Paintings of Terror

Everyone did not immediately inform the Inn’s authority regarding Lu Heng’s death, instead, they checked his luggage.

Just like how Xi Shengnan’s luggage contained Xiayu’s jewelry, it was hard to say what would be found in Lu Heng’s luggage.

Most of the contents were daily necessities, except for a peculiar palm-sized ebony box that caught everyone’s attention.

Qin Ci carefully opened the strange ebony box using a cloth to cushion it, revealing some small pill-looking objects inside. Qin Ci lightly sniffed, “Seems to be throat lozenges or something similar.”

“So, there’s no secret in Lu Heng’s luggage?” Cao Youning’s eyes flickered with panic. This was the second death he experienced in this world, and both times the deceased were his close friends.

“This box looks like a medicine box based on its appearance. I also have two similar boxes in my medical kit,” Qin Ci said as he shook the ebony box near his ear. “It doesn’t sound off, but I always feel like my medicine boxes have a larger capacity, even though they appear to be about the same size.”

Mu Yiran took the ebony box and carefully examined its sides and bottom. Soon, he discovered a hidden small drawer. By releasing the hidden spring mechanism, the drawer could be pulled out.

“This is too mysterious. I doubt even Lu Heng knew how to open this small drawer…” Cao Youning hadn’t even finished speaking as he stared in astonishment at Mu Yiran pulling out a folded piece of paper from the drawer.

“Is it that formula?” Mu Yiran showed the paper to Qin Ci.

Qin Ci wanted to nod in confirmation, but to be sure, he took the medical book and placed the paper on the torn page, which aligned the torn edges perfectly.

Everyone was dumbfounded. They never expected that the formula for that spice poison had been secretly torn off and hidden by Lu Heng.

Qin Ci smelled the scent inside the small drawer of the ebony box again, his expression turning serious. He looked at Du Lingyu, “Xiao Du, does this scent…?”

Du Lingyu nodded with difficulty, “It is that scent. Sister Xi had that scent on her when she died, and now Lu Heng’s body… also has this scent. The scent is stronger in this drawer, but because it’s sealed inside the wooden box, the aroma of the ebony cleverly conceals it, making it difficult to detect. It’s like how the poison was added to the chili sauce before. The flavor was also masked by the strong taste of the sauce.” 𝑏𝘦𝘥𝘯𝑜𝘷𝘦𝑙．𝑜𝑟𝘨

“I don’t believe it, I don’t believe Lu Heng would secretly hide these poisons. I don’t believe Lu Heng would consume the poison to commit suicide, and I especially don’t believe he would poison Sister Xi! Sister Xi was the most important person to Lu Heng.” Mai Peng spoke intermittently.

“Mai Peng, you don’t look well at all,” Du Lingyu expressed concern.

“I have a terrible headache. It’s been like this since I woke up,” Mai Peng ran his hand through his messy hair. “I still don’t believe that Lu Heng would hide the poison from us! Perhaps all of this is the work of someone we can’t see. In the end, we’ll all be poisoned by this person.”

“No, there’s probably only this much of the poison,” Qin Ci responded to Mai Peng’s words, his gaze slowly shifting from the formula to Mai Peng’s face. “Yesterday, I already counted all our spices. The goods we have were missing a portion compared to our shipping records and the total quantity of goods. And coincidentally, the missing ingredients are exactly the ones used to make this poison.”

“So you mean…”

“The poison formula doesn’t require many ingredients. The spices we’re missing, if combined together, would probably fit in this small drawer of the medicine box.” Qin Ci looked at everyone. “In other words, the drawer contained all the poison. Only a small portion was added to the chili sauce that poisoned Xi Shengnan, and Lu Heng consumed the remaining larger portion last night.”

Luo Bu was obviously confused by this sudden series of events. “Could it be that someone else prepared these poisons and used them to kill Lu Heng and Xi Shengnan?”

“If that’s the case, why didn’t they kill both of them at once instead of doing it two times?” Wei Dong said. “If they were to poison two people at once ? ? ? ??? , the success rate would be higher.”

Zhu Haowen added, “And there’s another premise. This hypothetical murderer would need to be familiar with all our habits. At the very least, they would understand each person’s taste preferences, in order to precisely make Xi Shengnan consume the poison in the chili sauce and to have the ability to make Lu Heng calmly drink the poison alone at the table in the middle of the night.”

Upon hearing the words “drink the poison,” Du Lingyu noticed a water cup beside the wooden table where Lu Heng’s body was lying. It was the type of cups that everyone usually used, with simple patterns on top to indicate ownership.

The door was gently pushed open, and a bright, warm light filled the room as the lantern-lighter poked their head in. “Esteemed guests, is there anything I can assist you with?”

Mu Yiran looked at the lantern-lighter. “We have a deceased who needs to be buried.”

“Alright, I’ll go get some help.” The lantern-lighter left politely after speaking those words.

It was now the time for lighting the lanterns, the moment that Mu Yiran had originally assumed to be midnight. Everywhere was filled with bright and warm light, as if someone brewing chicken soup was whispering to you, “Today is a brand new day.”

Du Lingyu frowned while sniffing her sleeve and then her wrist, her eyes fixed on the bright corridor outside the door. She had an impulse to run out.

Instinctively, she searched the crowd for Ke Xun’s figure. For some inexplicable reason, he gave her the greatest sense of safety.

Ke Xun appeared to be talking with Mai Peng, discussing something related to “coffin carrying.”

“Ke Xun,” Du Lingyu called out to him in the crowd.

Ke Xun looked up, and in Du Lingyu’s eyes, there seemed to be a light illuminating his face.

“I have some thoughts, but I’m not sure if they’re useful,” Du Lingyu said.

Ke Xun, standing tall among the crowd, stepped out. “Xiao Du, what did you think of?”

Du Lingyu walked out of the door and hurriedly looked at the left section of the corridor and the staircase at the end of the corridor. “I had another hallucination just now. Lu Heng died, lying on the table just like that. There were only me and Sister Xi in the room. I was very scared and ran out of the room, down the left corridor, and down the stairs… I think I wanted to verify something with someone.”

Ke Xun didn’t know what to say for a moment, but he felt that Du Lingyu’s hallucinations were particularly strange. “It seems like you have memories of another timeline, but these memories come and go.”

“You mean, my hallucinations come from another timeline?” Du Lingyu supported her head against the railing of the corridor to look at the staircase below. “I was probably going to meet a woman at that time, but the memories after that are completely vague… Sorry, that’s all I can remember, and I don’t know if it’s useful.”

“If I remember correctly, every time you have a hallucination, it’s right after the lanterns are lit,” Ke Xun’s gaze turned to the vertical lines on the corridor wall, all seven lines remained unchanged. They were deep and decisive. “Or perhaps, the incidents of death have triggered certain deep-seated memories in you. Think about it carefully, we only discover an incident of death after everyone wakes up. Strange thing is, why the rest of us don’t experience the same hallucinations as you? In the real world, do you have some kind of psychic physique?”

“Shao Ling asked me the same question,” Du Lingyu seemed to still be not completely out of her anxious state. At that moment, she leaned against the wall. It was a posture of self-protection. “But unfortunately, I’m very ordinary in the real world, completely dissociated from those supernatural things.”

“The hallucinations you mentioned include the scene of Lu Heng’s death along with Xi Shengnan. This reminds me of the photo from last night,” Ke Xun carefully recalled Mu Yiran’s explanation of the photos from last night. “It’s the photo that captured events of 16 hours later, presumably around 18:30. At that time, there was a man sitting alone on the bed, and Xi Shengnan was lying nearby.”

“Do you mean that the man in the photo is Lu Heng?” Du Lingyu carefully remembered the contents of the photo. “At that time, Xi Shengnan’s position was already at the bottom of the photo. If I were also in the photo, the camera wouldn’t capture me.”

Du Lingyu made this bold speculation calmly, causing Ke Xun to have a newfound respect for this seemingly delicate girl.

“If that’s the case, I don’t understand why there were only three of us left in the room. It was nighttime, and others had no reason to be outside…” Du Lingyu seemed to have thought of something, but no matter what, she couldn’t bring herself to say it. Her eyes suddenly focused on Ke Xun. “I don’t know why, Ke Xun, out of everyone, I trust you the most, even more than my old buddies of many years in the photography group.”

Ke Xun saw sincerity in Du Lingyu’s eyes, as well as a hint of… something resembling regret.

“Especially when I see these seven carved lines, that feeling becomes particularly strong,” Du Lingyu continued, “For no reason at all, I just feel your decisions are correct, and you advance forward with unwavering determination, without compromise or hesitation.”

Du Lingyu wiped her eyes. “I don’t know why I had these strange feelings, and I even told you about them. It’s as if I’ve wanted to say them for a long time, but never had the chance to say them.”

Ke Xun felt he got some clues in Du Lingyu’s words, but her subsequent emotional words confused him again. Ke Xun slowly approached Du Lingyu and patted her shoulder. “When we go to bury Lu Heng later, do you still have the courage to go near that window?”

Du Lingyu nodded without hesitation. “I will definitely go. Even though I’m a little scared, I still want to understand what exactly is going on. Even if I see something more terrifying there, I think we will get closer to the truth.”

“Great,” Ke Xun didn’t know what to say for a moment, facing the brave Du Lingyu. “We will all be with you.”

“That’s it!” Du Lingyu suddenly exclaimed absentmindedly. “I remember you said the same thing: ‘We will all be with you! All of us stand united to take this step together. Even if this is a step backward, this step backward is for the sake of moving forward in the long run! Even if that step backward leads to a deep abyss, we will get eternal light in return!’”

Du Lingyu spoke word by word, tears seemed to be shimmering in her eyes.

Ke Xun was dumbfounded for a while. “I can responsibly tell you that I would never say these things, even if you forced me to…” Ke Xun scratched his head and asked again: “Are you sure it wasn’t Shao Ling who said these words…”

“It was you! I was crying at the time, and many others were crying too.” Du Lingyu couldn’t hold back her tears again. “I don’t remember what happened afterward, but I always feel like I was a deserter…”

Maybe because Du Lingyu’s voice was a bit high just now, several of their companions gathered at the door, even Mu Yiran came out, who was holding a piece of paper. The paper had circles of various sizes drawn on it, with each circle divided by lines of different angles.

Mu Yiran looked at Ke Xun. “There may have only been one single timeline, but it has been segmented and realigned. Maybe there is no going backward and forward. It’s like driving on a road and encountering a car in the opposite lane. Because of the different directions, we always think the other side is going the opposite way.”

Ke Xun said, “Can you guys say something that I can understand today…”

Mai Peng: “I also have the same request…”

Mu Yiran said to Mai Peng, “Based on the severity of your cold, I believe your cold will recover completely soon, as if it never happened. If this actually happens, it will indirectly confirm my theory.”