Paying Debts

After Lin Qiushi spoke, Zhou Hanshan's gaze fell upon the sculpture, and he didn't speak for a long while.

The sculpture's tears had dried, its eyes returning to the immovable blankness of before. It was as if the hint it gave them just now had only been an illusion.

Gu Longming bent forward and picked up the wooden figure. He stared at the doll in his hand and asked, "Zhou Hanshan, for real, how long were you and Zhu Ruyuan lovers?"

"Half a year," Zhou Hanshan answered. He headed to a corner of the storage room and grabbed a random bench. Without any care for the layer of dust on it, he took a seat. "We usually met up during club activities…She said she was busy with school, and I said I completely understood."

He used to complain about love making people foolish, but found now that it was indeed the truth. Even the way they met was filled with incongruity—truly knowing and loving each other wasn't up for debate at all.

The very beginning of this story had been a mistake. But he was foolish. He drew out this mistake and paid a painful price for it.

Lin Qiushi listened to Zhou Hanshan talk but he didn't pick up the thread of conversation. It was only when Zhou Hanshan finished that he said, "let's make a wish tonight."

"What?"

Zhou Hanshan thought he'd heard wrong at first, but after seeing Lin Qiushi's calm expression, he realized that Lin Qiushi really did say what he said.

"You mean…we're making another wish of this sculpture?"

"There's not much time left." Lin Qiushi held out the shattered doll in his hand. "You don't want to become like this, do you?"

Their wooden dolls were all broken. They could run but they couldn't hide, not forever; something could happen at any moment to take all their lives.

So leaving this world and ending it all was the best option, though coming to such a decision wasn't an easy matter at all.

"I don't sense any malice from it. You?" Lin Qiushi was looking at the sculpture in front of him.

In the present moment, the sculpture was already very much like a person. Whether it was body warmth or the texture of its skin, it was rapidly approaching humanity. Zhou Hanshan stared at the sculpture for a while. Then, all of a sudden, he got up and pressed his cheek to the sculpture's chest. Moments later, his face went pale, and he looked over his shoulder at Lin Qiushi.

Lin Qiushi could guess what he was thinking from his expression alone.

Indeed, Zhou Hanshan's next words were: "I hear a heartbeat."

Gu Longming startled, "a heartbeat?"

The shock had already made Zhou Hanshan numb. He said, "that's right, a heartbeat."

Watching the sculpture, he carefully caressed her cheek with his hand.

"Is she about to become human…"

Though this was a question, everybody knew well that in a few days time, the sculpture in front of them could very likely become human. They just didn't know that for her to come alive, what sort of price needed to be paid.

Lin Qiushi had already decided to stay in the activity room that night to make another wish.

Sitting in the activity room, Zhou Hanshan was inscrutably silent.

Lin Qiushi played sudoku, and Gu Longming had his head bowed inspecting the doll in his hand. The atmosphere in the room was tense and nerve-wracking.

In the middle of things, Lin Qiushi and Gu Longming went to the bathroom together. On the way there, Gu Longming asked, "what's on your mind, Yu Linlin?"

Lin Qiushi said, "I'm thinking about Zhou Hanshan."

"What are you thinking about him for?" Gu Longming's current impression of Zhou Hanshan was vastly different from before, because frankly, he was the catalyst of everything that happened. "If he didn't go falling in love with Zhu Ruyuan, then this situation might never have happened."

"Right," Lin Qiushi said. "Do you think he's still lying about something?"

Gu Longming nodded.

Everybody had secrets. But some of these secrets might be kept all the way up until the moment of death.

"When evening comes, you should be careful," Lin Qiushi said. "I don't think making a wish will be that easy."

"Will that person try to stop us?" Gu Longming asked.

Lin Qiushi looked down as he washed his hands. Cold water ran down the neat lines of his palms.

Are you talking about Zhu Ruyuan, or do you mean Zhou Hanshan?"

"Zhou Hanshan?" Gu Longming didn't understand. "Why would he stop us from making a wish?"

"Because maybe our wish and his are contradictory." Lin Qiushi shut the water off and grabbed a paper towel to dry his hands. "Do you remember where we met Zhou Hanshan?"

"In the classroom…Hang on, those three…" Gu Longming suddenly thought of something—he remembered what the three students were doing in the classroom. "Those three were making another wish too??"

"Yeah." Lin Qiushi's lips moved up into a faint curve. "Say, how much do you think this Zhou Hanshan is actually hiding from us?"

The bisected Xiao He, the beheaded friend, plus the surviving Zhou Hanshan—when he and Gu Longming first met the three, they were in the classroom smearing blood onto their wooden figures. According to Zhou Hanshan, bleeding on the dolls was part of the wishing process, but there was an obvious hole in the logic here—there had been no sculpture in the classroom.

If everything were as Zhou Hanshan said, however, and they made wishes to the sculpture, then why were those three doing the ritual inside the classroom? Either the wishes didn't actually have any effect, or the sculpture didn't.

"Actually, Zhou Hanshan is not the only survivor left in the school," Lin Qiushi said. "Remember the librarian?"

"I do." Gu Longming's mind was a jumbled mess, but he kept feeling like in all these interlocking clues, there was a vital point, and that point was where to begin parsing all this. "The librarian…Do you mean…"

"He's still alive," Lin Qiushi said. "And he has that doll too. This indicates that Zhou Hanshan is indeed lying."

Gu Longming chuckled, pained. "I feel like I'm doing a really difficult math problem."

Lin Qiushi flipped a palm up.

"A math problem would be way easier than this. We just haven't thought through a lot of the details yet. The librarian is still alive, which is proof of one thing."

"What?" Gu Longming could only ask.

"Making a wish doesn't kill you," Lin Qiushi said. "It might be true that you have to pay a price, but that price isn't necessarily your life."

Upon this realization, Gu Longming fell into a beat of silence.

"Then why did they—"

"I'm beginning to suspect that the sculpture and Zhu Ruyuan aren't the same things at all," Lin Qiushi said. "The sculpture grants wishes, and the resentful spirit goes on killing sprees. Of course, this is all just a guess, and I don't have any evidence."

Gu Longming, "that's why you want to make a wish?"

He had been pondering why Lin Qiushi wanted to make a wish to the sculpture. Now, it was clear that there was something Lin Qiushi wanted to prove.

"Yes," Lin Qiushi said. "By night, all the mysteries will be solved. Keep an eye on Zhou Hanshan when the time comes."

"Okay," Gu Longming nodded.

"Let's go." Lin Qiushi was done, but found Gu Longming still staring at him. He felt a bit strange. "What are you looking at me for?"

"I just think you've changed a lot," Gu Longming said. "After going into the door with me, have you gone into many more doors?"

"Not at all," Lin Qiushi said. "I only went into one low-level door with a friend…What is it?" He found Gu Longming's question odd.

"Nothing. Then you improve really fast," Gu Longming said. "Compared to last time, you're even better now." With a sigh, "maybe some people really are just naturally suited to the doors."

Lin Qiushi's eyebrow twitched up. He didn't think he'd hear this from Gu Longming as well. Though Ruan Nanzhu had said something similar to him in the past, he hadn't felt any particular way about it. He'd thought that it was purely Ruan Nanzhu's way of encouraging a newbie.

When the two returned to the room, they saw Zhou Hanshan with his face plastered to a table, looking listless.

Glancing at the time, Lin Qiushi said, "come on, we can grab some lunch."

"I'm not hungry," Zhou Hanshan said. "I don't really want to eat."

Gu Longming, "then you're not scared of being here alone?"

Zhou Hanshan thought about it, and did still seem scared. He said, "alright. A busy cafeteria's a bit more comforting."

They all had things on their minds. There was no joy to be had in eating right now. At the cafeteria Lin Qiushi spotted Zuo Sisi, and after some thought, he went over and greeted her.

"What are you up to?" Zuo Sisi asked. "Haven't seen you all morning. And I was looking for you too."

"Activity room," Lin Qiushi said. "Is something the matter?"

Zuo Sisi glanced beside them.

"Do you know who that NPC you're bringing around is?"

Lin Qiushi said, "what about him?"

Zhou Hanshan seemed to have discovered something in her investigations and came specifically to tell Lin Qiushi. She said, "His name is Zhou Hanshan…He was really close to the group of dead kids."

Lin Qiushi nodded his understanding.

"His classmates said he was dating a girl named Zhu Ruyuan." Seeing Lin Qiushi's placid attitude, Zuo Sisi lowered her voice further. "But I've looked into it. There's no fourth year named Zhu Ruyuan at all."

"Thank you," Lin Qiushi said. "That's right, Zhu Ruyuan isn't a fourth year."

"Then what year is she in?" Zuo Sisi's eyes were wide.

"She's dead." After some contemplation, Lin Qiushi still told this to Zuo Sisi.

Zuo Sisi's expression twitched. "…Are you serious?"

Lin Qiushi, "yeah."

Zuo Sisi, "then why are you so calm about it?" A thin layer of goosebumps had appeared on her arms when she heard this news.

"It isn't that. I've already been scared."

Zuo Sisi sighed: "Fine, you're still better at this. It took me so much to find that info, but you guys already knew about it…The door and key? You've got clues about that?"

Lin Qiushi, "only a bit."

Zuo Sisi knew their group for sure had more information on that as well, but the two of them weren't close enough to casually swap intel, so very sensibly, she didn't ask. She only had Lin Qiushi be careful of Zhou Hanshan, mentioning that something might be off about this NPC.

After thanking her, Lin Qiushi returned to his table.

"What are you wishing for tonight?" Zhou Hanshan had no appetite, stabbing at the rice in his plate with a chopstick as he asked.

"What wish do you think would be suitable?" Lin Qiushi asked.

"For all of this to end quickly, of course." Zhou Hanshan was dead on his feet. "I can't take anymore of this."

"Alright," Lin Qiushi said. "Let's have this all end quickly then."

Time spent waiting was always long. Night, which came so quickly on all the other days, felt years away today.

The three waited and waited in the activity room. Lying down on the table, Zhou Hanshan even fell asleep.

Lin Qiushi didn't dare rest. The broken wooden figure in front of him was a reminder that an accident could happen at any moment. When that thing wanted you dead, it hardly cared whether you were resting or not.

It began to rain outside. The hour hand looped around and around until it was finally 8PM.

The sky grew dark. Whistling winds brought with them rainwater as they poured through the edges of the windows. Glancing at his watch, Lin Qiushi made eye contact with Gu Longming. It was about time.

Lin Qiushi nudged the sleeping Zhou Hanshan awake.

"Time to get up, it's dark out."

Zhou Hanshan jumped, pushing himself up off the table. He mumbled, "I had a dream."

"What did you dream about?" Gu Longming asked him.

"I dreamt of my friends," Zhou Hanshan said. "They said they missed me."

He swiped down his face with a hand.

"I…also miss them." Then he began to chuckle, in pain. "I might be joining them real soon."

Gu Longming didn't answer, just patted his shoulder in comfort.

When night fully descended, they went into the storage room and pushed the sculpture out.

The sculpture was still unmoving, just with the body heat and feel of a human. This enveloped the statue in all sorts of weird feelings, and Zhou Hanshan carefully touched it, mumbling about how it wasn't going to turn human, right? If it really turned human, what were they supposed to do?

Lin Qiushi said, "can we make the wish now?"

"Yes," Zhou Hanshan said. "Cut your finger and rub your blood on the wooden doll. Then make your wish at the sculpture…" He looked to Lin Qiushi. "What are you going to wish for?"

But Lin Qiushi didn't answer. The dagger he'd taken from his pocket and gotten ready over his finger suddenly halted.

"What?" Zhou Hanshan asked.

Lin Qiushi looked down at the ground.

There were three people total in the room. Since dinner, they had not gone back out, and this rain had started after they ate. But now, there was an extra set of watery footprints in the room. These footprints came from the door all the way to their feet, and judging by the size, they belonged to a woman.

Just like what Lin Qiushi saw in the classroom before, there was an extra person in the room. They simply couldn't see her.

After a pause, Lin Qiushi handed the dagger in his hand to Zhou Hanshan. He said, "you first."

Zhou Hanshan startled. He didn't seem to expect Lin Qiushi's reaction.

"…But I've already made a wish."

Lin Qiushi, "who said you can't make two?"

"I don't know what to wish for?" Zhou Hanshan seemed a bit panicked. "I…"

Lin Qiushi watched his eyes, and said, "Zhou Hanshan, what did you actually wish for back then?"

Zhou Hanshan, "I—"

"Don't lie," Lin Qiushi said. "If you lie, I'll smash this sculpture right in front of you."

As he spoke, he approached the statue. He didn't seem like he was kidding at all.

Zhou Hanshan went silent. His expression was too complex, and he looked like he was jumping to say something.

"Make the wish." Lin Qiushi's voice was very light, but nobody thought he was joking around. "Wish for all of this to end."

Dagger in hand, Zhou Hanshan's face grew inscrutable.

Gu Longming too detected the change in Zhou Hanshan's attitude. Frowning in suspicion, he kept staring at Zhou Hanshan and called out his name: "Zhou Hanshan?"

Zhou Hanshan smiled. He set the dagger down and said, in an even tone of voice: "You know everything already, right?"

Lin Qiushi sighed. His guess really did come true. Zhou Hanshan was still keeping something from them, and held a very important role in this entire situation.

Gu Longming also saw Zhou Hanshan's turn, and instinctively spat out a curse.

Lin Qiushi said, "Zhou Hanshan, let me guess, the wish you made back then really hasn't come true…but, it's almost come true, right?"

Zhou Hanshan was impassive. Compared to the cowardly, nervous version of him, this Zhou Hanshan seemed like a completely different person.

"Did you get nervous?" Lin Qiushi asked. "When you realized the way your wish was being granted was different than you imagined?"

Zhou Hanshan let out a long sigh.

"I really hate dealing with smart people." He got up off the chair and went to the sculpture, gently caressing the sculpture's skin with one hand. "That's right, it's different than I thought. So…I can't die."

He twisted over and looked at Lin Qiushi.

"I'll have to trouble you two to die for me instead."

After he said this, a wild gust of wind whipped into the room. The lights above their heads creaked and groaned on the verge of extinguishing.

Lin Qiushi heard the sticky sound of water. Whipping around, he saw Zhu Ruyuan standing right behind him. She wore a long dress, and out of her pallid face, vicious eyes glared at Lin Qiushi. The water she left behind was all morphing into red blood.

Gu Longming jumped at her sudden appearance and reflexively took a few steps back.

But Lin Qiushi remained calm. He tucked a hand casually into his own pocket, and when he pulled it out, there was a smear of blood on his fingertip. He rubbed the blood on the wooden figure in his hand and said aloud his wish: "I wish that Zhou Hanshan's wish can never come true."

At first, Zhou Hanshan was still calm. But when he heard what Lin Qiushi said his face immediately turned. With a roar, he lunged at Lin Qiushi with the dagger.

"How dare you—"

Lin Qiushi reacted at top speed. He dodged Zhou Hanshan's attack, and then landed a kick on Zhou Hanshan's hand, socking the dagger out of his grip.

Zhou Hanshan was frail to begin with. Gu Longming was out of the question, but he stood no chance even against Lin Qiushi.

Lin Qiushi landed a punch in his gut and shoved him to the floor. Behind Lin Qiushi, Zhu Ruyuan's mouth cracked open into a hideous smile.

She said, "as you wish."

"No!!!" Zhou Hanshan screamed.

Then, the sound of stone breaking came rang all throughout the room. Lin Qiushi looked up and saw that the sculpture beside them had begun to crack into little pieces.

Zhou Hanshan threw himself onto the sculpture, howling and weeping as he tried to protect it with his hands, to piece it back together again. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't keep the sculpture from falling apart. Zhou Hanshan gathered the pieces into his arms and wept in abject despair.

"So close. We were so, so close—"

Lin Qiushi just watched him.

Gu Longming's expression was a lot more complicated. He said, "so what did you do…Were you exchanging your friends' lives for something?"

Zhou Hanshan didn't answer Gu Longming's question. All of his attention was on the sculpture in front of him. The sculpture had completely broken, and when Lin Qiushi approached, he found among the pieces a green copper key.

Even though he'd already figured this to be so, when he saw the actual key, Lin Qiushi still let out a breath of relief.

Zhou Hanshan sat numbly on the floor, cradling the sculpture in his arms.

"Zhu Ruyuan's wish was for the sculpture to have soul. Your wish was to be together with Zhu Ruyuan," Lin Qiushi said to Zhou Hanshan as he picked up the key. "There were two ways for you to be together. One, you die. Two, she becomes human. You chose the latter."

Zhou Hanshan lifted his head, watching Lin Qiushi in silence.

Lin Qiushi, "the one who can grant the wishes likely isn't Zhu Ruyuan, but that sculpture…right?"

Zhou Hanshan's shoulders were shaking. As if in tears, but also as if in laughter.

Lin Qiushi said, "your wish never was to win the award…so there is no paradox. The price they paid was simply part of their friend's bill."

How could reviving a dead person possibly be that easy?

Lin Qiushi even suspected that Zhu Ruyuan's sculpture had gained its own soul as well. The soul looked exactly like Zhu Ruyuan, was the thing. The one granting Zhou Hanshan's wish was that thing.

"It wanted to kill me." Zhou Hanshan looked exhausted. "Because it couldn't grant my wish."

The soul was still missing a part. Without that part, Zhu Ruyuan could never become human.

"No." Lin Qiushi dropped the key into his own pocket. "Have you never thought that it's Zhu Ruyuan who's trying to kill you?"

Zhou Hanshan froze.

"Maybe she doesn't want you to keep going down that path," Lin Qiushi said. "Do you think she was happy, being changed from a statue to a person?"

Zhou Hanshan looked down at the broken pieces in his arms.

"Of course, this is all just a guess," Lin Qiushi said.

After this, he spoke at Gu Longming: "Let's go."

Gu Longming nodded and headed out with Lin Qiushi. When the two got to the door, however, they heard a muffled groan from inside. Lin Qiushi looked back, and saw Zhou Hanshan lying in a pool of blood. A sharp dagger was buried in his stomach.

It wasn't a startling sight. Just an uncomfortable one.

Gu Longming sighed, and Lin Qiushi turned back around. He left the room with no hesitation in his footsteps.

Everybody had to pay for their actions somehow. Zhou Hanshan got all of his friends killed—whether intentional or not, it was a debt that he had to pay off.