Death Spiral [Infinite Flow] - Chapter 71

Chapter 71 – Three People Make a Tiger 7

Xu RenDong went to Zhong Xiu’s room and, as expected, Zhong Xiu hadn’t slept yet. She was sitting on the sofa, waiting patiently for him to come.

“Let’s talk, what’s the matter?” Xu RenDong closed the door and dropped the lock smoothly.

Zhong Xiu let him sit down and poured him a glass of water. She then took an object from her pocket and threw it towards Xu RenDong’s hand. She asked, “Have you seen this before?”

Xu RenDong looked down. It was a wooden doll. It was carved in the shape of a young man with wide eyes and a frightened expression. The expressions and movements of the puppet appeared lifelike as though there was a soul hidden inside the rough wooden body. The feeling was quite terrifying.

He thought of the matryoshka dolls in the Russian matryoshka doll instance and intuitively felt that the doll’s body was full of ominous feelings, and that it must be related to the elevator world.

Seeing his reaction, Zhong Xiu guessed his answer and sighed. “You really don’t know?  This is a stand-in doll and taking it with you can give you an extra life.”

This really was a good thing. It was a pity that he didn’t need it. Xu RenDong threw the puppet back and asked, “Is this a hidden item?”

Zhong Xiu said, “No, this is…” She hesitated for a moment and then took a deep breath. “In fact, every instance is related to someone’s personal experience and this person is the key player in that instance. You should know something about this, right?”

Xu RenDong nodded. Lian Qiao had analyzed this with him before. No matter how strange the clearance prompt appeared, someone in the team would always know what it meant. Lian Qiao himself was the key player in the Russian doll instance and no one but him knew the meaning of the Russian language. In the Esophagus and Butterfly in the Stomach instances, the corresponding key players could also be found, namely Little Fatty and Zhang XiaoXiao.

Zhong Xiu: “Then, did you know that if you kill the key player personally, you can imprison his soul and make him die for you?”

Xu RenDong was taken aback. No wonder that puppet was full of fear and malice. It turned out that there was a dead soul hidden inside.

Xu RenDong felt deeply uneasy in his heart. But he still asked in a calm tone: “Why are you telling me this? What does this have to do with Lian Qiao?”

Zhong Xiu smiled bitterly: “Have you forgotten? When Lian Qiao attacked the president the other day, he asked him if ‘Three People Make a Tiger’ was his experience. This shows that Lian Qiao should know about people being made into puppets. “

Xu RenDong: “So what?”

Zhong Xiu looked at him deeply: “Everyone who knows this secret has killed someone before. Judging by Lian Qiao’s behavior, it shouldn’t be his first time.”

Xu RenDong frowned: “Then you…”

Zhong Xiu showed a complicated smile: “Of course I’m the same.”

Xu RenDong: “…”

He could not imagine that such a delicate patient as Zhong Xiu could actually kill. As for Lian Qiao, after getting to know him for so long, he has already realized that Lian Qiao was not as well-behaved and harmless as he appeared on the surface. Once pushed into corner, Lian Qiao would suddenly transform into a different person, full of brutal and murderous aura. Even Xu RenDong felt scared by that fierceness.

Xu RenDong was silent for a moment and said: “Maybe another player told him.”

Zhong Xiu shook her head helplessly: “If it were you, would you reveal this secret? After all, everyone could become a key player. The less people know about this, the better.” 

She looked at him with an expression of “I’ve already said this much and you’re still sunk into an obsession and refuse to understand”. Xu RenDong also read another meaning from her expression: “If I was not your mother, I would not tell you this.”

However, Xu RenDong’s mood was unexpectedly calm. He even breathed a sigh of relief: “That’s all you wanted to say?”

Zhong Xiu was taken aback.

Xu RenDong smiled slightly: “I was wondering what you wanted to say, it turned out it was just this. Everyone has a secret, even me, and there are things I can’t tell him as well. I don’t want to question him just because of this.”

Zhong Xiu stared at him. Not wanting to give up, she asked: “What if he wants to make a move against you?”

Xu RenDong said: “I will always trust him until he betrays me.”

A trace of helplessness flashed through Zhong Xiu’s eyes. She sighed: “Sure enough, you and him…”

Xu RenDong’s face suddenly went red but he felt that there was no need to hide it anymore. So he plucked up the courage and looked straight into her eyes calmly: “Me and him are indeed in the kind of relationship you’re thinking of.”

Zhong Xiu sighed again. After a while, she shook her head and smiled, seemingly to have accepted the answer.

“Then hold onto this.” She handed the wooden doll over again. “Just in case.”

Xu RenDong didn’t reach out. “I don’t need it.”

Zhong Xiu said helplessly: “I know you hate me but this is a matter related to your life and death. Don’t be angry at this moment, okay?”

Xu RenDong lowered his eyes and stroked the teacup with his fingers. He looked at the bow tie Lian Qiao had given him on his left arm and the corners of his mouth raised slightly.

He said in a self-mocking tone, “Actually, I just discovered that I don’t hate you that much.” Zhong Xiu followed his gaze and saw the injury on his arm and immediately understood what he meant. She bowed her head and said nothing.

Xu RenDong smiled suddenly: “To tell you the truth, when I learned that you weren’t living well, it made me feel a bit relieved.”

Zhong Xiu: “…” She was speechless for a while and shook her head. “Saying something like this, it really makes it sound like I’m your ex-girlfriend.” 

Xu RenDong thought: Turns out you’re so witty, you can actually come up with the same thing as Lian Qiao.

After this, the two changed the subject and tacitly stopped talking about Lian Qiao. After chatting, Xu RenDong felt more comfortable in his heart. They talked about each other’s current situation and, as they chatted, their sleepiness surged again.

As Xu RenDong continued to answer Zhong Xiu’s questions, her voice gradually subsided. Unconsciously, her voice started floating from far away. Xu RenDong also felt his eyelids become heavy and his lips become stiff. He couldn’t muster up the strength to talk any more. 

He leaned on the sofa, feeling as though he was floating on a cloud. His whole body was  light and fluttering and it felt as though, just as long as you could close your eyes, you would enter Heaven.

***

A biting chill made Xu RenDong wake up instantly.

He opened his eyes suddenly and found himself standing in the middle of the road. There was a dark night and a dim moon hanging in the sky, looking very far away. He looked around blankly and found that this was a street that was very difficult to see. It was filled with white mist and felt chilled to the bones. On both sides are houses, one after another, all of which have doors and windows locked. They loomed dark, like huge mouth openings of wild animals.

“Nightmare on Elm Street”?! He really entered the street in the horror movie?!

A sound suddenly came from behind him, like a glass bottle rolling on the ground. Xu RenDong’s hair stood up in an instant and he ran forward instinctively. He ran all the way down the street and the cool mist slapped against his face, condensing into cold and wet water droplets.

He clearly felt something was chasing him behind. He didn’t need to look back to know that it was Freddy. Xu RenDong paid attention to his surroundings while running, looking for weapons or a place to hide. He suddenly felt something was wrong with him.

This house… Hadn’t he already seen it just now?

Red roof, white house, Christmas wreath hanging on the door. He kept it in his mind and ran forward for a while. It didn’t take long for the house to appear on the side of the road again. The same red roof and white wall, the same Christmas wreath, and even the slightly skewed mailbox on the lawn.

The street view was repeating?

…Was it a repeat or a loop?

Xu RenDong was suddenly shocked and the voice that had been chasing him behind had disappeared. His heart shuddered and he stopped immediately. He heard the wind rush by him and something brushed his neck and swept past!

The mist was blown away by this note and what appeared in front of his eyes were five shimmering razors!

“…” Xu RenDong’s breath felt as though it was blocked in his throat by ice. He stepped back reflexively and finally saw Freddy hiding in the mist. He saw a tall white man standing in front of him with a grinning expression, his face was full of scars. His facial features were distorted, like burnt wax. Freddy looked down at the razor in his hand, showing a rather regretful expression.

Then, he pounced at Xu RenDong again!

Xu RenDong turned his head and ran, his heart beating so fast that it almost smashed inside his chest. The air here was too thin. He felt severe pain in his lungs as he ran. Every breath of air he inhaled plunged into his chest like a knife and his physical exertion was astonishingly fast. Before long, the surrounding street scenes began to repeat again and the small red-roofed house appeared in front of him again.

There’s no way to escape, instead he could only try to hide!

He rushed towards the house without hesitation. Fortunately, the door was not locked. When he entered the room, he closed the door with his backhand, locked and blocked the door in one go. The door panel was immediately kicked heavily and the cabinet used to block the door was shaken into fragments and it was obvious that it would not last long. Xu RenDong didn’t think much about it. He picked up the baseball bat behind the door and held it in his hand. He turned and ran up to the second floor. Freddy slammed the door aggressively with”bang bang” noises. Soon, the door frame was smashed loose, and the cabinet blocking the door was also knocked back bit by bit.

Xu RenDong hid in the closet in the bedroom on the second floor, covering his mouth hard to prevent the violent gasps from revealing his position. The door downstairs was finally knocked open by Freddy and heavy footsteps echoed in the living room and kitchen, revealing the anxious and violent footsteps of the owner.

Xu RenDong hid in the small closet and felt his heart beating fiercely. There was a sharp tingling sensation in his heart. He pressed his heart with one hand, forcing himself to calm down and listen to the movement outside.

Freddy swayed around on the first floor, couldn’t find him and quickly arrived at the bedroom on the second floor. Xu RenDong deliberately opened the window before hiding in the closet. At this time, the window was still shaking slightly, making a humming sound. He felt Freddy walk to the window and stood there for a while, probably also bewildered by the illusion he left behind. Xu RenDong prayed silently. As long as he waited for Freddy to leave, he could take a breather and think about how to wake up from this terrible dream.

However, in the next second, a sharp blade slammed into the cabinet!

Xu RenDong couldn’t dodge and a cut was made on his face. Blood began flowing. His heart contracted suddenly and the pain made him feel almost breathless. The razor retreated and then another razor pierced in from a different angle!

Fortunately, the razor didn’t hit him this time. Xu RenDong didn’t have time to think. Almost instinctively pushed open the cabinet door. Freddy’s razor was still stuck in the door of the cabinet. Xu RenDong took advantage of him and grabbed the top of the cabinet when he was trapped and pulled the cabinet down. With a loud bang, the fallen cabinet stirred up a lot of dust and trapped Freddy underneath. And Xu RenDong had already rushed out of the bedroom.

 What to do, what to do next? How could he wake up from this dream?

Xu RenDong was dripping with cold sweat and his palms were wet and slippery. He could barely hold onto the baseball bat. He returned to the empty street again and ran instinctively. His brain was spinning fast and he kept looking around, for fear that Fred would suddenly appear again.

Suddenly, a big tree on the roadside crashed down!

Xu RenDong relied on his instinct to stop in his tracks abruptly in front of the tree trunk. At the same time, the cold hair on the back of his neck stood up and he instinctively felt something pounce him from behind. 

Xu RenDong suddenly turned around and there was suddenly a sharp pain in his abdomen. 

“Ugh!” He lowered his head and saw that a long, narrow and sharp razor had pierced deeply into his stomach!

Freddy rotated the razor, grinning from his mouth. The severe colic in the internal organs made Xu RenDong almost faint. He bit his teeth and with a dying burst of energy, he clenched the bat and hit Freddy in the head hard. With this blow, Freddy was decapitated and his head rolled sideways. The bald head hit an obstacle on the street and it was unknown where it disappeared to.

Freddy lost his head and his body couldn’t move for a while. Xu RenDong raised his foot and kicked him away. The razor also fell from his stomach.

Xu RenDong was in so much pain he could hardly breathe. However, there is no time for rest at this time. He covered his bloody belly, turned and scrambled across the tree trunk, and continued to run forward.

The night has never been so long.

***