Chapter 34: Extra People
Ruan Nanzhu heard this and moved his thin lips, about to say something, but Lin Qiushi raised his hand, stopping him. He said, "Your health isn't good to begin with. If something happens while you're trying to go up, what will we do? Besides, you can't accompany me through every door ahead."
Ruan Nanzhu was silent for a moment after hearing Lin Qiushi's words. Then he pointed at Cheng Qianli and said, "Go up with him."
Cheng Qianli said "oh" obediently and did not refute.
Xu Jin seemed to be hesitant to speak. It seemed that he wanted to persuade Lin Qiushi not to go, but he didn't know what excuse to make.
After the matter was settled, they soon found a wooden frame nearly ten meters high in the woods near the temple, which was almost as high as the temple.
"Is this it?" Lin Qiushi reached out and pressed on the wooden shelf to make sure it was sturdy enough.
"Yes." Ruan Nanzhu, "If anything goes wrong, come down immediately. Safety is the most important thing."
Lin Qiushi nodded and stepped onto the wooden shelf.
The shelf looked old, but thankfully, it was of good quality and didn't feel shaky when climbing up. Lin Qiushi walked very carefully. "Cheng Qianli, you're not afraid of heights, are you?"
Cheng Qianli: "I'm not afraid of anything except ghosts."
Lin Qiushi thought that was fine, but Cheng Qianli's movements were quite agile. He was a sixteen-year-old boy, and his reaction ability was at its peak. If he hadn't helped Lin Qiushi the last time he climbed the platform, Lin Qiushi would probably have been dead.
The higher they went, the stronger the wind became. In the end, Lin Qiushi had to slow down and continue climbing while observing the situation.
The platform is approximately ten meters high, with a wooden platform at the top connecting to the temple's roof. Once you reach the top, you'll have a panoramic view of the surrounding scenery, from the magnificent temple to the mysterious jungle. The view from above takes on a unique charm.
Seeing that they were about to reach the wooden platform, Lin Qiushi said, "We're almost there. Be careful."
Cheng Qianli nodded and said okay.
Taking a deep breath, Lin Qiushi flipped directly onto the platform. He originally thought that there would be some uneaten corpses on the platform, but he found that the entire platform was empty - there was nothing.
No, to be precise, it wasn't that there was nothing left, but that it had been completely eaten. Not a single bone, not even a hair, was left. Only the faint traces of blood on the wood grain told anyone who came here what had happened.
Behind the platform, the roof of the temple should have been revealed, but at this time, a thick layer of fog rose in the mountains, covering the scenery that should have been unobstructed, and everything became blurred.
Lin Qiushi took a step forward and made room for Cheng Qianli.
After Cheng Qianli climbed onto the wooden platform, he was stunned for a moment when he saw Shan Lan. "It's foggy in the middle of the day..." He turned his head and glanced at Lin Qiushi. "Should we still go?"
Lin Qiushi hesitated for a moment and looked down.
Xu Jin and Ruan Nanzhu both looked up and saw that they had finally climbed onto the platform. They also waved at them.
Because they were quite far away, Lin Qiushi couldn't see their expressions, but he thought they must be full of worry.
"Let's go," Lin Qiushi said. "Just like your sister Zhu Meng said, if you want to get out alive, you have to take some risks."
"Yeah." Cheng Qianli nodded.
The two walked slowly forward. The closer they got to the roof, the louder the music became, as if the person playing the instrument was not far in front of them.
Lin Qiushi took a step forward and walked from the platform to the roof.
As he stepped over, he paused slightly, feeling that the material under his feet seemed to be a little off. Cheng Qianli's reaction was similar, and he stomped on it with his foot: "...Shit, this can't be what I imagined."
"I don't know," Lin Qiushi said, "It's not a normal roof anyway."
The roof's material wasn't soft, but it wasn't hard either. If I had to describe it, it felt like they were on a rather bouncy trampoline. But based on my observations from below, if this temple were a drum, then the drumhead at the very top would be human skin.
Their speculation was confirmed, and Lin Qiushi and Cheng Qianli's expressions became serious.
Lin Qiushi took a few steps forward and discovered that every time he moved forward, the drum under his feet would make a crisp percussion sound. He had heard this sound just the day before - when knives were raining from the sky.
So it wasn't someone beating drums, it was someone running on the roof?
In the hazy mist, the sound of music guided their direction. The temple wasn't particularly large, but Lin Qiushi felt as if he had been walking for an eternity, so long that he began to wonder if he was just going in circles. Finally, something different appeared before him.
It was a back view, the back view of a young girl.
Although her long black hair covered most of her body, Lin Qiushi could still tell from her clothes that she was wearing the same clothes as the girl who appeared in the illusion yesterday.
"Where are you?" the girl suddenly said. "Where are you?"
Lin Qiushi and Cheng Qianli both held their breath. They both knew that the girl before them could not possibly be human.
"Where are you?" The music came from beside her. The girl seemed to notice their arrival and stopped playing. She said, "Someone is coming."
She slowly turned around, revealing her front.
It was a face without skin, with red flesh clinging to her cheeks. Her eyeballs had been gouged out, leaving only black eye sockets. She said, "It hurts so much."
Lin Qiushi held his breath. He grabbed Cheng Qianli beside him and turned to leave. Cheng Qianli seemed stunned by the scene before him. He said nothing and followed Lin Qiushi in a panic.
The two of them stepped on the soft drum surface, beating out crisp drum beats.
"It hurts so much." The girl's voice was behind him, and she repeated the words, "Where are you?"
The drumbeats grew louder, and Lin Qiushi felt his body begin to grow heavy. He panted heavily, but couldn't make himself run faster. The suffocating feeling of lack of oxygen began to assault him... For the first time, Lin Qiushi realized how unwieldy his body truly was.
Lin Qiushi's pace gradually slowed down as his strength was about to run out. He glanced behind him, but did not see the little girl who was supposed to be chasing them.
"Huff, huff..." Panting heavily, just as Lin Qiushi stopped, he heard a voice.
The voice came from his back, and the little girl said, "Why don't you play the drums anymore?"
Lin Qiushi turned his head stiffly and saw a bloody face right behind him, staring into his eyes quietly.
"Cough cough cough!" Because of the fright, Lin Qiushi started coughing violently. He staggered and fell to the ground, and his hands touched the human skin under his feet.
The touch was very soft, even with the unique warmth of the human body. Lin Qiushi lowered his head and tried hard to calm his cough, but the girl lying on his back crawled in front of him.
"Where is she?" the girl continued to ask, tilting her head as if she could only say these two words: "I'm in so much pain."
Lin Qiushi looked up and finally saw her appearance clearly.
She had no legs and could only crawl on the ground with her hands. Her skin had been peeled off, revealing red skin and flesh. Her eyes seemed to have been gouged out as well. Now, those dark, hollow pupils stared coldly at Lin Qiushi, awaiting his answer.
Lin Qiushi suddenly remembered the handwriting in the diary. He swallowed hard and gave his answer: "She's looking for you."
The girl quieted down.
"She's been looking for you," Lin Qiushi said. "Until she left this world...she's been looking for you."
The girl slowly straightened up, then stretched out her hand and slapped the drum hard.
"Boom!" The crisp sound of drums made people feel cold all over. The mountain mist in front of them dissipated, and the scenery in front of them began to become clear.
"Do you... want to see her?" Lin Qiushi asked.
"Bring her to me." The girl said the last words and then disappeared from Lin Qiushi's sight.
Lin Qiushi survived the ordeal and was almost completely exhausted. He struggled to stand up, only to see Cheng Qianli squatting next to him, also exhausted.
When Cheng Qianli saw him, he uttered with difficulty, "Fuck, Lin Qiushi, let's get down quickly."
Lin Qiushi nodded and walked towards the stage with Cheng Qianli.
Cheng Qianli's face was pale and he didn't say a word along the way. There was some blood on his body, but he didn't know if it was from the little girl.
They climbed down the wooden platform with weak hands and feet, both of them looked like they were almost dead.
Ruan Nanzhu hurried forward to inquire about the situation.
Lin Qiushi sat on the ground, shook his head, and recounted what had happened above in simple words.
"Cheng Qianli, what are you hiding in your arms?" Ruan Nanzhu noticed something else.
Lin Qiushi looked towards Cheng Qianli and discovered that there was a bulge in Cheng Qianli's T-shirt. He knew at a glance that there must be something inside.
Cheng Qianli took a deep breath and took something out from his arms - it was a bone flute. Although the shape had changed, it was still clear that it was made of human bones.
Lin Qiushi: "...You're truly courageous." You even dared to bring this thing out?
Cheng Qianli, who occasionally showed some courage, was frightened to the point of bursting into tears. He shed tears and snot like a rabbit, rubbing them all over Lin Qiushi. He said, "It's not easy for me either. I saw that thing standing in front of you but didn't dare to save it. I could only grit my teeth and stamp my feet, hoping to see if I could bring anything out. After all, I was already here..."
Lin Qiushi: “…”
Ruan Nanzhu reached out and patted his head: "Stop crying, it's embarrassing at your age."
Cheng Qianli felt wronged: "I still have two years to go before I become an adult."
Ruan Nanzhu: "Go talk to that thing up there and see if she can let you die quickly because you're both minors."
Cheng Qianli: "No, no..."
Seeing the bone flute, Lin Qiushi understood why the girl's legs looked like that. He said, "But since Cheng Qianli brought the girl down, it shouldn't be a big deal."
Ruan Nanzhu: "So now she wants us to bring her sister here?"
Lin Qiushi: "That should be the case." He thought for a while, a hint of confusion appearing on his face, "But how do we identify her sister's remains?" If his guess was correct, his sister's remains should be over there in the pagodas. There were countless remains in the pagodas, and it was impossible to try to find them one by one.
Ruan Nanzhu fell into deep thought: "There is always a way."
Cheng Qianli finally recovered from his panic, wiped his nose and tears, and began to exaggerate how thrilling it was on the roof.
"You don't know how scared I was when I saw that thing lying behind Brother Linlin." Cheng Qianli said, "I wanted to tell Brother Linlin, but that thing kept staring at me. I thought we were both going to die on it."
"Ah," Lin Qiushi said, "I almost thought so." He lowered his head and tugged at his T-shirt, which was covered in blood, as if he had just experienced a murder.
"It's good that you can come down." Ruan Nanzhu comforted them calmly, "It seems that the key should appear when the sisters meet, but we still need to find that door..."
They walked towards the temple while talking. When they were almost there, they saw Meng Yu talking to a girl. They looked very intimate and the atmosphere was ambiguous.
Ruan Nanzhu and Xu Jin looked at each other in tacit understanding.
Xu Jin said quietly from the side, "It's really a great place to fall in love." After saying that, she glanced at Lin Qiushi.
Lin Qiushi was baffled, but Ruan Nanzhu, understanding, moved closer to him and said with a smile, "Linlin, were you uncomfortable squeezing in with Mu Yu yesterday? Why don't we sleep in the same bed today..."
Lin Qiushi: "As long as you're happy."
Xu Jin was so angry that his teeth were itching.
After realizing that he was seen, Meng Yu was not in a hurry and greeted them with a smile.
"Did you find anything?" Meng Yu asked.
"No." Ruan Nanzhu answered calmly.
Meng Yu raised an eyebrow, a half-smile on his face, and his peach blossom eyes shifted to Lin Qiushi: "What happened to you? Why are your clothes like this?"
Ruan Nanzhu: "I was unlucky. I encountered the same little monster I saw last time. Fortunately, I escaped." As he spoke, he coughed lightly a few times. His weak and frail posture made people feel a little pity for him.
Meng Yu didn't ask any further questions. He just said to be careful and turned away with the woman.
Lin Qiushi found it somewhat unbelievable that he had let them off so easily. However, Ruan Nanzhu waved his hand, frowning and saying not to worry too much about him. He was probably just an old man who had taken on the job. As long as the person who had taken the job could be guaranteed to get out alive, it was naturally a good thing for someone to take the trouble to open the door.
"However," Ruan Nanzhu said, "I do think Meng Yu looks familiar..."
Lin Qiushi: "Look familiar?"
Ruan Nanzhu: "I feel like I've seen him somewhere." He pondered for a moment, but didn't seem to come up with any answer, so he gave up. "Forget it, since he's not a threat to us, let's go out and think about it. The most important thing now is to find the key as soon as possible."
Lin Qiushi nodded.
After they returned to the temple, they found that the atmosphere in the temple seemed to be wrong. After asking carefully, they found out that when they went out, the monster they saw yesterday appeared again, still dragging a long knife, but this time there was no knife outside, so everyone ran out to hide, and did not come back until the monster disappeared.
Someone in the crowd said that the monster seemed to appear with the sound of drums. Lin Qiushi immediately remembered that he and Cheng Qianli had been running on the roof for a long time, and thought that this matter might have something to do with them.
However, although he thought so in his heart, he did not say it, but just expressed his doubts with everyone else.
Fortunately, apart from this incident, there were no new victims in the team.
In the evening, the tour guide arrived at the agreed location on time as usual. She smiled and repeated what she said the day before, then took everyone back to the residence.
After announcing the scheduled time for tomorrow, the tour guide said goodbye to everyone. Before leaving, she suddenly said something she hadn't said the day before: "See you tomorrow morning. Not one of the twelve people can be left behind."
As soon as these words were spoken, the relaxed smiles on everyone's faces immediately faded, and some people even showed expressions of fear.
The tour guide seemed not to see anything, waved his hand casually and disappeared in front of everyone.
"Twelve? Why twelve? Aren't there thirteen of us?" The crowd began to murmur, "Could it be that someone will die tonight..."
"Yes, that's definitely the case." Someone agreed, "So there will only be twelve tomorrow, and one will not survive tonight."
The more they talked, the more panicked everyone became. It was obvious that no one wanted to be the poor victim.
On the other hand, Meng Yu and Ruan Nanzhu were quite quiet, listening silently to the discussions of others without expressing any opinions.
"I'm so sleepy today. Let's go back to bed early." Ruan Nanzhu yawned lazily. He was not affected by the tour guide's words at all. He rubbed his eyes and leaned on Lin Qiushi's shoulder with a tired look.
"Let's go." Lin Qiushi nodded.
Meng Yu was sitting next to her. After hearing Ruan Nanzhu's words, he smiled and said, "You are so carefree, young lady. You can even fall asleep like this?"
Ruan Nanzhu: "If I can't sleep, I don't have to die?" He waved his hand lazily, "I have to die anyway."
Meng Yu: "That's true."
The four of them returned to their residence, washed up quickly, and then lay back in bed.
Just as he had said during the day, Ruan Nanzhu slept in Lin Qiushi's bed tonight, while Cheng Qianli was sent to sleep alone.
Xu Jin had become numb, habitually watching the two of them show off their love. She didn't seem to be in a good mood today, and she didn't say much all day. She fell asleep early after going to bed.
"What do you think of the tour guide's words today?" Just when Lin Qiushi thought Ruan Nanzhu had fallen asleep, he leaned close to Lin Qiushi's ear and whispered softly.
"Perhaps they are right?" Lin Qiushi said, "Something will happen tonight..."
"I don't think so," Ruan Nanzhu said, "but I'm not sure yet. We won't know until after tonight."
Lin Qiushi stroked his hair and asked, "How do you feel?"
Ruan Nanzhu: "Much better." He said, "Go to sleep."
"Yeah." Lin Qiushi nodded.
Nights with Ruan Nanzhu by his side always brought peaceful sleep. Tonight was no exception; Lin Qiushi slept through the next day without being awakened.
Cheng Qianli, however, looked like he had been up all night and said, "Brother Linlin, you are really generous."
Lin Qiushi: "What do you mean?"
Cheng Qianli was stunned: "Have you forgotten the bloody handprint we saw under the bed yesterday?"
Lin Qiushi: “…” Hey, he really had forgotten, but he still pretended to be like, “How could I have forgotten?” and said earnestly, “I didn’t forget. How could I have forgotten something so important?”
Cheng Qianli: "Aren't you afraid?"
Lin Qiushi: "Are you afraid that it can solve the problem?" He patted Cheng Qianli's shoulder and said, "Be brave!"
Cheng Qianli nodded heavily, with little stars of admiration in his eyes.
Then Lin Qiushi timidly slid over to Ruan Nanzhu and whispered, "Nanzhu, do you still remember that bloody handprint from yesterday?"
Ruan Nanzhu said, "Yeah."
Lin Qiushi: "Aren't you afraid of falling asleep with me like this?"
Ruan Nanzhu looked confused and said, "I'm not even afraid of ghosts, so why would I be afraid of that bloody handprint?"
Lin Qiushi: “…” The boss is indeed a boss.
Because of what the tour guide said yesterday, the whole team was in a panic, but when everyone gathered together in the morning, they found that the imagined victim did not appear.
There were thirteen people yesterday, and there are still thirteen people today, not one more, not one less.
"Fortunately, fortunately, the tour guide really did scare us." Someone in the crowd sighed.
"Yes, fortunately there are no missing people." The voice of response was also very loud.
But Lin Qiushi noticed that after discovering that there were no fewer people, Ruan Nanzhu's face suddenly turned gloomy. He did not eat and his eyes wandered among the crowd.
"What's wrong?" Lin Qiushi was a little confused.
"It's worse than death." Ruan Nanzhu looked unhappy. "I didn't expect to encounter this kind of thing again."
"What do you mean?" Lin Qiushi still didn't understand.
Ruan Nanzhu said: "Generally speaking, key NPCs won't lie."
Lin Qiushi said, "So..." He immediately understood what Ruan Nanzhu meant when he heard this. "Does it mean that among the thirteen of us, one isn't human?"
"If someone had died yesterday, things would have been easier to handle," Ruan Nanzhu said. "Unfortunately, no one died."
He picked up the water glass and took a sip, "Now we're in trouble."
This was naturally very troublesome. It had been the fourth day since Lin Qiushi came here, and he hadn't even remembered everyone's names, not to mention how difficult it would be to find the one person who was not a human among these people.
Most people were in a good mood after finding out that nothing happened yesterday.
In addition to Ruan Nanzhu, there is also Meng Yu.
At first glance, Meng Yu and Ruan Nanzhu's expressions looked somewhat similar, with their brows slightly furrowed and their eyes revealing a hint of indifference and contemplation.
Soon, the two noticed each other. Meng Yu stood up and walked to Ruan Nanzhu's side, showing his habitual gentle smile: "Can we go out and talk?"
"Of course." Ruan Nanzhu agreed. He turned his head and said to Lin Qiushi, "Wait for me for a moment."
So he went out with Meng Yu.
"What happened?" Cheng Qianli and Xu Jin, who had gone out to get breakfast, just came back and met Ruan Nanzhu who was walking out with Meng Yu. He didn't hear what Ruan Nanzhu said, so naturally he didn't know Ruan Nanzhu's guess. He was still rejoicing with others that no one died last night.
Lin Qiushi wanted to speak, but suddenly hesitated and finally said, "Meng Yu has something to tell him."
"Oh." Cheng Qianli nodded.
Xu Jin whispered beside him, "Brother Lin, aren't you jealous when they're alone together?"
Lin Qiushi: "Jealous? Jealous of what?"
Xu Jin: "...You and Zhu Meng are not..."
Lin Qiushi explained: "We are just friends."
Xu Jin: "Friends???"
Lin Qiushi: "Just a simple boyfriend and girlfriend..."
Xu Jin fell silent: "Brother Linlin, you are such a good person." But his hair is a little green.
After a while, Ruan Nanzhu and Meng Yu came back from outside. The gloom on their faces had faded a lot. Although they didn't smile, they looked much better than when they went out.
"What did you say?" Cheng Qianli asked curiously.
Ruan Nanzhu: "Why are you asking so many questions, kid?" He turned to look at Lin Qiushi, "Do you want to know what we talked about?"
Cheng Qianli: “…” That’s too much.
Lin Qiushi nodded obediently.
Ruan Nanzhu narrowed his eyes and smiled: "Kiss me and I'll tell you."
Lin Qiushi: “Huh?”
Xu Jin looked at it with a look of deep sorrow on his face.
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