Chapter 2 – матрёшка 2

As if he had fallen from a high altitude, his body shook suddenly. Xu RenDong opened his eyes and saw with shock, an expanse of silver-gray metal.

.... The elevator?

He gasped and found himself in an elevator again. This elevator was no different from the one that brought him here but didn’t that elevator disappear?

.. No, more importantly, wasn’t he dead?

He touched his still aching face but found no blood. The nasal bridge bones that should have been sunken in also stood upright as if the terrible killing blow just before was only a nightmare.

What was going on?

The experience of being smashed by a sledgehammer was so terrifying that he found it difficult to calm down and think about the situation before him calmly.

Xu RenDong breathed deeply, feeling conflicted. He slowly got up from the ground and suddenly heard a “ding”. The elevator doors opened and outside the door was the familiar white snow and bottomless forest. The biting cold hit again and he instinctively wanted to wrap his jacket tightly around himself but found that he was not wearing his jacket but was instead holding it in his arms.

He suddenly had a very bad conjecture in his heart.

The cold wind whimpered and his body was losing temperature rapidly. He put on his suit jacket but his body was still shaking slightly. There was still a sense of fear in his brain from remembering his skull shattering and his brain exploding. Right now, he didn’t dare walk out of the elevator at all.

Can this elevator door be closed? Could he go someplace else?

Xu RenDong felt around the inside of the elevator’s walls, trying to find a button or a hidden mechanism. Before he could find anything, a familiar voice suddenly sounded in the distance.

“Ahhhhhh, I was wrong, I’m wrong, here take it back, I shouldn’t have taken it, don’t chase me anymore ahhhhhhh..”

Xu RenDong’s expression changed and he turned to look at the forest. The sky was dark but there was still a row of footprints on the ground that stretched crookedly into the depths of the forest. The difference from the previous one was that by this time the footprints had been covered by the flying snow and had become a little fuzzy.

This scream reminded Xu RenDong again of the terrible experience of being smashed in his head by the heavy sledgehammer. He gritted his teeth and fumbled around in the elevator again. No, he still couldn’t find anything.

He couldn’t go on like this! If he stayed here, he would only freeze to death!

Xu RenDong took a few deep breaths, forcibly pushed away the horror of the sledgehammer hitting his face from his mind. He forced himself to turn his head and leave the elevator.

The heavy snow was still flying and the original deep footprints were gradually being covered. Before long, there would be no trace.

That man..

Xu RenDong suppressed the strange, uncomfortable feeling in his heart and deliberately avoided the footprints, looking for another way.

His thin suit jacket was completely unable to withstand the cold and his body heat was lost little by little. The darker the sky, the greater the snowfall. Xu RenDong was alert to the surrounding movement while advancing.

He didn’t know how long it took but eventually Xu RenDong could no longer stand it. His stiff leg caught on something and his entire person fell onto the ground.

His face sank into the thick snow, unexpectedly feeling warm.

Huh?

Xu RenDong held up a handful of snow in confusion and wiped it on his face. Really, it’s warm. He suddenly felt like he had returned to the company’s parking lot, which was extremely hot due to poor ventilation and he was sweating profusely when he went in to retrieve his car. {Author’s note (which I’m expanding on) explains this is a physiological reaction to freezing when the disorientated brain actually misinterprets it as heat, causing a phenomena known as “paradoxical undressing” where the victim actually tries off their clothes off as they think they are burning.}

It’s so hot..

His consciousness blurring, Xu RenDong couldn’t help tearing at his clothes. The suit jacket, tie, and shirt were all torn apart by him, revealing his white skin. A few snowflakes fell on the right abdominal muscles and gradually melted into water, sliding down along a beautiful waistline.

“Ha..” Xu RenDong narrowed his eyes and let out a pleasant sigh.

After a while, the snow falling on him no longer melted.

The exquisite sculptural body was stiff and motionless.

..

“..!”

The blood vessels all over his body were hot and painful like they were being burned.

His body seemed to be bitten by 10,000 ants, stabbing and numb. Xu RenDong opened his eyes and was surprised to see the familiar scene again.

The elevator.

He has to hurry up and save that guy! Right now there should still be enough time!

Xu RenDong put on his coat and quickly ran out of the elevator.

This time he didn’t waste too much time in the elevator and sped up as he pursued the footprints in the snow. So when he came to the small clearing in the forest, the man in the gray hoodie was still standing up and was unharmed.

This time, Xu RenDong could see that there was a big stone stele in the middle of the clearing. Upon it was a small wooden doll. The body of the doll was painted with colorful lacquer, the color was bright and the body was round like an egg. There was an exaggerated smile on its face and the corners of its bright red mouth cracked behind its ears, making it look very disconcerting.

Such a weird object appeared in such a weird place and the man actually dared to reach for it. Xu RenDong immediately yelled: “Don’t move!”

The man in gray was startled by the sudden shout but his finger had already touched the doll. At the same time, Xu RenDong’s face changed and his highly strained nerves keenly caught sight of a black mist that was approaching.

“Run!” Xu RenDong could see the black mist was coalescing into a form. He grabbed the gray-clothed man’s arm and pulled him to run away.

“Hey you–” The gray-clothed man was shocked, his expression suddenly changed but before he had time to ask questions, the huge figure of the butcher holding a giant hammer was reflected in his shrinking pupils.

When Xu RenDong thought of the giant sledgehammer, he only felt a faint pain in the bridge of his nose and his heart itched.

“What the hell is that!” The gray-clothed man reacted very quickly and began running with his very long legs, rushing forward like a rabbit. Instead of the other way around, Xu RenDong ended up being the one that was dragged forward by him and almost fell over. He let go of his arm and the two men rushed for their lives.

Behind them was the thumping footsteps of the butcher. When Xu RenDong heard this sound, his whole body was numb and his brain trembled. He panicked for a while and almost ran into a tree.

“Here!” The man in gray pulled him aside and helped him avoid it. “Run along this road!”

The physique of the man in gray didn’t appear to be strong but he was in fact very strong. Xu RenDong was almost forcibly turned aside by him and only then did he notice that there was a faint path along the ground. The two of them ran desperately along the path. After an unknown period of time, the sound of footsteps behind them gradually became quieter. The gray-clothed man looked backwards and his running speed slowed down.

He can’t run anymore?

Xu RenDong was also a little weak but he still reached out to the other person, trying to pull him along. Unexpectedly, the grey-clothed man stopped completely, looked back at the forest, scratched his head and said: “It seems like it’s not chasing us anymore.”

Xu RenDong was taken aback and turned his head. Sure enough, the tall figure in the distance could still be seen walking slowly but instead of chasing them, he went back in the opposite direction.

“It’s probably this.” The gray-clothed man raised his hand. He was holding the wooden doll while grinning.

Xu RenDong didn’t expect that despite being in such a dire emergency situation, he still hadn’t forgotten to take the wooden doll. He couldn’t help being surprised: “Why do you want to take this?”

The man in gray replied in a matter-of-fact way: “Of course you have to take things that you see on the way. You have to get up close and examine it. What if it’s a key prop?”

Xu RenDong was stunned: “Prop?”

The man in gray’s eyes glimmered animatedly: “Right, right, look at this scene, this boss, what does it look like? Doesn’t it look like a multiplayer instance?”

Xu RenDong was totally confused: “What’s a multiplayer instance?”

The man in gray responded: “Or it could be a.. realistic reality show? An escape room or something?” He looked around enthusiastically. “Maybe there is a camera hidden somewhere! The butcher just now may have been dressed up by a staff member, wow, that muscle, that body shape, that hammer.. it’s very exciting!”

Xu RenDong looked at him and thought, Yes it’s very exciting. So exciting that the two of us have died three times in a row.

But he didn’t say this out loud. He looked at the man’s attitude, it was clear he didn’t seem to have any memories of his previous death. It seems that this person has also been “reset”. That being the case, it’s useless to say any more.

Xu RenDong said: “I’m not sure if it’s safe here. Let’s talk as we walk.”

“Okay.” The man in gray nodded. He followed Xu RenDong and continued along the path, “Thank you for saving me just now.”

“What’s your name?” Xu RenDong asked.

“Lian Qiao.” The man in gray said, “But it’s not the same as the term for ‘Forsythia’ in Chinese medicine. It’s the ‘Qiao’ from Xiao Qiao. What about you?” {Xiao Qiao is a character from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.}

“Xu RenDong.”

Lian Qiao suddenly said “Huh” and sounded pleasantly surprised. “Is it the ‘RenDong’ from honeysuckle?” {RenDong’s name actually means “Endure Winter”. The honeysuckle, which grows in winter, also goes by the alternative name “ren dong flower” i.e. “endure winter flower”.}

.. What honeysuckle? Xu RenDong didn’t know what he was talking about. He explained: “It’s RenDong from ‘enduring winter’.”

“Oh.” Lian Qiao showed a little disappointment.

Except I died twice more than you.

The two stopped talking and walked in silence for a while with only the sound of rustling snow in their ears. The sky darkened quickly and the two took out their mobile phones to illuminate their surroundings. Sure enough, their mobile phone still had no signal so they were unable to ask for help from the outside world and were unable to locate where they were via GPS. They could only look at the time.

It was now half past eleven in the evening. Lifting his head, Xu RenDong saw that the night was thick and black as ink. The heavy snow was still flying, falling across their faces and was icy cold.

Lian Qiao suddenly said, “Look! There’s a house over there!”

Xu RenDong looked in the direction he was pointing and sure enough there was a three-story wooden hut in the forest.

Lian Qiao stared at the hut and said, “The chimney above is smoking and the windows are bright.. so maybe the fireplace is lit. The snow on the roof is so thick. It looks like a fairy tale and feels a bit cozy doesn’t it? ..Ah, did you see that? A figure flashed past the window! There are people in this house! I just don’t know if it’s an enemy or a friend.”

Xu RenDong was about to speak but Lian Qiao looked around and said: “There doesn’t seem to be any other houses around here. It’s too cold so we must find a place to warm up, or we will freeze to death. Let’s just go over and see.”

.. He finally finished speaking. Why was this person so long-winded?

Xu RenDong thought about it and had nothing more to add, so he could only say, “En.”

***

The author has something to say:

Note 1: People who freeze to death will feel hot before they die, so many corpses on the snow-capped mountains are disheveled and smiling. This physiological mechanism is currently unclear. It seems that the brain is frozen and sends out the wrong signal..

Note 2: Honeysuckle, also known as ren dong flower, double flower. Xu RenDong has lived under this name for more than 20 years but he doesn’t even know this, which means..hehehe.

***

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