"These are the plants I just listed that I saw in the forest," Gu Qingqing said, her tone and demeanor very student-like, as if explaining a Chinese language problem to everyone. She pointed to the contents of her notebook with the tip of her pen, explaining each plant one by one: "Cycas revoluta, can grow in tropical, subtropical, and temperate zones, but more in tropical regions; Norfolk Island pine, a tropical plant; butterfly tree, a tropical rainforest plant; oil palm, a tropical plant; fan palm, beautiful kapok, traveler's palm, heliconia, areca palm, fishtail palm…etc., tropical plants; fir, mostly grows in cold regions; yellow larch, a cold-climate plant; oak, a cold-climate plant; and the willows you found in the forest, mostly found in temperate and cold-climate zones, very rare in the tropics. And…" "And these plants I circled behind should all grow in the frigid, subarctic, or temperate zones."
At this point, Gu Qingqing looked at everyone with disbelief. "This is impossible… I mean, it doesn't conform to the laws of nature. Tropical and frigid plants growing in the same area—if this forest were artificially planted, it would barely make sense, but it's clearly a natural wild forest. How could these tree species, which should grow in different temperature zones, appear here simultaneously?"
Her words drew strange looks from everyone. Gu Qingqing felt a little uneasy, pinching one of her glasses behind her ear, and hesitated, "What… did I say something wrong?"
"No, you're absolutely right. It is indeed a very suspicious question," Shao Ling said. "We're just marveling at the reasoning Mu made before entering the painting."
"Uh… can I ask what it is?" Gu Qingqing had the eagerness of a good student asking questions.
"It seems that the mastermind behind each painting is intentionally selecting suitable subjects for the painting," Shao Ling looked at Gu Qingqing with a meaningful gaze. "Obviously, for this painting, you might be the suitable candidate."
"I…I don't quite understand…" Gu Qingqing was startled by this statement, her face paling slightly.
"We'll discuss this in detail after we leave the painting. For now, let's talk about the clue you discovered," Shao Ling said. "I think this is indeed a very important discovery. This phenomenon that violates the laws of nature might explain the question Fang Fei just raised: why is this forest part of the painting? Obviously, the disordered state of the vegetation within it is a clue."
"What does that prove?" Wei Dong asked. "The plants mutated? —Holy crap, does that also prove that those humans who died in the 'bloodbath' also mutated, becoming zombies or something, and this manifests in the plants as this disordered growth that violates the laws of nature?"
"I think Brother Dong's explanation is reliable." Luo Yu nodded repeatedly.
"Where's He Tang?" Ke Xun looked at He Tang, who had been silent all along. "Are you feeling unwell?"
"Hmm..." He Tang looked up at Ke Xun. She knew he was very perceptive, but she hadn't expected him to be so sensitive to subtle changes in others. She nodded and said, "I do feel very unwell, but this discomfort... if I say it out loud, I'm afraid everyone will think I'm making a mountain out of a molehill. At this important time, don't worry about me..."
"Where do you feel unwell?" It was Mu Yiran who asked, his calm and clear gaze making He Tang dare not avoid any of his questions.
"Well... dizzy, nauseous, wanting to vomit, and my heart isn't feeling well either," He Tang took a few deep breaths, "and I'm also particularly irritable, with a strange feeling of panic."
"Have you experienced this before?" Mu Yiran asked again.
He Tang thought carefully for a while and nodded: "Yes, I've had this feeling during our orchestra's performances before, about three or four times."
"Not counting this time, what happened after those three or four times?" Mu Yiran continued to ask.
"The last time I felt so bad, I told the troupe leaders I didn't want to perform in that theater anymore," He Tang said, somewhat embarrassed and scared. "By the way, those three or four times we performed in the same theater. People in our troupe joked that I was incompatible with that theater. Why is it that everyone else is fine, but I always feel unwell in that theater… After that, I never performed in that theater again, and the problem didn't recur. Could it be… that there's something bad about that theater?"
"You said you felt particularly irritable?" Mu Yiran looked at her.
He Tang nodded: "Yes, irritable and restless. I don't know where this comes from. Sometimes I'm in a good mood, but after entering that theater and starting to play, I start to feel irritable soon after."
"I have a guess," Mu Yiran's gaze shifted from her face, sweeping across the corners of the room and the scenery outside the window. "Is your hearing very good?" she asked He Tang again.
He Tang was somewhat surprised, but quickly nodded, "Yes, my hearing is the best in our group. It's probably related to my music studies. Even with a muffled symphony, I can accurately distinguish every instrument." "
What's the lowest frequency of sound you can hear? Have you measured it?" Mu Yiran's gaze returned to her face.
"No..." He Tang hesitated for a moment, "But now that you mention it, I remember I often hear noises that others can't hear. Whenever I hear these noises and ask the people around me if they hear them, they always say they didn't hear anything. I've always suspected it's tinnitus or auditory hallucinations."
"Then my guess is probably about 50% correct," Mu Yiran looked at the inquisitive gazes directed at him, "He Tang is a rare person who can hear, or is more sensitive to, infrasound than most people."
"Brother-in-law, what is infrasound?" Luo Yiran asked on behalf of the underachievers group.
"The range of sound frequencies that the human ear can hear is between 20 Hz and 20,000 Hz," Mu Yiran said. "Among them, 20 to 200 Hz is low-frequency noise, 500 to 2,000 Hz is mid-frequency, and 2,000 to 16,000 Hz is high-frequency. Above 20,000 Hz is ultrasound, and below 20 Hz is infrasound.
"Among common animals, only dogs, elephants, whales, and jellyfish can hear infrasound. Normally, humans cannot hear infrasound, but there are always exceptions. The world is full of wonders. Perhaps He Tang happens to be one of the rare 'extraordinary' people. Or perhaps she is not hearing it now, but rather is more sensitive to infrasound than we are. Or perhaps this is an exaggerated embellishment in the 'painting' that makes He Tang, whose hearing is better than normal, hear infrasound."
"Some infrasound waves can be highly harmful to the human body. Their vibration frequency is similar to, or even the same as, the vibration frequency of internal organs, causing strong resonance and resulting in serious damage.
Infrasound waves can interfere with the nervous system. The dizziness, nausea, vomiting, and restlessness that He Tang experiences are all caused by infrasound. In severe cases, it can lead to deafness, coma, or even death.
I think He Tang is more sensitive to infrasound than the average person. Playing music in a theater, where the sound of instruments mixes with the echoes created by the theater's structure, could potentially generate infrasound waves, which explains why He Tang always experiences discomfort in the same theater.
Returning to this painting, He Tang's physical discomfort proves that something is emitting infrasound in this place."
These words sent a chill down everyone's spine.
"What... could be emitting infrasound?" Luo Yu hugged himself tightly, but then felt hot and had to loosen his arms. "Could it be... something invisible in these houses?" "
Don't scare yourself," Ke Xun said, then turned to He Tang, "Where did you feel this most strongly? Was it in this residential area, or when we went into the forest earlier?"
"…They're the same," He Tang said after carefully examining the scene. "These two places give me the same feeling."
"This might be more troublesome," Wei Dong said. "Now, besides the problems of food and water shortages, potential zombie attacks, and lack of medical care after contracting the disease, there's also the issue of infrasound damage. I feel this painting is extremely difficult to complete. Unlike previous paintings, where the rules of death overlapped but at least didn't deviate from a larger framework, this painting has too many elements that could kill us. Moreover, we still haven't solved these problems or their connection to the theme of 'reboot'."
"Perhaps," Zhu Haowen said calmly, "this time, we still need to go through death to get more clues."
This sentence made everyone's hearts sink.
"I'll go check on Xiao Kai." Ke Xun got up and walked towards the living room.
Speaking of death, Xiao Kai, whose physical condition was now worrying, seemed to be closest to death.
Pushing open the door, he saw Qin Ci and Tian Yang still wiping Xiao Kai's body with alcohol.
"Not finished yet? Do you need help?" Ke Xun asked.
Qin Ci shook his head: "Don't come in, I'll be done cleaning soon."
Ke Xun closed the door and walked back to the central hall. Seeing everyone looking at him, he said, "The situation isn't good," then sat back down next to Mu Yiran and asked, "Do you think Xiao Kai's condition could also be caused by infrasound?"
"It's hard to say, but we can't rule out the possibility," Mu Yiran said.
"Then perhaps the first rule of death for this painting is its sensitivity to infrasound?" Shao Ling said.
"Mr. Shao, you scared the girl," Ke Xun said, glancing at He Tang, whose face had turned pale with fright.
"I'm sorry," Shao Ling said to He Tang, "we just can't let any possibility slip by. So, is there any way to resist this infrasound?"
"No way," Mu Yiran's answer made He Tang's face turn even paler. "Infrasound has extremely strong penetrating power. It can penetrate reinforced concrete buildings, tanks, warships, submarines, and airplanes. That's why some countries have been researching infrasound as a weapon of war because of its super penetrating power and large-scale destructive and lethality."
"If infrasound is the condition for death, then we can't escape it no matter where we hide," Zhu Haowen said. "And if the order of death is based on sensitivity to infrasound, that doesn't seem to make sense either. After all, most of us are ordinary people and can't hear infrasound. When we can sense it, everyone might be affected at the same time. Why leave us a way out? We might all be wiped out on the first night."
"And don't forget, there might be zombies in this place," Wei Dong said. "If zombies surround the city from all sides at night, we need to think of a way to prepare for the worst."
"Shall we find a sturdy house and block up all the doors and windows?" Luo Jing hurriedly suggested.
"To be honest, I don't think the house is safe either," Ke Xun said. "I always feel like there's something inside."