Kaleidoscope of Death

Chapter 138: Twelve

After the many long nights, Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu still made no headway on the key.

Yet at the same time, they discovered that the evenings were getting shorter. First they were six hours long, then they were five, then four...This change had not been obvious at first, but came more and more into focus. Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu browsed the entire school, even going to some of the more peculiar places, but clues about the key seemed to have all gone missing, and the two of them could find no leads at all.

If they were going by the example of their previous doors, then the shortening nights was this door's hidden time limit. If they couldn't find the key, would they be simply trapped in this door? It was the thing Lin Qiushi feared most—he was scared of being separated from Ruan Nanzhu, and that the two of them would never see each other again.

The same was true for Ruan Nanzhu, but all of their efforts basically amounted to nothing. Beyond the continuous appearance of the ghosts, there were no other rules to their evenings. And all the monsters and demons changed by the lot too, while Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu grew more and more anxious about the shortening nights.

"The monster tonight only appeared three times." On this particular day, near daybreak, Ruan Nanzhu had a candy in his mouth and was analyzing the situation with Lin Qiushi. "The rate of their appearances is dropping, and the difficulty is also dropping."

A few days ago, the number of monsters reached its peak. That night both Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu sustained serious injuries, and Lin Qiushi even nearly lost his life. But ever since that day, the number of monsters sharply declined. Lin Qiushi thought at first it was the doors showing pity, but with Ruan Nanzhu's analysis, they realized that the monsters from their doors had all pretty much shown up. At this point, ghosts from the doors they'd passed prior to their eleventh were appearing.

"Is this a good thing?" Lin Qiushi questioned, watching Ruan Nanzhu. "Is this a good thing?"

It should be a good thing. The monsters were lessening, which meant the amount of danger they were in was also lessening. Despite that, Lin Qiushi couldn't bring himself to be happy.

"I don't know." Ruan Nanzhu's tone was a bit down. "I'm also not sure if this door even has a key. But maybe the 'No Solution' from the hint we got has some deeper meaning that we're not getting."

Only, they had no idea what this meaning could be.

Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu held onto each other. The dawn that ought to represent hope grew heavy with their solemnity.

It was almost morning again; Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu had to leave each other. Faced with the shortening nights, Lin Qiushi was beginning to worry that he wouldn't be able to see Ruan Nanzhu the following evening.

Ruan Nanzhu was obviously worrying too, though he didn't say anything about it. He only clasped Lin Qiushi tightly in his arms. The two of them huddled close together, their shadows merging into one on the ground.

Light beams shot out from the horizon. Lin Qiushi wanted to resist that powerful drowsiness, but in the end failed. He fell deeply asleep, and in his arms, Ruan Nanzhu's breaths too evened out.

As their evenings grew more peaceful, it was their days that became hard to bear. After Lin Qiushi woke, he got out of bed and sat silently by the window for a long time. Then he went over to his desk and began to fastidiously record something.

Knocking suddenly came at the door. Lin Qiushi went to open it, and saw Wu Qi, carrying food[1] and beer, on the other side.

"Are you alright, Qiushi?" Wu Qi was watching him with some concern. "I haven't seen you in over a month, and you haven't been picking up your phone."