Death Spiral [Infinite Flow] - Chapter 74

Chapter 74 – Three People Make a Tiger 10

Xu RenDong thought he would be able to get a good night’s sleep that night but he didn’t expect to be woken up again at two o’clock in the morning.

The film club quartet had made a fool of themselves again.

 When Xu RenDong’s trio arrived, a large crowd of onlookers had already gathered outside the film club’s room again. It was a familiar scene singing a familiar tune. Just like before the president rushed over and was kicked away by Lian Qiao.

Unlike last time, this time there was no woman covered in wounds screaming on the bed. It was still the cowardly and delicate Member A who had the accident but the scene of the crime was changed to the bathroom. A headless female body was lying on the toilet. Her hands were hanging by her side and her neck was like a broken faucet, blood was gurgling out, turning the floor tiles of the toilet into a bright and dazzling red.

Member A’s method of death was exactly the same as that of the little boy in Xu RenDong’s ghost story and everyone’s expressions changed when they saw it.

“Fuck, wasn’t it a box? How did it become a toilet?!”

“I can’t even use the toilet? What should we do! Damn, I want to pee right now!”

“It’s miserable but I kind of want to laugh. …”

Xu RenDong looked at the president helplessly: “What’s going on this time again?”

Everyone: “?” Why do you mean by ‘again’?

The president wiped the blood and tears on his face: “She, she got up in the middle of the night to go to the toilet and then her head was snapped off by the toilet lid…”

Xu RenDong glanced into the toilet. It was clean and there was no head: “Where is the other end?” 

The President spoke in shock: “There was a hand that came from inside and… dragged the head inside…”

“Hand?” Xu RenDong was stunned. “How can there be a hand?” 

The president didn’t answer. Xu RenDong looked at the other two people in the film company and they turned their heads silently with embarrassed expressions on their faces. After a while, the gay member B whispered: “She didn’t dare to go to the toilet alone so the president made a joke with her and said are you afraid that there will be hands coming from inside the toilet…”

Everyone: “…” You are really talented, you even dare to make such a joke at such a time.

Lian Qiao touched his chin and said, “It seems that ‘Three People Make a Tiger’ really is three people becoming a tiger. Not only does the ghost story told at twelve o’clock become true but as long as ghost stories are told that more than three people hear, they will become true.”

Everyone: “…Doesn’t this make things fucking harder?!”

Xu RenDong felt helpless and gave the president a dark look: “You guys are so free that you actually have time to discuss if there are hands in the toilet?”

The president: “Because we came in we were watching ‘The Night of Returning Soul’….” {English title is “Out of the Dark”, movie is from 1995.}

Xu RenDong: “?”

Lian Qiao explained it to him: “A horror movie with actor Stephen Chow.”

President: “Yes, that’s it! “The Night of Returning Soul’’!” When he heard this, he instantly became energetic, “You have seen it too, what a coincidence!”

Xu RenDong: “…” How many ghost movies did you watch before you came in?

But he never dared to ask this question. If he reported a string of ghost movies like the dishes from a recipe, then it would be all over and they could just meet in the elevator again. 

Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but glare at the president: Sure enough, I should have killed you first!

The president was so frightened by Xu RenDong’s murderous eyes that his legs softened and he knelt down directly to him. Immediately, a show started again. While beating his chest, he cried, “It’s all my fault! I killed her! I’m not a competent president! Wuwuwuwu….”

Xu RenDong didn’t bother to pay attention to him but saw Lian Qiao staring at the toilet with a thoughtful expression. He suddenly turned his head and asked, “Is there any chocolate?”

“I have some, I’ll go get it.” A girl went back to her room and brought two pieces of chocolate over, “What do you want chocolate for?”

Lian Qiao said, “I want to do an experiment. You all get out of the way.”

Xu RenDong showed puzzled eyes and Lian Qiao smiled at him: “I want to go and ‘seduce’.” {Game terminology from first arc, referring to laying a trap. Not sure if I’ve translated it the way gamers would, sorry.}

Xu RenDong understood instantly. He nodded and took two steps back with everyone. He saw Lian Qiao bend down, apologize to the female corpse and then slowly laid her down on the floor tiles. He took out a piece of chocolate and then imitated the corpse of a woman, lying on the toilet seat and poking his head in.

Almost at the moment when he probed, everyone only felt a flash in front of them and a pale hand rushed out of the toilet and went straight for Lian Qiao’s face!

Everyone was shocked. Fortunately, Lian Qiao’s reaction was very fast and before the hands touched him, he ducked back. There was still a “fuck” expletive from his mouth. Xu RenDong’s heart was tight and he was about to step forward to help but then saw Lian Qiao raise his hand and throw the chocolate to those hands reaching out. The moment the hand was hit by the chocolate, everyone clearly heard an eerie scream. Immediately after that, the hand seemed to have been splashed with sulfuric acid and hot steam came out from top to bottom. It gradually shrunk into a strangely shaped piece of meat and fell back into the toilet.

Everyone was in shock: “What happened?” “What happened just now?” “How does this work? The ghost was killed by chocolate?”

Xu RenDong pulled Lian Qiao up from the ground and looked him up and down to make sure he was not injured: “Are you alright?”

Lian Qiao waved his hand: “It’s alright, it’s just that the toilet water splashed on my face so I couldn’t help but swear.”

Xu RenDong was speechless for a while, then wiped his face with a towel. Everyone asked curiously: “Why are ghosts afraid of chocolate?”

Lian Qiao asked in surprise, “Have you never watched “The Night of Returning Soul”?”

He looked around and everyone except the film club members shook their heads, including Xu RenDong and Zhong Xiu. Lian Qiao explained: “‘You need to use plastic wrap to catch ghosts and chocolate to kill ghosts’, this is a classic line from “The Night of Returning Soul”. Doesn’t Master Xing also have a pot of flowers that can be used to hunt ghosts… Really, none of you have seen it? Not even when you were young?”

Everyone looked at each other. Xu RenDong pondered for a moment: “You mean that the ghosts who come from ghost stories to reality will completely adhere to the setting of the story?”

“It should be.” Lian Qiao nodded, “However, the difficulty seems to increase otherwise, the toilet lid will not be able to trap people.”

The crowd fell silent. Rock Monk sighed: “Later on, won’t telling ghost stories become more and more difficult?” 

Xu RenDong said: “Anyway, let’s go back to rest now.” He hadn’t slept enough and was sleepy now.

Everyone expressed their approval and left the room one after another.

Xu RenDong thought for a while, then turned back. The three people in the film club were crying and collecting the corpse of Member A. When they saw Xu RenDong coming back, they were so frightened that they immediately stopped talking. Especially the president who had to kneel when his legs became weak.

Xu RenDong picked him up by the collar and said coldly: “From now on, you are not allowed to speak. If you dare to say another word, I will sew up your mouth with a needle. You should have seen…” He wanted to find an example from a movie to give the president a sense of the imagery but he got stuck for two seconds and couldn’t come up with a title. He had no choice but to answer in an embarrassed yet cool manner, “…that movie.” 

The president didn’t know what to do and his face paled instantly. He nodded profusely.

Xu RenDong was very satisfied with his response and threw him to the ground casually, then left gracefully. Zhong Xiu, who had been watching this, suddenly tugged Lian Qiao’s sleeve and whispered: “Is he usually like this…?”

Lian Qiao asked: “? What do you mean?”

Zhong Xiu didn’t know how to phrase her thoughts and felt tangled for a moment. Eventually she said: “Like… if he finds someone unpleasant he will take action on the spot… both secretly and obviously having a killing intent and not bothering to hide it at all…”

Lian Qiao thought: How could this be? My family’s RenDong is gentle, kind and lovely, and even looks this beautiful, just like an angel. 

But thinking about the various actions of the boss RenDong against the president, Zhong Xiu seems to be right…

Lian Qiao suddenly had a flash of inspiration and was immediately possessed by the soul of an actor. He began to wail with a sad face: “Yeah! He’s just a scum! It’s like this at home usually, he punches and kicks me if he’s unhappy with me just a little bit and domestically abuses me every day! Wuwuwuwu, these days can’t be lived… You were right when you left him…”

Zhong Xiu’s expression changed and, as if being pricked by an invisible needle, she said gloomily: “Is that so? I’m sorry.”

Lian Qiao: Huh??? Why are you apologizing for his domestic violence?

Who do you think you are! What right do you have to apologize for him!

Looking at Zhong Xiu’s dejected back, the more Lian Qiao thought about it, the more wrong it felt. He felt like the top of his head had turned green and his breath was filled with the fragrance of the grassland.

After everyone left, inside the film club’s room.

The president leaned against the wall sullenly and the other two members looked at each other, not knowing what to say.

Although they knew that the corpse would disappear automatically even if it was merely discarded, the dead Member A was their friend after all and she had died in the bathroom, just behind a door. 

After briefly handling the corpse, the three of them kept the same posture and remained silent for a long time.

Gay member B comforted: “President, don’t blame yourself too much. No one wants something like this to happen. As a human being, the most important thing is to be happy…”

The glamorous Member C mocked: “Do you also want to make a bowl of noodles for him to eat?”

As soon as her voice fell, there was the sound of rumbling stomachs in the room. The president touched his stomach embarrassedly: “I’m really hungry.”

Gay member B said shyly: “Then I’ll give you something to eat.”

The glamorous Member C showed a look of disgust: “Can you be more nauseating?”

Seeing that the two were about to quarrel again, the president quickly settled the matter: “Okay, okay, stop arguing.” He instructed Member B to cook three bowls of instant noodles and he stayed in the room to appease Member C.

Although Member B was a little reluctant, he still listened to the president’s words and went away obediently. He went downstairs alone and the kitchen was silent. Although the lights were on, it appeared even more eerie and empty.

Member B felt a little nervous, and just wanted to cook the noodles as quickly as possible and return to the warm President Little Sun. He quickly found three packs of instant noodles, poured the water into the pot but couldn’t light it when he tried to light the fire.

Was it out of gas?

He studied it for a while. If he couldn’t figure out what was going on, he couldn’t cook. So he went to look for the kettle. He remembered that someone had boiled water here during the day. But now the kettle is gone, maybe someone who had no ethics had taken it to their room.

What could he do? He can’t even make instant noodles to eat?

Member B had an idea and suddenly remembered reading how to cook instant noodles in a microwave oven from the Internet. He reopened the three boxes of instant noodles, added water and seasoning, then placed them into the microwave and pressed the start button.

With the sound of “hum–“, a warm orange light lit up in the microwave. Member B watched the three boxes of instant noodles swirl in the microwave and had a warm feeling of returning home.

Suddenly there was a “Bang”!

The door behind him closed suddenly.

Member B was terrified. He swallowed and wanted to look back to see what was going on behind him but the hair at the back of his neck rose up and he was afraid to look back due to fear.

It should be all right. Someone had just died so it’s impossible to have another incident so soon…

He silently comforted himself in his heart, staring straight at the microwave oven. Hot steam was gradually coming out of the instant noodle paper cover and it is estimated that it will be ready soon.

It’s almost too fast. There were still two minutes… one minute… 30 seconds… it’s a little hot, why is this kitchen so stuffy all of a sudden? Oh, no window and no ventilation. It is estimated that the door was blown closed by the wind just now… The room will become stuffy when the door is closed…

 His eyes were fixed on the timer and he counted down silently in his heart: 10, 9, 8…

But how to get the three cups of instant noodles? Got to find a plate…

Tick, tick, tick, tick, the timer hand finally came to the number “0”. However, the expected “ding” sound did not appear. The instant noodles in the microwave were still spinning and the orange-yellow light was hot and dazzling.

Member B was taken aback for a moment, then reached out and twisted the timer. The timer has indeed reached the end. He tried to twist it in the opposite direction again, but it still wouldn’t work.

… What happened?

The room was getting hotter and hotter and beads of sweat began to ooze out of Member B’s head. The anxiety in his heart began to ferment frantically. He was short of breath and directly went to open the door of the microwave oven. There was a “click” and the microwave opened.

A heat wave came, accompanied by the tempting aroma of instant noodles. Member B’s stomach also growled.

There didn’t seem to be anything unusual, he must be thinking too much.

As he put the instant noodles on a tray, he laughed at his own thoughts. When he came to the door, he freed his hand to turn the doorknob-

“Hssss!” He retracted his hand in pain and the tray in his hand fell to the ground with a bang. The instant noodles were all overturned, the steaming soup was spilled all over the place and a few noodles were also stained on Member B’s trouser legs and shoes.

However, he didn’t care about the noodles and just looked down at his fingers in horror. His fingers were scalded into several blisters within an instant, and a piece of skin even fell off his fingertips! But this was not because the instant noodles were too hot, instant noodles couldn’t get this hot.

Startled, he moved his gaze to the doorknob in disbelief.

The copper door handle turned red! The skin on his finger was still stuck to it and it was slowly curling and carbonizing. Finally it turned black.

Member B was choked by fear, unable to even cry out for help. He took a few steps back trembling, bumped into something, and then let out another scream.

“Ahhhhhhhh!” 

Scaled, he jumped back and hurriedly touched his lower back. There was blood in his hands. There was also a big hole in his clothes.

What’s going on….?

His breathing is getting hotter and hotter. Every breath he took in was like lava, burning his respiratory tract the entire way. He was soon out of breath, grabbing his neck and breathing heavily. The light in the microwave oven had turned blood red at some point, and even though the door was open, the empty tray was still spinning. The cabinet was still making a low-pitched sound of “hum–“.

Member B threw himself in front of the microwave oven, twisted the knob desperately, and tried to turn off the microwave oven. The knob was also terribly hot, his fingers made a “sizzling” sound and even white gas came out. But at this time he couldn’t care about the pain in his fingers. He tried all his strength to turn the knob but no matter how many times he tried, the microwave tray kept spinning.

The hot air burned his vocal cords and he couldn’t make a sound. Covering his neck, he stumbled back towards the door, trying to kick it open. The door didn’t move at all.

The temperature in the kitchen was getting higher and higher and blisters formed all over his body. They grew bigger at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Helpless, he had no choice but to go out and slammed into the door—

“Zilazilazila—”

He stuck to the door, making a barbecue-like sound.

“…” Member B rolled his eyes from the heat and almost lost consciousness within an instant. But the more pain he felt, the more sober he became. He could clearly hear the sound of his skin and muscles being scorched.

It hurts…it hurts…why is it so painful…

Hot steam kept coming out of him and water kept evaporating. Before long, he no longer had the strength to struggle. His whole body was stuck to the red-hot door, turning into a scorched and fragrant teppanyaki.

At the same time, on the second floor, in the film club room.

The glamorous Member C sat down beside the bed and accidentally kicked something. She bent down and picked it up, surprised: “Hey, why is the electric kettle here?” 

The president came over, took the kettle and said casually, “Isn’t this available in every room?”

The glamorous member C was a little suspicious: “Really? How come I remember that when we came, there was only one kettle in the kitchen in the whole house…” 

The president played with the electric kettle and a strange color flashed through his eyes. He paused for a moment and in the end smiled, “It’s such a big house, how can there only be one kettle? How come he hasn’t come back yet? Even that little fool should be able to do something like that.”

Little Fool was said affectionately and the cold-faced Member C’s face sank instantly.

The president didn’t seem to notice her change in expression. With a properly worried look on his face, he said: “I’m a little worried. I’ll go down and check on him.”

***