Paintings of Terror

Chapter 95: Black

Regarding Xin Beibei’s corpse, Ke Xun had already thought of the reason–only colors could be squeezed out of the living. After death, the corpse might have stopped secreting colors, or perhaps, the color may have become stale. Therefore, the blue liquid that Xin Beibei had secreted before death was taken away, and the useless body was abandoned in the jar.

This meant that Zhang Tianwei had still been alive until he became as small as a fist.

Xin Beibei had originally still been alive, and had only died once her head was separated from her body.

Everyone was very puzzled about the situation on the sixth floor. Wei Dong directly thought that this was a bug, but she couldn’t explain where the purple liquid had come from.

“The purple liquid must mean something. It’s just that we haven’t thought of the answer yet.” Shi Zhendong looked at the darkening hall, feeling a little depressed.

Qin Ci looked at Mu Yiran’s expression and tentatively asked, “Does Xiao Mu have a clue?”

“I’m just thinking that, when the ‘painting’ deceives people, is it random or selective?” Mu Yiran took advantage of the darkness and shared his thoughts. Time was getting tight, and he didn’t want certain conclusions to become an afterthought.

“I think it’s selective,” said Zhu Haowen. “Especially on the first day. We didn’t know that we could become bewitched if we’re alone in the lobby. That day, there should be more than one person alone in the lobby at a time. At least, there will always be people traveling through the hall for bathroom breaks between work, and the process of walking from the workroom to the restroom can be regarded as being alone in the hall.”

“What is the painting’s purpose in selecting these people?” Miao Zipei asked.

“If I’m not wrong, the person who was bewitched on the first day should be He Yu,” Zhu Haowen said.

Shi Zhendong seemed to have thought of something. “Haowen means that the painting was specifically selecting people with weaker mental abilities?”

Then, he seemed to have felt that his statement was incorrect. “Anyway, it’s people with relatively poor psychological defenses who are easily exploited by others.” Shi Zhendong’s voice lowered. “A simple girl like Beibei.”

Zhu Haowen nodded. “Compared to Zhang Tianwei, He Yu seemed more brash and impulsive. Looking back now, his act of rushing into the red room with his hands full of yellow paint should be because his impulsivity was being amplified, and eventually, he became a demon who ended up strangling himself and his roommates.”

Some people tried not to look at Guo Lixia, for fear of what she might think, but they still speculated in their heart: Although Guo Lixia wasn’t young, she was a person with a great temper, and such people had psychological weaknesses that are easy to exploit.

“No matter what, our actions in the future must be like this: we will try our best to stay together so as not to become confused by the painting,” Qin Ci said.

Everyone nodded. At this time, the room had gradually lost its color, but no one wanted to go back to their bedroom.

Mu Yiran’s voice resounded in the dim hall, “I’m not referring to just the painting’s selection of people. In this world, color is as important as the soul.”

Ke Xun’s thoughts followed Mu Yiran’s meaning as much as possible. “If this is the case, then the order of color selection is: red, blue…” Ke Xun paused, not saying that Guo Lixia’s color was also blue.

Miao Zipei’s voice suddenly rose. “Red and blue adds up to purple! The combination of Zhang Tianwei’s red liquid and Xin Beibei’s blue liquid is exactly purple! The purple you see on the sixth floor should be these two liquids. It’s a mixed liquid!”

When everyone heard this, they suddenly understood. Qin Ci asked, “But why didn’t the clock and door change accordingly?”

“Because the final color hasn’t been completed.” Mu Yiran’s voice was cruel. The sixth floor should be a place where all colors are concentrated. The purple liquid we see today only filled up about 2/5th of the glass jar. There is room for three other colors.”

“I can understand the use of red and blue to make purple, but to mix all the colors together…” Before Wei Dong could finish speaking, he heard Ke’er, who was next to him, say coldly, “It’s black. All the colors mixed together is black.”

Ke Xun would always remember the three color news in the winter of 2017. At that time, a great many people’s portraits were converted into the three primary colors. The three colors exactly resulted in a deep black.

“Black, the worship of black. It’s the color of the shadow.” Mi Wei’s voice trembled.

All colors ultimately have only one law, and that is to become black.

When everyone looked at the darkening room, there was an ocean of grief in their hearts, and they couldn’t tell who it was for, whether it was for themselves or for something else.

“But I don’t understand,” said Zhu Haowen. “Why did the third choice overlap? It stands to reason that the painting should have chooses a different color than before.”

The first time, it chose the red He Yu. The second time, it chose the blue Xin Beibei, then the third time, it should not have chosen the same blue Guo Lixia.

Mu Yiran said, “The painting was just using her as a stepping stone. It’s clear that the ultimate goal was someone else.”

Ke Xun instantly understood what Mu Yiran meant. The painting only used Guo Lixia as a springboard. Its target was actually Mi Wei, the yellow Mi Wei.

If one followed this speculation, then the order of red, blue and yellow would be the result, so that at least the three primary colors were gathered, and the painting would quickly get the black it wanted.

Mu Yiran continued, “If it adds purple and green, the effect may be stronger, but the painting is probably impatient.”

A few smart people understood Mu Yiran’s words, and Qin Ci said, “If the shadow gets black, it’s abilities should become stronger. Even now, we’re already helpless against it. It’s hard to imagine what it’ll be like in the future…”

“So, I won’t allow it to get yellow.” It was Mi Wei who was speaking. Because of the darkening of night, the fan-shaped pattern on her body looked black and white. If it was daytime, one would see that the fan-shaped pattern was a brightly colored goose yellow.

Mi Wei’s body had been contaminated with green juice, which meant that the boss behind the scenes had failed to obtain a pure yellow tonight.

Tonight, the only eligible people were Mi Wei and Guo Lixia. As everyone was discussing the issue, they all stared at the circle of dots that belonged to Guo Lixia.

“It’s getting late. I want to go back to bed.” Ke Xun yawned. “Everyone, go back to sleep.”

“Tonight, it’s better that everyone stays in their room. We already put the corresponding container in each room. When life and death are at stake, it’s better not to worry about gender,” Qin Ci said.

Guo Lixia seemed to be a little tired. She laid down and stretched out on her back.

There was one missing person in the blue room tonight, and so Ke Xun simply lay on another bed.

Xin Beibei’s figure covered with diamond patterns seemed to have become vividly visible.

Ke Xun tried his best not to think about Xin Beibei. If he thought too much, he would naturally recall those extremely unpleasant experiences.

“Group leader, although you were playing dumb riddles just now, I basically understood,” Guo Lixia suddenly spoke from the opposite bed.

Ke Xun didn’t know what to say for a while.

“You’re suspicious of me, suspecting that I have been bewitched.”

Ke Xun’s silence was regarded as a confirmation.

Guo Lixia sighed. “I regret the matter about the little girl Mi Wei today. As for your analysis just now, I also feel that what I did today was quite wrong.”

“That’s why we nailed the window, and later we will nail our door with a wooden board from the outside,” Ke Xun said.

“Why go to such trouble? You can just tie me up, just like you tied up Mi Wei.” Guo Lixia’s dot pattern was very eye-catching in the darkness.

“Sister Guo…”

“What I said is only the truth!”

“At present, we are just suspicious, and we have no full confirmation.”

“That’s why I didn’t ask you to contaminate my color. I am also afraid that I will be wronged.”

… In the end, under Guo Lixia’s strong request, Ke Xun really tied her up, as loosely as possible so as to lessen her discomfort.

The night seemed extremely long, and it took a long time for the huge black shadow to arrive.

The night was very quiet, and the absence of Guo Lixia’s snoring made the whole night even more desolate.

Guo Lixia couldn’t sleep either, so she simply chatted with Ke Xun in the dark. “Actually, I don’t have any last words. There is no old man in my family, there’s just myself. My son followed his dad abroad at a very young age, with very little possibility of coming back. My life is boring, my mouth is quick, and I love to offend people. I haven’t saved up much liquid money, but the house I live in now can be reserved for my son. When I die, the law will allocate it to him…The house is now worth a lot of money, and so my son will definitely return home for this…He could also entomb me and my parents, so that I wouldn’t have given birth to him in vain…”

Ke Xun became more uncomfortable as he listened, but he didn’t know what language to use to comfort a dying person.

Guo Lixia’s voice loomed in the dark, like a rushing train speeding into a cave.

The window was boarded up, and so the original gray silhouette of the window pane had disappeared. Now, the darkness was pervasive. Ke Xun even smelled the unique smell of the dark shadow once more.

After the world turned completely dark, Guo Lixia’s voice disappeared, replaced with painful gasps.

Ke Xun boldly asked into the dark, “Sister Guo? Sister Guo?!”

He once again experienced that sense of powerlessness, as if he’d stepped into endless black space and there was no bottom, no up, no down, left, or right.

Guo Lixia’s pained gasps abruptly stopped.

The world was so quiet, as if it had died.

Ke Xun suddenly remembered a sentence: Death is like evaporating water.

When the darkness finally left, Ke Xun even thought that the striking wave patterns on his body was an illusion.

This time, darkness stayed too long, making people almost feared the light.

There were only two gray beds left in the room. And there was the pattern on Ke Xun’s body, but elsewhere in the room, there was just darkness.

The dot pattern belonging to Guo Lixia had disappeared.

Ke Xun was a little sad, but he still fumbled to Guo Lixia’s bed. If he could get to Guo Lixia’s colorless body, he might be able to give her first aid and help her breath again.

He never gave up on a glimmer of hope. After all, even a glimmer of hope was an opportunity.

He touched the bed on the opposite side of the room, and he even searched underneath the bed, but it was completely empty.

Ke Xun crouched and searched every inch of the floor again, but still, there was nothing.

Where was Sister Guo? There ought to be a corpse, like in Yening Chenyi’s case. Or, if the body was dragged away like Xin Beibei, how did her body pass through the thin gaps between the wooden boards?

Xida:?The author even managed to make the mixing of colors into black seem grotesque and a little horrifying.