The light, which appeared after everything plunged into darkness, shone on a painting that had a dark tone. It depicted a decaying human hand emerging from dry soil, twisted and ferocious. Its bone-exposed fingers reaching upward towards the murky sky above.
Even with just a hurried glance, everyone could sense the infinite sense of despair emanating from the entire painting.
As the light faded, the first thing everyone felt was a rush of heat. Not far ahead was a cluster of standalone residential buildings, scattered within a radius of around ten miles. Behind the residential area lay a dense and extensive forest.
It should have been a vibrant and lively place, but what everyone saw was an eerie silence.
All the houses were tightly shut with doors and windows closed. Every inch of the houses was covered in dust, and the window glass was obscured by accumulated dust, making the interiors appear dark when looking from the outside, as if they were entrances to hell.
Everyone observed in silence for a while until Luo Bu shivered and stammered, “I feel like there might be something not so good in this painting…”
“Has anyone seen the title and the artist of this painting?” Wu You also asked anxiously.
The veteran members already had an unspoken understanding. Usually, the ones responsible for examining the visuals were the artist Wei Dong, the sharp-eyed Ke Xun, the rational and objective Zhu Haowen. Those in charge of examining the textual annotations were the ones involved in textual work, Shao Ling and the meticulous Qin Ci, while Luo Bu could just look wherever he could, and Mu Yiran was responsible for overseeing the overall painting.
So after Wu You asked, Shao Ling and Qin Ci had already answered her:
“The title of the painting is ‘Restart’.”
“Artist is Abel.”
Wei Dong was puzzled, “A foreign painting?”
“Did the painting incident spread to other countries?” Wu You was nervous, “If so, how long will it take us to search for the clues, a scope of the entire world is too big…”
Mu Yiran shook his head slightly, “I have instructed my people and industry friends to keep an eye on developments in some foreign art galleries. So far, we have not found any signs of related incidents. It’s unclear if this painting is from the hands of a foreign painter. Even if it is, it may only be because the painting was exhibited in this art gallery that it gained the ability to create a world within the painting. In any case, this is not important for now. We should not be distracted now; the most important thing at the moment is to figure out how to exit the painting.”
“Yiran is right,” Ke Xun said, “Restart, the meaning of starting everything over. Let’s first look for clues from the title and the painting.”
Shao Ling looked at Mu Yiran, “Have you ever heard of this painting and its artist?”
Mu Yiran succinctly uttered two words: “Never heard.”
“It seems that the title and the image may not be related,” Zhu Haowen continued with Ke Xun’s topic, “A decaying hand struggling to reach the sky may seem like a desperate fight for survival.”
“But if the hand is decaying to that extent, the person should already be dead…” Luo Bu shivered.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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“Explain what’s Symbolism.” Ke Xun said.
“It means using symbolic and metaphorical techniques to create another world, expressing one’s own insights and philosophical thoughts on life, or understanding of the world,” Wei Dong said, “This painting style emphasizes subjectivity and personal traits. The ideas are implied and symbolic, which may not necessarily represent reality. Unlike Realism, it expresses one’s ideas and spiritual world through scenery imagined by oneself.”
“So the decaying hand in this painting may be just a symbol and metaphor from the artist. There may not be such a hand, right?” Ke Xun said.
Wei Dong nodded, “If this painting belongs to the Symbolism genre, it’s very likely. But if it belongs to the Realism genre, we’ll just have to hope for the best…”
“Do you think the hand reaching towards the sky in this painting titled ‘Restart’ might mean there’s a restart button in the sky?” Wu You tried to broaden her thinking.
Subconsciously, everyone looked up at the sky. The gray sky made it difficult to determine whether it was morning, afternoon, or evening.
Ke Xun took out his phone, and the time showed 7:20 AM, which did not match the time when they entered the painting.
He tried several other phone functions and found that the flashlight and camera were still functional, but communication tools and internet were as unusable as ever.
“So, should we first look for clues in the residential area, or wait until everyone is here?” Shao Ling asked for everyone’s opinion.
“Let’s wait for everyone,” Qin Ci said, “According to how it always goes, if not everyone is present, important clues will not be triggered. Even if we go looking now, we probably won’t find anything useful.”
“While we are waiting, let’s first think about the meaning of this painting and how should we search for the clues.” Ke Xun said as he took off his coat, “It’s already so hot early in the morning?”
“What season is depicted in this painting? It feels a bit like summer,” Wei Dong also began to take off his coat. He was the most heavily dressed, “I’m sweating inside.”
“It should be summer.” Ke Xun said, taking off both his down jacket and his sweater in one go, leaving only a T-shirt underneath. This guy tended to always feel warm. When at home, he practically only wore a T-shirt.
“We athletes are quite sensitive to temperatures. The season depicted in this painting should be midsummer,” Ke Xun said. “We’ve suddenly transitioned from deep winter to midsummer in one go. Our body temperatures haven’t adjusted yet, and it might get even hotter later.”
“It’s very strange,” Zhu Haowen said, unzipping his jacket. “Although in ‘Inn’, we could clearly feel the season and weather conditions at the time, the temperature in this painting feels especially noticeable, more realistic than any painting I’ve been in before. Have any of you experienced something similar in paintings you’ve entered before?” he asked Mu Yiran.
“No,” Mu Yiran pondered. “This could be related to the clues. Temperature or climate might be a challenge set by the ‘painting’ or an element for us to reference to decipher the challenge.”
“This weather feels a bit like the smoggy days in City B during summer,” Zhu Haowen looked up at the murky sky. “Hot, stuffy, and the air quality isn’t good either.”
“I feel like this is a painting with limited areas,” Qin Ci surveyed the surroundings. “Except for this residential area and the forest behind it, the other directions seem to be endless wilderness. Obviously, the signature won’t be in those directions. We probably need to enter the houses to search.”
Everyone looked at the dilapidated houses with darkened windows, a sense of foreboding rising in their hearts.
“Brother, I don’t want to go into those houses…” Luo Bu said with a bitter expression to Ke Xun.
“It’ll be even more dangerous outside at night,” Ke Xun lightly tapped his head. “If you’re really scared, just stick close to me.”
“Brother Xun, please carry me.” Wu You also said with a bitter expression.
“Sure, sure, sure,” Ke Xun said.
Just as they were talking, a glaring white light suddenly lit up behind them. The people who were facing the white light quickly raised their arm to shield their eyes. When the light disappeared, the first thing they heard was an astonished exclamation: “WTF! What’s this?!”
Lowering their arms to look, they saw two young men who had been “transported” in. Both of them were handsome and stylishly dressed. Despite the world outside being in deep winter, these two were dressed quite lightly, with one even exposing his bare ankles.
Obviously, they were the type who valued fashion over warmth.
The two men stared in astonishment at the people before them, looking around the surroundings in bewilderment. Everyone remained silent in tacit understanding, waiting for them to digest what was happening before asking the usual series of three questions. Qin Ci had even cleared his throat in preparation to begin the explanation.
“Is this… the world inside the painting?” one of them hesitantly asked.
Everyone: “…”
Qin Ci: “Yes.”
“Are you guys also sucked into the painting?” the man asked again.
Qin Ci: “…Yes.”
The man: “Then… how do we leave here?”
Qin Ci: “By finding the signature of the artist.”
The man: “Oh… um, could you guys show us around? We’re newbies and don’t know anything. Thanks!”
Everyone: “…”
Qin Ci: “…Sure, no problem.”
The man: “Thanks a lot! So, um, my name is Xiao Kai, and this is my… this is my friend, Tian Yang.”
Everyone: “…”
Qin Ci: “…Ahem, let me introduce. This is Fang Fei, and this is Wu You, He Tang, Shao Ling, Mu Yiran, Zhu Haowen, Luo Bu, Wei Dong…”
Ke Xun stood furthest away, and when Qin Ci turned to look for him, he noticed a strange expression on his face. Feeling somewhat curious, Qin Ci was hesitant about whether to introduce him. However, he saw Ke Xun take a few steps forward and then waved at one of the two newcomers. With a peculiar look and tone, he said: “Hey, long time no see.”
Everyone was surprised when they heard this, but Wei Dong’s expression was as complex as Ke Xun’s, and he said: “I didn’t expect to meet you again here.”
The man named Xiao Kai was also puzzled. Following Ke Xun’s gaze, he turned to his companion Tian Yang and asked, “Tian Yang, you know him?”
Tian Yang’s expressions had already changed a few times. He first looked surprised, then showed various complex emotions, and finally a slight embarrassment. He nodded and said, “Long time no see, Ke Xun.”
“What about me?” Wei Dong raised his voice.
Tian Yang awkwardly pursed his lips and added, “Wei Dong, you’re here too.”
“Yep,” Wei Dong replied with a nonchalant snort.
“What’s going on, Brother Dong,” Luo Bu quietly tugged at his sleeve, “Did you guys have some grudge before?”
“None of you kid’s business,” Wei Dong refused to say.
“This is Qin Ci, Dr. Qin,” Ke Xun took over Qin Ci’s interrupted words and said to Xiao Kai and Tian Yang, “We still need to wait for one more person. We’ll explain everything in detail when everyone is here.”
“Okay, got it,” Xiao Kai nodded quickly, while Tian Yang lowered his eyelids and remained silent.
The atmosphere seemed slightly stagnant due to the awkwardness between these three individuals. Nobody else spoke, and Ke Xun and Wei Dong didn’t even glance at Tian Yang again. Instead, they all looked into the distance.
Is that Ke Xun’s ex omo omo
Must be lol. This sounds fun
Oh wow
Thank you for your translation 💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚
What? Who’s that? The ex? Why are they so chill being suck in to the painting?🤔