost forgotten, and he felt that Ruan Nan Candle wasn't the kind of person who would forget the deceased, unless, that forgetfulness meant something....

Ruan Nan Candle's expression went blank for a moment, and he opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say that name out of his mouth. But in the end he failed, the name that should have been firmly remembered was actually impossible to bring up from his memory, he only knew that he had such a senior, but he couldn't remember his name.

"Is he really dead? Or..." said Lin Qiushi, feeling goosebumps on his arms, "Or has he already passed the twelfth door?!"

Ruan Nan Candle: "......." he closed his eyes, unable to answer Lin Qiushi's question.

The wind was blowing again, blowing the leaves around them, and Lin Qiushi heard the singing and knew that they were going to start running for their lives again.

This time Lin Qiushi took the initiative to hold Ruan Nan Candle's hand, he whispered in Ruan Nan Candle's ear, "Don't worry, no matter where it is, as long as you're there, I'm willing to go."

Even if it's hell.

Ruan Nan Candle looked back at Lin Qiushi and revealed a smile, his hair was slightly long, his young face and deep eyes formed a strange sense of harmony, he stood on his tiptoes and printed a gentle kiss on Lin Qiushi's lips, "Me too."

Lin Qiushi laughed.

Then there was a messy escape, the two of them were simply like poor mice being teased under the cat's claws, using their best efforts to grab any chance they could to survive.

And Lin Qiushi had also thoroughly seen the horror of Ruan Nan Candle's passing, and in one night, they could not breathe for more than an hour, and might even have dropped some human body parts from the treetops when they stopped at the side of the road.

At first Lin Qiushi was nervous that he would give Ruan Nam Candle a hard time, but then he became numb and just followed Ruan Nam Candle as he continued to hide on campus.

Lim Chul-seok said can't we leave the school?

Ruan Nan Candle replied that he was rather familiar with the environment of the school, going out might be more troublesome, and if it wasn't a situation where he had to go out, he felt that it would be more reliable to stay inside the school.

In between running for his life, Lin Qiushi met many more of Ruan Nan Candle's friends and some ghosts that had good intentions towards Ruan Nan Candle.

It was like a large playground, there were grievances to repay, revenge to repay, and of course, there were those who came to repay kindness.

No wonder Ruan Nan Candle didn't have the time to text Lin Qiushi back before, with the intensity of the current escape, it was already lucky that the two of them could talk occasionally.

After surviving the night like this, the two of them sat down next to the cafeteria to rest when it was almost dawn.

Ruan Nan Candle had suffered some injuries, they weren't particularly serious, Lin Qiushi helped him with a simple bandage, as he bandaged it up, Ruan Nan Candle looked at Lin Qiushi with a burning gaze and said, "Did you see what kind of night I spent, will you come back tomorrow?"

Lin Qiushi smiled and nodded, although his night was much better than Ruan Nan Candle's, he still wanted to be by his side.

"Alright." Ruan Nan Candle said, "As you wish." He also did not push Lin Qiushi out again as Lin Qiushi had promised, and they leaned together, waiting for the dawn to come.

Lin Qiushi said, "You used to be so skinny in high school." He bandaged Ruan Nam Candle and naturally saw Ruan Nam Candle's body, although the high school Ruan Nam Candle was already very tall, his body wasn't strong, it wasn't at all on the same level as the adult him.

Ruan Nan Candle had a look at Lin Qiushi and didn't say anything.

Lin Qiushi said: "The you now, you're really cute."

Ruan Nan Candle's face was expressionless: "Then do you like the me now or the me later?"

Lin Qiushi: "..." he shouldn't have brought up this topic, after all, Ruan Nan Candle was a man who could even be jealous of his own women's clothes, jealous of his younger self... it was thanks to him that he could get off his mouth.

But under Ruan Nan Candle's stare, Lin Qiushi still betrayed his soul as he said, "I like it all!"

Ruan Nan Candle: "Tsk."

Lin Qiushi: "...What do you mean with that sorry expression.

Towards dawn, they had another discussion about the key, but they didn't have much of a clue. The door was too strange, the monsters that appeared every night were almost different, and even if some of them would appear a second time, there was still no sign of them.

No solution was really no solution, at least at this point, and neither of them were looking for any pattern from it.

But what was more concerning was that they found that monsters appeared in an order, the order gradually increasing backwards according to the time before and after they entered the door....

"Is it to go through all the doors?" Ruan Nam Candle speculated, "To meet all the ghosts inside the door..."

Lin Qiushi had something else in mind, though, as he said, "It's not just ghosts."

Ruan Nanzhu looked at Lin Qiushi.

"There are also old people." Lin Qiushi said, "Is this like... a trial?"

Ruan Nan Candle nodded his head.

Lin Qiushi said, "Adding and subtracting, eventually zeroing in, killing with hatred, repaying with love." With his hand on his chin, he looked at the light morning light in the sky, sleep began to rise in his mind, and Ruan Nan Candle didn't carry it first and fell into Lin Qiushi's arms.

Looking at Ruan Nan Candle's sleeping face, Lin Qiushi bowed his head and imprinted a gentle kiss on his forehead, then also closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

This was the most peaceful sleep Lin Qiushi had ever had since he entered the eleventh door, and he knew that Ruan Nan Candle was by his side, and as soon as it was dark, they would be able to see each other.

Neither ghosts nor death could separate them, and he was no longer afraid, the huge void inside was filled by another gentle soul.

The originally terrifying night was instead looked forward to because of Ruan Nan Candle's existence.

Lin Qiushi finally understood the saying that loving someone was like having a soft spot and armor.

They had finally become each other's most solid leaning.