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Chapter 219: Lighting Lanterns

“Oh God, brother-in-law, are you saying this dog is my Koharu?” Luo Bu’s whole body was almost clung on to Ke Xun. Mu Yiran cleared his throat and politely pulled him away. “Otherwise, where else is your electric scooter?”

Luo Bu calmed down slightly and looked towards the white dog. The dog was staring at him with a pair of puppy eyes. Luo Bu stared back at it for a while: “You are right, she is Koharu.”

Everyone: “…”

“Here, Koharu, come to dad.” Luo Bu’s attitude took a 180-degree turn. This white dog was not too big and could be easily picked up by Luo Bu. “It really is her! There’s also a tag on her neck! It’s the platinum plate engraved with diamonds that I hang on my scooter!”

“…”

“I think it’s necessary for us to check the items we brought.” Shao Ling opened his backpack, which had turned into a large coarse-clothed bag. “The flashlight turned into a few big candles, the food turned into dried flatbread, and the compass… the compass is missing. I clearly remember it was in the bag.”

“There is a compass on my watch too.” Fang Fei looked at the watch on her wrist, which had, at some point, turned into a strangely shaped porcelain bracelet.

“My Casio has become a rope.” Luo Bu, holding Koharu, wanted to cry.

Among the newcomers, only Mai Peng wore a watch, but it had completely changed. He looked at his buddy Xi Shengnan: “Didn’t you bring a set of knives?”

Xi Shengnan opened her bag: “Although the box has changed, the contents inside should still be there.” she said as she opened the wooden box in her hand. “My name is still on this box. It looks like this place also uses Chinese characters.”

Mai Peng seemed to care more about the knives inside the box. “The commonly used knives are still there. Even though the appearance has changed, it doesn’t affect their functionality. Some of the tools seemed to have become unrecognizable… But are there a few things missing?”

Xi Shengnan nodded: “Maybe because this world could not recognize them. A new type of knife is missing, along with a scraper.”

“I just wanted to ask, what are you doing with so many knives visiting a photography exhibition?” Wei Dong couldn’t help but interrupt.

Xi Shengnan explained: “We have been on this trip for more than two months. The main thing we do on the road is taking pictures. Sometimes we need to stay in some places for a few days to capture a certain scene. Last month we camped in the wild for nearly a week. These knives are naturally indispensable for living outside. I had brought a set of ceramic knives with me, but I forgot to take them out when I came to the art gallery. I didn’t expect it would pass the security check, looks like they should repair their inspection equipment.”

It was unbelievable that knives were brought into a painting, which reminded the veterans of that mysterious power that seemed to be playing against the painting instigator.

“I didn’t expect you guys to have wilderness survival skills!” Luo Bu couldn’t help but praise them.

The veterans were surprised by the newcomers. At first, they thought that they were hobbyist photographers that only captured street scenes. They didn’t expect them to be relatively experienced photographers with some wilderness survival skills.

Wei Dong: The scraper they mentioned, it’s probably for scaling the fish they captured…

“Did all your cameras change? Can they still take pictures normally?” Mu Yiran asked.

The newcomers all took out their cameras. Xi Shengnan shook her head: “Mine has become an 80s entry-level camera for beginners.”

Similar changes had taken place in others’ cameras. The cameras became old-fashioned, along with old types of films in them.

“Can you try and see if you can still take pictures?” Mu Yiran looked towards Mai Peng, who picked up the camera skillfully in his hand.

Mai Peng looked at everyone from the viewfinder of the camera and turned the film: “I have used old cameras before, and this camera has no problem taking pictures.”

Mai Peng’s camera lens scanned the surroundings, and suddenly stopped at the deep staircase. Mai Peng’s eyes left the camera and stared at a certain spot in the darkness doubtfully.

Seeing his action, the veterans were reminded of the experience in the painting Human Studies. Some things that were invisible to the naked eyes often appeared on phone screens.

Qin Ci couldn’t help but ask in a low voice: “Is there any problem?”

Mai Peng’s expression remained calm: “The place in front is too dark, I’m wondering if it’s appropriate to take a picture of that place—if we want to, we must turn on the flash.”

The question did not get an immediate answer. The surrounding light seemed to be a little brighter than before, but still as dim as a night light. No one got a full view of the location they were in.

“Something doesn’t feel right. Dawn shouldn’t come this slow.” Shao Ling couldn’t help but say, “I suspect that this may not be natural light. We may be in a sealed room. These lights may be lamplights or some other type of lights.”

Mai Peng was still holding the camera, looking at the world through the viewfinder.

The other newcomers didn’t have the courage to pick up their cameras, as if they were afraid of seeing something they shouldn’t see through the viewfinder.

“You don’t have to think too much about the environment.” Mu Yiran stared at Mai Peng for a long time and said, “Just follow your usual photography habits.”

As soon as Mu Yiran finished speaking, Mai Peng pressed the shutter. The strobe light in the darkness was like a white flash, illuminating everyone, who looked like pale stone statues under the light.

The flash did not let everyone see the environment clearly. The sudden strong light temporarily blinded them instead.

Mai Peng no longer held the camera, but let it hang on his chest. His eyes were staring at the stairs at the end of the corridor, and he moved two steps in that direction.

Zhu Haowen stopped him in time: “What did you see?”

Mai Peng looked at the expressionless man in front of him, and then looked down at his camera: “The camera settings of the photo I just took kept the maximum depth of field. When I pressed the shutter, I seemed to see someone going up the stairs.”

Everyone subconsciously moved closer to their companions. This was an instinctive sense of self-protection. Cao Youning’s breaths were especially heavy in the darkness: “I can’t stand this anymore. Are we going to be trapped in this small wooden building forever? It has been a few hours and it’s still dark! We are just going to keep waiting?”

Cao Youning’s sweat dripped on the floor. There were blurred shadows of everyone on the floor, which made them feel scared but also reassured. At least these were shadows of humans.

Mu Yiran did not move closer to anyone, but stayed near the stairs, as if listening to something.

Ke Xun walked over quietly and spoke in a low voice: “It seems like someone really is going upstairs.”

Mu Yiran stopped Ke Xun from going forward: “Don’t just step into the unknown darkness.”

Ke Xun didn’t speak: I only want to go together with you.

Mu Yiran also stopped talking and held Ke Xun’s hand tightly in the darkness.

Just when several newcomers were about to break down, a warm light lit up the corridor, accompanied by the sound of light and steady footsteps.

Everyone was silent, but their eyes were fixated on the direction of the light. The light really was moving slowly up from the stairs.

The light gradually brightened. Its orange color made people feel warm, and the whole world gradually appeared clearly in front of everyone. This was a very huge wooden building, bigger than the tube-shaped apartment building in Kung Fu Hustle, the bathhouse in Spirited Away, and the Huanji Building in Big Fish & Begonia. It was so big that it looked like a small society.

Lanterns were lit up floor by floor, and one could see the huge courtyard surrounded by this circle of corridors. There was an adjacent courtyard in front of it, which was also lit up. There were many courtyards connected on all sides, like a city of buildings, or a country of buildings.

The one who lit the lantern walked up to this floor and nodded slightly at them. Using a long stick-shaped tool in his hand, he lit up the lanterns on this floor one by one.

“You are all up so early?” The lantern-lighter’s voice was polite and gentle, “Was it because of the movements downstairs?”

The newcomers stared at this incomparably realistic NPC, not daring to look directly at him and only observed secretly in the candlelight.

The lantern-lighter didn’t mind and concentrated on lighting the lanterns around everyone: “Many people have gone down to see what’s going on.”

Qin Ci took advantage of the situation and asked, “Did something happen downstairs?”

“Xiayu is dead.” The lantern-lighter looked a little sad.

Xi Shengnan frowned slightly when she heard those words. Everyone remained calm, not knowing what would unfold.

The lantern-lighter sighed: “I have no idea if she offended someone. She was killed last night.”

Everyone had a lot of questions but didn’t know where to start: What kind of place is this wooden building? What kind of people live here? Who is the deceased Xiayu? Does this have anything to do with the signature? …

Mu Yiran peeked downstairs and said, “Let’s go down and have a look too.”

Hearing this, the lantern-lighter, with the lantern in his hand, stood sideways at the top of the stairs. He then said something that surprised everyone: “It’s better to go and have a look, Master Mu. Be careful, there’s a step that’s a bit shaky.”

Hearing the NPC calling him by his last name, even Mu Yiran couldn’t maintain his usual composure. He looked at the lantern-lighter inquiringly, and finally nodded politely: “Thank you for reminding me.”

Everyone followed Mu Yiran and walked towards the stairs. When Luo Bu passed by the lantern-lighter, he suddenly heard him say, “Master Luo, what is Koharu eating today? Still minced meat porridge?”

Luo Bu was stunned. He opened his mouth for a long time before saying, “Sure, anything is fine.”

Everyone walked down the stairs a little stiffly. The NPC knew the surnames of several people, which had never happened in previous paintings.

Although the previous NPCs were all strange in some ways, some were like broken records, some like real humans, and some so weird that only voices could be heard, but these NPCs never knew nor asked about everyone’s real origins. Perhaps for them, these people simply belonged to the outside of the painting, and that alone was enough.

“I really wanted to ask the lantern-lighter, what is the setting of this world? I feel this is like an ancient game. We all have our own identities in it, and we should have different character settings.” Lu Heng said to everyone while going downstairs.

“It’s better to be quiet at this kind of moment. The veterans are more experienced, and they probably have their own ideas.” Xi Shengnan’s words still carried some weight among her group, and Lu Heng quickly closed his mouth.

The task of explaining fell to Qin Ci again. Qin Ci slowed down to walk among them: “The fact that the NPC knew our surnames has never happened in previous paintings. We haven’t figured out the rules of this world. It’s best not to act rashly. Maybe this world is still asleep, and one word could wake them up.”