Chapter 295: Rejoicing Fate 16

Chapter 295: Rejoicing Fate 16

Not a single candle was lit, and the live stream was dim.

In the live streaming hall, some viewers still didn't understand what was happening and kept pushing forward with all their might.

This caused a wave of complaints: "Your position won't affect the video quality; why are you pushing? Do you think you're the only one with legs?"

The screen in front of the light curtain became chaotic until the system switched to a close-up of the finger on the ground, and the viewers finally understood.

The finger, seemingly unwilling, wriggled its joints, moving like a worm towards where Qin Fei was.

The nails scraped against the wooden floor, producing a faint creaking sound.

One might easily miss this sound if not listening carefully, but Qin Fei accurately pinpointed its source.

He quickly walked towards that direction, stepping on the finger before it could reach him, grinding it down hard.

Then he lifted his foot as if nothing had happened, kicking the finger away.

He added a comment: "The floor is rough."

The audience: "..."

Their emotions fluctuated wildly within a minute.

Xiao Qin, you truly live up to your reputation. 🙂

Perhaps because the step was particularly harsh, the finger ceased its movement. Qin Fei resumed his search for candles and soon found the first one on a table not far from the bed.

Players' personal spaces contained lighters and matches, making it easy to light the candle.

Soon, through the thin layer of his eyelids, Qin Fei sensed a warm yellow glow in front of him.

He opened his eyes.

The scene inside the room unfolded before him, unsurprisingly, it was the usual layout of a guest room in Tulou.

A bed, an altar, a few tables and chairs—these were the only furnishings in the room.

With light, seeing things became much easier. Qin Fei searched the room thoroughly and quickly found the remaining candles.

He cleared a space in the center of the room, arranging the candles in a circle as depicted in the painting outside, lighting them one by one.

As more candles were lit, the room grew brighter.

Yet, there was no change in the surroundings.

The young man raised an eyebrow slightly. Could it be that these weren't all the candles?

When Qin Fei looked at the painting earlier, he remembered the number of candles in it, which matched the ones he had found.

Even the precise placement of each candle was replicated exactly as in the painting.

However, it was normal to have some omissions, and no rule stated that the actual number of candles must match those in the ancient painting.

Qin Fei began a second round of searching.

The results were disappointing. He turned the room upside down but found nothing.

He did not overlook any hidden corners, even knocking on every piece of the floor to ensure there were no secret mechanisms.

If there was any place left to hide things, it could only be behind the walls or the ceiling.

Now, being inside the ancient painting, he couldn't release the ghost infant, so it would be challenging to check every inch of the four walls alone.

Was this twisted tale going too far?

Or had he missed something?

The player let out a soft sigh, stepping back into the circle of candles.

Unexpectedly, he suddenly bumped into someone's embrace.

"..."

Normally, this would be terrifying. In a pitch-black, sealed room illuminated only by candlelight, with all doors and windows locked, another person appeared without warning.

Qin Fei stopped, silently sensing the familiar presence behind him.

It was the source of contamination.

The only one who could appear here at this moment was It.

The tension in the young man's body relaxed almost instantly.

He sat back down among the candles.

Qin Fei had been wondering earlier why the source of contamination hadn't come into this ancient painting.

He thought It would.

The source of contamination played the role of a deceased ghost lover in the Tulou legend, and Its movements were not free. Qin Fei already had a rough idea of when and where It would appear.

It would always be after nightfall, when he was asleep.

And within the ancient painting.

The pressure of being held from behind gradually intensified. The ghost groom earnestly embraced his lover, tightly holding him in his arms.

Qin Fei struggled but couldn’t break free.

"Let go," he turned his head and said gently, "I still need to find something. You’re making it impossible for me to do anything."

The ghost groom was not easy to persuade. The young man’s kind words had no effect; instead, the embrace from behind tightened even more, as if trying to firmly embed him into his body, with an indescribable sense of reluctance.

It inexplicably made one’s ears heat up.

Plus, now others couldn’t see Him...

A somewhat abrupt thought suddenly popped into Qin Fei’s mind. He felt that he and the pollutant were like clandestine lovers caught on live stream.

Challenging the sensory limits of tens of thousands of viewers.

The player coughed lightly and shook his head, seemingly trying to shake off his wild thoughts.

He reached out to push away the person causing trouble behind him.

But touched nothing.

At the shoulder, the cool sensation of skin contact remained. It wasn’t just a presence; it was tangible, though formless, yet undeniably there.

Qin Fei realized that the current state of the pollutant was quite peculiar. Whether he could touch Him seemed entirely up to Him.

If he couldn’t feel Him when reaching out...

The pollutant was doing it on purpose.

Qin Fei laughed in frustration.

Was it because He didn’t want to be pushed away? So He simply acted stubborn.

To be honest, Qin Fei didn’t dislike the pollutant’s closeness; he even enjoyed it, but now was really not the right time for such intimacy.

Qin Fei had entered the ancient painting at a particularly special moment. Once daylight broke and the paper people outside left, whether the hanging painting would still be in its original position was uncertain.

If the painting disappeared, how would he get out?

"Stop it."

To show his determination, the young man spoke with a heavier tone than usual, his usually gentle voice turning slightly cold.

Upon hearing this, the ghost groom behind him seemed to be taken aback.

Qin Fei couldn’t see the pollutant, but he could clearly feel His mood plummet instantly.

The air seemed to become a bit damp, and the pollutant made no effort to hide His grievance.

It seemed He loosened His grip around Qin Fei, moving slightly away, but not too far, perhaps squatting down beside Qin Fei.

Like a dog that had been scolded by its owner, feeling dejected.

Feifei: "…"

Why did He have to act like this, making him feel a bit guilty.

The young man made a fist with one hand and lightly coughed, covering his mouth. "…I didn’t mean to sound harsh."

Though beauty can be misleading, the pollutant was indeed good-looking. But why could He make him give in so easily without even showing His face?

Qin Fei felt he was being manipulated.

Fortunately, the pollutant was very easy to please, which restored some dignity for Princess Feifei.

The temperature of the air rose slightly, as if His mood had secretly improved.

Strictly speaking, Qin Fei hadn’t actually tried hard to comfort Him. He only said those ambiguous words, yet He immediately perked up.

This was evident when the pollutant suddenly kissed the young man beside him.

Cool lips brushed against his cheek, touching briefly as if afraid Qin Fei would get angry again.

Qin Fei stiffened slightly but didn’t move, continuing to sit upright.

After a few seconds, the pollutant leaned over again, very actively, lightly pressing against Qin Fei’s hand.

Qin Fei could feel His hair.

Cold, but very soft.

...

On the other side of the light curtain, the players couldn’t see the ghost groom’s presence; they only saw the player sitting alone among the candles.

His expression was strange, his body stiff, occasionally muttering to the air.

His voice was too low and fast, and the system couldn’t capture it clearly, nor could they hear it distinctly.

Although the player had arranged the circle of candles himself, the scene looked bizarre.

"It’s like he’s possessed," commented a spirit.

So what was going on? Could the broadcaster have misstepped, falling into a trap in the urban legend?

Qin Fei hadn’t enabled comments and was unaware of the damage to his reputation. The clingy big dog finally released him, and Qin Fei stood up and walked towards the altar.

As a player, there is not a single moment one can truly relax while within a scenario.

During those few minutes, even when he was angry at the source of pollution, Qin Fei's mind had allocated a section that rapidly churned with thoughts on how to deal with their current situation.

Why hasn't he left this painting yet?

What exactly went wrong?

After much contemplation, Qin Fei did come up with something.

Yesterday, while watching the paper play, Qin Fei learned that all six ancient paintings depicted scenes of a bride missing her lover.

In the paper play, the six acts were not performed in a completely linear manner. Due to the inclusion of many flashbacks, perhaps also to convey the protagonist's sorrowful and chaotic emotions, much of the content was interwoven.

Qin Fei had previously focused on the scene of the bride lighting candles in her room. Just now, he suddenly remembered that he might have overlooked something else in that part.

In the paper play, it was a fleeting flashback mixed in with later content.

However, from the candles arranged in a circle in the corner of the image, it could be deduced that this part was related to the previous scene.

The plot showed the bride sitting idly in her room, thinking about her deceased lover and her impending forced marriage, her heart filled with anger and guilt.

Complex emotions overwhelmed her, and under this emotional turmoil, she retrieved a hidden portrait of her lover from the room and burned it to ashes using the lit candles inside.

This act was not mentioned in the conditions for clearing the scenario, which strongly suggested that it was a deliberately concealed special condition by the urban legend to increase difficulty for players.

Qin Fei still remembered that in the paper play, the portrait was folded and hidden under the altar.

The player walked a few steps to the altar and reached underneath to feel around.

He had searched here before for candles, but since candles have volume, he didn't find anything and left. This time, looking for the paper, he indeed found a clue in the crevice.

Inside the wooden altar's compartment, there was a thin layer of something. Qin Fei couldn't fit his fingers in, so he took out a wire from his personal space and carefully extracted it bit by bit.

Soon, he pulled out a piece of paper folded to the size of a palm.

This should be the portrait of the bride's lover.

Just as Qin Fei was about to unfold the portrait, he paused, noticing something else.

There seemed to be another folded piece of paper stuffed in the crevice of the altar.