Paintings of Terror

Chapter 129: A Collective Con

They all ate dinner together and didn’t talk much about the painting. After all, everything that could be said had already been said within the past ten days. The only thing they could do was eat, drink, and recharge since they had already made adequate preparations for entering the painting.

Wei Dong watched Ke Xun and Mu Yiran exit the room with raised eyebrows. He asked the person next to him, “Do you think the big boss would allow the kid Ke’er to conquer him?”

After waiting for a long time and hearing no response, he turned around to look and saw that Zhu Haowen had already left for some time.

Ke Xun nested himself in the sofa in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, watching rain fall over the city, his figure illuminated by the neon lights outside.

Mu Yiran sat opposite him, using his mobile phone to work.

There were no lights in the room, and the neon light coming from outside and the light of the mobile phone were reflected on his face.

So handsome, Ke Xun thought.

He took out his cell phone, logged into his Weibo, and made a post.

Corgi has an owner: Taking in that face is like taking drugs. Who takes, who knows.

Three different types of comments appeared.

Crossing the ocean to you: Your face fan has come to report, looking for medicine.

They both barked: Fans don’t fight for spring, they only report spring.

Did the idol marry me today: When the chrysanthemums are blooming, the aunts smile.

Ke Xun: “…”

Looking at the number of fans that had, at some unknown point in time, broken through 30,000, Ke Xun could only stare.

After clicking on the hundreds of unread messages, it only took reading two dozens of them to discover the reason.

Beautiful Man Locator, who he’d blocked, had shared the photo of him that Zhang Hanrui had posted to her Weibo and promoted it everywhere. This was immediately forwarded by a big marketing account handle, with the title “Handsome Guys Photographed by Amateurs on the Street.” He was placed in the middle of nine grids.

Below this post, Beautiful Men Locator’s reply garnered the highest number of likes, and the content of the reply was: The ID of the handsome little brother in the fifth grid is @Corgihasanowner. The little brother is especially endearingly silly, especially adorable~~ [Handsome] [Licking Screen]

Ke Xun: “…”

Looking back at the Weibo post he’d just made, the number of comments had already exceeded 100….

The comment with the highest number of likes was simple and rude: If there’s no photo, you say J8.

Ke Xun: “…”

After working until 9 o’clock, Mu Yiran finally put down his cell phone. When he looked up, he saw that Ke Xun had fallen asleep on the opposite sofa, and so he couldn’t help but pick up the phone to check the time.

…He became sleepy just after nine o’clock? Did he have the biological clock of a three-year-old child?

“Ke Xun, go sleep in bed.”

Ke Xun opened his eyes with a dazed expression, like a child who couldn’t find his home or his parents.

Mu Yiran felt his heart soften.

“Did you not sleep well last night?” he asked and got up to turn on the bedside lamp.

The warm and yellow light suddenly gave this exquisitely decorated room an ambiguous atmosphere. Ke Xun recovered his senses, the thoughts in his mind startled into scattering like a flock of sparrows.

“Yeah.” Ke Xun stood up from the sofa and scratched his head.

“Why?” Mu Yiran asked.

Ke Xun licked his lower lip and looked up at him. “I thought I would see you today and I was so happy that I couldn’t fall asleep all night.”

Mu Yiran looked at him for a moment, and lifted his chin slightly. “Come here.”

Ke Xun’s core jerked. Then he walked slowly toward him, thinking whether he would hug his waist or hold his shoulders, or maybe hold his face with both hands. He was about to fill in all the options when he saw the boss stretch out a hand and rubbed his dog’s head. He said, “Then go to bed early so you’ll have enough energy.”

Ke Xun mumbled, “Okay.” …At this rate, he might really be a corgi.

The sound of the rain was shallow all night, and they slept as usual.

It rained all the way into the next day. Everyone had breakfast in the hotel restaurant, and then returned to Ke Xun and Mu Yiran’s room to make the final preparations prior to entering the painting.

This was nothing more than collecting more of the paintings from the sixteen painters that would be on display today at the Flower on Water Art Gallery.

Ke Xun answered Li Yaqing’s call. The girl had also arrived in E City yesterday and told him that she’d stayed at a youth hotel. Ke Xun told her the Crystal Swan Hotel’s address and asked her to come and meet everyone so that they could all go to the gallery together in the afternoon.

Half an hour later, Li Yaqing knocked on the door. Behind her stood a young man about her age, wearing black-rimmed glasses, very skinny and full of a student’s vitality.

“This is?” Ke Xun raised an eyebrow.

“My boyfriend…” Li Yaqing’s eyes were red. Every day, when the girl called Ke Xun, she would be crying, and she’d cried again on the way here.

As she said this, Li Yaqing made as if to enter the door, but Ke Xun stretched out his long leg to block her. He looked at her blankly and asked, “What did you bring him for?”

Lin Yaqing’s tears came down again. “He insists on coming with me…”

In a sudden burst of anger, Ke Xun pulled Li Yaqing into the room and slammed the door shut, shutting her boyfriend outside.

“What’s wrong with you?!” Ke Xun frowned and stared at Li Yaqing. “Once you enter the painting, unless you die in it, you have to continue entering more paintings–We’ve all told you this. Why would you pull your boyfriend in? Do you want to hurt him?”

“I didn’t…” Li Yaqing cried. “I thought…I might die this time…I just wanted to leave a suicide note with my family…But he found out and asked me what was going on…He, he’s very smart…I lied and he didn’t believe me…When I came to E City, he followed…He said that whatever I wanted to do, he’ll do it with me…I tried to persuade him and couldn’t stop him…”

Wei Dong heard her words and was a little speechless. “Your boyfriend didn’t think you were tricked into a multi-level marketing den, right?”

Ke Xun thought for a moment . Just now, when the kid was staring at him, his gaze was full of defensiveness and hostility. He couldn’t help but sighed. “It’s almost impossible not to think so.”

As he was talking, they heard the kid outside said very calmly, “I’m warning you, let her out immediately. I’ve called the police and notified the hotel security.”

Ke Xun opened the door, grabbed the boy by the collar, and pulled him into the room. Then he slammed the door shut and pushed him forward. “Dr. Qin, I’m leaving him to you.”

Qin Ci stood up, took out his ID from his bag, and handed it to Li Yaqing’s boyfriend. “Hello, I’m a doctor from the No.1 Hospital in X City. This is my ID card. This is my doctor’s certificate. You can dial 114 to check the number of our hospital, then dial 0231 to my work department and ask the staff there to confirm my identity.”

Li Yaqing’s boyfriend didn’t easily believe Qin Ci’s remarks and took his ID. He checked it over carefully and even took his phone out to take a photo.

Qin Ci didn’t mind his actions. After the boyfriend was done taking a photo, he took his ID back and calmly glanced at Li Yaqing. “The reason why Xiao Li is hiding from you is that she didn’t want you to be worried about her. The reason she came here was to treat her depression.”

“I don’t know if you understand depression, but I’ll put it in simple terms. This disorder is very difficult to treat. At present, the international community has been trying various quick and effective methods. Thus, it could be said that the treatment of depression has always been constantly evolving.”

“So, this time, when a depression treatment program is scheduled to be held in E City, I brought Xiao Li and a few other patients to participate, hoping to get some help from colleagues in the industry. For these patients, this is a great thing, a good thing.”

“How is Xiao Li’s state recently? As her boyfriend, you should be very clear. This is one of the symptoms of depression. We don’t want her relatives and friends to be nervous or to react intensely after learning the truth. For the patient, this can aggravate her condition.”

“So, this is why Xiao Li’s trip is relatively secretive. We don’t want to impinge on our patient’s privacy, so please understand and respect her and the other patients.”

After saying this, he raised his hand and gestured to the other people in the room.

Wei Dong was taken aback for a moment. Then he cooperatively pasted on a depressed expression. “I really don’t want to live anymore. What’s the meaning of being alive? Xiao Zhu, why don’t we say goodbye to this world together.”

Speechless, Zhu Haowen turned a blind eye to his request for cooperation.

“Do you understand what Dr. Qin said?” Frowning, Ke Xun gazed steadily at Li Yaqing’s boyfriend. “Li Yaqing doesn’t need you to be with her for the time being. You can go back to your hotel and wait there for her. She’ll be back before night falls.”

Li Yaqing’s boyfriend also stared at Ke Xun for a moment, feeling that this person was more depressed than the person before. Still, he refused to believe it easily. “Where’s the seminar? I can send her to the door.”

“The business conference hall on the 23rd floor,” Mu Yiran said. “It starts at 2 in the afternoon. Please deliver her on time. Now you can take her away.”

Before Mu Yiran’s words had even come to an end, Ke Xun had already opened the door and tilted his head toward Li Yaqing and her boyfriend.

Li Yaqing’s boyfriend was sensitive enough to realize that this depressed patient wouldn’t be easy to provoke. He didn’t say anything and pulled Li Yaqing out of the room. Of course, he was only bluffing about calling the police and the hotel security.

The moment Ke Xun closed the door, Mu Yiran picked up his cell phone. “Crystal Swan Hotel? I want to book a conference hall. Yes, I’ll use it this afternoon. 40 to 50 people. Tea is fine. A projector and speakers. Regarding the particulars, in 10 minutes, our group will send someone surnamed Qin to meet with your relevant person in charge. Thank you.”

Qin Ci: “…”

Wei Dong: “…” The big boss was the big boss. If there was no meeting, he would arrange a meeting.

Zhu Haowen looked at Mu Yiran. “Where would you find so many people?”

Mu Yiran wasn’t concerned. “There are four business conference rooms on the 23rd floor, and two large business meetings were already scheduled to be held there this afternoon.”

So there was no need to find others to act. No one would be able to tell which meeting the people coming and going to the 23rd floor would be attending.

In order to prevent an innocent person from getting involved, everyone had to work collectively to fool him.

“At that time, we can walk out through the back door,” Mu Yiran added.

Ke Xun looked at him in wonderment. “How did you know all these things? When did you inquire about the business meetings on the 23rd floor?”

Mu Yiran glanced at him indifferently. “I accidentally overheard the conversation from the neighbors at the next table when we were eating breakfast.”

Ke Xun: “…” Yes, the usage of one’s ears and eyes was also a kind of cleverness, and being able to make good use of these seemingly useless details was more than just cleverness.

The man he liked was so awesome.

At three in the afternoon, Li Yaqing appeared at the door of the Flower on Water Art Gallery under an umbrella.

The simple and majestic building was reflected by the lake water underneath, which was blurred and dreamy under the rainfall. However, no one had the mind to appreciate it, and they walked heavily through the doors in silence.

Due to the rain, there weren’t many guests in the gallery. Wei Dong said, “This time, maybe there won’t be enough people to make up the 13 people requirement.”

“I don’t think so,” Qin Ci whispered. “There are already six of us. And look over there.”

Everyone looked in the direction he signaled and saw Qi Qiang standing outside Hall F with a sullen face. Huang Pi was heading there with some caution.

“That makes eight people. Only five more people needed to be gathered.” Qin Ci glanced at the entire hall. No matter how few the guests were, five people would be enough.

No one said anything as they all slowly walked toward the entrance of this painting–Hall F.

As soon as they stepped into the hall, they heard a string of footsteps running toward them, accompanied by a shout. “Yaqing!”

Everyone turned their heads back and saw that it was Li Yaqing’s boyfriend running through the doors of the hall with a vigilant expression.

“What’s going on?!” Ke Xun’s gaze jerked toward Li Yaqing.

The coverup with the business conference was perfect. When her boyfriend sent her up to the 23rd floor, he even seemed convinced.

Li Yaqing was also uncertain. In that instant, the lights in the exhibition hall went out. Ke Xun heard her sobbing regretfully, “I–I wrote him a suicide letter…It was set to be sent out at 12 tonight if I didn’t come back…He–He must have logged into my mailbox…”