Chapter 031: Thinking from the Results to the Causes
The man in the painting is wearing a khaki jacket, a round hat, and a backpack, looking very modern. He is reaching out to touch the lotus lamp on the incense table.
For some reason, I felt that this person looked familiar.
"Lin Cong, look." Wang Yue held up the table lamp and shone it towards a corner of the painting, which was the entrance to the temple. There were several people in the painting about to enter the temple. They were dressed similarly to the people touching the lampstand, all wearing uniform jackets and round hats with logos.
Who are these people? What does this painting mean? Is it a hint that it can appear in the bardo?
I looked carefully, my eyes scanning every inch of the screen, and I had a vague feeling in my heart that this place and this scene did not seem unfamiliar, and were inextricably linked to me.
As I was watching, I suddenly felt a shock all over my body, my eyes were fixed on the people who entered from the door, the light in the picture seemed to be changing, their faces were originally in the black shadow and could not be seen clearly, the light changed, the side faces became brighter, and the outlines of the facial features gradually appeared. I saw the face of one of them clearly, and an inexplicable chill came out from the back of my neck.
This person looks like my mother!
I quickly called Wang Yue's name, pointed at the person in the picture, and said, "Wang Yue, who do you think this person looks like?"
Wang Yue moved the lamp closer, and the light became brighter, shining on the person's face. She screamed, "Is it Auntie?"
"Yes, my mother." My throat moved.
As soon as the voice fell, a "click-click" sound was suddenly heard in the room. Wang Yue seemed to remember something and suddenly raised the lamp above her head. We saw that a clock had appeared at the top of the wall. This clock was very strange. The pointer did not move forward, but was pushed backwards and rotated counterclockwise.
Wang Yue's face turned pale, and she said softly, "The countdown has begun, and the secret room has been triggered."
"What countdown?" I asked.
Wang Yue said: "Each level of the Bardo Realm only lasts 24 hours. If you cannot crack the secret within this time limit, you will be trapped here forever."
My face turned pale instantly, and the whole room was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. Before entering, I had prepared myself mentally, but when I was really there, the anxiety was indescribable.
I tried to calm down, sort out my thoughts, and said, "You mean, this secret room should be designed specifically for me."
Wang Yue nodded: "It seems that this is not my stuck level, but yours."
"So the first level won't be that difficult," I said.
Wang Yue nodded again.
I murmured, “Is the secret in this painting?”
Wang Yue thought for a moment and said, "Lin Cong, I have experience in this area. We shouldn't focus on this painting first."
I asked, where should it be placed?
Wang Yue said: "Our goal is to get out of this secret room, so we have to find the door first. After we find the door, we can think about how to crack the door's mechanism and work backwards little by little. This way, we can be more targeted."
"Infer the cause from the effect?" I said.
Wang Yue nodded: "You are very smart. Don't worry, the first level won't be too difficult, we will definitely be able to get out. Let's split up and find where the exit is first."
The room was very dark. If you were out of the range of the desk lamp, you couldn't see your hand in front of you. The only lighting tool, the desk lamp, had a limited wire length, and its radius of activity was only half of the room. If you were too far away, you couldn't use the light.
In a hurry, I thought of a way to let Wang Yue hold the lamp and stand in the middle of the room, which is also the maximum length of the lamp. In the middle of the room, the light can radiate to the surroundings, and all sides can be equally exposed to the rain and dew, which is better than nothing.
I went to the south side of the room first, and with the weak light, I barely explored the south wall. Disappointingly, there was no door here, and it was completely closed. There was a shrine against the wall, and on it was a dark Buddha statue. I didn't know what kind of Buddha it was. There was cold ashes in the incense burner in front of me, and the eternal lamp next to it had long been extinguished. In the weak light, I could barely see the words on the Buddha statue, which read "Meng Shenling showed boundless like the sea."
I felt a little creepy, so I slowly stepped back and told Wang Yue what I had seen.
Wang Yue said: "Meng Shen is Meng Po. She is reminding you that you have entered her territory. You hold the lamp and I will go find her."
I held up the desk lamp, and Wang Yue's figure quickly sank into the darkness. At first, I could still see her vaguely, but then her figure flashed and disappeared.
My heart was pounding, and the darkness was spreading like a swamp. I couldn't hear a sound, and the anxiety was making me feel anxious.
After waiting for a long time, Wang Yue didn't come back. I began to sweat coldly, and all kinds of messy thoughts came to my mind. Among them, there was one thought that I couldn't control no matter what, that is, did I fall for Wang Yue's trick, and did she lead me here and leave?
Once this idea appeared, it grew like weeds, making it difficult to breathe.
I looked up at the clock on the wall. Half an hour had passed. I told myself that if she didn't come back in another five minutes, I would have to find a way myself.
Time passed by minute by minute, and the pointer gradually approached five minutes. I couldn't wait any longer, and just as I was about to take action, I saw Wang Yue walking out of the darkness. At this moment, I breathed a sigh of relief.
She was holding something in her hand, a box of matches. "Did you find this?" I asked.
Wang Yue nodded: " This is not the only room here. There is a corner there, and there is another bedroom inside. I have checked it out. There is a big wardrobe in the room, as well as a desk and a bed. I pulled open the desk and found a pack of matches inside."
"What about the exit door?" I asked.
Wang Yue shook her head: "I didn't find it. There was a corridor outside the room, leading to the innermost part. But it was too dark there, no light could get through. I was afraid that if I went in, I would never get out again... I hurried back."
"How come you can't get out after entering?" I said, thinking that maybe girls are timid and don't dare to go in when they see a dark place.
Wang Yue said: "You don't know that every detail here has a purpose and does not appear randomly. It goes against common sense that the corridor is so dark. There must be something wrong."
So what's next? I asked.
Wang Yue thought for a moment and said, "The exit is hidden deep in that dark corridor. We must go into the darkness. But this way entering won't work. It's too easy. There must be some rules here."
An idea suddenly occurred to me: "Should I disperse the darkness inside first?"
She looked at me, somewhat confused.
"That's right." I raised the desk lamp in my hand: "Use it for lighting."
Wang Yue said: "The cord of the desk lamp is very short and can't reach the corridor inside."
I felt like I had discovered something new. "This is the core of the mechanism. We must have missed something, a tool that can extend the lamp to the corridor."
Wang Yue spread out her hands and said, "What about the matches we found? And the paintings on the wall, how do you explain these ?"
I said, "We can infer the cause from the result. Let's work our way back from the end. These things will definitely be useful."
I discussed it with her and made a simple division of labor. Wang Yue was responsible for checking this room, no matter how big or small, to see if she could find any wires or sockets. And I checked the bedroom where she found the matches just now, maybe I could find the blind spots that she overlooked.
I groped my way in the dark and followed the direction Wang Yue pointed. It was very dark around me and the light from the desk lamp could barely reach here. I felt the wall and finally found the corner. I walked in and found a half-closed door.
I pushed the door open and found a bedroom. There was light in the room, a red chandelier on the ceiling, and everything in the room was an ambiguous dark red, which made me feel listless and sleepy.
The room was not big, about 30 square meters, with a double bed in the middle, a desk and a mirror in front, and an old-fashioned chest of drawers in the back. The desk was covered with a white tablecloth and a round vase was placed on it. It could be seen that the style here was very similar to that of an ordinary working-class family in the 1990s.
I felt as if I had been here before. This feeling became stronger and stronger, and I could almost blurt it out.
I didn't rush to look for anything, but sat on the bed trying hard to recall whether I had been to this place before.
It seems like it’s right on the tip of my tongue, but I just can’t say it.
I stood up and walked back and forth on the floor. The old-fashioned floor below me had been in disrepair for a long time, and it made a slight "crunching" sound when I stepped on it. I stood there, as if I had caught a trace of memory, and I concentrated on thinking about it. After a moment, I slapped my thigh and remembered it!
Before I was ten years old, I don’t remember exactly how old I was, but I lived in a big courtyard with my parents for a while. I have no idea where that courtyard was. The south side of the courtyard was the main gate, and the other three sides were two-story houses, all connected by a large circular corridor. Due to this special structure, all residents were close neighbors, and the relationship was very good at that time. We could open our doors day and night, and no one would pick up things on the road or lock their doors at night.
I remember that time was very joyful and blissful, playing with the kids in the compound, fighting and playing all kinds of games, and every day was just a leisurely one.
Until that day, something big happened in the slum.
