As the music started, a sweet NPC reminded everyone, "Afternoon tea time! Please come to the hall to rest~" The NPC emphasized, "Make sure to wash the berry juice off your hands, don't let the color get mixed in!"
There were several round tables of various sizes in the hall, covered with white lace tablecloths. Most people sat around the largest round table. Xin Beibei and Shi Zhendong sat briefly at a small round table, then Shi Zhendong pulled his girlfriend to join them.
"What year were you born?" Guo Lixia suddenly asked Shi Zhendong.
Shi Zhendong looked a little embarrassed: "Tiger."
"I was born in the Year of the Rabbit, you're a year older than me!" Guo Lixia gave herself a thumbs up for her earlier correct guess.
"Alright, Sister Guo, let's get down to business!" Ke Xun interrupted this troublesome older sister of their group.
Guo Lixia readily nodded: "Okay, okay, I won't say anything more, we'll all listen to our group leader! Don't underestimate our group leader just because she's young, she's very resourceful and very convincing!"
Mu Yiran glanced at Ke Xun sitting next to her, a faint smile on her face.
Qin Ci asked everyone first, "While you were working in your rooms, did you notice anything unusual?"
Everyone was still getting used to their surroundings and hadn't had time to observe carefully.
He Yu, with his long, unruly hair, said, "I discovered that this world perfectly embodies the Fauvist style. First of all, the composition doesn't emphasize proportions. For example, the green maze and circular pool outside the castle—even after we climbed the long stairs to the inside of the room and looked out the window, we could still see them very clearly. This clarity comes from close-up observation; it's impossible to achieve this in real life."
Mu Yiran nodded slightly, apparently having noticed this as well.
He Yu continued, "Fauvism doesn't focus on perspective and chiaroscuro. It's a flat composition that breaks away from traditional Western painting styles. The objects themselves and the colors of the shadows create a strong contrast. This style itself is detached from nature; the painter focuses on subjective feelings. This aligns with what Fauvists often say: 'Painting isn't an instruction manual, it's our emotion!'"
Therefore, when Ke Xun first entered the painting, he had a question: Is this painting three-dimensional?
"But the NPCs kept reminding us not to pollute the colors," Miwei chimed in. "We all know that Fauvism's colors are free, even indiscriminate. For example, Matisse's famous 'Woman with a Hat' boldly uses green, red, yellow, and blue on the woman's face, as well as the interweaving of these colors."
Guo Lixia, who was also attentively participating in the meeting, listened to Miwei's words carefully and exclaimed, "Then how can it be viewed…?"
Miwei gave Guo Lixia a short smile: "On the contrary, those colors blended very well on Madame Matisse's face, full of harmony, and also highly decorative."
Guo Lixia rubbed her eyes, not quite understanding.
Shi Zhendong nodded: "What the students said earlier was very valuable, especially about the pool and the maze. Since they can be observed up close from any direction, are these the two things the painter wanted to emphasize?"
Several elderly people who had worked on the painting looked at Shi Zhendong with new respect. Qin Ci said, "We can focus our search on those two places; perhaps the painter's signature is nearby."
Zhu Haowen also suddenly spoke up: "The painting is called 'Shadow,' and the shadows in this world are indeed unique. It's best to observe carefully—perhaps a signature is hidden in the shadow, or perhaps a deadly danger is hidden within."
This topic was somewhat heavy, and everyone subconsciously looked at the shadows at their feet. In the hall and room, everyone's shadows were a uniform deep purple with lemon-green borders.
Qin Ci stood up and poured everyone some black tea from the teapot: "Everyone should try to eat something. We don't know when dinner will be served."
Ke Xun and Wei Dong were basically full. Wei Dong took a sip of black tea with sugar and milk and felt he could last until evening: "The problem now is that our daytime hours are also scheduled by the NPCs. We can only be locked in our rooms to work, and then come out to eat and rest at a certain time. When can we go out to find autographs? We can't go at night, can we?"
Everyone fell silent. This was indeed an urgent matter that needed to be resolved.
Ke Xun said: "Since we're being made to work, there must be a workload. It's just that the NPCs haven't said anything yet. Once the daily workload is determined, we can assign tasks based on roles. Some people can stay and work, and some people can go out to find autographs!"
Wei Dong added: "The NPCs only don't allow us to visit each other's rooms and pollute the environment, but they haven't restricted us from going out, at least not explicitly! As long as we complete our workload, we should be able to go out!"
Everyone agreed that this made sense. After afternoon tea, they returned to their rooms to work, trying to complete their tasks as soon as possible and gain free time.
The NPC's voice rang out again, as expected, outlining the workload for everyone: "Before dinner, each room must complete the storage of three large jars of berries. Please hurry up and enjoy the beauty of labor!"
There were only two people in the red room, He Yu and Zhang Tianwei, but these two boys were quite capable and quickly completed the task of storing three large jars.
Everyone in the yellow room was working diligently when Mi Wei suddenly stopped. "Have you noticed that the berries aren't as vibrant in color as they were before?"
Miao Zipeng, who wasn't much of a talker, chimed in, "I noticed it just now. Not just the berries, but even the shadows—they've all darkened." He then looked at the patterns on his clothes, "Even the embroidery is darkening."
Suddenly, the door to the room was pushed open, and Zhang Tianwei and He Yu walked in. He Yu exclaimed excitedly, "Did you notice? This world uses color changes to distinguish day from night! There's absolutely no light or shadow refraction!"
The students were all excited by this discovery: "It's unimaginable how night is represented here!"
Qin Ci, however, had a stern face and said sternly to He Yu, "Why didn't you wash your hands!"
Everyone was startled by Dr. Qin's sudden harshness and turned to look at He Yu's hands, which were still stained with obvious red juice.
He Yu rubbed his hands together: "I... I didn't contaminate the color..."
"Go back to your room and wash your hands right away!" Mi Wei urged He Yu.
Perhaps these young people hadn't yet experienced death in this world, so they didn't realize the deadly danger of their actions. Zhang Tianwei even came over to comfort Qin Ci: "I'm so sorry, He Yu is just that kind of careless person. He often gets paint all over his hands while painting, and he just washes them quickly, so his hands are often covered in colors."
Qin Ci calmed down a bit when he saw Zhang Tianwei's clean hands: "Zhang, I suggest you leave this room first. We don't understand what the NPC meant by 'don't bring colors to other rooms'—if the conditions are strict, we can't visit other rooms even if we wash our hands."
Zhang Tianwei looked a little embarrassed: "Okay, I'll go out first, let's talk in the hall."
When everyone finished their task and came to the hall, they found that the room's color had obviously darkened, the fruit and bread on the table had almost turned gray, and everyone's shadows were slowly turning black.
"Please join us for dinner!" the NPC's enthusiastic voice rang out. "After dinner, you can rest in the dormitories on the second floor. The colors will remain the same as before, so please remember your assigned color! Do not contaminate your color!"
When everyone heard about He Yu and Zhang Tianwei's violations, they were speechless for a moment. Several students comforted each other, reasoning that since they hadn't touched other colored fruits with fruit-stained hands, it shouldn't count as contaminating the color.
However, those who had actually painted the fruit exchanged knowing glances, conducting a cruel internal analysis: He Yu and Zhang Tianwei had committed two different levels of violations—one was entering other rooms with their paint on without washing their hands, and the other was entering other rooms after washing their hands. Neither outcome caused any visible contamination of the room's color. They wondered if they would be punished tonight.
If someone escaped death tonight, it would prove that such behavior did not constitute a death sentence, and everyone could follow suit the next day.
Shi Zhendong subconsciously looked out the window at the pool outside and noticed that the fountain had stopped spraying water sometime earlier, and the green maze had turned grayish-green, as if it had suddenly lost its life.
"It's getting dark, everyone should go back and rest." Ke Xun looked up at the ceiling, but found no trace of a light. Perhaps the world was dark at night.
Everyone gradually went up the stairs to the second floor, but Mu Yiran went to the window to observe the outside again. She noticed that the main objects outside had turned pure black, while the lawn, steps, and other areas were in varying shades of gray for distinction.
"From what we can see, this painting has very strict requirements for color." Ke Xun stood beside Mu Yiran, looking at the woodblock-like scenery outside the window. Even the gray was a very pure and saturated gray. "The colors in this world have no transitions; it's a bit like a child's drawing."
"The Fauvist school does retain a childlike innocence," Mu Yiran's eyes remained fixed on the increasingly dark outside the window, her voice suddenly lowering: "It's best to be cautious on the first night; it's best not to go out."
Ke Xun felt a happy sense of being advised, but this time she obediently didn't take the bait, instead giving a soft "Mmm."
The two of them went up the dark stairs to the second floor.
The layout of the second floor was exactly the same as the first floor, with a large hall. The five doors, originally brightly colored, were now gray. Ke Xun could only knock on the door that was originally blue, relying on his memory: "Sister Guo, are you in there?"
There was a quick response from inside: "The team leader is back!"
The door opened from the inside, revealing Guo Lixia's dress covered with distinct black and white circular patterns, which looked very eerie in the night.
Ke Xun was still not sure and knocked on the door next to it. According to his memory, this should be Mu Yiran's purple room: "Dongzi, are you in there?"
"Damn it, Ke'er, don't mess around, don't wander into other rooms!" Wei Dong's voice rang out from inside.
Mu Yiran nodded to Ke Xun and then pushed open the door.
"Good night!" Ke Xun said and went back to his room, finding two wooden beds in the dark room.
"Team leader, she won't sleep in the same bed as me, and I don't want to sleep next to her either!" Guo Lixia's voice rose and fell in the darkness, her whole body moving around the room like a white pattern with black dots.
Ke Xun's pattern was white with black wavy lines. This pattern trembled slightly: "What does Sister Guo want?"
"You choose, sleep with me or with her?" Guo Lixia asked frankly.
"..."
The white pattern with black dots lay down on one bed: "Anyway, we'll each have our own bed, you can sleep wherever you want."
On the other bed was a thin, small white pattern with black diamonds. The pattern emitted Xin Beibei's voice: "That won't do, I'm not used to sleeping with strangers, besides, the team leader is a man."
"So you finally know I'm a man." The wavy pattern sounded like it was about to cry. The
diamond pattern turned over, seemingly asleep.
Suddenly, the entire room went completely dark, as if covered by a huge black cloth, and all three patterns disappeared.