Chapter 224: The Tongueless Player

Words : 1378 Updated : Oct 4th, 2025

Chapter 224: Chapter 224: The Tongueless PlayerXu Huo turned his head to look at Pan Siming, but Pan Siming just smiled at him and started scrutinizing the portrait painting they had seen earlier. "Is there something wrong with that painting?" Fan Shiji hesitated, "Did we miss something?" "I didn’t notice anything." Xu Huo said, "There are so many paintings here, even if there were fakes, they wouldn’t be placed right at the entrance, would they?" "You make a good point." Fan Shiji nodded and, after a pause, added, "We might be faster if we split up." As he spoke, he stealthily made a hand gesture indicating that he would check on the others’ progress. Xu Huo didn’t stop him. He leisurely lit a cigarette and started looking at the paintings one by one. "Got an extra one? Give me a cigarette," the woman in the leather jacket who had left earlier approached him. Xu Huo passed her the pack and offered to light her cigarette for her, but the woman in the leather jacket just took one and waved her hand, "I have a lighter. Thanks." After getting her cigarette, she left. Xu Huo continued examining the paintings. The overall situation was much like what the man with the headscarf had said; there were eighty-two paintings, of which sixty-one had content, but they varied in type—there were oil paintings, sketches, and even several photographs. The subjects of the paintings were also diverse, including portraits, group photos, objects, and landscapes. Moreover, the styles of the paintings varied greatly, some lacking color, highlighting oppression in black and white, while others were done in heavy, vibrant, and glaring colors. In short, these sixty-one paintings manifested eeriness in various forms, and each one had an electronic timer counting down from anything between five hundred to two hundred hours. There were also twenty-one empty frames containing white paper scattered across different pillars. Unlike the frames with paintings, these blank ones didn’t have electronic timers underneath. After wandering around for more than two hours without any findings, the players gradually gathered under a solitary statue of a person that was placed in the middle of the art gallery. "What’s the meaning of these countdowns?" Ni Tian rubbed her eyes and said, "I’m about to go cross-eyed and still can’t tell which ones are counterfeit." "I also took down a few paintings to try, but it didn’t trigger any game hints." Xie Man said. The other players had seemingly also taken down paintings, to no avail. "I think we might have misunderstood the direction." Deng Yu said, "The counterfeit mentioned by the game might be different from what we understand as counterfeit. Look, among these items, there are also several black and white group photographs. They can’t be called paintings, right?" "I took down one of the photographs earlier, no reaction." Pan Siming frowned, "This means at least the category of photographs isn’t counterfeit." "Your meaning is, among all the paintings, it might be that only a few with common features are the fakes?" The woman in the leather jacket took over the conversation, her hoop earrings swinging below her earlobe as she turned her head, "That’s impossible." "If that were the case, the game would be too simple. All the painting styles here stand out, and it would be easy to sort them into categories. Once one person finds a fake, wouldn’t they all come out in a line?" "But we haven’t found any counterfeit yet." Fan Shiji cautiously said, "We haven’t found a single one, isn’t it a bit early to be discussing the characteristics of a counterfeit?" "Pretending to be clever." The sullen man sneered, it was unclear who he was talking about. "Then do you have any clues?" Xie Man fixed her gaze on him, "Everyone else speaks up and you act all elusive. If you’re so capable, show some real skill." But the sullen man simply replied coldly, "You don’t have to provoke me. I do have some thoughts, and I can share them with you." "Speak up!" Deng Yu urged. The gloomy man tapped on an electronic timer nearby, "Don’t you all think this timer is very strange?" "It’s a countdown, but why would there be a countdown for the exhibits in the art gallery?" "The remaining time for the exhibit display?" Ni Tian suggested. Searᴄh the Nôvelƒire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Seeing her speak, the gloomy man pulled a face, "If you want to listen then don’t interrupt." Ni Tian’s face turned red, and she immediately pursed her lips shut. "Stop being mysterious and just tell us," Pan Siming said. "Since the paintings we touched just now are not the ones required by the task, and the fake paintings are indeed among them, plus this countdown, it likely means that the fake paintings can only be identified or selected during a specific time," the gloomy man explained. "What time would that be?" A soft voice sounded, and everyone turned to see it was the girl in the maid costume speaking. As she met everyone’s gaze, she shyly smiled and cautiously touched the back of the complaining man’s hand before saying, "Lu Gang can’t speak, but don’t be frightened by his appearance; he is a very good person." The much taller Lu Gang rolled his eyes upon hearing this, his triangular eyes glancing to the side. The girl reflexively trembled slightly, then forced a smile and said, "My name is You Huanhuan, I’m a white player, and the Hundred People Art Gallery is the first copy I’ve done." Xie Man and others nearby had a slight change in expression, but they didn’t say much. The gloomy man, on the other hand, was blunt, "I’ve met quite a few women in the game who pretend to be weak. They seem harmless, but in reality, their hearts are darker than anyone else’s!" You Huanhuan’s eyes reddened, and she instinctively clutched at Lu Gang’s sleeve, but the next second, she was thrown to the ground by him. Lu Gang’s eyes turned bloodshot, and with one hand, he grabbed her by the throat and lifted her up. Kicking with both legs, You Huanhuan’s eyes began to roll back, and it wasn’t until she almost lost the strength in her limbs that Xie Man and the leather jacket woman intervened to stop Lu Gang. Both held You Huanhuan while Pan Siming and others tried to pull Lu Gang away. Unexpectedly, Lu Gang was very agitated, shoving the others away before yelling at them in a muffled and indistinct voice. "He has no tongue!" Fan Shiji exclaimed in shock. All the players present were startled and stepped back, but after yelling a few times, Lu Gang charged to one side and started smashing against the wall of the art gallery! "I haven’t seen such abnormal behavior in a player before," Xu Huo observed, watching his retreating figure. On the other side, You Huanhuan caught her breath with Xie Man’s help, coughing while she said, "Actually, you can’t blame him. It seems like his tongue was cut out in a previous copy; he wasn’t very normal when I met him." "Then why do you still follow him?" the leather jacket woman asked, pointing to the finger marks on her neck, "Aren’t you afraid he might go crazy and kill you?" But You Huanhuan shook her head, "Because he saved me, and though he can be a bit rough, he wouldn’t truly hurt me." The players present exchanged subtly knowing glances. Meanwhile, Lu Gang, having vented his anger, returned and sat down next to You Huanhuan, staring intently at the gloomy man. The gloomy man narrowed his eyes, speaking coolly, "The specific time is just my guess, which I can’t be sure of. If you’re willing, you can try again in a while." "The game warning said not to wander around after the lights are out," the man with the headscarf commented, looking around, "Is it safe to come out?" "This may be the key to the game," Pan Siming pondered, then said, "Right or wrong, we have to try." "However, nighttime is a dangerous time in any copy, so it’s best to stick together."

Chapter 224: The Tongueless Player

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