Kaleidoscope of Death

Though he was already used to such scenes, seeing it each time was still a challenge to the nerves.

The Landlady heated the wok in front of her, and then put the meat in her hands into the wok. Where meat met wok, there came a sizzling sound. Then came the scent of cooking flesh. This scent quickly became burnt and foul. Gu Longming’s expression was complicated, though he breathed an internal sigh of relief—for the Landlady to have done this meant that at least they hadn’t been eating human flesh.

The meat tossed in the pot, fatty layers oozing thickly with oil. The muscles were charred black, and then scooped out with a spatula by the Landlady.

Lin Qiushi observed the house’s set-up and the woman’s actions, and instantly understood what she was doing—she was rendering oil from the corpses. And, it seemed that she was rendering oil for the lamps inside the house.

As expected, once hot, clear oil filled the wok, the woman turned to fetch the lamp at her side, pouring the oil and putting the wick into the tiny lamp body at the same time.

Lin Qiushi recalled the oil lamp in their room. It was identical to the one in the woman’s hands now. The method of manufacturing was likely identical as well.

As the woman poured the oil, the sound of a child’s cries came from inside the house.

Lin Qiushi startled, and watched as she turned and went inside. A bit later, she brought out a tiny infant wrapped in a red swaddling cloth, coddled in her arms.

Due to the angle Lin Qiushi couldn’t really see the infant’s face. He could see the infant’s extended arms though, which were awful in pallor and tinged with an odd green—it didn’t look like a normal child’s hands at all.

“Don’t cry, don’t cry.” The woman rocked the infant, comforting the child she held in a gentle voice.

Lin Qiushi didn’t dare get too close, in case the woman saw him through the window.

The woman ambled about that room soaked in the smell of oil. Her tone and manner were both utterly gentle. She slowly swayed and turned, until Lin Qiushi could see the child she held.

As he guessed, it wasn’t alive.

Its face seemed to have been steeped in water for too long, and had gone bloated and pale. Its eyes were swollen into thin lines, its pupils practically invisible, while its large blood red mouth gaped open in wailing cries. And Lin Qiushi got a good look at the thicket of teeth inside that mouth as well—no human had teeth like that. The child’s face was also threaded through with green veins, further exposing its inhumanity.

Lin Qiushi felt Gu Longming catch his arm in a firm grip. He turned to look, and saw Gu Longming was rather horribly frightened.

Lin Qiushi was about to tell him not to grip so hard when he saw the Landlady coming in the direction of the door. He hurriedly turned and pulled Gu Longming to hide in a corner together. Only when they saw the Landlady bring the infant out of the yard did the two release their breaths.

“Do we go in? Take a look?” Even though Gu Longming looked scared, he still made the suggestion.

Lin Qiushi glanced at the doorway and said, “come on then.”

Gu Longming, “uh… can I stand guard at the door for you?”

Lin Qiushi, “sure.” He wasn’t going to force Gu Longming to keep him company.

But in the end, after some agonizing, Gu Longming still decided to enter the house with Lin Qiushi to look for clues. He said that if she really came back, it wasn’t like standing guard was going to make a difference, and they were better off just turning tail and running anyways.

The two passed through the half-ajar door to enter the house, and began to speedily search for clues.

Because the Landlady could return any moment, Lin Qiushi didn’t want to dawdle. Gu Longming searched the outside, and Lin Qiushi went further in.

The inner room wasn’t big. In it was a small cradle, but the odd thing was, next to the cradle was a shelf. On the shelf was crammed a bunch of oil lamps, and though it was daytime, all the lamps were lit.

Lin Qiushi was about to investigate further when he heard faint footsteps at the door. He knew it had to be the Landlady returning, and so grabbed Gu Longming by the arm to signal their exit.

Gu Longming understood, and rushed out the building with Lin Qiushi.

The two had just rounded the corner when the Landlady pushed open the courtyard door. The infant in her arms was no longer crying, but Lin Qiushi could see that there was a ring of red around the baby’s mouth, like it was left there after gnawing on something…

“Good boy, good boy.” The woman returned to the house, and began to look carefully around. A suspicious expression appeared on her face.

Lin Qiushi saw that things weren’t looking good, and said to Gu Longming, “go!”

So the two ran along the wall, straight for the courtyard’s exit.

Credit to them for running so quickly too, because only about a minute after they cleared the doorway, the Landlady came and slipped a heavy padlock around the door. Had they been just a bit slower, they would surely be trapped inside the courtyard now.

Even the calm Lin Qiushi exhaled in relief.

“Let’s go back,” Gu Longming said. “It’s almost noon and all…”

Lin Qiushi squinted at him. “You can still eat?” Didn’t you just look like you were about to hurl?

Gu Longming, “people are iron, rice is steel, we can all start panicking if we miss a meal. And it’s not like the food is people anyways, it’s fine to eat a bit isn’t it…”

Lin Qiushi, exasperated, “alright.”

And so the two walked on to the dining area.

By the time they arrived, everybody else was about finished with their food. Yan Shihe and Xiao Qian were chatting at the side; Lin Qiushi could roughly hear them talking about the town’s culture and customs.

It seemed that Gu Longming was really hungry. After fetching a bowl of rice, he began to chow down in huge bites.

Yan Shihe glanced at them and came over to Lin Qiushi’s side. He said, “you two came late. The food’s almost cold.”

Lin Qiushi replied, “mh, woke up late.”

Yan Shihe’s eyes flashed, clearly not believing Lin Qiushi’s excuse. Fair enough. To be big-hearted enough to oversleep in this sort of world was practically impossible.

But Lin Qiushi didn’t care whether or not he believed it either, because even if he didn't—so what?

“We found a new hint, mind if we do a swap?” Yan Shihe sat down next to Lin Qiushi. “It’s not like we’re enemies in the first place…”

Lin Qiushi watched him. “What kind of hint?”

Yan Shihe said, “a hint about the river god.”

Lin Qiushi set down the chopsticks in his hands. “What do you want to know?”

Yan Shihe, “I want to know where you went just now, and what you saw.”

Lin Qiushi eyed him, not speaking.

Yan Shihe chuckled, “fine. Actually, Xiao Qian saw you guys heading toward the Landlady’s quarters. You must’ve successfully gotten in, right? I just want to know what’s in the house…”

“You talk first.” Lin Qiushi spoke frankly. “If you’re just trying to dupe me with some nonsense, I’m afraid it’ll be hard for you to get the hint you want.”

Yan Shihe, “fine. Let’s find someplace private.” He eyed Gu Longming, who was still working hard at devouring his food. “Doesn’t seem like what you found inside the door is all that scary though.” For him to still have such an appetite.

Lin Qiushi could only watch Gu Longming. He didn’t know what to say.

Gu Longming finally cleared his bowl, wiping his mouth and announcing righteously, “we don’t waste!”

Lin Qiushi, “are you full?” He’d eaten three entire bowls of rice already.

Gu Longming gnashed his teeth, “full enough, I guess!”

Lin Qiushi, “…” Sorry that you’re missing out.

The four then went and found a remote room in the estate. Once they entered, they began to swap hints.

“As I recall you guys also entered the shrine, right?” Yan Shihe asked. “Did you guys see the ancestral tablets for the kids?”

Lin Qiushi replied, “we saw it.” At this, he immediately understood. “You mean to say those kids are the river gods?”

“You’re sharp,” Yan Shihe said. “Typically, dead children can’t be worshipped in ancestral shrines. But they’re different. Their statuses are no longer children, but gods.”

And because of this, their tablets were placed at a level higher than even some town elders. Lin Qiushi finally understood why this was so.

“Also, I don’t know if you noticed one of other tablets,” Yan Shihe said. “The name on it is Yu Caizhe.”

Lin Qiushi and Gu Longming shook their heads to signal they didn’t know.

Yan Shihe smiled at this, and said, “tell us first what you saw inside the house. Then I’ll tell you about Yu Caizhe. After all, both sides ought to show some sincerity, right?”

Lin Qiushi thought for a moment, before saying, “in her courtyard, we saw the Landlady fry up corpses in a wok—she was using the bodies of the two who who went missing last night.”

Yan Shihe sat up. “Fry? What’s she doing frying up bodies?”

At his side, Xiao Qian’s expression went bad: “she’s not feeding it to us, is she?”

Normal people, without having seen the oil lamps, would very easily be misled by that description.

Lin Qiushi smiled, but didn’t explain. Instead he asked, “who’s Yu Caizhe?”

Yan Shihe knew he’d met his match. Though the person in front of him looked gentle and harmless, Lin Qiushi didn’t seem to be an easy mark. He dragged out his answer: “Did you know, the owner of this estate, his surname was also Yu.”

Gu Longming didn’t understand. “It’s his tablet?”

“No,” Yan Shihe said. “It’s his son’s tablet.” He held up a palm. “I found their family’s genealogy book in one of the rooms in the courtyard.”

“That’s the Landlady’s son? So the Landlady’s son became a river god too?” Speaking of sons, Lin Qiushi recalled that pallid, sharp- and many-toothed infant in the Landlady’s arms. Could that baby be the Yu Caizhe that Yan Shihe was talking about? But if he’d already become a river god, why was he back at the Landlady’s side?

Lin Qiushi furrowed his brows. There was something he wasn’t getting.

“What about the frying? What was the Landlady doing with the fried bodies?” Yan Shihe laughed. “And I won’t believe it’s corpses we’re eating.”

“Why not?” Gu Longming scoffed from one side. “It’s not like you’ve eaten a real corpse before, have you?”

Yan Shihe peered at Gu Longming before his even reply: “of course I haven’t.”

He didn’t know why, but Lin Qiushi had a feeling that Yan Shihe was lying. Of course, he didn’t say this out loud, instead answered, “we saw her render the fat from the corpses and make them into oil lamps.”

Yan Shihe frowned. “Oil lamps? Like the kind we’ve been using?”

“Yes,” Lin Qiushi confirmed. “Exactly like the kind we’ve been using.”

Yan Shihe fell to a brief silence, before opening his mouth again: “So what’s the function of those oil lamps then?”

Lin Qiushi shook his head, indicating his ignorance.

Yan Shihe had gotten the information he wanted. He stood and took his leave: “we’ll be taking off first then.” When he glanced at Gu Longming, there was a bit more mockery in his eyes. “If you’re still hungry, you can go back and keep eating.”

Gu Longming didn’t bother answering, just rolled his sleeve right up to reveal a well-muscled forearm, and sneered.

Yan Shihe turned and left; his figure from the back looked a bit harried.

Lin Qiushi thought this was actually kind of funny.

“Damn, is he a moron or what,” Gu Longming hissed. “Only knows how to pick on this poor, weak, defenseless high school girl.”

Lin Qiushi silently turned his gaze away from that muscular arm of Gu Longming’s.

The information he’d gotten from Yan Shihe was very useful; at least Lin Qiushi now knew something concrete about this supposed river god. But when they were still pondering the relationship between the oil lamps and the river gods, they discovered Yan Shihe had already told everybody about the lamps.

Yan Shihe told everybody at dinnertime. His speech was very plain.

Most people stopped eating because of what he said. The two newbies dashed right out the door and began vomiting—who knew what came to their minds.

“All of the oil lamps are made with oil rendered from corpses,” Yan Shihe announced. “Even though I still don’t know what those lamps do, I thought it was best to inform everyone of this.”

Gu Longming was very unhappy with the fact that Yan Shihe had broadcasted their hint; his expression was dark the whole time. Lin Qiushi remained expressionless too, just kept quietly eating the food before him.

Some who heard this news rushed out immediately. It seemed they would be throwing those lamps right out.

Lin Qiushi glanced at Yan Shihe, and happened to meet his eyes. He smiled faintly back at Lin Qiushi before looking away.

“What the hell does he think he’s doing?” On the way back, Gu Longming’s displeasure at Yan Shihe reached its peak. “He just told everyone this, just like that?!”

Lin Qiushi, on the other hand, had figured out Yan Shihe’s purpose. “He only wants to know what the oil lamps do.”

Gu Longming, “what does that mean?”

Lin Qiushi, “to put it simply, the oil lamps are either good or bad, so Yan Shihe needs people to test it out.”

Gu Longming started, and understood Lin Qiushi’s meaning too. “You mean he scared those people into throwing out their lamps on purpose?”

Lin Qiushi, “yes.”

Gu Longming, “but what if… what if the lamps are the conditions for attracting the ghosts?”

Lin Qiushi, “do you still remember the room we inspected this morning?”

Gu Longming, “I remember…” The room they’d inspected belonged to the two missing people.

Lin Qiushi said, “the oil lamp in that room, it was empty.”

Gu Longming’s eyes went wide. He’d completely forgotten this detail.

“Yan Shihe remembered, so his money’s on the other side.” Lin Qiushi slowly pushed open their door. “The world inside the doors is always a gamble. Whether or not to toss the lamp is a 50% death rate on either end. He wants to know the right answer, so he’s wagering other people’s lives.” As he said this, repugnance surfaced in his expression.

Gu Longming, “then why don’t we tell them…”

Lin Qiushi tilted his head, a bit exasperated: “because we don’t know the correct answer either. What if keeping the lamp is the wrong thing to do?”

Gu Longming had no answer to that.

The two entered their room, and both their gazes instantly fell on the oil lamp atop their desk.

Gu Longming approached the lamp, muttering, “so we’re keeping this then?” He reached out, picked up the lamp, but all of a sudden stopped. “Hang on, did someone swap out our lamp?”

Lin Qiushi, “it got swapped?” Lin Qiushi looked at the lamp, but didn’t see anything odd or off.

“Yeah, it’s been swapped.” Gu Longming was certain. “Let me show you if you don’t believe me.” He reached into his pocket and fished about, until he fished out an object.

And when Lin Qiushi saw exactly what was fished out, he looked on, stunned.

“Hang on, when we were inside the house, you didn't…”

“Yeah,” Gu Longming said. “I mean we were already there.”

In Gu Longming’s hand was an extra lamp. This was a finished lamp; the oil inside had already congealed into a milky white paste. Undoubtedly, Gu Longming had taken this lamp from the Landlady’s living room when they’d snuck inside her house. Lin Qiushi stared at the lamp, and didn’t know what to say at all.

“Heheheh, good thing I had foresight.” Gu Longming was plenty giddy. “Come here and take a look. Isn’t the color different in our oil lamp and this one?”

Lin Qiushi crowded close, and found the colors were indeed different. But the difference was very slight—the color of the lamp in their room was just the tiniest bit fainter. Without putting it side-by-side, Lin Qiushi really couldn’t have noticed the minor difference.

“Right? Right?” Gu Longming said. “My eyes aren’t messing with me, are they?”

“No, they’re not.” Lin Qiushi took the lamp from Gu Longming’s hand. “I want to take a look in the other rooms.”

He wanted to compare it against the other lamps.

Gu Longming, “together, yeah?”

They left the building, but saw that the Landlady, in her red dress, had appeared out of the blue, and was standing silently in the middle of the courtyard with her back to their room.

Gu Longming felt a bit sheepish, and didn’t look on for too long.

But Lin Qiushi noticed that she was holding another red blanket in her arms. It was the same one she’d used to swaddle the infant during the day. But now, the swaddling cloth was completely empty…

Lin Qiushi and Gu Longming went to the other rooms, compared the lamps, and made a discovery.

The lamps inside the rooms that Lin Qiushi’s dead baby had cried in were indeed identical to the one in their room, which was to say, they were different from the lamp Gu Longming stole from the Landlady’s room.

And judging from what happened the night before, this sort of lamp brought about disaster. It was the oil lamps made from humans that were safe.

Though they’d figured out this logic, it still made them feel a bit uncomfortable. After all, they were using fat from those of the same species as them to light their way…

So that night neither Gu Longming nor Lin Qiushi lit their lamp. They tucked in early, and lied in bed chatting.

Gu Longming spoke a lot, and told tall tales well. He spoke about interesting encounters he’d had in the real world, and Lin Qiushi listened on with enthusiasm.

But before they slept, Lin Qiushi still got up to look out the window.

It was utterly black outside. Only two rooms had lamps lit—one was Yan Shihe’s room, and the other belonged to an elderly couple. All the other rooms were dark. Their owners had clearly all either tossed out the oil lamps, or had kept them, but not lit them.

Lin Qiushi returned to bed. He closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep. But there were things on his mind, and he couldn’t fully manage. Soft footsteps outside the window were enough to wake Lin Qiushi from his shallow sleep.

Lin Qiushi opened his eyes to a black room. There was only the faint moonlight pouring in from the window, spilling white over the floor.

Through the window paper, Lin Qiushi saw a row of silhouettes. These silhouettes were short. Judging from their height and shape, they seemed to belong to children. Hearing this sound, he couldn’t help but remember what appeared in the hallway last night—the line of children, holding onto each other’s shoulders and slowly walking forward.

The worst thing was, Lin Qiushi once again heard the scratch of fingers against their window.

Because the woman had punctured a hole in their window the night before, during the day, Lin Qiushi had taken special care to glue the hole back up. He lied in bed now with his heart in his throat. That soft sound was as if a noose—it could fall over someone’s head at any moment, and then give that person a good shove down.

That sound persisted for a long time, before finally stopping. It seemed the thing outside realized the paper would not break, and so gradually shuffled off toward another room.

And Yan Shihe’s experiment yielded results as well: the oil lamps made from humans were indeed not bad for them, and were in fact tools to protect them.

Just as Lin Qiushi, lying in bed, was about to exhale a breath of relief, he saw out of the corner of his eyes a much larger shadow appear in their window—it was the estate’s Landlady. She stood tall, and gazed in through the thin pane of glass just like that.

Lin Qiushi held his breath. But he abruptly remembered the lamp that had suddenly lit the night before.

Why had the lamp suddenly lit? Could there be a hidden death condition other than the oil lamp itself? Just as Lin Qiushi thought this, the oil lamp on the table suddenly lit up once more in a bright glow of light—

Author’s Note:

I’ll be real, this foolish author’s been having nightmares for half a month now… All the nightmare plots are frickin’ terrifying. Every time I wake up I have to very aggressively cuddle the cat.