Trembling At A High Altitude

However, that method was very difficult for him, and it was impossible to complete in just a few days.

Even half a month, or a month's time, would not suffice.

Unless he found a better way.

Apart from those newspaper articles and photographs, there were also a few other things inside the glass jar.

One of them was a map, marking the secret entrance to the recovery center's basement.

Another was a note stating that one must enter the secret entrance between midnight and one in the morning to uncover the truth.

From previous intelligence, Li Teng had learned that the basement was where Director Hu used Zombie Puppets to repair his own spiritual damage to free himself from the control of the model's Fierce Ghost.

The other pieces of paper contained content that overlapped with the information from the previous articles and photographs, only transcribed by hand or hand-drawn. From certain phrases mentioned in the text, it seemed likely that these papers were left by the two policemen, and for some reason, they ended up in the hands of this boss.

These two policemen had discovered the secret of the basement, but they soon met with misfortune, their mental states deteriorated, and they were unable to bring the secret out. They only left behind these sheets of paper, giving Li Teng the chance to enter the basement of the recovery center through the secret entrance.

But before he could enter the basement, Li Teng had to find a quick way to kill Director Hu.

The first thing he needed to do was to verify if his earlier idea was correct.

Then, he would find a way to shorten the time needed to successfully implement this idea.

In Li Teng's view, the method to kill Director Hu must be related to the identity of this painter.

All of this started from when they had just entered the Scripted World.

Under Li Teng's arrangement, other female actors went to various parts of the yacht and found many newspapers.

There were black and white photographs of the island, pictures of gloomy clouds over the sea and turbulent waves, photographs of the psychiatric hospital, terrifying pictures of toothy monsters emerging from the sand on the beach.

And a photograph of a yacht flipped upside down on the sea surface.

Before Li Teng got these photographs, the sea had been calm.

However, after he received the photographs and showed them to everyone, the calm sea suddenly became windy and overcast.

Moreover, before Li Teng got these photographs, there was only the sea around, but after he showed them to everyone, an island appeared on the sea surface.

It included the scene of the yacht flipped upside down on the water and the terrifying monsters that emerged from the sand on the beach.

It seemed they all appeared for the same reason.

Could it be that all these things were related to the 'photographs' in these newspapers?

The most crucial factor here, as one might imagine, was these 'photographs'.

But were they really 'photographs'?

Inertia in thinking is the bane of intelligence-solving and limits divergent thinking, preventing one from stepping out of established frameworks to observe the whole situation from a higher dimension.

Now, Li Teng needed to break out of the conventional framework to possibly see through the entire puzzle.

If, if they were not photographs?

If, if these so-called newspapers were not newspapers and the photographs within them were not photographs, but all were paintings made by this artist?

Painting newspapers, one by one, seemed like an unthinkable act, but the unthinkable does not mean it could never happen.

To some obsessive painters, it wouldn't be strange to paint anything at all.

And the paintings of this artist would truly materialize as soon as the wronged souls saw them.

It seemed as if all the mysteries had been solved all at once.

The sea surface was calm, but when the wronged souls saw giant waves, the waves would appear.

There was no island in the sea originally, but when the wronged souls saw an island, an island would appear.

There was no monster on the beach, but when the wronged souls saw a monster, a monster would appear.

Further reasoning.

Since this so-called island wasn't a real island but one imagined by the wronged souls, then the psychiatric hospital on the island, as well as the female model fierce ghost, and even Director Hu, were actually all born from the imaginations of these wronged souls!

This entire Scripted World did not truly exist.

It was drawn by the painter and then materialized by the seven wronged souls!

The logic seems abstruse, but in fact, it functions on the same principle as 'a brain in a vat.'

You think you're living in the real world, but everything you feel, smell, taste, and touch might not actually exist; they could merely be electronic signals fed to you.

The ultimate form of a VR experience.

Returning to this script, whether it's the enormous waves, the monsters, the island, or even the psychiatric hospital, they actually did not exist and were just products of the painter's brush, materialized by the wronged souls.

The reality might be even more brutal than imagined.

These wronged souls weren't able to escape the basement where they perished; they had simply constructed this world with the remaining fragments of their Soul Power in their dying moments, or after their deaths.

So they could seek their revenge in this world.

Just like a sandbox world in a game, the texture of this island world was provided by the painter, but the construction of this island world was completed by the other wronged souls.

Therefore, the method used to kill Director Hu also became clear.

It was for the artist to construct the weapon, Array, or some other effective facility to kill Director Hu, then have the wronged souls work together to materialize these things!

But to achieve all this, the prerequisite was that Li Teng had to draw these things out first.

Moreover, he needed to confirm whether these so-called 'newspapers' and 'photos' were really newspapers and photos, or if they might actually have been drawn by the artist.

Li Teng asked Elsa to bring in the four college girls.

"One of you studies painting, right? Which one of you is it?" Li Teng asked the four female college students.

"Senior, it's me." Liu Shina raised her hand.

When Li Teng looked at her, she couldn't help but blush.

"How long have you been studying painting?" Li Teng continued to ask.

"My mother is a painter; I've been learning to paint with her since I was little. During elementary, middle, and high school, I would paint whenever I had free time, and I've been painting all through college." Liu Shina answered Li Teng.

"You've studied the materials like paints and canvases used in painting, right?" Li Teng kept on asking.

"Of course, those are the basics of painting," Liu Shina nodded.

"Okay, sit down and take a close look at this 'newspaper.' Tell me if it's a real newspaper or if it's painted." Li Teng brought out a section of the 'newspaper.'

Liu Shina found Li Teng's question somewhat strange, but she still sat down and started examining the 'newspaper' closely.

A little while later, Liu Shina's face showed a look of great shock.