Kaleidoscope of Death

Chapter 87: Exit the Town

The oil lamps that had fallen from his bag were scattered across the floor.

Lin Qiushi looked over, and saw the Landlady standing at her courtyard door, holding her knife and glowering at them with poison in her eyes. It was a relief to Lin Qiushi that holding that knife, she didn't seem capable of leaving the yard, and so could only watch them from afar. It was a scary sight to be sure, but at least there was no immediate risk of death.

Gu Longming slapped a palm onto Lin Qiushi's shoulder and sighed, "Linlin, you're amazing..."

Lin Qiushi didn't know what to say to that at all, and so opted for a smile. "Let's put the lamps in your bag for now."

"Mmh, okay," Gu Longming nodded and speedily gathered up the lamps on the ground.

Many lamps from his bag now had a deep gash from the knife on them. It didn't take a genius to see that had the knife stroke not hit the lamps but Lin Qiushi's back instead, Lin Qiushi would've been done for on the spot. The lamps were now cracked, but at least the lamp oil was still solid. Under the vigil of the Landlady, the two rushed to pick up all the lamps, and turned to leave.

They stole a total of seven lamps; should any incidents occur these would still last them until the end. But, if Lin Qiushi's guess was correct, something was almost certainly happening tonight.

The two returned to their room, set the lamps down, and didn't plan on leaving again. They would stand guard inside the room. After all, this many lamps were too heavy—they couldn't be brought about or safely left anywhere. If the lamps got switched out or stolen by that Yan Shihe bastard again, the loss would be major.

Gu Longming's mind was still on what had just happened. He asked, "Linlin, do you often find yourself in that kind of situation?"

Lin Qiushi went through his memories a bit, and nodded.

"Fuck man." Gu Longming's face was full of admiration; he was out of ways to compliment Lin Qiushi. As he gestured widely, he continued, "don't you know how scary it was! A forty meter machete—good thing you got thirty-nine meters ahead!"

Lin Qiushi, "..." He didn't know what to say to that at all.

Fearing lamp theft, they even ate lunch inside the room. Lin Qiushi was truly a bit bored, and got that genealogy back out of the bag. He wanted to see if there were any additional clues.

But, with the lamp lit and the book opened, he saw that once again the family photos had changed. Lin Qiushi discovered that the children had disappeared from some of them, leaving only the figure of the Landlady.

Gu Longming stood right beside Lin Qiushi, and saw these changes as well. He stared with wide eyes, then peeked at Lin Qiushi: "After we took the lamps, these ghouls disappeared. Seems like it really was the Landlady sealing them away..."

Lin Qiushi nodded, "should be." Then their guess wasn't wrong.

Gu Longming, hesitatingly, "but..." His finger prodded at the pictures that hadn't changed. "What's up with these ghouls?"

Lin Qiushi answered, "the ancestral shrine."

At this, Gu Longming immediately recalled the main room of that shrine—bright as day and densely populated with the human oil lamps. In this town, putting tablets in the ancestral shrine was clearly not only to worship, but also to suppress those river ghouls.

Initially, Lin Qiushi contemplated whether or not to release those ghouls. However, Yan Shihe had brought people to fetch those lamps, and an awful fate had befallen the last man to take a lamp. So if it wasn't necessary, Lin Qiushi didn't want to take that risk.