Chapter 131 Ghost
Behind the elevator door lay the dimly lit first-floor tunnel, much like any other. However, the faint, fishy smell of blood that permeated the air reminded Lin Qiushi that things weren't as simple as he'd imagined.
Lin Qiushi took a step forward, wanting to leave quickly and walk out of the apartment. However, when he turned a corner, he saw three identical little girls in skirts standing in front of him.
They gathered around a massive birthday cake, densely studded with white candles. The cake seemed to be melting, and the red liquid dripping from it was the source of the fishy odor Lin Qiushi had smelled. The most terrifying thing was the severed head of a woman placed on top of the cake. Her eyes were still open, staring at Lin Qiushi unwillingly, even blinking at him.
This bizarre scene was terrifying. Seeing them, Lin Qiushi remembered the door he had once passed through, which had the clue of the Philxia bird. Without a doubt, they were the triplets Lin Qiushi had seen through that door...
The triplets stood at the doorway, turning to look at Lin Qiushi. Stiff smiles appeared on their faces as they began to sing "Happy Birthday." One of the girls slowly raised her hand, pointed upwards, and said, "Little brother, won't you join us for the cake?"
Lin Qiushi listened to her question but didn't dare to answer. He turned around and walked towards another exit.
Fortunately, the three triplets just watched him leave and had no intention of chasing him.
Lin Qiushi ran very fast and reached the door in the blink of an eye. But just as he was about to go out, he remembered the action of one of the triplets. She seemed to be pointing at the top of her head - what did this action mean? Was there something on the ceiling?
Honestly, looking up at the ceiling wasn't a pleasant experience in this situation, but Lin Qiushi still pulled out his phone, turned on the flashlight, slowly raised his head, and shone the light onto the ceiling. He moved slowly, ready to turn and run at any moment, but to his relief, the ceiling was completely empty. There was nothing there.
Seeing this, Lin Qiushi put away his phone, exhaled, and began to walk out. But just as he was about to step out of the corridor, an inexplicable sense of crisis suddenly struck him. Lin Qiushi's footsteps paused reflexively. In that instant, a body suddenly fell from the roof, landing directly in front of him. It was easy to imagine that if he had not stopped here and had instead left, he would have been hit by the body.
The corpse fell from the upstairs and was smashed to pieces. The head was shattered into pieces like a watermelon falling from a high place. But judging from his appearance, clothes and what he was holding in his hands, this person was clearly the man with an axe who was blocking the door of Lin Qiushi's house. It was just unknown why he fell from the upstairs.
Lin Qiushi stepped around the corpse and quickly walked into the residential complex. He stepped on the gravel road and glanced toward the apartment behind him. Surprisingly, he saw someone crouching on the outer wall of the apartment. They were slowly climbing down from a height, completely ignoring gravity. In the dim light of the corridor, Lin Qiushi could barely make out the figure on the wall... She was clearly Wang Xiaoyi, whose head had been split in two. Wang Xiaoyi had slowly crawled down the wall to where Cheng Wen's body had fallen, then buried her face in the corpse and began gnawing and chewing it like a foraging beast.
Lin Qiushi took only one glance and then looked away. He didn't know if it was because the weather was too hot or what happened was too exciting, but he was now covered in sweat, with drops of water dripping down his chin. Lin Qiushi walked in the community, looking at the surrounding scenery, and was a little confused for a moment. He felt that there was no safe place here, and monsters might appear in any place shrouded in darkness.
Lin Qiushi walked towards the entrance to the residential complex and unexpectedly saw two people standing there. He saw their faces and even clearly remembered their names—Xiong Qi and Xiao Ke. They were the two humans Lin Qiushi had seen at the first door.
Xiong Qi and Xiao Ke seemed to have spotted Lin Qiushi as well. They waved at him from afar, saying, "Come here, come here!"
Lin Qiushi hesitated slightly. He was not sure whether the two people who appeared here were human or ghosts.
"Bai Jie asked us to come pick you up." Xiao Ke shouted from a distance, "The place where you live is too dangerous. Bai Jie asked us to take you there--"
Lin Qiushi frowned and glanced behind him. Wang Xiaoyi and Cheng Wen had vanished into the night, but the pitch-black apartment building still gave off a strong sense of foreboding. Lin Qiushi walked up to them, but didn't get too close.
"Did Bai Jie ask you to pick me up?" Lin Qiushi asked Xiao Ke.
"Yes." Xiao Ke said, "She was afraid that something might happen to you, so she asked us to come here."
"Where is she now?" Lin Qiushi asked.
"Her? She's waiting for us at her home now." Xiao Ke replied, "Hurry up and get in the car. We'll explain everything to you slowly in the car." After that, she opened the car door in front of her and motioned Lin Qiushi to get in quickly.
Lin Qiushi walked to the car door and took a look inside.
Xiao Ke was still urging him from behind, seeming very anxious, but Lin Qiushi suddenly noticed something and stopped short of stepping into the car.
"What's wrong with you?" Xiao Ke asked, "That thing is coming, don't waste time."
"Since you were asked by Bai Jie to come pick me up, you should know his real name, right?" Lin Qiushi stopped and stared at the ground, but his steps were slowly retreating.
Xiao Ke frowned. "I know her real name, but I can't say it here. Others might hear it. Hurry up..." She looked at Lin Qiushi, who had stopped walking, and her voice grew increasingly agitated, almost screaming. "I told you to get in the car. Time's running out!"
Seeing this, Lin Qiushi turned around and ran, ignoring the shouts of Xiao Ke and Xiong Qi. Xiao Ke could only watch Lin Qiushi leave, making a shrill cry. Just as Lin Qiushi turned around and returned to the community, a huge figure appeared at the other end of the road.
She was a tall woman with a strange figure. She was dragging a long-handled axe in her hand and walked slowly towards Xiao Ke and Xiong Qi.
Xiao Ke and Xiong Qi looked terrified and desperate. They hurriedly got into the car in front of them and tried to start the car to leave. However, the car, which originally looked normal, turned into a fake car made of paper. With the two of them sitting inside, it was naturally impossible for them to leave.
The woman walked up to the two men, raised her hand, raised the axe high, and then chopped it down heavily, directly splitting Xiao Ke in half.
Xiong Qi was the second one. Both of them were cut in half. They let out miserable screams, but they were still struggling on the ground.
Lin Qiushi watched all this from a corner of the neighborhood. He covered his mouth with his hand, afraid that the sound of his breathing would attract the attention of the tall woman outside. This monster was the same deity that Lin Qiushi had seen transformed into in the ancient temple at the first door. After killing Xiong Qi and Xiao Ke, she glanced around, but when she didn't see Lin Qiushi, she turned and left with her axe.
Xiong Qi and Xiao Ke, who were chopped into two pieces, did not die just like that. They were groaning on the street, and Xiao Ke was uttering vicious curses, as if he was cursing Lin Qiushi.
Lin Qiushi didn't know what happened to Xiong Qi and Xiao Ke inside the sect after he left. But based on his subsequent experience, he knew they weren't exactly good people either. They were the kind of veterans who deliberately tried to get close to newcomers with ulterior motives. Fortunately, Lin Qiushi met Ruan Nanzhu, and thus escaped harm. As for what happened to them inside the sect, Lin Qiushi had no idea...
He had noticed Xiao Ke's anomaly because, under the streetlight, he saw only his own shadow cast on the ground. However, Xiao Ke and Xiong Qi cast no shadows under the light. This made Lin Qiushi sense that something was amiss, so he decisively turned and left, escaping the danger.
At this moment, Lin Qiushi had already vaguely understood the meaning of the clue's "no solution." This door had no solution; the only hope for survival lay within. Perhaps some small detail held the key to survival. Of course, whether he could discover it depended solely on his luck.
Lin Qiushi stood in the community, not knowing where to go for a moment, but he knew he should leave because the singing of Happy Birthday was getting louder and louder, and getting closer and closer to him.
So Lin Qiushi stood up and slowly walked out of the community. He looked back and saw the triplets pushing the cake towards him. The head on the cake slowly turned around and cast a resentful look at him.
Lin Qiushi was already accustomed to such stares. He stared back expressionlessly and gave a look of contempt.
The triplets giggled happily. They stood at the gate of the community and watched Lin Qiushi's figure disappear at the end of the dark road. Then they stood on tiptoe, picked up the head on the cake, kissed it, and happily called "Mom".
Lin Qiushi walked on the road, with only the dim street lights illuminating the road beneath his feet.
The surrounding shops that were once full of life were all closed. It seemed like another world here, with only death and terror.
Lin Qiushi stared at his phone for a while. He really wanted to call Ruan Nanzhu again to ask him how he was doing, but he was afraid that Ruan Nanzhu was in a critical situation and that a call from him would directly cost him his life.
After thinking for a moment, Lin Qiushi sent a message to Ruan Nanzhu, asking him how he was doing.
After a while, the other end replied to Lin Qiushi: I'm playing hide-and-seek with something strange.
Although the words were playful, they concealed murderous intent. Lin Qiushi smiled wryly: "Hide and seek? Which door is this for you?"
Ruan Nanzhu: The second fan.
Lin Qiushi: What is the clue?
Ruan Nanzhu: The clue is...hide and seek.
Lin Qiushi: "..." Just a few words, but a layer of cold sweat broke out on his back, and he even became a little anxious. He really wanted to go to Ruan Nanzhu and accompany him through everything, but this idea was obviously difficult to realize at this time. Lin Qiushi raised his hand to check the time. It was two o'clock in the morning, and there were at least three or four hours before dawn.
She came over and said, "I won't talk to you yet. Baby, I love you." This was the last text message Ruan Nanzhu sent to Lin Qiushi tonight.
Lin Qiushi looked at the content of the text message and was extremely worried, but he didn't know where Ruan Nanzhu was now, nor did he know what he was going through. He was so powerless at the moment and could do nothing.
Lin Qiushi walked along the road, which seemed to have no end, until he reached an intersection. From a distance, Lin Qiushi saw a man squatting in the middle of the intersection, his back to him, his head lowered, stuffing something into a burning brazier.
Lin Qiushi looked at the man but didn't dare get too close. He observed from a distance and found that the man was burning paper money for the dead.
The burnt paper money swirled into the pitch-black sky. Because he was about to enter the house, Lin Qiushi had learned a lot about the lodgings. He knew that there were certain rules to follow when the paper money was burned to ash, such as the fact that it swirled, indicating that the people below had received the money...
Lin Qiushi looked at the scene in front of him hesitantly, wondering whether to turn back, but he heard a creepy sound of footsteps behind him.
Lin Qiushi turned his head and saw a tall figure walking towards the end of the road through the pitch-black night. The figure was against the light, and although it was not very clear, from its outline, it was clearly the female ghost who had just split Xiong Qi and Xiao Ke into two halves.
The surroundings were empty and there was no place to hide. Lin Qiushi had no choice but to continue forward, leaning against the wall to try to pass the intersection in front of him.
As he walked, he carefully observed the old man burning paper in the middle of the intersection. He should have seen this man before, but because it was so long ago, he could not remember him very well.
Just as Lin Qiushi was about to cross the intersection, he saw the old man thrust his hand into the burning ash basin in front of him. Then his body began to carbonize rapidly. Lin Qiushi caught a subtle sound coming from his mouth. He was saying, "Dead people, dead people... Only dead people can escape." After he said this, the whole person turned straight into a pile of charcoal. The monster behind him seemed to have smelled the unusual atmosphere here and quickened its pace.
The monster was huge, holding an axe in its hand. The axe would occasionally fall to the ground, making a sound of metal rubbing against stone.
Lin Qiushi didn't dare to stay here any longer and ran forward. While running, he did not forget to observe the surrounding environment and found that there were some changes in the surrounding environment.
Some white lanterns and garlands were hung at the door of the shop, which looked like a memorial ceremony.
What made Lin Qiushi stop was the black coffins placed beside the road. These coffins appeared suddenly and were placed straight across the road.
The monster behind him seemed to have noticed Lin Qiushi's location and was heading towards him. If he continued running at a normal speed, he would probably be caught in a few minutes.
Lin Qiushi panted rapidly, staring at the black coffin. A crazy idea popped into his mind. He knew he couldn't hesitate now, so he turned and walked directly to the coffin, reaching out and forcefully pushing it open.
Lin Qiushi originally thought that the coffin was empty, but after pushing it open, he found that there was a corpse inside. The corpse looked a little familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere, but Lin Qiushi didn't have time to think too much. He gritted his teeth and crawled in directly, then closed the coffin lid.
"Da... da... da..." Through the coffin, Lin Qiushi heard the monster's footsteps getting closer and closer, and finally seemed to stay around him. Her nose twitched, trying to find the whereabouts of her prey from the air.
However, it seemed that some smell disturbed her search. The monster let out a low strange cry, and then the sound gradually faded away.
Lin Qiushi lay in the coffin, his expression numb. The corpse beside him seemed to have just died, its skin still soft and even slightly warm. Lin Qiushi muttered to himself, "Don't blame me, don't blame me!" When the noise outside faded, he was about to raise his hand to lift the coffin lid when he felt his wrist suddenly grabbed by another hand.
"!!" Lin Qiushi almost screamed when he was caught, but the other hand covered his mouth, making him hold the sound in his throat.
"He hasn't left yet." The corpse beside him actually spoke. Although the voice was very small, Lin Qiushi's eyes widened after hearing it - he was very familiar with this voice, it was actually Li Dongyuan's voice!
The coffin was too dark, and Lin Qiushi could not see anything. He was tightly grasped by the corpse beside him, who had the same voice as Li Dongyuan. His heart was beating violently, as if it was about to jump out of his throat.
"They haven't left yet." The person next to him said again. Lin Qiushi vaguely understood what he meant and stopped struggling.
After the silence lasted for about ten minutes, Lin Qiushi heard a woman's extremely angry roar. The roar was only separated by a thin layer of coffin board. It can be imagined that this thing was very close to Lin Qiushi, even next to him. If Lin Qiushi had crawled out of the coffin just now, he would probably have been hacked to death like Xiong Qi and Xiao Ke.
Then the woman's voice gradually faded away, and the person holding Lin Qiushi's body loosened his grip. Lin Qiushi pushed open the coffin lid above his head with force, and this time he finally saw the face of the person lying next to him clearly - it was Li Dongyuan, who was supposed to be dead.
"Long time no see." Li Dongyuan curved his eyes and smiled at Lin Qiushi.
Lin Qiushi stared at him, as if he wanted to stare a flower into his face.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Li Dongyuan also climbed out of the coffin and straightened his hair. "I just saved you, don't you want to thank me?"
Lin Qiushi: "Who are you..."
"Dead man." Although Lin Qiushi didn't finish his words, Li Dongyuan had already guessed what he wanted to say and laughed heartily, "I am a dead man."
Lin Qiushi looked at him hesitantly, but Li Dongyuan grabbed Lin Qiushi's hand and pressed it against his chest. As expected, there was calm there, and no heartbeat could be felt.
"Are you really dead?" Lin Qiushi wiped his face with his hand and asked, "Then why are you here? Where exactly is this place?"
Li Dongyuan listened to Lin Qiushi's question but smiled without saying anything. He pointed to the top of his head and said, "It's still a long time before dawn. Do you want to sleep a little longer?"
Lin Qiushi: "Where? In a coffin?"
Li Dongyuan said, "A coffin is safer than you running around here."
Lin Qiushi wanted to say something else, but he heard footsteps again. This time, Li Dongyuan didn't need to do anything, he closed the coffin lid himself.
In the darkness, the two looked at each other. Lin Qiushi had too many questions to ask. He wanted to ask Li Dongyuan what was going on, but Li Dongyuan didn't seem to want to answer these questions.
"I know what you want to ask," Li Dongyuan said, "but I can't answer it because I don't understand it myself."
"Do you have any memory of your own death?" Lin Qiushi asked.
"Of course I did," Li Dongyuan said. "I still remember jumping off a building and committing suicide." There was a hint of loneliness in his tone. "I just don't know what happened to that girl."
"Zhuang Rujiao?" Lin Qiushi said, "She's doing very well and has inherited your white deer."
Li Dongyuan was silent for a moment, then smiled bitterly and said, "How can this be considered a good thing?" Watching the little girl he protected grow up was not a particularly happy thing, because growing up always came at a very painful price.
Then the two of them fell silent again. Lin Qiushi stared at the coffin lid above his head in a daze. He didn't dare say too much because the thing kept circling around him.
Time passed minute by minute, and it was almost five o'clock. It seemed that daybreak was about to break.
Lin Qiushi was overwhelmed by sleepiness. He wanted to hold on, but he felt that he had never been so sleepy before.
"Go to sleep." Li Dongyuan's voice came, "See you tomorrow night."
Lin Qiushi closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.
He slept very deeply and when he woke up again, it was already dawn. He got up and saw himself lying on his own bed. Li Zi was lying beside the pillow, looking at him obediently.
There were no monsters, no blood, and the door was intact. Everything that happened last night seemed like just a bizarre nightmare. Lin Qiushi let out a long breath, picked up his phone and dialed a number again.
After a few seconds of waiting, a not-so-surprising voice came from the other end of the line. The number that had clearly been dialed last night was once again disconnected. Lin Qiushi searched his text inbox but couldn't find a message from Ruan Nanzhu.
"Okay." Lin Qiushi muttered to himself, "See you tonight."
The author has something to say: Li Dongyuan: Aha, long time no see!
Lin Qiushi: It’s completely… just shock, not joy.
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