Chapter 18: 18

Chapter 18

In the first floor toilet. 

Li Ying’s body was lying on the ground. The dirt-covered floor was soaked with blood that flowed from Li Ying’s neck.

There was a bloody hole on the right side of Li Ying’s neck. In a space two finger-widths wide next to the throat bone is the carotid artery.

 

Judging by the size and appearance of the wound, it was easy to judge that the murder weapon was the chopsticks that had disappeared at breakfast.

Qin Zhou squatted down to check the corpse. Lin Yi’s head hummed lightly. The overturned corpse, like Wang Duo, grinned up at Lin Yi. 

No one else saw this, including Qin Zhou who was looking for subtle clues at close range.

 

Lin Yi looked at the corpse, the questions running around his head diluting the weirdness of being stared at by the corpse.

Li Ying is dead?

Why did Li Ying die?

 

Why did the 7-7 Monster kill Li Ying?

If Cheng Yang is a 7-7 Monster that would make Li Ying the target of suspicion that he fabricated, and one that he fabricated quite successfully as well. Lin Yi and Qin Zhou have never dared to clear Li Ying of suspicion.

But now, Li Ying was dead?

 

There was a moment of confusion in Lin Yi’s mind. He barely managed to cast his eyes to Cheng Yang and Zhou Lingling without any change in his expression. Zhou Lingling was trembling, her eyes red. From time to time, she would look at Li Ying’s body only to withdraw them in fear upon seeing it. 

Cheng Yang too looked a little scared. But he was ordered by Qin Zhou to comfort Zhou Lingling, so he pretended to be calm.

Zhou Lingling had been the first to discover Li Ying’s death but they couldn’t get any answers. Zhou Lingling was agitated and when Qin Zhou tried questioning her, she wrapped her arms around her head and shrieked.

At this time, Cheng Yang asked Zhou Lingling, “Sister Lingling, I… I’ll take you back to your room first.”

Staying here would only stimulate her further. Not to mention the blood that snaked around the place, just the cloying bloody smell alone was already enough to make people uncomfortable. 

Zhou Lingling glanced at Li Ying’s body with bloodshot eyes. She seemed to want to say something to Li Ying. After all, the two of them had paired up together for the past few days. But in the end, Zhou Lingling didn’t say anything. She nodded gently and agreed to Cheng Yang’s proposal.

Seeing this, Cheng Yang said to Lin Yi and Qin Zhou.  “Boss, Lin Yi Xiong, I… I’ll take Sister Lingling to her room first…”

Qin Zhou turned around and stared at the two of them. However, he gave no comment.

Cheng Yang couldn’t figure out what Qin Zhou was thinking. He scratched the back of his head, “Then, then…” 

Lin Yi noticed that Zhou Lingling had caught sight Qin Zhou’s hand. Qin Zhou’s blood-stained hand made Zhou Lingling feel even more unwell. Face pale, she pulled Cheng Yang’s clothes. She was asking Cheng Yang to accompany her to leave this place.

Cheng Yang had to repeat, “Then, we’ll go first. Boss, Lin Yi Xiong, you…you guys be careful.”

 

After saying so, Cheng Yang took Zhou Lingling away. Lin Yi and Qin Zhou’s eyes were locked on their retreating backs.

The possible monster suspects were so few, so few that it was limited between these two. 

After they left, Qin Zhou turned on the faucet and scrubbed his hands in clean water. “Judging from Li Ying’s wound and the way she had fallen to the floor, the monster must have attacked her from behind. Did you see her expression before she died?”

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

Lin Yi only saw Li Ying smiling at him. He had no intention of telling Qin Zhou about that situation. He lied: “I was thinking about something and didn’t pay attention.”

Ol Tlcu’r vfjat kjr lcvffv ragjcuf. Vtf’r vlfv lc vjsalwf jcv ja atf tjcvr bo 7-7 Zbcrafg. Pa kjrc’a regqglrlcu atja Olc Tl kbeiv tjnf yffc ibra lc atbeuta.

Hlc Itbe vlvc’a atlcx wemt bo la jcv ktlif kjrtlcu atf yibbv boo tlr tjcvr, tf rjlv, “Cmmbgvlcu ab atf ‘Ujlcfv Mjmlji Szqgfrrlbc Xgjvlcu Vmbgf’, klat tfg fsfygbkr vgbbqlcu mibrf ab tfg fsfr, atf afjgr bc atf ojmf jcv atf wbeat lc j tjio-jgm eqkjgv, rtf rmbgfv 10 bc rfnfgf qjlc. Dea tfg fsfyjiir kfgfc’a yeiulcu, tfg qeqlir kfgfc’a vlijafv, qgbnlcu rtf kjrc’a oglutafcfv yfobgf rtf vlfv.” 

Lin Yi immediately understood Qin Zhou’s implication. Although the Monster had attacked from behind, given that they were in the 7-7 Rule World, exposed to the horror and absurdity here, none of them could have been completely unguarded.

Qin Zhou screwed the faucet shut. He stepped carefully to avoid the blood stains on the floor. Because the floor hadn’t been cleaned for a long time, stepping on the grime created a sticky feeling on the soles of shoes, producing a slight but strange ‘pop’ sound.

“The Monster is also a ‘human’ now. It couldn’t have been silent even if it attacked from behind.” Qin Zhou said, “To have made Li Ying die so unguardedly, Li Ying must have known who it was, else she couldn’t have turned her back to it so easily.”

Qin Zhou’s meaning was obvious; he was pointing to Zhou Lingling. 

“What was their reactions just now?” Qin Zhou asked, “Was it normal?”

Lin Yi didn’t even try to recall whether Zhou Lingling’s reaction just now was within the normal human stress response. Because no matter who the 7-7 Monster was, Li Ying’s death was a paradox.

If the 7-7 Monster was Cheng Yang, he had absolutely no need to kill Li Ying. After all, he had just brought up Li Ying to Lin Yi and Qin Zhou.

If the 7-7 Monster was Zhou Lingling, she had just directly put herself in the position of the primary suspect target by killing Li Ying. She was now even being suspected by Qin Zhou. 

Lin Yi stared at Li Ying’s body. There was no doubt that Li Ying had been killed by the 7-7 Monster. That the 7-7 Monster killed Li Ying must also contain some sort of hint as to who the 7-7 Monster was.

Qin Zhou had said that the Monster hidden among them was actually a supervisor; its purpose was to guide them to violate the rules of death.

If it fails in its guiding or if the Monster believed that the existence of a certain person would affect the order of the Rule World, the Monster would take action.

Li Ying obviously wasn’t the type of person who couldn’t be guided, so the Monsters must have killed Li Ying to maintain the normal order of the Rule World. 

In order to maintain the normal order of the Rule World…

Lin Yi pursed his lips and thought. “Did Li Ying do something that would affect the Rule World?”

 

Qin Zhou looked at him. “She doesn’t have to do anything. For the Monster, her living was a hidden danger.”

Lin Yi froze suddenly. He turned around and was about to go out. 

At this moment, someone grabbed his wrist.

Qin Zhou grabbed him, his eyes warning Lin Yi against acting rashly.

Lin Yi said urgently, “But…”

If Li Ying was still alive and nothing had happened in the 7-7 Rule World, his and Qin Zhou’s next move would have been to go to the duty room to search the surveillance to find the 7-7 Monster. 

And that’s why Li Ying died.

For Lin Yi and Qin Zhou, Li Ying’s death was an unexpected development. Lin Yi’s first reaction was shock and disbelief.

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Immediately, the reason for her death was deeply analyzed. After all, Li Ying had always been the object of their suspicion.

In fact, until Lin Yi heard the news of Li Ying’s death, that was the case. He has been thinking about the deep reason why the monster killed Li Ying, so much so that he ignored the simplest point. 

The 7-7 Monster killing Li Ying had only one purpose – to maintain the order of the Rule World.

The order.

So far, there was only one thing that could cause the collapse of the Rule World and that was the surveillance in the duty room, which would expose the identity of the 7-7 Monster.

So why did the Monster kill Li Ying? Because only Li Ying’s death would be so preposterous that Lin Yi and Qin Zhou would delay going to the duty room to check the surveillance records. After all, neither Lin Yi nor Qin Zhou even considered the possibility that Li Ying could die at this time. 

If the ones who’d died were either Zhou Lingling or Xu Xiazhi, their deaths would not have had an impact on Lin Yi and Qin Zhou and they would have been able to react very quickly. At this time, this murder was actually the 7-7 Monster’s way of delaying them.

While Lin Yi and Qin Zhou were wallowing in its trap, the 7-7 Monster had probably already deleted the surveillance records in the duty room.

Lin Yi pursed his lips. “Senior, this Monster must have eaten a lot of people.”

He realized how troublesome this 7-7 Monster was. 

Now, he and Qin Zhou had no way to determine whether the monster was Cheng Yang or Zhou Lingling.

Qin Zhou’s suspicion that the Monster was Zhou Lingling, based on Li Ying’s death, was very convincing. But if Cheng Yang hadn’t mentioned Li Ying in his explanation, the two of them might not have only just reacted now. The 7-7 Monster had made a diversion, luring a tiger away from its domain in the mountains. Cheng Yang even offered to accompany the unwell Zhou Lingling back first.

 

Lin Yi put out a proposal, “It hasn’t been long since they left. Maybe the 7-7 Monster hasn’t had time…”

Qin Zhou pulled Lin Yi by his wrist. Lin Yi’s had a relatively small frame and Qin Zhou’s hand wa just wide enough to wrap around his wrist. 

He frowned. The Monster’s ability to imitate was indeed very strong. It had already learned their routines and knew how to use them flexibly.

Qin Zhou said, “No, it’s getting dark out already.”

The Rules of Death : If you don’t stay in you room at night, you will die.

Even if they went to the duty room at this time, seeing the surveillance would have no effect. Once a rule of death was violated, they wouldn’t be able to go to the Monster and perform a Replay. 

They have indeed missed their window to go to the duty room to check the surveillance.

“We’ll think of some other way.” Qin Zhou took Lin Yi back to the third floor and told Lin Yi to go back to Room 304, “Little genius, there’s no need for me to say much else. Live.”

Lin Yi nodded.

It was already dark and after saying goodbye to Qin Zhou, Lin Yi returned to Room 304. 

He entered the room, closed the door and when he looked at the window, he was stunned frozen. He couldn’t help but say a quintessence of national culture: “Fuck!”

The wardrobe was gone!

What happened to his big wardrobe?

Although the wardrobe had been on its last legs after a few nights of torture, it couldn’t be denied that the wardrobe had been his saving grace. But now the wardrobe was gone. 

Without the wardrobe, only the curtains were there to block the window.

Then, a gust of wind blew in, and the curtains blew inwards with the wind, revealing the dark night behind.

The night wind that drifted into Room 304 was biting, making Lin Yi shiver. Before he could think of another way to block the window, from a distance—

Boom clink clink clink. Boom clink clink clink. 

Boom clink clink clink. Boom clink clink clink.

Lin Yi was already familiar with this rhythm. The sound of ‘boom clink’ was followed by the ‘click’ sound of nails poking into the wall.

 

He didn’t dare delay any longer and with large strides, he rushed forward.

Lin Yi was very familiar with Room 304. He knew that there were no weapons in the room. The only thing that could be used as a weapon was punctured by the vase girl’s nails the night before. 

The only way out now was to try to close the window.

He pulled back the curtains. The window were old-fashioned windows, the kind that opened outwards. To close the window, you have to reach out halfway to grasp the window handles.

This was a very dangerous move. The ‘click’-ing sound meant that the vase girl was already making its way up the wall of the apartment.

If the time was just right, he was likely to come face-to-face contact with the vase girl. 

But there was no other way; Lin Yi had to do it.

Lin Yi didn’t hesitate and he stretched out half of his body. Fortunately, he was tall and have long arms, so he managed to reach the outward-facing glass window without any difficulty.

It was just that the old-fashioned glass window wouldn’t swing smoothly. Its hinges were rusty making it difficult to move.

Lin Yi pulled hard and the window groaned in protest. The ‘clang clang’ sound was especially jarring in the dark night. So jarring that Lin Yi noticed something was wrong. 

In the dark night, there was only the ‘clang clang’ sound but the ‘click’ sound that symbolized the girl’s footsteps have stopped.

Lin Yi stopped moving the window. The night fell into silence.

He wasn’t the masochistic type so before leaning out, he intentionally didn’t look or glance around him. But though he could decide his main line of sight, he couldn’t help it if he caught something from out the corner of his eye.

From out the corner of his eye, it wasn’t the vase girl that Lin Yi saw but… 

Lin Yi boldly lowered his head to look at the wall below. There was no vase girl.

Had it gone looking for Xu Xiazhi?

This was Lin Yi’s guess but he still persisted in trying to close the window.

While pulling hard on the window, he glanced at Room 308, Xu Xiazhi’s room. 

His eyesight was very good. Even though Room 304 and Room 308 were separated by four rooms, he could still clearly see the wall on the other side of Room 308.

The vase girl wasn’t there and Lin Yi could even see that the wall over there was intact, unlike the wall outside Room 304, where there were numerous small holes poked by vase girl, numerous enough to trigger an attack on people with trypophobia.

 

Therefore, that ‘click’-ing sound just now really must have come from the wall outside Room 304.

Thinking of this, Lin Yi took a deep breath. 

He then suddenly looked up.

On the wall above his head, the vase girl’s blood-red eyes, obscured behind her long strands of hair, stared back at Lin Yi.

After being discovered by Lin Yi, she tilted her head and an excited ‘gugugugugu’ came out her throat.

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