Paintings of Terror

Chapter 82: Wishing Pool

Although everyone’s eyes were fixed on He Yu’s corpse, their feet subconsciously moved away from it. There was a sense of alienation that made people feel extremely uncomfortable, where if they were somehow ‘touched’ by this phenomenon, they would also belong in that flat and shadowless dimension.

Qin Ci didn’t plan on examining the corpse: “I’m afraid this goes beyond the scope of medicine. I can’t do anything about it.”

It wasn’t known when the girls’ sobbing finally came to an end. In everyone’s eyes, the corpse on the bed no longer had any connection with the student they knew as He Yu.

The group checked every corner of the room in search of possible causes of death. Yening Chenyi even carefully observed the walls, in fear that Zhang Tianwei would be ‘painted’ somewhere unknown.

“Are the windows in your room open?” Zhu Haowen’s eyes rested on the completely open window in the bedroom.

The windows here didn’t have mesh screens, once the window pane was open, the room would be completely ventilated — although there didn’t seem to be any wind in this world.

The people in the other four rooms all said no, the windows in their rooms were tightly closed.

So who opened the window in this room? Was it the Zhang Tianwei who had ‘left’? Or was it the murderer from last night?

No one wanted to stay inside the room any longer. After their search was unsuccessful, they collectively closed the door and left, arriving at the familiar hall on the first floor.

There was a hearty breakfast spread on the tables, with fresh fruits, exquisite pastries, and tempting sausages, but most people didn’t have an appetite.

“What’s our plan for today?” Shi Zhendong asked first.

Qin Ci swallowed the jam and bread in his mouth and took another sip of warm milk: “According to the requirements given by the NPC, our task today is still storing three large jars of berries. If we go according to our pacing yesterday, if everyone works together in our groups of two or three, it could be finished in an hour. We might as well divide the work and move together, leaving one person in each room to work, and the rest will go find the signature.

Yening Chenyi: “There’s also Senior Zhang, maybe he’s imprisoned somewhere.”

Although everyone guessed that Zhang Tianwei must have already met a grisly and violent end, they nodded comfortingly.

Qin Ci: “Then each group will discuss their arrangements. We can also rotate positions in the morning and afternoon.”

“Our blue team will leave me to do the work. Those two children are clumsy, and I can do it in five or six hours if I’m by myself.” Guo Lixia’s words made everyone admire her, before she continued: “Everyone should try the fried eggs, they’re super tender and delicious! I’ve already eaten four of them!”

“….”

Wei Dong from the purple group took the initiative to say: “Since Boss Mu plans on looking for the signature, let’s each work the morning and afternoon shifts okay?” Wei Dong said this to Yening Chenyi who was in the same group.

Yening Chenyi nodded: “Then I’ll work first in the morning. Brother Dong and Brother Mu will go find autographs.”

After the yellow team finished their discussion, it was decided that Miao Zipei would stay and work first, while Qin Ci and Mi Wei were in charge of searching for the signature.

Shi Zhendong of the green group voluntarily asked to stay and work in the morning: “Xiao Zhu is very observant, I believe he’ll find something.”

Xin Beibei’s expression was a little ugly, and in her heart she wanted to be with her boyfriend: “Your observation abilities aren’t bad either, why have him look for it?”

Guo Lixia directly interrupted Xin Beibei: “Aren’t they going to trade shifts in the afternoon? Why don’t the two of us just change ours then?”

“Auntie Guo! Didn’t you say that you would be solely responsible for the work in our room?!” Xin Beibei’s voice suddenly got louder.

Ke Xun looked at his team members: “Working is everyone’s duty. Sister Guo taking on these tasks is a kind contribution to the rest of our team.”

Xin Beibei curled her lips and had nothing to say. She looked at Zhu Haowen and saw that the other party was slowly eating breakfast.

Who knows what techniques Shi Zhendong used to coax his girlfriend, but Xin Beibei’s expression was much better, and she softly warned her boyfriend: “Don’t stupidly put all your energy into work…”

Zhu Haowen wiped his mouth with a napkin: “I advise everyone to eat as much as possible. Finding the signature requires a lot of energy.”

Others felt what he said made sense, and forced themselves to eat some breakfast before dividing into groups based on previous decisions — Guo Lixia, Yening Chenyi, Miao Zipei, and Shi Zhendong temporarily stayed in the different colored rooms to work, while the others prepared to go find clues.

Qin Ci once again warned the group: “Everyone must remember, don’t violate the rules again: you can’t enter rooms that don’t match your own color, or else you might be suspected of color pollution.”

Everyone inwardly nodded, no one wanted to be the next He Yu.

Shi Zhendong came up to Ke Xun, “Xiao Ke, I’ll have to ask you to watch over Beibei and don’t let her break into places where she shouldn’t go.”

Ke Xun didn’t say anything, simply nodding his head.

The four people in charge of work went to their respective rooms.

There were now seven people left in the hall.

“Let’s divide into two groups for the time being, one indoors and one outdoors.” Qin Ci expressed his opinion, “The two girls have relatively weak physicalities, so it’s best to separate them.”

Mu Yiran also added his thoughts: “From now on, we should mainly focus on the pool and maze outside the building. The fruit forest and river where we originally arrived are too far away from the central point, so we shouldn’t consider them for now.”

Xin Beibei couldn’t help but say: “I want to go outside to look!”

Everyone directly ignored her willfulness and continued to listen to Mu Yiran’s words: “There are many rooms in the building, just going off a visual estimate alone, there are probably hundreds of them. This is a very large workload, and we need to investigate each room one by one, so it’s better to have more people searching inside the castle.”

Qin Ci nodded: “I will stay in the castle, who else?”

Mu Yiran said, “Count me in.”

Ke Xun’s voice followed like a shadow: “Me too.”

Wei Dong: “I and Ke-er won’t be separated.”

Those left over were Zhu Haowen, Mi Wei, and Xin Beibei.

Xin Beibei looked at Ke Xun: “You promised Zhendong to look after me! I want to check out the fountain!”

Ke Xun really wanted to give this annoying girl a kick, and suddenly heard the other person say: “Also, I don’t want to be in the same team as this person!”

The person Xin Beibei was referred to was Zhu Haowen.

Zhu Haowen faintly smiled: “You’re more suited for staying in the hall to eat more food.”

“What did you say…” Xin Beibei was so angry that she started shaking.

The always calm Mi Wei stepped forward and said, “Dr. Qin is right, it would be best if both girls are separated. I feel that Ke-ge and Wei-ge should take Beibei to look outside, and the rest of us will be in charge of the castle.”

“Let’s go with that.” Mu Yiran looked at Ke Xun, “If you find anything, we’ll discuss it together when you come back.”

Ke Xun tilted his head and looked at Mu Yiran, pursing his lips like a silent kiss or whistle.

Mu Yiran’s expression was indifferent, but it wasn’t as cold as before.

Mi Wei’s distribution was actually very reasonable. The five men present were all experienced veterans, and it really wasn’t suitable to have them all grouped together.

As a result, everyone was divided into their respective two teams and headed towards their locations.

Xin Beibei was very interested in the fountain and proceeded to quickly walk towards it. The pool seemed to sense that someone was approaching, suddenly spraying out those bright silver splashes, getting water all over the nearby people.

“Look at that, there are so many coins inside the pool! This really is a wishing pond!” Xin Beibei waved everyone to come over and take a look.

Ke Xun and Wei Dong walked over to take a look. The bottom of the pool was indeed covered with shiny coins, and the texture of the coin surface was very strange.

Wei Dong teased Xin Beibei: “You already forgot what Mi Wei said yesterday, don’t make a wish for something in this unclear place. The heavens aren’t so kind.”

Xin Beibei sat by the pool with cool water cupped in her hands: “I already have everything I need, I am content! As long as we can walk out of here, I’ll be the most fortunate person in the world~”

Wei Dong felt some second-hand embarrassment watching Xin Beibei, and he turned to look at Ke Xun, who was carefully studying the coins inside the pool: “What’s up, could there be a signature hiding on the coins? We can’t be that lucky.”

Ke Xun continued staring for a long time: “Dongzi, come look at this!”

Wei Dong squinted his slightly near-sighted eyes: “The patterns on the coins aren’t the same. You see , there are leaves on this one, dots on the other, and the nearest one has a crescent moon on it…”

Speaking until now, Wei Dong felt slightly strange. He hurriedly looked down at his clothes, which had triangular purple patterns on it. After looking around the pool, he found that several coins also had triangular patterns on them.

“The coin patterns are the same as the ones on our clothes. What does this mean?” The more Wei Dong looked at the pool, the weirder it became. Perhaps it was because each individual coin had different patterns, it was as if these designs were akin to their unique fingerprints, “There is definitely something wrong with this fountain, it feels like all of our eight characters have been revealed.”

Xin Beibei seemed a bit muddled: “There are so many patterns out there in the world, who’s to say that the triangle pattern in the pool is yours?”

Ke Xun touched his chin and circled the pond twice: “Since the pattern corresponding to Zhang Tianwei is still here, it proves that the coins in the pond don’t necessarily foretell anything: if this really is a wishing pool, then these patterns should represent elements.

“Elements?” The other two couldn’t comprehend what he was saying.

“It’s like how some people worship the Five Elements , and some people worship the wind, rain, thunder and lightning, etc. The people in this world probably worship their own elements, so they engrave these coins and throw them into the pool while making a wish. It’s probably like how people in our world pray for good weather.” Ke Xun voiced his thoughts, but for the time being, he still didn’t understand how these elements were related to the main idea of the whole painting.

Xin Beibei observed the shape of the fountain in the center of the pool: “It’s really strange, what do you guys think this stone sculpture is meant to express? I really can’t tell whether or not it’s a person or an animal.”

Ke Xun and Wei Dong’s gazes were also attracted by the shape of the fountain carved with black stone. The object was indeed formless, and there really was no way to see what it was.

“It’s very weird. Even if it’s supposed to be abstract, it should at least help people understand the meaning, and in my experience, usually the more abstract the object, the more obvious the meaning.” Xin Beibei finally seemed like a real art student.

The stone sculpture in front seemed to be deliberately taunting viewers: it was a chaotic amalgam without head or feet, frozen in three dimensional form.

Ke Xun suddenly remembered the black band that he saw in front of the window last night. If they were compared, the two things really did look a bit like.

“Let’s go take a look at the green maze again as well. I especially like this kind of fluffy maze made of foliage, it’s the type that can only be seen in foreign fairy tales!” Xin Beibei cast her eyes on the maze.

“Come back! Something’s happened!” A shout came from up above.

Everyone looked up and saw Qin Ci beckoning from a window.

—

A: Noooo I hate the idea of statues coming to life QAQ thank you Dr. Who and your weeping angels

H: ikr… ghg and nhsre come to mind… spooked