Raincoats in the City

The two stopped in the corridor. After all, there were too many people on the second floor. If they wanted to talk business, the deserted corridor on the third floor was the best option, apart from the lounge on the first floor.

"A special force, Wizard Cult?" Zhao Yijiu asked. After all, they had made some guesses about the Wizard Cult before coming to Dead Silent Island, and deduced that the five maps of this event were probably closely related to the Wizard Cult, perhaps even its headquarters or an important branch.

Therefore, when Yu Xing mentions special forces, the first thing that comes to mind is this evil force that tampered with many of the simulations.

"The Wizard Cult? Perhaps, or maybe they're Wizard Cult enemies?" Yu Xing crossed her arms and leaned lazily against the corridor wall. "How about this, let me tell you what I heard inside."

He then recounted to Zhao Yijiu what his supervisor had told him, and said, "I'm more inclined to believe that the person who sent the letter to the art museum was a well-trained organization. There must be someone among them who is good at forging paintings, someone who is good at stealth, someone who is good at planning and strategizing, and someone who is good at hiding ghosts in media. Only in this way can the entire threat process be completed."

"As for whether this organization is Wizard Cult, I'm not sure, because we can see that the art gallery director and these painters are not good people either. Based on the information we have so far, there should be more than one Wizard Cult on the island, otherwise, there should be some kind of church worship or something, but in fact we haven't seen any."

"So I guess there are many sects on this island, at least not just one or two. Most of them are operating in the shadows, fighting over things that only they themselves understand. The art museum might be connected to one of them, and the one who sent the letter was probably an adversary."

That makes a lot of sense. Zhao Yijiu thought for a moment, then asked, "Since the quota represents the qualification to enter the collection room, should we try to get more?"

"Hey, don't think of the experience testers as useless." Yu Xing chuckled. "I'll get you one more spot, but time is running out. They should have found at least one or two paintings by now, not to mention I gave Ning Feng a hint... We'll see then. If we can grab a spot, great; if not, we'll try to keep the spots in Ning Feng's team."

It's unclear who brought the two teams together, but it might not be a good thing that Ning Feng's team got so many offerings so quickly. However, if the spot is bound to be taken by someone else, it's safest to give it to Ning Feng and his team.

At least Ning Feng's team has expressed interest in cooperation, while the other experience testers are still at the level of "enemies".

After they reached an agreement, they went down from the third floor and returned to the noisy second floor.

The second floor was still bustling with people, over two meters tall, dressed in gorgeous clothes, praising each painting like dolls without any sense of aesthetics.

They were good communicators, and while they ostensibly bought tickets to attend the art exhibition, they unsurprisingly showered the exhibition with compliments without showing any other interest in it.

These should all be unique to the replica of the art museum building. Yu Xing was just curious whether they were plague-like beings or contaminants.

It should be the plague entity, while the ghostly creature in the painting is the pollution entity, which aligns with the trend of opposition between the two.

Yu Xing found everything on the Dead Silent Island very strange. Although each building had its own unique rules, they all strangely conformed to a major pattern. Some of them seemed to exist only as tools for the dungeon, while others were connected to other buildings...

The last female customer at Kraun Grocery Store seems to appear in different buildings.

This suggests that the magnetic field of Dead Silent Island itself is peculiar; its existence is justified. What exactly led to the creation of Dead Silent Island?

He always felt that someone had used Ning Feng's team to invite him to Dead Silent Island to deduce the map, and that must be for some purpose. It must be related to him, something that couldn't be done without him. What could it be that couldn't be done without him? The first thing Yu Xing thought of was the cursed power within his body.

Although this thought was somewhat abrupt and lacked supporting evidence, he just felt that his curse power might have some connection with the Dead Silent Island.

Therefore, he became even more wary of the person behind the scenes. However, this was not the time to think about such things. He had already taken the painting from area A, and it was undoubtedly the one he had told Ning Feng about. He decided to take Zhao Yijiu to area B to take a look.

Section B exhibits portrait paintings. Unlike Section 1, Section B mostly depicts full-body portraits, including the surrounding scenery, and focuses more on the overall composition compared to the partial portraits in Section 1.

Upon arriving at the district, Yu Xing didn't see any familiar faces, only two unfamiliar experience testers.

Because the corridor in this area wasn't as winding and circuitous as the one in area A, but rather a wide path leading to a rectangular room, the two people spotted them immediately.

Their expressions were filled with distrust and apprehension, but they didn't cause any trouble. Yu Xing was very satisfied; that was enough. It seemed that the container had done a good job.

As long as the container can see the big picture, it won't let its fellow experience testers provoke it and cause premature casualties. The chef has already set a bad example, so the container should have already mentioned it to its companions. As for what it said, Yu Xing doesn't know and is too lazy to ask. No matter if the other party describes him as fierce or wicked, as long as the goal is achieved, he doesn't care.

He just wanted a quiet space to appreciate paintings.

There are only four areas: A, B, and D. Each area should theoretically have at least one painting. Yu Xing wasn't sure if the fake painting was with the two experience testers, so he decided to leave it for now and start looking from the beginning.

Zhao Yijiu stayed close to him, acting as his Master.

The more he looked around, the more boring this place seemed. He couldn't understand why he, with his ghostly personality, had dragged Yu Xing here. To him, this place was like a math exam for a terrible student; he couldn't help her at all.

Feeling a bit annoyed, Yu Xing looked through more than a dozen paintings with the automatic air conditioner beside him. He didn't find anything wrong with them. Although the paintings had a gloomy style and dark tones, and the content was mostly dead people, zombies, ghosts, or evil dukes and perverted killers, the lines, colors, and other brushstrokes matched the painters who had signed the paintings.

Yu Xing: "Tsk, could they have already been found?"

Because the two unfamiliar experience testers had been lingering in front of a certain painting for a long time, as if they had locked onto that painting, and Yu Xing hadn't even looked at the painting in that direction yet, which was not good.

He stared at the two people for a little longer than usual, Zhao Yijiu noticed, asking, "What's going on?"

"I'm not sure, let's go check it out."

Yu Xing a little regretful. He didn't want to cause trouble for these experience testers at all, but if the fake product was found in advance, he might still have to try to snatch it.

At worst, he could apologize after stealing and offer compensation later, assuming the other party didn't intend to harm him.

He walked toward the two experience instructors, who were also wary of him. As he approached, one of them turned around and met his gaze warily and openly.

The man was a sickly-looking young man with a pale complexion and a faint dark aura between his eyebrows, making him appear quite unlucky.

He asked, "What do you want to do?"

His tone was cold, stiff, and very cautious, but without any disgust or prejudice.

Yu Xing was full of patience and tolerance for people like him who were not in good health. When he saw the young man's sickly appearance, his mood improved. So he decided to choose a gentler approach, changing from "stealing" to "deception," which might make the other person feel better.

"Don't worry, I meant no harm. I just wanted to look at all the paintings in this corridor first, and then judge which of the paintings I suspect is more likely to be a fake. But you've been standing here the whole time, and I didn't want to disturb you, but now this is the only place I haven't looked at yet." He seemed to have come over out of sheer helplessness, full of apology. The young man looked at him suspiciously, but didn't show anything, and simply stepped aside.

"To be honest, we have serious doubts about this painting. You see, after you've looked at it, we'll try to find a way to activate the ghostly energy within it." The young man was surprisingly frank, perhaps thinking that doing so would prevent Yu Xing from exploiting the riddle and using twisted logic to steal the painting from them.

The container had reminded them, emphasizing that the chef died because he tried to kill Sachi, and that there was no need to kill Sachi at that time. The container also relayed Sachi's words, saying that Sachi didn't want to cause unnecessary trouble, and that it was best to speak frankly with Sachi, who might be able to reason with them.

"Also, we just tried stimulating the painting with the smell of blood, and now we don't know if there really is a ghost inside. If there is, it might already be awake, so this painting might be dangerous. I'm telling you in advance."

The young man's clear eyes stared stubbornly into Yu Xing's. There was a scratch on his arm, and the smell of blood he mentioned must have come from that wound. His companion behind him was a muscular man about 1.75 meters tall with dark skin. He looked very honest, but there was a shrewd glint in his eyes, suggesting he was a smart man.

Yu Xing raised an eyebrow. He was the type of person who responded better to gentleness than force. The young man's innocent eyes made him feel guilty. He had to admit that someone of this level could be quite troublesome if they could be flexible and adaptable, at least they knew how to find other people's weaknesses.

He shrugged to indicate that he understood and would not act recklessly. Then, in the space between the two experience participants, he looked up at the painting they had been lingering over for a while.

The painting depicts a rainy day, with distant skyscrapers rendered in a few strokes, seemingly hidden in the darkness of night. Below, neon lights flicker on the road, and the neon signs of shops along the street reflect each other. At the very bottom is the soul of the painting: the human figures.

A portrait painting doesn't necessarily depict only one person. This painting shows a large group of people crowded together on the street, shoulder to shoulder. Some are wearing raincoats, some are holding umbrellas, and their faces are all blurred. What stands out is a strange sense of disorder and a sense of order that coexists with the disorder.

The painting beautifully blends two contradictory feelings. It is a work of a significantly higher standard than that of the signed artist. Yu Xing could tell at a glance that it was different from other works by the same artist beside him, without even needing to carefully examine the painting techniques.

Well, the thing he least wanted to see happened; those two are really something, they can spot fakes so quickly.

It's only been four and a half hours; Yu Xing had originally estimated six hours for the others.

Yu Xing continued looking at the painting when she suddenly noticed a man in the crowd, wearing a black raincoat, with his head slightly bowed, whose gender was indistinguishable, holding a knife.

So the subject of this painting is a serial killer.

Moreover, he's a raincoat-clad killer in a modern city. Modern urban themes are quite common in this exhibition. These painters, and the organization that sent the threatening letter to the art museum, are truly "learned in both ancient and modern times"...

Yu Xing looked closely enough to spot the gleaming knife hidden among the crowd and the reflection of the rain. And as he stared at the knife, it wasn't his imagination; the person in the raincoat holding the knife seemed to tilt their head slightly towards him, as if they had noticed his gaze.

Yu Xing: "..."Has the ghost inside been activated?

"Do you think this painting is a fake?" the sickly-looking young man next to him asked.

"I think so." Yu Xing's answer left the young man somewhat stunned. Clearly, he hadn't expected his answer to be so direct and undisguised.

"Well... we discovered this painting first," the young man said, but before he could finish, he suddenly sensed a strong sense of malice. The hairs on his body stood on end as he saw Yu Xing suddenly reach out, grab the young man's collar, and pull him towards him.

The young man's words caught in his throat halfway through. Because Yu Xing was so strong, even though he was on guard, he couldn't help but throw himself at Yu Xing, almost colliding with him. Zhao Yijiu intervened just in time.

"What are you doing!" The young man's pupils contracted, his muscles tensed, and he assumed a defensive stance. However, he immediately realized that Yu Xing hadn't done anything other than tug at him, and the malice didn't seem to emanate from the person in front of him.

He was startled and wanted to turn around to check, but before he could, Yu Xing lazily said, "You've already woken up the ghost in this painting. The ghost has started to make its move, but you haven't noticed?"

As he spoke, he looked at the muscular man who had been standing next to the young man who was rejecting him.

"Why aren't you speaking? Are you shy, or... are you just putting on an act but unable to speak?" Yu Xing's face revealed a dangerous smile. "The ghost in the portrait, is it directly possessed?"