Night fell.
Although the inn had plenty of empty rooms, the five of them chose to crowd into the living room and take turns resting.
Barring any surprises, they would spend the entire week like this.
Qin Manjiang did not particularly mind. He felt fear too, but strangely, even when panic and timidity showed on his face, his thoughts remained completely unaffected by his emotions.
Sometimes Qin Manjiang wondered whether something was wrong with him. Even when Li Xijiu had died alone in a sea of flames to save him, he had remained emotionally calm.
He had cried, and there had been tears on his face, but he had only realized he was crying after belatedly reaching up and touching them.
It was a strange feeling, as though a pane of transparent glass inside him neatly separated body and soul. His soul watched helplessly as his body experienced every emotion and desire first, then relayed them back.
It was not his soul experiencing an emotional shift that then caused a physical response.
The feeling was like...
His body telling him, You should cry now. Only then did his soul realize... Oh, right. I should be crying at a time like this.
His body said, You should be afraid now, and once his soul received the message, it responded accordingly... Right. I should be afraid now.
He did not know whether this condition, or this sequence, was normal. Perhaps he was overthinking it, and everyone was like this?
He looked at the others, who had already lain down, and put those thoughts aside.
Qin Manjiang had the first watch. It was a small favor the others had given him. As the youngest person there and the least experienced new player, he received a little extra consideration.
After all, the early part of the night passed quickly, and none of them could fall asleep that soon anyway. An hour or so would be over before he knew it.
After witnessing Mr. Chen's sheep face appear in the mirror earlier, the atmosphere among the five had grown even more oppressive.
They had even turned on every light in the living room. In a place like this, darkness only made things more unnerving.
Qin Manjiang gazed out the window. It was almost eleven. Each of the five would stand watch for an hour and a half, so in another half hour or so, he could hand over his shift and rest.
Time ticked away, and eventually, exhausted from a full day of travel, the others could no longer hold out and fell asleep one after another.
Except for the person taking the next watch.
That was Liu Jingqing, the soft-spoken female writer.
She merely rested with her eyes closed, without falling asleep.
As the time to change shifts approached, Liu Jingqing opened her eyes and said to Qin Manjiang, who was keeping watch, "Classmate... Qin, could you... come with me to the bathroom?"
She looked a little embarrassed. Indeed, using the bathroom in a place like this was an enormous challenge, and one none of them could avoid.
Besides, whether on television or in movies, far too many horror scenes took place in bathrooms, adding another layer of terror to a place meant for relieving oneself.
Qin Manjiang stood and nodded. "Sure. Let's go."
It was only natural. Going together had to be safer than letting someone go to the bathroom alone.
After glancing back at the other three, who were already asleep, Qin Manjiang and Liu Jingqing quietly left the living room and headed toward the bathroom at the end of the corridor.
"Thank you... I'm the only woman here this time, so asking for something like this... is a little embarrassing..."
Liu Jingqing spoke softly as she walked.
Qin Manjiang shook his head. "It's no trouble."
They soon reached the bathroom. Liu Jingqing opened the door and went in, but a moment later, she poked half her face back out. "Classmate Qin... could you stay outside the door and talk to me? I... scare easily. Hearing someone's voice outside... would help me feel safer..."
Qin Manjiang nodded again. "Sure."
"Thank you... thank you so much..." Liu Jingqing breathed a sigh of relief.
She closed the bathroom door, and soon her voice came from inside. "Classmate Qin, have you figured anything out about this ghost story?"
"Not yet."
Qin Manjiang leaned against the wall as he answered.
He tilted his head back to look at the corridor light and suddenly realized... he seemed able to see clearly without glasses?
When did I become nearsighted?
Thinking back carefully, he felt as though... I've never been nearsighted. So why do I always feel like I need a pair of glasses...?
It was as though he was used to wearing them.
"People say... more than half the information about a ghost story is hidden in a game's Opening Lines. Actually... I managed to work out a little of it."
Liu Jingqing's words caught Qin Manjiang's attention. She had worked something out, but rather than sharing it with everyone, she had chosen to tell him alone under these circumstances?
"Could you tell me?" Qin Manjiang asked tentatively.
"Of course... consider it my way of thanking you..." Liu Jingqing's voice continued from inside. "Insert two horns. Shave away the bones. They're peeling off my skin. Make the face thinner. Push up the corners of the mouth. Smile. All right, go have a drink! I was placed in a dark, narrow hole. My eyes can no longer hold any light. I am a god. I... don't want to become a god."
"That passage is the opening of the Sick Sheep Ghost Story. I think... although the ghost story is called Sick Sheep, the key isn't the sheep, but a person... inserting two horns, shaving away bones, peeling off skin... those descriptions aren't about processing a sheep, but transforming a human. The people in this village... are creating a god."
Liu Jingqing laid out her theory in a clear, orderly manner.
Suddenly, Qin Manjiang whipped his head around and looked out the window straight down the corridor to his right!
It was pitch-black outside, but just now, he had distinctly felt something watching him.
Knock, knock, knock-
Qin Manjiang knocked on the bathroom door. "Ms. Liu, you need to hurry. Something's wrong."
"And I noticed that line-I was placed in a dark, narrow hole. My eyes can no longer hold any light."
As though she had not heard Qin Manjiang's knocking or his voice, Liu Jingqing continued talking. "The Opening Lines are the game's way of helping us. Every sentence should serve a purpose."
"The first half of that line could refer to where the victim died, but what about the second half?"
"Ms. Liu?" Qin Manjiang frowned and knocked harder. "Come out, quickly. We need to leave."
Just then, the corridor light abruptly flickered!
The entire corridor plunged into darkness.
Qin Manjiang's knocking stopped short.
Moonlight shone through the window into the corridor. Qin Manjiang looked toward the window on his right again.
A grotesque sheep's head was at the window in the moonlight, staring fixedly at him!
Although it was still some distance away, Qin Manjiang felt as though he could see the most terrifying malice in its elongated pupils!
It's here...
The Sick Sheep is here!
Buzz-
The corridor light came back on, and the pitch-black sheep's head at the window abruptly vanished!
Yet Liu Jingqing was still talking to herself inside the bathroom:
"My eyes can no longer hold any light... does that sentence mean the victim went blind, or died?"
"I think... neither."
"Taking the whole passage together, my guess is... someone was killed through some kind of god-making ritual in this village. He died full of hatred and became a vengeful ghost, intent on revenge. The true meaning of that line about his eyes no longer holding any light might be..."
Click- The corridor light went out again!
Qin Manjiang whipped his head around. The black sheep's head that had been at the window had now appeared halfway down the corridor!
He could not make out the sheep's entire body. Only its head and its elongated pupils, brimming with malice, were clearly visible in the moonlight.
It was about to reach the bathroom!
An overwhelming sense of wrongness engulfed the entire corridor. Qin Manjiang could even feel the air around him growing cold.
Liu Jingqing's voice continued from inside the bathroom, as though she could not hear anything happening outside:
"The true meaning of that second half might be..."
"It can only move in the dark!"
The instant Liu Jingqing finished speaking, a terrifying, pitch-black sheep's head appeared right in front of Qin Manjiang!
A chill swept through Qin Manjiang's entire body as he met its bizarre pupils.
(End of chapter)
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