After a long while, a dull voice came from behind, "Tell me." He paused, then continued, "How did you see through it?"

Without answering, Jiang Cheng picked up the fallen paintbrush and stabbed it fiercely towards Lin Chen.

The paintbrush, which was not sharp at all, easily pierced Lin Chen's chest.

Lin Chen's eyes were filled with disbelief as gushes of blood poured out, splattering all over Jiang Cheng's face.

But Jiang Cheng smiled.

"So it really is like this."

The bright red blood had no fishy smell. Jiang Cheng licked the blood dripping from his lips, a strange astringency spreading in his mouth.

Paint.

It was the taste of paint.

Not blood...

This was a painting.

And they... were all inside this painting.

Now that he had been exposed, Lin Chen's expression gradually calmed down, then slowly melted into a puddle of colorful paint with a pungent smell.

Jiang Cheng moved his shoes to prevent the paint from sticking to him.

"I'm asking you a question." Wu's voice fluctuated for the first time. "How did you see that this is inside a painting?"

The situation was gradually reversing. Facing the man in black, Wu, Jiang Cheng also gradually gained confidence. "I didn't die," he said, looking at Wu behind him.

"According to your abilities, you could have killed me the moment I rushed towards Lin Chen," Jiang Cheng said, looking at him. "But you didn't."

"If Lin Chen were real, then you would never allow this to happen. You and I both know what would happen to Lin Chen after seeing this painting."

Looking at Jiang Cheng, another emotion gradually welled up in Wu's eyes. "Continue," he said. "I know there's more to it than that."

Few people could give Jiang Cheng the feeling of meeting a worthy opponent. Chen Ran was one, and that woman named Li Lu was also quite tricky, as well as that middle-aged man beside Xia Meng.

But their strengths were more in terms of schemes and tactics, while the guy in front of him gave him a completely different sense of threat.

In his eyes, Jiang Cheng couldn't even find anything to make him afraid.

He decided to not provoke him for the time being, so he returned to the point: "But you deliberately let me run to Lin Chen's side, so I knew this was a trap, as for this being a world within a painting..."

He paused, then pointed to a corner about 3 or 4 meters away from where he was standing, near the sofa.

It was empty.

But Wu nodded, apparently understanding Jiang Cheng's meaning. "It's that mirror."

"Right." Jiang Cheng slowly retreated while continuing to explain: "I've seen Lin Chen's paintings before. The last one was of this room."

"It's exactly the same as in the painting, except... that mirror is missing." Jiang Cheng narrowed his eyes. "I remember someone noticed that mirror in the painting, and that mirror reflected the real you."

"The evil, dark side of you."

"Because you were worried that this scheme would be exposed, you erased the existence of that mirror." Jiang Cheng walked to the easel, took a deep breath, and said, "It's not that you're stupid, it's just that I'm smarter."

Before the words could fade, Jiang Cheng slammed headfirst into the easel.

Then, the light and shadows in front of him shifted. He staggered a few steps, then his feet felt solid and he steadied himself.

When he opened his eyes again, he was still in room 808, but the strange feeling that had been lingering in his heart was gone.

The gray filter that had been covering the room had also been removed.

This, in a sense, was reality.

Just as Jiang Cheng breathed a sigh of relief, preparing to immediately look for the real Lin Chen, a low voice sounded behind him, "Well done."

The moment he heard this voice, Jiang Cheng's body stiffened.

Wu sat on the old cloth sofa behind him, leaning lazily against the back of the sofa, silently watching the man in front of him who thought he had escaped death.

A flash of light passed through his eyes, as if he was expecting him to bring more surprises.

"Why?" Jiang Cheng stood still, not turning his head. "Why are you here?"

The previous painting was also from Lin Chen's hand, but Wu was different from him. He was originally a ghost in the painting. Even if he could escape from that painting, he shouldn't have been able to do so this quickly.

Putting all the previous events together, it seemed like this guy had been waiting here all along.

Everything he had done was within the other party's calculations.

He had calculated that he would see through the deception, and he had also calculated that he would leave the painting frame, so what were the next steps...?

Before Jiang Cheng could react, the other party's speed meant that his body wouldn't have any time to react.

0. 01 seconds.

Or even less. As soon as Jiang Cheng turned around, he was pushed back by a tremendous force, then slammed heavily into the wall behind him.

A mouthful of blood spurted out, seemingly mixed with some viscous, cyan-colored minced meat, which looked like shattered internal organs.

Wu, representing the aspect of despair, let go and slowly retreated.

Slowly lowering his head, blood dripped from the corner of Jiang Cheng's mouth, dripping onto the ground, in his already reddened vision, a knife was buried in his chest.

The terrifying force directly pierced through his body, pinning him to the wall behind him.

"Originally, you didn't have to suffer like this." Looking at Jiang Cheng, a hint of impatience vaguely appeared in Wu's eyes.

"In the painting, everything would become simple. In that process, you wouldn't have too much pain," Wu said indifferently. "You made things complicated."

"This is all your fault, so next..." Wu paused for a second, then raised his head. "You have to learn to pay the price for your actions."

Wu's eyes became increasingly scarlet, that scarlet color was like a towering wave rising in a sea of blood, reflected in Jiang Cheng's eyes, he seemed to see countless people struggling for survival in the sea of blood, and even more, floating and sinking limbs.

An unprecedented sound rang in his ears, like some kind of horn, but only like it. Jiang Cheng suddenly had a sense of the vicissitudes of time.

He saw a huge book appear behind Wu.

No.

It wasn't just a book!

It was... a door.

A door cast in bronze.

The immense pressure pinned Jiang Cheng to the wall, unable to move, his limbs trembling uncontrollably. The pressure this door brought him was even more terrifying than the knife stuck in his chest.

From two meters away, Wu slowly reached out towards Jiang Cheng's chest, but the next second, Jiang Cheng actually felt a hand pierce into his body.

Inch by inch.

The intense pain was like tearing his body apart, but the other party's purpose was clearly not just to kill him, but more like... searching for something.

"Leave the door in your body to me for safekeeping." Wu's voice seemed to have a strange power, and Jiang Cheng's consciousness began to collapse.

Fragments of images began to flash in his mind.

The edges of each fragment were blackened.

As if stained with blood and fire.