Paintings of Terror

Chapter 88: Dragged

T/N: For reference on color changes so far (minor spoilers for the chapter). Also please check the bottom for a very important note :(((??

After several long and deep breaths, Ke Xun felt like his body was gradually recovering, and he was finally able to clench his fists with a bit more strength.

Ke Xun sat himself up in bed, thinking of a way to close the window.

Xin Beibei once again lay motionless on the opposite bed, and it wasn’t known whether she really fell asleep or was just lying there watching Ke Xun.

Just as Ke Xun finally stood up and prepared to walk to the window, his eyes were suddenly blinded, and the unexpected darkness once again enveloped everything.

Ke Xun stood there, not daring to act rashly when he couldn’t even distinguish the direction.

The feeling this time was very clear, something had come into the room, as opposed to just “passing by” like the previous two times.

In the vast invisible darkness, only smell and hearing were left.

Perhaps Guo Lixia felt some fear in her dreams, her snoring had slowly quieted, leaving only the sounds of heavy breathing in her sleep.

Another voice sounded in the darkness from Xin Beibei; it was a rapid gasp, with a sound as if she was going to suffocate in pain.

The darkness seemed to have a smell similar to the scent of the berries in the workroom, as well as the bottle Zhang Tianwei was soaked in.

Ke Xun felt this strong smell pass by his nose before gradually fading away. His eyes looked in the direction of the window, trying to see if the other party was about to leave.

Finally, a touch of gray came into view; it was the color of the window frame — the entire square frame was revealed, and everything inside the room gradually came to light.

Guo Lixia’s polka dot pattern was still lying on the bed and sleeping soundly.

Ke Xun’s own water ripple pattern stood in the middle of the room.

And Xin Beibei’s diamond pattern was being dragged towards the windows in an extremely disturbing way.

That’s right, Xin Beibei was squirming around like a snake being dragged through the dirt, and her pattern looked like a moving tablecloth.

Ke Xun clearly saw the thing dragging Xin Beibei away. It originated at her feet, completely black, and it was around the size of Xin Beibei herself.

If his judgement wasn’t wrong, that thing should be Xin Beibei’s shadow.

Ke Xun slowly stepped back from his bed, trying to stay away from Xin Beibei and her shadow.

“Xin Beibei?” Ke Xun finally called out the other party’s name. The death event was happening before his eyes, and it was impossible to ignore it.

The diamond pattern belonging to Xin Beibei made a vague sound: “Guru..”

It was a low gurgling sound from suffocation.

Ke Xun’s body broke out in cold sweats as he watched Xin Beibei’s body being slowly dragged out of bed, moving towards the window sill.

Xin Beibei’s shadow had gradually spread to the window, dragging her feet over with it.

Ke Xun boldly approached Xin Beibei’s head. Since her head was the farthest from the shadow, it should be safer.

Xin Beibei let out a hoarse gasp, as if she was being strangled.

Ke Xun grabbed Xin Beibei’s shoulders and tried to drag her back, but found that his strength was too weak compared to the opponent.

Ke Xun tentatively touched Xin Beibei’s neck with his hand, and found that the area of her neck was deeply sunken — the flesh was tightly strangled by something invisible.

Ke Xun bravely touched the concave shape and pulled his hand back.

That shape clearly took the form of a large invisible hand.

Because of the disparity in power, Ke Xun could only watch Xin Beibei being dragged out by her own shadow. The narrow diamond pattern wriggled painfully and gradually disappeared out the window.

Ke Xun raced to the window sill and poked his head out. The black shadow had melted into the dark night. The most eye-catching part was the pattern belonging to Xin Beibei, shakily moving as it was dragged past the window next door and far into the distance.

Just like last night.

At this time Ke Xun felt a little cold; his clothes had been drenched with sweat.

Ke Xun looked at the windows to the left and right, and found that the windows of all the rooms were tightly closed, and he was just about to close his own windows.

He scanned the pool and the maze outside, but suddenly found that there was a black and white pattern in the maze, particularly distinct in the pure gray maze.

That should be a person, a person walking the maze late at night.

Ke Xun wanted to clearly see the pattern on the man’s clothes, but the distance was too far, so he could only vaguely see the outline of the man, standing straight next to the maze. He seemed to be looking back at Ke Xun.

Ke Xun subconsciously closed the window, but didn’t leave, continuing to observe the opponent through the window pane.

The man stood there for a few minutes before walking into the maze and disappearing.

The whole night finally passed, and then it was dawn.

The first news everyone got was: Yening Chenyi, like He Yu yesterday, died miserably.

Fortunately, the other two people in the purple room weren’t affected, and the room itself didn’t change; the door was still purple.

Although the death of Yening Chenyi was within everyone’s expectations, the disappearance of Xin Beibei made everyone puzzled.

Many people unanimously turned their sympathetic eyes to Shi Zhendong.

Shi Zhendong was silent for a long time, and his voice seemed to be trying to suppress his choking: “The cyan pattern of the clock yesterday was actually related to Beibei.”

“But why was Xin Beibei selected? Did she also pollute the colors?” After saying this, Mi Wei subconsciously looked at the clock in the second floor lobby and found that it was still the indigo color from last night, before signing: “Yesterday, Miao Zipei said that the clock changed from orange to cyan in the morning, but at that time, everyone hadn’t worked yet, so everyone thought that the change had nothing to do with color pollution.”

“At that time yesterday morning, everyone was on the second floor, just like now.” Qin Ci said.

Mu Yiran continued the train of thought: “That’s why I think, entering a different colored room will still change the color of the clock pattern.”

“You mean, someone entered the wrong room yesterday morning?” Everyone was puzzled.

“Think about it carefully. When everyone was observing He Yu’s body in the red room yesterday, who was the only one left alone?” Mu Yiran raised this question.

A lot of people had yet to figure it out, when they heard Shi Zhendong suddenly say: “It was Beibei; she was very scared at the time, so Beibei was left alone.”

Zhu Haowen also recalled: “At that time, we stayed inside the red room for a while, at least more than 20 minutes. What did Xin Beibei do in the hall alone? Why would she enter another room?”

Everyone was puzzled. Xin Beibei could be said to be the least courageous among this group of people, how could she risk her life to enter another room?

“I’ve mentioned before that when a person is alone, especially in the hall, they’re likely to be deceived in some way.” Mu Yiran looked at everyone, “I personally experienced it yesterday afternoon. Through hallucinations, people can’t help but want to open other doors.”

Ke Xun experienced an entire night of torment, and was a little listless early the next morning. At this moment, he heard this and seemed to think of something: “No wonder I always felt that Xin Beibei’s hostility towards Hao Wen’er was somewhat unfounded. The illusion the other party showed her may have been related to Hao Wen’er.”

“So you’re saying that because she saw something related to me, when everyone gathered in the red room yesterday morning, she went into our green room alone?” Zhu Haowen asked.

“It’s very possible, or rather, it should be the only possibility,” Ke Xun looked at the green door. “Blue and green add up to cyan.”

Shi Zhendong’s eyes were red, and his voice was a little hoarse: “But Beibei didn’t act any different yesterday, and her behavior was the same as usual.”

“This is probably due to the world’s scheming influence,” said Mu Yiran. “People who have been bewitched by it maintain their usual temperament until it’s time for them to act, so they won’t be noticed by everyone.

Wei Dong grabbed his somewhat disheveled hair: “You mean, Xin Beibei was the one who stained Xiao Ye’s skirt yesterday?”

Mu Yiran didn’t speak, indicating his agreement.

Guo Lixia frowned: “But after we finished work at noon yesterday, all three of us washed our hands, and Xin Beibei was the one who washed the most.”

“It’s not necessary for the color to be transferred by hand, for example, just hiding a blueberry in your pocket would be enough.” Mu Yiran began his hypothesis, “At one o-clock yesterday afternoon everyone split up, the green group continued to work, while a portion of the others went to the fourth floor to check on Zhang Tianwei’s corpse and the leftover people remained in the hall.”

Wei Dong nodded: “That’s right, at the time me, Xiao Ye, Sister Guo and Xin Beibei stayed behind.”

“If I didn’t guess wrong, Xin Beibei and Yening Chenyi’s were relatively close at the time, right?”

“Yes, Sister Guo was taking a nap back then. The two girls were chatting the whole time, and I couldn’t really join in.” Wei Dong still felt that Yening Chenyi’s death was unfair, “Xiao Ye had already washed the color off her skirt, so why…”

“Perhaps the colors in this world can’t be removed after they’ve been painted. Even if it disappears from the naked eye, it still exists.” Mi Wei tried to remain calm, “That’s why the clock suddenly became indigo!”

Everyone discussed the connections between the various clues that occurred yesterday, and they were all consistent with today’s inferences.

“When Xiao Ye was attacked last night, did those of you in the room hear any strange noises? Or did you see anything weird?” Qin Ci asked.

Wei Dong’s face looked haggard: “We couldn’t sleep last night, Xiao Ye was too scared to fall asleep. Then the room suddenly became dark. There was no movement at the time, and when the room returned to its original state, we found that Xiao Ye was missing.”

“Missing?”

“The pattern belonging to Xiao Ye was gone, and it seemed like her body had merged with the darkness. When dawn came, she became like this..” Wei Dong couldn’t continue speaking.

The real death in this world was to become one with the shadow; and in daylight, it was to become as pale as chalk.

—

A: Hello everyone! If you missed the discord notification, I’m very sorry to say that Hime and I will be dropping this project for the time being due to a lot of life changes ?We really wanted to finish the arc for you guys at least, but this painting is particularly long QAQ Thank you for joining and supporting us on this journey <3 If you’re interested in picking up this project, please feel free to contact CG staff + message me on disc if you need any help!

H: Thanks for joining us on this journey, but unfortunately all good things must come to an end Hopefully PoT can find a good home with another translator!