Paintings of Terror

Chapter 131: The Big Boss Likes Kittens

The props in the box were indeed strange, as Ke Xun had said, and they were all different too.

Everyone leaned forward and saw a writing brush, a fishing rod, a small copper basin, a red fruit from an unknown plant, a Confucian scarf worn on the head of an ancient literati, a sword, two longan cores, a round red stone, what appeared to be a cat’s whisker, a cat ears headband, a rabbit ears headband, a dragon horn headband, and a set of clothes.

They were all somewhat confused, but Qi Qiang was the first to quickly grab the sword.

The sword was very sharp. When Qi Qiang took the sword out of the box, the tip swept across the arm of the girl with the curly hair. It was obviously still half an inch away from her clothes, but amazingly, it made a slit on her sleeve anyway.

Having such a weapon could give people a psychological sense of security.

The girl with the curly hair screamed in hindsight, clutching her arms and staring at Qi Qiang angrily. “You’re crazy! You almost scratched me. Are you blind?! What’s the rush—ahhh!”

Qi Qiang slapped her hard across the face before the words could even finish spewing out of her mouth. She lurched to the side and fell to the ground in a pitiful heap.

“What are you doing?!” Her three companions shouted at Qi Qiang in shock and anger.

Qi Qiang glanced at them sullenly, and pointed the sword at them. “I can do whatever I want. Who has a problem with it?”

Seeing that these people were about to argue back, Ke Xun abruptly slapped the box, startling everyone.

“Don’t waste time.” Ke Xun looked at the small group. “Anyone in this painting can kill, and anyone can be killed. I advise that you use your brain before you act. Even if you don’t believe what our Brother Qin had said before, it doesn’t hurt to think twice before you act, especially before you know the situation.”

Seeing that they were considering his words, Ke Xun glanced at Qi Qiang and his lips curled into a smile. “Brother Qiang, we have entered a few more paintings than you have, so we have a bit more experience—In this painting, you can indeed kill your companions, but without exception, those who killed their companions would be unable to successfully leave the painting? and, in fact, died worse than anyone else. Of course, you don’t have to take my words for it. You can try it casually. But brother, due to our friendship, I would like to remind you that you have only one life. Once you try it, there’s no second chance. The best thing is to be cautious, don’t you agree?”

Qi Qiang had fought with this kid in the last painting. Of course, he knew for a fact that this kid’s fist was by no means as harmless as his handsome face, not to mention that he’d suffered from it before.

In addition, there was still that cold-faced person standing next to him, whose depths he could not take measure of.

Qi Qiang snorted coldly, carefully dropped the sword to his side, and walked to the side, looking at the crowd with a gloomy face.

“Hurry up and pick a prop. Hurry up,” Ke Xun said as he reached in to take the red stone. But Wei Dong grabbed it before he could.

“That nondescript thing doesn’t suit you.” Wei Dong picked out the rabbit ears headband. He put the headband on Ke Xun’s head and let out a whistle. “Rabbit Boy, what do you say? Is it superior enough to overcome death?” As he said this, he turned to Mu Yiran.

“…I’m a corgi, not a rabbit.” Ke Xun took off the headwear and threw it back into the box. Turning his head to look at Mu Yiran, he said, “Yiran, help me pick something.”

In the past, the boss would give him a cold glance and then turn and walk away mercilessly. But now, the boss lowered his head, glanced into the box, stretched out a slender hand, and chose a prop for him.

It’s good to have a boyfriend, Ke Xun thought.

Then his boyfriend put a cat ear headband on him.

Ke Xun: “…”

Wei Dong: It turns out that the boss likes the sexy, aloof kittenish type.

Wei Dong had on the face of someone being force fed dog food. Meanwhile, everyone else took a prop from the box. Qin Ci selected a fishing rod while Zhu Haowen picked up the inconspicuous cat whisker. Luo Wei chose the red stone and selected the small copper pot with delicately chiseled flowers for his girlfriend, Li Yaqing.

The most unexpected one was Huang Pi. This man who obviously went against the heavenly ways and was more “blackened” than Qi Qiang chose the Confucian head scarf worn by ancients. This was so different from his personal style that it seemed almost like a violation.

The four newcomers, the two men and two women, chose the two longan cores, the rabbit ear headband, dragon horn headband, and the set of clothes.

In the end, there was only a brush and an unknown fruit left in the box. Wei Dong looked at Mu Yiran and said, “Big brother, which one do you want?”

Mu Yiran bent over and picked up the fruit, leaving the brush to Wei Dong.

When the box was completely emptied, the handwriting on the bottom of the box was revealed: Please wear/take/hold onto your props. No exchanges are allowed halfway through.

“This is insane…” The girl with the curly hair groaned bitterly. She looked at the rabbit ear headband in her hand, saw that it was very cute, and quietly put the headband on her head.

Those who didn’t need to wear their props either put them in their pockets or held them in their hands. It was worth noting that, even after entering the painting, their clothes had not changed, giving no distinction of what was outside the painting and what was inside.

The newcomer who chose the set of clothes as a prop hesitated again and again but ultimately decided to change into it. It had a red and white horizontal striped T-shirt, black flared pants, and a wide yellow belt in the middle. It fitted him quite well, but it also made him look rather comical.

Ke Xun’s attention was on the fruit in Mu Yiran’s hand. Among the 13 items, it seemed that he had the only prop that needed to be taken. “What will you do? Will you really eat it?”

Mu Yiran looked down and thought for a moment. Then he said, “Mmn” and put the fruit in his mouth without hesitation.

Ke Xun didn’t stop him. Since this was the rule of the painting, there was only one path to take.

Seeing Mu Yiran eating the fruit, Ke Xun quickly asked in concern, “How do you feel?”

Mu Yiran’s brows moved slightly, and he lowered his voice a little to say, “For the time being, my body doesn’t seem to feel anything unusual, except for some slight numbness in my ears just now, like a electric shock.”

Ke Xun was taken aback. He quickly held Mu Yiran’s cheeks and turned his head to the side. “Let me check!”

As he said this, he looked into Mu Yiran’s ears and saw that it was clean and that nothing had changed.

Mu Yiran turned his face slightly and looked at Ke Xun, who was standing very close. His disheveled but stylist hair had volume, moving slightly under his eyes. On both sides of his head was the cat ear headband. At this moment, the ears flickered back and forth like a pair of living cat ears, with the tips occasionally shaking!

“Ke Xun!” Mu Yiran frowned, reaching out to pull the cat ears on his head.

But then, he heard Ke Xun let out a hiss as he made an expression of pain. Even Ke Xun was surprised. “What the fuck!”

He quickly raised his hand to touch the ears. Unexpectedly, it was just like touching his own ears. Not only did his hand feel the tactile sense of touching a pair of living ears, even the cat ears also gave him the sensation of being touched.

—In other words, the pair of cat ears felt as if they had grown out of his body, blending with his body without any sense of disobedience!

Several veteran members looked at him in shock and saw that the two pointed cat ears on his head were standing upright with great alertness…

“Fuck!” Wei Dong gaped, looking at Ke Xun with wide eyes. “Are you turning into a real cat?!”

Qin Ci asked, concerned, “Do you feel anything wrong with your body?”

“Not yet…” Ke Xun said. His pupils dilated suddenly and he pivoted around, cocked his head to the side, and asked Mu Yiran, “Help me take a look, do I have a long tail?”

Everyone: “…”

“No.” Mu Yiran pursed his lips.

“What about whiskers?” Ke Xun turned around again, pouting at Mu Yiran.

“…” Mu Yiran looked at him, took a half step forward to stand closer, and said, “No.”

Ke Xun thought to himself: Why does his voice sound a little dangerous?

Wei Dong thought to himself: You’re a repeated offender. Believe it or not, he will push you to the ground!

Qin Ci thought to himself: The president of the Cat Whiskers Club is probably Haowen, and indeed he chose the cat whisker. Let’s wait and observe.

Zhu Haowen thought: Very cute.

Suddenly, they heard several newcomers exclaim from the side. It turned out that the same had happened to the girl with the curly hair and the woman who chose the dragon horn headband. The headband seemed to have become a part of their body, so that tugging on the bunny ear hard would result in pain.

“What’s going on? What’s going on?” The curly-haired girl ran over and grabbed Qin Ci’s arm, looking at him beseechingly.

“As you can see,” Qin Ci told her in a deep voice, “it’s just like what I had told you at the beginning, this is the world of the painting.”

With a “bang”, the box’s lid suddenly closed shut. Everyone looked over, only to see a line of writing on the lid: Choice determines fate.

“…Anything that rises to the level of destiny is not a good thing…” Wei Dong said.

“Let’s go and take a look.” Qin Ci said. But they suddenly heard a “click” sound on the circular wall of this enclosed room. In a blink of an eye, a circular line was split at the position where these sounds came from. The shaped outline shrank toward both sides like a sliding door, and six circular doors opened on different positions on the circular wall.

The newcomers finally realized the huge difference between the situation in front of them and the real world. They either panicked or screamed or shrank or shuddered and shivered beside the veteran members, for fear that something terrible would happen or someone would run out at them as soon as the door opened.

After all the doors were opened and motionless, the veteran members walked over and separately looked at the situation outside the six doors.

The weird style of the Weird School paintings finally emerged at this time, and every round door that appeared in front of everyone seemed to open a different world.

Different from all the paintings they had entered before, where each of the paintings embodied only a single world, this weird and rebellious painting presented six worlds. So, which world would have the exit door?

Choice determined fate.

“What…what should we do?” The newcomers looked at the veteran members for help.

“It seems that the rules of this painting are related to choice,” Zhu Haowen said. “Whether it’s everyone’s choice of props just now, or the next selection of these six worlds, the wrong choice is likely to result in death.”

Wei Dong was depressed. “This difficulty is suddenly six times harder than before. Before, we only needed to find clues in one world. Now we have to find clues in six worlds. We only have seven days. This is too nerve-wracking.”

“Does the six doors still mean that we should act in groups?” Qin Ci glanced at the panicked newcomers and sighed softly. “Then, let’s get to know each other first.”