Hearing Lin Qiu Shi's words, Ruan Nan Zhu's actions paused slightly, but his next move was to stop Lin Qiu Shi from trying to continue observing. He whispered, "Forget about that for now, let's find Cheng Qian Li first."
Only then did Lin Qiu Shi remember that they still had a companion. Since arriving at the temple, he hadn't seen Cheng Qian Li anywhere and didn't know where he had run off to.
Xu Jin, who was following behind, saw them walking into the temple and trembled as she said, "Where are you going? Are you going in further? This place is so scary..."
"Yeah, we'll go in and take a look," Lin Qiu Shi replied to Xu Jin before looking around and continuing into the temple while observing his surroundings.
The temple was massive. The outermost part was a spacious grand hall. In front of the hall stood a Buddha statue and some burning incense burners, indicating that people still came here regularly to worship.
Walking further in, there were many small partitioned rooms. Most of these rooms were locked, and through the windows Lin Qiu Shi could see statue-like objects inside, covered with red cloth.
"Really want to go in and see," Ruan Nan Zhu murmured almost inaudibly.
"What's in these rooms?" Xu Jin asked as she rubbed the goosebumps on her arms. "So creepy..."
Hearing this, Ruan Nan Zhu turned around and leaned on Lin Qiu Shi, speaking softly, "Brother Lin Lin, I'm scared too."
Lin Qiu Shi knew he was putting on an act again and felt somewhat exasperated. He held Ruan Nan Zhu's hand and said, "Don't be afraid, I'm here."
Seeing this, Xu Jin, who was on the side, was so jealous she gritted her teeth, probably cursing them thousands of times in her heart.
The few of them continued forward. After passing through a corridor, they finally saw Cheng Qian Li's figure.
Cheng Qian Li was standing in the corner of a side hall, facing the wall, looking at something unknown.
Hearing footsteps, he turned around and saw Lin Qiu Shi and the others. "Come take a look," he said. "There are murals here."
Lin Qiu Shi walked over. "What murals? Little brother, my surname is Yu, what's your name?"
Cheng Qian Li said, "Just call me Mu Yu. And you two beautiful ladies?"
Xu Jin and Ruan Nan Zhu introduced themselves.
"What bad luck for you two pretty girls to end up in such a terrifying world," Cheng Qian Li said.
"I know, right?" Xu Jin said aggrievedly. "I'm so scared. This place is weird everywhere and I still don't understand what's going on." She wiped the wet corners of her eyes, looking extremely pitiful.
However, Ruan Nan Zhu's voice grabbed Cheng Qian Li's attention instead. He stretched out his hand and touched the wall, saying, "These murals are either newly painted or regularly maintained. The colors look very fresh."
"Oh? What are they painting?" Cheng Qian Li completely ignored Xu Jin beside him.
Xu Jin was so annoyed by Ruan Nan Zhu that she pouted angrily.
Lin Qiu Shi watched from the side, finding it really amusing how Ruan Nan Zhu loved to tease little girls.
"They're celebrating the birth of newborns," Ruan Nan Zhu said. "There are two babies, one representing the moon and one the sun... The one representing the moon likes beating drums, while the one representing the sun has been hidden away." A trace of confusion appeared on his face as he repeated, "Hidden away?"
"What does that mean?" Lin Qiu Shi also didn't understand the implication.
"Don't know," Ruan Nan Zhu said. "That's how it's painted in the mural. I also don't know what 'hidden away' is supposed to mean."
Feeling ignored again, Xu Jin said sourly on the side, "Little sister, you sure know a lot!"
Ruan Nan Zhu smiled slightly. "You haven't even asked my age yet you're calling me little sister. I'm 20 years old, what about you?"
Xu Jin: "Twenty-three..."
Ruan Nan Zhu: "Oh, then you're the little sister."
Xu Jin was so annoyed by Ruan Nan Zhu that she kept pouting.
Lin Qiu Shi watched from the side, finding it really funny. Ruan Nan Zhu just loved to tease little girls.
"Have you guys found the stairs to the second floor?" Cheng Qian Li asked. "The music seems to be coming from the temple monks on the roof!"
Speaking of the music, Lin Qiu Shi remembered the sound he had heard in the grand hall. His hearing was extremely sharp now, allowing him to easily discern the source of sounds. And because of this, he was also very certain that the sound did indeed come from the ceiling of the grand hall, and the further away it was, the smaller it became.
"Haven't found it," Ruan Nan Zhu said. "Let's keep looking."
The original group of 16 had completely scattered apart in this spacious, enormous temple. On their way forward, they only encountered three or four others, while the rest had run off to unknown places.
But at times like these, Lin Qiu Shi didn't have any energy to care about others. He was more concerned with where in this temple he could find more clues about the key.
The four of them continued forward until finally reaching the end.
At the end of the temple was a stretch of barren wilderness, with many boulders and a wooden platform constructed from planks and beams. The platform seemed to serve some special purpose as it was built exceptionally high. Standing below it, they couldn't see what was on top.
"Should we go up and take a look?" Lin Qiu Shi asked.
"We can go see," Ruan Nan Zhu said. "Together."
"You don't need to go," Lin Qiu Shi said, worried about letting Ruan Nan Zhu climb up. "I can go alone."
Cheng Qian Li said, "Let's go together. You two can stay below and warn us if anything happens."
"Alright, you two go take a look," Ruan Nan Zhu said. "Come back down immediately if something feels off."
There was a narrow wooden ladder beside the structure that could be climbed to reach the tall platform. But the ladder was extremely narrow and very high up, so climbing speed would be slow. Lin Qiu Shi's main purpose in climbing up was to see what was actually on the platform. Secondly, the structure's height was considerable, almost allowing a bird's eye view of the surroundings after climbing up.
Cheng Qian Li followed behind Lin Qiu Shi and whispered, "What's up with Brother Ruan? He looks really unwell."
"He's not feeling well bodily," Lin Qiu Shi explained. "His mental state probably hasn't recovered yet."
Cheng Qian Li asked, "Then what about Xu Jin?"
Lin Qiu Shi replied: "A newcomer. I was worried about arousing suspicion so I brought her along too."
As the two spoke, they had nearly climbed up the tall wooden platform. Lin Qiu Shi went first, stepping onto the final rung of the ladder and finally climbing atop the high platform. But he immediately regretted it. He saw that the platform was full of shredded meat and bones, as well as some black hair. This shredded meat and bones looked very fresh, without any signs of decay, as if they had just been placed there.
"Don't come up," Lin Qiu Shi said. "There are dead people up here."
Cheng Qian Li stopped in his tracks upon hearing this and swore, "F*ck!"
Although Lin Qiu Shi desperately wanted to convince himself that these shredded meat and bones belonged to some other creature, he was still able to clearly distinguish some human skulls among them. Those skulls stared at Lin Qiu Shi with hollow eyes, giving him an eerie feeling of being watched.
"Let's go back down," Lin Qiu Shi felt something was wrong and immediately turned around.
Cheng Qian Li reacted very quickly. He gave an "mm" in response before starting to climb back down. Lin Qiu Shi was about to turn around and descend when he heard Ruan Nan Zhu shouting loudly from below, "Don't turn around—!"
But his warning came too late. The moment Lin Qiu Shi's back faced the platform, he felt a pair of hands press against his back. Then a huge force slammed into him, shoving him forward violently.
The platform was at least 4 meters high. Below was rocky terrain, so falling down would definitely lead to severe injury if not death.
Fortunately, Cheng Qian Li reacted swiftly. He grabbed the stumbling Lin Qiu Shi, and the two of them rolled down the wooden ladder together for a few rungs before managing to catch themselves in time to avoid further mishap.
Lin Qiu Shi clambered up in embarrassment and didn't dare stop any longer on the ladder. He and Cheng Qian Li raced back down like they were flying.
"F*ck, scared me to death!" Cheng Qian Li was also covered in cold sweat from the fright. "Brother Lin, did you slip??"
"No," Lin Qiu Shi said. "I was pushed."
"There really wasn't anyone there? When you two were climbing down, a pair of hands stretched out from the platform and pushed Brother Lin," Xu Jin said in great terror. "So scary..."
Ruan Nan Zhu suddenly said, "Lin Lin, there are two handprints on your back."
Lin Qiu Shi was startled. He twisted around to pull at his T-shirt and indeed saw two bloody handprints on his back. The handprints weren't very big, somewhere between a child's and an adult's. They stood out starkly against his back.
"Could that platform be for sky burials?" After seeing the shredded meat and bones on it, Lin Qiu Shi found it hard not to make this speculation.
"But dense forests like this usually don't have large predatory birds that eat carrion," Cheng Qian Li said. "So what ate their corpses?"
Lin Qiu Shi: "..."
"What else could it be other than the thing that pushed Brother Lin down," Ruan Nan Zhu said with closed eyes. "I was careless. Shouldn't have let you guys go up." His face held a hint of fatigue and he looked ready to doze off at any moment, seemingly in very poor spirits.
"Are you not feeling well?" Lin Qiu Shi hurriedly asked. "Let's head back first to rest."
Ruan Nan Zhu gave an "mm" in agreement.
So the group began to walk back.
Xu Jin had seen the same thing as Ruan Nan Zhu. Her description matched Ruan Nan Zhu's. They both said that when Lin Qiu Shi turned around, a pair of bloody child-sized hands without skin stretched out from the platform. The exposed muscles wrapped around the fragile bones before pressing against Lin Qiu Shi's back. This was her first time witnessing such a bizarre supernatural event, leaving her somewhat traumatized.
But Lin Qiu Shi didn't have any extra energy to care about her, because he noticed Ruan Nan Zhu's condition was very poor. Seeing how awful Ruan Nan Zhu's complexion was, he suggested simply piggybacking Ruan Nan Zhu. Ruan Nan Zhu didn't refuse and quietly draped himself over Lin Qiu Shi's back, seemingly falling asleep shortly after.
"How could he just fall asleep like that?" Xu Jin clearly couldn't understand how Ruan Nan Zhu could sleep at a time like this. She was as frightened as a startled hen, shivering all over, and probably wouldn't be able to sleep even lying in bed. Yet the person beside her could actually doze off while draped over someone else's back. That must be an act!
Cheng Qian Li said, "Maybe the girl isn't feeling well bodily."
Before they reached the grand hall, the sound of a clamorous commotion could be heard, seeming to indicate something had happened inside.
"He disappeared right here in the grand hall!" a woman wailed. "I just went to take a look at the Buddha statue and when I turned around, he was gone!"
"But we were nearby the whole time and didn't see anyone exit through the front entrance," another person said. "Could he have gone into one of the corridors?"
The woman said, "Impossible. There's no way he could've gotten there that fast. He must have disappeared inside the grand hall somehow..."
Carrying Ruan Nan Zhu on his back, Lin Qiu Shi walked behind the rest. Cheng Qian Li hurried forward to ask what had happened.
Turned out two people had been waiting for the group here when one of them suddenly vanished inside the grand hall. And the remaining person had been inside the grand hall the whole time yet didn't notice anything out of the ordinary from start to finish.
Disappearing here was practically tantamount to death. They just didn't know what the disappeared person might have done to trigger the death condition.
"What were you two talking about while waiting here in the hall?" Meng Yu asked. "Did you mention wanting to go somewhere?"
The lone woman left behind looked blank and confused. After thinking for a bit, it seemed she remembered something as her body froze in place.
"What is it?" Meng Yu noticed her abnormal reaction.
The woman slowly raised her head to look at the pitch-black ceiling above them and said, "Right before he disappeared...he kept discussing with me what was on the ceiling..."
Everyone fell silent upon hearing this.
The music had not ceased since they entered the temple. At first they assumed the sound originated from the second floor, but after careful observation they discovered this temple did not actually have a second floor. The darkness obscured their vision, preventing them from seeing what lay above. Perhaps some might feel this was an obstacle, yet they had never considered that the darkness was actually protecting them.
Whatever was on that ceiling, one look meant certain death.
Most people's reaction after hearing the woman's words was to lower their heads.
But Meng Yu did not seem afraid at all. He looked up at the ceiling above them and mused, "This building is at least 6 meters high. It'd be impossible to clearly see what's up there without a light source, so where did their light come from?"
"Cell phones?" Lin Qiu Shi blurted out.
Meng Yu glanced at Lin Qiu Shi. "Possible," he conceded.
In truth, most people wouldn't bring cell phones when entering places like this. Lin Qiu Shi had asked Ruan Nan Zhu about this before. Ruan Nan Zhu's reply at the time was that bringing cell phones could sometimes be more dangerous, but having them was fine too. Just discard them after entering. Thus, Lin Qiu Shi had developed this habit of bringing his phone to play games when bored at night.
"Let's head out first," someone unable to withstand the atmosphere timidly suggested. "Doesn't seem like there are any more clues here."
Meng Yu checked the time. "Those who want to leave can leave. There's still more than an hour before the meeting time we scheduled with the guide."
"But isn't it raining outside?" Xu Jin asked fearfully. She trembled as she spoke. "What if we die out there?"
"Should be fine," Lin Qiu Shi said in a low voice. "The guide is meeting us right outside. It's almost time too."
"We're going out? What if it starts raining blades again?" Xu Jin was still worried. The mangled corpse placed right at the entrance stimulated all their eyeballs.
"I said, lethal situations are not designed inside doors," Meng Yu said rather calmly. "If everyone does the same thing, then nothing will happen for sure."
Hearing this, Ruan Nan Zhu actually let out a soft laugh. Lin Qiu Shi asked him what was so funny. Ruan Nan Zhu replied, "This Meng Yu is pretty interesting."
Lin Qiu Shi didn't understand why Ruan Nan Zhu would say this.
"What do you think would happen if everyone made the same mistake?" Ruan Nan Zhu asked in a very soft voice.
"Death?" Lin Qiu Shi guessed. "But didn't he say it's impossible for everyone to trigger the death conditions at once? At least one person has to survive in the end, right?"
Ruan Nan Zhu said, "Correct. Not everyone will die. But the creatures can freely choose who they want to kill. As long as one remains in the end, that's fine."
Lin Qiu Shi: "..."
Ruan Nan Zhu: "So why would Meng Yu deliberately mislead everyone?"
Lin Qiu Shi fell silent.
As the two spoke, the guide's voice suddenly sounded from outside. "Gather up, gather up! Come out quickly, I'll only wait five more minutes for you guys!"
Hearing this, everyone heaved a sigh of relief, feeling it should be safe outside now. So they slowly made their way out of the temple.