The monster that had frantically rushed out of the temple soon dragged back a familiar person. Just as Ruan Nan Zhu had guessed, Xu Jin had been secretly following them in the woods the whole time.
She was grabbed by several monsters and forcibly dragged out of the woods in a miserable state, her expression filled with extreme fear as she screamed for help. If they hadn't seen her terrifying skin-shedding appearance at night before, Lin Qiu Shi might have tried to save her. But now he didn't move an inch as he watched the monsters drag Xu Jin up the wooden frame and bring her in front of the blood-covered little girl.
"Help, save me!" Xu Jin saw Lin Qiu Shi and Ruan Nan Zhu standing to the side. Her first reaction was to plead for help from them. Her face was covered in tears and she looked so afraid that she seemed ready to faint at any moment.
Ruan Nan Zhu looked at her coldly, with no hint of sympathy in his expression.
Xu Jin still tried to escape but her hands and feet were held tightly by the monsters. The little girl atop the temple roof slowly moved in front of her, then reached out and heavily pressed her hand against Xu Jin's face: "Give it back...give it back to me..."
"Ahhhhh!" Xu Jin let out an extremely shrill scream. She thrashed violently as if gone mad. They saw the little girl's hands pass right through Xu Jin's skin as if it wasn't there, sinking into her flesh. The girl then forcefully pulled her hands apart, resulting in a clear tearing sound akin to ripping fabric - she had ripped Xu Jin's skin right off.
"No, no don't! Sister, stop!" Xu Jin shrieked desperately. A normal person would have died from this but Xu Jin was still struggling, seemingly even more vigorously than before. The fear in her eyes also gradually faded away, replaced by another emotion. Lin Qiu Shi recognized it as unwillingness.
Finally, an intact piece of skin had been torn off. The girl let out a sharp laugh, clutching the skin tightly as if it were a precious treasure.
Xu Jin's gaze fell upon the broken drum, her eyes filling with deep resentment: "Why are you doing this? You promised to give it to me, you promised!"
"Liar, shut up!" Wrapped in the skin, the girl suddenly roared furiously. The drum beneath her also let out a deafening boom. She seemed to be filled with extreme hatred, as if wanting to swallow Xu Jin whole: "My sister, my dear sister...I searched so hard for you, where did you go? Where?!"
Having turned into an identical monster, Xu Jin was unable to answer her sister's questions. She looked much older than the girl, their original appearances as twins completely unrecognizable now.
"Fortunately you came back, you finally came back." While speaking, the girl slowly and carefully arranged the skin she had peeled from Xu Jin and put it on herself. She looked ecstatic, as if putting on a long-awaited new dress. "Sister, did you think of me at all after you left?"
Xu Jin remained silent, the skin gone from her face leaving it impossible to discern any subtle expressions. But Lin Qiu Shi was certain that right now, she was definitely still afraid and resentful.
Seemingly satisfied after putting on the skin, the little girl clapped her hands happily.
Lin Qiu Shi felt a vibration beneath his feet and looked down in shock to see the drum made of human skin twisting and writhing. The pieces of skin had all been sewn together and now each piece began letting out pained moans, as if the people had not truly died and continued existing only as skin.
Hearing the moans, the girl burst into laughter. She forced Xu Jin to kneel and gently stroked her hair, smiling: "Don't be scared my sister, I've prepared many nice things for you. As long as you come back, sister will forgive you. Look..." She said this while happily clapping her hands again.
The ground beneath Lin Qiu Shi's feet shook once more and a black iron door was revealed after the moaning drum skin was sliced apart.
"Please." The girl smiled and gestured at them to enter.
Ruan Nan Zhu walked over first, took out a key and unlocked the door. A small piece of paper fluttered down as soon as he opened the door, which he quickly picked up and put away.
"Let's go." Was all Ruan Nan Zhu said before stepping through the doorway.
Cheng Qian Li followed behind him. Just as Lin Qiu Shi was about to go in third, the little girl suddenly ran to his side and slapped a hand against his back.
Stunned, Lin Qiu Shi heard the girl say: "She likes you, so I don't like you."
A chill went down his spine but, not daring to linger, Lin Qiu Shi hurriedly strode through the doorway.
After passing through a long tunnel, the three of them finally returned to the real world.
Lin Qiu Shi had just arrived back when he felt something was very wrong. Just as he was about to say something, the world spun and his vision went dark as he collapsed limply to the ground.
...
Darkness, endless darkness. After what seemed an eternity, Lin Qiu Shi finally saw light again.
Upon waking, he saw Ruan Nan Zhu on the phone angrily arguing with someone. In contrast to his gentle demeanor inside the doors, out here Ruan Nan Zhu spoke coldly and cunningly, soon rendering the person on the other end speechless.
"Awake?" Ruan Nan Zhu hung up when he noticed Lin Qiu Shi stirring.
Lin Qiu Shi nodded: "What happened to me..."
Ruan Nan Zhu: "Acute pneumonia, almost got sent to the ICU."
Having been slapped on the back while leaving, Lin Qiu Shi knew he would likely fall ill but didn't expect it to be so severe.
"That wretched girl." Ruan Nan Zhu was clearly unhappy. "Fortunately I managed to at least break even."
Lin Qiu Shi asked: "Broke even?"
Ruan Nan Zhu took something out of his pocket and handed it to Lin Qiu Shi.
It was a thick notebook. The cover seemed vaguely familiar and Lin Qiu Shi realized with surprise that it was the diary they had found atop the pagoda. He didn't expect Ruan Nan Zhu to have brought it out.
Flipping it open, he saw the pages filled with brightly colored illustrations seeming to tell a story. The paper also seemed different, feeling almost like sheepskin to the touch but Lin Qiu Shi guessed it likely wasn't sheepskin based on what had transpired inside the door...
"Objects from inside the doors usually can't be brought out." Ruan Nan Zhu explained. "But some special items can make it out, like the earring on your ear and the notebook in front of you. These things that can cross over all have something extraordinary about them."
Lin Qiu Shi looked it over: "What's special about this notebook?"
Ruan Nan Zhu: "Still not sure yet, needs more research. You found it so hang onto it first."
Just as Lin Qiu Shi was about to politely decline, Ruan Nan Zhu received another call. He stood up and walked out of the room to take it.
Left alone, Lin Qiu Shi lowered his head and flipped through the notebook. He realized it recorded the story of the twin sisters.
In an isolated mountain village with an important sacrificial rite, a pure and innocent young maiden would be selected from the unmarried girls every few years. Her soft, supple skin would be flayed alive to make a beautiful red drum, placed in the tall burial tower to comfort the spirits. The sisters had a close relationship, the younger one lively and cheerful while the elder was graceful and gentle. But one day, the younger sister was chosen by the high priest.
She was taken by force and turned into a drum.
Upon discovering her sister's sudden disappearance, the elder one began desperately searching everywhere for her - but this was only the beginning of the story, not the end.
The skinned younger sister had not died but rather, transformed into a skinless monster. She started wandering around the village outskirts, looking for lone people to peel off their skin and wear it herself. But the sister soon found that their skin did not suit her body and she needed the perfect skin...naturally, she thought of her identical elder twin.
Deception, lies, the monstrous younger sister tricked her elder sister into the temple and easily stripped off her skin. Afraid of being caught, she cut off her sister's legs before leaving her trapped there.
The skinned younger sister did not die and neither had the deceived elder sister. Her resentment and hatred allowed her to transform into an even more terrifying monster. She even fashioned bone flutes from her severed legs, beginning to control the other sacrificial offerings who had not truly died.
But her powers were limited by the temple and she was trapped within, waiting day after day, waiting and waiting for the chance to take back her skin.
Time slowly passed and the sister wearing the younger one's skin grew into an adult.
And at this time, Lin Qiu Shi's group entered their world.
Lin Qiu Shi closed the book after reading through the entire story. He brushed his fingers over the cover, unable to discern anything extraordinary about the notebook for now.
At this moment, Ruan Nan Zhu walked back in after finishing his call and asked: "How are you feeling?"
Lin Qiu Shi coughed twice: "Alright."
Ruan Nan Zhu sat down beside him and analyzed their situation: "You've become the fifth door now so the next door will open in at least six months. Use this time to properly recover." He paused briefly before continuing: "I had other plans but looks like they'll have to be postponed now."
Lin Qiu Shi asked: "What plans?"
Ruan Nan Zhu: "Let's talk about it later. If your health doesn't improve enough, these plans won't matter anyway."
Lin Qiu Shi felt like these plans were likely rather important but the Ruan Nan Zhu before him seemed quite different than his gentle counterpart beyond the doors - this one was cold and aloof, giving off an oppressive icy air.
If this was the other Ruan Nan Zhu, Lin Qiu Shi might have brazenly pressed him for more details. But facing this version of Ruan Nan Zhu, he could only meekly nod and not pursue the issue further.
Realizing Lin Qiu Shi had woken up, Cheng Qian Li soon came bouncing in with a bag of fruit. He said Lin Qiu Shi ah, your luck really is awful, normal people don't get injured inside those worlds.
Ruan Nan Zhu poured cold water on that: "That's right, normal people don't get injured - they just die directly."
Lin Qiu Shi: "..."
Cheng Qian Li: "Ruan bro, don't be mean."
Not long after Cheng Qian Li arrived, Ruan Nan Zhu received another call and hurried off again.
Seeing how busy he was, Lin Qiu Shi asked Cheng Qian Li if something had happened.
"Not really an incident I guess." Cheng Qian Li replied. "The Bai Lu organization started investigating Meng Yu's background. Bai Lu is pretty big so if they really look into it they'll definitely discover her identity. Though of course they won't know Meng Yu is actually our boss."
Lin Qiu Shi: "Oh...I see."
He wouldn't have imagined in his dreams that Meng Yu - who had acted so dramatically inside the doors - was actually Ruan Nan Zhu crossdressing.
Having been slapped once by the little girl from the other world, Lin Qiu Shi lay in hospital for a full month before recovering well enough to be discharged. In fact, according to normal circumstances, his symptoms were serious enough to warrant lying in bed for at least 3-5 months. Perhaps due to the doors altering his physique, he healed extremely quickly, with even his primary doctor marveling in admiration that Lin Qiu Shi was a medical miracle. The doctor asked if Lin Qiu Shi would be interested in participating in medical research.
Lin Qiu Shi firmly declined and the doctor expressed great regret, telling him to come back if he changed his mind.
Lin Qiu Shi could only smile wryly.
"Why didn't you tell me you were sick?!" Lin Qiu Shi's friend Wu Qi was furious when he found out. "Lin Qiu Shi, do you still consider me your friend?!"
Knowing he was in the wrong, Lin Qiu Shi quickly admitted his mistakes and explained for a long time before Wu Qi finally calmed down a little.
As the two were chatting, the main door of the living room suddenly opened again and Ruan Nan Zhu walked in from outside, followed by a young man who looked to be in his early 20s with a cute baby face.
"New recruit, Ruan bro?" Chen Fei asked.
"Mm." Ruan Nan Zhu briefly introduced: "Zhang Mian."
Zhang Mian seemed to have a very outgoing personality, smiling as he greeted everyone.
Ruan Nan Zhu instructed: "Chen Fei, go up and give him a quick lesson first."
Chen Fei responded and brought the newcomer upstairs.
Lin Qiu Shi's attention had been on the new arrival but now he suddenly felt Ruan Nan Zhu's conversation with Chen Fei seemed a bit off. He turned to look at Wu Qi, only to find his friend's I-knew-it expression as he muttered: "Didn't you say there were no classes here?"
Lin Qiu Shi didn't know how he could explain things clearly anymore.
But just as Lin Qiu Shi was rendered speechless, Ruan Nan Zhu unexpectedly walked over to stand in front of Wu Qi. He extended a hand towards Wu Qi: "Ruan Nan Zhu."
At 176 cm, Wu Qi felt completely oppressed standing in front of the nearly 190 cm Ruan Nan Zhu. He shook Ruan Nan Zhu's hand and introduced himself: "Wu Qi."
"I'm Lin Qiu Shi's friend and will take good care of him, no need to worry." Ruan Nan Zhu spoke extremely naturally. He tilted his chin up slightly: "You're also welcome to visit."
Wu Qi murmured his thanks.
After saying this, Ruan Nan Zhu glanced at Lin Qiu Shi and gave him a nod before leaving. Wu Qi stared wordlessly at his retreating back for a long while before finally squeezing out: "I guess I believe now you're not running some shady business."
Lin Qiu Shi: "Just like that you believe me?"
"Of course." Wu Qi said. "Why would someone like him need to resort to shady dealings?"
Lin Qiu Shi: "What do you mean someone like him? You saying I'm not good-looking enough?"
Wu Qi: "Even if you were better looking you'd still be ordinary. Someone like him would be a treasure no matter where they went!"
Lin Qiu Shi found he had no rebuttal. Ruan Nan Zhu's appearance and temperament were indeed extraordinary, as if a breathtaking jade carving come to life. One look and you would think - what a beauty, poised as a rainbow.
Although the process was baffling, at least Wu Qi's doubts had been resolved. To apologize for his disappearance, Lin Qiu Shi prepared a table full of delicious food to treat both Wu Qi and the villa residents.
The newcomer who had arrived with Ruan Nan Zhu also joined them. Fortunately Chen Fei seemed to have briefed him as he didn't ask any inappropriate questions in front of Wu Qi.
After the meal, Lin Qiu Shi saw his friend out and heaved a sigh of relief in his heart.
He had few bosom friends and Wu Qi was one of them. Naturally he hoped no rifts would form between them over trivial matters.
With Wu Qi gone, Lin Qiu Shi finally had a chance to chat with the new arrival, Zhang Mian. He learned that Zhang Mian had also entered a door for the first time and happened to meet Ruan Nan Zhu like himself.
It was evident that Ruan Nan Zhu had gone into a few more doors during Lin Qiu Shi's hospitalization and recuperation period.
He just wondered what exactly Ruan Nan Zhu was trying to accomplish from his frequent trips in and out of those worlds. Lin Qiu Shi guessed it likely had something to do with Ruan Nan Zhu's 11th door.