Paintings of Terror

Chapter 217: Pawns

Built by some mysterious force. These words made Luo Bu shudder.

There must have been a mastermind behind the paintings, maybe it was a person, an organization, or a mysterious force. If the mastermind behind the scenes could control the will of individuals or even groups of people, then this force would be inestimably powerful.

Shao Ling seemed to have read Luo Bu’s thoughts: “If the other party really were that powerful, they wouldn’t try their best to get people to enter the paintings. I think there must be great limitations on the usage of such powers.”

Qin Ci nodded slightly. Regarding these speculations, several old members had talked about them before, but they couldn’t continue to expand upon the topic of entering the paintings.

“Therefore, the geographical locations of these art galleries are important, but it is hard to say what are the meanings behind them.” Said Qin Ci.

“How many paintings have you guys experienced in total?” Luo Bu had already put away the white electric scooter. He lifted it up after folding it. It looked very convenient.

Wei Dong: “Ke Er and I have already gone through nine paintings. Haowen Er has two less than us. Boss Mu and Brother Qin have two more than us.”

“That is to say, my brother-in-law and Brother Qin have already gone through twelve paintings. Is it going to end for them soon?” Luo Bu rubbed his chin. He didn’t wear a fancy watch on his wrist today, only a Casio sports watch. “I think that painting instigator seems to like the number thirteen very much. It chooses thirteen people every time. Does that mean there are also thirteen paintings in total?”

Zhu Haowen: “9+2=11.”

“Oh… That means my brother-in-law and Brother Qin have already gone through eleven paintings. That is still a lot, almost thirteen.” Instead of wasting time on his arithmetic, Luo Bu immediately got back on topic.

Qin Ci nodded slightly: “As for the final number of thirteen, we have made such guesses before.”

“If there truly are thirteen paintings in total, then when brother-in-law and Brother Qin finishes the thirteen paintings, this whole thing will end?” Luo Bu asked innocently. When it is completely over, everyone can celebrate together…

Wei Dong patted him on the shoulder: “I’m just afraid, after they get through the thirteen paintings, it only ends for these two. We can only rely on ourselves in the future. Whoever clears thirteen paintings will be free.”

“…” Luo Bu looked at Mu Yiran, who existed like a god in his heart, “Brother-in-law and the others wouldn’t just leave us to be. Besides, Brother Ke would still be here.”

Ke Xun said earnestly like a big brother: “I’m afraid that after thirteen paintings, these people who got through will completely forget about entering the paintings. If you want to discuss something with a certain someone, the bodyguards around him will stop you first.”

Mu Yiran tilted his head to look at Ke Xun. He didn’t expect this guy to have made such an assumption in his heart.

Ke Xun also looked at Mu Yiran: “It’s not impossible. After Luo Wei got out, he didn’t know us at all.”

Several old members invariably recalled the scene after the eighth painting, the lonely figure of Luo Wei leaving by himself and his dazed and bewildered expression when everyone tried to talk to him.

No one continued to disturb him. Only after he truly “left”, did they go to express their condolences as former friends. They took the initiative to take care of all the funeral arrangements and the care of Luo Wei’s mother.

Mu Yiran squinted his eyes. He would never allow such an embarrassing and vicious event of “amnesia” to happen between himself and Ke Xun. This kind of thing would never happen.

A dull bell suddenly rang. Everyone unconsciously looked towards the sound source. It was the bell tower above the art gallery.

“The old railway station is at least a hundred years old, and the clock tower looks like it was built before the Chinese Revolution.” Wei Dong looked up at the clock tower above the art gallery.

Luo Bu wasn’t focused on that: “Three days later at this time, are we going to be inside the painting…”

Everyone heard him but did not know how to respond. They all chose to be silent.

……

Three days later, everyone came again to the Old Station Art Gallery. Luo Bu felt the cunning and stinginess of time, as if the time outside paintings was infinitely shortened, and yet the time inside was infinitely stretched out.

Of course, this was just his own psychological illusion, a psychological obstacle of time that was difficult to overcome.

Luo Bu was still carrying his beloved white electric scooter. After folding, the scooter looked more like a handbag with a strange shape. The gatekeeper had no reaction to this. Anyone who passed the luggage check and had a ticket would be let through.

“Luo Bu, are you going to ride on the scooter to enter the painting?” Wei Dong asked.

“Ride? Don’t say that about my Koharu.” Luo Bu was holding his scooter.

Wei Dong felt his steps were a bit heavy. This happened every time he stepped into an art gallery, along with chest tightness and nausea. This was an innate feeling of resistance.

Wei Dong did not want to show his timidity in front of the new people and add undue panic to them. He smiled and said: “Your Koharu. I don’t know if you’re thinking about the same Koharu I am.”

Luo Bu nodded earnestly: “Yui is left at home. I came out with Koharu today. It’s new and convenient to use.”

“Are you still short of servants who take care of electric scooters?”

“I just started using them, only have two. I don’t need dedicated caretakers for now.”

“Oh, I thought there would be Miss Aoi in your storage.”

“Miss Aoi, isn’t she an old timer from last century…”

“Looks like this kind of topic can also cause generation gaps.”

There seemed to be no one in the art gallery. Only the eight of them were walking inside it, and only Wei Dong and Luo Bu were speaking.

Luo Bu lowered his voice and said, “I’m still counting on Koharu to make great contributions. After all, it is also a means of transportation. Maybe it can be turned into a bicycle or a carriage…”

Everyone didn’t take Luo Bu’s words seriously at first, but when they heard this sentence, they thought that this young man was creative. If the electric scooter could be brought into the painting, it might really have some uses.

Ke Xun patted Luo Bu’s shoulder, only to realize that he was trembling slightly. In front of them was the fourth exhibition hall that they were going to enter.

In the past three days, everyone had visited here and looked through all the paintings carefully, hoping to be of some help when inside the painting.

The good thing about this old art gallery was that the exhibited items won’t change for centuries. There should not be any sudden changes.

The fourth exhibition hall was large and had more than 200 works on display. Almost each painting had a different artist. For this purpose, Mu Yiran specifically checked the list of artists in the industry and could only find five of them. The rest of them were largely unknown.

Despite this, everyone still took pictures of all the paintings in this exhibition hall, studied them one by one and even discussed things they didn’t understand.

Mu Yiran also tried to find all relevant information and distributed the summarized texts and pictures to everyone. Everyone read them carefully many times and felt like they were studying for the college entrance exams.

At this moment, everyone walked into the familiar exhibition hall. With an unsure look on his face, Luo Bu walked towards a large painting of a sunset. “Do the black eyes in the sun refer to sunspots? One of the meanings say it’s drawn for blind children. Another meaning is…”

Ke Xun stood next to Luo Bu: “Don’t be nervous, you’re not going in alone.”

“Yeah, there’s my brother-in-law too.” Luo Bu looked at Ke Xun, “Brother, you didn’t memorize much either, do you…”

“……”

There were voices at the end of the exhibition hall. Could it be that there were other visitors already here? A few of them walked inside, only to find five or six people talking by the gate inside the exhibition hall.

For the convenience of visitors, the exhibition hall usually had two entrances, but the other door of this exhibition hall was closed. Everyone thought it was because there were too few visitors, so there was no need to open all the doors.

“We came to City A to study and collect information about the local culture. We will take the train back tomorrow. Please allow us to see the photography works in the exhibition hall next door.” A young woman with a camera bag on her back said.

Several other young people with camera bags also begged one after another. The staff was finally persuaded and picked up the key to open the door: “Well, I won’t do this again. The exhibition hall is supposed to open next month. Don’t tell anyone else my boss will blame me for it.”

“Thank you, thank you so much!” The young people said gratefully.

Seeing this situation, the veterans of the group were a little dazed.

“Wait, does the exhibition hall next door still belong to the fourth exhibition hall?” Ke Xun asked.

The staff nodded: “It is also part of the fourth exhibition hall, but it is temporarily separated.”

“……Okay, thank you.”

Everyone didn’t expect that there would be such a thing. All their previous efforts were in vain.

“There are only photography works in the next room. It has nothing to do with paintings, right?” Fang Fei, who remained silent for a long time, spoke suddenly.

Several veterans stood by the door, and no one stepped into the next hall.

“Do you guys want to go in and have a look? It’s only open for a short time, at most an hour. If you want to see it, hurry up and have a look.” The staff stood by the door with the key.

“We are here to see paintings, not photos.” Said Wei Dong.

“They are like some black and white photos. I don’t understand either. It seems that there are also paintings.” The staff’s words sounded heavy to everyone.

“Have you guys noticed that there were five people who went in just now?” Shao Ling couldn’t help but tell them about his discovery.

There were eight people on their side, including the five who had just entered. It was exactly thirteen.

The staff nodded, as if declaring a judgment, and said: “Yes, there are five in total. They are all photography enthusiasts.”

Zhu Haowen went in first. They had to go sooner and later.

Qin Ci walked beside Mu Yiran, and couldn’t help but whisper: “If they want to attract us into the paintings, why do they have to play these tricks? Is it to prevent us from preparing in advance?”

Mu Yiran seemed to be thinking about something: “It seems that there are two forces competing in the dark. One is guiding us, and the other is stopping us.”

When Qin Ci heard this, he couldn’t help but shudder.

Mu Yiran continued: “Moreover, the two forces seem to be evenly matched, and we are just pawns in this game.”