Everyone's a Girl

That's terrifying.

Yun Si sensed true fear. Facing the long river and feeling the fresh river breeze, the swaying of his skirt made him feel as if he had fallen into hell.

Her breasts are so soft.

Ah!

He turned into a woman!

Yun Si stood there blankly. He could actually sense that this was not his body. Not only was there a gender change, but his perspective was also shorter than usual, and he had no muscles at all. Clearly, he was... possessing a girl's body in a state similar to possession.

But that didn't stop him from finding it unacceptable; he'd never dressed as a woman before in his entire life!

He just wanted to watch the show!

Perhaps he had been standing there for too long, because finally, the conversation of the elderly people next to him pulled him back to reality.

"What's wrong with this girl...?"

"Shh, she looks so sad, she's probably heartbroken."

"Maybe something happened to her family... Sigh, let's not talk about her like that. Young girls have it tough too; young people these days face so much pressure. One of my grandson's classmates..."

Another elderly man, whose voice was hoarse and sounded like he had a bad throat, stopped his friend's wandering thoughts, saying, "Don't tell me he's thinking of jumping into the river again."

Yun Si's senses were triggered by this word, and he instantly snapped back to reality, his eyes sharpening.

Yes, even if he was dressed as a woman... we shouldn't focus on that. The point is, he's entered the painting.

This is probably the attack method of the landscape painting, which was within his expectations. It's just that the person pulled into the painting has to use the identity of the person in the painting to avoid death and attack. There are two ways to get out: one is to find the "door" and escape from the painting. I don't know if these oil paintings have this setting.

Another method involves time. You stay inside the painting, fighting against the danger of death. Once you've escaped one or more threats of death, the time is almost up, and you can leave.

He looked toward the group of elderly men. Several of them were sitting on the riverbank, each on a small stool, with fish baskets and bait bags beside them. Not all of them were fishing; some were just sitting and watching, as if they had come to join in the fun.

His gaze was noticed by the old men who were talking about him, and they immediately stopped talking to him and started discussing their fishing progress that day.

Yun Si: "..."

Resigned, he lifted his skirt, turned and walked away, intending to see if there were any clues by the river.

The old man would certainly be a source of information to exchange, but he didn't want to go so early, in case he triggered something and he didn't have enough information.

There were other people by the river, so he could at least take a leisurely stroll and listen to what other passersby had to say about the river. The old man's comment, "Could it be that he's thinking of jumping into the river again?" proved that someone had jumped into the river before him.

There will always be traces of something that happened; he doesn't believe he can't hear them.

Besides... Yun Si awkwardly touched the tip of his nose. He was pulled in by the painting even though he was so far away, so Yu Xing, Cold Wine, the chef, and the chef's companions must all be in here too. He wondered what they would look like...

Thinking of this, his gaze involuntarily fell on a middle-aged woman walking towards him, and he maliciously wondered if she might be the chef.

The sky in the painting is brighter than that of Dead Silent Island. Although it is also a brain-like grayish-white, the light is sufficient, making it look like a cloudy day in reality.

A gentle breeze blew from the river, quite pleasant. Yun Si gathered her long hair that had fallen beside her ears behind her head and walked silently along the riverbank.

It seems to be evening now, and many people are out for a walk after dinner. They walk in twos and threes, some with families, some with couples, and some with their pet dogs. Most of them are dressed casually. He is wearing a white dress, and his slender figure looks a bit lonely, which seems somewhat out of place here.

Perhaps this is the kind of treatment an event receives as the "protagonist"—for a landscape oil painting, a melancholy girl in a white dress is simply perfect as an embellishment.

As for the other people... those residents who come out for a stroll in their pajamas are unlikely to appear in the artistic atmosphere that the painter is trying to create.

The world has no boundaries, but a painting does. Yun Si walked slowly, feeling the rich atmosphere of daily life, until he reached a certain point and found himself unable to move forward.

His legs became incredibly heavy as he approached, as if an invisible chain was wrapped around his ankles. At that moment, he was like a figure in a painting trying to break free from his confinement, with an invisible wall of air in front of him.

"..."

The people in the distance seemed so free and real, but only he knew that it was just a few unimportant strokes that hadn't been framed by the painter.

His pupils contracted, and he suddenly felt fear.

It wasn't the cross-dressing that made him feel terrible, but the feeling of being controlled by something made him extremely uncomfortable, even causing him to tremble.

At that moment, he was even suddenly glad that he was only temporarily possessing the body of the person in the painting, otherwise, he might have wandered here for the rest of his life without realizing that something was wrong.

But speaking of his real world... is there really no "paintbrush" controlling it?

"Damn it, I can't let Ning Feng infect me." Just before falling into a mental trap, Yun Si shook his head, took a step back to relieve the heaviness in his legs, and then rubbed his temples.

Ning Feng used to be a psychiatrist, but because he didn't hold on to his beliefs when he was young, he came to identify with the world as described by mental patients, fell into their mindset, and caused his own worldview to collapse.

From then on, Ning Feng was promoted from a psychiatrist to a mental patient... The whole team knew about this, because Ning Feng never thought of hiding it.

Yun Si felt that he couldn't easily doubt such a thing, otherwise it would just go on forever.

He coughed softly, stiffened when he heard the girl's voice coming from his throat, and then covered his face expressionlessly.

He's too slow.

However, by the time he reached the invisible wall, he had already heard all the information he needed to along the way. As he expected, the world of the painting was not complicated. Most of the people taking a walk were talking about a single topic, as if they were born for it.

He heard three noteworthy things.

First, a week ago, a female college student jumped into the river here. It seems that the reason was a conflict with her family. I heard that when she jumped into the river, her younger brother was right behind her, but he did not stop her and jumped in with her.

Second, since the female college student jumped into the river, people have heard the sound of heavy objects falling into the river every day for the past week, but when they rush over, they can't see anything unusual; the water is calm and undisturbed.

Third, sanitation workers often find strange things by the river early in the morning. Sometimes it's women's shoes, sometimes glasses, sometimes women's clothing of unknown origin. This happens for seven days in a row, with a different item each day. The sanitation workers are frightened and have even compared these items with pictures in the news. None of these things were taken with the female college student who jumped into the river when she died.

Yun Si doesn't yet know how much of these three things have been distorted through "hearsay," but the general direction is certain: the death threat in this painting is indeed centered around the river.

He turned to face the long river that stretched as far as the eye could see. The surface was calm, not very clear, and the turbulent undercurrents were not visible.

The incident started with the female college student jumping into the river. Yun Si guessed that this was probably a theme of revenge by a Water Ghost. He just didn't know whether the female college student hated her family or the "younger brother who was behind her when she jumped into the river." He personally leaned towards the latter, because he didn't become the younger brother, but rather a girl in a white dress.

As an outsider, he was drawn into the painting and was destined to be attacked. By the same logic, the "girl in the white dress" would be the more vulnerable target, and the ghost in the river would probably prefer to kill the "girl."

The reason might be hatred towards girls of that age, or it could simply be a desire to find someone to replace her. Once a person who dies in the water becomes a ghost, they will be trapped there unless someone takes their place.

Water Ghost are basically all based on this setting; it's a legend that has been passed down from ancient times in reality. Even in Yugi, Water Ghost don't deviate from this setting.

Yun Si blinked. He tried gazing at the lake for a while, but couldn't feel anything attracting him.

It's likely that the ghost in the water wasn't targeting him first, since he was standing quite far away. The first to be attacked would probably be Cold Wine, Yu Xing, or the chef, who were closest to the painting.

"It's alright, it seems like I can still enjoy the show, even if the perspective is a bit different..." He comforted himself, patting his chest as he did so.

That feels so good.

Yun Si walked back towards the old men, feeling quite satisfied. She wondered if anyone might be possessing one of them. Besides a young girl like herself, if there was another identity that would definitely attract ghosts, it would definitely be the old man fishing.

The image of an old man fishing appears in oil paintings; he's practically the "main character" of them all.

Having figured things out, Yun Si decided to find a seat with a good view of the elderly men and wait for the plot to unfold. He didn't really want to compete for this fake spot, so a laid-back attitude was just right.

He guessed that someone must have already figured out his outsider status. The girl in the white dress who walked back and forth along the riverbank was not someone whose identity was easy to hide. Similarly, he had also spotted several potential targets while walking.

To his delight, they were all girls.

On the other side of the riverbank, the opposite bank he could see, sat a red-skirted young woman, who looked to be a college student. She wasn't alone; her face was dark, as if someone owed her money. Another woman, dressed more provocatively, sat beside her, smiling and talking.

Not far from the two girls stood two more girl in high school uniform skirt. They looked much more well-behaved, but their frequent glances towards the girl in the red dress undoubtedly revealed their concern for her presence.

Even if it's just possession, at least someone is with him possessing a girl!

"Interesting, I'm still in the audience." If it weren't for the crowd around him, Yun Si would have whistled to express his delight. His seat was perfect, offering a panoramic view.

If his observation is correct, then the four girls were the ones who were pulled into the painting along with him. The old men fishing might have other purposes; there were also a few fishermen on the other side of the river, perhaps they really were just delivering information.

Yun Si didn't want any more information; he just wanted to watch the show. As long as someone broke the painting, the others would follow suit, unless they were already dead when the attack was broken, in which case there was no way to prevent it.

Because of his special physique, he was least afraid of illusion attacks. So after wandering around this painted world twice, he had already realized the rules of the painting and determined his own safety.

When their group encounters hallucinatory ghosts, he's always the one who takes action; the landscape painting world is really nothing to him.

After Yun Si borrowed a small stool from the old man, he sat down a little distance from the river, propped his chin up, and gazed at the opposite bank.

He thought idly, the high school girl in the uniform still hadn't made a move, and seemed to be observing the situation. She must be the chef and the others. The girl in the red dress was too cold; she must be the one possessed by the Cold Wine. The woman who looked the most mature and natural... was she Xing?

Only Xing could so quickly immerse herself in the role and even seem happy about it, even when she was aware of her own state Yu Fengchen said that Xing is a shameless drama queen...

Yu Fengchen also said, "Never try to outdo Yu Xing in shamelessness; you can't win."

"That seems interesting." Thinking of Yu Fengchen's comments, Yun Si was intrigued. If he were lucky enough to hear what the "girls" on the other side of the strait were saying, he would probably agree with Yu Fengchen.

"Don't be angry, don't be angry, we're all sisters now~" Yu Xing said with a playful smile, putting her arm around the shoulder of the girl in the red dress in front of her. Then, unable to hold back any longer, her teasing turned into a "pfft".

Zhao Yijiu immediately turned to look at him. Even though his face was completely different, the warning and sinister look in his eyes were still the same.

"I will make this Water Ghost regret ever being born." He knew that Yu Xing couldn't help but laugh when she saw him. He actually wanted to laugh when he saw Yu Xing too, but Yu Xing seemed too indifferent, so laughing at him was pointless.

So it became a one-sided joke about him.

"Ah, what did the Water Ghost do wrong? It was behaving itself, letting us take it away obediently." Seeing Zhao Yijiu's bad mood, Yu Xing straightened his expression. "Ahem... wasn't it that experience tester who caused this? How about this, we find that person and kill him."

"... Kill him?" Zhao Yijiu's tone became hesitant, then she continued coldly, "He tried to steal a spot, and he got killed by a ghost. He brought it on himself. I won't let human blood get on my hands."

Yu Xing asked, "What if he not only wants to steal the spots, but also wants to kill us?"

Zhao Yijiu opened her mouth, as if to say that this was a different matter altogether.

It's not acceptable to indiscriminately kill innocent people, but it's also impossible to simply endure mistreatment without fighting back.

He simply didn't want to kill, not that he couldn't.

"Then fight back," he said. "We have no deep-seated hatred for them. If they kill each other over a single spot, they're no different from those indiscriminate monsters that slaughter innocent people. Monster blood is safe to taint."

Yu Xing's eyes flashed. Sure enough, it was better for Brother Jiu to be like this. If the vengeful ghost was allowed to cause trouble, this kind-hearted Brother Jiu would probably be gone.

Looking at the girl in front of him, who was completely different from Zhao Yijiu, even though they had different appearances, she overlapped with Zhao Yijiu because of her temperament. The vengeful ghost, despite having the exact same appearance as Zhao Yijiu, was completely like a different person.

Yu Xing laughed and said, "We don't need you to come. If they try to attack us, I'll just torture them to death."

He's definitely not a good person.

"They're over there." Zhao Yijiu, finally letting go of his resentment at possessing a woman, subtly gestured to the two high school girls not far from them, interrupted by Yu Xing.

"Hmm, I noticed it a long time ago. Without the physique obtained through the system, they're just ordinary people; they have no talent for concealment whatsoever." Yu Xing glanced over there and smiled knowingly. "Let's wait until dark. When it gets dark, the story of this painting should begin."

"Will it be a long time before it gets dark?" Zhao Yijiu was looking forward to nightfall.

"It won't be long. After all, it's just a world in a painting, so time is the least important thing," Yu Xing said confidently.