Paintings of Terror

Chapter 137: The Blind Spot in Boss Mu’s Knowledge

The copper pot engraved with flowers was taken out and placed on the floor. Everyone came to observe carefully, and they found that, aside from getting bigger, there were no other changes to the pot. Ke Xun couldn’t help thinking out loud, “This is a little strange. Why is it that our bodies are changing, but Xiao Li’s pot is changing instead of her?”

After saying this, he stopped in front of Mu Yiran and glared at him with meows and crying sounds. “You still won’t tell me about how you are changing, meow? Did your body change or your–Meow fuck! You had to eat your prop, so your body must have changed. Where? Where is it? Tell meow!”

Mu Yiran stretched out his hand to pinch the back of Ke Xun’s neck. After paralyzing this barking big cat into immobility, he told the other people calmly, “Now let’s regroup. We’ll enter our corresponding worlds once daybreak arrives. Time is urgent.”

The crowd held their breath and listened to his arrangements.

“Wei Dong, Huang Pi, Qi Qiang will enter the pre-Qing Dynasty ancient world that we have entered today,” Mu Yiran said. “Dr Qin will still enter the two-dimensional paper-cut world. Ke Xun will enter the anthropomorphic animal world, and Haowen will enter the world with the talking monkey that Qi Qiang had entered before. Luo Wei and Li Yaqing, follow me, and we’ll choose one of the remaining two worlds to enter.”

“Can I ask what the basis is for your arrangement?” Luo Wei still had a strong student spirit, and always asks about the reasoning for everything.

“The current basis is only my personal speculation.” Mu Yiran glanced at the crowd calmly. “Based on the result that came categorizing the props and the worlds and then drawing a connection between the two, only the two-dimensional paper world and the fishing rod have a clear connection. Dr. Qin’s prop is the fishing rod, and among us, only Dr. Qin’s body and prop haven’t changed. Therefore, I temporarily think that Dr. Qin is the only one of us who has entered the right world.”

Luo Wei pointed to Huang Pi and Qi Qiang. “Aren’t they the same?”

Mu Yiran said coldly, “They didn’t tell the truth.”

Not telling the truth? Everyone couldn’t help but look at these two people. Wei Dong’s eyes were the sharpest, and he gave a startled sound and pointed to Huang Pi. “He’s also swelling up! His facial lines are smoother than before!”

Strictly speaking, Huang Pi’s face hadn’t become swollen and fat; however, the contours of his face had lost their sharp edges and corners. Qi Qiang was the same.

“So you put the three of them into the same world.” Luo Wei understood now. The changes in Wei Dong, Qi Qiang, and Huang Pi were the same, and the props they held were all ancient, so Mu Yiran arranged for them to enter an ancient world.

As for Ke Xun and Zhu Haowen, who were also changing into animals, they couldn’t be put into the same world, lest Ke Xun couldn’t help but swallow Zhu Haowen…

No one objected to Mu Yiran’s arrangement, and they all went back to their previous place to sit and rest, replenishing their energy and preparing to enter the door at dawn. However, the four newcomers who had all left through the same door did not return all night.

Dawn arrived, but no one had died.

According to painting’s rule of night time killing, since all the people in this room were spared, it meant that one or a few of the four newcomers had more or less died.

“Let’s move.” Mu Yiran’s eyes swept across the crowd and finally fell on Ke Xun’s face. “Those who are entering alone should pay attention to safety.”

Ke Xun snorted. “Those who refuse to tell others about their changes should also be careful, meow!”

The corners of Mu Yiran’s mouth lifted slightly, and he said in a gentle voice, “Don’t be a tsundere. Let’s go.”

Taking Luo Wei and Li Yaqing with him, he chose one of the two worlds that had not yet been entered, opened the door, and walked through.

Ke Xun’s cat ears twitched twice, and he turned to look at Wei Dong. “Be careful. Don’t get too close to them. We left marks on the road yesterday. If the situation goes bad, run back. Did you note down everything I told you last night?”

“I noted it down.” Wei Dong nodded. “I’ll go and find the county magistrate first to see if his lines have changed.”

“Mmn.” Ke Xun was still not at ease. “Even if you get a new clue, if you’re not sure about it, don’t act rashly. Come back and discuss it with us first.”

“Okay, I understand. You go quickly before your whiskers start growing out.” Wei Dong looked at him worriedly. “If it’s the wrong world again, you might grow a tail tonight.”

Ke Xun glanced at Zhu Haowen and waved his hand. No longer talking, he strode through the door of the anthropomorphic animal world.

This world felt a little more comfortable than the ancient world that he’d entered yesterday. At least it was a colorful and vivid world with a modern human-like society. There were vehicles, buildings, shops, and animals coming and going. They also wore clothes like humans…

Ke Xun still felt a little awkward seeing these anthropomorphic animals walking around in a serious way.

Unable to put it off any longer, Ke Xun stopped a monkey wearing a red T-shirt and black pants–Huh? This style of dress…

“Brother, let me ask, meow, what is this place?” This was Ke Xun’s first time communicating with animals in human language. It felt quite…weird.

“This is the Big Forest.” The monkey looked at him strangely.

…The Big Forest…Ke Xun looked around and saw that there were indeed many trees. There were simple small bungalows with spires built everywhere in the thicket of trees, and all kinds of animals roamed about in human clothes, creating a scene that was peaceful and idyllic.

Ke Xun really didn’t know where to ask for clues about this painting. He scratched his head and was about to ask the monkey if there were any cats like him nearby, when he heard the sounds of motorcycles coming from a distance. Like him, the monkey also turned to look in the direction of the sound. They saw a group of cats in police uniform riding motorcycles quickly entering the depths of the forest.

.

“…..” This world fucking makes him speechless…Ke Xun pulled the corners of his mouth and asked the monkey, “Those…uh, cats, where did they come from?”

The monkey looked at him even more strangely. “Forest Public Security Bureau!”

“Where is the Forest Public Security Bureau?” Ke Xun asked quickly.

When the monkey pointed out the direction to him, Ke Xun thanked him and quickly walked in that direction.

When he reached the door of the Forest Public Security Bureau, Ke Xun saw a poster on the bulletin board. There were words on the poster, followed by a photo of a mouse underneath the words.

A turbulent flash of memory sandwiched the shock of sudden comprehension that instantly swept through him. Countless thoughts about the various situations they had encountered since entering the painting yesterday flashed like lightning through his mind–that’s it! That’s it! The painting they entered this time turned out to have such a theme!

Ke Xun uttered a big meow, turned his head and ran back, following the marks all the way to the door that opened to this world.

When he entered the room, he saw that none of the others had returned yet. He turned around twice, picked up the pen and paper that Mu Yiran had left behind, and scribbled a few lines on it. Then he stepped through the last unentered door.

This world was also brightly colored, with mountains and trees, rivers and rocks. It seemed to be a forest, but there were no buildings in sight.

While making marks, Ke Xun carefully followed along the river flowing through the mountain forest, carefully observing the painting style of this world, and at the same time, rummaging through his mind for memories that overlapped with this place.

Even after walking for nearly two hours, he still hadn’t encountered any humans or anthropomorphic animals. Judging from the mountain forests, this place was so large that even if there were animals or people, they would be sparsely distributed throughout the place.

Ke Xun hesitated, trying to decide if he should continue walking forward to look for clues or to go back and see if Mu Yiran had returned. He was about to turn around when he suddenly heard caterwauling from animals in the depths of the forest. In the blink of an eye, a monkey, a goat, a rabbits, a squirrel, and even a panda rushed out from within the cover of the forest.

“…..” Ke Xun didn’t bother to wonder how these animals got together. Instead, he hurriedly took a closer look and saw that these animals weren’t wearing human clothes. They were all in their original state and those who could jump jumped and those who could climb climbed. This place was more like a normal natural world than the world he’d just entered earlier.

Before Ke Xun could continue to search his memory for this world…he suddenly heard a crow-like cry coming from the sky. “Ahhh–Awu is such a bully–”

“….” Ke Xun immediately broke into a fast run, because he now knew which world he had entered. This was such a pity–It was simply cheating–

A fishy wind blew across the mountain forest, and behind him came the roar of a tiger, so loud that it could shake rocks. Among that flying dirt and rocks, a colorful tiger shot out after him, as if it was about to swallow him into its stomach!

Extremely alarmed, Ke Xun dodged and rushed forward with all his strength. But how could one out-run a tiger? After almost being caught by the tiger again did Ke Xun suddenly realize what the death rule of this painting was.

The props.

The props that they each chose would bring about their own way of death.

What determined the rules and the method of death was the story being told by the world behind each door.

These stories were not unfamiliar to many people, because they were once people’s best memories. They were like a piece of pure land living deep within people’s hearts.

“–Yiran–” Ke Xun, while his life was at stake, suddenly understood what terrible physical abnormality Mu Yiran was experiencing that he was reluctant to tell him.

Mu Yiran, he–he was–petrifying–He would eventually become a stone man–He–

……

After returning to the room with Luo Wei and Li Yaqing, Mu Yiran saw the note Ke Xun had left behind. At first, he was a little surprised, then he became silent. Finally, he gave the note to Luo Wei and waited for him to finish reading the contents of the paper. Afterward, he asked, “Have you seen everything that Ke Xun wrote about?”

Luo Wei pointed to a spot on the paper. “I’ve seen this,” he said, suddenly raising his eyes to Mu Yiran. “You’re older than me. You should have seen more.”

“…..” Mu Yiran was silent for a moment. “I’ve never seen any of these before.”

Luo Wei also became silent. “Should I sympathize with you?”

“Thank you,” Mu Yiran said unenthusiastically.

Not long after, Qin Ci, Wei Dong and the others also came back one after another. After reading Ke Xun’s note, Qin Ci said “oh” and added, “No wonder. I didn’t expect this painting to have such a theme. Now I can understand why it’s called Pure Land. It’s really nostalgic.”

“I think we have to rely on Brother Qin in this painting,” Wei Dong said. “After all, these were the products of your age.”

Qin Ci: “……” He was only 30 years old, why these words…

“In that case,” Qin Ci looked at everyone, “let’s reorganize the relationship between each of our props and these worlds. This time, everything should be quite clear, just as Ke Xun had speculated in his message. Every world behind these doors are childhood cartoons that myself or people around the artist’s Mi Lun’s age had seen.”