Kaleidoscope of Death

After a long night, Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu still had no clue about the key.

However, at the same time, they found that the night was getting shorter, from six hours in the beginning, to five hours, four hours... This change was not obvious at first, but it became more and more disturbing. Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu strolled all over the school, even to some special places, but the clues about the key seemed to have disappeared, they had no clue.

If the previous door is the example, then the shortened night is the hidden limit of the door. This was Lin Qiushi's greatest fear - he was afraid that he and Ruan Nanzhu would be separated and never see each other again.

So did Ruan Nam Candle, but their efforts seemed utterly pointless here, there was no pattern to the night other than the constant appearance of ghosts and the ghosts almost always changed drastically every night, while Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nam Candle grew increasingly anxious over the shortened nights.

"The ghosts have only appeared three times tonight." On this day, towards dawn, with candy in her mouth, Ruan Nam Candle analyzed the situation with Lin Qiushi, "The frequency of appearances has become lower and the intensity is also lower." A few days ago, the number of ghosts and monsters reached a peak, and that night, both Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nam Candle were seriously injured, and Lin Qiushi even almost lost his life. But ever since that day, the number of ghosts and monsters that appeared began to drop drastically, Lin Qiushi at first thought that it was the mercy of the door, then after Ruan Nan Candle's analysis, they realized that the ghosts and monsters inside the door had appeared almost the same, and even began to appear a small portion of the ghosts and monsters that they had encountered when they crossed the door before entering the eleventh door.

"Is this a good thing?" Lin Qiushi used the question, he looked at Ruan Nam Candle, "Is this a good thing?"

This was supposed to be a good thing, fewer ghosts meant less danger for them, but Lin Qiushi couldn't be happier.

"I don't know." Ruan Nan Candle's tone was a bit low, "I'm not sure if the door has a key or not." He said, "Or maybe the word incomprehensible in the clue we got has a deeper meaning that we didn't understand."

Only now they were clueless about this meaning.

Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu embraced each other, and the dawn that clearly represented hope became a bit heavy in their seriousness instead.

Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nam Candle had to be separated as it was getting daylight again, and faced with an increasingly short night, Lin Qiushi even began to worry that he wouldn't see Ruan Nam Candle the next night.

Ruan Nam Candle was obviously worried as well, but he didn't say anything, just reached out and hugged Lin Qiushi tightly, the two of them snuggled together, their shadows merging into one on the ground.

Rays of light shot out from the other side of the horizon, and Lin Qiushi tried to resist the powerful sleep, but in the end, he failed, and he fell asleep, and the Ruan Nam Candle in his arms let out even breathing sounds.

After the night gradually became calm, the day tormented instead. Lin Qiushi woke up and sat up from his bed, sat silently by the window for a long time, then sat at the table and began to carefully record something.

There was a sudden knock at the door, so Lin Qiushi went to open the door and saw Wu Zi carrying brinjal and beer outside.

"Are you okay, Akashi?" Kuzaki looked at him, his expression dark with worry, "It's been over a month since I've seen you, and you didn't pick up even when I called you."

"Nothing." Lin Qiushi said, "Just working on something."

Wu Qi walked into the house and saw the notebook placed on Lin Qiushi's desk, a bit strange, "What are you writing?"

Lin Qiushi said, "Record a little something." He actually wanted to record the things he and Ruan Nan Candle had experienced... He was afraid that one day he would forget about them.

Just like Ruan Nam Candle had forgotten his predecessor.

Lin Qiushi simply closed the table and Wu Qi put the food in his hand on top, he looked at Lin Qiushi worriedly and said, "You've been staying at home for over a month, what's happened, can't you tell me? I'm so worried about you."

Lin Qiushi replied, "It's nothing."

Although Lin Qiushi's tone was clearly perfunctory, he didn't want to say it, and Wu Qi couldn't force him.

So the good friend sighed and said that Lin Qiushi should never be cheated by any pyramid scheme, the methods of pyramid schemes were becoming more and more high-end these days, if Lin Qiushi had anything to say....

As Lin Qiushi listened to Wu Qi's shattered thoughts, he didn't hate it, but instead, some nostalgia rose in his heart. In the original world, after Kurezaki left, he hadn't met anyone who cared about him in this way for a long time.

Lin Qiushi drank while Wu Qiuzhi talked, and the atmosphere between them was harmonious.

Until around nine o'clock in the evening, Wu Qi took his leave and Lin Qiushi looked at his back and sighed softly, in fact, if there was no Ruan Nan Candle, staying in this world seemed to be a good thing.

But with Ruan Nan Candle, Lin Qiushi was determined to leave this door.

Once twelve o'clock arrived, Lin Qiushi couldn't wait to meet with Ruan Nan Candle.

The school where they met this time actually didn't have any ghostly figures, leaving only an empty campus in the darkness. With noisy insects chirping, this actually looked like an ordinary school at first glance.

"I've met my friend." Ruan Nam Candle, who was strolling hand in hand with Lin Qiushi through the school, suddenly spoke, "A friend who died in the original world."

"You were close to him?" Lin Qiushi.

"Well." Ruan Nam Candle said, "We're hairy, but before entering the door he got into a car accident and lost his person."

Lin Qiushi immediately thought of Wu Qi.

Ruan Nam Candle said, "I didn't expect to see him in this world, he's still alive...alive and well."

Lin Qiushi was silent for a moment, his voice was a bit hoarse, he spoke out his deepest fear, he said, "Nan Candle, could this door not have a key at all?"

Ruan Nan Candle breathed.

"Is there really a twelfth door?" Lin Qiushi said, "Can we really get out of here?"

Ruan Nan Candle's grip on Lin Qiushi's hand tightened.

"Unsolvable, the clue we got is unsolvable..." said Lin Qiushi, "What does the word unsolvable really mean?" He thought at first that this was a trial, but after discovering that there was no clue to the key anyway, an even more frightening thought rose in his mind, no solution...was it a reference to the existence of the key.

It was a door without a key, they could never leave.

Ruan Nan Candle also thought of what Lin Qiushi was thinking, and he looked at his lover at his side, his dark eyes more than a little sad.

"I will always think of your predecessor." Such a peaceful night, Lin Qiushi should have been lucky, but he just couldn't smile, without the ghosts chasing them, they could spend more time thinking about the future, only the more they thought about it, the more the future smelled of despair.

"Everyone has forgotten about him." Lin Qiushi said slowly, "Do we forget each other as well?"

Hearing Lin Qiushi's words, Ruan Nan Candle was suddenly a bit angry as he raged, "I don't want to forget about you!" He stood up, spinning in place like a trapped animal, "The key must be hidden somewhere, we're the ones who didn't find it, we just have to try a little harder-"

Lin Qiushi reached out and hugged him, he kissed his cheek and said, "Okay, let's look again."

The grass, the trees, all the buildings, even in the pond, Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nam Candle searched every corner of the school until the sun rose again.

On this day, the night lasted only two hours, and when sleepiness came, Ruan Nam Candle was almost about to collapse with Lin Qiushi in his arms, their premonition came true, the night was dwindling, and eventually it might even disappear, and when the night disappeared, they would never see each other again.

"No, I don't want to sleep." Ruan Nam Candle was already on the verge of not being able to open his eyes, but he began to refuse to give up, he tried to create wounds on his arms to keep himself awake, but everything was in vain.

Ruan Nam Candle was still asleep.

Lin Qiushi stared at Ruan Nan Candle's sleeping face, holding him and refusing to let go, the horrible sleepiness also gradually invaded his mind and he was forced to sink into sleep.

The next day, the weather was sunny.

Lin Qiushi sat up from his bed and walked over to the table and began to continue recording. The notebook in front of him was already densely packed and was about to be filled with the story of how he and Ruan Nan Candle had met to know each other. The chestnut meowed beside him and jumped on its tiptoes onto Lin Qiushi's knee, transferring its warm body temperature, Lin Qiushi looked at the notebook in front of him, but deep inside his heart, a huge, unspeakable pain arose.

He just wanted to die together with Ruan Nan Candle, but he didn't expect that in the end, this wish would be so difficult to achieve.

On the notebook were bits and pieces of him and Ruan Nan Candle, but if he really forgot about them, what use would they be? Lin Qiushi covered his face.

Another night, this time with only an hour left in the night.

As if it was a final countdown, the door gave them the chance to say goodbye to each other.

"The key must exist!" Ruan Nan Candle grabbed Lin Qiushi's hand, "We can't give up, we have to go out- Qiushi, even if there's no night, don't give up, okay?"

Lin Qiushi said, "Good."

Ruan Nan Candle was anxious to the extreme, the first time he was so square, he said, "I don't want to be separated from you, I don't want to be separated from you, Lin Qiushi..." and Lin Qiushi looked at his face and leaned in to give him a soothing kiss until Ruan Nan Candle calmed down.

Lin Qiushi barely smiled, rubbing Ruan Nam Candle's cheek with his fingers, he said, "No, facing this face of yours still feels like committing a crime."

Ruan Nan Candle couldn't laugh, his eyes looked like they were glistening with water, but upon closer inspection, they weren't water, but more like frozen ice.

"I won't give up, I'll keep looking for the key," Lin Qiushi said, "I will still look for you... I won't give up..."

Ruan Nan Candle hugged Lin Qiushi backhandedly.

"Do you like daytime?" Lin Qiushi asked him.

"I don't like it." Ruan Nam Candle said, "There are many good things in the daytime...but...there's no you there."

Lin Qiushi stroked Ruan Nam Candle's hair a little bit, running his fingers through his hair, looking at Ruan Nam Candle lovingly as if he was looking at his own child: "You had a better life." Unlike him, Nguyen Nam Candle had parents, brothers, and he would obviously be happier without the door, without the threat of death or the loss of so many of his beloved friends.

"But there's no you there," Ruan Nan Candle despaired, "Lin Qiushi do you even understand that the world without you is all fake!"

Lin Qiushi looked at Ruan Nan Candle, he wanted to control his emotions and continue to reassure him, but he found that he couldn't. An hour had already passed and they weren't even sure if they would see each other tomorrow.

"I... "Lin Qiushi wanted to say something, but only one word came out and tears fell as he reached out and rudely wiped his face, saying, "I... ...I don't want to say goodbye to you."

Ruan Nan Candle kissed Lin Qiushi's eyes, sucking his tears clean, and he said, "Then we won't say goodbye."

"It's good to have met you." Lin Qiushi said, "I'm not afraid of those things at all anymore, not at all." They sat under the night sky, looking up at the stars, with a cool wind blowing against their cheeks, leaving only the peaceful chirping of insects around them.

It was as if it was just a peaceful night, and they were just lovers who had met to tell each other.

Ruan Nan Candle said, "I won't give up, we'll definitely go out..." he was about sleepy, his tone gradually became lower, "Lin Qiushi, you have to go out too..."

"Good." Lin Qiushi said, "I'll go out." After he said this, he uncontrollably followed Ruan Nan Candle and closed his eyes.

The two of them fell into a deep sleep.

This was the last time Lin Qiushi saw Ruan Nam Candle at night.

When he hid in the school the next day as promised and waited for the watch in his hand to point to twelve o'clock, he didn't see Ruan Nam Candle.

His lover had disappeared into the silence of the night, into a different time and place.

Although he had already guessed what was in front of him from the ever-shortening night time, Lin Qiushi still broke down. He ran all over the school, constantly shouting Ruan Nam Candle's name until he was expelled by the school's security.

Standing outside the school, he dialed Ruan Nam Candle's number and found that it was an empty number - Ruan Nam Candle had disappeared.

Lin Qiushi squatted on the side of the road, covering his face to try to shield his tear-stained face.

How exactly Lin Qiushi had spent the night, he couldn't even tell himself, but anyway by the time he was conscious, he was already in a hospital bed, aching all over his body, with Wu Qi sitting next to him, watching him worriedly.

"Akashi, are you okay?" Kuzaki's tone was careful, as if he was afraid of irritating Lin Qiushi's already sensitive nerves.

"Fine." Lin Qiushi looked at the snow-white ceiling above his head, "I'm fine."

Kurezaki couldn't stop talking, it was obvious that Lin Qiushi wasn't in good shape, before he was taken to the hospital he attempted to rush inside a school and had a confrontation with the security guards and ended up being brought to the hospital by the police....

Lin Qiushi tilted his head to look at Kurezaki. His eyes were strange, like he was looking at some kind of monster, and Kurezaki was so creeped out by him that he whispered his name, "Akashi?"

"Are you for real?" Lin Qiushi said, "or is it just an illusion used to comfort people?"

Kurezaki was baffled, he was a bit restless and said, "Akashi, aren't you under too much pressure?"

Is it too stressful? Lin Qiushi wondered if he was crazy. No, he wasn't crazy, the crazy was the world.

After recovering in the hospital for more than a week, Lin Qiushi ran out of the hospital on Wu Qi's back and returned home.

The first thing he did when he got home was to look up the notebook he used to record himself and carefully read through all the things he recorded on it.

He had to remember, he had to remember.

Ruan Nan Candle's predecessor might not have passed through the eleventh door at all, so naturally, he didn't know the information about the twelfth door either. He was locked inside this door forever, and the people outside the door began to forget him, even as faces and names faded away, and only those closest to him still barely remembered the name Senior.

But in a little while, perhaps no one would even remember the name Senior, Lin Qiushi thought as he squeezed his notebook.

Ever since that night, Lin Qiushi never entered the night again.

His night became peaceful and quiet, except for the chirping of insects. The ghosts disappeared, and along with the ghosts, his lover, Ruan Nam Candle, disappeared as well.

Lin Qiushi began to search around in reality for information about Ruan Nam Candle.

After Wu Zi knew what he was doing, he initially thought that Lin Qiushi was mentally ill, but then he found out that his good friend was very calm and cool, not like a mental patient at all, so he had no choice but to let Lin Qiushi go, and even privately and quietly helped Lin Qiushi trust someone to find the name Ruan Nan Candle in the public security system, but he actually found some information.

"There's this person Ruan Nan Candle." Wu Qi brought this information to Lin Qiushi, "or someone from our city, a professor who teaches physics inside a university..."

When Lin Qiushi heard Wu Qiuzhi's words, he thought Wu Qiuzhi was joking at first, but after he was sure Wu Qiuzhi was serious, he didn't know how to react for a while.

So the next day, Lin Qiushi rushed to the school that Wu Qiuzhi said, wanting to find Ruan Nanzhu.

Unexpectedly, Lin Qiushi really saw him.

It was at the end of class, and Lin Qiushi saw a man wearing glasses on a small path, the man was tall, wearing a simple shirt and trousers, and just happened to get off the car. The man's face was exactly the same as Ruan Nam Candle's. Only compared to Ruan Nam Candle's cold and arrogant temperament, the man looked much gentler and seemed to get along better.

The moment Lin Qiushi saw the man, he even held his breath, and after a moment of hesitation, he still quickly walked forward and called out tentatively, "Ruan Nan Candle?"

The man turned back at the sound of the voice and looked at Lin Qiushi, his eyes were unfamiliar and he said hesitantly, "You are?"

Lin Qiushi said, "Don't you recognize me?"

Eventually, the man shook his head, "I'm sorry, I don't remember that I've seen you before."

Lin Qiushi didn't say anything and stared into the man's eyes, finally turning around, "Sorry, I've mistaken you for someone else."

The man was stunned and wanted to say something, but Lin Qiushi's hasty walk didn't give the man a chance to speak. How could it be that it was a case of mistaken identity, mistaken identity and still be able to name names?

Lin Qiushi didn't bother with the loophole as he walked to the front of the school and bowed his head to begin peeling the candy paper. His movements were a bit frantic as he shoved the candies into his mouth one by one, trying to seek inner peace from the familiar sweet taste.

But he failed in the end, the candy could not calm Lin Qiushi and his emotions faced another breakdown.

Every time he encountered something related to Ruan Nan Candle, Lin Qiushi found it hard to think calmly, and this time was the same.

Why did Ruan Nam Candle suddenly appear in the daytime? What does this mean? Is there something wrong with him? Lin Qiushi giggled and bit the candy in his mouth, turning his head to look at the school behind him.

This was a nationally famous university, known for its science department, to be a professor of physics in such a school at Ruan Nam Candle's age, it must prove that he had achieved great success in academics.

Lin Qiushi thought, this may be the life of Ruan Nam Candle who has not met the door, success and fame, and a life path.

He stood up from the ground, about due to lack of blood, and his body shook involuntarily, even almost falling to the ground. The world was perfect, it seemed that everyone had a happy ending except for Lin Qiushi himself.

Lin Qiushi returned home in a mess and collapsed on the bed, and Chestnut jumped on top of him, meowing and urging Lin Qiushi to add cat food to it.

Lin Qiushi stroked Chestnut's soft fur, looked at its beautiful jewel-like eyes, and drifted off to sleep.

The chime of twelve o'clock woke Lin Qiushi from his dream, and Lin Qiushi sat up in bed, staring at the wall clock not far away.

Although he could no longer enter the same time and space as Ruan Nan Candle at night, he would still wake up at twelve o'clock every day, listening to the bells that belonged to the night ringing in his ears.

Was he really unable to leave this door? But didn't Ruan Nam Candle say that there was no deadlock in the door? Or are all the rules unusable by the eleventh door?

With this thought in mind, Lin Qiushi dialed his and Ruan Nam Candle's phone number again.

"I'm sorry, the number you have dialed is empty, please check and redial after verification. I'm sorry, the number you have dialed is empty, please check and then dial again..." the cold electronic voice came from the other end of the phone, Lin Qiushi sat in his rental house, everything was quiet and scary, except for the clock that was ticking on the wall. He shifted his gaze over the clock and saw the pendulum ticking and swinging from left to right. The clock had passed twelve o'clock, going towards one.

Lin Qiushi looked at the clock, but he suddenly thought of the corridor he saw when he entered, there were twelve iron doors on both sides of the corridor, so why the number twelve...they never seemed to think about it.

Lin Qiushi shifted his gaze to the clock, and when he saw the twelve numbers on the clock face, plated with black paint, a strange thought suddenly sprang into his head.

Lin Qiushi stood up and walked over towards the clock.