To be honest, an empty cellar wouldn't make sense. This was such a plot heavy area, needing to get the incense from the first pavilion before lighting it at the ancestral graves area, and then, finally, recognising the importance of the clock tower.
There was no way a cellar would be devoid of clues after all this effort, right?
"Hey system, you aren't just messing with me, right?" Ah'Ming asked the system.
"You wouldn't just make a random room without any cores, right? Since it would be boring for the audience?"
|Broadcaster is under a common misconception
|The system does not create instance worlds, it only links and categorises them.
Ah'Ming's eyebrows furrowed.
"Wait, you don't make them? Then why do you give rewards?"
Though the system didn't have eyes, he could tell that it was side-eying him with obvious contempt.
It started talking, well, typing to him in a sickly sweet, patronizing tone.
|Broadcasters require incentives to work hard and Broadcast! Broadcast! Broadcast!
Huh.
That made a lot of sense. Why did the system help keep the multiverse organised, though?
Ah'Ming shrugged, and made his way over to the walls.
Yes, the room didn't have any obvious clues, but it shouldn't be boring, right?
That meant that if there wasn't any furniture or stuff in the middle of the room, there might be clues hidden in the walls or floors. Just like in his first punishment instance!
Using his claws, he scraped off a couple chunks of the wall. It had been rather suspicious, how old the building had been, but how ( relatively) new the walls had been. The walls were caked in some sort of black substance, all crumbly in Ah'Ming's fingers. When he sniffed it, it smelt very faintly of ashes.
He let it fall out of his hands.
Burnt.
The whole cellar had been burnt.
Was this another side quest? Or did it relate to the main quest?
Well.
Ah'Ming had time anyways, so side quest it was!
Carefully, inch by inch, he scraped off little chunks of the wall. Little shards of black and crumbly mass just tumbled to the ground, barely taking any effort.
Before long, an entire expanse of wall was cleared. Behind it lay a mural.
"Hey system, how long did that take me?" Rang out his voice.
|Broadcaster took around seven minutes and thirty two seconds to clear out the wall.
Ah'Ming's gaze landed on the other five walls. Not as in it was a hexagonal room, but a rectangular one with the longer walls being separated in the middle by support pillars.
He could do this.
The mural was incomplete anyways, though pretty.
…
By the time he was done, there was what felt like an entire graveyard's worth of gunk and dirt under his nails, or in the crevices of his natural armor.
He made a face at it.
Oh well.
Although it took countless minutes of grueling and arduous sacrifice, the walls were now bare.
What lay on them was a massive mural, and it was interconnected.
It showed a vast expanse of land, 360 degrees. Yet, each wall was separated by what seemed like decades of time. To the left of the staircase, where Ah'Ming had first entered, was the first panel.
On it was both carved and painted (though the paint was very faint) a picturesque landscape, with trees and plums and untouched nature. It was painted in emerald greens and golden yellows, and the slopes of the mountains looked familiar.
The next scene was of a dazzling figure, robed in yellow, leading a group to the next scene, a few tents and horses bundled up with them. They looked weary, yet hopeful.
Smattering houses and farms filled the next panel, with the yellow robed figure hailed as the person in charge, judging by the size of his house. Little roads and markets were set up, with far more people, far more signs of civilization.
The houses grew larger, and more numerous, as did the people.
Skies bright and blue, grasses vibrant and green. The place looked like a paradise, which was really suspicious since it was an instance setting.
The last picture was of a close up of the yellow robed figure, sitting all noble and holy.From this angle, he almost looked like a buddha. A kind smile graced his face, warming the hearts of anyone who gazed upon the mural.
Behind him were hundreds of sycophants with adoring smiles and everflowing trust. It kind of made the man look like Tamer.
Ew.
Ah'Ming kind of disliked his face immediately.
"Hey system, I look better than him, right?" He said, turning to face the air on his right.
The person in the mural: ?!
The system, dutiful as ever, pandered to his whims.
|Broadcaster should shut up and pay attention to the plot :).
Who even knew that a smile could look so threatening? Ah'Ming rolled his eyes, and turned to the floor. It was now covered in ashes from the walls and the packed dirt from before. You know what?
He liked the vibes of this floor.
Ah'Ming started to tear up the dirt from the floor as well, squatting and digging like a person that parents would pull their kids to walk on the other side of the street to avoid.
Say, why hadn't his incense stick time run out yet?
Ah well.
He wasn't going to kick a gift horse in the mouth anyways.
The thing is...
The patches that he uncovered were murals... made of only red and white.
It reflected the picture of the person in yellow robes, reflected directly. It was like a mockery of the painting, the kind fatherly smile twisted into a sickening grin. Crusted around his face and hands were dark stains.
Ah'Ming couldn't tell if it was from time and wear, or if it represented bloodstains. Behind the figure and his stained white teeth was a village full of monsters, all wrapped up in chains and talismans. The houses were dark, and red flames littered the roads. Even the sky was all black and ruined.
With one on the wall, and one on the floor, the two looked like mirrors, twins or... alternate worlds.
The only question now was which of the two visages represented the real village?