As Ke Xun had said, the items in the box were indeed strange and varied.
Everyone crowded around and saw a calligraphy brush, a fishing rod, a small copper basin, a red fruit of some unknown plant, a scholar's cap (like those worn by ancient scholars), a sword, two longan seeds, a round red stone, what appeared to be a cat's whisker, a pair of cat-ear headdresses, a pair of rabbit-ear headdresses, a pair of deer-antler headdresses, and a set of clothes.
Everyone was somewhat bewildered, but Qi Qiang was quick, snatching the sword first.
The sword was incredibly sharp; as Qi Qiang pulled it from the box, the tip grazed the woman's arm, leaving a gash in her clothing despite being only half an inch away.
Possessing such a sharp weapon at least provided a sense of security.
The woman with her hair up belatedly screamed, clutching her arm and glaring angrily at Qi Qiang: "Are you crazy?! You almost scratched me, you know?! Are you blind?! What are you grabbing—ah!"
Before she could finish her string of words, Qi Qiang slapped her hard across the face, causing her to stumble and fall to the ground in a sorry state.
"What are you doing!" Her three companions, who had entered the painting with her, shouted at Qi Qiang in unison, both shocked and furious.
Qi Qiang gave them a sinister look and pointed his sword at them: "I can do whatever I want, who's going to object?"
Seeing that they were about to say something more, Ke Xun suddenly slapped the box, startling everyone.
"Don't waste time," Ke Xun said calmly, glancing at the small group. "Anyone in this painting can kill, and anyone can be killed. I advise you to think before you act. Even if you don't believe what Brother Qin told you before, it wouldn't hurt to think things through, especially before you understand the current situation. Don't you agree?"
Seeing that they were considering his words, Ke Xun looked at Qi Qiang, a half-smile playing on his lips. "Brother Qiang, we've been through more paintings than you, and we have some experience to share—in this painting…" "It's true you can kill your companions at will, but without exception, none of those who kill their companions manage to escape the painting, and their deaths are far more gruesome than anyone else's. You can choose not to believe it, and you can try it yourself, but brother, I still want to remind you: you only have one life. Once you try it, there won't be a second time. It's always better to be cautious, don't you think?"
Qi Qiang had sparred with this kid in the previous painting, and he knew that this kid's fists were definitely not as harmless as his handsome face, especially since he had suffered a loss in the fight.
Plus, there was that cold-faced kid standing next to him, whose strength was impossible to gauge.
Qi Qiang snorted coldly, carefully lowered his sword to his side, and walked to the side, looking at everyone with a gloomy face.
"Hurry up and choose your props, let's make the most of the time." Ke Xun said, reaching for the red round stone, but Wei Dong shoved him away.
"Those bland things don't suit you," Wei Dong picked out the pair of rabbit ear headbands and put them on Ke Xun's head, then whistled, "Bunny boy, tell me, isn't that censored?" He gestured towards Mu Yiran with his chin.
"…I'm a corgi, not a rabbit." Ke Xun took off the headbands and threw them back into the box, then turned to Mu Yiran, "Yiran, you pick one for me."
In the past, the boss would have given him a cold look and turned away without a second thought. Now, the boss lowered his head, looked around the box, bent down, and stretched out his long arms and fingers to pick out an item for him.
It feels so good to have a boyfriend, Ke Xun thought.
Then his boyfriend put a pair of cat ear headbands on him.
Ke Xun: "…"
Wei Dong: So the boss likes sexy, aloof little kitten aunties.
While Wei Dong was still reeling from the dog food (a metaphor for being bombarded with displays of affection), the props in the box had already been mostly taken. Qin Ci had chosen a fishing rod, Zhu Haowen had picked up a rather inconspicuous cat whisker, Luo Wei had chosen a red round stone, and he also took the exquisitely crafted small copper basin for his girlfriend, Li Yaqing.
Surprisingly, Huang Pi, who was clearly a gangster and several levels "darker" than Qi Qiang, actually chose the ancient scholar's cap, a choice that clashed drastically with his personal style.
The four newcomers, two men and two women, each chose two longan seeds, a rabbit ear headdress, a dragon horn headdress, and the set of clothes.
In the end, only a calligraphy brush and some unknown plant fruit remained in the box. Wei Dong looked at Mu Yiran: "Boss, which one do you want?"
Mu Yiran bent down and picked up the plant fruit, leaving the calligraphy brush for Wei Dong.
The box was emptied, revealing the words written on the bottom: "Please wear/donate/use your own props; no exchanges allowed.
" "What a nutcase..." the woman with her hair up muttered angrily, glancing at the rabbit ear headdress in her hand. Finding it quite cute, she didn't say anything more and put it on.
The others either put the props they didn't need on their bodies in their pockets or held them in their hands. It was noteworthy that after entering the painting, everyone's clothes remained unchanged; they looked the same inside as outside the painting.
Except for the newcomer who had chosen his clothes and props. After much hesitation, he decided to change into the outfit: a red and white striped T-shirt, black flared pants, and a wide yellow belt. It fit him perfectly, but it also looked rather comical.
Ke Xun's attention was entirely focused on the plant fruit in Mu Yiran's hand. Of the thirteen props, this seemed to be the only one that needed to be consumed. "What should we do? Do we really have to eat it?"
Mu Yiran lowered his eyes and pondered for a moment, then hummed in agreement and put the fruit into his mouth without further hesitation.
Ke Xun thought about it and didn't stop him. Since it was a rule given by the painting, there was no other way but to follow it.
Watching Mu Yiran eat the fruit, Ke Xun quickly asked with concern, "How do you feel?"
Mu Yiran's brows twitched slightly, and he lowered his voice a little, "There's nothing unusual in my body for now, but my ear felt a little numb, like I'd been electrocuted."
Ke Xun was startled and quickly raised his hand to support Mu Yiran's cheek, turning his head to the side. "Let me see!" He carefully looked into his ear canal and saw that it was clean and there was no abnormality.
Mu Yiran turned his head slightly to look at Ke Xun, who was standing close by. Ke Xun's hair was messy yet stylish, the fluffy strands moving around his eyes. The two cat-ear headbands he had personally placed on either side of his head now seemed like real, living ears growing from a cat's body, rotating back and forth, occasionally twitching at the tips!
"Ke Xun!" Mu Yiran frowned and reached out to pull at the cat ears.
Ke Xun hissed, making a face as if he'd been hurt, then exclaimed in surprise, "Holy crap!"
He quickly raised his hand to touch them, but to his surprise, it felt as if he were touching his own ears. Not only did his hand feel the texture, but the cat ears also gave him the physical sensation of being touched.
In other words, the cat ears seemed to have grown out of his body, seamlessly integrated into his physique!
Several veteran members stared at him in shock, noticing that his two pointed cat ears were standing erect with extreme alertness…
"Holy crap!" Wei Dong stammered, staring wide-eyed at Ke Xun, "Are you going to turn into a cat?!"
Qin Ci asked with concern, "Do you feel anything wrong with your body?"
"Not yet…" Ke Xun's pupils suddenly dilated as he spoke, and he quickly turned around, sticking his butt out and asking Mu Yiran, "Quick, help me check, it doesn't have a tail, does it?"
Everyone: "…"
"No." Mu Yiran pursed his lips.
"Where are the whiskers?" Ke Xun turned around again, pouting at Mu Yiran.
"…" Mu Yiran looked at him, took half a step forward, and stood close to him. "No."
Ke Xun thought: Why does his voice seem to carry a dangerous aura?
Wei Dong thought: If you do anything reckless again, believe me, he'll pin you to the ground right now!
Qin Ci thought: Maybe Haowen is the one with the cat whiskers. He picked cat whiskers, let me observe.
Zhu Haowen thought: Quite cute.
Suddenly, several newlyweds nearby gasped in surprise. It turned out that the woman with her hair up in a bun and another woman who had chosen the dragon horn headdress, like Ke Xun, had their headdresses become part of their bodies. The woman with the updo was desperately tugging at the rabbit ears on her head, but each pull only hurt herself.
"What's going on? What's happening?" The woman with the updo finally panicked, staggering over and grabbing Qin Ci's arm, staring intently at him.
"As you can see," Qin Ci said in a deep voice, "it's just as I told you at the beginning, this is a world within a painting."
With a "bang," the box suddenly slammed shut. Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw a new line of text on the lid: Choices determine destiny.
"...Anything that rises to the level of destiny is never a good thing..." Wei Dong said.
"Let's take it one step at a time," Qin Ci said, when suddenly a cracking sound came from the circular wall of the enclosed room. In the blink of an eye, at each location where the sound originated, a circular crack appeared, resembling a sliding door that narrowed to both sides. Six circular doors opened at different points along this wall.
The newcomers finally realized the vast difference between their current situation and the real world. They screamed, shouted, or huddled trembling beside the older members, fearing that something terrifying might emerge from behind the doors.
Once all the doors had opened and stopped moving, the older members stepped forward, examining the world beyond each of the six doors.
The bizarre style of the strange paintings was finally beginning to emerge; each circular door seemed to lead to a different world.
Unlike all the paintings they had encountered before, which each depicted a single world, this bizarre and unconventional painting presented six worlds. Which world was the correct one to escape from?
Choice determines fate.
"W-what do we do?" The newcomers looked pleadingly at the veterans.
"It seems the rules of this painting are related to choices," Zhu Haowen said. "Whether it was the choices everyone made with the props earlier, or the choices we have to make with these six worlds now, the wrong choice could mean death."
Wei Dong sighed, "This is six times harder than before. Before, we only needed to find clues in one world; now we have to find clues in six. We only have seven days; it's too stressful."
"Does this mean the Six Doors are suggesting we split into groups?" Qin Ci glanced at the bewildered newcomers and sighed softly. "Well then, let's get to know each other first."