Chapter 94 Revenge

As Ruan Nanzhu spoke, he pulled his phone out of his pocket, flipped through the photos they had taken inside the shrine, and handed them to Lin Xingping. "Look, we even took a few photos on purpose... But Sister Lin, we really did find something inside this shrine!"

Lin Xingping was quite experienced in Taoism, and her expression remained perfectly composed in the face of Ruan Nanzhu's words. After a simple "oh," she asked, "Oh? Did you find something in the shrine? What did you find?"

"It was already dark when we returned yesterday. I thought I was dead," Ruan Nanzhu said. "But we discovered that after we worshipped at the shrine... we wouldn't get wet!"

"What?" Cui Xueyi's eyes widened. "Are you serious?"

"Of course it's true." Ruan Nanzhu looked up at the sky. "How about we wait until it rains tonight and give you a test?"

"Okay." Lin Xingping smiled. "About when did you arrive at the shrine?"

"Around eleven o'clock in the afternoon," Ruan Nanzhu said sheepishly. "I'm weak and walk slowly. By the time I got there, it was already too late. I thought I'd never make it back."

"We can come back." Lin Xingping lied with a smile, "Look, we are back now."

"Should we tell everyone about this?" Ruan Nanzhu said, "If everyone goes to worship, then they won't have to worry about getting wet in the rain. That way, we can go out and look for clues even in the rain!"

"Don't talk about it yet," Lin Xingping hurriedly stopped him. "Let's go over there and make sure you're not mistaken. If you're wrong, it could mean several lives are at stake." She repeated, "Are you sure you won't get wet in the rain?"

"I'm sure." Ruan Nanzhu nodded, confirming Lin Xingping's statement.

"Okay, I got it. I'll go over and take a look right away." Lin Xingping said.

They were obviously very interested in the shrine, but still had some doubts. Lin Xingping and Cui Xueyi were still talking in a low voice as they said goodbye to them and walked towards the door.

"Are they really not lying?" Cui Xueyi said, "If they lied, they would die tomorrow."

"They probably weren't lying. Have you seen the photos on their phones?" Lin Xingping said, "We can't wait until tomorrow. Everyone who got caught in the rain is almost dead. There might not be any sunny dolls tomorrow. If it continues to rain during the day, we'll be trapped in the yard."

Cui Xueyi obviously agreed with this, so he silently agreed to Lin Xingping's suggestion to visit the shrine.

"We have to go and take a look." Lin Xingping said, "That shrine is very important..."

"But it's too unsafe to go like this. What if we don't get back in time before it rains?" Cui Xueyi was still a little worried about safety issues.

"The earliest it rained in the past two days was no later than 5:30 in the afternoon. We just need to get back before 5:30." Lin Xingping was sure of this. "They arrived at their destination at 11 o'clock yesterday. We will definitely arrive before them... If we don't arrive first, it means they are lying." Indeed, in their eyes, they are always stronger than the weak Ruan Nanzhu.

"Don't waste too much time there, we'll definitely be able to get back in time." Lin Xingping analyzed, "Inside the door, we have to take certain risks."

After listening to Lin Xingping's words, Cui Xueyi stopped talking, obviously convinced by her reasoning.

Gu Yuansi, on the other hand, looked as if he was about to say something but hesitated. Lin Xingping saw what he wanted to say and turned to him and said, "If you don't want to go, then don't go. You won't be able to keep up anyway, so don't hold us back."

"Okay, then I won't go." Gu Yuansi was eager to do so and immediately stopped walking. "Come back soon."

Lin Xingping sneered, and turned around and went out with Cui Xueyi.

The two men left the yard, and Lin Qiushi could no longer continue to listen to their conversation. He saw Gu Yuansi slowly enter the yard and gave them a stiff smile.

Ruan Nanzhu and Lin Qiushi ignored him, and he went into the house feeling bored.

"Have you sent out your note?" Lin Qiushi asked Ruan Nanzhu.

"Yeah." Ruan Nanzhu responded.

"Did they give it directly or stuff it into their pockets?" Lin Qiushi was curious about other people's reactions.

"It was stuffed in my pocket," Ruan Nanzhu said. "But they should have seen the note by now." He propped up his chin and tilted his head to glance at the sunny doll hanging in the corridor. "It's about time."

"Yes." Lin Qiushi stood up, walked under the Sunny Day doll, and reached out to remove it. The doll was very heavy, and through the thin white cloth, one could feel its facial features. The touch was extremely uncomfortable. Thinking of the shrill cries that would come out of its head at night, Lin Qiushi quietly put it aside.

"It's about to begin." Ruan Nanzhu said.

Lin Qiushi nodded.

Ruan Nanzhu opened his thin lips and recited a children's rhyme: "Sunny doll, please let it be sunny tomorrow. Just like the sky in my dreams, if it is sunny, I will give you a golden bell. Sunny doll, please let it be sunny tomorrow. If you obey my wish, I will give you sweet wine. Sunny doll, please let it be sunny tomorrow. If it is still cloudy and rainy tomorrow, I will chop off your head..."

The moment the words fell, the expected downpour arrived. Dark clouds instantly filled the sky, and raindrops as big as beans fell from the sky to the ground.

The harsh sound of rain swept across Lin Qiushi's ears. Neither of them spoke, but just waited quietly.

About a few minutes later, two disheveled figures, drenched by the rain, appeared at the gate of the yard. After seeing them come back, Lin Qiushi quickly hung the sunny doll back up.

As soon as the sunny doll was hung in the corridor, the sky cleared up instantly, and the transition between the two weather conditions was almost seamless.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck—" Cui Xueyi, covered in rain, looked like a drowned chicken. He staggered back to the yard, trying to dry himself. "How could this happen? Why did it suddenly rain—" When he said this, he happened to see Ruan Nanzhu and Lin Qiushi standing on the corridor of the yard, and said viciously, "Is it you two? Is it you two who did this—" He seemed to be overwhelmed by fear. He reached out and rolled up his sleeves, and was about to attack Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu.

Lin Qiushi had no intention of letting him do what he wanted. Just as he was about to step forward to stop him, he heard Ruan Nanzhu say in a tearful voice, "Brother Cui, quickly go to that shrine with Sister Lin. Maybe there's still hope! It suddenly rained on our first day, and I didn't expect it to rain today!"

Cui Xueyi and Lin Xingping's faces were originally paler than paper, but after hearing Ruan Nanzhu's words, they felt relieved instantly. Lin Xingping smiled very reluctantly: "Yes... yes, maybe, we can still be saved."

Cui Xueyi was trembling all over, feeling both scared and angry. He glared at Ruan Nanzhu hatefully and said, "You'd better not lie to me, otherwise I will kill you when I come back tonight. Come on, Xingping, let's go to the shrine." He seemed too flustered and actually called out Lin Xingping's real name directly from inside the door.

However, Lin Xingping didn't notice this at this time. She turned around with Cui Xueyi and hurriedly left the yard.

Ruan Nanzhu watched the figure disappear at the door and sighed softly, "Nothing more than that."

Lin Qiushi said, "It's not that they are just so-so, it's that you are too powerful." Lin Xingping was also quite smart. Even if she believed that there was a shrine deep in the bamboo forest, she would never risk going straight in. However, no matter how cautious she was, she would never have expected this sudden rain.

Now, the two of them probably placed their last hope in the shrine at the end of the bamboo forest.

As expected, both of them died, and Wu Qi and his girlfriend's revenge was avenged, but Lin Qiushi couldn't feel happy.

He remembered Wu Qi nagging him to take care of his health and resign early. He sighed softly, trying to let out the frustration in his chest.

The heavy rain came suddenly and went away suddenly, but because of the note that Ruan Nanzhu had slipped before, the other people in the team did not go out. Although they were suspicious, when they were watching in the yard, heavy rain came pouring down, and the rain washed away their doubts and confirmed the authenticity of the note.

So even though the sky cleared up again later, no one dared to go outside. Instead, they chose to stand in the corridor and watch the situation.

Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu began to discuss the matter of the shrine.

"Should we go visit the shrine on a rainy day?" Ruan Nanzhu said.

"Okay," Lin Qiushi said, "but seeing that statue reminded me of the background story you told me about the Sunny Doll."

Judging from the clothes that the statue is wearing, it looks like a monk. Could it be the monk whose head was chopped off in the background story?

"Hmm..." Ruan Nanzhu said, "I have the same guess." He supported his chin and looked at the sky outside. "After all, it is a low-level sect. The death conditions are still relatively harsh. We don't need to be too anxious." He also provided them with props that they could use. Of course, whether they can find these props depends entirely on their own ability.

Lin Qiushi nodded.

While the two of them were talking, Xiaocha, who had previously argued with Lin Xingping, suddenly walked over to them and the first thing she said was, "I saw you took the Sunny Doll away."

Ruan Nanzhu and Lin Qiushi both turned to look at her.

"I thought you two were the ones being tricked." Xiaocha laughed at himself, "It turns out you're really hiding your true potential."

"I don't understand what you're saying." Ruan Nanzhu began his usual disgusting behavior again. He leaned into Lin Qiushi's arms and said coquettishly in a tone that gave goosebumps, "Honey, what this person says is so strange~"

Xiaochadao: "Can you speak more normally?"

Ruan Nanzhu: "That's just the way people talk."

Xiaocha: "...Is there any normal person who speaks like you?"

Ruan Nanzhu began to cry.

Lin Qiushi listened to his sobs and glanced at the cherry blossoms in the yard. Suddenly, a thought struck him: "Falling cherry blossoms in profusion..."

Xiaocha was disgusted by Ruan Nanzhu, but she resisted the urge to turn around and leave. She said, "How many clues have you found? If you really find the door, could you tell me in advance? I have a clue about the key!"

"I can't find it." Ruan Nanzhu blinked and continued to bully the little girl. "The door is so scary, I can't find it."

Xiaocha was furious and pointed out the truth: "You guys stuffed the note in there, didn't you?"

Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu both looked innocent upon hearing this.

Finally, Xiaocha couldn't stand it anymore, so she stood up and turned away.

Ruan Nanzhu then said, "We'll tell you in advance if we find it."

"Thank you." Xiaocha was not stupid. She knew that Ruan Nanzhu and Lin Qiushi must be very powerful. Both of them looked unpleasant, especially Lin Qiushi, who was the type that was a little too ugly. To be honest, if it was not necessary, she really didn't want to talk to Lin Qiushi.

"It seems like the young lady really dislikes you," Ruan Nanzhu continued to sarcastically say in Lin Qiushi's arms, "She doesn't even want to look at you..."

Lin Qiushi: "..." Ruan Nanzhu, I advise you to be kind...

Because of the sudden heavy rain, no one dared to leave the house that day.

In order not to appear to be eccentric, Ruan Nanzhu and Lin Qiushi did not wander around.

Around five in the afternoon, the weather began to turn gloomy. Just as Lin Xingping had guessed, the sky turned from clear to cloudy again, and it was about to rain.

But when the raindrops hit the ground, neither Lin Xingping nor Cui Xueyi had returned. This was understandable; after all, they had already been drenched in the rain during the day, and getting drenched again wouldn't seem to have much of an impact. Furthermore, if they didn't find a solution tonight, their heads would likely be hanging in the corridor the next day.

Around eight o'clock in the evening, Lin Qiushi heard hurried footsteps coming from the courtyard gate. They were accompanied by heavy breathing, as if the person had just encountered something extremely terrifying.

Lin Qiushi opened the door a crack and saw Lin Xingping standing at the door, her face as pale as a swollen corpse. Cui Xueyi beside her was nowhere to be seen. Her eyes fell on the crack in the door between Lin Qiushi and the others, and her eyes met Lin Qiushi's.

Lin Qiushi calmly pretended not to notice and silently closed the door. He looked at Ruan Nanzhu and said, "You're back."

"Oh." Ruan Nanzhu said, "Hold the door shut and don't let her in."

Lin Qiushi nodded.

A moment later, there was a knock on the door. Lin Xingping's voice was hoarse as if it had been burned by charcoal. She knocked on the door and shouted, "Xiao Xiaoyu, get out here! How dare you lie to me? How dare you lie to me! Tell me, tell me! Did you do it?!"

Ruan Nanzhu said indifferently, "Sister Lin, what are you talking about? What do you mean by lying to you? Isn't there a shrine on the other side of the bamboo forest?"

"What's the use of having a shrine?" Lin Xingping said angrily. "I worship, but the rain still falls on me!"

"Then I don't know." Ruan Nanzhu said, "After all, we weren't wet when we went there. If you two got wet, I don't know what would happen. Why don't you tell me?"

Upon hearing this, Lin Xingping started swearing, mostly curse words, and said that Ruan Nanzhu had deceived her.

"How did I lie to you?" Ruan Nanzhu said, "You were the ones who told me about the shrine first. I just went to see it according to your instructions. Sister Lin, you didn't even know there was a shrine deep in the bamboo forest, did you?"

After hearing this, Lin Xingping realized that Ruan Nanzhu and Lin Qiushi were two people who were pretending to be pigs but were actually tigers. She kept shouting for a long time, but Ruan Nanzhu was too lazy to pay attention to her. Finally, she collapsed outside the door and started crying loudly.

If it were an ordinary person, Lin Qiushi might feel a little sympathy after hearing someone crying so miserably, but he had no sympathy at all for Lin Xingping.

This group of people had no good intentions from the beginning to the end, and they had countless lives in their hands. Now that the same thing happened to me, I finally understood what it felt like.

Lin Qiushi whispered, "I want to ask her a few questions."

"Ask," Ruan Nanzhu said. "If you don't ask now, you won't have the chance to ask later."

"Do you know He Shuangya?" Lin Qiushi asked Lin Xingping outside the door.

When Lin Xingping heard the name He Shuangya, she immediately stopped crying and fell into a strange silence.

"You know him, right?" Lin Qiushi asked. "Not only did you know He Shuangya, but you also knew Wu Qi. Lin Xingping, do you still feel that your death was unjust?"

Lin Xingping remained silent for a long moment, as if her mouth was blocked by Lin Qiushi's question. Finally, she managed to force out a sentence from her throat: "She's stupid, she deserves to die!"

"That's right." Ruan Nanzhu continued with a smile, "So you are stupid, and you deserve to die."

Lin Xingping was speechless. Intermittent crying sounds came from outside the door again. She said, "Please, save me, I don't want to die, I don't want to die..."

"Who wants to die?" Lin Qiushi said calmly, "Perhaps He Shuangya felt the same way before she died as you do now. This is retribution, I guess."

However, no matter how much you say, it is too redundant for a dying person.

Lin Xingping's crying continued until midnight and was gradually covered by the sound of the rain. Lin Qiushi sat by the door and did not sleep. When he heard the nursery rhymes coming from outside, Lin Xingping's figure had disappeared outside the door.

Lin Qiushi gently opened the door a crack and saw the voices of the children reappear in the yard, mixed with several headless corpses.

The children held hands, surrounded Lin Xingping, who was kneeling in the middle, and asked the last question of the nursery rhyme: "Who is the person behind you?"

Lin Qiushi couldn't hear what Lin Xingping said in response. He only saw her neck tilt, and then she fell off with a thud. After rolling on the ground for a few times, she stopped moving.

The sunny doll that was hanging in the corridor yesterday began to scream again, and the whole yard was filled with an indescribable weird atmosphere.

Only after confirming that Lin Xingping was dead did Lin Qiushi return to bed.

He looked at the ceiling, his expression a little confused for a moment, until Ruan Nanzhu snuggled into his arms.

"What's wrong?" Ruan Nanzhu asked him.

"I didn't expect Wu Qi to be involved in this matter." Lin Qiushi felt that there was nothing to hide from Ruan Nanzhu about what was in his heart. "He... is a good person." He is enthusiastic and cheerful, otherwise she would not be friends with such a slow-to-warm-up person like him.

"Yeah." Ruan Nanzhu listened quietly. He knew that Lin Qiushi didn't need him to respond.

"I don't think I'm a good friend," Lin Qiushi said. "When I encountered problems, I never thought of telling him. When he encountered problems, I didn't ask."

"This isn't your fault," Ruan Nanzhu said. "You can't protect everyone."

Lin Qiushi turned to look at Ruan Nanzhu: "What about you? Can you protect everyone?"

"Me?" Ruan Nanzhu was quiet for a moment. "I couldn't protect him either." He lowered his eyes and lowered his voice. "I entered the tenth door with a friend. I came out, but he didn't."

Lin Qiushi recalled Ruan Nanzhu's exit from the tenth door. He felt as if his entire body had been ripped off. Even after resting in the hospital for several months and even after being released, it took him a long time to recover.

"You've done very well," Lin Qiushi said. "Without you, I might not even be able to get through the first door."

Ruan Nanzhu was helpless: "Isn't it me who is comforting you? How come you are comforting me?"

Lin Qiushi couldn't help but laugh.

They are not so sentimental on weekdays. This is just a casual sigh. After a good night's sleep, they have to be fully alert to deal with the things inside the door the next day.

The two of them lay on the bed, talking to each other, and then fell asleep in a daze.

The next day was a sunny day, and the sunny doll in the corridor had a new look.

To make sure, Ruan Nanzhu took down the Sunny Day doll, opened it, and saw the human head wrapped inside.

It was indeed Lin Xingping who died last night. Her head was separated from her body, and her eyes were still wide open, as if she had died with her eyes open.

It’s a pity that she didn’t know how the rain came until her death, nor did she know what means Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu used, so she didn’t even have the chance to transform into a ghost, and could only die unwillingly.

He Shuangya probably experienced the same thing as her. She knew that someone was trying to steal her door, but she didn't know where she fell into the trap.

"Let's go to the shrine today," Ruan Nanzhu said, "while it's raining."

"Okay." Lin Qiushi nodded in agreement.

Ruan Nanzhu wrapped Lin Xingping's head with a white cloth, and then recited the long nursery rhyme again.

After the nursery rhyme, the heavy rain returned. Ruan Nanzhu took out an oil-paper umbrella from his bag, opened it, and handed it to Lin Qiushi, saying with a smile, "Let's go."

Lin Qiushi took the oil-paper umbrella and walked towards the bamboo forest with Ruan Nanzhu.