Ke Xun and Wei Dong took the sleeping Mu Yiran to a hotel. They didn't leave immediately; neither of them had slept well during their time in the painting, so they booked another room, each taking a bed and falling asleep.
When Ke Xun woke up and went to check on Mu Yiran in the next room, the powerful figure was still asleep.
Ke Xun thought about it and realized it made sense. Mu Yiran was a very cautious person; he was probably the one who slept the least during their time in the painting, and in the final stages, he had been constantly expending his brain cells. Although he always looked calm and composed, Ke Xun thought he was probably very nervous. After all, seven lives were in his hands; such immense psychological pressure would have caused anyone else to collapse, but he had silently endured it all and ultimately succeeded.
From being on edge to finally relaxing, it would be strange if he didn't sleep soundly before waking up.
Ke Xun went back to his room and took a shower. Wei Dong was also fast asleep in bed, so he didn't wake him. Instead, he went back to Mu Yiran's room, afraid that if the powerful figure woke up, he would leave without a word again.
Mu Yiran, unusually, slept until he naturally woke up. When he opened his eyes, it was dusk outside, and he had no idea how many days he had slept.
Mu Yiran lay motionless in bed, staring out the window.
He was somewhat surprised by his own lack of vigilance.
He had actually entrusted himself to Ke Xun so easily, trusted him so much, believing that he could arrange everything properly while he was sound asleep.
In fact, he, who had never indulged himself in sleep so much, had actually slept so...relaxed and soundly right under Ke Xun's nose.
Clearly, that kid was the one he should be most wary of!
Mu Yiran's face stiffened at the thought of Ke Xun. His hand under the covers patted his body, finding his coat gone, but his shirt and pants untouched.
Realizing he had such thoughts, Mu Yiran's face darkened further. He pushed the covers up and sat up, only to see the door being pushed open, and a face he didn't want to see at that moment walked in.
"Did you get enough sleep?" Ke Xun greeted him casually, pulling a food cart from behind him. "Perfect timing, I just ordered it from the hotel. I figured you should be awake by now. Get up, wash your face, and have something to eat."
He'd intended to tell him to leave, but the words caught in his throat.
Mu Yiran got up, took a shower, and when he came out, Ke Xun had already set the food on the table and was calling Wei Dong next door to wake him up.
On the table were three steamers of shrimp dumplings, four plates of vegetables, and three bowls of mushroom and corn porridge.
"All vegetables! No meat?" Wei Dong, still sleepy, came over from next door and sat down at the table, expressing his dissatisfaction.
"Aren't shrimp dumplings meat?" Ke Xun handed Mu Yiran chopsticks. "Besides, you just came out of that painting, can you really eat meat?"
Wei Dong stiffened. "No, no, don't remind me." He quickly grabbed his bowl of porridge and started drinking.
After dinner, it was already dark. City lights streamed in through the windows, but to the three who had just emerged from the world of the painting, they seemed almost unreal. After
sending Wei Dong back to the next room to shower, Ke Xun stayed in Mu Yiran's room.
"You're leaving tomorrow?" Ke Xun asked.
"Yeah."
"Then we'll have to meet again after the next painting comes into view?" Ke Xun said.
Mu Yiran ignored him.
"Hey," Ke Xun walked over, sat down beside him, elbows resting on his knees, tilting his head to look at him, "Do you have a boyfriend?"
Mu Yiran's gaze sharpened, staring coldly at him: "Ke Xun, I won't tolerate your insolence any longer."
"I'm being very sincere," Ke Xun smiled, raising his hand in a vow-like gesture, "You don't have to answer. I don't intend to take anything from you, just curious.
"I understand we're not from the same world. You're a big shot, surrounded by elite geniuses of high society, living a dreamlike life I can never imagine."
"Well, I'm just an ordinary citizen, a frog in a well. Besides envying you, this swan I can see but can't touch, I have absolutely no capital or ability to squeeze into your world.
I just... wanted to know what kind of person you like, how outstanding the person you like must be, and then secretly envy them. Never
mind, forget I asked. I'm going back next door. I might not see you tomorrow. Have a safe trip, see you at the next painting."
Saying this, she got up and left the room, turning back to wave and smile at Mu Yiran as she closed the door.
The next morning, Mu Yiran decided to leave first and settled the bill for the three of them. However, at the front desk, the waiter told him the bill had already been settled; two young gentlemen had paid the entire bill before leaving at dawn.
Mu Yiran stood in the lobby for a moment before leaving the hotel.
Back in Z City, Wei Dong went home to find his mother, and Ke Xun went home to stay in his empty house.
As it turned out, the world depicted in the painting truly was a series of terrifying nightmares. Once you were caught up in it, you could never escape; you had to constantly enter and try to break free, with no end in sight.
Ke Xun had accepted this powerless reality. Fortunately, since becoming single, he had become remarkably open-minded about everything. After experiencing several life-and-death situations within those two paintings, he had even become much more indifferent to life and death.
In this way, everything seemed even more meaningless.
Ke Xun rested for two days, went out to see a movie, met up with Wei Dong at the night market for some skewers, and had dinner with some of his buddies who worked at his gym. They ate, drank, sang karaoke, and flirted with gay men. No one noticed anything different about him.
However, one day his phone suddenly beeped with a notification. He opened it and saw a WeChat friend request. The nickname was "Sword-Hearted Qin," and the message was: "I am Qin Ci."
Ke Xun added the friend.
Corgi: [Hello, nice to meet you. I don't know what to say, let's start with a kiss.jpg]
Sword and Heart: ...
Sword and Heart: Ke Xun, I created a group, join us.
Corgi: [OJ8K.jpg]
The group name is "Painting Entrants". I clicked to see the members and saw that besides Qin Ci, there was also Sha Liu. Then Wei Dong joined, and the last one to join was Mu Yiran.
I wonder when all these people exchanged phone numbers and WeChat IDs.
Sword and Heart: We can't just sit here and wait for death. Let's all get together and think of a way, whether it's exchanging clues or popularizing painting knowledge, it's better than nothing. What if the next painting we enter happens to be one we know?
Gentle Green: This is a bit like exam prediction. But if we're talking about painting knowledge, Brother Mu should be the most qualified to speak.
Wei Feng·Mang: Holy crap! We already have a group? [Social Social.jpg] But shouldn't the group name be changed? Changing "者" to "论" would be cool, "进画论" (Jin Hua Lun), doesn't that sound awesome?
Corgi: [Are you an idiot?.jpg]
Wei Feng·Mang: [Damn it.jpg]
Corgi: [Believe it or not, I'll blast you to death with one guillotine.jpg]
Wei Feng·Mang: [What's with the fierceness? I'm leaving.jpg]
Jian Dan Qin Xin: ...
Wen Rou Lv: ...
Corgi: Where are the Geng family of three?
Jian Dan Qin Xin: I've already sent them group invitations, but there's been no response yet. We can chat for now.
Wen Rou Lv: Is Brother Mu busy?
Mooney: ...
Corgi: [Don't let me see you, or I'll fall in love with you every time I see you.jpg]
Jian Dan Qin Xin: ...
Wen Rou Lv: ...
Wei Feng·Mang: [Stirring up trouble on the bottom line of morality.jpg]
Corgi: [Meow-style obedience.jpg]
Jian Dan Qin Xin: I suggest that we collect more information about the Rhinoceros Elephant Art Museum during this time. This is our next destination. No matter what information or clues we collect, we should share them in the group in a timely manner.
Wen Rou Lv: Okay.
Wei Feng·Mang: [This touches on my blind spot.jpg]
Corgi: [Hands slightly OK in bewilderment.jpg]
Mooney: Okay.
Ke Xun put down his phone, went to his study, turned on his long-unused computer, and searched online for "Rhinoceros Elephant Art Museum."
The Rhinoceros Elephant Art Museum was holding an art exhibition on the day indicated on the ticket; that day was the first day of the exhibition, featuring works by eighteen domestic and international painters. However, after searching through over a thousand search results, Ke Xun found no detailed descriptions of the exhibited paintings. At most, it mentioned that the museum would display over three hundred works and named four or five of the most famous pieces.
Ke Xun casually shared the potentially useful clues in the "Painting Theory" group.
Wei Feng·Mang: Over three hundred works? We only have ten days or so, how can we possibly research that?!
Wenrou Lv: Moreover, the works exhibited may not include all of the painters' works. In other words, we cannot be certain which works by each painter are on display. Therefore, we need to study not only these three hundred works, but even consider all the works of these eighteen painters.
Jian Dan Qin Xin: This is a massive undertaking, but as the saying goes, something is better than nothing. Being prepared is always better than being unprepared.
Corgi: [Everyone stop, listen to me: I'm about to embarrass myself.jpg]
Sword-hearted Qin Xin: ...
Gentle Green: ...
Wei Feng·Mang: [Smile gradually freezes.jpg]
Corgi: It's okay to draw too many pictures, let's find a way to get digital versions, put them all on our phones, and then we can pull them up to look at them later, what do you think?
Mooney: First of all, many paintings are protected by copyright and are not circulating online. As far as I know, some of the works exhibited in this exhibition are even being publicly exhibited for the first time. We couldn't possibly find relevant descriptions and photos in advance.
Corgi: 'You're right||WeChat Red Envelope'
Corgi
: 'You're right||WeChat Red Envelope' Corgi
: 'You're right||WeChat Red Envelope' Corgi: 'You're right||WeChat Red Envelope'
...
Sword-hearted Qin Xin: ...
Gentle Green: ...
Wei Feng·Mang: Can I secretly claim one? Just one.
Corgi: [I'll beat the crap out of you if you don't.jpg]
Wei Feng Mang: [Feeling wronged.jpg] [Dog, you've changed.jpg]
Jian Dan Qin Xin: Some bad news. I still can't get in touch with Mr. and Mrs. Geng. No one answers the phone, and no one replies to my WeChat messages. I don't know what happened.
Mooney: Did they take the child to a psychologist?
Jian Dan Qin Xin: No, my old classmate who's a psychologist hasn't seen them come to our door.
Corgi: @Jian Dan Qin Xin, do you have the Geng family's address? Send it to me, I'll go check.
Jian Dan Qin Xin: Mr. Geng didn't give me an address, only said to contact me by phone or WeChat. Mooney
: Give me the phone number, I'll ask a friend to check the address.
Corgi: [As expected of the man I've set my sights on.jpg]
However, Mu Yiran's inquiry didn't yield good results.
The Geng family of three had disappeared. Even though relatives had reported it to the police, they hadn't found them.
Qin Ci had told them about the consequences of not entering the painting, but clearly, this was the Geng couple's final choice.
Time flies, and before we knew it, it was time to move on to the next painting.