Kaleidoscope of Death

Lin Qiushi first counted to confirm he was entering the fourth door, then walked forward, reaching out to pull open the metal door.

The scene changed as he went. The room around him became squat traditional buildings, and the carpet beneath his feet became a narrow flagstone path.

This was Lin Qiushi’s first time entering a door alone without Ruan Nanzhu to watch his back. He couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous. But before long, the nervousness dissipated, turning into calm acceptance. Lin Qiushi started down the flagstone path as he took in his surroundings.

The world inside this door seemed to be a quaint little town. All the buildings were old and historic in style, multistory and each with a pretty red lantern hanging out front. It was already dark, and every red lantern glowed with gentle light, illuminating the pedestrian path.

The street wasn’t wide. It was also empty of people, flanked on both sides by a great number of stores and a few residential buildings. Lin Qiushi even saw stone lions mounted majestically in front of some stores. The store signs were all written in traditional characters. Lin Qiushi thought, was this world about to be some kind of medieval situation…?

As he walked on, he quickly found where he was meant to go.

With a number of doors under his belt, Lin Qiushi had experience. Basically, upon arrival within any door, there was a single path available. Following the path brought you to a wider, more open space, where there were usually people waiting. But this time, Lin Qiushi seemed to be the first to arrive.

Lin Qiushi walked into a big estate front yard with open doors.

The front yard was quite spacious. The courtyard further inside was planted densely with trees and shrubbery, seemingly filled with life.

Lin Qiushi waited where he stood, and didn’t forget to take the bracelet off his hand.

A few days ago he’d mailed the matching bracelet to the high school girl who hired him. Only when they were both wearing the bracelets could they enter the same door.

If the gig ended successfully, the student would return the bracelet to him. Of course, it was possible that some would get greedy and not want to return it, but every client on the website put something important to them up as a security deposit, so that if anybody didn’t act in good faith, they wouldn’t get that down payment back. They might even get censured by the website as a whole, so few people actually went through with it.

He didn’t even know what the girl looked like. Lin Qiushi was thinking this when somebody walk through the door.

And when he saw that person, his expression immediately stiffened.

It was a muscly guy, about 180cm in height, admittedly handsome; when he saw Lin Qiushi he flashed a dazzling grin.

If that was it it’d be fine, but this muscleman was also wearing a blue crop top and a tiny white miniskirt that, when a breeze blew by, revealed what Lin Qiushi suspected were white panties underneath.

On muscleman’s short hair hung an orange carrot hair clip.

Lin Qiushi took in the muscleman’s get-up and sank into a deep, heavy silence. Though he really didn’t want to, he still recalled the description of the clothes that his client said she’d be wearing.

“So I’ll be wearing a blue crop top, a white miniskirt, and a cawwot hair clip,” was how the “high school girl” had described herself. “When we meet, our secret code will start with me saying pika pika, and you reply pika pikachu~~ okay~?”

Lin Qiushi had thought the girl was kind of cute, but now…

The muscleman probably recognized his outfit too, and came bounding forward to say, in a gritty baritone, “pika pika!”

Lin Qiushi, “……” The moment he heard this pika pika he could almost feel himself sway on his feet.

“Pika pika!” muscleman repeated again. His accent carried a bit of a northern lilt, and made him seem even more masculine—if it weren’t for the outfit, he’d truly be a fine man.

Lin Qiushi heard himself choke out a reply: “pika pikachu…”

“Sup brother!” Muscleman slapped a palm on Lin Qiushi’s shoulder and cheerily said, “I’m Gu Longming! You are?”

Lin Qiushi, “I’m Yu Linlin… You…”

Gu Longming probably knew Lin Qiushi was in shock due to his appearance, and rushed to explain, “I really am a high school student! Just not a female one.”

Lin Qiushi, “…did you stay back ten years?”

Gu Longming started guffawing heartily, and reached up to remove the hair clip. He said, “well I was afraid you wouldn’t recognize me, wasn’t I, and went out of my way to buy this outfit. Fortunately you did recognize me.”

Lin Qiushi felt a bit distressed, and thought if people like this were commonplace, then of course Ruan Nanzhu made a habit of misrecognizing clients. He didn’t want to work with this “female high school student” at all.

Speaking of Ruan Nanzhu, Lin Qiushi remembered that odd expression he wore when Lin Qiushi told him about this gig. So he’d seen this coming… They were both crossdressers, but why was the difference so stark? Lin Qiushi couldn’t help but start to miss Zhu Meng and Ruan Baijie.

“How many doors have you entered then?” Gu Longming was obviously an outgoing character, and swaggered over to a rock on the side to take a seat. He said, “this is really my fourth time. Each time’s always goddamn scary as hell.”

Lin Qiushi, “…watch it.”

Gu Longming, “ah? Watch what?”

Lin Qiushi, “watch how you’re sitting.”

Seeing Gu Longming sit with his legs wide open, the white panties under his skirt in full exposure… And there was also that peculiar bulge. Lin Qiushi thought he was surely going to go blind.

“What’s the big deal?” So Gu Longming thought this was fine. “You’ve also got whatever I got right? There’s nothing to see!”

Lin Qiushi, “…” Fff— He almost couldn’t bite back the curse.

Though he said that, Gu Longming still put his legs together.

Taking the chance before anybody else arrived, Lin Qiushi told Gu Longming this door’s hint.

Gu Longming was completely baffled. “What crybaby, I’ve never even heard of that.”

Lin Qiushi was about to explain when two people entered the yard—a man and a woman, and judging by the way they started to count people, they probably knew each other as well.

They were talking between themselves at first. But upon seeing Gu Longming seated at the center of the yard, incredulity seeped through their expressions.

Gu Longming was clearly quite capable of withstanding judgment; he didn’t react with any discomfort at all, even greeting the two with a grin.

The woman turned to speak to the man, and though her voice was soft, Lin Qiushi heard it anyways.

She said, “it’s probably because of some kind of emotional disorder, don’t be weird about it…”

The man rushed to redirect his gaze, nodding. Lin Qiushi saw in that man his own earlier reaction. It would have been fine if Gu Longming was actually transgender, but that piece of work was only dressed like this to trick Lin Qiushi into taking his gig, after all.

Lin Qiushi thought, pained, that men really were all just big liars.

Seven or eight more people gradually came in from outside, including two newbies entering the doors for the first time.

The newbies were both girls, and both kept up sobs of fright after coming in. People offered them a few words of comfort, but gave up when they didn’t stop. Not everybody could withstand the doors well, after all. And usually, for everyone, the first door was the hardest—the true gates of hell.

During the arrival time, Lin Qiushi inspected their situation in the courtyard.

The estate was large, and they were waiting in the central courtyard, planted full with a scenic thicket of greens. Lin Qiushi’s sharp hearing could even pick up the sound of trickling water. The source of the water seemed to be behind the building, and judging from the sound, it wasn’t just a mere stream.

On the right of the estate was a large pond, but it was dark, so Lin Qiushi couldn’t tell what grew around it. He’d come and see tomorrow.

The buildings of the estate were further in, concealed at the moment within a short copse of trees. As Lin Qiushi observed, a starry speck of light appeared among the trees and gradually came closer.

“So you’ve all arrived.” That light stopped not far from them; it was a woman bearing a red lantern. She wore a beautiful qipao and had long flowing hair, but her features couldn’t be clearly seen. She said, “this way please.”

The group began to follow her.

“The Festival of the River God you came for is in seven days.” The woman took the lead, body swaying with every step. Her movements attracted the eyes yes, but at a time like this nobody had time for excessive thoughts. “You’ll have to wait for a bit, but it won’t take long… In just seven days, all your wishes will be fulfilled.”

She smiled, her pale face seeming somewhat ghoulish in the dark. “This is where you’ll be sleeping. If you need anything, call one of the servants. It’s already dark out, so why don’t you turn in early?” After she spoke, the woman turned and languidly disappeared into the darkness.

“Everybody should form teams. It’s usually two to three people per room here. Anymore and things are more likely to go wrong.” It was a man in his thirties who spoke. Lin Qiushi seemed to remember his name being Yan Shihe. He seemed quite experienced and not like someone entering his fourth door. Lin Qiushi guessed he might be bringing someone through too.

In just a split second, the group of twelve formed five groups. By the time Lin Qiushi’s attention returned, there was only Gu Longming left, grinning at him.

“Xiao-gege, let’s stay together then?” It had to be said, having a 180cm muscleman in a miniskirt calling you xiao-gege wasn’t a particularly pleasurable experience. Gu Longming grabbed Lin Qiushi’s arm and shyly swayed back and forth. “Please? Pretty please?”

Lin Qiushi forced out, “alright alright. Stop pulling, my arm hurts.”

The others cast Lin Qiushi looks of sympathy.

Gu Longming just laughed. He was a booming bass in the first place, so all his fake whimpering and whining really sent chills down the scalp. “You’re so sweet~”

Lin Qiushi’s face felt like it had gone numb. He’d never missed Ruan Nanzhu so badly.

Though they’d formed six groups, they had been given more than six rooms. The entire row they’d been given had at least twelve or thirteen rooms.

But after picking two at random to inspect, Lin Qiushi didn’t find any notable differences between the rooms—at least, not for now.

Since it was dark already, he and Gu Longming chose a room in the middle for the night.

The room was similar to the courtyard outside, decorated with traditional aesthetics and classical flare. But there was a problem. Only a single bed sat in the room… It was big, sure, but…

Lin Qiushi eyed the “high school girl” beside him.

At Lin Qiushi’s look, Gu Longming broke out into guffaws. “Okay okay, since we’ve met and everything I won’t wear this tomorrow, so you can stop looking at me like that.”

Lin Qiushi, “this isn’t your hobby?”

Gu Longming, “nah.” He shed the crop top as he spoke. “But after trying it on today, it’s kind of nice. You wanna give it a go?”

Lin Qiushi shook his head and thought no thanks, been there done that, didn’t like it much, had to pretend to be mute.

The room was lit by one single oil lamp. Though the lamp was small, it was also quite bright, thoroughly lighting up the entire room. Who knew how it was made?

Lin Qiushi and Gu Longming lied down in bed, Gu Longming on the inside, Lin Qiushi on the outside.

“Are you actually super good?” Gu Longming was under the sheets, with only his dark eyes gleaming in the swaddle, staring hard at Lin Qiushi. “You gotta protect me.”

Lin Qiushi lied in bed and stared at the ceiling: “but I only want to protect high school girls.”

Gu Longming, “then tomorrow I’ll wear it…”

Lin Qiushi, “…” After some silence, he gave in. “Fine. I actually think you need some protection too.” Even though you’re taller and more muscular than me, you’ve got kind of a sensitive heart.

They closed their eyes, and Lin Qiushi quickly fell asleep.

At midnight, Lin Qiushi, senses blurry with sleep, heard the strike of wooden clappers. Someone outside called out the time, and to watch for candlefire.

That voice came close, then faded into the distance again. But just as Lin Qiushi was about to fall asleep once more, he heard the faint cry of a child. At first he’d thought it was a cat since the cry was so soft and thin, but his sharp hearing quickly picked up something odd—the sound was coming from inside their room.

As soon as he realized this, all of Lin Qiushi’s sleepiness immediately and thoroughly disappeared. He opened his eyes and saw Gu Longming’s rough face in sleep—the bastard was out cold, clearly deaf to any commotion inside their room.

Lin Qiushi sat up from the bed and looked around. He quickly found the source of the cry—inside his backpack.

Lin Qiushi hesitated, then turned on his phone flashlight. He got up and went to his pack.

To enter doors, he took with him a black travel pack with plenty of of storage room. It held changes of clothes and daily necessities, along with a bit of emergency food rations.

Lin Qiushi opened the bag and quickly realized what was crying. It was the baby skeleton he brought out from the Waverly Hills Sanatorium. Before coming in, he’d placed the skeleton in a wooden box to carry. At this moment, Lin Qiushi was sure that the cry was coming from inside the box.

After a pause, he took the box from his bag, and listened to the faint, weak sobs of the dead baby inside. It sounded like a kitten, full of pitiful grief.

Why did the dead baby start crying? —Lin Qiushi held the box, and remembered what Ruan Nanzhu said. Everything brought out from the doors was very important, and could save lives at key moments. For it to cry now, was it alerting him to something?

Lin Qiushi continued this line of thought as he circled the room with the box. He quickly discovered something peculiar—the closer to the door, the softer the baby’s cries. It seemed to be objecting to the room itself!

Lin Qiushi’s chest went cold. He rushed to the bedside and woke Gu Longming.

“What’s wrong?” Gu Longming’s eyes opened, half-conscious.

“Come on, get up. We’re switching rooms,” Lin Qiushi said. “Hurry!”

Gu Longming was awake in an instant. He sat up and asked, “the room’s off?” He also heard the sound of the child’s sobs and looked at the box in Lin Qiushi’s hands, seeming slightly scared. “What’s the thing crying—”

Lin Qiushi said, “stop asking, we have to go.”

Gu Longming said oh, and left it alone, throwing his crop top and miniskirt back on in a panicked flurry.

Lin Qiushi, “…” He was starting to regret telling Gu Longming to get dressed.

When they left the room, the baby skeleton in Lin Qiushi’s hands stopped crying as expected.

Gu Longming said, “but where do we go… It’s already so late…”

Lin Qiushi didn’t answer, and just took the box up and down the hallway. He discovered that the dead baby only reacted to certain rooms. Since it was late, it was dangerous to be wandering around outside like this. So Lin Qiushi chose a room that the dead baby didn’t cry about and led them in.

“Can I sleep now?” Gu Longming eyed Lin Qiushi anxiously from the bed.

Lin Qiushi said, “yeah, sleep.”

Gu Longming acknowledged it, lied down, and went to sleep; not even three minutes later the sound of his breathing smoothed out.

Lin Qiushi was truly impressed with people like this who could sleep anytime, anywhere. He sighed and reluctantly closed his own eyes. For the rest of the night, Lin Qiushi kept to a half-sleep only. He was mired in thought, and feared sleeping too deeply. All the other doors, he’d had Ruan Nanzhu standing guard. But not this one. Lin Qiushi could only count on himself. So despite his preparations, there was still a faint unease in his heart.

Fortunately, nothing happened until day two.

The twelve people arrived on time in the main hall of the main building, where a large array of rich, hot breakfast foods had been set up.

Having been successfully adopted, Gu Longming finally gave up on the miniskirt affair and put on normal clothes. His foundations were admittedly of high quality; in regular clothes he was quite handsome. Plus he was fit, and probably very attractive to young women. But it was impossible for him to attract women now, since everybody remembered the scary sight of him playing the coquette in that damn miniskirt.

Breakfast was fine. It was to Gu Longming’s taste at any rate, who downed five, six steamed buns as big as his fists, two bowls of porridge, and two salted duck eggs, clearly relishing the meal.

Compared to some of the others who looked too anxious and depressed to eat anything, he practically seemed like he was on vacation.

Lin Qiushi really had to admire carefree people like this.

After a simple breakfast, he made his excuses and went for a spin outside. Particularly, he went to take a look at the rooms the dead baby cried at last night.

The rooms themselves didn’t seem special, but Lin Qiushi did find a peculiarity—there were tiny new holes on the paper window screens.

These holes were small and their locations low. He didn’t know when they were made, or what made them.

But aside from that, there was nothing else odd.

As he was contemplating this, Lin Qiushi saw a few servants in the courtyard, each holding a few red lanterns and making their way outside.

He thought for a moment, then went up to ask their destination.

The servants answered that the River God Festival was almost here, and the streets needed decorating. Every front door needed a red lantern like this.

Lin Qiushi asked, “River God Festival? What do you celebrate?”

“It’s a celebration of the River Elder’s birth.” The servants answered politely and obediently. “It’s a very important celebration in our town.”

When they first arrived, the woman had mentioned the River God Festival too. This Festival then must have a major connection to the key.

As Lin Qiushi was thinking, someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned, and saw Gu Longming behind him rubbernecking. “How’s it going Linlin? Did you find a clue?”

Lin Qiushi said, “no.”

Gu Longming said, disappointed, “alright, it’s only day one. Don’t panic.”

Lin Qiushi said, “I’m not panicking.” There was no point in panicking; it only served to torture the self.

Gu Longming said, “oh yeah, don’t you think something’s kind of off?”

Lin Qiushi asked, “what’s off?”

Gu Longming said, “like… It’s this building’s feng shui.”

Lin Qiushi didn’t know anything about feng shui, but judging by his words, Gu Longming did. Lin Qiushi asked, “what do you mean?”

Gu Longming said, “most houses face south. Even if they can’t, they still try to face the sun. But this house is different.”

Lin Qiushi continued listening.

Gu Longming pointed toward the son. “This house faces north. The windows and doors all face shadows. Also, I saw just now…”

Lin Qiushi, “hm?”

Gu Longmong, “all the important orientations in this house are the complete opposite of a yang house”

Lin Qiushi thought he understood what Gu Longming meant. “So you’re saying… this building isn’t a yang house?”

“Yeah,” Gu Longming nodded. “Yeah. Under normal circumstances, only yin houses would be like this.” Yin houses—those were houses for the dead.

Lin Qiushi’s expression went solemn.

Author’s Note:

Door numbers in the chapter titles refer to the number of doors Lin Qiushi has entered in total, not the door level he’s entering.

Names in this Chapter:

• Gù Lóngmíng / Gu(4) Long(2) Ming(2) / 顧龍鳴

[Ch. 79] | [Ch. 81]