Chapter 75 Thousand Mountains
Although Ruan Nanzhu said so, Luo Qianshan really didn't dare to have such a vision.
After all, anyone who can walk into this door with a certain degree of leisure is probably not a good person no matter how harmless they appear. And the beautiful woman in front of him who calls herself Zhu Meng is definitely not someone to be messed with.
"Tell me, what exactly do you want to talk to us about?" Ruan Nanzhu asked.
"It's about the key," Luo Qianshan said. "We found where the key is, but..." His tone became a little difficult, "But we can't get it."
Ruan Nanzhu: "What do you mean by 'no way'?"
Luo Qianshan said directly: "Not strong enough."
Ruan Nanzhu's expression was half-smile when he heard this: "Not strong enough? I actually think you two siblings are quite strong."
Luo Qianshan did not argue, but just spread his hands and made a helpless gesture.
"Go on." Ruan Nanzhu knew that Luo Qianshan still had something to say.
Luo Qianshan said: "So I want to make a deal with you. I will tell you the clue about the key..."
He paused for a moment.
Ruan Nanzhu waited for his next words. There is no such thing as a free lunch in this world.
"But when you leave here, you have to take me and Qianshui with you." Luo Qianshan stated his conditions.
"Just that?" There was a hint of estimation in Ruan Nanzhu's eyes, as if he was judging how much truth there was in Luo Qianshan's words.
"That's all." Luo Qianshan's tone was firm.
Ruan Nanzhu nodded and said, "Go ahead."
He kind of accepted the deal.
"The key is in that burnt house." Luo Qianshan said, "But the conditions for obtaining the key are very special. You have to go in at night..."
Upon hearing this, Lin Qiushi asked, "Have you been there?"
Luo Qianshan shook his head: "No, we only saw the key at the door, and we didn't go in."
"Then how can you be sure that the key is inside?" Although Luo Qianshan acted very sincerely, Lin Qiushi always felt that there was something wrong with him. The role of the key inside the door was too important. The person in front of him gave the location of the key so easily. Was it really as he said or did he have other intentions?
"We saw it," Luo Qianshan said, "the door was open at the time..."
Ruan Nanzhu asked, "The door is open, why can't you go in?"
Luo Qianshan looked slightly embarrassed. He said, "Because that mother and son are inside."
silence.
Ruan Nanzhu said, "So you came to tell us that you want us to come in?" He said, "Didn't you see our house number?"
Luo Qianshan frowned.
Ruan Nanzhu said, "Did you see the number above? Our house is the last one left. Even if this floor catches fire, we will be the last to die."
Luo Qianshan sighed: "I don't mean to let you die. If you are willing, we can cooperate."
Ruan Nanzhu: "How do we cooperate?"
Luo Qianshan said, "We will lead the mother and daughter in that room to another place, and you will be responsible for taking the key out."
Ruan Nanzhu raised an eyebrow when he heard this: "Are you sure?"
Luo Qianshan said: "I'm sure."
"I don't believe it." Ruan Nanzhu said, "Unless you show your sincerity first, or at least give a demonstration."
Luo Qianshan was silent for a moment: "This is too dangerous, we can't demonstrate it."
Ruan Nanzhu said, "I'm sorry."
Luo Qianshan and Ruan Nanzhu's eyes met, and they both saw the unchangeable stubbornness in each other's eyes. He sighed and didn't try to persuade them anymore. He stood up from the chair and walked to the door. Before leaving, he looked back at Ruan Nanzhu and said, "I just want to tell you that if it really comes to the end, Qianshui and I will definitely be the ones who survive."
Ruan Nanzhu looked at him coldly without saying anything.
"Goodbye." Luo Qianshan smiled and pushed the door open.
Ruan Nanzhu looked at his back and frowned.
Lin Qiushi asked, "Where does he get his confidence from?" He had just used a bronze mirror to reflect Luo Qianshan's feet when he was talking to Ruan Nanzhu, confirming that Luo Qianshan was a living person.
Ruan Nanzhu shook his head and said in a deep voice, "Since Luo Qianshan can say that, he must have his own trump card."
Lin Qiushi said nothing.
Ruan Nanzhu pondered and said, "Let's see if there's a chance tonight and go to that room to take a look."
Lin Qiushi nodded. Cheng Yixie had been silent throughout their conversation until this moment, when he suddenly spoke softly, "Luo Qianshan also has that burnt smell."
"What?" Lin Qiushi was stunned.
"He has it on him too, although it's very faint," Cheng Yixie said, "but I can definitely smell it."
As soon as these words were spoken, Ruan Nanzhu and Lin Qiushi fell silent.
Luo Qianshan also smelled like burning? Could he be related to those who were burned to death? But Luo Qianshan was indeed a human being. How could a human being have such a smell?
"Was there any yesterday?" Ruan Nanzhu asked Cheng Yixie.
Cheng Yixie shook his head and said firmly, "No."
This is a very strange thing.
Ruan Nanzhu's expression was uncertain. He said, "Perhaps what Luo Qianshan said is true."
Lin Qiushi: "Hmm?"
Ruan Nanzhu said: "He really has a trump card that will allow him to survive to the end."
But they still don’t know what Luo Qianshan’s trump card is.
The sky gradually darkened and another night came.
On his way back to the room, Lin Qiushi noticed that Sister Xia was standing at the edge of the corridor, muttering to the wall with a ferocious and terrifying expression.
Although her voice was very low, Lin Qiushi still heard what she was muttering. She kept repeating one sentence: Don't kill me, don't kill me, don't kill me, don't kill me—
Lin Qiushi thought of Xiao Mian, who had died in an accident at Sister Xia's hands that morning. According to the rules within the door, Sister Xia probably wouldn't survive the night. Thinking this, Lin Qiushi didn't glance at Sister Xia any longer and turned to go into their own room.
The darker the sky, the quieter the city becomes. The darkness is like a veil, enveloping everyone.
Around nine o'clock, Lin Qiushi heard the sound of shattering glass in the corridor. He looked at Ruan Nanzhu and Cheng Yixie, but found that neither of them seemed to have heard it.
Lin Qiushi hesitated for a moment and asked, "Did you hear any sound?"
Ruan Nanzhu shook his head: "What's that sound?"
Lin Qiushi: "The sound of the mirror shattering..." he said, "Should I go take a look?"
Ruan Nanzhu said, "Let's see."
So Lin Qiushi stood up, walked to the cat's eye, and took a look outside.
Because of the angle, he could only see Sister Xia.
Sister Xia was still standing in the same position as before, but she stopped muttering. Her eyes were staring straight ahead, and her eyeballs were bulging as if they were about to fall out of their sockets. Lin Qiushi had no idea what Sister Xia saw, but he saw a pair of hands - a pair of hands slowly reaching out from the mirror on the ceiling.
The hands were still dripping with blood as they reached behind Sister Xia and hugged her head from behind.
Sister Xia trembled all over and seemed to want to scream, but the sound was stuck in her throat. She wanted to turn around to see what was holding her head, but when her body turned backwards, her head still remained in a forward position.
With a "crack", Lin Qiushi heard a crisp sound, which was the sound of bones breaking.
A slender arm stretched out from the ceiling, hugged Sister Xia's head, and then twisted it counterclockwise with force, actually twisting Sister Xia's head off her body.
All this happened in silence, and Lin Qiushi held his breath.
The hands slowly retracted, and in a trance, Lin Qiushi seemed to hear a girl's sweet laughter.
Sister Xia died just like that, her body fell straight to the floor, blood gushing out and soaking the carpet.
At this moment, Lin Qiushi's body suddenly froze. He felt a cold gaze cast down from above him. He slowly looked up and saw that, unbeknownst to him, a figure holding Sister Xia's head had appeared in the mirror above him. Judging from her appearance, she was Xiao Mian, who had died during the day...
Xiaomian is in the mirror, and Lin Qiushi is outside the mirror.
The two looked at each other in silence through a thin piece of glass.
Lin Qiushi saw a strong malice in Xiaomian's eyes, so she slowly loosened her grip, and Sister Xia's head fell out of the mirror and hit Lin Qiushi directly.
Then, her figure disappeared on the other side of the mirror.
There was a "thump" sound, which was the sound of a heavy object falling to the ground.
Ruan Nanzhu and the others looked towards Lin Qiushi and saw Lin Qiushi, half of his body covered in blood, and the head of a man lying with his eyes open beside him.
Lin Qiushi had a wooden expression on his face and turned to look at Ruan Nanzhu: "What should we do?"
Ruan Nanzhu walked up to Lin Qiushi and saw the bloody head. He tilted his head and thought for a moment: "Throw it away?"
Lin Qiushi: "I... don't want to hold it with my hands."
Ruan Nanzhu: "Oh, then use your foot." He opened the door a crack and kicked the head off the ground. The whole movement was smooth and flowing, as if he was very skilled.
Lin Qiushi coughed twice: "She won't come to seek revenge on us, right?"
"Why are you seeking revenge from us?" Ruan Nanzhu said indifferently, "It wasn't us who killed her. Besides, if you dare to do such a thing, are you afraid of death?" He was talking about the fact that Sister Xia deliberately brought in a few newcomers and then used the newcomers' lives to try out the death conditions.
Lin Qiushi exhaled and looked at the mirror above his head: "Those things seem to be able to move around through the mirror..."
Ruan Nanzhu also looked in the mirror, but said nothing.
Sister Xia died just as they expected, and her death was particularly tragic. Perhaps because he was mentally prepared, Lin Qiushi didn't find it that shocking...if Xiao Mian hadn't thrown her head at him.
As they were talking, the strong smell of burning began to rise again. Contrary to their earlier suspicions, the scorched room continued to extend outward.
Lin Qiushi opened the door a crack and saw a charred area at the other end of the corridor, with flames faintly moving inside the building.
Behind the flames, the charred mother and daughter were still standing, this time they were standing a little further forward.
At the same time, people in other rooms also opened the door. Lin Qiushi saw Luo Qianshan and Luo Qianshui also walked out of the room.
"Time is running out." Luo Qianshan suddenly said this.
After he said this, Lin Qiushi discovered that the room in front of him began to darken rapidly - more than one room was burned down tonight.
"Cough cough cough." Cheng Yixie started coughing again due to choking.
"I hope you can think about it carefully." Luo Qianshan said in a light voice.
Ruan Nanzhu said, "We've considered it." He and Luo Qianshan were looking at the same spot—the mother and daughter standing quietly across the corridor. "You show your sincerity, and we'll take the risk."
Luo Qianshan was about to say something, but Luo Qianshui reached out to stop him.
Lin Qiushi had originally thought that Luo Qianshui would say something extreme given her personality, but she simply nodded coldly and said, "Okay, I'll show you our sincerity."
She walked to the edge of a mirror beside the corridor and stretched out her hand.
A magical scene appeared. Luo Qianshui's hand reached into the mirror in front of her without any obstruction - she could actually travel between the world in the mirror and the outside world!
Lin Qiushi looked stunned, and even Ruan Nanzhu was a little surprised.
However, Luo Qianshui quickly withdrew her hand. She said, "But I can't stay in there for too long." She looked at the mother and daughter who had been burned to death at the end of the corridor and said, "That is their world. If I stay in there for too long, I won't be able to get out."
Ruan Nanzhu tilted his head: "Since you can lead them away alone, why doesn't your brother go get the key?"
"I need his help to get in and out of the mirror, and he doesn't have time to get the key." Luo Qianshui seemed a little tired of explaining, "Are you guys going to do it or not?"
Ruan Nanzhu: "Let's think about it." He did not agree immediately.
Luo Qianshui sneered and pulled Luo Qianshan back into the room.
Ruan Nanzhu, Lin Qiushi and the others also returned to the house.
Ruan Nanzhu asked him, "What do you think?"
Lin Qiushi thought for a moment and said, "I think it's acceptable." If the key was really in that room, the risk would be worth it.
"I think it's feasible." Cheng Yixie obviously hated this world very much. His sensitive sense of smell was an indescribable torture in the smoke-filled apartment.
Ruan Nanzhu was thinking about something.
"Go to sleep first." But in the end, Ruan Nanzhu said nothing, just said, "It's getting late."
Lin Qiushi did not force it and went to bed after washing up.
Just before falling asleep, Lin Qiushi felt his pocket, where he kept the beautiful bronze mirror. A thought struck him, and his eyes darkened slightly, but he quickly closed them again and fell into a deep sleep.
The next morning, Lin Qiushi and Luo Qianshan met in the restaurant.
Every day at breakfast time, which was probably when the team was most complete, Lin Qiushi sat in a secluded corner and began to use a bronze mirror to confirm the identities of the people around him.
Ruan Nanzhu sat next to him, chewing a boiled egg, and said vaguely, "How is it?"
Lin Qiushi: "...Not good." The team had seventeen people in total. Those confirmed dead were Xiaoyan, who was burned to death, Wenjing, who died after breaking a mirror, Xiaomian, who was killed by Sister Xia, and Sister Xia, who was retaliated against by Xiaomian. There should be thirteen people left alive.
But when Lin Qiushi used a mirror to look at the people around him, he found that the number of living people was not as many as he had imagined.
Of these thirteen people, at least four had their feet pointed in the opposite direction—heels forward, toes backward. Their walking behavior was no different from that of ordinary people, but precisely because of their appearance, which was no different from that of ordinary people, they gave people a creepy feeling.
Cheng Yixie frowned: "No wonder it's getting stinkier." The smell is really bad.
They were talking when Luo Qianshan and Luo Qianshui came in from outside.
Lin Qiushi's heart moved, and he used the bronze mirror in his hand to look at where Luo Qianshui was. However, the scene shown in the bronze mirror made him stunned.
Lin Qiushi even rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things.
The mirror where two people should have appeared only showed Luo Qianshan. He turned his head, smiled gently at the air around him, and was still talking in a low voice.
Lin Qiushi: "..." Luo Qianshui couldn't appear in the bronze mirror. What did that mean? Was she not human?
Lin Qiushi didn't say anything. He reached out and handed the mirror to Ruan Nanzhu, then raised his chin towards where Luo Qianshui was, indicating that Ruan Nanzhu should look at the scene in the mirror.
Ruan Nanzhu took the bronze mirror and saw the empty scene around Luo Qianshan. He said softly that it was interesting.
Cheng Yixie also noticed Luo Qianshui's strange behavior. He frowned slightly and said, "Isn't she human?"
Lin Qiushi felt that he couldn't explain it well.
If Luo Qianshui wasn't human, then she was the only one who was special? Everyone else's feet were reversed, but she couldn't even see her shadow.
And what was her relationship with the human Luo Qianshan? Could it be that these two were both NPCs within the sect? Lin Qiushi thought so, but he felt something was wrong.
The original doubts have not been resolved yet, but new problems have arisen.
Lin Qiushi stroked the smooth surface of the bronze mirror and sighed softly in his heart.
Ruan Nanzhu stood up and walked towards Luo Qianshan and Luo Qianshui.
Lin Qiushi was startled by this and was about to get up and follow when he heard Ruan Nanzhu say calmly, "You guys wait here. I'll go talk to them."
Lin Qiushi could only say yes.
Cheng Yixie nodded.
Ruan Nanzhu walked over to the table where Luo Qianshan and Luo Qianshui were sitting. Luo Qianshui had always disliked Ruan Nanzhu, and this time was no exception. Seeing him, he said unhappily, "What? Have you figured it out? If you want to talk, I'll just stand and wait. I'm still hungry."
Ruan Nanzhu said nothing, staring at Luo Qianshui in silence.
"Is there something wrong?" Luo Qianshan asked gently. Personality-wise, Luo Qianshan was much gentler than Luo Qianshui, but Lin Qiushi preferred interacting with someone like Luo Qianshui, as her likes and dislikes were clearly expressed on her face.
Ruan Nanzhu remained silent.
Luo Qianshui was obviously a little uneasy under Ruan Nanzhu's gaze. She fidgeted and said, "Are you crazy? Why are you staring at me..." She seemed to have thought of something and shouted, "My brother has a girlfriend. Don't even think about it!"
Luo Qianshan looked helpless.
Lin Qiushi inexplicably felt like laughing.
Cheng Yixie suddenly whispered, "What are they talking about?"
Lin Qiushi was stunned when he heard this, and then he realized that according to normal hearing, he would not be able to hear what Ruan Nanzhu and the others were saying if he sat so far away.
"Luo Qianshui told Ruan Nanzhu that her brother has a girlfriend." Lin Qiushi translated for Cheng Yixie while suppressing his laughter.
Cheng Yixie's eyes showed a hint of smile when he heard this.
"Are you overthinking this?" Ruan Nanzhu asked, "What misunderstanding do you have about my vision?"
Luo Qianshui slammed the table in anger upon hearing this: "What do you mean! My brother is so outstanding, why do you look down on him?"
Ruan Nanzhu said: "But I already have someone I like."
Luo Qianshui: "Who? Who do you like?!"
Luo Qianshan showed a headache expression and said, "Excuse me... What do you want to talk to us about? Qianshui, please stop talking."
Luo Qianshui clearly wanted to continue speaking, but was silenced by Luo Qianshan's grip on her wrist. However, it was clear from her eyes that she had already formed numerous opinions about Ruan Nanzhu deep down.
"I came here to discuss your proposal from yesterday." Ruan Nanzhu pulled out a chair and sat down in front of Luo Qianshan naturally. "I think we can work together."
Luo Qianshan's eyes lit up.
"But we have to get the clue to this door." Ruan Nanzhu said, observing Luo Qianshui's expression with his peripheral vision. "Is there a problem?"
"No." Luo Qianshan said, "We can reach a consensus on this point."
Ruan Nanzhu tilted his head: "Are you siblings?"
"Yeah, what's wrong?" Luo Qianshan smiled, "Don't look like it?"
Ruan Nanzhu: "Not like that."
Luo Qianshui frowned: "How are my brother and I different..."
Before she could finish her words, she heard Ruan Nanzhu say lightly, "How are the living and the dead similar?"
The air seemed to freeze instantly. Luo Qianshui stared in astonishment, while Luo Qianshan's eyes darkened like dusk. He said, "What do you mean?"
"It means exactly what it says." Ruan Nanzhu said, "Which door did your sister die in?"
Luo Qianshan stood up from his chair and yelled, "Shut up!"
Ruan Nanzhu had already gotten the answer he wanted from his reaction. He nodded and said, "Don't be nervous. I have no ill will towards you. I just want to confirm one thing."
Luo Qianshui frowned and looked at Ruan Nanzhu.
"It's a pleasure working with you." Ruan Nanzhu stood up and left. It seemed that these two people had indeed come in from outside the door, not the NPCs inside. If the answer he got was the latter, then there would be no need for them and Luo Qianshan to continue their cooperation.
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