The Gift

The blood-red claws, sharp and slender, pierced through the chest like stubborn branches reaching out from a crack in the rock, each segment absorbing red nutrients that seeped into the finger joints.

The finger, having absorbed nutrients, darted forward nearly a decimeter like a real tree branch, as if speeding up the process of a juvenile growing into a towering tree. In any other context, that would be an inspirational record of a tree's growth.

Unfortunately, the real reality has nothing to do with this thriving scene; instead, it elevates the bizarre to the extreme.

The soft sound of flesh tearing seemed to pause everyone in the Art Appreciation Room, drawing the attention of both humans and ghosts to Linda's blood-stained fingers. Even Yu Xing couldn't help but look over, staring blankly at the scene. Linda's face became unimportant at that moment, and he could even clearly see a drop of blood rolling down her fingernail.

"Honestly, my hands are for painting, yet you force me to do such rude things." Linda's ethereal voice traveled along the unseen branches, densely enveloping us.

A gust of cold wind blew in from the dim environment, and the humanoid creatures, each over two meters tall, suddenly lost their expression. Although they were still in fighting postures, their faces were numb and stiff, as if they had lost their souls.

Yu Xing felt his heart skip a beat, a shiver running up his spine to the top of his head. He wanted to turn around to see how Zhao Yijiu was doing, but found that his eyes couldn't leave Linda's hand.

At the same time, his emotions were strangely suppressed. At this moment, he seemed to desire nothing and believed that it was normal to maintain this situation forever.

But another consciousness, as if severed from his mind, kept him conscious, constantly warning him to resist and not succumb.

Resist quickly, don't succumb.

Yu Xing's fingers twitched. He calmed himself down and tried to amplify this alertness until it completely overwhelmed his numb and emotionless state. He heard a series of rustling sounds in his ears, something growing, intertwining, branches rubbing against each other... But he knew that these sounds did not exist.

Even if it exists, it must have traveled across time and space, reaching his ears from a distant, unknown place.

A sharp pain shot through his finger, and Yu Xing regained some clarity. He expressionlessly withdrew the nail that had been actively piercing his fingertip under his control. The amplified pain made the agony feel like being crushed into mud by a hammer. Then, a slight twitch appeared on his lips as he suddenly understood something.

Coincidences in the world are simply another form of inevitability.

What is this...?

It was a hint he was bound to receive.

He could now control his body, not just his eyes, but also his thoughts. He reached out and touched a glass on the coffee table in front of the sofa, then...

"Bang!"

Broken glass splattered on the ground, making a crisp sound that, in the silence, was like a heavy hammer striking the soul.

Linda looked at Yu Xing with slight surprise, but made no targeted move. She simply pursed her lips and withdrew her hand.

The body, now without her support, fell limply to the ground. Linda tossed his shattered heart like trash beside it. All his teeth had fallen out; he was dead beyond any doubt.

Everyone, including the ghost, shuddered, snapped out of their daze, and were astonished by their previous thoughts.

They were all certain that without the stimulus of a sound like shattering glass, they might have remained there forever, their minds blank, frozen in place.

After regaining their senses, the ghosts that had been fighting earlier struck twice more due to their momentum before stopping. Not only the painter and staff, but also the viewers who rushed into the Art Appreciation Room and the instigators mixed in with them all seemed bewildered and uncertain.

"What happened?"

Linda! What are you doing?!

"You traitor, are you a spy infiltrated among us?!"

"Holy crap..." Yun Si exclaimed in fear, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead. "I almost felt like a dead prey that shouldn't have moved. Luckily, I woke up..."

He paused, then added, "It's terrifying to think about."

Yu Xing: "..."

He turned to check on Zhao Yijiu and found that she was alright, but she had a long face and clearly disliked Linda.

Yu Xing conveyed a question mark with her eyes, Zhao Yijiu pursed her lips, returning a look that said "It's okay."

Ning Feng and the player holding the chess piece exchanged a glance, both seeing the seriousness in each other's eyes.

Linda smiled at the different reactions from everyone and the ghost, "What spy? I'm just annoyed. All this arguing and fooling around is such a mood killer."

She swayed a few steps, pointed to the mess on the floor, and said, "See? This perfectly good Art Appreciation Room is a complete mess. I'm here for an art exhibition, and this exhibition is good for my publicity. Nobody can mess it up. I'm going to be attending the auction, and my market value is very important."

The fat man yelled at the top of his lungs, "But you killed people from our art museum!"

"Oh, really? It was too dark to see clearly." Linda smiled, but there was no hint of apology in her words.

The fat man wanted to say something more, but after seeing Linda's eyes, he suddenly realized that Linda had been silent all along, but had long been very dissatisfied with the art museum's handling of the situation.

The art exhibition had already started, yet they still needed outsiders' help to find the fakes mixed in. This probably... filled her with anger.

Being late today is also a way of expressing dissatisfaction.

Seeing that the fat man had shut up, Linda let out a cold, emotionless snort, then raised her voice. "My art exhibition doesn't need scoundrels."

After breaking free from the previous silence, her voice returned to normal, losing its ethereal quality and instead carrying a hint of ruthlessness.

The ghosts that had stormed into the Art Appreciation Room all took a few steps back. Their intuition told them that this painter was different from the others; he was a terrifying being, like the person in charge, whom they could not directly confront.

"Get out of here!" Crodir trembled, but he could still sense Linda's impatience. He mustered his courage and yelled at the ghosts to stop them from getting in his way.

He was even terrified because he hadn't been very polite to Linda during the art appraisal process, and they had even argued because of their differing opinions. But how could he have known then that Linda's abilities were so terrifying, that she was on a completely different level from the others?

Upon hearing this, the intruders ran away almost without hesitation. Some of them had come specifically to instigate others to destroy the art exhibition, but now that they discovered such a terrifying monster existed, it was impossible for the exhibition to be destroyed as they planned, so they had no reason to stay any longer.

The other viewers, who had been completely used as pawns, were filled with regret. Only then did they realize that they didn't know why they had gone from being slightly dissatisfied with the fact that there were fakes in the art exhibition to becoming people who stormed into the third floor and caused trouble.

But they ran so fast that the mistakes already made wouldn't be changed. Linda's voice was cold. "Run? Shouldn't you pay the price?"

The red wooden door, kicked open, slammed shut with a loud bang, trapping everyone inside. Blood Source tensed up, and even Killer Number Thirty-Seven tensed up.

Yu Xing remained calm because he didn't see any malice in the glance Linda had given him earlier. He could only conclude that it was because they hadn't done anything detrimental to the exhibition, nor had they neglected their duties. On the contrary, they had accepted the person in charge's request to maintain the exhibition, so Linda didn't want to harm them.

This is a... fairly reasonable ghost.

But reasoning with them is only possible with them; those who barge in looking for trouble... their fate is sealed.

Linda didn't seem to move, but suddenly those things exploded, filling the room with blood mist and bits of flesh. Fortunately, when they exploded, these ghostly creatures were all near the door, so they didn't directly affect the short outsiders.

At the same time as those things exploded, Yu Xing also faintly heard a rustling and friction sound. He stared at Linda out of the corner of his eye and memorized the woman's outline.

After that, the world became peaceful.

The Art Appreciation Room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Everyone was either looking at Linda or resolutely avoiding her Linda, but their expressions betrayed a certain tension.

Linda glanced around. Aside from the outsiders, she had absolutely no interest in this group of cowards. So she picked the person who interested her most and asked, "Now, will anyone else try to force their way up?"

The person she chose was Yu Xing. Yu Xing looked directly at her and analyzed, "Given the person in charge's abilities, letting these few escape should already be the limit. If anyone else manages to get up, I reasonably suspect that the person in charge did it on purpose, but overall, the chances of anyone else breaking through are slim."

A calm and steady voice rang out in the dimly lit room, accompanied by the smell of blood.

The bits of flesh and blood emitted a foul, fishy smell. Unlike the bodies of the recently deceased, the corpses of the ghosts looked as if they had been rotting for many years, stinking and disgusting.

The only reason they're staying here is probably because of their survival instincts in every aspect.

"Really? That's good... I'm waiting for the person in charge to give me an explanation for his poor preparations. Before that, I'd like to have a chat with you during this boring time." Linda seemed genuinely interested in Yu Xing, her gaze even carrying a hint of inquiry. She slowly walked over, and the others sitting on the sofa respectfully and tacitly stood up and moved to the round table.

Zhao Yijiu felt the same way; he could guess that Yu Xing would probably get some benefits from Linda.

The room suddenly felt empty. Yu Xing smiled slightly, not surprised at all. He also stood up politely and extended his hand to Linda: "Please sit down?"

He pointed to the seat opposite Linda, but Linda, quite unreservedly, sat down next to him, raising an eyebrow. "It's easier to talk if you sit closer, and you shouldn't stand."

Yu Xing didn't care about that. He just felt that it was a bit strange that in such a quiet room, only he and Linda were talking, while everyone else stood behind and watched.

But as long as he wasn't embarrassed, it was others who would feel awkward. After sitting down casually, he took the initiative to ask, "Is there anything you'd like to talk to me about?"

His blunt and fearless tone earned him the utmost respect from all the testers. "Wow, he's a tough guy!"

Great, this is the time when we need ruthless people!

Those who aren't ruthless can just watch the show from the sidelines!

(Manual doge emoji)

"There are two aspects. First, I want to talk to you about... how you broke the glass just now?" Linda's long hair was draped over her shoulders, and a veiled hat covered her fair skin from her neck to her face. There was no questioning or probing in her expression; it seemed she was genuinely just a little puzzled.

"My hand slipped," Yu Xing said.

"Huh?" Linda hadn't expected such an answer. "Are you just giving me a perfunctory response?"

Yu Xing retorted seriously, "No, I'm just making excuses."

"Don't imagine it to be anything terrifying. Even if you weren't fully conscious at the time, the person in charge would have woken you up anyway when they returned. I just want to maintain a quiet, less troublesome environment," Linda said with some regret. "I'm usually a very good-tempered person."

Everyone's definition of a good temper is completely different... The people and ghosts behind them thought to themselves.

"Never mind, I won't ask that question anymore. You must have your own reasons for not being affected... But we're very compatible. Your painting skills are very high; I can tell from your conversation. I think we'll definitely have opportunities to collaborate in painting." Linda pulled two items from the folds of her skirt and handed them directly to Yu Xing. "I like people who understand art, especially newcomers... Here are two gifts for you."

Yu Xing squinted and examined the two small items. One was a brown ring of indistinguishable material, which seemed to fit well on her index finger. The other was several pieces of paper tied together with a rubber band.

"These are admission tickets," Linda explained, showing the papers first. "Not cheap tickets for some random art exhibition, but for an auction. You probably heard me mention auctions earlier; in fifteen days, the Magic Eye Auction House will be holding a treasure auction, and one of my paintings is among them... But I think your painting might also be worthy of being auctioned."

"Tickets to this auction are extremely hard to come by, and each ticket represents a significant amount of money. I'm giving you three tickets in the hopes that you can bring your friends to attend, whether as the owner of the items being auctioned or simply as spectators. Of course, I personally prefer the former. If you'd like to submit your painting for auction, I can help you contact the auction house in advance."

The testers behind her gasped for breath; every word Linda uttered spoke of the Auction House instance! A massive instance! Intense danger and high rewards!

Yu Xing smiled and accepted the gift. It was indeed something he wanted, and besides, if the painting could be auctioned off, he wouldn't have to worry about rent for quite some time.

"How can I contact you if I want to?"

Ms. Linda wasn't surprised at all that Yu Xing didn't refuse. She shook the ring. "Wear this, and you can contact me when you're alone. If I'm available, I'll get back to you."

Looking at the ring of unknown material, Yu Xing thought to herself, "They even have a communication device; aren't they well-prepared?"

He smiled inwardly, but outwardly accepted the two gifts with great pleasure.