Paintings of Terror

Everyone was rendered speechless.

Just what kind of person—what kind of grudge could they have—would curse a family to be barren of children and go extinct?

They didn’t even spare the last member of that family. Even after that person had become a corpse in a coffin, they had cursed the deceased to be split by lightning.

“Perhaps the signature or seal is hidden within the truth of this matter,” The doctor said, “Maybe we need to find out who cursed this family in order to find the seal.”

“How would we find them? It’s already dark. There’s no way we can find them now!” Liu Yufei pulled at his hair violently in a fit of anxiety. The greasy pigtail at the back of his head was tugged into a mess.

“I’ll go ask that old man.” As he said this, Ke Xun walked over to the door and knocked heavily a few times. However, they could hear no sounds coming from inside the room.

“Break it! Break the door down!” Liu Yufei’s eyes were reddened in his panic. He picked up a chair and charged over. He swung the chair heavily against the door.

Ke Xun was narrowly implicated in the other’s attack. He took two steps to the side and let Liu Yufei slam his chair against the door in a frenzied manner. Unfortunately, the wooden door seemed as sturdy as steel. Although the chair in Liu Yufei’s hands had already splintered into pieces, there were no visible marks left on the wooden door.

“It’s useless.” The doctor shook his head. “It seems like this door cannot be broken. Look at the time.”

Ke Xun pulled out his phone from his pocket. He still had no signal. He looked at the time and saw that it was already past nine.

“According to early Chinese time-keeping methods which divide each day into twelve units, nine o’clock in the evening is considered the beginning of the ‘dead of the night,’” The doctor said, “This refers to the time in which the sky has fully darkened. In the past, people would usually have already stopped working by this time and would be, instead, preparing to go to bed. No matter how hard we pound against the door, that old man, who has already entered his ‘dead of the night’ state and will not carry out any actions. We’ve already missed our chance of asking him anything. We have no choice but to wait until tomorrow.”

“How can we wait until tomorrow?! I’ll be dead by tomorrow!” Liu Yufei howled as he continued to kick at the wooden door with all his might.

The doctor shook his head and turned to look at the others. “Even if we were to ask the other villagers, the outcome will be the same. No ‘person’ will appear.”

“What should I do…what should I do…?” Wei Dong’s lips trembled. He looked at Ke Xun in despair.

“When will we be prohibited from leaving our designated areas?” Ke Xun asked Mu Yiran.

“I don’t know for sure.” Mu Yiran looked at him. “After all, both of the previous two paintings I entered had been different. But in general, it seems like we cannot move freely after eleven o’clock. Once we hit eleven, we enter the subdivision that includes midnight.” (TN: zi shi is a subdivision in early Chinese time-keeping that encompasses 11am to 1pm. And we all know that the horror genre loves making bad things happen after midnight.)

“I’m going to look around the Chinese Scholar trees again.” Ke Xun walked out the door with large strides.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

He believed in fate, but he was never one to succumb to fate. He had always believed that one could change their own fate.

When night came, the village became so dark one wouldn’t even be able to see their fingers if they were to stretch out their arms. The thick fog and stench of rain filled the air.

Ke Xun used his cell phone to illuminate the Chinese Scholar trees as he searched. Under the feeble light, the countless faces on the Chinese Scholar trees looked even paler and sinister.

Ke Xun climbed one of the trees. He dangerously manoeuvred his way through the tree’s branches, trying his best to find some kind of suspicious mark. The crowd that had followed after him also didn’t dare to tarry. They split up and started to conduct their own urgent searches.

Under that stifling, anxious, apprehensive and fearful atmosphere, time passed by feeling both too quick and too slow. When the cold sound of a phone’s alarm rang, the doctor silenced it before sighing quietly. “There’s about twenty minutes until eleven o’clock. We’ll have to stop here. It may be even more dangerous for us if we cannot get back in time.”

These words sounded very cruel in everyone’s ears.

Even if they were unwilling, there was no way to put this off. If they were to go to their posts, there would be a chance of survival. If they didn’t go, then what awaited them would be certain death.

Everyone fell silent for a while. In the end, they all headed to their posts with heavy steps.

Wei Dong was left in a daze. He stood there in place, not moving for a long time.

Ke Xun clenched his fist and ruthlessly punched the tree. His chest heaved heavily and he grit his teeth. He then walked over to wrap an arm around Wei Dong’s shoulder and took him towards the Li Residence. Even after they entered the courtyard, he didn’t let go of the other. He headed straight towards the mourning hall.

Mu Yiran realized that something was wrong. He grabbed Ke Xun’s arm and asked him in a heavy voice, “What are you doing?”

“I’m going to stay in the mourning hall with Dong zi tonight.” Ke Xun articulated very clearly.

“You’re seeking death.” Mu Yiran looked him coldly in the eyes.

“Even if I don’t look for death, death will come looking for me. There’s no difference.” Ke Xun gazed back, expressionless.

“You can’t solve anything if you let your emotions get in your way.” Mu Yiran’s tone was frigid.

“Maybe.” Even if it was Mu Yiran who had inspected countless people before, it was rare for him to see genuine fearlessness in someone’s eyes. But right now, he could see it in Ke Xun’s. “But I can’t look on unfeelingly as my friend dies. I would rather die with him. Before I die, I want to know just what bullshit thing is trying to kill me. Even if I’m powerless against it, I still want to spit blood in its fucking face before I die.”

“Listen to me.” Mu Yiran let go of his arm. He suddenly reached out and grabbed hold of Ke Xun’s lapel and pulled him in close. “I don’t care if you want to die. But if it will implicate me, I won’t approve of your plans. The painting mandates that two people must be in the firewood room. Therefore, there must be two people in the firewood room. Unless someone has already died, the sole person in the room will suffer two times the punishment. Of course, you have no obligation or responsibility over what I may encounter. Therefore, when a disagreement like this occurs, there is only one possible resolution.”

Before Ke Xun could ask what this resolution was, he saw Mu Yiran use his other hand to karate chop the back of his neck at the speed of light. Ke Xun hadn’t even had time to dodge. Without being given any time to make a sound, he fell right onto Mu Yiran’s body.

Mu Yiran hoisted him up and then turned to look at the trembling Wei Dong.

“Sorry.” Mu Yiran looked at him. “I think you and him should quickly come to terms with the fact that now that you’ve entered the world inside this painting, your lives now hang on a thread. Even if you manage to survive tonight, you may die tomorrow night. What evokes even more despair is that, even if you manage to make it out of this painting, you will have to enter the next painting, just like me. I don’t know when it will end. What if it never ends?”

Wei Dong’s trembling intensified. He almost couldn’t stand steady anymore.

“If that’s really the case, then there would be no meaning to fight like this to survive.” Mu Yiran was as indifferent and calm as ever. “But I still want to try. Maybe there won’t be another painting after this. That’s why, in my opinion, there is still hope if you manage to survive. But then again, dying might also be a sort of liberation. I hope that by telling you this, I can make things a bit easier on you.”

“…I…” Wei Dong parted his lips but he could only make an indistinct, trembling syllable.

“Go inside. There’s not much time left.” Mu Yiran was so calm he seemed cruel.

Wei Dong seemed to have lost all ability to act on his own. As soon as he heard Mu Yiran say this, he turned around and stumbled into the mourning hall as instructed.

Mu Yiran watched him take a few steps. He then looked down to see the unconscious Ke Xun in his arms who was currently frowning. The light in his eyes flickered slightly. He then chased behind Wei Dong with his arms looped around Ke Xun. He whispered in Wei Dong’s ears, “After you go in, find a corner to lie down in. Pull the collar of your shirt over your head. Don’t let your head show, not even your hair. Then, stay still. No matter what you hear or what you touch, do not move. If you hear something approach you, do your best to hold your breath.”

Wei Dong turned to gaze at him hesitantly.

“This is just a conjecture on my part. I’ve never tested it before so I don’t know how effective it will be.” Mu Yiran’s tone was flat. “Don’t get your hopes too high. It’s just an experimental method for a desperate situation.”

Wei Dong turned around after that and continued to stumble into the mourning hall.

Ke Xun was woken up by the sound of muffled thunder.

The moment he opened his eyes, everything was pitch dark around him. He was about to move when a hand pushed down on him. A very soft voice then filtered into his ears. “Don’t move. It’s here.”

Ke Xun instantly remembered what had happened before he had fainted. Fury boiled in his chest and he struggled to sit up. Mu Yiran wrapped a hand around his throat and pressed him tightly against the ground.

“Wei Dong won’t die. Don’t be reckless or I’ll knock you unconscious again.” Mu Yiran’s voice was so quiet that Ke Xun almost couldn’t hear him. However, he could still sense the chill in the other’s voice.

Ke Xun forced himself to calm down. He laid on the icy floor, motionless.

A moment later, the sound of movement around them echoed in his ears.

There was a weird rustling sound.

It wasn’t the sound paper makes, nor the sound of wind against branches or a door. It sounded like something was slowly shuffling against the floor.

Mu Yiran’s hand silently let go of Ke Xun’s throat. The moment his fingers lifted off of Ke Xun’s skin, Ke Xun finally noticed the slight cold of the other’s fingertips.

So this person was also capable of getting nervous, was what Ke Xun thought. It seemed like whatever was making that shuffling sound outside was stronger than those paper dolls.

For some inexplicable reason, Ke Xun reached out and took hold of Mu Yiran’s hand.

The moment their hands touched, Ke Xun was startled. He also sensed that Mu Yiran, who was on top of him, also went rigid.

It was an instinctive action caused by fear on his part. Not even Ke Xun had expected that he would do such a thing. Luckily, these were extraordinary times. Otherwise, Mu Yiran would probably have choked him to death.

Regardless, neither Ke Xun nor Mu Yiran moved. This was because the shuffling sound was gradually coming closer.

Both of them lightened their breaths. Ke Xun could sense that the slowly moving sound seemed to be patrolling the pile of firewood Mu Yiran had hidden the two of them behind. Suddenly, the sound stopped in front of the pile, right where their heads were. The room fell deathly still in an instant.

Ke Xun felt his scalp go numb and he held his breath at once.

Everything was silent. He could even hear his heart thumping inside his chest.

Ke Xun began to worry. His heart was indeed beating too intensely. He was afraid that the ‘thing’ outside would hear it.

In the silence, every second seemed to last an eternity. An invisible, enormous bad premonition increasingly pressed down against Ke Xun.

One second, two seconds, three seconds….

Just as Ke Xun’s breath was about to run out and he would be forced to breathe, a ‘clatter’ resounded through the room.

A log in front of them had fallen on its own.

The author has something to say:

Everything feels unreal and confusing to Ke Xun, who has just entered a painting for the first time. He still feels like it’s possible to win as long as he tries his best. This is why he and Mu Yiran, who is a veteran when it comes to going into paintings, will inevitably have clashes of opinions and ideas in the beginning. I think that it’s more normal for a newcomer to be both afraid and fearless, as well impulsive and hot-blooded. I think that it wouldn’t make much sense for him to be OP in the beginning. Furthermore, we would lose the opportunity to see him grow~

Therefore, our protagonist Ke Xun will mature. He will get stronger and stronger and gain a steadier mind. He will gradually thaw that iceberg of a man and their love will shine~

Fairies, please wait and see. My son is also your son. Let’s raise this baby together and send him off with a grand wedding~~

Muah muah~~~

Eve: His growth is indeed impressive and I love my sons. #waiting for the wedding