Paintings of Terror

Chapter 201: Be Your Own Hero

After being tortured for an entire night, no one had the stomach to eat breakfast.

Because, that morning, they all talked about the worst thing they each had experienced.

For example, scorpions with countless legs, large and plump soft-footed worms, nightmare pipa toad, and so on.

Afterward, they decided not to go into the details and instead focused on the process. It turned out that the process was that, after being attacked by their most disgusting fear in the dark, they heard the screams of everyone, followed by footsteps rushing out of the room.

“Then I want to ask,” Shao Ling looked at everyone, “who actually screamed out loud last night?”

Wei Dong and Luo Bu slowly raised their hands with frustrated faces.

Shao Ling looked at the three girls, a little surprised. Chen Xinai was still in a daze and did not hear Shao Ling’s question. Fang Fei said, “Don’t be surprised. I practice diving all year round, and I learned not to open my mouth when I’m panicking, or I’ll choke on water.”

Yu Long nodded in agreement.

Xue Ge, who had imagined a big-bellied moth, said, “The reason why I’m sick of moths is because I watched a catastrophe horror movie when I was a child. The moths in it flew into human mouths and made cocoons to lay their eggs, which left an indelible psychological shadow in me, so once I met a moth in reality, my first reaction was to keep my mouth firmly shut.”

“So, what did you two scream?” Shao Ling’s gaze fell back to Wei Dong and Luo Bu.

Wei Dong thought for a moment and hesitantly said, “Just…’ahhhhh, fuck, ahhhhhh’, like that.”

Everyone: “…”

Luo Yu also thought for a moment. “I can’t remember exactly. I was so scared, I peed myself. But under normal circumstances, I would shout something like, ‘No, no, ahhh, I’m going to die, I’m going to die, ahhhh,’ like these.”

Everyone: “…”

Wei Dong said, “Look for the source, look for the seed.”

“In the illusion last night, I heard nearly everyone screaming, and I believe you all heard the same,” Shao Ling said. “So, did anyone actually try to run out of the room?”

They all looked at each other, and finally Luo Bu said, “I was so scared that my legs were soft. I had the heart, but not the strength, so I just lay slumped on the floor.”

Wei Dong said, “Although I would like to follow when I heard everyone running out, I thought about it and realized that, if Ke’er and the others really did run out, they would never leave me. Ke’er would definitely call out to me, telling me to run. But I didn’t hear him, so I felt that, regardless of whether other people ran out or not, Ke’er was definitely still in the room. So I just stayed where I was.”

Zhu Haowen said, “I didn’t run.”

Qin Ci said, “I didn’t run.”

Xue Ge said, “I was more afraid of the sensation of stepping on moths more so than I was of moths falling on my body, so I didn’t dare to run and stayed in place.”

Yu Long said, “I heard that toads can see moving things, so I didn’t dare move. I was afraid it would come at my feet…”

Fang Fei said, “I was also afraid of stepping on a big, meaty worm, so I dare not run.”

Chen Xinai ignored everyone, still completely out of it.

Ke Xun said, “No matter how disgusting it was, it was just an illusion, so I definitely wouldn’t run.”

Mu Yiran said, “So we can be certain that, regardless of whether it was the sounds of us screaming and yelling or the sounds of us running desperately out of the room, they were all illusions. They were used to mislead us into making the wrong choice. After darkness fell, we should have been separated by the illusion and placed into some kind of parallel space.”

Shao Ling wrote on the bamboo slips: “Fourth, illusions can simulate realistic scenes of touch and human voices, and can use psychological cues and mental effects to lure people into the sea.”

The first three were:

Be isolated and placed in a parallel space.

Hallucinating about acquaintances.
Use acquaintances to deceive and tempt people to fall into the sea, and have the ability to read memories.

After writing, Shao Ling put down the brush and studied the bamboo slips for a while, then he raised his gaze to look at everyone. “Based on the experience of these two nights, I have a hypothesis.”

“On the first night, the phantom copied the voice of a familiar person. Although the phantom wanted to lure us into the sea, when we refused to be fooled, it did not force us through touch.”

“On the second night, the illusion also used deceptive methods to let us fall into the sea on our own by producing supplementary sounds. However, aside from the sound, the illusion also created the sense of touch and so it became a combination of two auxiliary means.”

“So, my guess is that these illusions are created using people’s five senses, and they are superimposed every night.”

“The first night was a single auditory illusion, and the second night was a superposition of auditory and tactile illusions.”

“If there is nothing wrong with my speculation, then in the next few nights, the illusion of smell, vision, and taste may continue to appear, and we will also have to prepare in advance to deal with these deceptions. I wonder if you have any supplemental or differing opinions?”

His eyes fell on Mu Yiran, but he saw that he was just looking down and thinking. As he waited for him to speak, he heard Yu Long say, “No, you’re right. This is it. Now that we have seen through the phantom’s ploy, we can quickly figure out how to deal with it. Earplugs, life jackets, and tying with rope, these methods are all useless.”

After everyone came up from the lower deck, they had already searched the surface of the nearby sea, but they were unable to locate Liu Yanlei.

Looking at these drowsy people who hadn’t closed their eyes for almost two days and two nights, Shao Ling said, “Let’s rest for a few hours. A poor mental state will lead to an unstable mental state and result in us being more easily manipulated.”

No one had no any objections, and so they dragged their tired and exhausted bodies to look for a room to rest in.

Ke Xun closed the door, fell on the mattress, and snuggled up to Mu Yiran. Rubbing his furry head in his Mu Yiran’s arms, he yawned and said, “Mental and psychological attacks are more difficult to deal with than physical and direct attacks. Like in Pure Land, we have been boiled for a few days without much sleep, and wouldn’t survive another two nights of this.”

Mu Yiran stretched out his hand to rub the back of his head. “Go to sleep. I don’t think we’ll need to search this ship anymore. Nothing will happen during the day, and the key to breaking the game can only be at night.”

Ke Xun put his arm around Mu Yiran’s waist, threw one leg over him, and patted him lightly with his hand. “You sleep too. Let go of all problems and keep your spirits up. Don’t say anything else about this, otherwise I will feel distressed, okay?”

“Okay.” The corners of Mu Yiran’s mouth gently hooked up. He wrapped this dog’s head in his arms and stroked the back of his head until he heard his breathing gradually stabilized. Only then did his hand stilled, and he looked at Ke Xun’s face for a while before finally closing his eyes.

A warm and soft touch on his lips woke Mu Yiran up from his light sleep. He put his hand on the back of that person’s head, pressed him closer, deepened the kiss, and then separated.

“Lunch is ready. Get up and eat.” Ke Xun handed him the glass of water he’d been holding.

Mu Yiran took a few sips of water and, still holding the cup, walked out with Ke Xun.

The others also looked like they had just woken up. However, after lunch, they regained their energy and sat in the middle hall to discuss the plan for tonight.

“First and foremost, we don’t need to hide under the deck anymore. Last night’s experience confirmed that no matter where we are, the illusion will affect us.” Shao Ling continued to act as the “leader” of the entire team. “Next is the issue of burning rhinoceros.”

“Because the rhino horn was lit with a mobile phone last night, it was impossible to prove whether the person who lit the rhino horn would die or not. But, one thing that we can be certain of is that death makes no distinction. We’ll have to determine what the rule is for lighting the rhinoceros horn and see the so-called power behind the scene. It is very likely that only the person who lights the rhinoceros horn can see it.”

“So, this time, we will no longer use a phone to light the rhinoceros horn. Instead, someone must personally ignite it. This is an inevitable problem. We must decide who this person will be. Only then will we be able to find the seal and leave the painting. We must decide now.”

After Shao Ling finished speaking, Yu Long frowned and said, “How do we decide? Do we draw lots or vote? Why should my life or death be decided by others? Isn’t it enough that I don’t want to ignite the rhino horn? I should have absolute autonomy over my own survival. I don’t accept being forced or being morally kidnapped. Fang Fei and I have already gone to sea to check the bottom of the ship, and before going to sea, no one knew whether we would die or not. Under this premise, we have both already risked our lives. We have done our best, and now I will tell you clearly, neither Fang Fei nor I will light the rhino horns!”

“Yes,” Shao Ling agreed very happily. Looking at the other people, he said, “I should add first that the death condition may not be solely based on the act of lighting the rhinoceros horn itself, so whether you light the rhinoceros horn or not, you may still die.”

“Second, according to the veteran members, the time limit given to us is only seven days. Even if we’re all lucky enough to survive the first six days, we would inevitably die if we cannot find the seal.”

.

“Third, if we don’t light the rhinoceros horn, we definitely won’t find any clues, and so we will definitely die. If we light the rhinoceros horn, we will definitely gain clues, and so perhaps only half of us will die.”

“So, should we find someone to light the rhinoceros horn? Let’s vote by a show of hands. Do you have any objections?”

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“I have no objections, I agree to light the rhinoceros horn.” The first person to express his position was Ke Xun.

Afterwards, everyone expressed their opinions, and except for Yu Long and Chen Xinai, the latter of whom was still not speaking, everyone agreed to light the rhinoceros horn.

“Since everyone agrees to light the rhinoceros horn, then I suggest drawing lots to select the person responsible for doing so. Are there any objections?” Shao Ling looked at everyone.

“The two of us are staying out of it,” Yu Long reiterated.

“Don’t be so troublesome,” Xue Ge suddenly said, with a faint smile on her face. “I volunteer to light the rhino horn.”

“I’ll do it,” Ke Xun said. “It makes no sense to let a girl take this risk.”

Xue Ge smiled. “Can you look down on a woman even as a gay? Everyone is equal before life and death.”

Ke Xun said, “The hat that you pressed over is too big. Since you said that everyone is equal, then let’s draw lots. No one will volunteer, okay?”

Xue Ge thought for a moment. “Fine. Let’s draw lots. But I have a request. Let me be the first to do it.”

Everyone agreed, and so Xue Ge personally went to find a blank bamboo slip. She removed nine bamboo pieces from it. Yu Long, who was not drawing, made a mark on one of them and put them all into the cup. The others would then draw, one by one.

Xue Ge was the first to draw. She looked at the exposed ends for a while and finally chose one of them.

Ke Xun took the second draw. He looked at the remaining pieces for a long time, seeming hesitant. Finally, he drew one at random.

The others also drew one by one. Afterward, everyone revealed their lot.

In the end, it was Xue Ge who won.

Ke Xun scratched his head. “My intuition seems a little broken today.”

Xue Ge smiled. “Intuition isn’t comparable to real skills. The reason I was able to pick the right one was that, in your eyes, the colors of the bamboo pieces are indistinguishable, but in my eyes, the color differences are clear. I remembered the color of the piece with the mark. Don’t forget that I’m a painter, and a pretty great one at that too.”

“…Okay, great painter, then you do it.” Ke Xun knew that he couldn’t persuade someone already determined to die, so he didn’t pretend with her. “Anyway, once you light the rhinoceros horn and is found by the phantom, we’ll be there to help you out.”

“No.” Xue Ge smiled. “The person who is illuminated by the rhino horn will die. You’ll be implicated if you get too close to me. You’ll stay in the middle hall and I’ll go to the deck.”

“Just in case, please forgive me for being impolite,” Shao Ling said to Xue Ge. “It would be better if you have a bamboo slip and a brush in your hand. If you see something, record as much as you can, even if it is very brief, even if there are only a few words. Also…please don’t put the bamboo slips on your body.”

The meaning was that, should Xue Ge be chosen by death and end up falling into the sea, at least she wouldn’t take the bamboo slip with her. Otherwise, all her previous effort would have been in vain.

Although his words were a bit ruthless, they were also the most sensible and useful arrangement that could be made.

Xue Ge agreed. She looked at the people looking back at her with differing gazes, and the corners of lips rose slightly. “My life is short. If I can save a few lives before I die, it would be a good death. In fact, there’s nothing wrong with movies with personal heroism. Isn’t it cool to be your own hero in your own world?”