Uninvited

After looking at the last photo, Li Xian let out a long breath and reached to put all the photos he had taken out back into the album.

"I need to hide this album..."

"Knock, knock."

Two abrupt knocks suddenly sounded at the door.

Li Xian's eyes widened in surprise. Who would come at a time like this?

He hurried to put the photos away, but whoever was outside seemed unwilling to wait long. When no one answered, the knocking grew urgent:

"Knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock."

Seeing this, Song Qingzhang gathered the remaining photos and the album together, stuffed them under the blanket, and signaled for Li Xian to hurry and answer the door.

Li Xian stood up.

Whoever was outside had to be either that "Mr. Zhang" or the Mistress.

He opened the door and met the Mistress's eyes.

She poked her head inside as though casually glancing around and saw Liang Pei and Song Qingzhang beside the bed.

"What are you three doing in here?"

The Mistress's question put Li Xian on edge, but she seemed unconcerned about his answer and immediately continued:

"Lunch is ready. Go and eat, everyone."

The Mistress stood in the doorway and watched the three of them leave the room. After locking the door, she gave a satisfied smile. She followed them to the stairs and extended a hand in an inviting gesture.

Li Xian had no choice but to follow her directions and head downstairs.

As he passed the Mistress, however, she suddenly stopped him:

"What happened to your face?"

Li Xian stopped in his tracks.

I actually forgot about that!

Li Xian scrambled for an excuse. "I..."

"You should take good care of your face."

The Mistress cut off his explanation. After lightly offering that remark, she let him leave.

[What's going on? Why does the Mistress seem so easygoing??]

[Two questions in a row, and she let the players go without even making them answer. Why has this Instance's Spectral Monster suddenly changed her tune?]

Li Xian was just as baffled. He went downstairs with a head full of questions.

The farther he went, the slower his footsteps became.

Song Qingzhang turned back in confusion. "What are you thinking about, bro? Why are you walking so slowly?"

That question brought Li Xian to a complete stop.

"I don't think this is right."

The two of them had just reached the second floor. Li Xian turned to look back. The stairs disappeared around the corner, and the Mistress had not followed them down.

A sudden chill prickled across Li Xian's scalp. He spun around and raced upstairs!

Song Qingzhang stared blankly at Li Xian's retreating figure, unsure why he had suddenly gone back.

Li Xian bounded up to the third floor. There was no sign of the Mistress in the hallway. He rushed to his room as fast as he could and pushed open the door.

Inside, the Mistress stood beside the bed, her fingertips resting lightly on Li Xian's blanket, poised to lift it-

A stream of question marks and exclamation points swept across the live chat:

[?!!]

[Why is the Mistress in here?!]

[She actually sneaks into other people's rooms?!]

[Holy shit, one second later and he'd have been screwed!]

[The streamer is way too sharp! When he suddenly ran upstairs, I had no idea what he was doing...]

"Why are you here?"

At the question, the Mistress paused and saw Li Xian walking toward her from the doorway, step by step.

She withdrew her hand, showing not a trace of guilt. Instead, she asked, "Why did you come back?"

Li Xian looked straight into the Mistress's eyes, his tone suddenly firm. "Is this how you treat your guests? You rummage through their rooms when they're out?"

Seeing that Li Xian had not taken the bait, the Mistress slowly approached him. She stopped in front of him and bowed slightly.

"I'll leave you to it."

As she left, the Mistress closed the door for Li Xian. She never apologized, but her voluntary departure showed that she could not rummage through someone else's room without permission while the guest was watching.

Li Xian breathed a sigh of relief, lifted the blanket, and gathered the scattered photos back into the album. Finally, he tucked it under his pillow.

For the entire afternoon, the mansion remained shrouded in an eerie, deathly silence.

The Mistress did not appear again after lunch. She had presumably returned to her "room" to begin preparing for tomorrow's Art Exhibition. The others searched the place over and over but found no further clues.

That evening, Li Xian raised his hand and knocked on a door.

The person inside soon opened it, but a flicker of surprise crossed his face when he saw Li Xian.

"Can I come in, Mr... Zhang?"

Li Xian looked up, meeting the eyes of the tall man before him.

The man was silent for a moment, then slammed the door shut with a bang.

Li Xian: "..."

His grip tightened around the item in his hand. He took two deep breaths as he stared at the door, then turned to leave-only for it to open again.

"Come in."

The two stared at each other. The man looked perfectly composed, as though he saw nothing wrong with what he had just done. Speechless, Li Xian looked him up and down as if trying to diagnose exactly what was wrong with him.

In the end, he stepped into the man's room. The first thing he did was look at the portrait inside.

The portrait's surface was somewhat dull, clearly indicating that no Varnish had been applied. The figure in it was already holding up four fingers.

The man's expression remained unchanged. He showed none of the fear one might expect from someone facing imminent death.

Li Xian raised his hand and tossed something to him.

The man instinctively caught it and discovered that Li Xian had thrown him a bottle of clear liquid.

"What's this?"

The man asked as he stared at the liquid in his hand.

"Varnish. Apply it to the painting, and the number of fingers will stop increasing."

The portrait on the wall gave a barely perceptible shudder at those words.

The man shifted his gaze from the bottle to Li Xian's face. His expression was less delighted than surprised.

"Thanks."

That was what he finally said.

Li Xian had been quietly observing his reactions all along. At that response, he raised an eyebrow. "I should have died today, but I survived. Didn't you even think to come ask me what I did?"

The man replied slowly, "I have my own ways."

"What ways?"

The man blurted out, "Steal it from your room."

"..."

"..."

[...]

[Why is this guy just spouting bullshit?]

[He seems kind of mentally unstable.]

[Why would the streamer save someone like this?]

The conversation ended with Li Xian losing patience and leaving with a slam of the door. Before closing it, his final words to the man were:

"Give it back tomorrow morning."