Chapter 43
Chapter 43
“Come to think of it…”
Luo Yue pointed toward the house ahead, which belonged to Matchstick Bro.
“The rule said we had to help a town resident sell all the goods that provide warmth… But if the little girl counts as ‘goods’…”
She frowned in confusion.
“How is she supposed to provide warmth?”
Qin Lan froze, then looked horrified.
“That is a dangerously criminal question!”
But Luo Yue had a point.
Qin Lan had also noticed one additional detail: the rule said “sell all.”
That meant there was more than one item for sale.
The moment they entered Matchstick Bro’s home, warm air enveloped them.
Compared with the freezing cold outside, the interior felt like a Hawaiian beach.
“He can set his own body on fire, yet he still needs a stove…”
Qin Lan looked around, his gaze landing on an ordinary-looking copper furnace.
He moved closer and casually inspected the ashes inside.
Then his expression changed abruptly.
“Luo Yue…” Qin Lan’s voice was extremely calm. “Why don’t you wait outside for me?”
Luo Yue did not understand. “Why should I–”
“Wait outside.”
Qin Lan repeated himself in a tone that allowed no argument.
Although Luo Yue did not understand, she withdrew and waited beyond the house.
She was willing to trust Qin Lan’s decisions.
Once she had left, Qin Lan slowly crouched and used the [Hot-Tempered Stick] to rake aside the ashes.
Human bones appeared beneath them.
Skulls, sternums, shoulder blades, hands…
Every detail remained clearly recognizable.
Most of the bones had burned into white ash. Only a small portion retained their shape.
Judging by their size…
None of their owners had been fully grown.
“They were all children.”
No emotion showed in Qin Lan’s eyes, but the atmosphere around him grew increasingly oppressive.
Fury beyond all restraint brewed and expanded inside him.
“Haa…”
Qin Lan took several deep breaths, suppressing the surge of emotion, then turned toward a switch beside the copper furnace.
It was a crude mechanical assembly. Its purpose was unknown, but the metal lever seemed to demand being pulled.
Qin Lan reached out and yanked it down.
Clunk…
A heavy mechanism turned behind the wall, and a small hidden door opened.
A damp, foul smell drifted out, deepening the oppression in Qin Lan’s chest.
He thought he knew what lay beyond it.
A winding corridor behind the hidden door descended underground.
The deeper he went, the stranger the odor became. A metallic tang mixed into it.
When Qin Lan reached the room at the bottom, he froze completely. Even his breathing stopped.
Rows of “special matches” had been packed tightly together with horrifying neatness.
The enormous “matchbox” resembled a copper coffin, except it held not one corpse but dozens.
Human bodies had been brutally crammed together like matchsticks.
They were coated in a special grease. The slightest flame could ignite them from one end and make them burn little by little.
As the fire reached their natural body fat, it would crackle loudly.
Several finished “examples” hung from the chamber walls, making their intended use unmistakable.
“Urgh…”
Qin Lan felt sick.
But his anger was stronger, a fury fierce enough to burn everything away.
Was this the rule for clearing the instance? Help that matchstick with limbs sell these pitiful people after even their corpses had been desecrated?
Was Qin Lan, a human being, supposed to watch his own kind suffer and do nothing–or even assist the perpetrators?
Would that earn a “resident’s” approval and allow him to leave safely?
A long time later, Qin Lan emerged from the house. His expression was as calm as before, as though nothing had happened.
Luo Yue was shivering outside and complained when she saw him.
“What took you so long? I’m almost frozen into an ice sculpture…”
Qin Lan did not answer. He looked back in the direction they had come.
“Where is that little girl? Did you see her?”
“Wasn’t she standing right beside–”
Only after Qin Lan mentioned her did Luo Yue realize that the girl had vanished at some point.
They had fought Matchstick Bro to help her, yet both had inexplicably forgotten her existence.
Qin Lan remained silent for a moment, then shook his head.
“I understand.”
“Let’s go… This instance is making my hands itch.”
The little girl they met might never have been alive. More likely, she was the physical manifestation of an obsession.
Her appearance had revealed another route through the instance.
If “earning a resident’s approval” represented the peaceful route, then the little girl represented the slaughter route.
Matchstick Bro would not be the only one. The other “guests” would certainly have corresponding stories along the slaughter route.
Before entering that room, Qin Lan might still have considered conserving energy and leaving through the peaceful route.
Now, he would kill his way through from beginning to end without hesitation.
Luo Yue keenly sensed the change in his mood.
She glanced toward the house as if understanding something, then softened her gaze and rubbed Qin Lan’s head.
“You saw something terrible in there, didn’t you?”
Her gesture made Qin Lan freeze.
“It’s all right. Every Anomaly Hunter experiences something like this… Many instances constructed by anomalies leave people with lasting scars.”
Luo Yue’s touch was gentle, as though soothing a restless beast.
“Everything inside an instance is simulated by its rules. None of it is real.”
“Don’t let an anomaly affect you.”
Her warm, quiet voice genuinely calmed Qin Lan.
But he did not agree with her final words.
Were the worlds inside instances truly false?
Qin Lan did not think so.
Inside Final Destination, the ordinary people whose lives Death manipulated had possessed flesh, blood, and genuine, delicate emotions. They had felt completely different from anything he had encountered before.
“I understand.”
“Thank you, Luo Yue.”
Qin Lan answered softly and avoided meeting her gaze.
Rumble, rumble…
The sound of rolling wheels caught their attention.
An extraordinarily luxurious carriage approached. Its body was built entirely of gold, while the roof and curtains were made from exquisitely crafted silk.
The horses pulling it had glossy coats and powerful, fluid lines. One glance showed how carefully they had been raised.
Then a short figure emerged from the carriage.
Wait.
Did this thing truly count as a person?
Even Luo Yue wore an expression that asked how this could possibly exist, let alone Qin Lan.
The figure before them…
Was actually a foot.
A large foot with five toes, thick joints, and a great deal of hair.
Or perhaps… a foot-person?