Paintings of Terror

Chapter 130: Thirteen Props

Paintings from the weird school were extremely outrageous and unhindered by rules.

After everyone entered the painting, they found themselves in a circular-shaped room with no doors or windows. The walls and roof were painted with strange wall paint. There was no furniture, except for a box in the center of the room.

Li Yaqing’s boyfriend was called Luo Wei. Since he was now inside the painting, there was no longer a need to hide anything from him, so Qin Ci told him about the painting’s rules in a low voice.

Luo Wei’s ability to accept was unexpectedly different from that of ordinary people. He listened calmly from beginning to end, and finally asked, “Is it impossible to reveal anything about the painting to the real world?”

Qin Ci felt that he was quick thinking, and nodded with some appreciation and regret in his eyes.

“It can’t be verbal or written?” Luo Wei further confirmed.

“Neither,” Qin Ci answered.

“So, have you tried using Morse code?” Luo Wei’s calm and quick thinking eyes, the kind that belonged to a man of science and engineering, looked at everyone through the lens of his glasses.

Some of the others were so astounded by this sentence that they even forgot to blink.

“Fuck…” Wei Dong came back to life first, staring at Luo Wei with a jaw-dropping look. “We haven’t tried it! We haven’t tried it–maybe it’ll work!” He turned his head and looked at Mu Yiran. It seemed that only the big boss’ confirmation could affirm the feasibility of this idea.

“Even if it’s useful, so what?” The big boss was more calm and indifferent than Luo Wei. “Especially when considering people’s mentality toward novelty.”

“And the kind of people who couldn’t stay still if they didn’t make trouble,” Ke Xun added.

“…It’s difficult to guarantee that no one will actively want to enter the painting,” Mu Yiran said, his eyes cold. “What’s more, it’s not impossible for one enemy to trick another into entering a painting. And the most important factor to consider is that, once the existence of the painting is leaked on a large scale, would it result in a backlash from the powers behind the scenes? Therefore, we can only take a conservative approach and focus on entering the painting and relying on our own efforts to discover the laws behind it.”

Luo Wei glanced emphatically at Mu Yiran’s face, and calmly said, “I didn’t take those into considerations.”

Li Yaqing cried next to him, “I’m sorry…I’m sorry…I involved you…”

Luo Wei didn’t complain, and patted her shoulder instead. “You don’t need to be sorry. Everything has contingency and inevitability.”

“This young man is nice, it’s a pity…” Wei Dong whispered to Ke Xun.

“It’s a pity for any of us,” Ke Xun said.

Wei Dong sighed, walked to the center of the room, and circled the box twice. He didn’t see anything special but didn’t dare to move the box to check.

The others were also looking around. They were in a closed room with no doors or windows. The roof and walls were painted with wall paint, showing a dark blue background printed with countless golden star and moon patterns. At first glance, it was full of childishness. There was even a star-shaped golden lamp that radiated a creamy yellow light.

An airtight room could make it easier for people to become anxious. Qi Qiang was already short tempered enough as it was. After looking around for a while and still unable to find a way out, he couldn’t help but clash with the box in the middle of the room.

He wanted to open the lid, but no matter how much he pried, the lid remained stuck.

When Wei Dong saw that he’d taken a tool out of his pocket and was fiddling with the box, he couldn’t help but elbow Ke Xun, saying, “A professional.”

“It’s a pity that it would be useless here.” Ke Xun glanced at Qi Qiang, who had become so irascible from failing to open the box that he began kicking the box angrily.

Stuck in this closed room, everyone was either standing, squatting, or sitting, all silently waiting.

Given that it was raining in the world outside the painting, causing the museum to have few visitors, it was estimated that this time, it would take a long time to gather the numbers needed.

Ke Xun was standing next to Mu Yiran, shoulder to shoulder, leaning against the wall. The hand hanging by his side reached out and hooked around Mu Yiran’s fingers.

Mu Yiran didn’t react, letting him make these small movements. It wasn’t until his hands suddenly became itchy that he finally placed it in his pocket instead.

Ke Xun bent down into a squat, lowering his head to stare at the ground in a daze.

Mu Yiran’s eyelids lowered, his gaze dropping to the V-shaped hair at the nape of the man’s neck. The fingers in his pocket twitched slightly, and it took some effort to control himself.

Nearly two hours passed, and still no one was “captured” by the painting.

“Would we have less than 13 people this time?” Wei Dong’s face was gloating at this rule being broken.

“Look at the time on your phone,” Zhu Haowen said lightly.

Wei Dong took out his cell phone and was taken aback when he saw the time. “Why is it still stuck at the time when we entered the painting?”

“It means that during this period, time in the painting is frozen,” Zhu Haowen said. “I’m afraid that the time here won’t pass until 13 people are gathered.”

“What about the time outside?” Wei Dong asked hastily. “No matter how many days we stay in the painting, wouldn’t the time outside remain on the day we enter the painting?”

“The time outside will also pass, but it should generally be limited to the period between the gallery’s opening and closing time,” Zhu Haowen said. “As for how to get 13 people, that’s up to the driving force behind the painting.”

Wei Dong had to wait with everyone, and it was unknown how much more time had passed. The star-shaped lamp above his head suddenly flickered brighter, the light stabbing people into opening their eyes. The bright light darkened, and suddenly there were four more people.

No one moved. They all just looked at the four uninformed people. These four people consisted of two men and two women, all in their twenties and thirties, wearing work uniforms with badges on their chests. They all seemed to be together.

“What’s going on?” The curly-haired woman looked at everyone in surprise.

Everyone tacitly didn’t say anything and threw the job of explaining to Dr. Qin.

Qin Ci took the trouble of explaining what was going to the four people. From the side, Wei Dong told Zhu Haowen, “Next time, I’ll ask Dr. Qin to record it on his cell phone. When newcomers come, he could just directly play his recording, saving him the cost of using his voice.”

Zhu Haowen ignored him. His gaze fell on the box. Now that enough people had arrived, the plot would soon begin.

The four newcomers obviously didn’t have the same high degree of acceptance as Luo Wei. No matter how Qin Ci explained, the four of them refused to believe it and instead began to argue with him. In the end, Qin Ci didn’t want to waste his breath, shook his head, and walked away.

“Why don’t you talk?! Let’s get to the bottom of this!” The curly-haired woman snapped, staring in shock and anger at the strange people standing and squatting in front of her. A handsome man in a suit was also standing there, and so she took a few steps toward him.

“Hey, can you tell us what’s going on? Who are you? Why did you bring us here?!”

The veterans: ???

“I’m telling you, our colleagues are all outside, 40-50 of them. We just need to give them a call and they’ll certainly come!” the woman said. She seemed to have just remembered that she could use her phone, and so she took it out to call, only to see that there was no signal.

“You say something!” The woman became angry, and she stretched out her hand to try to grab the handsome man. The big human-shaped dog squatting beside him suddenly said, “Big sister, say what you want to say, don’t put your hands on people. You have no impression of how you got here?”

The woman was startled. She took a step back, looked down, and saw the youth’s ugly expression.

“We were looking at the painting! Then in the blink of an eye, we appeared here and saw you people. How can this have nothing to do with you?!” The woman stared at him.

“Look, you said that you came here in the blink of an eye. Then why don’t you blink to leave? Who’s stopping you from blinking?” the youth said.

“You’re sick!” the woman shouted angrily.

“Then you stay away, this disease is contagious,” the youth said, unconcerned.

“You–” The woman continued to struggle but was pulled away by her three companions.

At this moment, they suddenly heard a “pop,” and the lid of the box in the middle of the room opened by itself, causing everyone to freeze in their tracks. 13 pairs of eyes stared, displaying all kinds of emotions. But there were no subsequent movements, and the box simply remained motionless, quietly sitting there with its lid open, like a monster waiting to swallow everyone into its stomach, its mouth laying wide open in wait.

“Who did that with a remote control?” The curly hair woman scanned the crowd angrily, thinking that she was being pranked.

But no one paid attention to her. The veteran members exchanged glances. Ke Xun got up, walked lightly and cautiously over to the box, stopping when he got just near enough to see the inside of the box. Craning his neck, he looked inside. Then his eyebrows shot up and he turned to look at the veteran members. His gaze finally landed on Mu Yiran’s face and he said, “A bunch of strange things, placed next to each other.”

He turned his gaze back to the box and looked at it a few more times. “There are 13 pieces in total here, and there were words written on the inner wall of the lid: ‘Please choose an item according to your personal preference.’”

“It seems that this is the rule of this painting,” Qin Ci said.

The veteran members didn’t say any additional words, and instead they tacitly gathered around the box. Just as they were about to take a closer look at the props inside, they heard Wei Dong let out a “Hey” as Qi Qiang pushed past him from behind, plowing toward the front. It seemed that he wanted to get ahead of the crowd and choose a prop that was most beneficial to him.

Ke Xun squatted next to the box, holding his cheeks and watching Qi Qiang flip through the box with a smile.

Wei Dong knew his best bro best. He knew that Ke Xun was angry and was purposefully positioned to guard him. Guarded like this, Wei Dong felt more courageous, thinking Comrade Qi Qiang, it’s okay if you choose the right prop. If you don’t choose the right prop, you might get beaten and have your prop snatched.

It felt good to be protected.

From the time they met when they were three to four years old, Wei Dong had often felt a sense of security, like having a protective guard.

He couldn’t help but look at Mu Yiran in frustration, only to be somewhat taken aback. The man stood behind Ke Xun as still as a mountain, his face cold and calm as usual, but Wei Dong could feel that there was a strange kind of aura emanating from him, an aura he’d never seen from him before, an aura like…

It was like every time when Ke Xun stood behind Wei Dong, he exuded exactly that same kind of aura.

Wei Dong had a sudden realization.

His iron-like best bro, his most deserving good brother, his patron saint since childhood, he finally one day had his own patron saint, a person who loved him the most.

Wei Dong’s eyes stung hotly, and he quickly turned his head away. He was about to pat his best bro on the shoulder in comfort when he noticed Mu Yiran shot him a glance, took two steps forward, and stood beside Ke Xun.

Why, the overbearing president was amazing! Declaring sovereignty without preamble! I’ll get out of your way. Wei Dong turned his head and decided to hug another single dog, Zhu Haowen, to keep warm.

Mu Yiran stood beside Ke Xun, looking down at him. He finally pulled his hand out of his pocket, placing it lightly on the back of the squatting human-shaped dog.

Mmn…Finally, he couldn’t hold back anymore and touched the tip of that hairy tail.