As everyone's attention was focused on the window, it suddenly slammed shut with a loud thud.
Startled, Yu Nan quickly grabbed Zhu Yao's hand, causing Zhu Yao to realize with pain that she had accidentally caught her hand in the glass window in the game.
It was quiet outside, as if the closed window was just an illusion, as if the window that had been open was just an illusion.
With no other way out, Zhu Yao turned back and opened the only door. The originally vertical corridor became horizontal, the other doors disappeared, and several paintings appeared in the corridor.
The scene behind the door is changing.
Zhu Yao recalled the notice before the game started, which stated that different choices would lead to different results, probably starting from the moment she entered the art studio.
The cramped corridor suddenly widened, and as Zhu Yao turned the corner, she saw a huge ceiling fan that filled the entire ceiling of the room, swaying and spinning rapidly, as if it would fall down at any moment.
Zhu Yao walked around for a moment, then casually opened the cabinet door. A photo floated out—it was of his wife playing the piano from behind.
A wine bottle lay overturned beside it, and a line of crooked, water-written words appeared on the back of the sofa, which was mostly waterlogged.
'circle'
Why does it feel like... the person who wrote this dislikes the painter... is it his wife?
Zhu Yao looked around for clues and found a warning letter from a neighbor to the painter, saying that their house was too noisy.
Are you going to make so much noise that the people in the next villa have to write a letter...? You know, Yu Nan's house is also a villa, and she can't hear her neighbors at all!
The rain outside seemed to have suddenly stopped. The shadows of the trees danced like ghostly hands in the moonlight. The background music also stopped, and you could hear a faint, sharp sound, like the wind or someone howling.
Zhu Yao lit the candlestick in the dark corner, and the three candles on the candlestick lit up instantly, illuminating the three paintings in the corner.
The next second, a sharp metallic sound rang out, the three paintings distorted and magnified, and three characters slowly emerged.
Zhu Yao saw the locked box behind her. After entering the three characters, the box opened automatically with a "creak," and a line of distorted words appeared inside.
'The past makes you hesitant to move forward'
It didn't feel like a curse; it felt more like a hint or a sense of disappointment.
At first, Zhu Yao thought the sharp words would be full of hatred for the painter, but now why are they starting to spout motivational platitudes?
That gentle and beautiful wife, even in death, still held deep love for the painter…
Besides the inscription, there was also a ring in the box, which was probably the ring the painter and his wife wore when they got married.
Suddenly, a woman's faint, indistinct voice appeared in my ear, as if a group of invisible people were muttering to themselves.
The line of inspirational literature in the box suddenly changed—
'Look closer'
Chapter 35 Reading the Game to You
Upon closer inspection, the ring features a deep blue gemstone atop its finely textured surface.
'If I can't have my name engraved on the world's most beautiful work of art, I'd rather be dead.'
The man's voice rang out slowly, like a nightmare, with a hint of madness and obsession.
So, will you marry me?
That's truly... a unique marriage proposal line...
Yu Nan was speechless. "This painter must have been mentally unstable before he got married. Or is it that artists just don't know how to speak properly?"
Zhu Yao put down the ring, and a line of words appeared on the wall.
'never forget'
Pushing open the door, a new corridor appeared outside, with a dirty chair covered in watercolor swaying in the middle of the corridor, as if an invisible person was sitting on it.
Do you know what a bird startled by the mere twang of a bow is?
Lang Xi suddenly blurted out this sentence out of the blue, and Yu Nan had no idea what that guy was thinking.
"At first, it's just a slight test. Then, the frequency is increased, and fear and repression accumulate. When the mind is tense to a certain extent, just a small switch will release the emotions like a flood."
Zhu Yao nodded, as if she instantly understood Lang Xi's words, "It's about building up emotions in the early stages, and then having them explode in the climax."
"This child is teachable!"
Lang Xi's undisguised praise of Zhu Yao made Yu Nan feel a little irritated. She kept thinking about the nonsensical words Lang Xi had said in her ear—"I'm coming to chase after Yao Yao."
Why is the whole world stopping her from getting close to Zhu Yao? Li Yue was baffled, and Lang Xi was baffled as well.
Yu Nan felt confused. She didn't care about other people's opinions at all, but she inexplicably chickened out in front of Zhu Yao several times.
Stepping over the wobbly chair, Zhu Yao pushed the door open again.
Directly opposite the door was a protruding painting: a child upside down, as if falling. Yu Nan focused her attention on the child's face; it was a little boy with short, wavy, blond hair…
The screen went black instantly, followed by the sound of something falling.
Yu Nan was startled again and jumped directly into Zhu Yao's arms, as if she were being carried in a princess carry.
Despite the shock, Zhu Yao and Lang Xi remained unmoved, only turning their gaze back to the panicked Yu Nan.
Feeling intensely embarrassed as the two men stared at her, Yu Nan cursed inwardly.
Waaah, why did my parents make me so timid? It was bad enough that I was bullied by Yu Hua and Li Yue when I was little, but now I have to embarrass myself in front of Lang Xi and Zhu Yao.
She keeps embarrassing herself over and over again! If she could crawl into a crack in the ground, Yu Nan would probably be at the Earth's core by now!
"Little Yu Nan, if you're really scared, just keep holding onto Miss Zhu."
Lang Xi looked at Yu Nan with a smile, which made Yu Nan very unhappy.
Lang Dao'er used to always use this expression, telling her "you can't do it" and "you can't do it" while crushing her with his superior skills, so much so that Yu Nan would subconsciously do the opposite whenever she saw Lang Xixiao.
But this time... I really want to hold Zhu Yao close all the time, even if my motives aren't pure, I just want to be close to Zhu Yao.
No way! It would make me look like a sleazy person taking advantage of the situation!
As a timid young man who values virtue and beauty, Yu Nan felt like he was being electrocuted even when he was around the person he liked. So he quietly sat in the corner of the sofa, shrinking his body to guard against any unusual movements on the screen while minimizing his contact with Zhu Yao.
Zhu Yao looked at Yu Nan, who was huddled to the side, with a strange expression, while Lang Xi burst out laughing, "Are you looking down on Miss Zhu?"
"Hmm," Yu Nan closed her eyes and buried her head in her hands in despair, "I'm afraid that when she goes to find her, she'll kill me too."
"What is that? A ghost?"
"Aaaaaah! I can't say that word at night! Didn't you read that story too?!"
"What article?" Zhu Yao asked curiously.
Yu Nan brushed it off, saying, "It's nothing."
Yu Nan and Lang Xi answered Zhu Yao's question in their hearts at the same time—the article you wrote.
Although Lang Dao'er's reader account had long been exposed, he tacitly protected Yu Nan's reader account. Yu Nan didn't know whether this was a good thing or a bad thing.
The group then turned their attention back to the screen. The protagonist had apparently fallen into the basement. It was very dark all around, with only a candle lit on a round stool in the far corner. They could see the mottled and damaged wall plaster on the ground, as well as the red bricks and steel wires protruding from the wall.
On the ground lay a portrait of a man. In the dim candlelight, the man's lips curled into a half-smile, his eyes fixed on the screen.
Yu Nan recalled the photo with Zhu Yao, and no matter the angle, it felt like she was being stared at by those eyes. However, compared to Zhu Yao, the person in the game's picture seemed particularly eerie.
Beside the unsettling portrait was a line of sharp words: 'Dirty rats are even running in my lungs; the absurd stains are only increasing.'
Unlike the occasional black characters, this line of text is more distorted, and there is a drawing of a mouse next to it, so it should be the artist's handwriting.
On the opposite wall was the light switch. Zhu Yao turned on the light, and a loud thud came from behind her. Zhu Yao subconsciously turned her head and saw the painting on the ground floating in mid-air. The man in the painting was staring intently at the screen outside, his mouth turned down, and his expression became serious and ferocious.
Just as Yu Nan suppressed her scream and was about to boast that she hadn't been scared this time, she heard a whistling sound in her ears, like the sound of wind, or like the painful gasping of someone whose trachea had been cut open.
The screen became distorted, and the portrait of the man, along with its frame, became crooked. Many more paintings appeared around it, appearing one by one and surrounding the screen, twisting and whistling as if melting.
Just like... those outside the screen, surrounded by these paintings, the howling suddenly became sharp, like tourists discussing something while viewing an art exhibition.
The painting depicts people watching the exhibition.
"Aaaaaaahhhhhh!" Yu Nan was almost in tears, clinging tightly to Zhu Yao's neck. Zhu Yao wasn't scared by the game; instead, she was struggling to breathe from Yu Nan's choking and coughed while clutching her neck.
"You... you're scared and you're attacking me?" Lang Xi looked at him with a strange expression and moved her chair away from Yu Nan. "Let's leave some health for Miss Zhu. Earth Online only has one life."
Yu Nan: "I couldn't control myself."
Lang Xi: "Then let's not watch it?"
Yu Nan turned her head away from the screen, straddled Zhu Yao's lap, buried her head in Zhu Yao's shoulder, hugged Zhu Yao tightly, ignored Lang Xi's words, and stayed on Zhu Yao without moving.
Helpless, Zhu Yao patted Yu Nan's back like she was comforting a child, "Are you alright?"
"fine."
Yu Nan replied, but showed no intention of getting off Zhu Yao. Zhu Yao turned her head to look at the screen, hugging Yu Nan as she continued playing the game.
Lang Xi clicked his tongue in amazement, "The lifelong goal of a bunch of lousy gamers is to find a girlfriend to play games with like this. Congratulations to Miss Zhu for leading 95% of gamers."
"She's not..." Zhu Yao only knew that Lang Xi was a concubine, and frantically tried to signal to Lang Xi with her eyes not to talk nonsense in front of Yu Nan.
"Hey, I was just saying it offhand," Lang Xi said, scratching her head as if she was embarrassed. "It was just a joke, Miss Zhu, you don't need to explain."
Zhu Yao was speechless; her previous explanation now seemed like a blatant attempt to cover something up.
Yu Nan faced the door and met Lang Xi's gaze, only to see Lang Xi's malicious smile.
"If this is how you two usually behave when playing horror games, am I disturbing you today?"
Lang Xi got up and backed away from the game room. "I'm going to sleep. I won't be a third wheel here anymore. Miss Zhu, don't forget to hand in your homework after you finish playing the game."
Silence fell in the game room. Lang Xi's words just now contained a lot of information. Why did Zhu Yao have to hand in her homework to Lang Xi?
Zhu Yao timidly picked up the controller, "Um... I met Wolf Blade as my mentor online a few days ago while playing games, and I never expected to meet him today..."
“It’s good to have her as your mentor,” Yu Nan said with a complicated expression. “There are many things I can’t teach you, but with her guidance you can avoid many detours… Please learn Wolf Blade’s special skills as soon as possible!”
The two tacitly avoided mentioning Lang Xi's "girlfriend" joke, nor did they mention why the game streamer Lang Dao'er suddenly decided to take on apprentices.
After the commotion, the atmosphere in the game had completely vanished, leaving only the painting of the man floating in mid-air. The scene returned to normal, and the distortion just now seemed like an illusion.
On the wall opposite the portrait of the man, a long and narrow staircase appeared, with a few thumb-sized candles scattered on the wall, barely illuminating the dim corridor.
The corridor leads to a half-open door. Pushing it open produces a creaking sound of old wood scraping against each other. A deer head hangs above a burning fireplace, staring intently at the screen outside.
It was that unsettling feeling of eye contact again.