Some things, just thinking about it was enough. Actually doing it was impossible. Lin Qiushi felt there was no real advice to be gleaned from Gu Longming, and so turned his computer off. Returning to bed, he fell hazily to sleep around dawn. He'd wondered how he ought to behave around Ruan Nanzhu the next day, but when he got up in the morning, Ruan Nanzhu had already left the mansion.
"Where did Ruan-ge go?" Not seeing him at breakfast felt odd.
"Something happened over at White Deer last night, he left at midnight," Cheng Yixie, who knew what happened, answered.
"Something happened at White Deer?" The name was enough to remind Lin Qiushi of Li Dongyuan. "What is it?"
"Insurrection," Cheng Yixie said. "It seems a few of the old timers got involved, and things got complicated."
"Oh." Lin Qiushi knew he couldn't really help with this matter, so continued eating his food.
Actually, his understanding of White Deer started and ended with Li Dongyuan. After Li Dongyuan's death, Lin Qiushi knew nothing more of White Deer—and all that he knew was from hearsay.
Only around noon did Ruan Nanzhu return.
He brought with him an impassive-looking young woman. Lin Qiushi remembered her. At the scene of Li Dongyuan's suicide, this woman had been knelt by his side, weeping. He remembered her because of everybody present, she'd been the one crying the hardest.
She came in with Ruan Nanzhu and introduced herself: "Hi everyone. I'm Zhuang Rujiao."
Ruan Nanzhu told Lin Qiushi, "an acquaintance."
Watching her, Lin Qiushi recalled the door he'd passed through with Li Dongyuan. "She's… Xia Rubei?" He remembered that shaky and timid girl Li Dongyuan had brought along, but just couldn't match her up with the cool-faced person before him.
The change to Zhuang Rujiao was too immense—so immense that even when Lin Qiushi spoke, there was clear doubt in his tone.
"Mh." There was a thread of exhaustion in Ruan Nanzhu's gaze. "Get her something to eat. I'm going to get some rest."
"Go," Lu Yanxue said. "We'll get her settled in."
Ruan Nanzhu went upstairs, leaving Zhuang Rujiao standing alone and silent in the living room. Lu Yanxue guided her to the dining table with enthusiasm, going off to prepare her a hot breakfast.
Zhuang Rujiao ate in silence, without saying a word.
"What happened at White Deer?" Chen Fei asked at the side.
"Nothing major," Zhuang Rujiao replied. "Just got rid of a few traitors." The naivete and weakness had completely gone from her, leaving a faint expression of indifference. "Some people disapproved."
Chen Fei asked, "does this have to do with Li Dongyuan?"
Zhuang Rujiao smiled, but didn't reply.
Seeing that she didn't want to talk about it, nobody pursued the topic. After all, if they really needed to know, Ruan Nanzhu would tell them.
Ruan Nanzhu slept through the afternoon. It wasn't until dusk that, in lounge wear, he lazy strolled back downstairs.
Lin Qiushi saw him and asked, "hungry? Lu Yanxue left some lunch for you, I'll go heat it up."
"Mh," Ruan Nanzhu nodded.
So Lin Qiushi went to the kitchen. Coming out, he saw Ruan Nanzhu chatting with Zhuang Rujiao. Well— "chat." Neither of their faces had much of an expression; it was more like a somber negotiation.
Lin Qiushi listened in, and realized Ruan Nanzhu was talking to Zhuang Rujiao about joining Obsidian, and Zhuang Rujiao seemed to have agreed.
"Pleasure working with you." Ruan Nanzhu extended a hand.
"Likewise." Zhuang Rujiao gripped Ruan Nanzhu's hand back.
Lin Qiushi set the dishes before Ruan Nanzhu, and saw Zhuang Rujiao heading upstairs with her bag, seemingly on her way to her room. He was a bit shocked. "She… Isn't she with White Deer?"
Ruan Nanzhu pinched the bridge of his nose. "Li Dongyuan's death wasn't an accident."
Lin Qiushi startled.
Ruan Nanzhu, "someone got him killed." Leaning against the sofa, he quietly told the shocking tale. "Zhuang Rujiao found out the truth, and got revenge for Li Dongyuan."
His gaze fell on Lin Qiushi.
Feeling a bit odd about this stare, Lin Qiushi started to ask, but then heard Ruan Nanzhu say: "If it was me who jumped, what would you do?"
Lin Qiushi forced a smile. "Don't joke about that."
What he didn't know was how stiff his expression had gone; that smile of his wasn't masking his internal panic at all. Lin Qiushi had never considered such a possibility. Made aware by Ruan Nanzhu like this, panic rushed in in a flood, enough to leave him feeling suffocated.
Likely because Lin Qiushi's reaction was so strong, Ruan Nanzhu's brow lightly furrowed. He quietly spoke, "I've thought about it."
Lin Qiushi, "what?!" He wanted to keep asking, but Ruan Nanzhu was already done. He stood with a wave for Lin Qiushi, and left too.
Lin Qiushi watched his back with no immediate comprehension, not understanding why the gentle Ruan Nanzhu from yesterday seemed completely different today.
Could it be the matter with Zhuang Rujiao and Li Dongyuan that brought about some major change in Ruan Nanzhu?
Lin Qiushi couldn't understand Ruan Nanzhu's thoughts—couldn't even guess at any answers. He felt weird and uneasy, like he'd prepared for a lot, but in the end discovered that the other had backtracked first.
Zhuang Rujiao officially joined Obsidian, becoming one of their members. She even entered a couple of doors with Lu Yanxue.
After resting for a few weeks, Lin Qiushi too brought up entering a door again.
"Need me to come along?" was Ruan Nanzhu's question upon Lin Qiushi's request.
"No," Lin Qiushi said. "I want to train on my own."
"Okay," Ruan Nanzhu said. "I looked at the timing—that Gu Longming's fifth door should be opening soon. Are you still in contact with him? If you are, take him."
Lin Qiushi, "we're in contact."
Ruan Nanzhu nodded; the matter was to be so.
Lin Qiushi stared at him, words stopping in his throat.
These days, after his body recovered, Ruan Nanzhu had grown busy once more. Just like how it had been when Lin Qiushi first joined Obsidian, he was rarely seen inside the mansion.
"What? Is there something else?" Ruan Nanzhu asked.
"No," Lin Qiushi replied. "Good night."
He turned and left. He didn't know that Ruan Nanzhu silently stared after his back for a while yet.
Gu Longming's fifth door was at the end of next month. He'd first been worried about finding help, but then Lin Qiushi took the initiative, offering to cross with him.
"You're the best, my dearest darling Linlin," Gu Longming exclaimed. "Speaking as a helpless fifteen-year-old high school girl, you are my absolute savior."
Lin Qiushi, "please leave the high school girl out of this."
Gu Longming, "I'll see you then."
"See you then," Lin Qiushi replied.
There was plenty of excitement around Obsidian at this time. Zhuang Rujiao joined them, on one hand, and on the other, Zhuo Feiquan had somehow hooked up with Cheng Yixie, showing up more and more at Obsidian as well.
Upon coming downstairs every day, Lin Qiushi would see a brother complex versus a sister complex arguing in the living room. The topics of their debate included every triviality; it was mostly Zhuo Feiquan talking shit, with Cheng Yixie interjecting here and there, each of his needling jabs drawing blood.
In the end, before any conclusion could be had between them, Chen Fei got angry first, telling Zhuo Feiquan flat out that they charged by the hour here.
But then Zhuo Feiquan pulled stacks of renminbi right out of his pockets and slapped them on the table. "Give me twenty thousand's worth first, then."
Chen Fei, "…" Please leave.
Sometimes, when Cheng Yixie got annoyed enough, he made Cheng Qianli go pretend to be him, since Zhuo Feiquan couldn't tell anyways. He couldn't tell, but everybody else could, shooting Cheng Qianli looks of pity all the while. Cheng Qianli cuddled that chubby corgi of theirs, afraid to disobey his brother's orders, more crinkled up than a fresh-steamed bun from the ill-use.
And Zhuo Feiquan was still ranting: "not speaking? Cheng Yixie, you finally got nothing to say?"
"I'm going shopping, want to come?" Lin Qiushi couldn't refuse that pleading gaze of Cheng Qianli's, and had to say something.
"Yes yes yes." Cheng Qianli hurriedly stood.
"Hey, I'm still talking to you! Where do you think you're going!" Zhuo Feiquan yelled.
Cheng Qianli told him, "hey man, next time, next time. Busy day today, busy day." Then he tossed Toast to the side and ran, wasting no time at all.
Lin Qiushi drove himself and Cheng Qianli to the nearest supermarket. As they shopped around, Cheng Qianli asked, "Linlin, what's up with you and Ruan-ge recently?"
Lin Qiushi looked down at the expiration date on the bottle of yogurt drink in his hand. "What do you mean what's up?"
"How come you guys aren't talking?" Cheng Qianli asked.
"We're talking. We're always talking," Lin Qiushi said. "Why do you ask?"
Cheng Qianli, "no, I just thought, ever since that Zhuang Rujiao came along, the atmosphere between you two's been strange." He scratched his head. "Am I overthinking this?"
Lin Qiushi, "has it?"
Cheng Qianli eyed Lin Qiushi's blank expression, and said, "I really might be overthinking it? Ah well, I like the strawberry flavor… grab me an extra…"
Lin Qiushi didn't reply, just placed a bottle of the strawberry in the cart.
After coming back from dinner, Zhuo Feiquan had gone. Cheng Qianli sighed loudly in relief, complaining that Cheng Yixie had gone nuts, otherwise why would he get involved with such a mouthy bastard like Zhuo Feiquan.
That he had more to say than Cheng Qianli was the scariest thing.
Which reminded Lin Qiushi of something, and he shot Cheng Qianli a look. "Isn't your seventh door opening soon?"
"Yeah," Cheng Qianli replied. "Around the month after."
"You're ready then?" Lin Qiushi asked.
"Not much to get ready for," Cheng Qianli said, a bit distracted. "The hint's with my brother, but he hasn't shown me yet. Says he'll show me once we're in…"
Lin Qiushi, "only you two are going?"
"Yeah," Cheng Qianli said. "Just us two…"
Lin Qiushi nodded his understanding.
Regardless, in this time, lots of things were happening in Obsidian. The chaos was headache-inducing. Ruan Nanzhu was especially busy, going out everyday and often gone for days at a time.
Lin Qiushi didn't know what he was busy with at all, and though he wanted to ask, he didn't feel they were close enough to just say whatever he wanted. And there was that kiss… Lin Qiushi touched his own lips, helplessly remembering that soft sensation. Then, realizing exactly what he was thinking about, Lin Qiushi's ear would twitch, going atypically red as he felt a sense of unease…
Tan Zaozao's movie had premiered as well. Though its box office was average, industry attention was positive. Its goal was one of the year-end national awards.
Though Lin Qiushi recalled that Tan Zaozao's next door was opening at year-end as well.
August: the weather hit a thorough boil.
Lin Qiushi got a fifth door hint from Ruan Nanzhu and began preparing for Gu Longming's door at the end of August.
The hint this time was an aphorism: "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." This random sort of hint actually counted among the more difficult, but Ruan Nanzhu didn't have any better hints on him. Picking among short straws, they could only get such a one.
Hint slip in hand, Lin Qiushi indeed felt there was little preparation to be done. This sort of hint likely would only make sense with the hints on the inside.
"You sure you want to go alone?" Ruan Nanzhu asked again, when he handed Lin Qiushi the hint.
"Yeah, I think so," Lin Qiushi said. "I ought to learn how to stand on my own."
Ruan Nanzhu watched Lin Qiushi for a long time, before replying, "that's true."
"You… How have you been recently?" Lin Qiushi asked hesitantly. "You don't seem to be in a good mood."
"It's nothing," Ruan Nanzhu said. "I'm fine."
His answer came too short, too quick, clearly a stock response. Lin Qiushi asked, "what's on your mind?"
Ruan Nanzhu asked, "what do you think of Zhuang Rujiao?"
Lin Qiushi, bewildered, "Zhuang Rujiao… what about Zhuang Rujiao?"
Ruan Nanzhu, "do you like how she is now?"
Lin Qiushi, "it's nothing bad. Though… she was fine in the past too." Though Zhuang Rujiao had definitely grown, and was no longer the girl cowering behind them for protection, the price for this sort of growth was agony. She'd lost the person she loved and relied on the most. Life had her skinned and had her bones scraped clean; she was changed from head to toe until she finally became the person her beloved had wanted her to be.
"Just give me a bit more time. Let me think a while longer," was the last thing Ruan Nanzhu said to him.
Lin Qiushi was utterly baffled. He'd never been very good at dealing with other people's emotions, and Ruan Nanzhu's complicated behavior was even more out of his league.
But since Ruan Nanzhu asked, Lin Qiushi thought he'd give him that time. Everybody had situations where they needed more time for thought.
After sending the bracelet to Gu Longming and confirming their call signs on the inside, Lin Qiushi began to wait for the door.
Cicadas called unceasingly outside the windows as sweltering summer once again descended. Lin Qiushi was seated on the sofa, with the AC on and munching on watermelon, as Cheng Qianli napped next to him.
The door was coming within these two days. Lin Qiushi stayed ready, with his pack on his back, wearing the clothes they'd agreed upon.
Around three or so, Lin Qiushi felt something faintly change. This change was more than familiar to him—the door was here.
The napping Cheng Qianli had disappeared. Lin Qiushi walked to the front door and casually pushed it open. Beyond it, the scene had changed to a long black hallway. In the hallway were twelve vivid metal doors.
Lin Qiushi stepped into the hallway and approached the fifth door, pulling it open.
The scene before him twisted and changed. Lin Qiushi found himself standing on a wide street. Looking about, the architecture around him seemed like some sort of campus.
The sky had already started to darken. Lin Qiushi followed the road forward, and very soon saw a tall school building. Beneath it, a handful of people had already gathered; some were talking, others were examining their surroundings.
Lin Qiushi scanned the crowd, and very quickly found who he was looking for—Gu Longming.
Gu Longming wore a white t-shirt with a tiger head print, black jeans underneath. The knees on the jeans had two giant holes—who knew if he'd gone out and bought the thing, or if he'd dug it out last minute.
Lin Qiushi approached him from behind, and tapped him on the shoulder.
Gu Longming turned, and said, "yo, how's it going?"
"Yu Linlin." Lin Qiushi extended a hand.
"Gu Longming."
They wordlessly accepted each other's pseudonyms, since for internet gigs, maintaining some reservations was quite normal.
"This is a school?" Lin Qiushi asked. "Any new findings?"
"No," Gu Longming said. "Nothing at all, just that it's a college. The kind with particularly sprawling real estate."
"Oh," Lin Qiushi nodded.
This was Gu Longming's fifth door, which wouldn't be so difficult. It was only at the sixth door that the difficulty level underwent exponential escalation. So Lin Qiushi was still pretty relaxed, not very nervous at all.
There were two newbies in this door, one male and one female. They were at least calm, no hapless sobbing to be seen. Though judging from their expressions, they were still scared out of their minds, compared to most their behavior could be considered quite good.
"When I first went in the doors I almost cried," Gu Longming mentioned off-handedly. "I thought I'd been plucked for a battle royale or something…"
"This is better than a battle royale?" Lin Qiushi asked. "At least you're dealing with people in a battle royale."
"Says who?" Gu Longming replied. "There's trauma in killing people, you know. None for ghosts, since they're dead already."
Lin Qiushi thought about this, and found it kind of logical. At least acting on your teammates was banned inside the doors, or else Lin Qiushi seriously anticipated cases where people pulled out knives in an attempt to shiv everyone upon their first meeting. Of course, as long as you were smart enough to dodge the rules of the doors, you could still commit murder. As long as you were lucky enough, as well, and your targets stupid enough.
As the two spoke, a scholarly looking man came in from the outside. The man wore glasses, and spoke quietly: "how come you're arriving so late? It's already getting dark."
The crowd didn't speak, all silently watching this NPC.
The man said, "come on, I'll take you to where you're staying first."
He gave a simple explanation of the situation at the school as they walked. In this world, Lin Qiushi's group played the role of private investigators.
There was a recent matter at the school: a series of student suicides. The methods were varied, most very bloody.
And the student body began passing about rumors, that those who committed suicide had messed with something that they shouldn't have messed with. These rumors enveloped the entire school in a state of apprehension.
In desperation, the school called upon private investigators, asking them to, within half a month, find the truth behind the student suicides and resolve the situation.
It seemed the time limit then was half a month, which was plenty.
That teacher led them to a dormitory building, passed out keys, then turned and left.
Lin Qiushi naturally selected the same room as Gu Longming. Someone else had originally wanted to room with them, but that bastard Gu Longming wiggled about, grabbing Lin Qiushi by the arm: "Nuh-uh, no way, I want us to be aaall by ourselves."
And just like that, he drove that person away through sheer disgust.
Lin Qiushi expressed appreciation of him, thinking at least he wasn't wearing that miniskirt from last time, or he'd be dealing even higher damage.
The dorm had two stories. Of the fourteen people, most were two to a room, though some were three. Five rooms above, five below. Lin Qiushi chose a second-story room. When he opened the door with their key, he felt the ambience wasn't so bad.
Gu Longming immediately ran for and sprawled onto the bed, asking, "so what's the hint for this door then?"
Lin Qiushi replied, "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."
Gu Longming, "that's it?"
"Mh," Lin Qiushi said. "I'm guessing it has something to do with revenge."
Gu Longming, "that's a bit too basic isn't it…"
"There must be some other meaning, we just don't know it yet. We'll see after investigating tomorrow." Lin Qiushi set down his bag, washed up, and got into his pajamas for bed.
Gu Longming said, "say… what's the status with you and that girl?"
Lin Qiushi, "which girl?"
Gu Longming, "damn, how many girls do you have? Of course I'm talking about the one you mentioned the other day."
Lin Qiushi stared at the ceiling, in thought. "Her attitude's a bit weird. I don't understand what she's thinking…"
Gu Longming, "weird?"
"It's hard to say. Like she's worried about something," Lin Qiushi replied. "I've asked, but she doesn't want to tell me anything."
Gu Longming, "oh… Girls, y'know? It's good to keep asking. We're all dying people after all, it's natural to have reservations," he hummed. "If it were me, I'd be scared to start a relationship with somebody too."
If you were to suddenly die, then the loved one you left behind—how heart-broken would they be?
Author's Note:
It's hard to get up at 6:30 when you're not feeling well, especially if there's a soft kitty cat nagging beside you. I'm impressed with myself /takes a draw on my cigarette
Somebody asked if Xi-zi is the sort of author to flaunt her cat everyday. Yes. Yes she is.