Chapter 789: Taking a Loss
(To be revised later) The deaths were all miserable, as if they had been torn apart by a large beast, all of them dying in a place that looked like a gallery.
"The painter's imagination..." Bian Yongyi continued looking, and the more he looked, the more he felt something was wrong, because behind them were also scenes of the brutal deaths of two players who had stayed in the villa.
He was also a player who had entered instances, and he knew too well what people looked like when they died. There had never been any super-large beasts in Zone 009, but Jiang Jiang's paintings were too realistic, making it impossible to accept that they were merely products of imagination.
"Could there be a problem?" Bian Yongyi felt uneasy instinctively, but he still continued to look. He wanted to see if Xu Huo was in the paintings, but unexpectedly, he didn't find Xu Huo—instead, he found himself!
Looking at that painting of his own death hanging on a fence in a purple garden, he subconsciously threw the painting away, but when he came back to his senses, he felt the place in the painting looked a bit familiar. He suddenly turned his head to look out the window, only to realize that the scene in the painting was actually the garden of this very villa!
"This is impossible!" Bian Yongyi slammed the door and rushed out, running downstairs without hesitation: He would rather be caught and beaten up or have his head shoved into a toilet than take the risk of possibly dying by staying in the villa!
However, as he passed through the garden, he couldn't help but look at the patch of wormhole flowers. A cluster of purple and red flowers seemed to have gained a magical power at this moment, every detail magnified, drawing people's gaze.
Bian Yongyi forced himself to turn his head, ran to the villa's main gate, used a prop to look outside for a moment, and quietly opened the door half a minute later.
But no sooner had he stepped out than he was caught by the buzz-cut young man. His foot slipped, and he flew forward several meters in a posture absolutely impossible for a normal person before crashing to the ground.
Bian Yongyi subconsciously protected his head, but the hot-tempered young man didn't approach him. Instead, he let out a sinister laugh, "Perfect timing, I'll try out my new prop on you."
As soon as he finished speaking, Bian Yongyi automatically floated into the air. After flying up more than ten meters, he was caught up by the buzz-cut young man, who was also airborne. Seeing the other's fist, he immediately closed his eyes, but he didn't expect that this time the other was truly intent on killing him. From between the knuckles of the fist aimed at his temple, a long needle extended.
Bian Yongyi died without any suspense. The buzz-cut young man kicked him away, and by an unfortunate coincidence, he landed on the fence beside the patch of wormhole flowers. The iron fence pierced through his abdomen, and because he was short and light, the fence didn't fall over. So he hung there on the fence, blood flowing down the iron bars onto the ground—exactly like the painting in the studio that depicted his death scene.
*
Xu Huo turned around and looked at Jiang Jiang, "Do you still remember Doctor Shang?"
Jiang Jiang lowered her eyes and smiled, "You know my past?"
"After all, you're too famous. Finding this information isn't difficult," Xu Huo said. "When you were still in the orphanage, he provided psychological counseling for you."
Jiang Jiang shook her head, "I don't know Doctor Shang. But I do know someone with the surname Shang—Shang Shuming. He was also very famous in the past, but he's already dead."
"Is that so?" Xu Huo said. "I don't think he's dead. At the very least, he could still pick suitable children from the orphanage to cultivate. But it's hard to say whether the cultivation was successful. The other boy who was adopted abroad with you, along with his adoptive parents, all died."
"What does that prove?" Jiang Jiang countered.
"The criterion for judging whether the cultivation was successful is whether one can kill their own parents and relatives," Xu Huo smiled. "Do you think you meet this criterion?"
Jiang Jiang looked at him strangely, "He who asserts must prove. Why are you asking me instead?"
"Because I want to know one thing," Xu Huo's smile faded, and he said seriously, "Was Doctor Shang really Shang Shuming? This is very important to me."
Jiang Jiang shook her head, helplessly saying, "Unfortunately, I can't help you. At least in my memory, there is no Doctor Shang. And Mr. Shang, who often came to the orphanage when I was a child, died long ago. Good people don't live long. Like my adoptive parents, the worst thing they ever did in their lives was silently curse others with guilt in their hearts, and they both ended up dying of illness."
"If Mr. Shang is still alive, then he must not be a good person."
"In this world, only bad people can survive."
*
"Not necessarily," Xu Huo said. "At least I am a good person."
Jiang Jiang suddenly laughed. At first it was a muffled laugh, then it turned into loud laughter, and finally she was doubled over laughing. After a while, she wiped away her tears and said, "Thank you. This is the funniest joke I've heard all year."
For some reason, Xu Huo also laughed. He said, "When I was young, I was treated in a psychiatric hospital. At that time, there should have been a doctor treating me."
"The reason I say 'should have been' is because I have no normal memory of this doctor. I only discovered him through taking medication to stimulate my memory."
"I'm missing a part of my memory. This isn't a big problem in itself—people don't have to remember everything or figure out every issue to live. But in this missing part of my memory is my elder brother's death. To this day, I don't know why or how he died. The original memories in my mind have also become a bit blurry because of that doctor's appearance. But I am very certain of one thing: he died because of me."
"So I have to find out the truth about his matter."
"Shang Shuming, or perhaps the person playing Shang Shuming, may not necessarily be that original doctor. But this is my only clue." Xu Huo gripped the "Eye of the Dead," his gaze cold. "You're a decent person. I hope you can tell me the truth."
Jiang Jiang glanced at the two players behind her who were spinning in place with confused expressions, while Song Xu and the others who had gone after the ghostly figure hadn't returned yet. She said, "It seems you've already controlled the others. No matter how I explain, you won't believe me, will you?"
Xu Huo pointed his chin at the paintbrush in her hand, "What do you think?"
"Since we're trapped here, it seems we won't be getting out anytime soon," Jiang Jiang said. "Unfortunately, I'm a person with no strength to truss a chicken, so I'm definitely no match for you. But I can find other things to play with you instead..."
Before she finished speaking, Xu Huo had already launched a fierce attack. However, Jiang Jiang's speed was not slow either. Her entire body floated back as lightly as paper while she raised her paintbrush and waved it in the air.
The haunted house setting instantly disappeared, replaced by long, winding galleries. It was as if a folded space had opened up. The paintings hanging on the walls also opened at any moment, and evolved beasts leaped out from within them, frantically attacking any living thing they could see!
The two players who had fallen behind were severely injured by claws before they could even wake up in time. Perhaps the pain was too intense, or perhaps Xu Huo's mental influence had weakened, they quickly regained consciousness.