The painting is titled "Rainy Night," and the artist is also Xiaoshuai.
The tour guide, grinning wildly, pointed at it and said, "I'm giving you the freedom to choose. Have you made your decision? The bus will be here in half an hour!"
Xiao Cheng gradually calmed down. She smiled slightly and asked sarcastically, "Do we really have any choice? After all, we are supposed to be fellow travelers who get along well. How can we just stand by and watch someone die?"
“Tourism is better when it’s lively, Miss Tour Guide. I’m also really looking forward to that painting,” Xu Chu continued.
The tour guide's smile faded slightly, and he stared intently at them: "It seems you've made up your minds. I'll wait for you for the last half hour, hopefully..."
She gave a cold, ambiguous snort: "Heh, good luck to you."
As soon as Xiao Cheng entered the painting, she was shivered by the biting cold wind.
They were in an abandoned house with drafts coming from all sides.
Outside, the rain was pouring down relentlessly, pattering rapidly against the broken windowpane.
Outside the window was a long, empty street lined with dilapidated houses, scattered with discarded timber and broken glass, a scene of utter chaos.
The room was small, dusty, and had a faint musty smell. Xu Chu moved around easily and quickly searched the entire room.
"There's nothing useful, and no signs of human activity." He walked to the window and looked out through the broken glass. "If we're looking for someone, we'll probably have to go out."
"Let's split up and search. It'll save time. We need to figure out how to get out of here," Fang He suggested.
Xu Chu nodded, waved for them to step back, then bent his elbow and slammed it hard against the glass window.
There was a loud clang.
The glass shattered with a crack. Xu Chu brushed the remaining shards of glass off the windowsill and explained casually, "It's faster this way, and it's safer than a door."
Without hesitation, they climbed out of the window one by one and left the house, braving the rain to go their separate ways.
Xiao Cheng and Fang He walked to the left.
The rain quickly soaked through their clothes and hair, and the chill seemed to seep into their bones, causing Xiao Cheng to shiver involuntarily.
"Wow, why is this rain so cold?" Xiao Cheng looked up at the sky, which was overcast and the rain was so fine that she could hardly open her eyes.
"Watch your step." Seeing that she was about to step into the puddle, Fang He tugged at her sleeve and then immediately pulled his hand back.
Xiao Cheng carefully avoided the puddle and glanced at Fang He.
He kept staring straight ahead, as if deliberately avoiding his gaze.
"I've wanted to ask this from the very beginning: what exactly is your role in this instance? A player? An NPC?" Xiao Cheng thought for a moment, then added in a teasing tone, "You're not some kind of cheat code specially prepared for me, are you?"
“You can think of it this way.” Fang He nodded seriously. “I can’t go into details, but just know that I won’t let you die.”
Xiao Cheng was speechless. She hated riddle-makers the most. What was the difference between saying something and not saying anything at all?
The conversation ended abruptly. She didn't say anything more and, in a fit of pique, looked around at the dilapidated houses on both sides of the street.
Everything was empty, and it was in such a dilapidated state that it was considered quite luxurious to have even half a pane of glass.
“It’s unlikely they’re inside the house,” Fang He suddenly said.
"Why?" Xiao Cheng wiped her face, which was completely soaked by the rain. "A normal person would choose to take shelter from the rain, right?"
“Because the main subject of the painting is the street, their ultimate goal is to pass the level, not to avoid the rain.” Fang He focused on observing the piles of garbage on both sides of the prop.
Then he suddenly stopped and said in a serious tone, "There."
“Where…” Xiao Cheng looked in the direction he was pointing, but the words caught in her throat.
Beneath the stacked wooden planks, half of a bloodied arm was exposed. The wrist was thin, with half a piece of slightly blackened red rope wrapped around it.
Without even discussing it, the two immediately ran over to move the planks.
But they couldn't move it. The wooden plank was nailed with many thick, long nails that crisscrossed and pierced through the people underneath. With the slightest movement, a large pool of dark red blood would gush out.
Blood mingled with the filthy rainwater on the ground and flowed into the nearby sewer.
It took the two of them a lot of effort to pull the board off the man's face.
It's player number 6.
Her expression was one of utter terror, as if she had witnessed something incredibly horrific before her death. Two nails had pierced right through her eyes, leaving two gruesome, bloody holes.
Fang He checked her breathing, then reached out to feel her carotid artery. After a moment, he shook his head helplessly and sighed, "She's completely dead."
However, the body was not stiff yet, so it was clear that the person had not been dead for long.
"Was he crushed to death by a wooden plank?" Xiao Cheng asked casually.
She and Player 6 hadn't actually had much contact, so she wouldn't say she was particularly sad, just that she felt a bit conflicted.
“It’s hard to say. We can’t see if there are any other fatal wounds.” Fang He shook his head and stood up. “There are other things here, and the woman in green who was bound to her has also disappeared.”
The street stretched straight into the distance, appearing misty in the rain, with the shadows of dilapidated houses reflected in puddles of all sizes.
"Shall we go?" Xiao Cheng picked up a wooden stick, weighed it in his hand, and found it quite easy to handle.
At the top of the wooden stick was a rusty iron nail with a protruding point, making it look particularly menacing.
"Let's go." Fang He didn't pick up the tools. He stepped on the water, each step splashing up tiny, transparent droplets.
However, they did not go very far.
A strange man in a black cloak emerged from the shadows of the house, his scarred face partially visible beneath the wide hood.
He held a utility knife in his right hand; the rain had washed the blade clean, and it gleamed with a cold, eerie light.
"Hello, dear tourists," he sneered in a gloomy, hoarse voice. "One, two, three, who gave you permission to disturb me?"
"In that case, how about we make a deal?" Xiao Cheng looked at him warily, then said casually, "You see us out, and we won't bother you. That's fair, right?"
"No, you don't need to go out." The strange man chuckled, the sound mingling with the rain, creating a chilling effect.
Then his laughter stopped abruptly, and he said in a sickly gentle tone, "Just fall asleep, like her."
There was no specific reference, but Xiao Cheng knew he was referring to bed number 6.
She unconsciously tightened her grip on the wooden stick in her hand.
"Don't be afraid, I'm very gentle." The strange man took off his hood, thunder roared in the sky, and a bolt of lightning illuminated his demonic face.
The entire body was covered in large areas of burns, from the top of the head all the way down to the neck, making it almost impossible to discern the shape of the facial features.
He burst into laughter in the pouring rain, brandishing a utility knife as he charged towards Xiao Cheng and Fang He: "I'm so gentle! I was afraid she'd be cold in the rain! I covered her with a blanket!"
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