For the rest of the time, Guo Lixia and Ke Xun were both engrossed in their work.
Guo Lixia didn't object too much to Ke Xun's suggestion to nail the windows, which made Ke Xun even more convinced that the so-called shadow's bewitchment only worked under special circumstances and didn't control the person all the time. The
actions of the bewitched person were mostly due to their physical strength and intelligence—Ke Xun even felt fortunate that the two people chosen by the shadow weren't very powerful; if the bewitched person had been Mu Yiran, probably none of the members would have been able to escape the painting.
To be on the safe side, after everyone finished, they all gathered in the hall and showed everyone how clean their hands and pockets were.
Ke Xun suggested nailing the windows, and after some discussion, everyone agreed that it was a good idea.
But the most important thing right now was to find the signatures, so they first had to go to the maze, and while they were there, they could also retrieve the wooden boards, tools, and other supplies.
Before setting off, Ke Xun went to the restroom, where he "unexpectedly" ran into Mu Yiran.
Mu Yiran showed Ke Xun her stunning profile: "Was the plan to nail the window something you made up on the spot to trick someone?"
"You understand me so well, Yiran." Ke Xun couldn't help but smile, revealing his teeth.
"This kind of bewitching is just what I thought before. Once the right time and the right conditions are met, this person will probably receive instructions from the depths of their soul." Mu Yiran washed her hands at the sink.
"But I still can't figure out when exactly Guo Lixia was bewitched?" Hao Wen'er's voice suddenly rang out.
Ke Xun then saw Zhu Haowen in the bathroom mirror and suddenly remembered that Xin Beibei had called him gay yesterday, and he felt a strange sense of kinship.
"I've also carefully deduced this timeframe," Mu Yiran said, "It couldn't have happened during the morning work, because I asked Wei Dong, and he didn't leave our purple room all morning, so Guo Lixia had no chance to contaminate the purple."
"How can you be sure that she contaminated the purple?" Wei Dong's voice suddenly rang out, and then he squeezed over to wash his hands at the sink.
Ke Xun tilted his head to look at Wei Dong, unable to explain where he got his experience from, but he could basically tell at a glance whether a man was straight or gay. He felt a sudden unease as he saw Wei Dong's face reflected in the mirror, making the whole scene less harmonious…
Zhu Haowen directly answered Wei Dong's question: "Guo Lixia's pollution must be purple, because she herself is blue, and only blue plus purple forms indigo."
"Why must it be indigo… Oh…" Wei Dong, encouraged by everyone's gaze, came up with the answer, "Because from yesterday until noon when Mi Wei had her accident, the clock was always indigo—the blue-purple pollution caused by Guo Lixia was also indigo! Indigo changing from indigo is the same as not changing at all, so we couldn't possibly detect it!"
Ke Xun had a "teachable" expression: "The painting is cunning; it gives us the illusion that no one is polluting the color, that there are no misled traitors among the members, and everyone will lower their guard."
Indeed, it was precisely this relaxation that led everyone to tolerate Guo Lixia.
Zhu Haowen said, "If we follow this timeline, Guo Lixia's act of contaminating the color could only have happened before breakfast."
Mu Yiran continued, "After getting up this morning, everyone went to the circular building to check Xin Beibei's body. Everyone was together at that time, so it's unlikely anything happened. Based on this analysis, the most likely time for the incident was after Shi Zhendong and Guo Lixia left."
Wei Dong was confused: "Did these two leave us? What did they do?"
Ke Xun also recalled the morning's events: "Indeed, Shi Zhendong was in a bad mood and went downstairs alone. Sister Guo was worried and said she would go and persuade him, so she followed him downstairs—when we got to the second floor, we still saw Sister Guo there earnestly advising him."
Everyone fell silent; it seemed that this was the only possible timeframe.
"I'll go ask Shi Zhendong about the specific circumstances at that time," Zhu Haowen said.
The entire group finally gathered in the hall, and Miao Zipei suggested untying Mi Wei: "Mi Wei might be able to help us when we're looking for autographs."
Indeed, Mi Wei was currently the one most eager to find autographs.
While everyone hesitated, Shi Zhendong said, "What happened at noon today was unexpected. We all need to focus when looking for autographs, so we can't be distracted by taking care of others. So... let's leave Xiaomi alone for now." Shi Zhendong looked at Mi Wei with sincere eyes. "You can wait for our good news in the lobby."
Mi Wei gave a mocking sneer and said nothing more.
"Or, I can stay with her. She'll be lonely in the lobby by herself," Guo Lixia said, as if trying to atone for her sins.
Mi Wei finally snorted, "No need."
Guo Lixia's words reminded Ke Xun, "We can't leave anyone alone in the lobby!"
So, Wei Dong and Miao Zipei stayed behind to watch over Mi Wei, while the rest of the group went to the maze.
Wei Dong thought that being in the lobby would be a leisurely job, at least he wouldn't have to crawl through tunnels, but he was forced to listen to two sets of last words.
Mi Wei began to give her last words to Miao Zipei: "Just tell my mom that I went abroad as an exchange student, and video calls aren't allowed there. From now on, please imitate me and send emails to my mom... Anyway, my mom doesn't care about me, she only cares about my brother. I haven't been home for Chinese New Year for two years of university, and she hasn't even asked about it..."
Wei Dong wanted to interrupt her several times, to tell her the harshness of death, that it wasn't something that could be easily explained away with a random excuse in reality, but he held back.
This way, Mi Wei could "leave" more peacefully.
After giving their last words for over an hour, the rest of the time was spent discussing the painting. Miao Zipeng said, "The shadows in Fauvist paintings are represented by various colors, which fits some of the painting's premise—shadows gain energy by extracting our colors; perhaps shadows need color."
Wei Dong thought it made sense: "Our daily work is like storing berries, which is essentially storing color. It seems color plays a very important role in the painting." Wei Dong sighed helplessly, "Do you think if we really boarded up all the windows, could we block the shadow?"
Miao Zipeng felt he couldn't answer that question and looked at Mi Wei.
Miwei burst into tears again: "I think those who meet the conditions for death will definitely die tonight, it has nothing to do with the windows. However, those wooden planks should be able to block the transport of the body, thus preventing tragedies like Xin Beibei and Zhang Tianwei's."
Although Wei Dong was doing a hair-raising job as a graphic designer, he was once a graduate of an art academy, so he had some common ground with these two: "The solutions to the previous paintings were all closely related to the artist's original intention and purpose. What do you think the artist of this painting wanted to express?"
Miao Zipeng thought for a moment and said: "Rong Rang is a very young painter who has only emerged in the last two years, relying on his unconventional Fauvist revival paintings. Because of his fanatical worship of Fauvism, he scorns other schools of painting."
Wei Dong looked down at the brightly colored shadow at his feet: "It's obvious that this painter is very stubborn. -- You should have seen the original painting of 'Shadow,' right? What exactly is depicted in the painting?"
"They're some very abstract expressions. The figures are somewhat like silhouettes, but they all have very vibrant shapes. The heavy, multicolored lines drawn next to the figures, at least I think, are meant to represent shadows," Miao Zipei stated his opinion.
"You just said the figures are like silhouettes?" Wei Dong asked.
"Yes, the figures have a woodcut effect, a kind of black and white patterned design, or a pure black human figure." Miao Zipei seemed to understand something at this point. "So, in this painting, the subject and the shadow are reversed?"
Mi Wei's lifeless eyes gradually brightened. "Is this what the painting is trying to express? The shadow should be the master, while the body should be the shadow's appendage!"
The other two nodded, agreeing that Mi Wei had hit the nail on the head.
"Although we understand this, how do we solve this problem? Where should we find the artist's signature?" Miao Zipei was still at a loss.
"Then what is the special meaning of the maze in the painting?" Wei Dong asked.
"It's hard to say. Maybe the painter admired ancient Greek culture, or maybe he wanted to use the labyrinth to express his wisdom—some Europeans still like to draw labyrinths, believing they represent wisdom," Miao Zipeng said.
The three were discussing when the other members returned.
Wei Dong hurriedly asked, "How did it go? What's in the underground passage? Does it lead to the castle?"
Everyone looked exhausted; even Guo Lixia was panting heavily. It was unclear what role this woman had played.
Qin Ci wiped his sweat and sat down: "The underground passage does lead to the castle. We went to every building in the castle, but it was all pitch black inside. Even with a cell phone flashlight, we couldn't see anything."
Ke Xun and the others temporarily placed the wooden planks and tools they found in the hall: "Currently, we only haven't gone to the top floor of the circular building."
Indeed, the circular building had six floors. The first three floors contained empty glass jars, the fourth floor, represented by red, had been used to extract color from Zhang Tianwei, and the fifth floor, represented by blue, was where Xin Beibei was kept.
The morning's incident with Xin Beibei's decapitation had caused a stir, and no one had had time to check the situation on the sixth floor.
"How about this, Yi Ran and I will go to the sixth floor. Please everyone, nail up all the bedroom windows first!" Ke Xun's suggestion was unanimously approved.
Thus, Ke Xun and Mu Yi Ran were able to "fly away together" and act alone.
However, the trip was far from pleasant. When the two climbed the copper ladder from the fourth floor to the fifth, they witnessed a horrifying and perplexing scene: inside the open blue door, the half-empty bottle of blue liquid that had been in the glass jar had vanished, but Xin Beibei's body remained inside.
Without the blue liquid obscuring the view, the body was clearly visible—Xin Beibei's height was now only about one meter, her entire body proportionally shrunk.
Because of the failed rescue attempt that morning, Xin Beibei was now decapitated, even though they were confined in the same glass jar.