Kaleidoscope of Death

Kaleidoscope of Death by Xi Zixu

If there was something different about this high rise than everywhere else, it was the ever-present mirrors.

In the halls, on the floors, and even on the ceilings—a simple turn of the head yielded one’s own silhouette reflected in countless mirrors. Even in the restaurant where they ate, where the outside vista should have been visible through french windows, there were shiny mirrors installed. These were even two-way mirrors.

The thought that they were visible to people from the outside was hard to separate from the sensation of being watched, which made it a distinctly discomforting business.

There were a total of thirty-four floors in the high rise. They roughly scoped out the other floors and discovered there were residents on nearly every story, though not many; the high rise was not an empty building. Ruan Nanzhu also tried asking them what happened in this high rise two years ago, but discovered that all the residents had only recently moved in, and didn’t know much about the fire two years prior.

After a day of running about outside, they didn’t get much intel, only that it was a mother and child who’d died in the fire.

“Why a mother and child?” After careful thought, Lin Qiushi figured this was strange. “Wasn’t it a family of three that vacationed here? What about the father?”

“His body wasn’t found either way,” Ruan Nanzhu said. “Maybe the breakthrough we’re looking for is him.”

The day was dimming, and sunset cast its golden beams over the high rise’s mirror-laden exterior.

“But where do we find him?” Lin Qiushi frowned. “Nobody in the building seems to know him.”

Ruan Nanzhu shook his head, indicating he hadn’t figured it out yet either.

The city at night went gradually quiet.

The noisy streets were now empty of people, dark enough that you couldn’t see your own hand in front of you.

Lin Qiushi stood watching from the window. Truth be told it was only now that he could feel they were really inside the door, because in the world outside the door, nights couldn’t possibly be this silent. No matter how deep the night got, you would at least hear cars passing through city center. The sidewalks also wouldn’t be totally devoid of pedestrians. Right now, the abnormal stillness outside left him deeply uncomfortable,

Ruan Nanzhu and Cheng Yixie had both washed up, and were getting into bed.

Lin Qiushi entered the bathroom, planning to quickly wash up as well.

He turned on the tap for hot water, rinsing his towel. There were numerous mirrors inside the bathroom too, hung around Lin Qiushi on all four sides. These mirrors grew blurred in the swirling steam. Head bowed, Lin Qiushi lowered his face into the towel wetted with hot water.

Only the rushing sound of the tap could be heard in the bathroom. With his head still down, Lin Qiushi suddenly felt that there was something off. The feeling itself was enigmatic; he hadn’t actually seen anything strange, but his instincts rang the alarm. Motions stilling, Lin Qiushi observed his surroundings through his peripherals.

A few seconds later, Lin Qiushi discovered what was wrong—he’d lowered his head, but the figure in the mirror in front of him had remained standing, and was watching him silently with a face completely identical to his.

Lin Qiushi understood then. Towel in hand, he wrung it dry as he started walking out. When he got to the bathroom door, he glanced once more at that mirror, but saw that it had returned to normal, and was following his motions.

Lin Qiushi swore in a low voice.

“What is it?” Ruan Nanzhu looked up at him.

“The mirror…” Lin Qiushi shut the bathroom door. “Just now, the thing in the mirror behaved differently than I did in reality.”

Ruan Nanzhu, “differently? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” Lin Qiushi said. “I pretended not to see it, and came out.” He added, “it’s not a good feeling.”

If he could, he’d quite like to smash all the mirrors in the room, but they didn’t know whether or not breaking the mirrors was a death condition. So to play it safe, they could only grit their teeth and bear it.

“What do I do?” Lin Qiushi dropped his head, eyeing his own feet. “I haven’t washed my feet yet…”

Ruan Nanzhu blinked, then started to grin, still watching Lin Qiushi. He pulled aside his own bedding.

“It’s fine, come here. I don’t mind if it’s you[1].”

Lin Qiushi, “…”

Cheng Yixie went deep into meditative repose beside them, pretending he couldn’t see this rotten pair with a placid expression.

But just as Lin Qiushi struggled over whether or not to return inside and wash his feet, there came a burst of fierce quarreling from outside. Along with the argument came the sound of a mirror shattering.

Lin Qiushi peeked out the peephole at the door, and discovered that it was a newbie, brought in by that Xia-jie from earlier, who was causing the commotion.

“I’m not going! Don’t pull me in there, there’s a monster inside the mirrors!!” The one roaring was a young woman. She was fiercely bellowing at another woman standing beside her. “Don’t touch me, I’m going to find Xia-jie! Go sleep in there yourself! I’m not going with you!”

As she spoke, she spotted a mirror right beside her—and flung a hand out. The mirror shattered with a crash, the sharp glass shards scattering all across the floor.

Then the woman crossed the hall and began banging on a door. This must be where that Xia-jie was staying.

Moments later, the door opened.

“Xia-jie, I don’t want to say in my room,” the woman said. “That room is haunted!”

Due to the angle, Lin Qiushi couldn’t see Xia-jie’s expression, but could hear her voice. Her tone wasn’t pleasant, in fact seemed awfully cold.

“If you don’t stay in your room where else are you going to stay? Only two people can stay in my room.”

“I don’t need a bed. Can I sleep on your sofa…” the woman begged.

“Sofa?” Xia-jie flat out rejected her. “Didn’t you hear what that person said when we were splitting up? The number of people per room is set, you can’t have more. If you stayed here and triggered a death condition, then isn’t everybody in this room screwed?”

Then, likely realizing that her tone had been excessive, she let her voice go soft again.

“There are many frightening places in this world, you have to learn to get used to it. Go on then, what is it that you saw?”

The woman, pitifully, “I saw my reflection in the mirror do something different than me…”

Lin Qiushi started. He’d only just encountered a situation like that.

“Do something different?” Xia-jie said. “Perhaps you saw wrong…”

“I didn’t see wrong!” Brushed off like this, the woman grew angry. “Xia-jie, can’t you figure out some way to help me out here? I don’t want to go back inside that room!”

“How about this,” Xia-jie replied. “Since you said it’s the mirrors that are the problem, why don’t you go break them all? Then there’s nothing to be scared of.”

The woman said, “but…”

Xia-jie cut her off: “I don’t have any other solutions then.”

The woman went silent. At this point, no matter how dull she might be, she must still have realized that the attitude of her Xia-jie was strange. She’d only passed through two doors before meeting this Xia-jie woman online. Xia-jie claimed to be able to help her jump straight to the ninth door, and so she followed Xia-jie in. But once on the inside, she found herself utterly at sea, and neither was Xia-jie protecting them as promised.

“I got it,” the woman murmured, and watched as Xia-jie closed the door in her face.

With a helpless expression, she could only turn back, and return to her room with that other girl. Moments later, Lin Qiushi began to hear the faint sound of glass breaking from their room—that woman seemed to be doing as Xia-jie instructed, shattering all the mirrors inside.

Lin Qiushi told Ruan Nanzhu and Cheng Yixie everything he’d seen and heard.

“That Xia-jie sure is clever.” Ruan Nanzhu’s voice sounded a bit chilly. “Experimenting with the people she brought.”

Lin Qiushi let out a light sigh. Indeed, if nothing happened after breaking the mirrors, then they could break the mirrors as well. If something did, then Xia-jie would still have lost nothing. She’d brought so many newbies in too. If it really was as Ruan Nanzhu said, then she’d brought them in to risk their lives.

As the sky dimmed, that burnt scent began to saturate the air again.

Cheng Yixie’s sense of smell was very sharp; once he’d smelled this scent he began to lowly cough. Unable to do anything else, he could only press a wet towel to his nose and mouth.

Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu had not been planning to look, but just as they lied in bed, forcing themselves to sleep, there was once again a ruckus in the hallway. This time, it was a woman’s harrowing screams, and the source of the screaming was the room where the mirrors had been smashed.

“Aaaaah—” The awful wailing was particularly ear-piercing in the silent evening. Through the peephole, Lin Qiushi saw the woman tumble out of her room with an expression of agony. The way she was stumbling looked like any moment now, she would fall and be incapable of getting up again.

Ruan Nanzhu appeared behind Lin Qiushi. He lightly pressed down on the handle, and pulled the door open a crack.

They could see the outside better now. Through the crack, Ruan Nanzhu glanced up at the mirrors on the hallway ceiling, and let out a light tsk.

Lin Qiushi followed Ruan Nanzhu’s gaze, and saw too the scene in the mirror.

The girl in the mirror was completely encased in red flames, and her body was being charred black bit by bit. She hadn’t stopped struggling though. The image was utterly horrifying.

Lin Qiushi could even smell the scent of burning meat.

“Aaaah, aaaaah…” She finally collapsed. To look at her, one would see no wounds on her body. But only through the mirror could her painful torment be seen.

Just as Lin Qiushi thought it’d ended, Ruan Nanzhu grabbed his hand. With a lift of his chin, Ruan Nanzhu gestured for Lin Qiushi to look in a certain direction.

Lin Qiushi looked, and saw that at some point, in the mirror across from the girl being burned to death, an identical figure had appeared. Same appearance, same apparel. Only the smile on its face seemed strangely stiff. At the sight of the burnt body outside, the figure inside slowly reached out its hands—that pair of hands left the glass, took hold of the girl’s wrists, and then very slowly, dragged the charred corpse back into the mirror.

The sight was so shocking that Lin Qiushi’s breathing stalled.

Ruan Nanzhu reached out and slowly closed the door. His scorching breath was right in Lin Qiushi’s ear, and there was a touch of amusement in his voice as he said, “scared?”

Lin Qiushi twisted around.

“No.” After a beat, he sighed, “good thing I didn’t break the mirror.”

It seemed that the mirrors indeed couldn’t be broken. Once they were, serious consequences followed.

But then Ruan Nanzhu said, “the end of the hallway’s on fire again.”

Lin Qiushi startled. “The same room as last night?”

“Yes,” Ruan Nanzhu said, “but something’s different this time.”

Lin Qiushi had only paid attention to the girl in front of him, and hadn’t noticed what was happening at the end of the hallway.

“One more room is on fire,” Ruan Nanzhu said. “The fire’s spreading this way.”

He took Lin Qiushi by the wrist and pulled Lin Qiushi back inside, so that Cheng Yixie, sitting up in bed, could hear what they were saying. “Our room’s not in a good position. If the fire keeps spreading this way, it’ll reach where we are very soon.”

“We switch rooms?” Cheng Yixie suggested.

“Who knows if we can,” Ruan Nanzhu said. “Let’s go find that bellhop and ask tomorrow. If he won’t give us the keycard, that’s fine too.” He smiled. “Though electronic locks are annoying, they can still be opened.”

Hearing his confidence, Lin Qiushi suddenly developed a deep admiration.

“Alright, let’s sleep.” Ruan Nanzhu looked at his watch. “It’s already this late. We stay up any longer and it’ll be daybreak.” He glanced at Lin Qiushi. “Want to sleep with me?”

Lin Qiushi declined Ruan Nanzhu’s offer, deciding to take the sofa alone again. Of course, before sleeping he still worked up the courage to reenter the bathroom and scrub down his feet. This time there was nothing misbehaving in the mirror.

The latter part of the night was very peaceful. No other incidents occurred.

Bright and early the next day, just as Lin Qiushi opened bleary eyes, he saw that Ruan Nanzhu was already changed to go out.

“You’re up so early?” Lin Qiushi glanced at the time. It was only about six, and daybreak was still fuzzy. By the time they slept last night it had already been three AM; Ruan Nanzhu had only slept for three hours.

“Got something to take care of,” Ruan Nanzhu spoke very softly. “I can handle it alone. You two keep sleeping.”

Lin Qiushi glanced at the bed. Cheng Yixie was, after all, still a kid, and was in that moment deeply asleep, unmoved by the noise. Keeping his voice down, Lin Qiushi said, “wait up for me.”

“No need,” Ruan Nanzhu said. “It’s nothing dangerous.”

By this point he was already at the door. With a gentle touch and muted steps, he opened it and left.

After watching him go, Lin Qiushi still couldn’t go back to sleep. So he got out of bed. As to not wake Cheng Yixie, he took extra care when changing his outfit.

By the time Lin Qiushi was dressed and outside, Ruan Nanzhu was already nowhere to be seen. Lin Qiushi thought for a bit, and decided to head straight for the restaurant on the second floor.

At this time, the restaurant was mostly empty, but still, a few people were already seated inside. Lin Qiushi noticed Luo Qianshui, who’d been so at odds with Ruan Nanzhu the day before, sitting in a corner. Her expression seemed restless, and she was glancing frequently at her watch, as if waiting for someone.

Lin Qiushi grabbed some random stuff and found a table too. The first thing he did on instinct once seated was glance at his watch. Only after did he realize that his and Luo Qianshui’s reactions were a bit similar. He laughed once, startled, before he got his actions back under control, pulling out his phone to continue playing sudoku.

About ten minutes later, two figures appeared in the restaurant doorway.

Luo Qianshui immediately got up, giddily calling toward the door, Ge!—Luo Qianshan had come. Behind Luo Qianshan was another person, also coming inside—it was Ruan Nanzhu, whom Lin Qiushi had been waiting for.

Luo Qianshan went to Luo Qianshui, and though the two kept their voices low, Lin Qiushi still heard their conversation loud and clear.

Luo Qianshui asked, “Ge, did you get it?”

Luo Qianshan, “I got it.”

“Which room?” Luo Qianshui asked. “The one furthest in?”

“No,” Luo Qianshan answered. “She was faster than me. I only managed to get the second-to-last room.”

Luo Qianshui cursed a few times under her breath, using words that were clearly directed at another woman. “Couldn’t you have been rougher with her?”

A touch of exasperation entered Luo Qianshan’s tone. “I was rough.”

Luo Qianshui, “and?”

Luo Qianshan, “wasn’t rougher than her.”

Luo Qianshui, “…”

The girl rougher than Luo Qianshan was currently making her leisurely way to Lin Qiushi, peeling a hardboiled egg and clearly in a good mood. Lin Qiushi looked at Ruan Nanzhu.

“You went to switch our room keys?”

Ruan Nanzhu pulled out a key card, handing it over to Lin Qiushi.

“Mh.”

Lin Qiushi took it, and saw the number for the room furthest down the hallway—in other words, the room furthest from the source of the fire.

“This is probably the time limit,” Ruan Nanzhu said. “We have to get out before the corridor burns through.” He opened his mouth, and his neat white teeth left a pretty bite mark on the egg. “That Luo Qianshan’s pretty skilled.”

Lin Qiushi blinked. “You fought?”

Ruan Nanzhu answered placidly, “mh.”

If this was the world outside, then the phrase ladies first might have still applied. But at the threshold of life and death, how could anyone be given priority? After finding out Ruan Nanzhu had gotten the best room, Luo Qianshan had attacked him.

Had Ruan Nanzhu really been a girl, he might have suffered for it. But he wasn’t, so he didn’t hesitate to pummel Luo Qianshan back.

Lin Qiushi could tell from his expression that Ruan Nanzhu hadn’t gotten the short end of that stick, and said, “it seems both brother and sister are pretty good.”

Ruan Nanzhu finished his hard-boiled egg. “Better than me?”

Lin Qiushi, “oh no no no, you’re the best.”

Ruan Nanzhu nodded in satisfaction.

It was nearing seven-thirty, and the sky outside was brightening. Everyone living on the thirty-fourth floor were gradually appearing in the restaurant.

Lin Qiushi spotted Cheng Yixie.

Cheng Yixie approached them, sat, and sounded a bit annoyed when he said, “why didn’t you guys wake me.”

“Kids ought to sleep longer,” Ruan Nanzhu said. “And you wouldn’t have been much help anyways.”

Cheng Yixie was silent.

Lin Qiushi asked, “what do you want to eat? I’ll go grab it for you.”

“No need.” Cheng Yixie turned down Lin Qiushi’s offer, got up, and went to fetch his own food.

Watching him go, Ruan Nanzhu lightly sighed.

Lin Qiushi asked, “how old were you when you first started entering the doors?”

Ruan Nanzhu bent his fingers around. “I can’t really remember anymore. Around eighteen or nineteen.”

At this Lin Qiushi thought, Ruan Nanzhu spent a good six, seven years on doors one through ten. Who knew what sorts of things he’d experienced in that time?

Cheng Yixie returned to the table with food. But just as Lin Qiushi was about to make conversation, he noticed a person come in through the door. And when he confirmed he wasn’t imagining it, his expression went stiff for a few moments.

The person who’d come in was a normally dressed, normal-looking, utterly average young woman. She was even smiling as she walked over to where the food was to pick out her breakfast. At first glance, nothing about her invited attention—and if Lin Qiushi hadn’t seen what he did through the crack in the door last night, he might have thought this was just a normal person before him.

Yes, it was the girl who’d smashed the mirrors last night—who’d been burned to death and then dragged away by the person in the mirror. At this moment, she stood whole and unharmed before everyone, as if everything that happened the night before had simply been a dream.

Ruan Nanzhu spotted her as well, his expression going somber.

The girl got her food and made her way to Xia-jie’s table beaming. She began eating.

Lin Qiushi noticed the girl’s roommate beginning to look shifty, fear bleeding into her gaze. And then that girl couldn’t quite take it anymore, shooting up and stumbling right out of the restaurant. The others at the table didn’t seem to know what had happened to the girl last night, and so didn’t seem put off—they didn’t even seem to know the girl before them had been switched out.

“Last night, she’d smashed the mirror with her right hand,” Ruan Nanzhu spoke.

With a start, Lin Qiushi understood Ruan Nanzhu’s meaning. He looked back over at the girl, and wasn’t surprised to see that the girl was holding her chopsticks in her left hand.

“That’s a person from the mirror?” Lin Qiushi suddenly found it a bit difficult to swallow the food in his mouth.

“Most likely.” Chin in hand, Ruan Nanzhu began twirling a strand of hair by his ear. “Good thing I didn’t break any mirrors, or else… you might be seeing two of me today.”

At this, he smiled a bit profoundly.

“On second thought that seems pretty interesting too.”

Lin Qiushi, “…” What are you smiling about? Why is your smile so creepy?

Cheng Yixie frowned, and said unhappily, “she stinks.”

Ruan Nanzhu, “stinks?”

Cheng Yixie, “yeah, it’s a burnt kind of smell.” He put down the food in his hand. It seemed the smell had seriously affected his appetite, as doubt surfaced on his face.

Ruan Nanzhu asked, “what is it?”

“I think I smelled the same thing on our first day here,” Cheng Yixie said.

“The first day? You mean that first evening?” Lin Qiushi recalled what had happened the night before.

But Cheng Yixie shook his head, brow deeply furrowed. It was then that his lips parted, and said something that neither Lin Qiushi nor Ruan Nanzhu expected:

“No, not the first evening, but the first day in the lobby.”

Ruan Nanzhu’s expression froze.

“The lobby?!”

Cheng Yixie nodded. “Yeah. It was faint. I thought I was imagining it.” He seemed to have thought of something and was about to speak, when Ruan Nanzhu made a gesture to be silent, indicating that he shouldn’t say what he’d guessed out loud.

Despite the silencing, Lin Qiushi also understood the implication of Cheng Yixie’s words. It meant there was a possibility that in the lobby that very first day, there had already been a person burnt to death mixed in with the group—or even, more than one. At this thought, Lin Qiushi instinctively licked his dry lips, and a phrase surfaced in his mind: with people as mirror…

Translator’s Notes:

1. Yes, this is a deliberate reference to “Not to me. Not if it’s you.” No, the reference is not in the original text. The original’s weird to translate: “我不嫌棄你,” meaning “I don’t mind you”/”I’m not put off by you.” Neither of those come across as flirty enough though (in the next paragraph Cheng Yixie is explicitly put off by “這一對狗男男,” or a blatantly flirting couple), so I adjusted one degree (and used “rotten” in the next paragraph to finish the evocation, I suppose).