Mu Yiran's words drew everyone's attention, including the already despairing Mi Wei.
"Based on Ke Xun's observation last night, Xin Beibei is being controlled by two forces: first, her own shadow, and second, the invisible figure restraining her neck." Mu Yiran's voice echoed slightly in the extremely quiet hall.
Everyone was completely focused, except for Ke Xun, who was momentarily distracted: He really did sound nice calling his own name.
Mu Yiran continued, "We've analyzed before that if these two forces work together, it will be difficult to achieve harmony. Also, there's another issue that can't be ignored: why would this force need someone inside the house to open the window? Since the opponent is so powerful, opening doors and windows shouldn't be a problem for them."
Shi Zhendong said, "The window is latched from the inside; someone outside probably can't open it."
"But how did Ye Ningchen die?" Mu Yiran knew his purple room very well. "Our bedroom windows are always tightly closed; they've never been opened."
This was a question no one had considered. Previously, He Yu and Zhang Tianwei shared a room; one of them, bewitched by the painting, opened the window for the other, just like Xin Beibei, which is why "that thing" was allowed in.
But the purple room didn't have open windows, so how did Ye Ningchen die?
"This is all too confusing. Is the big boss trying to confuse us before making his move? Colors, a maze—now even opening the window is a mystery." Wei Dong scratched his head, feeling like his head was about to explode.
Zhu Haowen calmly remarked, "Based on the various clues in the painting, it should have a tight logic; we just haven't found the main thread yet."
Zhu Haowen turned his gaze back to Mu Yiran, anticipating her answer.
"Could we interpret it this way? That thing—let's call it a shadow for now—can freely enter and exit any place, because shadows are inherently formless and shapeless," Mu Yiran explained. "Our rooms have all been shrouded in shadows, which means the entire castle is under its control."
The others were still puzzled: "Then why does it need to rely on us to open the windows?"
Mu Yiran, unconcerned about being interrupted, continued, "The purple bedroom didn't have a window, yet Ye Ningchen still perished. This shows that the shadow can kill through windows. Both Ye Ningchen and He Yu were likely killed by it through the window.
"The reason it needs others to open the windows means the shadow cannot control physical objects. This requires manipulating people's minds to find living people to help."
Qin Ci couldn't help but interrupt, "Since it can't control physical entities, how did it manage to kill someone through a window? A living person is a physical entity!" "
That's indeed the most crucial point. Once you solve it, you can unravel the entire mystery," Mu Yiran's tone grew increasingly serious. "A shadow can only control another shadow. When the entire room is shrouded in darkness, that enormous shadow can restrain the shadow of any one of us."
Everyone listened intently—a shadow can only control another shadow—this was almost the most standard answer.
"Yiran, do you mean that last night, the enormous shadow that strangled Xin Beibei's shadow was actually around the neck?!" Ke Xun asked, secretly praising Yiran's intelligence.
"Yes," Mu Yiran gave Ke Xun a cool look. "I don't know what a shadow represents in this world, but in the real world, a shadow and a physical entity are identical, even connected by soul—although the idea is somewhat absurd, if a shadow is controlled by someone, then the physical entity will certainly be affected and suffer the same fate." Zhu Haowen fell into deep thought: "
We analyzed before that those who are bewitched might be bewitched by their own shadows." "
This statement still holds true. I still believe that Xin Beibei's act of opening the window was driven by her shadow."
"Then wouldn't the shadow be able to directly..."
"The shadow doesn't want to die either," Mu Yiran's gaze deepened, "A person's shadow is bewitched into working for that giant shadow, but doesn't want to die for it, so it is grabbed by the neck by the giant shadow and forcibly dragged away, while the body is also pulled away." "
This explains why we saw that scene on the first night: a huge shadow covered the entire window, plunging the room into darkness. Then only a strip of black shadow remained at the window—that was actually Zhang Tianwei's shadow being pulled. The crescent-shaped pattern that passed by the window was Zhang Tianwei's body being forcibly dragged.
The same applies to Xin Beibei. The giant shadow grabbed Xin Beibei's shadow by the neck, pulling it forward. Xin Beibei's body was dragged by the shadow; even though she struggled and wriggled, due to suffocation and the disparity in strength, she was still forcibly dragged away.
All entities seemed precarious under the shadow's dragging, likely due to the giant shadow's inability to 'indirectly control entities.
' Our shadows are actually the medium of that ultimate giant shadow, potentially manipulated into working for it, and ultimately turned into weapons threatening our lives." Mu Yiran's voice was icy, devoid of any emotion.
Ke Xun stared at Guo Lixia's trembling shadow, then unconsciously turned to look at her—she was standing there blankly, as if terrified, without a trace of trembling.
Ke Xun's gaze returned to Guo Lixia's shadow, which was clearly trembling slightly. Ke Xun looked at the shadows of the others, but they were all perfectly still.
Ke Xun gasped, but outwardly showed nothing. Suddenly,
a soft laugh echoed through the hall, like a cold laugh that could no longer be contained.
Everyone was startled by the laugh, looking up at the ceiling and every corner of the hall, trying to find the person hiding there laughing.
Suddenly, the NPC's voice rang out: "Enjoy your wonderful work! Afternoon tea will include blueberry juice and chestnut cake." "
That laughter clearly came from an NPC. This was truly chilling, as if everyone's every move was being watched closely.
In the end, everyone decided to work together and then go find autographs together after finishing their tasks.
As Ke Xun was about to enter the blue door, Mu Yiran's voice came from behind: 'Be careful.'
These two words, though somewhat cold, were sweet, like rock candy.
Ke Xun nodded and couldn't help but look at the innocent Mi Wei, who was tied up in the hall: 'If it's because she was bewitched, I feel a little better.'
Mu Yiran and Qin Ci were left in the hall to guard Mi Wei.
Ke Xun returned to the work area and glanced at Guo Lixia's shadow, finding that it had returned to normal.
Guo Lixia was silently working, no longer as quick-witted as usual.
In Ke Xun's eyes, Guo Lixia was no longer the Guo Jie she used to be, but someone who had been bewitched.
'Guo Jie, don't think too much. You were just a little angry and couldn't control your strength.'" "Ke Xun forced himself to say comforting words.
"Oh, I regret it so much I could die," Guo Lixia said with an expression of deep remorse. "Such a good girl, and I actually killed her..."
"There's no medicine for regret in this world. What we need to do now is find the autograph as soon as possible!" Ke Xun said.
Guo Lixia nodded repeatedly: "Yes! Once we find the autograph, we can get out! Mi Wei can go out with us too!"
Ke Xun nodded, but couldn't help but marvel at the ingenuity of this seduction: the person being seduced didn't change their original personality, but a certain point was suddenly amplified when they were needed, and at that moment, the person would become a devil.
"Sister Guo, you should rest. You'd better take care of your wrist," Ke Xun said, glancing out the window while working. "What do you think is hidden in that maze? We clearly heard other footsteps in the maze today. Whose footsteps were those?"
"Someone else in the maze? That's really creepy." Guo Lixia didn't stop working. She was currently removing the leaves from the blue berries. "Isn't it said that the murderer is a shadow? Can a shadow appear in the daytime?"
Ke Xun tried not to look at Guo Lixia, lest his eyes reveal his purpose. He bent down to put the berries into the glass jar. "I also find it strange. If the murderer is really a shadow, how does a shadow move by itself? It must be moved by a physical entity, right?"
Guo Lixia refuted Ke Xun's statement. "You're wrong. If a shadow has a physical entity, then it doesn't need us to open the window for it."
Ke Xun suddenly found his conversation with Guo Lixia somewhat amusing, because he was treating her as a shadow, but she was behaving exactly like Sister Guo.
"Last night I saw someone in the maze from the window, a living person, but unfortunately it was too far away to see the patterns on their clothes," Ke Xun said.
"Could the person you saw in the maze be him? If you could hear footsteps, then it wasn't just a shadow," Guo Lixia's analysis made sense.
"It seems that what that big shadow is making us do is either help it open windows or secretly cause innocent people to be tainted…" Ke Xun emphasized the word "secretly," afraid that Guo Lixia would suddenly realize that her shoving of Mi Wei also fell into this category.
Guo Lixia suddenly looked at Ke Xun: "Team leader, if someone were to stop the person opening the window, could they stop them?"
Ke Xun chuckled: "No, they couldn't. Every time that happens, everyone in the room feels powerless, they don't even have the strength to get out of bed, let alone stop others." "Well,
there's nothing we can do if we can't stop them," Guo Lixia sighed.
"Perhaps there's a way," Ke Xun said, looking at Guo Lixia with interest. "After all, this place is our territory during the day. I saw ropes and planks in the hall of the circular building, and there are also many tools in the maze room. We can nail the windows up ourselves."
Guo Lixia didn't show the panic Ke Xun expected. Instead, she even showed a hint of admiration: "That's a good idea! We'll nail up all the windows then!"
Ke Xun continued working calmly: "Okay, we'll nail up the windows after we finish this work! Regardless of whether the shadow can get in or not, at least we can't drag the living people out!"
Guo Lixia's voice then became hesitant: "I'm afraid we'll anger that big shadow. That murderer is so ruthless. What if he gets angry and kills us all?"
"Yi Ran said that everyone in the painting must abide by the rules, including the boss himself."