Kaleidoscope of Death

CHAPTER 33: A DIARY

After briefly recounting the scene he had witnessed just moments before, Lin Qiushi fell quiet.

Having listened to the other's strange encounter, Ruan Nanzhu also became lost in his thoughts. Minutes passed by before his low voice finally broke the tense silence, "Let's head on over to the top of the tower and look around."

With that, he set forth and advanced onwards to the next floor of the pagoda.

In a trance, Lin Qiushi followed him closely from behind. He simply couldn't clear his mind of that foreboding illusion. He kept getting a feeling that what he had just seen wasn't as simple as they thought it to be, that there was actually a much deeper meaning behind it.

The highest floor of the pagoda was utterly bereft; there was absolutely nothing.

The top of the pagoda only held a simple skylight. As soon as one looked up, they would catch view of the skies as well as that mysteriously eye-catching spherical monument positioned at the spire.

Ruan Nanzhu wordlessly gazed at the sculpture. Cheng Qianli and Lin Qiushi kept hushed, trying not to disturb him.

Lin Qiushi slowly circled around the top floor, scouring every inch of the area, only to find nothing. Just as he was about to open his mouth to speak to Cheng Qianli, a faint scritch echoed from the wall near him.

It sounded as if someone was digging their fingers into the wall, relentlessly clawing and scratching; such a disturbing sound only made people's hair stand on end.

By now, Lin Qiushi was vaguely aware of how unnaturally acute his hearing was. However slight a noise was, he was still able to hear it loud and clear; he was easily able to capture sounds inaudible to most ears. And judging from Cheng Qianli's foolish and oblivious appearance, with his goggling eyes and gaping mouth, the young boy evidently didn't hear it.

This time, Lin Qiushi did not ask Cheng Qianli whether he heard anything. He walked directly to the wall in question and softly knocked on it. Immediately after, the scratching sounds coming from within ceased, and with that, Lin Qiushi figured something out. Out of all the walls on the top floor, only this particular wall was hollow.

"It looks like there's something inside." Lin Qiushi suddenly pointed out.

"What? Something's inside?" Cheng Qianli wondered curiously. "Right here?" He also knocked on the wall, and sure enough, it reverberated with a hollow echo.

Ruan Nanzhu withdrew his gaze from the spire of the pagoda, "Is that so?"

"This wall is hollow." Lin Qiushi added, "I want to try to pry it open and take a look inside."

Making his way over, Ruan Nanzhu stretched out his hand and perceptively felt around the surface. Without a change in expression, he fished out a long, sharp object from his pocket and slowly started tearing the wall apart.

Lin Qiushi was dumbstruck, "He had something like this up his sleeves?"

A proud-looking Cheng Qianli: "Of course, this is nothing to him! Big brother Ruan is too awesome, too powerful! Nothing can stand in his way!"

The wall chipped away under the other's strength, and soon enough, the entire wall had been pried apart, exposing a secret dark compartment. And inside the compartment was a small red box with no locks.

Ruan Nanzhu reached inside to take the box out.

All of their attention was on the box before them. Ruan Nanzhu's fingers twitched, his hand cautiously inching closer to the object. He then opened the lid of the box, revealing a hardcover leather journal.