Paintings of Terror

Chapter 149: Let’s Continue

When Ge Lei’s body was completely eaten up by that invisible mouth, the faces on the walls and ceiling finally began to slowly change back to the stars and the moon patterns.

This was a horrible night that they would never forget for a lifetime, and these bloody, cruel and sadistic killings had happened right in front of them

The six people who had survived watched the massacre from start to finish, and there was no way to help, no way to resist.

The feeling of despair and powerlessness once again pressed over, and Wei Dong covered his face and sat with his forehead against the corner, weeping bitterly.

Zhu Haowen finally lost his usual strength. His hair was chaotic, and he didn’t say a word, as if his body had been cursed to remain unmoving.

Qin Ci leaned against the wall, his eyes squeezed tight and his face tipped up. His rock-solid hand that was used to holding the scalpel trembled slightly and imperceptibly.

Mu Yiran had knocked Luo Wei unconscious and so he’d fallen at Ke Xun’s feet, but Ke Xun was focused on staring blankly at the bloodied inferno before him, his eyes reflecting the blood and corpse.

“Ke Xun.” Mu Yiran stood beside him and tilted his head slightly to look at him, his eyes revealing unconcealed concern.

Ke Xun turned his head to look at him and gave a soft “meow.”

He said: Let’s continue.

Mu Yiran’s eyes shone warm light, and he raised his hand and stroked the soft hair on the back of Ke Xun’s head. “Mmn, let’s continue.”

Although everyone was very tired and their spirits were on the verge of collapse, they must not relax and give up at this moment. Ke Xun ran over to cheer Wei Dong, Qin Ci, and Zhu Haowen up–While in school, he had been the captain of the school team, and his job was to encourage teammates and cheer them up.

Wei Dong wiped his tears on his pants and asked Mu Yiran dully, “What should we do next?”

“To activate all the hidden worlds and ‘write’ the artist’s signature,” Mu Yiran answered in a deep voice. “Since we all have different degrees of abnormal changes in our bodies, please don’t enter the wrong world unless you’re certain. We will now narrow down the key that will trigger the hidden worlds, try our best to reduce it to two possible trigger points, and then try again.”

“It now appears that the sword in Nezha Roils the Sea can trigger the world of Meijian Chi, this is very probable.” Qin Ci pinched his eyebrows wearily. “Wei Miao, who was the dragon prince, was now dead. I don’t know if we’ll be able to advance the plot of this story.”

“Meow, meow.”

“Ke Xun said to go in with the dragon horns and try,” Mu Yiran said. He glanced at Wei Miao’s body and saw that the pair of dragon horns on her head had fallen onto the floor next to her.

“Now we have connected three lines.” Zhu Haowen wrote on the paper. “The first one is: Ma Liang’s Divine Brush → Hailibu → Fire Boy → Nezha Roils the Sea? → Meijian Chi (presumably).”

“The second is Tiger Learns a Skill → Good Kitty → Black Cat Sheriff.”

“The third is The Fish Child → The world where Zhao Haicui died.”

“If, according to our previous speculation, each world needs to trigger a hidden world, but also needs to be triggered by another world, then we can consider each of these three lines as a positive and negative direction from the starting point.”

“In other words, which world can trigger the worlds of Ma Liang’s Divine Brush, Tiger Learns a Skill, and The Fish Child? Which world can be triggered by Meijian Chi, the Black Cat Sheriff, and the world in which Zhao Haicui died?”

“We can integrate the key roles and objects that Ke Xun and Dr. Qin had shorted out for each world and then try to connect them again.”

Together, they rearranged and listed the key roles, objects, and locations of each world. Next, at Mu Yiran’s suggestion, they highlighted the roles, objects, and locations that either led the plot, promoted the plot, or resulted in ending the plot.

“First, let’s re-evaluate whether these highlighted points are indeed key trigger points, and then consider anything else we may have missed.” Mu Yiran stretched out a slender finger and pointed to the string of words that followed after Tiger Learns a Skill on the paper. “What does the fox do in this cartoon?”

“Meow ao ao–Meow wu wu.”

“With the encouragement of the fox, the tiger begins to enjoy bullying animals and disobeying Master Cat,” Mu Yiran said thoughtfully. “Then it can indeed be regarded as another important role that promotes the transformation and turning point of the plot. I also highlighted the fox in Legends of the Book of Heaven. What does the fox in this cartoon do?”

The others glanced at each other, and Qin Ci said, “I think it’s very possible that the fox in Legends of the Book of Heaven is the key to triggering Tiger Learns a Skill.”

After saying this, he briefly described the role the fox played in Legends of the Book of Heaven.

“Then once we have triggered Legends of the Book of Heaven, we can use it to trigger Tiger Learns a Skill.” Zhu Haowen wrote Legends of the Book of Heaven in front of Tiger Learns a Skill.

“Which cartoon can trigger Legends of the Book of Heaven?” Wei Dong asked, looking at Luo Wei, who was still unconscious. “Didn’t Ke’er use his intuition to draw Laoshan Taoist for sister Xiao Li last night? I’ll put this cartoon in front of Legends of the Book of Heaven, then.”

“Meow wu wu wu.”

Mu Yiran translated, “Intuition cannot be a life-saving straw.”

After that, he glanced at Luo Wei and went over to wake him.

“Are you willing to work with us to study the method of breaking the painting?” Mu Yiran looked at him calmly. “If you’re still suffering, I can knock you out again so you won’t feel so bad.”

“…No, no need.” Luo Wei took off his glasses, lowered his head, and used the corner of his clothes to slowly wipe it clean. “I promised Yaqing that I’ll crack this painting. I will join you.”

Qin Ci told him the results of their discussion and analysis. Luo Wei put his glasses back on, and when he fixed his gaze on them, his eyes were calm and steady. “While you continue to analyze, I want to enter the world of Nezha Roils the Sea.”

They didn’t stop him and watched as he picked up Wei Miao’s dragon horns that had fallen on the ground and stepped through the round door.

Qin Ci thought for a moment and said, “Then I’ll also go to the world where Zhao Haicui died. This is the world that we know least about, and so it’s difficult to list important characters and objects. I’ll go collect some more information and come back.”

Among the people present, Qin Ci’s degree of change was still the smallest, so everyone didn’t try to be polite with him and watched as he entered the door with the rabbit ears headband.

“Meow wu wu wu meow meow.” Ke Xun wanted to try his luck in the world of Black Cat Sheriff.

Mu Yiran gave him a faint look. “According to Dr. Qin, Black Cat Sheriff has five episodes. There are many characters in it that can take on important roles based on each episode. It’ll be difficult to narrow the focus, so you can’t go in.”

Ke Xun pointed to Ge Lei’s prop on the ground. His body had been gnawed away by that invisible power, leaving only the suit and a skull behind. “Meow wu, meow wu, meow meow meow, wu meow.”

“He said in an episode of Black Cat Sheriff, there was a female praying mantis eating a male praying mantis,” Mu Yiran translated to Zhu Haowern and Wei Dong. “Ge Lei’s role should be the male praying mantis, so we can narrow our focus down to this specific episode.”

Wei Dong hurriedly said, “I also have an impression of this episode. At that time, I felt that the male praying mantis was very miserable. The characters in it seemed to be mantises except for the Black Cat Sheriff. Oh, there are also locusts. The male and female praying mantises met when they killed locusts together–Locusts are the trigger point!”

“But it seems that there aren’t any locusts in other cartoons,” Zhu Haowen said blankly.

Ke Xun said, “Meow wu ao.”

Mu Yiran said, “There are also a group of various insects congratulating the male and female praying mantises.”

Zhu Haowen continued expressionlessly, “I don’t think other cartoons have various different types of bugs.”

“Mi wu…” Ke Xun scratched his head. “Mi mi meow meow ao ao wu meow…wi meow meow mi…meow meow ao.”

Wei Dong looked at Mu Yiran and said, “Is he…is he singing?”

Ke Xun stretched out his paw and slapped him on the head.

Mu Yiran sighed, “He said that if all the insects and cats in it are excluded, then there won’t be many things left. Even if you try them one by one, it won’t take long–I think so too, so I’ll go to this world now and give it a try.”

“Ao wu!” Ke Xun wrapped his paws firmly around Mu Yiran’s arm, not allowing him to go.

Mu Yiran arms were a bit harder than last night.

“Let me go.” Wei Dong took a deep breath. “I still have some impressions of that episode, and my degree of change is still a little bit smaller than the three of you. So, you can stay here and analyze other cartoons. I’ll go and come back quickly. If nothing else, I’ll just do like Brother Qin and collect information.”

Mu Yiran couldn’t get rid of the big cat’s hold on him and so he nodded his head slightly. Wei Dong ran through the door.

The three remaining people continued to study the other cartoons. At about ten o’clock in the morning, Luo Wei returned. The expression on his face was still wooden, and while Wei Miao’s dragon horn prop was missing, he held an ancient sword similar to Qi Qiang’s sword.

“I returned the dragon horns to the crown prince inside Nezha Roils the Sea. Nezha’s sword triggered Meijian Chi.” Luo Wei’s tone was like a waveless ancient well. “I’m just coming back to tell you and will return to Meijian Chi to try and trigger the next world.”

“Then do you know which world Meijian Chi will trigger?” Zhu Haowen looked at him calmly. “What about the important roles, the objects, and the scenes in Meijian Chi?”

Luo Wei took out the paper with all the written clues from his pocket. “I’ll try them one by one according to this.”

“The paper-based mutation on your body is already quite serious,” Zhu Haowen said coldly. “Foolishness and rashness won’t help you achieve vengeance. But if you want to die with Li Yaqing for love, then we won’t stop you from doing such a meaningless thing.”

Luo Wei looked at him silently. After a moment, he calmly said, “Then, please help me analyze the important trigger points for Meijian Chi.”

While Ke Xun was in charge of recalling the plot and everyone else analyzed the key points, Qin Ci and Wei Dong returned one after another. Neither of them were able to trigger the hidden world, but they both gained a rough understanding of the plot and environment.

“I found that the male praying mantis had a face…that especially looked like Ge Lei…” Wei Dong said with an ugly expression. “Looking at him playing the guitar and singing to the female praying mantis, I just…” He shook his head and no longer spoke.

“Meow?”

Mu Yiran looked at Ke Xun. “Is there anything wrong with singing?”

Ke Xun meowed several times.

“Old cartoons are particularly well-made,” Mu Yiran relayed to the others. “Musical or song elements are often added. Perhaps the key to triggering the hidden world isn’t limited to animated characters or objects. As an important part of old cartoons, maybe music can also be used as the key to trigger hidden worlds.”