CH 9

Xu RenDong opened his eyes suddenly: “Lian Qiao!”

His shouts echoed back and forth in the metal elevator, shaking his eardrums. Xu RenDong never knew that he could still make such a terrible voice. He sat in the silver-gray elevator and stroked his neck blankly. The skin there was smooth, soft, and intact, with no trace of being cut.　　

… I came back again?　

He slowly got up and his suit jacket slipped from his arms. The surrounding air temperature dropped little by little and soon, “ding”, the elevator door opened again.

Outside the door was the unchanging snow scene.

As if nothing had happened, as if the pain he experienced was only an illusory dream.

But…

He lowered his head and saw his tie on his chest. He still clearly remembered this tie wrapped around Jiang Li’s ankle when he was lying on the ground with his blood flowing. He had been terrified of dying and he had no time to think about it. It was only now that he realized he had been betrayed.

He was betrayed by someone he had helped.

Xu RenDong clenched his fists and dug his nails into his palms.

The anger seemed to become solid and it stuck hard on his chest, making him breathless. For a moment, he didn’t even want to leave the elevator. Anyway, no matter how hard he struggled, he was going to die, so what was the point?

Why doesn’t he just accept fate’s arrangement and die here quietly… Why doesn’t he just stay trapped in this place forever… Why?

Obviously, other people in the team do not have the ability to resurrect after death, otherwise there would be no dead people in this world. But why was he the only one to resurrect?

Why did he have to experience the pain of death repeatedly? What did he do wrong? Is one tragic death not enough?

Why me?

Despair robbed him of the temperature of his heart bit by bit, making him feel cold from the inside out. He hugged his arms in silence but suddenly there was a strange and familiar feeling in his heart.

… He remembered the feeling of Lian Qiao holding his arm.

Oh, Lian Qiao!

Xu RenDong looked out of the elevator, and sure enough the trail of footprints were still there in the snow.

The world will reset after he is resurrected, that is to say-

Lian Qiao was now in danger!

Before the brain understood what was happening, his body had already reacted. He strode out of the elevator and began to run wildly along the footprints into the snow.

The forest was as silent as ever and he could only hear his own gasps and footsteps in the snow. Xu RenDong didn’t know how long he ran until his chest was so painful that his lungs were about to split and there was a smell of blood in his throat. Finally he saw the figure standing in front of the stone stele in the clearing.

“Lian Qiao!” He shouted with all his strength, “Don’t touch the doll!”

“…?!” The slender boy withdrew his hands like an electric shock. He turned around and opened his eyes in surprise. “Who are you, who are you?”

Xu RenDong ran to him, panting violently, clutching his chest. He couldn’t speak for a while, so he grabbed Lian Qiao’s hand and motioned for him to stay away from the doll.

Lian Qiao flinched as if he wanted to withdraw his hand but didn’t dare. There was a little terror in those eyes that were always smiling. He asked timidly: “How do you know my name?” 

That’s right, the world has reset so Lian Qiao doesn’t remember him anymore.

Xu RenDong said: “I know you, I…”

This time, his voice was cut off before the key part was mentioned. His throat seemed to be blocked by a blood clot, so hard that it hurt.

“…?” Lian Qiao looked at him anxiously, his long eyelashes blinking like bird wings. Obviously, he was scared.

He is afraid of me.

He doesn’t remember me anymore, he has lost all his memories…

He doesn’t remember me anymore.

Xu RenDong suddenly felt a pain in his heart. His hand grasping Lian Qiao’s let go  little by little.

“…I don’t have malicious intentions.” Xu RenDong’s throat felt bitter.

“Um…” Lian Qiao showed a thoughtful expression and quietly rubbed his wrist. Seeing his red wrist, Xu RenDong realized that he had grasped it too hard just now and had hurt Lian Qiao.

He was about to apologize but then Lian Qiao rubbed his nose and asked embarrassedly: “Have you watched my live broadcast?”

Xu RenDong was silent for a moment, then said, “Yeah.”

Lian Qiao muttered, “I actually have such a good-looking male fan…”

Xu RenDong didn’t hear clearly: “What?”

Lian Qiao smiled. He seemed a little shy so he changed the subject: “Where is this?” He looked at the doll on the stone tablet. “And why don’t you let me touch this?”

Xu RenDong tried to explain to him the elevator and the ghost world and found that there was no hindrance this time. But when wanted to mention the rabbit and the task of collecting matryoshka, his voice was stopped again. It seems that he cannot reveal this part yet.

After the initial surprise, Lian Qiao gradually calmed down and walked side by side with him towards the hunters cabin. The closer they got to the cottage, the more complicated Xu RenDong’s mood became. He knew that he was about to meet that group of people again; the kind Yuan XueMing, the violent Xu Hong, several people who had already died and… Jiang Li.

Jiang Li who had repaid his kindness with violence, Jiang Li who had brutally killed him.

He didn’t know with what mood to face her and Wang Yuan.

“That’s right.” Lian Qiao spoke suddenly, interrupting his contemplation. “I don’t know what your name is?”

Xu RenDong told him and Lian Qiao said “Huh” in surprise, “Is it the RenDong from honeysuckle?”

This exact same line pierced Xu RenDong’s heart again. The corner of his lips twitched and he smiled bitterly. “It’s RenDong that means ‘endures winter’.”

“Oh.” Lian Qiao showed the same disappointed expression as last time.

When they came to the hunter’s cabin, Yuan XueMing opened the door for them. Just like last time, after the rabbit released the mission, Yuan XueMing briefly explained the rules of the world. Then Xu Hong got angry and stormed upstairs.

This time, Xu RenDong quietly paid attention to the reactions of Jiang Li and Wang Yuan and found that they were like water droplets merging into the river, perfectly mixed in with the crowd. When others were flustered, they were also flustered. When others were nervous, they were also nervous. They behaved very naturally, not like old-timers who have already experienced one world before.

No, maybe they still lied about their own experience. With such an acting ability and such a clean killing technique, if Jiang Li were not naturally gifted, she would have experienced more than one terrifying world.

As he thought this, Xu RenDong’s expression became colder. He didn’t notice that he slightly pursed his lips and there was a kind of indifference and distance in his eyes.

“…” Lian Qiao originally wanted to say something but he couldn’t help but shrink back when he saw his repelling attitude.　　

Everyone looked different and fell silent, leaving only the crackling of the firewood in the fireplace.

Yuan XueMing said: “Let’s pick a room and rest early.”

Xu RenDong offered to share a room with Lian Qiao, and before everyone else, picked the one with the hidden doll.

He didn’t rush to get the doll behind the curtain but opened the cabinet and took out the winter clothes and quilt from inside. Lian Qiao made the bed with him and then lay down  under the blankets. Xu RenDong glanced at the time, it was half past eleven. Lian Qiao’s body clock hasn’t reached sleeping time yet and it is estimated that he would take another half an hour to fall asleep.

Although Xu RenDong was tired, he still cheered up secretly and waited for Lian Qiao to chat to him. Unexpectedly this time Lian Qiao just stared at the ceiling in a daze. After a while, he turned around and fell asleep with his back to him.

“…” Xu RenDong noticed the anxiety and precaution in this small action and couldn’t help but feel lost.

Xu RenDong waited until Lian Qiao was asleep and got up quietly. After finally covering up the bed and putting on a thick coat, Xu RenDong couldn’t help shivering and looked back at Lian Qiao with some nostalgia.

Sleep well.

Although the rabbit wouldn’t come to their room on the first night, there were still matters to deal with just in case. He unscrewed the doll in the corner, took out the key to the basement and gently hid the doll on Lian Qiao’s body.

After doing this, he went downstairs alone in the midnight chill.

Acting according to the original play-through, he climbed to the top of the tree with the help of a ladder and successfully got the doll from the nest. Like last time, there were two chocolates in the matryoshka. Xu RenDong touched this hard candy and suddenly remembered what Lian Qiao said: The roof of the church seems to be like Kisses chocolate.

He didn’t know if this chocolate tasted delicious or not.

When he was about to return to the house, he thought of something and went to the basement again and took the crowbar.

Everyone was sleeping peacefully in the room and the lights were not turned on in the stairs so it was too dark to see anything. Xu RenDong took out his mobile phone and lit it with a torch. As soon as he went to the second floor, he ran into a gray-haired rabbit covered in blood.

“…” Xu RenDong looked at the room with bleeding stains.

“…” The rabbit looked at the crowbar in his hand.

The atmosphere suddenly fell into a deadlock.

The rabbit sniffed its pink nose and the three-lobed mouth was pouted, showing a slightly tangled expression. It reluctantly said: “You, do you…”

Xu RenDong took out the matryoshka that he had just bought and shook it before it’s eyes. The rabbit saw the matryoshka clearly and let out a long sigh of relief. It seemed to be happy so it kicked off again.

As Xu RenDong watched it disappear into the darkness, he suddenly felt that it seemed a bit like a hard-working worker who had completed today’s tasklist and didn’t want to work overtime.

It kind of made him feel…. more ordinary?

In the early morning of the next day, the crowd fell into panic again after discovering the body. Sure enough, Lian Qiao was shocked into hiccupping again and it took a long time to relieve it. After breakfast, Yuan XueMing led everyone in the house looking for  matryoshka and easily found the one in the kitchen cabinet. So the compass was found again.

“We also saw one on the way here.” Xu RenDong said calmly, “but there seemed to be something guarding this matryoshka. I didn’t think it was right so I didn’t take it.”

After this rebirth, Xu RenDong concealed that he had a doll in his hands. He couldn’t trust others but he also didn’t want to deprive others of the right to survive. Therefore, he only collected the two hidden dolls that were not easy to find and left all the easy-to-get dolls for everyone else.

Yuan XueMing asked the location and nodded: “Then let’s go get this doll first.”

Xu RenDong casually found an excuse to say that he didn’t want to go and Lian Qiao expressed that he wanted to explore the house again. Yuan XueMing didn’t force it. Everyone followed him and set off. Xu RenDong noticed that Jiang Li glanced at him when she was walking away. Xu RenDong looked back coldly and Jiang Li immediately turned her head away.

While Lian Qiao was overturning the box and the cabinet, Xu RenDong bent down, picked up the crowbar from behind the curtain and pretended to be surprised: “Hey, there is a stick here.” 

When Lian Qiao saw the crowbar, his eyes flashed: “The Holy Sword of Physics.”

Xu RenDong couldn’t help but raise the corners of his mouth but still asked faintly: “Is it useful?”

” Yes, it is! Super useful!” Lian Qiao was excited and gave him a rundown of the 100 uses of crowbars. Then he looked at him blankly with a “want” expression on his face.

“Then you take it.” Xu RenDong said.

Lian Qiao said in surprise: “Really? But you found it…”

Xu RenDong said: “It’s dirty, I don’t want it.”

Lian Qiao happily held the crowbar in his arms. His heart-felt satisfaction reminded Xu RenDong of a hamster with a bulging mouth full of food. Xu RenDong recalled his sad expression in the sacristy of the church with all the things he wanted to take but couldn’t. Suddenly he wanted to ask something, “Do you have hamster disease? Do you like hoarding things?”

Lian Qiao was stunned: “How do you know…” 

He quickly reacted again, “Oh right right, you watch me live!”

Xu RenDong smiled without explaining. He glanced at the curtain, stretched out his hand and pulled the whole curtain off. Lian Qiao opened his eyes wide in surprise and saw Xu RenDong shaking off the dust on the curtains saying, “This cloth can temporarily serve as a sack.” He thought for a while, untied the tie on his neck, and tied the four corners of the curtain together with the tie. “This way it shouldn’t break.”

Lian Qiao was stunned by his operation and said happily: “Really! Brother RenDong, you are amazing!… But your tie…” He stared at Xu RenDong’s slightly exposed neckline and delicate collarbone. It was unknown what he was thinking and he looked away uncomfortably, “Aren’t you cold? Your neck…”

Xu RenDong threw the simple sac to him and said, “It’s okay, you take it.”

Lian Qiao covered his face: “What should I do, it feels like I’m being dominated by a wave of true fan love….”

Xu RenDong did not hear clearly: “Huh?”

“Nothing, nothing.” Lian Qiao carried the crowbar in one hand and held the sack in the other. When he touched the dark tie with his fingertips, he found that there was still some residue temperature on it. The thought that this tie and that beautiful collarbone had only been separated by a thin layer of shirt… Lian Qiao felt like his fingertips were going numb. An itchy feeling spread from his fingertips and crawled into his heart.　　

Xu RenDong had already walked out of the room: “Let’s go and take a look outside.”

Lian Qiao looked at his back, quickly rubbed his face and solemnly warned himself: “No, no, I don’t **** fans!”