Chapter 103 Paradox

Zhu Ruyuan came, and not only came, but also heard everything they talked about.

Zhou Hanshan was trembling with fear, like a frightened little mouse, holding his breath as if a ferocious predator was squatting next to him and might appear at any time.

"She heard it..." Zhou Hanshan said in a trembling voice, "She heard it all."

Gu Longming patted his shoulder and said in a nonchalant tone, "Don't overthink it. She wants you dead anyway, even if she didn't hear it. So, what's the big deal whether she hears it or not?"

Zhou Hanshan said that he really didn't feel comforted.

If it weren't for Lin Qiushi and Gu Longming, he would have died several times over. Whether it was the sudden shattering of glass in the teaching building or the massive falling chandelier in the library, it told him he was being chased by something, and a single misstep could cost him his life.

"What should I do?" Zhou Hanshan muttered as he looked at Lin Qiushi, his expression dull, as if he had lost all his strength.

"Things will eventually work out," Lin Qiushi said. "Think carefully. Did she do anything unusual when you made your wish?"

If Zhou Hanshan hadn't lied, then something had most likely gone terribly wrong with the students' wishing ceremony. They'd started it but never finished it, leaving Zhu Ruyuan free to attack them.

"A special move?" Zhou Hanshan asked. "A special move..." He thought for a moment, then shook his head. "No special move." He paused, then said uncertainly, "My body has become like a statue... Is that a special move?"

"The body has become the texture of a statue?" Gu Longming asked, "The person's appearance hasn't changed?"

"No." Zhou Hanshan said with certainty, "No change..." If a person turned into a statue, he would definitely be discovered by the people around him.

Lin Qiushi suddenly thought of something and asked, "Who among you will be the first to make a wish?"

"It's me." Zhou Hanshan raised his hand.

"She didn't make a wish?" Lin Qiushi asked.

"She? She is... Zhu Ruyuan?" Zhou Hanshan recalled, "No, she made a wish." Then he showed a creepy expression, "Yes... she was the first one to make a wish! How could I forget such an important thing." But ever since he knew that Zhu Ruyuan was not human, he tacitly accepted that Zhu Ruyuan's act of making a wish was meaningless. After Lin Qiushi's reminder, Zhou Hanshan suddenly realized that the person who made the wish first was actually her.

"What wish did she make?" Lin Qiushi asked.

"She...she..." Zhou Hanshan said, "I don't know. She said her wish was to win a prize, but I don't quite believe it now. I suspect she is lying to me." After discovering Zhu Ruyuan's true identity, he no longer trusted Zhu Ruyuan.

Lin Qiushi and Gu Longming remained silent, both of them thinking about what Zhou Hanshan had said.

Zhu Ruyuan's wish might not be to get a reward as she said, but to hope that all the people around her would die. And now her wishes have indeed been fulfilled one by one. At present, it seems that Zhou Hanshan is the only survivor left in the entire school.

Gu Longming glanced at Lin Qiushi. His eyes did not conceal anything, so Lin Qiushi understood what he meant almost instantly.

"Let's go out and have a cigarette." Lin Qiushi invited him.

"Okay." Gu Longming nodded.

Zhou Hanshan hung his head, looking listless. Gu Longming told him to sleep a little longer so he could get up in time for dinner.

Zhou Hanshan responded vaguely, obviously unable to fall asleep.

When the two of them walked to the corridor, Gu Longming lit a cigarette and handed one to Lin Qiushi.

Lin Qiushi still rejected his kindness.

"What do you think?" Gu Longming said, "You must have some ideas, right?"

Lin Qiushi leaned against the railing, folded his hands, and asked, "Do you think NPCs are human?"

Gu Longming tilted his head. "No... If I use the criteria I used when I entered the gate, those NPCs can't be considered human." Take the courtyard mistress from the previous gate, for example. Although she looked human, she was more terrifying than a ghost, making it hard to consider her human. But Zhou Hanshan was different. Although he was born within the gate, he could cry and laugh, a living, breathing person. If it weren't for the eerie surroundings, Gu Longming would have even suspected that he was someone outside the gate pretending to be an NPC.

"So will you take action?" Lin Qiushi asked the crucial question, "If Zhou Hanshan is the key figure."

After the conversation with Zhou Hanshan just now, they both obviously grasped the crux of the problem - Zhu Ruyuan's wish has not yet been realized.

So now the question arises: what if Zhu Ruyuan's wish is Zhou Hanshan's death? In order to fulfill Zhu Ruyuan's wish, should they stand idly by and watch Zhou Hanshan's life be taken away, or even help Zhu Ruyuan? Lin Qiushi and Gu Longming both thought of this question immediately, so they tacitly walked to the corridor and lit a cigarette.

"I can't do anything." Gu Longming's attitude was very direct. "He looks too much like a human. I can't treat him as an NPC."

Lin Qiushi said nothing.

"What about you?" Gu Longming asked, "Will you do it?" He shook the ash from his cigarette in annoyance. "Actually, there's no need to do it. He's so timid, and Zhu Ruyuan has always wanted him dead. If we kick him out, he probably won't live to see the next day."

Lin Qiushi recalled Zhou Hanshan's trembling face, crying, and could only sigh deeply. This was the first time he had encountered such a situation; it was practically a test of human nature.

However, Lin Qiushi was thankful that both Gu Longming and he were relatively rational. If Zhou Hanshan had encountered anyone else, he would most likely have been driven away. After all, to outsiders, he was just an NPC. Naturally, it was more important to find the door and leave as soon as possible.

"What should I do?" Gu Longming had finished smoking a cigarette.

Lin Qiushi lowered his head and looked at the courtyard below. He exhaled and said, "We can't kill him. At least we can't kill him on our own initiative."

Gu Longming nodded, tossed the cigarette butt into the trash can, and walked back inside. He didn't ask the question Lin Qiushi was most reluctant to think about—what if Zhou Hanshan didn't die and they couldn't leave the house?

Lin Qiushi was still standing in the corridor. In fact, deep down in his heart, he always felt that this multiple-choice question was a trap. Generally speaking, people in the sect would not encourage them to kill each other, so why would they inexplicably support them in killing NPCs?

Lin Qiushi leaned against the railing and continued to wonder if he had missed any important clues.

We had dinner in the school cafeteria and it tasted pretty ordinary.

Everyone was worried and looked like they couldn't eat. In the end, they came back without eating much.

When he came back, Lin Qiushi met a few people from the team again. They were not familiar with Lin Qiushi, so they just greeted him casually when they saw him.

Lin Qiushi thought about it and decided to tell them about the wooden man, so that they would not throw the wooden man into the water like Zuo Sisi's companions did, which would cause an accident.

After hearing what Lin Qiushi said, some of these people believed it, while others did not. However, Lin Qiushi did not care much about their attitudes. After all, he just wanted to feel at ease.

It was getting dark quickly and night was about to fall.

Zhou Hanshan sat on the bed, looking very depressed. He said, "Did Zhu Ruyuan wish for us all to die?"

Lin Qiushi: "What?" His expression suddenly grew serious. "What did you say?"

Zhou Hanshan was startled by Lin Qiushi's expression and said hesitantly, "I mean, is Zhu Ruyuan's wish for us all to die..."

Lin Qiushi suddenly sat up from the bed and said, "This is a paradox!"

"What do you mean?" Gu Longming didn't understand.

"Zhou Hanshan hasn't won the prize yet, which means his wish hasn't been fulfilled. This doesn't support the principle of equal exchange! But if Zhu Ruyuan's wish is for Zhou Hanshan to go down and accompany her, then Zhou Hanshan's wish is doomed to remain unfulfilled." Lin Qiushi felt like he had found a key clue. "So, at least for now, the statue shouldn't attack you, because it hasn't fulfilled its wish for you! Perhaps our previous speculation was wrong..."

"Yes, they died because their wishes came true, but mine didn't." Zhou Hanshan said, "So what does this mean?"

"That's very simple," Lin Qiushi said. "It means the one who attacked you might not be a statue."

Zhou Hanshan: "What is that?"

"What else could it be? It's your girlfriend." Gu Longming laughed, "She can't wait for you to accompany her."

Zhou Hanshan looked ashen, indicating that the joke was not funny.

Lin Qiushi said, "We need to go take another look at that statue. By the way, when you hold your ceremony, do you have any strict time requirements?"

"Is it a hard requirement?" Zhou Hanshan said, "I don't know. Anyway, it was night when we made the wish." He looked out the window and saw the dark night outside. "It was just an ordinary night."

"Yeah." Lin Qiushi nodded. "Go to sleep. We'll go back tomorrow."

Although he said he was sleeping, Zhou Hanshan actually couldn't sleep at all. Zhu Ruyuan, who stared at him through the window during the day, left a deep shadow on him, causing him to involuntarily cast his gaze towards the window... even though the curtains had been drawn at this moment.

Gu Longming was the one who fell asleep the fastest. As soon as he closed his eyes, his even breathing could be heard in the room.

Lin Qiushi was in a light sleep, half asleep and half awake, and the slightest noise could wake him from his dream. He thought he would be awakened by some strange noise tonight, but he slept until dawn.

When he got up in the morning, he went to see Zhou Hanshan first. When he confirmed that he was still alive, he felt inexplicably relieved.

But although they made it through the night safely, others met with misfortune.

Two people died that night. Their deaths were quite tragic, and it looked like they were dismembered by something.

Zuo Sisi was also present when Lin Qiushi went to see their bodies. She had dark circles under her eyes. Seeing Lin Qiushi, she gave a wry smile and said, "Good morning."

"Good morning," Lin Qiushi said. "Did you sleep well last night?"

"Of course it's not good," Zuo Sisi said. "My friend almost drowned last night."

Lin Qiushi asked, "Drowned? Where?" The only place with water in this dormitory was the toilet.

"The washbasin," Zuo Sisi said. "I heard some noise in the middle of the night last night. When I got up, I found him squatting in the toilet, burying his face in the washbasin filled with water..." She sighed. "I wanted to pull him out, but he was too strong..."

Lin Qiushi: "Is he okay?"

"It's okay," Zuo Sisi said. "Luckily the basin was plastic. I went to the kitchen, found a knife, and poked a hole in it." She looked towards the room where the two men had been dismembered. "I'm afraid these two people just tore the wooden man apart..."

Yesterday, the wooden man was dismantled, and today I was dismantled myself. There is really no ambiguity at all.

"What about you? Don't you have a wooden man?" Zuo Sisi asked Lin Qiushi.

Lin Qiushi shook his head, indicating that they did not take the wooden man out of the activity room.

"Okay, I really want to find the door and leave here as soon as possible." Zuo Sisi was a little annoyed. "This kind of thing is hard to guard against... Who knows how many days I can last." After saying this, she turned and left.

Lin Qiushi walked into the room where the two deceased men lived and, as expected, found the scattered remains of a wooden figure in the corner. He picked it up and examined it carefully, then frowned slightly. He seemed to notice something was amiss...

A few minutes later, Lin Qiushi placed the wooden figure in front of Zhou Hanshan and asked, "Is this wooden figure any different from yours?"

Zhou Hanshan took a look and said, "They seem similar, but mine is a bit rougher."

They had also seen Zhou Hanshan's wooden man. The wooden man was also broken inside the statue that Gu Longming smashed that day. However, Lin Qiushi clearly remembered that the wooden man seemed to be different from the one in his hand.

"It's definitely different. My wooden figure isn't painted," Zhou Hanshan said. "Is there a problem with that?"

Lin Qiushi said nothing, "Let's go to the activity room."

They ate something quick and went straight to the activity room.

The lock on the activity room had been broken, leaving the door wide open. This saved Lin Qiushi the trouble of unlocking it. After he entered, he began searching for the wooden man. As expected, they soon found him inside a wooden box in the corner.

There are more than twenty wooden figures in the wooden box. Each one is well-made, polished very finely, and painted with a layer of transparent paint for protection.

"Why is there only this one?" Lin Qiushi asked.

"I don't know..." Zhou Hanshan was also confused. He said, "At that time, Zhu Ruyuan gave each of us wooden figures. I don't know how many styles there are."

Lin Qiushi said nothing and turned to go to the utility room. The lock on the utility room was unlocked, but the statue covered with white cloth still stood quietly inside. It seemed that the others were still hesitant to move it without confirming its purpose. After all, whatever was inside the door was very dangerous.

However, compared to their last visit, this statue was obviously a lot bigger. Lin Qiushi lifted the white cloth and found that her appearance was even more delicate, with every detail of her hair visible. The expression on her face was also particularly lively, as if she could move flexibly at the next moment.

Zhou Hanshan was frightened when he saw the statue. He said, "This statue looks more and more like Zhu Ruyuan..."

Lin Qiushi said nothing.

Zhou Hanshan continued, "It looks just like she was carved out of the same mold." He carefully stroked the statue, then his face changed drastically and he stepped back a few steps in embarrassment. "Fuck, fuck!"

"What's wrong?" Lin Qiushi looked at him.

"Warm, this statue is warm—" Zhou Hanshan explained in a panic, "This statue has temperature!"

Lin Qiushi was stunned for a moment, then placed his palm against the statue. However, things turned out to be even worse than Zhou Hanshan had predicted. The statue not only had temperature, but even felt like skin.

The statue, which should have been hard and cold, became warm and soft. She stood there, as if she was just a person disguised as a statue, and might move at any time.

Gu Longming also came over and touched it. He was also shocked and said, "This...this thing will not turn into a human in the end, right?"

Zhou Hanshan seemed to be unable to bear this stimulation. He bent down and began to sob. He said, "I'm so scared, Zhu Ruyuan, why did you do this to me? I didn't do anything wrong to you. Why did you do this to me..."

Just as Zhou Hanshan finished speaking, two objects were suddenly thrown in from the doorway, hitting Lin Qiushi and Gu Longming directly. They were stunned for a moment before realizing what they were—two mutilated wooden figures, identical to the ones in the box outside the room. The only difference was that these two figures were headless.

"Fuck!" Gu Longming, who was hit by the wooden man, couldn't help but curse. He said, "What should I do? Does this mean I have to take responsibility after contact? Is this an unmarried girl from the old society?!"

Lin Qiushi: “…” Your metaphor is so vivid and descriptive.

In the old society, unmarried girls would be taken home if they saw the wooden man. Lin Qiushi originally thought that they would be fine as long as they didn't touch the wooden man after they came here, but he didn't expect the ghosts here to be so simple and brutal, which made him at a loss for words.

Lin Qiushi picked up his wooden figure and confirmed that it was headless. Without a doubt, if he couldn't find the door and the key quickly, this wooden figure would be Lin Qiushi's final fate.

Zhou Hanshan didn't know what to say anymore. He squatted on the ground, as if he had lost all his strength. His expression was dull and pitiful. He even reached out and hugged the statue next to him.

"Zhu Ruyuan, what do you want? Do you want my life? If you really want it, then take it." Zhou Hanshan's tone was dull, and fear seemed to have taken away his will to live. He leaned his head against the statue and muttered to himself, "I won't run away. I'll come down to accompany you, okay?"

After he finished speaking, Lin Qiushi saw the statue move. Slowly, slowly, it lowered its head. Although the movement was so slow that it felt like an illusion, Lin Qiushi was certain the statue had indeed moved. She lowered her head, looking at her lover with gentle eyes. Red liquid emerged from her white plaster eyes, slowly sliding down her cheeks and dripping onto the ground.

The statue was crying, but she had no tears. Instead, bright red blood flowed from her eyes.

Zhou Hanshan also saw the blood in the statue's eyes. He was stunned for a few seconds and said blankly: "Ruyuan, is this yours? Are you crying?"

The statue naturally did not answer his question.

"Do you want me to die?" Zhou Hanshan said, "If you want me to die, just nod your head?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a strong wind blew outside the window, and the curtains rustled in the wind, like the howling of humans.

When the wind stopped, the statue had stopped crying. It maintained a certain posture, but its eyes fell on Gu Longming.

Gu Longming felt a little uncomfortable and asked, "Is she looking at me?"

Lin Qiushi tilted his head to look at the statue, but he inexplicably felt that the statue's eyes seemed to have other meanings. He walked behind the statue and looked in the direction of the statue's gaze, and found that the statue's gaze was indeed on Gu Longming, but the place where it was focused was a little strange... She seemed to be staring at Gu Longming's pocket.

Lin Qiushi: "Gu Longming, what's in your pocket?"

Gu Longming: "Huh? What is that?" He felt in his pocket and took out the wooden man that had just hit them. "That's it. What's wrong?"

"Put the wooden man aside," said Lin Qiushi.

Although Gu Longming was confused, he still carefully placed the wooden man on the ground at his feet.

Lin Qiushi paid attention to the statue's gaze and discovered that its eyes were actually moving slowly, from Gu Longming to the ground next to it.

Gu Longming also noticed it. He was shocked and asked, "What does this mean? What does it mean when it looks at the wooden man? Did she throw it to us? Is she deliberately provoking us or what—"

Lin Qiushi shook his head and expressed his opinion: "She should be giving us a hint."

"A hint?" Gu Longming touched his chin. "A hint that we should learn to be like the wooden man?"

Lin Qiushi didn't say anything. He actually didn't understand why the statue was staring at the wooden man.

The three of them stood in the room. Amid Zhou Hanshan's soft sobs, a vague thought popped up in Lin Qiushi's mind. He said, "Zhou Hanshan."

Zhou Hanshan looked at Lin Qiushi with tears in his eyes.

"You said that making a wish requires a wooden man, right?" Lin Qiushi asked.

"Yes." Zhou Hanshan said, "What do you mean..."

Lin Qiushi looked at the statue. "Do you think she's telling us to make another wish?"

Zhou Hanshan was stunned.

"If our wish is to end all this," Lin Qiushi asked, "will this wish come true?"

This wish, like Zhou Hanshan's wish, is an unsatisfied paradox.