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Chapter 45: Back to 1997

Translated by Eve

Edited by EB

The Rhino and Elephant Art Gallery was a privately-run art gallery situated in B City’s downtown core.

Compared to its art, the Rhino and Elephant Art Gallery was better known for its restaurant. This restaurant was extremely popular online in B City. Since the decor was really artsy, people would often come to take pictures and eat at the restaurant.

“We should at least eat a good meal at the famous Rhino and Elephant Art Gallery restaurant and take a picture before we die.” Wei Dong grumbled just before three long-legged beauties caught his gaze.

Ke Xun and Wei Dong were currently heading up the steps that led to the gallery’s lobby. Three long-legged beauties were a few steps ahead of them, their bodies swaying as they climbed up the steps.

“Are you still not full?” Ke Xun rubbed his bloated stomach. “I still don’t get how you were able to fit three youtiao, two sweet pancakes, four tea eggs and three bowls of jellied tofu in your stomach.”

“My grandma once said that we should eat our fill before going on our way.” Wei Dong whistled quietly, only loud enough to be picked up by himself. He followed after the beauties and flashed his best friend a smile. “The dude who stole the egg yolk from one of my tea eggs—hurry up!”

Ke Xun trailed after him at a lazy pace. They had eaten a lot for breakfast because they didn’t know what would await them in the next painting. Maybe they won’t be given anything to eat,or maybe they would be given food that’s not fit for human consumption.

Wei Dong belched. For once, he seemed kind of excited. “Look at those three girls. They have to be dancers or models. As expected from B City. The pretty girls of this city are next level.”

Ke Xun stared at him expressionlessly. “You’re disgusting.”

Wei Dong deliberately made a vulgar expression. However, there was sorrow hidden deep inside his smile.

Time had passed very quickly. It was nearly time for them to enter their third painting.

The two of them entered the gallery with their tickets. Wei Dong had already found the fifth exhibition hall on the floor above them from the lobby on the first floor. His steps became hesitant. Ke Xun didn’t move quickly either.

“You’re going to end up becoming the boss’ welcome party at this…” Wei Dong had yet to finish his sentence when he noticed that Ke Xun’s gaze had turned cold.

Wei Dong followed his gaze. “Isn’t that Sha Liu? who are the two short girls next to her?”

Sha Liu quickly noticed them too. A complicated light flashed through her eyes but her expression quickly morphed into a smile as she greeted them. “You’re here.”

Ke Xun’s expression was ugly. “You brought people you know?”

Sha Liu hesitated before shaking her head. “No, we met up by accident. It’s a coincidence!”

The two short girls smiled at Sha Liu and said to her, “Thanks for introducing this place to us. We’ll be heading up first if that’s all right?”

Sha Liu nodded and bid them farewell.

Even Wei Dong realized what was happening. He thought that this woman was quite the schemer. She was already looking for comrades to enter the painting with.

“The two of them aren’t together?” Ke Xun asked suddenly.

Sha Liu stared at him blankly for a moment before calmly pushing her glasses up. “How would I know? They asked me for directions and said that they had come here specifically to see the painter, Luo Bing’s, works.”

She showed Ke Xun and Wei Dong the gallery’s pamphlet. “Luo Bing’s works take up two whole exhibition halls on the second floor.”

“Doesn’t that mean that there will be a lot of people in the fifth exhibition hall?” Wei Dong looked up at the large crowd that was heading into the fifth exhibition hall. “I can imagine what a headache this must be for the mastermind in-charge of choosing people to go into paintings. So many choices, how do you choose?”

“It’s like trying to sift sand for gold.” Ke Xun knelt down to tie his shoelaces. Although he knew that he would be forced into a different outfit upon entering the painting, tying his laces tightly was a habit he had acquired after many years.

Meanwhile, Sha Liu felt like it was ‘disrespectful’ to discuss the mastermind so openly. Therefore, she refrained from participating in the conversation. Instead, she started walking towards the ladder and said, “Let’s head there quickly.”

Ke Xun and Wei Dong waited until Sha Liu pulled some distance between them before they started to head up themselves. Wei Dong couldn’t help but ask, “Coil, how did you know that the two girls weren’t together?”

“What the hell is ‘Coil?’”

“An abbreviation of Conan Doyle’s name. Ke er, from now on, you’ll be Coil.”

Ke Xun, who had now become ‘Coil’ explained his analysis to Wei Dong. “Sha Liu chose girls that look feeble and short. They seem quite sheltered too. Compared to Sha Liu, they’re obviously disadvantaged. It looks like Sha Liu’s plan isn’t to find capable teammates, but to find weak people.”

“Why?” Before Ke Xun could answer, Wei Dong answered his own question. “She wants scapegoats?”

“Basically, yeah. And it’s best if the scapegoats are alone. Otherwise, it would be very easy for the two of them to turn against her.”

“Oh~” Wei Dong got it. “Intelligent women are frightening.”

Ke Xun’s gaze shifted to Wei Dong’s backpack. “I forgot to ask you while we were on the train but what’s in that giant bag of yours?”

“This time, I brought all-natural fruits and other things like crackers and bread. This time, even if the black-bellied painting instigator tries to revert my food to their primitive forms, I can still eat them.” Wei Dong had nicknamed the mastermind behind the paintings ‘painting instigator’. “The rest of it is tissue paper.”

Ke Xun had also brought three giant rolls of toilet paper. The last painting had been terrible. Everybody had used leaves and dirt to do their business. His chrysanthemum had nearly turned into a peony from all that rubbing….

The two of them reached the second floor and saw that the entrance to the fifth exhibition hall was being pushed open. A group of smiling students who had come to see the art walked out of the hall. Ke Xun and Wei Dong were stunned. They exchanged glances, both thinking, ‘What the fuck? Was the curse finally over?’

The two of them reached the large wooden door leading into the fifth exhibition hall and looked around. No one else was trying to get into the exhibition hall at this moment.

They grit their teeth and then pushed the door open. As soon as they entered, all the light in the hall disappeared. A familiar darkness welcomed them.

The door behind them closed on its own. They could not open it any longer.

There was no way of escaping their fate. The painting instigator was just waiting for the appropriate people to arrive.

Ke Xun wanted to look at the painting that was hanging on the wall through the darkness, but a sudden blinding light exploded before him. All he could do was try his best to focus on the painting before him that was spinning around like it was stuck in a vortex. He examined it unblinkingly but all he could make out was a fuzzy depiction of daily life in some district. There was an old wooden window, an old-fashion fan, and a child who was smiling brilliantly while skipping rope….

The moment his feet landed on solid ground, the scene around him had already changed. He was now on a lively street. The road was a crude, old-fashioned asphalt road and there were antiquated cars driving around in every direction. Street vendors lined the streets and it looked like a nearby elementary school had just let out. A group of children wearing red scarves were surrounding the street vendors with interest as they bought snacks and toys….

“This…have we gone into the painting yet?” Wei Dong looked all around them. No matter how he thought about it, it still felt like the style of this painting was entirely different from the style of the last two. “Do you think this is actually an old street in B City?”

Ke Xun observed their surroundings carefully for a moment. “Do you think schools nowadays would let elementary students go home without a guardian?”

Wei Dong looked at the thin eyebrows on two fashionable young women as they walked down the street. They were wearing tall platform shoes on their feet. The street didn’t feel like it belonged to the modern era.

Ke Xun felt like something was in the pocket of his sweats. He pulled it out. It was a pamphlet. The paper seemed very old. Printed on it was an advertisement that said ‘cheap rentals at Spring Bamboo Apartments available.’

Wei Dong discovered that he had the same flyer in the pocket of his jean jacket. It looked like their destination was the Spring Bamboo Apartments.

“Hey kids, do you know where the Spring Bamboo Apartments are?” Wei Dong smiled at two elementary school students nearby who were buying Saint Seiya trading cards.

One of the students replied very politely. “It’s just around that corner, on Spring Bamboo Street.”

The other student added: “The Spring Bamboo Apartments have already been torn down. My dad says that they’re going to build a big art gallery there!”

Ke Xun looked at the date printed on the flyer. He asked, “Uncle’s going to test your memory. Who can tell me what today’s date is?”

Children in the past were not as guarded as they are in the present. In order to prove that his memory was good, one student shouted quickly: “It’s June 12th today!”

The other student expanded on that. “Today’s date is June 12th, 1997!”

“Thanks!” Wei Dong pulled out two large pieces of bubblegum from his pocket. “This is your prize!”

The two children very politely declined. “Thank you Uncle, but our teacher said that we shouldn’t take things from strangers. Bye Uncles!”

The two children left.

Ke Xun shook out the pamphlet in his hand. He saw the date, June 12th, 1996, printed largely on the paper.

“When did you start keeping bubblegum on you?”

“The things I brought all turned into popular foods from the 80s. I also have popping candy, pickled plums and Bok Bok Sing. Want some?”

“……”

Slowly, the sun began to set. The two of them followed the children’s directions and took the turn up ahead. There, they found Spring Bamboo Street, which was a very narrow street. The stores on both sides of the road looked old but there were no signs of anything being torn down.

Wei Dong was puzzled. “This place looks like it’s a mountainous city. There’s a lot of slopes.”

Ke Xun stared at the stores that lit up one by one vigilantly. Quietly, he said, “No…it’s all downhill from here.”

Wei Dong had yet to figure out what Ke Xun was talking about when he noticed the weirdly-shaped building in front of them. It was a cylindrical building. Maybe it was because of the limited construction ability of this period, but it wasn’t very tall. There were only about six or seven floors.

Because it was already getting dark, they couldn’t make out everything. They could feel that there was something off about this cylindrical building though.

There was an eye-catching sign on the entrance of the cylindrical building—the Spring Bamboo Apartments.

They didn’t want to enter the building so they simply stood outside as they waited for the others.

In any case, they couldn’t enter even if they wanted to. They would only be able to go in once all thirteen people gathered.

One thing Ke Xun didn’t understand was why they didn’t appear directly inside the apartments. They even had to ask the people walking down the streets for directions here. Was the scope of the painting really big?

“It would have made more sense if we had appeared directly inside the Spring Bamboo Apartments.” Wei Dong had also thought of the same issue.

“Maybe it’s because we’re early.” Ke Xun gazed down the street calmly. Although the store lights were all turned on, the streets were mostly empty.

“That Sha Liu really is overly cautious. I thought that she had already entered the fifth exhibition hall. I didn’t expect that she had actually secretly snuck away to watch from the sidelines.” Wei Dong sneered.

The wind was rather chilly. Ke Xun shoved his hands into his pockets. “I find it strange. Even if we’re early, the painting could have transported us straight to the entrance of the apartments and we could wait there. Why bring us to a completely different road? The date on the flyer is wrong too. It’s already been a year since it came out.”

A familiar, tall silhouette slowly emerged in the distance beneath the hazy light. Ke Xun’s lips curled up, an unconscious smile gracing his lips.