Paintings of Terror

Chapter 67: Hotpot

(A: Heads up guys, this is where the horror tag truly comes in. You probably already know what’s about to happen, but I just want to put it out there that the first half of the chapter is a bit emotionally distressing. If you want a quick chapter summary instead, click here.)

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“What’s going on—” Yuan Yuan screamed in horror, “Is it me? Are they going to kill me? Help— Help— Quickly h-help me— Help me—!”

“Yuan er— Yuan er—!” Dong Dong desperately jumped and tried to grab a hold of Yuan Yuan, but the large bull had already lifted Yuan Yuan too high off the ground.

“What are we going to do?! What’s the plan?! Is there no way to save him? Quickly say something!” Dong Dong anxiously grabbed Qin Ci’s shoulders, “Help him! Please, please help him!”

Qin Ci helplessly looked at him with pity: “There’s nothing we can do, the gap is too big. We’ve only ever been able to avoid the painting’s power, there’s no way to fight it head on.”

“No— No— Yuan er— Yuan er— “ Dong Dong looked at the figure of Yuan Yuan desperately struggling as he hung from the giant bull’s fingertips and roared in pain, but the facts made him helpless to do anything else except weep piteously as he and another NPC were carried away.

The bull took the two people and calmly left. Meanwhile, the other compartments were chaotically making noise, some people were screaming, some were joking around, some were singing, and some were recklessly fighting each other,

They seemed to already be accustomed to this, ignorantly living their lives like a group of low-born animals who only knew how to eat and drink, unaware of their deadly future. They would squander the rest of their lives, only realizing at their deathbed the sorrow of their existence.

Dong Dong bitterly cried as he knelt on the floor. No one came forward to comfort him, simply because no words would be able to console him now.

With red eyes, Wei Dong walked over and sat down next to Ke Xun, speaking in a low voice: “If I die, you don’t need to be sad. Besides, death only comes once, and when it’s over there’ll be no knowledge, no pain. That’s nothing to be sad over.”

“I can endure not being sad,” Ke Xun rested his arms on his knees, his eyes zoning out into the space ahead of him, “But I can’t bear to forget.”

“You fucking….” Wei Dong choked up, pressing the back of his hand to his mouth, and couldn’t speak anymore.

Everyone was silent, when someone in the same cell suddenly yelled out: “Quick, look over there, what are they doing?”

Following the sound of the voice, they could see what was happening in the courtyard from the farmhouse window.

The large bull they had just seen was carrying Yuan Yuan and three to four other people into the courtyard. Another giant cow that had a huge serrated knife in its hoof came into sight just as two other bovine joined the group as well, setting up tables, chairs, and a large copper pot burning with charcoal.

Ke Xun suddenly realized something and turned around to look at Mu Yiran. After receiving his gaze, Mu Yiran walked over behind Dong Dong who was still crying bitterly and put his hands around his neck, quickly dispatching him into fainting onto the ground.

The NPCs in the same room huddled around the windowsill and looked out intently. The window was so large that one didn’t even have to go near it to see what was happening outside.

A huge lamp was lit as the giant cows set up the tables and chairs, and they began to plate vegetables and dipping sauces as hotpot spices were thrown into the bottom of the pot.

On the other side, one particular bull set down a large wooden barrel and picked up the large knife from before. Another bull seemed to be weighing out the humans before handing over the fattest Yuan Yuan.

Yuan Yuan’s horrified and shrill crying resounded almost throughout the entire yard and farmhouse, stirring up chaos throughout the latter.

The giant bull holding the knife moved skillfully, leisurely pointing the tip at Yuan Yuan’s neck and making a deep slit.

The thick blood rushed into the barrel below as Yuan Yuan quietly struggled in pain, but he couldn’t make a single move beneath the hooves holding him down.

The large bovine lifted his head and feet so the blood could flow down faster until Yuan Yuan gradually stopped struggling, hanging motionlessly as he was tilted upside down.

Once all the blood was exhausted, the bull used the knife to cut open Yuan Yuan’s belly and took out his stomach and intestines before tossing them into a bin next to it. Yuan Yuan’s skin was then peeled off and the abdominal cavity was thoroughly rinsed. The other cow grabbed the only flesh-and-bones Yuan Yuan and dexterously chopped him into pieces of meat.

The meat slices were finally served onto the table surrounded by large cows. They were picked up using chopsticks, thrown into the pot, stirred and scattered. The soup began to fill with bloody foam that slowly began to turn turbid as it boiled, later being scooped up by a ladle and thrown out.

As the soup was boiling, several chopsticks reached into the pot and picked up the meat that had turned grayish-pink, dipping them into the sauce before sending them into the bellies of the huge bulls.

The clinking of dishes, chopsticks, and wine saucers gradually rang throughout the yard and into the farmhouse, once in a while accompanied by a moo sound between the cows that sounded like joking.

Ke Xun heard someone say “It smells good”, another person was saying “Man, I’m hungry again”, and another NPC was alarmed, “Oh shit, they died”, and yet no one was thinking “Tomorrow it could be my turn”.

Wei Dong and Bi Jing had both heavily thrown up near the wall, meanwhile Qin Ci and Zhu Haowen sat far away from the window, both directing their gazes at the farmhouse door.

Only Mu Yiran stood beside him, his face calm and indifferent.

Seeing Ke Xun turn to look at him, Mu Yiran responded: “It was within my calculations.”

“It seems like the status of humans and cows have been switched in this painting.” Ke Xun said, “But don’t cows only eat grass?”

“In the painting, you could say they’ve become carnivores,” Mu Yiran answered, “To be more accurate, you could call them ‘adults’.”

“There’s nothing more scary than thinking of them as adults.” Ke Xun ridiculed, “I hope they don’t plan on having hotpot for every meal considering it’s bad for your health.”

The giant cows feasted all the way until midnight before they were finally full. After resting a while, the satiated bulls cleaned up the tables and took some water from the pipes to clean out each farmhouse compartment’s leftover food and human excretion. It was only after they thoroughly washed every room that the large cows finally left.

Several NPCs laid on the wet ground and fell asleep immediately, but the outsiders still felt considerably disturbed and chose to stand around.

Ke Xun squatted down and seemed to be tinkering around with something, and when Qin Ci came over to take a look, he was bewildered to see a few Coke bottles in his hands: “Those weren’t washed away earlier?”

“This guy made me hide them behind me earlier. Since the cow was too drunk, it didn’t even notice.” In order to block the bottles, Wei Dong had been splashed head to toe with water.

“What are you going to do with these bottles?” Bi Jing hurriedly asked.

Ke Xun ignored him, lowering his head to continue tinkering with the Coke bottles. After a short period of time, he arranged nine of the bottles in a three-by-three square formation, keeping the bottles tightly connected with some of the leftover food packaging. He then walked over to Mu Yiran’s side, and after bending over to flip the bottles upside-down by his legs, said in a low voice: “Sit down ba.”

Everyone else: “……”

Mu Yiran paused a bit before saying a “Thank you”. Sure enough, the bottle bench was able to hold his weight after sitting down.

Despite the horrors still weighing on his mind, Wei Dong couldn’t help but mutter in a low voice to Ke Xun who was walking back to his side: “How about I reluctantly allow you to be my boyfriend for a few days? Take care of me too, okay.”

“Don’t bother fantasizing about me, a good gay doesn’t marry two husbands.” Ke Xun replied.

Wei Dong: “….. You really are a chaste gay. Alas…. do you think tonight’s events are over?”

Ke Xun: “En, seems like it, unless they want to add a midnight snack.”

Wei Dong: “I don’t know what Dong Dong will be like when he wakes up tomorrow.”

Ke Xun: “If I were him, I’d do my best to survive through this, then help arrange things with his family after escaping.”

In fact, Dong Dong was indeed very strong; the next morning he woke up early, no longer immersed in the grief of his best friend’s death. He just silently sat down during breakfast and didn’t touch any of the food given by the giant bulls.

After breakfast, the large cow opened the fence doors to the compartments and let everyone out into the courtyard lawn to freely move around.

The outsiders gathered together with the intention to investigate the topography.

Unfortunately this farm, like Mu Yiran said, was truly far too big. Despite moving around the whole morning, they couldn’t see where the farmlands ended. In the distance, however, they could spot another farmhouse that seemed to have groups of naked women lounging around in front.

“My two classmates must be over there!” Bi Jing couldn’t see anything clearly, but after hearing everyone’s descriptions, immediately jumped up.

“So what, are you going to go over or have them come to you?” Ke Xun snarked.

“…..” Bi Jing stopped jumping around and quietly complained, “I….. I just want a companion….”

“You didn’t think of us as companions?” Wei Dong snorted on the side.

“It, it’s not….” Bi Jing cut himself off and tried to back away, but accidentally stepped on the foot of an NPC.

That person angrily pushed him over, coldly shouting: “Are you blind?! Do you want to die?!”

Bi Jing was so scared that he quickly apologized, but the person refused to relent, walking over to grab Bi Jing by the head intending on bashing it down on his knee.

Dong Dong, who was next to him, suddenly became violent, rushing forward and punching the man to ground, using all his might to vigorously beat him to death.

Bi Jing was frightened and ran to hide, meanwhile Ke Xun stepped up to try and stop Dong Dong but was roughly pushed away.

It was like Dong Dong had gone insane, he continued smashing his fists until the man’s head was covered in blood, yet he still didn’t stop.

Perhaps Yuan Yuan’s death had battered him with so much pain and grief that the only way he could vent it all out was through violence.

Ke Xun wanted to step forward and try again, but was suddenly blocked by a group of rowdy NPCs coming over. The group of people surrounded Dong Dong and the man; some were cheering, some were cursing, and some were even joining in on the beating, but not a single person tried to temper the fighting.

Just when the commotion was reaching its peak, there came the sound of a loud scream before everyone suddenly became silent. Looking over, they saw that person called Mo Mou surrounded by a small entourage slowly heading over, and the large group immediately parted to let him through.

Mo Mou walked in front of the still punching Dong Dong and kicked his shoulder, immediately sending this six-feet tall muscular man flying back almost seven meters.

When Dong Dong got up from the ground, he rushed towards Mo Mou with his fists raised while Mo Mou coldly stared back at him, spine straight and sharp eyes filled pride.

Dong Dong flew towards him and even started kicking, but his moves were avoided one by one. When Mo Mou finally counterattacked, Dong Dong couldn’t help but stagger.

Ke Xun was finally able to squeeze into the center of the crowd to try and stop the Dong Dong who was ready to keep fighting, but heard a cow call from the distance: “Moo moo-”

Mo Mou suddenly turned around after hearing the sound, and began walking in the direction of the call.

Wei Dong leaned on Ke Xun’s shoulder as he watched Mo Mou’s back slowly get smaller: “No wonder he’s called Mo Mou, that sound just now sounded just like ‘Mo Mou’.”

It turns out this was the nickname the cows gave to their “pets”.

Ke Xun looked into the distance. A large bull was ambling over, and everyone couldn’t help but scatter in different directions, sneakily looking over at the cow.

The giant cow stopped in front Dong Dong and looked at the man who’d been beaten to the ground, then looked back at Dong Dong. After a moment of consideration, it took a large hoof and picked up the frantically struggling Dong Dong and began walking towards the farmhouse.

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A: Is it bad that I want hotpot- *shot*

Hime’s thoughts:

Everyone: *fear, death and destruction*

Ke Xun: How can I make my male god more comfortable…