Kaleidoscope of Death

Kaleidoscope of Death by Xi Zixu

As the day to enter the door grew closer and closer, Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu also just about got done with their prepwork.

This was the first time Lin Qiushi would be entering a door with someone from the internet. Ruan Nanzhu told him there were always risks with internet gigs, so they must hide their true identities well once inside. Being discovered would be quite troublesome—but this, to Lin Qiushi, felt suspiciously like an excuse to get him to crossdress.

Once Ruan Nanzhu put on women’s clothes with him however, the sense of imbalance in Lin Qiushi’s heart eased by quite a lot.

Cheng Qianli seemed to know what Lin Qiushi thought about this, and cautioned solemnly for him to keep heart, and not to let Ruan Nanzhu’s scary ways rot his mind too.

Lin Qiushi looked at Cheng Qianli, but didn’t speak.

Cheng Qianli, “why are you ignoring me…”

Lin Qiushi typed on his phone: I’m getting into character as the mute girl.

Cheng Qianli, “…” Lin Qiushi, you’re totally screwed.

Sometimes being too well-adjusted wasn’t a good thing after all.

Finally, after a few days of wandering about the mansion in a dress, Lin Qiushi saw the day to enter come. He was eating at the dining table when a mysterious sensation suddenly manifested. He was very familiar with it. Lin Qiushi set down his chopsticks, turned, and pushed open a random door in the room. He wasn’t surprised at all that the space beyond had turned into the twelve metal doors.

Five of the doors were sealed off, and six others couldn’t be opened. The only one that could be opened belonged to the door’s owner.

Lin Qiushi took a deep breath, grabbed the handle, and tugged.

The door opened obligingly, and the scene before Lin Qiushi morphed, becoming a long walkway. It seemed to be stairs out of a basement. The air was musty, and the stairs seemed long and endless. Lin Qiushi slowly ascended, and after many turns, finally saw people waiting in a lobby.

As he removed the bracelet from his wrist, he studied the surroundings to confirm that he was indeed in the sanatorium named in the hint. Even though it was a sanatorium, it carried the disinfectant scent of a hospital. There were abandoned sickbeds everywhere. Passing one, Lin Qiushi actually saw brown stains of dried blood.

Eight people had already gathered, nine including him. Some gazes passed over him, but some took interest and began looking him up and down. Their gazes held a distinct intention, but Lin Qiushi stayed impassive and pretended he didn’t see any of it.

Someone walked in front of him, extending a hand with a smile. “Hello, I’m Jiang Yingrui. Can we get to know each other?”

Lin Qiushi typed on his phone: sorry, I can’t speak. I’m Lin Qiuqiu.

Jiang Yingrui said, “oh, please excuse me. Which door is this for you?”

Lin Qiushi: sixth.

Jiang Yingrui seemed very interested in Lin Qiushi, and wasn’t dissuaded at all by Lin Qiushi’s cold attitude. In the end Lin Qiushi had to bluntly write: excuse me, but I’d like to be alone for a bit.

Jiang Yingrui read these words and smiled. “Fine then.”

At least he didn’t bellyache about it, just turned and left. It seemed he’d wanted to team up with Lin Qiushi, but Lin Qiushi’s rejection was clear.

The lobby they were in was on the first floor of the sanatorium. Outside was an overgrown courtyard, and above were the patients’ wards.

There were six stories total, demarcated clearly by function. It seemed though that nobody here was in a good state of mind—at least, Lin Qiushi saw plenty of messy scribbles and graffiti covering the walls.

As Lin Qiushi was looking around, he felt a light touch on his shoulder. Lin Qiushi turned and was met with a stranger’s face.

Though the face was strange, the clothes were familiar. She opened her mouth and said, “hello, I’m Ruan Baijie.”

Lin Qiushi understood. Hello, I’m Lin Qiuqiu.

Ruan Nanzhu smiled. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Ruan Nanzhu’s appearance this time was as beautiful as usual: long black hair, a long white skirt. Despite being far taller than the average woman, her unique elegance was still incredibly eye-catching. Her smile was slight, and though Lin Qiushi knew this was a man, he still felt his heart skip a beat.

Ruan Nanzhu’s hand rested on his shoulder. “Let’s form a team?”

Lin Qiushi nodded.

There were eyes on them, and Lin Qiushi could clearly sense some bad intentions.

Though he’d not encountered this kind of thing, the world inside the door was lawless; people didn’t have to be responsible for their actions inside. With the threat of death on top of that, people often did some despicable things—this was something Ruan Nanzhu had lectured Lin Qiushi on.

After hearing that Lin Qiushi had been struck, and asked if they weren’t at risk then.

Ruan Nanzhu had answered, “you’re overthinking it.”

Lin Qiushi had wondered at the time what he’d overthought. Today he finally understood.

Because some moron walked up to them and started saying all sorts of vulgar things. The actual words themselves Lin Qiushi wouldn’t get into, but when the guy was done talking, Ruan Nanzhu was starting to look a bit angry.

Seeing this, the guy only got more excited, and made to grab Lin Qiushi’s hair. Lin Qiushi was just pondering the best way to “daintily and delicately” beat the guy to Sunday when he saw Ruan Nanzhu catch the man by the arm—and twist, hard.

Lin Qiushi heard the crunch of bones breaking and a squeal like a pig at slaughter.

Looks of interest turned to looks of fright. And Ruan Nanzhu sure didn’t forget to throw himself at Lin Qiushi, looking all hapless and sniffling, “Qiuqiu, Qiuqiu, he’s so scary.”

Lin Qiushi, “…” Isn’t the scary one you?

Now, no one dared to come talk to them. In fact everybody began to tacitly avoid them, and Lin Qiushi didn’t know whether or laugh or cry.

It was then that Lin Qiushi spotted their target. A young man in a black t-shirt, jeans, and a black cap. He looked about seventeen or eighteen with a handsome face. As soon as he walked in, his eyes fell on the two of them.

After a moment’s hesitation, he made his way over to Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu.

“Hello, I’m Feng Yongle,” the young man introduced himself. It was the same pseudonym he’d given online. “Can I team up with you two?”

Hearing this, people tossed pitying glances at the young man, like they expected him to immediately lose an arm as well.

But Ruan Nanzhu only smiled sweetly. “Sure.”

Feng Yongle sighed in relief, but noticed the odd gazes on him. He was confused. “What happened?”

Ruan Nanzhu pointed at the man in the corner who looked on the verge of passing out from pain, and said, “that guy harassed us earlier. I chased him off.”

Feng Yongle looked at that man, then back at Ruan Nanzhu. He fell silent, as if wondering how Ruan Nanzhu and Lin Qiushi, with their slight figures, could have chased someone off. Lin Qiushi could tell his thoughts from his gaze… but it wasn’t like Lin Qiushi could explain. He could only copy Ruan Nanzhu’s gee I don’t know what happened, I’m just an innocent little kitten expression—something Lin Qiushi thought he’d become quite practiced at as well.

Fortunately Feng Yongle didn’t pursue the matter.

People gradually gathered. There was the same number of people as Lin Qiush’s previous sixth door—fourteen. There was only one newbie this time though, curled up and trembling in a corner watching his surroundings..

Soon after everybody arrived, a woman wearing a nurse’s uniform appeared before them. She looked stark and awful, green around the gills, and swept the crowd with cold eyes. “Please follow me to the fourth floor.”

The group followed her to the fourth floor.

“Your treatment will begin in seven days.” The nurse’s tone was also cold. “In these seven days, we hope you will familiarize yourselves with the facility’s accommodations.” At this, a strange smile tugged at the corners of her lips. “You will like it here.”

Then, she also told them some rules, like that they could only eat in the dining hall, food from outside was not allowed, and leaving the room after eight was also not allowed. When she was done the nurse turned and left, leaving them with only her disinterested back.

“Shit, that’s terrifying,” one of the women kept mumbling. “Is that a human or a ghost…”

Nobody answered her question.

There were eight rooms available, each with two bunk beds, which meant four people per room. Of course if somebody didn’t want that, they could just use it as a double.

Lin Qiushi, Ruan Nanzhu, and that Feng Yongle from earlier were naturally rooming together. In the interim a girl named Xue Zhiyun asked to room with them, but was turned away by Ruan Nanzhu.

And of course he gave her the bitchiest rejection: “like, I’m just not used to sharing a room with so many people~”

Xue Zhiyun said, “you’re already three, can’t you just add one more?”

Ruan Nanzhu, “nuh-uh. Lin-meimei and I knew we were soulmates at first sight, we have to stay together.”

Xue Zhiyun, “what about that guy?” She pointed at Feng Yongle.

Ruan Nanzhu, shamelessly, “that’s a kid, not a guy.”

Xue Zhiyun left with a dark expression, and Feng Yongle didn’t look too happy either. Lin Qiushi actually sympathized with both of them—what kind of soulmates-at-first-sight nonsense, that’s-not-a-guy bullshit, it was all peak petty.

But of course that was how Ruan Nanzhu successfully rejected a fourth interloper and secured the three of them a private room.

The accommodations were atrocious, to say the least. The worst was when Feng Yongle found full human fingernails in his bed.

Feng Yongle shook his bedding clean and said, “we have to stay here for seven days?”

Ruan Nanzhu, “pretty much.”

Feng Yongle, “hopefully we can endure.”

Ruan Nanzhu, “Endure? I don’t think it’s a matter of endurance.” He stood by the window and said this as he looked out.

“What do you mean?” asked Feng Yongle.

Ruan Nanzhu, “you didn’t read the info?”

Feng Yongle, “I did.”

Ruan Nanzhu, “remember how the patients escaped the sanatorium then?”

Feng Yongle, “you mean that tunnel…”

Ruan Nanzhu, “we’ll see what happens first.”

As they talked, Lin Qiushi was inspecting his wall, which bore strange marks that looked gouged out by fingernails. He could imagine the mental condition of the bed’s previous occupant.

“It’s time, let’s go downstairs for lunch first,” Ruan Nanzhu declared. “We still have to follow the rules an NPC gives us.”

They headed down to the second floor cafeteria mentioned by the nurse. Mealtime had already started, and there were patients everywhere in numbered hospital gowns.

To tell the truth, this was the first time Lin Qiushi saw a door world populated by this many people. Logically, the more people there were, the less scary a situation. But after seeing the states of these people, Lin Qiushi actually felt a chill down his spine.

The patients in the cafeteria were all obviously unwell: some looked completely vacant, some had their heads bowed and were muttering to themselves, and others still stared catatonically at the floorboards. All in all, this was less a sanatorium and more one large mental hospital.

“Eat quick, and we’ll leave,” Ruan Nanzhu said. “Psychological states like these are contagious, after all.”

Indeed, staying with odd people meant becoming odd yourself.

As they ate, other groups began to arrive. One of them included Jiang Yingrui, the guy who’d wanted to hook up with Lin Qiushi. He seemed to maintain great interest in Lin Qiushi, and shot Lin Qiushi a smile from faraway.

Lin Qiushi pretended he didn’t see it.

Once they were finished, the three planned to explore the building. They went first to the treatment room on the top floor. This wasn’t a hospital, so actual treatment options were limited—but nevertheless, each room was stuffed with sickbeds, and some beds even held patients who were clearly dying.

Feng Yongle said, “who knows how many have died here.”

Ruan Nanzhu, “likely lots.”

Lin Qiushi continued forward, eyes on the graffiti popping up on the walls. While they weren’t very clear, the words could still be parsed as cries for help and cries for death.

“Hm? Someone’s eating in here,” Feng Yongle suddenly discovered in a room.

Lin Qiushi went up to the window and saw a patient eating noodles with a fork. He ate slowly, and chewed each mouthful for a long time.

“Didn’t she say we can’t eat outside?” Feng Yongle questioned. He’d brought in his own food.

Ruan Nanzhu peered at him. “You can give it a try.”

Feng Yongle, “never mind, never mind.”

The three watched for a while, and started to leave when nothing odd happened. After just a few steps however, Lin Qiushi heard an odd sound—a soft squelching, as if something had been punctured. He paused, glancing back at the room. That glance made his breath stutter to a halt.

The fork that had been used for noodles was now sticking out of the patient’s eye. Only the handle was left sticking out, and that person, with blood streaming down his face, didn’t utter a single sound. A wound this deep ought to have killed him, but he only slowly pulled the fork back out and resumed eating his noodles.

Lin Qiushi, “…” He silently tugged on Ruan Nanzhu’s sleeve.

Ruan Nanzhu turned, and took in the scene as well.

Feng Yongle’s reaction was the most dramatic out of them; he spat out a curse and rubbed his arms, “oh fuck, this kind of shit can happen too?”

Whether or not it could happen, Lin Qiushi didn’t know. Regardless, the person inside the room was really something, scarfing down his own blood like ketchup on his noodles.

He seemed to notice the attention from outside the door, and grinned in their direction.

It was a sight that had their hairs standing on end.

In wordless agreement, the three turned and left. At the end of the day, when they were back in their room, Feng Yongle silently tossed all the food he’d brought into the trash and never mentioned snacking again.

After they wandered this floor for a bit, the sky grew dark.

Rushing back before nightfall, Lin Qiushi paused before a room door, noticing something. He tapped Ruan Nanzhu, brought out his phone, and typed: don’t we live on the fourth floor?

Ruan Nanzhu, “yeah, why?”

Lin Qiushi: …then why is this door number 502?

Ruan Nanzhu looked up, and saw that the door closest to the stairs was indeed now 502, while all the other rooms were still 400-something. He said, “502, do you remember what the data said?”

Of course Lin Qiushi remembered.

At the sanatorium, 502 was quite the special room after all.

It was because a nurse and head nurse had died inside. The story went, after the head nurse became pregnant with a doctor’s child and failed an abortion, she chose to commit suicide by jumping from Room 502. After that, Room 502 became haunted.

Legends had it that every night, the weeping of an infant and the howling of a woman in pain came from this room. Then, after a nurse committed suicide in 502, the room was sealed off and never used again.

That was why here, 502 was a very special number.

During room assignments this afternoon, Lin Qiushi had cheered about being put on floor four. Who would have thought that after taking a spin around, their room number plaque was going to be switched?

Realistically, most people wouldn’t notice something like the door plaque. Lin Qiushi remembered a man and a woman were staying in this room, and glanced at Ruan Nanzhu for his opinion.

“I’ll tell them,” Ruan Nanzhu said.

The 502 plaque suddenly appearing was clearly a death condition; there was no harm in warning other people from the group.

So Ruan Nanzhu knocked on the door before them.

“Yes?”

The woman answered, and looked wary at the people gathered outside.

“There’s something wrong with your room number.” Ruan Nanzhu didn’t beat around the bush.

The woman poked her head out, and after seeing the altered number, her expression drastically changed. “When did—”

“We don’t know,” Ruan Nanzhu said. “We saw it on our way back. You wanna switch to another room?” There were plenty of spares after all—and more to come, once the number of people lessened.

“Yes.” The woman took Ruan Nanzhu’s good will and nodded her head in gratitude. “Thanks for the warning.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Ruan Nanzhu replied.

After delivering the warning, they returned to their own room.

The sky was nearly dark now, and they were about half an hour from the nurse’s 8PM warning.

After washing up, Lin Qiushi started playing Candy Crush[1] on the bed. Ruan Nanzhu sat in the bunk above in thought.

Perhaps finding the atmosphere awkward, Feng Yongle spoke, “I didn’t think you’d be two women.”

Ruan Nanzhu, “what else would we be?”

Feng Yongle, “I thought you were guys.”

Ruan Nanzhu, “who said women are less capable?”

Lin Qiushi, sitting on the bed, quietly thought to himself, and who knew this women’s rights activist before him was actually a seasoned drag queen…

8PM approached, but Lin Qiushi heard footsteps running after something in the hallway outside. The sound was crisp and tainted with panic. Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu shared a glance before Ruan Nanzhu said, “I’ll go.”

But Lin Qiushi got up before Ruan Nanzhu. He approached and carefully opened the door, wanting to see who’d been running.

Past the open door though, Lin Qiushi only saw an empty hallway. Something tightened in his chest, and he made to close it—but felt the door catch on something.

Lin Qiushi looked down and saw that a red high heel had suddenly appeared in the doorway, wedged starkly in the corner of the frame.

Lin Qiushi, “…”

Ruan Nanzhu approached Lin Qiushi, and also saw the shoe. He glanced around, not touching it with his hands. Instead he spun back inside and brought out a dirty plunger from the bathroom. With a single swing he knocked that shoe right outside.

Lin Qiushi was astonished by Ruan Nanzhu’s actions.

Feng Yongle was too. He watched slack-jawed as Ruan Nanzhu carelessly tossed the plunger aside and calmly went to wash his hands in the bathroom.

Returning, he discovered the two people were still staring at him. Ruan Nanzhu spoke back oddly, “why are you looking at me like that?”

Lin Qiushi fished out his phone and typed: because you’re pretty.

Ruan Nanzhu smiled and gave Lin Qiushi a kiss. “Qiuqiu’s the cute one. C’mere, give jiejie a kiss.”

Lin Qiushi was embarrassed: that’s improper for a man and woman.

Ruan Nanzhu’s expression went odd after reading Lin Qiushi’s text. He’d known since the start that every time he put on the skirt Lin Qiushi got a bit confused…

And Lin Qiushi regretted the text immediately after typing it—he aggressively remembered that the cute Miss Baijie before his eyes wasn’t some lady, but a brusque and brutal man.

Lin Qiushi, “…” Sigh, the eyes were too good at lying.

The sound of someone walking in heels outside came again. Lin Qiushi didn’t open the door this time, though that sound seemed to pace right around their room.

The sky was completely dark now. The whole sanatorium was wrapped in blackness.

Everything was quiet, and so, that running sound became even more jarring. Accompanying the percussion of the heels on the ground, Lin Qiushi’s sharp hearing also caught the soft sniffles of a child, though the sound was faint and probably inaudible to Ruan Nanzhu and Feng Yongle.

So Lin Qiushi curled up in bed, and pretended he could hear none of it.

“Sleep.” Ruan Nanzhu bid him goodnight from the bunk above. “If you can’t, you’re more than welcome to come up here.”

Lin Qiushi didn’t reply. It was too annoying to type now, so he didn’t bother continuing the conversation.

Quickly, Ruan Nanzhu’s breathing evened out. Based on what Lin Qiushi knew of him, he must be deeply asleep already.

Lin Qiushi glanced at Feng Yongle beside himself, and saw the boy staring blankly at the ceiling. He felt odd solace—at least it wasn’t just him who couldn’t sleep.

Feng Yongle seemed to notice Lin Qiushi’s gaze. He turned around smiling and whispered, “can’t sleep?”

Lin Qiushi nodded.

Feng Yongle watched Lin Qiushi, eyes filled with… a kind of gentleness that was hard to describe. It scared Lin Qiushi into immediately shutting his eyes. Somehow, he felt that if he didn’t feign sleep immediately, Feng Yongle would say something very terrifying.

Author’s Note:

Ruan Nanzhu: If you look into my eyes you can be sure of my feelings for you.

Lin Qiushi: I’ve looked into your eyes and can be sure that you’re not human…

Ruan Nanzhu: ????

The Waverly Hills Sanatorium is what Briarcliff Manor from American Horror Story Season 2 is based off of.

Translator’s Note:

1. It’s not literally Candy Crush, just a Candy Crush-like game.

Names in this chapter

• Chéng Qiānlǐ / Cheng(2) Qian(1) Li(3) / 程千里
• Lín Qīuqīu / Lin(2) Qiu(1) Qiu(1) / 林秋秋
• Jiāng Yīngruì / Jiang(1) Ying(1) Rui(4) / 江英睿
• Ruǎn Báijié / Ruan(3) Bai(2) Jie(2) / 阮白潔
• Fēng Yǒnglè / Feng(1) Yong(3) Le(4) / 封永樂
• Xuē Zhīyún / Xue(1) Zhi(1) Yun(2) / 薛之雲