Next, they visited the homes of the two other missing children.
After a series of inquiries, they discovered that what all the victims shared was that they were all being followed shortly before their disappearance. Their parents, however, never took their words too seriously.
The mother of one of the missing children sobbed, "Oh, how I've regretted it! If only I had believed her, then she wouldn't have been abducted. The blame is all on me. It's all my fault... I was a terrible mother."
After gently consoling her, Ruan Nanzhu asked, "If I may, do you have any information on her disappearance? If you do, please tell us. Maybe it'll help us bring her back to you sooner."
Having heard this, the mother was silent for a moment before softly saying, "Information... I've heard before that at the outskirts of this town, there is a hidden monster... of course this is just a rumour and nobody has actually seen it."
Ruan Nanzhu's interest perked, "Monster? What kind of monster?"
"I don't know," the mother replied. "We don't know what it looks like, but rumour has it that the creature is very, very tall...."
This was all the information the mother had.
But through Ruan Nanzhu's questioning, they found out that this family's child likes to play near the fish cannery and despite attempts to persuade her otherwise, she still often snuck over to play. This child was most likely last seen in the cannery.
The cannery seemed to be a very important location.
Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu decided unanimously to check out the cannery after lunch.
As with the other meals, there was something afoot about the flavour of their lunch. Several dishes had contained fish and reeked of an unpleasant, fishy odor. In the middle of the table were a few opened cans of fish. They seemed like a delicacy compared to the rest.
Due to this, quite a few people picked at them with their chopsticks and marvelled that they tasted pretty delicious.
Due to the information they had gathered in the morning, Lin Qiushi really did not have any interest in the canned fish. He randomly ate some things and then took out his phone in order to sort out his thoughts. Ironically, his identity as a mute girl in this world helped as nobody came over to chat with him; everyone basically treated him as invisible as thin air.
Lin Qiushi enjoyed this quiet idleness.
As it was the second day after entering the door, there were still people attempting to form partnerships with Ruan Nanzhu. Their words were filled with contempt directed towards Lin Qiushi.
Some people had been more tactful, while others were blunt, saying that she can't speak so even if she runs into something, she wouldn't even be able to cry out. He was wasting his time with her so why not partner with someone else?
Listening to all of this, Lin Qiushi was close to standing up and unleashing He only managed to hold himself back with herculean effort. Recalling Ruan Nanzhu's love of performance, Lin Qiushi put on a pitiable expression.
As if Lin Qiushi's weak and delicate appearance had moved him, Ruan Nanzhu declined their requests.
Ruan Nanzhu seemed to have also found their insistent requests a nuisance and pulled Lin Qiushi out of the dining hall immediately after.
"Why do they all seem so eager to recruit you? Because you're good looking?" Lin Qiushi was a little curious and asked as they headed towards the cannery.
"It's human nature to seek out what benefits them and avoid what may harm them," Ruan Nanzhu said. "In a place where they can lose their life if they're not careful, if they meet someone stronger than themselves, they'll try and find a way to stick close to them."
When they were at a certain distance away from the cannery, they began to smell a pungent, fishy odor.
This odor made one feel unpleasant. If someone who didn't like eating fish were here, the odor would've been enough to make them want to puke.
The cannery was at the very outskirts of the town. There weren't any signs of inhabitation nearby and there weren't any buildings by the road. The trees were sparse but there was an abundance of shrubbery. Behind the trees was a heavy fog,marking the boundaries of this world.
According to the mayor, productions stopped and this cannery closed down a few years ago. Now, it stood in silence. Ruan Nanzhu took out his tools and unlocked the rusted iron gate at the entrance with ease. The two of them went in.
"This cannery is actually quite big." Lin Qiushi looked around. The first thing he saw was a large courtyard. Around its edges were metre tall weeds. It was obvious that it had been a long time since anyone had come in here. In the courtyard stood a few withered trees. On their branches sat black-feathered birds. At first glance, these birds looked like crows, but after careful observation, they seemed much bigger than crows.
"En." hummed Ruan Nanzhu as he walked in front of him.
"Could it be that this was where the children disappeared? Or rather, they were brought here after they disappeared?" Lin Qiushi asked.
Ruan Nanzhu, "I don't know. Let's take a look around to see if there is anything that we could find."
Lin Qiushi nodded.
The two of them continued forwards. Just before they entered the production area, Lin Qiushi had a sudden discovery.
He had discovered it by chance; Lin Qiushi had tripped over a rock and as he stumbled forwards, he had reflexively looked down at the rock which tripped him and saw something else as well.
"What's this?" Lin Qiushi called out. He bent down to examine the dirt. "...a fingerprint?"
Ruan Nanzhu heard his voice and glanced at where Lin Qiushi was looking.
Indented on the soil was a mass of hand prints. At first glance, these handprints seemed to be randomly imprinted themselves in the earth, but after detailed examination they seemed like someone's cry for help—someone had been dragged across the dirt and as they were being dragged, they had attempted to grab onto things. Their desperate attempts to claw at the earth beneath them were the cause of these markings.
Lin Qiushi carefully followed the trail of handprints. Ruan Nanzhu followed behind him, keeping an eye on their surroundings.
Soon, Lin Qiushi arrived at the end of the trail: a giant, withered tree. Its diameter was at least 2 metres wide and it seemed to have died long ago. Lin Qiushi knocked on the trunk and frowned, "It's hollow; could there be something hidden inside?"
Ruan Nanzhu examined the tree and commented, "It's possible." After all, this was where the handprints had led them to.
Ruan Nanzhu took out a small knife from his pocket and slowly worked it into the tree. The tree was rotting so the sharp knife easily bore into it.
When Ruan Nanzhu pulled the knife out, Lin Qiushi inhaled sharply.
The edge of Ruan Nanzhu's blade was stained with crimson red blood.
"Fuck." Lin Qiushi wasn't able to hold back from swearing. His expression twisted into an awkward look and said, "You didn't just kill our clue, right?"
"..." After a moment of silence, Ruan Nanzhu calmly replied, "I didn't do it on purpose."
Lin Qiushi, "..."
Ruan Nanzhu, "If the knife stabbed a normal person, they would've screeched. Moreover, there aren't any openings on this tree so how would a normal person be able to get init?"
That was indeed true. Lin Qiushi wet his lips, "Then let's chisel it open and see."
Ruan Nanzhu nodded. This time he didn't sink the knife in too deep and started cutting a larger hole into the trunk. Soon, he created an opening, revealing what was inside.
Lin Qiushi subconsciously took a step back as he realized what was in the tree. His expression was somewhat distressed.
Within the tree trunk was a small child. This child appeared to have been into the ancient tree; almost his entire body was embedded into the tree trunk. But what was most startling was the large gash on his abdomen. Although there wasn't any blood, Lin Qiushi knew that this child was no longer alive.
Ruan Nanzhu's head tilted, "There seems to be a plastic bag behind him."
Those who did not know the hint would not have known, but Lin Qiushi had read that file of research before entering the door. Thus he knew instantly the connotations of the plastic bag—the child's organs had been removed and placed into the plastic bag.
This was something the slendermen liked to do.
Lin Qiushi sighed. "I don't think this bodes well for the other kids."
Ruan Nanzhu replied, "Probably."
He was used to seeing death. With an indifferent expression, Ruan Nanzhu examined the corpse in the tree, looking for more clues.
Lin Qiushi looked around. He had a feeling that the other two missing children were also here in the cannery, what he didn't know was where exactly they were hidden.
As Lin Qiushi pondered over this thought, Ruan Nanzhu suddenly took a few steps back, quick and curt, as if he had seen something strange.
"What's wrong?" Lin Qiushi asked, startled.
Ruan Nanzhu was silent. He pointed at the corpse in front of him.
Lin Qiushi looked towards it and proceeded to react the same way Ruan Nanzhu had—at some point, the child's eyes opened and was staring at them with the cold detachment of the dead.
Lin Qiushi felt goosebumps rise. He gave a dry laugh, "It won't turn into a zombie, right?"
Ruan Nanzhu, "I can't be certain." He looked at the sky. "It's getting late, it's best for us to stop our search and continue tomorrow. Let's head back."
"En." Lin Qiushi approved of Ruan Nanzhu's suggestion. After all, in the world of the doors, night was the most dangerous time of day.
"Let's go, we'll tell the townspeople about this child tomorrow," Ruan Nanzhu said. "I want to see how they react."
The cannery was quite a distance from where they were staying. Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu hurried to make it back to the inn before the day turned dark.
The group of people were gathered at the dining hall, silently eating dinner. Occasionally, there would be the sound of people discussing what they had found that day.
Lin Qiushi apathetically picked at his meal. Suddenly, there was a disturbance within the group. He looked and saw that somebody's nose had begun bleeding.
"Hell, how come your nose started bleeding?" The man's companion asked. "Hurry and stop it with a tissue."
"I don't know," the man said. "It just started bleeding while I was eating."
The man got up and went to the restroom. Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu looked at each other and saw a certain something flash in each other's guys.
Once the slenderman began targeting someone, there would always be warning signs. Some people had nightmares or they would experience hallucinations. Others had nosebleeds or they would cough up blood.
They weren't sure whether this man's nosebleed was a coincidence or a warning sign.
The man left quickly and returned quickly as well. When he came back, the nosebleed had stopped and he was currently complaining about the terrible food in the dining hall.
Seeing that nothing had happened, Lin Qiushi stood and left for their room with Ruan Nanzhu following behind him.
After returning to their room, Lin Qiushi lay on his stomach in his bed with his phone in his hand as he thought about the information they had gathered.
Ruan Nanzhu sat beside him and read through Lauren's diary again.
"There doesn't seem to be anything else. We still don't have enough information." As it had gotten dark, Lin Qiushi was feeling a little drowsy and said, "Let's go to sleep."
Ruan Nanzhu agreed, "Alright."
After cleaning himself, Lin Qiushi climbed into bed. He watched as the fog outside began to thicken..
Ruan Nanzhu lay down in the bed next to Lin Qiushi's and soon his breathing evened out... he seemed to have fallen asleep.
Lin Qiushi also closed his eyes. But in the silence of night, even a pin dropping would create a startling ruckus. Not to mention, Lin Qiushi's hearing was quite sharp. He lay in bed, listening to a strange noise.
It was the sound of someone shuffling through the underbrush. The creature seemed to be dragging something heavy and occasionally, there was the cracking sound of branches being stepped on.
Lin Qiushi immediately thought of that child in the tree they had seen earlier in the day, as well as the terrible sight he'd experienced as if a white cloth had slipped over his eyes.
Lin Qiushi felt a little cold and slowly turned over.
Ruan Nanzhu, who should've been asleep, had opened his eyes. His gaze was burning, "Little Miss Mute, are you having trouble sleeping?"
Lin Qiushi glared at him. But before he could say anything, Ruan Nanzhu got up and walked over. Then he moved closer and lay down next to Lin Qiushi, throwing an arm around his waist.
Lin Qiushi wanted to say something but was stopped by Ruan Nanzhu's thumb gently pressing on his lips.
"Shh, be good."
Lin Qiushi, "..."
In Lin Qiushi's momentary confusion, the two were sleeping on the same bed. Luckily, the bed was big enough so that it wasn't very difficult to fit two grown men. At first, Lin Qiushi wanted to tell him to get off, but then he remembered Ruan Nanzhu's status as a sleeping pill spirit and hesitated. In the end, Lin Qiushi did not say anything.
The creature in the underbrush outside paced back and forth, as if seeking for an opportunity.
At first Lin Qiushi listened nervously, but later Ruan Nanzhu's calm disposition rubbed off on him, and he muddily fell asleep.
When he woke up, it was the next day.
When the morning of the third day came, nothing had happened that night.
As usual, fourteen people appeared in the dining hall for breakfast.
It'd already been two days and, unexpectedly, nobody had died. This kind of situation was quite uncommon. While thinking about this, someone walked by Lin Qiushi. It was the man whose nose had started bleeding during dinner the night before. He had an average look and shouldn't have any characteristics that would attract one's gaze. But when Lin Qiushi glanced at him, he felt his brows rise.
Unlike yesterday, this man was wearing a black top hat.
This black tophat stuck out from the way he was dressed, but nobody else appeared to notice this inconsistency and not one of them even made a comment.
"What are you looking at?" Ruan Nanzhu suddenly asked him.
"That hat on his head seems very familiar..." Lin Qiushi answered. "We didn't see it on him yesterday, right?"
Ruan Nanzhu's brows slightly furrowed. He looked over at that man and stared at him for a moment, "Yea, that's strange."
"But nobody seems to notice it." Lin Qiushi replied.
"To be honest," Ruan Nanzhu put down the glass of milk he was holding. "If you hadn't mentioned it, I would've thought it normal as well."
Lin Qiushi, "Huh?"
Ruan Nanzhu, "How do I explain this; it's almost as if he's supposed to wear a hat like this." Propping his chin, he watched the man from the corner of his eye. "It doesn't stick out and it doesn't seem strange."
Lin Qiushi, "..."
But in reality, it really is a very strange hat.
It's a hat that would only look appropriate on someone who was in full formal attire. Yet even when it's put together with that man's t-shirt and jeans, only Lin Qiushi seemed to have found it strange.
Ruan Nanzhu said softly, "I think he will die very soon."
Lin Qiushi, "...that's what I think too."
The two of them reached an agreement on this matter.
That man didn't seem to notice anything off at all and was happily eating breakfast with the others. While he was eating, he told his companion about the dream he had last night.
Lin Qiushi easily eavesdropped on the conversation using his strong sense of hearing.
"I dreamed that some person had given me a hat and told me that I had to wear it," he laughed as he spoke. "At that time I thought it was just a dream, but who could have guessed that when I woke up, there was a hat hanging off the branches outside of my window."
"It's a very nice hat," his companion said. "It suits you."
Under a normal circumstance, this compliment would've sounded perfunctory and half-hearted. But the speaker's tone was very sincere and Lin Qiushi could tell that he meant it. He really did believe that this hat was very nice and that it suited his companion. It even sounded like he wanted to try it on for himselfl.
Lin Qiushi glanced at Ruan Nanzhu.
Ruan Nanzhu seemed to understand what he wanted to say and nodded. He stood up and walked towards the man wearing the hat.
"Something seems wrong with that hat you're wearing," Ruan Nanzhu said. "Hopefully it's not some cursed object."
His meaning was clear and after hearing him speak, that man's expression turned alert, "I don't think it is. What if information about the key is in it?"
Ruan Nanzhu shrugged, "What if it isn't?"
That man answered, "Even if it's not, it's still fine, it's just a hat."
Ruan Nanzhu did not reply and turned around to leave. If it wasn't for Lin Qiushi, he wouldn't have spoken to him anyways. Since that man stubbornly refused to listen, Ruan Nanzhu simply considered himself to have completed his good deed of the day.
Lin Qiushi made a helpless expression and began carefully typing something on his phone: [If I fall under the influence of that creature, you must wake me up.]
Ruan Nanzhu smiled ambiguously, "Don't worry, I'll definitely use a method that won't hurt you to wake you up."
Lin Qiushi, "..." Why does your smile seem so strange?
The man wearing the top hat left with his companion after finishing breakfast. Ruan Nanzhu had watched regretfully.
Lin Qiushi thought Ruan Nanzhu, like himself, was feeling regretful that this man may die. But he soon realized that what Ruan Nanzhu regretted was that he would not be able to see how this man would die.
"We could've farmed some experience from watching it." Ruan Nanzhu took out some candy from his pocket. He ate one himself and passed another to Lin Qiushi.
"What kind of candy is this?" It was Lin Qiushi's first time eating candy with this flavour.
"It was Cheng Qianli who made it, so who knows what flavour it is," Ruan Nanzhu gave Lin Qiushi another handful. "Eat up, little Miss Mute~"
Lin Qiushi shoved the candy into his own pockets.
They had found that body yesterday and planned on telling the mayor, but on their way they passed by the notice board in the plaza and discovered that there was another missing persons poster. After carefully examining the new poster, they found out that another child had gone missing the day before and that they knew the child: It was Lauren's sister.
"Why did another child go missing?" Lin Qiushi frowned.
Ruan Nanzhu confessed, "I don't think this bodes well. There are only eight children in this town."
Lin Qiushi thought for a while and said, "...so, this is our deadline?"
Ruan Nanzhu nodded.
The information the NPC had given them did not include a time limit. But the appearance of this missing persons poster gave them a dispiriting reminder.
If all the children in this town went missing, what would happen? Lin Qiushi knew that he didn't want to know the answer.
Ruan Nanzhu, "Let's go. We should find the mayor first."
Passing through, they found the mayor in the series of run down buildings behind the plaza and told him about the body they had found the day before.
The mayor's expression was very solemn, but Lin Qiushi detected a hint of panic—it was as if he knew what exactly had happened.
"Oh. Thank you. We'll bring some people over to check it out," the mayor said. "It's in the cannery, correct?"
"Yes, it's in one of the withered trees at the cannery," Ruan Nanzhu replied. "Sir mayor, we really do want to help you find the children. If you know something and are keeping it from us, it'll cause a lot of difficulties for us." He pointed towards the plaza. "We saw another child that appears to be missing."
The mayor's brows knitted together and did not speak.
"Unless you want to wait until all the children go missing before you're willing to tell us more information?" Ruan Nanzhu asked.
The mayor rubbed his hands together, still refusing to speak.
Ruan Nanzhu's eyes narrowed. Lin Qiushi knew that he was growing impatient.
Ruan Nanzhu wasn't in a good mood. He was at his limit of being polite and patient with the mayor.
"It's just that we don't know it really well either," it's unclear if it was because of the pressure under Ruan Nanshu's scrutiny, but the mayor finally spoke again. "Actually, incidents like these happen a few times every year."
Ruan Nanzhu immediately dialed back his expression and gently smiled once more: "Oh? What do you mean by, 'happens a few times every year'?"
"What I meant was that our town is the host of something strange. It always seems to want to take our children away," the mayor said. "So during this time of year, we would always be on holiday and make the children stay at home."
Ruan Nanzhu, "Do the rest of the townspeople know about this?"
The mayor shook his head.
"They don't know?" Ruan Nanzhu found this somewhat puzzling. "Then what excuse do you use to make the children stay at home?"
The mayor, "We've always found a way to justify it, so that part isn't important. The problem is that this year, something unexpected happened."
Ruan Nanzhu spoke up before he could elaborate, "The unexpected thing was that despite staying at home, the children still disappeared?"
The mayor nodded. Miserably, he said, "Out of the four children who disappeared this year, two of them went missing at home. We don't know how the other two were able to get outside when they disappeared, either..."
Lin Qiushi recalled the child they found at the cannery. He seemed to have been caught while he was near the cannery.
"As a result, we don't know what exactly is going on either," the mayor continued. "Is it because the children weren't obedient or is it because that creature..."
Ruan Nanzhu, "Or if it had become more powerful."
The mayor nodded painfully.
At this, Lin Qiushi immediately thought of that black tophat he had earlier that morning... there was no way that the top hat was unrelated to 'that creature' the mayor spoke of. It's just that he doesn't know if it can be connected with the disappearance of the children.