Ke Xun's note revealed what he had seen in that anthropomorphic animal world.
On the Forestry Police Bureau's bulletin board was a wanted poster; the photo on it was of a mouse missing an ear.
One-Ear.
Ke Xun understood immediately upon seeing the photo; the image of One-Ear was deeply ingrained in people's minds, and even if he couldn't immediately recall who the mouse was from the photo alone, it clearly stated: "Bring 'One-Ear' to justice."
Ke Xun mentioned in his note that the person who received the red and white striped T-shirt and black bell-bottoms props must correspond to this world, because the clothing style was completely consistent with the clothing worn by the animals in this "Black Cat Detective" world.
"So, as Xiao Ke said, the props we obtained might all correspond to a world behind this door," Qin Ci said. "The two-dimensional paper-cut world I entered has a fishing village, and the prop I got was a fishing rod. This reminds me of an old paper-cut animated film—'The Fisherman's Boy.' I wonder if you young people have seen it."
Everyone exchanged glances. Some had seen it, some hadn't, and Mu Yiran was among those who hadn't.
"That shouldn't be the case…" Wei Dong looked at the big boss with disbelief. In his mind, the big boss should be omniscient. He didn't expect that there would be blind spots in his knowledge.
Mu Yiran ignored him and only asked Qin Ci, "Can you deduce which old animations the other people's props are related to?"
Qin Ci took out the paper listing the props, looked at it for a while, and then shook his head slightly: "Just looking at these props, it's hard to guess which old animation they belong to. For example, cat ears and rabbit ears are common in many old animations. I need to go to the other worlds behind the doors and combine them with the settings of those worlds to make a more accurate guess."
"But if you go to the wrong world, your body will undergo a mutation." Zhu Haowen looked at him. "You are the only one who entered the right world from the beginning, so you are safe and sound now. I think you should not go to other worlds. I suspect that once your body undergoes a mutation, it is irreversible."
"Then, what should I do?" Li Yaqing's voice was trembling with tears. "I can hardly carry this copper basin anymore..."
Her prop, the engraved copper basin, was even bigger than last night. It could no longer fit in her backpack, so she had to carry it with great effort.
"Hey! You tell me—" Qi Qiang suddenly pointed his sword at Qin Ci's throat, "Which cartoon has swords?! Hurry up and think of one!"
"Many cartoons have them," Qin Ci calmly looked at him, "I need to calm down and think carefully. Please calm down; being anxious won't solve anything, it will only waste precious time."
Qi Qiang angrily sheathed his sword and kicked the nearest door hard. Everyone ignored him, their eyes fixed on Qin Ci.
Mu Yiran didn't just wait idly. After greeting Wei Dong and Zhu Haowen, he pushed open the door and entered the world Ke Xun had last entered.
The mountain forest was filled with the sounds of flowing water, birdsong, and fragrant flowers, a place that seemed both tranquil and whispering. Mu Yiran followed the stream deeper into the forest, carefully searching for Ke Xun's marks.
Ke Xun's marks were very clear; following them, the path suddenly ended, and the marks disappeared.
Mu Yiran calmly surveyed her surroundings. Seeing no signs of human development and no signs of human habitation, she couldn't help but hear voices emanating from the shadows.
She stood still for a moment, listening intently to the voices, then quietly moved in their direction.
Upon reaching them, she was shocked to discover that the voices were coming from a monkey and a squirrel perched on a branch!
"How terrifying! Awu is bullying people!" the monkey exclaimed.
"I was almost scared to death! Was Awu going to eat Auntie Cat?" the squirrel said.
"Let's hurry and follow them!" the monkey said.
They darted quickly through the branches and into the depths of the forest.
Mu Yiran raised an eyebrow, pondering: "Auntie Cat… could it be Ke Xun?"
But what about "Auntie Cat"…?
Regardless, Mu Yiran quickly followed the direction the monkey and squirrel had gone.
Having wandered through the forest for an unknown amount of time, Mu Yiran was carefully searching for any marks left by Ke Xun when he heard a familiar voice overhead: "Meow! Yiran! What are you doing here, meow?! Come on up! There's a tiger here, meow!"
Mu Yiran looked up and saw Ke Xun clinging to a tree like a large cat, his face a mixture of surprise and a touch of dishevelment.
Mu Yiran walked to the tree and slowly began to climb, but Ke Xun couldn't wait. He stretched out his long arm, grabbed Mu Yiran's arm, and forcefully pulled him up into the branches.
"Yiran, meow, you—how are you? Your body has obviously changed, meow?" Ke Xun looked at him with great concern and pinched his cheek.
Mu Yiran let him pinch him and asked in a deep voice, "How are you?"
Ke Xun meowed with a pained expression, "I almost got eaten by a tiger. Luckily, I remembered the plot of this cartoon, otherwise I would have been doomed, meow."
"Which cartoon is this?" Mu Yiran asked.
"'Tiger Learns Skills'," Ke Xun said, "I've almost forgotten the details, meow. I just remember the cat and tiger had a competition, and in the end, the tiger couldn't climb the tree, but the cat could, which is how it escaped. Luckily, I remember one line from the movie very clearly, meow, the one where the crow caws 'Awoo, you're bullying people!' I used to learn that line while beating up my friends when I was a kid, meow."
"So, it seems the prop you're holding belongs to the world of 'Tiger Learns Skills'," Mu Yiran said, looking at the cat ears on his head.
"You've found a world that suits you, meow?" Ke Xun asked hastily.
"I don't know which old animation my prop comes from," Mu Yiran said calmly.
"Hailibu!" Ke Xun meowed loudly. "You remember now, meow?"
Mu Yiran lowered her eyes. "I haven't read it."
"Meow?" Ke Xun scratched her cat ears. "It's about eating a fruit given by a god, which allows you to understand animal speech, but you can't tell others what the animals are saying, or you'll turn into stone. Meow, Yiran, are you… petrifying right now, meow?" Mu Yiran nodded slightly.
Ke Xun scratched her ears and cheeks anxiously. "I have to find an autograph quickly, meow! How? How? Even if we enter the right world that matches the item, what happens next?"
"No rush. Let's go back to the initial room. It's getting late," Mu Yiran said.
The two climbed down from the tree. Ke Xun was about to carry Mu Yiran on her back, but Mu Yiran shook her head slightly. "My joints are a little stiff, but it doesn't affect my movement right now."
Ke Xun had no choice but to give up. She carefully observed her surroundings, listened with her cat ears, and sniffed around to make sure the tiger wasn't nearby for the time being. Then she pulled Mu Yiran and ran back quickly.
When they returned to the starting room, Zhao Haicui and the other four newcomers were still not back. Everyone was quietly watching Qin Ci list the names of the old cartoons he remembered on a piece of paper. Ke Xun went over and leaned in to take a look, pointing to one of the names and saying, "Ma Liang and the Magic Brush, I think this is Dongzi's world."
Wei Dong hurriedly said, "I know this cartoon! It's a classic! -- Wait, does that mean my brush is a magic brush?"
As he spoke, he quickly walked to the wall and used the brush to draw an egg on the wall.
However, it was all for naught; no real egg appeared on the wall.
"Perhaps only in the world of Ma Liang and his magic paintbrush can your brush work," Zhu Haowen said.
"Which one is Ma Liang's world?" Wei Dong asked hastily.
"The world we entered for the first time, meow!" Ke Xun said, "Ma Liang is a cowherd, which is why the magistrate's advisor said that line telling me to obediently go home and herd cattle, meow!"
Wei Dong clapped his hands: "Very good, now we have four worlds: 'The Fisherman's Boy,' 'Ma Liang and His Magic Paintbrush,' 'The Tiger Learns Skills,' and 'Black Cat Detective.' Now we only have the snow world where the monkey can talk and the world that the boss and the others entered today."
He then looked at Mu Yiran.
"The world we've entered today is also an ancient world," Mu Yiran said, "but unlike the world of Ma Liang's Magic Brush, this ancient world has color, and the art style is completely different. This world has a sea, and there seem to be cities in the distance. We only searched for clues in the villages near the sea for a while; we haven't had time to go to the distant cities yet."
In fact, it was because the engraved bronze basin in Li Yaqing's arms was getting heavier and heavier, making it difficult to travel any further, so the three of them had to turn back temporarily.
"An ancient story animation with a sea…" The group searched on the paper Qin Ci had written, finding several, but they still couldn't determine which one it was.
"We're facing three problems now," Mu Yiran said. Although he knew nothing about these animated films, it didn't stop him from making analysis and judgments. "The person who knows these old animated films best is Dr. Qin, and Ke Xun could also be considered one, but they've already found the worlds that match their props. If we send them to other worlds to confirm which old animated film they belong to, it will exacerbate their physical mutations. That's the first problem.
"The second problem is that there are currently six worlds, and we have thirteen people and thirteen sets of props. We need to determine if two or three people have props that belong to the same world.
"The third problem, and the most crucial one, is that even if all thirteen of us find the correct world, what do we need to do next? What role will our props play? In which world will the signature be?
"Another thing to note is that, according to the rule that someone dies every night in the painting, someone may have already met with misfortune last night. Are props that have lost their owners still useful? Can these props be transferred to someone else? We need to verify all of these."
"And those missing newcomers, we still need to find them. Time is of the essence."
Hearing Mu Yiran say this, everyone felt the pressure increase dramatically. Qi Qiang exclaimed, "Then what the hell are we dawdling for! Hurry up—"
He didn't know what to hurry up for, so he could only stare at Mu Yiran, waiting for him to point out a clear and reassuring path, as he always did.
"Since these worlds are all stories from old animated films," Mu Yiran said, not disappointing him, "then, Dr. Qin, Ke Xun, Wei Dong, the three of you have already identified your respective worlds. Enter your respective worlds again and try to complete the story they tell. Even animated films have beginnings and endings. Try to push the story to the conclusion and see if you can get any clues."
"What about you, meow?" Ke Xun asked hastily.
"I'm going to find those four missing people," Mu Yiran said calmly.
"No way!" Ke Xun's cat ears twitched into airplane ears, a sign of anger. "If you don't ind the world of Hailibu soon, you'll turn to stone! I don't agree—meow! Wait, it seems like Hailibu isn't one of these six worlds, meow?!"