The Person in the Painting and the Person in the Play

"Why are you suddenly bringing this up?" Yu Xing was genuinely surprised. He knew his performance was excellent, but surely it shouldn't have scared Zhao Yijiu.

"..." Zhao Yijiu stopped answering the question and turned around to look at the scene in the collapsing painting. She seemed to suddenly become very interested in this blurry scenery.

Yu Xing chuckled. He could sense that although the topic was a bit strange, it was definitely Zhao Yijiu's true personality speaking to him. Not bad, anyway, after returning this time, resolving the issue between Zhao Yijiu's vengeful ghost personality and her true self would be on the agenda anyway, so it was always good to learn more.

He glanced at the companion of the experience instructor, who was hiding far away from them, his face still showing fear. As soon as his gaze fell on that person, the man's face turned even paler.

Although Yu Xing didn't know the requirements for the experience testers to participate in this activity, he was certain that this person was not a novice. After being scared for a while, the person took the initiative to walk towards him.

Zhao Yijiu caught a glimpse of this out of the corner of her eye, her expression shifting slightly, but she made no move. In any case, Yu Xing would definitely be fine against someone of this strength.

"I'm sorry, we overestimated ourselves." The chef's companion approached Yu Xing. She wasn't short, and looked at Yu Xing at eye level, but she was far less imposing. At this moment, her face showed a mixture of annoyance, fear, and coldness. "We shouldn't have hindered your chance to get the painting. Now that he's dead, shouldn't we put an end to the inconvenience we caused you?"

Yu Xing raised an eyebrow, her words carrying a hidden meaning. "I killed your companion, don't you plan to retaliate?"

"We started it. If we succeed, we reap everything; if we fail, we die. It's fair. He's already dead, and I'm still alive. I won't waste my chance to live for someone who's already dead." The cook's companion spoke these words with ruthlessness. The cook's corpse in the river would probably feel a little sad if it heard them.

"You really aren't a good person," Yu Xing sighed.

"At this point, I can only choose not to be a good person. If I become a so-called good person, will you let me go?" The chef's companion forced a smile. "When we're teammates, someone like me is better off dying first. But when we're enemies, I should be alright, right? Discretion is the better part of valor. Can you please let go of this pragmatic person like me?"

"I never intended to do anything more. I'm tired." Yu Xing looked at the man's face, memorizing his features. "At least you didn't do anything from beginning to end. You've left the art museum, and we won't see you for a while."

He curled his lips into a smile, his damp hair adding a touch of fierceness to his otherwise gentle face, "Go back to base and tell your companions that Xing, one of the Deducers, has no interest in resolving team conflicts; he only wants to clear the game using other methods. So if you encounter him, there's no need to provoke him—except for those I don't intend to be peaceful with."

He leaned closer to the person trying on the product, his lips near their ear, his voice low and somewhat menacing. "Don't make trouble for yourself. I'm not physically fit, and I hate things that tire me out."

A chilling aura, almost tangible, emanated from those words, causing the chef's companion to tremble uncontrollably, his Adam's apple bobbing. "... I understand. I'll definitely deliver that message, as long as I leave the art museum alive."

Yu Xing straightened up and patted the man on the shoulder. "Whether you live or not depends on your own abilities. I hope you're capable enough. I don't want to find another person to be my mouthpiece. Tsk, not all of you experience testers are so blind as to actively provoke others, are you?"

The chef's colleague thought, "No, the way you said that makes you seem like someone we shouldn't mess with. We were blind before."

When I get back, I still have to tell them that the person across from me who called himself Xing was terrifying... What was his gender again? Never mind, it doesn't matter, as long as he can pronounce it.

This must be the strongest person on the deducer's side, right? Perhaps the leader of everyone? After all, he single-handedly took down the chef who obtained the sacrifice... They must have been unlucky, encountering a large wave of SS right from the start...

After realizing that his life was temporarily out of danger, the chef's companion began to let his mind wander. The outcome had been quite shocking and a blow to him. He had been so frozen in fear of death that he hadn't had time to think about these things, but now that he had come to his senses, he couldn't help but speculate.

"That guy on the other side certainly enjoyed watching the show this time," Yu Xing said with a smile, not ignoring Yun Si. "This guy is also one of your companions, why isn't he helping you at all? Is the friendship among experience testers really that superficial?"

Yun Si, who was standing on the opposite bank of the river, sneezed.

He frowned, looking at the figures of the people talking on the opposite bank, somewhat unwilling. "Damn, they're speaking so softly, I can't hear them. Are they really showing me a silent play?"

Then, through the crumbling lines, he vaguely saw the three people opposite him glancing at him.

Yun Si: "...?"

He never expected that Yu Xing would step on him and give him an identity at this time, just like the cunning wolf in Werewolf.

The chef's companion chuckled, then immediately seized the opportunity to betray his teammate. "That guy's title is 'Prey.' He's not in my fixed team in the Yugi, so I don't know much about him. I only know that his team has been incredibly powerful this past year. His usual weapons are a pair of guns, extremely lethal sacrificial weapons, and he's skilled in combat. Oh, and their captain, the Mad Doctor, is a madman. He and the team's wise chess player are both at the art museum. I don't know if you've seen them..."

"It's certainly good news that a traitor like you exists in the enemy camp." Yu Xing didn't praise him or give him a hard time, only making a half-joking, half-serious sarcastic remark, "By the way, what's your title? What's your status on Dead Silent Island?"

"A container," said the chef's companion. "That's my title; my identity is banker."

The scene along the riverbank was almost completely ruined, with large swaths of blank space standing out, as if a painting had been ripped clean of paint. The ground beneath their feet trembled. Yu Xing gave the "container" a final, slightly threatening look. "I don't want to run into trouble again at the art museum later."

"I understand, I understand." A container can bend and stretch; it truly lives up to its name as a container.

A blinding flash of white light caused all the outsiders to instinctively close their eyes to avoid being blinded. When they opened their eyes again, the surroundings had returned to their usual noisy state. Zhao Yijiu was still holding the oil painting, as if everything that had just happened was only a moment ago.

The only difference was that the chef who had rushed to their side to use the offerings to activate the oil painting was gone.

There were no corpses, nor any trace of life, as if a person named Chef had never existed on this island.

Yu Xing's eyes flickered almost imperceptibly as he saw the container sneakily running in the opposite direction not far away, as if afraid that he might suddenly change his mind and chase after him to kill him.

"Are you just going to let him go like that?" Zhao Yijiu's voice was cold. "When they were on the shore, they plotted together to kill you."

"Well, in this world, it's not about what people say, it's about what they do." Yu Xing patted Zhao Yijiu's arm reassuringly, hearing that Zhao Yijiu seemed still bothered by the matter. "As long as he doesn't actually lay a hand on me, even if he curses me a thousand times, it's all in vain. That's the principle."

Zhao Yijiu listened quietly, it was unclear whether she accepted this explanation. Judging from her eyes, she probably didn't think much of someone like Yunzi who betrayed his teammates.

"After this, even if he returns to his base and continues to plot with others on how to kill me, he'll only be all talk and no action, secretly denying the plan. He'll then put himself in the safest place during the operation. This kind of unpredictable, incompetent teammate is exactly what I need as his opponent." Yu Xing said, glancing around.

This was the area near the third-floor staircase on the second floor. There were few people there to see the ghosts, and he didn't see Yun Si either. Yun Si must have slipped away the moment he returned to the art museum.

"Prey, huh... what a strange term," Yu Xing muttered. "Then my prediction about his early warning ability must have been correct. As prey, you can't be without a sense of danger."

"Shall we go?" Zhao Yijiu asked.

In just a few short seconds, everyone who was supposed to leave had left, leaving only him holding an oil painting. With Yu Xing standing next to him, he felt a bit like a bodyguard carrying oil paintings for a young, extravagant boss.

"Come on, come on, I've been curious about the third floor for a while now." Yu Xing's interest was rekindled upon hearing this. He urged Zhao Yijiu to go up the stairs, leaving himself half a step behind to avoid being hit by the oil painting frame.

The scenery in the painting has changed.

It's largely the same painting as before, except that the old fisherman is no longer sitting; instead, he's packing up his fishing rod and small stool, looking like he's preparing to leave.

In the water, the shadow previously outlined with lines now reveals half a head above the surface, with black hair falling loose and eyes gazing blankly at the sky—this is the perspective from which others view the painting relative to the person in it.

The Female Ghost in the water is looking "outside the frame".

"Tsk, this girl is quite pitiful." Yu Xing inexplicably met the gaze of the motionless Female Ghost in the painting and sighed, "Brother Jiu, do you want to know what I saw in the water?"

"I'm not curious, but I don't mind listening to what you want to say." Zhao Yijiu walked on expressionlessly, but his gaze shifted slightly. He was walking ahead and couldn't see Yu Xing's expression, so he turned his gaze back.

"The girl was manipulated by her boyfriend. She came from a well-off family, and during their relationship, her boyfriend treated her very well in every way—he was wealthy, cultured, and practically the perfect lover. Gradually, under his guidance, she distanced herself from her family and even spent money to help him with many 'unexpected situations'... When the time was right, her boyfriend wanted to break up with her, and the girl fell into the trap of being manipulated into wanting to die for him."

Yu Xing recounted the scene she witnessed after obtaining the Water Ghost's heart. "Her family, especially her younger brother, sensed something was wrong. That night, they followed her to see what was going on with her lately, only to find their sister had jumped into the river. The river was swift, and her brother couldn't swim. By the time they called the police, it was too late."

"Her original resentment wasn't that strong, and she shouldn't have become Water Ghost after drowning. But for some reason, once underwater, she was held back by some force. Her family came to the riverbank crying and told her about the police investigation into her boyfriend after she reported him missing. He turned out to be a lazy, unemployed conman."

"So she truly became Water Ghost, especially hating people like me who are insincere in relationships and take advantage of others. As for the girl's belongings that appeared on the shore every day after her death, they were things she found in the mud when she was wandering in the water in a daze—the belongings of a girl who had once attempted suicide in this river."

When Zhao Yijiu heard Yu Xing say "someone like him" so casually, a strange look appeared on her face.

He scoffed, "You really know how to act, and you're quite skilled at it."

They had already reached the third floor, where a quiet corridor stretched out before them. Signs were posted along the corridor, the most prominent one reading. "[The person in charge and renowned painters await the results in the Art Appreciation Room.]"

The map on the wall shows that the Art Appreciation Room is at the end of another corridor after turning a corner at the end of this corridor.

They continued talking as they walked on.

"A play is meant to be performed," Yu Xing, unconcerned by Zhao Yijiu's doubts. "Once you're in the play, you're part of the character. Only after you've finished the performance and stepped out of the play do you truly become yourself. Whether you get into the play or out of it depends on your skill."

"Who said that?" Zhao Yijiu felt something was off. It was clearly a good experience, but he felt like he was listening to a ghost story, and it gave him the creeps.

"Ah." Yu Xing was taken aback.

Realizing what he had said, he paused for two seconds, then smiled and shook his head, "A lesson from an old friend in a play."

"Lingren?" Zhao Yijiu didn't give him a chance to fool her.

"Not Lingren," Yu Xing replied, "But a character in a play."

He smirked, "That gentle yet resolute male lead would say these things, but the Lingren offstage wouldn't. They're completely different people..."

"They are one person," Zhao Yijiu interrupted Yu Xing, "A more complete person than me and the vengeful ghost. If you have a grudge against him, you can't show him any mercy."

Yu Xing paused for a moment, then chuckled, "Of course I know, don't worry. It's not just my enemy; he also hurt you, Qu Xuanqing, and Zhu Yan... They're our common enemy, how could I possibly show mercy?"

Zhao Yijiu then hummed in agreement, a subtle upward curve appearing at the corner of her lips.

He didn't know why, but when he heard Yu Xing so naturally say what the Lingren had once said, he felt a chill run down his spine and his hair stood on end. He only knew that with Yu Xing's assurance, he felt a little more at ease.

Is it because they fear that one day Yu Xing will be swayed by the Lingren' opinions?

If that day ever comes, it will be... the end of the world for everyone involved.

"Oh, right," Yu Xing tried to change the subject, "I didn't see anything about the old man fishing in the water. The old man had no connection to the Water Ghost's death, and those young girls who wanted to jump into the river after she died weren't her doing either. Putting all these clues together, it proves that the strange thing is the river itself."

As Zhao Yijiu listened, she became somewhat doubtful. "But we're already out. If there's something wrong with the river, can we still track it down?"

"I'm not entirely sure, but I have a feeling," Yu Xing said. "The strangeness of that river isn't confined to the painting; perhaps it's related to Wizard Cult? In any case, if my feeling is correct, later on, at a specific time and place, we'll obtain clues connecting this river."

"And now that I'm interested in the other paintings too, let's meet with the person in charge later and pick out another one to play with!"

Zhao Yijiu: "Okay."

They walked around the corner, stopped talking, slowed their pace, and fell silent.

The corridor after the corner was bare, except for the dim crystal chandeliers embedded in the walls, and at the end there was only a single bright red door, which looked rather eerie.

Above the main entrance are the three Chinese characters "Art Appreciation Room" (Jianhua Shi, meaning "Painting Appreciation Studio").

Yu Xing discovered that the Dead Silent Island has its own writing system, but in the dungeons of independent buildings, they still use a writing system that outsiders can understand.

He and Zhao Yijiu, who was carrying an oil painting, arrived at the entrance of the Art Appreciation Room.