Chapter 6: CH 6

The two men held each other’s backs and moved forward slowly in the snow. Xu RenDong has long since lost his sense of direction, only feeling snow covering him on all sides and having no idea where to walk.

Lian Qiao suddenly looked around, hesitated, then said: “Brother RenDong, can you hear something?”

Xu RenDong’s heart sank: “No. What can you hear?”

Lian Qiao’s face was not very good: “It sounds a bit like the grinding of teeth…” 

Xu RenDong listened and sure enough within the sound of the whistling wind, he vaguely heard an unpleasant sound. It sounded like the friction sound caused by forcing the molar teeth to grind together. Lian Qiao squinted his eyes and tried to find the source of the sound admist the wind and snow. Soon he widened his eyes and pointed: “Over there!”

Xu RenDong looked, only to see a dark shadow looming in the curtain of snow. It was dark colored and the whole thing looked like a mass of twisted black lines. It was rather like a child with brain problems had painted crazy graffiti using black crayons. What’s even more frightening is that the mass of black lines was still twisting, approaching them at terrible speed!

Xu RenDong immediately reacted: “Run!”

But before the word even finished coming out of his mouth, Lian Qiao had already snatched him around the arm and pulled him, running wildly.

“What is that, ahhhhh!” Lian Qiao was frightening. As he ran, he looked back, his voice pitch rising. “Ahhhhh! Brother, run fast! It’s a ghost!”

Xu RenDong did not hold back and also ran as fast as he could. The mosaic-like shadow chased a dozen meters behind them. Then, as if grinning, the upper part of it cracked from the middle, revealing two rows of sharp and thin fangs! 

If you get bitten by such a big mouth, then you’d definitely be chewed in half!

The shadow kept making horrible grinding noises…. It really pushed the human ear beyond the limit of endurance. Xu RenDong’s heart was bursting as he ran forward with all his might. However he’d been trekking in the snow for too long and his strength was already depleted. Right now, his chest was rolling violently and the cold wind poured straight into his lungs, stabbing him in the airway like a knife.

“Run fast, run, run! Brother RenDong, I’m so scared!” Lian Qiao was about to cry. He was in excellent physical condition, running like a cheetah, however he was slowed down because he was dragging Xu RenDong.

Xu RenDong wanted to tell him to let him go and run away by himself. But suddenly he felt the cold hair behind his head stand to attention and his sense of crisis instantly increased. That mass of black mosaics has caught up!

Lian Qiao probably felt it too and when he looked back, he was so scared he fell to the ground on his knees and closed his eyes with a “Oh!”. His behaviour surprised XuRenDong. He thought, the monster is already right in front of you, what’s the point of closing your eyes and pretending not to look? Isn’t this behaviour tantamount to looking for death?

However what he did not expect was that Lian Qiao’s next action was actually to pull out the crowbar and suddenly strike out against the mosaic!

Peng!

The blakc mosaic’s body shuddered and it was knocked out of balance and thrown into the snow!

“Ahhhhh!” Lian Qiao, who was holding a crowbar, was still waving it around with his eyes closed. He was screaming, “Don’t kill me, don’t kill me, don’t kill me!” 

Xu RenDong: “…” 

Mosaic lying in the snow: “…”

One man and one ghost faced each other, it seemed both didn’t expect what had happened. Unexpectedly, it was Lian Qiao who reacted first. He opened his eyes, took in the situation, grabbed Xu RenDong and turned to run again.

Xu RenDong only felt that Lian Qiao’s strength was so strong that he was completely being dragged forward by him. A normal person would slow down more and more when they kept running, however Lian Qiao was the opposite. His screams seemed to have the effect of giving himself constant injections of stimulants and he didn’t slow down at all. Even though he was dragging an already strengthless Xu RenDong, Lian Qiao’s two long legs flew over the snow like they were flying, so fast that if this was an animation of Ben and Jerry it would probably be represented by a 360 degree spinning wheel. Snowflakes splashed all around them, flinging onto the face of the black mosaic as it followed them.

Mosaic:  “!!! 

It’s molars had been grinded so hard for it that all the grooves had been worn down. It was clearly in a rage of “wanting to kill but cannot kill”, and the target was also right in front of his eyes! 

Right now, Xu RenDong was in no state to judge the direction they were travelling in. He could only keep his eyes on the road to prevent himself from suddenly tripping over stones and dragging Lian Qiao down with him.

So all the way, for goodness knows how long, he had no idea where he was going until the familiar cottage suddenly appeared before his eyes. Xu RenDong automatically looked for the big tree in front of the door and found it. There was even the ladder under the tree, in the same position Lian Qiao had left it. The bird’s nest was there too, where Lian Qiao had found the hidden doll.

This is… the hunters cabin?

They actually made it back?!

Not waiting for him to react from his shock, Lian Qiao dragged him to the door of the hut, opened it and entered. With his back hand he locked and bolted the door. The movement was very smooth as if he’d practiced it a thousand times. 

But after accomplishing this, he fell paralysed to the ground and said with a crying voice: “Are we safe? Did we get back to the safe house?”

“…”

Xu RenDong could only feel a bloody taste in his mouth. His violent breathing could not immediately calm down so for a while he couldn’t speak. He looked out of the window.  Outside the house it was still snowing and the world was white, but the dark shadow did not seem to be there any more and he could also not hear the grinding teeth.

“Should be safe…” Xu RenDong managed to choke the hoarse words out. He looked out of the window and suddenly felt something was wrong. He frowned, “There’s something in the yard.”

He squinted his eyes and tried to discern what it was. It was a rolling, gray-white shadow, about a man’s height and nearly indistinguishable from the gray snow. But because of its proximity to the cottage, one was barely able to recognize the outline. 

Lian Qiao was still rolling around the ground crying, his four limbs in the air. “My crowbar… I need my crowbar…”

……

You were scared this much but you still want to go head to head with the monster outside… Are all game hosts crazy like this?

Xu RenDong stared outside for a moment and said, “I think… it’s a snowman.”

Lian Qiao said: “Ah?”

Xu RenDong: “There’s a snowman outside.”

Lian Qiao calmed down a little, stood up against the wall and looked out of the window. He muttered, “There wasn’t any snowman when we left, was there?”

Xu RenDong also felt something was wrong but still nodded: “Yes, there was no snowman before.”

The two men fell into a strange silence. All of them had gone out to explore, so who made this snowman? Why make it? He doesn’t believe there were people in the team who still had the time or mentality to make a snowman to play at this time.

After a moment, Xu RenDong said, “Just forget it for now. Let’s just take it one step at a time. I’ll build up the fireplace and you keep a lookout to see if anyone else comes back.”

Lian Qiao didn’t move, looking at him with plaintive eyes. Xu RenDong felt inexplicable: “What’s the matter?” 

Lian Qiao whispered: “Brother RenDong, I’m scared….”

Xu RenDong was about to say, “Don’t worry, just wait for me to light a fire”, when Lian Qiao unexpectedly continued, “Where did you put my crowbar? I’m not afraid if I have my holy sword!”

Xu RenDong suddenly felt Lian Qiao was really interesting. He was a collection of contradictions. If you said he was bold… then again he could also cry from being scared of ghosts. But then if you said he was cowardly… he also said that as long as he had his weapon on hand, he was scared of nothing. He even dared to fight the ghost. This person was really interesting. Xu RenDong, “The crowbar is beside the door, over there.”

Lian Qiao took the crowbar and went upstairs without saying a word. Xu RenDong crouched in front of the fireplace to make a fire. Soon the crackling wood sound helped ease his mind.

It wasn’t long before Lian Qiao came downstairs again: “No one else has come back?”

Xu RenDong said: “Let’s keep waiting.”

You are reading story Death Spiral [Infinite Flow] at novel35.com

The two sat in the living room and waited. About an hour later, there was a bang on the door. Someone shouted: “Open the door! Open the door! “

The voice was familiar and belonged to someone in the team. Lian Qiao immediately opened the door and several people stumbled in. Lian Qiao quickly locked the door behind them again.

These people looked to be in a state of shock, clearly they had encountered something bad in the snow. Xu RenDong poured them some hot milk and asked, “Where are the others?”

A young man named Wang Yuan panicked and said: “I don’t know, we got separated from Brother Yuan… something was chasing us from behind!”

Brother Yuan naturally refers to Yuan XueMing.

Although Yuan XueMing had the compass with him, he was being chased by a ghost so he probably didn’t have any time to check his direction. He could only get rid of the ghost, then look for a way back to the house.

By contrast, Lian Qiao was running blind covered with tears and snot and actually made it all the way back. They were even the first to arrive, as if Lian Qiao had the map in his heart. He must be really lucky or else….

That very uncomfortable feeling rose in Xu RenDong’s heart again. He couldn’t help but glance at Lian Qiao and found him standing at the window, still looking out at the snowman. His expression was a little heavy.

As if he perceived something, Lian Qiao suddenly looked back, looking at Xu RenDong. The look seemed to say; hey, what are you looking at me for? 

Xu RenDong felt uncomfortable and retracted his gaze. Lian Qiao smiled at him after he turned his head.

“What the hell did we do wrong?” A woman’s weak cry suddenly sounded, breaking the silence in the hut. Her name was Jiang Li. She was Wang Yuan’s girlfriend. At this point she was in tears, trembling and looking out of control: “What step did we do wrong?” Why is that thing chasing us? 

“Who knows.” Xu RenDong said.

Wang Yuan put his arm around her shoulder and comforted her softly. Jiang Li was sobbing and her mood had collapsed. In this strange atmosphere, everyone kept

silent. The wind and snow outside the house were still whistling, showing no signs of stopping. Just when everyone thought Yuan XueMing had had an accident, there was finally a knock on the door. Yuan XueMing’s hoarse voice came: “Is there anyone in there? Open the door!” 

There were several others together with Yuan XueMing. Xu RenDong counted the number of people present and frowned: “One is missing.”

Yuan XueMing sighed, “It’s Zhao Lin. Soon after he left the church, he got separated from us.” 

The crowd exchanged looks. It turned out that everyone got lost in the wind and snow, and was chased by the black monster. Fortunately, the hunters cabin was not too far from the church and combined with Yuan XueMing’s compass, they finally found the right way back. As for Zhao Lin, he wasn’t so lucky.

However, just in case, Xu RenDong asked if anyone knew who made the snowman outside the door. As a result, everyone’s face became worse, Xu Hong’s voice barked sharply: “Snowman? Someone actually made a snowman in this kind of situation?! Who is it?! “Her eyes were red, almost neurotically so, and everyone silently looked away from her hot gaze.  Xu Hong refused to let go, shouting: “Say it ah! Who built it! Just come out and confess! Come on!”

It was clear that her sanity was beginning to collapse. Xu RenDong had to try to smooth things over: “Maybe this snowman was here before we came, only we didn’t notice.”

Xu Hong reluctantly accepted this statement but her mood was still very bad. She pushed away the food in front of her and said with a gloomy face, “I don’t want it.” She went upstairs alone.

The snowman’s affair made the already depressed atmosphere even heavier.

Yuan XueMing pacified them: “Today we all worked hard. After dinner, rest early. Tomorrow we will need to continue to find more dolls. Hold on a little longer, as long as we finish the task, we can leave.” 

The word “leave” rekindled the hope in everyone’s hearts, though it was extremely weak. The crowd looked everywhere and ate a meal of dry bread that had no taste. After dinner, everyone went back to their rooms one after another. Xu RenDong was about to go when Lian Qiao suddenly pulled him: “Brother RenDong, I’m still worried about that snowman. Let’s go out and have a look.”

Xu RenDong looked out at the dark night outside and asked, “Aren’t you afraid?”

Lian Qiao clenched the crowbar: “Even if I’m scared, I still need to go. I can’t just sit here and wait to die.”

Xu RenDong looked at him but the doubt in his heart had not dissipated.

He wrapped his coat and went out the door with Lian Qiao.

The snowman was right beside the door. It was impossible that they could have not seen it going in and out, so Xu RenDong’s sentence of “maybe we didn’t notice” was absolutely not valid. Unfortunately, they were all so afraid that they chose escapism, preferring to believe a lie that simply did not hold water.

The light from the cottage lit up the snowman.

The two approached cautiously and the look on their faces became more and more ugly.

The snowman is the height of a person and the body is made of one big and one small snowball. It was tightly packed and looked very strong. The horror is that the snowman’s face is full of bits of everything. Its eyes were made from a pair of blood-stained eyeballs, which clearly belonged to a real person. The nose was a frozen stiff finger, and the mouth was a crooked and twisted intestine, stained with blood, red and brightly colored from ear to ear. The expression was very similar to the doll.

Was this the sixth matryoshka doll? The idea flashed through Xu RenDong’s mind but was quickly dismissed. The first five sets they found were sorted by size and could be folded into each other one by one. This snow body type was too different so it absolutely cannot be one of the set.

So what was it for?

Lian Qiao stares at the snowman’s strange face: “Is this made of the corpse from the second floor?”

Xu RenDong: “Maybe.”

Lian Qiao doesn’t know what to think. A moment later, he gave a shiver. Holding his arm, he said, “It’s so cold, let’s go back first.” 

The two went back upstairs. Others had closed their doors and gone to rest already. The second-floor corridor was dark and the whistling outside the house was becoming more and more permeable. The room with the corpse was the first by the stairs. Xu RenDong knew that Lian Qiao was afraid of the body and so deliberately accelerated his pace. But Lian Qiao suddenly stopped, turned his head, and sniffed carefully.

“Eh?”

Xu RenDong looked back: “What’s wrong?” 

“Don’t you think the smell of blood is gone?” Lian Qiao sniffed again and soon found himself a reasonable explanation, “Is it because I’m getting too used to this smell?”

Xu RenDong was silent for a moment, then took out his cell phone to open the flashlight and aimed it at the dead men’s room. He said, “The blood is gone.”

Lian Qiao didn’t speak but the expression on his face changed somewhat. The fear in his eyes disappeared and was replaced by what could be called excitement.

Xu RenDong held up his mobile phone and lit the room. Sure enough, not only outside the house, but all the blood and corpses inside the house were gone. The room was as clean as if nothing had happened. The smell of blood disappeared completely.

“Did anyone come to the hunters cabin while we were out? Not only did they make the snowman but they also cleaned up the body?”  Xu RenDong wondered out loud, then denied it. “No, it can’t be. Even if they clean it up carefully, it’s impossible not to leave a single trace. At least the blood between the gaps in the floorboards won’t be cleaned.”

Lian Qiao said, “The body was erased.”

Xu RenDong: “?”

Lian Qiao’s eyes lit up in the dark: “It’s like playing a monster game. The system automatically refreshes every once in a while to clean up the monster’s bodies. Otherwise the whole world would be full of corpses and players won’t be able to play well.

Xu RenDong understood his meaning but felt a little uncomfortable with the phrase “the whole world would be full of corpses”. He couldn’t speak for a moment.

Lian Qiao suddenly said, “Wait, wait, then that means that’s not right…” He turned back downstairs. “I’m going out again.”

***

The author has something to say: 

Note: Safe House: Some escape classes, shooting games will set up a safe house on the map  where players can take a short break, adjust equipment, restore physical strength and so on.

You can find story with these keywords: Death Spiral [Infinite Flow], Read Death Spiral [Infinite Flow], Death Spiral [Infinite Flow] novel, Death Spiral [Infinite Flow] book, Death Spiral [Infinite Flow] story, Death Spiral [Infinite Flow] full, Death Spiral [Infinite Flow] Latest Chapter