Luo Yu scooted closer to Ke Xun, saying, "Brother, tie me up tonight, really tie me up, so I can't untie myself and jump into the sea. That way, even if I wake up and get bewitched by the illusion, I won't be able to move. What do you think?"
"Hey, I think that's a good idea," Wei Dong chimed in, "Or maybe tie me up too?"
Ke Xun looked at the two of them, "Have you thought this through? We can't be sure if that illusion will make your ropes disappear. After all, it can even make the cabin disappear, leaving us in a parallel space with nothing around us. Losing the ropes wouldn't be a small matter."
"Based on the experiences of the past two nights, the only thing that illusions cannot control is our personal will and actions," Mu Yiran added from the side. "So it's true that we can't guarantee that the rope will work."
Luo Jin and Wei Dong exchanged a glance, and Luo Jin had a sudden inspiration: "Hey, then I'll use the rope as a warning object, right? If I'm woken up from my unconsciousness and see the rope on my body, it will be a good reminder that everything is an illusion. If there's no rope, then it will further prove that I'm in an illusion, what do you think?"
"I think it's a good idea," Wei Dong said. "Just add a thought to yourself, focus all your attention on the rope. If there's a rope, just think about the rope. If there's no rope, just keep telling yourself that these are all illusions. This way, it's easier to concentrate and not be affected by the illusions."
"Okay, let's do it this way. I'm going to find a rope!" Luo Jin hurriedly got up and ran away.
"What about you? A rope too?" Ke Xun looked at Wei Dong.
Wei Dong hesitated for a moment: "I don't really like the feeling of being tied up. The illusions are torturous enough; if I tie myself up, wouldn't that just make the pain even worse?"
"It's best to find something that feels most present and familiar to you," Mu Yiran said from the side.
Wei Dong fell into thought.
"A cell phone?" Ke Xun suggested.
Wei Dong thought for a moment: "I don't like my current phone at all, so I have no feelings for it. I feel like even if it's gone by the illusion, I won't miss it. I'd better get a new one."
Ke Xun: "..."
Wei Dong looked around, his gaze falling on the calligraphy brush Shao Ling had just used to write: "--That's it! I'm most familiar with paintbrushes. I've been drawing since I was a child. Although we use computer graphics now, I still use paintbrushes to draw illustrations and stuff when I have free time! It'll be a brush!"
"Then I'll use my phone." Ke Xun took out his phone and showed the phone case to Mu Yiran. "It has a laser-engraved embossed pattern. You can feel it when you rub it with your fingers. I'll use it as a warning."
Mu Yiran looked at the pattern on the phone case, which was two cursive English words: Corgi and Mooney.
He couldn't help but smile.
Ke Xun blinked and leaned closer to ask him: "What about you? What will you use as a warning?"
"I'll probably need to borrow something from you." Mu Yiran looked down at him.
"Huh?" Ke Xun blinked again. "After thinking about it, I think the only thing I can produce for you from my body is..."
"Ahhh! I'm deaf! I can't hear anything!" Wei Dong covered his eyes and crawled out of the room.
"..." Mu Yiran withdrew his gaze and raised his hand to touch Ke Xun's shoulder. "Your hair has grown."
When he withdrew his hand, a strand of Ke Xun's hair was on his finger.
"I'll tie it to my finger and make a restraining ring." After Mu Yiran finished speaking, he was immediately met with Ke Xun's lips covering his.
The only one still in the room, lost in thought, was Shao Ling: "..." Maybe this is also an illusion...
Before dinner, everyone had already decided on their warning items. Xue Ge also chose a calligraphy brush, after all, she was a more professional painter than Wei Dong.
Yu Long and Fang Fei wore matching couple rings on their hands. Although they had degenerated from platinum and diamond-set to copper and gemstone-set, at least their characteristics hadn't changed much.
Qin Ci, Zhu Haowen, and Shao Ling all chose their own cell phones.
Chen Xin'ai remained in a dazed state. Although she had begun to think, she didn't seem to have decided on anything to use as a warning device. Everyone felt helpless; after all, it was a psychological issue, and only she could help herself.
As night fell, everyone gathered in the central hall on the first floor, sitting in a circle on the floor, silently awaiting their impending death sentence.
The feeling of waiting for death in the darkness was something only those who had endured it truly understood.
Perhaps the time was too unbearable, for Yu Long's voice rang out in the darkness: "What if we don't light the rhinoceros horns by midnight?"
Shao Ling's voice followed: "I think the illusions will still exist, but we won't be able to see any clues using the light from the rhinoceros horns."
"What if we light all the rhinoceros horns at once?" Luo Yi asked.
"Then we might only have this one chance to see any clues tonight," Shao Ling said.
Everyone fell silent again until midnight approached.
"Please," Shao Ling's voice went towards Mu Yiran.
Shao Ling, Yu Long, Fang Fei, and Luo Yi chose to manually knock out the illusions and use warning devices. Chen Xin'ai made no requests, so she couldn't be forcibly knocked unconscious. The veteran members and Xue Ge, who was responsible for lighting the rhinoceros horn, chose to remain conscious.
The darkness didn't affect Mu Yiran's accuracy; he knocked several people unconscious one by one. Ke Xun and Wei Dong were responsible for tying Luo Yi up with rope.
"Guys," Ke Xun said to his old comrades who had shared life and death with him in the darkness, "Hold on."
"Okay." Several voices, some deep and some shallow, merged together.
When a darkness even thicker than the night silently invaded the room, Ke Xun only had time to call out to Xue Ge, who was standing outside the door, "Don't be afraid."
Xue Ge wasn't afraid.
For someone destined to have few days left to live, life and death were irrelevant.
She steadied herself and forced a calm smile in the darkness.
Picking up the rhinoceros horn and flint, Xuege lit them without hesitation. A pale yellow light made the horn almost transparent, and through this transparency, Xuege saw what was hidden in the darkness.
...
"Awake, hey, don't sleep."
Yu Long, half-asleep, heard a voice beside him, seemingly from the boy named Ke Xun.
Yu Long rubbed his face and sat up. It was pitch black all around him, and he couldn't help but ask, "What time is it?"
"Before dawn, it'll be light soon." Fang Fei replied calmly beside him.
"...Are you alright?" Yu Long composed himself, his mind clearing a bit, and his tone carried a hint of joy at surviving a near-death experience. "Are you alright?" he hurriedly asked Fang Fei.
"I'm still alive and talking to you." Fang Fei remained indifferent.
Yu Long didn't argue with her, reaching out to pull her close and hugging her tightly, planting a kiss on her hair: "Alright, why are you still angry? It's already this late."
"It's precisely because it's this time," Fang Fei's voice grew even colder, "that I didn't know my place in your heart until now, Yu Long. If we both die here, I won't say another word. But if we get out, breaking up is a certainty."
"Stop arguing, you two," Wei Dong couldn't help but try to persuade them, "You've finally survived another day, cherish the person in front of you."
"It's none of your business, please shut up," Fang Fei coldly retorted.
The room fell silent. The scattered voices from before suddenly stopped, as if everyone was listening in their direction.
Yu Long frowned, feeling embarrassed and awkward. He couldn't help but be annoyed that Fang Fei was acting without considering the situation or the gravity of the situation. "Are you ever going to stop?" Yu Long's tone turned harsh. "You're just going to keep clinging to one thing, aren't you?! Yes, the person in my hallucination on the first night wasn't you, but what does that prove? If I really had something to hide, I would be sorry to you. Why would I tell you the truth? You asked me, so I told you the truth. Don't I know that lying to you would save me a lot of trouble? I told you the truth to prove that I have a clear conscience. What's wrong with that? Do you only feel happy when I lie to you?"
"Yu Long!" Fang Fei's voice seemed to tremble with anger. "Don't mistake shamelessness for a clear conscience! Last month, when I went to another province for an amateur diving competition, tell me who you were with!"
"...I was staying with the team for training! What's wrong with you now!" Yu Long roared.
"Reason doesn't lie in raising your voice, Yu Long. Don't I know you? Your current behavior proves you're guilty," Fang Fei sneered. "Don't think women are all fools, Yu Long. Just because I'm not saying anything doesn't mean I'm being played like a fool. You know perfectly well what you were doing with Liu Lili those past few days!"
"What the hell are you talking about! If Liu Lili weren't your best friend, I wouldn't even talk to her. Who does she think she is! Can you stop spouting nonsense based on your own imagination?!" Yu Long was furious and embarrassed, not caring about reprimanding the others for their impolite eavesdropping.
"Based on imagination? Yu Long, you men probably think women's IQs are all negative when they're in love," Fang Fei's voice calmed down, cold and sarcastic. "Little do you know that your arrogance completely betrays your self-righteous intelligence.
"Liu Lili posts photos on her WeChat Moments every day. She always likes to take pictures of the food she eats, and then the irony happened. In the photos of her meals those past few days, the glass vase she used as decoration on the table reflected light, and in that reflection, I saw your ear."
"I doubt anyone else has a scar on their earlobe exactly like yours, right? That glass vase was a birthday gift I gave her; it's always been on her dining table. So, it's impossible that you and she just bumped into each other somewhere and ended up having a casual meal.
"Yu Long, I haven't mentioned this to you before. First, because Liu Lili's grandmother just passed away, and I wouldn't be so immoral as to confront her now. Second, I felt I should give you a chance to explain. If you truly have a clear conscience, given your personality, you would definitely tell me about having dinner with Liu Lili.
"But you didn't. Yu Long, I've waited for you for so many days, and you haven't mentioned anything.
"After entering the painting, I thought we might die here. There's no point in dwelling on the past; it's better to leave each other with good memories. So, after the first night, I asked you who was in your illusion. As long as you said it was me, I was willing to believe you, whether it was true or not."
"The funny thing is, your arrogance makes you mistake 'telling the truth' for a clear conscience—since the person you love and trust most isn't me, why should I think about leaving each other a good memory before we die!
"Let me tell you the truth, I printed out Liu Lili's photo, and I also specially enlarged a close-up of your ear reflected in the vase, along with an enlarged headshot of yourself and a big-character poster denouncing you for two-timing. It's already posted in the most conspicuous place in your neighborhood. I believe that your father, who is so concerned about his image, will be proud to have such a charming son after seeing these things."
"You—Fang! Fei!
You're crazy! My dad has a heart condition—you're trying to kill my dad—" Yu Long was furious, jumped up, and lunged at Fang Fei in the darkness.