Paintings of Terror

Chapter 189: Burning Rhinoceros at Bull Islet

Everyone was stunned.

Wei Dong looked at Mu Yiran hesitantly. “Unknown means…”

“Meaning that the original work has no seal and no name,” Mu Yiran said.

Everyone was stunned again.

“No seal, no name, then what do we look for in the painting?” Wei Dong felt a little panicked, and he looked at Mu Yiran, Ke Xun, and finally at Qin Ci and Zhu Haowen.

“So, has the level of difficulty increased?” Zhu Haowen remained calm.

“The rate of increase is a bit big.” Qin Ci smiled helplessly. “It directly gave us a dead end. We have to find the signature inside the painting, but this painting doesn’t have a signature.”

“I don’t think this is a dead end, but it’s definitely increasing in difficulty,” Zhu Haowen said. “Even if there is no signature, it might be like “Human Studies” or “Shadow,” whereby the characters are directly correlated to the signature and are then able to lead us to it.”

“Haowen’er is right.” Ke Xun patted Zhu Haowen on the shoulder. “Don’t be discouraged. I think we still have a long time before darkness arrives. Let’s hurry up and take this opportunity to search the ship inside out. Yiran and I will search the second floor, and the three of you will search the first floor and the deck. Does that sound good?”

“No problem, let’s do it!” Wei Dong shook his fist.

Zhu Haowen watched as Ke Xun’s hand retracted from his shoulder, and he said in a low voice, “You… be careful.”

“Don’t worry.” Ke Xun looked at him a few times. “I must say, you look pretty handsome dressed in a Hanfu.”

After entering the painting, their clothes had changed to ancient costumes of white robes with large lapels and narrow sleeves.

Zhu Haowen also looked at him and saw that, while dressed in a rough, white robe, he had a kind of unruly air about him.

“Let’s go,” Mu Yiran said indifferently, not far from behind Ke Xun.

They were all wearing white robes made out of coarse cloth, but when worn on his body, he looked pure and refined, like a gentleman of jade.

When Ke Xun turned and strode toward Mu Yiran, Zhu Haowen withdrew his gaze from Ke Xun’s messy hair and turned to walk away.

Ke Xun and Mu Yiran walked up the wooden stairs to the second floor and opened the doors one by one to check each cabin.

The cabins were very small, each containing only a simple wooden bed. The beds were also very short and only had a few toiletries next to it.

There was nothing else. This was the case for all the rooms on the second floor.

They quickly came down from the second floor and saw that Zhu Haowen and the others were also returning from checking the first floor.

“How did it go? Did you find anything?” Ke Xun asked.

“There’s a kitchen over there.” Wei Dong pointed to a door at the end of the first floor. “The big room in the middle is a hall, and the other rooms only contain beds. We don’t see anyone else, and nothing looks suspicious.”

In fact, there wasn’t anything suspicious on the deck; it was completely empty.

“There should be a lower building under the deck. Let’s find the entrance,” Mu Yiran said.

“Here!” Qin Ci beckoned at the stern, pointing to a large open lid on the deck that exposed a staircase leading to the bottom.

Everyone walked down the stairs. The cabin underneath was completely dark, so they all took out their mobile phones for illumination. The rooms underneath the deck contained food, clothing, medicine, farming tools, and other common things, but there were no other people.

“There are a lot of things here. It may take a few days to look through them one by one.” Qin Ci looked at everyone. “Shall we start now?”

“Let’s start. We mustn’t waste time.” Ke Xun looked around. “We need to look for things like lamp oil first so we can turn on the lights and save our phone batteries.”

They were about to start searching the room when Mu Yiran stopped them. “Let’s divide the work. Ke Xun, you and Wei Dong go and look for light. Dr. Qin and Haowen can start looking for clues in the room with the stacked books and scrolls. Meanwhile, I’ll stay in the upper deck to monitor the movement of the ship and bring in the other people who have entered the painting.”

Hearing his words, they no longer delayed and immediately split up.

Ke Xun and Wei Dong searched for a long time in the room with daily necessities and finally found seven to eight bronze lampstands. However, despite having searched through all the boxes, they could not find candles or lamp oil. They had no choice but to take the lampstand to the room where Qin Ci and Zhu Howen were.

There were more than a dozen boxes stacked in this room, and all of the boxes were filled with bamboo writing slips, flat wooden pieces, and silk scrolls, all written in the Qin script.

“I don’t understand.” Qin Ci shook his head and put down the scroll of bamboo slips. “These boxes have all these things, but there are no paper books. I suspect that the age of this ship is at least before the Han Dynasty.”

“It’s the Qin Dynasty,” Mu Yiran’s voice rang out from the door. There were four to five people behind him, and judging from the bewilderment and confusion on their faces, they were all new.

“The big flag hanging on the mast has the character “Qin” and it’s written in Qin script.” Mu Yiran stepped into the room, picked up a roll of bamboo slips and glanced at it. “At that time, text was recorded on bamboo slips, wood chips, or silk. Even this Burning Rhinoceros at Sea is painted on silk.”

“In other words, this Burning Rhinoceros at Sea was probably painted during the Qin Dynasty?” Zhu Haowen asked.

“Not necessarily,” said one of the newcomers behind Mu Yiran. He wasn’t short and was, in fact, nearly as tall as Mu Yiran. His black hair was brushed meticulously behind his head, revealing cold brows, icy eyes, and a pale, yet unexpectedly calm, face.

“Colored ink silk paintings existed in every dynasty after the Qin Dynasty,” the person continued coldly. “In fact, paintings from the Qin Dynasty are rarely ever circulated. The details within the painting seems to point to the Qin Dynasty, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the painter lived during the Qin Dynasty.”

“Before I entered the painting, I took a glance at it. Although it’s an imitation, it seemed to have completely captured the quality of the original painting, so much so that it even replicated the damaged details.”

“Based on the extent of the damage and the clarity of the painting, it should have been painted between the Qin Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty.”

After saying this, the man noticed that everyone in the room was looking at him, and so he nodded slightly and calmly said, “My name is Shao Ling.”

“From the Qin Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty, this range is a bit large.” Wei Don scratched his head. <Note: The Qin Dynasty was from 221 to 206 BC, and the Yuan Dynasty was from 1271 to 1368.>

“Moreover, if this painting is based on the Qin Dynasty, everything on the ship can only reflect the materials and products of the Qin Dynasty. If the painter isn’t from the Qin Dynasty, I’m afraid we won’t be able to find any clues about his signature from these written words,” Qin Ci said.

“If it’s not too troublesome, can you tell me more about your experience in the first few paintings?” Shao Ling asked, looking at the veteran members.

“Brother Qin, we’ll leave this task to you,” Ke Xun said.

Among them, only Qin Ci would have such patience.

Qin Ci simply changed tasks with Mu Yiran and took the few newcomers up to the deck, all the while telling them about the experience and rules in the painting.

Mu Yiran stayed in the room below, and seeing that Ke Xun and Wei Dong were still using their mobile phones as flashlights, he asked Ke Xun, “You didn’t find any light?”

“We found the lamps, but no candles or lamp oil.” Ke Xun handed the lampstand in his hand to Mu Yiran.

Mu Yiran took the lampstand from him and studied it. He said, “This is the goosefoot lamp and it’s quite a popular lamp in the Qin and Han Dynasty. It was usually used to decorate the palace hall in court, and candles were placed on the three plates. However, the candles in the early Qin Dynasty weren’t the kind of candles we used now. They were made out of flammable reed grass or twigs of pine and bamboo with a high oil content. These were then bunched into small torches and wrapped in strips of cloth soaked in animal fat.”

“In that case, I’ll look for it again,” Ke Xun said as he walked out with Mu Yiran.

However, even with Mu Yiran’s help, he still failed to find these candles.

“Isn’t it too weird?” Ke Xun turned off his mobile phone to save power, and stood in front of Mu Yiran in the darkness. “There are clothes, medicine, food, and books on this ship. Obviously, there are people intending to sail at sea, and yet, there’s nothing that can be used for lighting. You can’t live a life like a blind person at night, right?”

Mu Yiran was silent, and Ke Xun knew that he was thinking. He didn’t disturb him and stood silently in front of him for a long time, until Mu Yiran quietly said, “Perhaps this is a hint from the painting.”

“Oh? What are you suggesting?” Ke Xun asked.

“The name of this painting is called Burning Rhinoceros at Sea,” Mu Yiran’s clear, magnetic voice became more textured in the dark. “There are no candles that can be used to illuminate and burn in this painting, but yet part of the painting’s name is Burning Rhinoceros. I think the painting is reminding us to focus on the Burning Rhinoceros part.”

“Yes, in removing things traditionally used for burning, we will naturally wonder why the painting is called Burning Rhinoceros.” Ke Xun reached out and easily found Mu Yiran’s hand in the darkness. He held his hand and shook it, as if to praise his boyfriend.

His boyfriend’s slender fingers moved lightly to hold Ke Xu’s hand, but the words in his mouth were still calm and steady. “Rhino horns can be burned for illumination, but there’s a strange story behind this.”

“Talk about it.” Ke Xun couldn’t help but move closer to wrap his arms around Mu Yiran’s waist and put his chin on his shoulder.

Falling in love didn’t have to affect practical matters.

Mu Yiran’s voice rang shallowly in his ears. “It is said that a person named Wen Qiao arrived at a place called Bull Islet Rock. He heard the sound of music coming from underwater, but when he looked down, he could not see into the unfathomable depths.”

“He had heard rumors that there were many ghosts in the water, so he lit rhino horns for illumination and looked underwater.”

“Not long afterwards, many strange ghosts poured in, and there were even those wearing red clothes in marriage carriages. They were all trying to put out the flames of the rhino horns.”

“That night, Wen Qiao dreamed that someone was very angry and was fiercely blaming him, saying that the two worlds of Yin and Yang should be separated, with no interference with one another. Why did he have to shine a light on the other?”

“The next day, Wen Qiao suffered a stroke due to a tooth extraction, and died less than ten days later.”

“…Damn.” Ke Xun’s arms tensed. “So this Burning Rhinoceros at Sea might be similar…”

Mu Yiran raised his hand and patted his back lightly. “According to legends, burning rhino horns can shine light onto another world. Some people use this method to communicate with the ‘people’ or ‘spirits’ of the other world, while some people use this method to avoid evil and disasters. Both achieve different purposes. The burning rhinoceros part in Burning Rhinoceros at Sea may be the key to finding the seal and leaving the painting.”

Xida: (Excited.) Will there be legit ghosts in this painting?