CH 96

Chapter 96 – Without a Key 8

Xu RenDong woke up in the elevator.

His shadow was reflected on the familiar silver-white metal body. This scene had been repeated countless times, like a maggot on the tarsus, and had become his deepest nightmare.

Xu RenDong unconsciously touched his heart. The severe pain of being pierced through the heart by the dagger still lingered in his mind and his scalp was slightly numb. It could not be relieved for a while.

“I don’t get it…” Lian Qiao’s soft muttering sounded in his ear, “What the hell is a lock that doesn’t need a key…”

Xu RenDong was inexplicably startled. He turned his head to the side and looked at Lian Qiao blankly.

“What’s wrong?” Lian Qiao was taken aback by his strange reaction and looked at him with wide eyes in confusion, “Did you think of something?”

Xu RenDong retracted his gaze and said nothing.

The scene where Lian Qiao killed him just now was exactly the same as the scene that flashed in his mind at the comic exhibition.

Why?

Why did that flashing hallucination actually happen? Why were there no traces of sadness when Lian Qiao attacked him?

Xu RenDong clearly remembered his last expression. It was full of murderous rage and was terrifying. His soaring hostility was as though he were not facing a lover he was about to lose but… his enemy.

Maybe Lian Qiao just didn’t want him to suffer, so he stabbed him cleanly and ended his life in the quickest way. Maybe after he died, Lian Qiao would hug his body and cry. Or maybe Lian Qiao was in shock and couldn’t accept such a blow mentally, so he showed such an abnormal reaction…

But…but…

Xu RenDong imagined countless possibilities but the sense of loss in his heart could not be resolved.

Xu RenDong suddenly remembered what Zhong Xiu had reminded him: Lian Qiao hid a lot of things from him.

Lian Qiao was actually not as innocent and harmless as he appeared on the surface.

“Ding”, the elevator door opened, interrupting Xu RenDong’s thoughts.

Xu RenDong took a deep breath and walked out of the elevator. Lian Qiao followed behind on crutches, looking at his back thoughtfully.

The huge tulou covered the sky and the moon was displayed in front of them again. The gloomy wind was blowing and hundreds of red lanterns were hung high, swaying slowly in the night wind. There was a ghostly atmosphere in the air.

Eighty-one players stood in groups in twos and threes on the lower xiatang square. The circular pool in the middle of the square was bottomless and the dark green pool water exuded a faint fishy smell, as if to imply that there is something terrifying hidden in the pool and made people afraid to approach it.

Everyone was still shocked that there were so many players in this instance and the old lady in red with bound feet soon made her debut. 

After a brief greeting, the old lady took everyone upstairs. One reason was to introduce the tulou and the other was to allocate rooms. After everyone settled down, the old lady floated away and left everyone to have a good rest.

Rest was impossible. After all, whether or not one could stay alive was a problem and no one was here to holiday. Everyone took the time to go out and explore.

Well it’s called ‘exploring’ but really it was just running around like headless flies. 

The ancestral hall on the ninth floor was guarded by the old lady in red and no one could enter. Although the water pool on xiatang square was of concern, everyone stood by the pool for a while and no one dared to go into the water to find out what was inside, so they could only disperse.

As for the kitchen on the second floor, the murloc was agile and could swallow living people. If someone came across it, they would naturally yell. At this time, it was noisy outside but it was all the sound of people going up and down the stairs. As for the screaming and crying, it was never heard.

“The sound insulation of this floor is too bad.” Lian Qiao pricked up his ears and listened to the footsteps on the stairs not far away, “There are people walking upstairs in the middle of the night. It’s not a problem of being scared to death but being disturbed to death.”

Xu RenDong lightly took a sip of tea and organized his thoughts in his mind.

Lian Qiao tilted his head to look at him and asked, “Brother RenDong, when are we going to explore the map?”

“Let’s go later.” Xu RenDong said, “It’s too chaotic outside at the moment and will cause a ruckus.”

Lian Qiao said “oh”. After a while, he couldn’t sit still, took up his crutches and stood up: “I’ll go check outside to see if anyone has found anything useful.”

Xu RenDong didn’t stop him and so Lian Qiao went alone. Xu RenDong remained in the room drinking tea.

After more than an hour, Lian Qiao came back angrily.

“Nothing.” Lian Qiao pouted, “There are too many people and you can’t see anything when everyone is crowded together. Just a bunch of people running amok like locusts, making a mess everywhere. I thought the old woman would get angry. But she actually didn’t do a thing. Now they are all tired from tossing about and the maids are cleaning up the mess.”

“That’s why I said we should go out later.” Xu RenDong said lightly, poured him a cup of tea, “Drink some water. “

Lian Qiao drank the tea and turned to glance at the silhouette of the girl at the window.

“These girls look scary. They seem to have only one expression, that really creepy smile. But they seem to be really here to serve us. I just passed a room and saw a girl who was washing someone’s feet… I don’t know how that person can think of it…”

Xu RenDong listened quietly and responded from time to time. The night was getting dark and the surroundings were quiet. Everyone seemed to have stopped.

Lian Qiao rubbed his eyes, yawned and asked, “Brother RenDong, aren’t we going to explore the place? I’m a little sleepy…”

Xu RenDong glanced at the time: “It’s still early. Let’s go to bed first.

” Hmm…” Lian Qiao blinked his eyes slowly, his head drooping lower and lower, “Brother RenDong, this instance is so difficult…if…”

He seemed so sleepy that he couldn’t even open his mouth and his mutterings were becoming lighter and lighter, and was only vaguely audible: “…don’t…save…uh…”

Xu RenDong removed the teacup in his hand, stretched out his hand and caught Lian Qiao’s shaky head.

Lian Qiao has fallen into a deep sleep, making a uniform “hu, hu” (snoring) sound. He gently put Lian Qiao’s chin on the table and stared at Lian Qiao’s sleeping face.

Lian Qiao’s sleeping face was a little childish, his brows and eyes were completely relaxed and he looked like an unsuspecting baby. Xu RenDong watched for a while, took out the climbing rope from the backpack, flattened Lian Qiao’s body and tied him firmly to the bench.

Even though he was tied like a roast suckling pig, Lian Qiao was not awakened.

Because Xu RenDong put sleeping pills in the tea.

This sleeping pill was actually put into the backpack by Lian Qiao in case of emergency. Of course he would not have thought that Xu RenDong would actually give him drugs.

As soon as Xu RenDong opened the door, the maid who was waiting outside the door greeted him and bowed to him: “Guest, if you need anything, please tell this slave.”

Xu RenDong suddenly noticed countless eyes. He narrowed his eyes and looked around. He saw more than a dozen beautiful girls standing in the corridor of the TULOU, all of whom were driven out of the guest room by everyone. These girls were so beautiful and enchanting but everyone was reluctant to stay in the same room with them. Therefore, this row of girls stood in the corridor like candles in the night and, when they heard Xu RenDong come out of his room, they turned their heads in unison.

“Guest.”

“Guest.”

“Guest.”

…

One after another the word, like broken tapes, came out from the dozen or so mouths. The maids all had slightly stiff smiles on their faces and a dozen eyes were staring straight at this place. Anyone would feel horrified.

Xu RenDong got goosebumps all over but his face remained calm. He suddenly had an idea so he said to the maid next to him: “What’s your name?” 

The maid said, “This slave is called Yuan Zhu.”

“Okay.” Xu RenDong pointed to the maids in the corridor and ordered Yuan Zhu, “You tell them to turn their backs and don’t look at me.” 

The maid bowed slightly and replied, “Yes.” However, before she could speak to the crowd, the girls all turned around in unison. The movements were uniform, like sunflowers chasing the sun.

It seemed that these maids really obeyed his words and did not dare to question or disobey him. He just didn’t know where their bottom line was.

Xu RenDong waved again: “Yuan Zhu, come here. Kneel down on all fours.”

Following his instructions, YuanZhu obediently knelt beside the railing. She lowered her head, her bangs hung down, covering half of her face, so he couldn’t see her expression.

“Don’t move for a while. I want to climb up on your back.” Xu RenDong ordered.

“Okay.” Yuan Zhu nodded meekly and even adjusted her posture slightly to make her body more stable.

Xu RenDong raised his foot and stepped lightly on the back of the kite bamboo. It was obviously a girl’s back, slender and weak, unable to bear the weight of an adult male at all. But Yuan Zhu didn’t question his order in the slightest. Just because he said so, she did it. Even if she will get hurt if it goes on like this.

Xu RenDong hesitated for a while but finally retracted his feet.

Even if the opponent is an NPC, he really can’t do it. So he said, “Forget it, get up.”

Yuan Zhu got up from the ground and the fox eyes that slanted upwards looked at him shyly and timidly, very lovable.

Xu RenDong pointed to the red lantern above her head and said, “Go find a stool, climb up and help me take off this lantern.”

Yuan Zhu did as she was told. Soon, the lantern arrived in Xu RenDong’s hands.

As Lian Qiao said before, there was a strangely shaped candle in the lantern. Lian Qiao said it was a ring but Xu RenDong originally thought it was a hollow cylinder. Only now did he know that it was really a ring.

The white candle ring is erected on the candlestick, with a small candle burning at the top, which is particularly fragile after losing the shelter of the lampshade. Xu RenDong blew lightly and the candle went out.

He peeled off the candles from the outer layer of the ring. The residual heat of burning remains on the candle, so it was very soft and easy to peel. Soon, white debris fell to the ground and the contents of the candle were exposed.

It was a silver ring. It is engraved with fine textures, like some kind of inscription or a totem. The lighting was not good so he couldn’t see clearly. 

Xu RenDong thought it was a bracelet at first but it didn’t look like it in size. The diameter of this ring was about half the size of an ordinary bracelet. Don’t mention an adult man like Xu RenDong, even a girl with a slender wrist bone can’t wear it. Of course, this is also definitely not the size of a ring for the finger.

Xu RenDong looked at it for a while but really couldn’t understand what it was.

The only certainty is that it protects the wearer from evil.

—This candle is so different so it was obviously the key prop. And when everyone was under the control of evil, only Shi JianChuan and him were unaffected. At that time, Shi JianChuan thought logically that he also carried such a prop. It can be seen that Shi JianChuan is immune to control precisely because this ring was on his body.

…but what about him?

There was no ring on his body at that time so why didn’t he indulge in meat and appetite like Lian Qiao and everyone else?

What was secretly protecting him?

Could it be…

Xu RenDong sighed softly. He went back to the room and stuffed the ring into Lian Qiao’s pocket.

When he came out again, the maids who were driven out still had their backs turned to Xu RenDong, showing him only dreamy slender backs. Xu RenDong knew that soon  everyone would lose their minds and drag these girls into the room to do some beastly things.

He didn’t want to think about it, so he turned his head and went upstairs.

Go to see Shi JianChuan.

***