Chapter 501: Holding the Stars

"Hey, did you guys see that?"

"See what?"

"That guy in the brown coat! There’s definitely something wrong with him!"

"You mean... the one the young master brought back just now? Isn't he Miss Su’s friend?"

"Hmph, I don't know about friends, but I smelled the scent of blood on him, and it was strong. He must have killed someone not long ago... and more than one person, too."

Deep in the night, in the dim, lightless main hall of the museum, figures were shifting within their embroidery frames. If one looked closely, they would see that the characters in the numerous embroidery pieces had actually come to life and were whispering to each other.

Fine, dense silk threads seemed to possess their own life, controlling the opening and closing of lips. Although they didn't make any sound, they could sense each other’s conversations.

"Kill, kill, kill, kill... kill someone?!" In a rural embroidery piece, a lifelike piglet was shocked!

"Is he a killer? Did some enemy come looking for him?!"

"What enemies? When has our master ever made enemies with anyone?"

"There is one." On a river woven from needle and thread, a fisherman rowing a boat thought seriously for a moment. "Back at the old museum, that young man named Li kept trying to steal us to sell for money. After the master scolded him, he held a grudge and used a firecracker to blow the master’s shoes off the porch... I’ve wanted to beat him up for a long time."

"...That’s such a small grudge, surely it wouldn't lead him to hire a killer for revenge?"

"One thing at a time. That old venue was really too small; there wasn't enough room to display us... Many of our younger brothers and sisters were stuck at the bottom of boxes, suffocating." In the central embroidery, a youth under a willow tree said, resting his head on his hand.

"It’s better here. It’s big and quiet, and everyone can gather together every day. No one will come to bother us."

"Yeah, the only thing we have to watch out for here is the young master... His soccer ball has no eyes. He almost shattered me last time."

"The young master is in college now, he’s not that childish anymore!"

"So what if he’s in college? He still turns as red as a monkey’s butt when he sees Miss Su, just like when he was a kid."

"Don't say that. I think the young master is much better this time. The redness doesn't count as a monkey’s butt; at most, it’s... um... an apple?"

"What’s the difference?!"

In the deathly silent main hall of the museum, dozens of embroidery pieces were chatting away. Some were old men holding hoes on the shore, some were sparrows standing on branches, some were young girls draped in light gauze...

Their only commonality was that in the upper right corner of each embroidery, the same signature was stitched:

—Xiao Chunping.

Just as they were chatting away, an invisible thread of embroidery floated through the void, flashing across all the embroidery pieces in the blink of an eye.

Those characters and animals that had been chattering a second ago were instantly silenced by the invisible thread, frozen in place, as if they had turned back into ordinary embroidery pieces.

About four or five seconds later, a figure walked silently through the side corridor, approaching the main hall.

"The feeling of being watched seems to have disappeared..."

The brown trench coat swayed lightly in the silent museum. Chen Ling walked through the darkness, thoughtful. "Could it have been my imagination? That shouldn't be... But why, even after using the eyes of 'Zhu Yan,' couldn't I find where the problem was?"

[Audience Expectation +3]

The moment this prompt floated up, Chen Ling’s brows furrowed instinctively...

"No... something is definitely wrong." The increase in audience expectation made Chen Ling even more certain of his judgment. He stood still in the center of the museum, constantly recalling every detail in his mind.

"First, rule out Nie Yu. If he were really watching me in secret, he should have acted the moment I noticed him... There’s no need to wait until I was fully alert and still not act. Besides, he shouldn't have been able to find this place so quickly."

"Su Zhiwei and Yang Xiao are impossible. Come to think of it, the feeling of being watched only appeared after arriving at the museum... Could it be..."

Chen Ling’s eyes narrowed slightly, his gaze sweeping across the surroundings.

In the late-night museum, only the dazzling array of embroidery pieces hung on the walls, quiet and empty.

Chen Ling stood there for a long time before finally passing through the main hall and exiting the exhibition area through a side door. As he opened a glass door, a man-made rockery and stream came into his view.

This was the museum’s rest area. Although it wasn't as large as the one at Su Zhiwei’s home, it was well-equipped, small and exquisite.

After coming out of the exhibition area into the open air, Chen Ling’s tense body finally relaxed slightly.

"Hmm?" As soon as Chen Ling walked in, he saw a figure on a stone bridge a few dozen meters away, staring down at the reflection of the broken moonlight in the stream, lost in thought.

It was Su Zhiwei.

At the same time, Su Zhiwei turned to look over, asking with some surprise:

"Director Chen, why aren't you asleep yet?"

Chen Ling hesitated for a moment, deciding not to mention the mystery of the museum or his speculations. He shook his head and said, "Couldn't sleep. How about you?"

"Me neither." Su Zhiwei’s gaze returned to the stream, her expression complex. "Their performance... is getting louder and louder."

"Strings?"

"...Yes."

"Where exactly are they?"

"They are everywhere."

Su Zhiwei raised her hand and gently scooped at the broken starlight on the surface of the stream. The reflection of the starlight seemed to come to life, rising slowly from the water, swaying and rippling in the air like a cup of starlit nectar.

She held a pool of starlight in her hands.

This scene stunned Chen Ling. Before he could recover, Su Zhiwei’s hands closed gently. The starlight flowing in the void began to vibrate at an extremely high frequency, constantly collapsing, compressing, and solidifying in the void...

Chen Ling could clearly perceive a sense of oppression radiating from the sphere. Wind from the void began to swirl around Su Zhiwei as the center, causing the surrounding leaves to rustle.

Under Su Zhiwei’s "direction," this cluster of starlight, which should have been void and non-existent, was transforming into an unknown form of energy. Even Chen Ling sensed a dangerous aura from this energy.

However, as the starlight was condensed to the size of a fist, Su Zhiwei suddenly groaned, and her hands trembled slightly.

The next moment, the condensed starlight collapsed and disintegrated in the air, vanishing into the void in the blink of an eye, as if it had never existed... The rustling in the garden also came to an abrupt halt.

Su Zhiwei panted heavily, as if she had just finished strenuous exercise, her face turning pale.

Chen Ling, who had witnessed all of this, was stunned for a long time before asking in shock:

"You... have you already started to master the power of the 'Strings'?"