Chapter 84 The Missing Light
In a flash, before Lin Qiushi's brain could react, his body had already lunged forward. He wanted to extinguish the oil lamp like he had yesterday, but in his frantic movements, he knocked it over. Although the wick went out, the lamp hit the ground with a crisp sound, and the oil spilled all over the floor.
The room fell into silent darkness again. Lin Qiushi half-knelt beside the window and suddenly had a very bad feeling - the sound of fingers rubbing the window paper sounded above his head. The sound was rustling and continuous, and it was obvious that there was more than one person rubbing the window paper.
Lin Qiushi held his breath and concentrated, looking up slightly. Through the faint moonlight, he saw countless pairs of children's hands patting and scratching on the window paper. The next moment, a crisp sound came from above the window. Lin Qiushi clearly saw a pair of pale hands belonging to children, poking through the thin layer of window paper and reaching straight in from the outside.
This seemed to be a signal. The small hands began to try to make a hole in the window paper. Behind the hole, a pale child's face was revealed. The child opened his bloody mouth and cried miserably.
The child began to try to squeeze in through the window. Its eyes were just black slits, and the pupils were invisible. Its skin was pale and swollen, and it did not look like a human at all.
It stretched out its arms and tried hard to crawl into the house through the hole in the window paper. It had already squeezed half of its body in from the outside and was about to enter the house completely.
Lin Qiushi involuntarily took a few steps back. The child's crying reminded him of something. He quickly recalled the clue and began to mutter: "The sky is in a state of panic, the earth is in a state of panic, there is a crying child in my family. If a benefactor recites this three times, he will sleep until dawn—" After the words were spoken, the child's movements slowed significantly, but he continued to struggle to crawl into the house.
Lin Qiushi quickly recited it a second and third time. When he finished the third time, the little ghost, who was about to crawl in, finally stopped and froze motionless on the other side of the window paper, as if he had fallen asleep.
Lin Qiushi felt relieved. He had seen people in the small town chanting this phrase during a riverside sacrifice, and it had served as a protective shield. That's why he boldly recited this clue, but he hadn't expected it to be so useful.
The little ghost's body was stuck on the window and could not move inside at all.
However, Lin Qiushi did not dare to move. In fact, he could still see the tall black silhouette of the woman outside the house through the window paper.
She paced back and forth outside the window, anxiously waiting for something.
However, when she found that the little ghost stuck on the window seemed to no longer move, she fell into extreme anger. Lin Qiushi saw her stretch out her hand and drag the little ghost's body back little by little. Then the pale face appeared behind the window, peeking into the room angrily, and even cursing in a low voice.
Lin Qiushi half-crouched under the window, not daring to move.
This was a blind spot from the window, and from the woman's perspective, she definitely couldn't see him. The woman's black eyes darted around the room, and when she didn't find what she wanted, she let out a series of angry growls, like an enraged beast.
Lin Qiushi pretended that he saw and heard nothing.
The two of them were in a stalemate for a long time. The woman refused to leave, and Lin Qiushi did not move either.
The woman seemed certain someone in the house had woken up, and she stood by the window for a long time without moving. It wasn't until a clear rooster crowed in the yard that Lin Qiushi heard the gradual sound of footsteps leaving the house. Along with these footsteps, there was the sound of a sharp weapon dragging across the ground. Lin Qiushi thought of the long knife he had seen the woman using to chop up the body in the yard yesterday. He suspected she was holding it.
There is no doubt that if he had not reacted quickly enough, the person might have been dead by now.
Lin Qiushi looked at Gu Longming who was sleeping soundly on the bed, and couldn't help but feel a certain degree of respect for him, while at the same time confirming his own thoughts.
The woman outside could see where Gu Longming slept. If she could have made a move on Gu Longming while he was lying on the bed, he would have been dead long ago.
In other words, there are at least two conditions for a woman to kill someone: one is that someone is awake, and the other is that she sees that awake person.
Lin Qiushi had been sitting next to her all night, and his legs were already numb. He staggered to his feet, rubbed his numb thighs with his hands, and returned to the bed. Through the torn window paper, he saw the faint morning light over there.
It was almost dawn, but Lin Qiushi had not slept all night. He lay back on the bed and after a short nap, he felt Gu Longming getting up.
"Holy shit, holy shit!" Gu Longming, waking from his dream, saw the torn window paper beside him and cried out in surprise. He quickly shook Lin Qiushi up and said, "Linlin, Linlin, the window paper is torn! The window paper is torn!!"
Lin Qiushi opened his eyes, a hint of helplessness in his eyes: "I know."
Gu Longming was surprised: "You know?"
"Yeah." Lin Qiushi said, "Last night, the little ghost and the woman came."
Gu Longming: "..." He had a messy head of hair and looked at Lin Qiushi with dull eyes. His brain, having just woken up, could not fully process the information Lin Qiushi said.
Lin Qiushi then leaned against the bed and briefly told Gu Longming what happened last night.
Gu Longming had a very complicated expression after hearing this. He held it in for a long time before finally saying, "You're so awesome." Then he said in fear, "Then she was staring at me outside the window all night long?" When he thought of that pale face staring at him gloomily through the window paper all night long, Gu Longming couldn't help but shudder.
"Right," Lin Qiushi said, "Just keep watching. You don't have much to lose."
Gu Longming said, "Don't say that. After all, I'm just a poor high school girl who's not even eighteen years old."
Lin Qiushi: “…” A muscular high school girl who is about 1.8 meters tall is not bad.
Gu Longming and Lin Qiushi took advantage of the time they had to get up to discuss what happened last night. Lin Qiushi also mentioned to Gu Longming the clues on how to make the little ghost fall asleep.
Gu Longming was amazed after hearing this and said, "You are so brave. What will you do if this clue turns out to be fatal?"
Lin Qiushi: "Make a bold assumption, then carefully verify it. If this sentence is a curse, then the people in this small town definitely wouldn't recite it. Since they dare to recite it, and nothing happens after reciting it, then it shouldn't have any negative effects."
Gu Longming knew this was the truth, but he felt that it was rare for someone to react and recite this sentence before anything happened. Seeing Lin Qiusi's calm expression after going through such a thing last night, he couldn't help but admire her, "She's worthy of being from Obsidian. Awesome."
Lin Qiushi: “…It’s okay.” In fact, he was also frightened at first, although he quickly calmed down.
"By the way, who do you think replaced the oil lamp in our room?" Lin Qiushi suddenly asked.
"I don't know." Gu Longming said, "I think there are two suspects, either the hostess or someone in our team."
Lin Qiushi pointed to the ground and said, "I accidentally knocked over the oil lamp you stole yesterday."
Gu Longming waved his hand: "It's okay, let's go to other rooms to see if there are other oil lamps."
After a quick wash, the two of them left the house and first took a look around the unoccupied rooms. However, they were surprised to find that most of the oil lamps in these rooms had been replaced. The original lamps made from human fat had disappeared.
"Where are the lamps?" Gu Longming asked. "Did someone take all the lamps?" He analyzed, "Could it be Yan Shihe? I looked and it seems that he, us, and another team are the only ones who kept the lamps."
Lin Qiushi said, "He probably wouldn't do that."
Gu Longming: "Why?"
Lin Qiushi: "The conditions for death are still uncertain. If the human oil lamps are the cause of death, wouldn't he die even faster if he took them all away? Unless... he has already obtained more clues about the light of the lamps."
Gu Longming said, "More clues about the oil lamp?" He frowned, a little confused by this guess.
Lin Qiushi shook his head and said nothing more. He had many thoughts in his mind, but these thoughts lacked actual evidence to support them, so he was too lazy to speak them out and cause more trouble for Gu Longming.
Gu Longming was also a smart man. Seeing that Lin Qiushi didn't say anything, he didn't ask any more questions. He just sighed and said, "Then what should we do next?"
Lin Qiushi said, "Let's go have breakfast first and see if there are any missing people in the team." Let's confirm whether anyone who didn't use the oil lamp yesterday had an accident.
When it comes to eating, Gu Longming's spirits brightened up a lot, and he said happily, "Okay, okay."
A few minutes later, the two appeared at the breakfast place.
Breakfast time is crucial, and almost everyone comes because it's the first time of day to confirm whether anyone died the previous night. Lin Qiushi walked into the room and began to look around and count the people. Yan Shihe happened to be standing next to Lin Qiushi. Seeing Lin Qiushi's expression, he gave a half-smile: "No need to count. Seven of us, not one missing. Why did you come so late today? I thought..."
Lin Qiushi looked at him: "Did you still think we were dead?"
Yan Shihe spread his hands and admitted: "After all, this is a world where anyone can die."
Lin Qiushi didn't respond.
There were nine people in the room, including him and Gu Longming. Excluding the three people who died a few days ago, no one had an accident last night.
Lin Qiushi found a place to sit down, grabbed a bite to eat, and pondered. Could it be that the accident in their house last night attracted the ghosts' attention, resulting in no casualties? As he was thinking this, a man sitting in the corner of the room suddenly stood up and began to vomit non-stop.
They were not familiar with this man and didn't even know his name, but Lin Qiushi vaguely remembered that he was in the same team as the unlucky guy who was pulled into the water when they went to watch the sacrifice by the river on the first day.
"Ugh, ugh..." The loud vomiting sound made the others around look disgusted.
"Brother, are you okay?" Gu Longming put down Zhou Zhong's food, stood up and was about to go over to ask, but was grabbed by Lin Qiushi's arm.
"What's wrong?" Gu Longming looked puzzled.
Lin Qiushi said, "Don't go over there. Something's wrong."
Gu Longming: "What's wrong?"
Lin Qiushi: "I can't tell... There's something on this person..." In fact, as the man vomited, he also heard a very subtle sound coming from him. It sounded a bit like something tearing and chewing. Although subtle, Lin Qiushi's ears still picked it up. He was very sure that the source of the sound was the man in front of him, even though he hadn't eaten anything. Judging from the reactions of the others, they obviously didn't hear the sound.
Not long after Lin Qiushi stopped Gu Longming, the man in front of him who had vomited all his breakfast began to vomit blood. Large mouthfuls of blood mixed with broken internal organs came out of his mouth.
The expressions of most people in the crowd changed, obviously frightened by this scene.
"Ah!! Ah!! Help, help!" Then the man began to roll on the ground. He seemed to be suffering from extreme pain. He covered his abdomen with his hands and screamed continuously.
The scream only lasted for a moment before it stopped. The man's breath gradually became weaker, and he finally lay on the ground, motionless, and died.
The atmosphere in the crowd was eerily quiet.
Some people couldn't stand this scene and turned to leave the room, but Lin Qiushi stood there without moving. Standing next to him, with a similar expression to his, was Yan Shihe, who had exchanged clues with Lin Qiushi and the others yesterday.
"He... died?" Gu Longming asked, "How could it happen so suddenly..."
Lin Qiushi frowned and said nothing. His eyes fell on the man's abdomen. In fact, the chewing sound continued. Even though the man had no breath, the sound still continued to come from the man's abdomen.
Just as Lin Qiushi was puzzled, he saw the man's abdomen began to move abnormally, as if something was struggling to get out from inside.
This scene was very obvious and everyone present saw it.
Gu Longming laughed dryly and said, "Is this the beginning of the birth?"
As soon as he finished speaking, he saw that the skin on the deceased's abdomen had been stretched into the shape of a palm. Judging from the size of the palm, it was obviously a child's.
Seeing this change, Gu Long didn't dare to continue joking. Instead, he and Lin Qiushi fell into silence.
The chewing sound gradually stopped, replaced by a sound of flesh tearing. Lin Qiushi saw that the skin on the deceased's abdomen began to bulge, and finally it seemed as if something had torn it open from the inside, revealing the red inner cavity.
A pair of small hands covered in blood stretched out from inside, and then the owner of those small hands began to try to crawl out.
It was a tiny baby, covered in blood, but with a big head. Inside its open mouth were densely packed teeth, with bits of meat hanging on the densely packed teeth.
After seeing this thing, everyone couldn't help but step back. Gu Longming said, "Holy crap, it really gave birth."
Not long after the baby crawled out of the dead woman's belly, it turned into a pool of blood and disappeared before their eyes. Only the hideous corpse told everyone that what had just happened was not an illusion. Someone else had died, and died horribly before their eyes.
Just as everyone fell silent, the hostess appeared outside the house. She slowly walked to the front of the corpse, then bent down, grabbed the wrist of the corpse, and lifted the entire body up like a piece of cargo. The hostess showed everyone a strange smile before slowly leaving with the corpse in her hand.
Looking at her back, no one spoke, while Lin Qiushi thought of the scene when she was making corpse oil yesterday.
Yan Shihe said indifferently, "Oh, it seems that the oil lamp we talked about yesterday is not a condition for death."
These words awakened the stunned crowd. Two people in the crowd showed expressions of relief. They were obviously the two people who did not throw away the oil lamps. The rest of the people got up and left. They were extremely flustered when they left. They must have wanted to find the oil lamps they had thrown away yesterday.
Lin Qiushi originally thought that these people could at least find one or two lamps, but a moment later, everyone who returned to the house had a pale face, and some began to curse uncontrollably. When Lin Qiushi listened carefully, he realized that all the oil lamps they had thrown away had been collected and destroyed.
"Damn it, someone wants us dead, someone wants us to die here—" someone was cursing, "Don't let me find out who that person is!"
"This is too much, too much." Someone cried helplessly, "What should we do?"
Seeing this scene, Yan Shihe seemed to have lost interest in what happened next. He stood up from his chair and politely said goodbye to everyone.
Lin Qiushi and Gu Longming looked at each other, then stood up and left.
The two of them went to a slightly secluded corner and began to discuss what to do next.
"Let's go steal another lamp." Gu Longming said, "It seems like this is the only way."
Lin Qiushi sighed, "It's all my fault. If I had been more careful last night, I wouldn't have knocked over the lamp."
Gu Longming shook his head: "I think you are quite amazing."
Lin Qiushi: "Hmm?"
Gu Longming said, "To be honest, I rarely fall asleep in the world inside the door."
Lin Qiushi: “…” You’re so good at falling asleep that you rarely fall asleep?
Gu Longming was a little embarrassed and said awkwardly, "It wasn't until I walked through this door with you and lived in the same room that my sleep quality improved. I don't know why, but I always slept soundly when I slept with you."
Lin Qiushi: “…” After hearing Gu Longming’s words, he fell into a long silence. He felt as if he had misunderstood everything from the beginning to the end. If what Gu Longming said was true, then Ruan Nanzhu was not a sleeping pill...
When Gu Longming was almost at a loss at Lin Qiushi's silence, Lin Qiushi sighed, "I thought your sleep quality was always like this."
"Hahaha." Gu Longming laughed dryly, "Although I know it's safer to sleep at night, I'm not that confident. Besides, if I really fall asleep at night, I might miss some important clues."
Speaking of clues, Lin Qiushi recalled what happened last night. He said, "I can't sleep until dawn. There are crying boys at night. If there are crying boys, the lights will light up and attract women." He pondered, "But she seems unable to enter the house, so we can only let the little ghost in, but the little ghost is afraid of that spell..." Even if the little ghost hears the spell, he will fall asleep directly.
Currently, there are two conditions for death. One is not using the human oil lamp. In this case, the person will die immediately regardless of whether they are awake or not. The other is using the human oil lamp but not being able to fall asleep. In this case, there is still a glimmer of hope. Just repeat three spells before the little ghost enters the room...
"Don't you think the relationship between women and little ghosts is a bit strange?" Lin Qiushi asked, "If the human oil lamp is a restriction for the little ghost, then why does she make so many of them?"
Gu Longming thought it made sense: "Yes, and she didn't provide us with so many oil lamps. Instead, it seemed like..."
They both said the same thing: "I'm using it myself."
After figuring this out, Lin Qiushi suddenly realized, "Do you still remember the ancestral hall?"
Gu Longming nodded: "What's wrong?"
Lin Qiushi said, "I felt something was amiss with the ancestral hall when I entered earlier, and now I finally understand!"
Gu Longming said: "What's wrong?"
Lin Qiushi asked, "Think carefully, don't you think the light in the ancestral hall is too bright?"
There was only one door and none of the windows were open, but when I entered the ancestral hall on such a cloudy day, it felt as if it were daytime. Now that I think about it, it was probably because of the oil lamps.
Gu Longming said, "If you hadn't mentioned it, I wouldn't have noticed... I'm used to modern lighting, so I didn't notice anything wrong with the oil lamp."
Lin Qiushi: "So..."
Gu Longming: "So?"
Lin Qiushi smiled and said, "What do you think would happen if we extinguished all the oil lamps in the ancestral hall..."
Gu Longming was shocked when he heard Lin Qiushi's suggestion: "Are you serious? No way!" If Lin Qiushi's guess was correct, then it meant that the human oil lamp had a suppressive effect. Once such a lamp went out, the suppressed things would probably all run out. God knows what would happen then.
"Don't be so nervous," Lin Qiushi said gently, "I was just kidding."
Gu Longming: “…” Actually, you are joking now, right?
"I was really joking." Seeing Gu Longming's expression still tense, Lin Qiushi laughed. "Really? Don't worry, I'm not the kind of person who loses my sense of propriety."
Gu Longming looked suspicious.
Lin Qiushi immediately changed the subject and asked, "When are we going to steal the lamp?"
Gu Longming breathed a sigh of relief: "Whatever, why don't we go over and take a look first?"
Lin Qiushi said, "Sure."
Seeing Gu Longming's expression relax, he inexplicably felt that he had a bad taste in his mouth. But when he thought about it carefully, it seemed that Ruan Nanzhu usually teased him like this...
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