Kaleidoscope of Death

They had to steal a lamp. The only question was where to steal it from.

They’d snuck out one of the Landlady’s lamps before, which meant those lamps could be taken. But as long as the Landlady guarded that room, there was also definite risk. If, in the process of stealing the lamp, they were caught by the Landlady, then undoubtedly the Landlady would slaughter them like piglets on the chopping block.

Aside from the Landlady’s, there were oil lamps at the shrine they went to before as well, and those should also be the type made out of corpses by the Landlady.

To tell the truth Lin Qiushi got an uncomfortable feeling everything he thought about the ancestral shrine. If their guess was correct, the lamp-filled shrine was very likely to be suppressing something of extreme malevolence.

Just as Lin Qiushi and Gu Longming were trying to decide where to get a lamp from, they saw a few people from their group sneakily leaving the courtyard.

Gu Longming saw Yan Shihe among them, and stood: “Yan Shihe’s there. Where are they going?!”

Lin Qiushi, “they’re heading out?”

Gu Longming nodded, glancing at Lin Qiushi. “Should we tail them? Kinda looks like they’re up to something.”

Lin Qiushi gave it a thought. Then, “yes, let’s go.”

And so the two followed the group out in secret.

There were four people in the group, one of whom was Yan Shihe. He stood among them and spoke quietly to the lot. Lin Qiushi could faintly hear them talking, but because they were really too far away, he only picked up a few words: lamp, chance, shrine.

Though it was only a few words, it still provided the most vital intel; Lin Qiushi had learned where they were headed—evidently they’d all had the same thought, to steal the human oil lamps from the shrine! And, with Yan Shihe among them, he was likely the instigator.

Lin Qiushi frowned, and told Gu Longming, “they’re going to steal lamps.”

Gu Longming started. “What? To steal lamps? At the shrine?”

Lin Qiushi nodded.

Gu Longming, “this…” He couldn’t say this was a bad thing, because if this group could safely bring the lamps out from the shrine, then they wouldn’t have to risk the Landlady’s quarters.

Lin Qiushi, “we’ll follow them first, and see what happens.”

Concerned about being discovered by the people up front, Lin Qiushi and Gu Longming didn’t follow too closely. After passing a few roads, the town’s grandiose ancestral shrine appeared before their eyes.

Yan Shihe and the people he brought went straight into the shrine.

Lin Qiushi and Gu Longming, on the other hand, stuck by the door, hiding in a corner to peek within.

Lin Qiushi saw Yan Shihe through the door crack, and also heard his voice.

Yan Shihe was saying, “there are lamps here. Don’t you need it? Go on, take it.”

“What if something happens when we actually take it?” One man among them looked wary, and was scrutinizing the tablet-filled shrine. “It looks like they’re worshipping something here.”

“What’s the point of being concerned about that now? If you don’t have a lamp you’re dying tonight,” Yan Shihe said. “If you’re so scared, why did you follow me in the first place? If you won’t take one I’m helping myself.” As soon as he finished speaking, he reached up and pulled down an oil lamp. After he put out the burning wick, he slipped it right into his pocket.

The group was silent, all a bit shocked by Yan Shihe’s immediate action.

After long minutes of waiting, nothing happened inside the shrine. Yan Shihe seemed very impatient: “You guys just keep dawdling then, I’m heading out.” Then he left, turning and heading straight for the doorway.

The others, after seeing Yan Shihe take his lamp without incident, each reached out and grabbed the lamps closest to them.

Once they’d gotten their lamps, the people began to smile.

But Lin Qiushi, who stood outside the door, noticed an odd sight—after these people removed and put out the lamps, the dark ceiling of the shrine gained a few spots of murky red light.

Lin Qiushi had thought those spots were light sources, but upon closer inspection, he discovered they were actually eyes—clumps and clumps of blood red eyes. These eyes gazed silently down on the people looking giddy with their lamps, languidly blinking.

“Is something leaking?” A drip of something fell onto a person. He jumped, and wiped at the spot with his fingers, discovering a viscous kind of liquid. Though it was clear, it exuded a nauseating smell, as if it were something's… saliva.

Frightening himself with that train of thought, that person didn’t dare look to see what was above him; his steps, rushing toward the door, became much faster.

Yan Shihe, who’d gotten an oil lamp first, was already stepping out of the shrine’s main entrance.

Fearing discovery, Lin Qiushi and Gu Longming hadn’t gotten too close, and were hiding in a copse of trees nearby. They saw people begin to file out of the building.

One, two, three… The moment the third person’s foot cleared the shrine, the shrine doors suddenly slammed loudly shut.

The three at the door stared at the sudden closure in shock. The next moment, a girl from the group turned with a cry, and began to bang on the shrine doors with force. She yelled, “Xiao Jian, Xiao Jian—” It seemed like her partner had gotten shut in the shrine.

Hideous screams began coming from inside the shrine.

These screams were probably coming from that man named Xiao Jian. Nobody knew what confronted him inside, but through the crack under the main shrine doors, thick quantities of blood began seeping out, following the narrow seams to fan out all over the ground; it was a particularly harrowing sight.

As for Lin Qiushi, he heard the sounds inside the shrine. He didn’t want them to, but the sounds still drilled their way into his ears. He heard Xiao Jian’s wailing. Heard a sort of sound like flesh ripping. Heard the crisp chortling of children.

A few minutes later, it all settled back down. The door that wouldn’t budge a centimeter no matter how hard the people outside hit it opened slowly once more.

The woman who’d been hitting the door from the outside dashed in without a care to her own safety—but there was nothing inside the shrine. Aside from the pool of blood on the ground, the person who ought to be inside had completely disappeared, as if he’d never been there at all.

The woman looked down, and trembled as she picked something up off the ground. It was a whole piece of nail. She finally understood what had happened, and began bawling in agony.

Yan Shihe didn’t reenter the shrine, just stood by the door watching from far away. About the death of a bystander, he seemed utterly unaffected; he even lifted a wrist to glance at his watch, as if he thought this were a waste of time.

“I’m going to smash this place, I’m going to smash you all to pieces!” The woman who’d lost her partner tumbled over the edge—she grabbed a tablet at hand and was about to smash it against the ground. But her hand, lifted into the air, was grabbed tight from behind by a withered old hand.

The woman turned, and saw the ancient, deeply wrinkled face of the security guard.

“You…” Before the woman could say more, the guard took her by the arm and forcibly dragged her out of the shrine. The guard appeared short, but had tremendous strength. He really did drag that 170cm woman straight from the shrine by force.

The woman struggled and wailed, but the people who’d gone with her only had indifference in their eyes. This was the world of the doors, a place where any moment, you could lose your life.

The ejected woman gave up, kneeling on the ground and crying so hard it seemed she would faint. She jabbed a finger at Yan Shihe and yelled, “you knew. You definitely knew. You want us dead!!”

Against the woman’s accusations, Yan Shihe’s expression didn’t change at all. He said, “everyone got their lamps, right? I’m off.”

The other person who’d gotten his lamp seemed grateful, and said, “Yan-ge, let’s go together.”

Neither gave another thought to the devastated woman who’d just lost her partner.

Gu Longming tsked after watching this scene. “That Yan Shihe’s a no-good piece of something, isn’t he.”

Lin Qiushi agreed, “indeed.”

It seemed that the lamps inside the shrine could be taken, but there was a limit to how many. When some number was reached, and quantity changed quality, what was inside the shrine would emerge.

Gu Longming licked his lips and asked, “Linlin, what should we do?”

Lin Qiushi, “I’ve had a thought. If it works, we might not have to go to the Landlady’s courtyard anymore.”

Gu Longming, “what’s the thought?”

Lin Qiushi didn’t answer, just turned and said, “let’s go.”

The two returned on the path back to the estate. Passing the streets, they saw some townspeople lifting live pigs toward the river once again. This time, there were two livestock sacrifices. The number of people playing music had increased as well. This seemed to be a signal, reminding them of the upcoming River God Festival.

Lin Qiushi’s steps finally stopped before Yan Shihe’s door. He fished out a hairpin from his pocket.

Gu Longming’s eyes widened. “Linlin, whatchu doing there…”

Lin Qiushi hummed, “unlocking it.” He bent, and quickly inserted the hairpin in the lock. A few seconds later, the lock before them opened with a click.

Gu Longming, impressed, “fucking badass.”

There was something familiar to Lin Qiushi about this scene. After some thought, he realized—wasn’t this a reproduction of Ruan Nanzhu bringing him around? It was just that he played Ruan Nanzhu’s role this time.

“What are we doing in here? Looking for a lamp?” Gu Longming glanced around. “But couldn’t he have hidden it…”

Lin Qiushi, “I’ve looked, and at least they’re not carrying it.” The lamps, made of green copper, were not light, each at least a good few pounds. Lin Qiushi had also noticed that Yan Shihe didn’t carry a bag. As for his friend Xiao Qian, she only carried a side-slung purse that was much too small to fit a lamp. This meant they didn’t carry the lamp on their persons. It had to be either in this room or hidden somewhere else.

After searching through the room, the two finally discovered what they wanted under the bed. Yan Shihe’s oil lamp was indeed hidden in a covert spot beneath the bed.

Fumbling the lamp out, Gu Longming couldn’t help but cuss.

His reason for cussing was that underneath Yan Shihe’s bed, there wasn’t only one lamp—five, six lamps were neatly placed in a row beneath that bed. They seemed like everybody else’s missing oil lamps.

“That Yan Shihe’s a real sonovabitch,” Gu Longming cursed. “To think he’d do something like this!”

Stealing everybody else’s lamps, then making it look like the lamps had been destroyed, when in reality, he’d pocketed all of them. Then, he’d even encouraged people to their deaths by stealing lamps from the shrine.

Seeing these lamps, Lin Qiushi distaste for Yan Shihe only grew. It just felt like since they entered this door, Yan Shihe had known something.

Lin Qiushi had seen this kind of situation once before, in the world of the woman in the rain. The person who’d betrayed her fellow humans and killed with the painting frame.

Could Yan Shihe also… At this thought, Lin Qiushi’s brow furrowed tight.

“Eh? There seems to be something else under his bed…” Gu Longming discovered something behind the oil lamps and also fished it out. “A… a genealogy?”

Lin Qiushi took it for a closer look, and saw it was the family genealogy that Yan Shihe had mentioned before.

He opened the first page and discovered the genealogy had pictures. Though they were black and white, the person on the first picture was still recognizably the Landlady of the estate.

After a rough flip-through, Lin Qiushi was vaguely shocked. This seemed less like a genealogy and more like some kind of record. Practically all of the pictures were the Landlady and a child. She remained expressionless, and in her arms was always a kid. Some were crying, some were laughing, but they were obviously not the same child.

But the names of these children, without exception, were Yu Caizhe. The husband didn’t appear in the book at all, as if from start to finish, there was only ever the Landlady and a child.

Gu Longming had come to understand something as well. He glanced at Lin Qiushi. “These kids aren’t her kids at all, right?!”

Lin Qiushi, “that’s likely.”

Yu Caizhe was just a label; it didn’t refer to any one specific kid. All kids adopted by the Landlady were named Yu Caizhe.

Lin Qiushi eyed the timeline in the genealogy. “Let’s go. We’ll take this with us.”

Gu Longming, “then won’t they find out we came in here?”

Lin Qiushi seemed faintly amused. “Don’t you catch ghosts outside the doors? Shouldn’t you be used to lying and swindling like this?”

Gu Longming justified, “that’s only sometimes, sometimes! Most of the time I’m still an upright citizen.”

Lin Qiushi, “not an upright high school girl?”

Gu Longming, shyly, “well if you need me to become a high school girl to make you happy…”

Lin Qiushi, “…” Why did he feel disgusted all of a sudden.

“Since we’re taking the lamp anyways, let him find out. After all, he’s probably the one who swapped out our lamp too.” Lin Qiushi shamelessly bagged the genealogy book. “We’ll take a few extra lamps too, for backup.”

“Hell yeah.” Gu Longming filled his own bag with the stuff. He didn’t like Yan Shihe in the first place; screwing Yan Shihe over naturally made him happy.

With the stuff packed away, they left Yan Shihe’s room. They first hid the lamps they brought out in a corner close to their room, then kept one on their persons for emergency use. Of course, they didn’t forget to stuff the genealogy book in their bag either.

Yan Shihe quickly discovered that his room had been burgled. During lunch, his expression was dark, gaze searching through the crowd, before finally landing on Lin Qiushi, who was leisurely dining.

Lin Qiushi’s expression didn’t change a bit. Against Yan Shihe’s gaze, he only lifted his own, and said, “yes?”

Yan Shihe smiled. “Did you find any new hints?”

“New hints?” Lin Qiushi said. “Even if I did find some, what hints do you have to exchange?”

Yan Shihe, “that depends on what you found.”

Lin Qiushi didn’t reply, just silently watched Yan Shihe.

“Fine, if you’re willing, we can do another trade,” Yan Shihe said. Though he was talking about a trade, there was probing in his eyes. He clearly wanted to see how Lin Qiushi would react.

But Lin Qiushi’s reaction disappointed Yan Shihe; he wiped at his mouth in seeming preponderance, finally declaring, “I don’t have anything to trade you.” His sentence was short, his attitude firm.

Yan Shihe, “oh, is that so. You stayed in the courtyard the whole morning then?”

Lin Qiushi, “went to see the sacrifice by the river. What are you really asking?”

Yan Shihe smiled, and stood. “Nothing, It’s just a question.” Then he turned and left.

Four had already died. Including the person who died at the shrine that morning, there were five dead, and seven alive. So, upon discovering the items missing, Yan Shihe made Lin Qiushi his first suspect—no, Yan Shihe had already determined Lin Qiushi’s group guilty.

Good thing Lin Qiushi didn’t care about this. He finished his lunch and stood to leave with Gu Longming.

Yan Shihe’s dark gaze fell on Lin Qiushi’s back.

Xiao Qian saw this and asked, “Yan-ge, they’re the ones who took the lamps and book?”

Yan Shihe, “who else could it be.” Coolly, he continued, “isn’t everybody else in here completely useless trash?” He was talking about the three others, and getting agitated. “If you hadn’t refused to carry that book, this wouldn’t have happened.”

Xiao Qian argued, “I… I’m scared too, aren’t I…” She didn’t want to carry that genealogy book, full of black and white photos of the Landlady, around with her.

“Great,” Yan Shihe sneered, “so now they’ve stolen it all.”

“But we’ve already seen it, it’s fine even if they take it right?” Xiao Qian said gingerly. “It’s not like it’s an important prop or something.”

Yan Shihe shot Xiao Qian a cold look. “It’s a miracle you survived this long.”

Additional words died on Xiao Qian’s tongue.

After lunch, Lin Qiushi found a random servant of the estate and asked after the estate’s history.

The servant said this estate had over a century of history, with three generations. The most recent generation was the Landlady’s.

Then Lin Qiushi asked for the specific date of this world, and the servant replied with a number.

Gu Longming knew something was wrong the moment he heard it, and said, “1867? That’s impossible—”

He made to say more, but Lin Qiushi cut him off, smiling to say, “got it, thank you.”

The servant waved his hand after the questions to signal no problem, before taking off.

Lin Qiushi met Gu Longming’s eyes, and asked, “you know what I mean now?”

Gu Longming, “I do.”

The genealogy was created the day this manor was established. And on that date, there was a photo taped underneath the time—a solo portrait of the Landlady. There was no full timeline in the genealogy, only the date of creation. If they didn’t know the time in reality, maybe they wouldn’t have thought there was anything peculiar about this book.

Gu Longming, “so she’s lived over a century, huh…”

Lin Qiushi, “we can be sure she’s not human now.”

“Is that important?” Gu Longming didn’t quite understand. “Whether or not she’s human, we don’t want to mess with her right?”

Lin Qiushi shook his head. “No, this is important. Different statuses mean we have to treat her in different ways.” If she was human, maybe they still had a chance of challenging her. But if she was a monster, then they had no chance at all of taking the Landlady in a fight.

Gu Longming scratched his head and seemed to understand.

“I keep feeling the clue to the key is on her,” Lin Qiushi said. “If we get the chance tomorrow, we should go check out her rooms again.”

Gu Longming nodded. “Okay.”

Lin Qiushi, “also, about this manor…” He eyed the sky. “Come on, let’s go take a spin in town. People there should know something.”

So Lin Qiushi and Gu Longming left the courtyard, and took a spin in town.

This town was not big. The thick fog wrapped around the town isolated it into an island. They interviewed a few citizens, but the citizens kept a cautious attitude, not wanting to say too much about the Yu estate.

There was nothing Lin Qiushi and Gu Longming could do about this.

Gu Longming said, “why don’t we go sit down in a restaurant? I’m hungry from all the walking, and who knows, maybe the food in this world is good.”

Without any breakthroughs, Lin Qiushi nodded and agreed.

The two entered a restaurant and found a seat. They were just about to call over a waiter and order when they heard the sound of clappers hitting the table.

“But they said that the rain that year was heavy, and poured for seven days and seven nights…” Lin Qiushi looked toward the sound, and saw a storyteller dressed in traditional garb. He stood in the middle of the restaurant, wooden clappers in hand as he broadcasted: “They saw that the city was about to be flooded, but one family came up with a way to control the waters. That method was a sacrifice to the River God to finally bring the endless rain to a stop—”

When Lin Qiushi and Gu Longming heard in this verse the family named Yu, both their eyes widened. They hadn’t thought they’d be able to hear the story of the Yu Manor like this.

Author’s Note:

The reason the little ghouls could become liquid blood and enter the other room is because that room didn’t have a human oil lamp. Lin Qiushi’s room had a lamp, so the ghouls couldn’t turn to blood. This isn’t a bug, nor is it a deus ex machina. Some thought it was weird so I wanted to explain.

Sigh, I ate too much hot pot and now my butt hurts _(:з」∠)_