Chapter 1756: The Painting and the Passerby on the Leaderboard
The words on the stone slab were bright red, with stains beneath them. It was unclear whether they were special pigments or real blood, but these few lines placed beside the sealed corpse seemed like a vengeful curse.
This young girl was Xia Xi·Duolaiti.
Among the materials preserved by Old Mr. Yue was a photograph of her. After more than a hundred years, this young girl, soaked and sealed in special resin, had not changed in appearance at all.
Xu Huo stood silently in front of the corpse. After a long while, he opened his personal panel and purchased a sealing prop from the game platform, intending to lift the corpse along with the amber and place it into a container prop.
However, after lifting one corner of the amber, he discovered an unexpected color beneath it—something a metal box shouldn't have: an oil painting.
At the same time, the game platform sent a notification:
[Congratulations, Passerby A, for successfully finding the oil painting "Ember Maiden." Do you wish to clear the instance immediately?]
Xu Huo ignored this message. Instead, he carefully removed the amber, wrapped it up, and set it aside before turning back to look at the painting, which was placed at the bottom of the box, sealed only by a thin layer of plastic.
Both players and fans of Master Solan had always assumed that "Ember Maiden" was a painting—and indeed, it was. Master Solan was a painter; she would not have used a corpse as her own work. So it was not surprising that such a painting existed, nor that it was placed alongside the body. Whether Master Solan had been accidentally involved when Xia Xi·Duolaiti disappeared, or had placed it there later after learning the truth, both were possible. After all, the blind old woman and Enbo had both passed away a few years later.
But this painting did not depict the scene of Xia Xi·Duolaiti's death.
The central part of the painting showed two women tied back-to-back with iron chains, each facing the viewer in profile. The one on the left was undoubtedly Xia Xi·Duolaiti—her name was written in tiny script on the edge of her clothing. The one on the right appeared to be a woman in her thirties or forties, named "Fragrance."
The woman named "Fragrance" had her eyes tightly shut, with bloody tears at the corners. Xia Xi·Duolaiti, on the other hand, wore a smile, exuding innocence and purity. The environment around them was a mine cave inlaid with all kinds of colorful gems. The large and numerous gems occupied a third of the painting, protruding toward the two women in the center, each gem bearing a variety of human faces.
The faces facing "Fragrance" were cold and cruel. With a bit more observation, one could discern the features of some important figures—such as Matri·Duolaiti, key officials of the government, and major decision-makers from mining groups like Tian Tian Le and Hai Er Si. Xu Huo couldn't identify all of them, but from the central figures, he could infer that the others were related parties.
The faces facing "Xia Xi·Duolaiti" were more emotionally complex. Some were humble and tearful, suffering deeply; others were filled with rage and resentment. Their faces were smaller and more numerous, as if forming a confrontation with the larger faces on the right, but because they were shrouded in shadow, they appeared weaker.
These numerous but weak faces seemed unable to affect the two women in the center or the large faces opposite them, because the chains binding both women extended toward the side of the large faces and plunged deep into the gems.
In the corner of the painting was Master Solan's name, along with the title she had given it: "Continuation."
"Continuation." Xu Huo's gaze lingered on these two words. What was being continued?
The woman named "Fragrance" in the painting had a slightly protruding belly, but it didn't look like middle-aged weight gain.
Xu Huo had seen the name "Fragrance" in Enbo's network of connections. She was also someone who had once helped Enbo, and like Enbo, she had grown up without family. After her husband's death, she became the family's breadwinner but died early.
Whether the bulge in "Fragrance's" abdomen was Master Solan's imagined "continuation" or a life truly being conceived, it represented the tragedy that had occurred in District 019—a tragedy that could not be glossed over with the phrase "past history."
After a moment of silence before the painting, Xu Huo carefully removed it, placed it in a box, and stored it in the luggage compartment. As for Xia Xi·Duolaiti, he put her into the "Staff Dormitory."
After packing up the robot and the mechanical pangolin, he returned to the surface to find that it was already dawn.
Armed robots and players had taken control of the situation. The few players Xu Huo had thrown into the "crime scene" were all captured as scapegoats. The female player, however, had managed to escape with her companions in the chaos. They were lingering near Amber Square. When she saw Xu Huo appear, she rushed over excitedly and said harshly, "Give me the antidote!"
Xu Huo smiled and handed her the antidote made from King Fungus liquid. The female player injected it on the spot. Seeing the widespread black veins rapidly diminish and not reappear, she reluctantly relaxed and said hatefully, "You know what's good for you."
"Hey," Xu Huo called out to the woman who was about to leave. "Do you still want to clear the instance now?"
The woman turned back suspiciously, on guard. "What do you want now?"
"I know the whereabouts of the 'Ember Maiden,' but I still need to do one more thing to find the painting," Xu Huo said.
"Really?" The woman was first startled, then grew suspicious. "There's no such thing as a free lunch. Don't mess with me."
"The condition is that you help me with a small task," Xu Huo added. "But this time, there won't be any risk. It'll just take a little time."
Seeing her hesitate, he continued, "It's worth a try. If you refuse, you'll never be able to clear the instance. Helping me will only take a few days, and then you can clear it and leave. Small investment, big gain. No loss."
She still didn't want to trust him, but at that moment, her two companions walked over. After discussing among themselves, they showed interest in cooperating with Xu Huo. One of the male players said, "We can't just take your word for it and run errands for you. At least give us something to believe in."
Xu Huo thought for a moment. "Passerby A. That's my player nickname."
The three of them all made expressions of disbelief. "Are you messing with us?"
But others lurking nearby reacted. Someone standing on the second floor said, "He's on the leaderboard for the E-level wormhole point!"
Under the same wormhole point, different districts had a ten-thousand-person district leaderboard. The same wormhole point across all districts had a twenty-thousand-person leaderboard. The same level of wormhole point had a fifty-thousand-person leaderboard.
The ten-thousand-person district leaderboard had relatively low value. Generally, only D-level players paid attention to it. Once a player reached C-level, they looked at the leaderboards for the same wormhole point and the same level of wormhole point.
Taking the E27 wormhole point as an example, it covered at least seventeen districts. The top twenty thousand C-level players from these seventeen districts, ranked by their instance ratings and performance, could qualify for the leaderboard.
As for the same-level wormhole point leaderboard, it covered all E-level wormhole points. From Xu Huo's wormhole point alone, regardless of whether they still existed, there were over twenty E-level wormhole points. The top fifty thousand players from these twenty-plus wormhole points and hundreds of districts could make the leaderboard. The value was incomparable.
Of course, Xu Huo didn't know if he was on this fifty-thousand-person leaderboard. When he had just been promoted to C-level, he had checked his ranking once—around four thousand out of twenty thousand. Since then, excluding the "Ember Maiden," he had completed five instances at C-level. Apart from "King's Gem City," which was rated A, the rest were S or SS. He was probably in the mid-to-late stages of C-level and might soon be promoted to B-level. So he might be near the top of the twenty-thousand-person leaderboard, but it was hard to say whether he was at the bottom of the fifty-thousand-person one.
(End of Chapter)