"When night falls, you will only face death." The man in the colorful robes finally spoke his first words.
"As long as we don't violate the conditions for death, we have four more nights," Mu Yiran replied coldly.
Wei Dong's voice drifted from afar: "Boss Mu, we're both purple. If we combine our colors and contribute them all, will we become condensed versions of little people...?"—Wei Dong's voice was distant and mournful.
"All the colors are just symbols," Mu Yiran's eyes were fixed on the shadowless figure before him. "We'll contribute a few drops of blood, just a few drops."
The man sneered: "I can take all of you at will."
"What happens if you and your shadow are separated for too long?" Mu Yiran suddenly countered.
The man's expression darkened, even showing some anger.
The four members exchanged brief glances; perhaps after surviving these paintings, they had developed a rare tacit understanding.
"We have many ways to destroy the Mirror House," Qin Ci said with the rigor of a physician, his words carrying a scientific credibility. "At the very least, we can prevent people from seeing their own reflections."
"We also have many ways to destroy the glass jars on the sixth floor of the circular building," Zhu Haowen said, revealing a serious expression rarely seen on a gamer. "At the very least, we can prevent people from opening the lids."
"Our patience is limited. We don't want to waste another night, or even another hour," Ke Xun said, now behaving like a street thug with a bad temper.
With the three of them in this position, Mu Yiran adopted his signature aloof, wordless style.
From afar came Wei Dong's shout: "How about this? We'll give you a few drops of blood, you get me an autograph, it's a win-win situation!"
Wei Dong's tone was that of a small-time vendor aggressively pushing a sale.
The man seemed to be considering this seemingly domineering proposal.
Zhu Haowen, however, secretly glanced at his green patterned clothes. The only colors missing from this man's wardrobe, besides purple, were green.
He wondered how Shi Zhendong, who had been bewitched, was doing. Like him, Shi Zhendong belonged to the green faction.
It was nearly noon, and the entire maze shone with a vibrant, luminous life, the castle glowing with dazzling colors.
Shi Zhendong paced angrily in the room, which was nailed shut with wooden planks. The members hadn't returned since they left; perhaps they had found the signature, or perhaps they had encountered danger.
If they had indeed found the signature, Shi Zhendong didn't believe they would abandon him. He had only been bewitched by the painting, but he was still alive. As long as he and the others left the painting, he was alive.
If they abandoned him, it would be tantamount to murder.
Shi Zhendong calmed himself and considered things from Ke Xun's perspective. How would he deal with "Shi Zhendong"? They would definitely try to distance themselves from him, fearing they would be bewitched again; but once they found the signature, they wouldn't abandon him—was there a way to achieve both?
Having figured this out, Shi Zhendong began searching the room. These people must have left him a way out.
Sure enough, Shi Zhendong found an axe hidden in the gap between the furniture and the wall. The axe was rusty and difficult to use; it would probably take several hours to chop open the wooden strips of the door or window—during which time, if Ke Xun and his group failed, they would find a way to imprison him again; if they found the signatures as planned, he could also leave before dark, just a step later than them.
Thinking this, Shi Zhendong swung the rusty, dull axe and began chopping at the wooden strips of the window…
Meanwhile, in the maze, a figure without a shadow, wearing a wide robe, walked expressionlessly towards the person closest to him—Zhu Haowen.
Zhu Haowen took a deep breath, feeling his companions slowly surrounding him from all sides, and gradually felt more confident.
Suddenly, the pattern on the person's robe changed: long green lines suddenly appeared among the red, yellow, blue, purple, and orange patterns. The sudden change made Zhu Haowen involuntarily shiver.
These green lines were Shi Zhendong's patterns.
The purple patterns on this man's body came from the few drops of blood Mu Yiran and Wei Dong had just contributed.
All eyes were focused on these green lines. The man said expressionlessly, "Your partner ultimately couldn't escape his inner demons—I made too many deals with him. He's become part of the painting, unable to leave."
Unexpectedly, this man had already targeted Shi Zhendong. Did this mean they weren't far from leaving the painting?
The members remained silent, watching the man walk towards the wall of green plants. His slender hand groped among the plants for a moment, then pulled open an invisible door.
The man stepped inside, his back desolate.
By the time the others caught up, the door had already closed automatically.
They pushed aside the plants covering the door, gradually revealing the true face of the ancient wooden door.
On the mottled wooden door were two clear letters, their color a rich, deep black—RR.
The handwriting was casual yet highly artistic, just like the signature reflection they had seen in the mirror room earlier, each R slightly tilted to the lower right.
As for the man who had left, whether he ultimately overcame his inner demons, no one could say for sure.
Clad in vibrant, colorful robes, his writing was as black as ink from a cave in Tongzhou.
The signature on the door radiated dazzling light, revealing a huge framed painting before them.
Even knowing the outcome, the group still found the frame unbelievable.
For the first time, he had emerged from the painting with such composure; his five familiar companions were still there. They should have been secretly pleased, yet a sense of melancholy lingered.
The five men walked through the darkness, and when they saw the light again, they didn't find it blinding. The colors of the real world seemed gray and monotonous compared to the painting.
The painting before them was composed of numerous vibrant colors, seemingly random, but the various patterns—circles, diamonds, lines, etc.—held extraordinary significance for them.
These patterns formed a maze, and the artist's signature was unusually placed in the center of the painting, the initials of Rong Rang written in black: RR.
At this moment, only the five members remained in the exhibition hall, the walls filled with various brightly colored Fauvist paintings.
"Let's go," Qin Ci suggested.
They silently walked out of the exhibition hall, only to be confronted by a huge oil painting as soon as they opened the door.
The paint was still wet, and all five men were smeared with it.
Wei Dong looked at his mangled T-shirt, his face showing relief: "Oh my god, that was terrifying! I thought I was going to be painted again!"
Soon, a volunteer emerged from behind the painting: "I'm so sorry, we saw there was no one in the exhibition hall, so we just pushed the artwork in!"
It was Ye Ningchen speaking, with Miao Zipei standing next to her.
Both of them expressed their deepest apologies and insisted on compensating the men for their clothes, but Ke Xun and the others firmly refused.
Ye Ningchen was about to say something when he suddenly heard someone shout outside, "Mi Wei has fainted! Call an ambulance quickly!"
Hearing this, the two rushed over to check.
Ke Xun and the others then left the exhibition hall, first going to the restroom to wash off the paint on their arms and faces, each leaving the art museum in a motley collection of colors.
"Mi Wei and the others, how long will the others remain in this world?" Zhu Haowen asked.
"At most a week, at least, immediately," Qin Ci replied, casually checking his pocket and finding a ticket there. "Next stop, Fanghezi Art Museum."
The world before them had passed with the previous painting, and the group didn't even want to say a few more words to the people in the paintings. No matter what, they had to say goodbye—too many partings of life and death, yet they couldn't completely numb themselves.
"Let's change our clothes first, this outfit is too eye-catching," Wei Dong said, looking at the heavily painted group. "Those passersby might think we're doing nude art."
This university art museum was located on a youth street behind the university, with small clothing shops along the street.
So, the group went into a casual clothing store.
The store was small, the walls covered with all sorts of T-shirts, the prints so avant-garde and sharp they looked a bit old-fashioned—a bright pink hand with a raised middle finger; a mustard green succubus with six pairs of breast-nursing organs; a giant foot with its soles coated in colorful ointment…
Another wall was all cute style, T-shirts printed with various fruits and foods.
"I'll get a banana one," Ke Xun said, picking out a banana-patterned one and taking down a pineapple one. "Yiran, you take this one."
The pineapple pattern included whole pineapples and pineapple rings cut into slices and hollowed out. Mu Yiran frowned and immediately chose another one, printed with several large, robust sugarcane stalks.
"…"
Zhu Haowen chose several slices of bright green and red watermelon, printed on a cream-colored T-shirt, giving it a strangely 1980s small-town style.
Qin Ci chose the most inconspicuous white T-shirt, with a few green olives on it.
"This is the one for me, I love Maltesers!" Wei Dong immediately changed into the new T-shirt, sky blue with chocolate-colored balls covering the snow-white filling.
Zhu Haowen looked at it: "This isn't Maltesers."
"Mine is coconut! Coco is cocoa, right? Nut is a nut, right?" Wei Dong sometimes really admired his own translation comprehension skills. "This is a kind of Maltesers containing nuts!"
Zhu Haowen wanted to say something, but swallowed his words. Maltesers it is, it's been in and out of the picture so many times, who cares about coconut or Maltesers?
So, the five grown men walked down the street wearing fruit-themed T-shirts, creating an inexplicably cute contrast.
"Are you guys going straight back to S City? I'll travel with you." It was Zhu Haowen who spoke. "My cousin is getting married in S City in a couple of days."
"Wow, this is going to be interesting," before Wei Dong could finish speaking, Qin Ci also said, "I happen to have a week-long medical exchange conference in S City."
Ke Xun, wearing a banana T-shirt, tilted his head and looked at Mu Yiran, who was wearing a sugarcane T-shirt: "How about the five of us get together on my turf? To celebrate our survival?"
Mu Yiran didn't give a cold look this time. Wearing a fruit T-shirt, he was still as handsome as ever, practically making the sugarcane look like purple bamboo: "I'm busy these two days, I have to make time."
Qin Ci laughed: "Then we'll wait for your arrangements. We've been through thick and thin together for so long, and we haven't even sat down to eat out together yet. It's really a bit of a shame."
"Right, right, let's not go to a restaurant, let's go to Ke'er's house! Let him cook us a meal!" Wei Dong was clearly in the mood to host.
"Right, let's all get acquainted!" Ke Xun also laughed.