Paintings of Terror

Chapter 135: Body Changes

Ke Xun realized that his body was getting more and more weird. He reached out and touched his tail bone. “I haven’t grown a tail yet. I still have time, meow.”

“…” Mu Yiran stretched out his hand to cover the back of Ke Xun’s hand, trying to comfort him. But Ke Xun withdrew his hand from underneath and placed it over Mu Yiran’s hand.

Mu Yiran: “…” Alright, the cat’s paw must be on top.

“Meow, do you think my speech will gradually become incomprehensible? Then I will grow fur and a tail like a real cat, and only little female cats… or little male cats will become interested in me?” Ke Xun squatted down anxiously, his cat ears drooping.

“Maybe.” Mu Yiran didn’t want to give him too much hope. “It seems that our time will be very tight. This painting may be different from other previous paintings in that its killing method may not necessarily end our life directly, but…would destroy the part that makes us human.”

“Meow, this is as cruel as murder, meow!” Ke Xun was angry, and so the tip of his ears flipped back and forth. “But out of all of us, I’m the only one who has cat ears. Aside from the other two with the rabbit ears and the dragon horns, does this mean that the rest will be faced with different ways of having their human attributes destroyed?”

“Yes.” Mu Yiran answered without any hesitation, and his certainty and decisiveness made Ke Xun immediately suspicious.

“Yiran.” Ke Xun stared at him. “Did you get meow too? Is there something wrong with you? Tell me meow! Meow!”

Mu Yiran suddenly let out a small smile when he heard these meows. Seeing this, Ke Xun looked stunned. “You…what are you laughing at?”

“Sorry.” Mu Yiran returned to his usual calm expression. “I couldn’t help but laugh a little.”

Ke Xun: “…”

Mu Yiran slightly bent one slender leg, and answered Ke Xun’s series of follow-up questions from earlier. “I do feel some differences, but I’m not certain if it’s related to the fruit I swallowed. I need to gather more clues to confirm.”

“Where do you feel uncomfortable?” Ke Xun demanded.

Mu Yiran stretched out his hand and gently pinched the back of Ke Xun’s neck. “Let’s not talk about it now, lest your hair start to stand up.”

Ke Xun: “…”

Ke Xun couldn’t puff up his hair even if he wanted to. A cat’s vulnerable spot was at the back of the neck, and now that the big boss was pinching there, he could no longer move.

Wei Dong withdrew his gaze from them, turned his face ,and whispered to Zhu Haowen, who was sitting next to him. “Yep, it seems like the two of them are an item now. In the future, do you think I’ll be calling the big boss sister-in-law or brother-in-law?”

“If your mind is leisure enough to ponder this, it’s better to use your brain to quickly find clues,” Zhu Haowen said coldly.

“The brains of us artists are used to think about creativity and composition, not to find clues in the painting…” Wei Dong sighed, took out the prop brush, and ran the snow white tip over his fingers. “This is only a brush without paint. What’s the difference between this brush and uselessness? If you give me an extra box of ink, I can also show you my basic skills in creating an ink and wash painting. At the very least, a small chick eating rice painting wouldn’t be a problem.”

As he said this, he ran the dry brush head over his fingers a few times, then he said, “Why does it seem like my hands have become ugly?”

Zhu Haowen didn’t want to talk to him anymore. At this time, this fool still cared about whether his hands were good looking or not?

Wei Dong jumped up, seeming to regard this discovery as a major event. He rushed over to Ke Xun, exclaiming, “Ke’er! Look! Look at my hand! Do you see anything?”

He stretched out his hand in front of Ke Xun, who promptly slapped it away.

Wei Dong: “…”

Ke Xun coughed. “… I’m sorry. I don’t know why but I just subconsciously did that…Come, stretch it out and I’ll look at your delicate hands.”

It was no wonder that Wei Dong was so sensitive about his hands. After all, he was engaged in an industry that required his hands. Whether holding a brush or holding a mouse, his hands dangled under his eyes nearly all day. It could be said that, to Wei Dong, they were the most familiar parts of his body.

Ke Xun looked at Wei Dong’s hands thoughtfully for a moment. “It does seem like there’s been a change. They’re a little…swollen.”

“Right!” Wei Dong rubbed his hands. “What’s going on? Is it because they haven’t acclimatized to the environment of the painting?”

“Ask Brother Qin,” Ke Xun said.

Wei Dong hurried to Qin Ci. “Brother Qin, Brother Qin, what’s wrong with me? Why are my hands swollen?”

Qin Ci took his hands and squeezed tjem, then asked him, “Is it only your hands? What about your feet?”

Wei Dong quickly took off his shoes and socks, raised a foot, took a closer look, and was shocked. “My feet are swollen too! What’s going on?!”

Qin Ci squeezed his foot, frowning slightly. “This isn’t swelling, since there aren’t any pathological characteristics of swelling present. If I have to describe it, it’s like you suddenly became fat in a short period of time, and it is not puffy either, since the flesh under the skin is very dense.”

“Fat…?” Wei Dong was stunned. “Why did I suddenly get fat? Fuck—Others say they get fat by swallowing their own saliva, so how come I’m get fatting even by breathing?”

“Is this the painting’s effect on you?” Ke Xun’s voice suddenly rang out from behind him, startling him.

“Fuck, when did you come up behind me? How come you didn’t even make a sound when walking? You almost scared me to death!” Wei Dong clutched his hand over his heart.

“…I walked over normally, meow.” Ke Xun waved his hand, “Right now, Yiran and I, and also Dongzi, our bodies are changing. This must be the rule of this painting. Brother Qin, has anything changed for you?”

Qin Ci assessed his own state and shook his head. “I don’t seem to be changing right now.”

“Haowen’er, what about you meow?” Ke Xun turned his head and asked.

Zhu Haowen sat there, looked up at him, and after a long moment, calmly said, “I can’t see things clearly, and I seem to have become completely colorblind. Everything in front of me is gray, white and black.”

Ke Xun strode over and squatted down in front of him, his eyebrows slightly furrowed. “Can you see me from this distance?”

Zhu Haowen lowered his lids, then raised his gaze. “Yes, but it’s still a bit blurry.”

Ke Xun patted him on the shoulder, got up, and asked Luo Wei and Li Yaqing. “What about you two?”

Li Yaqing shook her head in horror. Luo Wei looked at her, his eyes hidden behind his glasses. “I’m fine for the time being.”

“Brother Pi, what about you?” Ke Xun asked Huang Pi.

“…No change,” Huang Pi answered in a hoarse voice.

“This is getting more and more confusing.” Ke Xun scratched his cat ears. “Not only is the style of painting in each world different, the props we each get are also different. And now even the rules of the painting are affecting our body. Our body changes are all different. Some will become cats, some will gain weight, some will become myopic and colorblind, some temporarily haven’t changed, and some won’t even tell me, meow.”

After Ke Xun finished speaking, Mu Yiran glanced at him, his expression extremely cold on the outside but warm on the inside.

Before Mu Yiran could speak, he heard a door open. Everyone hurriedly looked over and saw Qi Qiang stepping in through that door. His two group members didn’t appear behind him, nor did they see Zhao Haicui and Zhang Lifeng, both of whom had gone looking for their companions.

“Where are they meow?” Ke Xun asked him.

Qi Qiang glanced at him in disgust. Seemingly repulsed by Ke Xun’s “meow”, he replied in a nasty voice, “It’s none of your business!”

Before the door closed, Ke Xun glanced at the world inside the door and saw that the world was dark. He could only vaguely see white mountains and woods covered with snow.

Was it winter in that world?

“What did you see in the door meow?” Ke Xun continued to ask Qi Qiang.

“Fuck your meowing!” Qi Qiang yelled at Ke Xun. Losing his patience, he pointed the sword at Ke Xun, wishing he could stab it through Ke Xun’s throat.

“…Yiran, come and ask him, meow…” Ke Xun ended with a cough.

Mu Yiran’s mouth didn’t move, but when he looked over, Qi Qiang could feel his aura. Of course, Qi Qiang wasn’t stupid. Only by cooperating with these people would he be able to find a way to leave the painting as soon as possible.

“There was snow everywhere,” Qi Qiang lowered the sword and said with a gloomy face. “There are mountains as far as the eye could see, and there are forests, caves, and…” He hesitated at this part, his face taking on a bit of a pained expression. “There are some fucking monkeys who can only speak human words…”

After everyone took in his words, they stared at each other. Qin Ci asked, “What did the monkey say to you?”

“It didn’t fucking say anything!” Qi Qiang wasn’t happy. “The two SBs saw that the monkey could talk, and they were so scared, they screamed and ran off!”

“Don’t tell me you killed the monkey meow.” Ke Xun looked at him blankly.

With Qi Qiang’s temperament, coupled with the advantage in his hand, he might actually be able to do such a reckless thing.

Qi Qiang didn’t say a word, which was obviously a tacit confirmation.

“…You’re really not afraid of getting backlashed…” Wei Dong was dumbfounded.

“Then what happened meow?” Ke Xun continued to ask Qi Qiang.

“I followed the road back,” Qi Qiang replied coldly.

“Is there anything wrong with your body?” Qin Ci asked.

“No.” Qi Qiang glared at Wei Dong, who had been staring at him. Then walking to a corner, he sat down to rest.

“I think he seems a little different…” Wei Dong whispered to Ke Xun.

“How so?” Ke Xun asked.

“I can’t pinpoint it right now…” Wei Dong rubbed his face with his fat hands. “I might just be overly suspicious because of what we had discussed earlier.”

“No, I believe in your professional skills,” Ke Xun said. “Since you feel something is wrong, something must be wrong. Don’t worry. Stay calm and keep a careful eye on him meow.”

“All right, meow, I’ll watch him,” Wei Dong said.

Ke Xun: “…If you imitate me one more time, I’ll scratch you to death, meow!”

Wei Dong went to a darker area and continued to quietly observe a now calm Qi Qiang, who had his eyes closed. Ke Xun returned to Mu Yiran and narrowed his eyes at him. “You’re still refusing to tell me what happened to you, right?”

The veteran members heard his words and looked at him: He had the gall and the courage to speak like that to the Mr. Perfect that he was pursuing so persistently?! Only the word tsundere could compare.

Mu Yiran was sitting against the wall. His chin lifted, and he glanced at him. Then, patting his thigh, he lightly said, “Come here.”

The veteran members looked at Ke Xun sullenly and watched as he fell onto the big boss’ thigh with a “meow,” his eyes narrowed into crescents, his chest making a very enjoyable and satisfying purr…

As time gradually slipped into the darkness of night, the whole room plugged into a dark blue. Only the yellow stars and moon patterns on the walls and ceiling exuded a dreamlike fluorescence.