Paintings of Terror

Chapter 108: Ke Xun’s Potential

“Men and women, old and young,” Mu Yiran said quietly, “They’re no different from the people above ground, just blankly standing still.”

Zhu Haowen didn’t say anything.

“But this may prove that the research in this research institute is related to people.” Ke Xun remembered that before entering the gate of the institute, he saw a phantom figure through the window. It seemed to be shouting “Don’t come in.” It’s mouth was a black hole, just like the other figures seen through the camera.

“If they are studying people,” Zhu Haowen said, “then there seems to be too little equipment in Laboratory A and Laboratory B, especially in Laboratory B. I made sure to study it carefully. There’s no blood or blood stains in the laboratory. No remains of any human body and external tissues, of course, except for the words that seem to be written in blood on the wall.”

Speaking of bloodstains and human tissues, Wei Dong couldn’t help but shudder. “But, there are instruments and equipment in Laboratory C and D. What kind of abnormal human experiments are being conducted? For example, something like separating people into four parts and putting them back together into an entirely new person…”

“I hope not.” Zhu Haowen said.

“What’s the purpose of the author painting this?” Ke Xun said. “A dark style of painting? Like some dark comics, it attracts people with the gimmick of blood and violence?”

“If this is the case,” Zhu Haowen said, “then this painting obviously doesn’t have any major motivating force behind it.”

“So where would the artist sign a painting without a theme?” Wei Dong scratched his head. “In general, it would be in the lower left corner, the lower right corner, or in the blank space next to the central scene or figure in the painting.”

“The lower left corner, the lower right corner, isn’t that equivalent to the location of the basement?” Ke Xun said.

“Despite having talked for a long time, it’s like not saying anything at all,” Wei Dong muttered. “There are two test areas in the lower left corner and two in the lower right corner. Let’s talk about the four test areas, not ruling any of them out.”

“And it’s all just speculation,” Ke Xun said. “We don’t know the meaning of this painting. Whether the signature is in the left or the right corner is also speculation. I think this is like the previous paintings. Only after the first night will we get more clues.”

Thinking of the unknown horror that was about to come, they didn’t say anything for a long time.

The passage of time seemed both fast and slow in the darkness, and after an unknown amount of time, the sounds of footsteps broke the silence.

It was the sounds of leather shoes stepping on concrete floor, causing an empty reverberation. It came from outside the test area, slowly descending from the stairs, and then moving along the corridor before walking towards this side at an unhurried pace.

There was more than one sound of soles treading on the ground. They came one after another, both quickly and slowly.

They walked over, and then made the sound of opening the door of the test areas one after another, followed by the sound of opening and closing doors. Finally, the sounds of footsteps died away, until at last a few lone footsteps stopped outside the door of Laboratory A and B.

The four people sitting against the wall instantly held their breath.

The “people” from outside wanted to come in?

After coming in, would everyone die?

This was a situation they had never encountered before in previous paintings—Listening to the sounds of footsteps just now, it seemed that those people were about to enter the room!

The “painting” would never allow everyone to die in one fell swoop. As long as it wasn’t the seventh day, everyone wouldn’t be killed overnight.

So what was the situation now?

Wei Dong, who was sitting next to Ke Xun, clutched Ke Xun’s left arm so tightly that he felt as if his bone would break. But he didn’t move away. If this could give Wei Dong a sense of security, then so be it.

Hearing the sound of the card machine at the door, Mu Yiran suddenly said in a low voice, “No matter what happens, don’t make a sound.”

The other three people stayed mute, but Mu Yiran knew that they were listening, staring in the direction of the door in the darkness. Suddenly, he felt warmth in his hand, and he realized that Ke Xun, who was sitting next to him, was holding his hand.

Mu Yiran was about to break free, but he heard the door being pushed open. Two sets of footsteps entered before closing the door behind them.

Mu Yiran no longer moved, letting Ke Xun hold his hand. A steady stream of heat came from his palm, dry, warm, and full of strength.

Mu Yiran pursed his lips, raised his chin slightly in the darkness, and looked in the direction of nothingness above.

After those footsteps entered the door, they did not turn on the light, and instead walked around in the dark, calm and easy going. They seemed familiar with the room, as if they were just going about with their daily work, giving everyone the illusion that these “people” were actually working in high-rise offices.

The footsteps were still moving about, broken by a few whispers in the middle. Ke Xun tried to listen carefully, but although he was clearly in the same room, he couldn’t make out a single word.

Then, the noises in the dark space began to increase. There was the sound of metal utensils rubbing and colliding, and small iron cages trembling and groaning. There was the sound of papers being flipped and small animals squeaking.

As if, in this invisible darkness, a normal experiment was being carried out.

The four people leaning against the wall were motionless, trying their best to keep their breathing light to a minimum, and trying to identify the movements in the darkness and the trajectory of “their” behavior.

Like this, maybe half an hour passed, maybe an hour passed, but at the moment when midnight fell, in the yawning darkness of the experimental area, there was a sudden sound of a baby’s laughter.

Giggle.

Ke Xun noticed Wei Dong shivering.

Giggle.

There was another sound.

In a situation like this, hearing the innocent and cheerful laughter of a little baby was disturbingly eerie.

Ke Xun felt a chill rise from his tail vertebrae and climbed up his spine, as if a baby’s hand was gently stroking up along the skin.

He thought he might have also shivered, because Mu Yiran tightened his hold on him, using a little bit of strength.

Ke Xun retracted his fingers and held him tighter.

After facing death side by side so many times, he had, in fact, gradually become numb to fear. Life and death was becoming more and more commonplace, and Ke Xun sometimes even felt that the calm that came with waiting for death with the person next to him was more timeless, providing a more worthy aftertaste.

Sounds of footsteps stomped towards the laughing baby, and all kinds of fine sounds continued to be heard. Suddenly, a voice said something, and everything abruptly stopped.

This voice was a bit dull and ambiguous, so that it clearly rose above the other voices, but it was still completely indistinguishable. It was neither like a dialect nor a foreign language. If one must define it, then it was more like…a language from another world.

Before they could analyze what kind of language it was, a sharp metal percussion pierced through the darkness. The sound was beyond unpleasant. It wasn’t crisp like metal, but more chaotic, like metal scraping against a broken tool.

This harsh sound instantly filled the entire room, piercing their ear drums overwhelmingly from all directions. They were stunned, unable to think and inwardly writhing. There were no interruptions in the sound, no gaps in the middle. It rang continuously, not giving them a single moment of respite, so that they felt as if their heads would burst into pieces at any moment.

Wei Dong couldn’t bear it. He let go of Ke Xun’s arm and desperately covered his ears. The other three people also did the same thing. Zhu Haowen even covered his ears and clamped his head between his knees.

But to no avail.

No matter whether it was with hands or knees, covering their ears made no differences. They were completely unable to block the intrusive sound at all. That high-pitch, that unending, that tearing sound with no undulations, no gaps, continued to pierce their eardrums, shocking them to the point of bursting blood vessels, to the point of insanity.

The blood vessels in Ke Xun’s head went into a sudden state of shock, and even light flashed before his eyes. He gave up covering his ears and fumbled for Wei Dong, but Wei Dong had already rolled away out of his reach.

Next to him, Mu Yiran became aware of Ke Xun’s movements. Fearing that he would go out of control and do something impulsive, Mu Yiran was about to grab on to him. But suddenly, he felt dry palms covering the hands he’d placed over his own ears.

Mu Yiran was stunned. Immediately after, he wanted to push him away, but Ke Xun continued persistently. He got up, knelt in front of Mu Yiran, and forcefully wrapped his arms around him, pushing his head into his upper body, using his entire embrace to hold him firmly and cover his ears.

Mu Yiran never knew that Ke Xun was so strong. He struggled a bit but couldn’t escape him at all.

If he used his full strength, he might be able to break free, but he was afraid that doing so would alarm those “things” in the darkness.

Mu Yiran sighed inwardly and had to let it go.

And this, indeed, was useful.

The strange thing was that in such a noisy environment, he could still hear Ke Xun’s heartbeat.

His head was pressed against Ke Xun’s chest, and he could still hear his heartbeat over everything else.

Thump, thump.

Calm and powerful, steady and warm.

Thinking of how fierce and ignorant he was when he’d entered a painting for the first time, he suddenly realized that this guy was better than anyone, adapting faster and growing faster than anyone else.

Just like that sunny, bright and cheerful youth in the photo in his closet, who grew up in a single night to bear all the pains of the world. But he still smiled, carrying on the sloppy appearance of a playful, carefree man, brimming with laughter.

The harsh metal percussion continued to pierce their eardrums and brain nerves. The terrifying and extremely painful sound was torturous. Wei Dong and Zhu Haowen were both completely huddled on the ground, trying hard to fight against the shattering sound with all their strength.

Mu Yiran knew that this situation was incredibly tortuous, but he was surprised that Ke Xun, with nothing covering his ears, still managed to cover him motionlessly, his heartbeat still the same frequency, so calm and powerful.

Mu Yiran suddenly remembered that there were a few rare people in this world who would explode with a terrifyingly huge potential when faced with a critical situation. There was no way to cultivate this kind of potential, no way to achieve it by acquired training, and no way to reach it as an ordinary person.

Therefore, such a person was a talented person who was beyond the reach of ordinary people.

The strong resistance and endurance that Ke Xun showed at this moment exceeded Mu Yiran’s expectations.

This guy seemed to be getting stronger every time he went through the baptism of the “painting”, whether it was courage, mind, willpower, endurance, or his…cheekiness.

Just when Wei Dong had reached the limit of endurance, and had even begun to groan faintly, he suddenly heard a heart-piercing baby cry in the darkness. The tender and undulating tone suddenly slowed the harsh metal percussion, giving them reprieve from the nerve-wrecking sound. The four of them only felt that their whole bodies could slightly relax, allowing them to maintain a step away from the edge of madness and collapse.

The baby’s crying and the metallic noise were intertwined, lasting for a long time. Then, at last, it ended with a final metallic note. Wei Dong and Zhu Haowen were limp on the ground. Mu Yiran pushed Ke Xun away, only to discover that that person had suddenly lost all strength. As he fell softly toward the ground, Mu Yiran subconsciously stretched out his arms. He wrapped them around Ke Xun, embracing him.