Huh, this hair and eyes…
Annan keenly noticed Amos’s green and blue pupils that looked like a Persian cat.
Has Amos obtained part of Elle’s body at this level?
Annan immediately realized that the timeline of this dungeon instance was chaotic.
The timeline here should be after June and before November.
Annan still remembered that there were still many skeletons beside the stillborn submerged in the wine bottle in Amos’s basement. Most of these bones came from the “missing homeless man.”
—That should be the character that Jiu Er now played.
Unexpectedly, this theoretically simpler and less chaotic second-level nightmare was in the timeline a bit later than the third level.
But it still made sense.
The Level -1 nightmare that could be entered from the first layer was the ending already.
In terms of the timeline, Level -1 was of a later timeline. Before the dungeon challenger could enter the memory segment, Brother Sledgehammer would have ended the challenger’s life and gave a big GG [1].
Unfortunately, when Jiu Er entered the nightmare, she did not get this information.
Otherwise, she would immediately realize which character she was playing as.
[You have entered Gallery: Feast For The Hungry (Second Level).]
[Main mission: Act as the homeless man “Amis.”]
Immediately, small texts appeared below this line:
[Complete the portrait.]
[Meet the other three homeless men.]
[At least one person survived until dark.]
What does it mean?
Seeing the side mission of “At least one person survived until dark,” Jiu Er shivered.
She looked up subconsciously. Judging from the brilliance of daylight, it was about noon now.
Because of her identity as a homeless man, Jiu Er couldn’t determine whether the hunger in her resulted from not eating lunch or not eating several meals. Hence, she couldn’t determine the approximate time bucket.
Painter Amos in front of her, smiled gracefully and calmly. He reached out a hand to her, “If you come to help me complete a portrait, I will get a hot bath and give you clean clothes. I will take care of your diet for three days. How’s that?”
In all fairness, this was indeed a generous condition.
—If Painter Amos didn’t do those things in secret.
“But… sir…”
Jiu Er imitated the homeless man’s tone and said tremblingly, “I can’t paint…”
“No, no, no, you don’t need to paint. You need to stand in front of the canvas and wait for me to paint your portrait. It will be quite fast, about two hours.”
Amos took out his pocket watch to check the time and then smiled refreshingly, “Can you don’t move for two hours? It’s half-past one. It will end around half-past three.”
Jiu Er’s heart sank slightly.
The portrait would be completed at half-past three.
There are still two hours before dark.
In other words, I will probably not be able to catch up with dinner.
After the portrait painting, I’m going to be put under pursuit for the next two hours.
Jiu Er’s thoughts ran quickly in her mind. Soon, she promptly responded, lowered her head, and replied solemnly, “Alright, sir…”
Amis (Jiu Er) followed Amos and was supported into the gallery not far away by his shoulders.
This was a large and magnificent art gallery, probably rented or bought by Amos.
But seeing the interior decoration of this gallery, Jiu Er’s PTSD struck:
This gallery had the same gallery interior she just walked through!
The only difference was that there were two spiraling stairs on both sides of the circular gallery. At the end of the gallery, the door where players enter the next level every time was in the direction of the exit.
Jiu Er thought of something.
Could it be Amos wanted to escape from the gallery?
Fortunately, this place was unlike the eerie and gloomy gallery in the nightmare.
Not only was the light bright here, but there were also some elegantly dressed guests coming in and out, stopping in front of some portraits.
They were not surprised when they saw Amos bringing in a homeless man with a foul stench. They just greeted Amos warmly,
“Master Amos!”
“Master, good afternoon!”
“May Silver Sire bless you, Sir Morrison.”
Amos just smiled and returned the greetings, “En, hello.”
His figure was tall and straight; his smile was elegant and calm, seemingly exuding dazzling confidence. Once he appeared, he had become the focus of the audience.
He even seemed a bit… unlike a mortal.
If he and other painters appear at the same time, the crowd will notice Amos at first sight. Even those who didn’t know Amos could realize immediately that he was an honorable guest at first glance.
The strong self-confidence aura in him was like a star who was always surrounded by fans.
In the dream’s third level, Amos, the amiable father who painted Elle, was no longer a human.
After leaving the crowd, Amos asked Jiu Er gently, “You haven’t been wandering for long, right?”
Jiu Er was shocked, almost shivering.
She calmed down and tried her best not to panic, “You… How did you know?”
“Because I see hope in your eyes.”
Like a poet, Amos whispered in a melodious tone, “Such a beautiful light… It will not appear in the eyes of people who have completely lost hope in life.”
Looking at the bewildered Jiu Er, he smiled and explained naturally, “When you see my guests, you will feel curious and want to explore their identities. When you see my paintings on the wall, you will want to understand what’s within.
“This shows that you still have hope for this world. Truly desperate people don’t care about anything anymore.” Amos sighed slightly.
He raised his head a little melancholy, not knowing where to look.
His gaze was profound, and his pupils with different colors seemed to show a captivating, magical charm.
Or, perhaps they were all an illusion.
Amis and Amos went to the fourth floor. There were no guests at that place. It seemed that this place was not open to the public. There was an iron door between the third and fourth floors, which could only be opened with a key.
This fourth floor should be Amos’s studio. This place was more like a luxuriously decorated living room than a studio.
There were luxurious carpets, sofas, and wooden furniture in warm colors. Some toys could be seen laid in the corner of the room, but no children were playing with them.
On the tea table next to the hall, three men in white robes and slightly longer hair sat together with a somewhat formal expression, chatting in a low volume.
They looked happy when they saw Jiu Er. A younger man waved to Jiu Er.
“They are friends who came before you to help with my painting.”
Amos followed Jiu Er’s gaze and explained, “This is my grand plan… feast for the hungry.”
With that said, Amos walked to the wall and pulled away from the heavy red cloth to both sides.
Many huge paintings were on the wall.
In the painting were men with shabby clothes, withered faces, and hungry eyes. They looked out of the painting in different postures. Some were lying on the ground; some curled up in the corner; some bent over, squatted, and stretched their necks to look forward; some squatted on the ground, like a dog.
It was noticeable at first glance they were all homeless.
Among them, there were three paintings with the people on that painting look the same as the three white-robed men chatting over there.
Just seeing these paintings, the three of them shuddered and couldn’t help but turn their heads away. They dared not look at their portrait.
Jiu Er felt a little short of breath for a while.
The person in the painting was not beautiful, but it was unforgettable.
Even the bullet text was silent for a moment.
These were not paintings at all but souls.
When Jiu Er first saw it, she even thought it was a huge window. These people were looking at themselves outside the window in a chaotic space. It was as if these people were reduced in size, staring at and assessing giants outside the window.
Just looking at these paintings was enough to feel intense and incomparable fear.
Jiu Er was even in a daze. She could see these people trembling slightly, wailing silently, drooling, staring at her in hunger.
These people within the paintings were like living things.
Like those hungry and evil spirits-
[Erosion rate: 3%]
[1] The abbreviation players tend to say at the end of the game, meaning Good Game.
