Kaleidoscope of Death

Lin Qiushi had a gentle temperament, but it was precisely when gentle people like him got mad that Ruan Nanzhu had no idea where to start. But inside the door, at least, Lin Qiushi didn’t let any problems between himself and Ruan Nanzhu get in the way of business.

He was impartial when he told Ruan Nanzhu everything that happened after Ruan Nanzhu was locked inside the room; everybody’s reactions and every single one of Xiao Ji’s actions were the main points.

After listening closely, Ruan Nanzhu asked, “he was the first one to ask you where the key was?”

“Yes,” Lin Qiushi nodded. This was indeed odd. Since Xiao Ji had been working with the Hako Onna, then he should’ve wanted nothing more than for the key to be buried. But instead, he’d been the instigator, willing to incur Lin Qiushi’s displeasure for the sake of getting the key from Ruan Nanzhu.

If Xiao Ji hadn’t been the mole, then there’d be nothing wrong with what he did. Now, however, with his role as the agent exposed, this was incredibly odd behavior, and seemed counterintuitive.

“I think this Xiao Ji knows something else.” Ruan Nanzhu intentionally prompted Lin Qiushi speak more. “What do you think, Linlin?”

“Mh,” Lin Qiushi answered impassively. “I’m guessing he knows where the tunnel is.”

If they knew where the key and tunnel were, then they could leave the mansion. Xiao Ji had probably been scared as well that something would happen on the Hako Onna’s side of things, and had been searching for another way out.

“I’m just worried he won’t tell us,” Liang Miye said, seated on another bed. “I don’t know if Xiao Mei has a way of getting it out of him.”

Ruan Nanzhu was thoughtful.

After a little more discussion, they got up and washed before heading to the dining room.

Xiao Ji was still tied up in the dining room. Last night, Sun Yuanzhou and one of his partners had stood guard. There had been no commotion the night before, and nothing unexpected had happened.

Before going to the dining room, Lin Qiushi went to where Xiao Ji said the fire extinguisher was hidden yesterday. He gave it a listen, but discovered that this chest already contained a Hakobito.

“There’s a Hakobito,” Lin Qiushi said.

Ren Ruyuan gave it some thought before saying, “Miye, go get Ren Ruyuan.”

Liang Miye nodded before going upstairs and fetching Ren Ruyuan. Ren Ruyuan understood as well, bringing the gasoline with him.

“I’ll use it on that then.”

“Go ahead,” Ruan Nanzhu said.

Ren Ruyuan poured the gasoline all over the chest and set it ablaze. Moments after the chest caught fire, a terrible screech came from inside. After that, the lid of the chest popped open, and a human covered in ghastly white skin crawled out. All its limbs were twisted up, and its entire body was compacted together, squirming and spasming ceaselessly. Fire, however, had ignited on its body, and from its flesh came a putrid scent a lot like burning protein.

At the commotion, everybody else in the mansion gathered, and they all witnessed this horrid scene.

But Lin Qiushi noticed something. He licked his lips, expression going sour.

It took a few minutes before the Hakobito’s wails grew quieter, and for it to start looking like charcoal.

The group watched the unmoving Hakobito, all caught in a lingering silence until Xiao Mei’s voice came from the door. She said, “isn’t that Wei Xiude?”

“This is probably the Hakobito that he became.” Sun Yuanzhou glanced once at Xiao Mei. “Since it’s a Hakobito, then it can’t be counted as human.”

“Really,” Xiao Mei replied, her tone vague.

Holding his breath, Lin Qiushi approached the box and looked inside. Sure enough, a red fire extinguisher laid silently at the very bottom. He reached out and grabbed the extinguisher, turning back around and handing it to Sun Yuanzhou.

But Sun Yuanzhou didn’t take it.

“You guys hang onto it. Use it when the timing’s right—this thing is for saving lives, after all.”

Lin Qiushi looked toward Ruan Nanzhu, and only put the fire extinguisher away after he saw Ruan Nanzhu nod.

This room was filled corner to corner with the stink of a burnt human body. After getting the fire extinguisher, everybody left, not wanting to dawdle. Only Xiao Mei was still standing in the doorway; she hadn’t moved in a while.

Lin Qiushi glanced at her again. There was something he wanted to say, but he didn’t quite know how.

At the dining room, Lin Qiushi discovered that what should’ve been eleven people was down another two. They waited until about nine, but those two still didn’t show. That was when they knew those two would probably never show. Lin Qiushi recalled that these two had starved for about three days. It seemed that they hadn’t been able to take it, choosing to open some chests this morning…

Now, nine people were left. The entire mansion was filled with the Hako Onna-made Hakobito.

Terror, hunger, and despair were plenty to completely destroy a person’s consciousness. Any sort of extreme action was quite normal here.

Xiao Ji hadn’t eaten all day, nor had he slept. Compared to yesterday, he seemed a lot more fragile.

Despite seeing him like this, Xiao Mei had no sympathy at all. The first thing she did upon entering the dining room was kick Xiao Ji to the ground along with the chair he was tied to.

Nobody watching this had anything to say. Had they not discovered Xiao Ji’s identity as the mole, after all, he’d likely have screwed them over something worse.

Ruan Nanzhu sat down next to Xiao Ji, nibbling on bread.

“Xiao Ji,” he said, “tell us, is there something else you’re hiding from us?”

Xiao Ji stayed silent, glaring at them with hate-filled eyes.

“I think you better get some things straight,” Ruan Nanzhu said. “We’re not your enemies right now, the Hako Onna is. We can’t kill you, but the Hako Onna can.”

He fiddled with the leftovers in his hands.

“What do you think will be in the next chest you open—nothing, or a Hakobito?”

On reflex Xiao Ji looked like he wanted to argue, but with the words at the tip of his tongue, he couldn’t say them. This was because he knew that Ruan Nanzhu was telling the truth.

The moment he stopped being of use, the Hako Onna would definitely spare him no mercy. Just like the discovered Tian Guxue…

“Do you promise not to hurt me?” Xiao Ji asked. “If you can promise that, then I’ll talk.”

“Oh course,” Ruan Nanzhu smiled. “Plus we can’t kill inside the door, you know that already…”

Xiao Ji thought the matter over.

But Lin Qiushi noticed Xiao Mei, standing beside Xiao Ji; after listening to their conversation, her expression grew hateful. Lin Qiushi thought she’d say something about it, but in the end, she kept quiet.

“Alright, I can tell you where the tunnel is,” Xiao Ji said. “But I can’t promise that the position of the tunnel hasn’t been switched.”

“When did you find it?” Ruan Nanzhu asked.

“Very early on,” Xiao Ji answered plainly. “Probably the first day we got in. That’s why I wanted the key so badly afterwards…”

As long as he got the key, he could be the first one out. He wouldn’t need to keep working for the Hako Onna because that was just like asking a tiger for its skin.

But he hadn’t thought that the key would end up in Ruan Nanzhu’s hands.

“Come on, we’ll bring him with us,” Ruan Nanzhu said.

They went together to the room that Xiao Ji told them: the first floor kitchen. There were a total of eight chests inside the kitchen, and among them, three were marked with sticky notes—they seem to have been opened. Xiao Mei stood before one of the boxes and caressed it with a hand. Lin Qiushi remembered that her lover had lost his life because he opened this chest.

“Which one?” Ruan Nanzhu asked.

“This one.” Xiao Ji pointed at the chest by the door.

“Since you say the tunnel’s in there, then go ahead and open it,” Xiao Mei said coolly.

“Do you think I’m an idiot?” Xiao Ji snapped. “The Hako Onna definitely hid a Hakobito in there. Aren’t I just asking for death if I open it? Don’t you guys have an item to check for Hakobito? Get it out already!”

So Sun Yuanzhou got out the stethoscope they’d gotten off of Xiao Ji the day before. After a careful listen, he said, “there’s a sound.”

“That’s fine,” Ruan Nanzhu replied evenly, “as long as we’re sure it’s this chest, we can use the wooden stake.”

He got the item out. The wooden stake could kill the Hako Onna. Naturally, it could also kill the Hakobito.

“Then it’s simple,” Xiao Ji said. “We just have to use the wooden stake on the chest and make sure there’s nothing else inside. And then can’t we go right out?” He began to laugh in excitement. “We can get out of here right now!”

There were currently nine people left in the house. Xiao Ji and Xiao Mei aside, they were all veterans.

Though the two newbies had been tricked into coming in this door by Wei Xiude, if they could get out, they stood to gain a lot—they could skip straight past nine doors and earn a long period of survival. Simply put, it was pure profit.

“Do we use it?” Sun Yuanzhou glanced at Ruan Nanzhu.

“Wait.” Ruan Nanzhu was scrutinizing the chest in the corner, before he looked over his shoulder and asked: “You found the tunnel on the very first day, correct?”

“Yeah, and?” Xiao Ji said.

“Then when did you find the Moving Things power?” Ruan Nanzhu asked.

Xiao Ji startled.

“I found it when I first came in…” He seemed to remember something, his whole body unconsciously shivering. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying, do you suppose there’s a possibility that the Hako Onna has used this power?”

Xiao Ji went silent.

There was a possibility indeed, because on the very first day, when they’d just gotten to this mansion, the Hako Onna had cried, but nobody had taken it to heart. Besides, according to the rulebook, some powers could be used in the long-term without crying at all—False Answers was one of them.

In the actual tabletop, False Answers was one of the Hako Onna’s passive skills; no matter when and where the players interrogated her, the answers they got could be incorrect.

By the time Xiao Ji thought this matter through, cold sweat was already pouring down his forehead. He swallowed heavily.

“You mean to say that this chest could have already been swapped?”

“Yes,” Ruan Nanzhu said, “there is that possibility.”

And then he added, “of course, it could just be us overthinking things.”

When faced with life and death however, what could possibly be overthinking? If there was even the slightest possibility of this, then death would be certain.

After Ruan Nanzhu and Xiao Ji’s conversation, the crowd fell silent, staring at the chest before them.

The Hako Onna’s power Moving Things could be used on the tunnel. There were currently eight chests inside the room, which was to say they had a fifty percent chance of opening up something inside[1].

“What do we do?” Xuan Zihui was a bit overwrought. Her partner was gone, and she hadn’t eaten in two days. She knew she couldn’t make it past the third day, so she had to open a chest tomorrow. But to open a chest meant facing the threat of the Hakobito.

Xiao Ji stood in place, stunned; he didn’t seem to think that he’d shoot himself in the foot. He spoke in a daze: “Then what can we do? We can go open more chests, see if we can find any other useful items?”

But Ruan Nanzhu only sighed.

“There aren’t that many unopened chests left. There are fourteen Hakobito, fifteen plus the Hako Onna. They’ll definitely hide in all the unopened chests.”

Unopened chests meant there were items they hadn’t gotten inside. The Hako Onna would not let them get their hands on those so easily.

“So, what?” Sun Yuanzhou rasped. “Do we just wait around to die?”

Ruan Nanzhu didn’t answer.

The difficulty of the tenth door lied right here; breezing through was impossible. The door had presented them with a problem of immense difficulty. Did they dawdle here, or go for a one-out-of-eight question of multiple choice?

They had a one-out-of-eight probability of finding the tunnel. If they looked in the wrong place…

Nobody spoke. The wooden chests before their eyes seemed to have become malevolent, life-hunting ghosts.

In the end Ruan Nanzhu said: “Let’s come back tomorrow. When we get the counts back on the stethoscope tomorrow, we can at least see how many chests can be opened.”

That seemed to be the only way. Everyone who’d that they were about to escape hung their heads, and the scent of despair once again filled the air.

They all dispersed, leaving Xiao Ji tied up alone in the dining room.

Liang Miye asked, “does the door intend for us to all die??”

There were nine people left, and eight boxes. If they tested it with their lives, they could indeed figure it out. But who was willing to use their lives as someone else’s springboard?

“This is pretty typical,” Ruan Nanzhu replied placidly. He looked over at Lin Qiushi, but found Lin Qiushi contemplating something else.

Ruan Nanzhu said, “Linlin, why don’t you say something?”

Lin Qiushi shot him a look. “Say what?”

“Anything.”

“I don’t have anything to say.”

“You—”

Lin Qiushi seemed to be able to guess what Ruan Nanzhu wanted to say, and made a sign to stop with his hand.

“I’ve told you, business talk only right now.”

Ruan Nanzhu was moping in an instant. “Linlin…”

But Lin Qiushi didn’t even give him a chance to get on stage, just stood up.

“I’m going to see how Xiao Mei’s doing.”

Ruan Nanzhu, “…”

With a light sigh, he turned and saw Liang Miye’s expression of schadenfreude.

“Enjoying the show?”

Liang Miye chortled: “Very much.” The ever-cold Ruan Nanzhu from outside could do nothing at all about Lin Qiushi—she was having a great time watching this for the gossip.

Lin Qiushi took a lap around the house, before heading for the dining room on the first floor.

Nowadays, the mansion was nowhere as lively as the days before. Once night fell, the entire building sank into dead silence. But when Lin Qiushi got to the dining room door, he saw Xiao Mei sitting inside with a bottle of wine in hand, slowly sipping at it.

Right across from her was Xiao Ji. A piece of cloth had been stuffed in his mouth, and he was watching Xiao Mei with an expression of alarm.

“Xiao Mei?” Lin Qiushi called out her name. “Why aren’t you resting?”

Xiao Mei heard Lin Qiushi’s voice and looked back. She smiled.

“Can’t sleep.”

She took another sip of wine.

Lin Qiushi approached and sat down beside her. Xiao Mei asked if he wanted to drink, and Lin Qiushi turned her down.

“When you knew Zhu Meng was gone, what were you thinking?” Xiao Mei asked.

“That I was going to get revenge,” Lin Qiushi said.

“Kill the insider, right?”

Lin Qiushi glanced once at Xiao Ji before nodding.

“I thought the same thing, actually,” Xiao Mei said. “If it weren’t for Xiao Ji, we might have already gotten out of here. He not only helped the Hako Onna, but also tripped us up intentionally. A person like this really does deserve to die.”

Her tone was gliding and understated, but Xiao Ji, across from her, began to twist and struggle. He even tossed Lin Qiushi a look begging for help.

Lin Qiushi shot him an indifferent look back, without any response. He wasn’t a saint. The moment he thought of the fact that Ruan Nanzhu might have died alone because of Xiao Ji, he could muster up no sympathy for this person.

Xiao Ji would deserve everything he got.

“Go to bed,” Xiao Mei said. “It’s getting late.”

“What about you?” Lin Qiushi asked.

“I can’t sleep, so I’m going to drink a bit more. Be good to Zhu Meng, she loves you a lot,” she said. “Of course, you love her too.”

As she spoke, she wiped away the tears at the corners of her eyes. Lin Qiushi stood.

“He would’ve definitely wanted you to live a good life.” He was talking about Xiao Mei’s lover.

But Xiao Mei began to laugh at this.

“Mh, I know. Who doesn’t want to live? I’ll go to bed soon too. Good night.”

“Good night.” Lin Qiushi turned around and left.

He kept thinking that the way Xiao Mei was seemed a bit familiar. Upon careful thought, he thought that might be the version of himself who knew that he was about to lose Ruan Nanzhu. Ruan Nanzhu’s concerns from before had been reasonable; he could not calmly face his lover’s departure. Lin Qiushi returned to their room and saw that Ruan Nanzhu was already asleep in bed.

At the sound of his footsteps, Ruan Nanzhu’s eyes opened. He watched Lin Qiushi, calling out lowly, “you’re back.”

“I’m back,” Lin Qiushi said.

Ruan Nanzhu pulled his blankets back. “Will you come here? I can’t sleep if you’re not here.”

Lin Qiushi came to his side.

“You can’t lie to me next time,” he said.

Ruan Nanzhu froze.

“Promise me—you can’t lie to me next time. It’s fine if we’re going to act, it’s fine if we’re going to die, you have to tell me everything,” Lin Qiushi said. “I am your lover. I have the right to know all that. I don’t need any for your own good.”

Ruan Nanzhu reached out and cupped the back of Lin Qiushi’s neck, pressing a comforting kiss to Lin Qiushi’s brow.

“Okay,” he said, “I promise. I won’t keep anything from you again.”

Lin Qiushi, “get some rest.”

Ruan Nanzhu felt fulfilled. Though he didn’t know why Lin Qiushi had suddenly thought things through, Lin Qiushi was finally speaking to him again. And he’d also agreed to never do such a thing again. To Ruan Nanzhu, when he and Lin Qiushi met, the luckier person was actually himself.

Lin Qiushi held Ruan Nanzhu and fell asleep. Their limbs entwined, and dreams were deep.

Six o'clock the next morning, there came a scream from the dining room. This noise woke Lin Qiushi, and he opened his eyes to Ruan Nanzhu’s bleary expression.

“What is it?” Ruan Nanzhu asked.

“Something’s happened,” Lin Qiushi said. “Come on.”

The two got out of bed and rushed down to the first floor with Liang Miye. They saw Xuan Zihui standing at the doorway with a look of terror on her face.

“What is it?” Ruan Nanzhu asked.

Xuan Zihui shook her head fiercely and pointed inside.

Lin Qiushi looked, and saw Xiao Mei standing in the kitchen, expressionless. There was a steak knife in her hands, and there was blood everywhere. It would be fine if that had been all, but the scariest thing was, there were body parts scattered all around her, even some that looked like ground meat hacked off by a knife.

And Xiao Ji, who’d been tied to the chair, had disappeared. Lin Qiushi could already guess what happened to him.

“Xiao Mei!” Lin Qiushi was stunned. "You killed Xiao Ji?!”

Xiao Mei’s answer was collected: “Four of the chests are empty, and they don’t contain the tunnel. There’s a Hakobito in this chest, but also no tunnel. There are three more.”

In an instant, Lin Qiushi understood what Xiao Mei had done. She’d forced Xiao Ji to open the chests, and used Xiao Ji’s life to determine the location of the tunnel.

“Xiao Mei! You can’t kill inside the doors!” Lin Qiushi’s voice had gone hoarse. “You…”

“I know I can’t kill. I know.” Xiao Mei’s smile was faint. “I’m not planning to live anyways.”

She looked at the three chests opened and empty beside her. One more contained the sound of Xiao Ji’s screams. She smiled brilliantly.

“Wait—”

Lin Qiushi had guessed what she wanted to do, but he was too late to stop it. Xiao Mei had already approached a chest, her expression relaxed as she took hold of the lid. She laughed and said, “actually, Xiao Mei isn’t my name. The character ‘mei’ is in his name. That’s why I made it my alias.”

She sighed a soft breath.

“Give me one more chance at this.”

Her hand moved, and she lifted the lid. It revealed the Hakobito hidden inside.

But the moment she saw that Hakobito, Xiao Mei’s smile was radiant. Those pale hands took hold of her, but she didn’t struggle. There was an odd happiness on her face. She hugged the Hakobito back, and like so, with a look of satisfaction, she was dragged into the chest.

Lin Qiushi saw it all from the side. He knew why Xiao Mei looked so satisfied—the Hakobito inside that chest had been her lover.

Standing beside him, Ruan Nanzhu suddenly spoke. He asked, “is this a good thing?”

“It is,” Lin Qiushi replied calmly. “At least it is to me.”

Ruan Nanzhu didn’t say anymore, only held onto Lin Qiushi’s hand as tightly as he could.

Translator’s Note:

1. “屋子里現在一共有八個箱子，也就是說他們有半分之一的概率開出里面的東西” / “There were currently eight chests inside the room, which was to say they had a fifty percent chance of opening up something inside.” I swear that’s what it says, but for the life of me I can’t make sense of it…