According to reason, Ruan Nan Zhu was always sensitive to the surrounding environment and would not fail to notice Xu Jin's strangeness, but he was completely indifferent, with no change in his expression throughout. After dinner, Ruan Nan Zhu beckoned to Lin Qiu Shi and called him to a secluded corner.
"What's the matter?" Lin Qiu Shi asked him.
"Something might happen tonight, pay more attention." Ruan Nan Zhu said, "If I sleep too dead, be sure to wake me up."
"What's going to happen?" Lin Qiu Shi said. "Is it related to Xu Jin?"
Ruan Nan Zhu couldn't give a complete answer either, he said, "Just speculation."
"Well." Lin Qiu Shi nodded, not asking further, "I'll pay attention."
That night, the atmosphere in the room was particularly strange. Cheng Qian Li shrank on the bed like a cowardly dog, not daring to act up anymore. Ruan Nan Zhu went to sleep early, leaving only Lin Qiu Shi unable to fall asleep.
He closed his eyes, but his head was clear, and every sound of grass and wood around him entered his ears. He could hear the breeze, he could hear the grass and trees, he could even hear the bright moonlight. It was a state that was hard to describe in words. Through his hearing, however, complete images were presented in his mind.
But this quiet state was soon broken by something else.
Lin Qiu Shi heard rustling sounds.
Sounds heard at night always make people feel uneasy. He clearly heard someone get up from the bed and gently push the door out. Lin Qiu Shi opened his eyes a crack and saw the person who went out was Xu Jin.
"Nan Zhu, Nan Zhu." Lin Qiu Shi pushed Ruan Nan Zhu, trying to wake him from his dreamland. However, Ruan Nan Zhu didn't move at all, as if he hadn't fallen asleep but had passed out. No matter how hard he pushed, Ruan Nan Zhu didn't react. Lin Qiu Shi had no choice but to try to call Cheng Qian Li, but unexpectedly, Cheng Qian Li was also unresponsive.
If he hesitated any longer, Xu Jin might run off to who knows where, so Lin Qiu Shi hesitated for a moment before deciding to go out alone.
He quickly put on his shoes and followed the footsteps ahead.
Xu Jin went through the long corridor and left their bamboo building, heading straight for the depths of the dense forest. Lin Qiu Shi didn't dare follow her into the woods, only watching from afar.
Just as Xu Jin was about to enter the woods, she suddenly stopped. She looked up at the bright moon in the sky, then suddenly started taking off her clothes.
This scene stunned Lin Qiu Shi instantly. He didn't expect Xu Jin to come up with this.
First the jacket, then the T-shirt, and finally the bra. Xu Jin stripped herself bare, her snow-white skin shimmering in the moonlight like white ivory, faintly emanating a charming glow. Of course, Lin Qiu Shi didn't dare watch until the end. No peeping, no eavesdropping, he only looked halfway before averting his eyes - until another sound was heard.
It was a tearing sound of fabric. Lin Qiu Shi was slightly stunned, then carefully moved his peripheral vision back. But just that glance he caught with his peripheral vision made his body shudder violently.
Xu Jin was still undressing, taking off her clothes, then starting to peel her own skin.
She grabbed her hair hard, then began tearing strips of skin off her body piece by piece, from her head to her neck, to her torso. Her originally smooth skin became a bloody mess, and Lin Qiu Shi could see the red muscles and white bones.
She skinned herself into a bloody person, and seemed to notice Lin Qiu Shi's gaze. She turned her head and smiled. Her huge mouth formed a completely impossible shape. Lin Qiu Shi could even see the white teeth and blood-red tongue inside.
If it was before, seeing such a scene, Lin Qiu Shi would probably be scared paralyzed. But after going through several trials, his ability to withstand such scenes was now strong enough. Even so, his hands and feet still felt a little numb from tremendous fear.
"Sister, sister." The creepy laughter came from the mouth of the monster in front of him. She tilted her head and walked towards where Lin Qiu Shi was hiding. "Where are you, where are you?"
Lin Qiu Shi didn't dare stay. He turned and ran.
He ran all the way back to the bamboo building and slammed Ruan Nan Zhu's body, trying to wake him from the dead sleep. But Ruan Nan Zhu seemed to be sleeping like the dead, with no reaction at all.
At this time, those sticky footsteps had reached the corridor.
"Thump thump thump thump." The monster knocked heavily on the door. She lay on the ground, peering inside through the crack of the door. "Open the door, open the door."
Lin Qiu Shi was already regretting his damned curiosity.
Fortunately, after a while, the knocking on the door stopped. Just as Lin Qiu Shi was about to breathe a sigh of relief, he heard a sound from the window that could drive one mad. He looked back to see the thing crawling in through the window.
"Damn!" Unable to hold back, Lin Qiu Shi swore. He backed away a few steps, trying to stay away from the window.
The bloodied, skinless monster easily crawled in through the window and lay on the floor, reaching out everywhere.
Seeing her posture, Lin Qiu Shi suddenly recalled something and hurried onto the bed.
"Where are you, where are you..." Xu Jin's voice made people's skin crawl. The monster lay on the floor groping around, she crawled to the side of Lin Qiu Shi's bed, but seemed unable to stand up, only stretching out those blood-red hands to feel around under the bed.
Lin Qiu Shi secretly relaxed, realizing his guess was not wrong. Before, when he and Cheng Qian Li slept on the bed, there were blood handprints everywhere under the bed. This was probably not because the monster had gone soft, but because she simply couldn't stand up.
The bed board was pounded hard. The monster's voice was only a bed away from Lin Qiu Shi. She scratched the fragile wooden boards with her nails, as if she would claw a hole through it at any moment.
Lin Qiu Shi closed his eyes and pretended not to hear anything.
He didn't know how long these sounds lasted. In any case, when everything quieted down again, the dawn was already breaking outside.
And the Xu Jin who had gone out returned to the room again. Of course, by now she had put her flawless skin back on.
Ruan Nan Zhu woke up to the sunlight and rubbed his eyes. He greeted Lin Qiu Shi after getting up.
"Good morning." Lin Qiu Shi replied with some difficulty.
"Morning." Ruan Nan Zhu shook off the remnants of sleep, noticing Lin Qiu Shi's very wrong expression. "What's wrong with you?" He quickly realized something. "Did something happen last night?"
Lin Qiu Shi glanced at the still sleeping Xu Jin and said in a low voice, "I'll tell you when we get outside."
Ruan Nan Zhu nodded.
After the two got up quietly and found a secluded corner outside. Lin Qiu Shi told Ruan Nan Zhu what he had seen and heard last night.
After listening, Ruan Nan Zhu frowned, "Why didn't you wake me up?"
Lin Qiu Shi said, "I tried, but couldn't."
"Oh." Ruan Nan Zhu said, "It looks like our guess was right."
Xu Jin was the younger sister looking for her elder sister. Now that she had gotten the bronze key, according to the clue, bringing the younger sister to the elder sister should reveal the exit.
"So what kind of thing is she really? Does she know her own identity?" Lin Qiu Shi was a little confused. He felt that if Xu Jin knew she wasn't human, her acting skills were too good. But if she didn't know, how to explain what happened last night?
"Maybe she only turns into the younger sister under certain conditions." Ruan Nan Zhu pondered, "For example, at night. Try to recall if there was anything special about last night."
Lin Qiu Shi thought about it and did find one difference: "...It seemed to be a full moon last night." The reason he noticed this detail was because the moonlight was so bright last night. It was almost like daylight outside. Even without any lighting equipment, he could see every scene clearly.
"Hmm." Ruan Nan Zhu nodded, "I see."
The two discussed some more details before returning to the dining room.
By now some people had gradually gotten up from bed and started eating breakfast. After sitting in the dining room for a while, Lin Qiu Shi saw Cheng Qian Li and Xu Jin come over too.
He ignored Cheng Qian Li, but Xu Jin looked well-rested, and no one could imagine she was the monster crawling around the house all night.
"I found blood handprints again." While drinking porridge, Cheng Qian Li said very fearfully, "Did you guys see them too?"
"Saw them." Lin Qiu Shi answered
Cheng Qian Li: "But I didn't hear any sounds ah, what is that thing, will that thing climb onto our bed?" When he got up, he saw blood red handprints all over the floor of the room. It looked like something had crawled over it carefully, which was creepy and made him not dare to think too much about what had happened in the room while they were sleeping last night.
"Don't know." Ruan Nan Zhu said, "Or why don't you stand guard tomorrow night and see?"
"No no no." Cheng Qian Li chickened out immediately.
Although Lin Qiu Shi knew what was going on, he couldn't say. He looked at Xu Jin and found no abnormality on her face when Cheng Qian Li talked about these things. On the contrary, she seemed very scared, her body trembling again.
If it was before, Lin Qiu Shi would probably have thought she was afraid. But after last night's events, he had other ideas.
Was Xu Jin really afraid? Was she afraid of ghosts, or something else?
Of course, there was no answer to these questions for now.
The guide came on time as usual to take everyone to their destination.
Having come here three times already, everyone no longer had the initial fear and curiosity on their faces, instead replaced by a hint of impatience. Everyone wanted to get out of here sooner.
The only difference this time was that the music had stopped. The others didn't know why, but Lin Qiu Shi and the other three knew clearly, because the bone flute that could play music was now in their backpack.
"Shall we take Xu Jin up to the roof and try?" When Lin Qiu Shi made this suggestion, he was slightly hesitant.
"I think we can." Ruan Nan Zhu said.
So they started discussing going up to the roof again. When Xu Jin heard they were all going to go up, she showed strong resistance.
"I don't want to go. I'm scared." Xu Jin shook her head, almost crying, "I really don't want to go. Don't make me go..."
"Why don't you want to go?" Faced with Xu Jin's strong refusal, Ruan Nan Zhu did not show a tough stance. On the contrary, his tone was gentle.
"I'm afraid." Xu Jin replied, "I feel like if I go up... I'll die."
Just as Lin Qiu Shi was about to say something, he saw Ruan Nan Zhu nod, "If that's the case, let's not go up."
Xu Jin relaxed.
Lin Qiu Shi was surprised that Ruan Nan Zhu gave in so easily. He asked about this when he got a chance.
"Under normal circumstances, she should have wanted to go up very much. Since she doesn't want to go up, there must be some other reason." Ruan Nan Zhu said.
"Some other reason?" Lin Qiu Shi didn't understand.
Ruan Nan Zhu said, "I haven't figured it out yet either."
They sat in the temple, thinking about where exactly the problem was. Cheng Qian Li took Xu Jin around the temple.
After a while, Cheng Qian Li suddenly came back mysteriously, saying he had discovered something.
"What is it?" Ruan Nan Zhu glanced at him.
Cheng Qian Li said, "Remember before we saw small rooms with statues locked inside? Well one small room's door was open..."
Ruan Nan Zhu: "Did you guys go in and take a look?"
Cheng Qian Li smiled embarrassedly, "Didn't dare."
Ruan Nan Zhu: "Then close the door."
Cheng Qian Li: "Aren't we going to go in and take a look?" He lowered his voice, not wanting Xu Jin to hear his conversation with Ruan Nan Zhu, "I noticed that on the back of those small room statues, there seemed to be murals."
Murals seemed to be an important means of recording events for this religion. If they could really find other murals, they might be able to discover the reason why Xu Jin was unwilling to go upstairs.
Lin Qiu Shi and Ruan Nan Zhu looked at each other, got up and patted their butts: "Let's go take a look."
Ruan Nan Zhu nodded.
So they went in the direction Cheng Qian Li pointed out.
The small room was very small, probably only able to hold five or six people. It was too crowded for them all to go in together, so Cheng Qian Li and Xu Jin stayed outside while Ruan Nan Zhu and Lin Qiu Shi went in. In the middle of the room was a statue covered with a red cloth, probably a Buddha statue or something, judging from the outline. After entering the room, Ruan Nan Zhu walked around the statue to the wall behind.
Sure enough there was a mural, but the mural was painted like talismans, completely incomprehensible. Lin Qiu Shi was confused, and even Ruan Nan Zhu frowned.
Not wanting to disturb him, Lin Qiu Shi observed the room instead.
This room was small without much to see. The only eye-catching thing was this statue covered with red cloth. The statue was about the height of a person, standing straight in the very center of the room.
Just as Lin Qiu Shi was about to look away, he froze. At first he thought he was seeing things. He rubbed his eyes hard, but after rubbing them, he found he was not seeing things at all - the statue in front of him, though the movement was extremely subtle, was indeed moving.
"Nan Zhu." Lin Qiu Shi tugged Ruan Nan Zhu's hand inconspicuously, "Let's get out of here."
Ruan Nan Zhu's attention was still on the mural. He said, "I want to take another look."
A thought flashed through Lin Qiu Shi's mind. He took out his phone, "I can take a photo for you to look at slowly later, okay?" As he spoke, he noticed the red cloth start to rustle, as if something was about to crawl out from inside.
Ruan Nan Zhu also noticed something wrong. He scanned the room and immediately found the anomaly. He nodded and said let's go.
Lin Qiu Shi relaxed.
The two had just left the room when the statue started shaking violently. As Lin Qiu Shi pulled the door closed, the red cloth fell down at just the right time.
What was revealed under the red cloth turned out to be the skinned monster they had seen in the main hall before. The monster was holding a sharp, long knife in its hand. Its originally rigid body began to become flexible.
"Damn, luckily we got out fast." Lin Qiu Shi broke out in cold sweat.
"Wait..." It seemed Cheng Qian Li discovered something. His tone was full of fear, "Why were the locks of all the small rooms in the corridor opened?"
Lin Qiu Shi was stunned, then looked up the corridor. Indeed, all the locks along the corridor had fallen off, and it looked like they were opened intentionally by someone. He quickly picked up a lock and fumbled with it briefly, his face darkening: "Broken by force."
That kind of curtain falling sound grew more and more frequent. Lin Qiu Shi looked around and found that within their line of sight, three or four curtains had already fallen to the ground, revealing the bloodied, skinless monsters behind them. Of course, the most eye-catching thing was still the long knives held in the monsters' hands.
With those things, cutting people would be like cutting through sugar gourds, one stab could skewer two or three people easily.
The four turned and fled wildly, wanting to get away from this place. On the way they met some other people from the group and warned them briefly before everyone gathered in the main hall. Someone broke down and recounted what had happened, pointing to the corridor and shuddering.
"Are we still going to wait here to die?" Someone wanted to go out.
"But have you forgotten what happened to the people who ran out before?" Someone retorted.
"But it's not raining now..." Someone else said.
Noisy discussions filled the entire main hall.
Soon, however, they no longer had spare time to think about this, because those monsters carrying long knives slowly appeared before everyone. Seeing the situation go awry, Ruan Nan Zhu said, "Let's go, out of the temple!"
Lin Qiu Shi followed behind him.
A few people from the group followed them out in a panic. But some still hesitated inside the temple, probably recalling the flayed blond youth under the heavy rain.
But after a moment of hesitation, screams were heard from inside the temple. Some people were caught by those monsters.
And at this moment, the people outside finally understood what the sharp knives in the monsters' hands were for - they were excellent tools for skinning.
The knives pierced in from the head and with one sweep, the skin split open, accompanied by miserable cries. The tender human skin opened from both sides, exposing the red flesh inside.
"Ahhhhh!" The captured man and woman let out shrill screams as they struggled desperately, but were held down firmly until their skin was peeled to their chests before they finally lost their last breath.
Because of this horrifying scene, only dead silence remained among the crowd.
"Skin...give me skin...sister...younger sister..." A girl's voice came from the roof. Invisible in the darkness, a pair of blood-red hands appeared, picking up the newly peeled skin. She sniffed it carefully, then seemed to realize something and threw it heavily to the ground. "Not mine, not mine--" Her voice grew sharper, piercing people's ears.
After the remaining two people in the temple were skinned and their bodies hacked to pieces, Lin Qiu Shi finally understood where the minced meat on those wooden platforms came from.
The monsters killed two people, then turned their sights to them outside the temple.
Everyone held their breath under the stare of those black eyes. Lin Qiu Shi even smelled a stench of urine - someone had pissed themselves from fear.
"Creak creak..." The shrill sound of blades dragging across the ground. Finally, unable to endure the terrifying atmosphere, someone screamed and charged into the woods.
Although the rest didn't move, the fear in their eyes spoke volumes.
Cheng Qian Li asked in trembling tones, "Are they going to come kill us too?"
Ruan Nan Zhu said, "Calm down everyone, they can't possibly kill everyone."
But what surprised them was that those monsters eventually stopped at the edge of the temple. Something seemed to be blocking them as they paced back and forth at the entrance.
Everyone heaved a heavy sigh of relief at this sight.
"Looks like they can't leave the temple." Lin Qiu Shi said. "Unless it's...raining."
"Hmm." Ruan Nan Zhu's brows didn't relax. He looked at Xu Jin, "It seems we've overlooked something important."
"Something important?" Lin Qiu Shi repeated. "Something important..." A thought flashed through his mind and he said in surprise, "Did we forget to take that drum away?"
If the one in the temple was the elder sister, then her peeled skin was made into a drum. And the drum was in the younger sister's hands. So was she looking for her younger sister, while also looking for her own skin?
"Oh right, we forgot the drum." Ruan Nan Zhu said. "I must be really out of it." He had actually forgotten such an important item. Or rather, when they left, not one of them had thought to take away that drum.
"No, it's not your fault." Lin Qiu Shi said. "After all, who knows what the trigger for death is. What if taking the drum got us killed?"
Ruan Nan Zhu shook his head without speaking.
After witnessing the live skinning of people by their side, no one wanted to go back into the temple, not to mention no one knew if those monsters were still there.
Everyone sat dejectedly in front of the temple, silently waiting for the guide to come.
The one who had run into the woods before came back again. When he returned, he was in a daze, even muttering nonstop to himself. He seemed to have gone mad.
This incident had dealt a huge blow to everyone.
Lin Qiu Shi's mental state was still alright. He occasionally chatted a few sentences with Cheng Qian Li to ease the tense atmosphere. Xu Jin didn't speak at all, staring blankly ahead as if she couldn't even hear Cheng Qian Li calling her.
If it was before, Lin Qiu Shi would probably have thought she was scared. But after last night's events, he had other thoughts.
Was Xu Jin really afraid? Was she afraid of ghosts, or something else?
Of course, there was still no answer to these questions for now.
The guide came as usual, right on time. Seeing two fewer people in the crowd but showing no reaction, he smiled and led everyone back.
Hardly anyone ate dinner that night, most people going to rest early.
Lai Dongyuan didn't seem too affected. He quietly ate and then pulled Ruan Nan Zhu out to chat for a while.
No one knew what they talked about, but when they came back, the gloom on both their faces had lessened considerably.
"Rest well." Ruan Nan Zhu said before going to bed. "Best not to wake up tonight."
Lin Qiu Shi nodded.
"Good night." Cheng Qian Li yawned and closed his eyes.
"Good night." Lin Qiu Shi turned off the lights, plunging the room into darkness.