Chapter 70 Appetite
Hearing Qin Budai's words, Lin Qiushi couldn't help but feel a chill deep down in his heart. The man in front of him had blood on his mouth, and stared at him quietly with a pair of bloodshot eyes. The forced suppression of his gaze gave Lin Qiushi goose bumps on his arms. His intuition sounded the alarm at this moment - the man in front of him was very dangerous.
Qin Budai slowly approached Lin Qiushi and finally stopped in front of him. He slowly called out Lin Qiushi's name, his tone sticky and cold, with a hint of ambiguity.
At that moment, Lin Qiushi even wanted to turn around and run away, but he felt that the moment he turned around and exposed his back, something uncontrollable would happen. So he firmly suppressed the urge to escape deep in his heart and said, "Qin Budai, are you okay?"
Qin Budai gave Lin Qiushi a strange smile: "I'm fine." This smile was worse than not smiling at all, as it made his expression look even more distorted.
Just as the two of them were at a stalemate, Chen Fei's puzzled voice came from outside the kitchen: "What are you two doing?"
Chen Fei reached out and turned on the light switch on the wall. The whole kitchen lit up and he could see everything clearly.
"Qin Budai—" Chen Fei asked, "What are you doing?" His eyes fell on the pieces of meat that Qin Budai was gnawing on. The moment he asked this question, he seemed to understand what Qin Budai had done. He paused for a moment, "You just came out of the door?"
Qin Budai nodded slowly.
"Are you hungry?" Chen Fei asked calmly, as if he was completely accustomed to such scenes. "I'll cook you something to eat."
Qin Budai said nothing and turned away.
Looking at his back, Chen Fei didn't call him, but just sighed slightly.
"What's going on?" Lin Qiushi did not have Chen Fei's rich experience and could not understand what was wrong with Qin Budai. To be honest, seeing Qin Budai like this, he could only think of the monsters in the sect.
"He must have been influenced by the world within the gate." Chen Fei walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out a steak, seriously intending to fry it for Qin Budai. "The human spirit is very fragile. Once strongly stimulated, it can easily become disordered." After saying this, he glanced at Lin Qiushi again, "Not everyone can accept it as calmly as you."
Lin Qiushi didn't know what to say.
"The worst case scenario is that everyone is dead, but the door and key are still nowhere to be found." Chen Fei lit the fire, heated the oil, and the steak sizzled in the pan. "A person is trapped inside the door, and I don't know how long he will be trapped..." His voice became lower and lower.
This is indeed a nightmare.
Being trapped alone inside a door—even the thought of it sent a chill down his spine. Lin Qiushi leaned against the door and asked, "Qin Budai...are you okay?"
Chen Fei shook his head: "I don't know."
Lin Qiushi: "I don't know what that means."
Chen Fei said: "I don't know what I mean is that I don't know if he can recover, and if he can separate the real world from the world inside the gate."
Lin Qiushi frowned: "What if we can't separate?"
Chen Fei paused for a moment, a self-deprecating smile on his face: "Can't separate? Can't separate... He's finished."
Killing people is not a big deal in the world inside the gate, but in reality, there are laws as the basis for sanctions.
Moreover, such people could become extremely dangerous. Even if they didn't kill anyone, they might still do something drastic. Those who couldn't tell the difference between inside and outside the door couldn't stay in the villa. Of course, Chen Fei didn't say this to Lin Qiushi because he didn't think it was necessary.
The steak was fried. Chen Fei picked it up and walked to the dining table outside and handed the steak to Qin Budai.
Qin Budai used a knife and fork to cut into the steak, but his eyes were fixed on Lin Qiushi. He still felt very hungry, and the steak in front of him was completely unable to relieve the hunger that made him feel anxious all over. However, he did not dare to show it too obviously, so he could only lower his head and pretend that he was very happy eating.
Chen Fei was watching from the side. Lin Qiushi noticed that his brows were knitted together and there was a scrutinizing look in his eyes, as if he was judging Qin Budai's condition.
Chen Fei asked: "What did you encounter in the world inside the gate?"
When he mentioned the words "inside the door", Qin Budai trembled all over. He opened his mouth but did not say anything for a long time, as if he could not organize the words to describe that world.
Chen Fei said, "Hmm?"
Qin Budai said vaguely: "It's a terrible world. There's nothing to eat there. I'm always hungry."
Chen Fei didn't say anything and fell into deep thought.
Qin Budai finished his steak, said good night to them politely, and went upstairs to sleep.
Lin Qiushi stood there and watched him slowly walk away. He always felt that something was not right with Qin Budai's condition, but he couldn't tell what exactly was wrong.
Chen Fei said, "I'll ask Brother Ruan tomorrow."
Lin Qiushi: "What do you want to ask him?"
Chen Fei sighed: "Of course I'm asking him which world Qin Budai entered." Qin Budai is still a newcomer and has only entered the previous worlds. He doesn't have Lin Qiushi's good luck. Everyone only led him to two doors, and he was the only one who entered the closest one.
Lin Qiushi nodded in agreement.
That night, Lin Qiushi didn't sleep well. He tossed and turned, his mind revolving around the image of Qin Budai gnawing on raw meat. Honestly, after seeing that scene, he even felt like he couldn't distinguish between the world inside and outside the sect. It was a terrible feeling, filled with insecurity.
The next day, Lin Qiushi went downstairs with dark circles under his eyes.
Cheng Qianli had just come back from taking his dog Toast for a walk. Toast was shaking his chubby little butt and chasing and playing with Li Zi.
Seeing that Lin Qiushi looked severely sleep-deprived, Cheng Qianli asked, "What's wrong with you? You look like you haven't woken up yet."
Lin Qiushi yawned. "It's okay. I slept too late last night."
Cheng Qianli: "Oh, come and have breakfast, my brother just made it."
Cheng Yixie had cooked some porridge and a few side dishes, and was now sitting at the table, slowly eating. Lin Qiushi walked over, said good morning, and then picked up his bowl to eat as well.
The people in the villa woke up one after another. Lin Qiushi saw Chen Fei and Qin Budai.
Qin Budai no longer had the horrible smell he had seen last night. He changed into clean clothes, walked over to Lin Qiushi with a smile on his face, and said, "Good morning."
Lin Qiushi: "Good morning."
"I'm sorry for scaring you yesterday," Qin Buyai said. "I just came out of the door and haven't adjusted myself yet." He curled his eyes, his expression gentle. "I'm really sorry."
"It's okay," Lin Qiushi said. "Have you... adjusted?"
Qin Budai nodded, indicating that he was fine.
Chen Fei sat nearby and watched the two interact, looking at Qin Budai calmly. He obviously didn't completely believe what he said.
After a while, Ruan Nanzhu also came down. He maintained his usual cold look. After dinner, he was about to go out, but was stopped by Chen Fei.
"Brother Ruan," Chen Fei said, "I have something I want to tell you."
Ruan Nanzhu nodded, and the two of them walked to the corner to the side.
Lin Qiushi knew Chen Fei was probably going to talk to Ruan Nanzhu about Qin Budai. Honestly, Qin Budai didn't look unusual at the moment, and it was hard to connect him with the man who'd been frantically devouring raw meat yesterday. However, Lin Qiushi couldn't fully assess his mental state or whether he'd recovered, so he decided to leave that matter to Chen Fei.
After Lin Qiushi finished his meal, he returned to his room.
It was the height of spring, the sun was shining brightly, and a cool breeze was blowing. Lin Qiushi sat by the window, turned on his computer, and browsed the forum that only insiders could access.
This forum contained a lot of interesting information, and Lin Qiushi had already developed a daily habit of checking it out. He casually picked up a piece of candy from the table, popped it into his mouth, and began to scroll through the posts.
There are many posts, very diverse and strange.
Some talk about the world inside the door, some tell urban legends, and some even make friends in the same city.
Lin Qiushi watched with great interest.
Since he had just come out of the door, Ruan Nanzhu did not arrange any activities for Lin Qiushi, but just let him have a good rest.
Lin Qiushi felt that wasting time like this was actually very comfortable. He had lunch and took a nap, and the day passed just like that.
In the morning, after Chen Fei and Ruan Nanzhu talked about what happened, they left the villa and no one knew where they went.
However, Lin Qiushi had long been accustomed to their mysterious appearances and disappearances and was not curious at all.
However, Cheng Qianli and Cheng Yixie were nowhere to be seen. Lin Qiushi guessed that Cheng Yixie might have taken Cheng Qianli to clear the low-level gates.
Yi Manman, Lu Yanxue and Qin Budai were also in the villa. The four of them had a simple dinner, and then Lin Qiushi planned to go back to his room to rest.
After taking a shower, Lin Qiushi lay in bed and played Sudoku. This little game helped him calm down quickly and helped him fall asleep.
He was slowly filling it up when he heard a knock on the door.
"Who?" Lin Qiushi walked to the door, opened it, and saw Qin Budai standing there.
Qin Budai said, "Hello, can I chat with you?"
Lin Qiushi was stunned: "Now?"
Qin Budai nodded.
Lin Qiushi hesitated for a moment: "Okay... Let's talk in the study. Wait for me for a moment, I'll change my clothes and come over." He was still wearing pajamas.
Qin Budai looked at Lin Qiushi quietly. Lin Qiushi was wearing a white cotton pajamas, revealing his slender neck and beautiful collarbone. Lin Qiushi had a handsome appearance and a gentle temperament. It was obvious at first glance that he was someone who was easy to get along with, and he also looked... delicious.
Qin Budai suddenly licked his lips.
Lin Qiushi looked at him doubtfully: "Qin Budai?" He felt that something was wrong with the person in front of him.
Qin Budai said, "I'll just take up five minutes of your time. It'll be quick." As he spoke, he slowly squeezed his way into Lin Qiushi's room.
Lin Qiushi noticed Qin Budai's movements and took a step back, taking a defensive stance. "What do you want?"
Qin Budai looked at Lin Qiushi, his eyes filled with an indescribable desire.
Lin Qiushi felt a chill down his spine when Qin Budai looked at him. He asked, "Qin Budai?"
Qin Budai said, "I..." Before he could finish his words, he pounced towards Lin Qiushi.
Although Lin Qiushi was mentally prepared, he was still caught by Qin Budai. Qin Budai was extremely strong and knocked Lin Qiushi directly onto the bed.
Lin Qiushi: "Qin—" He barely opened his mouth when Qin Budai tightly covered his mouth. This was no human strength at all. Qin Budai easily restrained Lin Qiushi's struggles with a single hand. Lin Qiushi's eyes widened as he saw Qin Budai staring longingly at his neck.
"I'll just have a taste." Qin Budai said softly, "I'll just have a taste..." He lowered his head and licked Lin Qiushi's chin with his tongue.
Lin Qiushi thought of the piece of flesh that was torn into pieces by Qin Budai yesterday. He began to struggle with all his might, but Qin Budai's strength made his resistance like an ant trying to shake a tree.
Qin Budai looked at Lin Qiushi's neck and swallowed hard. He opened his mouth slightly, revealing a row of white teeth, and was about to bite Lin Qiushi's neck...
"Um..." Lin Qiushi continued to struggle.
Just as he felt the cold touch of Qin Budai's teeth, there was a knock on the door. Qin Budai showed a nervous expression and glanced at the door.
"Knock knock knock." The knocking continued.
Lin Qiushi and Qin Budai's eyes met. He originally thought that someone had come and Qin Budai would let him go, but who knew that he saw a look of determination in Qin Budai's eyes.
"Sorry." Qin Budai whispered in Lin Qiushi's ear, "You look so delicious, I really... can't help it. Even if I get discovered, I don't want to let go..." His teeth stayed on Lin Qiushi's neck and began to apply slight force.
Lin Qiushi's eyes widened as he felt a dull pain on his skin. He hadn't expected that Qin Budai would actually bite him.
With a loud "bang", the locked door was kicked open.
Qin Budai, who was sprawled on top of Lin Qiushi, was grabbed by a pair of hands, lifted up, and thrown fiercely against the wall. Qin Budai screamed in pain, while Lin Qiushi scrambled off the bed, only to see Ruan Nanzhu's face, which looked icy cold.
Ruan Nanzhu didn't say anything. He walked up to Qin Budai, picked up the bronze ornament on the table, and then grabbed Qin Budai's chin and forced him to open his mouth.
Qin Budai was so scared that he was shaking all over.
Ruan Nanzhu's tone was as cold as ice. He said, "Since you like it so much, then eat as much as you want." He threw the thing directly into Qin Budai's mouth, breaking two of Qin Budai's teeth.
Qin Budai fainted from the pain. Ruan Nanzhu finally let go and returned to Lin Qiushi. He frowned, looking upset. "Are you okay?"
Lin Qiushi: "It's okay," he said. "I was too careless." He hadn't expected Qin Budai to dare attack him under such circumstances. Although Chen Fei's words had alerted Lin Qiushi, he still underestimated the influence of the sect on Qin Budai.
Ruan Nanzhu stared at Lin Qiushi.
Lin Qiushi felt very uncomfortable with his gaze. He noticed that Ruan Nanzhu's eyes lingered on his neck, so he reached out and touched it, only to find that there was a tooth mark on his neck left by Qin Budai... Although the skin was not broken, it was still quite painful.
Does this person need a tetanus shot or something… Lin Qiushi was thinking about this when he saw Ruan Nanzhu leaning over.
Lin Qiushi was startled by Ruan Nanzhu's actions. Just as he was about to ask Ruan Nanzhu what was wrong, Ruan Nanzhu firmly grabbed his arm. The next moment, the bitten spot was being vigorously rubbed. Lin Qiushi's first reaction was that Ruan Nanzhu had caught Qin Budai's abnormal emotions. He screamed in pain and pushed Qin Budai away with his hands: "Ruan Nanzhu—calm down! I'm Lin Qiushi!"
Ruan Nanzhu took a bite and paused for a few seconds before releasing his mouth. He looked with satisfaction as the mark on Lin Qiushi's neck was covered by his mark. Perhaps having heard Lin Qiushi's cry, he said calmly, "I know you are Lin Qiushi."
"Are you infected?" Lin Qiushi clutched his neck, hissing in pain. "Why did you bite me?!"
Ruan Nanzhu uttered two words: "Disinfection."
Lin Qiushi: “…” What happened to Ruan Nanzhu?
After Ruan Nanzhu finished speaking, he turned around and left, dragging the unconscious Qin Budai. Lin Qiushi looked at the mess in the house and the kicked-in door, and for a moment he didn't know what to do.
Qin Budai's bite didn't break Lin Qiushi's skin, but Ruan Nanzhu did. Lin Qiushi examined his wound and wondered if he needed a rabies shot or something. He had never been bitten before, so he searched on a search engine for what to do.
It would have been better if there was no search. This search really terrified Lin Qiushi and he almost thought he would die that night.
So the next morning, Lin Qiushi hurried to the hospital. After seeing his wound, the doctor said meaningfully, "Young man, exercise restraint."
Lin Qiushi: “…” What do you mean by restraint? Restraint in eating?
Doctor: "No need for vaccination, just disinfection. If the person who bit you doesn't have an infectious disease, it's not a big problem."
Lin Qiushi: "But the search engine says..."
The doctor slammed the table and said, "Can you please not use search engines when you're sick? Doesn't it make you feel more like you have a terminal illness the more you use them?" The doctor looked to be about thirty-one or thirty-two, quite young. He casually prescribed some medicine for Lin Qiushi and waved him off in disdain.
Lin Qiushi returned to the villa.
After Qin Budai was taken away last night, Lin Qiushi did not ask what happened to him. Today, he had not seen him or Ruan Nanzhu, so he found Chen Fei privately to ask about it.
Chen Fei looked at the wound on Lin Qiushi's neck and sighed, "It's my fault. I shouldn't have left him alone. I thought he would at least be able to hold back. Who knew he had such poor self-control?"
Lin Qiushi: "Where is he now?" The way Ruan Nanzhu dragged Qin Budai out last night looked as if he was going to be cremated.
"They've been taken somewhere else," Chen Fei said. "There's a place specifically for people like them. After being influenced by the Gate, their behavior in real life becomes deviant, so they need psychological counseling." Whether that counseling will be successful is another matter. But people like them are dangerous no matter where they are. If Ruan Nanzhu hadn't appeared last night, Lin Qiushi might have been bitten to death by Qin Budai.
Lin Qiushi: "Oh..." He thought for a moment and whispered, "Where's Nanzhu? Why don't I see him?"
Chen Fei: "It seems he went out for something." He said, "Is your wound serious? It's just broken. Have you been to the hospital?"
Lin Qiushi thought that if Ruan Nanzhu hadn't patched up his skin, he wouldn't have sustained a skin breakage. He claimed it was disinfectant, yet he bit so hard. It was truly excessive. However, he didn't dare say these words out loud. He simply shook his head to indicate that he was fine and had already been to the hospital.
After that, Qin Budai disappeared in the villa.
Everyone tacitly agreed not to ask him where he had gone, and even Cheng Qianli, who was the worst at reading people's expressions, never mentioned him again.
They seemed to have prepared for the sudden separation.
Lin Qiushi didn't see Ruan Nanzhu until three days after the incident. By then, his wound had already scabbed over. He and Cheng Qianli had sneaked out to get toast and came back to see Ruan Nanzhu sitting in the living room eating fruit.
Hearing the footsteps of the two people, Ruan Nanzhu just raised his eyelids and gave them an indifferent look.
"Brother Ruan, you're back." Cheng Qianli greeted him happily.
"Yeah." Ruan Nanzhu responded and looked at Lin Qiushi.
Lin Qiushi felt inexplicably uncomfortable being stared at by him. He felt that Ruan Nanzhu was a little strange that night, and he also felt a little strange now.
"Okay?" Ruan Nanzhu said.
Lin Qiushi knew Ruan Nanzhu was asking about his wound and nodded, "It's healed."
"Oh." Ruan Nanzhu said.
Maybe Lin Qiushi was overthinking it, but he actually heard a tone of regret in Ruan Nanzhu's voice. Lin Qiushi: "Thank you for that night..." If it weren't for Ruan Nanzhu, he would probably be dead by now.
Ruan Nanzhu: "You're welcome."
Lin Qiushi hesitated and asked, "Qin is no longer in danger. Is there still hope?"
Ruan Nanzhu slowly swallowed the fruit he was chewing before answering Lin Qiushi's question: "I don't know. It depends on his luck."
Lin Qiushi: "Has this happened before?"
Ruan Nanzhu: "It's a common meal."
Lin Qiushi didn't expect to get such an answer.
"At least ninety-nine out of a hundred new recruits will have psychological problems." Ruan Nanzhu stood up, "The remaining one is Cheng Qianli."
Cheng Qianli, who was listening to this, looked confused and said, "What do you mean the remaining one is called Cheng Qianli?"
Lin Qiushi patted Cheng Qianli's head lovingly: "It's okay, Brother Ruan is praising you."
Cheng Qianli: "Oh, hehehehe."
Lin Qiushi thought to himself that being as foolish as Cheng Qianli wasn't easy...
"Get ready." Ruan Nanzhu said, "Cheng Yixie's ninth door is about to open."
Lin Qiushi was startled: "Me too?"
Ruan Nanzhu: "Don't want to go?"
Lin Qiushi: "I... I don't know..."
Ruan Nanzhu didn't force it, but simply said, "It's okay if you don't want to go. I'll give you three days to think about it."
Lin Qiushi nodded to indicate that he understood.
After saying this, Ruan Nanzhu turned around and left. Cheng Qianli looked at his back and said that he didn't know why, but he always felt that Brother Ruan was a little different from before.
Lin Qiushi asked, "Why is it different?" To be honest, after experiencing what happened with Qin Budai, he realized that he was too relaxed in the real world. If he were inside the door, he would definitely not let Qin Budai in.
"I don't know." Cheng Qianli scratched his silly head, "I can't say for sure..."
Lin Qiushi looked at Cheng Qianli and for a moment, he was actually a little worried about how this guy in front of him would get through the next few doors. He could completely imagine Cheng Yixie worrying about this silly brother.
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