Chapter 7: CH 7

Xu RenDong followed Lian Qiao outside the house. He saw Lian Qiao standing in front of the snowman, staring at the face made out of human organs. Xu RenDong immediately realized what had caused his reaction: If the corpse on the second floor had completely disappeared, where did the human organs on the snowman’s face come from?

Lian Qiao looked at it for a while, then suddenly raised the crowbar and slammed it at the snowman’s body!

Xu RenDong was startled but before he had time to speak, he saw snow flying around and a lot of meat was revealed in the place where he had been hit by the crowbar!

The piece of meat had been frozen stiff by the snow and showed a dark red color like frozen meat. Lian Qiao used the crowbar to poke away the snow outside it and pieces of meat were scattered all over the floor. A person’s head was rolled out from it.

The man’s head was bloodstained and the two eye sockets were hollow. The eyeballs were also gone.

“Is this… Zhao Lin?” Xu RenDong was shocked.

Lian Qiao said, “…it should be.” When he spoke, mist came out of his mouth and his voice trembled slightly. It was unknown if he was cold or excited.

Xu RenDong frowned. He was not surprised by Zhao Lin’s death but how did his corpse come to be here?

Lian Qiao muttered; “Sorry, sorry”. He turned the corpse over a few times around with a crowbar. He wasn’t quite sure what he was looking for. After a while, he didn’t seem to find anything. He raised his head and said, “Let’s go and inform everyone.”

Xu RenDong: “Okay.”

Not long after everyone fell asleep, they were awoken with more bad news. Their expressions were very gloomy. This time Jiang Li collapsed again, pointing to Yuan XueMing’s nose and screaming, “Didn’t you say that people wouldn’t die during the day!” 

Yuan XueMing said, “I never said that.”

Her boyfriend Wang Yuan tried to comfort her but Jiang Li was out of control. She cried out: “Three people died in one day! How could this world be so difficult! Last time it was obviously-“

Wang Yuan’s expression changed, and Yuan XueMing had already frowned, “Last time? So this isn’t your first time? You’ve been before?”

Knowing that she had made a mistake, Jiang Li flinched beside her boyfriend and stopped talking. Everyone stared at them questioningly. Wang Yuan knew that he could no longer hide it so he had to admit honestly: “Yes, we are not newcomers…this is the second time we have come in.”

Yuan XueMing asked, “Why did you hide it?”

Wang Yuan sneered: “Do you think I don’t know? You old-timers will use newcomers to test the conditions of death. In that case, why should we tell the truth? Why should we be your guinea pigs?”

It was like a stone that stirred a tidal wave. Everyone was shocked and began to reflect on whether indeed they had been used by Yuan XueMing.

Yuan XueMing was startled: “I didn’t…” But everyone was thinking about it now and when they looked at Yuan XueMing, their eyes were not as trusting as before.

Lian Qiao and Xu RenDong hadn’t followed the main group for the past two days so they didn’t know if Yuan XueMing had ever done such a thing. Yuan XueMing sighed: “If you don’t want to believe me, then I won’t force you. But there is only one thing, I hope you won’t…” He seemed to think of something, and stopped halfway through his words and changed the subject abruptly. “Forget it. Just protect yourselves well. I’ll go up and rest first.”

Jiang Li’s eyes were red and Wang Yuan put his arms around her, soothing her softly. They left too.

Everyone sat in the living room for a while, looking at each other, not knowing what to say. They were all strangers at first and were suddenly thrown headlong into this terrifying world of ghosts. They finally found some spirit but now they fell apart… Regarding Yuan XueMing, everyone’s mood was complicated. He was like their big brother, patiently explaining the rules here and telling everyone what to do next. However who knew if he had a hidden agenda?

He gained everyone’s trust so easily and it was also lost very easily.

Xu RenDong and Lian Qiao returned to their room, feeling a little heavy. The two of them took off their clothes and lay on their bed. They listened to the cold wind outside the window, unable to sleep for a while.

Lian Qiao played with the three dolls they collected and suddenly said, “Brother RenDong, do you think we can really leave here after we gather the dolls?”

Xu RenDong: “I don’t know.”

Lian Qiao: “Didn’t Yuan XueMing say that in order to leave we need to find the elevator and the button? We haven’t found either of these two things… So will they be one of the task rewards? Will it be one or both? This world is really like a horror game and I feel like we….”

Xu RenDong listened to his chatter and felt more and more sleepy. But he still had his guard up and could sleep at ease. So he responded half-heartedly, accidentally interrupting Lian Qiao mid sentence.

Lian Qiao heard his low “Yeah” and mistakenly thought he was getting annoyed with him. He became anxious, “Brother RenDong, do you think that I spend all day thinking about games and aren’t serious?… You are a financial professional, every day you are in contact with leaders in society who are as good and as capable as you are. Do you think being a game anchor is not a… proper vocation?”

Xu RenDong: “No. Isn’t playing games your job and career? The online anchor industry has good prospects now. “

Lian Qiao was moved: “Brother RenDong, you’re so kind! It would be great if my dad was as enlightened as you! Then I wouldn’t have been kicked out of my house…”

Xu RenDong suddenly opened his eyes, looking at him with a complicated expression. “Lian Qiao, I’m only three years older than you. I’m not really fit to be your father.”

Lian Qiao: “…” He fell into the pit he dug himself several times. He said, “That’s not how I feel about you…”

Xu RenDong couldn’t hold back to sleep and didn’t hear what he said.　

Lian Qiao had no choice but to stare at the ceiling in a daze. His body clock hadn’t reached sleeping time yet so he couldn’t sleep. Although he brought a mobile phone, he didn’t dare to play casually for fear that he’d run out of battery. Time passed slowly, and when Lian Qiao was feeling a little sleepy, he heard a very soft voice.

Click, click, click. It was like something soft was patting on the ground.

Lian Qiao’s hair straightened up suddenly and almost jumped out of the bed. It didn’t matter if he couldn’t help himself because when he sat up, he actually met a pair of dark eyes.

“…Hey!” Lian Qiao was so frightened that he couldn’t even scream. He felt like a duck whose throat had been pinched.　

In the darkness, the thing took a step forward and something moved on top of its head. With the moonlight, Lian Qiao could see clearly that it was the gray-haired rabbit who could speak human words. The rabbit’s slick eyes looked deeply at him and the pink hare lips moved. “Have you been looking properly for the gifts?”

Lian Qiao was speechless for a while and the rabbit stared at him, gray-faced. Suddenly, his hair began to turn black. It made the kind of crunch that resembled the clenching of its back molars and the hairy rabbit’s head slowly transformed into twisted black threads bit by bit, looking exactly the same as the black graffiti that was chasing them in the snow during the day.

“Have. You. Been. Looking. Properly. For. The. Gifts?” The rabbit grinned, as if expecting something. His eyes stared vigorously and the eyeballs actually rolled down with a gu-lu-gu-lu.

Lian Qiao shivered with fright and tremblingly took out the matryoshka doll. He presented it in the supplicating position that a little demon would use when addressing the king of the mountain. “Yes, yes, yes! We’ve been looking properly!”　

When the rabbit saw the matryoshka, he curled his lips unhappily. Then he tucked his dark eyeballs back into his eye sockets but he didn’t take the doll. He then turned his head slightly and looked at Xu RenDong who was sleeping.

Lian Qiao pushed him awake. Xu RenDong let out a “huh” and when he saw the rabbit head close at hand, his eyes widened suddenly. The rabbit asked again: “Have you been looking properly for the gifts?”

Xu RenDong felt something hot in his hands as Lian Qiao quietly stuffed a hard thing into it. He then raised his hand to show the rabbit, “Yes, yes, yes, look we’ve been good!” 

The rabbit sucked in his little pink nose and looked very upset but he didn’t scare them anymore. He just turned around, lay down on the ground, kicked off with his hind legs and left.  The pattering sound turned out to be its footsteps. It quickly disappeared into the darkness. The door didn’t open. It was unknown how he’d gotten in or where he’d gone.

Xu RenDong noticed that Lian Qiao had given him a matryoshka doll. Lian Qiao was still holding his hands, his palms sweating slightly.

“What’s the matter?” Xu RenDong asked.

Lian Qiao sighed: “I know what the conditions of death are.”

Xu RenDong wanted to ask when Lian Qiao suddenly said, “Brother RenDong, I’m a little scared. Can I be closer to you?”

Xu RenDong: “The rabbit is gone, what are you afraid of?”

Lian Qiao: “I’m afraid of other things.”

Xu RenDong gradually figured out what happened and realized that Lian Qiao had saved his life again. Suddenly he felt a little guilty.

He thought for a while then pulled open his quilt and said: “You can sleep with me.”

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Lian Qiao smiled, climbed closer to him and gently hugged his arm. The beautiful eyes were bent into a pair of crescents and a warm smile overflowed, making people feel gentle. Xu RenDong was a bit cold at first but Lian Qiao’s embrace was wrapped in a lot of warmth. Like a docile big cat with a furry, warm and soft belly and its breath was full of warmth.

Xu RenDong fell asleep soon.

The next morning, the two heard some noise outside their room. When they came out, they found everyone gathered at the door of the room next to them.

“Someone died again.” Yuan XueMing said, “It’s still the same as yesterday. The corpse has been eviscerated.”

… Did the rabbit leave their room last night and go next door?

Xu RenDong looked at the scene of flesh and blood flying across the room and felt that the number of pieces of meat was much less than yesterday. He couldn’t help but wonder: “This time only one person died?” When Yuan XueMing first allocated the room, it was shared by two people. Right now he showed a bitter smile.

Another girl in the team whispered: “She originally slept with me in the same room.  Last night… after what happened, she suspected that I was also an experienced player so she moved out by herself.”

It seems it wasn’t only Yuan XueMing. Everyone had had a crisis of trust in each other.

Xu RenDong noticed that Xu Hong was not present and suddenly remembered that Xu Hong had a temper and left when she divided the room. She should also be living in a room alone. So he asked, “Where is Xu Hong?”

Everyone woke up as though they were in a dream, only to realize that they had forgotten to notify her about what happened. There was suddenly the creak of high heel shoes on the stairs and an unhappy voice said: “What’s going on?” 

It was Xu Hong.

Everyone showed a look of wonder like: “Oh, you are still alive”. Xu Hong was furious: “What kind of expression do you guys have! Why are you all staring at me!”

Lian Qiao couldn’t hold back and laughed loudly: “It’s nothing, it’s just that I think you are actually pretty good…”

Everyone agreed. Xu Hong was furious and wanted to beat Lian Qiao up but Lian Qiao quickly apologized and hid behind Xu RenDong in a panic. Xu RenDong glanced at him and said, “What are you afraid of? You have the Holy Sword of Physics.”

Lian Qiao was taken aback and said helplessly: “I can’t hit a woman…”　

Xu RenDong: “If she attacks you first, it’s not called hitting a woman. It’s called self-defense.”

Lian Qiao suddenly realized: “What you said makes sense.” Then he took out his crowbar.

Xu Hong: “…” Her attitude changed within one second and she returned to the crowd with a black face.

When Lian Qiao made such a fuss, the atmosphere suddenly eased a little. Everyone decided to go down to eat first.  Anyway, the person was already dead so there was no point staying here.

Without Yuan XueMing’s conversation, everyone was quiet and had nothing to say. Lian Qiao suddenly took out the three dolls they had collected, put them on the table, and then asked: “Now we have five dolls in total. Who has the other two?”

“I have them.” Yuan XueMing quickly took them out and placed them on the table.

Five matryoshka dolls were lined up. Except for the smallest doll, all dolls have a seam that can be unscrewed. So far, the four dolls have contained; a compass, a key and four candies. Lian Qiao said: “Actually, I have an idea about the conditions of death…”

He recounted the rabbit’s night visit last night and concluded: “I guess the conditions of death in this world is that you do not have a matryoshka. So the most reasonable course of action would be to spread the dolls amongst as many people as possible.”

Everyone looked at the dolls on the table. Yuan XueMing looked around and took a matryoshka first: “I found this one and want to keep it. Is that okay?”

Everyone didn’t look happy but they couldn’t say anything . Immediately another girl snatched away a matryoshka quickly: “Then I found this one and I want to take it too!”　　

There are now three dolls left on the table. Lian Qiao moved two of them to him and Xu RenDong and said: “These three were found by Brother RenDong and I, so we’ll take two. As for the last one…” He looked up at the crowd with hesitation on his face.

Everyone looked at him with bated breath, hoping that he could give this doll to them. Lian Qiao glanced at Xu RenDong and Xu RenDong nodded at him, indicating that it was up to him to decide.

Lian Qiao thought for a while and looked at the woman from the couple last night.

“Jiang Li.” He said, “I don’t know what you have experienced before but now I still hope that we can trust each other, okay?”

Jiang Li was overjoyed and nodded vigorously. Lian Qiao said: “I’ll give this matryoshka to you. Let’s stop talking about old-timers and newcomers and guinea pigs. Let’s work together and escape from this world.”

“Okay! Thank you! Thank you!” Jiang Li almost cried with joy. Wang Yuan beside her was also very grateful and couldn’t stop thanking Lian Qiao.

After the distribution of the five dolls, there were still quite a few people who do not have dolls, including Wang Yuan, Xu Hong, and a few people who have no sense of existence. In addition to Wang Yuan, several other people had opinions about Lian Qiao’s decision. Xu Hong even cursed directly: “They were so horrible yesterday and you actually gave them a doll today? Is there a problem with your brain?”

Lian Qiao helplessly: “I…”

Xu RenDong said coldly: “Is it your business?”

Xu Hong glared at him angrily but Xu RenDong’s expression was calm: “If you have time to fight, it is better to set off early to find another doll.” 

Xu Hong was not convinced and wanted to curse again. Suddenly she saw Lian Qiao pull out the crowbar gently and place it on the table.

Xu Hong: “…”

This was pretty much a thinly veiled threat so everyone stopped talking. Yuan XueMing seemed to find this scene very interesting and cast an admiring look at Lian Qiao and Xu RenDong.

Xu Hong got up and left, asking who would like to go with her. No one spoke up. Xu Hong gritted her teeth, slammed the door and left the cabin by himself.　　

Yuan XueMing asked, “Will anyone follow me? I plan to go to the east to search today.”

People who didn’t hadn’t found a matryoshka nodded one after another, saying that they were still willing to follow Brother Yuan. They spoke sincerely but in fact everyone knew that if Yuan XueMing didn’t have the compass, it was probably unlikely that they’d follow him.

The other girl with a matryoshka frankly stated that she didn’t want to go out.　

Yuan XueMing looked at Lian Qiao: “What about you?”

Lian Qiao said, “I want to go to the church again.”

Yuan XueMing: “Do you still remember the way? Or should I take you first…”

Jiang Li suddenly interrupted: “I know the way, I’ll go with you.” She looked at Lian Qiao sincerely, “I’ll take you there to thank you. I really, sincerely, want to thank you for giving me the matryoshka.”

“Yes, you’re our benefactor. ” Wang Yuan looked at Jiang Li affectionately, holding her fingers tenderly.

Lian Qiao gazed at the couple who were passing out dog food without asking others for permission and suddenly turned to look at Xu RenDong. Xu RenDong felt his gaze was a bit weird: “What do you want me to do?” {Dog food = public displays of affection.}

Lian Qiao asked, “Brother RenDong, do you have a partner?”

Xu RenDong: “No.”

Lian Qiao smiled. He curved his eyebrows and said: “What a coincidence, I don’t have one as well.”

Xu RenDong: “…” What’s there to be so happy about, this silly boy.

The group of four left to go to the church. As they did so, Yuan XueMing looked at their retreating backs and his expression looked worried.

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