Kaleidoscope of Death

With the key finally in hand, Lin Qiushi quickly returned to the hallway where Ruan Nanzhu and Gu Longming were. But when he returned to the hallway, all he found was an empty chair and a rumped bedsheet on the ground. Both Ruan Nanzhu, who should’ve been tied to that chair, and Gu Longming had disappeared.

Seeing such a sight, Lin Qiushi’s brow instantly broke out in cold sweat. His mind turned rapidly, hundreds of thoughts surfacing, and immediately he was running off in the direction of the dining room.

When Lin Qiushi got to the doorway, he could hear a spine-chilling chewing noise without even going inside.

Lin Qiushi had a very bad feeling about this sound. He didn’t dare burst straight in, instead slowly shifted to the window and looked in from the outside.

He saw that everybody still alive had gathered in the dining room, including Gu Longming, who hadn’t seemed affected earlier. They surrounded a circular table, each with a dead white fish in hand and shoving it into their mouths with horrifying looks of indulgence. And sitting right next to Gu Longming was the person Lin Qiushi was most concerned about, Ruan Nanzhu.

Ruan Nanzhu was eating fish too, though compared to those around him, his motions weren’t so brutish. Still he was definitely picking up bite after bite of fish and placing it into his mouth.

Watching the scene before him, Lin Qiushi didn’t actually know what to do, and when he glanced at the fish on the table, an odd sense of craving reared from somewhere deep within him…like Ruan Nanzhu had said, it as if the dead fish before them didn’t taste so bad after all.

The thought only had to flash across Lin Qiushi’s mind for him to detect that his own condition seemed strange. He glanced down at the key in his hand. Knowing something was wrong, Lin Qiushi gritted his teeth and darted into the dining room.

The people with their heads buried in fish inside didn’t notice someone enter at all. Their attentions were completely fixed on the dining table, uncaring of what was happening around them. Which was actually convenient for Lin Qiushi. He took a spin around the dining room but couldn’t find what he was looking for. Then he thought of another location—the ship’s galley.

The dining room and kitchen were the only two rooms that didn’t change location on this ship. Lin Qiushi had already found the key, so he was guessing that the door to leave was in one of these two rooms.

It wasn’t in the dining room, so only the galley was left.

As he was leaving the dining room, Lin Qiushi peered at the people eating fish around the table. When he spotted a particular detail, a deep chill shot through his back.

On the face of the person who’d first started the fish-eating, green scales had appeared. These scales emerged from his skin and spread up from his neck toward his cheeks. This change seemed to have been happening for a bit now, and if it continued, what would the end result look like?

Either way, Lin Qiushi didn’t want to see it.

And so he quickly left the dining room, glancing back at Ruan Nanzhu one last time.

Ruan Nanzhu’s head was still bowed, and he languidly consumed the fish before him. His indifferent expression made something clench in Lin Qiushi’s chest, but Lin Qiushi didn’t dare dawdle any longer—because he discovered that he himself didn’t seem to hate the smell of the fish so much anymore either. He was even unconsciously salivating.

Lin Qiushi left the dining room and went into the adjacent galley.

The galley was currently empty of people. There was only stale dead fish covering the entire room. On the chopping board, on the floor, in the barrels—it was all fish, and the entire room was filled with that nauseating stench of rot. But Lin Qiushi didn’t have time to care about all that. He dropped his head and began turning over the room in search for what he wanted.

Quickly, under a giant barrel, Lin Qiushi discovered a dark tunnel. He climbed inside and at the end of the tunnel saw a black metal door—what an exciting sight that door was. With little other care, Lin Qiushi used the key in his hand to unlock the door before him and saw the passage filled with light appear before his eyes.

Then, Lin Qiushi bent down and picked the hint slip up off the ground. He didn’t even read it before shoving it into his shirt pocket.

He turned back around and returned to the dining room.

The people there were still eating fish, and this time, Lin Qiushi walked right up to Ruan Nanzhu and called his name: “Zhu Meng.”

Ruan Nanzhu glanced up at him. “Linlin.”

“Can you come with me for a second?” Lin Qiushi asked.

Ruan Nanzhu: “But I want to eat fish.”

Lin Qiushi: “I know. You can eat as you come with me. It’ll only be for a little bit. I found more fish in the kitchen.

After a beat of silence, Ruan Nanzhu complied with Lin Qiushi’s suggestion, taking the plate of fish with him as he stood up.

"Really?”

“Really,” Lin Qiushi answered with certainty.

It was only then that Ruan Nanzhu followed Lin Qiushi outside.

Seeing this, Lin Qiushi let out a breath of relief, because he knew Ruan Nanzhu hadn’t been too deeply bewitched. Otherwise, he would have no other choice but to get rough, but getting rough with it was the worst option, because by Lin Qiushi’s own accounting, he stood no chance against Ruan Nanzhu at all. The outcome would’ve been awful.

Ruan Nanzhu obediently followed Lin Qiushi to the kitchen, and was actually pretty happy when he saw the roomful of dead fish. Only, while he was still giddy, Lin Qiushi shoved him right into the tunnel where the door was.

Pushed so, Ruan Nanzhu looked bewildered. He stood at the bottom of the tunnel, looking up all wronged: “Why did you push me?”

Lin Qiushi didn’t answer, only got down into the tunnel with Ruan Nanzhu. He took Ruan Nanzhu’s hand and brought him to the exit passage, pointing inside.

“There’s so much fish in there. You’ll see once you go in.”

“Really?” Ruan Nanzhu was a bit suspicious.

“Really,” Lin Qiushi nodded.

Ruan Nanzhu smiled, apparently believing Lin Qiushi. He turned and entered the passage, and once inside, his form disappeared. Seeing him go, Lin Qiushi let out a breath of relief. He lifted a wrist and looked at his watch, before clenching his jaw and turning once more for the dining room.

The truth was Lin Qiushi could feel that his own time was pretty much up, because the fish in the kitchen had become deeply attractive to him. The stench of gamy meat that should’ve been so abhorrent was, to the current Lin Qiushi, becoming delicious. He could only use all his willpower to fight the thought.

Against Gu Longming, Lin Qiushi had none of the gentleness he reserved for Ruan Nanzhu. He chose the simplest method—he approached the meat-drunk Gu Longming from behind and, with a chop of his hand, knocked Gu Longming out, hoisting him up onto a shoulder. When he was carrying Gu Longming off, Lin Qiushi paused again, before also taking that Xiao Mo girl with them. As for the others…He would like to do more, but was powerless. All he could do was his best, and saving only one life was better than none.

Taking the two to the entrance of the passage, Lin Qiushi tossed them both inside. Only then did Lin Qiushi, panting, climb into the passageway himself.

He was afraid to stay inside any longer, because he sensed that he too was wanting to eat that dead fish. As for what would happen to the people who continued feasting on the fish inside the dining room, Lin Qiushi didn’t know—but obviously, it would be nothing good.

Following the light-filled passage, Lin Qiushi returned to reality.

Once he was seated in the living room again, breathing in familiar air and enjoying the warmth of his surroundings, he experienced once more the beauty of life.

Ruan Nanzhu had also appeared beside Lin Qiushi—he looked awful, and sprinted straight for the bathroom. Vomiting sounds from the toilet immediately followed.

Lin Qiushi sighed and thought how lucky he was to have not eaten that dead fish, or else he’d likely be throwing up with Ruan Nanzhu right now.

About twenty minutes later, Ruan Nanzhu finally made it out of the bathroom. He’d vomited for a long time and then taken a shower. Now, he had his lower body wrapped in a towel, and was rubbing down his wet hair with an unhappy expression.

“You okay?” Lin Qiushi was eating candy, his emotions calming along with the sweetness spreading across his tongue.

Ruan Nanzhu nodded that he was fine.

“Why did that happen?” Lin Qiushi was a bit confused. “Why did everybody suddenly start eating fish? Wasn’t the monster already dead?”

Ruan Nanzhu said, “maybe the body count wasn’t high enough.”

Lin Qiushi, “hm?”

“Not enough people died. We solved the puzzle too quickly.” Ruan Nanzhu sighed, also picking up a candy and popping it in his mouth. “I’ve only encountered a situation like this once before. A veteran had taken me in, and there was a really good player inside. Before anybody had even died, that player had found the key.”

Lin Qiushi, “…”

Ruan Nanzhu, “and after that, everybody entered entered an abnormal state.”

Lin Qiushi, “…that happens?”

“That kind of situation rarely happens. I also didn’t think we’d encounter it.” Everybody knew to get out of the door as soon as possible, but who’d have thought that a low body count could also cause problems? Besides, most doors saw heavy casualties. Even this door had three whole people die before they found the key.

But unexpectedly, it still hadn’t been enough to fulfill the door’s hidden body count requirement.

“Then why wasn’t I affected?” Lin Qiushi asked.

“You can hear sounds nobody else can hear, right?” Ruan Nanzhu said. “It’s a gift that the doors have given you.”

Lin Qiushi continued listening.

“I can also see things nobody else can see,” Ruan Nanzhu said. “Everyone gives off this light.”

“Light?” Lin Qiushi faintly recalled Ruan Nanzhu mentioning it once before, but he hadn’t kept it in mind.

“Yes, light,” Ruan Nanzhu said. “The brighter a person’s light, the less they’re affected by the doors. Of all the lights and people I’ve seen, you’re the brightest. So. You’re very well-suited to the doors.”

Lin Qiushi didn’t really know what to say, but judging by Ruan Nanzhu’s words, this was probably a good thing.

He truly wasn’t so affected by negative feelings inside the doors. Many people, Ruan Nanzhu included, needed several days of downtime after coming out, but he didn’t. He needed at most a night’s sleep before he was back to normal again.

This was the best talent that Lin Qiushi possessed.

“Let’s eat well tonight,” Lin Qiushi said, watching Ruan Nanzhu’s peaky face. “Want to?”

Ruan Nanzhu nodded his agreement to Lin Qiushi’s proposal.

After that, Lin Qiushi went back to his room and contacted Gu Longming, asking after the situation on his end.

Gu Longming replied that he’d thrown up everything in his stomach, and was queasy now just thinking about the taste of that fish. He said he probably won’t eat fish for a very long time. Lin Qiushi laughed as he teased him: “But you were having such a good time with it inside.”

Gu Longming: “Wasn’t I basically possessed though…Right, so what landmine did we step on anyways, for everything to suddenly get like that?”

Lin Qiushi told him Ruan Nanzhu’s theory, and Gu Longming was shocked: “They can do that?” But it wasn’t a matter to worry too much about. There had already been so many doors, after all, and there were practically none from which they could easily escape with minimum casualties.

After that, the two decided on a time to meet. Lin Qiushi told Gu Longming how to get to their city, of course without giving away their precise location. He only said that once Gu Longming arrived, they’d go pick him up.

Dinner was rich Hunan cuisine. The restaurant’s signature dish was actually fish head in chili sauce, but when Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu spotted that page in the menu, they both tacitly flipped right on.

Ruan Nanzhu still didn’t seem to have much of an appetite, picking at bites of the food before him. Obviously, what had happened inside the door was seriously affecting him.

But Lin Qiushi was pretty happy as he ate. It’d been a while since he’d had hot food; inside the door, all they had to eat were instant noodles, hardtack and the like. Getting something better to eat now was comforting.

After eating, they went home, and came across Cheng Qianli and Cheng Yixie sitting in the house discussing something. Once he got close, Lin Qiushi learned that they’d just come out of a lower-level door.

Cheng Yixie was summarizing all the mistakes Cheng Qianli had made inside the low-level door, and Cheng Qianli had Toast in his arms, listening on with big mournful eyes. When he saw that Lin Qiushi had returned, he quickly got up, saying, “Qiushi, you’re back! Lu-jie made fish stew, you want some?”

At the word “fish,” both Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu’s expressions changed for the worse. They both immediately declined Cheng Qianli’s offer.

Of course Cheng Yixie knew exactly what his little brother was gunning for, speaking up coldly from behind Cheng Qianli: “What, you’ve only just finished your third, and now you want a fourth bowl? You better not tell me you need the bathroom later.”

Cheng Qianli wilted in an instant. Based on his understanding of his brother, he knew Cheng Yixie was entirely capable of banning him from using the restroom.

Helplessly, Cheng Qianli could only toss Lin Qiushi a look begging for help.

But Lin Qiushi lowered his head, pretending to have not seen anything at all. The twins were about to enter a high-level door, and it was actually a good thing that Cheng Yixie put the slower-on-the-uptake Cheng Qianli through more training.

Three days later, Gu Longming flew to their city.

Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu went to pick him up in person.

Lin Qiushi first thought that Gu Longming, who was so buff and built inside the doors, would also be pretty fit on the outside, but it was actually a scholarly looking young man in glasses who approached them. He didn’t look too old, either—at least Lin Qiushi’s guess was a lot younger than himself.

“Gu Longming.” The young man held a hand out toward Lin Qiushi.

“Lin Qiushi.” Lin Qiushi took his hand and asked, “have you waited long?”

“Not at all.” The young man with the pseudonym Gu Longming, real name Ye Niao, grinned. He glanced at the high-presence, impassive, unspeaking Ruan Nanzhu standing off to the side and asked in a hushed voice, “this is?”

Lin Qiushi laughed. “Your sister-in-law.”

Ye Niao: “…”

He went through a full-face spasm—he’d clearly compared the image of Zhu Meng, laughing and lifting up her skirts inside the door, to the completely expressionless and very handsome man before him. The strong contrast was enough to plunge Ye Niao into a momentary state of disorientation.

But Lin Qiushi had pretty much predicted Ye Niao’s reaction. The truth was, his own initial reaction had been about the same. And when Ye Niao finally came out of it, he watched Lin Qiushi and squeezed out a single sentence: “Ge, you’ve got real good taste.”

Lin Qiushi finally couldn’t hold himself back anymore, and began to laugh.

Ruan Nanzhu too flicked up the corners of his mouth.

Ye Niao stared at Ruan Nanzhu, expression somewhat dazed.

“Come on, let’s go back first,” Lin Qiushi said. “Since someone new’s joining us, they cooked just for you.”

“Thank you so much,” Ye Niao said in gratitude.

Then Ye Niao got in Lin Qiushi’s car, and the three returned to the mansion together. On the way back, Ruan Nanzhu tepidly asked Ye Niao a few questions about some personal details.

Ye Niao’s replies were earnest, and weren’t so different from the contents of Ruan Nanzhu’s investigation.

Ye Niao was born to a fengshui family, but studied western medicine in college. He joined the Public Security Bureau after graduating, and told them in the car that he once was a firm materialist…until he found out about the existence of the doors.

“So how did you almost die?” Lin Qiushi asked out of curiosity at a red light.

“I was sent on a mission,” Ye Niao said, “and all of a sudden I was inside a door. After I came out of that first door, I got shot in the stomach by the criminal.” Wounded, he’d been taken to the hospital, and when the bullet was taken out the doctor had even sighed about how lucky Ye Niao was. Despite getting shot in the stomach, it had only been a flesh wound. That none of his inner organs had been injured was practically a miracle.

It was easy to surmise that had Ye Niao not successfully passed the door back then, he’d likely have sustained more serious injuries and died.

“But why did you disguise yourself as a high school girl?” Lin Qiushi looked at him and recalled the first time he passed a door with Ye Niao, and the eyeball-sizzling sight of Ye Niao in a miniskirt.

“Well people let down their guards with high school girls, don’t they,” Ye Niao said. “See? You fell for it.”

He was grinning at first when he said this, but then saw Ruan Nanzhu, sitting right next to him, look over, still impassive—and that grin immediately froze. He went on to quickly and awkwardly explain:

“Of course, with the missus here, other women ain’t nothing at all, the high school girl was completely useless…”

Ruan Nanzhu shot him another look, and ignored him.

Ye Niao was in cold sweat thanks to Ruan Nanzhu. He didn’t think for a moment that the drama-loving Zhu Meng from inside the door would be like this outside. Were it not for how certain Lin Qiushi seemed, he’d really think they were messing with him.

And the shock of this contrast reached its peak when Ye Niao got back to the mansion and learned that Ruan Nanzhu was the boss of Obsidian.

Ye Niao secretly asked Lin Qiushi in the kitchen why Ruan-ge dressed up as a woman.

Lin Qiushi looked at him, and it was like he could see his past, curious self. He said: “Why don’t you ask him yourself?”

“I wouldn’t dare,” Ye Niao said. “Ruan-ge’s so scary-looking…”

“Is he scary?” Lin Qiushi said.

“He’s so scary,” Ye Niao said. “He’s like the most dangerous criminal I’ve ever seen.”

“Oh…” Lin Qiushi declined to comment.

“So…”

“So why do I dress up as a woman?” Ruan Nanzhu’s voice came from right behind them, and Ye Niao shivered from head to toe, looking at Ruan Nanzhu in horror.

But Ruan Nanzhu smiled. Those lovely eyes arched into gentle lines.

“It’s easy if you want to know the answer.”

Ye Niao, “…”

Ruan Nanzhu’s smile cooled bit by bit.

“Won’t you know once you try it for yourself?”

Ye Niao, “but…”

“What? You’ll wear drag with Lin Qiushi but not with me?”

Terrified, Ye Niao looked at Lin Qiushi for help, but Lin Qiushi pretended not to see it.

So Ye Niao became the new object of Ruan Nanzhu’s torment. Everybody in Obsidian shot him looks of sympathy, but hidden in the sympathy was also some schadenfreude—this was particularly true of Lin Qiushi. God knows he didn’t want to be a poor little mute girl anymore.

After hosting a welcome party for Ye Niao, Obsidian had a new member. Who knew how far this new member would go with them? But for some things, it wasn’t the results that were important. At least that was what the current Lin Qiushi believed.

As the days passed, the time for Cheng Qianli and Cheng Yixie to enter their door also came.

The atmosphere inside the mansion once again grew nervous. Hardly anybody spoke loudly inside the entire house. But more startling to Lin Qiushi was the fact that before entering the door, Cheng Yixie didn’t announce the hint he had at all.

The Lin Qiushi now was no naive newbie. Through Ruan Nanzhu’s attitude, he could understand why Cheng Yixie did so.

Because Cheng Yixie’s hint was very likely special.

The type of hint that could only be obtained by a sole survivor. A hint like that could weather a monster’s attack in the next door.

As for how Cheng Yixie got that hint, Lin Qiushi didn’t know. All he knew was, the day before Cheng Yixie and Cheng Qianli went in the door, Cheng Yixie and Ruan Nanzhu once again had a very loud argument.

In the end the two went their separate ways, unhappy.

Cheng Qianli stood at the bottom of the stairs looking a bit down. He told Lin Qiushi: “If only I was smarter.”

Lin Qiushi patted his head and offered comfort in a low voice: “You’re great the way you are.”

Not everybody could be as quick and clever as Ruan Nanzhu and Cheng Yixie, but even not-smart people had their own not-smart ways of surviving. You couldn’t demand perfection from every situation.

Plus, perhaps Cheng Qianli didn’t notice, but it was his existence precisely that gave Cheng Yixie his indomitable courage.

Cheng Yixie loved his brother deeply. They were each other’s firmest psychic supports.

Names in this chapter:

• Yè Niǎo / Ye(4) Niao(3) / 葉鳥
• His first name literally means “Bird,” and his last name means “Leaf.”