Kaleidoscope of Death

Chapter 136: Ruan Nanzhu

That night, all of Lin Qiushi's nerves were bunched up at maximum tension. His reason told him that all those images had been fake. Nevertheless, the sight of Ruan Nanzhu's burned-up face kept surfacing in his mind. The scariest thing was, Lin Qiushi was beginning to have doubts about the Ruan Nanzhu who'd been texting him.

Did the person on the other end of the line truly exist? Or, if something had happened to Ruan Nanzhu, would he choose to hide it, and keep up texting Lin Qiushi to pretend he was fine? That could very well be true, since there was precedent in Ruan Nanzhu's behavior. Lin Qiushi clutched at his phone in the somber evening, as if he was holding on to a bomb that could blow him to pieces at any second.

The idea that had already taken root somewhere in his brain sped up in its germination thanks to the terrifying scene from earlier. Lin Qiushi recalled the vow that he and Ruan Nanzhu had made—if something were to happen to one of them, they wouldn't insist the other survive.

It was at that moment that the phone in Lin Qiushi's hand suddenly vibrated. He quickly picked it up, and saw a text message onscreen—it was from Ruan Nanzhu, precisely the person who'd been weighing so heavily on his mind.

Ruan Nanzhu wrote: I'm fine. Qiushi, how are things on your end?

Eyes downcast, Lin Qiushi typed out two words, and deleted them again. In the end he only wrote: I'm good. Don't worry about me.

Moments later, Ruan Nanzhu texted again: Are you okay? Did something happen?

Lin Qiushi sighed. The two of them knew each other so well that even without saying anything, Ruan Nanzhu could already guess that something was wrong; though his answer had been vague, how could Ruan Nanzhu not understand with that intellect of his? Just as Lin Qiushi was contending with this, Ruan Nanzhu sent another text.

To his surprise, it read: Qiushi, I met you inside the door.

Lin Qiushi, "..." He read the words on the screen and didn't know what to say.

Are you really Qiushi? Are you really there? Ruan Nanzhu sent another text, only, the questions in it struck at Lin Qiushi's very soul. I'm wondering the same thing.

Lin Qiushi replied: Then do you have an answer?

No, Ruan Nanzhu wrote. No answer.

Lin Qiushi asked another question: Are you scared?

Ruan Nanzhu took a while this time to reply to Lin Qiushi. He said: I'm not scared of anything. I'm only scared that I won't get to die with you.

When he read this, Lin Qiushi couldn't help but laugh. At the same moment, a giant wave of confidence surged in his chest. He typed out slowly: Ruan Nanzhu, is it okay if I come find you?

If Ruan Nanzhu was even a little bit hesitant in answering his question, then Lin Qiushi would not continue. The difficult would only compound with two people together, after all, so if Ruan Nanzhu wasn't willing, Lin Qiushi couldn't possibly go over there and make things more lethal and troublesome for him.

But Ruan Nanzhu's answer came quickly. There was only a single word on it: Yes.

Seeing this reply, Lin Qiushi's exhausted expression broke open into a brilliant smile. He began to laugh, laughing so hard that tears fell from the corners of his eyes. Then he tucked his phone into his pocket and flipped up his middle finger at the building behind him, crassly cussing: "Don't you try to fucking scare me anymore, I'm going to go find him now! You moron!"