According to the research conducted by the group beforehand at the Winter is Coming Art Museum, the museum mainly displays works by relatively unknown painters. However, there is one masterpiece, a hyperrealist portrait valued at 18 million, considered the museum's crown jewel.
Besides this, there are one or two more well-known works: a still life of fruit and a flower painting.
The other paintings represent various styles, from traditional Chinese landscapes to futuristic fantasy.
The group thoroughly researched all the available artworks, although, given the museum's track record, most of the paintings they were ultimately admitted to were new additions that appeared out of nowhere.
When the light that appeared out of nowhere shone on the painting they were about to enter, the veteran members were somewhat surprised. This painting was already an exhibit in the museum, and they had previously learned about its content and the artist—
"Schrödinger's Cat," by Cheng Shi.
This did not bring any comfort or joy to the members who had entered the painting, because the painting was truly... indescribable.
After the guiding light from the painting gradually faded, they found themselves in a room completely white, with white walls and ceiling.
The room had no doors or windows, resembling a completely sealed white box. The six white walls were bare, without any light source, yet the room was brightly lit.
The members stood in the center of the "box," looking at each other, speechless for a long time.
Schrödinger's cat, inside the sealed box, was both alive and dead.
This was knowledge Mu Yiran had shared with the underachieving students when investigating information about the painting.
Now, the members seemed to be the cat in the box, able to live and die in an instant.
But the content of the painting had nothing to do with the cat, nor with the box.
It was a work closer to abstract art, with a black background and white dots and wavy patterns scattered across the surface, creating a seemingly chaotic and shapeless image.
"Although this may sound ignorant, I'll be honest, I've always felt that abstract painters are all crazy. Their world is different from others, their way of thinking is different, in other words, their brain structure is different," Ke Xun once said.
"You're right about one thing: the world seen by abstract painters is different from that of ordinary people," Wei Dong said eloquently, speaking of his professional knowledge. "The process of abstraction is a process of purification. Abstract painters refuse to imitate nature—imitating nature is a traditional concept in painting.
Abstract painters discard the superficial phenomena that nature presents to us, relying on intuition and imagination to perceive the essence of natural phenomena. In short, it's about 'seeing the essence through the phenomena,' then eliminating all irrelevant, flashy, and deceptive factors, extracting the purest and cleanest elements, and finally expressing it in the simplest form—that's called abstraction."
"Therefore, some say that the world seen through the eyes of abstract painters is the true world, while what we ordinary people see is a processed, embellished, unreal, and superficial world."
After investigating information related to this painting, it was learned that the artist, Cheng Shi, was also deceased, and his manner of death was chilling—he committed suicide in his own studio. Before
his death, he had arranged his studio as a sealed room and placed lethal volatile poison gas inside. Above the container holding the poison gas was a hammer that could break the container—of course, when his body was found, the hammer had already broken the container, releasing the poison gas.
This man saw himself as Schrödinger's cat, decorating his studio as a box containing Schrödinger's cat.
This painting was his last work before his death; originally untitled, it was ultimately named "Schrödinger's Cat" because of his manner of death.
So when everyone first saw the painting, they didn't understand why it was named that way. There was clearly no box or cat depicted in the painting. Wei Dong initially guessed it was using the painter's manner of death as a gimmick to add mystery and enhance the painting's artistic value.
But now, as the viewers entered the painting and found themselves in a space like a sealed box, everyone was caught off guard by this unexpected yet seemingly logical fact, and speechless for a moment.
"...So the painting wasn't named that way for a gimmick?" After a long while, Luo Yi spoke tremulously, breaking the silence.
"...Are we alive or dead now?" Wei Dong, who had been educated on the "Schrödinger's cat" phenomenon by Master Mu, also asked tremulously.
"Of course we're alive, but when we start to break the deadlock, it's hard to say," Ke Xun said.
"The key is, what kind of trap could they set for us in such an empty room? Are they going to release poison gas in the room to see who lives and who dies, and then use this method to select people every night for the next seven days?" Wei Dong scratched his face in disbelief.
"If it's that simple and brutal, then what about all the paintings we've entered before?" Ke Xun shook his head. "Let's wait and see. I feel that if not everyone arrives, there won't be any relevant prompts or explanations."
Everyone found a place to stand, lean, or sit and wait. Shao Ling, however, wasn't giving up. He still circled the entire room, checking everything he could, and finally confirmed that there were indeed no hidden mechanisms.
While waiting for the next group to enter the painting, those who entered also took the time to discuss it.
There were many speculations in the industry about what kind of "essence of things" the painting expressed. Some said it was the program's reflection on the essence of life, some said it was his imagination of death, and others said it was the program's confused, bewildered, angry, and sorrowful inner world.
"In fact, Cheng Shi had already developed mental health issues before his death. He spent a year and a half in a mental health rehabilitation center," Mu Yiran said, providing the most detailed information. "He was quiet and thoughtful—but only before his illness. He experienced a major life upheaval, after which he developed severe mental problems and cognitive impairment. Incredibly, this didn't affect his painting ability. This painting was created after he became ill, so some people say that the painting has no intellectual value; it's just a chaotic and absurd world as seen through the eyes of a true madman."
"That major upheaval was the loss of his beloved son," Qin Ci sighed. "His only son, who was in high school, couldn't bear the pressure of studying and the teachers' criticisms and jumped off the roof of the school building. This dealt a huge blow to Cheng Shi, and he went insane overnight."
"Yi Ran and I visited Cheng Shi's former residence and interviewed his relatives and neighbors," Ke Xun continued. "We learned that Cheng Shi truly loved his son. Unlike the 'zombie father' phenomenon in many families today, Cheng Shi spent almost all his time with his son from a very young age. For example, he watched cartoons with him, played all kinds of games that children like, and even drew a comic book full of imagination and childlike fun for his son.
"That's why he couldn't bear his son's death. According to his neighbors, in the period immediately after his son's death, they could hear Cheng Shi crying like a wild beast every night in his own home."
"Once, his relatives visited him and found his room filled with all the toys his son had played with and all the clothes he had worn since he was a child. At that time, Cheng Shi was slumped on the floor, holding the clothes his son had worn when he was one or two years old, looking utterly lost, like a soulless living dead…"
"Brother, what does 'zombie father' mean?" Luo Yu asked.
"It means failing to fulfill the responsibilities of a father, making the child feel like he has no father at all. He rarely does or never does anything he should do for his child, failing to take on the obligation to care for and raise the child," Ke Xun said. "A father who is always absent from his child's life is no different from a living dead person in the family. Some men only care about giving birth but not raising children, seeing raising children as a woman's obligation, without making any contribution themselves, just waiting for the child to grow up and reap the rewards. Haha, men."
Everyone: "…"
"So Cheng Shi is a rare good father, but precisely because he invested too much love and too deep, the blow he received was also heavier and deeper," Zhu Haowen said.
"This painting is the only one Cheng Shi painted after his son's death, and also the last painting of his life," Mu Yiran continued. "As the industry's analysis of this painting suggests, perhaps it reflects Cheng Shi's thoughts on life and his exploration of death after experiencing his son's death. But since he was indeed mentally unstable at the time, whether the content of this painting still has any thought or logic is probably impossible to know."
"In other words, if this painting is really just the random scribbles of a completely insane person, then the situation we are about to face is probably…" Shao Ling didn't finish his sentence, but everyone understood what he meant. How
chaotic, how disordered… how terrifying would the mental world of a madman be? Just as
everyone was about to continue their discussion, they suddenly felt a white light of no origin illuminate the sealed room. The light was dazzling, making it difficult to open one's eyes, but it quickly dimmed again. When they opened their eyes again, they saw two more people in the room.
These were two young people, a man and a woman. The man was fair-skinned and handsome, the woman mature and beautiful. Both wore makeup that was neither too heavy nor too light. Their clothes, though seemingly simple and ordinary, were carefully coordinated and designed to accentuate their best features while concealing their flaws. What
was most striking was the dazzling radiance emanating from their aura, making them stand out from the crowd, no matter how large.
When they first appeared in the room, they were momentarily stunned, but quickly regained their composure. The woman smiled sweetly at everyone in the room and said, "My goodness, what's going on?"
Ke Xun turned to Qin Ci: "Brother Qin, your job has arrived."