Kaleidoscope of Death

Chapter 122: Minotaur

The night grew darker, and because the room theyd stayed in before was now in a completely different spot, the three of them could only select a random room to sleep in on the second-story deck.

The good thing was that after the rooms began to change, they could only be locked from the inside, so there was no concern about getting in.

The bedroom they chose this time was also a triple, and there were some bags inside, left here by people the day before. Lin Qiushi said theyd bring the bags out tomorrow since if they left in the room, they might not be able to find them again.

Ruan Nanzhu nodded in demonstrated agreement with Lin Qiushis words.

Not long after they turned in, it began to rain outside again.

The howling sea wind lent more strength to the rain, and the ship felt so flimsy on the brinkless ocean. It seemed that they could be smothered underneath the black waters at any second.

The ship kept swaying, and even the beds became like hammocks, swinging to and fro. It was horribly uncomfortable, and even Lin Qiushi, who didnt get motion-sick, had to sit up in bed to feel a bit better. It was easy to see that someone who did get seasick would be vomiting up everything in their stomachs right about now.

Linlin, are you alright? Ruan Nanzhu asked, seeing that Lin Qiushi didnt look so good. The swaying beds didnt seem to be impacting him any, however; he was still lying unaffected in bed.

Lin Qiushi shook his head, indicating that he was fine.

Im just a little dizzy. Im going to sit up for a while.

What he could see from his window was constantly changing as well. Sometimes he saw the cabin, sometimes he saw the keel. Right now, he just so happened to be looking out at the top deck with the rain water sloughing off the planks.

All the kerosene lamps outside had been extinguished, and only faint silhouettes could be seen on deck. Lin Qiushi watched for a while, and by the time the rain lessened, he decided to lie back down and go to sleep. But just as he got into bed, he noticed two blurry figures appear on deck.

One of the figures stood roughly two meters tall, while the other was collapsed on the floor. It was held and being dragged along the ground by the taller figure.

There was nobody in their group taller than two meters. Obviously, the thing appearing before Lin Qiushi now was not human. As for the thing in its grip

Lin Qiushi turned and shot Ruan Nanzhu a look.

The two didnt need words to understand each other. Ruan Nanzhu walked silently behind Lin Qiushi and followed Lin Qiushis line of sight.

When he saw that giant figure, his expression became instantly solemn.

Lin Qiushi didnt dare speak; that thing was, at the moment, quite close to them. Any sound they made was likely to arouse its attention. As for what would happen then, they hardly knew.

That hulking figure halted in its steps on the deck. It bent over, burying its face in the body that it dragged along. The next moment, Lin Qiushi heard an immensely unfortunate soundthe sound of raw meat being chewed. Sharp teeth severed skin and tore off fresh flesh chunk by chunk. Then came the brusque chewing and swallowing. A gamy scent began to fill the air. It was the scent of blood.

Lin Qiushi understood everything that was happening. The rain outside gradually stopped; storms on the sea came and went quickly. Storm clouds dispersed, unveiling the raw white moon. Under the cool moonlight, he could finally see everything before him with clarity.

Before Lin Qiushi stood a towering monster. Its head was of a long-dead fish, and gills along its neck were pulsing in vigor; its entire body was a nauseating sheen of muted green. The most eye-catching thing was its pair of huge white eyeballs. They had no lids, and simply sat bulging in their sockets, staring intently down at their prey underneath.

And in front of the creature was a half-eaten human. The face was already gone, so it was impossible to determine its appearance. Only its clothing roughly announced that this had been a man.

Taking in the entire scene, Lin Qiushi held his breath. He recalled the Minotaur, that monster in the Labyrinthwhen it ate humans, did it look the same as this monster before him?

The monster took its time consuming most of the flesh on the persons body. With its face soaked in blood, a strange hissing sound came out of its mouth, a sound that seemed to have been squeezed out of its throat by force. Though they didnt understand what it was saying, Lin Qiushi could still hear the sense of satisfaction in that sound.

It seemed quite contented; the food before it had been delicious, so it got to eat its fill.

After feasting, it turned and left, entering a room nearest to it. And after that, the scenery changed again, and both the rooms and deck disappeared from Lin Qiushis sight.

Lin Qiushi could finally speak. He asked, what is that thing

Ruan Nanzhus brow furrowed. Merperson?

Lin Qiushi: In some sense, it truly was a kind of merperson.

It must be the Minotaur, Lin Qiushi said. Can we beat that thing?

Ruan Nanzhus finger tapped at his chin.

Give me a gun and Ill try.

But they couldnt bring a gun inside the doorneither did the doors support such recklessness. There must be a way to easily kill the monster before them without having to go head-to-head with it.

Lin Qiushi recalled that the myth of the Minotaur mentioned a ball of string.

Ruan Nanzhu seemed to have remembered the same thing. As the two pondered the issue, Gu Longming, whod been sleeping soundly beside them, woke up.

Why arent you two sleeping? he asked. Ive already gotten a whole nap in

Ruan Nanzhu glanced at Lin Qiushi.

Does he always sleep so well?

Lin Qiushi: He said hes only ever like this when hes with me.

Oh, Ruan Nanzhu said. Dont go into any more doors together then.

Gu Longming wore a face of befuddlement, clearly confused about what was going on.

Lets rest first, Ruan Nanzhu said, and gather more information tomorrow. We know too little about this ship.

Lin Qiushi nodded and agreed with Ruan Nanzhus suggestion.

The two got back in bed and this time, without the intrusion of the rain and waves, they quickly fell asleep.

The next morning, the three got up early and headed for the top deck.

There was already a good number of people there, looking at the body from yesterday that was gnawed to only bones. Everyone was raucous with discussion.

How could this happen, how a womans voice cried from the crowd. Theres a monster. Theres a monster on this ship!!

What in the world happened last night? Song Yongning asked.

We heard noises inside our room yesterday, the woman replied dully. He went out to take a look, and then he never came back.

I think I saw the monster yesterday. It was a woman, looking quite young, who spoke. She kept her voice quiet. It had the head of a fish, and it dragged this person to the deck and ateand ate him.

Then why didnt you save him!! The woman heard what the girl had to say and seemed to have found an outlet for her anger. She began to shout, furious, even lunging for the girl: So you just watched him get killed like this?!

The girl got scared and began to cry.

I was also afraid.

Enough, a bystander said in annoyance, stopping the woman with a grip. What are you blaming someone else for? If you were really worried, you couldnt have come out yourself? The deck never switched places, you know.

The woman glowered at the person speaking, jumping to say more, until the person announced coldly: Dont blame others for your own incompetence.

The woman began to wail loudly.

Lin Qiushi kept silent, simply observing the corpse before them.

He could tell that the monster had really liked the food itd been presented with; not only did it eat all the soft innards, but it also chewed off most of the meat from the bones, leaving only the unwieldy skull and the relatively meatless bits of the limbs.

What do we do about the body?

This place was hot, and after a single night on deck, the corpse had already started to rot. There were even insects circling above it, making for an uncomfortable sight.

Toss it in the ocean, someone spoke up languidly. We cant just leave it here.

Surprisingly, the wailing woman did not interject. She only continued to sniffle, afraid to take a second look at the wretched body.

And so a couple of men found a ragged cloth, wrapped the corpse up in it, and tossed it into the nearby ocean.

The moment the corpse hit water, it began to bob and turn. Lin Qiushi took a closer look and discovered the ocean filled with small, sharp-toothed fishhow fortunate that these fish hadnt been present when Xiao Mo fell in.

It would appear that to the newbies who were trying to escape from their very first door, the doors were quite generous; it would at least give them a chance to improve themselves.

The corpse was gone, leaving only conspicuous bloodstains on the deck boards.

Song Yongning fetched a mop from the side and cleaned the blood off the deck. And so the last traces of that persons existence disappeared.

The group stood on deck and began discussing the matter of the monster.

Its a merperson, the girl whod seen the monster said. Its really tallat least two metersand really muscularIt dragged that person to the deck and after gobbling him up, went into a random room.

And then? Song Yongning asked.

And then the rooms changed, the girl replied. I dont know where its gone either.

The rooms were now ever-changing; finding the monster among the infinite number of rooms was practically impossible. Plus, even if they did find it, they were hardly sure they could take it down.

Ruan Nanzhu seemed to be contemplating something, and stayed quiet.

Lin Qiushis gaze fell on the insects still circling the deck. He got close to one before reaching out and snagging itand when he saw the bug in his hand he frowned.

What is it? Ruan Nanzhu had seen Lin Qiushis odd expression.

Have you ever seen mosquitoes like this? Lin Qiushi opened his palm and showed him the insect hed caught.

When Ruan Nanzhu saw the thing in Lin Qiushis hand, he startled.

The flying insect had a persons face, and though the face was quite contorted, it was definitely one of a humanit had eyes and a nose, as well as a needle-shaped mouth that looked like some sort of weapon.

The insect was no bigger than a grain of rice. They had to look closely to see its appearance.

Seeing this bug reminded Ruan Nanzhu of something. He said, remember the NPC who first appeared before us?

Lin Qiushi gave it a thought, and understood what Ruan Nanzhu was getting at.

You mean the insects on his body?

That NPC had indeed been covered in a dense mass of bugs. They just hadnt taken a closer look back then. Seeing the frightening appearance of these insects now, they were linking it back to the ones on his body.

Mh, Ruan Nanzhu said. I think hes in the dining room.

Lin Qiushi glanced at his watch. It was about lunchtime.

Come on, lets go take a look.

All the food they ate was brought over every day by this insect-covered NPC. Quite honestly it wasnt anything to cheer about, because seeing the crawl of bugs covering his body, it was hard not to wonder if some of them would fall into their plates.

Ruan Nanzhu had an idea. He got a heat pack out of his bag and took the sheet off the adhesive back. Then he took a spin with it around the NPC, and not long after, the heat pack was covered with a layer of those black insects.

After some scrutiny, they confirmed that these bugs on the NPC were the same sort they saw on deckinsects that had grown a human face.

Nasty. Gu Longming expressed tremendous disgust regarding the matter. No way all the bugs on the ship are these things, right? I killed a few just last night.

They most likely are. Lin Qiushi observed these insects in contemplation. Saydo you think these insects have anything to do with the labyrinth?

You mean Ruan Nanzhu glanced at Lin Qiushi.

Lin Qiushi nodded, and spoke a single word: String.

Evidently, the labyrinth that they were in was very different from the Minotaurs. All the rooms were continuously changing, so a plain cotton string would not be able to find the monster hidden in the maze. Could that string exist in some other way, however, for instance as the insects before their very eyes?

Gu Longmings eyes lit up. It could be!

These human-faced insects seemed to react particularly well to blood, and after the monster ate a human, there must be blood all over its body; maybe these insects really could help them trace the monsters footsteps.

As for where to source the insects Gu Longmings glance shifted to that impassive NPC, looking pained himself. Its not from him, is it?

Most likely is, Ruan Nanzhu said.

Gu Longming: The honest truth was, he felt disgusted even just looking at that NPC for too long.

If the insects are the string, then whats the aperitif? Lin Qiushi had his chin in a hand, and was poking at the utterly unappetizing dead fish in front of him. I feel like thats more important.

In the myth, after Theseus used the ball of string to enter the maze and find the Minotaur, he killed the Minotaur while it was consuming an aperitif.

Clearly, the drink represented something else here as well. They just didnt know what yet.

But an aperitif? There wasnt a single drop of alcohol on this ship; Gu Longming had even complained about it yesterday, saying how abnormal it was that a ship like this didnt have any alcohol on it.

The three of them didnt touch the dead fish on the table, instead kept eating the food theyd brought. They had enough to last for ten days at least, which was plenty for them the leave the door on.

The time limit the NPC had given them was ten days, which meant that if they didnt find the door and get out in ten days, a terrible change would definitely take place aboard the ship.

Will the ship really reach shore in ten days? Gu Longming asked.

Impossible, Ruan Nanzhu said. Whats most likely to happen is that once the time limits up, the monster goes on a rampage and slaughters a group of people. Then everything cycles back again.

They would experience another ten days, and then another, over and over again until only a single person was left on the shipthat person, under the protection of the law of the doors, would be invincible. Theyd be able to do whatever they wanted, and finding the key and door would become only a matter of time.

But Gu Longming thought there was a problem here. But for normal people, theres no way they can easily link these things together right? These insects for example. He tapped at the human-faced insects that Lin Qiushi had placed on the table. Could normal people notice that?

Theres plenty of time inside the door, you can be slow about it, Ruan Nanzhu spoke faintly. As long as you get out before you go insane.

Gu Longming:

At Ruan Nanzhus words, Lin Qiushi remembered a newbie that Obsidian had once brought backQin Budai. He seemed to have gotten stuck inside a door for too long, and so even after exiting, he hadnt been able to recover. In the end, theyd gotten rid of him.

As they were speaking, the NPC finished distributing food and turned to leave.

Lin Qiushi tried to follow, but once the NPC entered one of the doors, he disappeared before their eyes.

The NPC ought to appear at set times, however, so they didnt have to worry about him disappearing. As for how they were going to harvest the insects from his bodythat was a bit more annoying.

With a bottle? With fresh blood? But where would they get the blood? While they were debating this matter, argument once again broke out in the dining room. This time, the ones arguing were the seasick-to-the-point-of-dying Shen Juexin and that woman whod lost her companion that morning, named Jian Qianyuan.

After witnessing the half-eaten corpse of her partner, she seemed to have suffered a serious emotional shock, and had kept up a highly irritable attitude.

But it wasnt her attitude that struck people the strangestit was the terrifying way she ate.

While everybody expressed disgust for the stale dead fish in front of them, she seemed to have fallen in love with the stuff. She vigorously stuffed that pallid, fetid flesh into her mouth with a look of contentment, looking wholly satisfied.

Shen Juexin, already present, had already been seasick, and seeing Jian Qianyuan chowing down on the fish meat, he couldnt take it anymore, stumbling outside and vomiting up everything in his stomach right onto the deck.

This seemed to provoke those brittle nerves of Jian Qianyuan, and she began to shout, even slamming her hands hard against the table as she roared, the hell are you throwing up for? You think Im disgusting, dont you!!

Mystified by the shouting, Shen Juexin explained that he was only seasick.

Then why didnt you throw up earlier? Jian Qianyuan replied coldly. Why did you wait until I was eating to throw up

Shen Juexin: I didnt do it on purpose. I was holding it back the whole time, and just now, I couldnt hold it in anymore.

Jian Qianyuan threw the fish head in her hand at Shen Juexins feet, a suppressed scream tearing out of her throat. This throw also pissed Shen Juexin off, and so he began to argue with Jian Qianyuan. The two shouted back and forth and back and forth endlessly, and after that, Shen Juexin almost threw up in front of Jian Qianyuan once more.

And when things didnt look so good, everybody else quickly pulled the two apart.

Jian Qianyuan was still incredibly aggressive, clawing up streaks of blood on the arms of the people holding her back. With no other choice, the group could only grab something to tie her down with and then shoo Shen Juexin quickly out of the dining room.

Forget it, you know her friend just died. Shes all by herself, dont hold it against her, they coaxed Shen Juexin, trying to calm him down.

Shes ridiculous, Shen Juexin said, wronged. Its not like I wanted to throw up. And how could she eat that fish anyways

Nobody replied, because Shen Juexin had a point. The taste of the fish really wasnt meant for human consumption: the texture of the meat was powdery, crumbling at a pinch. And it wasnt salted, but seemed to have been left out for a while; there was even a faint whiff of rot to be smelled. Jian Qianyuan had complained about the fish meat herself in the past few days, but now was suddenly eating it with so much gusto. She had even picked the fish heads clean, leaving the spectators around her with increasingly complicated feelings.

Jian Qianyuan, currently tied to a chair, had managed to calm down. She said, you guys can release me now. I wont keep fighting with him.

Qianyuan, you have to cool down. We know youre upset, someone was still trying to speak earnestly with her. You have to stay strong.

Jian Qianyuan didnt speak, only nodded.

The others undid the ropes and released her. Theyd thought she would leave once released, but instead she sat down once more at the dining room table, continuing to chow down on that disgusting fish meat.

When everybody saw this, their expressions changed for the worse.

Gu Longming couldnt hold back, asking in a hushed voice, is it good?

Jian Qianyuan shot him a cold look.

And what if its not? Would you have something else to feed me?

Gu Longming:

Though this was the answer hed gotten, it was clear from how Jian Qianyuan was eating that she thoroughly enjoyed the process. She seemed to find the taste of rotted fish particularly delicious, and her movements had no hesitation at all, stuffing her mouth with endless quantities of fish.

Faced with such a quandary, everybody tacitly left the dining room and headed outside without speaking. They were all obviously disgusted, and if they watched any longer, someone might end up vomiting like Shen Juexin. And if Jian Qianyuan saw that, another kerfuffle might start up.

How can she keep eating that? Gu Longming asked, his face green.

Do you think Jian Qianyuan lied to us? Ruan Nanzhu suddenly spoke.

What? Gu Longming startled.

You mean what happened last nightif Jian Qianyuan is hiding something?

As Lin Qiushi said this, he looked off in the direction of the dining room.

Names in this chapter:

• Jin Qinyun / Jian(3) Qian(1) Yuan(4) /