Exposed

Under the exhibition hall's bright lights, the face in the painting looked more horrifying than Li Xian had ever seen it. Facing it for the first time, Liang Pei and Song Qingzhang could not help frowning, their eyes shifting away as they avoided looking at the "painting."

The moment the portraits covering the wall behind them saw that face, their sympathy turned to fear and disgust. Their burning gazes fixed on the terrifying face inside the frame.

Li Xian heard whispers rising beside him. The portraits began murmuring to one another, occasionally casting complicated looks at Du Sha before immediately looking away, pretending they could not bear the sight. In truth, they simply did not dare look at that horrifying face a moment longer.

Du Sha froze inside the painting, then abruptly realized what had happened. She began reaching up to cover her face.

"Uh... ah... don't!!!"

Panicked cries escaped her throat, but no matter how she tried to hide, she could not shut out the gossip coming from the entire wall:

"So young... how pitiful..."

"I heard she has a twin sister? Ah... the difference must be hard to take."

"That's just bad luck..."

"How did she get burned like that... how is she supposed to face anyone now? If you ask me, she'd be better off dead..."

Amid the noisy chatter, a few remarks occasionally rang out with particular clarity, as though deliberately amplified. They reached everyone's ears, and Du Sha heard every word from inside the painting.

Her cries gradually turned into anguished howls. Her screams nearly pierced their eardrums, and almost everyone heard the alerts announcing their falling Mental Value at the same time:

[Warning! You are being contaminated! Mental Value continues to fall!]

[Mental Value -10!]

[Mental Value -10!]

[Mental Value -10!]

The woman's screams mingled with the chaotic whispers, making Liang Pei and Song Qingzhang cover their ears in pain. After enduring it for only a few seconds, Liang Pei could no longer stop himself from shouting at the Mistress, "Make her stop!"

The Mistress ignored his plea. Not only that, she actually burst into laughter!

Staring at Du Sha in the portrait, she said excitedly, "You're angry, aren't you? Ashamed, aren't you? You want to kill everyone who sees your face, don't you! Yes, that's it. Suffer a little more!!!"

The Mistress's sudden madness startled even the viewers watching through their screens:

[Holy shit! Why is she laughing?!]

[Can someone tell me what Dolly is trying to do? Her sister's already suffered so much. Why is she provoking her even more?]

[That laugh makes me feel like my own sanity is dropping.]

[I can't believe the streamer still hasn't covered his ears. He really can take it... wait, why has the guy next to him crossed his legs?!]

The camera aimed at Li Xian also caught the tall man beside him. Of everyone there, he alone looked completely relaxed, without so much as a furrow in his brow.

Everyone's Mental Value plummeted. The noisy, chaotic sounds seemed endless, lingering relentlessly in their ears.

The world before Li Xian's eyes gradually began to warp. He turned toward the Mistress, only to discover that she was staring straight at him too!

The murderous intent in the Mistress's eyes was undisguised, as though she were telling Li Xian:

"Until you die, I won't let any of this stop!"

Li Xian abruptly stood, overturning his stool in the process.

At that moment, Du Sha was repeating a phrase he had heard before from inside the painting:

"She isn't... I, I'm not... like this..."

The first time Li Xian heard those broken words, he had been unable to determine what they meant. Now he knew what she was trying to convey-

"She isn't Du Sha, and she never had this burned face."

The burned woman's howls, the portraits' gossip, and the Mistress's laughter all stopped dead at those words.

In the silence, Li Xian turned his gaze toward the Mistress and spoke with absolute conviction:

"You're the one who went through the fire and was burned. You're the real Du Sha."

The Mistress's smile instantly froze. She instinctively turned toward the wall of portraits, only to find that all their fear and disgust had turned to confusion. Their gazes shifted uncertainly between her and the painting.

"What's going on?"

"Is what he said true?"

"I don't know..."

The alerts announcing their falling Mental Value stopped. Song Qingzhang and Liang Pei came back to their senses, but before they could process Li Xian's sudden claims, he pulled a stack of something from inside his clothes and scattered it into the air-

Countless photographs spilled into everyone's view:

"These photos show that the older sister, Du Sha, liked red clothes and oil paintings, while the younger sister, Dolly, liked blue clothes and the piano."

"If you're Dolly, who never went through the fire, why do you always wear red and insist on holding an art exhibition..."

"That's... that's to remember her!"

The Mistress offered the excuse.

"Oh?" Li Xian said. "Then why do the palms and arms of 'Du Sha' in the painting have no burn scars at all, while you won't dare expose any skin except your face?"

"Could it be because... the rest of your skin is covered in scars from the fire?"

The Mistress's hands slowly clenched into fists at her sides. Her red lips trembled as she forced out a venomous accusation:

"You ruined... my art exhibition!!!"

It was a hysterical howl. The next instant, the Mistress, Du Sha, charged recklessly at Li Xian. Already prepared, he grabbed one of the decorative vases placed around the exhibition hall and smashed it against her.

The shattered vase tore through the fine red fabric, revealing mottled patches of dark purple and deep red skin hidden beneath her clothes.

Du Sha sucked in a sharp breath and instinctively raised a hand to cover the torn fabric. The fury in her eyes turned to terror as hundreds of gazes instantly converged on her.

All the fear and disgust the portraits had directed at Dolly shifted to Du Sha, now mixed with contempt.

"Don't... don't look at me!!!"

She screamed in panic, pulled a utility knife from inside her clothes, and stabbed wildly at the portraits covering the wall-

"Don't look at me, don't look at me, don't look at me!!!!"

After stabbing through several portraits in succession, Du Sha turned her head, panting heavily, her eyes bloodshot, and chased after Li Xian's retreating figure.

Holding Dolly's portrait wrapped in black cloth against his chest, Li Xian rapidly turned one question over in his mind:

Why hadn't the clearance objective, "Attend the fifth day's art exhibition," been completed yet?