Ke Xun and Mu Yiran didn't linger at Xin Beibei's body, but quickly climbed the copper staircase to the sixth floor.
The sixth floor's layout was the same as the other rooms in the circular building: a semi-circular hall. Pushing open the wooden door on the central wall,
one would expect to find an empty glass jar inside. But to their astonishment, the jar wasn't empty; it contained about half a bottle of pure purple liquid.
Ke Xun instinctively glanced back at the door. It was a natural wood color, symbolizing safety, and the clock on the hall wall had a pure white face.
"What's with this purple liquid? Could it be... Xiao Ye..." Ke Xun was naturally puzzled; his first thought was of Ye Ningchen, the victim representing purple.
Mu Yiran couldn't figure out the reason for a moment: "I think this purple color is related to Ye Ningchen. The appearance of purple here must have a special meaning."
Ke Xun regretted it a little: "I should have come up and checked this morning."
"You've done your best," Mu Yiran's expression suddenly became a little strange, "Let's go back first."
The reason why everyone was in no mood to go up to the sixth floor this morning was because Ke Xun accidentally pulled off Xin Beibei's head while rescuing her... Everyone present was secretly calculating Ke Xun's psychological trauma while they were terrified... Mu Yiran was no exception.
When the two returned to the second-floor hall, they found that the window of the yellow bedroom had been designated as the focus and had been boarded up.
Qin Ci held tools in his hand: "Which room should we board up next?" Ke Xun scratched his head
: "I'm a coward, let's board up our room first."
The old members exchanged glances and immediately understood—the blue room was the most important tonight.
Many hands make light work, so everyone split into two groups and quickly boarded up all the windows of the four rooms before dinner.
The lighting in this world was always strange. Even with all the windows blocked, the room was still "bright," and all the furnishings were vividly colored.
"Why are the other buildings we visited so dark?" Shi Zhendong was still puzzled. "Where is the light source in this world?"
Miao Zipei answered him: "Fauvism doesn't pay much attention to refraction and perspective, so the artist deliberately avoided light sources. He probably wanted all the figures in his paintings to shine like stars."
"But he himself is a shadow worshipper," Mi Wei, still tied up, had been moved to the second floor. "The only thing in this world that makes people feel boundless darkness is that huge shadow."
Qin Ci glanced at Zhu Haowen: "That's similar to Haowen's point. The other buildings are probably the shadow's habitat, controlled by the shadow."
"Don't you think this painter is contradictory?" Miao Zipei said. "Like the three of us discussed this afternoon: in this painting, the shadow should be the master, while the body is the shadow's appendage!—This is very contradictory to the artist's own color worship." "
That's why he used a maze to—displacement," Mu Yiran said.
"Displacement?" Many people questioned.
"I don't know if my wording is accurate, but the labyrinth should be the core of this world, not the castle we previously assumed." Mu Yiran also realized she had been a bit too hasty, stating her speculation before fully concluding the answer:
"The labyrinth should be a place where the body and shadow exchange, intersect, and even sublimate. The reason the painter used a labyrinth to represent this important location might be due to the painter's inner conflict—the biggest characteristic of a labyrinth is that it makes people lose their way. In the painter's mind, this matter may have always been something like a labyrinth."
"You mean, the painter himself was also puzzled by this?" Shi Zhendong asked, frowning.
Guo Lixia only half-understood the explanation and finally couldn't help but ask, "I didn't understand. What exactly was the painter confused about? Why did he need to build a maze to commemorate it?"
Shi Zhendong patiently replied, "It's the question that everyone was confused about: which should dominate, the shadow or the color? What did the painter value more? I think it's probably related to the painter's creative process."
Wei Dong couldn't help but ask Miao Zipei, "What do you know about this painter? Whether it's related to this painting or not, you can share. Maybe it will be helpful to us!"
Miao Zipei fell into deep reminiscence: "Actually, this painter named Rong Rang has always been somewhat mysterious. Every time there's an exhibition, there's very little biographical information about him, only his birthplace and alma mater, and the rest is his extremely obsessive worship of Fauvist paintings."
"I remember this painter is from Tongzhou," Ke Xun recalled the label on the painting from the few fragments of memory he had. "The artist is Rong Rang, born in 1993, with ancestral roots in Tongzhou…"
Miao Zipei nodded: "He is indeed from Tongzhou, I think it's a very remote mountain village in Tongzhou. And it's said that this painter was an orphan, but the whole village took great care of him. Their place was very poor, and it's said that the initial tuition for art school was raised by the whole village."
"The people there are truly kind and helpful," Shi Zhendong couldn't help but exclaim.
"What other works does he have? Can you tell me about everything you can remember?" Mu Yiran looked at Miao Zipei, and also at Mi Wei.
"Most of his works are in the Fauvist series, with many colorful figures, still lifes, and landscapes… Miao Zipei said he also created some black and white prints," Mi Wei recalled.
Miao Zipeng nodded: "When he had an exhibition at the A University Art Museum, there was a gallery showcasing his prints, which were very distinctive in their ethnic style, completely different from his current style."
"Ethnic characteristics mean..." Mu Yiran continued to ask.
"They probably reflected the scenes of people working and living in their hometown. I still remember the name of that print series, it was called 'Son of the Cave God'." Miao Zipeng said with certainty.
"Cave God?" Everyone was a little puzzled, and some even wanted to ask further which "cave" it was.
"Tongzhou has many mountains and caves, so there are many mountain gods and cave gods worshipped there." Mu Yiran fell into deep thought. "In some Tongzhou traditions, mountains, trees, caves, and rocks can all become gods, and water buffalo, eagles, swallows, and fish can all become monsters."
Shi Zhendong seemed to have thought of something: "When I traveled to Tongzhou before, I heard about the legend of the Fallen Flower Cave Girl. Is the cave god here related to the Fallen Flower Cave Girl?"
Some people had heard of it, and some hadn't. Wei Dong asked directly: "What is the Fallen Flower Cave Girl?"
"There is such a legend in Tongzhou that some girls are chosen as brides by mountain gods and cave gods. These girls don't eat or drink in the cave, and they will slowly die after returning home. This phenomenon is called 'falling into the cave' locally."
Wei Dong felt sorry for these Fallen Flower Cave Girls: "After these girls die, can they marry the cave god?"
"Yes, these women were dressed in wedding attire after they died, and their funerals were conducted according to the customs of a happy occasion." Shi Zhendong lowered his eyes. "According to later scientific explanations, these girls actually suffered from some kind of depression."
Mu Yiran suddenly interrupted Shi Zhendong, looking at Miao Zipei and saying, "You just said that Rong Rang's print series is called 'Son of the Cave God'?"
Miao Zipei nodded: "At first, I thought it was about the worship of deities there, like the Descendants of the Dragon or the Son of the East…"
"The Fallen Flower Cave Maiden will never marry a mortal, let alone have children." Shi Zhendong seemed to have guessed Mu Yiran's thoughts.
Mu Yiran shook his head slightly: "I once lived in Tongzhou for a period of time and heard many local rumors. There was a village where the Fallen Flower Cave Maiden conceived in a cave. Such children are called the children of the Cave God. After their mothers leave, these children are protected by the whole village, and they are often exceptionally gifted."
No one dared to analyze the details of the conception. Now, considering that Rong Rang was an "orphan" and the whole village raised money to send him to university, then Rong Rang was very likely the legendary "son of the Cave God."
"No wonder Rong Rang has such high artistic talent, he is the son of the Cave God." Miao Zipei couldn't help but sigh. "But what does this have to do with the contradictions in his works? Especially about the shadows…"
"In some particularly remote villages in Tongzhou, there is an extremely devout worship of the Cave God, and the villagers there also revere the color black." Mu Yiran revealed the truth in one sentence.
"You mean Rong Rang was very likely born in such a village?" Qin Ci said. "The Cave God is their totem, and black is their auspicious color."
The group seemed to be gradually grasping the truth.
Miao Zipeng, never stingy with his brain when it came to matters of painting, said, "Coming from a village that worships black, and being the son of the Cave God, a figure of great renown, he naturally sees black differently from other colors. Yet, after being exposed to the outside world of art, he obsessively fell in love with the most daring Fauvist style—it's a complete rupture of his color sense!"
"That's why there are contradictions, confusion, and things like a maze," Zhu Haowen summarized.
Having seen the truth, everyone fell silent.
The annoying NPC started urging everyone to come downstairs for dinner again, and Mu Yiran made a direct arrangement: "Four people will be responsible for bringing downstairs to get dinner; everyone else can eat on the second floor."
Everyone agreed, and dinner was hastily eaten on the second floor.
Miao Zipeng tried to untie Mi Wei so she could eat, but Mi Wei shook her head: "I can't eat."
Night was slowly falling, and the signature still hadn't been found. Mi Wei, already sentenced to death, couldn't possibly eat anything.
"The answer is clear: the signature must be in the maze," said Ke Xun.
Everyone agreed, because the maze was the intersection of flesh and shadow, and also the point of exchange between black and color.
Mi Wei sighed deeply: "But night still came… I wish you all a good tomorrow."
Everyone felt sad, but couldn't say anything.
No one dared to go into the maze at night; nighttime was the domain of shadows, and everyone had nailed the windows shut to isolate themselves.
"What did you find on the sixth floor?" Zhu Haowen finally remembered to ask.
Ke Xun then remembered to tell them: "The sixth floor was strange. There was a glass jar filled with purple liquid, but the door was natural wood, and the clock on the wall was white."
As for the two seeing Xin Beibei's body, Ke Xun didn't mention it, to avoid upsetting everyone.