Artifact Report

Chapter 68 Mai Minghe: Conditions for Leaving

Mai Minghe's family was average when he was a child.

She is the child of an immigrant family in the early 20th century. Her parents escaped from hunger and war. She has always believed that all expenses other than food and clothing are suspected of being a waste of money, and wasting money is the greatest sin.

In the first ten years of her life, she never received a Christmas present; the first time she played a family board game was when she was in fifth grade and her classmate's parents gave it to her when she visited his house.

There is a small cabinet in my classmate's house, which contains games that Mai Minghe has never played: Scrabble, "Life", Screen Four Connect... and "Monopoly".

How could she forget Monopoly? The Monopoly game of the 1950s wasn't as sophisticated as it is now? But when she first placed the small wooden block that symbolized herself in the box that said "Begin," she felt she would remember that moment forever.

Mai Minghe really remembered it for the rest of his life.

How do you find the starting square on the Monopoly board?
The answer to this question is complete nonsense: the square with "start" written on it is the starting square.

Similarly, she suddenly realized that her cubicle seemed to be a starting point, also for a very simple reason:

This is where the fun begins
There are three compartments, but only this one has an advertisement with this sentence clearly written on it.

"Happiness" is of course bullshit, no one can be happy when it comes; but regardless of whether it is happy or not, once we stop viewing it as an empty advertising slogan, it seems to have a clear meaning.

If you take this compartment as the starting point, the third sentence will be much easier to understand.

"Please make the right choice in the precious moments of your life" - isn't this asking Mai Minghe to choose a path?

This also fits the current situation: on the surface, it seems that she can get out from either the left or the right.

The question is, how do you decide which way to go?
Both sides look very uncomfortable and seem like dead ends.

Putting aside the possibility that the nest is deliberately torturing people, as long as there is a direction that leads to survival, then the clues and basis for judgment are probably in the advertisement in front of us.

The two female models in the advertisement are each shrouded in lights of different colors; the light source is clearly on this side of the Mai Ming River, but the lights of the corresponding colors are far behind them...

Her gaze returned to the first sentence.

Multiple images, embracing possibilities

Mai Minghe slapped his forehead suddenly, and a crisp "pop" sound came from the silent toilet cubicle where three pairs of feet were placed side by side.

Wasn't it because of the word "reflection" that I thought of the mirror? Why didn't I follow this line of thought?
The light source is clearly on my side, but the light of the corresponding color is behind the two female models - doesn't this mean that there is actually a mirror next to the two female models?

No, that's not right. It's called a mirror, but the two female models don't have any reflections...

Regarding this question, the fourth sentence might be a hint, but Mai Minghe didn’t quite understand it.

Disclaimer: What you see has been processed by PS, please carefully identify the risks
This is so unfair. If this sentence is a hint, it should be in a language that even elderly people can understand - oh, yes, there are probably no elderly people in the nest.

Well, that's not fair. She didn't choose to be behind the times.

In short, the general meaning of this sentence is that the photo has been processed in some way and becomes different from the real thing, so it reminds people to be careful to distinguish it, right?

Is there a technology that can naturally erase part of a photo? That would be amazing.

Assuming this technology really exists, since the mirror is next to the two people, the reflection of the female model with her front face shown to the audience in the mirror should be her side face.

Since what remains is the true face, what is erased is the reflection in the mirror.

So what about the "third wine glass"?
"Clinking glasses" or "drinking by oneself" is the only difference between the two female models in the left and right compartments.

Mai Minghe looked back and forth several times between the advertising slogan, the first sentence "Multiple images, embrace possibilities" and the fourth sentence disclaimer.

After thinking seriously for a while, she took a deep breath and stood up.

"It's okay," she whispered to herself as she climbed onto the toilet. "It's okay. You've thought it through very comprehensively. I can't think of more. Even if I close my eyes and choose one side blindly, there's still a 50% chance of choosing the right one... Don't be afraid. In this life, no matter how big the storm is, I'll get through it, won't I?"

As she grew older and lived alone, the house became more and more lonely and empty.

Mai Minghe gradually developed a habit. Sometimes he would ask the pot in the kitchen what it wanted to eat today, sometimes he would sing a song to himself, and sometimes he would advise himself to be more tolerant of himself - wasn't it just that he accidentally misread the money? Who doesn't make mistakes?
After mumbling a few words, I felt a little more at ease.

No matter how bizarre a nest is, it has to make sense—even if it’s its own sense.

Just like before, Mai Minghe stepped on the platform and climbed up the partition wall.

The female model's face, with a frozen smile, turned slowly as she climbed over the partition wall and stepped onto the platform on the other side.

The wine glass in her hand was still stretched far forward, and the female model's face had already slid half a circle from her shoulder; as if her neck was a piece of melting butter, unable to bear the force, the face quickly slid to the top of her back.

The female model was very close to him, so close that she could grab Mai Minghe by just folding her arms behind her back.

Mai Minghe had one foot on the platform and one leg on the partition wall. Even though she thought she was very calm, she couldn't help but feel scared at this moment.

The next step is to stretch your legs down and place them behind the female model.

It is both behind and in front of us.

One person and one - Mai Minghe really couldn't tell what a female model was - they stood there motionless in dead silence for more than ten seconds.

Slowly, Mai Minghe stretched his foot down and stepped on the part where the toilet was connected to the wall.

The model's eyes dropped to look at Mai Minghe's feet, revealing most of the white of her eyeballs. Because her, no, her eyeballs had moved downward, but her eyelids remained held high, as if they wouldn't move.

Also motionless is the smiling, red mouth; a row of teeth, half hidden and half exposed.

It's so uncomfortable, this thing is too close...

However, this is not the recent time.

When Mai Minghe climbed down the toilet, it was impossible for her to avoid physical contact with the female model: even though she specifically chose the side without the toilet paper roll, the space was still so narrow that it could barely accommodate her.

Her back was pressed against the partition wall, and she took a deep breath, wishing she could curl up into a trash can in the corner; the female model's face was still hanging on her back, and Mai Minghe almost had the illusion that she could feel its breath.

Mai Minghe tried to push out and indeed bumped into the female model's shoulder, causing her head to shake slightly.

It's okay—not uncomfortable, not nauseous, not like the last time the Slender Dweller touched me—

Mai Minghe simply gave it a go, not even looking at the female model. She gritted her teeth, closed her eyes, and took a big step forward. She felt the body pressed against her, and she rubbed against it - when she opened her eyes, she had already successfully walked to the door.

She quickly turned sideways and stood in the half-open door; only then did Mai Minghe look back at the female model.

One arm was still stretched straight forward, holding a glass, as if waiting to clink glasses with someone. A curtain of long, light brown curls hung from the back of his head, cascading down his chest.

With the determination to die and the hope to live towards death, Mai Minghe turned his head and stepped out of the cubicle door.

In the dead silence, she found that she was still alive.

...Did you choose the right one?
It was the right choice. She stood on the tile floor, breathing rapidly, her heart pounding—there was no Mai Minghe lying on the ground outside.

In front is a row of sinks. On the far left of the sinks stands the back of a woman who is putting on makeup.

Mai Minghe's gaze lingered on the sink, where a mirror should have been.

No wonder... No wonder when she climbed up high and looked down, she still saw the back of the woman putting on makeup.

Because on the other side of the sink, where there should be a wall and a mirror, there was the back of the same woman putting on makeup; next to the back of that woman putting on makeup, there was another back that Mai Minghe recognized at a glance - the same ZARA casual clothes, the same messy hair on the back of her head.

...The "mirror" that should have reflected the face actually reflected the back that shouldn't have appeared?
Mai Minghe stared blankly at the back of the woman putting on makeup, then glanced at the bathroom door. If he hurried a few steps and rushed out...

Wait, there seemed to be something wrong in the place she glanced at out of the corner of her eye - Mai Minghe quickly turned around and saw that there were only two toilet cubicles in the bathroom.

One was the compartment where the female model was sitting and which he had just crawled out of; the other one must be the one he fell into.

The compartment that was not selected disappeared without a trace.

Or has it never existed at all?
When Mai Minghedu turned her gaze back, the back of the woman putting on makeup was standing in front of her.

"Why did you come out of the left compartment?"

A thin female voice rang out from the back of the head. Its right hand finally stopped applying lipstick and held a lipstick.

Mai Minghe's voice and breath seemed to be frozen in his chest, unable to come out at all.

"Please answer carefully." The woman, putting on makeup, spoke from behind her thick hair. "Why aren't you talking? Did you just randomly choose and hit the 50% chance, so you can't answer?"

Its tone made people feel nervous, as if something dangerous would happen if they didn't answer.

"No, it's not."

As Mai Minghe opened his mouth, he realized his voice was trembling, like a plucked string that hadn't yet slowed down. "The scene where the female model clinks glasses with others is the real shooting scene... right? That's why I chose the left cubicle."

The back of the head was quiet and silent.

Mai Minghe didn't know whether it was waiting for her to continue explaining, nor did she know what was going to happen next; she couldn't help but continue talking, as if filling the silence with her voice could delay the arrival of the next unknown step.

"There's a mirror next to the female model, and when the image was processed, her reflection was erased. This is actually very easy to spot. But why was the reflection erased? And why did an extra hand appear? I thought about it for a long time and couldn't understand it... until I tried to understand the first sentence of the copy: 'Multiple reflections, embracing possibility.'

"This sentence is vague and hard to understand, but I can summarize a few points. One, there is more than one reflection; two, the reflections are different, so there are different possibilities; three, I can choose one of the possibilities."

Trying to explain my thoughts to a frozen head just now felt like a nightmare, absurd and terrifying...

What's more, in the compartment behind Mai Minghe, with the door half open, there was another head "looking" at her.

The two figures, one in front and one behind, seemed like mirror images, sandwiching Mai Minghe in the middle.

"It's a bit fanciful... but based on this ad copy, I wondered if the image in the erased mirror in the ad image is different from the real thing? One is clinking glasses, the other is drinking alone.

"Why erase the reflection in the mirror? Because if it were preserved, just by looking at the reflection, you could tell which side was clinking glasses and which side was drinking alone. Now, through some technology, most of the reflection has been erased, leaving only the single difference, which is the third hand holding the glass.

"This way, people who see the picture won't know whether the real female model is actually clinking glasses or drinking alone."

In other words, it is impossible to distinguish between image and reality - once you think of this, the rest will be easier to judge.

After all, the advertising copy is "gather together at this moment and share the mellow wine"; in comparison, the scene of two people clinking glasses can definitely better interpret the concepts of "gathering" and "sharing" than drinking alone.

Thinking about it this way, the actual shooting scene should be the "clinking glasses" that is consistent with the copy.

It was with this thought in mind that Mai Minghe came out of the left compartment.

If he were older now, even if his mind was clear, Mai Minghe felt that he would never be able to be so "wildly imaginative" no matter what.

This "fantastic" method belongs to young people. It is not easy for the elderly to accept new things because it is difficult for them to change their inherent cognition and they lack flexibility in thinking.

With a young brain, it seems that you naturally have a young mind - what is this called?

She remembered that she seemed to have heard of... "embodied cognition" before?
"Hmm... That's why I chose the 'real' side between the two. That's right, right?"

The woman putting on makeup didn't move, stood with her back to her, and said, "No."

Mai Minghe was stunned. "What?"

"The ad says 'multiple images,'" the woman in makeup said softly, "but if there's only one image and one real-life filming scene, it can't be called 'multiple images.'"

Mai Minghe listened in a daze - it seemed that this was indeed the truth.

"In reality, both are just images. There is no so-called 'reality' until you choose."

The woman putting on makeup said from the back of her head, "What you choose will become reality. If you choose to come out of the right cubicle, then the female model drinking alone will be the real shooting scene."

"Girl—can I call you that? Girl, are you trying to tell me that it doesn't matter where I come out from? All my thinking has been in vain?"

"Whether it's a waste of time or not depends on how you look at it. I really hope you can come out of the right compartment. Of course, the ideal situation is that you can get out from under the door, but such an obvious dead end would be difficult for even the most inexperienced hunter to be fooled, alas."

The back of his head laughed a few times as if he was talking - "Ha, ha, ha", with a slow speed, clear pronunciation, and constant intensity. It didn't sound like he was laughing, it was just like he was saying the three words "hahaha".

"Although both are images, the one you make real is also the one that complies with the rules."

Mai Minghe was a little confused. "You mean... the image that doesn't conform to the rules can also come true?"

"Yes," said the back of the head, "This restaurant can operate according to the rules, or it can operate according to the rules. If you choose to allow the possibility of 'not complying with the rules' to come true, this restaurant will be dominated by chaos, disorder, and randomness.

"However, you have now made the possibility of 'conforming to the rules and prompts' a reality, which means that the rules, logic, and prompts are now online."

“Go online”? What line do we need to go online on? Where does the line come from?
Is this also a term used by young people? Judging from the context, it probably means "coming into effect"?
He smiled at Mai Minghe from the back of his head.

There was no mouth, no facial features, only a curtain of hair on the back of the head. Obviously, there should be no "smile" to be seen, but... it felt like the scalp was pulled apart like the skin of the face, causing the hair to ripple in an arc. Mai Minghe actually saw a smile in the hair.

"Do you want to leave this restaurant?" the makeup woman said. "Please find my face."

　I did a special search and found that the board games mentioned in the article have a history of about a hundred years. It makes sense that Mai Minghe played them when he was a child.

　　I think the weird talk about rules is very interesting, but the interest comes from the novelty. Once there are too many rules, they become more and more the same and boring. It's just a pattern of what to do and what not to do. When X appears, you have to do Z... Anyway, I will get bored of it quickly.

　　The once very popular Zoo Rules Tales (is that the name?) had several sequels later, but it didn't make any waves anymore. I think this is the reason.

　　This feeling has little to do with the main text, so I don’t think what I wrote is a regular weird story (doesn’t it?)
　　So you never get tired of watching it (the picture is finally revealed (bushi
　　PS: This chapter tortured me to death. I wrote three versions of the part. During the writing process, I drew pictures and took pictures of myself with a mirror. I was like a psychopath...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)