Kaleidoscope of Death

The oil lamps that had fallen from his bag were scattered across the floor.

Lin Qiushi looked over, and saw the Landlady standing at her courtyard door, holding her knife and glowering at them with poison in her eyes. It was a relief to Lin Qiushi that holding that knife, she didn’t seem capable of leaving the yard, and so could only watch them from afar. It was a scary sight to be sure, but at least there was no immediate risk of death.

Gu Longming slapped a palm onto Lin Qiushi’s shoulder and sighed, “Linlin, you’re amazing…”

Lin Qiushi didn’t know what to say to that at all, and so opted for a smile. “Let’s put the lamps in your bag for now.”

“Mmh, okay,” Gu Longming nodded and speedily gathered up the lamps on the ground.

Many lamps from his bag now had a deep gash from the knife on them. It didn’t take a genius to see that had the knife stroke not hit the lamps but Lin Qiushi’s back instead, Lin Qiushi would’ve been done for on the spot. The lamps were now cracked, but at least the lamp oil was still solid. Under the vigil of the Landlady, the two rushed to pick up all the lamps, and turned to leave.

They stole a total of seven lamps; should any incidents occur these would still last them until the end. But, if Lin Qiushi’s guess was correct, something was almost certainly happening tonight.

The two returned to their room, set the lamps down, and didn’t plan on leaving again. They would stand guard inside the room. After all, this many lamps were too heavy—they couldn’t be brought about or safely left anywhere. If the lamps got switched out or stolen by that Yan Shihe bastard again, the loss would be major.

Gu Longming’s mind was still on what had just happened. He asked, “Linlin, do you often find yourself in that kind of situation?”

Lin Qiushi went through his memories a bit, and nodded.

“Fuck man.” Gu Longming’s face was full of admiration; he was out of ways to compliment Lin Qiushi. As he gestured widely, he continued, “don’t you know how scary it was! A forty meter machete—good thing you got thirty-nine meters ahead!”

Lin Qiushi, “…” He didn’t know what to say to that at all.

Fearing lamp theft, they even ate lunch inside the room. Lin Qiushi was truly a bit bored, and got that genealogy back out of the bag. He wanted to see if there were any additional clues.

But, with the lamp lit and the book opened, he saw that once again the family photos had changed. Lin Qiushi discovered that the children had disappeared from some of them, leaving only the figure of the Landlady.

Gu Longming stood right beside Lin Qiushi, and saw these changes as well. He stared with wide eyes, then peeked at Lin Qiushi: “After we took the lamps, these ghouls disappeared. Seems like it really was the Landlady sealing them away…”

Lin Qiushi nodded, “should be.” Then their guess wasn’t wrong.

Gu Longming, hesitatingly, “but…” His finger prodded at the pictures that hadn’t changed. “What’s up with these ghouls?”

Lin Qiushi answered, “the ancestral shrine.”

At this, Gu Longming immediately recalled the main room of that shrine—bright as day and densely populated with the human oil lamps. In this town, putting tablets in the ancestral shrine was clearly not only to worship, but also to suppress those river ghouls.

Initially, Lin Qiushi contemplated whether or not to release those ghouls. However, Yan Shihe had brought people to fetch those lamps, and an awful fate had befallen the last man to take a lamp. So if it wasn’t necessary, Lin Qiushi didn’t want to take that risk.

That was their thinking at first. But very soon, Lin Qiushi discovered that something might be wrong.

At sunset, the Landlady appeared before their window.

She wasn’t holding a knife, but just stood there in the hallway. There was blatant loathing in her eyes as she seemed to be waiting for something.

Gu Longming saw her first, and hurriedly called Lin Qiushi over.

“What’s she doing out there?” Gu Longming found it chilling just to look at her, rubbing at the goosebumps on his arm. “She looks like she’s waiting to kill us…”

Lin Qiushi furrowed his brows, feeling too that there was something wrong. He thought and thought. Then he stood up, and left the room.

The Landlady was still staring at him.

Lin Qiushi walked experimentally toward the courtyard, and unexpectedly, the Landlady followed. Though she wasn’t fast, she did feel quite like a haunt, with that malicious glare stuck to Lin Qiushi’s back.

Gu Longming watched Lin Qiushi and asked, “the hell are we s'pposed to do?”

Lin Qiushi worried at his lips, watching the sky. The sun was almost about to set, and the sudden change in the Landlady was clearly signaling something. He deliberated for a moment before gritting out, “come on, we’re going to the shrine.”

“To, to the shrine?” Gu Longming was a bit stunned by Lin Qiushi’s words. “But isn’t it full of ghouls?”

Lin Qiushi, “you see the Landlady?”

Gu Longming made a noise of confirmation.

Lin Qiushi, “don’t you think she’s waiting for night to come?”

Gu Longming, “…” As soon as Lin Qiushi said it, he too had a moment of realization—the Landlady was clearly trailing them because she didn’t want them running off. And if she didn’t want them to run off, didn’t that in turn mean she was going to do something to them that very evening?

Because they’d taken the Landlady’s lamps in the daytime, they couldn’t say for sure what would happen at night.

“Let’s go.” Seeing that the sky was almost dark, Lin Qiushi didn’t hesitate further. They stuffed all the lamps into Gu Longming’s bag and headed for the ancestral shrine.

Just as they were leaving, they bumped into Yan Shihe. He saw that they were in the rush, so smiled and asked, “where are you headed this late at night?”

Lin Qiushi ignored him and kept walking.

The shrine was still some distance away from where they lived. The Landlady followed them out the door, and it wasn’t until they were almost at the shrine that her footsteps stalled.

She seemed very wary of this place, as a bit of fear tinged her hateful expression. She even slowly backed up a step.

The tightness in Lin Qiushi’s chest loosened at this sight.

Gu Longming, “oh wow, she’s really going back…” He watched as the Landlady grudgingly turned and slowly walked away.

Lin Qiushi sighed, “mh… she’s finally gone.”

The two came to the door of the shrine and saw the guard asleep, completely forgoing a greeting.

Lin Qiushi hesitated a little at the door. He saw that of the tablets being enshrined, there were still some empty spots—those were where the lamps stolen by the people Yan Shihe brought had been.

“We’ll light three lamps first,” Lin Qiushi said. “Patch up the empty spots.”

Gu Longming nodded.

They got out the lamps, lit them, and placed them in the empty spots. Then they sat down against a corner and waited for night to come.

It had to be said, spending the night in a place like this was truly a test of courage. Sleep was veritably impossible. Lin Qiushi leaned against the wall and, with his head down, began to play sudoku. Gu Longming grew quite bored and so watched from the side.

After a bit, “you’re that good at sudoku?”

Lin Qiushi, “I play when there’s nothing else to do.”

It was dark outside. Inside the shrine, the oil lamps were still shining, lighting up the shrine as bright as day—so it wasn’t as scary as they’d imagined.

But there were still all the tablets standing behind them. The two feared something happening and couldn’t sleep— Well, the one who couldn’t sleep was Lin Qiushi. Gu Longming was managing to nod off, head bouncing up and down and looking half-asleep already. He seemed a bit sheepish about it. After just managing to struggle out of exhaustion, he wiped a hand down his face and, a bit awkwardly: “sorry, I almost fell asleep…”

Lin Qiushi, “why don’t you sleep first then? If anything happens I’ll wake you.” He was having a hard time, watching Gu Longming wanting to crash like this.

Gu Longming shook his head and refused Lin Qiushi’s kindness, explaining, “I’m honestly not like this normally, this is really the first time…”

“Alright alright, I understand.” Lin Qiushi waved him off, expressing he didn’t care.

Gu Longming grinned helplessly back.

Night gradually deepened. The outside was steeped in a sheet of black, and the only light was inside the ancestral shrine. Everything was utterly, completely silent.

In a blink, it was twelve o'clock. Lin Qiushi, who’d been playing sudoku all this time, suddenly paused, phone in hand. He’d heard a sound—a kind of sound like pointed weaponry dragging across the ground. Accompanying it were fine, crisp footsteps. Gu Longming took in Lin Qiushi’s onsetting somberness and asked, “what is it?”

Lin Qiushi didn’t reply, just got up from the wall and looked out the window. In the hulking dark, he saw a figure slowly approaching.

As the figure got closer, Lin Qiushi saw better who it was. It was the estate Landlady, in her dress and head of long black hair. She held a long knife in her hand. On the blade, there were bright red stains and bits of what looked like meat.

She cocked her head at the ancestral shrine; half her face was drenched in blood.

From the Landlady’s appearance, it was clear she had just carried out a brutal massacre. No one knew how many she killed in the courtyard.

“There’s something on her feet!” Gu Longming suddenly said.

Lin Qiushi looked, and saw there truly was something on the Landlady’s feet: the little river ghouls stuck to her legs. The ghouls had their teethed mouths open, and were chewing on something. A closer look would reveal that the flesh on the Landlady’s legs was nearly all eaten up, showing the stark white bones underneath.

They were getting revenge… Though slow, they were still causing the Landlady serious damage.

Just as Lin Qiushi was thinking this, he saw the Landlady raise her hand and make a throwing motion—she was swinging the long knife in her hand right at them.

The blade severed the air, embedding itself into the window frame and even nearly breaking it.

Gu Longming, terrified, backed up some helpless steps before exclaiming in fright, “what, what’s she doing? We’re hiding in the ancestral shrine, she can’t be trying to kill us!”

Lin Qiushi frowned. “We don’t know about that.”

As they spoke, the Landlady was slowly approaching the window. She pulled her knife back out and, through that window, stared coolly at them with that face of blood.

The Landlady suddenly said: “even if I die, I’m going to kill you.” And then she really went right for the door.

Gu Longming jumped to his feet. “What the fuck do we do!” Lin Qiushi’s guess had been correct after all; fortunately they’d hidden here in the shrine, or they’d likely be dead in the courtyard by now.

Lin Qiushi looked back at the oil lamps, neatly placed beneath the memorial tablets.

Gu Longming saw him do this. “You’re not going to—”

Lin Qiushi, calmly, “we have to make a wager at some point.” The Landlady wasn’t human, so there was no way they could beat her. These vengeful ghouls, however, were a different story. There were already a few ghouls attached to the Landlady’s legs. Originally, Lin Qiushi and Gu Longming only had to stall long enough, and the Landlady naturally would’ve disappeared. But clearly, the Landlady despised them so much that even if it took her last breath, she wanted to end them.

The Landlady was already at the door; Lin Qiushi knew they couldn’t hesitate any longer. With a clench of his jaw, he approached the lamps, and extinguished six of them on the counter with a single breath.

The moment the lights went out, Lin Qiushi felt the gazes from the ceiling. He looked up, and saw on the ceiling clusters of eyes glowing with red light. Then, those eyes all looked toward the Landlady at the door.

The Landlady had already crossed the threshold with her knife—she seemed to figure the milk was already spilled, why not break the jar too. Inside, she launched herself immediately at Lin Qiushi and Gu Longming. Lin Qiushi quickly twisted to avoid her, but the shrine wasn’t that big. One strike of the blade, and the Landlady had destroyed a whole row of tablets.

Clack! Lin Qiushi heard first the door close, then the wails of infants from the ceiling. Hearing the cry too, the Landlady’s expression darkened, and her hacks at Lin Qiushi and Gu Longming grew more vicious. Fortunately, neither Lin Qiushi nor Gu Longming were any kind of lazy chickenshit weaklings—they tossed themselves about the shrine, and though it was crude, they were still managing to avoid the Landlady’s first few strikes.

The things on the ceiling were finally falling: water-bloated infants, one after another. They fell immediately upon the Landlady, parted their crowded heaps of teeth, and began to chew on her body.

The Landlady screamed in pain, but her motions didn’t stop. Gu Longming caught an unlucky break—and the knife across his arm. He nearly collapsed to the floor in pain.

As the infants’ chewing grew faster, the Landlady gradually went from human to skeleton. She slowed in her motions as well, and finally collapsed to her knees.

The flesh was eaten first. Then the bones. As the last bone was gobbled up, Lin Qiushi heard a crisp metallic clang. It was the sound of copper falling to the floor. Lin Qiushi and Gu Longming looked up, and saw, in a lake of blood, that conspicuous green copper key.

Though Lin Qiushi had already had the vague guess, seeing that the key had indeed been in the Landlady’s body still sent a thrill of shock through his chest.

“Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!!” Gu Longming was so excited he almost started jumping on the spot. “Key! Key! We found the key!” He’d wanted to dash forward, but saw there was still a ring of ghouls around the key. These ghouls all seemed blissed out on food and drink, but were still scary to see.

As Lin Qiushi and Gu Longming wondered how to get the key away from the ghouls, they discovered that the ghouls were changing form. Bloated faces shrunk back to their original appearances, and those rows of fangs returned to baby teeth.

That skull-splitting wailing had stopped as well, becoming giggles.

After fulfilling their final preoccupations, their bodies began to lose opacity, becoming hazes of light that then disappeared inside the shrine.

Lin Qiushi slowly approached and picked up the key. He said, “we did it.”

Gu Longming was so giddy he was incoherent. “We do, what do we do, go out? Key, where, door??”

They’d found the key. And now for the door. Lin Qiushi circled the shrine, and after confirming there was no door, said, “it’s probably in the courtyard. Let’s go back and see.”

“Okay.” Gu Longming was thoroughly ecstatic.

So the two returned to the courtyard in the dark. The Landlady was gone, and so were the ghouls. The quiet outside was peaceful.

Back at the courtyard, they saw the awful scene upon entry.

There were two people split right in half lying in the middle of the yard; they seemed to have been cut across the waist by the Landlady, and had died on the spot.

“Are they all dead?” Gu Longming asked, horrified.

Lin Qiushi shook his head. As soon as he entered the courtyard he’d heard voices in a room not far away. He didn’t think that after they’d left, the Landlady would still attack the others. According to the rules inside the door, there was a limit to the number of people she could kill per night—or else everybody else would have also been met with misfortune.

Lin Qiushi didn’t want to waste anymore time, sprinting straight for the Landlady’s courtyard with Gu Longming. Once inside, they indeed found, hidden in the wardrobe of the Landlady’s other bedroom, the metal door.

Seeing the metal door, Lin Qiushi’s whole body relaxed. He was about to pull out the key and open it, when the door behind him suddenly opened—Yan Shihe walked out, and there was a gun in his hand.

“Good evening,” Yan Shihe greeted them with a smile.

Lin Qiushi froze. There was no need to explain what Yan Shihe wanted.

“Give it here.” Yan Shihe held out his hand.

Lin Qiushi was silent for a moment, but still handed the key over to Yan Shihe. But then, after getting the key, Yan Shihe still fired on Lin Qiushi’s foot. Caught off-guard, Lin Qiushi yelled in pain and collapsed to the floor.

Yan Shihe laughed, “seems like you’re not so invincible after all.“

"You fucker—” Gu Longming held onto Lin Qiushi as he spat angry curses. “What the fuck is wrong with you? Just take the key, the hell did you shoot for!”

“My own amusement,” Yan Shihe answered coolly. “What’s it got to do with you?” He spun the key between his fingers. “Move. I’m leaving.”

Gu Longming knew they weren’t Yan Shihe’s opponents right now, so, though fuming, he still got out of the way.

Yan Shihe strode forward. Key pinched in hand, he opened the metal door, then bent down and picked up the hint that had fallen.

Xiao Qian was behind Yan Shihe. She hadn’t chanced a single look toward Lin Qiushi and Gu Longming—until Yan Shihe picked up that hint. Lin Qiushi saw her suddenly speed up her steps, coming to Yan Shihe’s back.

Then, raising her hand, she motioned a stabbing.

“Aah!” Yan Shihe let out a horrible shout. The hint and gun both fell from his hands and onto the floor.

Xiao Qian picked the hint up with a smile, and socked Yan Shihe’s gun off to the side.

In Yan Shihe’s back was a shiny dagger. Xiao Qian beamed, “thanks, Yan-ge.” Right now, she seemed an entirely different person from the figure that had cowered behind Yan Shihe. She placed the hint into her pocket, pulled out the dagger from Yan Shihe’s body, and kept beaming. “If it weren’t for you, I really couldn’t have passed this door.”

She also glanced at Lin Qiushi and Gu Longming.

“Of course, I must thank you two as well.“

Once she finished speaking, she went into the door.

"We’re going too.” Lin Qiushi eyed the fallen Yan Shihe, and grounded out, “grab his gun first.”

While Yan Shihe was still immobile, Gu Longming fetched the gun that Xiao Qian had kicked away, then helped Lin Qiushi up. Lin Qiushi took the gun from Gu Longming and tucked it into his own waistband. The two slowly entered the door before them, radiating with soft light.

After the tunnel, the scene around Lin Qiushi twisted—he’d finally returned to reality. Yet as soon as he returned, he felt himself in an awful state. With great difficulty, he gave Ruan Nanzhu a call, then completely passed out.

Two days later, Lin Qiushi woke from a coma.

He was already used to being hospitalized, so wasn’t too shocked when he saw the white ceilings. Instead, he felt relief—at least he’d survived and gotten out.

“Awake?” came the sound of Ruan Nanzhu’s voice.

Lin Qiushi turned and saw Ruan Nanzhu, who had his back to the light and so looked a bit hazy. But his voice was gentle.

Lin Qiushi, oddly enough, felt like he’d missed Ruan Nanzhu. But he quickly tossed this strange emotion to the back of his mind, and made a low noise of affirmation.

“Another high fever,” Ruan Nanzhu said. “You got injured inside again, hm?”

Lin Qiushi gave it some thought, but in the end still answered: “Got shot on the way out.”

Ruan Nanzhu, “by the gun you brought out with you?”

Lin Qiushi nodded.

A beat of silence, then: “you can’t bring in normal guns.”

Lin Qiushi startled.

Ruan Nanzhu explained, “that gun, it’s probably not a regular firearm.”

“Not a regular firearm…?” Lin Qiushi recalled the gun’s appearance—white and silver all over and hefty in his grip. “Could it be from a door?” Now that he was thinking about it, that Yan Shihe was probably an old hand at bringing people through their doors.

“It’s very likely,” Ruan Nanzhu said. “You should rest up first.”

Hearing this, Lin Qiushi actually thought he was quite lucky. In the moment he’d only been worried about Yan Shihe attacking them again, but he didn’t think he’d manage to bring out a prop.