Paintings of Terror

Chapter 92: Bewitched

Mu Yiran’s words attracted everyone’s attention, including the desperate Mi Wei.

“According to Ke Xun’s observation, last night, Xin Beibei was constrained by two powers. The first was her own shadow, and the second was an invisible person choking her by the neck.” Mu Yiran’s voice had a slight echo in the deathly quiet hall.

Everyone was engrossed in what he was saying, and only Ke Xun had a slight distraction, thinking: The way he said his name was really nice.

Mu Yiran continued. “As you have analyzed before, if these two forces were working together, it wouldn’t be difficult to achieve harmony and unity. In addition, there is another issue that cannot be ignored. Why do this force need to use the people inside to open the windows? Since it’s so powerful, it should have no problem opening doors and windows by itself.”

Shi Zhendong said, “The windows are bolted from the inside. Someone from outside might not be able to open them.”

“But how did Yening Chengyi die then?” Mu Yiran knew his purple room very well. “The windows in our bedroom have always remained closed and have never been opened.”

No one had considered this issue before. He Yu and Zhang Tianwei were staying together in the same room. However, one of them was confused by the painting, and so, just like Xin Beibei, he opened the window, allowing “that thing” inside the house.

But, in the purple room, no one had opened the window. How did Yening Chengyi die?

“This is too confusing. Is the big boss trying to confuse us from the start? First, there’s the color and the maze, and now even opening the window is a mystery.” Wei Dong scratched his head, feeling a headache coming in.

Zhu Haowen said calmly, “According to the various prompts in the painting, this painting should have a strict logic. It’s just that we haven’t discovered the main thread.”

He returned his gaze to Mu Yiran, looking forward to his answer.

“Perhaps we can infer that that thing–I’ll call it a shadow for the time being–that shadow can go in and out of any place freely, because shadows are inherently invisible and stateless,” Mu Yiran shared his thoughts. “Once our rooms are entirely shrouded in dark shadows, it means that the entire castle is under its control.”

The others were still puzzled. “Then why use people like us to open the windows?”

Mu Yiran didn’t mind the interruption and continued, “The purple bedroom didn’t have an open window, but Yening Chengyi was still killed. This shows that the shadow could kill people through the window. Regardless of whether it was Yening Chenyi or He Yu, they should have been killed through the window.”

“The reason why it has to use others to open the window is that the shadow couldn’t control physical things. Therefore, doing so would require bewitching living people.”

Qin Ci couldn’t help but interrupt, “Since it can’t control physical objects, how can it kill people through the window? Living people themselves are physical beings!”

“This is indeed the most critical point. Once solved, the entire puzzle itself can then be unraveled.” Mu Yiran’s tone gradually rose. “The shadow can only control shadows. When the entire room is enveloped by black shadows, this will create a giant shadow that will then be considered to have contained all of our shadows.”

Everyone listened, completely engrossed. The giant shadow could only control shadows–This was the most reasonable answer.

“Yiran’s meaning is that what the giant shadow was strangling last night was actually the neck of Xin Beibei’s shadow?!” Ke Xun asked, and he couldn’t help but secretly praise Yiran’s cleverness in his heart.

“Yes.” Mu Yiran cast a cool gaze at Ke Xun. “I don’t know what meaning a shadow represents in this world, but in the real world, both the shadow and the physical body are considered one and the same, so much so that one can say that they are connected by the soul. Although this argument is a bit absurd, if someone is able to control the shadow, then the physical body will become affected and be treated as the same.”

Zhu Haowen fell into deep thought. “We have analyzed before that people can become bewitched through their shadows.”

“This statement is still valid. I still believe that Xin Beibei’s action in opening the window was driven by her shadow.”

“Then the shadow, wouldn’t it directly…?”

“The shadow doesn’t want to die.” Mu Yiran’s gaze deepened. “The giant shadow was able to bewitch the human shadow to do something, but the human shadow didn’t want to be killed by it. And so the giant shadow choked his neck and dragged him away, causing the physical body to also be dragged away.”

This explained the scene on the first night: a giant shadow covering the entire window, turning the room dark. Then later, it turned into a single shadow, which was actually Zhang Tianwei’s shadow being pulled away. Which, in turn, dragged Zhang Tianwei’s body forcefully through the decorative moon-shaped window.

The same process applied to Xin Beibei’s body. The giant shadow grabbed Xin Beibei’s shadow’s neck, dragging it forward. This caused Xin Beibei’s body to be dragged by her shadow. Even though she struggled and resisted, she was still forcibly dragged away by this much stronger opponent.

All physical bodies appeared to be affected by the drag of the shadow, and this was probably due to the giant shadow’s inability to “directly control physical objects.”

“Our shadows are actually the giant shadow’s medium. They can become bewitched to do its bidding, and eventually, they will become butchers that will threaten our lives.” Mu Yiran’s voice was cold and emotionless.

Ke Xun looked at Guo Lixia’s trembling shadow, then raised his head to look at her person. She looked dumbfounded, as if scared into freezing, without the slightest bit of trembling.

He returned his gaze to her shadow once more. Her shadow was still trembling slightly, but when he looked at the other people’s shadow, they were all normal and motionless.

Ke Xun sucked a breath, but revealed nothing on the surface.

Suddenly, a burst of laughter sounded in the hall, like a sneer that couldn’t be contained.

The laughter startled everyone, and they looked up at the ceiling and at the corners all around them in the hall, trying to find the laughing person in hiding.

The NPC’s voice suddenly said, “Everyone, enjoy your hard work! Afternoon tea of blueberry juice and chestnut cake have been prepared for you.”

The laughter earlier clearly came from the NPC. This was incredibly eerie, as if no movements could escape its secretly watching eyes.

In the end, everyone decided to work together. After finishing the work, they would all go and look for the signature.

As Ke Xun was about to walk into the blue room, Mu Yiran’s voice came from behind him, “Be careful.”

Although these two words were a bit cold, they were sweet, like rock candy.

Ke Xun nodded and couldn’t help but look at the innocent Mi Wei in the hall. “Should I become bewitched, at least my heart is at peace.”

Mu Yiran and Qin Ci stayed in the lobby to guard Mi Wei.

When Ke Xun returned to the work room, he inadvertently glanced at Guo Lixia’s shadow and found that it had returned to normal.

Guo Lixia immersed herself in working hard in a low-key fashion, no longer resembling that person who was quick to act and quick to speak.

In Ke Xun’s eyes, she was no longer the big sister Guo, but had become a bewitched person.

“Sister Guo, don’t think too much. You were just a little angry at the time and failed to control your strength,” Ke Xun forced himself to say comforting words.

“Ai, my intestines are green with regret.” Guo Lixia put on a very regretful expression. “A good girl was actually killed by me…”

“In the world, there’s no medicine for regret. What we need to focus on now is to find the signature as soon as possible!” Ke Xun said.

Guo Lixia nodded repeatedly. “Yes! If we can find the signature, we can leave! Mi Wei will also be able to leave with us!”

Ke Xun nodded, but in his heart, he couldn’t help but sigh with sorrow at the ingenuity in which the bewitched person could maintain its nature: the person bewitched did not have a change of character, but rather, certain aspects of her personality would become enlarged to a certain degree, as needed, causing the person to change without notice into the devil.

“Sister Guo, you rest. It’s better for your wrist.” As Ke Xun’s hands worked, his eyes strayed to the window. “We clearly heard a hidden person’s footsteps in the maze today. Who do you think those footsteps belong to?”

“There’s someone else in the maze? How weird.” Guo Lixian didn’t stop working. As she removed the leaves from the blueberries, she said, “Isn’t the killer a shadow? Can shadows appear by itself during the day?”

Ke Xun tried not to look at Guo Lixia so his eyes wouldn’t reveal his intentions. Instead, he lowered his head and put the berries into the glass jar. “I also find it strange that, if the killer is really a shadow, how can the shadow move by itself? After all, it’s bound to the physical body and only the physical body can move it.”

Guo Lixia denied Ke Xun’s statement. “You’re wrong. If the shadow is real, then he doesn’t have to rely on us to open the window for him.”

Ke Xun suddenly felt that the conversation between himself and Guo Lixia was a bit funny, because he now regarded the other person as a shadow, but the other person showed a full-fledged Guo Lixia style.

“I saw a person by the maze through the window last night. He was a living person. It’s a pity that he’s so far away and so I couldn’t see the patterns on his clothes,” Ke Xun said.

“Then maybe he’s the person you heard in the maze? If you can hear his footsteps, then he’s definitely not a shadow.” Guo Lixia’s analysis was quite reasonable.

“Right now, what the giant shadow wanted was for us to either open the windows for it or to secretly pollute the colors of innocent people…” Ke Xun emphasized the word “secretly” for fear that Guo Lixia would have a flash of inspiration and realize that her behavior in pushing Mi Wei also belonged to this category.

Guo Lixia suddenly looked at Ke Xun. “Group leader, if there’s someone to block the person opening the window, will you be able to stop it?”

Ke Xun chuckled. “I can’t stop it. At that time, everyone in the room will feel powerless. They won’t even have the strength to get out of bed, let alone stop others.”

“Then it can’t be stopped.” Guo Lixia sighed.

“Maybe there is a way.” Ke Xun looked at Guo Lixia with interest. “After all, this is our world during the day. I see that there are ropes and wooden boards in the rotunda in the lobby. There are also many tools in the rooms inside the maze. We can nail the windows down ourselves.”

Guo Lixia didn’t make the panicked expression that Ke Xun was expecting. Instead, she even showed a look of admiration. “What a good idea! We’ll nail all the windows shut.”

Ke Xun continued to work calmly. “Okay. In a bit, I’ll go nail the windows shut! Don’t worry about shadows getting in, and at least the living won’t be dragged out!”

Guo Lixia’s voice was a little hesitant as she said, “I’m afraid that we’ll anger the giant shadow. The killer is so cruel. What if we angered him and were killed because of it?”

“Yiran said everyone in the painting must abide by the rules, including the boss himself.”