"We must confront our most vulnerable point to overcome our avoidance and fear of it, and to make our mental strength stronger," Shao Ling said. "I believe there are two ways to improve this. One is the breakdown therapy I just mentioned, and the other is to thoroughly analyze yourself, talk about it, and tell others, overcoming avoidance and shame, because honesty makes people stronger and more composed. If none of you object, you can choose either of these two methods, and the rest of us will help."
"Then I'll take the breakdown therapy…" Luo Yu hesitated, looking at Shao Ling, "Brother Shao, how do you plan to treat me?"
"Of course, it's about making you break down first and then rebuilding," Wei Dong patted his shoulder. "That's what it means to destroy before you can build. For example, you're afraid of Sadako and Kayako, right? Then we'll dress up as those kinds of ghosts and keep scaring you until you're numb to it. Then you won't be afraid of such illusions anymore, understand?"
Luo Tan shuddered: "Just listening to you talk about it is enough to scare me to death. Will this really work, bro?"
Perhaps thinking Wei Dong was unreliable, Luo Tan looked at Shao Ling, but to his surprise, Shao Ling nodded: "That's exactly what I mean."
Luo Tan trembled and struggled: "But, there's nothing on this ship, how are you going to dress up as ghosts? How about we try something else?"
"There's plenty of stuff, don't worry about that, just wait." Wei Dong said.
"What about you guys, does anyone want to say anything?" Shao Ling looked at the others.
Everyone lowered their eyes to examine themselves. Fang Fei spoke first: "I might succumb to the emotion of 'sorrow.' Although I enjoy adventure, pushing my limits, and am not particularly afraid of death, I am a pessimist."
Fang Fei paused, her gaze fixed on her knees as she sat cross-legged, as if organizing her thoughts to analyze herself.
"Because I am overly pessimistic, I always take risks. I use a life full of excitement to prevent myself from falling into depression, but I never dare to admit that my risks might just be a pursuit of death.
"There are many things that make me feel sad and depressed. If hallucinations were to concentrate all of these things before me, I might collapse instantly. Plus... Yu Long's death, to be honest, my pessimism is quite severe right now."
"I can understand how you feel right now," Ke Xun responded first, "because I've been through this situation before, and all the comforting and reassurance is useless at times like this; it only intensifies self-loathing and despondency."
"But you're really brave. Many people in similar situations aren't willing or have the courage to express their feelings. They avoid facing the cruelty of life and accepting their own incompetence and failure. All they can do is give up.
But you're different. You're the bravest woman I've ever met. Although you're pessimistic, it's because life is so messed up, not your fault. I don't think you need anyone to help you with your mental preparation. Just do what you want to do. Whether you live or die, you haven't lost to yourself."
After these words, everyone was silent for a long time.
Qin Ci felt that Ke Xun truly deserved to be a team leader.
He didn't offer empty platitudes or say anything fancy or embellished, yet he could still make a pessimistic and disheartened person feel the warmth and strength he gave.
This could be seen from the smile that appeared on Fang Fei's face after hearing his words.
"Thank you," Fang Fei said, "You turned my dejected courage into a carefree courage. It's very useful. Thank you."
Shao Ling glanced at Ke Xun a few more times. Ke Xun returned his gaze, a smile playing on his lips. "Although I also have fatal weaknesses in my emotions, I'm not too keen on talking about them. Who else wants to share? Go on." Wei
Dong said, "I think my fatal weakness might be desire..."
Luo Yi looked at him in surprise, "But you don't seem like someone who overindulges in lust, Dong-ge."
"...I mean," Wei Dong slapped him on the head, "I'm talking about a kind of yearning for things that are unattainable, like money, houses, good food. I seem to crave these things particularly..."
Ke Xun shook his head. "These are things that most people crave. Everyone wants to make their life better, but compared to living with nothing, which is more tempting to you?"
"...Live. I'm afraid of dying," Wei Dong said.
"So think it through before you speak, and get to know yourself properly." "Ke Xun said.
Wei Dong said "Oh" and re-examined himself, while Shao Ling's gaze fell on Qin Ci again.
Qin Ci smiled: "As a doctor who has seen patients' life and death and pain all the time, death, sorrow, and fear have long since become numb. Doctors' work intensity is very high, and overtime is common, so there is almost no time to expand one's own desires. The job of a doctor requires a calm mind. I dare not say that I meet the conditions after the illusion screening, but at present I am not sure where my emotional weakness is. I'm afraid I will only know when the time comes."
"Brother Qin is a calm type. Maybe he can become an immortal in the painting in the end." Wei Dong said, "Hao Wen'er is also like this type, right Hao Wen'er?"
Zhu Hao Wen lowered his eyes and said lightly: "I also have emotional weaknesses, but I don't want to talk about them." Shao
Ling smiled and didn't continue guiding them. It was clear that although this group had different personalities, they were all people with their own principles. Hmm… okay, maybe Wei Dong wasn't… no, he also had principles; he insisted on completely trusting his friends.
That's rare.
"So in the end, they're just treating me alone?" Luo Cheng said fearfully.
For the rest of the time, there was nothing to do but wait.
Fang Fei silently memorized the marks Mu Yiran had set, while Mu Yiran pondered the character "chicken" left by Xue Ge. Shao Ling, Qin Ci, and Zhu Haowen each occupied a corner, some resting with their eyes closed, others also thinking. Chen Xin'ai had survived last night's hallucinations with considerable difficulty; now, perhaps due to the combined effects of grief and mental tension, she had curled up in a corner and fallen asleep. Ke Xun and Wei Dong were using breakdown therapy to help Luo Cheng overcome his fear.
The plan to "treat" Luo Jin was Ke Xun's idea.
In Wei Dong's words: "Ke'er's been a troublemaker since he was little; he's a professional at playing pranks."
The plan was actually quite simple: force Luo Jin to walk alone through the lower decks below the main deck. During this time, Ke Xun and Wei Dong, dressed in white robes
, would appear and disappear in the dark cabin doors, crawling and pouncing on him to scare him to death. Luo Jin was truly a coward. Even though he knew that the people crawling around like Sadako and Kayako were Ke Xun and Wei Dong, he was still terrified. However, he couldn't outrun Ke Xun and was pinned to the ground, forced to listen to Ke Xun's grotesque face. He told corny jokes.
The ghost makeup was done by Wei Dong using paints he found on the ship. Before becoming a set designer, Wei Dong had worked as a costume and props worker on several small film crews, and the ghost makeup he created was even scarier than the ghosts in the movies.
Luo Jin was trembling with fear while being forced to listen to Ke Xun tell him corny jokes—some of which included a few bawdy jokes where the main characters were replaced with Sadako and Kayako. Luo Jin's mind was completely confused, but after several repetitions, this method actually worked miraculously—now he wanted to laugh and cry at the same time when he looked at Ke Xun's ghostly face and white robe.
"It's done," Wei Dong squatted down next to him with a face covered in "blood," "If you see a ghost in your illusion tonight, just close your eyes and recall the jokes Ke'er told you. Don't think about anything else, and don't pay attention to anything else."
"But what if it's a different kind of ghost? Like some kind of old zombie or a zombie uncle from a mountain village? I'm afraid of all those..." Luo Jin said in distress.
"All the illusions for the first three nights unfolded in the dark," Ke Xun said. "If that's a consistent characteristic of illusions, then no matter what kind of ghost comes later, it'll all be pretty much the same in the dark, unless the illusions upgrade and start to have vision. Even then, you don't need to be afraid. You practiced for nothing, didn't you? Want to do a few more rounds?"
"No, no, that's enough. You guys rest and save your strength to fight the illusions tonight." Luo Yi shook his head repeatedly, then collapsed to the ground, panting for a while before turning to look at Ke Xun and Wei Dong. "Brothers, don't you two have anything you're particularly afraid of?"
"Of course I am," Wei Dong sighed. "I used to be like you, timid and cowardly. But ever since I ran into this unlucky thing—entering the painting—I've become bolder and bolder. Now, ordinary ghosts can't scare me anymore, and as for extraordinary ghosts… well, they're nothing special. What can they do? We're all going to die anyway, the only difference is how we die. I don't even hope to live to see the end anymore. I just hope to die a quick and painless death, without suffering."
Ke Xun patted his shoulder and said, "There will be an end. The coordinates of all the art museums we've visited, once marked on the map, are basically two letters. That's the clue. Since there's a clue, it must be a game with a beginning and an end. Although we don't know how many more paintings are waiting for us, there will definitely be an end. Perseverance is victory."
"Alright, I'll stick with it." Wei Dong took a deep breath and looked at Luo Jin. "You stick with it too. I think, no matter how terrifying a ghost is, it's not as terrifying as a tragic death itself. Besides, the ghosts in this painting are all illusions. As long as you're not bewitched, they can't do anything to you. Being scared by a ghost or dying, which do you choose? Think about it carefully."
Luo Jin nodded with a bitter face.
When they returned to the deck, it was already getting dark, and the footsteps of death were approaching this lonely ship on the vast sea.
Fang Fei sat alone on the ship's railing, silently gazing at the inky black seawater below.
"Where do you think the bodies of those dead people are?" Wei Dong asked Ke Xun in a low voice. "Even if they fell into the sea, they should have surfaced by now. Why haven't we seen them at all? Could it be that there are man-eating monsters in the sea that killed them..."
Ke Xun raised an eyebrow, as if reminded of something. He retrieved the crossbow that everyone had used on their first day from the room next door, strode over to Fang Fei, and handed it to her: "I think that after lighting the rhinoceros horn, whatever you see will most likely not be an illusion. Take this bow; you might need it."
"What if I accidentally shoot one of you?" Fang Fei remembered that illusions would cause confusion in the spatial coordinates of everyone's location.
"If what you see is very tall, crouch down and shoot at its head," Ke Xun demonstrated to Fang Fei, crouching down. "See, at this angle, even if some of us are nearby, we won't easily get hit. If it really is a chicken, and only the size of a chicken, stand up straight and shoot downwards at an angle; that won't hit anyone nearby either. Of course, if the illusion can even change our position, then we can only blame our bad luck. But you still have to try to hit it with this arrow, because it's related to whether we can break this stalemate. Remember the story they told about Qin Shi Huang killing a mermaid with an arrow? I think this arrow will definitely be useful, so shoot it with confidence."
"Okay." Fang Fei no longer hesitated, took the crossbow, and then saw Ke Xun take out two cell phones from his bundle and hand them over.
"Just in case," Ke Xun said, "if the crossbow doesn't work or doesn't work, just blow the phones up, blast them to bits."