abcnovels
Chapter 55
Chapter 55: The Missing Children
All fourteen people who entered this door gathered in the plaza of the small town.
Seizing the opportunity, Lin Qiushi had been observing the surroundings the entire time. This small town seemed to be rather run down; a good half of the shops along the street were closed. During the few times a breeze swept past, it’d lift the dust off the sides of the street making the small town seem even more desolated.
They were near a notice board at the side of the plaza. Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu, having walked over to take a look, discovered that missing posters of children around seven to eight years old were tacked on it. They were both males and females, and these posters have only just been put up recently.
Having seen these posters, Lin Qiushi straight away thought of the slenderman mentioned in the hint. Although the slenderman also targeted adults, its primary target was usually children. It seems that the disappearance of these children were more or less caused by the slenderman.
As the group of people were discussing spiritedly, an imposing middle aged man approached them from the end of the plaza. He gave a simple self-introduction to the group of people, claiming to be the mayor of the town. He then gave them the identity they were assigned within this door.
“I hope that you are able to help us find the missing children,” the mayor said. “These children all disappeared within the span of a week. We’ve searched everywhere within the town, but we couldn’t find them. I hope that you all are able to complete this task that we entrust to you and find the missing children.”
This was the clue the door gave.
After the mayor finished speaking, he brought them to the inn they were to be lodged at.
The appearance of the inn and the small town matched well; they were both very dilapidated. At the front of the inn sat an old man who was dozing off. At the sight of the mayor bringing people over, he didn’t even open his eyes to greet them but casually took out a bundle of keys on a ring and then closed his eyes to go back to sleep.
The mayor was clearly accustomed to this and said, “We rarely receive visitors and because we’ve lost some children, people have become quite wary and self-conscious. Please be considerate when you are inquiring for information.”
The inn only had two-person rooms and the group quickly found a person to share a room with.
Without mishap, Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu ended up in the same room. Because he was playing the role of a mute girl, he was silent the entire time. When somebody looked at him, he pretended not to notice.
That Wang Tianxin seemed to still be interested in him, but he hid it well. Only, Lin Qiushi would occasionally feel his gaze on him.
Lin Qiushi acted as though he did not notice.
Once the matter of rooming was sorted, the mayor told them some facts about the small town.
This town was once a fishing village. After a dam was built, the fish population decreased and the economy began to deteriorate. There weren’t any other industries in the small town other than a fish cannery at the very west of the town. At the east end was the town cemetery, and the mayor told them to avoid going there if they could help it.
The group quietly listened; some of them even took notes. The key NPCs usually supply the most important information, and it would be these information that lead to the key.
After they’d dallied for some time, everyone was a little hungry. And so, they went downstairs to eat something light.
The food here tasted terrible. The bread was so hard and dry that it pained their teeth to chew. Other than the bred, there was only another sauteed fish that looked unappetizing. Lin Qiushi didn’t dare eat after a single look at the wide-eyed corpse of the fish. Would he get some sort of food poisoning if he ate it?
Ruan Nanzhu didn’t touch the fish either and only ate some bread. He hadn’t spoken much after arriving at the inn, appearing to be thinking about something.
After they finished this terrible meal, the group decided to get some rest so that they could better welcome the coming of the second day.
Lin Qiushi also decided to rest and after washing, he climbed into bed.
It was a standard inn room with two beds. His was closer to the window while Ruan Nanzhu’s was closer to the door.
After taking a shower, Ruan Nanzhu walked out shirtless. As he dried his hair with a towel, he asked, “What do you think?”
Lin Qiushi was curled up at the headboard, messing around on his phone. “Let’s go talk to the parents of the missing children tomorrow and see what information we can find.” he said, and after contemplating for a bit, he added,“Since the mayor mentioned the cannery, maybe we should do some investigating there as well.” The town wasn’t very big and there were only so many clues. Logically, there should be information they wanted at the cannery.
Ruan Nanzhu, “En. How do you feel?”
Lin Qiushi thought that he was asking about his feelings about this door and thus obediently answered, “It’s okay. It’s just that the food here really is unpleasant.”
Ran Nanzhu raised an eyebrow, “I’m asking about how you feel about acting as a mute girl.”
Lin Qiushi, “…”
Ruan Nanzhu: “Doesn’t it make you happy?”
In the face of Ruan Nanzhu’s menace, Lin Qiushi turned as timid as a puppy and gave a very faked laugh, “It does, it does!” Oh, why did he never think twice before speaking back then?
One was forced to admit that Lin Qiushi’s current expression in his female form was incredibly cute. It doesn’t matter whether Lin Qiushi was willing or not, his answer made Ruan Nanzhu feel satisfied. He had even given him a light laugh, “As long as you like it.”
Lin Qiushi: “…” Why did he feel a sense of foreboding?
After they talked for a while, the two went to sleep on their respective beds.
The blinds that covered the window next to Lin Qiushi’s bed allowed him to see the shadows of what was vaguely outside. When there was a slight breeze, the trees would rustle. And although this hotel looks dilapidated, the condition inside wasn’t bad. Its one flaw was that there were still mosquitoes in such cold weather. Their buzzing caused quite a disturbance. Lin Qiushi lay on the bed, trying to empty his mind as much as possible so that he could quickly slip into slumber.
Yet when he was just about to fall asleep, he felt Ruan Nanzhu gently poke his back. He wanted to turn his head around but was stopped by Ruan Nanzhu’s hushed tone, “Don’t move. There’s something outside.”
Lin Qiushi jolted and was immediately wide awake.
As he carefully looked over, something very hard to describe had attached itself onto the tree branch. That creature seemed to have merged with the tree branches in a twisted manner. It was thin and slender like a snake. It was easily missable if one hadn’t looked clearly.
Lin Qiushi watched as that creature slowly reached out its hand and placed it on the surface of the window. It flipped open a blind. Lin Qiushi had expected to see a pair of black pupils but instead saw a ghastly white face with nothing on it… that creature did not have eyes at all.
“Close your eyes,” Ruan Nanzhu suddenly said.
Lin Qiushi immediately shut his eyes. His sense of hearing was incredible. He could hear clearly the blinds of the window being flipped open.
Soon after was a rustling sound, as if something was walking upon the grass.
Ruan Nanzhu never told him to open his eyes. At first, Lin Qiushi was able to restrain himself, but after his patience ran out, he asked, “Is it over?”
Silence.
Lin Qiushi felt his heart tighten. Worried that something had happened, he turned around and opened his eyes and found Ruan Nanzhu behind him, already fast asleep.
Lin Qiushi: “…” It seemed like this sleeping pill spirit is not only able to induce sleep on others, but on himself as well.
Outside the window, the night returned to tranquillity, and closing his eyes, Lin Qiushi fell asleep.
It was dark and raining on the second day.
The temperature was a little cold and pitter-patter came from the rain.
Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu woke up early the next day. Together, they went down to the dining hall. Lin Qiushi could hear, from the moment they entered, the sound of flirting coming from Wang Tianxin and that girl. Both of them appeared to have gotten closer after a single night. The girl who was beguiled by Wang Tianxin was smiling brightly as they fed each other breakfast.
Lin Qiushi took a look at Wang Tianxin. Really, how admirable these people are. In a world such as one within the doors, they could still find it in themselves to indulge in such pleasures. From a certain aspect, they were truly elites.
Ruan Nanzhu followed after him into the dining hall. Once the both of them entered, they attracted the gazes of almost everyone within the hall. Some of them were looking at Ruan Nanzhu, who often had a striking appearance, but some of them had looked at Lin Qiushi sensually.
At first, Lin Qiushi found it baffling. It was only until, halfway though breakfast, when he went to the bathroom and glanced at the mirror did he realize that there was something off…
He stretched out his neck to take a look at his reflection carefully only to discover that a red mark of unknown origin had appeared under his earlobe. That mark itched, probably left behind after a mosquito bit him. But although Lin Qiushi knew it was a bug bite, other people did not. Not to mention, its placement was ever so ambiguously intimate.
Lin Qiushi was torn between crying out loud and laughing. He scratched at it with his fingers, only to cause it to become even more itchy.
This mark won’t vanish any time soon. Lin Qiushi took a deep breath and sighed. He could only give up. After washing his hands, he turned to leave, only to run into Wang Tianxin walking into the bathroom from the outside.
This inn was very small; there was only a single bathroom on the first floor and it was unisex.
Having encountered each other in the narrow bathroom, Lin Qiushi twisted out of the way and indicated for Wang Tianxin to go first.
Wang Tianxin smiled at him and suddenly spoke: “Why are you so scared of me?”
Lin Qiushi, having heard his words, looked at him in surprise.
“Clearly, what he and I are doing are the same, so there isn’t a need for you to make me into a bad person?” Truth be told, Wang Tianxin’s voice was quite pleasant and he had a pair of pretty, peach blossom eyes. Even outside of the door, he was the type well liked by girls.
He reached out and grabbed Lin Qiushi by the arm: “Am I right?”
Lin Qiushi knew that Wang Tianxin had misunderstood. He wanted to free his arm from Wang Tianxin’s grip, but he was afraid that using his full strength would expose his true identity. He could only grab his phone with his other hand and type out: [We aren’t like that, you’ve misunderstood.]
Who could have guessed that upon seeing those words, Wang Tianxin had laughed coldly and say, “Are you taking me for a fool? Don’t tell me that the mark on your neck is a mosquito bite?”
Lin Qiushi: Hah. It really fucking is.
Wang Tianxin glanced outside and suddenly broke out a sinister grin, “Say, if I were to do you right here and now, would he find out?”
Lin Qiushi: “…” He silently looked at Wang Tianxin’s not exactly robust physique and thought to himself: My friend, don’t be so sure you’d be the one doing me.josei
What Wang Tianxin mistook Lin Qiushi’s expression for is unknown. He grinned and said, “What? Now you know to be afraid?”
Lin Qiushi looked around the bathroom frantically, already contemplating over what kind of asskicking he should give this guy that would best relieve his annoyance.
But just when Lin Qiushi was about to act, another person’s footsteps suddenly echoed in from outside.
Even then Wang Tianxin would not let Lin Qiushi go. Only when Ruan Nanzhu appeared at the doorway, fixing him with a vicious gaze, did he unwillingly let go, a fake smile playing on his lips.
“Qiuqiu,” Ruan Nanzhu’s voice was cold. “Is someone making things difficult for you?”
Lin Qiushi looked at Ruan Nanzhu. Right when their eyes met, Lin Qiushi suddenly understood. Lin Qiushi’s ‘mythical inner drama queen took over his body. Sniffling back tears, he threw himself into Ruan Nanzhu’s arms, with an air of “oh look how wretchedly I was bullied.”
Ruan Nanzhu looked up, and turned his gaze towards Wang Tianxin.
Probably because Ruan Nanzhu’s expression was truly terrifying, Wang Tianxin, who had been arrogant up until now, withered with an awkward smile, “A misunderstanding; it’s all a misunderstanding. I didn’t do anything to Qiuqiu…:”
Ruan Nanzhu barked, “This is the last time.” His voice was as cold as ice. “If I find out that you’ve attempted to do something to her, I’ll end you.” The words ‘I’ll end you’ did not seem like simple tough talk. Even Lin Qiushi, who was leaning into Ruan Nanzhu’s embrace, detected a deadly intent concentrated behind those words.
Ruan Nanzhu meant it.
Lin Qiushi knew, and so did Wang Tianxin.
As a result, Wang Tianxin hastily made a sound of agreement, turned around and fled, even abandoning his original goal of using the bathroom.
Lin Qiushi watched his hurriedly retreating figure and he wanted to spit at him.
“Are you alright?” asked Ruan Nanzhu.
Lin Qiushi nodded and then pointed to the mosquito bite under his ear.
Who would have anticipated that in the next moment, something warm and soft pressed onto that spot and sucked at it momentarily. Lin Qiushi’s eyes widened and reflexively went to push away the person in front of him. Yet, Ruan Nanzhu chirped a faint laugh and said, “Little Miss Mute, you really believed that I was a good person?”
Lin Qiushi, “…” Great master, do you really get that much joy out of performing?
“I’m not a good person,” Ruan Nanzhu’s finger rubbed at that spot, drawing out an involuntary shiver from Lin Qiushi. Lin Qiushi opened his mouth, wanting to speak. Ruan Nanzhu motioned for him to be quiet, warning him they were being listened.
“As long as you’re obedient and do as I say, I’ll help you get out alive,” said Ruan Nanzhu, “If you’re disobedient, don’t blame me if I decide to leave you behind, stuck inside all by yourself.”
Lin Qiushi, “…” That would’ve been enough.
Ruan Nanzhu added, “Do you understand?”
Lin Qiushi could only nod.
Ruan Nanzhu made a satisfied expression and led Lin Qiushi out by his hand.
At this moment, Lin Qiushi finally figured out the evil truth behind why Ruan Nanzhu had him play the role of a mute girl. If not for the fact that he had to stay in character, Lin Qiushi would at least be able to retort and poke a hole in Ruan Nanzhu’s sudden desire to perform. But as a person who cannot speak, by the time Lin Qiushi typed a quip back on his phone, Ruan Nanzhu was done with his performance.
Lin Qiushi finished his cup of milk and sighed internally. How evil is the human heart…
The way other people looked at Ruan Nanzhu and Lin Qiushi became even more sensual. He reckoned that they also saw them as a pair who had hooked up.
Lin Qiushi truly had no choice but to suffer in silence. He could only shoot glares at Ruan Nanzhu from time to time.
Ruan Nanzhu shamelessly said, “Stop staring. Anymore and I’ll be hard.”
Lin Qiushi, “???” What the fuck do you mean with going hard?
Finally finishing breakfast, Lin Qiushi hurriedly dragged Ruan Nanzhu out from the dining hall. The plan they made yesterday was to go take a look at the homes of the missing children.
There were very few inhabitants in this town. Allegedly, there were only about eight or nine children living in the town in total. Having three go missing was naturally a big deal.
Ruan Nanzhu and Lin Qiushi arrived quickly at where the first child who had disappeared lived. Along with them were some experienced people from the group.
The family of the child put up a cold attitude when they saw them. They only talked when prompted and from start to finish, did not give up any information of their volition.
Fortunately, they were still willing to answer questions. Ruan Nanzhu asked some crucial questions: When did the child disappear? Where did he disappear? Who was the last person that saw him? Were there signs foreshadowing his disappearance?
“His temperament was always odd.” As a parent, the disappearance of their child should be something that made them sad, yet the attitude of this family member contradicted it. It was as if they were unwilling to say more than necessary, “He’d always be out and about, unwilling to come home. He disappeared in the evening six days ago. After he left the house that day, he never came back at any point. Before he went missing, he met with his older sister. As for signs; if there were signs, how would he go missing?”
Everyone noted down the information given. The child’s sister happened to be standing by the side so Ruan Nanzhu approached her and asked her a few questions.
Probably because he was handsome, he easily got the attention of the young woman and she interacted with them with a pretty good attitude.
She seemed to be around seventeen or eighteen and she looked quite plain with freckles on her face. Her beautiful golden hair was particularly eye-catching.
She said, “Before my little brother, Lauren disappeared, he said that he was being followed. But this town is a small town and we had no visitors. Who would follow a kid around? At that time I didn’t take his words to heart…” She seemed a little guilty and her eyes grew damp with tears.
“Do you mind if we take a look inside his room?” Ruan Nanzhu asked.
The sister replied, “Go ahead, we’ll take you there.”
The missing child’s name was Lauren and his room was in the attic. It was a very small and very messy room. A small bed was crammed into this small space, along with various books and other random things.
As the attic was truly too small, they couldn’t all go in at once. They split off into smaller groups and took turns investigating.
Ruan Nanzhu, Lin Qiushi, and another woman were the first group to enter.
Ruan Nanzhu walked straight to the bookshelf, while Lin Qiushi began inspecting Lauren’s bed.
Soon, Lin Qiushi made a discovery. He found a diary hidden under Lauren’s pillow. He swiftly reacted and stuffed the diary into his clothes in the blink of an eye and nonchalantly continued his search. It was at this time that Lin Qiushi realized the benefits of women’s clothing. Men’s clothing were mostly rather simple and it would be difficult to hide something on their body.
Ruan Nanzhu found a large number of Lauren’s notes. Before he had disappeared, Lauren was doing research on the urban legends of the area. These legends were very abundant and among them was the slenderman the hint had contained.
“It seems that he knew something was off beforehand,” Ruan Nanzhu said. “Within this door, there are signs that foretell death.”
Lin Qiushi nodded and signalled that he understood. He then pointed at the entrance.
Ruan Nanzhu looked at him and understood what he wanted to convey, “Let’s go out then.”
Claiming that they wanted to take a breather, the two of them exited the house. After they found a place where no one else was around, Lin Qiushi dug out Lauren’s diary from the confines of his clothes.
Ruan Nanzhu grinned as he watched, “You seem well practiced.”
Lin Qiushi had been holding back for so long; he felt that he was about to die. “Stop messing around, quickly let’s see what’s written inside.”
Ruan Nanzhu nodded. He unlocked the lock on the diary with ease and saw the contents of the diary.
Recorded in the diary was the everyday activities of the child, complaints about his parents, complaints about his school, and such. Wait, there’s a school?
Lin Qiushi asked, “This town has a school?”
Ruan Nanzhu, “Probably, though it’s most likely in a neighbouring town.”
Lin Qiushi, “Oh… the mayor didn’t mention it.”
Ruan Nanzhu, “So it turns out this kid was not their biological child, no wonder his parents were indifferent.”
Lauren wasn’t related to his father by blood; he was the child of his mother’s previous marriage. His stepfather never really liked him and often made trouble for him, going so far to even beat him. His stepfather seemed indifferent towards Lauren’s disappearance, as he did not care at all about the disappearance of this child.
“What about Lauren’s mother?” Lin Qiushi asked, puzzled.
“Doesn’t seem to have mentioned her,” Ruan Nanzhu answered. “…now that’s very strange.”
It was indeed very strange. When they were in the house, they did not see the mistress of the house, nor did anyone bring up the fact that this house once had a mistress.
As Lin Qiushi flipped through the diary, he found some information about the child’s disappearance.
In the diary, Lauren regularly complained about being constantly followed by somebody on his way to and back from school, but he could never figure out who it was.
At first, his tone was indignant and rather fed up, but soon, these attitudes dissolved into fear. Lauren seemed to have discovered something….
“It appeared outside my window again. I’m hiding under the bed, hopefully it won’t find me.”
“This time I’m hiding in the closet. Thank god I didn’t hide under the bed, I saw him bend down and reach under the bed, as if looking for me.”
“Nobody believes me, they all think I’m crazy. That creature squeezed in through the cracks of my window. I don’t know what it is.”
“I know it’s name now, but there isn’t enough time, it’s too late…”
“Everything is over.”
These were the most recent entries in Lauren’s diary. Just a few days ago, he wrote down the final three words: Everything is over.
That was the last entry. Lauren disappeared soon after and thus the diary was not written in again.
“That creature appears to have taken the child away,” Lin Qiushi said as he finished reading through the diary. “The slenderman…”
Ruan Nanzhu, “Where could it have taken the child….”
Their gazes met and Lin Qiushi smiled awkwardly, “He couldn’t have been taken to the cannery, right?”
The only place that stood out in this town was that cannery.
Ruan Nanzhu, “Where should we go next?”
Ruan Nanzhu, “Did you eat canned fish this morning?”
Lin Qiushi immediately shook his head. The canned fish never seemed appetizing, and Lin Qiushi didn’t like eating heavy flavours for breakfast so he was even less interested in it.
Although he did not touch the fish, other people ate a lot. Especially Wang Tianxin, he seemed to be particularly fond of fish.
Lin Qiushi, “Can’t think about it in detail, it’s too disgusting.”
Ruan Nanzhu, “Where do you want to go next?”
Lin Qiushi, “There are still a few other missing children, let’s go see their family. It’d be good if we can find something that they have in common.”
Ruan Nanzhu nodded, agreeing with Lin Qiushi’s suggestion.
Thus the two of them headed towards the homes of the other two missing children. On the way, they began to discuss other details pertaining to the small town.
Of course, in order to maintain the persona of a mute girl, Lin Qiushi did not dare to speak too much. Pretty much from beginning to end, he was using the text-to-speech function on his phone to talk with Ruan Nanzhu.
Ruan Nanzhu took in the sight of Lin Qiushi looking down to type, and beamed: “Qiuqiu, you’re very cute.”
Lin Qiushi: [Where am I cute?]
Ruan Nanzhu, “All of you are cute. I want to pick you up and lock you up so only I could look at you.”
Lin Qiushi, “…” Ruan Nanzhu, do you know how much you resemble a pervert right now?
Ruan Nanzhu, “Haha, I was just joking.”
Lin Qiushi, “…” Truth be told, with every time Ruan Nanzhu said these words, Lin Qiushi had the impression that he was being serious.
Translated by Lori
Edited by Dust Bunny