The following hour and a half belonged to Fang Fei.
The leader of the Fluorite Brigade, Master Wu, lived in another courtyard-style building, separated from the members' residences by two buildings.
Fang Fei walked along a long corridor, somewhat resembling an ancient covered walkway, connecting several courtyards.
She had learned Master Wu's address from the brigade commander, and the precious spices Fang Fei carried were also selected with Qin Ci's help. In Fang Fei's experience, this was the first time she had ever visited an elder alone with gifts.
Master Wu's residence was high up, near the top floor, offering a view of the entire brigade like a dimly lit ancient painting.
A girl of about fifteen or sixteen opened the door for Fang Fei. She looked Fang Fei up and down: "Please come in, sister."
Fang Fei placed the gifts on the table. The room was unlit, illuminated only by various kinds of fluorite, the cool light often sobering.
"You've come to see my grandmother, haven't you? She's been invited to see the twins," the girl said, inviting Fang Fei to sit down.
"I've come to thank Master Wu for the precious fluorite," Fang Fei said politely.
The girl, however, seemed quite informal: "Witches have always been one family, no need for formalities."
Fang Fei pondered this statement, then carefully asked, "I've often heard this saying, but in our world, how far back in time can 'always be' be?"
"A very, very long time ago," the girl replied earnestly.
Fang Fei glanced at the girl's antique bracelet, which resembled her own, and tentatively asked, "Are you a witch too?"
The girl nodded, sat down beside Fang Fei to examine her bracelet, and then took off her own bracelet to compare it with Fang Fei's: "My grandmother said that even things from the distant past can't escape this circle."
Fang Fei's heart stirred, but she didn't know where to begin, so she didn't press the matter.
Fortunately, the girl was lively by nature, and she got up and walked towards the cabinet: "I heard that the masks of your Lightbringer are snow-white, is that true?"
Fang Fei saw her also pick up a mask, a black mask with several irregular white shapes on it, like specks of fluorite.
Fang Fei nodded: "Yes, my mask is white."
"That's so pretty!" The girl still had a girlish heart.
Fang Fei smiled slightly and asked tentatively, "Have you worn it before?"
"Not yet," the girl stuck out her tongue, "No one has asked me to do any witchcraft, so I haven't had a chance to wear it."
"Oh."
The girl whispered to Fang Fei, "I secretly wore it before, and I can't quite put my finger on what was different, but it was definitely different. Unfortunately, my grandmother found out afterward, and I've never dared to wear it secretly again." "
Listening to the witch master is always the right thing to do." Fang Fei didn't know how to steer the conversation forward, "By the way, what did you say the witch master went to do? How long will it take him to come back?"
When she heard the word "how long," Fang Fei became a little nervous. It was a specific timeframe, and she didn't know how the other person would react.
The girl, however, remained smiling. "That's the good thing about our Fluorite Journey. Even after the lights are out, there are still fluorites to provide light, so Grandmother is often invited to stay for a long time."
"I rarely come to the Lamp Journey and don't know many of the rules here. I've never left the house after the lights are out."
"It's best not to go out. Some people with bad luck might take the wrong path at night, resulting in twins, unable to achieve a happy ending," the girl said earnestly.
Fang Fei remembered what the girl had said earlier; that shaman had gone to "see twins." What exactly were these twins? She had mistakenly thought it was something like exorcising the twins' spirits, but it seemed that wasn't the intention.
Fang Fei: "Can we all see twins?"
"Yes, but it will take some time!" the girl said regretfully.
"A few days?" Fang Fei emphasized the word 'time'.
The girl blushed. "Did I break a taboo? In your Journey of Light, isn't it called 'days'? It's bright where you are."
"Yes, we call it 'days'," Fang Fei said, unaccustomed to such veiled questions, so she simply asked directly, "What is twin life? I've never fully understood it."
The girl sighed softly, "I don't really understand either. Anyway, it's about people who cling to the world and refuse to die, who can never achieve fulfillment, just drifting in the journey of life. The scary thing is, what if you see another version of yourself while you're still alive..." The girl's face paled. "The more I talk about it, the scarier I get."
"Then how does the Shaman cure it?" Fang Fei asked.
"I don't know," the girl looked at Fang Fei with some confusion. "Aren't you already a Shaman?"
Fang Fei lowered her head slightly. "I have very little experience."
"Oh..." The girl suddenly smiled. "It's alright, you're so young. By the way, how many years do you have left?"
"Hmm?"
"Wasn't your lifespan calculated when you became a Shaman?" The girl stared at Fang Fei with wide eyes, increasingly confused by this older sister.
Fang Fei lowered her voice and said, "Don't ask. It's best not to say anything taboo."
The girl blushed, smiled softly, and remained silent.
Fang Fei felt that if she stayed any longer, she would be exposed sooner or later, so she planned to take her leave. But then the girl spoke again: "I guess the other you is already a great witch. She has provided you with many shortcuts."
Fang Fei had endless questions, but couldn't ask them all. This feeling was very stifling. She took a deep breath and said, "I believe you are too."
The girl smiled sweetly and said in a very soft voice, "My lifespan is very long. From the birth of the white fish to the extinction of the earth egg, she must have gone through many hardships to preserve the carefree me I am today. Unfortunately, I will never see her in my lifetime."
"Her, the other you." Fang Fei seemed to understand but not quite.
"I believe your 'her' is also." The girl's expression was extremely solemn.
Fang Fei had already stood up, and their conversation seemed to be nearing its end.
"It's time to turn off the lights, sister, go back." The girl reminded her.
...
Fang Fei's hour and a half passed quickly, and at the same time, everyone else's hour and a half also came to an end.
When Fang Fei returned to her familiar ninth-floor room, Mu Yiran and Mai Peng were already developing film in the developing tank, while Ke Xun and Wei Dong were setting out the table. Wei Dong looked up and saw Fang Fei: "You're back! You're back! Another one's back!"
"Is anyone else still missing?" Fang Fei first noticed Xin Chun, who had come to greet her alone. "Where's Luo Cheng?"
"I'll go look for him next door in a bit. He should be back by now; the pancakes are getting cold," Ke Xun said.
Judging from Ke Xun's tone, it sounded like he was going to the neighbor's house to find the father of a child who hadn't come home for dinner...
The door opened again, and this time Shao Ling and Du Lingyu came in.
"How did you two form a group?" Wei Dong asked curiously.
"Xiao Du just mentioned her hallucinations, and I think there's something wrong with that, so I temporarily handed her camera to Mai Peng, and I went with her to explore a few places, hoping to find some new... clues." Shao Ling swallowed the words "hoping to find new hallucinations," as it was rather cruel to say them like that.
"Any new discoveries?" Ke Xun glanced at Du Lingyu, thankfully not seeing any signs of distress on her face.
Du Lingyu, however, subconsciously touched her head, saying nothing.
Shao Ling: "We went to several places, including the wall with seven lines drawn on it, and the window of the hanging coffin on the top floor, but Xiao Du didn't have any more hallucinations. Later, we also went to the spot on the second floor where Xia Yu died, and again, there were no more hallucinations."
Wei Dong patted Ke Xun: "Next time, send 'Hallucination Catalyst Master' Mr. Ke."
Shao Ling sat down and took a sip of water: "However, judging from Xiao Du's account, there are indeed some unbelievable things. When we first arrived in this world, did you feel any sudden headaches?"
Ke Xun: "No."
Wei Dong: "No, I don't remember."
Fang Fei: "No.
" Mai Peng, stirring the developing solution: "No, I had a bad cold at the time, and my head was spinning the whole time."
Mu Yiran: "No."
Cao Youning: "No, I was too scared at the time. If I had suddenly had a severe headache, I would have screamed. Lingyu, when did you start having a headache? What kind of headache was it?"
Du Lingyu took a sip of water to moisten her throat: "It was when I first came to this world. The lights weren't on yet, and I was in this dark corridor with everyone. Suddenly, I had a headache. It was just for a moment, and then it was fine. I thought it was just discomfort from being new to painting... Besides, I didn't dare to say much at the time, so I didn't say anything."
"Does it hurt a lot? Where on your head is it?" Qin Ci closed his medical manual and asked, "What kind of pain is it? Can you describe it? Have you ever experienced similar pain before?"
Du Lingyu carefully recalled, "It's around the top of my head, it feels like someone hit me hard. I've never felt this much pain before." Qin
Ci frowned, "That's strange. From her description, I feel she might have really been hit by an external force."
Ke Xun seemed to have thought of something and suddenly asked Mai Peng, "Didn't you take a picture in the corridor when you first arrived? What shutter speed did you use?!"
Mai Peng then remembered, "Yes, yes, I did take one. It was my usual 1/250 second, but now, to save film, we only use one roll of film from one camera for concentrated shooting. I can't take the film out of my camera for now."
Mu Yiran asked, "How much would be wasted if you took it out?"
"If we operate in the dark and cut off the taken portion, it shouldn't be a waste of many shots, maybe three?" Mai Peng said, "I have a whole roll of film here, we can try that."
"Okay, let's give it a try. We'll try to resolve any doubts first," Mu Yiran said.
Mai Peng looked at Du Lingyu: "Lingyu, are you sure your camera has a whole roll of film?"
"Yes, when I was loading the film, the number displayed was 1." Du Lingyu didn't understand why her film was also malfunctioning. "What's wrong?"
"Your roll only has a dozen or so exposures, just a dozen or so." Mai Peng also found it unbelievable.
"Then what happened?"
"These rolls of film are all hand-wound in this world. I don't know why yours only has a dozen or so exposures. I don't think it's likely an operational error." Mai Peng said.
"Don't guess now, let's wait until it's developed and see." Cao Youning said.
While everyone was busy working, Xin Chun suddenly skipped and jumped to the door.
Sure enough, Luo Cheng had returned, his eyes flashing with panic: "Brother-in-law, where's my brother-in-law?"
"Your brother-in-law is busy. Ask your brother what's wrong." Ke Xun pulled Luo Cheng into the house.
"This is a gift from Uncle Fatty." Luo Jin placed an oil paper package on the table. "It's dried fish."
"Oh, what if it's poisonous? Don't eat it." Wei Dong didn't even look at it.
Luo Jin, however, opened the package: "Look, all of you!"
Inside the oil paper package were several palm-sized, flat fish, somewhat like flatfish, but entirely snow-white.
Even after being pickled and dried, the white color was still dazzling.