Chapter 59 Inheritance
After a simple breakfast, everyone dispersed in the restaurant.
This time, Wang Tianxin, who had lost his female companion, showed no intention of leaving the house. He looked embarrassed and wanted to go back to his room. Someone asked him rudely, "Wang Tianxin, are you planning to stay in your room?"
Wang Tianxin was suddenly asked this question. Although he looked a little embarrassed, his attitude was very firm: "Yes, I am not feeling well. I don't want to go out today."
The person who asked him sneered: "I'm afraid you will feel uncomfortable for the next few days."
Wang Tianxin was furious and said, "What's it to you? I'm not feeling well, so what? If you can, just be uncomfortable with me!"
This was extremely shameless, and everyone looked down on him after hearing it.
Except for two newcomers, most of the people here have gone through several doors and have encountered extremely passive participants like Wang Tianxin within the door.
This kind of person will not take the initiative to look for clues. All they think about is how to save their own lives. They have no value to the team and are a pure burden.
Ruan Nanzhu glanced at Wang Tianxin, said nothing, and left with Lin Qiushi.
After leaving the hotel, Ruan Nanzhu said indifferently, "Based on my old temper, people like Wang Tianxin wouldn't be able to leave here alive."
Lin Qiushi: "Didn't they say you can't kill people inside this sect?"
Ruan Nanzhu smiled faintly: "I am a law-abiding citizen. How could I kill someone? There are so many ways to kill someone. Why should I do it myself?"
Indeed, the world inside the door is inherently dangerous, as if human life has become the least valuable thing.
Ruan Nanzhu: "If two or three people like him appear, it would be easy to wipe out the whole group."
Lin Qiushi: "What do you mean?"
Ruan Nanzhu: "Think about it, people always compare themselves to each other. You're working so hard to find clues, but someone is hiding in a room doing nothing. How can you feel balanced?"
Lin Qiushi: “That’s true…”
Ruan Nanzhu did not continue the topic, but his expression was very clear. If Wang Tianxin dared to do anything weird again, he might never be able to walk out of this door.
Today they planned to visit the families with children in town. Although Dong Tianwei from the team said that the families refused to let them see the children, Lin Qiushi felt that these children might be the key to a breakthrough. He and Ruan Nanzhu walked through the town and arrived at a row of shabby-looking two-story buildings.
The paint on these buildings has almost fallen off, and traces of rain erosion can be vaguely seen in the corners. The doors of the houses are locked, and the small yard is separated from the outside world by barbed wire, and is overgrown with dense weeds - to be honest, if it weren't for the lights on in the house, this place really doesn't look like a place where people live.
However, the styles of these rows of buildings are very similar, and they all have an atmosphere of keeping strangers away.
Lin Qiushi asked Dong Tianwei in detail about the situations of these families that morning. Dong Tianwei's answer was: Although they entered these houses smoothly at that time, they did not see any children at all. The attitudes of these families were very indifferent and they did not answer any questions.
Lin Qiushi asked, "Have you checked the room?"
Dong Tianwei: "We did check, but there was nothing to find. There was no child inside anyway."
Lin Qiushi understood.
While Lin Qiushi was thinking, Ruan Nanzhu had already rang the doorbell.
After the crisp doorbell rang, the old door in the house creaked slightly, and an old lady with a gloomy face appeared from the other side of the door. She looked around with cloudy eyes and saw Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu standing at the door.
Lin Qiushi originally thought that she would ask them what they were doing there, but the old lady didn't say anything. She walked up to them, opened the door, then turned around and went back into the house, as if to say, "I won't tell you anything, just do as you please."
Ruan Nanzhu: "Old lady." He called out, but the old lady ignored him and went back to the house as if she couldn't hear anything.
Since she didn't want to talk, Lin Qiushi and the others didn't force her.
Before entering the house, they checked the small courtyard in front of them but found no useful clues. Ruan Nanzhu and Lin Qiushi said, "The town has reported that there's a seven-year-old girl in this family, and she's not missing yet. If the mayor's information is correct, there must be a child here, but they're being hidden by this family."
Lin Qiushi nodded. Dong Tianwei had also said this.
"So, let's look for it." Ruan Nanzhu pushed open the wooden door in front of him, and the two entered the house.
The room was a mess, with all sorts of odd and strange things piled up throughout. The old lady who had opened the door for them sat drowsily in a rocking chair. The entire room was illuminated by the faint glow of a small overhead lightbulb, making it look dim and old.
"Let's look for them separately. Call me if anything happens." Ruan Nanzhu whispered to Lin Qiushi, "Don't worry too much at the critical moment." After all, the character setting is used to deceive people. Who can deceive others when his life is almost gone?
Lin Qiushi nodded, pointed to the second floor, and typed: I'll go to the second floor and take a look.
Ruan Nanzhu hummed.
When Lin Qiushi said he wanted to go upstairs to check, the old lady raised her eyes and glanced at him. Although the movement was very subtle, Lin Qiushi still caught it. He suddenly understood and felt that the child must be hidden on the second floor.
Lin Qiushi walked up the long staircase and reached the upper floor.
The second floor should be the master bedroom and study, which is also old, but at least there is no messy clutter like downstairs.
Lin Qiushi checked every room, but found no trace of the child. He even checked the closet and under the bed, but still found nothing.
The room is so small, where can a living person hide?
Lin Qiushi really couldn't understand it.
Just when Lin Qiushi was confused, his keen hearing caught an unusual sound.
The sound was a bit like nails scratching on wood, very subtle, but Lin Qiushi was certain he heard it. He raised his eyes, looked around, and quickly found the source of the sound... It was in the corner of the room.
Lin Qiushi looked over and saw a wooden box about half a meter wide in the corner. Given its size, it definitely couldn't fit a person inside. Perhaps there was a secret passage inside.
Thinking so, Lin Qiushi bent down to check and confirmed that the wooden box was the source of the sound. However, there was a copper lock hanging on the wooden box. Lin Qiushi thought about it and decided to call Ruan Nanzhu downstairs to open the lock.
"Is this where the sound comes from?" Ruan Nanzhu asked Lin Qiushi.
Lin Qiushi typed for him: Yes, there should be a secret passage here.
Ruan Nanzhu: "Okay." He half squatted and started to unlock the door.
The lock was not complicated, and Ruan Nanzhu opened it in just a moment. However, the moment the lock was opened, Lin Qiushi's eyes suddenly widened - he saw the scene inside the box.
"Ah...ah..." The child with a broken body and trapped in a box in a twisted posture let out a weak moan. Her body was almost completely twisted and was stuffed into the box in front of her. Looking at her appearance, it was hard to imagine that she was still alive.
Ruan Nanzhu frowned when he saw this scene.
Lin Qiushi was about to step forward to get the child out, but Ruan Nanzhu reached out to stop him: "No need, she's dead."
Lin Qiushi: "What...but...she..."
Ruan Nanzhu: "Look at her neck."
Lin Qiushi took a look and realized the child's neck was bent almost 90 degrees. A normal person, bent like that, would have absolutely no chance of remaining alive. This was impossible outside the door, but within, it was possible because she was no longer alive. The child before him raised her dark eyes and looked at Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu with resentment. Her pale lips muttered incomprehensible words, as if she were cursing something.
Lin Qiushi cursed softly.
"The way they hide the children is really incomprehensible." Ruan Nanzhu was speaking when a roar suddenly came from behind him.
Lin Qiushi turned his head and saw the old woman who had been sitting on the first floor had appeared outside the door. She saw Ruan Nanzhu and Lin Qiushi open the box, let out an angry cry, and rushed towards them.
After Lin Qiushi nimbly dodged, he discovered that the old woman actually had a knife in her hand—
"Let's go!" Ruan Nanzhu shouted and prepared to leave. Lin Qiushi followed him and ran towards the stairs. The two of them hurriedly ran downstairs and left the yard. They thought the old woman would chase them out, but they didn't expect the house to be so quiet.
"She didn't chase out?" Lin Qiushi gasped, looking at the wide-open door in a daze.
"It seems not." Ruan Nanzhu was also watching. After confirming that no one had come out, he asked curiously, "How about I go back and take a look?"
Lin Qiushi: "...Do we really need to go back and check it out?"
Ruan Nanzhu: "You stay here, I'll go back and take care of it."
Lin Qiushi thought for a moment and said, "Forget it. Let's just go together. We can take care of each other if anything happens."
Ruan Nanzhu said, "Okay."
So the two people who ran out went back into the house. This time they were very careful. They first observed carefully outside the door to make sure that the old woman was gone before going back in.
The two of them carefully climbed the stairs to the second floor. As soon as Lin Qiushi reached the stairs, he heard an ominous sound... The sound was very crisp, a bit like the sound of bones breaking.
Ruan Nanzhu glanced at Lin Qiushi, and it was obvious that he had heard it too.
The two walked towards the room they had just been in. When they reached the door, they saw clearly what was happening inside.
The old lady was grabbed by a pair of hands, which stretched out from the box. They were slender and thin, with pale skin. They wrapped around the old lady like a snake, then grabbed the old lady's body and began to drag her into the box.
The box, which was not big to begin with, was already stuffed full, but because the hands were so strong, half of the old lady's body was stuffed in. Her bones were obviously broken, and her body was twisted and twitching in an abnormal posture... and she lost her life.
This scene was so horrifying that a layer of white sweat broke out on Lin Qiushi's arms after watching it.
"What should we do?" Lin Qiushi asked Ruan Nanzhu.
Ruan Nanzhu was silent for a moment and lit a cigarette: "Let's go check out other houses."
Lin Qiushi: "Hmm..."
The two of them closed the wooden door in front of them tacitly and turned away.
"The old man stuffed that girl in there, right? Was he afraid that she would be captured by the noodle man?" Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu discussed this on the way.
"It should be." Ruan Nanzhu said.
This is very strange. Normally, families should protect their children, but in order to "protect" these children, they even locked them in a small box and let them die tragically. Even so, they were unwilling to watch the children being taken away by the noodle man.
"Hey, why does that person's back look so familiar?" Just as the two of them were walking towards the remaining houses, Lin Qiushi saw a familiar figure. He carefully identified it for a moment before exclaiming in surprise, "Isn't this Wang Tianxin's missing female companion?"
Ruan Nanzhu took a look and said, "It really is her."
The two men stood by the roadside and saw the girl named Liu Ya walking through a secluded path in the town and heading towards the desolate woods. Her expression was cold and indifferent, completely different from the timid and slightly flattering girl in Lin Qiushi's memory.
"Let's follow and see?" Ruan Nanzhu suggested.
Lin Qiushi nodded.
Then the two of them followed Liu Ya, wanting to see where she was going.
Liu Ya walked forward and soon left the town and walked into a desolate bush. The bushes were surrounded by fog, and only the path in front of her was clear.
"Will we get out of bounds if we follow her like this?" Lin Qiushi asked Ruan Nanzhu in a low voice.
Ruan Nanzhu: "I don't think so. Her current condition is very wrong... I think she is no longer human."
Lin Qiushi pursed his lips. In fact, ever since they learned that Liu Ya had left with Lauren's sister yesterday, they had suspected that this girl was in grave danger. After all, this was the world inside the gate. Even if they saw someone, they might not be truly "human."
Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu were afraid that Liu Ya would discover them, so they didn't dare to follow too closely. Through the fog, Ruan Nanzhu saw that Liu Ya had stopped. He reached out and grabbed Lin Qiushi, signaling him to stop.
They arrived at a ruined area that had once been part of a town, but was now abandoned. There were wreckage of buildings and overgrown weeds everywhere, giving it a strange, desolate feel.
Liu Ya stood quietly deep in the ruins, as if waiting for something.
Lin Qiushi heard rustling sounds coming from the thick fog, as if something was moving inside.
Ruan Nanzhu and he squatted behind a piece of ruins. They held their breath and dared not make any noise.
Soon, a dark shadow walked out from the depths of the fog.
He was a tall man, wearing a black suit and a tall hat. He had no facial features, his face was pale, and his hands and feet were thin and long, twisting like a snake. He slowly walked in front of Liu Ya and stopped.
Liu Ya stared at the person in front of her in silence.
Then, the noodle man did something that Lin Qiushi did not expect. He reached out, grabbed his top hat, and began to try to take it off.
However, the hat seemed to be stuck to his head... Lin Qiushi even heard a sound like silk being torn - the thin ghost figure actually tore off his skin and hat together.
This scene looked so painful that Lin Qiushi felt it was really uncomfortable to watch.
Ruan Nanzhu gently held Lin Qiushi's wrist and soothed him.
Lin Qiushi wanted to say that he was fine, but was afraid of making a sound, so he gave up.
After pulling the top hat off abruptly, the slender ghost handed the hat to Liu Ya.
Liu Ya solemnly took the blood-stained hat, stroked it gently for a moment, and then put it on her head.
Then, a strange change began to occur in her body.
Her body began to grow taller, her hands and feet became slender, her skin became paler, and her facial features began to disappear... In short, Liu Ya was transforming into the appearance of a slender ghost.
As Liu Ya changed, the originally slender ghost let out a sharp cry. He opened his mouth, revealing a large blood-red mouth and fine, dense teeth... To be honest, it was the first time Lin Qiushi saw the slender ghost open his mouth.
The originally thin and tall ghost began to become shorter, as if the water in its body had been drained out, becoming shorter and shorter, and more and more shriveled.
In the end, it turned into a piece of something like human skin, and all the flesh and blood seemed to have evaporated.
Liu Yaze had completely turned into a thin ghost. Her clothes were torn due to the changes in her body. So she bent down, picked up the suit that fell on the ground, put it on one by one, adjusted her top hat, let out a strange laugh, and reached out to pick up the shriveled human skin.
Lin Qiushi watched helplessly as the newly born, slender ghost figure stuffed the shriveled human skin into his mouth and swallowed it mouthful by mouthful.
This scene should have been extremely disgusting and terrifying, but Lin Qiushi's attention was focused on something else - he clearly saw that there seemed to be a metal-like object wrapped inside the human skin. Although Lin Qiushi wanted to deceive himself, he was very sure that he saw what the metal was... That's right, it was the key to leaving this door.
The key to this door is actually in the body of the slender ghost.
For a moment, the atmosphere between Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu became heavy.
Liu Ya ate the skin of her predecessor with a look of satisfaction, then turned and disappeared into the thick fog. Looking at his departing back, Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu tacitly did not speak, but turned and left. They did not let out the breath they had been holding back until they returned to the town.
Ruan Nanzhu's expression was serious: "Did you see it?"
Lin Qiushi: “I see.”
Ruan Nanzhu: "It's very long..."
Lin Qiushi's expression froze: "What's long?" Hands and feet?
Ruan Nanzhu smiled but said nothing.
Lin Qiushi sensed a hint of mockery in his smile and finally realized what part Ruan Nanzhu had meant by "very long." His face twisted, "...Did you look that closely?"
Ruan Nanzhu: "Actually, I didn't want to do that either. It's all because my eyesight is so good."
Lin Qiushi: "Did you feel wronged?"
Ruan Nanzhu: "Not bad."
Very good, very good. After their perverted tracking, they finally confirmed that the slender ghost is a male, and a male with a very standard or even long body part. Their gains are really great... Lin Qiushi thought sadly.
"It seems they all have a common template for turning into Slender Man." Ruan Nanzhu finished joking and got down to business. "The hat is the delivery object."
Lin Qiushi: "What about the key?"
Ruan Nanzhu: "Two options. First, we go and knock the Slender Man down and cut the key out of his stomach."
Lin Qiushi: "I'd better choose the second one." He didn't think his fighting ability could defeat that thing. In fact, even if Ruan Nanzhu was added, he still felt that this matter was very risky.
Ruan Nanzhu: "Second, take action while they are exchanging."
Lin Qiushi fell into deep thought.
Ruan Nanzhu: "I guess that hat is very important, so when the first ghost takes off his hat, we will take action and interrupt their inheritance."
Lin Qiushi: "That makes sense."
The logic was sound, but how to interrupt it was indeed a problem, and the worst thing was that if they failed to interrupt, they would probably die on the spot. That Slender Man didn't seem to be a good-tempered character.
"It doesn't have to be just the two of us," Ruan Nanzhu said. "Although clues are important, lives are more important. We can tell everyone about this, and then we can all come together."
Lin Qiushi thought it made sense. After all, there was strength in numbers, and more people meant more solutions. However, a problem remained: "What if they refuse?"
Ruan Nanzhu: "If you refuse..." He sneered, "If you refuse, then just wait to die." He smiled and looked at Lin Qiushi seriously, "I guarantee they will die before us."
Lin Qiushi felt that Ruan Nanzhu was indeed not joking.
The two of them were a little tired after running around all day, so they planned to go back to the hotel to rest.
When passing by the square, Lin Qiushi found that the missing person notice he had posted yesterday appeared on the bulletin board again, but this time there was one more.
Lin Qiushi saw the photo on the extra card, which was of the girl who was forced into the box by her parents.
"It always feels like we're the stars of disaster," Lin Qiushi said casually, "Every child we talk to is destined for bad luck."
After hearing what he said, Ruan Nanzhu said, "Maybe it's true."
Lin Qiushi: "Hmm? What do you mean?"
Ruan Nanzhu said, "What it means is that we are actually Slender Man's accomplices. Not only do we have to become that thing, but we also have to find children for him."
Lin Qiushi: “…” He actually felt that what Ruan Nanzhu said made a lot of sense.
However, Lin Qiushi always felt as if he had forgotten something, but he couldn't remember where it was. He pursed his lips and looked worried.
"What's wrong?" Ruan Nanzhu asked him.
Lin Qiushi: "...I feel like I've overlooked something." This feeling was very strange, as if his brain couldn't think of it for the moment, but his intuition kept reminding him.
Ruan Nanzhu: "Don't worry, take your time to think about it."
Lin Qiushi nodded.
The two returned to the hotel and had something to eat.
Lin Qiushi originally thought that Ruan Nanzhu would tell everyone about this matter directly, but he didn't expect that he didn't even mention it.
In response to Lin Qiushi's doubts, Ruan Nanzhu's explanation made sense. He said, "Let's wait until we're sure we're going to get the key. After all, there's a chance someone here might turn into that thing. It's best not to share any clues with the enemy."
Lin Qiushi: “That’s right.”
He sat by the window, looking at the scenery in the distance, when suddenly an inspiration struck him: "I remembered it!!"
Ruan Nanzhu: "What?"
Lin Qiushi: "I remember what I overlooked—do you remember I said I saw the Slender Man several times before?"
Ruan Nanzhu nodded to indicate that he remembered.
Lin Qiushi said, "But those tall, thin ghosts I saw weren't wearing hats."
Ruan Nanzhu frowned.
Lin Qiushi said in disbelief, "Could it be that there are actually two tall, thin ghosts in this town?"
Ruan Nanzhu's eyes were dark, and his voice was a little low: "It's very likely."
If that's the case, then things are even worse.
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