Paintings of Terror

Chapter 119: Unafraid of Life or Death, Unyielding to Fate

“You’re back?” Mu Yiran took the phone that Ke Xun had handed back and pulled up the photo album.

“Did you take a picture of that half one inch photo in the toilet?” Zhu Haowen looked at Ke Xun.

“I don’t know if you’ve ever played games like escape rooms.” Ke Xun patted Zhu Haowen on the shoulder. Suddenly he thought of something, paused, and then put his hand down very naturally. “The rule is that all seemingly useless or small and inconspicuous things may be the key to customs clearance, so I think that even if it is half a photo thrown in a toilet pit, it’s best not to ignore it.”

Zhu Haowen looked down at Ke Xun’s hand, and then turned his gaze to the screen of Mu Yiran’s phone.

The photo Ke Xun had taken was displayed on the screen. The revealing portion of the photo had already been blocked with a mosaic.

The half that could be clearly seen revealed an ordinary-looking man. Because the photo was too old and was photocopied, it was difficult to determine his age. However, he didn’t seem too old. His hair was dense and fluffy, his eyebrows were straight, and the corners of his lips were curved in a shallow smile.

“Haowen’er, cell phone,” Ke Xun said.

Zhu Haowen immediately understood his intention. He took out his mobile phone, turned on the camera, and then the three of them compared the images on the two mobile phones, looking for a face similar to the one in the photo among the gray figures in the room.

Looking carefully at each individual face was a really uncomfortable process. The longer they looked at the gray faces, the more terrifying these figures became. Because, while they were looking at these figures, these figures were also looking back at them with dead, vacant eyes that had lost all the emotions and vitality of humans.

“These people are probably all experimental test subjects who had underwent a failed frontal lobotomy,” Zhu Haowen said coldly.

“But remember, the operation on one test subject was successful and he entered the second phase of testing.” Ke Xun looked at Mu Yiran.

Mu Yiran nodded. “Test subject No. 282.”

Ke Xun said, “None of these figures were him, and their clothes had no 828 on it either.”

Zhu Haowen said, “Might he be outside, perhaps in the other labs? Or in the corridor? Or even above ground?”

Ke Xun said, “We can’t let go of the slightest possibility. We’ll have to ask the others to help us look.”

Ke Xun asked everyone to retake a photo with their mobile phones and then they searched the entire institute.

Time waited for no one, and the sky was getting darker.

They didn’t bother with dinner. Even so, despite having searched all the way until 11 in the evening, they still couldn’t find a shadow of that person among those gray figures.

Mu Yiran and Ke Xun went to Laboratory B and knocked Wei Dong unconscious before returning to Laboratory D.

Three people sat next to one another in the corner, like every night in the painting, waiting for death’s footsteps.

“This is probably the most unsure we’ve been,” Ke Xun said, breaking the silence, trying to make his tone as calm and relaxed as possible. “It seems like there’s no way to avoid it, right?”

Mu Yiran didn’t speak, but he could feel the heat radiating from the person beside him in the darkness.

This man had figured out a way to avoid death for all his friends, but he couldn’t think of one for himself.

“Do you think Huang Pi and Qi Qiang are a bit weird?” Zhu Haowen suddenly said.

“Although Qi Qiang is fierce, he is a hoodlum at best,” Ke Xun said. “It’s Huang Pi that’s really difficult to deal with. He’s the one that’s really ruthless.”

“Why would these two people go to a place like an art gallery?” Zhu Haowen questioned.

“I presume that Qi Qiang went in to steal things,” Ke Xun said. “It certainly wasn’t to steal paintings but more like the phones or bags of spectators. But why was Huang Pi there? I don’t know.”

Zhu Haowen didn’t ask any more questions, but went on to say, “The two strange things about them are that Huang Pi suddenly proposed to draw lots today to get our numbers, and even though they both got Lab C, they weren’t dissatisfied. I thought they would at least force someone to switch numbers with them. After all, Lab B is currently the safest.”

“Now that you mentioned it, it’s true that these two people were acting a bit weird,” Ke Xun said. “When Qi Qiang drew the C card at that time, I remembered that he was mad and threw the card on the floor. Then I don’t know why, but he ended up going to Lab C honestly. Could it be that he was bewitched like in the last painting?”

“No.” Mu Yiran answered. “I think Huang Pi’s preferred number card wasn’t originally Lab B. People like him are very vigilant and defensive. There’s absolutely no way he would allow someone to make him unconscious, so Lab B wasn’t a place he wanted to go.”

“Lab C was his ultimate goal, especially when he saw that Zhang Hanrui, who has become a vegetable, is also assigned the C card, which puts her even more in his hands.”

Ke Xun frowned. “You mean, in the experiment in Lab C, Huang Pi wanted to be paired with Zhang Hanrui? Since Zhang Hanrui could no longer move, once the power is turned on, Huang Pi would be the first to let go, giving him a 100% chance of survival.”

“This was clearly his goal,” Mu Yiran said coldly. “The order of the draw this time should be exactly what he intended, so he didn’t take the initiative to say anything afterward. If he drew one of the top numbers or got an A card, I think he’ll likely show his true color and force someone to switch with him.”

Ke Xun cursed in a low voice.

“As for Qi Qiang,” Mu Yiran continued. “As a person of the same kind as Huang Pi, he guessed Huang Pi’s intentions earlier than us, and after seeing Xu Zhen, who had also drawn Lab C, he gained more confidence in his own survival.”

“Women’s reaction speeds are a little slower than men. Of course, the case of Zhang Hanrui and Deng Guang was an exception.”

“Secondly, Qi Qiang makes a living by stealing. He relies on his pickpocket’s hand speed. Even if Xu Zhen’s physical function is at its peak, I’m afraid that she won’t be faster than Qi Qiang when it comes to hand speed.”

“After figuring this out, Qi Qiang happily accepted the C card.”

Ke Xun was silent for a moment before speaking, “In that case, Huang Pi and Qi Qiang will survive tomorrow in Lab C.”

“If there’s no accident, it should be so,” Mu Yiran said.

Ke Xun didn’t speak. It was unknown what he was thinking about in the darkness, but after a while, he suddenly turned on the flashlight to illuminate the wall on the right. “I’m seeing some bloodied handwriting on that wall. What’s it saying?”

Mu Yiran was sitting on Ke Xun’s right side, and so he turned his head to look. Suddenly, Ke Xun raised his hand and chopped at the back of Mu Yiran’s neck, causing him to immediately lose consciousness and fall down. Ke Xun raised his arms in time to catch him .

He gently rubbed the back of Mu Yiran’s neck and then positioned him so that he was leaning against the wall.

“What are you doing?” Zhu Haowen’s voice came from behind.

Ke Xun turned his head to look at him. “Remember, Dr. Qin said that during frontal lobotomy, the patient will be kept awake so that the doctor can inform the patient of the next step in the procedure.”

“So you knocked out Mu Yiran so that he wouldn’t be the first choice for experimentation.”

Zhu Haowen gave Ke Xun a complicated look.

“Bingo. You can be next.” Ke Xun gave him a harmless smile, “You’re welcome. You can just call me a young pioneer.”

“But Dr. Qin also said that if the patient doesn’t respond, the doctor will wake the person up with electric shocks,” Zhu Haowen said.

“The premise is that they use a conscious patient to perform the operation. After the operation causes the patient to lose consciousness, electric shock will be used instead of going with a comatose patient for the operation. Zhang Hanrui is an exception. She woke up halfway,” Ke Xun said. “Consider animal experiments. Don’t they always pick animals that are alive and at least moving? When have you ever seen them use animals that seemed as if they’d died?”

“But if all three of us fainted,” Zhu Haowen said, “what if they ended up picking one person to do the experiment anyway.”

“Haowen’er, you and Dongzi were unconscious when you were in Lab B, and you didn’t see those ‘researchers’ wake you up to be experimented on.” Ke Xun looked at him with eyes that were like stars on a summer night. “I would rather take a gamble. This Lab D may have the same rules. Will you believe me or not?”

Zhu Haowen looked into his eyes. After a long moment, he said in a low voice, “I believe you. But what about you, you can’t knock yourself out.”

“Of course I can.” Ke Xun winked at him. “I’ll tell you that, regarding Boss Mu’s technique of pinching people’s necks to make them faint, I’ve asked Dr. Qin in private about it and I’ve learned it.”

After speaking, he pressed his hand at a certain position on his neck. “As long as this place is pressed, people will pass out. I can find something to press against it and knock myself out.”

“You find the right thing first.” Zhu Haowen looked at him blankly.

Ke Xun got up and moved a chair over. He took the mop from behind the door, stepped on the mop head, grabbed the mop handle, and inserted the handle into the gap on the back of the chair to fix it in place. Finally, he took off his T-shirt and wrapped it around the head of the handle. He held it to his neck and made an OK gesture to Zhu Haowen.

Zhu Haowen was a little speechless. “Are you sure this stick won’t kill you directly?”

Ke Xun laughed. “I’m an expert at doing something like this. Don’t worry. I’ll angle my body and use the force of my body. Once I lose consciousness, my body will definitely tilt to the side without hurting my neck.”

Zhu Haowen silently watched his smile. After a long time, he calmly said, “Don’t chop my neck. Pinch it instead.”

Ke Xun rubbed his thumb against his fingers. “I just happened to let you see this new method I learned. To be on the safe side, let me give a last word first. It’s best to attach some kind of payment pin number to the treasure.”

Zhu Haowen: “…”

“Come on. One nap until dawn coming right up.” Ke Xun stretched his fingers and pressed down on Zhu Haowen’s neck. “Good night.”

Under this calm, warm, and common greeting, Zhu Haowen plunged into the darkness of senselessness.

Ke Xun placed him next to Mu Yiran and leaned him against the wall. Then he stood up and turned around.

He wasn’t sure whether this would allow them to successfully escape the death selection in Lab D. If not, regardless of whether any of the three of them would survive tomorrow or whether none would survive at all, he wouldn’t allow himself to be killed senselessly.

When it came to death, he’d experienced the horror of it the first time he’d entered a painting, and he’d also experienced the calmness of it now. At the beginning, he could only completely rely on Mu Yiran, but now he could fight hand in hand with him, even on his own.

He was unafraid of life or death, but he also didn’t want to yield to fate.

Even if he was going to die tonight, he wouldn’t go down without a fight. Maybe Mu Yiran and Zhu Haowen would survive. Even if they didn’t, there was still Wei Dong. Therefore, he couldn’t die in vain.

Ke Xun stood in the middle of the room, looking down, thinking.

Suddenly, he had a flash of inspiration. He hurried to the desk, pulled out a large roll of transparent tape from the drawer, found a pen and a plastic folder, cut it, and wrapped it with tape. The final product was a simple and rough mobile phone holder.

Finally, he took out the phones from Mu Yiran and Zhu Haowen’s pockets. He’d already asked for the passwords to unlock their screens beforehand. He started with Zhu Haowen’s screen first, brought up the camera, turned on the flashlight function, and scanned it around.

The light was too dim, allowing him to see only one to two meters in front of him. He turned on all the flashlights and used them to illuminate the desk and laboratory equipment.

Even with this, the light was barely suitable and the visibility range is only slightly larger. Ke Xun fixed the mobile phone holder in a position that would record the desk and the laboratory equipment.