Dead fish floated on the black water, four snow-white dead fish.
The entire negative exuded a bewildering, inexplicable sense of horror.
"Where are the other negatives? Take them all out and let's look at them." Mu Yiran had already taken the tweezers from Mai Peng, which held the negative of the dead fish.
Under the dim red light, Mai Peng opened the envelope and poured out several small negatives, carefully pinching the serrated edges to avoid leaving fingerprints.
All the negatives were similar, all white with black dots of varying sizes.
Qin Ci stared at one of the negatives: "The shapes of these fish are different from the previous ones, some are like willow leaves."
"There are fish that look like willow leaves." Du Lingyu said, also frowning as she looked at the negative, feeling that the fish were particularly stiff, standing there blankly, making one's heart tremble after looking at them for a while.
Qin Ci squinted and looked at it for a long time: "It looks like a fish, but it doesn't. It's too small to see clearly. We have to enlarge it."
"Are all the negatives here?" Mu Yiran asked.
Mai Peng held an empty envelope: "Yes, they're all here."
"Then let's turn the lights back on so we can see them more clearly," Mu Yiran said.
All the gauze lamps in the room were turned on, and the eerie atmosphere of the deep red light was instantly replaced by a warm and cozy feeling. Luo Tan's tense heart finally relaxed a little, and he also leaned over to look at the negatives.
"Brother, what did you see?" Luo Tan craned his neck to look at the negatives in Ke Xun's hand.
Ke Xun strictly followed Mai Peng's instructions, using his index finger and thumb to gently press the serrated pattern on the top and bottom of the negatives to keep the image as clean as possible: "Radish, look, there's only one fish in this photo."
This was also a white negative, with a large, diamond-shaped black fish that almost filled the entire image. Because the image was large, you could even clearly see the fish's eyes, which were gray dots.
"This fish isn't completely floating on the surface; it has gray ripples on its body, and I always felt it was alive." Luo Jin couldn't imagine how the photo was taken. "It seems to be swimming close to the surface, and it's swimming sideways with its body facing upwards. That's strange. Don't fish breathe with gills? Wouldn't its gills be exposed on the surface? Oh my god, have I learned to analyze things and even applied my biological knowledge? Brother, praise me!"
"This doesn't seem to fit the principles of fish swimming," Ke Xun also felt that the picture reflected some problems. "I also think there's something mysterious about these fish, but unfortunately the negatives are too small, and the colors are inverted. It would be great if we could enlarge them."
Luo Cheng also looked at Mai Peng next to him: "You guys can develop film in one jar, can you also develop photographs in another jar?"
Cao Youning spoke first: "Developing photographs isn't that simple. First, you need an enlarger, which is a machine, not something you can make by hand! Even if we had Mai Peng, it wouldn't work."
It turned out that Mai Peng had a god-like reputation among this group of photographers. At this moment, he was deep in thought, and after a long time, he said: "It seems that there is no electricity in this world. If we were to make an enlarger by hand, we would at least need a device made of electric lights." "The light chamber also needs a professionally manufactured photographic magnifying lens. With those two things, I can figure out how to assemble the rest—using two convex lenses, one on each side, I can make a simple lens assembly. As for the bellows and film clip, that shouldn't be a problem either."
Luo Yu listened, dumbfounded. This time, he was certain he had truly encountered a master. However, even a skilled cook can't cook without rice. Just the electricity issue alone was stumping him: "Our cell phones have power, and your cameras have batteries, right?"
Mai Peng shook his head with a wry smile, sniffing his stuffy nose: "It's not as simple as you think. What I need is a real light bulb, even if it's not a milky white magnifying bulb, a regular LED light will do—in this light-gathering unit, if they have electric lights, why bother lighting so many lanterns?"
"Those imaging things are too complicated. We just want to magnify the film now, even if it's inverted magnification," Zhu Haowen suddenly said. "Would a magnifying glass work?"
"Do you have a magnifying glass?" Mai Peng asked hurriedly.
Zhu Haowen: "No."
Mai Peng: "Oh... Achoo! Sorry."
Zhu Haowen: "..."
Ke Xun said, "A magnifying glass isn't exactly high-tech. Maybe we can buy one in a shop here. We saw a market downstairs earlier; we could try our luck there."
"Perfect timing, I need a magnifying glass too." Qin Ci said, "I have a medical book in my bag. The print is very small, and the light here is dim, making it difficult to read."
The words "medical book" seemed to bring some hope—if they got sick here, at least there would be a doctor nearby to treat them according to the book.
Lu Heng said, "I wonder if the medical skills in this world are the same as outside. My grandfather ran a traditional Chinese medicine clinic, and I learned some basic Chinese medicine knowledge when I was a child."
"No wonder there's your signature on my medical book." Qin Ci said.
"Signature?" Lu Heng was a little sensitive when he first heard the word "signature"—isn't everyone looking for a signature when they want their artwork published?
At this point, Qin Ci was also somewhat incredulous: "This is my usual book-using habit. I usually put a large bookmark on the title page of my books, and I require everyone who borrows the book to sign the bookmark. You could call it a kind of obsessive-compulsive disorder. -- I didn't expect that Hua would actually capture this."
Wei Dong: Brother Qin, your childhood nickname must have been something like librarian, right? Sorry, I went off-topic.
Lu Heng continued to ask Qin Ci: "You mean, there's my borrowing record on the bookmark of your medical book?"
"Yes, there's your borrowing signature, but unfortunately, there's no date." Qin Ci was also a little disappointed about this. If there were a date, he could understand the era this world belonged to.
Mu Yiran heard the conversation between the two and seemed to have thought of something, his expression becoming slightly heavy.
Ke Xun and Luo Yi had already reached the door: "Let's try to find a magnifying glass. We can't just sit here waiting."
Soon, several more members joined the search for the magnifying glass. The door opened and closed again, and the room returned to silence.
Mu Yiran personally put the negatives back into the envelope, then placed the envelope back into the black developing tank. He glanced at the developing powder and other materials inside, his gaze finally settling on the owner of these items—Xi Shengnan.
"I don't mean any offense, after all, everyone's belongings leave personal traces," Mu Yiran said, looking at Xi Shengnan. "In your past life, have you ever taken similar photos? Or seen these things in photos?"
Xi Shengnan was currently tending to a wooden jewelry box, which seemed to contain some hairpins and bracelets. She closed the box without examining it closely: "I've never seen such strange fish, nor have I ever taken similar photos. Those things, like this jewelry box, are completely foreign to me."
Mu Yiran lowered his eyes, and when he opened them again, a hazy candlelight flickered in them: "Currently, we haven't found a clear lead, but problems are piling up. Let's brainstorm now, everyone share their ideas, even if they're outlandish, it doesn't matter."
Mai Peng rubbed his completely blocked nose, his severe cold causing him considerable discomfort. "My biggest question right now is—everyone was perfectly healthy before entering the painting, so why did I suddenly get a severe cold? It doesn't make sense."
Mu Yiran nodded and jotted it down in a notebook. "That certainly doesn't make sense."
"I have a question too," Du Lingyu raised her hand. "It's actually a small thing, but I find it particularly strange that my perfume completely disappeared. That 'Thief Rose' scent is very long-lasting; it couldn't have vanished without a trace."
"Okay, everyone, continue." Mu Yiran jotted it down again.
"My question is," Zhu Haowen, still standing beside a gauze lamp, spoke up, "why does this painting know each of us so well? First, it knew our surnames, and then it arranged props for us based on our memories and habits from our original world. Even if this painting is a role-playing game, it's impossible to know each player's individual preferences."
Players? Shao Ling glanced at Zhu Haowen and suddenly understood why this man had survived all nine paintings. He seemed to view each painted world as simply a game to be completed.
Shao Ling said, "This is also my biggest mystery. Because I can't grasp the center of this world, I feel lost. And this painting 'understands' each of us so well, which is terrifying."
Mu Yiran remained expressionless, diligently recording everything with her pen.
Xi Shengnan had already packed her belongings; the developing tank had been confiscated and was now in the communal cabinet.
Xi Shengnan seemed to have lost her previous energy and spirit. Her voice was low as she said, "This painting is indeed terrifying. It not only captures our inner world but also brings the characters from my work to life in this world. But this world itself is completely different from the world in my novel. I'm confused and pessimistic. I always feel like I'll be the unluckiest one."
Du Lingyu comforted her, saying, "Sister Xi, don't overthink it. Maybe it's just a matter of time. Xia Yu might be the first character we discover, and we might find other things later."
Xi Shengnan gave a bitter smile, feeling Lu Heng pat her shoulder, as if trying to give her strength.
When it was Qin Ci's turn to speak, he simply shook his head: "I'm completely confused. This world is beyond my imagination. I think the scariest thing is that we have to continue playing the role of the caravan member. There are many things we can't say out loud, and we don't dare to ask the NPCs too much. We can only guess on our own. For example, these strange fish on the negatives—we can't take them out to ask others. The more important the clue, the less we dare to ask, for fear that the people here will discover our identities as outsiders and we'll suffer the backlash."
The newcomers listened to Qin Ci's words and felt even more troubled.
"Xiao Mu, what have you thought of?" Qin Ci asked.
After Mu Yiran finished recording, he stopped writing: "What's troubling me most right now is the record of time. Your borrowing list doesn't have borrowing dates, and the merchant records I have don't have specific dates either. For example, when the caravan came to the Fluorite Inn, I could only roughly estimate based on the seasonality of the goods traded. We probably stayed in the Fluorite Inn for about half a year. And this time when we came to the Lantern Inn, there were seven vertical lines drawn. Perhaps they represent seven days, or perhaps they represent something other than time."
Qin Ci frowned: "My borrowing list says: Lu Heng borrowed books from the Lantern Inn, Lu Heng returned books to the Lantern Inn, there's no description of the date at all."
Mai Peng seemed to remember something, sniffing her nose, which was red from a cold: "When we first arrived here, I felt some carved vertical lines on the wall of the corridor, exactly seven lines."