Chapter 239: The Method to Clear the Third Task
“If you want to call it a security guard, that's fine too. Either way, it can't move.” Xu Huo didn't argue with him.
At that moment, Wei Da pointed at the figure painting not far away. “Aren't there plenty of living paintings here? Why not just burn it to scare the others, so the rest of the paintings behave themselves.”
With that, he moved to dismantle the frame, and the oil painting man quickly spoke up, “Brother! Don't be so hot-tempered! We can talk this out!”
Xu Huo put away his lighter. “Tell me how to clear the third level.”
The oil painting man laughed. “Ah, if you'd said that's what you wanted earlier, I'd have told you straight away. I'm hung at the entrance precisely to give hints to players, aren't I? I gave you a hint on your very first day here.”
“Is that so?” Xu Huo lit a cigarette, took a drag, then pressed it against the painting, burning a hole through the paper. “Or were you trying to trick me? What did you call me out for when I came out at night?”
The oil painting man suppressed his anger and forced a smile. “Of course it was to remind you of the key to the second task. Once a person enters a painting, it's hard to get out. To restore the real painting, you still need my help.”
Xu Huo glanced to the side, then burned another hole in the painting. “Lies.”
“I'm not lying!” the oil painting man quickly shouted. “I'm telling the truth! Why would I deceive you in a situation like this... Don't burn anymore! Stop burning!”
After the third hole appeared, Xu Huo said, “One lie, one hole. Think carefully.”
“You're still alive inside the painting, and maybe one day you'll get out. If the painting burns, you're done for now.”
“I can bring players out of paintings, and I can save you too.”
Hearing this, the oil painting man quickly agreed. “You're right. I'll tell you everything I know. When the time comes, you absolutely must save me!”
But Wei Da said, “Something's off.”
Xu Huo walked over to *The Silent Umbrella* and asked, “Can you still come out of the painting?”
The tattered umbrella turned slightly to the left.
“What does that mean?” Wei Da asked, puzzled.
“It means 'no.'” On the second day, when Big Bear took players to inspect the woman's portrait, Xu Huo noticed that this painting also moved—sometimes left, sometimes right. He observed that the umbrella seemed to react to players' words. So he deliberately said a few things and found that the umbrella responded to events happening in the exhibition hall but showed no reaction to which room Big Bear was staying in.
He specifically asked Big Bear if Deng Yu had damaged the painting. Big Bear confirmed it, and the umbrella turned left. When he mentioned that the monster would attack those who damaged paintings at night, the umbrella turned right.
Of course, the people in the paintings might have once been players and weren't trustworthy, but when he was talking to the oil painting man, the umbrella also turned left and right.
It seemed this silent umbrella was far more honest than the oil painting man.
Xu Huo lost patience and picked up the oil painting to burn it, but the oil painting man quickly cried out, “I really didn't lie to you!”
“You're lying!” Wei Da retorted. “If you could come out of the painting, the other paintings wouldn't be so calm.”
“If entering a painting means you can never come out, then how could he have completed the second task!” the oil painting man shouted.
“Time limit.” Xu Huo tapped the electronic timer. “This instance is called 'Thirty Days.' None of the electronic timers count down beyond thirty days. The longest so far is only a few hundred hours. Entering a painting doesn't mean you can't come out—it means you can only come out within a certain time frame.”
“So that's what 'thirty days' means,” Wei Da said. “Maybe after thirty days, they become real paintings.”
Seeing that the lower half of his painting was already burning, the oil painting man wailed, “Don't kill me! I'll talk!”
“You need to make a request to the curator! Ask the curator to give you a new painting!”
But neither of the two standing men moved to stop the fire. Only after it fell to the ground and burned completely did Wei Da speak: “The umbrella didn't react. Does it not know, or is it unwilling to tell us? Should we try other paintings?”
“No need. They won't tell the truth or lies either way,” Xu Huo said.
“True. If I were trapped in a painting forever, I'd want to drag someone down with me too.” Wei Da sighed, then looked at Xu Huo with hope, wishing he would first test the method with someone already in a painting. “The third task is to add a new painting, right? That probably has to wait until night. And if we do the third task without completing the first two, does it count?”
Xu Huo didn't respond. The oil painting man's method couldn't hold up under scrutiny. Last night, he had already seen the monster use its cane to turn Xie Man into a new painting. If making a request to the curator was the way to create a new painting, then the painting that appeared here should be a living one. The worst outcome would be the requesting player turning into a painting. Even if it succeeded, would taking that new living painting cause the player to be devoured by the painting containing Xie Man, like Lu Gang?
The oil painting man's words were absolutely untrustworthy, so the method wasn't even worth testing.
“That won't work,” he said directly. “Think of another way.”
Wei Da breathed a sigh of relief but couldn't come up with anything after thinking hard. “But the tasks are all related to paintings and players. Maybe part of what the oil painting said is true—creating a new painting requires the curator's involvement, but the way to obtain it isn't what he said.”
Xu Huo paused slightly. “Paintings are all painted.”
“Paintings are indeed painted, but the paintings in the Hundred People Art Museum are clearly people.” Wei Da said, then saw him pick up an empty frame and couldn't help raising his voice. “Aren't you afraid of turning into a painting too?”
“Players have already touched every frame here over the past few days. Even if they turn into paintings, it won't happen until night.” Xu Huo said, “Go check the rooms for any brushes.”
Wei Da had no choice but to go. After checking each room, he ran out excitedly. “You're right! I found several in the two rooms at the end of the left corridor—pencils and colored pens. They were hidden in the fake flowers inside the vases.”
Xu Huo took a pencil disguised as a flower stem and handed it to him. “You draw first.”
Wei Da hesitated briefly, then took the pencil readily. “This is at least safer than facing the curator directly.”
He quickly sketched a simple house on the paper, but the sculptures and the art museum showed no reaction.
“Does it only take effect at night?”
“We'll have to wait until night,” Xu Huo said, putting the drawing away and hanging it on a pillar. He casually took another blank sheet and pocketed the pencil.
If Wei Da turned into a painting by nightfall, then this method wouldn't be worth testing.
Sensing the person behind him move from left to right, Xu Huo said without turning around, “These paintings aren't fake during the day. You know that, don't you?”
Wei Da gave an awkward laugh. “I'm just wandering around...”
Xu Huo picked up the two frames on the right. “These two paintings are useless to me now. I keep my word—if you survive, the paintings are yours.”
Wei Da smiled bitterly. “I'm afraid I'll turn into a painting too...”