Hela Art Exhibition
Late at night, only a few scattered cars sped along the highway in Yujiang City. The monster attacks had plunged the entire city into panic, and few people ventured out after dark anymore.
The area outside the venue was deathly silent. A five-kilometer radius around it had long been cleared. The special task force, split into Group A and Group B, was fully armed. Holding riot shields and modified German MP5 submachine guns, they surrounded both sides of the venue, crouching under the cover of the dark night.
Outside the wrought iron gates, a military vehicle slowly came to a halt. Its searchlight illuminated a small area, making the venue inside appear even more eerie, as if hiding something terrifying.
Zhong Yi sat in front of a computer debugging equipment. While adjusting the code, she said, “This is your first mission. Time is critical, so I won’t say much. You enter the museum first, and I will send follow-up mission details via comms.”
Li Nanyi pressed his wrist and looked up at the massive shadow nestled in the darkness. His wristband buzzed, and countless fluorescent blue lines flowed smoothly from the soles of his feet, outlining the shape of a mecha. They encircled Li Nanyi’s entire body as virtual data particles transformed from transparent projections into solid matter. Click-clack. The faceplate closed, the visor reflected light, and white steam sprayed out as the mecha successfully merged.
Standing two meters tall, the pitch-black chassis was covered in methodical, blazing red patterns, completely distinct from Yan Hengze’s mecha. Metal sculptures resembling dragon horns were distributed on both sides of the helmet.
He rotated his wrists. Beside him, Xiang Zhengming was so excited he was about to jump. He had already donned his own mecha—a dark gray body with regular golden patterns and head sculptures resembling cat ears. It looked heavier than the other two mechas.
The highly futuristic internal display screen projected a wide-angle view of the outside, leaving almost no blind spots. The top right corner of the screen displayed their physical health status and the mecha’s energy levels, while the top left corner featured a mini-map and analysis system, all demonstrating the advanced nature of these suits.
Chixiao (Red firmament), Chengying (Shadow bearer), Tai’a (Great hill). These were the names given by the researchers who first discovered them.
“I will provide information support from the rear. If necessary, I will also TP—that is, teleport you directly to the target area. The magnetic field inside is chaotic, so we can’t detect the specific situation. Be careful on your own.”
“Okay.”
“Understood. Mission will be accomplished.”
“Leave it to me.”
Three mechas slid out of the carriage and soon arrived at the museum’s entrance.
The heavy sandalwood doors were tightly shut, obscuring the view inside. Their arrival seemed to trigger the electronic guide at the door. A mechanical female voice, accompanied by soft music, drifted abruptly into the night: “Welcome to the Hela Museum. This art exhibition is a night session. To enter, please present a valid ticket. We wish you a pleasant experience.”
“We need tickets? Do you guys have any?”
Xiang Zhengming scratched the back of his head. Li Nanyi was silent for a moment before speaking directly: “Get ready—”
The voice coming through the faceplate carried a muffled electronic tone, sounding quite different from his original voice. Xiang Zhengming chimed in, “Ready for what? Ready with tickets?”
“No, get ready to breach.”
As soon as his voice fell, Li Nanyi clenched his hand into a fist. Concentrating tens of tons of force into a single point, he suddenly punched the heavy wooden door in the shadows. A powerful airflow pushed backward, and the wooden door collapsed with a boom. The surrounding walls also snapped at the waist, breaking into peeling chunks. Wall dust danced in the air, filling the sky.
Xiang Zhengming: “…”
Yan Hengze: “…”
He retracted his hand and nodded toward the front: “Let’s go. Be careful once inside.”
The two behind him looked at each other. After a while, Xiang Zhengming swallowed and asked tentatively, “Do you feel like he’s a bit… different after putting on the mecha?”
“…Remove ‘a bit’.”
It was practically like he was a different person. When they first met, he was hesitant and indecisive. After putting on the mecha, he didn’t hesitate at all and decisively smashed the door. Was this a case of not judging a person by their cover under the mecha?
The three entered the museum one by one. This museum was very large and divided into several areas. Since the theme was an art exhibition, the exhibits were likely all art-related categories. Li Nanyi glanced at a photograph on the wall as he passed by, faintly feeling something was wrong.
Snap.
Yan Hengze turned his head quickly, only to see an incredible scene—the door and walls Li Nanyi had smashed had actually restored themselves to their original state, perfectly intact. The wooden door stood upright, as if mocking them for overestimating their abilities.
Zhong Yi browsed through various discussions on the forum. Hela Museum was the largest museum in Yujiang City. Five days ago, it held an art exhibition with the gimmick of being bizarre and horrific. It exhibited all kinds of strange artworks with no restrictions on requirements. Perhaps to satisfy people’s desire for novelty and excitement, the exhibition was only open at night.
An eye-catching exhibition, a standard museum tactic to attract visitors. It was normal. But the problem was that many people who went to the night sessions had gone missing. Family members who reported the cases claimed that after visiting the venue, their relatives never came home. There was absolutely no news, as if they had evaporated from the face of the earth.
#hot Deep dive into that man-eating museum#
[Soft Bun: Is it the Hela Art Exhibition at that museum? I heard a lot of people went missing in the last two days]
[Careful Meat Lover: I know, I know. My neighbor across the hall went to see it with their family of three yesterday, and I haven’t seen a shadow of them all day today]
[Crocodile Tears: Camping for updates]
[Three Lives Fortunate: I heard it’s a vengeful spirit causing trouble. A former museum employee was kicked out for petty theft and died in a car accident on the way. His resentment lingered and he came back. Anyone who goes to the museum gets kept there to keep him company!]
[maker: Stop talking upstairs, careful the post gets banned]
[White Rabbit: Made up, right…]
She looked worriedly toward the museum. Decades ago, after the four mechas were brought out and secretly studied by the government and research institutes, researchers analyzed the data from the mechas and discovered that these mechas, including the gelatinous object from the seabed, belonged to an extraterrestrial civilization—Yelaire.
This civilization arrived on Earth thousands of years ago and went into slumber for unknown reasons. It wasn’t until ten years ago that instruments detected signs of their activity, which intensified over the decade. The plan to find mecha operators had to be put on the agenda.
Violent, warlike, and powerful. Glimpses of this civilization could be seen from the data carried by the mechas. A completely militarized civilization, even possessing characteristics of a hive society. They cleverly hid among the population, and their tracks had not yet been found. Zhong Yi looked at the pitch-black screen on the monitor, an ominous premonition welling up in her heart.
“Hengze, Nanyi, Zhengming, can you hear me? What’s your situation?”
After a long time, intermittent voices came from the communicator:
“Can… hear… We are… deep… into the mu… seum.”
Li Nanyi’s voice was difficult to distinguish under the harsh, crackling static. At least contact hadn’t been lost. Zhong Yi relaxed, her tone softening: “Okay, report immediately if there’s any situation.”
“…Okay…”
“Holy crap, isn’t this place a museum? Why are there so many scary things? I’ve got goosebumps.”
Xiang Zhengming rubbed his arms, looking around at the sculptures with bared fangs and brandished claws, their faces ferocious.
“You’re so noisy. True to your name.” [1]
Yan Hengze rolled his eyes inside his mecha: “Didn’t you do any homework before coming? This Hela Art Exhibition uses horror as a gimmick. The exhibits are all weird artworks bordering on urban legends.”
Outside the window, a crow cawed twice. Xiang Zhengming shuddered.
As Yan Hengze walked, seeing the golden-gray mecha getting closer and closer, almost squeezing him against the wall, he nearly rolled his eyes to the back of his head. He extended a finger and pushed Tai’a away: “I said, first, we are not close. Stay away from me. Please maintain a social distance of at least three meters. Second, we are not close, so please don’t treat me like one of your scoundrel friends and chat with me.”
Xiang Zhengming stopped and pointed a finger at him: “You! Tch, who cares. If you don’t want to talk, then don’t.”
Chengying walked steadily in front of them, diverting energy to observe the exhibited artworks as he walked.
He didn’t quite trust these laymen who knew nothing and were forced into this.
Tai’a took a few quick steps to catch up with Chixiao, who was looking down at the map, and quietly leaned in close: “Hey, bro, why didn’t you want to be a mecha operator? Piloting a mecha is so cool.”
Chixiao didn’t look up, only responding with a muffled voice: “My life pressure is huge, not as relaxed as yours. A person’s energy is limited; I can only do what I am capable of.”
“Huh?”
He still didn’t understand. What did that have to do with not wanting to be a mecha pilot?
Li Nanyi sighed: “Forget it. Our growing environments are different, and our thinking is different. Continuing to talk would just be like a chicken talking to a duck. Let’s finish the mission first.”
He put away the map and began identifying the intricate paths within the venue. After hitting a wall twice in a row, Xiang Zhengming shook his head, feeling like his luck this year was bad; the teammates he encountered were all weirdos.
Why did he agree back then? Li Nanyi wasn’t clear himself. Maybe because she said there was a salary, maybe because he wanted to know about his parents, or maybe, it was because of the child he saved.
Which reason it was exactly, he couldn’t say clearly himself. Or perhaps, he was used to escaping, using one problem to escape another. Out of the corner of his eye, he stopped. The mecha halted in front of an oil painting.
That oil painting—was no different from ordinary ones. A lady wearing a black hat and black gloves held an umbrella while standing beside a pond full of water lilies. Her expression was covered by a black veil, completely obscured. Li Nanyi stared at this painting; his intuition told him there was something wrong with it.
“The Lady in Black. Quite a famous urban legend. Looks like it was painted specifically for the competition.”
Yan Hengze walked over and glanced at it. Li Nanyi furrowed his brows: “No, the colors of this painting… aren’t right.”
“When I looked at it just now, it was mostly light colors. But now, the entire painting has turned into gloomy dark colors. Even the water lilies have turned black.”
He discovered the problem. Yan Hengze leaned in to look carefully, his expression turning serious. As they analyzed it there, Xiang Zhengming stared at the painting for a while, made a camera gesture with his hands, and took a step back.
“Hmm?”
He looked down. Shallow water stains rippled on the quartz floor. Xiang Zhengming turned his head left and right in confusion. Was there water here just now?
“Bilal, have you found it?”
A tall shadow stood below the exhibition stand, moonlight plating a layer of silver on His armor. Another equally tall figure hiding in the shadows answered with a rumbling voice: “Soon, we will find it very soon… The Cocoon, I can already sense it.”
[1] “True to your name”: A play on Xiang Zhengming’s name (向铮鳴). The character “鳴” (Míng) means to cry out, sound, or ring. The speaker implies he is noisy like his name suggests.
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