#lin yixi

[fernssama]

Yunxi I did for pdl love exchange on Twitter!

[bl-is-totes-my-jam]

I present: The Fellowship of the Kaleidoscope!

Frodo: Lin Quishi. For obvious reasons

Sam: Wu Qi. The MC's friend through thick and thin

Aragorn: Ruan Nanzhu. Was between Aragorn and Sam but he gives me more Aragorn vibes so.

Legolas: Chen Fei. The calm big brother vibes did it for me.

Boromir: Yi Manman. Both kinda betray their group because of powers beyond their control

Gimli: Li Dongyuan. Was between Legolas and Gimli but his tendency to explode in anger tipped the scales to Gimli

Pippin: Cheng Qianli. Both are big goofs and both can bring floods of tears to your eyes.

Merry: Cheng Yixie. The more serious of their respective duos. Worries a lot about their partners

Gandalf: Tan Zaozao. TBH. I kinda ran out of ideas. But they are both kind and can hold their head high in stressful situations (Thinking how Tan Zaozao talked down two door gods)

Thoughts on this beautiful crossover? xD

[small-reptile-cake]

[WARNING] KALEIDOSCOPE OF DEATH SPOILERS

Credits to @zintranslations for their translation of the novel which I binged in less than a month.

Okay. First of all I wanna say that I loved this story all the way through to the end. Aside from the author’s strange perception of women and gender in general, I have no beef with them.

But...

Y'all, I really did not like the Ruan Nanzhu twist at the end of the novel. And I'm glad it's just an Extra because it allows me to pretend like it's a not part of the main story. No tea no shade no pink lemonade to the author but RNZ being a door god not only invalidates plenty of things established throughout the plot, but also most of his actions and emotional beats as a character, it also makes many of those actions feel really twisted. I'll elaborate;

Index:

Ruan Nanzhu's actions and what those imply.

Lin Qiushi's life post 12th door.

Ruan Nanzhu's life and emotional beats as a character we are invested in.

Why Lin Qiushi should have been the door god.

1. Ruan Nanzhu's actions and what those imply.

First of all, he willingly put himself and Lin Quishi through the doors from start to finish, full risk, no breaks, no safe words, and even though LQS had supposedly just left his 12th door and was meant to be safe. Our boy had to go to the hospital so many times during the first few doors, he almost got burnt to death!! Both of them almost got incinerated!! Quishi was shot!!

It would've been a little less worse if at some point throughout the story both RNZ and LQS had died, or were meant to die but then surprisingly came out alive in the end, and then the glitch made them realize something was off about one of them. Then they would’ve looked into it at some point and Quishi would've been able to figure out Nanzhu wasn't human BEFORE CROSSING THE 12TH DOOR, actually foreshadowing the twist instead of just showing it to us out of nowhere. It would also imply RNZ didn't actually put LQS through the same lethal risk he survived once without RNZ. What if one of them perished during the second run because RNZ was unable to remember he was actually a god and could protect them if he truly wanted to? And aside from all the risk, they also had to deal with the fear of losing eachother, all because RNZ has a penchant for dram

2. Lin Quishi's life.

Are you really telling me LQS got a lifetime of memories where he was mostly alone, where his parents abandoned him and he had just the one friend, all while Nanzhu was running around living Quishi's life? With his loving parents, his contact list full of people who either worshipped him, cared enough to work with him, or directly lived with him under his leadership???? Yo, what??? And even if it wasn't intentional, it was still his actions that caused it. If you really want the twist of RNZ as a god, then either the writer could've established Nanzhu's life as his own (it still would’ve made sense for him to become unwavering the leader of obsidian and go through thousands of doors per year if he was a god), or at the very least she could've made him a mysterious stranger without a past who caught Qiushi's attention inside the doors, got invited to join obsidian (by LQS who would still be the leader in this case), and when Nanzhu really doesn't remember how he got in or what his life was like before the first door, others get to assume whatever he was about to die from must've affected his memories.

3. Ruan Nanzhu's life and emotional beats as a character we are invested in

So... None of it was real? The grief and guilt he felt over the people he lost; his seniors, his colleagues...was actually Quishi's? Nothing about him being a scared kid who had to grow too strong too fast to survive the doors and eventually take over Obsidian was real? Nothing about the supposed lover (not the friend from the tenth door, but point still stands) he lost to the doors, something that was mentioned ONCE and never explained, was really his own experience? Like, why was he even a physics teacher in the eleventh door If he wasn't human? He shouldn't have appeared for Quishi at all. That would've also worked as foreshadowing if RNZ only existed during the nightime like everyone else, because he would’ve been an NPC.

4. Why LQS should have been the door god

There, I said it. It makes more sense. A guy who was mostly detached from life by having no one around him, aside from a cat who suddenly starts to resent him before he enters his first door; which, btw, maybe Chestnut didn't like him because cats are usually more intuitive in paranormal stories, so he knew he'd never seen this man before the first door, or at least he knew LQS wasn't human and then started warming up the more time LQS spent in the real world going throuh the doors.

About LQSs abilities;

He's oddly calm in front of most harrowing events, which would make sense if he was an omnipotent god, or just knew in the back of his mind he'd already seen it all play out before.

According to Nanzhu's supernatural perception, his aura of light is greater than anyone else’s.

It's often mentioned in the novel that compared to most people Quishi got used to them much faster and needed less time to recover than anyone. Even when compared to Nanzhu, who supposedly went through thousands of doors (and who is supposed to be a god)

It’s constantly mentioned how fortunate he is about the items he encounters and how he’s constantly coming out of the doors by the skin of his teeth.

Also, Nanzhu had a troubled backstory, he had friends, had seniors, had parents who cared for him, had a past lover he lost in a tragic way (allegedly). One of LQS's best qualities is being mild-tempered and calm, the life he supposedly lived fits RNZ's character a lot more Namely hooking up with Bai Ming. . Even if this was technically all Quishi's life, according to the eleventh door if RNZ hadn't gone into the doors he still would've had a life as a physics teacher! That’s definitely not something he got from LQS’s life and memories. And if we were supposed to see it coming that he wasn't human, he should have existed only at night like all the other NPC's. Because then all we saw about Qiushi's life without the doors was that he would've stayed the same. Untethered to reality, too focused on his work and studies to live a normal life which... feels like an excuse from someone not quite human to explain their lack of experiences in life WHICH QUISHI COMPLAINS ABOUT CONSTANTLY "I'm going to die without ever having lived through most things".

To conclude: I have no idea how they're going to write the twist into the upcoming drama considering it's just an extra in the novel and a barely foreshadowed one at that, barely integrated with the rest of the novel. Let LQS be a good and let RNZ be a human with a troubled past and an unusual companion who enters his life when he’s about to enter the most dangerous of the doors and will need the support and drive to keep going.

[biipbop]

Twitter dump

Not many doodles posted on twitter lately. Ive been working on zine stuff, personal project, and valentine pieces. Hopefully I can post again soon

[sleepsonclouds]

Clouds tropespots: The Spirealm, E08

Episode 8 (Drum sisters, 3rd door)

A bit of domesticity at Obsidian, and then it's time to play tourist in Cheng Qianli's door! What could be a better attraction than a human skin drum?

It's hard to come up with trope labels when they are saying things and it's not even flirting, just straightforward statements. I suffer as tragically as Ruan Nanzhu.

Taking care of partner: Nanzhu looks maybe the tiniest bit tired, and Lin Qiushi is immediately on it. We're shown how carefully he observes Nanzhu (who really wasn't trying to play it up for once). Love the acting here!

Crashing partner's bedroom & bedroom conversation: Nanzhu is waiting in Qiushi's room. "I need you," he declares. Okay then! Qiushi: "What do you mean?" Nanzhu: "I mean it literally… I mean, you cannot die." That's certainly A Way to put it. Romantic piano music is playing. Qiushi is still confused. How long can he possibly remain confused?

Giving significant gifts: Nanzhu gives Qiushi a very pretty kaleidoscope, which can be brought inside the doors. What does it all mean? The romantic atmosphere persists.

Complimenting partner (ambiguous): "Some people are naturally meant for the door", says Nanzhu to Qiushi. YES, I scream into the void, having read the novel.

Everyone thinks you're together: Cheng Yixie questions Nanzhu's decision to accompany Qiushi and Cheng Qianli to the next door, rather bluntly. "If Lin Qiushi were not there, would you still insist on leading the team?" Nanzhu, equally bluntly: "No." Because Qiushi is special in a way that's no one else's concern. Yixie continues probing: "Are you choosing him to be your partner?" One might get that impression, considering how fixated Nanzhu is on him.

Sickly Victorian heroine: Qiushi meets Nanzhu inside the door - or rather the weak, sickly Zhu Meng, who greets him by coughing tragically. "I've been in poor health since I was little," says the little drama sprite. Nanzhu will have fun with this.

Sharing a room (show of initiative): Now Qiushi's suggesting that he and Nanzhu share a room, earning a Look from Nanzhu. Unfortunately, Qiushi doesn't understand Propriety in the face of death, and they get a (not at all creepy) third wheel…

Unnecessary number of beds & sickly Victorian heroine (cont.): Despite the sad bed situation, Nanzhu wakes up promptly when Qiushi's hearing creepy voices. On his part, Qiushi worries Nanzhu might have a fever. The bed divide means nothing! Qiushi absolutely must reach out from his own bed to touch Nanzhu's cheek, tuck him in and pat his shoulder to comfort him.

We think we're together, too: The annoying spy lady wants to team up with Nanzhu. Naturally, he's already teamed up with Qiushi. Lady: "Do you mind having one more person?" Nanzhu: "Yes." Such a Nanzhu moment. I love him.

I'm so scared: The creepy girl, Xu Jin, has latched onto Qiushi. "This place makes me feel so depressed and scared, Linlin-ge," says she, clearly fishing for comfort. She doesn't know who she's up against. Nanzhu is in his element: "Linlin-ge, I'm scared too," says he with a little gasp. Xu Jin grumbles about grown men being scared. Nanzhu: "Who says men can't be easily frightened?" Preach that, drama sprite.

Sickly Victorian heroine (cont.): Qiushi is concerned (yet again), because Nanzhu's looking a bit pale. Protect partner mode activates, probably every time Nanzhu says he's "fine". Qiushi simply must support him!

Protecting partner: It's raining needles. Nanzhu stops Qiushi from going outside with strategic hand placement. He's touching Qiushi's thigh, narrowly missing his crotch... And Qiushi never lets go of his wrist, I can't even.

Adventures in the creepy drum land continue in -> Episode 9

[silviakundera]

silvia reads Kaleidoscope of Death chapter 106, established coupleness

(spoilers)

After getting together, Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu didn’t particularly try to hide it. The two openly began to hold hands, hug, do the things that lovers did.

They were all clever inside the mansion, and this clear change in atmosphere couldn’t possibly go unnoticed. Yi Manman patted Lin Qiushi’s shoulder in admiration. “Nice. You even managed to snag Ruan-ge.”

Lin Qiushi laughed. “Yeah, pretty good, aren’t I? I think so too.”

Cheng Qianli was the last to figure it out, and he only figured it out after running running into Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu kissing in the front yard one day.

The ambience had been too great that night—bright moon, gentle breeze. Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu were sitting and chatting in the yard, and as they chatted, the two naturally got closer together.

Cheng Qianli had just come home. The moment he walked into the yard he let out that iconic scream of his—the one pitched exactly like the screaming rubber chickens.

“Fuck, what the fuck! Am I dreaming!” Cheng Qianli was saying.

“Fucking fuck, why did I just see Ruan Nanzhu and Lin Qiushi kissing!!”

Cheng Yixie, from next to him, “what are you yelling about…”

But it was already too late. Both Ruan Nanzhu and Lin Qiushi were looking up and over.

Cheng Qianli, “they’re looking at me!”

Cheng Yixie, “…” Who else were they supposed to look at, with you screaming like this?

Grinning, Lin Qiushi greeted Cheng Qianli. Cheng Qianli confirmed this indeed was not a dream, but still appeared flummoxed: “O- oh, good evening Qiushi.

What uh, are you two doing out here? Weather’s nice isn’t it…”

Cheng Yixie eyed Cheng Qianli; he kind of wanted to pry open the brain on this little brother of his, and check if it was all cotton inside. He apologized to Lin Qiushi, and hurriedly pulled Cheng Qianli away. While being dragged off, Cheng Qianli was still saying, all wronged, ge, can’t you pull lighter. His wrist was all red.

Cheng Yixie scoffed. “You didn’t see your Ruan-ge’s expression?”

Cheng Qianli, “…”

Cheng Yixie, “if I pulled you away any later, Ruan-ge might’ve beaten you to death right there.”

Cheng Qianli recalled that dark glare on Ruan Nanzhu, and thought his brother had a point.

[sunriseverse]

10 Characters, 10 Fandoms, 10 Tags

tagged by @mispronouncing-michaelangelo (thank you!) tagging @traitorsinsalem @mouldyfox @merevide @misti-step @iinane @missanthropicprinciple @boobliker42069 @psychic-waffles @strawberryswords andddd @large-burly-meat-king!

lin wanyue - fgep

lin buxian/lin yixi - ruzhui

ling wen - tgcf

barsalai shefali and shizuka - the ascendant trilogy (two but do not separate them! so they get one entry)

lyra belaqua/silvertongue - his dark materials

the iron triangle - dmbj (i know this is three characters shhhhhhhh do not separate!!!!)

camakazi - httyd (novels)

harrowhark nonagesimus - the locked tomb series

zhao jue - sci (novel specifically because he's so fucking funny in novel canon)

eragon - the inheritance cycle

[kaeroel]

people with a tear mole would shed never ending tears for a lifetime

[irris30]

Haolan requests to leave the palace before the Emperor adds her to his harem.

This is goodbye.

Haolan has no intention of returning.

She meets her father and Gao Min at her mother’s grave. Gao Min claims to have changed after the death of Xiuyu and begs for forgiveness.

[lceylee0826]

Shaping smell

Project Description:

This project made a playful visualisation of transient smells into sculptural forms, examining the world through texture and gesture.

Eventually, this project used the outdoor experience space to attracted audience(Who live busy, urban lives, and lack time to observe surroundings), hoping to change public perception of their own city environment by introducing a new perspective of experiencing familiar surroundings through sensory techniques and cross-modal communication.

Process Video Link - https://youtu.be/ul9L09mTmdM (Click it!!!!!)

Inspiration 

In once daily design practice, me and my partner searched for an district in Xu hui, Shanghai and made a ‘smell mapping’. 

The range and category of different scents can be clearly seen through the map, however, when I interviewed the people who lived or worked there, they told me that it‘s hard to feel the smell around them. Besides, when I asked them to rank the senses in order of importance, many people ranked the sense of smell last. 

Vision in the main sense that how they feel the city and the world.

This inspired me to think wether if I could heighten the sense of smell, so that could encourage people to feel surroundings in a unique perspective?

But firstly, I do some research about the potential of our smell sense.

Research 

A ‘YiXi’ speech’ What should we give up when we give up the smell?’ By Zhou Wen

https://www.yixi.tv/speech#/speech/detail?id=556

Through Zhou Wen’s ’YiXi’ speech’ What should we give up when we give up the smell?’ I found some people often overlooked the sense of smell, but smell does have lots of potential and possibilities. (Find spouse, detect diseases and dangers, etc.)

‘Verbeek the historical significance of smell’ By Caor Verbeek

<https://www.ted.com/talks/caro_verbeek_the_historical_significance_of_smell > 

“What if we would combine the latest technology with all this more meaningful historical and art historical uses that we can really start to use  smell in a much more meaningful way and even without the technology , we can just start now” “They say an image can say more than a thousand words well , I say a smell can say more than a thousand images.” By Caor Verbeek

Scent can help us feel the things around us in a new way, and can enhance our memories, emotions, and experiences.

‘Bee’s’ By Susana Soares

https://www.dezeen.com/2013/11/20/honey-bees-can-be-trained-to-detect-cancer-in-ten-minutes-says-designer-susana-soares/

This project uses bees to sense the smell molecules of cancer. 

‘Smell+’ By Auger Ioizaeu

http://www.auger-loizeau.com/projects/smell

This project explores the human experiential potential of the sense of smell, applying contemporary scientific research in a range of domestic and social contexts.

Then I found some artist research about exploring between humans sense and space, I drew inspiration from thesis case studies.

<while nothing happens>  By Ernesto Neto

The designer was trying to use a new way to enhance people's experience. He spread difffferent scents into largescale installations. Each corner of the room emitted difffferent flflavors. The sense of smell could help us perceive a space again.

<Small Room Prototype 4> By Walter Pichler

The designer aimed to solve the problem of personalized life between design, architecture and art. He created a small enclosed space in which vision and hearing are magnifified to the extreme. Could we focus on the sense of smell and let people feel the world through smell?

Based on this, I would like to test if the sense of smell is enhanced, can it allow people to reshape the world in another way?

Experiment1

Conducted two experiments，outdoors and indoors.

Collected some representative flavors which belonged to this street and tested them in a closed space. Hoping to explore whether people could better perceive different odors in a closed space and whether they can reconstruct a space with different odors.

Summary: 

In a quiet room, people can draw conclusions through analysis. For example, when you continuously smell flowers, coffee, perfume. Most people think this is a shopping mall or office building, and most people use cool colors to describe these flavors. 

When smelling different foods, people tend to think of it as a market or a commercial street. Mostly use warm colors to describe.

Experiment 2

Invited the audience to use the sense of smell to explore a street which was unfamiliar to him. Later he would reconstruct the impression of the street based on his smelling experience. 

I found people could use color, shape, even 3D model to reshape surroundings through smell.They also told me that visualize smell can strengthen the feeling of things.

It drived me to consider use the method of cross-modal communication to reshape the familiar things and encourage people to feel them again. 

‘The Color of Smell’ By Hannah Weise

https://muep.mau.se/bitstream/handle/2043/21031/TP1_HannahWeiser_June2016.pdf?sequence=2

This artist is also doing research on smell, he invited everyone to come and create a unique scent brush with him, which I was attracted very much. 

Because the sense of smell is quiet special, abstract. I hope in this project I could include more samples to determine the shape and color of the installation. In ‘The Color of Smell’ By Hannah Weise, he engaged people to draw sketch in order to visualize the smell. Thus I decided to use the methodology of participatory design in this project.

At the same time, I read a lot of literature about the importance of smell sense.

<Sex Differences in Human Olfaction: A Meta-Analysis>  By Piotr Sorokowski ,Maciej Karwowski, Michał Misiak, Michalina Konstancja Marczak, Martyna Dziekan, Thomas Hummel and Agnieszka Sorokowska <Relationships between personality traits and attitudes toward the sense of smell> By Han-Seok Seo , Suji Lee a, Sungeun Cho <Research progress on olfactory function in schizophrenia patients> By  ZHANG Huijuan，JIN Jin，LI Chunbo

Summary：

The sense of smell affects human behavior: 

Environmental Safety：1 Detection of microbial risks (feces/rot/corruption) 2 Non-microbial risks (gas leakage, etc.) 3 Perceived danger 

Personal identity：1 stimulate emotions 2 detect age 3 sexual interest spouse selection 4 retain memory 

Personal Safety：1 Detecting diseases (Alzheimer's disease/Parkinsonism/Autism/Severe Depression/Mental disorders, etc.) smell may become a standard for early identification of high-risk groups.

<https://yixi.tv/#/speech/detail?id=556> By Zhou Wen

The human sense of smell is not degraded, and the human sense of smell is very powerful. But our sense of smell reaches its peak when we are in our 20s and 30s, and then gradually declines. MHC (HLA) will affect our judgment on the gender of others, so as to make spouse selection. Research has shown that most couples have a large difference in HLA. So when scientists use androstadienone (male hormone) and estrogen (female hormone) to make people judge gender based on their bias. This also proves that when the visual gender cues become blurred, smell can indeed help us to judge the gender of others. Women's olfactory ability>male. Young people's olfactory ability>old people. Women are easy to judge by smell.

<Olfactory disorders and olfactory function test> By Ni Daofeng

In the 1970s, the National Neural and Communication Disorders and Stroke Advisory Committee estimated that 2 million Americans had taste or smell disorders. According to recent statistics, the National Earth Society and the Monell Chemical Sensation Center reported that 1.2% of the 1.5 million participants had permanent anosmia and 62.4% had temporary anosmia. There are no epidemiological data on olfactory disorders in our country, and there are few related studies. Dysosmia has not received enough attention. Patients often do not mention changes in the sense of smell. Doctors often ignore changes in the sense of smell during medical consultations and even medical record writing.

Through these article research，I have come up with the idea B———Use virtual reality to visualization smell, identify the safety of objects. Then I do some other research，mainly focused on smell visualization.

‘DESIGN OF OLFACTORY INFORMATION VISUALIZATION ——OLFACTORY AR WATCH "OWATCH" ’By Yechen Zhu

‘Bioelectronic nose and its application to smell visualization’ By Hwi Jin Ko,Tai Hyun Park

It is very difficult to visualize smell. There are extremely high requirements for professional knowledge, graphic control, and data collection and research. 

‘One and Three Chairs’ By Joseph Kosuth 

Joseph used three different forms to define a chair. It led me to think to different forms to expressing the same thing to expand people’s experience.

Combine with Sarah Sze‘s Ted talk ’How we experience time and memeory through art ’https://www.sarahsze.com , I learned that memories, and experience brought by real objects cannot be replaced. which made me want to use a physical way to simulate smell.

Finally, I decided to use those two forms: photography and 'smell visualization' installation.

‘Reverse of volume ACG’ By Yasuaki Onishi 2010

The Japanese artist is good at using multi-media to visualize the invisible in the form of a three-dimensional installation.It’s the same direction as I wanted to try. 

‘Water Line’ By Maya Lin. 

‘Heo’ By Seung Mo Park https://www.seungmopark.com

They’ve inspired me to use materials (Aluminum wire / Hot melt glue gun) to make installations.

’Pixel Forest’ By Pipilotti Rist

https://necsus-ejms.org/confronting-the-screen-pipilotti-rist-pixel-forest-at-the-new-museum/

In order to enhance people's viewing experience and discuss the relationship between people and the screen, designer created a device to isolate the outside world.I am attracted by this form of creating a small isolated space.

When my installation is hidden in a sheltered environment, it may help people to focus on it and let people experience better. Based on it, I'm going to build dark boxes which can contain my smell installations.

Design concept

I decided to build an outdoor experience space that contains 4 smell visualization installations and 4 photographs through all the research. Let the audience actively visit these ‘Smell Models’ naturally and playfully while they could feel the surroundings differently. Besides, they could pay more attention to our smells sense.

Design process

Based on previous interviews, I focused my audience on those who lives busy and lack time to observe the surroundings. I hope to create special experiences to attract them naturally. I communicated with them on the subject of work, stress, and the city environment.

Many office workers (32) told me that it is difficult for them to have time to observe the city in daily life. Thus I decided to set up my installations near a office building and to pick some object that we are usually familiar with. Combined with daily observations, I finally planned the scope of objects into 4 categories：flowers and plants, living organisms (animals), and artificial composites.

Finally, I found 4 representative objects outdoors nearby some offices.(flower, grass, stray cat, half bottle of water)

’What a smell looks like’ By University of Colorado Boulder studies the fIuid mechanics of fragrancesa lab 

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/what-a-smell-looks-like

This team’s study showed that the smell looks like 3D figure and will continue to diffuse. From seen this, I will use those shapes to make the installation.

Participatory design

Because the sense of smell is quiet special, abstract. I hope in this project I could include more samples to determine the shape and color of the installation. In ‘The Color of Smell’ By Hannah Weise, he engaged people to draw sketch in order to visualize the smell. Thus I decided to use participatory design.

According to previous interviews, I found 4 representative objects  from a platform of an office building. (Grass, flowers, stray cat and a half of water bottle). I invited people who work around there to observe and try to draw the smell’s shape and color.

I found that there are some similarities from the sketches. The output will based on these and the artist reference.

Material test & Prototype & Feedback

According to research, I first tested different materials and made a prototype.Then I found that the aluminum can be affected by light and perspective in the dark, thus producing a fIowing effect.

Then I tested the effect of dark box. Besides, I use lights of different colors to change the color of the aluminum wire.

Feedback

1: The dark box should be more prominent, black can easily invisible at night.

2: The dark box needs to be more ergonomic. It can be made deeper, which is convenient for viewing; a special pipe can be added, and the viewing angle can be easily changed without exposing the device; make pillars to support the dark box, because the viewing posture is not very comfortable.

Then I tested which material is better to remain attractive in the dark. In the end I decided to use silver tin foil.It can be recognized in the dark. And silver is more neutral and mysterious.

Also，I adjust the dark boxes.

Final effect of installation

According to research early, I found these 4 representative things outdoor. Then took the photos of them and  finally made these special ‘smell installations’.

Half a bottle of water 56cm*28cm

A small grass 54cm*28cm

A stray cat 56cm*30cm

Small flower 36cm*40cm

Sketch

Details

Experience space

My experience space is build on the platform of an office building, where many office workers will be attracted naturally. And I prepared a manual to introduce the concept of this project. But I did not deliberately show it to others, I put it next to the boxes.

Feedback and reflection：

1: The length and material of the pipe need to be tested again. I will measure more samples for data analysis later. 

2: The lighting could be more dim, I think dynamic projecter can be added in the future. Installation can also be made more dynamic,(Fans, smoke, etc.) Better materials can be found in future.

3: How these installations can constantly stay? I will consider to use interactive website and digital 3D model (interactive website/3D model) to have a better connect with audience.

4: From the environmental point of view combined with the broken window theory, although this is a temporary outdoor exhibition, is there a better location and props to choose? And how to collect user feedback more naturally rather than through interviews.

Bibliography：

1: ‘Research progress on olfactory function in schizophrenia patients‘ By Zhang Huijuan, JIN Jin, LI Chunbo.

2: ‘Bioelectronic nose and its application to smell visualization‘ By Hwi Jin Ko, Tai Hyun Park.

3: ‘Smelling Shapes: Crossmodal Correspondences Between Odors and Shapes‘ By Grant Hanson-Vaux,  Anne-Sylvie Crisinel, Charles Spence.

4: ‘The Color of Smell A cross-modal interactive installation for individual expression‘ By Hannah Weiser.

5: ‘https://www.ted.com/talks/david_mccandless_the_beauty_of_data_visualization‘ By David McCandless.

6: ‘https://www.ediblegeography.com/smell-designing-sheffield/’ By Victoria Henshaw.

7: ‘Design with smel:Practices, Techniques and ChallengesEdited‘ By Victoria Henshaw, Kate McLean,  Dominic Medway, Chris Perkins and  Gary Warnaby.

Thank you for watching

[endlessthoughtsofafangirl]

小戏骨’s Legend of the Condor Heroes!

I know that the new Legend of the Condor Heroes is airing right now, but I am so incredibly excited for the 小戏骨 version.

Guo Jing is played by Shi Xiaosong, a student at Shaolin, and he looks a lot like Felix Wong in the 1983 version!

Huang Rong is played by Tao Yixi, famous for her role of Bai Suzhen in 小戏骨’s Legend of White Snake. (Her costume design seems to be modeled after the 1994 version.)

靖蓉!

Mu Nianci is played by Zhou Zhiying, famous for her role of Xu Xian in 小戏骨‘s Legend of White Snake. (I think her costume design looks like it’s from the 2008 version.)

And Yang Kang is played by Xiaoyang Bohan, who has played many leading roles in the 小戏骨 adaptations, including Jiao Yulu and Lin Xiaocong (补锅). (His costume design is based off of the 1983 version.)

Ge Yide, who played Cheya in 小戏骨’s Mulan adaptation, plays Wanyan Honglie. (His costume design looks quite like the 1983 version.)

Little Bao Xiruo with little Wanyan Honglie!

I don’t know who plays Ouyang Ke, but he looks pretty good as the role.

I don’t the names for who plays the Six Freaks of Jiangnan, but they are also looking good.

Chen Yuheng, who played Fa Hai in their The Legend of White Snake and Mulan’s father in their adaptation of Mulan, plays Yang Tiexin. (He seems to always be playing older characters.)

Rehearsal of the “spar for a spouse” scene. (杨康/肖杨博涵好高啊~)

Since they can’t make a full 50 episode long adaptation (and also due to the fact that kids are acting it out), a lot of the story may be cut and edited, but I can’t wait to see how it turns out!

[mrlylerouse]

First Trailer for Psychological Thriller 'Susu' From Director Yixi Sun

"There's nothing for you to worry about… you're perfectly safe here." The first official trailer has debuted for a film playing at the Seattle Film Festival coming up this summer, titled Susu, the feature directorial debut of Chinese writer/director Yixi Sun. This "psychological thriller with a stylish international twist" is about two Chinese girls who take a film transcription job located in a heritage English countryside mansion. Discovering entangled family secrets about the Kunqu Opera star Susu, they find it almost impossible to escape, physically and emotionally. It was actually shot at historical sites, including a 16th century English mansion and the old house of Charlie Chaplin and his mother. Susu stars Zitong Wu, Lin Zhu, Frederick Szkoda, Steve Edwin, Tom Mannion, Laura June Hudson, Roslyn Hill, and Junjie Mao as Susu. This looks extra melodramatic and a bit campy, but I quite like the intertwining of old cinema and thriller. ›››

Continue Reading First Trailer for Psychological Thriller 'Susu' From Director Yixi Sun

from FirstShowing.net https://ift.tt/2IMCXnB

[silviakundera]

The Spirealm episode 5 -7 reaction (Let's call this episode 4 now per the new 38 episodes version)

fair warning: in these episode reactions I'm not gonna pretend I haven't read the novel. in fact, I purposely finished the novel before viewing, to get The Full Experience. thus novel spoilers, including twist end, included.

[1] [2] [3-4]

DON'T LEAN ON THE BANISTER ASDFGHJK

Ruan Baijie saving his boyfriend's ass yet again, must be Tuesday.

Then first key!!!! I wanna see the key!!!!!!!!

The survivors: wow, ok, Baijie really loves u

"Are you leaving so soon and reluctant to leave me?" // "No, it's not that," he lies

The suspicious survivors just couldn't resist trying to steal the door note and now no one has the key but the monster NICE GOING 😒

ahh and then the reveal that ofc Ruan Baijie figured out the taboos long before. He saves those who are worthy (aka his new partner).

wow Ruan Baijie is pretty. gifs don't do him justice.

Death match vs the bad hair day from The Ring.

Ep6

The whole scene in the opening of ep 6 is terribly cute. Ruan Baijie exposed as a drama sprite who was faking his injury, but Lin Quishi just accepts this in good humor as he's told this was just to "bring us closer" and for fun. Another round of, you're really picking me? but why?

He really does the, 'come closer' move to make your crush get up close so you can create a sense of intimacy with hushed voices smh

"Because there is light in you."

oh, did you give me this expensive looking necklace because you want me to join your gang?

no, because you are you.

..... misses the very gay pass completely.

(tbh I feel as if the actor is playing it like his character IS sensing the romantic undertones sometimes but doesn't know how to respond/not ready to process it and so represses & pushes it out of his mind and to the side)

Ep 7

They solved the case. Ruan Baijie gives him back the key again, "Still yours." They exchange a romantic look before he steps over.

Our protagonist thinks he's back in reality and only 15 minutes have passed. But of course that's not true: whether he entered the game time A, B, C, or it's the 12th Door theory... he's still in-play.

A roommate?? This must be the Wei what's his face, his One Friend I recall from the novel. With the girlfriend.

Injuries from the door lingering "outside".

Chestnut won't let him hug! (The clue in the novel that this is still within the door. Now, is this a new phenom or was it already Like That in ep 1? 🤔 Remains ambiguous.)

Wait, in this drama the One Friend has heard of Spirealm?! And it's eviiiill reputation. Everyone who plays it "goes insane and commits suicide". Lin Quishi acts like he hasn't already been warned that players die from the game.

Ah, created by a chinese designer who wanted to make a "comprehensive spirit world". The story goes, after he made it he added all the violent elements to the version he sold, to make it a bloody survival game.

'Can't control when you enter the door, can't get rid of it, Men Can Conquer Heaven'.

Bro goes to sleep and startles awake cause Ruan Nanzhu fka Baijie is pulling an Edward Cullen by his bedside. The more intense looking Nanzhu asks him to come along. Naturally, our boy stumbles along and meets!!! Cheng Qianli!!!!!!! 😄😄😄😄 Who is driving, like the scene in the novel. IM SO HAPPY.

Headquarters!!!!! The group!#####!!!! I'm hyped to see them all live & in color.

Emphasized again that once you enter the game, you must complete all 12 doors to get rid of the mental control of the game. ~Mind control~

(because the censors won't allow it to be explicitly supernatural)

(which doesn't mean the writer didn't intend to get around this barrier by using subtext & inferences that novel readers would understand 🤔🤔)

The clue for his next door freaks out the whole house. But then he meets cranky Cheng Yixie!!!!

He's settling in but the moment he glimpses Nanzhu's returned BUT INJURED *gasp* Must scurry down for hurt/comfort UST.

Love how absolutely unnecessary this hand-holding is. Light piano background to set the romantic mood.

A gurgling stomach growl from Ruan Nanxhu & Lin Quishi takes the initiative to stand up and make himself at home to cook for the man who's obviously being positioned as his love interest. (Like in The Untamed & Word of Honor, we're not being terribly subtle here.)

This is the 3rd time we've seen an instinctive caretaking gesture from him towards Nanzhu and the last moment as we fade out is the "boss man" looking down at his newly bestowed bandage and obviously GOING THRU IT. He's making this sigh and curling his fingers and everything.

side note: Lin Quishi is getting flashes of himself trapped under rubble. This is the second time we see them. Are they flash backs? Of a past event he survived, giving him baggage to carry? OR are we circling back again to my alternate, alternate theory that an evil VR game is part of the illusion and this IS the supernatural Doors from the novel that terminal people can get a chance to enter, to prolong or possibly prevent your death? (if so, then Ruan Nanzhu is still indeed the 12th door god. and Lin Quishi must decide to remain in the fantasy or exit & return to reality?)

[sunriseverse]

8, 20 and 24 for Xie Yuchen please?

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

i'll be honest i haven't read dmbj fanfic (or...........any fanfic, really) in a hot minute, as the kids call it, but i think there's a tendency to make his relationship with hxz overly antagonistic and like. okay i haven't finished un to be clear! but i can still be salty about how much it seems to dictate character dynamics broadly in the english-speaking side of the fandom. also from what i know of the later books (i have got to get back to reading, i'm still stuck on the third one) this doesn't hold true there really either, and it definitely doesn't hold true by the mystery of the abyss era. i think there's definitely areas they don't agree on things for, but sometimes the way people play it up it feels like. okay well why are you writing them together then??? this just feels Bad. also i wish more people wrote things about him and wx, i want to see that.

20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character, the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter?

it is my deepest conviction that he and xie lian would get along wonderfully.

24. What other character from another fandom of yours that reminds you of them?

lin buxian/lin yixi (ruzhui) and li xian (fgep) i would say.

[zintranslations]

Kaleidoscope of Death, Ch. 132

Kaleidoscope of Death by Xi Zixu Link to Chinese / Novel Updates

Chapter 132: By Day, By Night

After hanging up, Lin Qiushi got out of bed. He went to the living room to check on the door and television, making sure both those things were still the same as they had been during daytime yesterday.

After that, Lin Qiushi left the apartment in a hurry. Halfway out he even got a call from Wu Qi, asking why he wasn't at work.

"There's something I have to do." Lin Qiushi was already in a car and had honestly completely forgotten about going to work. He tried to wheedle: "Ask for time off for me."

Wu Qi, "okay, how long should I ask for?"

Lin Qiushi, "half a year?"

Wu Qi, shocked, "…half a year?? Are you planning on resigning?"

Lin Qiushi glanced at his watch, not thinking of work at all.

"Or yeah, you can just resign for me."

Wu Qi seemed like he had something to say, but whatever words were on the tip of his tongue never made it out—he only sighed: "Fine, I'll get time off for you. If there's something going on you've got to tell me, alright? Don't carry it all on your own."

Lin Qiushi made a noise of agreement, expression still pensive.

The car continued on, and over an hour later, it arrived at where Lin Qiushi wanted to go. Lin Qiushi got off, went upstairs, and knocked on the door—every motion done in a single smooth breath. The truth was, however, that these few simple motions were only possible after extensive emotional preparation done during the car ride.

The door he knocked on opened after a bit, revealing a beautiful middle-age woman—it was Ruan Nanzhu's mother.

Because before they'd entered the door, Ruan Nanzhu had taken Lin Qiushi home. Now Lin Qiushi had a clear memory of where Ruan Nanzhu's old house was. Coming here this time was simply to confirm one thing…

"Hi Auntie," Lin Qiushi greeted politely.

"Hello." The woman watched Lin Qiushi with curiosity and asked, "is there something I can help you with?"

"I wanted to ask, do you know who Ruan Nanzhu is?" Lin Qiushi asked carefully.

"Ruan Nanzhu?" The woman's tone of doubt sent Lin Qiushi's heart sinking, and the question on her face only grew stronger. "Sorry, I don't know who that is."

"Then do you know Ruan Baiye?" Lin Qiushi brought up another name—this was the name of Ruan Nanzhu's older bother.

"Baiye? He's my son…" Mama Ruan said. "He's not home right now, but he'll be back later tonight. Are you looking for him?"

Lin Qiushi, "ma'am you…only have one son?"

Mama Ruan nodded as the way she looked at Lin Qiushi got stranger and stranger. Which was fair. Suddenly coming to her house and asking questions like these, Lin Qiushi didn't seem like a normal person at all.

Lin Qiushi had no idea what else to say either. After bidding Mama Ruan goodbye, he rushed back downstairs and hurried off to another location.

Ruan Nanzhu's existence had been completely wiped. There was nobody in this world named Ruan Nanzhu, not even to his parents, and even Obsidian, the organization that he led, had stopped existing…

This time, Lin Qiushi's destination was Li Dongyuan's White Deer.

When he arrived at White Deer headquarters, Lin Qiushi discovered that the building that once belonged to White Deer was now commercial offices, labeled with the name of XX Bank. Lin Qiushi was standing in the doorway contemplating how to sneak upstairs when he saw a familiar face leave the building. That person was wearing a suit and speaking to someone beside him; judging by appearance alone, he was that baby-faced Li Dongyuan that Lin Qiushi knew.

Seeing this Lin Qiushi hurried forward and called, "Li Dongyuan!"

Li Dongyuan's feet stalled, and he glanced in Lin Qiushi's direction. With eyes both cautious and distant, he asked, "who might you be? If you'd like to discuss something please book an appointment with my secretary first."

"I—" Lin Qiushi said. "Do you know me?"

Lin Qiushi lifted an eyebrow and didn't speak. His expression though, gave Lin Qiushi an answer—he did not know Lin Qiushi, and even thought Lin Qiushi's question odd.

"You don't recognize me?" Lin Qiushi also couldn't quite convey how he was feeling just then.

"Should I recognize you?" Li Dongyuan smiled a smile that wasn't quite a smile as he scanned Lin Qiushi up and down.

Lin Qiushi suddenly recalled something else. He said, "then do you know Zhuang Rujiao?"

Li Dongyuan didn't answer, and still seemed unfamiliar with the name.

"What about Jin Yurui?" Lin Qiushi tried again.

"You know her?" Li Dongyuan's smile, however, faded. "You're one of hers, then?"

Lin Qiushi could finally be sure why some people didn't exist in this world—because they were still alive. If they still survived in the world outside the door, then they did not exist inside this door. Both Li Dongyuan and Jin Yurui were dead, so they had new identities inside this door.

And, those who had died inside the doors aside, the people who were competely unrelated to the doors did not seem affected by this rule at all. They existed both inside this door and outside it, and had nothing to do with living or dying.

"Is there anything else?" Eyeing Lin Qiushi, who was deep in thought, Li Dongyuan lifted his chin with a cold expression. "If there's nothing else why don't you take your leave? This is a place of work."

Lin Qiushi took one last look at him before turning to go.

"Who is that?" the person standing beside Li Dongyuan asked as they watched Lin Qiushi leave.

"I don't know," Li Dongyuan said. "Looks kind of familiar though. Never mind, bring me that data and let me confirm…"

Lin Qiushi left White Deer headquarters and glanced at his watch. It was already twelve noon. An idea surfaced in his mind, and Lin Qiushi got out his phone to book a roundtrip flight for C City the next morning.

There were some matters he wanted to confirm in C City; it was already too late to go today, so he could only hurry there tomorrow morning and try to make it back in one day.

Fact of the matter was, Lin Qiushi didn't want to try spending the night on an airplane. Hell knows how terrifying that would be.

After taking care of lunch at a random spot in town, Lin Qiushi returned home and took a nap. As he thought about what would happen later that evening, Lin Qiushi thought he wouldn't be able to sleep. But in fact he slept quite well, passing out the moment he hit the bed. When he woke it was already five in the afternoon. Chestnut sat by his side, meowing, looking to be hungry again.

Lin Qiushi got up and, after fixing up some food for Chestnut, called some delivery for himself. He ate while watching TV.

He saw the trailer for Tan Zaozao's new movie. From the language of the advertisement, Lin Qiushi figured out that Tan Zaozao had already won the award. The award-winning movie was exactly the same as it had been on the outside, only the director was a different person this time and not Zhang Yiqing.

This world was so very similar to the world that Lin Qiushi lived in, but there was one fundamental difference—Ruan Nanzhu, the person Lin Qiushi most wanted to see, was not here.

Good thing that was so, actually. This door, for a lot of other people, would likely be of insurmountable difficulty. Like Zhuang Rujiao. Or Cheng Yixie for that matter. That was because here, they could once again see their most beloved person…

The night deepened, and Lin Qiushi got everything ready.

Around ten in the evening, it suddenly began to rain outside.

Water came down as if tossed from a ladle, washing clean the earth scorched dry by the sun. Lin Qiushi stood by the window, watching as passersby scampered home along the sidewalks until only streetlamps were left on the empty streets, with only the occasional car passing by.

Chestnut fell asleep sprawled out on the couch. The atmosphere grew quiet. Some senseless program played on TV as a queer sort of silence began to crawl out inside the house.

Lin Qiushi smelled petrichor. He used to be quite a fan of this smell, until he encountered a particular door. After that, this tainted scent of rainwater became something a lot more unpleasant.

The hour hand turned bit by bit, and twelve o'clock was nearly here.

Lin Qiushi sat in the living room, as if a spirit waiting for the death god's verdict. The switch from day to night came, and the clock hanging on the wall finally began to ring: ding dong, ding dong, ding dong…Twelve chimes heralded in another world.

The moment it became twelve, someone was immediately knocking at his door once more. Backpack on, Lin Qiushi came to the door, and through the peephole saw a woman standing on the other side, smiling at him.

He remembered the woman's name. It was the NPC hidden among the crowd in the Sister's Drum door, Xu Jin.

"Hurry up and come out already," Xu Jin told Lin Qiushi. "Come out already, my sister's coming to find you."

Lin Qiushi didn't open the door. He heard a soft noise from the window, however, and when Lin Qiushi turned, he saw a figure pressed against the glass.

It was a person with all her skin stripped off, her body a mess of blood and flesh from head to toe. The bloody face pressed against Lin Qiushi's glass and her mouth split open, showing Lin Qiushi her stark white teeth. It looked like she was trying to open up the locked window, and judging from her motions, she seemed close to succeeding.

Opening the door looked to be the only option right now. Gritting his teeth, Lin Qiushi twisted open the door handle and faced Xu Jin, standing on the outside.

Xu Jin clearly knew what Lin Qiushi was worried about, and began to chuckle.

"How could I bear to hurt you?" A pause, as her gaze lingered on Lin Qiushi's backpack. "My diary is still in your hands. Did you give it a good read yet?"

Lin Qiushi, "…" Why did he feel like he was being teased?

But there wasn't time for him to worry about that, because Xu Jin's sister was about to come in though the window. Xu Jin grabbed Lin Qiushi by the arm and ran. The two made their way down the hall and came to the elevator.

"Go on inside, but watch out," Xu Jin said. "There are other things that want you dead."

Lin Qiushi asked, "what about you?" He recalled that Xu Jin didn't have a very good relationship with her sister.

"Me?" Xu Jin’s eyes curved up in a sudden smile. "How do you know that I don't want you dead?"

As soon as she said this, the skin on her body began to fall off patch by patch. The startled Lin Qiushi rushed into the elevator and pressed a number.

Xu Jin was chuckling again, and though her laugh was bright like silver bells, her terrifying appearance struck a sharp contrast.

Even though she now looked scarier, she didn't seem keen on pursuing Lin Qiushi.

The elevator started. In theory, Lin Qiushi ought to be safe, but that weird sense of danger once again assaulted the top of his head.

Lin Qiushi looked all around him, and when he spotted a certain something hanging in the elevator, goosebumps appeared all over his body. He'd spotted behind him, on what should have been an empty elevator wall, a huge black picture frame. There was nothing inside the frame, but the frame was pointed at exactly where he was standing.

Lin Qiushi reacted swiftly, hitting the button for the floor closest to him. At the exact same time, black water stains began appearing on the white paper inside that frame. First there was only one drop. Then it began spreading on the canvas paper.

He watched as the shape of that stain began to look more and more like a woman. It dispersed across the canvas and, in a short amount of time, managed to coat the entire large canvas.

Luckily it was then that the elevator reached the nearest floor. Lin Qiushi immediately took off, and the moment he cleared the elevator, a pair of pale white hands burst out of that canvas paper, searching around like it was looking for something to grab hold of.

Lin Qiushi was currently on the sixth floor. The moment he was out of the elevator he turned for the emergency exit right next door, bounding quickly down the stairs.

It was dim in the stairwell, with just enough light to see the path beneath his feet. Lin Qiushi ran down two stories before feeling something was off. He took a closer look, and discovered that he'd been turning round and round on floor six.

The stairs seemed to have become a mobius strip—up, down, backward, forward, it all came back to the sixth floor.

Lin Qiushi's feet screeched to a halt. He took in his surroundings, and noticed, on the white stairwell ceilings, little black spots of water appearing. That chilling stench of rain too was spreading through the air.

The thing had found him. Lin Qiushi made an executive decision and left the stairwell, stepping out onto the hallway. But back in the hall, Lin Qiushi discovered that the corridor had underwent a terrifying change: black frames hung on both sides, and inside each frame was a human head with its expression all twisted up. As for the ceramic tile floor, there was now a new carpet, thick and black—the pattern on it looked the same as in a door they'd encountered before.

Lin Qiushi looked up and saw, on the other other end of the hallway, another painting hanging. That painting was a woman in black with a long, sharp hat. Her eyes were half closed, but it felt like she was staring right down the hall and meeting Lin Qiushi's eyes.

Lin Qiushi wanted to leave the hallway, but when he glanced back, he found that the stairwell he had just came from had disappeared. The length of the hallway too seemed to be slowly shortening; Lin Qiushi could sense the painting of the woman getting closer and closer, closer and closer…

At that moment, a drop of water fell onto Lin Qiushi's forehead. Lin Qiushi gave it a wipe, and realized that it was blood. On reflex he looked up—a black hole had appeared above his head without him noticing, and blood was dripping from its edge onto his head. A pair of black eyes glimmered faintly in the dark, and then right after, a pair of pulpy, bloody hands reached out of the hole for Lin Qiushi.

Lin Qiushi's instincts were to back away, but the strange thing was, the hands stopped when they got to him. As if a miracle, he sensed no animosity from this pair of hands.

The hallway was still getting shorter and shorter, as if it were becoming a cage keen on trapping Lin Qiushi inside. With a clench of his teeth, Lin Qiushi reached up and grabbed the fleshy mess of those hands, and then felt a sudden force as he was brought out of that shrinking hallway.

"Aiya, looks like you can't manage without me after all."

The voice belonged to Xu Jin, but from appearance alone, he couldn't tell it was her at all. The skin on her body was completely gone, leaving only scarlet flesh and blood. She was grinning brightly at Lin Qiushi, and the contrast between her smile and appearance was strange, but Lin Qiushi didn't find it scary at all.

"Thank you," Lin Qiushi said to her.

Xu Jin didn't speak. Her gaze instead leaped over Lin Qiushi to look behind him.

Sensing something, Lin Qiushi too twisted around, and spotted on the other end of the darkness a pair of glowing red eyes.

"Meimei, my sister."

The owner of those eyes was also a skinless monster. She didn't have any legs and could only walk on her hands, but that didn't mean she was slow. She glared at Lin Qiushi with vitriol and bared her teeth; like a hyena hunting its prey, the sheer amount of hatred in her eyes was strong enough to materialize.

"Why did you betray me?" she said. "Do you like him that much? Since you like him so much, why don't I keep him here for you?"

Xu Jin tilted her head, and also smiled.

"But Jiejie, even if you did that, I still won't like you."

After that, she told Lin Qiushi to run, and threw herself at her sister. The two monsters clashed and tangled together.

Lin Qiushi got up and sprinted in the direction of the light. By the time he reached its source, he found that he'd already escaped from the apartment building, and was standing in the yard of the residential block.

It was still raining outside. Lin Qiushi pulled an umbrella out of his backpack and slowly pushed it open, stepping out into the curtaining rain.

The rain came down in sluicing torrents, and the streets were completely empty, with only water splashing along the ground. The rain ought to have been noisy; but at a time like this the loudness of the rain only made the world sound more silent in comparison.

"Help me—help me—"

There was a sudden cry for help. A silhouette came stumbling out of the rain, and Lin Qiushi could just make it out: she was a pitiful-looking young woman, staggering through the rain in a long dress. It looked like she was being pursued by something, and when she spotted Lin Qiushi standing not too far away, it was like she'd found an oasis in the middle of a desert—she came running immediately.

"Help, help!! Please, I'm begging you please help me, something wants to kill me…" She fell to the ground, looking up pathetically at Lin Qiushi. "You're also someone going through the doors, right? So am I, this door is so scary—"

Had this been reality, Lin Qiushi would've definitely helped the young woman up by now. But at this stage he wasn't moving, and a light furrow had appeared between his brows. The truth was, he found the person before him a bit familiar—more specifically, everything that appeared at night now was familiar, and he was certain he'd seen this person somewhere before.

"Mister, mister." The woman collapsed in the rain saw Lin Qiushi unmoved, and slowly crawled forward. She wiped at the rainwater on her face and said, shakily, "I know a safe place, and I can bring you there. Do you want to come with me?"

Lin Qiushi said, "do I know you?"

The woman said, "we met once in the door, and you even helped me out." Her lashes lightly trembled, looking vulnerable as anything. "But I didn't deserve that mercy, I still didn't make it."

"We met inside a door?" Lin Qiushi now found the shape of her eyes familiar. "Which door?"

The woman approached Lin Qiushi, saying, "you know, that one."

As Lin Qiushi watched her, he suddenly spoke: "There's something behind you."

The woman halted.

"A giant picture frame," Lin Qiushi said. "She's here."

The woman wheeled around in fright, but when she didn't see anything behind her, she suddenly realized that Lin Qiushi had recognized her. What had been a pitiful expression immediately went cold.

"It's been a while," Lin Qiushi said, "Yang Meishu."

The woman chuckled coolly.

"You still recognized me?"

Lin Qiushi shrugged. "I didn't want to, but I can count the people who wanted me dead on one hand. Since you're not a ghost, you must be somebody who hates me…"

He paused, and quickly announced, "she really is here."

But Yang Meishu didn't believe him. She said, "do you really think I'm that dumb? You've fooled me once already, you think you can do it again? I—"

As she spoke, getting more and more agitated, she felt a sudden breeze behind her. Yang Meishu glanced back, and found the woman in black standing right behind her. The woman's white face was impassive, and in her hands was a black picture frame that she swung right at Yang Meishu.

Yang Meishu knew this was likely it for her, and a terrible scream came out of her mouth. Right after she screamed, she became a portrait in the hands of the woman; soaked from head to toe, her expression bore both fright and a lively, vivid resentment.

Lin Qiushi took the opportunity to run further away. The woman didn't seem intent on chasing after him either, only watched him go with an icy gaze.

The rain came down in torrents, and Lin Qiushi was completely soaked. In such a strong rain, the umbrella was practically useless. As he ran, he fished out his cell phone and sent Ruan Nanzhu a text.

How are things on your end? After some thought, Lin Qiushi added: I'm fine over here, don't worry about me.

After the text was sent, he didn't get a reply for the longest time. It wasn't until Lin Qiushi found a place to hide from the rain that the message notification dinged, displaying four simple words: I'm good, don't worry.

Seeing the message, Lin Qiushi huffed a bitter laugh. Because how could he not know? Had Ruan Nanzhu truly been alright, the text would not have been so short. Ruan Nanzhu had trained his way through so many doors, so god only knew how many malicious NPCs and dead people from the inside he would meet at night. From what Lin Qiushi understood of him, if he had everything under control, he would've definitely sent a message first asking about Lin Qiushi's situation. Now, even his text message was so short. The situation on his end could not be good.

He wanted so badly just to be by his side—Lin Qiushi clenched his phone and thought bitterly. Whatever he had to experience would be fine, as long as he could be by Ruan Nanzhu's side.

[Ch. 131] | [Ch. 133]

[zintranslations]

Kaleidoscope of Death, Ch. 129

Kaleidoscope of Death by Xi Zixu Link to Chinese / Novel Updates

Chapter 129: The Fourteenth Door

After entering the doors twice for it, Ruan Nanzhu could now be certain that the hint for the eleventh door would not undergo any additional changes.

The tenth door was too difficult, and was impossible to do a third time. Twice was plenty, besides, and they couldn't risk their lives on it again. Had Cheng Yixie not left, then perhaps they could've gotten a third hint slip about the eleventh door. But there was no helping when fate refused to abide its people, and such incidents occurred.

Most of human life was pretty much like this, filled with impermanence and variables.

Ruan Nanzhu said that Ye Niao also gave off light, and was someone well-suited to the doors. Ye Niao too went exactly as Ruan Nanzhu predicted, quickly adapting to life inside Obsidian. His outgoing and lively personality kept the mansion's atmosphere from getting too depressed.

Two years time wasn't exactly long, but it wasn't exactly short either.

Since Cheng Yixie left Obsidian, Lin Qiushi had not seen him again. Just like that, Cheng Yixie hid all traces of himself and disappeared so cleanly before everybody's eyes, as if he'd never been there at all.

Disappearing with him was a man who used to come over plenty, that Zhuo Feiquan. He'd even visited once after Cheng Qianli's incident, sprawled out crassly in the living room and asking, "where's that little idiot Cheng Qianli? Where's he gone?"

Nobody answered his question.

Perhaps the looks on everybody's faces at his question were too awful, but Zhuo Feiquan seemed to understand. He started to say something, but stopped again, and in the end said nothing before leaving. Once he'd left he never showed again. He disappeared without a trace from everybody's purview.

For the two years, Lin Qiushi never stopped going through the doors.

High-level, low-level—he did them all. His frequency averaged to about twice a month. Sometimes Ruan Nanzhu went with him. Sometimes he was alone.

During this time Lin Qiushi once again got to witness Ye Niao in drag…but never mind. Let's not talk about it. His eyes burned at the thought.

With so many doors entered, he also met all sorts of people. The strong ones, the weak ones—the hundreds of different ways people behaved in the face of death always brought out in him a heartfelt sigh.

And Ruan Nanzhu never gave up on reaching Cheng Yixie, though he never really heard anything back. It wasn't until a particular day in the second year that they knew there was someplace Cheng Yixie would definitely appear at.

That day was the anniversary of Cheng Qianli's death.

Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu went to the grave where Cheng Qianli was buried and found a corner. After waiting for a while, they saw a figure appear before Cheng Qianli's tombstone.

The figure was wearing a face mask and a hat, so it was difficult to make out any features, but Lin Qiushi only needed one look to be sure that the person in front of them now was Cheng Yixie.

"Do we go over?" Lin Qiushi asked.

Ruan Nanzhu shook his head. "Let's let him be alone for a bit."

Lin Qiushi sighed.

Cheng Yixie stood in front of Cheng Qianli's grave for a very long time, before finally setting the flowers in his hand down before the tombstone. As he prepared to leave, Lin Qiushi couldn't help but call out his name: "Yixie!"

Cheng Yixie's figure halted, and he turned to look at Lin Qiushi.

Lin Qiushi quickly came up to him. There was so much he wanted to say to this child, but he didn't quite know where to start.

But it was Cheng Yixie who spoke up first.

"It's been a while."

His eyes on Lin Qiushi were cold. Compared to his characteristic detachment of the past, his gaze now was like a frozen lake—profoundly dark and chilled to the marrow, without any trace of warmth at all.

"It's been a while," Lin Qiushi said.

Ruan Nanzhu too approached Cheng Yixie and inspected him up and down, all without saying a word.

"I still have something to do, so I'll be going." Cheng Yixie looked at his watch when he spoke, and his tone was distant.

"You…" Lin Qiushi wanted to ask if Cheng Yixie had been well, but also felt such a topic would be extraneous. Because anybody could tell that he had not been well.

Cheng Yixie had not been well at all. A lot more of his hair had gone white, and though he covered it with a hat, it was still quite obvious.

"Go," Ruan Nanzhu said, not saying much of anything in the end. "If there's anything, give us a call. We're always here."

Cheng Yixie nodded, still with no trace of emotion on his face at all, and he turned to leave.

Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu watched him go in twin silence. The truth was they didn't know how to comfort Cheng Yixie. Even if it'd been a year, the impact of some things could and would never diminish.

Lin Qiushi slowly unwrapped a piece of candy and put it in his mouth. He felt the sweetness spread out across his tongue, and took Ruan Nanzhu by the hand.

"Let's go," he said.

The two finally left the graveyard.

Having seen that Cheng Yixie was still alive, Lin Qiushi could set his suspended heart down a few degrees. He didn't dare ask for too much. But what he didn't expect was that several days later, they would receive a letter from Cheng Yixie. The letter simply said that he'd obtained a hint to the eleventh door.

"The hint I got, it's a special one," Cheng Yixie wrote in the letter. "There are only two words: Life and Death."

Lin Qiushi read the contents of the letter and spoke aloud those two special words: "Life…and death?"

Ruan Nanzhu's brows furrowed as he too sank into deep thought.

Their hint was No Solution, but Cheng Yixie's hint was Life and Death. An odd thought surfaced in Lin Qiushi’s mind, and he said: "Could it be that everybody's eleventh door is the same?"

Ruan Nanzhu's fingers rubbed at the letter, eyeing the two words written on it.

"It's possible."

"Before that senior of yours went into the eleventh door, did he give you any information?" Lin Qiushi looked at Ruan Nanzhu.

"No, I was still a newbie then," Ruan Nanzhu replied. "Couldn't even think about something as far away as the eleventh door."

There was no other way then, since there was nobody around them who'd passed the eleventh door. The truth was, that Ruan Nanzhu and Lin Qiushi could safely pass the tenth door was already exceptional.

Life, death. Life, death. What did Life and Death indicate in the hint? Had this been any other door, they would've at least been able to think that they'd make the connections and proceed to analyze the hint once they were inside. But this was a high-level door in which any misstep could cost you your life. Even Ruan Nanzhu didn't dare to be overconfident about it.

Even though they still had a year, they were already preparing to enter the door.

The two of them did a lot of research based on the words Life and Death—from Eastern myths to Western tales, from Yanluo Temple to Anubis…

Though they didn't know whether or not any of this would be of use, they had to do something. It was easier to bear this way, instead of just sitting and waiting.

In the two years' time, Ye Niao passed his seventh door. When Lin Qiushi asked if he wanted to skip a door, Ye Niao gave it some thought, but ultimately turned the offer down. He said that there really was no point in skipping doors. Whatever was his lot in life would still ultimately come.

Lin Qiushi quite admired his caution and self-discipline. After all, faced with this kind of temptation, not everybody could turn it down.

The precise time of their eleventh door was March 27th. Because the level of the door was high, they already had a concrete sense of when they would be going in.

With a deeply solemn expression, Ruan Nanzhu drew a circle around March 26th on their calendar, and even doodled a little heart next to it.

When Lin Qiushi saw this he told him, "you marked it wrong. We're going in on the 27th."

"It's not wrong," Ruan Nanzhu said.

Lin Qiushi blinked.

"We have to do it a few extra times on the 26th."

Lin Qiushi, "…" It took him a few seconds to realize that the bastard was making a dirty joke, and couldn't say anything for a good minute. Ever since he and Ruan Nanzhu established their relationship, Ruan Nanzhu's more gregarious personality from inside the doors had become more and more apparent. Lin Qiushi thought this was a good thing—except, the only bad part was that Ruan Nanzhu often got jealous of himself.

"Do you like Zhu Meng or Ruan Nanzhu?" Ruan Nanzhu asked Lin Qiushi once outside the door.

Lin Qiushi could only say that the one he liked was Ruan Nanzhu.

Inside the doors though, he had to change his answer. And then Zhu Meng became possessed by the Drama Sprite again: "But yesterday, a man named Ruan Nanzhu called and told me that you love him."

Lin Qiushi, "…can't I love both?"

Ruan Nanzhu, "yes, I'll allow you to love both."

"…" Lin Qiushi sighed internally. Why do you have so many scripts in your hands?

The time of their eleventh door slowly approached. The atmosphere among the group once again began to stiffen.

Needless to say, this would be an extremely difficult door, so before going in, Lin Qiushi took care to calculate out how his affairs would be handled after he passed. He discovered, however, that he was pretty much someone utterly without mooring. His only friend Wu Qi was gone, and it had been a long time since he'd been in touch with his family. Beside his friends in this mansion, there really wasn't anybody he had to say goodbye to.

What Lin Qiushi never expected was that, a month before going into the door, Ruan Nanzhu would take him to Ruan Nanzhu’s own home.

Lin Qiushi kept thinking that Ruan Nanzhu's home would be a relatively desolate environment, but the moment they got there, a beautiful middle-aged woman appeared and threw herself sobbing onto Ruan Nanzhu.

Ruan Nanzhu was unmoved, slowly pushing the woman away.

"Ma," he greeted.

Lin Qiushi stood awkwardly beside him.

Then Lin Qiushi was roughly introduced to Ruan Nanzhu's family make-up. His family was fortunate, with a successful older brother, a strict father, and a charming mother. Beyond their successes the family seemed utterly normal, and Ruan Nanzhu didn’t seem to fit in at all.

On Ruan Nanzhu's part, he very frankly introduced Lin Qiushi as his lover.

Lin Qiushi was a bit nervous at first, but saw them accept Ruan Nanzhu's claim quite peacefully. It was only afterwards that Lin Qiushi knew that this family was pretty much the same as Yi Manman's, believing that something had gone wrong with Ruan Nanzhu's psychological state…

"My baby is good for everything. He just has a little problem with fantasies, is all." In the time it took for Ruan Nanzhu to go to the bathroom, his mother said this to Lin Qiushi while wiping the tears from her eyes. "He's had this sickness since he was young. Thank you. It must be your company that's made him so much better…"

Lin Qiushi didn't dare speak, thinking that he couldn't possibly tell Ruan Nanzhu's mother that he too had a little problem with fantasies, could he? If he thought about it though it was understandable. In the eyes of people without doors, after all, the time they spent inside the doors was simply them staring off into space.

It was only that after spacing out, their reactions could be intense. Some cried, some laughed, some even threw themselves straight off a building…

It was clear that Ruan Nanzhu's family still cared for him, but it was this care precisely that became a sort of burden. They didn't understand what Ruan Nanzhu did, and couldn't comprehend why Ruan Nanzhu avoided the normal paths in life…

There had never been such a thing as pure empathy in this world.

After a meal, Ruan Nanzhu took Lin Qiushi and left. Sitting in the car, he looked over at Lin Qiushi and asked, "isn't there anything you want to say?"

Lin Qiushi, "like what…your mom's super young?"

Ruan Nanzhu, "…"

Lin Qiushi grinned. "I don't have anything to say." He paused for a bit, before continuing, "they're all good people."

It was just that some things, they weren't meant to ever understand.

Ruan Nanzhu said, "I'm actually quite fortunate. My family all thinks I'm crazy, and wanted to send me abroad for treatment. But at least they didn't force it."

At the mention of crazy, Lin Qiushi was reminded of Yi Manman. Yi Manman was practically the prototypical Obsidian member—his family kept thinking he'd gone insane, and they'd even tried to shut him away in a mental hospital by force. Compared to him, Ruan Nanzhu's family's attitude stood in vivid contrast.

"It's true though, from an outsider's perspective we're all crazy," Lin Qiushi said helplessly. "We space out for a bit, and then start sobbing and yelling."

"It's been almost five years since I went home," Ruan Nanzhu said.

Lin Qiushi watched him, and understood what Ruan Nanzhu was saying. Sure enough, Ruan Nanzhu continued slowly: "We're not that close. This way when they actually lose me, they won't be so sad."

Lin Qiushi had to laugh: "I wouldn't be so sure of that." He recalled when they were first coming into their relationship, and how Ruan Nanzhu took a sudden step back. Thinking on it now, it had probably been this mentality at work.

It was just that now, they could both stand firm, and become pillars on which the other could rely.

For half a month before going into their door, the entire mansion partied hard. Everybody gathered every night to drink and mess around until late in the evening.

The feelings being suppressed underneath all this partying all came bursting out one night, and everybody in the mansion started crying—Chen Fei, Yi Manman, Lu Yanxue, and Ye Niao.

Ye Niao said, "Lin Qiushi you little bastard son of a bitch, you have to come out!"

Chen Fei said, "Ruan-ge, we'll be out here waiting for you."

Yi Manman and Lu Yanxue were crying so hard that they couldn't even talk.

Lin Qiushi too felt teary-eyed at this development, and only Ruan Nanzhu remained as steel-hearted as ever, saying, "we're not even dead yet, what are you crying for?"

"Uwaaaa…" But everybody had drank too much to heed Ruan Nanzhu's words, and they continued to express all the uneasy feelings inside their hearts.

Lin Qiushi lied on the sofa, brain completely eaten up by alcohol. Even so, he felt a kind of joy that was difficult to describe. There were people who cared for his life and death, there were people who wanted him to survive. The feeling of being cared for like this was so inescapably moving that he couldn't help but tear up.

Everybody cried, and ran about. The whole house became a mess.

Ruan Nanzhu came to Lin Qiushi's side and sat down. Then he pulled Lin Qiushi into his lap, fingers tapping at the tips of Lin Qiushi's ears.

"Your ears are like a fairy’s."

Lin Qiushi watched Ruan Nanzhu, silly with giddiness.

Ruan Nanzhu, after some drinks, was still exceptionally good-looking. His cool demeanor was softened by a tipsy sheen, light rippling through his eyes, and his lips were red with a gleam of moisture, looking particularly tasty.

Lin Qiushi reached up and gave Ruan Nanzhu's thick lashes a touch, laughing, "they're so long."

Ruan Nanzhu gazed down, watching him.

Lin Qiushi leaned back in Ruan Nanzhu's arms and felt the warmth coming from the other's skin. He said, "I used to think this is enough, but now…" A hint of sorrow surfaced between his brows. "I want to grow old with you. Is that too selfish?"

"No," Ruan Nanzhu said. "Everybody wants that. It's normal."

He got close to Lin Qiushi's ear and gave the tip of it a kiss, before speaking in a gravelly voice, "it's the same for me."

Lin Qiushi's answering smile was brilliant. He said, "that's great then. Are you scared?"

Ruan Nanzhu, "I used to be. But I'm not scared anymore."

They had each other now.

Lin Qiushi's heart too had settled. He said, "I'm not scared either."

Gazing into each other's eyes, they both smiled at the same time. Ruan Nanzhu picked Lin Qiushi up and started straight for the second floor.

Seeing them go, Ye Niao called, "you're already leaving? We haven't even had enough to drink yet…"

And immediately after Chen Fei smacked him on the head, saying, "wake the hell up youngster, those two are in love."

Ye Niao, "…" This place was not friendly toward singles.

They had a dozen days like a doomsday carnival, and the week before the 27th, everybody gradually started to calm down again.

Ruan Nanzhu went to find Chen Fei and began delegating some matters.

At first, Chen Fei was resistant, but Ruan Nanzhu said one thing that got him to settle down. He said: "I can't guarantee that I'll be coming out. If I die, you have to keep Obsidian going. They're all still here. You have to protect them."

Chen Fei reluctantly agreed.

Unlike Ruan Nanzhu, Lin Qiushi had nothing to do, so he went to help Lu Yanxue with dinner.

Lu Yanxue was looking pretty down. She did her best to cheer up, but Lin Qiushi could tell her smile was forced.

He didn't want to see her like this either, and so subtly suggested that if she didn't want to smile, there was no need. He understood how she was feeling.

When Lu Yanxue heard this, she couldn't hold back anymore, throwing herself into Lin Qiushi's arms and beginning to wail.

"I can't imagine it. I can't even imagine what it would be like if you and Ruan-ge weren't here. I'm scared to think if something were to happen to you…"

Lin Qiushi stroked her hair, like he was comforting a child through a meltdown. He didn't know what to do, and could only say, "it'll be fine. Everything will be fine."

Lu Yanxue cried herself into a mess.

March 25th, Cheng Yixie came back. His return put everybody at a loss, and underneath the joy, there was a deep undercurrent of worry.

Cheng Yixie got taller, and skinnier. In two year's time, he'd completely morphed into a mature adult.

He knew when Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu were going into the door, so his visit this time was likely out of concern that this would be the last time they'd see each other.

The group didn't dare talk about the past, only asked if Cheng Yixie had spent the past two years well.

Cheng Yixie answered on and off, but Lin Qiushi noticed that on his neck, there was a new pendant. This was the pendant that Lin Qiushi had seen around Zhuo Feiquan's neck before…

"Where's Zhuo Feiquan?" Ruan Nanzhu asked the question that Lin Qiushi wanted to ask.

"He's dead." Cheng Yixie's tone was dull, as if death could no longer bring him to any emotion. "He died last year. Didn't make it through the tenth door."

Ruan Nanzhu said nothing more.

After staying an hour, Cheng Yixie got up to leave. Lu Yanxue asked why he didn't come back, but he only smiled for a moment before saying three words: "I'm not worthy."

Hearing those words felt to Lin Qiushi like needles jabbing into his heart. He looked at Ruan Nanzhu, but saw Ruan Nanzhu's lips in a tight line, not saying anything to persuade Cheng Yixie to stay.

After Cheng Yixie left, Ruan Nanzhu finally said, "there's always a price to pay for taking shortcuts."

Lin Qiushi knew what he meant.

Most likely, Ruan Nanzhu also wanted to tell Cheng Yixie that he was welcomed to return to Obsidian, but in the end kept silent because Cheng Yixie had gone against his principles. Some things were bottom lines, and no matter the circumstance, bottom lines could not be broken.

On the 26th, Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu spent all day in bed.

They talked of love, gazes lingering and cloying in each other's eyes. They fell asleep wrapped up in each other's arms, and the sun set and rose again. The most important day had finally came.

March 27th. The day Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu entered their door.

It was a bright and sunny spring day—the breeze caressed and the sunbeams dazed.

Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu had breakfast together. Then they put on everything they were taking with them and sat together on their bed. They ate candy as they chatted, until all of a sudden, the atmosphere around them changed.

The person sitting across from Lin Qiushi suddenly disappeared, and Lin Qiushi knew that it was finally here. Backpack on, he stood up and opened the closest door. There he saw a familiar long hallway.

In the corridor, ten doors were shut behind seals. Only two doors were left at the very end of the hall.

Lin Qiushi took a slow step in, then approached one of the doors. With a deep breath, he took hold of the door handle and gradually pulled it open.

The scene around him twisted, and a strong force pulled Lin Qiushi inside. When he got a good look at his surroundings, however, his breathing stuttered.

Having experienced so many doors, and having seen so many peculiar scenarios, he'd never seen one as chilling as the one before him now. Cold sweat rose on Lin Qiushi's back, and goosebumps appeared along his arms of their own volition—he'd appeared in what looked like a normal bedroom. Lin Qiushi remembered well that it was in this bedroom that he'd met Ruan Nanzhu in reality for the very first time.

That's right, Lin Qiushi had returned to his old house, the apartment that he'd stopped renting a long time ago.

Lin Qiushi laughed bitterly as he thought, this truly was the nightmare among nightmares.

[Ch. 128] | [Ch. 130]