Paintings of Terror

Chapter 225: Brainstorm

Chapter 225: Brainstorm

Dead fish floating on black water. Four dead snow-white fish.

The entire negative exuded a sense of unknowing terror.

“Where are the other negatives? Take them out and let’s have a look.” Mu Yiran had already taken the tweezers, which was holding this film of dead fish, from Mai Peng’s hand.

Under the faint red light, Mai Peng opened the envelope and poured out a few small negatives. He carefully pinched the toothed edges of the negatives to avoid sticking fingerprints on them.

All the negatives were similar, with black dots of different sizes distributed on a white background.

Qin Ci stared at one of the negatives: “The shape of these fish is different from the previous ones, a bit like willow leaves.”

“There are those kinds of fish that look like willow leaves.” Du Lingyu said while frowning and looking at the film. She only felt that these fish were very stiff, as if standing there in a daze. Staring at it for long made people feel terrified.

Qin Ci squinted at it for a while: “Looks like fish, but not really. It’s too small to see clearly. We have to magnify them.”

“Are all the negatives here?” Mu Yiran asked.

Mai Peng held the empty envelope: “Yes, it’s all here.”

“Then turn on the lights again, so we can see more clearly.” Mu Yiran said.

All the gauze lamps in the room were lit up. The crimson eerie atmosphere was immediately replaced by a soft warmth. Luo Bu’s tense heart relaxed a little at this moment. He also leaned over to look at the negatives.

“Brother, what did you see?” Luo Bu stretched his neck to look at the negative in Ke Xun’s hand.

Ke Xun strictly followed Mai Peng’s requirements and used his index finger and thumb to gently hold the zigzag patterns on the top and bottom of the film, so that the photo could be kept as clean as possible: “Radish, look, there is only one fish in this picture.”

This was also a negative with a white background. A large diamond-shaped black fish occupied almost the entire frame. Because the image was large, they could even clearly see the fish’s eyes, which was a gray dot.

“This fish is not completely floating on the water. It has gray water ripples on its body. I just feel that it is alive.” Luo Bu couldn’t imagine how this photo was taken. “It seems to be swimming close to the water surface, with its side up. Strange, doesn’t fish breathe with its gills? Aren’t its gills exposed above the water surface? My God, have I also learned to analyze? And I even used knowledge from biology. Brother, hurry and praise me.”

“It doesn’t seem to be in line with how fish swim.” Ke Xun also felt that this picture reflected some problems, “I also think there is something mysterious about these fish, but unfortunately these negatives are too small, and the colors are inverted. It would be great if it can be enlarged.”

Luo Bu looked towards Mai Peng who was beside them: “You guys can use a jar to develop films, can you guys use another jar to develop photos?”

Cao Youning spoke first: “Developing photos isn’t that easy. First, we need an enlarger, that’s a machine. This isn’t something that can be done through pure manual work! Even with God Mai here, we can’t do it.”

It turned out that Mai Peng had the title of a god among these photographers. At this time, he fell into a state of hard thinking. After a long while, he said: “This world seems to have no electricity. If we want to make an enlarger by hand, we’ll need a room of electric lights and a magnifying lens made by professional manufacturers. As long as I have these two things, I can find ways to assemble the other stuff. We can make a simple lens set using two convex lenses. The camera bellows and the film holder should be no problem.”

Luo Bu listened dumbfounded, convinced that he had really met a great master this time, but one could not make bricks without straws. Just getting electricity alone could be difficult: “Our phones have electricity, and don’t your cameras have batteries?”

Mai Peng smiled wryly. He shook his head and sniffed his stuffy nose: “It’s not as simple as you think. What I need is a real light bulb, even if it’s not a specialized incandescent bulb for amplification, just an ordinary LED light is fine—In this Lantern Inn, if they have electric lights, why would they bother to light so many lanterns.”

“Those things are too complicated. For now, we only want to magnify the negatives, even if they are in a state of inverted colors.” Zhu Haowen suddenly said, “How about a magnifying glass?”

“You have a magnifying glass?” Mai Peng asked hastily.

Zhu Haowen: “No.”

Mai Peng: “Oh… Aaaaaachoo! Sorry.”

Zhu Haowen: “……”

Ke Xun said: “A magnifying glass is not a very high-tech thing, maybe we can get it in stores here. Just now we saw a bazaar downstairs. We can go there to try our luck.”

“It just so happens that I also need a magnifying glass.” It was Qin Ci who spoke, “There is a medical book in my luggage. The writing on it is very small, and the light here is quite dim, making it difficult to read.”

The word “medical book” seemed to bring some hope to everyone—in case anyone got sick here, at least there was a doctor who could treat them with the medical book.

Lu Heng said: “I don’t know if the medical skills in this world are the same as that of the outside. My grandfather opened a Chinese medicine clinic. I also learned some simple Chinese medicine knowledge when I was young.”

“No wonder your signature for book loaning is in my medical book.” Qin Ci said.

“Signature for book loaning?” When Lu Heng first heard the word “signature”, he couldn’t help being a little sensitive. Everyone was looking for a signature to leave the painting.

Speaking of this, Qin Ci also felt a little unbelievable: “This is my habit. I always have a big bookmark on my books’ title page. I will ask everyone who borrows the book to sign the bookmark. It can be regarded as a type of OCD. I didn’t expect this to be known by this painting.”

Wei Dong: Brother Qin, your childhood nickname must have been something like ‘Librarian’, right? Sorry, off-topic.

Lu Heng continued to ask Qin Ci: “You mean, the bookmark on your medical book has records of me borrowing?”

“Yes, it has your signature, but it’s a pity that there’s no date.” Qin Ci was also a little regretful about this. If there was a date, they could learn what time period this world belonged to.

Mu Yiran heard the conversation between the two and seemed to think of something, with a slightly heavy expression.

Ke Xun and Luo Bu had already walked to the door: “We’ll try to find a way to get a magnifying glass. We can’t all just wait here.”

Soon several members joined the team looking for the magnifying glass. The door opened and closed, and the room became quiet again.

Mu Yiran put the negatives back into the envelope, and then put the envelope into the black developing tank. Meanwhile, he looked at the things used for film development such as the developing powders in the tank and eventually settled his gaze on the owner, Xi Shengnan, of these things.

“I don’t mean to offend, after all, everyone’s luggage has some sort of personal marks on them,” Mu Yiran looked at Xi Shengnan and said, “Did you take similar photos previously? Or ever see these things in the photos?”

Xi Shengnan was arranging a wooden jewelry box at the moment. There seemed to be bracelets and hairpins. She closed the box without looking carefully: “I have never seen such strange fish, and I have never photographed them before. Those things were like this jewelry box, unfamiliar to me.”

Mu Yiran lowered his eyes, and when he opened them again, a dim candle light reflected in his eyes: “At present, we haven’t found a clear clue, but the problems have come one after another. We might as well brainstorm now and have everyone put their ideas together. It doesn’t matter if the idea sounds outrageous or ridiculous.”

Mai Peng rubbed his completely stuffed nose. The heavy cold was quite a pain. “My biggest question is—why was everyone healthy before entering the painting, but I just suddenly got a heavy cold. This doesn’t make any sense.”

Mu Yiran nodded after hearing this and recorded it on a notebook with a pen: “This part certainly doesn’t make sense.”

“I also have a question,” Du Lingyu raised her hand, “Actually it’s a very small thing, but I find it very strange. Why did the perfume smell on me completely disappear? That ‘Voleur de Roses’ fragrance lasts very long. It’s impossible to have disappeared without a trace.”

“Good, everyone go on.” Mu Yiran recorded that too.

“My question is,” Zhu Haowen was still standing next to a gauze lamp and said, “Why does this painting know so much about each of us? First our surnames, then the props based on the memories and habits of our world. Even if this painting takes the route of role-playing, it’s impossible to find out the preferences of each player.”

Player? Shao Ling unconsciously looked towards Zhu Haowen. He suddenly understood why this person was able to survive through nine paintings. He seemed to regard all the paintings as simply clearing game levels.

Shao Ling said: “This is also the biggest question in my heart. I feel very lost because I can’t grasp the focus of this world. It’s scary that this painting ‘knows’ so much about each of us.”

Mu Yiran remained expressionless. He lowered his head and recorded everything.

Xi Shengnan had already packed her bag. Now the developing tank had been placed in the common cabinet.

Xi Shengnan seemed to have lost the spirit she had before and said in a low voice: “This painting is indeed terrifying. It not only captures our hearts, but also restores the characters in my works in this world. But this world itself is completely different from the world of my novels. I am very confused and pessimistic. I always feel that I will be the most unlucky one.”

Du Lingyu said comfortingly: “Sister Xi, don’t be paranoid, maybe it’s just a matter of time. Xiayu may be the first book character we found. We’ll perhaps find other things later.”

Xi Shengnan smiled bitterly. Lu Heng patted her shoulders, as if trying to give her strength.

When it was Qin Ci’s turn, he only shook his head: “I’m already in a mess. This world is beyond my imagination. I think the scariest thing is that we have to continue to play the role of the caravan. There are many things that we can’t say, and we don’t dare to ask the NPC for information, so we can only clench our fists and guess. For example, we can’t ask others about these weird fish on the negatives. The more important the clues are, the less we dare to ask, fearing that the people here will see through our identity as outsiders from beyond the painting and we will be punished by this world.”

After listening to Qin Ci’s words, the few newcomers found this more difficult.

“Xiao Mu, what do you have in mind?” Qin Ci asked.

After finishing recording, Mu Yiran stopped writing: “The thing that bothers me the most is the record of time. There is no borrowing date in your bookmark. The business travel records in my hand do not have a clear date. For example, the caravan visited the Fluorite Inn. I can only roughly calculate from the seasonality of the goods exchanged that we probably stayed in the Fluorite Inn for half a year. And this time we came to the Lantern Inn, there were seven vertical lines drawn. Maybe they represent seven days, or maybe they represent something other than time.”

Qin Ci frowned: “This is what is written on my bookmark: Lu Heng borrowed the book at the Lantern Inn, and Lu Heng returned the book at the Lantern Inn. There is no description of the date at all.”

Mai Peng seemed to remember something, and sniffed at his nose, which was flushed from a cold: “When we first came here, I found some vertical lines carved on the wall of the corridor, and they happened to be seven.”