According to the game's helpful hint, the ghost told one truth. Now, the ghost has said a total of five sentences. These five sentences are—
"You can't destroy the portrait!"
"You will die, killed by the crescent blade!"
"I am you from the future!"
"I am you, the future ghost!"
"Therefore, you must enter the portrait!"
So, which of these five statements is true?
The two sentences, "I am the you who will become a ghost in the future" and "I am the you of the future," have an inclusive relationship. If the sentence "I am the you who will become a ghost in the future" is true, then the sentence "I am the you of the future" must also be true.
However, there is only one truth, so it seems that the statement "I am you who will become a ghost in the future" is not true.
Since the statement "I am you in the future who becomes a ghost" is a lie, and the game's hint is "the ghost told the truth," we can be certain that the "woman" in the painting is a ghost, and the "woman" saying that she is a ghost is true. Therefore, the statement "I am you in the future" must be a lie.
After discarding these two sentences, the remaining three sentences are: "You cannot destroy the portrait!", "You will die, killed by the crescent blade!", and "Therefore, you must enter the portrait!"
If the statement "You cannot destroy the portrait" is true, then the statement "You must enter the portrait" is false, meaning she cannot enter the portrait.
She can neither destroy the portrait nor enter it, which means she's maintaining the status quo. Wouldn't she be trapped in this corridor forever?
Similarly, if the statement "you must enter the portrait" is true, then the statement "you cannot destroy the portrait" is false, meaning she can destroy the portrait.
So, she can either destroy the portrait or enter it. In this contradictory situation, what should she choose: destroy the portrait or enter it?
But if we discard those two sentences, only the sentence "You will die, killed by the crescent blade" remains. If that sentence is true...
How is that possible?
Xia Linyin frowned, staring intently at the ghost in the portrait. None of the ghost's words seemed to be true. What should she do?
Should we enter the portrait, or destroy it?
Based on the judgment, only the sentence "You will die, killed by the crescent blade" is likely true; the other four sentences are all lies.
If the statement "You will die, killed by the crescent blade" is truly true, then the ghost is not her future self; she can destroy the portrait, but she cannot enter it.
Therefore, the correct way to leave the corridor is to destroy the portrait.
However, this conclusion is based on the premise that the statement "You will die, killed by the crescent blade" is true.
Xia Linyin gripped the crescent-shaped blade tightly. What should she do? What should she do?
"Giggle giggle—"
A series of cracking sounds echoed in the silent corridor, sending chills down one's spine.
Xia Linyin looked at both sides of the corridor. Apart from the one in front of her, all the female ghosts in the portraits who had the same face as her had moved!
They crawled out of the portrait with disheveled hair in a strange and twisted posture, their eerie eyes peeking out from behind their messy hair.
"Giggle giggle—"
After crawling out of the portrait, the female ghosts crawled on all fours toward Xia Linyin, their scarlet lips curving into a malicious arc, silently conveying their desire to turn Xia Linyin into one of them.
The sound of joints twisting filled Xia Linyin's ears, surrounding her from all directions, comparable to a 360-degree surround sound effect.
The female ghost in the portrait in front of her did not move, but tilted her head and quietly waited for Xia Linyin's decision.
Xia Linyin swung her sword and shattered the approaching female ghost, but the next moment, the shattered female ghost reappeared in the painting and slowly crawled out of the painting.
Destroy the portrait or enter it?
Amidst the incessant cracking of bones, Xia Linyin felt a splitting headache. After slashing away the approaching female ghost with a single stroke, she raised her crescent blade towards the portrait in front of her.
Destroy the portrait or enter it? Now she had to take a gamble, and she chose to trust her initial intuition!
Seeing Xia Linyin's actions, the female ghost's expression changed, and she reached out her ghostly hand from the portrait and grabbed Xia Linyin's wrist.
A bone-chilling cold seeped into Xia Linyin's flesh, and the female ghost's pale, slender fingers gripped Xia Linyin tightly. "Do you really want to kill yourself? To kill yourself with a crescent blade?"
"Your intuition is wrong! Wrong! Don't make the same mistake again!"
"Enter the portrait, then leave this corridor!"
The female ghost's voice was so shrill it almost pierced people's eardrums.
"Go to hell! You liar!"
The high heels on her feet shone brightly red. Xia Linyin kicked the female ghost back into the portrait with a high kick. Her crescent blade slashed down, splitting the portrait in two, which then fell from the wall.
All the female ghosts disappeared, the corridor began to twist and deform, and the surrounding scenery returned to its original grid pattern.
She came out of the hallway!
Although she won the bet and solved one of the squares, Xia Linyin didn't feel relieved at all; instead, her mood became even heavier.
She won her gamble, proving that the ghost's words, "You will die, killed by the crescent blade," were the only truth.
She's fine now, but those words are like a sword hanging over her head, ready to fall at any moment.
Or perhaps this statement was a prophecy, foreshadowing her death.
Xia Linyin comforted herself, thinking that maybe it was just a trick of the game, after all, she didn't really believe in games.
Even after thinking about it, the unease in her heart did not subside much. The truth spoken by the ghost still affected her, like a curse lingering in her mind, telling her that she would die, that she would be killed by the crescent blade.
“Xiao Li…” Xia Linyin lowered her eyes and stroked the hilt of the crescent blade.
Thinking of Xiao Li, and the thought that she might be able to see Xiao Li after solving just one more square, Xia Linyin felt her courage being rekindled.
She took a deep breath, straightened her back, and stepped firmly into the next square.
"Dear player, you have entered the D3 square. Friendly reminder: Is what you see really real?"
As the surrounding scenery changed, Xia Linyin found herself in a dreamlike princess room.
The room was decorated in a lovely pink hue, with pink walls, a pink carpet, and a pink princess bed.
The crystal chandelier overhead was not turned on; only a flower-shaped bedside lamp emitted a warm yellow light, bathing the entire room in a hazy glow.
The dreamlike scene gives people a sense of unreality.
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