Kaleidoscope of Death

CHAPTER 23: BREAKDOWN

A tense silence befell the entire room at Ruan Nanzhu's words. Although his playful tone made it seem as though he was trying to lighten the mood and joke around, no one in this situation could laugh. Having already suffered so many ordeals, everyone couldn't help but believe that this light-hearted comment would surely come true; after all, even their wildest imagination could come true in this torturous nightmare.

Xiao Yi's corpse had inexplicably vanished. They had been here for three days, and there were only four days left until the birthday party. Xiao Yi had been met with such a tragic death yesterday, and at the time, her mother wept so outrageously, to the point that even others found her reaction a bit too exaggerated; and yet, not even a full day had passed, before she seemed to have already recovered from her deep grief. While repeatedly muttering that it was time to prepare the birthday cake, she scurried back into the kitchen. No one knew what exactly she was up to; they only heard loud crashes, shrill noises, and rushed footsteps echoing from within the kitchen as she busied herself.

The atmosphere was dark and complex. Everyone's hearts were heavy, and a bad premonition kept haunting the back of their minds, but at this very moment, no one could put a finger on the emotion they were feeling, or why they were feeling this way; they just subconsciously knew that something dreadfully ominous was approaching.

Tang Yaoyao believed that the old grandmother and the youngster living downstairs were especially vital to solving this mystery, so she and Zhang Xinghuo both headed back downstairs to discreetly gather more information from the two of them. Ruan Nanzhu, however, didn't bother joining them. Instead, he and Lin Qiushi began discussing some matters in the room. Accompanying them as they conversed were a pale and haggard Xu Xiaocheng and Zeng Ruguo. Unable to endure any more of this terrifying nightmare, the pair of dazed individuals just remained seated, huddled into a ball, completely frightened out of their wits.

Amongst all the rustling noises coming from the kitchen, there was one distinct sound they couldn't turn a deaf ear to—the mother humming a tune to herself. Her eerie voice pierced their ears, causing their blood to run cold.

The bedroom doors were shut tight, and the two surviving identical little sisters were hiding somewhere in their room, doing God-knows-what.

Zeng Ruguo, who drank too much water because of nervousness, announced that he wished to go to the bathroom. As he said this, he slowly swept a pitiful upward glance at Lin Qiushi, the pleas shining in his wide eyes couldn't be any more obvious.

"What's up?" Seeing that sad puppy dog expression on a fully-grown male like Zeng Ruguo made Lin Qiushi's hair stand on edge. Feeling awfully disturbed at being stared at by the other like that, Lin Qiushi cautiously withdrew, then asked, "Why are you looking at me like that? What are you trying to say?"

"Big brother1 Yu... Ummm, that's..." Zeng Ruguo seemed rather embarrassed. But he soon gritted his teeth and, throwing his pride away, he begged, "Can you go with me? I'm a little too scared to go alone."

There was only one public bathroom available, and it was the same public bathroom where Lin Qiushi spotted that deformed baby's corpse. Seeing the fear and worry on Zeng Ruguo's face, Lin Qiushi gave a brisk nod and responded, "Sure. To be honest, I just had an urge to go to the bathroom too, so how about we go together?"

Beyond ecstatic, Zeng Ruguo energetically bobbed his head in agreement.

Thereupon, the two headed off to the bathroom.

Before they knew it, it was already afternoon. Although it was only about three o'clock, it might as well have been dusk, for pitch-black shadows were already enveloping the skies outside. There was a window beside the toilet, allowing one to view the outside scenery through the glass. Before Lin Qiushi went to the toilet, he gazed outside the window, only to be faced with curtains of dense fog concealing the world. He couldn't see anything past that dark fog; in fact, he might as well have been trying to see with both of his eyes closed.