Paintings of Terror

Chapter 203: Is It Imaginary? Is It Real? Foolishly Hard To Tell

Luo Bu sidled up to Ke Xun and said, “Brother, can you tie me up tonight? Truss me up completely with my hands behind my back so that I’ll be unable to untie the rope, run out, and jump into the sea. Just in case I wake up and am bewitched by the illusion, at least I won’t be able to move.”

“Hey, I think this is a great idea,” Wei Dong said, having overheard. He leaned over and said, “Can you tie me up too?”

Ke Xun looked at these two people. “You have to think carefully about it. We can’t be certain whether the illusion will get rid of your rope. After all, it could get rid of the cabin, leaving us in an empty space. Therefore, wouldn’t it be easy to get rid of the rope in that parallel space?”

“From the experience of the first two nights, the only things that the illusion cannot dominate are our personal will and behavior,” Mu Yiran said from next to him. “So there is really no guarantee that the rope will work.”

Luo Bu and Wei Dong looked at each other, until Luo Bu suddenly had an idea. “Hey, can I use the rope as a warning object? If I am awakened after being knocked unconscious and see that I have a rope, it will remind me about the illusion. If there is no rope, it will also prove that I am inside an illusion. What do you think?”

“I think that’ll work,” Wei Dong said. “Just focus all your attention on the rope. If there’s a rope, just think about the rope. If there’s no rope, keep telling yourself that it’s an illusion. This will make it easier to concentrate and not be affected by the illusion.”

“Okay, I’ll do it then. I’ll find a rope!” Luo Bu got up and hurried away.

“What about you? Will you use a rope too?” Ke Xun looked at Wei Dong.

Wei Dong hesitated. “I actually don’t like the feeling of being tied up. The illusion is enough to torture people. If I’m tied up, wouldn’t that just make it worse?”

“It’s best to find something that has the most presence and familiarity for you,” Mu Yiran said.

Wei Dong was lost in thought.

“Your cell phone?” Ke Xun prompted.

Wei Dong thought about it and said, “I don’t like the phone I’m using now, so I don’t really have any feelings attached to it. I feel that even if it’s lost, I wouldn’t miss it. I would just change to a new one.”

Ke Xun: “….”

Wei Dong looked around, and his gaze landed on the brush that Shao Ling had just used to write with. “That’s it! The brush! The one thing I’m most familiar with is a paintbrush. I’ve painted from when I was a young to now, and although I’m doing graphic design now, I would also still use brushes to draw illustrations and whatnot. That’s it!”

“Then I’ll use my cell phone.” Ke Xun took out his phone and showed Mu Yiran the phone case. “It has a laser-engraved embossed pattern that I can rub my fingers over. I can use this as a warning item.”

Mu Yiran looked at the pattern on the phone case and saw two swash of English words: Corgi & Mooney.

He couldn’t help but smiled.

Ke Xun blinked and leaned forward to ask him, “What about you? What are you using?”

“I’ll probably need to borrow something from you.” Mu Yiran looked at him.

“Huh?” Ke Xun blinked again. “Thinking about it, I think the only thing I can give you is…”

“Ahhhhh! I’m deaf and I can’t hear anything!” Wei Dong crawled out of the room with his eyes covered.

“…” Mu Yiran retracted his gaze, raised his hand to caress Ke Xun’s shoulder, and said, “Your hair has grown.”

When he retracted his hand, there was a strand of hair between his fingers.

“When the time comes, I’ll tie it to my finger and make a restriction ring.” Just as Mu Yiran said this, Ke Xun’s lips came over.

Shao Ling was the only one trapped in the room, and he thought, maybe this is also an illusion.

Before dinner, everyone had decided on their warning object. Xue Ge also chose a brush. After all, she was more of a professional painter than Wei Dong.

Yu Long and Fang Fei were using the couple rings on their respective hands. Although they had degenerated from platinum inlaid with diamond to copper inlaid with gems, at least they hadn’t changed much.

Qin Ci, Zhu Haowen, and Shao Ling choe their own cell phones.

Chen Xinai was still in a state of dissociation. Although she was able to start thinking again, she didn’t seem to be able to think about what to use as a warning object for herself. Regarding this, everyone was very hands off. After all, right now, the only one who could help her with her psychological problems was herself.

When night fell, everyone gathered in the atrium on the first floor and sat in a circle, silently waiting for impending death.

It was like waiting for death in the dark, full of uncertainty.

The passage of time might have been difficult to endure, because Yu Long’s voice eventually resounded in the darkness, “What if we don’t light the rhino horns at 12 o’clock.”

Shao Ling’s voice sounded, “We would still be in an illusion, but we won’t be able to see any clues without lighting the rhino horn.”

“Then what if we all light the rhino horns in one go?” Luo Bu asked.

“Then we might only have this one chance to see the clues tonight,” Shao Ling said.

Everyone fell into silence once more, until the time approached midnight.

“Please.” Shao Ling’s voice was turned toward Mu Yiran.

Shao Ling, Yu Long, Fang Fei, and Luo Bu had chosen the method of both being knocked unconscious and having a warning item. Chen Xinai didn’t make any requests, and so naturally no one could force it on her. The veteran opted to stay awake, while Xue Ge must stay awake to light the rhinoceros horn.

THe darkness didn’t not affect the accuracy of Mu Yiran’s moves. He knocked out several people in turn, while Ke Xun and Wei Dong were responsible for typing Luo Bu up with a rope.

“Fellows,” Ke Xun said to his old friends, “Stay alive.”

“Yes,” several deep voices said together.

As a darkness thicker than night quietly invaded the room, Ke Xun only had enough time to shout to Xue Ge, who was standing outside the door. “Don’t be afraid.”

Xue Ge was not afraid.

For a person who was destined to have only a few days to live, the struggle of life and death was already beyond the sphere of her consideration.

Her mind was settled, and she revealed a calm smile in the darkness.

Picking up the rhino horn and the flint and steel, she did not hesitate to light it. The spot of yellow light that instantly illuminated the rhino horn was nearly transparent. And through the transparent rhino horn, she saw the thing hidden in the darkness.

……..

“Wake up. Hey, don’t sleep.”

In a daze, Yu Long heard a sound next to him. It seemed to be coming from the kid named Ke Xun.

Yu Long rubbed his face and sat up. Everything was still cloaked in darkness, and he couldn’t help but ask, “What time is it?”

“Before dawn, close to dawn,” Fang Fei answered faintly from next to him.

“…Everything is okay?” Yu Long calmed down as his consciousness became a little more clear. There was a hint of joy in his voice as he hurriedly asked Fang Fei, “Are you okay?”

“Aren’t I still alive talking to you?” Fang Fei was still treating him coldly.

Yu Long didn’t care. He stretched out his arms and hugged her tightly. Dropping a kiss on top of her head, he said, “Okay. Why are you still angry, even at a time like this?”

“Because it is a time like this.” Fang Fei’s voice became colder. “I still don’t know where I stand in your heart. Yu Long, if we all die here this time, I won’t say anything. But if we can go out, we must break up.”

“Don’t argue, you two,” Wie Dong couldn’t help but persuade from his end. “It’s hard to live each day. Cherish the people in front of you.”

“This has nothing to do with you. Please shut up,” Fang Fei said coldly.

Silence descended on the room. All the voices had stopped at once, as if everyone was listening.

Yu Long frowned, feeling a little uncomfortable. This situation was really embarrassing. But regardless of the situation, he couldn’t help but say to Fang Fei, “You’re done forever?”

His tone began to sound ugly. “You won’t let it go, will you? Yes, the person in my illusion on that first night isn’t you. So what does that prove? If I really have a guilty conscience, why would I tell you the truth? When you asked me, I told you the truth. Wouldn’t it have been easier for me to just lie? I told you the truth to prove that I have a clear conscience. What’s wrong with that? Do I have to lie for you to be happy?”

“Yu Long!” Fang Fei’s voice seemed to tremble with anger. “Don’t take shame as a clear conscience! Those days last month when I went to other provinces to compete in amateur diving competitions, tell me who you’re with!”

“…I fucking stayed in the team and trained! What are you saying?!” Yu Long roared.

“Your reason isn’t good enough, Yu Long. You think I don’t know you?” Fang Fei sneered. “Don’t think that all women are fools. I’m not going to let you play around with me like some kind of monkey. You were with Liu Lili everyday during those days I was gone. You know what you did!”

“What the fuck are you farting about?! If it wasn’t because Liu Lili was your best friend, I wouldn’t even have spoken to her. I don’t care who she is! Can you stop this fucking nonsense that’s just based on your imagination alone?!” Yu Long flew into a rage out of humiliation, unable to help but lash out.

“My imagination? Yu Long, men like you probably think that women’s IQ becomes negative when they’re in love,” Fang Fei’s voice was calm, leaking with icy sarcasm. “Do you know that your arrogance has completely betrayed your self-righteous IQ.”

“Liu Lili posts photos in her circle of friends every day. She always likes to take pictures of her meals. So here’s the irony. In the dining photos she posted during those few days, she placed the glass vase on the table as a decoration. There was a reflection, and I saw your ear in that reflection.”

“Do you think there will be a second person’s earlobe with the same exact scar as your’s? That glass vase was a birthday gift I gave her, and she placed it on the table in her dining room. Therefore, it was impossible for you both to meet by chance and just happened to stop for a meal.”

“Yu Long, I have never mentioned this matter to you. First, because Liu Lili’s grandmother had just died and I didn’t have the morals to tear it up with her. Second, I wanted to give you a chance to explain. If you really have a clear conscience, you will definitely take the initiative to tell me about your meal with Liu Lili.”

“But you didn’t. Yu Long, I waited for you for so many days, but you never said anything about it.”

“After entering the painting, I realized that we might really die here. It doesn’t make much sense to care about the past. It’s better to leave a good thought for each other. So after the first night, when I asked you who was in your illusion, as long as you said it was me, I was willing to believe it, whether it was true or not.”

“What’s funny is that your arrogance makes you think of ‘telling the truth’ with a clear conscience. Since the person you love and trust isn’t me, why should I still agonize over something like this right before death!”

“But to tell you the truth, I had already printed out the photo Liu Lili had taken, and I also enlarged a close-up of your ears in the reflection of the vase, and attached an enlarged version of your own headshot and a copy of the accusation that you’re stepping on two boats. That large poster is now posted in the most conspicuous position in your community. After seeing these things, see if people and your dad, who cares so much about his good face and who feels so proud of having such a charming son like you, will feel about it.”

“You—Fang! Fei! You’re crazy! My dad has a bad heart—You’re going to kill my dad—“ Yu Long was enraged. He jumped up and rushed towards Fang Fei in the dark.