Paintings of Terror

Chapter 134: Is He a Corgi Or a Cat?

“About Mi Lun,” Mu Yiran said, “All I know is that he was only 38 years old when he died, and that he died abnormally.”

“An abnormal death?” Ke Xun looked at him with cat ears perked up.

“Suicide,” Mu Yiran said. “He seemed to be unmarried and was living alone. He was found dead in his apartment, having overdosed on sleeping pills. There was no suicide note. He had just finished painting Pure Land, which may be the last work of his life.”

“In this way, it seems that we can understand the reason why this painting was named Pure Land,” Qin Ci said. “In painting this, he might be expressing his desire for death. For him, death may possibly be a kind of relief. Like many people, he might have believed that, after death, he would be at ease and blissfully carefree. Is it possible that he was suffering from some kind of incurable disease, and so he wanted to relieve himself of it through death?”

“There’s no way to verify at this time,” Mu Yiran glanced at the six doors in the room. “If this painting is his legacy, all we have to do is find out the world he created and understand how his life experience is connected to the cause of his death.”

“Now that we know the contents of three worlds, should we check the remaining three worlds tomorrow?” Luo Wei asked.

“We can only check tomorrow. Nights are the most dangerous times in the painting.” Qin Ci looked at one of the doors. “Qi Qiang and the other two haven’t returned yet. I wonder if something happened to them.”

“Hurry up and get them back!” Zhao Haicui suddenly shouted. “Did they get lost? Has something happened?! Since you’re familiar with this place, go get them back!”

Wei Dong had already been long provoked by this woman. He replied angrily, “Are we obligated to do that?! Sister, if you have a makeup mirror, please take a look at how big your face is!”

“You–” Zhao Haicui argued back, but no one was willing to pay attention to her.

“Sister Zhao, why don’t we go find them?” her colleague Zhang Lifeng said. “Didn’t we all agree to leave behind track marks? If we follow the marks they made, we should be able to find them.”

Although Zhao Haicui was outlandish, she also had a persistent attachment to her companions. She glared at the others fiercely and followed Zhang Lifeng through the door where their other two colleagues had entered.

“One final piece of advice,” Ke Xun said to them. “Running around at night will really kill you so be careful, meow.”

Zhao Haicui turned and scolded, “Like hell I’ll believe you! A big man who meows like a cat, trying to sell cuteness! Disgusting!”

Having said her piece, Zhang Lifeng opened the door and left.

Ke Xun: “???”

Wei Dong spread his hands. “If a person wants to rush to her death, even the King of Hell wouldn’t be able to stop her. Meow.”

Ke Xun: “…”

Everyone: “…”

It was already past eight, and everyone sat on the ground, waiting for dawn or death.

Of course, they weren’t passively waiting for death. They were all focused on analyzing the painting and trying to explore any clues they had, a behavior that they had tacitly formed after cooperating so many times in previous paintings.

“Now, it seems like there’s a layer of fog in front of us, making this painting even more confusing than any I’ve entered before,” Qin Ci said in a deep voice. “There are two puzzles in front of us.”

“First, the three known worlds all have very different styles and time periods, and none of them bore any clues.”

“Second, what kind of effects do the props have?”

“Now, let’s brainstorm some ideas and not let ourselves be limited by established cognition. Even if something sounds extremely unreasonable, you should still speak it for others to consider.”

“Xiao Mu, you…cough, do you want to start?”

Qin Ci almost choked when he looked over and saw Ke Xun lying on Mu Yiran’s thighs like a big and lazy cat, his eyes narrowing into crescent arcs and his mouth opening in a big yawn.

“Fuck, I’m going blind.” Wei Dong covered his face with his hand and said to Zhu Haowen, who was sitting next to him, “They really think that us straight men are nonexistent, don’t you agree Comrade Xiao Zhu?!”

Zhu Haowen looked down, his face expressionless.

.

Mu Yiran raised his gaze from the face of the lazy cat on his lap, looked at the people in front of him, and said quietly, “Speaking of the different styles of the three worlds, the props we get are actually similar. They don’t belong to the same style and period, and so I think they may be related to these six worlds.”

Like a dreamer awakening at these words, Zhu Haowen abruptly raised his head and looked at him. “You mean, the props we have may correspond to these six worlds?”

Mu Yiran nodded slightly. “We can try to make a connection between them.”

Put the 13 props they have and the three known worlds on opposite sides and try to find the correlation between them.

“I have a pen and paper.” Luo Wei took out a palm-sized notebook and a pen from his jacket pocket.

One the left side was the prop column:

Two longan cores

Ancient scholar Confucian scarf

Ancient copper pot engraved with flowers

Writing brush

Fishing rod

Cat whiskers

Sword

Fruit

Red, round stone

Bunny ear headband

Cat ear headband

Dragon horn headband

Black flared pants and red and white stripes T-shirt

The known world on the right:

Ancient world before the Qing Dynasty

Paper-cut two-dimensional world in late Qing Dynasty

Anthropomorphic animal world with a modern social background.

Everyone looked at the two columns on the paper and proceeded to explore the connections between these two classifications.

[Ancient world before the Qing Dynasty] Applicable props: two longan cores, ancient scholar Confucian scarf, ancient bronze flower pot, writing brush, fishing rod, sword, fruit, red round stone;

[Paper-cut two-dimensional world in the late Qing Dynasty] Applicable props: fishing rod.

[Anthropomorphic animal world with a modern social background] Applicable props: fruits, red round stones, cat whiskers, rabbit ear headband, cat ear headband, dragon horn headband.

“None of the props we received are two-dimensional,” Luo Wei said, pointing to the items listed on the paper. “But there are fishermen in this two-dimensional world. Mr. Qin’s fishing rod can be temporarily connected to this world. In addition, a prop that is similar is the black flared pants and the red and white striped T shirt costume. Strictly speaking, this costume is actually suitable for an anthropomorphic animal world, but since we don’t know the contents of the other three worlds yet, maybe this suit can be connected to the other three worlds instead.”

“There are 13 props in total for 13 of us, and there are only six worlds here,” Zhu Haowen continued. “Utilizing some of the things we summarized earlier, we can speculate that most of the props apply to the first ancient world. From another perspective, this is proof that the other three worlds must be existences similar to the first ancient world, making these props application to them.”

“Meow, do you think these props are equivalent to a kind of secret key?” Ke Xun leaned on Mu Yiran’s lap and folded his hands under him in a studious pose. “These six worlds are like six locks. To really open the door and clear them, we have to connect the right keyhole with the right key.”

“In view of the rule that we’re not allowed to change props,” Mu Yiran answered, “we can only take the props we have already chosen and enter the world that corresponds to them. Perhaps, in this way, we can find more clues and locate Mi Lun’s signature.”

“It’s no wonder that we got nothing from the three worlds earlier,” Wei Dong suddenly said. “Obviously, some of us entered the wrong world and the props we carried aren’t consistent with the style of the world we entered. It’s just like entering the wrong password. Of course, the corresponding program wouldn’t open.”

“Then tomorrow, we can try to regroup by the style of our props and choose a corresponding world to enter,” Qin Ci said.

Wei Dong took out the writing brush from inside his pocket and said, “According to my prop, I should have entered the world that Ke’er and his group entered.”

“Then I’ll enter the anthropomorphic animal world?” Ke Xun finally left Mu Yiran’s thighs, sat upright, and turned to look at Mu Yiran. “Yiran’s prop is a fruit seed, which is applicable to the first ancient world. It also applies to the anthropomorphic animal world and may even apply to the other three unknown worlds as well.”

“It’s like drawing a lottery, trying to get the right numbers,” Luo Wei said. “If you got three or more of the same numbers, you’ll win the jackpot. Since the fruit might be applicable to multiple worlds, you might as well try different worlds and maybe you’ll find the right one. The same goes for everyone else. We can enter these six worlds several times in different combination to increase our chances of finding the right world.”

Everyone nodded in agreement. They became quiet for a while. Each of them found a corner and rested, though alert in case something might happen after night fell.

Ke Xun and Mu Yiran sat together, leaning against the wall and looking up at the wallpaper on the wall and ceiling. As night descended, the stars and moon patterns on the wallpaper gradually brightened with a starry, yellow light, seeming to flow slowly around with a kind of dreamy movement. If it weren’t for the fact that they were in a horror painting and could die tragically at any moment, this room would be as beautiful as a fairy tale.

“Yiran meow,” Mu Yiran listened as Ke Xun spoke in an unintentionally cute voice. “Did you have any uncomfortable reactions after eating that weird fruit?”

Mu Yiran did not answer, but instead glanced at him. “How do you feel now?”

Ke Xun thought for a moment, and meowed. “I’m very energetic, and I can see things very clearly. You see, right now, the light in the room is very dark, but I’m sitting here and I can see the little scruff that’s growing on Dongzi’s chin quite clearly.”

Mu Yiran frowned imperceptibly. He suddenly raised his hand and gently hooked Ke Xun’s chin, only to hear a purring sound coming from Ke Xun’s chest.

“Oh, meow…” Ke Xun’s voice was low and hoarse. He arched up, pulling close to Mu Yiran’s face. “Are you teasing me, boss?”

Mu Yiran lowered his eyes to look at him and said in a low voice, “Feeling very comfortable?”

“Extremely comfortable, meow~~~” Ke Xun reached out and grabbed Mu Yiran’s shoulders. Pressing his upper body to Mu Yiran’s chest, he rubbed the tip of his nose against his cheek, “Do it again, Yiran. Play with me again, meow.”

Mu Yiran raised his hand again, but instead of hooking his chin like before, he put his hand behind his neck and then squeezed. “See if you can move.”

However, Ke Xun was motionless, as if his soft points had been pinched. His eyes were wide, and he couldn’t even speak.

Mu Yiran let go of him, his voice still deep but very solemn and very serious. “Ke Xun, you’re turning into a cat.”