After arriving here, they had eaten several meals made by the triplets' mother. But every meal had a feature - the ingredients were almost all vegetarian, with barely any meat or grease. Basically having an egg already counted as a luxury dish. Because of this, Xiao Cheng had complained.
But today's food was different. In the light-colored soup floated bright red meatballs. The color of the meatballs was very attractive, giving off a tempting deep red. The rich aroma wafted into everyone's noses. If they hadn't just seen such a terrifying murder scene, everyone would probably have had their appetites stimulated.
"Eat up!" said the woman. "Why aren't you eating? I made this specially for you." Her hair was a bit messy, and she had an unpleasant smile on her face. She stood at the side and said softly, "It's so tasty."
No one picked up their chopsticks.
Although the meatballs before them were very tempting, everyone was obviously reminded of something rather bad - what meat were these meatballs made of?
"Why aren't you eating?" The woman still wondered as she continued asking. She brushed the hair from her ears and picked up her chopsticks first, clamping a meatball. "It's so tasty."
She put the meatball in her mouth. Her snow-white teeth chewed the red meat, looking extremely flavorful.
Xiao Cheng covered her mouth again. Judging by her expression she seemed to be stimulated by this scene to the point of wanting to vomit. The others also didn't look well. But the woman didn't seem to notice any of this. She used her chopsticks to grab a second meatball and stuffed it greedily into her mouth, swallowing in big mouthfuls.
"Crunch crunch." As the woman ate the later meatballs, crunching sounds like chewing on brittle bones came from her mouth. Upon hearing this sound, Xiao Cheng finally couldn't stand it and rushed towards the bathroom.
The others also left the table, wanting to get away from this woman and pot of steaming meatballs.
Seeing their frightened appearances, the woman didn't seem to understand why. She mumbled to herself, asking if the meals she made weren't tasty? They had all liked to eat them before.
No one spoke. At this moment everyone missed the tasteless bread, at least that wouldn't have any problems.
At dinnertime, the situation wasn't any better. The woman brought out another pot of steaming bone broth.
The bones and carrots in the meaty soup gave off an rich aroma that once again filled everyone's noses.
Everyone hadn't eaten all day, but their expressions were even more ugly when they saw this pot of bone broth.
Zhang Xing Huo couldn't help but swear softly: "The last few days I was craving meat but didn't get any. F*ck, now it's all meat."
"You dare eat this meat?" Tang Yao Yao was also a bit irritable. "Who the hell knows what it's made of."
Seeing that still no one picked up their chopsticks, the woman also didn't try to persuade them anymore. She just picked up a soup ladle herself and started drinking the broth. Although none of them had tasted the soup, it still gave off an inexplicable feeling of deliciousness.
"So tasty." The woman praised. "It's too bad you're not eating it."
And so everyone went a day without eating. They watched as the woman finished a whole pot of meat and drank a large bowl of broth.
Only after the woman finished eating did everyone silently gather to gnaw on the tasteless dry bread.
"That broth looked so tasty." Zeng Ru Guo still couldn't get over the food on the table. "We really can't drink it?"
"Who knows what that broth is made of." Tang Yao Yao said impatiently. "Can't you endure it for a few days? When we return to the original world, no one will stop you from eating extravagantly."
"What about the little girl's corpse?" Xiao Cheng asked softly. "Where did her mom take it?" She wrinkled her nose and pretended to casually glance at the meat broth on the table. "If we find the corpse, then we can drink the broth, right?"
Lin Qiu Shi helplessly thought, this girl really dared to think of anything. Even after seeing the corpse, he didn't want to taste this pot of broth, no matter how fragrant it was. Who could say for sure what the ingredients really were?
"Look for it?" Tang Yao Yao said. "Previously I thought the triplets were the suspicious ones, but now I feel like the triplets' mother is the problem."
"Why don't we look for the corpse first?" Ruan Nan Zhu suddenly suggested. "After all the house isn't big."
They didn't know where the little girl's corpse had been taken after it was cleaned up, but since the house was small, it should be easy to find.
"Then let's look." Tang Yao Yao agreed with Ruan Nan Zhu's suggestion. "We haven't searched this room yet, so we can check for any new clues."
And so the group began to examine every corner of the house.
The house wasn't big, just three rooms and two halls. The kitchen was the main place to check. Lin Qiu Shi saw some ingredients in the kitchen. These ingredients were almost all vegetables, and they looked very old and unappetizing too. No wonder the dishes made didn't taste good.
Next to the kitchen was the bathroom. There wasn't anything particularly eye-catching about the bathroom, except for the huge bathtub inside.
There were some black stains inside the bathtub. It seemed like it hadn't been used for a long time. Lin Qiu Shi looked closely and felt those black stains resembled blood, but he couldn't say for certain.
After searching around, they still hadn't found the bag of corpse.
"Where did it go?" Tang Yao Yao said. "Could there be other rooms here?"
Ruan Nan Zhu thought for a moment before suddenly going to the kitchen.
Tang Yao Yao said: "Why are you going to the kitchen? We already looked there..."
But Ruan Nan Zhu had just entered the kitchen for a bit when everyone heard: "Found it."
Lin Qiu Shi hurriedly followed him in and discovered Ruan Nan Zhu standing in front of the fridge. The fridge door was wide open, revealing a black bag inside.
That was the body bag the woman had used to hold the little girl's corpse yesterday. Now it was stuffed full inside the fridge.
"She actually put it in the fridge?" Tang Yao Yao felt a bit disgusted. "I don't want to eat anything she makes again."
Ruan Nan Zhu reached out and dragged the black bag directly out of the fridge.
Lin Qiu Shi asked: "What are you doing?"
"Checking." Ruan Nan Zhu lowered his head. "Weren't you guys wanting to eat meat?"
The previously mentioned Zeng Ru Guo laughed embarrassedly: "I didn't necessarily have to eat it..."
Ruan Nan Zhu ignored him and untied the rope around the bag, revealing what was inside. It was indeed the little girl's corpse. The corpse had been hacked apart messily, to the point that some areas were unrecognizable.
Facing the bloody corpse chunks, Ruan Nan Zhu's expression was extremely calm. He carefully examined the bag, then lifted his head: "No particularly important parts are missing - at least the bone broth wasn't stewed using her daughter."
Everyone: "..."
Tang Yao Yao looked at Ruan Nan Zhu with a dry laugh: "Meng Meng, you're too calm!"
Ruan Nan Zhu said: "Those who aren't calm are already dead." He pondered for a moment. "If it really was the mother who killed her daughter, then the problem is why would she kill her own daughter?"
"Who knows?" Tang Yao Yao said irritably. "Maybe she went crazy? Let's stay away from her."
"Okay." Ruan Nan Zhu casually agreed.
That day everyone basically didn't eat much, just nibbling on some tasteless bread. By nighttime, hunger made everyone listless. The most pitiful thing was that pot of meat broth still giving off an enticing aroma on the table.
Everyone thought about how the woman had happily drank the broth. Their stomachs started rumbling and they said they felt tired and wanted to sleep early.
Lin Qiu Shi was also hungry. After gnawing lifelessly on a piece of bread, he went back to the room to lie on the bed and prepare to sleep.
Ruan Nan Zhu lay next to him and said, "Do you know why every household used to give birth to so many children in the past?"
Lin Qiu Shi said: "I don't know..."
Ruan Nan Zhu turned his face and brought his mouth next to Lin Qiu Shi's ear. "Because they didn't have electronics back then at night when there was nothing to do."
Lin Qiu Shi: "..."
Ruan Nan Zhu: "Look at us now..."
Lin Qiu Shi calmly took out his phone, indicating he still had electronics.
Ruan Nan Zhu: "Your phone still has battery?"
Lin Qiu Shi: "I brought a charger..."
Ruan Nan Zhu fell silent. Then he complained aggrievedly: "You only know how to play on your phone and won't chat with me."
Lin Qiu Shi felt his mind go blank. He had the illusion that he really did have a cute girlfriend who was currently acting coquettish and blaming him for not being passionate enough.
"Okay, what do you want to talk about?" Lin Qiu Shi put away his phone.
Ruan Nan Zhu said: "Do you think someone will die tonight?"
Lin Qiu Shi was stunned. He didn't expect Ruan Nan Zhu to suddenly say this.
"I think someone will." Ruan Nan Zhu reached out and put his arm around Lin Qiu Shi's waist, whispering, "Because blood has already stained the egg."
Lin Qiu Shi fell silent and started pondering the meaning in Ruan Nan Zhu's words.
But Ruan Nan Zhu didn't explain in detail. He just gently said, "Sleep. See you tomorrow." Then he closed his eyes and fell into deep slumber.
Ruan Nan Zhu was sleeping, but Lin Qiu Shi couldn't fall asleep.
This narrow room was as cramped as a coffin. If someone had claustrophobia they would definitely feel suffocated inside.
Luckily Lin Qiu Shi didn't have this problem, but he still felt extremely uncomfortable. The sky was already dark and the fog had become even thicker. The buildings that had stood tall were now solitary figures, isolated from the world.
The night was silent, but this silence brought a sense of security. Lin Qiu Shi hoped this silence could last until dawn.
But Ruan Nan Zhu's words were like a prophecy that shattered his hopes.
Around 3 am, Lin Qiu Shi woke up from his dreams. His ears caught an extremely unpleasant sound.
That sound was like a sharp weapon chiseling the wall. Muffled but shrill, one strike, two strikes. The sound was right next to him, seemingly just one wall away.
He opened his eyes and took a moment to realize this wasn't a dream.
Ruan Nan Zhu was still sleeping. Lin Qiu Shi hesitated about whether to wake him up, but just then, the frequency of the sound increased. It was like the person outside was losing patience and speeding up.
Bang bang bang, one after another, Lin Qiu Shi reached out and gently shook Ruan Nan Zhu. "Nan Zhu, wake up."
Ruan Nan Zhu opened his eyes. His eyes were completely clear, as if the deeply sleeping person just now wasn't him. "What's the matter?"
"There's sounds outside." Lin Qiu Shi said. "It sounds like someone's chiseling the wall."
Ruan Nan Zhu looked towards the wall next to them. Because it was an old building, the walls weren't thick so sounds transmitted easily. He reached out and gently placed his palm against the wall. Then his expression changed as he said: "Move back, get farther away from that wall."
Lin Qiu Shi nodded. "What's going on?"
"There's something outside." Ruan Nan Zhu said. "Don't know what."
They turned on the light and used the room's dim glow to look towards the wall that was still making sounds. The pounding was continuous.
If it was just pounding sounds it would be nothing, but soon Lin Qiu Shi understood why Ruan Nan Zhu told him to stay away from the wall.
He watched as a small hole was gradually chiseled out of the not-so-sturdy wall. From behind that hole slowly extended a sharp awl...
Because the room was so small, Lin Qiu Shi's bed was right next to the wall. That long sharp awl stabbed towards where his head had been lying on the bed. Seeing this, Lin Qiu Shi's face changed color. If he had still been sleeping on the bed just now, he would probably be dead.
The awl stabbed in then retracted back out, seemingly because it didn't see any blood, it stabbed aggressively several more times before finally giving up after still not seeing blood. It withdrew the sharp point.
The sounds quieted. Lin Qiu Shi asked: "Is it gone?"
Ruan Nan Zhu frowned: "Wait a bit longer."
"Let me see." Lin Qiu Shi suddenly thought of something. He bent down to peer out of the chiseled hole. This one look nearly frightened his soul out of his body. He saw outside the hole was blocked by a black eye. That eye was full of red veins, carrying a mad aura.
That eye also saw Lin Qiu Shi. Knowing it couldn't kill him, the next moment it disappeared from outside.
Lin Qiu Shi was scared out of his wits by this. He swore softly: "F*ck, was that a human or ghost outside?"
Ruan Nan Zhu said: "Don't know. Don't go out for now until it's light."
Lin Qiu Shi wiped the cold sweat from his forehead: "Okay..." This situation was truly identical to a horror film. He never could have imagined he would see an eye there. What's more, they even looked at each other briefly!
"How did you wake up so easily?" Ruan Nan Zhu asked. "The sounds weren't that loud."
"I have very good hearing." Lin Qiu Shi said.
"It seems you do indeed." Ruan Nan Zhu said. "Every time you're the first to wake up."
Lin Qiu Shi sighed and took another look at that hole. "Luckily I woke up." Otherwise his head probably would have a hole in it right now.
But he had just relaxed when those pounding sounds appeared again. Only the location was farther than before, seemingly going to chisel someone else's wall now.
"F*ck, it hasn't given up yet?" Lin Qiu Shi swore and asked: "What should we do? Should we go notify them?"
Ruan Nan Zhu looked at Lin Qiu Shi: "You stay inside and wait for me. I'll go see what that thing is."
Lin Qiu Shi said: "Let's go together. That way if something happens we can help each other."
Ruan Nan Zhu smiled mockingly. "You're not scared?"
Lin Qiu Shi said: "Aren't you here?"
Hearing this, Ruan Nan Zhu's smile deepened. He said: "Do you know, you look very tempting when you trust someone wholeheartedly like this?"
Lin Qiu Shi was stunned: "What?"
Ruan Nan Zhu: "Nevermind, it's nothing."
The two went to the door and opened the iron gate. The creaking sound as the gate opened was especially piercing. As soon as the sound came out, the chiseling sound outside immediately stopped. Ruan Nan Zhu walked out first with Lin Qiu Shi following behind him. There were no lights in the corridor. Pitch-black darkness. To illuminate, Lin Qiu Shi turned on the flashlight on his phone and shone it ahead. Luckily the corridor wasn't long. Standing at the end, the entire corridor was visible. Lin Qiu Shi remembered the sound had come from the right side, so he walked two steps towards the right.
"Wait." Ruan Nan Zhu suddenly stopped Lin Qiu Shi. "There's someone there."
Lin Qiu Shi looked in the direction Ruan Nan Zhu pointed. Indeed, he discovered a figure crouching in the corner. He looked closely and was astonished. "Isn't this one of the triplet girls?"
"It is indeed." Ruan Nan Zhu said. "Little girl, what are you doing there?"
The figure crouching by the wall slowly stood up. She wore a cute little dress with cute ox-horn braids. Her face was expressionless as she walked towards Lin Qiu Shi and Ruan Nan Zhu.
"I couldn't sleep." The little girl's voice carried tender naivete. She walked up to Lin Qiu Shi and looked up at him. "I couldn't sleep."
"Go back quickly." Lin Qiu Shi said. "It's too late, not safe outside."
Upon hearing this, the little girl glanced at where her home was, but didn't say anything. She just turned around and left towards her family's direction.
Lin Qiu Shi and Ruan Nan Zhu watched as she disappeared again into the darkness.
"Was it her?" Lin Qiu Shi asked doubtfully. "Why would she do this..."
Ruan Nan Zhu pressed his lips together. "She doesn't have any powder on her shoulders or hair." In other words, she was neither Little Ten nor Little Soil, but rather the deceased Little One who had been hacked into several large pieces.
Lin Qiu Shi said: "...Or maybe they took a bath and changed clothes?"
Ruan Nan Zhu smiled mockingly, "Let's hope so."
Because of this incident, Lin Qiu Shi didn't sleep well for the second half of the night.
Ruan Nan Zhu was as carefree as always. He hugged Lin Qiu Shi and slept extremely sweetly, even being lazy for a while in bed when he woke up the next morning.
"I fell down and need a kiss from Qiu Shi before I can get up," Ruan Nan Zhu sprawled on the bed.
Lin Qiu Shi felt very pained by Ruan Nan Zhu's coquetry. He said, "Bro, can you not act cute with that face?"
Ruan Nan Zhu asked: "Why not? Don't you like Meng Meng anymore?" His expression was pitiful, his big eyes starting to fill with tears - he really had quite the acting skills of a drama queen.
Lin Qiu Shi said, "Meng Meng, get up."
Ruan Nan Zhu: "..."
After messing around in bed for a good while, the two finally reluctantly got up to wash up and get ready. While washing up, this guy Ruan Nan Zhu still wasn't done acting. He leaned on Lin Qiu Shi and said, "Lin Lin bro, you were so fierce last night."
Before Lin Qiu Shi could say anything, this remark was overheard by Zeng Ru Guo brushing his teeth next to them. His gaze immediately became ambiguous as he said, "Young people really do have good stamina."
Lin Qiu Shi gnashed his teeth: "How was I fierce?"
Ruan Nan Zhu said, "Meanie, why make me spell it out so clearly?"
Lin Qiu Shi nearly bit through the toothbrush in his mouth.
For breakfast today they still had the same tasteless dry bread. But after yesterday's torment, everyone felt the dry bread was quite tasty...At least the ingredients wouldn't be anything weird.
"I have to tell you guys something," Tang Yao Yao said in a low voice while they were eating. "Before coming to eat I went to check the fridge again. The corpse inside is gone."
"Gone?" Xiao Cheng's eyes widened. "What do you mean gone...Does that mean our lunch will have meat again?"
The mention of meat made everyone's stomachs start churning again.
"Maybe it's a misunderstanding," Tang Yao Yao said. "Didn't we examine the corpse yesterday? It didn't seem to be missing anything, right?"
"Who knows?" Ruan Nan Zhu said. "Would you be able to tell if a pound or two of meat was missing?"
While everyone was chatting, the twins happened to walk out from the bedroom.
Lin Qiu Shi thought of something. He got up on the pretext of getting the TV remote and took the chance to walk past the twins, observing their bodies.
But an inconceivable thing happened. The two girls - one had glittery powder on her shoulder, one had glittery powder in her hair. So who was that one Lin Qiu Shi and Ruan Nan Zhu saw last night? And who was the one chiseling the wall? Could it be the deceased Little One?
Ruan Nan Zhu looked at Lin Qiu Shi inquiringly. Lin Qiu Shi shook his head slightly, telling Ruan Nan Zhu the answer. Seeing this, Ruan Nan Zhu didn't seem surprised either. He just smiled calmly and said, "The dry bread is quite tasty today."
"Isn't the taste of the bread the same every day?" Tang Yao Yao said unhappily.
"Of course not," Ruan Nan Zhu said. "The last meal before death always tastes better than normal food."