Wei Dong's roar stunned everyone present.
Everyone stared intently at the figure on the screen, then turned to compare it with the real-life Ke Xun, then stared at the screen again, pondering, then turned to analyze the live version of Ke Xun...
After analyzing these negatives with Mu Yiran last night, Ke Xun was somewhat prepared, but when he saw his own large figure on the wall, he still couldn't quite adjust: "It's too close, it makes me look a bit fat."
Everyone: ...
"This is completely chaotic," Cao Youning began pacing around the room. Every time he passed in front of the screen, his huge shadow would appear on it, as if trying to compete with Ke Xun on the wall in height, weight, and strength. "The timing is so messed up. They were all taken at the same time, so why are some shots of him eating, some of them of him alone, and some of them of him entering after the lights were turned off? Is the cat Ke Xun is holding Xin Chun? Is the cat next to the window in the other shot also Xin Chun? And the cat squatting next to him while he was eating..."
"A dog." Luo Yi finally couldn't help but say, "Xin Chun is a dog."
"Oh, right, right." Cao Youning stood in front of the light screen, Ke Xun's shadow on the negative was projected onto his face, and the two dots on his chest corresponding to Xin Chun's eyes also overlapped with Cao Youning's eyes. "Anyway, it's completely messed up, there's no pattern at all!"
Mai Peng pulled his chubby friend away from the light screen and looked at the calm veteran members: "I think Mr. Mu should already understand what's going on."
"That's right, Mr. Mu, please tell us quickly." Ke Xun looked at Mu Yiran expectantly.
Mu Yiran had already lit a gauze lamp beside him, and the pattern on the light screen on the wall was instantly diluted by the warm orange light: "There is indeed a pattern here, and it's a very standard time pattern."
At this moment, everyone's expressions were different. Some seemed to have already thought of the answer, some seemed to have a vague understanding, and some were completely clueless.
Wei Dong and Luo Yi had not figured it out. At this moment, Wei Dong had carefully put away the film and put the enlarged projector back on the public cabinet.
All the lights in the room were turned on. Mu Yiran wrote down some numbers on a piece of paper: "Based on our estimated time yesterday, lunchtime was around 1:00 PM, and the lights were turned off around 2:00 PM. About an hour after the lights were turned off, Mai Peng started taking pictures, let's assume that time was 3:00 PM.
"Mai Peng took three pictures at 3:00 PM. The first picture shows half of the room empty, with Xin Chun squatting by the window, a time that's hard to estimate; the second picture is very clear, capturing the scene of us having lunch at 1:00 PM; the third picture shows Ke Xun carrying Xin Chun as they prepare to enter the room after the lights were turned off at 2:00 PM."
"The second photo was taken at 1/60 of a second, capturing dinner at 1:00 PM; the third photo was taken at 1/30 of a second, capturing the lights just after they went out at 2:00 PM; while the first photo, taken at the fastest speed of 1/250 of a second, captured a scene we don't seem to have experienced before—Xin Chun is squatting alone by the window, her eyes bright, clearly after the lights went out."
Qin Ci couldn't help but say, "That's what I don't understand. If the 1/60 and 1/30 second photos capture past events, and there's an hour's delay between each point in time, then what is captured by the 1/250 second photo?"
Everyone's gaze turned to Mu Yiran with questions, but Mu Yiran's gaze was fixed on the window, and then he said to Xin Chun, "There's an animal in the photos that looks exactly like Xin Chun, squatting by the window."
As if understanding, Xin Chun whimpered and suddenly jumped to the window, seemingly wanting to drag out the dog that was impersonating her.
Fang Fei couldn't help but gasp: "I remember now, there was indeed such a moment last night. Right after the film was developed, when we were all gathered around the table looking at it, Xin Chun was startled when she saw this one. She jumped straight from the table to the bed, and then ran to the window, seemingly trying to find the dog that was imitating her—just like it is now."
Fang Fei wasn't used to saying so much at once, and quickly fell silent after speaking.
After Fang Fei's reminder, most people remembered the scene from last night. Luo Yi suddenly realized, "No wonder the people on the beds weren't in the photos. Everyone was gathered around the table looking at the film, except for Xin Chun who ran to the window! That's the scene that was strangely captured by the camera."
"The film had already been developed by then, meaning that time point happened after the photos were taken," Shao Ling also clarified what had happened. "After the photos were taken, everyone immediately started preparing the developing tank to develop the film. It took at most an hour. If the photos were taken at 3:00 PM, then the time when everyone gathered to look at the film should have been 4:00 PM."
Wei Dong was stunned and said to Fang Fei beside him, "I never thought the camera could capture things afterward. It's amazing."
Fang Fei nodded. She didn't want to say anything, but seeing Wei Dong looking at her, she said, "Although it's a bit chaotic, as long as we find the central point, we should be able to find the pattern."
"Yes, yes." Wei Dong nodded and, together with Fang Fei, turned their expectant gazes back to Mu Yiran.
Mu Yiran continued as expected, "I'm not good at photography, but I suspect there's another shutter speed point between 1/250 second and 1/60 second, and this point is likely a commonly used speed." Mai Peng chimed in
, "That's right, it's 1/125 second. This speed is often suitable for people walking normally on a sunny day. It's a very common speed, especially for beginners, who often freeze the shutter speed at 1/125 second because, unless shooting a special photo, this shutter speed generally won't go wrong."
Mu Yiran wrote 1/250 second on the paper. 125 seconds: "This speed should be the center point Fang Fei mentioned earlier. If I'm not mistaken, photos taken at this speed should be the most accurate snapshots of the current time. Unfortunately, none of the four photos taken yesterday used this speed, which is why everyone was confused."
Shao Ling carefully examined the string of seconds that Mu Yiran had written on the paper: "In other words, with 1/125 of a second as the center point, when the speed is faster than this time, it will capture a future scene at the same location; when the speed is slower than this time, it will capture past events at this location."
1/125 of a second is like a modern continuous tense; slower than this speed captures the past; faster than this speed captures the future.
Mai Peng looked at the camera hanging around her neck, somewhat incredulous that this ordinary camera had been endowed with such magical functions in this world.
Du Lingyu gradually figured it out: "If we calculate based on Mai Peng taking the photos at 3:00 PM last night, that means if Mai Peng had taken the photos at 1/125 of a second, he would have captured the immediate scene at 3:00 PM—but Mai Peng chose 1/250 of a second, which pushed the time back to 4:00 PM, thus capturing the future scene where everyone was looking at the film and not in the frame; when Mai Peng chose 1/60 of a second, it was one frame slower than the center point of 1/125 of a second, so the time was pushed forward by one hour, capturing the scene of Ke Xun carrying the dog back at 2:00 PM when the lights were just turned off; when he chose 1/30 of a second, it was two frames slower than the center point, pushing the time forward by two hours, capturing the scene at 1:00 PM, two hours earlier, when everyone was having lunch."
After explaining her analysis, Du Lingyu looked at Mu Yiran somewhat uncertainly: "I don't know if what I just said is correct."
Mu Yiran nodded: "Absolutely right."
To make it clearer for everyone, Mu Yiran wrote down the corresponding time for each shutter speed on the paper: 1/125 second, normal; 1/60 second, one hour ahead; 1/30 second, two hours ahead; 1/250 second, one hour behind.
Lu Heng gradually understood, and his voice trembled slightly as he said, "Then, the one I took, the one where Xia Yu had the accident, I used 1/16 of a second."
"That one was taken even earlier. We arrived in the painting around 10:00 AM, and you went to the second floor to check the situation around 11:00 AM. At that time, you took a shot at 1/16 of a second..." Mu Yiran wrote down the time 1/16 of a second on the paper. "I want to ask, are there any other speed settings between 1/30 of a second and 1/16 of a second?"
Lu Heng replied, "No, at least not with my camera right now."
"The progression of this time point could be done hourly, for example, by advancing or delaying each speed setting by one hour. If that's the case, 1/16 of a second would capture the scene three hours earlier, so three hours before 11:00 would be 8:00 AM," Mu Yiran said.
"This timing should be correct. We entered at 10:00, and we hadn't arrived in this world yet at 8:00. Xia Yu most likely had her accident around that time," Lu Heng analyzed.
"There's another possibility," Mu Yiran drew another line on the timeline, "the time doesn't advance hourly, but in multiples. 1/125 of a second is the center point, 1/60 of a second is one hour ago, 1/30 of a second is two hours ago, 1/16 of a second is four hours ago, 1/8 of a second is eight hours ago, 1/4 of a second is sixteen hours ago…"
Everyone listened intently, and Wei Dong's mouth dropped open: "If that's true, then wouldn't we be able to film things from a very long time ago and a very long time from now?"