CH 10

The snow outside has stopped. Xu RenDong followed the direction of his memory and took Lian Qiao to the church. The helmet-like church roof unique to Russia appeared in front of him and Lian Qiao was surprised and swallowed.

“It looks like Kisses chocolate…”

Xu RenDong has been waiting for these words for a long time. He took out two chocolates and dangled them in front of Lian Qiao’s eyes: “I happen to have these but they’re not Kisses. Want them?”

“Huh?” Lian Qiao was surprised and quickly smiled. He said honestly, “Yes!”

Xu RenDong gave him both pieces of chocolate and Lian Qiao asked with some confusion: “Aren’t you going to eat one?”

Xu RenDong was about to say he didn’t want one but after thinking about it, he felt that it was not appropriate. After all, he was still a stranger to Lian Qiao at this time and Lian Qiao might be worried if the chocolate contained some sort of problem. So he took back a piece of chocolate, opened up the candy wrapper and put it in his mouth.

The chocolate  was too sweet and cloying. Xu RenDong couldn’t help but frown quietly.

At the same time when Lian Qiao had the chocolate in his mouth, he showed a heartfelt happy expression.

“It’s sweet.” He smiled so that his eyes were curled up, “Brother RenDong, thank you.”

Xu RenDong saw that he liked it so very much. If he had known he would have given him the other piece too.

After sharing the chocolate, the two walked into the church. The chapel was empty at this time and Jesus on the cross bowed his eyes. His expression of compassion was as if he hadn’t changed it in a thousand years. The benches were messy and the chapel was so dusty that it obviously had been left unattended for a long time.

Xu RenDong pretended to look around in the chapel and then offered to look at the back. When he got to the dim corridor, Xu RenDong remembered the feeling of the cold blade against his neck in the darkness and his body trembled instinctively.

Lian Qiao looked at his bare neck and frowned, “Are you still cold?” He reached out to remove the tie from his sack, “I’ll give it back to you.”

“No.” Xu RenDong didn’t want to remember too much so he opened the door of the sacristy. The exhibits inside successfully diverted Lian Qiao’s attention. He wowed and rushed in with excitement. Xu RenDong stepped back and said, “You search this one, I’ll go next door.”

Taking advantage of Lian Qiao’s search in the sacristy, Xu RenDong began to fumble around on the corridor walls. He recalled the place where his throat had been cut and very quickly his hand touched something ‘empty’. His hand actually penetrated the wall!

Xu RenDong was surprised. He originally thought there was some kind of mechanism here but he didn’t expect that part of the wall could be passed through as though it were made of thin air. He probed around it and found that the gap was about one person wide. From the outside it looked like  a normal wall but there seems to be a lot of space inside.

Sure enough, this church is not a “目” type structure, but instead there was a room hidden between the sacristy and the prayer room. Lian Qiao should have discovered this already last time but before he could confirm it, Jiang Li took the first step, extinguished the lights in the corridor, dragged him into the secret room and cut his throat.

At this point, Xu RenDong felt that his throat was itchy and the horror of being cut was still clearly engraved in his body. He suddenly felt very uncomfortable and was extremely reluctant to go in alone so he called out: “Lian Qiao.”

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” At this time, Lian Qiao looked like a migrant worker during the Spring Festival, with a simple burlap sack made from curtains piled full like a hill on his body. However he didn’t seem to think it was heavy at all. He ran over with a bright smile and a spring in his step, as though he was about to burst into the song “Good Luck”.

Looking at his radiant face, Xu RenDong was afraid that he had probably already emptied the sacristy

What a sin, a sin.

Xu RenDong shook his hand and when Lian Qiao saw that half of his arm was buried in the wall, he couldn’t help but exclaim: “This is a hidden room?!”

Xu RenDong took out his phone and turned on the flashlight: “Let’s go in and take a look.”

“Wait, wait. “Lian Qiao stared at the wall and took a deep breath, “Let me psychologically prepare myself…”

People are always afraid when facing the unknown, although it should be mentioned that Lian Qiao was already very courageous. However, Xu RenDong already knew what he was dealing with so he stretched out his arm naturally.

Lian Qiao was taken aback: “Huh?”

Xu RenDong said: “Hold me.” 

Lian Qiao glanced at him in surprise. His brain filled in a few gaps, then he flushed vigorously, stammered and backed away a few steps.  He waved his hand, “Com-comrade! Please respect yourself! This is a ghost situation ah! Don’t you know the horror film’s laws of death?”

{Author’s note says that the phrase ‘Hold me’ or ‘Hug me’, common in Japanese hentai, can also be interpreted as ‘f*** me’ lol. Lian Qiao’s brain is being dirty and then he said they can’t because usually couples that have sex in horror movies always die lol.}

Xu RenDong was confused and raised his arm again: “I mean, if you’re scared, just hold my hand.”

“…” Lian Qiao stared at him with big eyes, suddenly took a breath, covered his face and looking terribly ashamed, began to cry. “Ahhhhhhh!”

Xu RenDong: “?” He had no idea what was happening so could only coldly watch him howl.

Lian Qiao peeped at Xu RenDong from the crevices of his fingers and realized that he was still looking at himself, so he burst out in shame and shouted again.

Xu RenDong: “…”

He didn’t want to waste any more time so he grabbed Lian Qiao’s arm and forcibly dragged Lian Qiao in. Before Lian Qiao could react, his whole person had already passed through the wall and the sound stopped abruptly. There was a dark room in front of him. Xu RenDong held his mobile phone aloft, lighting it using the flashlight.

“Huh?” Lian Qiao was suddenly dazzled by a burst of metal reflections. When he could see what the silver-gray thing was, he couldn’t help but be overjoyed, “It’s the elevator! We found the elevator!”

Xu RenDong said “Yeah”. He was still looking for the light switch when suddenly the whole room suddenly lit up.

The circumstances were special when he was dragged in last time. Xu RenDong didn’t have time to observe this place carefully and only then discovered that it was a very empty room. There was nothing in the room except the elevator, not even dust on the floor. The surrounding walls were dazzling white and even the ceiling and the ground were snow white, giving people the feeling of being in a different dimensional space.

But there were no lights and no switches. Where did the light come from?

Xu RenDong was puzzled and walked around the elevator. This exit elevator looked exactly the same as the entrance elevator that had sent them in. The fuselage was square and the silver-white metal surface reflected the cold light. The only difference is that the buttons on the elevator were gone, leaving only a circular dent. It seems that Yuan XueMing wasn’t lying to them, they really had to find both the elevator and the elevator button to get out of here.

Now that the elevator is found, what about the button?

Before Xu RenDong had time to think, he suddenly heard voices from outside. The two left the hidden room and found that Yuan XueMing and his party had also come to the church. Yuan XueMing asked: “Did you find anything?”

Xu RenDong took them to see the elevator. Everyone was very pleasantly surprised: “Great! Finding the elevator is half the battle won!” 

“Next, just collect the dolls, right? Then after that the rabbit will give us the button, right?”

Hope was like a warm flame, illuminating everyone’s face. Yuan XueMing also gave Xu RenDong another approving glance: “You found such a hidden place.” After a pause, he asked, “Have you seen the other rooms?

Lian Qiao said, “I have already searched the sacristy and ransack-.. I mean, explored it. I didn’t find anything useful.” Speaking calmly while the huge package was about to slide down his shoulders…

Everyone looked at his bulging backpack with complicated eyes. 

Xu RenDong turned his head silently, inexplicably feeling like an adult who had not educated his child well. Yang XueMing coughed and said, “Then let’s hurry up and search the rest now. “

Soon, they found the doll in the prayer pavilion. At this time Yuan XueMing was still the leader of the team and the doll was naturally handed over to him.

Xu RenDong recalled the blizzard they encountered after leaving last time and urged: “Let’s go back early, I’m afraid it’s going to snow later.”

Yuan XueMing agreed. Everyone wrapped up their winter clothes again and started the journey. Before leaving, Lian Qiao turned his head and took a deep look at Jesus on the cross. Xu RenDong looked at him with a solemn expression and his heart suddenly tightened, thinking that Jesus was bleeding again but upon a closer look, it wasn’t. After all, they set off earlier this time and the blizzard was still a long way off.

Xu RenDong asked: “What’s wrong?”

Lian Qiao said, “I was thinking, what exactly is the ‘holiday’ that the rabbit is referring to.”

Xu RenDong was taken aback. He was reborn so many times but he never thought about this problem. He always thought that the holiday festival that the rabbit said was just a time limit, meaning that they must find all the dolls within seven days, otherwise…

Otherwise, no one knows what will happen. But obviously, it won’t be anything good.

At this moment, Yuan XueMing, the leader of the team and who was holding the compass in his hand, turned around and said: “You two, keep up! Be careful not to fall behind!”

Xu RenDong and Lian Qiao hurried to catch up with the team.　　　

This time, everyone rushed back to the hut before the blizzard. Today, they not only found a new doll but also found the escape elevator, which was quite rewarding. Everyone was in high spirits but unfortunately the only food in this house was Leba and milk, so there was no way to celebrate with a big meal.　

After dinner, it got dark. Everyone sat around the fire and chatted happily. It hasn’t been two days since they met each other and they were clearly in a world where ghosts and monsters were rampant. Someone had even just died this morning but everyone tacitly ignored these facts and was completely immersed in the joy of hope.　

Xu RenDong sat in the corner and played with the hard wooden matryoshka in his pocket. He knew that at this time they didn’t know that people would continue to die tonight. Their happiness stemmed from ignorance and the harmonious and friendly atmosphere at this moment was like a fleeting meteor flashing across the night sky. Soon, they would fall into a new round of fear because of a new death.　

Ignorance was sad and pathetic.

But how about knowing the result but being unable to change it?

Xu RenDong sat alone in the silent darkness. He didn’t realize that at this time, his body exuded an aura that no one could get close to, silently rejecting people and relegating them thousands of miles away. Although everyone was talking and laughing, no one came to talk to him. Even the two young girls who were fascinated by his looks just watched from a distance, not daring to come close.

Only Lian Qiao sat beside him. Seeing that he seemed to be in a bad mood, he didn’t force a conversation with him. He just sat there quietly, accompanying him. Guessing that the milk in his hand was cold, he handed him a warm cup.

The tea party ended like this. Everyone went back to their rooms to rest.　

Lian Qiao still stuck to his body clock and eventually went to sleep. Xu RenDong listened to the even breathing of the person next to him and somehow he felt quite settled. Gradually, he became drowsy.

However, halfway between being asleep and awake, Xu RenDong suddenly heard a faint scream. The voice was full of despair but it was faint because it was some distance away.

Xu RenDong woke up suddenly, pricked up his ears and listened to the voice outside. The screams quickly disappeared, replaced by disturbing silence.

Deathly silence, representing death.

Lian Qiao slept very heavily and was not awakened by this faint scream. Xu RenDong forced himself to close his eyes but after that he could no longer fall asleep. He simply got out of the bed and went outside to breathe. Unexpectedly, as soon as he opened the door, he saw a flash of light by the corridor window.

“Hey.” In the darkness, Yuan XueMing turned his head and let out a breath of smoke leisurely, “Can’t sleep?”

Xu RenDon : “Yeah.” 

Yuan XueMing took out the cigarette box: “Want one?”

Xu RenDong usually restrained himself and rarely smoked. But watching Yuan XueMing’s relaxed posture leaning on the window sill and smoking, he suddenly wanted to indulge. So he walked over and took a cigarette. Unexpectedly, Yuan XueMing’s next sentence made Xu RenDong’s nerves tense again.

“You lied, didn’t you?”