“Very smart, but no prize.”
Pei Kanyan glanced at Mu Li and praised him: “Very smart, but no prize.”
Yet, contrary to expectations, this single remark caused the temperature in the room to plunge instantly. Yu Lili stared at the two of them in utter shock, asking, “What are you talking about? How is this possible?”
Suddenly, an eerie female voice rang out from behind: “You are here.”
Hearing the familiar voice, Yu Lili froze completely in place. Her neck jerked around stiffly, and, paralyzed with terror, she collapsed onto the floor, crying, “Xu Yueke!”
Mu Li turned his head to look. The girl was no longer in the painting, and this wheelchair-bound teenager radiated not a single shred of human warmth.
Yu Lili wore an expression halfway between crying and smiling, saying, “It really is you. Where have you been these past three years? I have searched so hard for you.”
Seated in her wheelchair, Xu Yueke fixed a lethal glare on the girl before her, a hoarse sound like rotting wood grating from her throat: “You searched for me? Were you hoping to push me down the stairs again?”
“No.” A flash of panic crossed Yu Lili’s face as she shook her head repeatedly.
“You are lying! I saw it, it was you! You are the one who pushed me down the stairs!” Xu Yueke shrieked hysterically.
The piercing, grating voice nearly shattered the ceiling glass, where fine spiderweb cracks were already spreading.
Yu Lili’s lips trembled as she said, “You did not see anything with your own eyes at all. It was all just a product of your imagination; I am innocent.”
Xu Yueke immediately broke into a bizarre smile, replying, “I saw it inside the painting. Would you like to come in and take a look?”
“Oh yes, yes! I want to see too,” Mu Li raised his hand, eager to join the fun.
He was only pushed back down by Pei Kanyan, who stated, “Children should not meddle in adult matters.”
He then said to Xu Yueke, “Do whatever you like to get your revenge, but once it is over, the painting belongs to us.”
Xu Yueke raised her eyes to look at the man, her expression dark and unreadable.
She gave no reply, merely extending a hand toward Yu Lili: “Come into the painting with me.”
Yu Lili batted Xu Yueke’s hand away with a violent swat, shouting, “No!”
Once you enter the painting, you can never come out again.
Instead, she turned to plead with the two men: “You have to help me! Her legs are only broken, but if I go into the painting, would that not be the equivalent of dying?”
“Her legs are only broken? Her legs are only broken?!” The hatred in Xu Yueke’s eyes reached its absolute peak, her mouth repeating the words over and over.
Her tone grew higher and higher, and the cracks on the glass began to fracture.
Mu Li uttered an exclamation, sizing up the ghastly, ghost-like girl from head to toe, and asked, “Are you sure she only broke her legs?”
Yu Lili fell silent. Seeing that the two men made no move to help, she was consumed by hatred, and with a sudden desperate lunge, she knocked over the wheelchair and scrambled up to flee.
Xu Yueke crashed to the floor, spilling out of her wheelchair.
Yu Lili figured she would not be able to catch up to her anymore; as long as she could get out of this gallery, she would be safe.
Yet when she glanced back, she never expected to see Xu Yueke flat on the ground, staring at her with a pair of cold, sinister eyes, suddenly crawling toward her with a bizarre, unnatural posture.
Closer and closer, closer and closer.
Terrified to the core, Yu Lili stumbled and fell flat on the floor.
Before she could even push herself up, her ankle was suddenly grabbed by a cold, icy object. Giving a horrified look back, she saw the girl on the ground offer a grin.
Then, with an eerie speed, she dragged her back.
“No!” Yu Lili struggled desperately, but it was completely useless. Amid her frantic, agonized screams, Xu Yueke dragged her straight into the painting.
Once everything had settled completely, the wheelchair vanished as well.
Yet the painting itself had changed.
Yu Lili had been reduced to a sculpture in the background, while Xu Yueke was sawing off her legs. She wanted to escape, but try as she might, she could never get away.
Pei Kanyan clicked a lighter and flicked the flame back and forth near the edges of the frame, but there was not the slightest sign of burning, prompting him to say, “She did not hand over the painting.”
Mu Li looked eager to try, asking, “Should I go pull her out?”
“Do not even think about it.” Pei Kanyan shoved the enthusiastic youth back down, then gestured, “The music box.”
Mu Li curled his lip, but obediently gave the mechanism a turn with his hands, and a distant melody drifted through the gallery.
The music box inside the painting responded to the cue, beginning to spin in tandem.
“Right now, this is the channel connecting the painting to the real world, and you are its master. That is why you need to stay safely outside; no matter what happens, you must not step inside.”
With that, he reached out and touched the canvas with his fingertip, and his entire body was sucked straight into the painting.
Mu Li let out an astonished sound. It looked like the world inside the painting was a high-level instance; players with insufficient levels had not unlocked it yet.
The painting shifted once more.
The Xu Yueke inside was deeply shocked by the man’s arrival. Pei Kanyan seemed to say something, which made Xu Yueke furious.
In a flash, all the statues in the scene surrounded Pei Kanyan.
Mu Li rested his hands on his knees, staring intently at the painting’s movements.
With every tick of the second hand, a statue was crushed to pieces by Pei Kanyan, only for the rubble to reassemble itself and form a complete statue once again.
Mu Li watched as one was shattered, then resurrected; another shattered, then resurrected, in a seemingly endless cycle.
Before he could react, Pei Kanyan was injured, and streaks of red pigment appeared across the canvas.
This was not looking good.
The red pigment multiplied rapidly, obscuring even the human figures from view.
At last, the entire scene was completely swallowed by red.
Mu Li grabbed the frame, shook it with all his might, and pressed his ear against it to listen for any sound, calling out, “Mr. Pei, are you okay?”
The gallery remained dead quiet, with no answer.
The world inside the painting was Xu Yueke’s home turf; could something have happened to him?
Mu Li scooped up the painting and sprinted toward the exit.
The moment he stepped out into the sunlight, the weight in his hands suddenly vanished. Mu Li blinked in bewilderment, dashed back into the hallway, and saw that the painting had returned right back to its display case.
It seemed it could not be taken out of the gallery.
Mu Li cupped his hands around his mouth like a megaphone toward the painting and shouted, “Mr. Pei, you have to wait for me.”
Then he dashed back outside.
Students walked in twos and threes across the campus grounds. Mu Li stopped anyone he saw to ask: “Do you know where the sculpture room is?” “Where is the sculpture room?”
Those students either claimed complete ignorance or turned pale with panic the moment they heard those three words, waving their hands frantically as they hurried away.
After asking around a full circle, not a single person would tell him the location.
Mu Li was exhausted; this kind of questioning was far too inefficient, so he simply stood beneath the teaching building and shouted at the top of his lungs: “Can someone tell me where the sculpture room is?”
His shout echoed across the campus, and students poked their heads out to watch the commotion.
A male student looked panic-stricken as he rushed over to Mu Li, lowering his voice to say, “Why are you trying to go there? There is a monster there!”
Finally, he had found someone in the know.
Mu Li clamped a hand onto the student’s shoulder to keep him from running off, saying, “Take me there.”
The World Inside the Painting
Pei Kanyan lowered the red pigment and rolled his neck.
The statues had been thoroughly crushed into powder, yet they still stubbornly pieced themselves together, though it took quite a while before they managed to assemble even a fingernail’s worth.
Xu Yueke glared with bitter hatred at these shattered statues, yet she did not dare take another step forward, asking, “Did you come to save Yu Lili?”
“You reap what you sow. Why would I save her?” Pei Kanyan turned instead toward the sculpting table, stating, “This music box belongs to me now.”
Furious yet utterly helpless, Xu Yueke could only watch through gritted teeth as the man before her took away her belongings.
Pei Kanyan commanded the dancing girl statue: “Take me to your master.”
The dancing statue suddenly sprang to life. With a twist of her parasol handle, the music box vanished from her grip and instantly reappeared in the distance.
She was leading the way.
Pei Kanyan followed her all the way out of the school, walking through several streets until they arrived at a high school. Three years ago, this would indeed have been high school age.
The music box came to a halt right by the youth’s feet.
By the lakeside, Pei Kanyan caught sight of him. It was Mu Li, trapped within the painting.
The youth stood quietly by the shore, gazing out into the distance. A gentle breeze brushed past, stirring his strands of hair and sending ripples spreading across the water’s surface in concentric circles.
Pei Kanyan strolled closer, observing him up and down.
This version of Mu Li was much younger and far more emaciated, frail enough to be described as wind-blown, struggling to fill out his oversized, baggy school uniform, which hung loosely off his frame.
He broke the stillness by asking, “What are you doing here?”
The youth turned his head and extended a hand toward the stranger, greeting, “Hello, my name is Mu Li. Would you like to be friends with me?”
At the moment the youth turned around, Pei Kanyan furrowed his brow tightly. His lips parted, but he found himself at a loss for words.
Though equipped with eyes, this version of him lacked the vivid vitality of the eyeless Mu Li from three years later.
Those eyes were devoid of light, like a meticulously carved porcelain doll, utterly lifeless, shrouded in a blanket of gray.
At that moment, a bell chimed.
The youth muttered to himself, “It is time to eat.”
Then he headed toward the cafeteria, taking one step after another with measured footprints.
Pei Kanyan pressed his lips into a thin line and trailed behind him.
The youth stood in line at the food stall, but student after student brazenly cut right in front of him. He said nothing, simply retreating a step in silence.
Despite being first in line, he ended up at the very back of the pack. By the time he finally managed to secure his lunch, every single seat was already occupied.
He walked alone to a dark corner, squatted down against the wall with his tray resting on his knees, picked up a piece of meat, and prepared to eat.
Suddenly, a few delinquent-looking students appeared, mocking, “Well, well, look who is here, the little idiot has come for lunch.”
The youth made no response.
Those thugs immediately kicked his tray away, spilling all the dishes onto the floor.
The youth tilted his head, his gaze remaining completely undisturbed as he muttered under his breath, “Eat.”
He dropped to his knees, picking up the food off the ground and shoving it into his mouth.
He was exactly the same as the Mu Li of three years later.
Pei Kanyan shattered the nearby wall with his bare hand.
“Hahahaha, an idiot is always an idiot.” The punks burst into loud laughter.
As if that were not enough, they proceeded to pour fruit juice all over the youth.
Yet the surrounding people acted as though they saw nothing, coldly standing by as spectators to the entire ordeal.
This was a fait accompli within the painting’s world and could not be altered.
Instead, Pei Kanyan flashed forward, grabbed one of the thug’s wrists, and snapped it without an ounce of hesitation, ordering, “Get lost!”
“Ah, my hand!” The punk let out a miserable scream.
Just as he wanted to demand who was meddling in other people’s business, he looked up and crashed straight into a gaze brimming with murderous intent, a chilling look cold enough to freeze one’s bones.
They trembled so hard their teeth chattered, collapsing onto the floor, utterly paralyzed.
Pei Kanyan looked back down to see the youth still stuffing things from the floor into his mouth. He caught the youth’s hands and said, “Stop eating. I will treat you to a big feast, alright?”
The youth offered no response, continuing to reach down and grab food from the ground.
Pei Kanyan forcibly restrained the youth’s hands, telling him, “Stop eating.”
The youth began to struggle. Pei Kanyan urged, “Mu Li, stop eating!”
As if a specific keyword had been triggered, the youth’s struggling movements came to a halt, and he asked, “Would you like to be friends with me?”
Pei Kanyan fell silent.
He had never felt as speechless as he did at this exact moment.
He looked at him as though gazing upon an empty shell devoid of a soul, a marionette missing its mind.
Pei Kanyan crouched down to meet the youth’s gaze at eye level, spelling it out word by word: “Listen to me: whoever bullies you from now on, you must never let them off!”
The youth tilted his head and asked, “Is this an order?”
An order.
Pei Kanyan ground his back teeth together, confirming it with utmost seriousness: “This is an order.”
The youth nodded and replied, “I will remember it.”