Not Difficult, Just Fated
Fang Lin'an's pronouncement plunged Zhou Benxin into despair, his face a mask of utter doom. Yun Jianyue promptly kicked the grief-stricken man.
"As long as I'm breathing, stop looking like your dog just died."
Hearing this, Zhou Benxin let out a pathetic wail and threw himself at Yun Jianyue's legs, clinging desperately. "Senior! You have to save me! I'm so young! I haven't even fallen in love yet! I don't want to die!"
Fang Lin'an immediately seized on this detail. "Huh? You're twenty and never dated? Dude, that's seriously poor form."
Yun Jianyue yanked her leg free with considerable effort and kicked Zhou Benxin again. "Stop trying to get my leg buried with you! You absolute fiend!" The force of his earlier grip had genuinely felt like he was trying to dismember her.
Elder Master Chu blinked rapidly, utterly bewildered by the dynamics of this youthful trio.
Eventually, Elder Master Chu settled them into a large guest dormitory – essentially a wide sleeping platform that could accommodate eight. A young acolyte brought in bedding and basic toiletries.
"So… the three of us sleep together tonight?" Fang Lin'an mumbled, glancing at Yun Jianyue. A faint blush crept up his ears. Objectively, Yun Jianyue was strikingly beautiful… provided she wasn't wielding power tools or speaking.
Yun Jianyue squinted suspiciously at him. "Why are you blushing? Should I kill you for that?"
Zhou Benxin instantly positioned himself defensively in front of Yun Jianyue, glaring at Fang Lin'an like a protective hen. "You better not be having any twisted thoughts about my Senior!"
"I should die!" Fang Lin'an smacked his own forehead in self-loathing. "I deserve death for that momentary lapse in sanity! Thinking Yun Jianyue is a normal, pretty girl… have I gone mad?" He clutched his side, remembering past encounters. "Who am I kidding? What normal girl can punch hard enough to make my kidney feel like it's auditioning for salsa?"
Groaning, Fang Lin'an collapsed onto a sleeping mat, biting into a pillow to stifle his existential howl.
Yun Jianyue retracted her fist, giving Zhou Benxin a look of mild disgust. "Next time, skip the chatter and just deck him."
Zhou Benxin silently contemplated dialing 120 for an ambulance, then 110 to report assault, before finally stashing his phone away with a sigh.
Lu Changxue materialized beside him, floating slightly off the floor. She patted his shoulder with spectral sympathy. "You get used to it. I used to fantasize about calling the cops on her myself."
Zhou Benxin, able to see her thanks to earlier ritual preparations, met her gaze like a fellow sufferer. "You've endured much."
Lu Changxue nodded gravely. "Not difficult. Just fated."
After their rushed ablutions, Yun Jianyue returned, finding her companions apparently bonding over existential dread. She ignored it, claimed a spot near the wall, and flopped down. Fang Lin'an and Zhou Benxin soon followed, grumbling their way onto the shared platform.
Large parts of the aging temple complex lacked modern electricity. Their dorm was dark, lit only by a flickering oil lamp the young acolyte had left. Too lazy to extinguish it themselves, they relied on Lu Changxue's spectral puff. Mountain mosquitoes were relentless; the smoldering mosquito coil offered scant relief, making Yun Jianyue's sleep shallow and restless.
Suddenly, the wooden door hinge groaned. Yun Jianyue's eyes snapped open instantly, gaze sharp and focused on the doorway.
What she saw chilled her.
Zhou Benxin stood before the open door. His eyes were closed. His movements slow and deliberate, he shuffled step by step into the darkened hallway.
"Sleepwalking," Lu Changxue whispered near Yun Jianyue's ear. The ghost had stayed awake, watching. "Was about to wake you if you didn't stir."
Yun Jianyue glanced at Fang Lin'an, snoring soundly with a trail of drool seeping into his pillow. Waking him felt counterproductive. Instead, she reached silently into her bag, retrieving... another chainsaw.
"WHERE DO YOU KEEP GETTING THESE?!" Lu Changxue shrieked internally, clutching her spectral head. "Didn't your 'husband' vaporize one?!"
"Who said you can only carry one?" Yun Jianyue hissed back, already moving to follow Zhou Benxin. They spoke openly, yet Zhou Benxin remained oblivious, continuing his somnambulant trek deeper into the complex.
Lu Changxue recalled Yun Jianyue's near-suitcase-sized backpack. She swallowed a torrent of commentary. Just how many chainsaws does she carry? Should I steal Zhou Benxin's phone and report her?
Zhou Benxin led them down paths becoming increasingly overgrown and neglected. Yun Jianyue quickly recognized the route: they were heading straight for the repository of effigies. After another ten minutes of silent pursuit, Zhou Benxin arrived at the heavy door of the ancient storage chamber. Mechanically, his sleep-locked body pushed it open. Dust erupted, but he ignored it, stepping stiffly inside, vanishing into the gloom.
Yun Jianyue slipped in after him. Zhou Benxin walked directly to the empty space on the wall where his name and birth date were etched. He halted and stood rigidly on that spot, eyes still shut, face eerily blank. Encircled by the mute wooden effigies of other children's sacrifices, the scene in the faint moonlight was deeply unsettling.
Lu Changxue, despite being a ghost, hovered nervously, tugging Yun Jianyue's sleeve. "He looks like he's becoming one of them... a silent wooden effigy."
The observation spurred Yun Jianyue to action. She stepped forward, reaching out to grab Zhou Benxin's arm to drag him away.
Just as her fingers were about to connect, a familiar voice rang sharply from the doorway.
"Don't touch him!"
Yun Jianyue whipped around. Fang Lin'an stood silhouetted in the moonlight filtering through the open door, his hair wildly disheveled, looking like he'd just woken and chased them here.
Yun Jianyue's sharp eyes scanned him. She saw his familiar face, the sleep-ruffled hair... but beneath the clear moonlight spilling into the corridor, the ground behind 'Fang Lin'an' was unnervingly devoid of any shadow.
Slowly, Yun Jianyue withdrew her hand. She turned fully to face the figure in the doorway, offering a calm, almost pleasant smile. "Why not?"
"Because he's transitioning into the effigy," 'Fang Lin'an' stated urgently, his gaze fixed intently on her near hand. "The effigy will take his place. Become Zhou Benxin. Touch him now, and you become the effigy trapped here!"
Yun Jianyue raised an eyebrow thoughtfully. "Is that so?" she murmured. "But... shouldn't I try to save him? How else can he be helped?"
"I know a way," 'Fang Lin'an' insisted, stepping slightly aside and gesturing down the hallway, his dark eyes pleading. "Come with me. Quickly."
Yun Jianyue's tongue slid briefly over her lips. She moved obediently towards the doorway, stepping past Zhou Benxin.
A flicker of relief crossed 'Fang Lin'an's' face as she emerged. He turned slightly to lead the way. "We must hurry to find..."
His words choked off.
*VVRRRROOOOOOMMMMM!* The chainsaw roared to life behind him.
Yun Jianyue didn't hesitate. She swung the heavy chainsaw in a devastating upward arc, biting deep into the neck of the figure leaning away from her.
*CRACK!*
The wooden head hit the stone floor with a heavy, hollow thud – the sound of solid lumber striking rock. No blood sprayed. The severed stump on the shoulders showed only concentric growth rings. The wooden head landed face-up, its carved features twisted in frozen shock and utter disbelief.
"How...?" it gasped, the wooden jaws moving with impossible animation. "How did you know?"
Yun Jianyue planted her foot firmly on the wooden head, grinding it against the floor. With a sickening crunch, the head splintered clean down the middle. She peered down at the ruined face, a predatory gleam in her eyes beneath her false smile.
"Next time," she purred, her voice chillingly soft despite the chainsaw's dying whine, "remember to cast a shadow if you're pretending to be human."
She punctuated her point by giving the fractured skull a final, contemptuous nudge with her boot.
"You half-baked creature."