After informing the mayor about finding the child's corpse, the three of them went to the canned food factory again.
However, when they arrived at the location where they had seen the corpse yesterday, Lin Qiu Shi discovered that the place that should have had a corpse was now empty. Only the hollowed-out tree trunk remained, telling Lin Qiu Shi that what they had seen yesterday was not an illusion, but something that had really happened.
Upon seeing this scene, Ruan Nan Zhu's eyebrows furrowed slightly, as if he was about to explain something, but the mayor seemed to have already expected this. He sighed and then said, "Actually we usually can't find them..." They couldn't find the people or the corpses. The missing children would vanish without a trace from the small town, never to appear again. So even if the corpse disappeared, it wasn't that strange, especially since it had already been one night since they saw it yesterday.
Ruan Nan Zhu gazed thoughtfully at the wooden stump.
Later, the mayor left, but Ruan Nan Zhu still showed no intention of leaving. Lin Qiu Shi knew he wanted to examine the canned food factory again, so he quietly waited by the side.
"Why do you think the Noodle Man suddenly changed his nature?" Ruan Nan Zhu asked. "Could he really have gotten stronger?"
Lin Qiu Shi shook his head to indicate he wasn't sure.
"Let's go, we'll take a look inside," Ruan Nan Zhu said. He and Lin Qiu Shi entered the interior of the canned food factory through a side door.
This canned food factory had been shut down for a long time.
The machines were all covered in rusty stains. Lin Qiu Shi checked and confirmed that the power inside had been cut off, so neither the machines nor the lighting could operate.
However, Ruan Nan Zhu's gaze lingered on the canning machine. Lin Qiu Shi followed his line of sight but didn't see anything. Still, he felt that Ruan Nan Zhu had noticed some detail. Ruan Nan Zhu walked over to the machine and said, "Someone's used this machine in the past few days."
Lin Qiu Shi: "Are you sure? But there's still rust on it."
Ruan Nan Zhu: "I don't know how they managed to use it." He looked around the surroundings and uttered a sentence, "It really makes one feel uncomfortable."
It did feel uncomfortable. Ever since Lin Qiu Shi entered, he felt like someone was watching him, but he couldn't pinpoint the exact source of the gaze.
Ruan Nan Zhu seemed to recall something. "What do you think might happen to that hat-wearing man?"
Lin Qiu Shi: "Maybe he'll disappear? Or die?"
Hearing this, Ruan Nan Zhu just smiled without answering.
At the time, Lin Qiu Shi thought he was just smiling casually. But when they saw the hat-wearing man again that afternoon, he finally understood what Ruan Nan Zhu was smiling about.
A very strange change had occurred on the man wearing the black top hat.
His hands and feet had started becoming long and thin. His height had also increased. Although his facial features were still there, they gave off a very vague feeling, even making it seem somewhat hard to see his face clearly.
If it had been someone else without any clues, they would have only felt a sense of strangeness and fear upon seeing such a scene. But Lin Qiu Shi and Ruan Nan Zhu both understood very clearly what the changes on the man's body signified—his body had started transforming towards that of a Slender Shadow Ghost.
His hands and feet were now as soft and slender as snakes. With his height increasing more and more, his face finally turned into a sheet of white, as if all his facial features had sunk into his skin.
In just one day, the man had undergone such changes, which was truly hair-raising.
Lin Qiu Shi also witnessed this scene. He silently averted his eyes.
Unexpectedly, Ruan Nan Zhu suddenly stood up. After wiping his mouth with a napkin, he directly walked over to stand in front of the hat-wearing man.
Seeing Ruan Nan Zhu, the man also said nothing. He raised his almost invisible eyes to look at him.
Ruan Nan Zhu's next move frightened Lin Qiu Shi. He saw Ruan Nan Zhu reveal a smile before suddenly reaching out to grab the black top hat. Then he forcefully yanked it off—
"Ah!!!" A shrill scream emitted from the man's mouth. Lin Qiu Shi watched with eyes wide, suspecting he was seeing things. The hat had actually fused with the flesh and blood on the man's head. Ruan Nan Zhu's action was equivalent to forcibly ripping off one of the man's organs, no wonder he let out such a miserable shriek.
The pain from having his hat wrenched off seemed extremely agonizing to the man. His eyes revealed fury.
Ruan Nan Zhu directly let go of the hat and very calmly apologized, "Sorry, I just felt your hat was so nice-looking that I couldn't resist taking a closer look."
Hearing the compliment, the man's anger was pacified. He mumbled indistinctly, "I... also think... it's nice-looking."
Ruan Nan Zhu turned and left.
The other people in the restaurant had also witnessed this scene. Finally, someone broke free from their petrified state, no longer feeling that the hat-wearing man was normal. The gazes they directed at him now contained fear.
After the man finished eating, he left the restaurant. Everyone watched his departing figure and fell into noisy whispers.
"Just what on earth happened to him? What's going on with his body? How could he change into this kind of appearance..."
"Why are we only noticing something off about him now... Could he be turning into a monster..."
"How frightening. This is simply unavoidable."
All kinds of remarks were uttered, but Lin Qiu Shi and Ruan Nan Zhu appeared very calm.
Lin Qiu Shi typed to Ruan Nan Zhu: Should we go out and take a look?
Ruan Nan Zhu considered it for a moment. "You stay here and wait. I'll go out and investigate."
Lin Qiu Shi: Let's go together.
Ruan Nan Zhu reached out and pinched Lin Qiu Shi's face. "I told you to stay put, so stay put, little mute girl."
Ruan Nan Zhu's attitude was very firm. Lin Qiu Shi could only nod to indicate his acquiescence.
Ruan Nan Zhu got up and walked out, presumably to trail that man's whereabouts.
Having lost his appetite to continue eating, Lin Qiu Shi also got up, intending to return to his room. But just as he reached the doorway, someone grabbed his arm. Lin Qiu Shi looked back to see Wang Tianxin.
Wang Tianxin narrowed his eyes as he gazed at Lin Qiu Shi, his expression very unpleasant. "Well, well, if it isn't little mute girl. Your friend's not around, huh?"
Lin Qiu Shi's expression was extremely cold. He glanced around the restaurant, considering how he would smooth things over after beating up Wang Tianxin here.
Fortunately, before he could think of a solution, Wang Tianxin took the initiative to pull Lin Qiu Shi towards a corner.
Lin Qiu Shi deliberately acted powerless and let himself be dragged away while cooperatively revealing a frightened and fearful expression.
"Don't be scared, this kind of thing is pretty fun," Wang Tianxin said with an extremely wicked smile. Seeing Lin Qiu Shi's frightened appearance made him feel even more stimulated.
After all, the person before him couldn't speak either, so no matter what he did to her...
"Has he already fucked you?" Wang Tianxin asked. "I guarantee I'm more capable than him..." All kinds of vulgar words spewed from his mouth.
Lin Qiu Shi surveyed his surroundings and confirmed no one else was around before revealing a smile to Wang Tianxin.
Wang Tianxin actually thought he was willing. He was just about to reach out and strip off Lin Qiu Shi's coat when he heard the delicate little mute girl that he thought was weak, helpless and vulnerable part her lips and spit out in a masculine voice, "More capable my ass, I'll beat you to death."
These words belonged to a man. The instant Wang Tianxin heard them, his expression froze.
But this frozen state only lasted a fleeting moment, because very quickly, he discovered that he actually wasn't this female impersonator's match at all.
Lin Qiu Shi didn't get into fights with people very often, but after all, he was a grown man. Facing someone like Wang Tianxin whose body had been hollowed out by alcohol and sex, he easily overpowered him.
Wang Tianxin was given a full facial beating by Lin Qiu Shi and trembled in fear as he was trampled under Lin Qiu Shi's foot.
Lin Qiu Shi said, "Didn't you say you were more capable than him? Is this all you've got? Trash, get up—"
Wang Tianxin almost cried. He had previously felt that Lin Qiu Shi was pitiful, weak and helpless, only to find out today that the one who was actually pitiful, weak and helpless was himself. He actually wasn't this crossdressing expert's match at all!
"S-Sorry, I was wrong, bro, I was wrong!" He pleaded for mercy nonstop, his face full of entreaty.
Lin Qiu Shi said, "Who the fuck is your bro. Wang Tianxin, remember this: if you dare harass me again or say anything about what happened today, I'll kill you." He bent down and coldly said next to Wang Tianxin's ear, "After all, killing people isn't against the law here either."
Wang Tianxin shuddered violently and nodded heavily to show he understood.
Lin Qiu Shi spat out a breath of stale air. After straightening his clothes, it only took him a moment to transform back into that pitiful, helpless little mute girl.
He glared at Wang Tianxin before turning to leave.
Wang Tianxin watched his departing back, his expression dazed beyond measure.
When Lin Qiu Shi returned to the restaurant, Ruan Nan Zhu had come back too. Seeing him walk in, Ruan Nan Zhu asked, "Where did you go?"
Lin Qiu Shi typed: Just now that Wang Tianxin tried to take advantage of me, so I gave him a beating.
Reading these words, the corners of Ruan Nan Zhu's lips curved up slightly. "Impressive."
The others had rather odd expressions, seemingly imagining some other scene after seeing Lin Qiu Shi's slightly disheveled clothing.
Fortunately, there were still people on the team who couldn't bear to watch this. Someone carefully walked over and informed Ruan Nan Zhu about Lin Qiu Shi being taken out of the restaurant by someone.
That guy Ruan Nan Zhu seemed to be putting on an act again. After hearing this news, he slammed the table and angrily yelled, "He dares make a move on my person!!" Then he indignantly got up from his seat. Soon, Wang Tianxin's miserable howls and screams for mercy could be heard from outside, each cry more wretched than the last.
Lin Qiu Shi took a sip of water from the glass in front of him, pretending not to hear anything. Scumbags like Wang Tianxin deserved to be taught a proper lesson.
The hat-wearing man from before completely disappeared. But it had only been a short while, so his outcome was likely ominous.
Lin Qiu Shi was already mentally prepared, so he didn't feel particularly surprised. However, at dusk after the end of this day, something happened to him.
At the time, Ruan Nan Zhu was taking a shower in the bathroom while Lin Qiu Shi stood by the window, gazing at the trees and mist outside.
Night had just fallen and there was still some faint light. The trees were shrouded in gloomy fog, only allowing one to vaguely make out the scenery within.
In the depths of the fog, Lin Qiu Shi saw an enormous figure appear.
That figure was at least twice as tall as a human, silently standing amidst the sparse trees and seeming to be looking towards Lin Qiu Shi's location. Its hands and feet were not human proportions but long and terrifying like a spider's. With those slender limbs accentuating its height, its entire form appeared tall and emaciated, looking almost like a withered tree at first glance.
After seeing this thing, Lin Qiu Shi had intended to avert his gaze, but discovered that it seemed to be making a new movement.
It slowly approached the window as if searching for something, one step at a time, its target precisely Lin Qiu Shi's location.
Lin Qiu Shi was badly frightened and his first reaction was to pull the curtains closed, but when his hand made contact with the curtains, he felt the texture was off. These weren't the hotel curtains.
Lin Qiu Shi was very surprised. He turned around, only for the scenery of the hotel that should have appeared to transform into another place—his home.
That's right. It was the place Lin Qiu Shi used to live in.
The same living room, same decor, same cat.
Chestnut was standing in the center of the living room, meowing at Lin Qiu Shi.
This should have been a heartwarming scene, but Lin Qiu Shi felt chilled all over. Because sitting in the center of the living room sofa was someone who looked identical to him. That person's body was slumped sideways on the sofa, and even from a distance where he couldn't see clearly, Lin Qiu Shi could ascertain that this person was already dead.
This person who resembled him perfectly had been dead for a very long time. After the passage of time, his skin had started to bloat and green fluids seeped from all over his corpse. Chestnut jumped onto the corpse, rubbing against it while meowing, wanting to call her owner awake.
But how could a dead person possibly wake up? So Chestnut started gnawing on Lin Qiu Shi's face. It seemed to want to use pain to rouse its owner, but failed to control its strength. It gnawed a hole in the corpse's face until the bone was exposed.
Lin Qiu Shi knew what this represented—his deepest fear hidden in the depths of his heart.
He feared death in isolation. He feared that even if he died at home, no one would discover that he had passed away.
It might take over a week or even a month before his neighbors smelled the stench of rotting corpse and discovered his body after death.
Witnessing his own corpse being gnawed on by a cat was certainly not a pleasant experience. But Lin Qiu Shi quickly detached himself from the scene before his eyes. He recalled the records about the Noodle Man in the clues—these monsters seemed extremely adept at utilizing human fears.
They knew what humans feared the most. What people were actually afraid of wasn't ghosts, but the implications behind the ghosts... death.
Very few people had no fear of death. Lin Qiu Shi was no exception.
But the scene behind him now failed to touch upon the deepest recesses of Lin Qiu Shi's heart. He looked back towards the shadow standing outside the window and softly said, "Sorry, but should I tell you that I've moved?"
The ghostly shadow halted its footsteps.
Lin Qiu Shi said, "I have a lot of friends by my side now. If I die, they'll definitely notice." He pondered briefly before adding another line, "Maybe they can even resuscitate me if they call 120."
The ghostly shadow silently stood before Lin Qiu Shi, its face lacking features. Although there was fog obscuring it, Lin Qiu Shi still felt a sense of being watched.
"So I'm not actually that scared," Lin Qiu Shi's tone was very calm, not pretending to be brave at all. "Why don't you go scare someone else?"
"Thud." Something fell from the tree canopy, and when Lin Qiu Shi took a clear look, he discovered it was a black top hat.
Seeing this hat, he immediately recalled that hat-wearing man from their team... That man's outcome was likely ominous.
The ghostly shadow slowly bent down to pick up the hat.
Lin Qiu Shi had assumed it would directly leave after that, but unexpectedly, it grasped the hat and bowed to Lin Qiu Shi—making a gentleman's bow. Only then did it turn and vanish into the fog.
Lin Qiu Shi watched its departing back, his expression dazed. Until a pair of hands were placed on Lin Qiu Shi's shoulders, giving him a huge fright. He looked back to see Ruan Nan Zhu.
"What are you looking at?" Ruan Nan Zhu asked him.
Lin Qiu Shi pointed at the forest ahead. "I just saw that thing earlier."
Ruan Nan Zhu raised a brow. "The Noodle Man?"
Lin Qiu Shi nodded. "I saw the illusion it created."
Ruan Nan Zhu asked, "What illusion?"
Lin Qiu Shi said, "I died at home with my face gnawed off by the cat." His tone was indifferent, as if narrating some story unrelated to himself. "Now that I think about it carefully, I wonder if Chestnut would even be willing to..."
Ruan Nan Zhu: "..." He despaired at Lin Qiu Shi's level of cat-slave devotion.
But no matter the process, Lin Qiu Shi still hadn't been beguiled by that thing. He guessed that if he had been enchanted, the next person to put on the hat would be himself.
"Nan Zhu, what are you most afraid of?" Lin Qiu Shi asked him.
Ruan Nan Zhu said, "I'm not afraid of anything."
Lin Qiu Shi: "Really?"
Ruan Nan Zhu smiled and twirled Lin Qiu Shi's black hair around his fingers, gently caressing it between them. His voice was low and deep. "Really. I'm the same as you." His tone was firm and decisive, not seeming forced at all.
So Lin Qiu Shi believed him too.
"I realized it at the first door," Ruan Nan Zhu said. "Lin Qiu Shi, you're actually...very suitable for this place."
Lin Qiu Shi raised his brows: "What do you mean?"
"The literal meaning of the words - your adaptability is extremely good," Ruan Nan Zhu said. After he went out to investigate and confirmed Lin Qiu Shi was really entering the doors for the first time, he knew that Lin Qiu Shi was someone who matched very well with the world inside the doors. It wasn't easy to find someone like this.
Ruan Nan Zhu casually thought, fortunately he was lucky enough.
And so the night passed uneventfully, calm and peaceful.
When they appeared at the restaurant the next day, only 11 people remained—in just that one night, two more had gone missing.
The two who disappeared were both young ladies. According to accounts, they had still been fine when going to sleep at night, but when they woke up the next day, the people were gone.
The one sharing the room with them said someone had come to their room. The window facing the woods had been opened.
"She must have been taken away by that thing," someone said. "It's ill-fated."
The others didn't speak, but were thinking pretty much the same thing.
Lin Qiu Shi thought about the ghostly shadow that had appeared outside the window last night. He didn't want to guess what might have happened if he hadn't calmly rejected the illusion back then. Would he have disappeared without a trace in the silent depth of night just like this girl?
Before Lin Qiu Shi could think of an answer, they made an even more terrible discovery—another child had gone missing.
"There were only eight children left in this town," Ruan Nan Zhu said. "I feel like there's some connection between our missing teammates and these children."
Lin Qiu Shi also felt the same. He said, "Why don't we go look for the remaining children to see if there are any clues?"
Ruan Nan Zhu: "I still want to take another look at the canned food factory." The two exchanged glances for a moment before reaching a decision. "Split up?"
Ruan Nan Zhu: "That's also fine, but it'll be more inconvenient for you since you can't speak."
Lin Qiu Shi didn't feel it mattered much: "It's fine as long as I have my phone on me."
Ruan Nan Zhu: "Alright then. If neither of us finds anything, let's meet up at the restaurant."
Lin Qiu Shi nodded.
Then the two split up on the streets, each going their separate ways.
The place Lin Qiu Shi went was a rundown grocery store in town. According to accounts, the boss's 7-year-old son lived there. When he arrived and explained his purpose, the boss was very resistant.
"My son doesn't see strangers now," the boss said. "I'm not sure if you can guarantee his safety."
Lin Qiu Shi patiently persuaded him: I understand your concerns, but you have to know that the thing is getting stronger and stronger. If we don't find its lair early and destroy it, your son might be the next one to disappear. The other children are also being kept at home, but they still went missing.
Seeing these words, the boss's attitude softened slightly.
Lin Qiu Shi persuaded him for quite a while longer before the boss finally agreed to let Lin Qiu Shi speak with his son, but only for a short while.
Lin Qiu Shi breathed a sigh of relief and went inside. He saw a young boy sitting on the sofa playing games with his head lowered.
Lin Qiu Shi walked over and greeted him with his phone.
The boy glanced at him, seemingly reluctant to speak. He gave vague, distracted answers when Lin Qiu Shi asked him questions. That is, until...Lin Qiu Shi brought up the hat.
"The hat. You mean that black top hat?" The child's expression revealed a trace of horror. He seemed to recall something and heavily swallowed his saliva. "I think I've seen it before..."
Lin Qiu Shi's eyes lit up: You've seen it?
The boy's terrified gaze shifted to the stairs.
According to the boss's account, this building had two floors. The first floor sold groceries while the second floor was where the family lived. The boy's room was on the second floor.
"I've seen it..." The thing had been hanging on the corner of the stairs. The boy's entire body trembled as he spoke incoherently and illogically, but Lin Qiu Shi at least understood the gist of his words. The boy said that over ten days ago, a black top hat had suddenly appeared upstairs in his home. Everyone didn't feel there was anything wrong about the hat, so they just left it there on the second floor without anyone paying it any attention.
Lin Qiu Shi: The hat is upstairs? Can you take me up to see it?
The boy hesitated briefly before nodding.
Lin Qiu Shi followed the boy as they walked towards the stairs. The two kept ascending until they quickly caught sight of the second floor and the black top hat described by the boy as hanging on the corner there. But the instant Lin Qiu Shi saw the hat, he suddenly felt something was off. He halted his footsteps, his expression full of doubt. "You're saying this hat has been in your home for over ten days already? You...haven't encountered anything else strange besides this hat?" He didn't believe that the Slender Shadow Ghost would have enough patience to quietly wait more than ten days at this boy's house.
The boy's footsteps also stopped. He turned around expressionlessly to look at Lin Qiu Shi.
Lin Qiu Shi was badly frightened by his expression. Just as he was about to speak, he saw the boy tilt his head. Then his head slid right off his neck and fell straight to the floor.
Even though Lin Qiu Shi had already witnessed many similar scenes, he still sucked in a shocked breath at this sight. The boy's fallen head rolled noisily down the stairs. When Lin Qiu Shi looked back at the hat, he saw a pallid arm stretching out from inside the hat, seemingly searching for something before finally determining Lin Qiu Shi's location and rushing towards him.
Lin Qiu Shi spun around to flee. He was almost grabbed by that hand. He charged downstairs to where that rolling head had landed and was now grinning widely at him with its face planted on the ground.
Lin Qiu Shi: "..." Damn, your head's fallen off and you can still laugh so merrily. Do you not have a brain?!