Paintings of Terror

Chapter 123: ET Experiment

The phone Ke Xun was using belonged to Xu Zhen, while the one Zhu Haowen was using belonged to Cai Xiaoyan. Meanwhile, Zhao Youyi and Deng Guang’s phones were with Qin Ci and Li Yaqing.

At midnight on the dot, the door to Lab D opened right on schedule, and the three of them quickly turned in their mobile phones and pulled up the camera.

Six to seven gray figures walked within the camera’s frame and began making preparations next to the desk and the experimental equipment.

Ke Xun simply walked over with his mobile phone, looking for No. 282 in these figures at close range.

He saw a “person” using a syringe to draw in anesthetic, while someone was taking out the sharp cone needed for the frontal lobotomy—Time was running out!

“Here!” Ke Xun was the first to spot No. 282. The person within the lens of the phone, like the other “people,” had a gray, thin, shriveled, and expressionless face. The pair of eyes that had originally appeared gentle and spirited in the photo was now dull and silent, and the jet-black eyeballs nearly occupied the entirety of his eye sockets. Even if these eyes were directly facing the light from the phone Ke Xun was holding, they could no longer reflect any light.

He lingered next to the ET machine, his blank face and eyes completely motionless.

“What are you looking at?” Ke Xun asked suddenly.

For some reason, he felt that his “person” was different from the other figures.

No. 282 did not respond to his question.

“Are these people test subjects or researchers?” Zhu Haowen suddenly asked.

If they were test subjects, why were they conducting the experiments?

If they were researchers, why was No. 282 a test subject?

Mu Yiran’s fingers flew over the phone screen, calling up several photos that he’d previously taken in areas outside of the laboratories. These were photos of all kinds of gray figures. After zooming in on the photos, he carefully observed the numbers on their chests. “Researchers also have numbers on their chest. The only difference is that the numbers on the researchers are the job number, while the numbers on test subjects are the experimental order number.”

“Then, if No. 282 is a test subject, why was he able to enter the lab at this time?” Ke Xun held up his mobile phone and took a picture. There were no other experimental test subjects in the laboratory aside from the researchers and No. 282.

Mu Yiran walked over to stand next to Ke Xun. He looked at No. 282 in front of him and then at the other researchers. Then, after comparing them to the photos in his phone, he pointed to the number on No. 282’s chest. “Look carefully. The numbers are different in style. The job number has a border and the font is an elegant black. On the other hand, the number on the test subjects has no borders and the font is a plain print. This No. 282 is a researcher.”

This discovery caught them off guard; they found it incomprehensible. What was the reason that a researcher would also become a test subject at the same time? Was he truly that dedicated to the research?

But time refused to wait for them to continue their observations. Several gray figures quickly walked toward them. Ke Xun hurriedly pulled Mu Yiran to evade them, but after all, these figures were equipped with supernatural powers, and so they were caught within moments. Ke Xun felt an irresistible force grab hold of his arm and violently dragged him toward the ET machine.

At the other end, Zhu Haowen was controlled by another force and firmly pressed onto the medical bed where the frontal lobotomy was to be performed.

Mu Yiran wasn’t selected, but he could only helplessly watch.

“Yiran—” Ke Xun was forced to sit on the seat next to the machine, where his head, hands, feet and body were bound with leather straps. Apart from speaking, he could not move at all. “Yiran—No. 282 must have a problem. I think he has the solution. He’s different from the others—”

Ke Xun was afraid that he would be gagged like he had been in Lab C, and so he tried to share his thoughts with Mu Yiran as quickly as possible. Mu Yiran stood next to the ET machine, but he could not stop those figures’ movements nor prevent them from turning on the machine. He watched through the camera as the headband was placed over Ke Xun’s head and his fingers, chest, lower abdomen, and even his unmentionable, were all connected with wireheads. The screens of varying sizes on the machine lit up with images similar to graphs from an electrocardiogram display.

On the bed, Zhu Haowen was being pressed down as one figure swiped him with an alcohol swab while the other figure held an anesthesia needle.

What were they going to do?

How could they stop this?

Where was the signature?

What would they need to do for it to appear?

Mu Yiran stared at No. 282 on the phone screen. No. 282 was standing next to the ET machine, facing the imprisoned Ke Xun on the seat. There was still no emotion on his face and eyes, and he was dull and silent.

He was different from the others, so what was the difference?

He had a solution, but what kind of solution did he have?

Mu Yiran frowned, and he couldn’t help but turned his attention back to focus on Ke Xun. The headband on his head was like the golden hoop around Sun Wukong’s head, a rock monkey whose nature was free, happy, and unfettered. Until he became the errand boy of others and morphed into a helpless soldier. Otherwise, he would throw off his bindings, follow his heart’s desires, and engage in the ardent affair of love and hatred.

“Ke Xun,” Mu Yiran couldn’t help calling him. “Hold on, I’ll find the signature.”

“Don’t worry.” Ke Xun smiled at him. “I shouldn’t die immediately on this ET machine, remember.”

As his voice fell, a dim light was suddenly projected from the projector on the desk, falling onto the wall opposite Ke Xun.

Both Ke Xun and Mu Yiran’s eyes focused on the wall, and even Zhu Haowen, while in the midst of being injected with anesthesia, struggled to pay attention.

Was it the signature? Could it be the signature?

With a click, an image appeared on the wall. It was an image all three of them had seen before from among the pile of photos in the desk drawer. The image was a full-length frontal picture of a half-naked man. The only reason he was half-naked was because his lower body had previously been blacked out by Ke Xun.

Ke Xun: “…”

So the projector was used to display images?

But the photos weren’t transparent, so how could they be projected?

However, this may only be a symbolic act of rendering in the painting. The meaning it wanted to express was to actually show these photos during the ET test.

—Why do this?

As Ke Xun was unable to make heads or tails of it, Mu Yiran paid close attention to the displays on the machine, which seemed to show Ke Xun’s heart rate and other strange data.

The clip-head-shaped wire connecting Ke Xun’s heart seemed to be an electrocardiogram measuring tool.

Why measure his heartbeat?

Mu Yiran suddenly remembered what he’d asked Ke Xun before: What was your reaction when you saw these photos?

As a homosexual, what would your reaction be when you see sexually suggestive photos of the same sex?

Mu Yiran vaguely realized something, but before he had time to think about it, he heard another click sound. The picture on the wall changed to another image in the stack of photos.

If these photos hadn’t been scribbled on by Ke Xun, perhaps they would conform to the gravity of the current situation. But now that these “things” were showing him these images with the graffiti still on, it was as if they were showing Ke Xun the images in complaint of his actions, giving it a kind of indescribable…humor.

As the photos switched from one to the next, Mu Yiran paid close attention to the frequency of Ke Xun’s heartbeat, which always remained at a steady rate.

Nearby, Zhu Haowen had already been injected with anesthesia, and several figures were prepping the surgical instruments next to him. However, Zhu Haowen’s mind was still clear.

“Ke Xun,” Zhu Haowen’s voice was a little faint, but still as calm as usual. “If I die here, please go to my residence. There’s a letter in my desk drawer, written to you. My address can be found on my phone.”

“Okay,” Ke Xun said.

With a click, the photo suddenly disappeared. A few seconds later, an image appeared on the wall once more. This time it was in video format, displaying a naked man with exquisite eyebrows and an provocative figure that kept making seductive movements.

“…” Ke Xun felt inexplicable. “What the fuck is going on—Ahh!”

An unexpected electric current pierced his skin through the tip of his finger, his lower abdomen, and the sensitive part of his body that was connected to a wire. The current flowed throughout his body, resulting in such indescribable pain that, in an instant, Ke Xun’s sweat flowed out. He felt as if he was on the verge of dying from the sharp pain.

He let out a groan in agony, and Mu Yiran saw that his entire body had suddenly shrunk in on itself, as if his bones were being fiercely deformed at this moment. It was hard to imagine the extent of Ke Xun’s pain, and Mu Yiran couldn’t help but blurt out, “Ke Xun! Are you okay?”

“I…I’m still…” Ke Xun was sweating, as if a bucket of water had been poured over his head. He opened his mouth to say more, but the pain was so strong that he could hardly make a sound.

Mu Yiran frowned tightly. Withdrawing his gaze with forced calm, he fixed his eyes on the screen of the phone.

The only way to save Ke Xun now was to find the signature as soon as possible.

Through the phone’s screen, No. 282 was standing next to the machine’s displays, with a dull face slightly drooping.

Was he looking at the display?

Mu Yiran had been paying attention to the frequency of Ke Xun’s heartbeat. However, even if the picture on the wall was switched from an image to a video, his heartbeat remained unchanged. So why did he get an electric shock?

Not because of his heart rate.

It was the data on the other displays.

Mu Yiran had also been paying attention to the other display screens. He quickly recalled the data just now, compared them with the current data on the screens, and found that the data on one screen had a slight fluctuation.

Obviously, this display was the same as the one that monitored the heart rate. It must be connected to some physical changes in Ke Xun’s body or within the body itself. The moment the video on the wall appeared, it had monitored a change in Ke Xun.

What was it then?

Dopamine? Adrenal hormones? Dilation and contraction of pupils? Or brain waves?

Mu Yiran didn’t believe that Ke Xun would have any sexual thoughts under these circumstances, so the changes monitored must be a conditioned response that could not be controlled by the consciousness.

This was the same reason that when hetersexuals were looking at naked photos of the opposite sex, even if they had no sexual attraction, there would be a sexual consciousness formed by logical thinking.

This was human instinct.

Unless Ke Xun became heterosexual, he wouldn’t be able to avoid being monitored for the changes produced by this reflex and would continue to suffer from electric shocks.

Mu Yiran’s eyes were as deep as a black abyss. Through the camera of the phone, he met No. 282’s gaze.

The ET test turned out to be Electroshock Therapy.

Homosexuality was a heresy, a perversion, and a mental illness.

This experiment was to use the violent means of electric shock to “treat” homosexuality into heterosexuality.