Paintings of Terror

Chapter 173: A Phone Call

Trigger Warning:?This chapter has a scene where a character expressed biphobia (dislike of or prejudice against bisexual people). Please read with caution. Or otherwise, skip to the second half of the chapter.

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In the city at night, the spring breeze gave out a feeling of intoxication, and the smell of flowers seemed more fragrant than those from the outside world, as sweet as honey.

Qin Ci and Ju Yi were on their way back to the hospital. The more frightened Yu Ji was in his heart, the more words he said, as if doing so would relieve the tension.

“…I really didn’t expect you to go through so much, Dr. Qin. My lover also died, and my heart seemed to have also died with him.” Yu Ji sighed. “Although my situation isn’t exactly the same as yours, both of our other half have passed away.”

“Occasionally, I would imagine that, if she isn’t dead and is living in this city, maybe one day, we would meet each other on the road and instantly recognize one another. Then, it would be like nothing had happened and we would continue living our lives together.” Qin Ci’s eyes were filled with longing.

Yu Ji smiled awkwardly. “I’m not as lucky as you. My lover left me before he died, but I still regarded him as my only one. He was truly my first love, and I feel like I would love him my whole life.”

Qin Ci was embarrassed to ask more, so he just listened quietly.

“My conditions aren’t as good as yours, and so I don’t have very many opportunities. Therefore, to have a suitable person appear and to fall in love with him, I think that is the greatest gift heaven had given me,” Yu Ji continued.

Qin Ci didn’t understand for a while what these good conditions meant. “You have studied oil painting abroad, so it stood to reason…”

“I’m not talking about material conditions. In fact, I’m similar to your friends.”

“Huh?”

“I’m gay. I always thought that it was a bad thing, and even now, my family still doesn’t know about it.” Yu Ji scratched his head in embarrassment. “When I met him abroad, and he was studying art too, I really felt like I could wake up laughing from a dream. I couldn’t quite believe that such a good thing would fall into my path, and sure enough…”

Yu Ji’s pain was different from Qin Ci’s. His was more of a kind of selfishness that came from worrying about gains and losses.

“My lover was swept away by a two-mixed, so much so that he was willing to die for him. In the end, he became too depressed and jumped off a building.” Yu Ji scolded a few words, but he didn’t know what he was scolding.

Qin Ci paused for a while and couldn’t help but ask, “Two-mixed?”

Wasn’t that like mixing two foods together, like fresh potato flower on knife-cut noodles? In order to cater to people’s requirements for different tastes, the Chinese snack industry was never short of new inventions.

“It’s bisexuality,” Yu Ji popularized this new concept for Qin Ci.

“Oh…”

“It’s like two-mixed, where men and women are both acceptable. I’ve never really believed that such people can have any real romantic feelings; it’s purely to satisfy their perverted curiosity!” After Yu Ji finished cursing, he raised his eyes and looked up at the tall tree at the entrance of the hospital. He suddenly lowered his voice and said, “Actually, I have known Su Benxin for a long time.”

“What? Su Benxin?” Qin Ci couldn’t adapt to this kind of abrupt change of topic.

“Yes, she was the one who stole that person from my lover! Or, it could be said that that person loves the new and hates the old and later got together with Su Benxin.” Yu Ji felt his head starting hurt. “Obviously, I haven’t been drinking, but why do I feel like I’ve drunk too much and my head hurts…Anyway, because of this, my lover committed suicide. Even though we’d been broken up for two years when it happened, I still felt pained. I couldn’t help but think that if I had returned back to the country, we might have reconciled.”

Qin Ci felt as if he couldn’t grasp so much information at once. “I didn’t expect you to have such a tortuous and complicated relationship.”

“The reason I went to the art gallery to look at paintings that day was just to see them. I wanted to see how great this Boss Su is!” Yu Ji’s voice couldn’t hide his hatred.

Qin Ci couldn’t understand. “I don’t think Boss Su has a direct conflict with you. If you want someone to be upset with, you should be upset with the potato powder…Oh no, I mean the two-mixed.”

“I’ve already found out all about him. He had curly hair and looked quite handsome.” Yu Ji sneered slightly. “He’s very artistic, and when he smiled, he looked very devilish, which made him seem very sexy.”

“…..”

“The reason why I’m curious about this Su Benxin was because she has seriously upended the quiet life of gay men in our small town!” Yu Ji’s voice became slightly louder. “In my opinion, that woman is a pervert. She likes to have sex with gay men, and turning someone bent straight is like a great honor to her! What a reckless waste! Wanton destroyer of beautiful things! Terrible female pervert!”

This was the first time Qin Ci heard about people like this. “But I think that if it’s a firm gay man, a woman shouldn’t be able to…”

“Regardless, she has a way of turning a bowl of pure potato into a two-mix, like a witch brewing soup!” Yu Ji scolded a few words, then softened his tone. “What’s even more annoying is that seeing her in person makes me so angry.”

On the contrary, Qin Ci thought that Su Benxin had a way of making people feel comfortable.

He was reluctant to talk more about other members and so he said, “You’ve already paid for your curiosity. If you hadn’t gone to look at her art exhibition, you wouldn’t have ended up here.”

Yu Ji sighed, unable to help but be afraid. “Although this city is pretty good, I still see Zhi Chun the moment I close my eyes. After all, I shared a dorm with him last night, and I don’t dare sleep in that room tonight…Dr. Qin, can I sleep in your room with you?”

Qin Ci said, “….Fortunately, there’s a spare bed.” If it weren’t for Yu Ji’s confession right now, he would have answered more happily.

After they returned to the dorm room, Su Benxin came over to say night night and prayed that everyone would be safe tonight.

After she left, Yu Ji muttered, “I was very unhappy with this woman, but when I see her, I just couldn’t hate her…Well, she was right. I hope everyone will be safe tonight.”

“That’s impossible…” Qin Ci smiled bitterly. “If there is no death tonight, everyone will have to vote to determine who will die the next morning.”

Upon hearing this, Yi Ji patted his head. “Mmn, when we first came, you told us all the rules…My memory is really bad, and my head still hurts a little, like I have a cold. I’ll go to bed early; I’m too tired to wash up.”

As Qin Ci looked at Yu Ji, who was lying down still wearing the same clothes, those old rules flashed intermittently in his mind, such that he even wondered “whether those rules work in this city, after all, the city has its own order.”

Suddenly, the phone rang. When Qin Ci picked up, he heard Ke Xun’s voice, “Brother Qin, do you remember? We are currently in a painting called The Scarlet Beast. Our purpose is to find the painter’s signature or seal! If we stay in this city for too long, we’ll start to assimilate into the painting, forgetting our original intentions! Brother Qin, wake up! The task of finding the beast is the task given to us by the painting, and our purpose is to get out of this city! Get out of this painting!”

Ke Xun’s voice became louder and clearer, the sound like an alarm waking up a slumbering person. Qin Ci suddenly broke out in a cold sweat, such that his back soon became soaked.

It was too late to analyze the sense of loss he felt, and so Qin Ci tried to adjust his mood. “What’s the next step? Have you discussed it?”

“We don’t have a specific plan yet, but our primary goal is to look for a signature! Now we’re calling all members to notify them. The sooner everyone knows, the better!” Ke Xun’s voice gradually lost the movie-like mellowness unique in this city, and became very real, even broken in desperation.

“Okay, I’ll inform all of our members immediately. We’ll have a meeting tomorrow morning.” As Qin Ci said this, his heart seemed to separate into two trains heading in different directions. This behavior was like experiencing a long inertia after a train had stopped.

When Qin Ci hung up the phone, there was a soft knock on the door.

It was Su Benxin who came in. “I heard the phone ringing just now. What’s going on?”

Qin Ci wanted to wake up Yu Ji so they could all talk about it, but unfortunately this man was sleeping soundly and couldn’t be woken up at all. So he had no choice but to talk to Su Benxin first about Ke Xun’s phone call.

It took a long time for Su Benxin to come back to her senses. Finally, she placed a hand over her heart and said, “Oh my god, this world is really scary, trying to deceive us all.”

“Mmn, I have never experienced a painting like this before.”

“Although…I think this painting is very cute and even a little nostalgic…In the end, it’s not a place I should stay in.” Su Bencin shrugged her shoulders, her voice unable to hide her regret.

“….” In his mind, Qin Ci had been deliberately avoiding this topic. “Tonight, we need to pay attention to safety and focus on looking for beasts tomorrow…No, look for the signature.”

“Alright. Good night then.”

…….

Luo Wei was suddenly awakened by the ringing of the telephone, and it was like being forcibly dragged from one world into another.

He jerked up in bed in a cold sweat. He was still on the single bed in the dorm, and Wei Dong was on the other bed, sleeping soundly, seemingly unaffected by the ringing at all. Lion, who was on the other side, seemed to be dreaming, for there was a pained expression on his face.

The phone was still ringing, and so Luo Wei got up and answered the phone.

The receiver emitted the sound of heavy breathing, accompanied by the static sound of damaged film. It seemed as if someone was speaking, but the audio was extremely vague and nearly indistinguishable.

Luo Wei listened for a while, then asked, “Who are you? Who are you looking for?”

The voice in the receiver was still full of rough graininess. In the static, a man seemed to be saying, “…Come out.”

“What? What came out?” Luo Wei asked again.

“…It came out of his trachea.” The vague voice seemed to be a little closer and a little clearer.

Luo Wei was about to listen carefully again, when suddenly he heard an abnormal sound coming from the room.

He looked over and saw Lion tightly clutching his Adam’s apple, making a choking sound.

Luo Wei rushed over to Lion’s side, all the while shouting for Wei Dong to help.

Soon, Ke Xun and Mu Yiran also rushed in, but they were all powerless in the face of Lion’s situation.

The position of Lion’s Adam’s apple suddenly spurted a large amount of blood, almost like a fountain.

No one knew how to help. Unfortunately the doctor wasn’t around.

In a panic, Ke Xun rushed forward and pressed down on Lion’s torn and bloody wound. He seemed to feel something in there. “I think there’s a broken artery. I’m blocking it now…Call an ambulance! Hurry!”

By this time, Ke Xun was splattered with blood, but his hands were firmly fixed on this deadly injury on his companion, not daring to make a single mistake.