Paintings of Terror

The dice spun rapidly on the screen, making it difficult to discern which side was showing, but it didn’t take long to spin, lasting just over ten seconds. Then it gradually came to a halt.

The side facing up showed 2. ingKyIThe most update n0vels are published on novelenglish.net . Firᴇ(.)nᴇt

The senior members held their breath, attentively surveying every corner of the room. Suddenly, a wave-like sound echoed, and the original text on the big screen disappeared, replaced by a new string of words.

“Dad, I really dislike the teachers forcing us to memorize every word of those texts. Isn’t it enough to understand the core concept? Isn’t it fine as long as I understand the meaning? Why do I have to memorize them in such a rigid manner?”

“As for those text, I think what’s important is learning how to structure an article, how to be logically rigorous, how to be balanced in terms of details, how to express things I want to express clearly, comprehensively, fluently, and with reason, rather than memorizing large passages word for word and getting penalized for missing even a single irrelevant word. I don’t understand the purpose of this.”

“I want to appreciate the power of thought and the beauty of language, using the imagination and creativity of others to inspire my own, instead of simply just copying others. Testing our memory with someone else’s words to evaluate our learning ability and intellectual merit, isn’t that quite strange?” hOk5Qr

After these paragraphs appeared, they gradually disappeared, replaced by new words. Several bold characters with coarse strokes appeared silently on the lifeless white screen:

“Language World”

1.   Topic: Within a set time, everyone must engage in communication as required.
2.   Requirements:
3.   There must not be any void of language every 30 seconds.
4.   It is not permitted to consecutively utter 5 homophones or homonyms.
5.   It is not permitted to merely open the mouth without uttering sounds.
6.   It is not permitted to repeat someone else’s language, to have repetitive sentence structures, nor to recite strings of numbers.
7.   It is not permitted to use a foreign language. Dialects will be recognized as Mandarin. Written text communication is prohibited.

Ktf cewyfgr, lc ktlmt “180 rfmbcvr” vlrqijsfv, kfgf mbcrajcais vfmgfjrlcu lc j mbecavbkc.

“Qbk, ktja vbfr atlr wfjc? P vbc’a ecvfgrajcv la. Qtja jgf kf reqqbrfv ab vb?” Gbcu Tjb rffwfv ab yf vfilyfgjafis vlrqijslcu j rfcrf bo qjclm bc tfg ojmf, ktlmt jqqfjgfv delaf fzjuufgjafv. 8hYkJG

Dea ja atlr wbwfca, cb bcf qjlv jaafcalbc ab tfg. Ktf rbifwc nblmf bo Ze Tlgjc gjcu bea. Llr abcf kjr cba ibev yea mifjgis gfjmtfv fnfgsbcf’r fjgr: “Kb mea j ibcu rabgs rtbga, yjrfv bc ktja Jtfcu Vtl’r rbc tjv rjlv jcv atf abqlm’r gfdelgfwfca, la rffwr atja atlr afra lr jybea atf glubg bo ijcuejuf. Snfgsbcf, gfwfwyfg cba ab qjclm. Gbc’a atlcx jybea jcsatlcu lggfifnjca. Mbmer bc ktja sbe kjca ab rjs jcv xffq sbeg tfjv mjiw. Rbk, fnfgsbcf qifjrf rla vbkc. Vlaalcu lr yfaafg atjc rajcvlcu, la mjc gfvemf jczlfas. P jvnlrf fnfgsbcf ab wlclwlhf qtsrlmji wbnfwfcar ab jnblv vlragjmalcu batfgr jcv begrfinfr. Efwfwyfg, abb wjcs kbgvr mjc ifjv ab ojliegf. Po atfgf’r cb kbgv mbeca gfdelgfwfca, rqfjx jr ilaaif jr qbrrlyif. Po atfgf lr j gfdelgfwfca, atlcx yfobgf rqfjxlcu.”

The veteran members hurriedly sat down, facing the big screen. The three young people who had arrived last, seemed a bit flustered. When they saw everyone sitting, they quickly followed suit. Dong Yao and Qi Muhan, on the other hand, walked a few steps forward and sat in front of everyone, closest to the large screen.

As the 180-second countdown entered its final moments, new text appeared at the bottom of the screen:

“1. Participants take turns speaking. Each person must speak 200 words within three minutes. Among them, the words ‘you’, ‘I’, and ‘he’ are not allowed.” o1d 8v

When the countdown reached 0, a small window appeared on the screen. It displayed Zhu Haowen’s face and, below it, two boxes with numbers. The left box showed a new 180-second countdown, currently counting, while the right one displayed “000.”

Zhu Haowen was taken aback for a moment, but quickly reacted and spoke: “The countdown has now begun.”

The number in the right box instantly changed from 000 to 005.

This indicated that he had spoken five words. V7k4HX

Everyone understood the rules now. Just as Zhu Haowen was about to continue, Qi Muhuan, seated at the very front, interrupted with a smile, “So that’s what it is, I understand, it’s asking us to…”

Ke Xun jumped up and hurried over to cover Qi Muhuan’s mouth, but it was too late. A small window on the left side of the screen popped up, showing Qi Muhuan’s face with a “-20s” label above.

Ke Xun was so angry that he wished he could knock out Qi Muhuan. Not only was he doing stupid things, but he also interrupted Zhu Haowen, but if Zhu Haowen did not speak within the next thirty seconds, it would deduct ten seconds. Furthermore, his interruption might disrupt Zhu Haowen’s train of thought.

Qi Muhuan struggled beneath Ke Xun’s grip. His eyes, visible beyond Ke Xun’s palm, stared at him with a mixture of shock, anger, and disbelief, as if he was saying, “What are you doing? Who do you think you are, daring to cover my mouth? Let go!” l0 Cim

Ke Xun certainly wouldn’t release him now. If he let go, this kid would definitely open his mouth and talk. Ke Xun simply pressed him to the ground, using one hand to continue covering his mouth and the other to control his body to prevent any erratic movements.

Meanwhile, Dong Yao, who was seated beside them, was stunned by the situation, and took a while to react. She was about to scream when Fang Fei, who was sitting behind her, suddenly rose to her feet and covered her mouth. Like Ke Xun, Fang Fei turned Dong Yao’s face towards the ground and pressed her down.

Fortunately, Zhu Haowen wasn’t really affected. Within the three-minute timeframe, he managed to say 226 words without using the words “you”, “I”, or “he”.

When the three-minute countdown reached 0, the small window changed from Zhu Haowen’s face to Qin Ci’s face, and the two numbers in the boxes reset to 180 and 000. 5w84 T

The counters started up again, and this time it was Qin Ci’s turn to speak.

“For those who have not had their turn yet, think now about what to say later,” Qin Ci spoke slowly. The counting box jumped to 21. “Consider reciting some technical terms, generally, that won’t involve those three words. Also, Dong Yao and Qi Muhuan, please listen carefully,” Qin Ci said, looking towards the two people still struggling on the ground while being pressed down. “Don’t interrupt while other people are speaking, and don’t treat this as if filming some variety shows. Everything happening right now is real. Those who break the rules will die. It’s a real death. Even if these two individuals don’t want to believe it, please try to follow the instructions on the screen. This will not do any harm.”

Qin Ci quickly reached 200 words, and when the countdown reached zero, the small window switched to Shao Ling’s face.

“If afraid of making a mistake and breaking the rules,” Shao Ling said calmly, “then recite ancient poems. Most ancient poems rarely involve these three subject pronouns. But please note, do not recite the same poem twice. The requirement mentioned to not have repeated sentence structures should mean not reciting the same verse. Alternatively, one can list the names of a certain category of items, such as all fruits, vegetables, grains, everyday items, and so on. Also, Dong Yao and Qi Muhuan, it seems that there is a misunderstanding. This is not a TV variety show. One should realize that there’s no working staff here that a production crew should have. Cameras, lighting, on-site sound recording, cue cards, and the like, there are none of them here. Take a moment to consider everything that has been told about the world inside the paintings. Reminding the two individuals again: it is all real. Not following the instructions will result in death.” GHmSVN

When the small window switched again, it was Luo Bu’s turn. Luo Bu’s voice trembled as he recited, “Apples, oranges, bananas, cantaloupes, radishes, green beans, potatoes, durians…”

Thanks to Shao Ling’s reminder, Luo Bu narrowly passed this round. The next one was Deng Lin, who, although not entirely convinced, followed the rules obediently: “Hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, boron, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, fluorine, neon, sodium, magnesium, aluminum, silicon, phosphorus, sulfur, chlorine, argon, potassium, calcium…”

Next was the girl with shoulder-length hair, who chose to recite ancient poems. There were moments when she recited incorrectly and forgot words. She was so nervous that her lips were trembling. She glanced at a few veteran members helplessly, and her gaze happened to fall on Wei Dong, who was closest to her. Wei Dong took a moment to react, remembering himself when he first entered the first painting.

All the confusion, helplessness, and fear seemed like just yesterday, but also as if they had all been left behind in yesterday. As for himself today, who knew if he had truly become brave or gradually grown numb? Sometimes he thought, if a person no longer could even sense fear, would that person be still considered a normal human, a person with flesh and blood and various emotions? B6gi8l

Schrödinger’s cat was both dead and alive. So were they, the people “trapped” inside the paintings, like that cat, no longer truly living from the moment they entered the first painting?         But rather they were in a superposition of states where they were both dead and alive? And when observed by the evil force of the “paintings”, some died, and some survived.

And before that moment of death, right before when they were observed, were they all just living dead?

A wave of indescribable sadness washed over Wei Dong. When he received the panicked look from the girl with shoulder-length hair, he felt she was especially pitiful, and he also felt that he and his fellow buddies were just as pitiable as her.

Wei Dong raised his hand, gave the girl a thumbs-up, and offered her a reassuring smile. lEg3PX

This gesture, this expression, if it were done by Ke Xun, would certainly be more handsome, more infectious, more comforting. Wei Dong knew he was just an incredibly ordinary person and didn’t seem to have the right to pity others. However, at this moment, he still wanted to do so. In this hopeless and endless despair, he would rather be comforted to die or encouraged to live than become a living dead who had even lost the feeling of fear.

The girl with shoulder-length hair was clever. She understood Wei Dong’s intention. Making mistakes while reciting the poem and forgetting lines didn’t matter. The thing that was being “tested” was not memorization skills nor knowledge of words, as long as she didn’t violate the topic’s requirements, it counted as a correct answer.

She relaxed a bit and continued to recite ancient poems, skipping lines that she couldn’t remember and reciting those she could. Finally, she managed to say 200 words.

Next, it was Ke Xun’s turn. uoq FA