Chapter 92 Oil-Paper Umbrella
Because of yesterday's incident, everyone was not very excited when they saw the sunny doll today.
Lin Xingping had originally intended to follow the previous day's practice and have the sunny doll removed and buried, but she was stopped by a girl named Xiaocha, one of the more clear-headed newcomers. She seemed a little annoyed by Lin Xingping's bossing around and said, "Don't take it away! We don't even know what the doll does. Whoever takes it will be cursed."
Lin Xingping defended herself, "Aren't the people we took down yesterday all fine?"
Xiaocha sneered, "Who knows? What if it's just not their turn? Who knows in a couple of days."
Lin Xingping said, "How can you say that..." She pretended to be angry at being wronged. "Why do you take my kindness for granted?"
Xiaocha didn't buy it at all and said bluntly, "How about I bring you a stool and you take it down yourself? Then you can be the good guy?"
Lin Xingping was about to argue, but Cui Xueyi, who was standing next to her, saw that the situation was not good and quickly came to act as a peacemaker. They said, "Okay, everyone, don't quarrel. We are all a team here. Why make such a fuss? If you don't want to take it, then don't take it. The person is already dead anyway, so it doesn't matter if it's hanging."
Lin Xingping pretended to be angry and turned away.
Xiaocha spat on the ground and cursed, her aggressive demeanor reminiscent of Ruan Baijie's youth. After the argument, Xiaocha seemed to notice Lin Qiushi staring at her. She rolled her eyes at him unhappily and cursed, "What are you looking at? Haven't you seen a beautiful woman?" Then she turned and walked away.
Ruan Nanzhu gloated beside Lin Qiushi, "This is the first time you've been treated this way."
Lin Qiushi: “…” It seems so.
Ruan Nanzhu turned his head to look at Lin Qiushi again and sighed, "It's all because of your face."
Lin Qiushi: “…” That’s enough. You’ve said it several times. And how ugly is his face?
There are no mirrors in the bathrooms of this world, and he has been here for two days and still doesn't know what he looks like.
Ruan Nanzhu looked at Lin Qiushi's bewildered expression. After a moment's thought, he pulled out his phone from Lin Qiushi's pocket, opened it, and tapped the front-facing camera. "Hey, look."
Lin Qiushi took his phone and looked, only to discover a face indescribable in words. Ugly was no longer enough to describe it. The moment Lin Qiushi saw his own face, he immediately turned off the camera. He completely understood the disgusted looks on Lin Xingping and the others' faces.
Lin Qiushi looked at Ruan Nanzhu speechlessly.
Ruan Nanzhu spread his hands and said, "I didn't know you would become so ugly after entering the door."
Lin Qiushi said, "It's really hard on your eyes." This really affects your vision.
Ruan Nanzhu laughed and said, "Let's go have breakfast first. Let's go out and look for clues before it gets dark."
"Okay." Lin Qiushi nodded.
The two went to the restaurant to have breakfast. Although it was called breakfast, it was actually almost eleven o'clock.
Lin Qiushi ate a quick bite and then left the restaurant with Ruan Nanzhu.
Today, Lin Xingping enthusiastically invited Lin Qiushi and the others to join them, saying that they had discovered a bamboo forest on a mountain in this small town. Inside the bamboo forest, there was a small stone path. They wondered where that path led to...
After hearing what they said, Ruan Nanzhu smiled and said that they wanted to take a walk around the yard first.
"What's improved?" Cui Xueyi said impatiently, "We've looked around enough, just follow us..."
"But walking is so tiring." Ruan Nanzhu leaned against Lin Qiushi, her voice soft and sweet, and she said coquettishly, "I don't want to walk at all." If a slightly prettier girl said this, it might be pleasing to the eye, but Ruan Nanzhu in this world was not pretty at all, so Cui Xueyi's eyes clearly revealed an expression of disgust.
"Overcome it, just hold on." Lin Xingping still didn't give up.
"There's nothing I can do. I can't force my little princess." Lin Qiushi had now grasped the essence of his own face. He lifted Ruan Nanzhu's chin and spoke sweetly to her face to face. "After all, it would be heartbreaking if my little princess walked too much."
Obviously, the power of Lin Qiushi's words with this face was very great. He clearly saw that Cui Xueyi and Lin Xingping's faces had darkened, and they swallowed slightly, not knowing whether they were forcibly swallowing back the feeling of nausea.
"You can understand this, right?" Lin Qiushi, who had developed a bad taste in his mouth, continued to disgust people.
Lin Xingping smiled very reluctantly, and Lin Qiushi suspected that she could no longer hold back.
Lin Qiushi was about to continue, but Cui Xueyi turned and left, seemingly unable to endure any longer. Lin Xingping and Gu Yuansi followed him. Although Gu Yuansi was his employer, he said little throughout the entire process, appearing to have a low presence. Only after he left did Lin Qiushi notice him standing next to him.
Cui Xueyi walked to the edge of the yard, probably thinking they couldn't hear him, and whispered to Lin Xingping, "Why did you choose such a disgusting one?"
"How would I know?" Lin Xingping also complained, "She seemed quite normal when I looked at her profile. Who knew her boyfriend was so disgusting?"
“Damn it,” Cui Xueyi spat. “Talking to him makes me want to vomit.”
Lin Xingping: "I also have some..."
The two walked away, talking. Lin Qiushi, listening from behind, wanted to laugh. He hadn't expected Ruan Nanzhu's makeup to have such an effect. It had actually made Lin Xingping and the others give up on harassing them, saving them a lot of trouble.
Ruan Nanzhu said, "Let's go out later. I have something I want to confirm."
"What is that?" Lin Qiushi and he found a random stone bench in the yard and sat down.
"Do you remember what I saw last night?" Ruan Nanzhu glanced around the yard.
"Are you talking about the man holding the umbrella?" Lin Qiushi remembered Ruan Nanzhu once said that, but he couldn't see it with his eyesight.
"Yes." Ruan Nanzhu nodded. "I think this umbrella is the key." He thought, "I want to look for it."
"By the way, why did you say that last night?" Lin Qiushi suddenly remembered what Ruan Nanzhu had said when the kid who picked up the basketball suddenly appeared last night. "It was the one about getting the floor wet..."
Ruan Nanzhu smiled and said, "I just said it casually, I didn't expect it to be so useful."
"Just a casual remark?" Lin Qiushi didn't quite believe it.
"Really," Ruan Nanzhu said lazily, "I just got a sudden inspiration from that person holding the umbrella." He tilted his head, "When I saw that person, I thought he really looked like a parent watching his child do homework..."
Lin Qiushi: “…”
"Parents definitely don't like their children to break the rules," Ruan Nanzhu said, "especially when they get the floor wet..."
While they were talking, most of the people in the yard had left.
The entire yard was empty, the sound of the rain had ceased, and the wind chimes in the yard tinkled in the breeze. Ruan Nanzhu stood up from the stone bench and walked towards a room.
"Hasn't that been checked?" Lin Qiushi remembered that they had checked this room on the first day.
Ruan Nanzhu said, "Let's take another look."
Lin Qiushi stopped trying to persuade her and followed Ruan Nanzhu out of the room.
This room is where the owner of the yard lives. The furnishings are similar to theirs, with just a bed and a few cabinets, without any extra decorations.
Ruan Nanzhu entered the house and began to check around.
Lin Qiushi stood at the doorway, thinking about the scene he had witnessed the previous night, when he suddenly felt something touch his calf. He lowered his head, and his hair immediately stood on end. He saw a dirty basketball slowly rolling to his feet.
Lin Qiushi looked along the basketball and saw a pair of black eyes emerging from the crack under the ground.
The floors of the buildings here are all airtight and not sealed with wooden boards, so you can crawl in through the gaps on the side... Of course, no one would normally do this.
The eyes flashed by, and when Lin Qiushi looked again, they had disappeared.
"Nanzhu—" Lin Qiushi shouted, "There seems to be something underneath."
Ruan Nanzhu came out of the house and asked, "What's going on?"
Lin Qiushi pointed at his feet and said, "There seems to be something under the floor."
Ruan Nanzhu asked, "What is it?"
Lin Qiushi said, "A pair of eyes..." Although most of the things inside the door wanted to kill him, there were actually some rational ghosts. For example, the one under his feet, he inexplicably felt that it was reminding him of something. "I want to see under the floor."
"Let me do it." Ruan Nanzhu said, "Let me see."
He took Lin Qiushi's phone, turned on the light, and prepared to crawl under the floor to take a look. Lin Qiushi was still a little worried and said, "Why don't we just give up? If something happens, we won't be able to escape."
Ruan Nanzhu refused. He said, "No, the umbrella must be nearby. Now the only thing left to check is the floor."
Lin Qiushi wanted to say something else, but he saw that he had already crawled in with a firm attitude.
It was very dark under the floor, and I could only identify the surroundings with the help of a faint light source.
Lin Qiushi squatted outside, looking at Ruan Nanzhu with worry, afraid that something might happen to him.
Ruan Nanzhu's steps as he was crawling inside suddenly stopped, as if he had found something. After a moment, a voice came from inside: "Found it."
Lin Qiushi shouted from outside, "What did you find? An umbrella?"
"Hmm... umbrella, there seems to be something else." Ruan Nanzhu said, "I'll drag it out first..."
He crawled inside with difficulty and dragged out what he found under the floor. It was a black bag, and next to the bag was a very simple oil-paper umbrella. The oil-paper umbrella looked very worn and had several patches on it.
Lin Qiushi reached out and helped Ruan Nanzhu up, asking, "What's in the bag?"
Ruan Nanzhu shook his head: "I don't know, open it and take a look." He paused, "Maybe it's not a good thing."
What's hidden inside can't be anything good.
Lin Qiushi bent down and opened the black bag, only to find it was filled with crushed bones. From the structure of the bones, Lin Qiushi could tell they definitely belonged to a human, possibly a child...
"It's the skeleton of a child." Ruan Nanzhu's words confirmed Lin Qiushi's suspicions. However, he seemed more skilled at distinguishing these things. He gave it a quick inspection and said, "There's more than one."
"More than one?" Lin Qiushi saw these bones and inexplicably thought of the children who sang "Caged Bird" in the garden last night. Could these skeletons have some connection with them? He pondered for a moment and said, "I don't seem to see any skulls..."
"There is indeed no skull," Ruan Nanzhu said, "only bones from other parts of the body."
"What should we do then? Bury it?" Lin Qiushi asked.
"Rest in peace." Ruan Nanzhu put down the bag, "Although I always feel that the most important part is not here." As he said this, he raised his head and glanced at the sunny doll hanging at the end of the corridor.
The same oversized sunny doll hung on a cotton string in the corridor, swaying slightly in the wind. If one didn't know what was wrapped inside, one might have felt the atmosphere was somewhat tranquil. However, the thought of the rain-soaked, bleached head gave Lin Qiushi a stomachache.
Lin Qiushi found a shovel in the corner of the yard and planned to dig a hole to bury the black bag.
Ruan Nanzhu was too weak, and Lin Qiushi couldn't bear to see him suffer, so he sat nearby and watched. The pit was quickly dug, and as Lin Qiushi buried the remains, he felt a sense of being watched. But after searching carefully, he couldn't find the source of the gaze.
Ruan Nanzhu sat not far from Lin Qiushi, lowering his head to study the oil-paper umbrella in his hand.
This oil-paper umbrella is very ordinary. The ribs are made of bamboo and the whole body is a light white. It looks like it has been used for a long time. There are several patches on the umbrella surface, and every part exudes an old smell.
Ruan Nanzhu opened the umbrella and saw some residual water stains inside. He said, "This umbrella must have been used recently. Maybe... last night?"
Lin Qiushi was filling the soil when he heard this and replied, "Is that the one you saw last night?"
"It's possible," Ruan Nanzhu said. "This umbrella should be very useful. I need to find a chance to try it out."
Lin Qiushi asked, "How do we try?"
Ruan Nanzhu glanced at the sky and said, "Umbrellas are only useful on rainy days." The sky was slowly turning cloudy again. After yesterday's experience, everyone knew it would rain soon. And if they got caught in the rain, they would become sunny dolls on the corridor overnight.
Lin Qiushi patted the soil down, put the shovel back in place, and said, "Let's go. They should be back soon."
"Let's go." Ruan Nanzhu said.
The two returned to the house and soon heard voices of conversation coming from outside the yard. It was Lin Xingping and others who had returned from looking for clues outside.
Lin Qiushi heard everything they discussed in low voices.
This afternoon, Lin Xingping, Cui Xueyi, and the others went back to the path they had found in the bamboo forest. They followed it up the path, but they couldn't reach the end. As the day wore on, even though they hadn't reached their destination, the three of them, fearing death, decided to return. After all, if it started raining while they were on their way, they would be in dire straits.
Of course, they stopped discussing immediately after they discovered Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu were in the room.
Lin Xingping said, "Oh, you just stayed in the house for a whole day?"
At this moment, Ruan Nanzhu was leaning in Lin Qiushi's arms, saying softly, "Yes, I wasn't feeling well, so my dear stayed with me for the whole day."
"Oh, okay." Lin Xingping said, "We did make a great discovery outside." She laughed at this point, "If you feel better tomorrow, we can go take a look separately."
"Oh, what discovery?" Lin Qiushi asked.
"Didn't I tell you before that we found a path in the bamboo forest?" Lin Xingping smiled. Her smile seemed sincere, as if she were a leader who truly cared about the newcomers. "We actually found something when we came back from there just now."
"What is it?" Ruan Nanzhu pretended to be curious.
"It's a courtyard." Lin Xingping sighed. "It's a pity that when we got there it was already too late. We had to return without a thorough inspection. You should leave tomorrow morning and go there early. You should be able to find some other clues in the courtyard."
Cui Xueyi chimed in, "What are you telling them to do? They stay in the house every day, aren't they just hoping to reap the benefits? You're still so nice to them!"
Lin Xingping said: "You can't say that. After all, we are teammates."
These two people, one playing the good guy and the other the bad guy, cooperated very well. If Lin Qiushi had not heard their conversation a long time ago, he might have believed it.
Lin Qiushi looked at Ruan Nanzhu.
Ruan Nanzhu stammered, "Sister Lin, don't be angry. I just feel uncomfortable today. I will be better tomorrow. You mean the yard, right? My boyfriend and I will go over there tomorrow to see if we can find anything."
"Well, okay." Lin Xingping said, "Actually, there are still a few places we haven't explored yet. We can go there tomorrow to test the bottom. After all, there is strength in numbers. Only if we help each other can we get out of here sooner."
Upon hearing this, Lin Qiushi nodded sincerely.
After saying this, Lin Xingping walked away with Cui Xueyi and the others.
Ruan Nanzhu winked at Lin Qiushi, and the two of them left the living room and returned to their rooms.
Lin Xingping had indeed begun to attack them. There was clearly nothing on that path. If they were foolish enough to believe her and continue down it, they wouldn't be able to return until the rain came. If they miscalculated and got caught in the rain, they'd probably end up with their heads hanging in the hallway like a sunny doll the next day.
Lin Xingping was obviously familiar with this kind of thing. She did not do it herself. Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu died at the hands of ghosts and could not turn into evil spirits to seek revenge.
"He's really not a good guy." Ruan Nanzhu sneered, "But I'm quite interested in what's at the end of that path."
Lin Qiushi heard the sound of raindrops hitting the ground outside again. It started as a drip, but soon became a crackling sound. He glanced outside and saw that the yard was once again covered in rain. The sky darkened, and the whole world was immersed in a rhythmic cacophony.
Ruan Nanzhu said, "Let's go and take a look tomorrow."
Lin Qiushu said, "That path?"
"Hmm," Ruan Nanzhu analyzed. "This town is small. We've checked most places and haven't found anything special. The path they found at the end of it might be something particularly important."
Lin Qiushi felt that Ruan Nanzhu's words did make some sense. He nodded, indicating that he agreed with his proposal.
The two sat in the house, waiting for the night to come.
Around nine o'clock, it was completely dark outside. The few lights hanging in the corridor were completely useless. Wrapped in the rain, they were like the light of fireflies.
The lights in other rooms went out one after another, and everyone was preparing to rest for the night.
Ruan Nanzhu took out his umbrella and stood up.
Lin Qiushi stopped him and said, "I'll do it this time."
Ruan Nanzhu smiled and said, "I won't take risks lightly. I have a trump card."
Lin Qiushi pursed his lips, "But..."
Ruan Nanzhu waved his hand, stopping Lin Qiushi from continuing. His dark eyes gazed at Lin Qiushi tenderly, and he said, "Don't worry, I know my limits." After a pause, he chuckled and said, "I won't let my boyfriend become a widower."
Lin Qiushi: “…” You’re still joking at this time.
As Ruan Nanzhu spoke, he had already walked to the corridor, opened the oil-paper umbrella, and then walked cautiously into the rain.
Lin Qiushi looked at him, holding his breath nervously. However, when Ruan Nanzhu walked into the yard, a magical scene happened. The raindrops around him were all bounced away by an invisible force, and a vacuum zone was formed with Ruan Nanzhu as the center, without any water droplets splashing.
"It really works." Ruan Nanzhu stood in the rain and smiled at Lin Qiushi.
Lin Qiushi looked at his smile and breathed a sigh of relief... At least nothing really happened.
Ruan Nanzhu stood in the rain for a while, then returned to the corridor and put away the oil-paper umbrella. He casually shook off the water on the umbrella and wiped it with the towel he had prepared, making sure that no water droplets would fall to the floor before reentering the house.
This umbrella was obviously very important, but no one had figured out its use yet. However, even if they hadn't figured out the key point, they now had an important support... Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu could go out on rainy days.
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