Volume 1: Breaking Ground Chapter 7 Spring Bamboo Shoots
Since the NPC didn't have any tasks to assign, the time after breakfast was perfect for looking for the seal.
As Mr. Li Taiyong's legs and feet were not very agile, he temporarily stayed in Wumei Restaurant to drink tea and wait.
At this time, the remaining 10 people gathered in the patio.
Because of the real death that happened last night, those newcomers who were entering the painting for the first time were somewhat fatalistically silent, but at the same time they were also positive due to their survival instinct.
"Xiaomu, do you have any idea?" Qin Ci asked first.
Everyone listened attentively, and for some unknown reason they felt that this tall man was extraordinary.
Mu Yiran raised his head and looked at the oddly shaped building. "Only by finding clues to the cause of death can we find the location of the seal. Judging from the current situation in Room 402, the death that occurred last night is consistent with the fire last year . I wonder if this can be considered a vague pattern of death."
Apparently, more than one person had thought of this question. Sha Liu also nodded: "The doorman specially gathered everyone together to talk about what happened last year. I think this may also be a pattern! - After each death incident, the NPC will be responsible for handing over the 'death template'."
Death template, this term is very novel and appropriate.
If you think about it carefully, this setting of NPC is actually very cruel. When something happens in a room, the old man at the door will stand up and say: The same thing happened in this room a few years ago. That person died in such and such a way. Now you understand...
"If everyone in a room is cursed by the dead in that room, then what we need to solve urgently now is - what kind of murders have happened in each room before!" Sha Liu was a little excited, and his eyes swept over everyone present. "Before looking for the seal, I think this is the most urgent issue that needs to be solved right now!"
"But, after the lights are turned off, no one is allowed to visit. Ultimately, the only ones who will face danger are the residents in this room!" The speaker was Xin Miao, her face was pale at the moment - she was the only resident in Room 402 left.
Weidong couldn't help but comfort Xinmiao : "As long as you don't break the rules, it shouldn't be that bad...Besides, something has already happened in your room, so the probability should be smaller."
Qiu Lu also quickly responded to Wei Dong's words: "Yes! They got into trouble last night because they were visiting other people's houses without permission! They broke the rules! As long as we remember the doorman's words carefully and don't visit other people's houses or other floors after turning off the lights, then we should be fine!" - Qiu Lu rarely speaks so loudly, and at this moment it seemed like she was trying to give herself courage.
Zhitiao is the more realistic of the three poets: "But people still die every day. Doctor Qin said yesterday that if there are no deaths, then everyone will nominate someone..."
Everyone stopped talking.
Finally, Ke Xun said, "We can't find any clear pattern of death from the current situation. I don't think it's going to be smooth sailing for us to hold a meeting and vote."
Mu Yiran glanced at Ke Xun: Is this your way of comforting everyone...
Sha Liu was a little anxious: "A pattern has clearly emerged - the deaths in the room will happen again! If you observe and analyze carefully, you will find clues in the room! For example, those smoke-blackened walls in front of 402 are examples of past deaths!"
"There has only been one death so far. We cannot be sure that the so-called death template will happen in this room. It must target the tenant of this room." Ke Xun did not look at Sha Liu with a burning gaze, but glanced at the stairs at the four corners and fell into thought again.
Mu Yiran continued what Ke Xun said: "Last night, there was a strange incident of the stairs disappearing. This should be closely related to the death design last night. Therefore, the location of the accident is very large and not limited to the inside of the room. Secondly, in addition to the hard rules of the NPC, there must be other death conditions that we are not aware of. If someone violates the death conditions outside the room and does not return to his room, will he become the prey of the death template in other rooms?"
Ke Xun looked at Mu Yiran with a subtle look in his eyes. This big guy actually explained the problem for him? And the content was almost the same as what he thought...
"Outside the room? Why would people appear outside the room in the middle of the night?" Qiu Lu felt terrible just thinking about this question.
Ke Xun glanced at Sha Liu meaningfully, "NPC rules say you can't visit other people's rooms or use the stairs. In other words, apart from your own room, the entire corridor on this floor, as well as the four stairwells and public toilets on this floor are all within the legal range."
Sha Liu didn't mind that Ke Xun saw through her thoughts. Instead, she felt more at ease with more smart people. "In this way, if something really happens in a room and the person in the room can escape by luck, then people in other rooms can come to the corridor to help. This doesn't count as visiting each other's rooms or going up the stairs. It's helping each other within the legal scope!"
Xinmiao got a little excited after hearing this: "Can I stay in the corridor all night? I don't dare to go back to the room alone! Tina and the others died in..."
"If we could stay in the corridor, we wouldn't be given a room," Qin Ci corrected the other party's idea. "The method Sha Liu mentioned should only be a short-term emergency rescue."
Qiu Lu reacted relatively slowly. It was only at this time that she understood what Sha Liu said. She hurriedly pulled the hand of Xin Miao beside her and said, "Yes! We girls are powerless. When the time comes, we will still need help from you big men!" As she said that, she pulled Xin Miao's hand hard again, and Xin Miao hurriedly nodded .
Shouzhu comforted the two and said, "Don't worry, we men are supposed to protect girls."
Zhu Haowen, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly spoke up: "There is no old or young on the Yellow Springs Road, and there is no man or woman in this death apartment. There is no logic that anyone should take care of anyone else."
Qiu Lu felt her self-esteem was somewhat frustrated. She glanced at the comfortable-looking Japanese man, but what he said was really uncomfortable: "Do you know which cloud will rain? It's not certain who will be able to help whom by then! Just like how we are taking care of Grandpa Li now, we can go further by supporting each other!"
"If we were to run for our lives now, would you support Grandpa Li from behind?" Zhu Haowen asked, "This is Chunsun Apartment, not the so-called Titanic."
Wei Dong quickly patted his roommate on the shoulder and said, " Come on, don't waste your energy. Have you figured it out? What they said has nothing to do with us!" He looked at Sha Liu and said, "We live on the sixth floor. According to the rule that we can't visit other floors, we are isolated by you."
Sha Liu rolled his eyes and said, "Then tell us what strange phenomena you have in 616, and we will help you find a solution first!"
Wei Dong thought about it and found that apart from the headache and chest tightness, he didn't find any other weird things about Room 616. "Our room is quite clean, but I just feel suffocated. Ke'er, can you try going in later?"
"Okay, Grandpa Li just gave me a bottle of Danshen dripping pills. I'll take it and go up to take a look..." Before Ke Xun finished speaking, he heard Zhu Haowen say, "Our house has deformed."
Ke Xun: “What the hell?”
Everyone had different expressions after hearing this: What the hell is this thing that has transformed? Do you think this is an apartment-style Transformer?
Mu Yiran stared at Zhu Haowen: "Transformation?"
Zhu Haowen nodded. "I started looking for the seal as soon as I entered the room last night, so I remember the approximate location and angle of the room. When I woke up in the morning, the outer wall of the room tilted slightly inward, and many items placed against the wall moved slightly. The angle between the wall and the ground was no longer the standard 90 degrees, and seemed to be changing at an acute angle."
It took many people a while to digest what Zhu Haowen said.
Wei Dong was the most surprised . He didn't expect that the person sharing the room with him was actually such an extraordinary person. He wanted to say, "Brother, I'll depend on you from now on," but he was afraid that the other party would retort with "There are no brothers in Chunsun Apartment," so he kept silent.
Mu Yiran said, "We'd better go back to our respective rooms and check them out, think about what's different from last night, and look for seals in the rooms. Gather at the restaurant at lunch time, and hold a meeting to discuss any changes or anomalies in the rooms."
Everyone thought it made sense, and Zhu Haowen nodded as well.
Ke Xun and Mu Yiran returned to 411 again. The fourth floor was the one with the most residents in the team. In addition to 411, there was 410 where Sha Liu and Qiu Lu lived, and 402 where only Xin Miao lived.
If the scope of activities is limited to this floor, in terms of physical strength and reaction ability, Ke Xun and Mu Yiran are undoubtedly the best on this floor. The other three are all women. In Qiu Lu's words: they are obviously the ones who need to be protected.
Sha Liu said a lot just now, actually he just wanted to bring the topic to this point.
Ke Xun didn't think too much about it. If he really saw his companions in danger, he would never stand idly by - he didn't need anyone to remind or emphasize this.
"Do you know anything about the painter and this painting?" Ke Xun turned on the electric fan, and also opened the door and small windows, so that some air could circulate in the stuffy room.
Mu Yiran carefully observed the corners of the room and didn't seem to find anything different from last night. He especially checked the angle between the wall and the floor, and there was nothing wrong with it.
“Breaking Ground is not a painting.”
"Don't tell me this is actually a horror movie." Ke Xun faced the electric fan, and the sound spread out in a looping and illusory manner.
Mu Yiran paused and finished his words: "Breaking Ground is not a single painting, but a series of works that tells the story of the author's childhood growing environment. All 12 paintings are full of life."
"Twelve paintings?"
"The Ground-Breaking series consists of 12 paintings in total, which include street scenes, food stalls, barber shops and the like from the author's childhood, recording the lives of ordinary people."
"Does it mention Chunsun Apartments? Or cylindrical buildings like this?" Ke Xun asked.
"I haven't studied those 12 paintings seriously. Compared with the magical realism paintings of painter Luo Bin, these 12 paintings seem ordinary because they are too real." Mu Yiran's mind emerged with several famous paintings of this painter, which are often full of mystery and grotesque colors, but have profound social and historical significance behind them.
"Did you see any scene before you entered the painting?" Ke Xun tried to recall what he saw at the time, "Like an electric fan or a kid jumping rubber rope or something like that."
“I didn’t see as much as you did. In addition to the label “Breaking Ground” in the corner of the painting, I vaguely saw a…” Mu Yiran frowned. He also felt that the image was a little strange, even funny: “A bamboo shoot.”
"Bamboo shoots?" Ke Xun really couldn't remember seeing anything related to bamboo shoots since he came to the apartment. "Bamboo shoots, could they be related to Chunsun Apartment?"
Mu Yiran did not answer, his eyes fixed on the old-fashioned desk in front of him: "There is a word engraved on this desk."
"A word 'early'?" Ke Xun also walked over and saw that there was indeed a word engraved on his desk - 'return'. It looked like it was engraved with a ballpoint pen because there were obvious traces of ultramarine in it.
The words were engraved very deeply, and I don't know how long it took the fragile ballpoint pen to repeatedly engrave them. Every stroke was deeply engraved into the table. One can imagine how strong the desire, or even hatred, of the person who wrote them was.
