Kaleidoscope of Death

Kaleidoscope of Death by Xi Zixu

As for how exactly they were going to repurpose this traitor, Ruan Nanzhu didn’t say. The scariest things were all unsaid, however; Tian Guxue’s entire soul was now overran by terror. She trembled so hard she couldn’t even speak.

“What do we do for now?” Sun Yuanzhou asked. “Just leave her here? Isn’t that risky?”

“She can still do something else for us,” Ruan Nanzhu hummed.

Sun Yuanzhou was thoughtful.

“Open chests?”

“Yes,” Ruan Nanzhu said. He looked at Tian Guxue, and spoke lightly. “You haven’t opened any chests today right? Even so, you probably know where the Hako Onna and Hakobito are…right?”

Tian Guxue looked up at Ruan Nanzhu, panicked. “I don’t know!!”

“You don’t know?” Liang Miye scoffed. “If you don’t know where the Hakobito and Hako Onna are, how do you open any of the chests? You’re not scared to find one of them?”

“It’s like this. Before I open a chest, if there’s a Hakobito or the Hako Onna inside, the chest makes a sound…” Tian Guxue stammered. “And then I’ll switch to a different chest to open. The Hako Onna warned me though that there can’t be anybody beside me when I open the chests, so…”

Ruan Nanzhu lifted an eyebrow.

“You’ve already opened boxes today?”

“Mh,” Tian Guxue nodded carefully.

“Fine, then we’ll confirm what you said tomorrow,” Ruan Nanzhu said.

If Tian Guxue was telling the truth, then she would be very useful to them. This way, she was a functionally a probe that could identify where the Hako Onna and Hakobito were.

Ruan Nanzhu asked Tian Guxue about a few more details, such as how she made contact with the Hako Onna. When asked about the rulebook, Tian Guxue told them that on the first day they arrived, she’d found the rulebook in the first-floor dining room. It had been in a corner, and the Hako Onna told her to look there.

“But how come I didn’t see the rulebook?” a young woman from the crowd asked. She was the person who’ first heard the Hako Onna cry when they came into the mansion, and the cry had come from the kitchen, so she’d gone to look around inside.

“Maybe I got here before you,” Tian Guxue answered carefully. “By the time you went…I’d already taken it.”

That was certainly a possibility. While Tian Guxue’s explanation made some sense, it still made Lin Qiushi’s forehead pucker…He’d detected a strange discrepancy in Tian Guxue’s words.

Ruan Nanzhu didn’t say anything either, deep in thought. He didn’t say what he was thinking in the end though, just began discussing what to do about Tian Guxue with the group.

Tian Guxue was most scared of being killed. When she saw that they didn’t want her life, she released a huge breath of relief.

In the end everybody decided to shut Tian Guxue in her room and assign someone to guard her. There was no harm in not opening any chests, after all, and the number of Hako Onna’s powers had not yet reached six.

While everybody was discussing these things, Ruan Nanzhu stood aside in silence. Though his eyes were on Tian Guxue, his gaze seemed to go right through her, landing somewhere faraway.

“What is it?” Lin Qiushi sensed that something was off about Ruan Nanzhu.

“Nothing,” Ruan Nanzhu answered lightly. “Just thought of something from the past.”

So Lin Qiushi didn’t press. He only took Ruan Nanzhu’s hand with a squeeze, transferring the warmth of his palm to Ruan Nanzhu.

At their interaction, Sun Yuanzhou once again tossed them a queer look. That look really was far too complicated, and Lin Qiushi far too confused…He really did want to ask now exactly what Ruan Nanzhu had said to Sun Yuanzhou.

Once the matter was decided, everyone made a deal to not discuss this anywhere else, in case the Hako Onna caught wind of it.

Sun Yuanzhou took Tian Guxue to her room and had someone stand guard.

The rest of the group split up and ordered the guard shifts. Someone would take over every two hours.

With everything settled, everybody dispersed.

Lin Qiushi took a brief look at the chests that Tian Guxue said she’d already opened, carefully marking them on top. Of course, to prevent the Hako Onna from noticing, they didn’t mark the chests with sticky notes.

The entire way down Ruan Nanzhu was quiet. The way he seemed deep in thought made Lin Qiushi feel oddly uneasy.

“What’s on your mind?”

“I’m thinking about my last tenth door,” Ruan Nanzhu answered.

“Was it scary?” Lin Qiushi had noticed that Ruan Nanzhu never seemed to be in a good mood when he mentioned his tenth door.

“It wasn’t,” Ruan Nanzhu said. “But I’d rather it’d been scarier.”

Lin Qiushi, “what do you mean?”

Ruan Nanzhu was about to answer—but then he seemed to suddenly recall something. Glancing over at Lin Qiushi, he said instead, “it’s nothing important. A good friend died in there, so I’m just a bit sentimental.”

Lin Qiushi’s brows furrowed. He felt that Ruan Nanzhu was intentionally keeping something from him.

If they could get through today, then tomorrow, Tian Guxue could open three more chests for them with an absolute guarantee of dodging the Hakobito and Hako Onna. This was thoroughly beneficial for them.

Ruan Nanzhu was assigned to guard Tian Guxue from nine to eleven PM, which wasn’t too late of a time slot. Lin Qiushi tried to stay with him, but Ruan Nanzhu shooed him off.

“Go get some sleep first, you have a shift after me,” Ruan Nanzhu said. “Go on.”

Lin Qiushi said, “but I’m worried about you.”

Ruan Nanzhu just laughed, reaching out and taking the tip of Lin Qiushi’s ear in a pinch.

“What are you worried about, that I’d cheat on you?” Immediately after saying this, he ducked in close to Lin Qiushi’s ear and exhaled a superheated breath. “Don’t worry, I only get hard for you.”

Lin Qiushi, “…”

Man, Ruan Nanzhu really could make this old face of his blush. After such a turn, he’d completely forgotten what he wanted to say, and was chased off to his room by force. Ruan Nanzhu, on the other hand, entered the room holding Tian Guxue.

Liang Miye was already sprawled heartily on her bed, all washed and cleaned. Seeing Lin Qiushi come in, she said, “yo, you’re not keeping Mengmeng company?”

Lin Qiushi said, “he let me come back first.”

“You guys have such a nice relationship.” Liang Miye was currently doing a face mask. “Jealous!”

Lin Qiushi watched her: “we’re inside a door, and you’re doing a face mask?”

“Why not do a face mask?” Liang Miye batted her eyes before really getting into it. “Oh don’t you know, they all say face masks are the most effective inside the doors. Outside, the mask just goes on your flesh, but inside, it goes right onto your soul. It’s true inner beauty. And cost-effective.”

Lin Qiushi, “…” He didn’t know what to say, all of a sudden.

Liang Miye too saw how Lin Qiushi had gone dumb, and began to guffaw.

“Beauty is a woman’s second life!”

Lin Qiushi held up both hands in surrender.

“I agree.”

After washing up in the bathroom, he returned and lied back in his bed. He didn’t start playing on his phone though, instead began to contemplate the matter of Tian Guxue from the day. As he was deep in thought, however, there came the sound of the Hako Onna’s cry from downstairs. Sharp and despairing, it sent a flood of goosebumps over all its listeners.

Reflexively, both Lin Qiushi and Liang Miye shot up in bed.

“She’s using another power?“ Liang Miye said.

"Mh.” Lin Qiushi recollected every power card they currently had and all the powers that’d been used. The Hako Onna’s cry right now was a bit bewildering.

The only power the Hako Onna hadn’t used was “Moving Things.” Aside from that one, all the powers had already been used once and returned to the card pile. And there was a cool-down time before it could be used again, so the Hako Onna was currently using “Moving Things?”

No…Something was off…They’d missed something. After coming to this conclusion Lin Qiushi grew a bit agitated. Judging by her actions inside this door, the Hako Onna wasn’t any more foolish than they were, so why would she use this power for no apparent reason?

“What is it?” Liang Miye watched as Lin Qiushi changed from his pajamas once again into his daywear. “You’re going out?”

Lin Qiushi said, “mh. I’m going to see Mengmeng.”

He just couldn’t stop worrying, pushing open the door and rushing out.

“Oh,” was all Liang Miye could say.

Very quickly, Lin Qiushi made it to Tian Guxue’s room and gave the door a knock.

“Zhu Meng, Zhu Meng.”

He’d thought Ruan Nanzhu would be quick to open the door for him, but for a long moment, there was no movement inside.

“Zhu Meng?”

Lin Qiushi called a couple more times, feeling something was truly wrong. He was about to fetch a hairpin to open the door when Ruan Nanzhu’s voice came from inside, sounding a bit sunken.

“Linlin, I’m fine. Go rest, you don’t have to come inside.”

“What is it?” Lin Qiushi asked. “What happened?”

Ruan Nanzhu said, “nothing. I’m just worried about someone coming in, so I’ve locked the door.”

Lin Qiushi was silent.

Ruan Nanzhu, “really, I’m fine. Go sleep, and come relieve me later.”

Lin Qiushi looked down at the locked room door, still not saying anything. He got out his hairpin and began picking it.

Ruan Nanzhu seemed to sense Lin Qiushi’s actions, his tone growing agitated.

“I’ve blockaded the door. You can’t come in here, Yu Linlin, can’t you just listen to me for once?” He sounded very impatient. “I have to do something important, don’t be such a nuisance. Yu Linlin, are you listening to me?”

Lin Qiushi completely ignored him, continuing to pick at the lock.

“Linlin!!” Ruan Nanzhu seemed truly angry now. “I said stop opening it!”

Lin Qiushi stopped. Slowly, he pressed himself to the door, voice gone hoarse like something had gotten caught in his throat. He said:

“Zhu Meng, you lied to me.”

Ruan Nanzhu fell silent. He knew Lin Qiushi had discovered the truth.

“It’s not that you won’t let me in, it’s that you can’t come out…” Lin Qiushi couldn’t describe at all how he was feeling in this instant. It was like he was standing at the edge of a black abyss, watching Ruan Nanzhu fall and utterly incapable of stopping it. “There was never only one mole.”

Ruan Nanzhu didn’t reply.

“The Hako Onna got a new power,” Lin Qiushi said, “didn’t she?”

False Answers, Open This, My Doll Mary, I’m Behind You, Moving Things—right now, the Hako Onna had gathered these five powers, but before him, Ruan Nanzhu had been struck with the Hako Onna’s sixth power: Locked Door.

“Locked Door"—the Hako Onna could lock any door she designated. Players inside the room couldn’t pass through and could only be trapped inside.

And at the same time, the Hako Onna had already gathered six powers. Once tomorrow came, she could make her move again, and use the bottom-most card "I’m Behind You” to kill every single person inside a room.

Without question, her target was Ruan Nanzhu.

There was never just the one mole. Tian Guxue was simply the diversion that the Hako Onna tossed them. There was someone else among them who’d hidden a power card, and told the Hako Onna which room Ruan Nanzhu was in.

The key to escaping was on Ruan Nanzhu’s person. Once he was gone, one path to survival for the players would be completely cut off. Additionally, the discovered mole Tian Guxue would also be taken care of. It truly was killing two birds with one stone.

Lin Qiushi said, “don’t worry, there’s got to be a way. Hang on, I’ll go get someone!”

From inside the room came silence, and then Ruan Nanzhu’s faint, faint exhale.

Lin Qiushi remembered it was one of Sun Yuanzhou’s people who’d opened up the fire extinguisher, so he went to Sun Yuanzhou’s room, banging on the door in a state of complete anxiety.

Seconds later, Sun Yuanzhou’s door opened. He saw Lin Qiushi panting roughly outside, and exclaimed, “what happened?”

“Where’s your fire extinguisher?” Lin Qiushi asked. “Zhu Meng’s shut in the room, and the Hako Onna’s going to use ‘I’m Behind You’ tomorrow…Where’s your fire extinguisher? The key’s on Zhu Meng, she can’t die.”

Sun Yuanzhou startled.

“What? What?? She’s shut in a room???” He seemed to immediately recall the explanation for the Hako Onna’s power. “The Hako Onna’s already found 'Locked Door’?”

Lin Qiushi, “we can talk about it later, where’s the extinguisher—”

The fire extinguisher could stop the Hako Onna from using a power once. It was the only thing that could save Ruan Nanzhu now.

At Lin Qiushi’s question, Sun Yuanzhou unconsciously pressed his lips together, expression awkward.

“It's…It’s gone. We’re also looking, but we haven’t been able to find it.

Lin Qiushi, "…”

Sun Yuanzhou’s two other teammates had gathered around inside the room as well. One of the women heard what they were saying, and spoke up quietly, “sorry about that. The extinguisher’s really too heavy, so I didn’t carry it on me. I hid it under my bed but when I got back today, it was already gone.”

Lin Qiushi said, “it’s really gone?”

He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

“Let’s be clear about this. If Zhu Meng dies, the Hako Onna’s going to get the key from her. At that point we’ll have one less method of escape.”

He did his best to persuade them from an objective point of view, not wanting to get too personal.

“I understand. If we had it, we really would help you. You can come in and look if you’d like, search the room all you want.” The woman was also helpless. “It really is gone. We were just discussing what to do about this.”

She didn’t seem disingenuous, and when she even moved aside from the doorway for Lin Qiushi to come in, Lin Qiushi knew they likely weren’t lying. Fists clenching, he rasped, “pardon me,” and made to leave.

But Sun Yuanzhou stopped him with a call.

“Yu Linlin! You said the Hako Onna got Zhu Meng. Doesn’t that mean there’s another mole among us?”

“Isn’t that obvious?” He shot a cold look at Sun Yuanzhou over his shoulder. “Without another mole, why would your fire extinguisher go missing?”

“It might not have been the mole who’d stolen it,” Sun Yuanzhou said. “It might just be a greedy group member…”

Lin Qiushi didn’t respond, just took off.

Since they’d lost the extinguisher, then Lin Qiushi had no reason to keep wasting his time dealing with them. He lifted his wrist to look at his watch. There were still two hours until twelve, so he had to find a way to save Ruan Nanzhu within the two hours.

Some people crumbled in the face of danger, while some became even calmer. Lin Qiushi was of the latter. He quickly went over the current situation and all the clues they had in his mind, rushing to think of a way to save Ruan Nanzhu.

When she didn’t see Lin Qiushi return, Liang Miye too left their room. First thing she saw was Lin Qiushi squatting before the door at the end of the hallway with a solemn expression.

“What happened?” Liang Miye ran over.

“The Hako Onna got him with a power,” Lin Qiushi said. “He’s shut inside with no way out.”

Liang Miye was stunned.

“Which power…There’s another mole among us?!”

She’d never imagined things would develop like this. Finding Tian Guxue was supposed to have been the end, but who’d have thought it was only the beginning—

There were actually two moles. Tian Guxue had only been a minor player tossed out as a smokescreen.

“So what do we do?” Liang Miye was panicking.

“You go find the fire extinguisher,” Lin Qiushi told her.

He gave a simple account of what happened at Sun Yuanzhou’s, and sent Liang Miye to look room-by-room for the fire extinguisher. They only had two hours, and the mansion was huge. Whoever hid the fire extinguisher, in order to keep them from finding it, would surely keep it somewhere incredibly well-hidden, so searching for the fire extinguisher wasn’t an especially wise method.

But they had no other choice. Lin Qiushi could only send Liang Miye to look while he pondered other methods.

“Zhu Meng.” Lin Qiushi spoke to Ruan Nanzhu from outside the door. “You have to think, is there any other way?”

Ruan Nanzhu was so much smarter; he’d definitely be able to think of a method.

But the person inside was still keeping silent. Only after Lin Qiushi’s repeated coaxing did Ruan Nanzhu finally say: “Linlin, this is a dead end.”

Lin Qiushi froze. He pressed against the door, and asked in utter disbelief: “What did you say?”

“This is a dead end.”

“What…”

Ruan Nanzhu, “you went to look for the fire extinguisher just now, right? Did you find it?”

Lin Qiushi didn’t reply. They both knew the answer—had he found it, Lin Qiushi wouldn’t be speaking to him like this.

“That person is smart. To have done all of this, they must have thorough with every detail,” Ruan Nanzhu said. “I underestimated the enemy. Come closer, there’s something I want to say to you.”

Lin Qiushi pressed his face to the door. It took all his effort to control himself and not start shaking.

Ruan Nanzhu spoke quietly to him: “I don’t have the key on me. I’ve hidden it in the crack behind the headboard in our room. Remember to grab it.”

Lin Qiushi didn’t speak.

“Linlin, I’m glad to have met you,” Ruan Nanzhu said. “I hope you can get out of here alive.”

“No,” Lin Qiushi said.

Ruan Nanzhu, “what?”

“I said I’m not fucking getting out of here without you. Dammit Zhu Meng, what your heart must be made out of.” Lin Qiushi swore as he so rarely did. “How can you say such a thing to me? How can you be so heartless?!”

Ruan Nanzhu couldn’t reply.

Lin Qiushi, “I’m going to get you out of there, do you hear me? I’m getting you out!!”

He turned and picked up a decorative statue in the hallway. He began to slam it against the door.

But what had once been a wooden door that couldn’t even really be called solid was currently cast-iron. It didn’t budge an inch, and he couldn’t leave so much as a dent. After smashing at it for a bit, Lin Qiushi knew this wasn’t going to work.

“Just hang on.”

At this point, many people had left their rooms and came out into the hallway, dumbfounded by the sight of Lin Qiushi breaking down the door. Sun Yuanzhou stood afar and explained the situation to them, and once he did, expressions of shock or fright appeared on everybody’s faces. Clearly, they’d all realized there was another mole among them.

Lin Qiushi set down the statue, expression terrifyingly cold. From the crowd, he picked out the person he was looking for.

“Ren Ruyuan, give me the gasoline.”

It wasn’t up for discussion. Everybody could tell that if Ren Ruyuan refused, Lin Qiushi was very likely to attack him right then and there.

“Okay.” But Ren Ruyuan agreed. “The key’s with Zhu Meng, right?”

“Yes,” Lin Qiushi said. “If she can’t be saved, we’ll all die here.”

His tone was simple and not at all harsh. But everybody who heard him felt an odd chill go down their backs, because while this sounded like exaggeration, it didn’t seem like Lin Qiushi was kidding at all.

He brought the can of gasoline to Ruan Nanzhu’s door, and said, “Nanzhu, I got the gasoline.”

“And how will you give it to me?” There was exasperation in Ruan Nanzhu’s voice.

Lin Qiushi said, “the edges of the door. There’s space along the edges. I’ll go to the dining room and get some plastic bags, seal the gasoline inside, and push it through the edges. You’ll catch it on the inside.”

“Okay.”

So Lin Qiushi went to the dining room and grabbed a few dozen resealable bags. He poured the gasoline bit by bit into them and then pushed them through the cracks around the door to Ruan Nanzhu. He didn’t know if the gasoline would be of use like this, but he could only do his best with what was available.

After that Lin Qiushi sent people to keep looking for the fire extinguisher, but just as Ruan Nanzhu predicted, that person had the fire extinguisher hidden well. Nobody was able to find it.

By the time Lin Qiushi got the gasoline inside the room, there was less than twenty minutes until twelve o'clock. He looked down at his gas-stained hands, and for the first time, got a taste of true helplessness and desolation.

He was utterly useless. He couldn’t save Ruan Nanzhu.