Chapter 97 The Eleventh Door
Some things are fine if you just think about them, but actually doing them is absolutely impossible. Feeling he wouldn't get any more advice from Gu Longming, Lin Qiushi turned off his computer and returned to bed, drifting off to sleep at dawn. He was still thinking about how he would get along with Ruan Nanzhu the next day, but when he woke up in the morning, Ruan Nanzhu had already left the villa.
"Where did Brother Ruan go?" Lin Qiushi felt a little surprised that he didn't see him during breakfast.
"Something happened with Bai Lu last night, and he left in the middle of the night." Cheng Yixie answered, obviously knowing what had happened.
"Something happened to Bai Lu?" The mention of Bai Lu reminded Lin Qiushi of Li Dongyuan. "What happened?"
"Civil unrest," Cheng Yixie said. "It seems a few bigwigs are involved. Things are getting complicated."
Lin Qiushi said "oh", knowing that he could not help in this matter, and continued to eat his food.
In fact, his understanding of Bai Lu only stopped at Li Dongyuan. After Li Dongyuan's death, Lin Qiushi never knew about Bai Lu again. Even if he did know about her, it was only from what others had heard.
It was around noon when Ruan Nanzhu came back from outside.
When he came back, he brought with him a girl with an indifferent expression. Lin Qiushi remembered her. When Li Dongyuan jumped off the building to commit suicide, this girl seemed to be kneeling beside him and crying loudly. The reason he remembered her was because she was the one who cried the most sadly among those present.
She followed Ruan Nanzhu into the room and introduced herself: "Hello everyone, my name is Zhuang Rujiao."
Ruan Nanzhu said to Lin Qiushi, "She's an acquaintance."
Lin Qiushi looked at her, thinking of his experience with Li Dongyuan when he got married, and said, "She is... Xia Rubai?" He remembered that Li Dongyuan was accompanied by a weak and timid girl at that time, but he just couldn't associate her with the cold-looking person in front of him.
The change in Zhuang Rujiao was so great that Lin Qiushi was hesitant when he said this.
"Yeah." Ruan Nanzhu looked a little tired. "Prepare something for her to eat. I'm going to rest for a while."
"Go ahead," Lu Yanxue said, "We'll just take care of her."
Ruan Nanzhu went upstairs, leaving Zhuang Rujiao standing quietly in the living room. Lu Yanxue warmly asked her to sit at the dining table and prepared a steaming hot breakfast for her.
Zhuang Rujiao ate quietly without saying a word.
"What happened to Bai Lu?" Chen Fei asked.
"It's not a big deal," Zhuang Rujiao replied. "I just killed a few traitors." She had completely lost that childish and frail look, her expression cold and indifferent. "It's just that some people don't obey me."
Chen Fei said: "Is this related to Li Dongyuan?"
Zhuang Rujiao smiled but didn't say anything.
Seeing that she didn't want to mention it, the others didn't continue to ask. Anyway, if there was a need, Ruan Nanzhu would tell them.
Ruan Nanzhu slept until the afternoon. It was almost evening when he came down from upstairs lazily wearing home clothes.
Lin Qiushi saw him and asked, "Are you hungry? Lu Yanxue left some lunch for you. I'll heat it up for you."
"Yeah." Ruan Nanzhu nodded.
Lin Qiushi went to the kitchen to heat up some food. When he came out, he saw Ruan Nanzhu chatting with Zhuang Rujiao. Although they were chatting, there was no expression on their faces; it looked more like a serious negotiation.
When Lin Qiushi listened carefully, he found that Ruan Nanzhu was actually talking to Zhuang Rujiao about joining Obsidian, and Zhuang Rujiao seemed to have agreed.
"It's a pleasure to work with you." Ruan Nanzhu extended his hand.
"It's a pleasure working with you." Zhuang Rujiao shook Ruan Nanzhu's hand.
Lin Qiushi placed the food in front of Ruan Nanzhu and saw Zhuang Rujiao carrying her backpack upstairs, apparently heading to her room. He was slightly surprised: "Isn't she... Bai Lu's woman?"
Ruan Nanzhu pinched the corner of his eye and said, "Li Dongyuan's death was not an accident."
Lin Qiushi was stunned.
Ruan Nanzhu: "He was murdered." He leaned against the sofa and quietly stated a shocking fact, "Zhuang Rujiao discovered the truth and avenged Li Dongyuan." He shifted his gaze to Lin Qiushi.
Lin Qiushi felt a little bewildered by Ruan Nanzhu's gaze. Just as he was about to ask, he heard Ruan Nanzhu say, "What would you do if I were the one jumping off the building?"
Lin Qiushi forced a smile, "Don't joke like that." Unbeknownst to him, his expression was frighteningly stiff, and that smile couldn't even mask the panic within him. Lin Qiushi had never made such an assumption before, and when Ruan Nanzhu reminded him of it, he felt a surge of panic wash over him like a tide, leaving him feeling suffocated.
Perhaps Lin Qiushi's reaction was too strong. Ruan Nanzhu frowned slightly and whispered, "I've thought about it."
Lin Qiushi: "Huh?!" He wanted to ask more, but Ruan Nanzhu stopped talking. He stood up, waved at Lin Qiushi, and left.
Lin Qiushi looked at his back and for a moment was a little confused about what he meant. Why was he so different from the gentle Ruan Nanzhu yesterday?
Could it be that the incident between Zhuang Rujiao and Li Dongyuan brought about some drastic changes in Ruan Nanzhu?
Lin Qiushi could not see through Ruan Nanzhu's thoughts, nor could he guess the answer. He just felt inexplicably disappointed, as if he had made many preparations, but when the time came, he found that the other party had retreated first.
Zhuang Rujiao officially joined Obsidian and became one of them. Later, he and Lu Yanxue entered the sect several times.
After recuperating for a few weeks, Lin Qiushi expressed his desire to enter again.
"Do you need me to accompany you?" Ruan Nanzhu asked when he heard Lin Qiushi's request.
"No need," Lin Qiushi said, "I want to gain some experience on my own."
"Okay." Ruan Nanzhu said, "I calculated the time, and Gu Longming's fifth door is about to open. Are you still in contact with him? If so, let's go with him."
Lin Qiushi: “There is a connection.”
Ruan Nanzhu nodded, indicating that the matter was decided.
Lin Qiushi looked at him, hesitant to speak.
During this period, after Ruan Nanzhu's health gradually recovered, he became busy again. Just like when Lin Qiushi first saw him when he entered Obsidian, he was not seen in the villa all day long.
"What's wrong? Is there anything else?" Ruan Nanzhu asked.
"It's okay." Lin Qiushi said, "Good night."
After he finished speaking, he turned and left, but he didn't know that Ruan Nanzhu was staring at his back in silence for a long time.
Gu Longming's fifth door will be opened at the end of next month. He was still worried about whether he needed to find another helper, but he didn't expect Lin Qiushi to take the initiative to offer to go through the door with him.
"You're so kind, my dear Linlin," Gu Longming sighed. "As a helpless 15-year-old high school girl, you've given me a second life."
Lin Qiushi: "Please, please let the high school girl go."
Gu Longming said, "See you then."
"See you then." Lin Qiushi said.
Obsidian has been quite lively recently. Zhuang Rujiao has joined here, and Zhuo Feiquan has hooked up with Cheng Yixie and started running to Obsidian as well.
Every day when Lin Qiushi came home, he would see a brother-con and a sister-con sitting in the living room arguing about all kinds of trivial matters. Most of the time, Zhuo Feiquan was talking nonsense, and Cheng Yixie would occasionally fight back with a word or two, but every word was sharp.
In the end, before the two of them could come to a conclusion in their argument, Chen Fei, who liked quietness, was annoyed and directly told Zhuo Feiquan that the fee here was charged by the hour.
Who knew that Zhuo Feiquan would pull out a few stacks of RMB from his pocket, slap them on the table and say, "First, let me give you 20,000 RMB."
Chen Fei: "..." Please go away.
Sometimes, when Cheng Yixie got annoyed, he'd ask Cheng Qianli to pretend to be him, since Zhuo Feiquan wouldn't recognize him anyway. But even if he couldn't, Lin Qiushi and the others did, so they could only look at Cheng Qianli with sympathy. Cheng Qianli hugged his chubby corgi, not daring to disobey his brother's orders, looking so aggrieved that he was about to wrinkle like a freshly baked bun.
Zhuo Feiquan was still beeping: "Why aren't you talking, Cheng Yixie? You have nothing to say, right?"
"I'm going out to buy some things. Do you want to come with me?" Lin Qiushi couldn't stand Cheng Qianli's pleading look and could only ask.
"Together, together." Cheng Qianli quickly stood up.
"Hey, I'm talking to you, where are you going?" Zhuo Feiquan yelled.
Cheng Qianli said to him, "Brother, let's talk next time, let's talk next time. I'm busy today, busy today." After saying that, he dropped the toast and slipped away without delaying at all.
Lin Qiushi drove Cheng Qianli to the nearest large supermarket. While they were shopping, Cheng Qianli asked, "Linlin, what's going on between you and Brother Ruan lately?"
Lin Qiushi looked down at the expiration date on the yogurt in his hand and asked, "What's going on?"
"Why are you all silent?" Cheng Qianli asked.
"Go ahead and tell me. Aren't we already talking about it?" Lin Qiushi said. "Why are you asking?"
Cheng Qianli: "No, I just feel that the atmosphere between you has been a little strange since Zhuang Rujiao came." He scratched his head, "Am I overthinking it?"
Lin Qiushi asked, "Is there..."
Seeing Lin Qiushi's bewildered expression, Cheng Qianli said, "Maybe I'm overthinking it. Hey, I like strawberry flavor... Give me an extra one..."
Lin Qiushi said nothing and put another bottle of strawberry flavor into the shopping cart.
When he returned from outside, Zhuo Feiquan had disappeared. Cheng Qianli breathed a sigh of relief and said that Cheng Yixie must have taken the wrong medicine, otherwise why would he be involved with such a chatterbox like Zhuo Feiquan. It was terrifying that someone talked more than him.
Lin Qiushi suddenly remembered something and glanced at him: "Is your seventh door about to open?"
"Yeah." Cheng Qianli said, "It will probably be next month or so."
"Are you ready?" Lin Qiushi asked.
"There's nothing to prepare." Cheng Qianli was a little confused. "The clue is with my brother. He hasn't shown it to me yet. He said he would show it to me after we go in..."
Lin Qiushi: "Just the two of you going in?"
"Yes." Cheng Qianli said, "Just the two of us..."
Lin Qiushi nodded, indicating that he understood.
All in all, a lot of things happened in Obsidian during this period of time, and the mess gave people a headache. Ruan Nanzhu was also very busy, running outside every day, and often he was not seen for several days.
Lin Qiushi had no idea what he was busy with. He wanted to ask, but he felt their relationship wasn't close enough to allow him to say anything. And that kiss... Lin Qiushi touched his lips, involuntarily recalling the soft touch. Then, as if realizing what he was thinking, the tips of his ears twitched, turning an unnatural shade of red. Then, a sense of melancholy washed over him...
Tan Zaozao's movie was also released. Although the box office performance was average, it received good reviews from the industry. Her goal is to win an international award at the end of this year.
However, Lin Qiushi remembered that Tan Zaozao's next door seemed to be at the end of the year.
In August, the weather became really hot.
Lin Qiushi got the clue of the fifth door from Ruan Nanzhu and began to prepare for Gu Longming's fifth door at the end of August.
The clue this time was a sentence "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth". This kind of clue without a beginning or an end was actually one of the more difficult ones, but Ruan Nanzhu didn't have any other suitable notes with him, so he could only pick out this one among the short ones.
Lin Qiushi held the note and felt that he really had nothing to prepare. This kind of note would probably only be connected to the clues after he got inside.
"Are you sure you want to go alone?" Ruan Nanzhu asked again when giving Lin Qiushi the clue.
"I'll be alone," Lin Qiushi said. "I have to learn to be independent."
Ruan Nanzhu looked at Lin Qiushi for a long moment before saying, "That's right."
"Have you... anything happened recently?" Lin Qiushi asked carefully. "You seem to be in a bad mood."
"It's okay." Ruan Nanzhu said, "I'm fine."
His answer was too quick and too simple, almost perfunctory. Lin Qiushi asked, "What are you worried about?"
Ruan Nanzhu asked, "What do you think of Zhuang Rujiao?"
Lin Qiushi was bewildered by the question: "Zhuang Rujiao...what happened to Zhuang Rujiao?"
Ruan Nanzhu: "Do you like her the way she is now?"
Lin Qiushi: "It's nothing bad, though... it was good before." Zhuang Rujiao had clearly grown up, no longer the girl who hid behind them for protection. Of course, this growth came at a painful price: she lost the person she loved most, the one she could rely on most. After being stripped of her skin by life, she finally transformed herself and became the person her loved ones had hoped for.
"Give me some more time, let me think about it." This was the last sentence Ruan Nanzhu said.
Lin Qiushi was completely bewildered. He wasn't very good at handling people's emotions to begin with, and Ruan Nanzhu's complex reaction left him even more bewildered.
But since Ruan Nanzhu said so, let's give him some time, Lin Qiushi thought, everyone has times when they don't understand something.
After sending the bracelet to Gu Longming in advance and matching the secret code inside, Lin Qiushi began waiting to enter.
The cicadas outside the window kept chirping. The hot summer came again. Lin Qiushi sat on the sofa, enjoying the air conditioning and eating watermelon. Cheng Qianli was dozing off next to him.
The time for entry was in the next two days, and Lin Qiushi was ready at any time, with a bag on his back and changed into the agreed clothes.
At about three o'clock, Lin Qiushi felt a subtle change, a feeling he was very familiar with - the door was coming.
Cheng Qianli, who was sleeping beside him, was nowhere to be seen. Lin Qiushi walked to the door and pushed it open casually. The scenery outside the door turned into a black corridor with twelve iron doors clearly visible on it.
Lin Qiushi stepped onto the corridor, walked to the fifth door, and stretched out his hand to open it.
The picture twisted and the scene in front of him changed. Lin Qiushi found himself standing on a wide road. He looked around and from the surrounding architectural style, this seemed to be a school.
At this time, the sky began to darken. Lin Qiushi walked along the road and soon saw a tall teaching building. Below the teaching building, groups of people had gathered. Some were talking, while others were observing the environment.
Lin Qiushi scanned the crowd and quickly found the person he was looking for—Gu Longming.
Gu Longming was wearing a white T-shirt with a tiger head printed on it and black jeans. There were two big holes on the knees of the jeans. It was unclear whether they were specially bought or dug out temporarily.
Lin Qiushi walked behind him and patted his shoulder.
Gu Longming turned around and said, "Hey, hello."
"Yu Linlin." Lin Qiushi stretched out his hand.
Gu Longming said: "Gu Longming."
They both accepted the pseudonyms used by the other party. After all, it is normal to be reserved when taking work on the Internet.
"Is this a school?" Lin Qiushi asked. "Any new discoveries?"
"No." Gu Longming said, "I didn't find anything. I only found that this is a university, one that covers a very large area."
"Oh." Lin Qiushi nodded.
This was Gu Longming's fifth door, and the difficulty wasn't too high. The sixth door would see a qualitative leap in difficulty. So Lin Qiushi was relatively relaxed and not overly nervous.
There were two newcomers at this door, a man and a woman. They were both relatively calm, at least not crying. Although their expressions showed they were terrified, compared to most people, they were acting quite well.
"I was almost scared to tears when I first walked in." Gu Longming casually recounted these events, "I thought I was being captured and forced to participate in some kind of battle royale..."
"Is this better than a battle royale?" Lin Qiushi said, "At least in a battle royale, you're fighting against humans."
"Who said that?" Gu Longming asked, "Killing people can leave psychological scars, but killing ghosts doesn't. They're already dead anyway."
Lin Qiushi thought about it, and it seemed to make sense. At least inside the gate, it was forbidden to attack teammates directly. Otherwise, Lin Qiushi seriously suspected that someone would pull out a knife and beat everyone down during the gathering. Of course, if you were clever enough, you could still kill someone by circumventing the gate's rules, provided you were lucky enough and the person you killed was also stupid enough.
The two of them were talking when a man who looked like a teacher walked in. The man was wearing glasses and whispered, "You guys are so late! It's almost dark."
No one spoke, just looked at the NPC quietly.
The man said, "Let's go. I'll take you to where you live first."
As he walked, he briefly introduced the school. In this world, Lin Qiushi and his friends played the role of private detectives.
This school recently encountered an incident where students suddenly committed suicide one after another. There are many ways to commit suicide, most of which are very bloody.
Rumors began to spread among the students, saying that those who committed suicide had offended some dirty things that they shouldn't have offended. These rumors created an atmosphere of unrest in the entire school.
The school had no choice but to find a private detective and asked them to find out the truth about the students' suicide and solve the matter within half a month.
It seems that the time limit is only half a month, which is plenty of time.
The teacher led them to the dormitory building, distributed keys to them, and then turned and left.
Lin Qiushi naturally chose the same room as Gu Longming. Someone else wanted to share a room with them, but Gu Longming was coy and hugged Lin Qiushi's arm, saying, "Oh, no, please. I want some time alone."
Just like that, I disgusted that person and drove him away.
Lin Qiushi expressed his admiration for him and thought to himself that it was a good thing that this guy didn't wear a short skirt like last time, otherwise the damage would be even greater.
The dormitory was divided into two floors, housing a total of fourteen people. Most people shared two-person rooms, but there were also three-person rooms. There were five rooms upstairs and five downstairs. Lin Qiushi chose a room on the second floor. After unlocking the door with his key, he felt the environment inside was quite good.
Gu Longming ran directly to the bed and lay down, saying, "What's the clue to this door?"
Lin Qiushi said, "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."
Gu Longming: "Just this one sentence?"
"Hmm," Lin Qiushi said, "I guess it has something to do with revenge."
Gu Longming: "That's a bit too simple..."
"There must be other meanings, but I don't know now. I'll find out after I investigate tomorrow." Lin Qiushi put down his backpack, washed up quickly, changed into pajamas, and prepared to go to bed.
Gu Longming asked, "By the way...what's going on with that girl of yours?"
Lin Qiushi: "Which one?"
Gu Longming: "Fuck, how many girls do you have? Of course it's the one you told me about that day."
Lin Qiushi looked at the ceiling and thought for a moment: "His attitude is a bit strange. I don't understand what he's thinking..."
Gu Longming: "Strange?"
"I can't explain it clearly. It seems like he's worried about something," Lin Qiushi said. "I asked him, but he wouldn't say anything."
Gu Longming: "Well...girls, it's always better to coax them more. After all, we are all going to die, so it's normal to have concerns." He murmured, "If it were me, I wouldn't dare to fall in love with others."
If I died suddenly, how sad my loved ones would be.
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