The reflections in the mirror seemed oblivious to Ke Xun's voice, continuing with their own tasks.
"Let's try to keep our shadows away from these people," Zhu Haowen said warily, instinctively shifting his position away from Zhang Tianwei's gloomy expression in the mirror.
Ke Xun watched Ye Ningchen, who was trying to pull up his sleeve, say, "These people shouldn't harm us. Even if some have malicious intent, they can probably only use their shadows at night."
Ke Xun watched as Ye Ningchen "disturbed" his reflection in the mirror. The girl seemed eager to pull him up, but there was a barrier between their shadows, preventing Ye Ningchen from directly touching him.
This reminded Ke Xun of the idea of eternal separation.
Ke Xun tried raising his arm, greeting Ye Ningchen with his reflection. It seemed to work; Ye Ningchen stared at Ke Xun in the mirror and smiled.
Ke Xun mouthed, "Miao Zipei."
Ye Ningchen looked bewildered and saddened, gently shaking her head and turning her gaze elsewhere.
"No, I feel really uncomfortable in here," Wei Dong said, rubbing his head. "I feel nauseous and like I'm going to vomit, like my body is being torn apart."
The others weren't feeling well either, and they were all just trying to stay put.
Mu Yiran hadn't said anything. He had already entered the entire mirror room, his sharp gaze scanning each mirror: "These people in the mirrors can't hurt us. Don't be affected by them, and try not to look too closely at your own reflection."
Hearing Mu Yiran's words, Wei Dong seemed to feel a little better. The discomfort he had felt earlier wasn't a physical sensation, but rather a psychological issue. In a mirror room filled with images, the first thing to overcome was the psychological problem.
The people in the mirrors were probably also bored. They were using their colors to pass the time. He Yu had already painted a large landscape painting with red paint; Mi Wei had created a sand painting effect with yellow paint, making a golden sand effect; Guo Lixia, who couldn't paint, dipped her palm in blue paint and slapped many sapphire blue handprints on the mirror.
"Have you noticed that the mirror is actually layered? It's not a unified world inside." Zhu Haowen stroked his chin, carefully observing the mirror.
Indeed, the colors seemed to exist on another level or in another dimension, unaffected by the mirror's refraction. They simply existed as separate realms according to their own colors.
Deep purple, bright yellow, passionate red, soft green, and refreshing blue—these colors flowed in various forms, intertwining to create a new world.
"Look over there!" Wei Dong, using his artistic skills, quickly spotted the color anomaly, pointing to a corner of the ceiling. "There seem to be two black dots there!"
Everyone's attention focused on the two black dots on the mirror in the corner—as they slowly approached, they discovered that the so-called black dots were actually two letters, casually handwritten, both letters tilted to the lower right, forming a strange artistic effect: RR.
"Is this Rong Rang's initials?" everyone guessed.
Ke Xun had already lifted Wei Dong up. Wei Dong raised his hand and touched the black signature on the ceiling. Where his finger touched, it was like touching water; the two black letters turned into faint ink marks and scattered.
When Wei Dong's finger left, the ink marks slowly gathered again, eventually reforming into the two letters.
Mu Yiran frowned: "This is... the shadow of the signature?"
"A shadow? A signature has a shadow?" Wei Dong couldn't stand the ambiguity in the painting.
"Everything has a shadow, especially in this world that emphasizes shadows. A painter's signature should have a shadow."
Zhu Haowen looked at the window: "I think we should go to the maze immediately."
The five old members tacitly left through the window one after another. Although Ke Xun was completely confused and didn't understand why they had to go to the maze, another bewildered follower was Wei Dong, who followed Ke Xun out the window.
Unbeknownst to anyone, a portion of the golden reflection in the room's mirror had been wiped away, revealing a face—Miao Zipei. He seemed to be attempting to mix the purest color, his expression solemn and devout.
The five members climbed down the castle wall to the ground and headed towards the maze without stopping.
Passing the pool, Ke Xun stopped and glanced inside. All the coins with the wheel-shaped pattern associated with Miao Zipei had vanished.
From Ke Xun's expression, the others guessed the result. Their hearts sank, but they felt an even greater sense of urgency: tonight, the Shadow had gathered all three primary colors—red, yellow, and blue—and its abilities would likely undergo a qualitative leap.
"I have a plan, although it's against the rules for navigating the maze, it's the only option we have right now," Ke Xun said with a slightly roguish expression.
Seeing that Mu Yiran was also looking at him, Ke Xun continued, "We don't need to grope our way through the alleys in the dark. Instead, we'll scale walls like night raiders."
"You mean, we'll walk on these bush walls so we can see everything in the maze clearly?" Mu Yiran examined the bush walls of the maze and thought this method would work.
Ke Xun had already nimbly climbed to the top of the bush wall. These bushes were very sturdy and could easily support the weight of an adult man. Ke Xun made a gesture of looking into the distance: "Good view, at least we can see three loops."
The others also climbed to the top of the bush wall one after another. Except for Wei Dong, who was slightly afraid of heights, the others were quite comfortable.
"Now tell me, why did you lock the signature in the maze?" Ke Xun had a good sense of balance and stood on the high wall as if walking on flat ground.
"While you were working, we made a new discovery in the maze," Qin Ci answered Ke Xun. "We found the person hiding in the maze. He was very fast, and we couldn't corner him, but he was definitely different—he had no shadow."
This discovery surprised Ke Xun: "What did he look like?"
"His clothes had some colorful patterns on them, but he was running too fast to see clearly, but we're certain he had no shadow."
Ke Xun felt he was getting closer to the truth: "So, this person without a shadow is the real entity of the dark figure?!"
Everyone acquiesced, and they began to slowly walk forward along the wall, observing the situation in each maze loop.
Wei Dong walked the slowest, afraid of accidentally stepping on the wrong step and falling: "It seems the cerebellum is hindering the brain's operation. I'm just walking a tightrope like a maniac right now... What were you guys talking about? That person lives in the maze? His shadow lives in the castle? Can he separate from his shadow?!"
Mu Yiran saw Wei Dong walking unsteadily and reached out to pull him back: "That mirror room is definitely not a fabrication. It must be the place where the shadow and his real body meet."
This was Wei Dong's first "encounter" with Mu Yiran, and he suddenly felt that the other party wasn't so aloof anymore, and even had a rare sense of friendliness: "Thanks... So according to you, the signature is the same, the shadow is in the mirror room, and the real signature is in the maze!"
Mu Yiran realized that after pulling Wei Dong back, the other party didn't let go, his palms sweating as he gripped him tightly.
Just when Wei Dong felt that Mu Yiran was becoming more and more friendly, he suddenly heard the other party say coldly: "You can wait here for now."
Fearing a fall, Wei Dong lowered his stance: ...
From a distance, Ke Xun tossed Wei Dong a message: "Dongzi, you stay on the outside and observe!"
Knowing he might fall if he took another step forward, Dongzi hurriedly nodded and crouched precariously on the wall.
"I see that person!" Qin Ci quickly moved forward, pointing to an alleyway ahead.
The four of them worked in perfect coordination, subtly surrounding the person in the maze along the outer paths. The person was fast and familiar with the maze's layout, but gradually realized he couldn't fight off four opponents alone, so he stopped running.
By this time, they had forced the person towards the very center of the maze. The person stopped moving and sat down on the grass at the center.
Ke Xun climbed down from the wall, maintaining a safe distance from the person.
Zhu Haowen and Mu Yiran also came down one after another, only Qin Ci remained on the high ground, vigilantly observing the surroundings.
This person wore a large robe embroidered with patterns in four colors: a blood-red moon, blue circles and rhombuses, pale yellow wheels, and an orange maze pattern.
If the moon represented Zhang Tianwei, the circle Guo Lixia, the rhombus Xin Beibei, and the wheel Miao Zipei—these were members whose colors had been absorbed—then to whom did the orange maze pattern belong?
"No wonder we were divided into five colors. Besides the three primary colors, we also had two secondary colors, purple and green, but we were missing orange," Zhu Haowen's eyes lingered on this person. "So you yourself are orange."
This person was very thin, but his eyes were bright and piercing. He looked somewhat strange, probably because he had no shadow.
This person didn't say a word.
"Actually, I think every color has its own beauty. People like all kinds of colors; there are plenty of people who like duck-dung yellow and bile green," Ke Xun cleared his throat, launching into his opening remarks. "Anyway, all colors end up as black, so why not enjoy the process of creating these colors? These colors can be separated or combined as they please; why not give yourself some freedom!"
The shadowy figure glanced coldly at Ke Xun, remaining silent.
Ke Xun had never experienced such an icy gaze before. Compared to this person, Mu Yiran's coldness was at most like a box of ice cream, lemon-vanilla flavored at that.
The signature must have been hidden by this person; judging from his icy eyes, even torture wouldn't elicit a single word.
"I'm willing to contribute some purple," Mu Yiran finally spoke, "That way you can collect all six colors and get the black you want."
"Don't mess around!" Ke Xun's mind instantly conjured up the large glass jar used for seduction, and for the first time in his life, he yelled at Mu Yiran.
"We have searched everywhere we can, and now we can confirm that the signature is on this person."