Playing the Pity Card?

When they came down from the third floor again and walked around the various exhibition areas, they only saw Ning Feng, Zhiqi Zhe and Yun Si in area D. They didn't know where the other experience testers had gone.

Yu Xing stepped forward to greet them and also learned who had won the second and third paintings. The second painting was naturally taken by Ning Feng, who had accepted his hint. The third painting was a portrait of Yun Si after he left the world of the painting "Dark River" and found the chess player.

The players, being meticulous, determined a range and, sensing the danger lurking in the Yun Si, did not trigger the attack of the ghost in the painting. Instead, they took it to the third floor to confirm.

They might seem a bit reckless, but in reality, a drawing that has been confirmed by the player is unlikely to be wrong—at least that's what Ning Feng's team members trusted.

Now, the three of them have gathered together and have focused on a painting in Zone D, and are conducting a second study on it.

"Why aren't the others here? How should I know? Maybe they felt there was no chance of winning, so they went downstairs to rest?" When Yu Xing asked about the others' whereabouts, Ning Feng shrugged and answered in a very cheerful tone, "Anyway, we wouldn't get this opportunity, so it's better to cut our losses than to be attacked by something else. Just now, someone was almost beheaded by a sword in ancient armor!"

"Is your tone really okay?" Yu Xing could clearly detect schadenfreude in the sunlight.

"What does it matter? As long as the two camps aren't completely opposed, there's no such thing as absolute allies. As long as I don't want to attack you strategists, what difference does it make whether I cooperate with them or with you?" Ning Feng was very open-minded, and since Yu Xing be there, he very considerately gave up his seat. "Could you help us check if this painting is a fake? We haven't carefully examined or sensed it yet. Your arrival saves us a lot of trouble."

"You're treating me like a tool." Yu Xing clicked her tongue twice. "What good does that do me?"

"You will gain the affection of your friends." Ning Feng smiled. Yun Si's fingers twitched; he really didn't want to admit that such a shameless person was his captain.

If he had a gun, he would love to put it to Ning Feng's head and force him to see a psychiatrist.

The player holding the chess piece was already used to this. The expressionless boy pressed down hard on the rabbit doll in his arms, preventing the evil aura emanating from the doll from awakening any ghosts that might exist in the painting. He looked up at Yu Xing: "This is the best choice. You're more inclined to do us a favor. There's no point in constantly delaying."

Before Ning Feng could finish his flirtatious remarks with his boy-next-door charm, and before Yu Xing could even play along with his dramatic flair, this humorless boy saw right through her.

The group exchanged glances, all feeling a sense of regret for not having used all their strength, and were somewhat embarrassed.

Zhao Yijiu tilted her head and coughed lightly, as if she was glad that she hadn't been drawn into this awkward situation because she hadn't spoken much.

A few seconds later, Yu Xing looked at the oil painting that had been chosen by the three experience testers, examined it carefully, and then said seriously, "It's very well painted. It's Linda's work. You guys are great."

After waiting a few seconds with no further response, Yun Si asked, "And then? That's it?"

They all knew it was Linda's work because her name was written at the bottom of the painting.

"That's it. It means we picked the wrong painting." Ning Feng immediately understood that Yu Xing meant the painting was Linda's work, not a fake.

"That doesn't make sense... my senses..." Having already misjudged the situation once, Yun Si trailed off, mentioning the chess player again, "And Xiao Jiang's senses, we both feel the ghostly aura is nearby."

"Since you know it's just around here, why don't you look at this painting over there?" Yu Xing didn't know what to do, so he pointed to another painting to the right of this one with his thumb. The painting's use of color was somewhat unusual. Most of the oil paintings they had seen before used somber tones to express the sense of oppression they wanted, but this one boldly used blood-red paint as the background color. Looking around, the entire field of vision was filled with red, while the figures in this "sea of blood" were somewhat blurry.

The painting is called The Butcher.

"This one...?" Yun Si hesitated. He did feel threatened by this painting, but compared to the paintings next to it, he was more inclined to believe that his sense of danger stemmed from the gruesome scenes depicted in the blood-red image.

Because all the people in the painting are placed on a slaughterhouse, with dark red blocks of paint scattered around them, the hidden and unspeakable scene makes it easy to interpret these drinks as chunks of meat or something similar.

"The use of light and shadow creates a very strong effect, and the dark-toned figures blend perfectly into the blood-red background. This level of skill is beyond what Ms. Linda could achieve." Yu Xing completely ignored the content that the painting wanted to express and evaluated the painter's skill purely from the perspective of a professional appraiser. Of course, he was appraising, not appreciating. If one were to appreciate a painting, the content and ideas it expresses would be the key.

"So that's how you used to determine if a painting was a fake." The chess player blinked and looked at Yu Xing. "You reminded me that in addition to the necessary skills, I also need to improve my knowledge base for potential applications."

"Ha, that's a lot to stockpile. How do you have the time to do all that?" Ning Feng mocked the team's wise man without hesitation. "Even if you're a child prodigy, don't overestimate yourself."

"First of all, although I am a minor, I am already past the age of a child." The player wasn't angry, calmly and methodically refuting Ning Feng's words. "Secondly, what makes you think I actually plan to acquire that knowledge all by myself? What is the purpose of your existence in the team? To be useless?"

The implication was that not only he had to go for the training, but no one in the team could escape it.

Ning Feng's smile froze.

Within just one or two hours, Yun Si once again experienced what it meant to suffer an undeserved disaster, and both times it seemed to be related to Yu Xing. He glanced at Yu Xing with a resentful look, wondering which part of the process went wrong, causing Ning Feng to just use Yu Xing as a tool, and then Yu Xing used her outstanding skills to make Xiao Jiang want to learn.

He muttered to himself, "I really miss those naive, good-for-nothing friends I had when I was a rich kid. Every single one of them was more innocent than you guys."

"Don't be sad, this painting was taken on your behalf, and you are the beneficiary," the chess player said calmly.

Yun Si thought about it and realized it made sense, so it was fine.

He walked into the safety cordon, touched the picture frame, and turned to ask for everyone's opinion, "Should I take it down?"

"Take it, I wouldn't cheat you at a time like this." Yu Xing snapped his fingers slightly as encouragement, then realized that this time he had been an overly kind, giveaway machine, coming specifically to appraise a painting for someone and earning his "friend's favor."

Never mind, I'll just consider it an investment.

He pursed his lips, not wanting to care about the aftermath. Anyway, he had already achieved his goal, and all five spots were under his control. He patted Zhao Yijiu's arm, signaling the man to come downstairs with him to rest.

The three reviewers didn't try to stop them; they were just as familiar with the process of taking the painting to the third floor, having already done it twice already.

The surrounding ghostly onlookers and the ghostly leader all stared at them. After the five dwarfs whispered amongst themselves for a while, finally taking away a painting, a woman in a pale yellow cake dress sighed regretfully, "How could it be that painting? I was saying that Ms. Linda's painting was a breakthrough for her; I really wanted to witness that scene of slaughter with my own eyes. I never expected... it to be a fake?"

This clearly saddened her greatly, causing her five or six legs beneath her skirt to stagger involuntarily, revealing a few small pieces of flesh and blood.

Those around her nodded almost imperceptibly upon hearing this, but refrained from openly agreeing out of a sense of restraint. After all, doing so would imply that they felt Ms. Linda's usual skill level was not as high as this forgery.

How embarrassing it would be if Ms. Linda overheard that.

With more than two hours left before the art exhibition ended in eight hours, Yu Xing turned around and saw the three figures disappear on the way to the stairs. She stopped paying attention and pulled Zhao Yijiu to the first floor, where they chose an empty lounge.

The lounge they had previously used was occupied by several experience testers, including Blood Source and Killer Number Thirty-Seven. However, they did not greet each other, and instead maintained a sufficiently distant relationship with the other three unfamiliar experience testers.

On the other side of the lounge, several spectators, each over two meters tall, sat chatting. Each of them displayed the politeness of business elites, their smiles both appropriate and elegant. They discussed their family businesses and mentioned certain business collaborations, making it seem as if it were a real business.

If Yu Xing hadn't already guessed that they were low-level plague creatures from the art museum instance, with such unique height and attire only serving this one instance, she might have actually wanted to stay and eavesdrop to find out how these business elites discussed the scandalous stories behind their acquisitions and other competitors.

After all, Yu Xing was very curious about how a female CEO with a mouth that opens onto her chest and a male secretary with five octopus arms could have an office romance.

Fortunately, the museum's first floor was well-equipped, with several lounges to provide a private environment for different people. He finally found an empty lounge and immediately collapsed onto the sofa without any regard for appearances.

"Finally, I can rest..." He sprawled out on the sofa and its back, drawing Zhao Yijiu's sidelong glance.

Are you tired?

"What do you think? I get affected just by being exposed to the aura of ghosts. After I took the knife from that possessed assassin at close range, I was possessed by this ghost again. If I hadn't endured it, do you think I would have made it this far?"

The door to the lounge was probably already closed, and Zhao Yijiu was the only person Yu Xing trusted. Instead of maintaining her image or hiding her physical pain, Yu Xing slumped there, oblivious to the blood flowing from her nose.

"... Your nose is bleeding." Zhao Yijiu couldn't help but remind her, walking over and pulling out a few tissues from the coffee table to hand to Yu Xing.

Yu Xing: "Ah, I didn't even notice, I didn't feel anything."

He was able to conceal his abnormality until now thanks to the state he had maintained since arriving on the island: his skin was paler than usual, almost ghostly, and even though he was in great pain, he couldn't become any paler.

After handing him the paper, Zhao Yijiu took a closer look at Yu Xing and realized her dereliction of duty as his companion.

It's not that it's invisible, but it's hard to notice unless you look closely. A large patch of goosebumps had appeared on Yu Xing's neck, and the blood vessels were clearly visible under his almost transparent skin. Yu Xing's fingers were also trembling slightly at a frequency that was difficult to detect with the naked eye, and his legs had the same symptoms.

"You're really good at enduring pain." Zhao Yijiu had seen the scene where Yu Xing was laughing and mocking the red-clothed ghost even as its five fingers pierced his skull, so he knew that Yu Xing's current behavior meant that he was enduring pain that was comparable to, or even more intense than, having his skull pierced by four stabs.

"Fortunately, after these past few months of stability, the pain isn't as severe as before when these symptoms reappear." Yu Xing waved her hand, tilted her head back to wipe away the blood from her nose, and joked, "You probably don't know, but after that Deduction Test we did together at Qingyuan Pharmaceutical Factory, I was squatting on the ground, blood gushing from my nose and mouth, making a mess of the floor."

"..." Zhao Yijiu's pupils contracted slightly. It was hard to imagine that Yu Xing had also put on such a good disguise, only squatting there bleeding alone after he was taken away.

His tone turned colder. "I even asked you if you wanted a ride with me."

"Of course we can't rub it, otherwise it won't be the floor that gets dirty, but your car." Yu Xing lay comfortably on the sofa, having recovered quite a bit. He quickly changed his position, curling up in a corner of the sofa, a position that made him feel very safe and comfortable.

Zhao Yijiu frowned. "You're so rich, you wouldn't care if a ride is dirty or not."

"That's different. Back then, you were a stranger to me, and I wouldn't owe a stranger a favor. Besides, I had Zhu Yan to pick me up~" Yu Xing's tone became smug again as she spoke, as if she was very proud to have such a useful "daughter".

He glanced sideways, observing Zhao Yijiu's expression out of the corner of his eye, and then subtly curled his lips into a smile.

He wasn't that bored; suddenly, he started reminiscing about the past.

These memories are only relevant to Zhao Yijiu in her normal state. If Zhao Yijiu feels sorry for him, or has even a sliver of pity or curiosity about his current teammate's past, then when he brings up these matters again in his Ghostification form, it will trigger a nerve in Zhao Yijiu's normal state.

The implication is that it must begin now, at all times and in every possible way.

Yu Xing thought that although his actions were somewhat of a ploy to gain sympathy, as long as it helped Zhao Yijiu better distinguish between herself and the vengeful ghost, even if it was just a means to an end, it was nothing more than a tactic to feign misery.

Thinking of this, Yu Xing covered her mouth with her hand and coughed violently twice, trying to calm the surging curse power within her while feigning surprise and saying, "This really hurts..."