There were several paintings hanging in the living room. Most of them appeared as if they were painted by madmen. The paintings were incredibly abstract and hard to understand… except for one.
The painting showed the inside of a long, narrow tunnel. The walls were low, clean, and undecorated. The tunnel did not break off in the middle, and it seemed to lead down a declining slope. It looked like… No, it was a tomb. Some details in the paintings revealed that the tunnel was deep underground, and there was no exit in the painting or manmade lighting. The painter used some kind of strange styling to create an eerie and dangerous atmosphere via his brush strokes.
Feng Bujue studied the painting for five seconds like he was enraptured by it. A strange power held him in place, unable to speak or move. The next second, darkness fell over his eyes, and he could not see anything. After who knew how long, when he regained his mobility, he removed the flashlight from his backpack to take a look and realized that he was inside the tunnel in the painting.
He did not understand how the process worked, and he had no idea whether Xiao Tan or Brother Long had noticed anything, but regardless, it seemed like he had to depend on himself to leave this place.
Behind him was a stone wall, he pushed against it, and it did not budge. The ceiling was low, and there was no hatch through which he could escape. Feng Bujue sighed and took out Eyes of Hostility and put it on. With the flashlight in one hand and the wrench in the other, he trekked down the slope.
Wearing the Jazz Shoes, Feng Bujue was not worried that he might run out of Stamina Points due to his exploration; he could walk as far as he wanted. With 1,100 Stamina Points and equipment that reduced Stamina Points consumption, he could have walked to the moon. Even if the place was as big as Castlevania, he was confident that he could explore the entire map.
He walked down the path for about ten minutes when Feng Bujue’s flashlight suddenly flickered. He shook it several times and slapped its body twice, thinking to himself, Has the battery run out? That doesn’t seem possible… I didn’t use it that long during the previous scenario. Is it already broken? That’s even less possible; it’s made in China, and I have confidence in our country’s products…
Suddenly, a curious whisper came from the front. “Let me out…”
The voice came from around ten meters in front of Feng Bujue. He moved his sight away from the flashlight and looked down the tunnel. Right then, the flashlight died, and everything descended into darkness. Then, the light flickered temporarily, and it captured a white shadow that was standing alone in the dark. From its shape, it appeared to be a woman. Her body was wounded, and her frame was slight. Her white clothes were covered with blood stains. Due to the brief appearance and the problem of lighting and distance, Feng Bujue could not see her face at all.
The light disappeared, and Feng Bujue’s world dropped into darkness again. However, that scary image was burned into his retina, and then following that was a desperate wail.
“Let me out!” The sound of flesh ramming against wood echoed in the darkness. There was the sound of friction and the sound of chains rattling. Underneath all that, there was a voice that travelled from afar… like someone was howling in grief deep inside the dungeon.
Thirty seconds later, the flashlight returned to normal. It stopped flickering. After experiencing that, Feng Bujue’s expression did not change. If anything, he sighed in relief. “So, the flashlight is not broken. The flickering is due to the plot.”
Right then, the system audio said, “Side quest progress updated.”
Feng Bujue examined it, and the quest for finding all six parts of The Haunted Palace had increased to 2/6. Naturally, someone else had found the other stanza, but unfortunately, the detail of it was not provided in the quest tab.
At the same time, Wang Tanzhi and Long Aomin, who were on the first floor, squatted next to the kitchen oven, studying the second stanza of The Haunted Palace, which was written down using something akin to coal.
Banners yellow, glorious, golden,
On its roof did float and flow.
This—all this—was in the olden,
time long ago.
And every gentle air that dallied,
In that sweet day,
Along the ramparts plumed and pallid,
A wingèd odor went away.
“Argh… I don’t understand it at all!” The poem entered Wang Tanzhi’s left ear and exited the right. He poked his head into the oven and looked up the chimney.
He came out with a face blackened with soot and coughed. “It’s too narrow; there’s no way we can get through here.”
Initially, when Long Aomin did not respond to him, Wang Tanzhi did not think much of it. But several seconds later, when Wang Tanzhi turned around, he discovered that Long Aomin was acting strangely. His eyes were bulging as his lips opened and closed. It appeared as if he was shouting, but Xiao Tan did not hear anything.
This made a chill run up Xiao Tan’s spine, and then he immediately noticed something. The words that he tried to speak did not come out of his throat.
The scenario was scary for those involved, but it was quite a funny scene for those observing. Two men who did not understand sign language were gesticulating wildly, complete with deep expressions and moving lips. In the end, neither of them understood what the other was saying…
The most suitable things to say might have been “Are you sick?”, “Do you have any medicine?”, “How much do you have?”, “How much do you normally eat?”, “Eat as much as you have!”, “Have you lost your mind‽”…
But in reality, that was not what they said.
“What’s going on?” Wang Tanzhi tried to ask. “What you’re talking about? What is the meaning of your hand gestures?”
“It’s the dark layer on your face that’s behind this!” Long Aomin attempted to tell him.
From Long Aomin’s perspective, things were quite clear. The coal on Wang Tanzhi’s face was like a ’living’ mask, and it was showing a weird smile. The expression of this ’black face’ was not related to Xiao Tan himself; it seemed more like a face that was floating on Xiao Tan’s own face.
In the end, Long Aomin came up with an idea. He found a cloth in the dirty kitchen and held it before his face. He moved the cloth around in a clockwise manner and then used his finger to point at the cloth and then at Xiao Tan’s face.
The latter finally got it. He grabbed the cloth and rubbed his face as fast as he could. When he removed the cloth, the two regained their power of speech.
“My god! What kind of monster was that?” Wang Tanzhi looked at the cloth in his hand. The ’black face’ appeared to be printed on the cloth, retaining its shape as it transferred from Xiao Tan’s face to the cloth. By then, Xiao Tan’s face was clean, without a bit of dust.
“Even though I have no idea why the system came up with something like that…” Long Aomin realized that this thing would not cause any physical harm and was not particularly scary. Other than pranking the players, he really could not come up with any purpose for it.
“But I think it’s safer for us to burn it.” Long Aomin grabbed the cloth and found two flints resting next to the oven.