Death Spiral [Infinite Flow] - Chapter 68

Chapter 68 – Three People Make a Tiger 4

After returning to the room, Zhong Xiu immediately found towels and clean clothes, and asked Lian Qiao to clean up.

When Lian Qiao came out of the shower, his body was no longer bloody. He seemed to have sorted his mood out and sat in front of Xu RenDong very obediently.

“I couldn’t control myself just now, I’m sorry.”

Xu RenDong looked at him carefully, feeling that he had become the familiar Lian Qiao again. His hair was wet and it hadn’t had time to dry yet. His eyes were also clean and clear. There was a softness in his expression, which made people feel very comfortable.

He turned his head and glanced at Zhong Xiu who was sitting on the bed. Zhong Xiu also nodded affirmatively, thinking that Lian Qiao was not threatening at this time.

Xu RenDong had no intention of interrogating him but went to the bathroom and took out a dry towel, throwing it at him: “Wipe your hair first, don’t catch the cold.”

Lian Qiao grabbed the towel and rubbed it like a dog that had been in the rain. He wiped it for a while, then carefully exposed a pair of eyes from the towel: “Aren’t you angry with me?”

Xu RenDong smiled: “What have I got to be angry with? It was not me that you beat.”

 “…” Lian Qiao retracted his head again. From within the towel, he said dully, “…but I lost control of my emotions and doing that kind of thing might cause us trouble.”

“What were you thinking?” Xu RenDong thought about the scene at the time and muttered. “I also think that the president was not right, but member A was indeed killed in a dream. Do you think member A was killed by him?”

“No.” Lian Qiao shook his head and thought about it. He said again, “Actually, we can’t for sure say he wasn’t. What does ‘Three People Make a Tiger’ mean? There’s no way he doesn’t know. Now Freddy in “Nightmare on Elm Street” has become a reality, which also confirms our conjectures.”

Xu RenDong nodded. “Three People Make a Tiger” is an idiom. It alludes to the story of three people who lied about the existence of a tiger in the city. Those who listened to it believed it to be true. Metaphorically speaking, if there are more and more people involved, they will slowly treat rumors as facts.”

Lian Qiao said: “I’ve inquired and found out that their film society gathers together to watch movies on a regular basis. Since entering the elevator, they often watch horror movies to make themselves more courageous. That means the president obviously had so many choices to choose from, but he chose “Nightmare on Elm Street”. The ghost of Freddy in “Nightmare on Elm Street” can kill people in their dreams. It’s impossible to guard against him. Freddy in the dream is almost invincible and there is no way to kill him in reality. Doesn’t that mean he deliberately chose a ‘Hell’ difficulty level?” 

Lian Qiao paused, frowning deeper, “And when this ghost story was concreted into reality, the difficulty has actually increased. The person dreaming cannot wake up by themselves and the people around him also can’t wake them up. That means that as long as Freddy enters their dream state, that person will undoubtedly die.”

Xu RenDong nodded and said: “What you say makes sense. But now it’s done, no matter what his intentions are, we are all facing the same predicament. No matter what ability he has, it is impossible to manipulate ghosts. Who’s dream will Freddy enter? Dreams should be random and not controlled by anyone.”

Lian Qiao lowered his head and said glumly, “What if one of them is you?”

Xu RenDong didn’t know how to answer. Lian Qiao drooped his head and said in a low voice: “If you have an accident in front of me, I can only watch without being able to do anything… It’s better to kill me directly.”

Xu RenDong suddenly remembered the last time he was caught by Doctor Bird Beak. When Doctor Bird Beak killed him, Lian Qiao saw everything clearly and completely through Lamia’s eyeballs. What was Lian Qiao thinking at that time?

Xu RenDong didn’t dare to think about it. He could only be thankful that Lian Qiao had lost his memory after the world was reset. If he didn’t remember it then it didn’t exist. Anyway, he was still standing in front of Lian Qiao. As long as both of them are still alive, what’s the big deal if he suffered a bit of flesh and blood?

Xu RenDong sighed. He raised his hand and rubbed Lian Qiao’s hair. Feeling that the roots of his hair were still wet, he took a towel and continued to wipe him.

Lian Qiao obediently lowered his head, letting him rub his head with a towel and messing up his hair. After a while, Xu RenDong touched his hair again and felt it was almost done. Lian Qiao’s hair felt good and the tips of his hair were still slightly moist. However they make the hair even softer.

Lian Qiao raised his eyes and looked at him like a puppy. Xu RenDong couldn’t help combing his hair with his fingers gently, like a caress. His eyes became gentle unconsciously and his light brown eyes were full of Lian Qiao.

Lian Qiao suddenly curved his eyes and laughed. That smile was as gorgeous as summer flowers, so bright that it shone directly into people’s hearts.

But his words were shocking: “Let’s take a bath together next time.”

Xu RenDong was taken aback and his face instantly changed. He turned his head stiffly and glanced at Zhong Xiu who was sitting on the bed.

Zhong Xiu silently shrank to the head of the bed: “It’s okay, you can continue to treat me as if I don’t exist.”

When she said this, Lian Qiao felt embarrassed. Both he and Xu RenDong sat upright in silence, not looking at each other tacitly, like two students engaged in an early romance and who had been caught by the teacher. 

Zhong Xiu seemed to think they were so funny and looked at them for a while with a smile. Soon, Lian Qiao couldn’t hold back anymore and jumped up sloppily.

“Let’s play cards.”

No one could sleep anymore and the three of them played ‘Fight the Landlord’ all night. The next morning, everyone was tired with bloodshot eyes, but no one dared to sleep.

Zhong Xiu suggested eating something and they all agreed. When the three of them came to the corridor, they suddenly noticed that the door of the film club room was open, and there was a voice in the room. Xu RenDong walked over curiously and saw the film club trio come out laughing and talking.

Xu RenDong was wondering how they managed to adjust their mentality so well but when he saw President Little Sun turning around, he respectfully made a “please” action. Suddenly a bald headed man with a rosary on his neck and wearing a monk’s robe appeared in the crowd. It was Rock Monk.

Rock Monk walked out briskly and naturally walked in the forefront side by side with the president, seemingly to have formed an indestructible revolutionary friendship.

Xu RenDong and Lian Qiao looked at each other, thinking in their hearts: Did we miss something?

There were already many people sitting in the restaurant. There was some simple food on the table, steaming hot. It was unknown who made it. Xu RenDong’s group of three sat down and noticed that the expressions on everyone’s faces were weird. He couldn’t help feeling surprised.

Xu RenDong asked: “What’s going on, what’s happened?”

A girl with dark circles under her eyes said: “It was noisy last night, who was singing…” 

Rock Monk suddenly said, “It’s warm and lonely~ “

Everyone was taken aback and only President Little Sun clapped happily: “Okay! The master’s voice has a wide range and sounds like a bell, which is really amazing!”

Everyone: “…” What are you saying? What kind of bullshit is that? 

The dark eyed girl glared at Rock Monk then transferred the glare to Xu RenDong: “And you, were you three playing cards? I will draw a tortoise for a while and fight against the landlord! This kind of thing happened, but you still have the mind to play games!”

Xu RenDong coughed awkwardly. Lian Qiao was upset so he shot back, “I can’t sleep at night so why can’t I find something to do? Should we just be sitting and glaring at each other?”

The girl immediately got angry when she heard this. She slapped the table and pointed at President Little Sun angrily: “It’s all your fault! Who told you to tell ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’!? Now, it’s not only killed your friend but is dragging us all down into the water!”

President Little Sun was suddenly cue’d and the cloud on his face suddenly grew. The other two members B and C also recalled the tragic death of their compatriot and looked away one after another. They didn’t speak up for the President. 

At this time, it was Rock Monk who came out to relieve the siege: “Amitabha, this benefactor should not be angry. Nothing good will come out of anger.” He kindly urged people not to be angry, but his next words were even more infuriating. “Although everyone may die here, however at least this time there is a poor monk in the team. As long as this poor monk does not die first, then he will hold a parting ceremony for you and you will not turn into a lonely ghost. What a wonderful and gratifying reward, there is no need to give thanks.”

Everyone: “…” Haha.

The girl was so angry that she couldn’t come up with a response. She turned her head and left. Now that the curtain of the farce came down, everyone wanted to change the subject but then they heard menacing footsteps coming from the kitchen.

When everyone turned their heads, they saw the dark-eyed girl holding two kitchen knives in both hands and, with a murderous expression, rushed towards the monk fiercely!

“Fuck!” Rock Monk changed his expression instantly. He jumped up from his chair like a spring and started to run away.

Everyone was taken aback and they all scattered one after the other, fearing that they would get caught in the crossfire. Xu RenDong took Lian Qiao and Zhong Xiu and hid in a corner, watching the girl and the monk playing cat-and-mouse. He helplessly said: “This is crazy.” 

He had been worried that Lian Qiao’s actions would cause everyone to panic yesterday and turn him into a target of public criticism. He didn’t expect that this girl would suddenly storm off because of a small quarrel, then pick up a kitchen knife and directly begin attacking people! Suddenly memories came to his mind and he thought of another study woman – Ye QingLiu. He couldn’t help but sigh and think: Are all the girls nowadays so vicious?

Lian Qiao said: “She didn’t sleep all night and her mood collapsed.” 

Zhong Xiu nodded: “Yes. The atmosphere will only get worse and worse.” 

In the end, the girl failed to hack the monk. His movements were very flexible and he was slippery like a fish and unable to be caught. The girl was very frustrated and chased him for half an hour without even touching a corner of his clothes. She finally vented her anger. Then she threw the kitchen knife down and went back upstairs to her room in anger.

Nobody was in the mood to eat and so they went back to their rooms one after another. Soon after, Xu RenDong’s door was knocked upon and he opened the door to see that it was President Little Sun.

When he saw Lian Qiao, his expression trembled, but he still asked sincerely, “Master wants to promote Dharma, come and listen?”

Anyway, they had nothing better to do so the three of them went to the film club’s room. They saw everyone from the film club sitting on the ground, looking up at Rock Monk on the bed. The monk crossed his legs, put one hand on his lap, pinched his fingers in the position of a lotus seal, and with the other hand… he was playing with a mobile phone.

Lian Qiao was happy in an instant: “This master is interesting, I like it!” He immediately joined the congregation and sat beside the film club believes, waiting expectantly for the master to give a lecture. 

Xu RenDong’s forehead bounced with blue veins: “This is just nonsense.”

Zhong Xiu smiled: “Religious belief is also a spiritual support, you should listen to it.”

Xu RenDong only felt that both the old and the young in his family were poisoned by feudal superstition. He really felt a sense of middle-aged powerlessness and frustration. What else can he do? Of course, he could only sit down and listen.

Rock Monk swiped his phone for a while. Suddenly he showed a happy expression and muttered “found it”. Xu RenDong thought he had finally found the speech of feudal superstition but, unexpectedly, the monk poked something with his finger and music switched on.

This is actually a rock accompaniment that plays repeatedly. The monk instantly came alive, jumped up from the bed, clenched a fist in one hand to act as a microphone, waved the other hand in front of everyone and made a signature “eye-catching” action.

 “Hey man, what’s up! Let me recite “Prajna Heart Sutra Rock ” for everyone! (Note)”

Xu RenDong: “???”

With the strong sense of rhythm played by drums and bass, Rock Monk began to sing vigorously : “Buddha! Say! Mo! Ke! Prajna! Bo! Luo! Honey! Heart! Sutra!”

Next is a fast-paced rap song, sung too fast for Xu RenDong to hear clearly. He just vaguely heard a few words “Color is emptiness and emptiness is color”. The more he listened, the worse his face became.

What the hell is this! It really is the Heart Sutra!

Is it really good to use rock music to recite scriptures! Wouldn’t the Buddha be angry!

He wanted to find someone who felt the same way as him but found that everyone around him looked very ‘high’. The film club members held two chopsticks in each hand and followed the monk one by one. Lian Qiao went even further, jumping up and twisting with the monk’s rhythm. Even the gentle and elderly Zhong Xiu swayed gently to the melody with a smile.

…This is crazy.

Xu RenDong, as the only person present who was still sensible, felt a sense of powerlessness. But Lian Qiao and Zhong Xiu refused to leave, and he was worried about leaving them both in this place where the demons danced wildly. He listened patiently for a while and then began to feel that the monk sang quite sensibly. Although the entire Buddhist scripture was in unintelligible ancient Chinese, however once the monk rapped long enough, Xu RenDong actually began to hear the rhythm from the heart scripture and couldn’t help but shake his legs. .

It’s over, I’m also poisoned.

But this is also good. Xu RenDong looked at the excited smiles of the people and there was no tiredness from having been awake all night on their faces. There was no panic of imminent disaster. He suddenly realized that Rock Monk was cheering everyone up in disguise.

Although this monk was irritating, he is actually pretty good.

In this way, Xu RenDong listened to the rock and roll Buddhist scripture concert with gratitude. Everyone was still immersed in the joy and excitement. The monk suddenly took out a bowl from behind and slammed it in front of everyone. Pointing at himself, he said confidently: “I, monk, give money!”

It turned out he wanted to be given alms!

No, he should be called a street performer… but what he sang is indeed a Buddhist scripture…

Xu RenDong’s whole body felt confused as he watched everyone pay. Lian Qiao scratched his head and said in embarrassment, “I don’t have cash, can I pay with my mobile phone?” 

The monk instantly took out a QR code and handed it to Lian Qiao with a smile.

Xu RenDong: “…” Your Buddhism really keeps pace with the times.

Zhong Xiu went up and said, “How do I pay? I don’t have any cash.”

Lian Qiao patiently explained to her: “There is no signal here. You can take a photo of this QR code first and, when you get out, use the photo to identify the QR code to transfer the money to the master…”

Seeing Lian Qiao showing Zhong Xiu’s QR code transfer, Xu RenDong realized that the Dharma had resolved the hatred in Lian Qiao’s heart and he was able to get along with Zhong Xiu!

Dharma is so effective!

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The author has something to say:

Note: Prajna Heart Sutra rock: There is really this song. Hatsune Miku-Prajna Heart 経ロック.

I forgot to write at the end that I got confused between members A, B and C.

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