Chapter 235: Who is the Passerby

Apart from the shared characteristic that the two missing paintings might have been damaged, the other players searched the art gallery for another full day without discovering any additional clues. However, everyone appeared more guarded than before. As the lights-out time approached, no one intended to return to their rooms, instead dispersing to various locations throughout the gallery.Li Weiran stood beside the sketch she had previously touched. Gao Jun was not far to her right, while Xie Man stood opposite her.

To the left were Xu Huo and Ni Tian, positioned exactly midway between Li Weiran and Fan Shiji. Fan Shiji's location was near the gallery's main entrance, but he didn't stand directly beneath "Still Time," instead choosing a spot by a nearby pillar where he could maintain visual contact with both Xu Huo and Li Weiran from a distance.

The Gloomy Man stood opposite Fan Shiji, with Lu Gang positioned beside him.

The eight players maintained these positions until lights-out.

But after the lights went out, the players realized that the small lights on the pillars only illuminated a tiny area immediately around them. Almost everywhere away from the lights was plunged into darkness. Combined with the dim, yellowish glow, even the areas near the pillars became difficult to see clearly.

With the sudden loss of light, eyes needed time to adjust to the darkness. Even after adaptation, players could only barely make out faint shadows in their immediate vicinity under these conditions, so they instinctively looked toward the illuminated areas.

Xie Man, standing opposite Li Weiran, looked up and saw a hand reaching out near a light source, probably attempting to take a painting. But the very next second, the light on the pillar shattered, followed by a series of consecutive cracking sounds. Several pillar lights from Li Weiran's position all the way to the row where Fan Shiji stood exploded one after another, extinguishing a quarter of the gallery's illumination!

"Li Weiran!" Xie Man rushed across and called out, but receiving no response, she reached to feel the painting on the pillar. The sketch was indeed gone!

"Someone took the painting!" Almost simultaneously, Gao Jun also came over from the right. He loudly alerted the players in the gallery, then moved toward Xu Huo's area. But at that moment, he sensed a sharp gust of wind attacking from his side. He reflexively stepped back as a long, dark shadow slashed down onto the ground before instantly rising to sweep horizontally toward him!

Xu Huo only retracted his Crimson Sword after seeing Gao Jun and Xie Man being forced back by the monster. The sketch that had absorbed Li Weiran was already in his hand. He had obtained the counterfeit required for the second mission. To restore the counterfeit to a rare item probably meant bringing the person out of the painting. However, the hunchbacked grotesque figure in the sketch suddenly reached its hand out of the paper to grab him, emitting strange, unsettling hissing sounds.

"What are all these noises!" It wasn't just this sketch; suddenly, all the paintings in the gallery seemed to come alive, filling the exhibition hall with various complex and bizarre sounds.

Xu Huo held the painting further away and nodded to the Painting Woman. She came over, grasped the hunchbacked grotesque's hand, and was pulled into the painting by it. Within seconds, the hunchbacked grotesque shriveled into a ball inside the painting. From within large shadows, a hand emerged—it was Li Weiran's hand.

Flipping the painting to face the back of the frame, Xu Huo stepped back while using piano wire to tie around her hand, pulling her out from the frame. He then took the opportunity to throw the painting toward Fan Shiji, who had turned back.

As the frame clattered to the ground before Fan Shiji, Li Weiran completely emerged from the sketch. The moment the two noticed each other, the game issued the third prompt:

Following this announcement, the vast art gallery suddenly fell into silence. The sounds pouring from the paintings abruptly vanished. The monster that had driven Gao Jun and Xie Man to the far end of the corridor also suddenly ceased its attacks. Just like the previous two nights after lights-out, it slowly began returning toward the center of the exhibition hall.

"It's you!" Li Weiran suddenly shouted in furious urgency, grabbing her large scissors and slashing at Fan Shiji!

Fan Shiji, recognizing her voice, quickly said, "Li Weiran, it's me!"

"You're exactly who I want to kill, Extra!" Li Weiran gritted her teeth. "I really underestimated you. You tricked me into retrieving the painting, but you actually wanted to complete the second stage, right? It seems you're the one who killed Pan Siming!"

Fan Shiji dodged her attack and rapidly explained, "I'm not any Extra, you've got it wrong! I came over after hearing Xie Man and Gao Jun talking!"

"You're talking nonsense!" Li Weiran yelled. "Didn't you tell me from the start that the damaged paintings were the counterfeits? And you said we should each take the paintings we damaged ourselves. Why didn't you go take that 'Still Time' painting?"

"Because he wants to clear the stage!" The Gloomy Man and Lu Gang appeared near them, jointly attacking Fan Shiji while loudly declaring, "So you're the Extra! Tell us your method for clearing the stage!"

Fan Shiji found it impossible to defend himself, and at that moment, Gao Jun also moved up from behind to assist Li Weiran.

Hearing the fighting ahead, Ni Tian looked back nervously at the shadow slightly behind her, but was unexpectedly bumped by him, causing her to hit the painting frame on the pillar. She said with mild anger, "Be careful!"

"I have night blindness." Xu Huo didn't pay much attention to the blank frame that fell to the ground, turning on his phone flashlight and shining it forward.

The sculpture monster Xu Huo had seen on the first night had already returned to its original position. Li Weiran and the others had driven Fan Shiji near the front entrance. When the beam of light shone on him, Fan Shiji's expression turned grim as he saw all players facing him. His gaze fell on Li Weiran, and he suddenly came to a realization, pointing at her and saying, "You! You're the Extra!"

"I clearly went back because I heard sounds, but you immediately tried to kill me upon seeing me—is it because I discovered you clearing the stage?"

However, the other players ignored his words. Li Weiran attacked head-on, while Lu Gang and the Gloomy Man flanked him from left and right. The three nearly trapped Fan Shiji completely. Seeing the large scissors closing around his legs, a white steel wire suddenly shot out from Fan Shiji's hand, wrapping around the chandelier. As the wire retracted, he flew upward!

"It really is him!" the Gloomy Man said. "Given the chandelier's height, it would be difficult for any of us to get up there, let alone place a corpse. He's definitely the one who killed Pan Siming!"

Li Weiran's expression faltered momentarily, then she became certain that it was Fan Shiji who had pulled her out of the painting. She said, "Don't let him escape! Force him to reveal the method for clearing the stage!"

"The gallery is only so big; he can't run far!" Gao Jun looked up at the person suspended mid-air. "Fan Shiji, discretion is the better part of valor. Do you think you can win against so many of us by yourself?"

"Are you all stupid?" Fan Shiji angrily retorted. "If I had cleared the stage, would I still be here letting you hunt me down?"

"That's not necessarily true!" Xu Huo shone the light directly onto his face. "You're the only one who has passed two stages. With the third stage right in front of you, would you really be willing to leave?"

Dazzled by the flashlight beam, Fan Shiji retracted the steel wire and jumped down. His gaze shifted between Li Weiran and Xu Huo, then he feigned a sudden realization: "Now I know who the player who cleared the stage really is!"