Chapter 24: CH 24

After hearing his words, everyone rushed to the hidden room. Sure enough, the elevator door opened and a warm, faint white light was emitted from the button.

Xu RenDong asked: “What did you do?”

Lian Qiao raised his hands to show his innocence: “I didn’t do anything! As soon as I came in, I saw that the button was on and so I pressed it…other than that I really didn’t do anything!”

Xu RenDong and Yuan XueMing looked at each other, both thinking: What on earth is going on?

Is the suddenly opened elevator the real way out or is it another trap? In this world, reasoning and guessing alone are useless. This means that someone must be a guinea pig and check it out.

Everyone also understood this so they all remained silent. At this time, they were so close to escaping, so who wanted to take a risk now?

Xu RenDong felt that the elevator was likely to be safe but he could not find a suitable reason to persuade everyone of it. So it seemed he could only act as the guinea pig this time.

“Then I’ll…” Xu RenDong just spokle when Yuan XueMing interrupted him:

“I’ll do it.”

Xu RenDong was taken aback. Yuan XueMing was a complicated existence and his attitude towards Xu RenDong has always been neither like an enemy nor a friend, making him feel unpredictable. At this time, why would he take the initiative to take his place to risk his life?

“Brother Yuan, do you really want to do this?” “You are so great!” “Brother Yuan, you’re a real man!” Everyone was moved by his righteous action and they kept praising him but no one asked to accompany him inside either.

Yuan XueMing probably knew what these people were thinking. Therefore, he didn’t respond to anyone’s flattery. He just smiled and then walked over to Xu RenDong: “If the elevator really works, this may be the last time we can talk. Xu RenDong, if you’re not lying and you’re really a veteran player who has been through six times… Then I admire you very much.”

Xu RenDong was a little puzzled: “Admire me?” As far as this reincarnation is concerned, he doesn’t think he has done anything worthy of admiration.

“You are very strong. You could have left us alone to escape but then we could only have waited to die. Thank you for coming back to save us.” He casually glanced behind him at the celebrating crowd and said expressionlessly, “You can see that can’t you? People who are weak always think it’s only fair that people who are strong should work harder. If you help them once, they won’t think about repaying you but only hope that you’ll continue helping them forever. However this is unfair. So. I am very grateful to you. You have experienced so much but are still willing to help underdogs like us.”

These words made Xu RenDong’s heart feel turbulent. Although Yuan XueMing was a critically ill patient who relies on machines to sustain his life in the real world, and didn’t seem to care about his own life and death, he has always been a good-natured and reliable big brother in this world of ghosts and monsters. Despite criticism, he always did what he thought needed to be done. Xu RenDong felt that it was inappropriate to use the term “weak” to describe him.

However, Yuan XueMing frankly admitted his weakness and said such words of gratitude, which made Xu RenDong start to respect him from the bottom of his heart.

“Take care.” Xu RenDong said, “If we are fated, let us meet again.”

Yuan XueMing smiled gently at Xu RenDong, then turned his head and walked into the elevator.

Everyone watched as the elevator doors closed, making a deep running sound. Time seemed to be stretched for a long time and everyone stared at the elevator with bated breath, for fear that Yuan XueMing’s screams would come from inside in the next second.

An unknown amount of time later, the faint motor noise disappeared and the elevator returned to calm again.

Xu RenDong raised his hand and pressed the button. Ding! The elevator door opened again. It was empty inside, there was no one there.

Everyone was overjoyed: “There is nothing wrong with Brother Yuan!” 

“The elevator really works! Great!”

Jiang Li said cheerfully: “It’s not too late, let’s go!” She and Wang Yuan smiled at each other and stepped into the elevator side by side.

Xu RenDong also nodded and said, “I don’t know what will happen if we continue to drag it on. Everyone, let’s go.”

Everyone was about to enter but at this time someone questioned again: “Wait! Even if Brother Yuan’s body isn’t here, it cannot prove that the elevator can really send us back to the real world! What if… it sends us to an even more dangerous place!”

Xu RenDong frowned, not knowing how to persuade them but at this time Xu Hong coldly snorted: “Then what do you want to do? Stay here and wait for death like a coward?”

The man was angry. “Is it wrong to be careful? Can you guarantee that this elevator is not a trap?”

Xu Hong stepped into the elevator, mocking him without looking back, “Then you stay. A retracting head tortoise will always be a retracting head tortoise, shrink your head back and stay alive. In ten thousand years you’ll still be a tortoise.” {Retracting head tortoise/turtle is a euphemism for being a coward, since every time you experience danger you  can just retract your head back into your shell.}

Although these words were rude and savage, they hit the nail on the head. The man went red in the face due to her mockery and could no longer speak.

Xu RenDong found that the first few people who entered the elevator were all familiar faces and he suddenly couldn’t help but smile. Sure enough, a person with a clear personality and decisive actions will always leave a deep memory. Those mediocre people whose names cannot be remembered by him are still in the background even if they reincarnate dozens of times.

After an ideological struggle, everyone walked into the elevator one after another, and even the man who had been scolded at him gave in at the end.

Xu RenDong went in at the end but found that Lian Qiao was standing outside and didn’t mean to come in.

Xu RenDong called him: “Lian Qiao?”

Lian Qiao: “I want to stay for a while.”

Xu RenDong: “Why?”

Lian Qiao said, ” Didn’t the rabbit set us a task? It was looking for a gift or something. Well, I’m a bit curious, what will happen if I collect all the gifts and hand them over?”

This question has indeed troubled Xu RenDong for a long time. At this time everyone except Lian Qiao was already waiting in the elevator. Xu RenDong thought for a while and left the elevator again.

Lian Qiao was taken aback. Xu RenDong turned his head and said: “You go first, I will stay with him.”

Jiang Li in the elevator nodded and was about to close the door. Lian Qiao suddenly stepped forward, reached out his hand to block the elevator door. He turned his head to Xu RenDong and said, “No, no, it’s okay. I can do it myself. You can go. You don’t need to accompany me.” He clenched the crowbar in his hand and said confidently, “Anyway, I have the crowbar for self-defense. I am very effective, so you don’t have to worry about me.”

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Xu RenDong recalled the scene of him wailing while smashing the rabbit into meat sauce: “Yes, I’m really not worried about you.”

Lian Qiao didn’t expect Xu RenDong to agree with him so easily. The atmosphere suddenly became embarrassed and he was speechless for a while. 

“Are you coming or not?” Someone in the elevator couldn’t help speaking out.

Lian Qiao hesitated for a moment but what else could he say? Xu RenDong had already pushed his hand away. The elevator door closed slowly, and a sentence came floating from inside: “Thank you. Goodbye.” {Zai Jian = Goodbye, also literally means “See you again/later.”}

Xu RenDong looked up and saw it was Jiang Li who said this. His hair stood on end and he thought: Forget it, I don’t want to see you again.

He touched his neck subconsciously and suddenly remembered that he hadn’t found out why Jiang Li would repay his good deed by enmity, cutting his throat. In fact, he has always wanted to get an answer. For example, she might be pregnant. Or perhaps there was a bedridden elderly person in her family who was reliant on her as an economic pillar. In conclusion, he still hoped that Jiang Li had some sort of difficulty, and so betrayed him who had saved her life.

But at the moment the elevator door closed, he saw Jiang Li and Wang Yuan’s hands clasped tightly together and both of them showed contented and happy expressions on their faces. At that moment, he suddenly understood that they just wanted to live.

They wanted to live, wanted to live together with the person they loved. This kind of thing doesn’t need a special reason at all.

Wanting to live is a reason in itself.

Xu RenDong felt relieved suddenly and his mood became calm. He looked at the elevator and didn’t speak, and Lian Qiao also didn’t take the initiative to speak. He just looked at him quietly and calmly. A faint smile gradually formed at the corners of his mouth.

Finally, the sound of the elevator stopped and everything returned to silence. There were only two of them left in the whole world.

Xu RenDong said: “Let’s go.”

Lian Qiao walked side by side with him: “Yeah.” 

The two explored the church again. Among the six dolls known so far, one has been smashed by Brother Sledgehammer and the other is a first-time killer doll with a trap. It was still in the snow and they hadn’t taken it. The remaining four were now in their hands.

The two people sat on the benches in the chapel and began to discuss what to do next. Xu RenDong remembered that Lian Qiao had previously questioned whether there was something hidden on the back of the compass, so he found a knife, inserted the tip of the knife into the gap in the dial and tried to pry the dial open.

Lian Qiao watched him remove the compass, not worried that they would lose their way without the compass. He was just curious, why did Xu RenDong want to stay? Although the boss said that he was not worried about him, his actual actions were now to accompany him to find the dolls?

Why?

An unnoticeable gentle look glimmered in Lian Qiao’s eyes.

The internal structure of the compass was very simple, it was just a small magnetic needle fixed on the dial. But after removing the watch dial, the two were surprised to find that there was another pointer hidden on the back of the compass.

The compass on the front has red and blue ends, pointing to the north and south respectively. The one on the back is directly made into the shape of an arrow. No matter how the dial turns, it points straight in a certain direction, neither north-south nor east-west.

“Let’s go and see?” Lian Qiao asked.

Xu RenDong nodded. The two of them wrapped their coats tightly and left the church following the direction of the arrow.

The arrow pointed to the edge of the forest. Xu RenDong felt more and more familiar as he walked and he had roughly guessed the result in his heart. Sure enough, the arrow finally led them to the edge of a big tree. The tree was not special and it did not look any different from other surrounding trees. Xu RenDong leaned down and pulled away the snow on the ground, and found a matryoshka with a faint sense of caution. This was the first-time killer doll with the twisting monster who wrung people to death.

Lian Qiao said in surprise: “Does this pointer refer to the position of the remaining dolls?”

Xu RenDong: “It is possible.”

Lian Qiao said again: “Look, the direction of the arrow has changed! It seems that the next doll is in that direction! Let’s go look for it.”

Xu RenDong glanced in the direction he was pointing, and stretched out his hand to hold the eager Lian Qiao: “This direction is the opposite of our hunter’s cabin. It’s getting late, today let’s just go back and rest first otherwise I’m afraid that we won’t find a place to stay before dark. We will freeze to death if we sleep outside on such a cold day.”

Lian Qiao naturally agreed.

Although there was no compass to guide him, Xu RenDong was already very familiar with the terrain. Soon after, the two returned to the hunter’s cabin, both exhausted.

As soon as they lit the fireplace, there was a blizzard outside. The north wind slapped the windows like a real entity, making an uncomfortable agitation. The matches in the fireplace were crackling and the light of the fire illuminated the room especially warmly, as if it was completely isolated from the cold.

Lian Qiao squatted in front of the fireplace, playing with the fire fork and suddenly said: “It’s like we’re on vacation.”

Xu RenDong turned around when he heard the words and saw Lian Qiao’s whole body shrouded in the warm light of fire with a smile at the corner of his mouth. His demeanor was gentle and made people want to smile together with him.

The scene is so warm and peaceful that Xu RenDong has the same idea: that they seem like a vacationing… couple…

However, this subtle and charming emotion completely disappeared at dinner.

Xu RenDong ate Leba and milk with a desperate heart, and deeply realized that his love for Lian Qiao must be true. If he left here with the big group today, then by now he would have already returned to the real world to eat and drink and would no longer need to continue to eat bread!

What is the difference between this behavior and willing to eat shit for the sake of a girlfriend?

Fortunately, Lian Qiao is a boy, otherwise he would really suspect he was in love with the other person.

***

{T/N: Ending of instance next chapter.}

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