Kaleidoscope of Death

Chapter 116: The Second One

Twenty minutes. As far as the current situation went, that could go in the blink of an eye.

Many thoughts spun through Lin Qiushi's mind, but he discovered not a single one could help him save Ruan Nanzhu. The only thing that could save Ruan Nanzhu—the wooden stake—was on Ruan Nanzhu's person, and he didn't even know if the wooden stake could be used to kill the Hako Onna after a power had been activated. He also didn't know if the gasoline passed through the door could be used...Everything was unknown, and the cost of not knowing could very well be Ruan Nanzhu's life.

Lin Qiushi felt an indescribable sense of powerlessness. Before the rules of the door, he was so weak, merely a mantis crossing its arms before a car[1]. He could only be crushed. He could only watch as Ruan Nanzhu died.

"Yu Linlin." There suddenly came a voice beside him. Xiao Ji, who'd been standing far away, had approached him at some point. "Are you okay, Yu Linlin?"

Lin Qiushi looked at him. The coldness in his gaze made even Xiao Ji freeze.

"The key we got from the safe earlier...Is it still on her?" Without much decorum Xiao Ji pointed out the crux of the matter. "If the Hako Onna gets her hands on that item, we'll be in bad shape, so..."

"So what?" Lin Qiushi replied icily.

"What I mean is, can't you have her pass you the key from the door crack..."

Before he could finish speaking, Lin Qiushi cut him off.

"No."

Abruptly shut down by Lin Qiushi like this, Xiao Ji could only laugh awkwardly: "Okay. If you can't...never mind that then."

Never mind, he said, but everybody else who heard this didn't look too friendly. This was the key to the door, after all. If the Hako Onna had it buried, then their odds of escape were even lower. And so the way people looked at Lin Qiushi changed just the slightest bit. Sympathy became spotted with something else.

Lin Qiushi too felt this change, but didn't show any reaction. The truth was that in that moment, a rather insane idea had surfaced in his mind.

There were rules to the doors. If only one person was left, then that person was under the protection of the doors. All the ghouls and monsters inside wouldn't be able to hurt him. And now, if Ruan Nanzhu was the last one left inside the room...Lin Qiushi forcibly abandoned the thought. Still though, the fear from being on the brink of losing Ruan Nanzhu was like a snake constricting around him, relentlessly coiling.

"Do you all have something to say?"

Lin Qiushi didn't even notice that when he said this, the others flinched away from the look in his eyes, scared away by his expression and tone of voice.

"Linlin." Sun Yuanzhou seemed like he wanted to say something, but in the end he kept it down—only sighed. "Forget it...Let's not force it."

"How can we not force it!" a sharp voice exploded from within the crowd. Lin Qiushi looked, and found Xuan Zihui, who'd always had it out for Ruan Nanzhu. She was beginning to yell: "If she dies, then our key is gone! Yu Linlin, get it through your head, if she loves you she'd hand the key over herself! She wouldn't let you die here like this!"

Lin Qiushi stared at her, eyes icing over like deep pooling lakes.

Xuan Zihui's initial hawkishness became, under Lin Qiushi's dark glare, oddly self-conscious; she even backed away a couple of unconscious steps, swallowing heavily. "I...I'm only giving you a suggestion."

"Mh," Lin Qiushi said. "So I have the right to not take it under consideration, yes?"

Xuan Zihui was speechless, angrily biting down on her bottom lip.