Chapter 25 Flaw
Once something starts, there is no way to take it back.
Xiaoyi's murder was like a prelude, the curtain of death. Zeng Ruguo and Zhong Chengjian tragically perished within two days, but the Grim Reaper's scythe continued unabated. The day after the woman's resurrection, a fourth person appeared.
But the one who died was not one of them, but the tenth one among the triplets.
This time it was Xu Xiaocheng who discovered Xiao Shi's body. As soon as she entered the bathroom, she ran out screaming, saying that another person was dead, another person was dead.
"Who died?" Tang Yaoyao asked.
"I don't know, it felt like those two little girls." Xu Xiaocheng's eyes widened. Her reaction to seeing the bodies had calmed down considerably; at least she wasn't vomiting non-stop. "I didn't dare look any further. I just took one look and ran out."
So everyone went to the toilet and saw the bodies scattered in the toilet.
Similar to Xiaoyi who was hacked to death, Xiaoshi's body was also in a mess, with body parts flying everywhere.
This time, everyone was relatively calm after seeing the body. Lin Qiushi briefly inspected the scene and confirmed that Xiao Shi was dead.
Ruan Nanzhu didn't say anything and stood there silently.
Lin Qiushi asked him in a low voice what he was thinking about.
"It's okay." Ruan Nanzhu said, "I'm just curious about how her mother will react when she sees this scene."
Everyone's face turned ugly when they thought of that woman.
As Ruan Nanzhu mentioned the woman, she appeared at the bathroom door. This time, she didn't cry or make a scene. She looked remarkably calm. Mop and bag in hand, she lowered her head and slowly began to clean up her daughter's body.
Like a pantomime, the only sound was the sticky sound of the mop dragging across the blood. The woman skillfully put all the body parts into the bag, then dragged them away in silence.
"I feel very uncomfortable." Tang Yaoyao's face turned pale. "How about you?"
"Me too," Zhang Xinghuo said. "Can we really live to see that day?"
There are still two days until their birthday, but they are already living every day like a year.
No one could answer Zhang Xinghuo's question. In such a world, no one's life was guaranteed at all, and survival seemed to depend solely on luck.
In the afternoon, Tang Yaoyao felt unwell and went back to rest early.
Lin Qiushi remembered what happened yesterday, so he gently reminded her to be careful.
Tang Yaoyao didn't take Lin Qiushi's words to heart. She nodded casually, turned around and left. Xu Xiaocheng looked at her back, wanting to say something but stopping himself.
"What's wrong?" Lin Qiushi asked when he saw Xu Xiaocheng's expression.
"It's okay," Xu Xiaocheng said. "I just think it might be safer for us all to stay together."
Zhang Xinghuo said, "It's not about safety or insecurity. Even if we're together now, we have to separate at night."
That's true, Lin Qiushi sighed.
Everyone was in a bad mood and didn't have much mood to chat.
After a simple dinner, Ruan Nanzhu said he was tired, so he pulled Lin Qiushi back to the coffin room.
"What's wrong?" Lin Qiushi asked, "Why are you so anxious today?"
Ruan Nanzhu said, "I want to stay with you for a while..."
Lin Qiushi: "...Speak human language."
Ruan Nanzhu: "I think I know where the door is."
Lin Qiushi was shocked: "Do you know where the door is?"
"It's just a guess," Ruan Nanzhu said. "I'm going to verify it. This is quite dangerous, so you..."
"I'll go with you." Lin Qiushi knew what Ruan Nanzhu was about to say, so he interrupted him. "Although I can't help much, at least we can look after each other." He pursed his lips and lowered his voice. "I know I'm weak now, but if anything happens to you..."
Ruan Nanzhu smiled faintly: "That's right, if something happens to me, you'll be a widower."
Lin Qiushi: “…”
Ruan Nanzhu: "I won't allow you to look for another woman."
Lin Qiushi was convinced and said, "Boss, can we please stop making trouble?"
Ruan Nanzhu reached out and patted Lin Qiushi on the butt, saying, "Okay, let's go now."
Lin Qiushi: “…” You really are naive.
A few minutes later, the two appeared on the roof. A heavy lock still hung there, rusty and rusty, indicating it hadn't been used in a long time. However, compared to before, Lin Qiushi noticed something new on the lock, as if someone had opened it. The keyhole, in particular, showed signs of friction.
"Is someone coming to the top floor?" Lin Qiushi immediately thought of the door in the fairy tale that couldn't be opened. He asked, "Is this the door?"
"Maybe," Ruan Nanzhu said, "I'm not sure, so I plan to go up and take a look. You help me keep watch here."
Lin Qiushi nodded.
Ruan Nanzhu took out his card and started to unlock the door. He was really good at this and opened the big lock in no time.
With a click, the padlock fell to the ground, and Ruan Nanzhu slowly pulled the iron door open with a slight creaking sound.
The view from the rooftop was revealed to the two of them as the iron gate opened. Although it was already dark outside, Lin Qiushi could still make out the situation on the rooftop. He saw countless black cloth bags on the rooftop. These bags looked so familiar; Lin Qiushi had seen them just this afternoon—the same body bags that the woman had used to wrap the bodies of the triplets.
However, at this moment, dozens of such bags appeared in front of him.
"Tsk." Ruan Nanzhu tsks softly and turns to look at Lin Qiushi, "It seems we've gotten into trouble."
Lin Qiushi: "Hmm?"
Ruan Nanzhu said, "What if it was not the three sisters who opened the door, but an egg?"
Before Lin Qiushi could say anything, Ruan Nanzhu stepped onto the rooftop. "But since we're already here..."
Lin Qiushi: “…” Friend, do you think you are here for tourism? Damn, since you are here, don’t you want to buy some souvenirs to take back?
Ruan Nanzhu went up to the rooftop and looked left and right, as if he was looking for something.
Lin Qiushi watched him walk around the rooftop, finally stopping in a corner. The corner was filled with black cloth bags, making it hard to get close.
Lin Qiushi stood at the door, keeping watch for Ruan Nanzhu. He watched him bend down and begin rummaging through the bag. But just then, he heard light footsteps, seemingly coming in that direction.
“Nanzhu!! Someone’s coming!” Lin Qiushi called out in a low voice, “Come out quickly—”
Ruan Nanzhu nodded, but did not move.
The footsteps were getting closer and closer, and Lin Qiushi was so anxious that cold sweat broke out on his forehead. Although he didn't know who was coming, he always had a feeling that it was best not to let others know that they had gone to the rooftop.
"Coming." Ruan Nanzhu seemed to have finally found what he wanted, so he stood up and came over. Fortunately, he acted quickly, ran to the door, then closed the iron door and hung the iron lock. The whole action was done in one go.
And the footsteps also came downstairs.
Lin Qiushi suddenly had an idea. He took Ruan Nanzhu's hand and pushed him against the wall. Then he moved closer to Ruan Nanzhu and pretended that they were being intimate.
"Who?" Lin Qiushi turned around after hearing footsteps approaching. His expression showed annoyance at being interrupted. "Who's there?"
No one spoke.
Ruan Nanzhu gave Lin Qiushi a look, and the two of them stood up and walked downstairs. However, they did not see anyone downstairs, as if the footsteps they had just heard were just an illusion.
"No one?" Lin Qiushi asked.
Ruan Nanzhu shook his head and pointed to the corner.
Lin Qiushi looked in the direction he pointed and found a bloodstain in the corner of the wall. The bloodstain looked like something was dragged on the ground. The only thing Lin Qiushi could think of was a black body bag.
"Not bad." Ruan Nanzhu said, "Linlin, you reacted quickly enough."
Lin Qiushi: "Not bad." His palms were actually sweaty, and he wiped them twice. "What did you see?"
Ruan Nanzhu said, "Let's talk about it when we get back."
So the two of them returned to the coffin room.
Because the soundproofing here was so poor, they didn't dare speak too loudly. Ruan Nanzhu leaned against Lin Qiushi, lowering his voice as much as possible, and said, "We found the door."
"Found it?" Lin Qiushi didn't expect this to go so smoothly. "On the rooftop?"
"Yes, it's on the rooftop floor, covered by a body bag." Ruan Nanzhu said, "I guess the key will appear on my birthday. I must seize the opportunity then."
"Yeah." For some reason, Lin Qiushi always felt particularly at ease when Ruan Nanzhu was around. Now that he had found a way out, he felt like he could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"Go to sleep." Ruan Nanzhu said, "Just hold on for a while, then I'll be out."
The next morning, everyone gathered in the living room.
Because Tang Yaoyao was also covered in blood, Lin Qiushi paid special attention to her and found that she had not encountered any accidents and had breakfast with everyone on time.
"I want to go downstairs and take a look today." Ruan Nanzhu said, "Those two people downstairs should have some information on them."
"I'll go with you." Lin Qiushi said.
Tang Yaoyao, however, said she didn't want to go back. She'd been running downstairs for the past two days, but hadn't gotten any information. She was either turned away or simply couldn't communicate. And worst of all, the elevator wouldn't go down, so she had to run up the stairs for over a dozen floors. Every time she did, it felt like she was in a horror movie.
"Then you guys stay upstairs, Yu Linlin and I will go downstairs." Ruan Nanzhu said.
"I want to go with you guys," Xu Xiaocheng said quickly. She looked at Ruan Nanzhu timidly, "Sister Zhu Meng, is that okay?"
"Whatever you want." Ruan Nanzhu said indifferently.
So the three of them stood up and walked towards the door. As they left, Lin Qiushi noticed that the bedroom door was ajar, and a pair of eyes appeared in the gap. It seemed that Xiaotu, the last remaining triplet, was secretly looking at them.
However, when her eyes met Lin Qiushi's, they immediately looked away and the crack in the door closed again.
Lin Qiushi frowned upon seeing this.
Climbing from the 14th floor to the 4th floor without being able to take the elevator was a real pain, especially since the stairwell was dark and narrow, and had the peculiar damp smell of an old building.
"When can I go out?" Xu Xiaocheng asked this question as she went downstairs. "Sister Zhu Meng, I'm so scared every day."
"It's almost done." Ruan Nanzhu said, "Just hold on for two more days."
Xu Xiaocheng nodded with a haggard look.
Lin Qiushi was curious as he watched her. Ruan Nanzhu had said she took on a job and was a big star in real life. He just didn't know how Ruan Nanzhu had gotten the job, or how she'd connected with Xu Xiaocheng.
"We're here." Just as Lin Qiushi was thinking about the problem, they had already reached the fourth floor. But as soon as they left the stairwell on the fourth floor, they smelled a strong smell of blood. The smell was so strong that even people with insensitive noses could probably smell it clearly.
"What's that smell? It's so disgusting." Xu Xiaocheng covered his nose and fanned it with his hand.
"The smell of blood." Lin Qiushi was very familiar with this smell. He walked in front and saw the door at the end of the corridor at a glance.
"Fuck." After seeing the resident's condition clearly, Lin Qiushi couldn't help but curse.
I saw that the resident's door was wide open, and the door was covered with bright red blood. The blood was in a spurt and had already solidified on the ground.
The three of them didn't say anything and walked to the door of the resident.
"Is anyone there?" Lin Qiushi called out at the door without any hope.
As he expected, there was no response from the house. He stepped over the blood and looked inside, only to find the entire house was dark. He took out his cell phone, turned on the flashlight, and shone it inside the house.
Although he had been mentally prepared, when the light from the crowd revealed a bloody corpse, Lin Qiushi still took a step back involuntarily.
"Dead." Ruan Nanzhu stepped into the house.
All the windows in the house were sealed with wooden boards, and no light could be seen. The house was relatively clean. The owner of the house was the young man who opened the door for them a few days ago.
At this time, he had lost all signs of life. His body was slumped on the sofa, his head facing up, and his facial expression was extremely terrified.
"The eyes were gouged out." Ruan Nanzhu said.
Lin Qiushi walked behind Ruan Nanzhu and glanced at the corpse. He found that the man's eyeballs were gone, leaving only two bloody holes. This reminded him of Zeng Ruguo, whose skull had been shattered, and Zhong Chengjian, whose flesh and bones had been gouged out.
"Why did he die suddenly?" Lin Qiushi asked, "Did something go wrong?"
Ruan Nanzhu didn't say anything. He went to the nearby wall and found the light switch in the room. After pressing it, the light above his head lit up.
"There's blood on the window, too." With sufficient lighting, observation became much easier. Lin Qiushi noticed some unusual conditions in the room. He saw that the sealed windows were covered in blood. This blood should not have come from the deceased, as he was at least two or three meters away from the window.
"Do you remember the blood at their door?" Ruan Nanzhu said, "I used to think that blood might be used to ward off evil spirits, but now I think..."
"Did someone want to kill them?" Lin Qiushi suddenly realized, "Did someone deliberately splash blood at their door?"
"Yeah." Ruan Nanzhu nodded.
"Did this man die for Tang Yaoyao?" Lin Qiushi remembered something again. Tang Yaoyao's body was also stained with blood, but she survived the whole night safely. He thought she had escaped, but he didn't expect to see another dead person after going downstairs.
"It should be." Ruan Nanzhu said.
"Let's go to the first floor and take a look." Lin Qiushi thought of the old lady downstairs and wanted to know what the situation was like there.
"Let's go." Ruan Nanzhu agreed.
They left the fourth floor and went to the first floor, where they saw a tightly closed door. As Ruan Nanzhu had deduced, the door to the first floor was closed, but something new had appeared—fresh blood had been splashed on the doorway, and the blood hadn't even coagulated yet, looking as if it had just been splashed there.
Ruan Nanzhu reached out and knocked on the door.
They hadn't expected the person inside to respond, but a moment later, the old woman actually opened the door for them. She half-closed her eyes, gazing at the three of them with cloudy eyes, mumbling something.
Lin Qiushi knew without even listening that she must be repeating the same words: "I've eaten."
He had never paid much attention to the old lady's repeated words before, but now thinking about it, these words were inexplicably creepy.
Why did she keep repeating that she had already eaten? Who was offering her food? What was it? Even though she was old and confused, she still refused out of reflex.
"Old lady, what don't you want to eat?" Lin Qiushi asked.
After asking this question, the old lady was silent for two seconds, and then said in a hoarse voice: "I have eaten, I have eaten the cake."
Lin Qiushi: “…”
"I don't want to eat anymore, I don't want to eat anymore." The old lady said nothing and was about to close the door, but Ruan Nanzhu reached out and grabbed the iron door, saying softly, "Old man, aren't you going to the birthday party this year?"
When the old man heard the words "birthday party", his body trembled, and a strange look appeared in his cloudy eyes. After a moment, he said, "No, no."
Ruan Nanzhu asked, "Why not go?"
The old woman said, "The ones who went out haven't come back yet. I have to wait for them." She muttered this and then began to repeat that she didn't want to eat. No matter what Ruan Nanzhu asked, he couldn't get anything else out of her.
Helplessly, Ruan Nanzhu had to let go and let the door close.
However, although it was just a few words, it confirmed their guess that there was indeed a reason why this building was empty, and the reason seemed to be the birthday of the triplets on the fourteenth floor.
"None of those who attended their birthdays survived?" Lin Qiushi analyzed. "But this world requires us to wait seven days and then attend their birthdays. Isn't this a paradox?"
Ruan Nanzhu said: "The world of the Gate does not set up death situations. Perhaps attending a birthday party is not a necessary condition for death."
"What is that?" Lin Qiushi frowned.
"We don't know yet." Ruan Nanzhu said, "We can only wait."
They returned to the fourteenth floor while discussing.
When Lin Qiushi entered the room, he saw Tang Yaoyao sitting on the sofa with an indifferent expression. Zhang Xinghuo was sitting next to them with a bad look on his face. When they saw them coming back, they didn't say hello, and didn't even bother to say a word.
"What happened?" Xu Xiaocheng asked timidly.
"It's okay." Tang Yaoyao said, "That girl just came to cause trouble for us."
"Looking for trouble with you?" Ruan Nanzhu asked, "What do you mean?"
"She insisted I tell her name," Tang Yaoyao said. "How the hell would I know? All three look exactly the same. Who knows which one died? It's unlucky." After she finished speaking, she spat in anger. "Zhang Xinghuo said not to get angry with children. This is a child? I think it's a ghost."
Zhang Xinghuo said, "Can you please not be so rude? If she were a little ghost, wouldn't your attitude towards her kill her even faster?"
"It's not certain who will die first!" Tang Yaoyao said angrily, "I really don't know what's going on in your head. Can you recognize it?"
Zhang Xinghuo fell silent.
It seems that Tang Yaoyao has been in a bad mood since she was stained with blood yesterday, and this is especially true now.
"The remaining one is Xiao Tu. Don't make the mistake next time." Ruan Nanzhu said calmly, "This may be a condition for death. We just went downstairs and saw that the man on the fourth floor was dead."
Then Lin Qiushi described the situation on the fourth floor and shared some of the information the old man had given him.
Who knew that after hearing the information he shared, Tang Yaoyao's attitude became even worse. She stood up and walked around the room in circles like a trapped beast, with an extremely ferocious expression.
"Tang Yaoyao, what's wrong with you?" Xu Xiaocheng asked worriedly when he saw her appearance.
"Don't worry about me." Tang Yaoyao said, "I'm fine!!" As she spoke, she rubbed her arms vigorously.
The weather here is not cold, and everyone is wearing short sleeves and jackets. Tang Yaoyao is no exception. She wears a T-shirt inside and a single piece of clothing outside. The movements of her hands are very large and rough.
No one spoke, and everyone felt that something was wrong with Tang Yaoyao.
"Tang Yaoyao, what's wrong with your hand..." Xu Xiaocheng couldn't help but asked in a low voice.
Tang Yaoyao said angrily: "What's wrong with me? I'm fine, I'm fine, very fine!!" After she said this, she rolled up her sleeves and continued to rub her arms.
But after she rolled up her sleeves, Lin Qiushi saw a mark on her hand.
It was a red mark, somewhat like blood splattered there. Tang Yaoyao rubbed it vigorously with her hands, as if it was extremely itchy.
Then, Lin Qiushi saw the red mark gradually spread, from his forearm to his shoulder. Everyone's eyes widened, clearly witnessing this horrifying scene, but Tang Yaoyao remained unfazed, continuing her actions until she noticed their gazes.
"What are you looking at me for?" Tang Yaoyao, whose cheeks were also turning blood red, asked in confusion.
The author has something to say: Ruan Nanzhu: Now that I’m here…
Lin Qiushi: Where are you touching?
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