Paintings of Terror

Chapter 193: When Darkness Falls

“I also stand by Haowen’er,” Wei Dong immediately made a statement the moment Ke Xun finished speaking.

“I also stand by Brother Haowen’er!” Luo Bu was only one beat slower than him.

Qin Ci smiled and looked at Shao Ling and the newcomers beside him. “The so-called same goal, there’s more than one choice and more than one way to achieve it. If anyone is willing to join our team, please speak freely.”

Suddenly, Xue Ge came out from among the newcomers and walked over to stand beside the veteran members. As she passed by Ke Xun, she said lightly, “You’ve convinced me.”

“If that’s the case, then we’ll each deal with tonight in different ways,” Liu Yanlei said coldly. “But pardon me for speaking up front, I hope your actions are actually worthy of your eloquence and you won’t hold us back at the critical moment.”

“That makes the two of us,” Ke Xun said, looking straight into his eyes with a half-smile.

Regardless of his face or his aura, Liu Yanlei was completely crushed, and so he turned his head and left with a cold snort.

Shao Ling remained calm and composed. With a slight nod to the veteran members, he said, “Good luck.”

Then he turned and walked to the central hall in the center of the cabins on the first floor.

Only the five veteran members and the two newcomers, Xue Ge and Luo Bu, remained. Luo Bu looked at Ke Xun and Mu Yiran and said, “Brother, Brother-in-law, what should we do tonight?”

Ke Xun: “….”

Mu Yiran: “….”

Everyone: “….”

Ke Xun finally said, “Who’s your brother and your brother-in-law?”

Luo Bu said, “Don’t worry about these details. Brothers, you guys hurry up and share your ideas. It’s getting dark.”

Everyone habitually looked at Mu Yiran, and Mu Yiran, as always, never let them down. “In the story of Burning Rhino on Bull Islet Rock, the burning of the rhinoceros horn was the source of disaster and death. But since we need to look for the seal, perhaps only by ignoring the rhinoceros horn can we attain clues. Therefore, this has become a situation of knowing there’s a title in the mountains but still having to go into the mountain.”

“The force of death in the painting cannot be resisted. This is the power that we are facing, and one with an unsolvable dead end.”

“However, the painting will not block all the avenues of escape. Usually, it is a situation of nine deaths and one life. What’s more, there is more than one kind of dangerous force in the painting.”

“But although the force of death is irresistible and extremely dangerous, as long as you find the right path, you can survive.”

“For example, in Funeral, as long as you don’t get seen by the ghosts and you hold your breath, you won’t be killed. In Human Studies, as long as you’re unconscious, you can avoid losing your senses and going mad. As long as you cooperate with a tacit understanding, you won’t be electrocuted to death–all of these had a solution.”

“It’s likely that after lighting the rhino horn, what will be needed will be the latter. We won’t die without first being given the chance to find a way out. There may be a risk of death, but it’s not necessarily without a solution.”

“As for how to solve it, there’s no shortcut. We can only, and must, use the death of the first night to verify and find clues. Therefore, we can’t do anything in advance and can only adapt accordingly.”

“This painting is a confined space, and the struggle for life and death will happen only on this ship, so I reason that neither running nor dodging is the way to avoid death. It’s because we have nowhere to go.”

“Therefore, the way of death in this painting is not an indiscriminate attack type, nor should it be a task completion type, but will most likely be a trigger or a conditional type.”

“There are many subtypes related to the conditional attack type, but the limited space on this ship means that there are limited items, so I think this condition will have nothing to do with finding or collecting items.”

“And since it has nothing to do with objects, it’s very likely to be related to our behavior and thoughts. Therefore, I think the death condition this time should be closely related to our performance.”

“The crossbows are just preventive measures. In this case, it’s difficult to say whether it will be useful, but it’s still good to make extra precautionary preparations. As for the rhinoceros horn, we don’t have to rush to ignite it. It’s better to wait and see what happens first. If the situation indicates that it must be ignited, then we can make reasonable adjustments.”

“I, Ke Xun, and Luo Bu, will form a team. Dr. Qin, the four of you are in a team. You don’t all need to carry crossbows. As a team, you can divide the labor and cooperate on whether to burn or not burn the rhinoceros horn.”

“We’ll set the watch at the stern of the ship. Dr. Qin, the four of you will be at the back of the second floor, while the three of us will stay at the back of the first floor. If everything went as expected, the force would come from the sea and pass through the first floor. On the second floor, the four of you with a better view are responsible for reconnaissance. If the situation turns bad, consider dispersing or enter the cabins to avoid it. It’s up to you to decide.”

“Just in case, we’ll find two ropes and tie it to the railing on the second floor. If there’s an accident, we can also use the ropes to move from the second floor to the first floor in the shortest time, or from the first floor to the second floor.”

“That’s all I can think of for the time being. Do you have anything else to add?”

“Nothing else!” Everyone responded in unison.

“Oh my God, my brother-in-law is too handsome!” Luo Bu exclaimed and elbowed Ke Xun. “Utterly impeccable. Brother, you’re right to bend him.”

“…..” Ke Xun wrapped his arm around the boy’s neck and walked him toward the stairs leading to the lower deck. “Follow me down to look for rope.”

Meanwhile, the others waited on deck. Zhu Haowen and Wei Dong stood on the side of the ship, looking out at sea, while Mu Yiran and Qin Ci went to see Shao Ling’s team to put forth Mu Yiran’s speculations. When all was said and done, he couldn’t just cut off sharing news just because they’d broken off into two teams. As for whether the other party was willing to believe and accept their speculations, that was their own business.

This group of people were busy working in the central dining hall. They found hammers and nails from nowhere and were dismantling the two low tables. They were using the dismantled wooden boards to seal the windows, leaving the door as the only exit.

They also carried all the boxes under the floor of the captain’s room into the hall, saying that these boxes might play a role. The six people went their separate ways in an orderly manner under the command and coordination of Shao Ling, seeming to view him collectively as their leader.

After hearing Mu Yiran’s analysis, Shao Ling nodded to express his gratitude, and reciprocated by saying, “If you encounter danger, call us, and we will do our best to help.”

When Mu Yiran and Qin Ci returned to the stern of the deck, Ke Xun and Luo Bu had just returned, holding several large rolls of hemp rope in their arms.

“A not-so-good update, our mobile phones have been deprived of their flashlight function, and Luo Bu’s flints can no longer ignite anything combustible,” Ke Xun told the crowd. “We ended up having to grope in the dark below, but fortunately, I still remember the approximate location of the rope. It seems that this painting won’t allow us to light anything other than the horns.”

“Exactly right. When darkness falls, we won’t be permitted to light other objects ,” Zhu Haowen added. “It’s already dark now. When it was dawn earlier, we could still use our cell phone flashlight when we entered the lower cabin.”

Ke Xun slapped his forehead. “I forgot to look for more flints when I was down there. I’ll go back to look.”

Zhu Haowen reached out and grabbed his arm. “Don’t go. It’s hard finding things without any light. Use mine.”

He took out a flint from his chest pocket.

“You also have one?” Ke Xun looked at the flint, suddenly realized something, and raised his eyebrows. “You smoke?”

Zhu Haowen had never smoked in front of Ke Xun.

“Mmm, are you surprised?” Zhu Haowen was calm.

“Quit smoking,” Ke Xun said. “For young people, fitness is the way to relax. Learn it from me.”

Zhu Haowen looked at him, smiled, but didn’t speak.

Ke Xun asked Qin Ci, “Dongzi doesn’t smoke. Do you smoke, Brother Qin?”

Qin Ci also smiled. “As a doctor, I know the health disadvantages of smoking better than anyone else. I don’t smoke. So only Haowen in our group has a flint.”

“I do too.” Xue Ge said, taking out his own flint.

“That’s good enough,” Ke Xun said. “Our group has Radish. Once the rope is ready, prepare to meet the enemy.”

“I’ll help you pay attention to anything at a further range,” Zhu Haowen said.

“Okay, be more careful.” Ke Xun patted him on the shoulder.

Zhu Haowen gave him a deep look and turned his head away, saying, “You too.”

Once the ropes were arranged, Ke Xun, Mu Yiran, and Luo Bu stood by the door at the stern and waited quietly. The door was opened so they could hide in the room if needed.

The sea at night was extraordinarily quiet, save for the surging of the waves ahd creaking of the ship’s hull.

The night sky only had a few stars overhead, with no moon, and the wind blew the clouds across the sky, causing them to gather and disperse unpredictably.

After countless times of struggling at the edge of life and death together, Ke Xun and Mu Yiran had long since formed a tacit understanding.

They just stood quietly side by side, their arms pressed together, fingers interlocked underneath their sleeves.

Suddenly, a third hand reached out and held their two, interlocked hands.

Ke Xun: “…”

Mu Yiran: “…”

Ke Xun demanded, “Do you want to get beaten?”

Luo Bu said, “I’m afraid too, brother, so you can include me too.”

Ke Xun was momentarily speechless. “I’ll add your radish head, I will. Get out of the way and grab your own equipment.”

Luo Bu said, “I don’t want to hold my equipment. My hands are shaking too much. I’m scared, I’m really scared…”

As he spoke, his voice seemed to be sobbing spasmodically.

Ke Xun became silent. Then he wrapped his arm around Luo Bu’s shoulder and brought him over to his side. “In the painting, any words of comfort are useless. Just like, no matter how scared you are, it’s pointless. So, Radish, if you are unfortunate enough to be chosen by death, and the way of death seems likely to be extremely tragic, I will help you die quickly and suffer less. Do you agree?”

“How quickly?” Luo Bu choked out.

Ke Xun lifted the crossbow in his other hand. “I’ll try and shoot an arrow into your throat as accurately as possible for a quick death, okay?”

“Okay,” Luo Bu didn’t hesitate to agree. He wiped the tears from his face and added, “Then I’ll leave it to you, bro. But you can shoot only after you see that there’s no chance for me, in case I can be rescued. Don’t send me away easily until the very last minute!”

“…” Ke Xun didn’t want to deal with this stuff anymore, and his eyes fell to the dark sea.

Time inched slowly toward the 12 o’clock point of night.

Suddenly, a large thick cloud formed, covering the entire sky and instantly swallowing every light there was into an endless darkness.

The darkness was so thick that it seemed as if Ke Xun had suddenly lost his sight. He couldn’t see any light or images. He even put his hand out in front of his eyes but still could not see a single outline.

This darkness was abnormal.

“Yiran,” Ke Xun called in a very low voice.

But no one responded.

He stretched out his hand, but there was nothing there. Mu Yiran, who had been standing beside him, had disappeared.

Ke Xun retracted his hand and raised his crossbow. But after thinking it over, he put it down again. It was so dark right now; he absolutely could not shoot the crossbow, for fear of hurting Mu Yiran or Luo Bu.

“Radish?” Ke Xun called again in a low voice.

Luo Bu did not respond either.

Ke Xun stood calmly in place, not acting rashly. He quickly calmed himself down and listened carefully to the surrounding environment.

There was no sound.

All he could hear was the slow surging of the sea and the occasional creaking of the wooden hull.

Creak, creak.

Creak.

Something was creaking down the deck.

Slow as sea water, rough as a wooden hull.

Creaking, step by step, in the blinding darkness, heading in his direction.