When she sensed Navy Blue Pajamas come up behind her, Zheng Wuyou instinctively turned sideways to give him a better view.
Miao Laisheng crouched down, bringing his tall frame low. His handsome face drew close to the seal on the door, his gaze fixed on it. "It was only put up today, no more than seven hours ago. The colored paper is still fairly soft and easy to deform at this point; the edges are curling."
His fingers ran along the edge of the seal. He looked so serious he might as well have been wearing white gloves and reenacting a crime-scene investigation.
For a moment, Zheng Wuyou thought she understood his profession...
"There's a seal on every door. Does it mean only one of them is the right door?" Zheng Wuyou had hurried back from the two doors at the end of the hall, and the riddle had made her furrow her brow again.
"Yeah. It should have something to do with getting through this." Miao Laisheng stood and headed for the fourth door, his eyes fixed on the writing.
The people gathered by the first room exchanged glances, worried they might disturb the two of them. In the end, they sensibly went into the slightly more spacious room.
At least they wouldn't feel so cramped they could barely breathe in there.
[This very night, I take a small boat to bid you farewell; from now on, in life and death, we each go our separate ways.]
Zheng Wuyou's gaze fell on the words on the door. The line sounded like a poem a scholar from ancient times might have written to the person he loved.
But what did it have to do with this place?
"Wen Dian, time to put your expertise to use!" Zheng Wuyou kept her eyes on the door, but called out to the person inside the room.
"You haven't misunderstood. It's about the sorrow of a final parting, with the two people separated by life and death... But what does that have to do with this door?" After hearing her interpretation, Wen Dian gave her a brief explanation of the poem, still half-asleep.
But were there really people in this village with that kind of education?
People who could quote ancient poetry here?
Zheng Wuyou shook her head. For now, she still couldn't connect the poem to these doors.
Not even the story...
Wait...
Separated by life and death...
Zheng Wuyou's eyes lit up. She turned toward the stairs and counted the doors.
She was standing in front of the third door—the room the woman had climbed out of through the window.
She'd nearly forgotten that woman existed!
Why bother solving any more riddles? The answer had been staring her in the face all along!
Zheng Wuyou looked at the seal on the doorknob and tore it off in one swift motion.
With a ripping sound, the door in front of her swung open.
Hearing the noise, everyone poked their heads out of the room and looked toward Zheng Wuyou.
Miao Laisheng calmly came to her side.
The third room held none of the terrifying sights she'd imagined, nor was there anyone inside.
There was only a yellow wooden table in the middle of the room.
A hairpin lay on top of it, glimmering in the evening light.
A hairpin?
Why was there a hairpin here?
The three of them stood in the doorway, stunned by the hairpin's strange presence.
Its design was clearly different from Madam Zhao's.
Zheng Wuyou stepped forward and picked it up with one hand. Even after examining it closely, she couldn't find any clue about what to do next.
"Is... is this really the right door?" Wen Dian followed her in curiously and looked around. The square room was completely empty.
There wasn't even a bed.
"..." Zheng Wuyou took a deep breath. She'd solved one challenge, only to find herself facing another.
Was there really enough time for all this?
Only a thin strip of twilight remained on the distant horizon. The sky overhead had already turned the same color as Miao Laisheng's pajamas.
The eerie nursery rhyme grew louder as it drew near, ringing in everyone's ears.
Crows took flight from halfway up the mountain, and the Rooster returned to its coop.
White Candles appeared in piles once more outside every wooden door.
Zheng Wuyou looked anxiously out the window, her face full of worry.
"Why don't we go back to our rooms and get some sleep, then deal with all this tomorrow?" Wen Dian gazed out at the world sinking into darkness, as if he'd already forgotten what kind of place this was.
They had thought opening the door would lead them to the world beyond, where everything would end, but now even Wen Dian wasn't sure what to do.
Zheng Wuyou could only nod hesitantly.
But before she could return to her own room with the hairpin in hand,
she heard a scream from inside.
Then Hu Yu and the others came fleeing from the room in terror, rushing toward the first floor.
The timid Wansi was the last to run, throwing herself straight into Zheng Wuyou's arms.
"T-that woman's back!" Wansi buried her face against Zheng Wuyou's waist, her words muffled.
That woman?
Miao Laisheng looked at the calm figure before him and gave a helpless, dry laugh.
It was obvious she'd been hiding part of the story from everyone.
So soon today?
The sun had only just set...
Zheng Wuyou looked toward the doorway, a sense of foreboding rising in her heart.
Then another scream came from downstairs. Hu Yu and Guo Mu were shouting.
The four people upstairs heard Uncle Cai's voice growing fainter as he yelled from below, "Everyone upstairs, hide!"
"W-what does he mean?" Wen Dian took half a step back. The window without a frame sent a steady draft of cold air down the corridor.
It raised goosebumps on his skin.
But no one noticed that behind them, the seals on the two remaining doors had been blown away by the cold wind.
The doors slowly opened...
Zheng Wuyou stared at the doorway to her room. Hide? Where could they hide?
Could they take refuge in Miao Laisheng's room?
At that thought, Zheng Wuyou turned around—but through the gap between Wen Dian and herself, she saw someone appear in the doorway of the fourth room behind them. The person was familiar, but not quite.
It was the bridal attendant from that morning!
With her eyes tightly shut and her hair hanging loose, she slowly emerged from the fourth room.
Her skin was as white as a zombie's in a horror movie. Zheng Wuyou feared she might suddenly open her eyes.
A faint sound came from the cramped stairwell, then the person with only half a head began to appear in Zheng Wuyou's field of vision.
They were being attacked from both sides...
"This way!" Somehow, Miao Laisheng had already climbed out the window from beside the third room. He stood on the roof of the woodshed, half a meter away across the gap, calling to the three people still on the second floor.
Damn!
He could've said something before he left!
Zheng Wuyou cursed silently.
The woman in Zheng Wuyou's room seemed to realize they were about to leave. She rustled away from the bed and moved toward them.
The person at the stairs had already set one foot on the steps and was charging straight toward them, their target clear.
The bridal attendant in the fourth room stayed where she was, as if waiting for her moment.
The woman began to come into view.
Even under the light, her figure was still a patch of darkness.
But where could they go once they reached the roof across the gap?
Were they supposed to spend the whole night up there, freezing in the wind?
There was no time to worry about that now!
Zheng Wuyou had meant to ask Miao Laisheng to help Wansi across, thinking Wansi wouldn't dare jump.
But Wansi was the first to leap through the half-meter gap toward the opposite rooftop.
Wen Dian and Zheng Wuyou exchanged a glance, then climbed up to the window together and stepped onto the frame.
They steeled themselves, shut their eyes, and leaped across.
Just as she was congratulating herself for landing safely on solid ground, her foot slipped.
All she could hear was the sound of countless roof tiles sliding down...
Her heart sank. Something was wrong!
Before you continue