Paintings of Terror

Chapter 64: Grazing and Being Grazed

The way Mu Yiran elegantly walked over made onlookers feel as if he was actually dressed to the nines, truly envy-inducing.

“You came.” Qin Ci greeted Mu Yiran before gesturing at the three new people. “They’re the only newcomers we’ve seen so far, so we’re still missing five people.”

“I think we don’t need to wait any longer. It’s past the required time to enter the painting.” Mu Yiran quietly continued, “I believe the women are somewhere else.”

“What do you mean?” The pale young man was frantic. “I had two other classmates with me, both girls, they should’ve entered this weird painting world too. Where could they be?”

Mu Yiran glanced over at the nearby group of men. “Everyone gathered here seems to be male, so I hazard the women should be in another place.”

“It’s true, it’s inappropriate for both sexes to be present in this kind of situation,” Wei Dong replied with a smile.

Qin Ci nodded. “It’s getting dark, I think we should go ahead and ask those guys about the situation.”

No one had any objections, so everyone walked together towards the group of men in the distance.

The three newcomers were all young and their ability to accept this sort of bizarre circumstance was high as well. Despite still being skeptical, all three obediently followed after them.

Both Qin Ci and Mu Yiran walked at the very front and they chose an honest looking middle aged uncle to ask, “This big brother, would you mind telling us where we are?”

The middle aged man was sitting cross-legged on the ground and rubbing mud on himself, his big belly swooping down and covering his intimate parts which made everyone a bit relieved.

When he heard this, surprise flitted across his face: “You guys are newcomers? This place is the Niu family farm.”

A farm? Everyone shared a look. Since this was a farm, where were the animals?

Qin Ci continued: “May I ask where the farmhand is?”

The middle aged man was even more shocked: “What’s the point of looking for the farmhand? Since it’s not dinner time yet, he’s obviously still at his office. Naturally we’ll see him when it’s time to eat.”

“Then….what’s everyone doing right now?” Qin Ci asked.

“Recess ah”, the middle aged man smiled. “What kind of farm were you guys at before? You didn’t have recess?”

“Re- recess?” The pale boy anxiously looked at Qin Ci, “Did we become prisoners or something?”

“Even if we’re prisoners, we shouldn’t be naked.” The chubby man looked disgusted. “Although it’s possible for prisoners to be sent to farms for reformation, the people here don’t seem to be doing any reforming. Bare asses everywhere, it’s really painful for the eyes.”

Honestly the most painful thing for the eyes right now is you okay, Wei Dong thought in his heart.

.

“Excuse me,” Mu Yiran suddenly said, “What’s the schedule like everyday on this farm? How are things handled?”

The middle-aged man looked Mu Yiran up and down, and was about to look even lower when he found a flower shoved in his face, blocking his vision. He raised his eyes to see a young boy (Ke Xun) who didn’t seem inferior in both figure and appearance compared to the former. He stared at them coldly before revealing a small smile, “Ah, relax a bit young man, I don’t have any bad intentions. I just feel that you all seem to be a good lot, it’s possible that soon you guys will be treated even better than us.”

Ke Xun raised his eyebrows: “Then can you please just answer the question.”

The middle-aged man smiled again: “Actually we’re not very different from other places: we get three meals a day, during the daytime we have recess and laze around in the sun, at night we come back and sleep. As long as you don’t recklessly run around, everywhere is fair game. Just don’t go inside the forest or beyond the fence. Let me give you some advice though: as new people, don’t cause trouble or else you’ll piss off the boss, and that won’t be fun at all.”

“The boss? Who’s that?” The tall six foot man asked.

The middle aged man looked around, finally settling his gaze towards an area far beyond the bushes, and pointed: “That guy over there, Mo Mou.”

Everyone directed their eyes in the direction the man was pointing to, noticing a patch of grass that others seemed to be avoiding; at the very center squatted a handsome and robust young man.

This person had wheat-colored skin, cold and stern eyes, and his facial features seemed almost engraved from stone. His muscles were especially prominent, and his body seemed to not have any excess fat. He had an amazing figure, broad shoulders and a narrow waist, almost like a Greek god.

The most noticeable part of him was his intimidating aura; even if he didn’t talk, he could make people scared.

Ke Xun gave him a onceover before immediately looking away. He felt like someone had been looking at him as well, and after quickly darting his eyes to the side to look at Mu Yiran, swiftly withdrew his gaze.

Qin Ci and Mu Yiran continued to ask the man a few more questions but couldn’t garner any new information. It was obvious that having just arrived in the painting, they wouldn’t be able to find any more clues for now.

The small group gathered together to discuss.

Qin Ci first said: “I think we can only go with the flow for now. Let’s try and follow what that person said and try to stick together when it’s night time. It’s possible that tomorrow….. We’ll be able to find something out.”

Only the few who entered the paintings previously understood the meaning of those words.

The pale young man hurriedly said: “Since it’s recess right now, can you guys come with me to look for my two classmates? I’m really worried about them. I don’t have my glasses right now so I can’t see anything clearly. Can you guys please help me out?”

“Sure.” Wei Dong replied.

Ke Xun: “……”

Mu Yiran spoke up: “It’s too late. I looked around just now, it seems like the farm is fairly large, and it’s already nearing dusk. If we go look for them now, we won’t be able to make it back by nightfall.

“What’ll happen if we can’t come back by then?” The pale young man asked.

“Death.”

The pale young man curled into a silent ball in fright from seeing so many people give the same answer.

“Since we’re all here, let’s introduce ourselves.” Qin Ci spoke on behalf of the veterans and gave his surname.

“I’m Dong Dong,” The six foot youth said before pointing at the fatty. “This is my friend Yuan Yuan. We’re childhood friends and we originally went into the museum to avoid the rain, but we didn’t expect to get transported inside a painting.”

Wei Dong and Ke Xun who were also childhood friends took a long look at the two and couldn’t find any sense of resonance ….

“My name’s Bi Jing. Originally, I was going with my classmates to meet our teacher at the museum, but a few people got stuck in traffic so we went ahead and entered the building…” The pale young man tearfully offered an explanation.

While Bi Jing was relentlessly droning on, a far away whistle pierced the air and the surrounding naked men began moving in the direction of the sound. No one dared to walk in front of that guy Mo Mou, so everyone chose to crowd behind him instead.

The players merged into the crowd, walking neither too slowly or quickly. The veterans were calm while the newcomers remained anxious about the situation.

Ke Xun perked his ears to eavesdrop since the naked men weren’t very quiet while they were talking. The conversation was all very relaxed, and the most frequently mentioned topic was about dinner. Some were saying “Man, it’s so itchy. I don’t know when we’ll be able to take a bath again”, while others discussed “I miss women, I can barely control my ****”, and even more were talking about the players themselves “Those new guys look pretty rowdy, who knows when they’ll be beaten up by the boss for causing trouble.”

Ke Xun felt like the person they were talking about was him and decided it was better to be lowkey, so he lowered his head as they continued down the road.

“That’s enough, we already know yours is big, there’s no need to appreciate yourself while walking.” Wei Dong’s dissatisfied voice rang out from next to him.

Ke Xun: “…….” He could sense multiple gazes from all directions aiming towards his privates.

“Although you were able to successfully flatter me, “ Ke Xun said, “Can you please be more lowkey? This isn’t the time to flaunt my assets.”

“What f**king flaunt,” Wei Dong lowered his voice and gestured at Mo Mou walking in the front, “Actually if we’re talking about size, I feel like you still lose out. In the future just quietly be a good-looking 0.”

“What the f**k,” Ke Xun cursed, “If you keep looking at places that shouldn’t be stared at, I’ll make the latter half of your life absolutely miserable.”

“Fuck you really are too vicious,” Wei Dong also cursed, “Others would block a knife for their brothers, meanwhile you’re the one f**king stabbing your bros. Where’s your conscience? No wonder the ancients said ‘bitches are ruthless and gays are faithless”; they really didn’t lie.”

“……Are you two trying to be funny?” Fatty Yuan Yuan looked at them incredulously, “I heard Doctor Qin say that at least one person will die every day in this painting. Was that just to scare us? How come you two seem so relaxed?”

“Comrade, if you experienced dozens of life-or-death situations the way we did, your mindset would be the same too.” Wei Dong smiled bitterly. “Once you get used to it you’ll be numb. There’s no use in crying and screaming, so it’s best to cheer up a bit. I would rather laugh until death rather than….. Rather than cry until death. This is called strength of character.”

Upon hearing this, Yuan Yuan took a long look at Wei Dong.

Wei Dong: “We’re all guys here, don’t recklessly stare like that.”

Yuan Yuan: “No matter how you look at it, I don’t feel like this brother here embodies ‘strength of character’.”

Wei Dong: “Okay buddy, you’re really carefree. Don’t you know we might die? Save some righteousness for the next life alright.”

Just as he was talking, a row of house rooftops appeared in the distance.

This piece of farmland wasn’t flat, it had rolling hills and low valleys; when reaching the peaks, everyone could see the row of red-brick houses with gray concrete foundations. They could also see the looming iron fence that stretched almost 10 stories high.

However what really attracted everyone’s attention was not the rows of houses that resembled prisons, but rather the hulking figure standing in front of the buildings. The eyes of those who entered the painting fell on that giant shadow, freezing them in place due to their shock.

That giant shadow… was a bull.

To be more precise, it was an anthropomorphic cow that stood on its hind legs the way humans did.

It was wearing a pair of dark blue overalls and a white undershirt, in its hands…. Rather, in one of its front hooves was a large wooden stick. A pair of huge cows watched as it walked towards the naked men blowing on the whistle again.

“This…. This is…..” Just as Wei Dong opened his mouth to speak, the cow took the whistle out of its mouth and let out a “Moo- Moo Moo Moo-”

Upon hearing this, the naked men rushed towards the row of prison-like houses.

“I have an absurd idea…..” Ke Xun suddenly said.

“What is it?” The one who responded was Mu Yiran.

Ke Xun clearly remembered himself walking a dozen or so steps behind him (MYR), and he didn’t know when they ended up side by side.

Ke Xun responded without looking at him: “Why do I feel like that bull is more like a human, and we are…. more like livestock?”

Mu Yiran’s cold voice rang from next to his ear: “You’re correct. In this farm, it seems like us humans are the ones being herded.”

…

A: Raise your hands if you saw this one coming

H: it’s like if promised neverland was R-18 lmao

Also tysm for the comments everyone! <3 I don’t think I’ll be able to keep responding bc the site started flagging me as a spammer but we appreciate all of them!!

Happy Lunar New Year!