Lin You turned around, once again gazing at the eerie mona lisa.
The woman in the painting seemed to have been stimulated by something; even with Lin You staring at her, her facial expression remained a bizarre mix of crying and laughing.
Her voice was sharp, grating, and highly contagious. Listening to it, Lin You almost relived every sorrowful event from his childhood to the present.
He had to deal with this painting today, otherwise, his future would surely be anything but peaceful.
Thinking this, the golden light in Lin You's left eye brightened as he stared intently at the mona lisa in the painting.
The tadpole script reappeared, and Lin You had a feeling that if he wanted to, he could completely peel away the tadpole script and the concepts it carried from the portrait.
Lin You had experimented with this during his recent research into his abilities, but the things he used for experiments were all mundane objects; this was his first time peeling away something eerie.
The effects obtained during previous experiments with his abilities were also somewhat uncertain.
Some things died immediately after losing a concept, while others went insane.
Lin You was still a bit hesitant. After stripping mona lisa of her concept of Sorrow, all that would be left of her was that eerie smile.
This approach was somewhat like robbing Peter to pay Paul, but at least after doing so, the 'west wall' wouldn't be 'leaking wind' with a 'wuwu' sound anymore.
The golden light in his left eye swirled, and the tadpole script representing Sorrow was drawn into Lin You's left eye. Instantly, the surroundings quieted down again.
Lin You felt a slight discomfort in his left eye, as if dust had gotten into it. And Lin You also had an intuition that this thing couldn't stay in his eye for too long.
Too long, and his eye would be ruined.
Looking at the painting again, the mona lisa in the picture had stopped crying, and her entire face was now adorned with an eerie and terrifying smile.
Her mouth was pressed against the glass outside the frame, opening and closing as if speaking.
However, perhaps because she inherently lacked the ability to speak, after Lin You stripped her of the Sorrow she possessed, she could no longer make any sound.
The mona lisa in the painting also realized the problem she was having. Thick, black, unknown substances flowed from her distorted eyes, and her hands, placed within the painting, began to slap the frame.
Everything was silent.
"Thump, thump."
Just then, in the silent exhibition area, a series of footsteps suddenly came from the darkness in the distance.
The footsteps sounded a bit sluggish. They were hidden in the darkness, slowly approaching Lin You.
Gradually, the footsteps seemed to sync with mona lisa's actions of slapping the frame. Every time mona lisa slapped the frame, a "thump" sound would come from the darkness.
As the footsteps approached, Lin You held his breath.
The owner of the footsteps in the darkness had clearly noticed the light here and quickened his pace.
And as the footsteps sped up, mona lisa also quickened her actions of slapping the frame.
"Thump, thump, thump."
"Snap."
A light suddenly came from the darkness, followed by a somewhat hoarse question:
"Little Lin? Why haven't you left yet?"
"Old Zhao? You haven't left yet?"
Lin You breathed a sigh of relief.
He hadn't clearly seen the person who emerged from the darkness, but from the person's voice, Lin You could tell that the other party was one of the museum's security guards.
Everyone liked to call him "Old Zhao."
Lin You and Old Zhao had a good relationship. Every time Lin You ordered takeout, Old Zhao would help him pick it up. After many times, Lin You would always order an extra portion for Old Zhao as well.
Over time, the two became close.
"Just about to leave, saw a light over here, so I came to check."
"Didn't scare you, did I?"
Old Zhao walked up to Lin You, turned off the flashlight in his hand, and gave Lin You an embarrassed smile.
Lin You also smiled back at him, but his gaze did not leave the painting from before.
Having lost the ability to make sounds, the mona lisa in the painting had gone mad.
But no matter how much she slapped the frame, the frame remained in its original place, completely still.
Noticing Lin You's gaze, Old Zhao also turned around.
Seeing Lin You constantly looking at the portrait, Old Zhao smiled. He walked to the display case, carefully checked the condition of the portrait inside, and then said:
"They said this painting has been on display here long enough and they want to move it to a different region for exhibition. The transfer will probably happen in the next few days."
"Oh, and that bronze jue from the Western Zhou period also needs to be moved. Keep an eye on it recently."
Lin You nodded, indicating that he understood.
At this moment, the mona lisa in the frame seemed to have tired from slapping. She slumped ungracefully in the chair, and because her mouth had been torn so wide before, the upper half of her face had directly folded back behind her head.
The scene was both terrifying and somewhat comical.
"Did something sad happen to you, kid?"
Old Zhao suddenly asked.
"Huh? No, why do you ask?"
Lin You raised an eyebrow, then immediately retorted.
"I can't quite put my finger on it, old man, but I just feel a very strange aura around you."
"The feeling you give me now is somewhat similar to how my grandson felt when he went through a breakup."
Upon hearing this, Lin You already guessed why Old Zhao had this feeling.
He had stripped mona lisa of her Sorrow, and thus he possessed some of its characteristics, which was why Old Zhao felt this way.
However, Lin You still had some things he wanted to complain about.
He remembered Old Zhao saying before that his grandson was only in junior high, right?
Breaking up in junior high and telling his grandpa?
Are junior high students like this now?
"If there's nothing wrong, hurry up and leave while the rain is light."
Old Zhao waved at Lin You, then walked towards the museum entrance with his flashlight.
"I'll help you call a car."
"No need, old man, I drove myself."
Lin You: …
…
After Old Zhao left, Lin You glanced at the exhausted mona lisa, then entered the office.
He searched around his desk, his gaze finally falling on a simple sun doll placed in the corner.
Because it had been raining a lot these past few days, Lin You had made a simple sun doll out of two pieces of toilet paper.
Picking up the sun doll, the golden light swirled in Lin You's left eye, and Sorrow was released by him, guided into the sun doll's body.
The bizarre, twisted tadpole script instantly dominated the information that made up the sun doll, and the sun doll's originally blank face showed subtle expressions.
It looked like a crying face.
Stuffing the sun doll into his pocket, Lin You turned off the lights in the office and casually hailed a ride to his apartment complex.
Walking to mona lisa's display case, he even flaunted his sun doll at mona lisa as if showing off.
It should be called a sadness doll now.
