Paintings of Terror

Chapter 75: Lex

The giant cows ate and drank until twilight, and the guards soon went into the farmhouse to feed the humans.

“When we go to the lawn later, we’ll need to quietly approach the area where we dug the trench yesterday,” Mu Yiran said in a low voice. “The giant cows haven’t slept all night, so they’ll definitely rest in the admin room in the morning. This is a great opportunity for us.”

The few people continued to discuss, “We only have this small timeframe in the morning to escape, as they’ll find out when they come to feed us at noon. We can’t stop for any reason and we have to run as far as we can. Although we don’t know the situation outside, if we get scattered later, don’t focus on others and make sure to protect yourselves. We have to hurry and find the signature to leave.”

Everyone nodded, and Qin Ci said: “It may sound ruthless, but in this case, keeping ourselves safe is indeed the most important thing. We still should try and help each other if we can. What about this, if we lose each other in the process of escaping, leave a mark indicating the direction you travelled if you have enough energy so we can find a way to meet. Even if whoever finds the signature first leaves ahead of everyone, others will be able to find it as well by following the marks.”

Seeing that everyone had no objections, Qin Ci drew a few signs on the ground that could point the way and express simple meanings so everyone would remember easily.

After breakfast, the giant cows let the humans go on the lawn as usual, but the plan couldn’t keep up with the change: the giant cow had singled out Mu Yiran and Ke Xun before putting them in a cage.

“Don’t worry about us, Dong Zi, you have to continue as planned!” Ke Xun yelled at the red-eyed Wei Dong. “Go as far as possible, you have to find the signature!”

Before Wei Dong could say anything, the giant cow had left the farmhouse with the cage.

Ke Xun and Mu Yiran stared outside from the cage door, feeling that they’d been carried for some time before they entered a giant room that had a large car parked inside. The two of them were thrown into the backseat, and one of the giant cows began to drive while the other one sat in the passenger seat. After a while, the car drove out of the farm grounds.

“Where do you think they’re taking us?” Ke Xun asked Mu Yiran, “A restaurant in the big city? Or an outdoor market?”

“Maybe it’s an underground arena.” Mu Yiran leaned on the cage wall and sat down, closing his eyes to rest.

After thinking about it, Ke Xun understood: “You mean that after last night, those cows saw our potential, and decided to take us to an underground area for us to fight other humans and make a lot of money?”

“Most likely.” Mu Yiran closed his eyes.

“It seems possible, all the cows here seem to have the bad habits that humans have.” Ke Xun walked over and sat next to him. “I feel that we’re likely to die, so we have to find a way to escape. Do you have any ideas about the signature?”

“No clue.” Mu Yiran opened his eyes and frowned slightly, falling into a rare state of confusion.

“Don’t worry,” Ke Xun raised his hand, trying to flatten the furrow between his brows before stopping halfway. “Think slowly, it won’t be too difficult. It’s possible that the answer is right in front of you, only that the window has been covered with a slat of paper. All you have to do is pierce it.

Mu Yiran didn’t say anything, but stared fixedly into the void and fell into a deep trance.

Ke Xun didn’t bother him, quietly standing up and walking to the edge of the cage, craning his neck to look out. He was barely able to make out the scene outside the car window, large swaths of trees passed by and the sound of noisy sparrows came from above.

“Huh,” Ke Xun turned his head to look at Mu Yiran, “Don’t you think it’s weird? In this painting, human beings have become smaller and cows have become larger, and the status of the two species have been switched. Then what role do you think birds play in this world?”

Mu Yiran quickly raised his eyes when he heard those words and met Ke Xun’s gaze.

“I just saw a group of sparrows around the same size of the ones we see in the real world,” Ke Xun continued, “But the size ratio between humans and cows is a bit strange. Even in the real world, domestic cows and humans are different in size, but not to this scale. Here, the difference in size is akin to humans to cats and dogs outside the painting. On the contrary, there’s no change in the sparrows. What kind of scale did the artist use to create this painting?”

“There is only one possibility,” Mu Yiran stood up. “The name of this painting doesn’t match the painting itself. The name of the painting 【Animal World】seems a bit too broad, and the painting doesn’t match the grand worldview it seems to imply.

“The painter wanted to skim the surface of the issue, only highlighting one or two key points in order to render the world he imagined. Unfortunately, after all, he’s only a new painter who is young and immature, and lacks the meticulousness that comes with age.”

“In the process of painting, he neglected some small details, or he wanted to use these details in order to highlight the key points he wanted to express. Sadly, the conception had a lot of mistakes, and the desired effect was not achieved, and on the contrary, made everything seem out-of-place.”

Ke Xun made an expression of understanding: “It seems like we’ve been filled by our first impression, thinking that all the paintings we enter would be created by those famous impeccable artists, so we wouldn’t have to think about the flaws. As a result, the paintings exhibited this time around were all works by new and cutting-edge painters just after their debut, meaning that the paintings wouldn’t be perfect. We only paid attention to the central meaning the painter wanted to express, but ignored the possible ‘bugs’.”

Mu Yiran nodded slightly: “After we go over everything, we can start looking with a fresh point of view. Through the various encounters we’ve experienced these past few days and the imbalanced size ratio between the cattle, humans, and birds, we can infer that the artist’s actual focus isn’t the entire animal kingdom, but only one or a few animals and their subversive relationship with people.”

“Obviously the animal used was a cow,” Ke Xun said. “What he wanted to paint was actually cows vs people.”

“But thinking of our encounters, the cows he painted aren’t merely cows,” Mu Yiran added, “For example, when they were force-feeding Bi Jing, they were imitating the technique used on ducks.”

“Another example, us and Dong Dong’s experiences yesterday resembled cockfighting or dogfighting, so there’s also an implication of these animals as well.”

“In addition to the management and feeding methods, there’s also a similarity to pigs, sheep, or poultry.”

“So this painter exaggerated some of the phenomena he had seen in human’s treatments of animals and placed those characteristics in his cows.”

“Looking at it this way, I feel like…. This painter seems to have a sympathy for animals?” Ke Xun touched his chin.

“Yes,” Mu Yiran nodded. “So Zhu Haowen’s statement almost hit the mark. The artist may not be an extremist, but he is possibly an animal activist. However, I feel like saying that he’s an activist might be a bit exaggerated, as his ideology might not have risen to that level yet. Judging from his constrained conception, his worldview is still too narrow, and he doesn’t seem to care about all animals, just certain ones. Therefore, it’s more accurate to just say that he’s an animal lover.”

Ke Xun raised his eyebrows: “Generally, people who have pets at home can be regarded as animal lovers. Dog owners love dogs, cat owners love cats, and parrot owners love parrots. Although these people still have a certain amount of empathy for other animals, it’s not enough to pay attention to them all the time. It can only be said that they love the house and its crows (idiom for essentially loving things that the people they love also love).”

“It can be said then,” Mu Yiran began, “Since the artist’s starting idea for this painting was too narrow, it can be inferred that the artist shouldn’t be an extreme animal activist.”

“This is not a painting that focuses on more macroscopic and in-depth humanistic thinking as well as humanitarian criticism. His ideological nature is only limited to a small-scale phenomenon.”

“But of course, this doesn’t mean that this small-scale issue doesn’t also have value in exploring its meaning with deeper thinking. It’s just that it’s a little more emotional in the way of expression and conception.”

“To put it plainly, this painting seems more like a personal piece that the artist made to vent.”

“This kind of sentiment is understandable,” Ke Xun said. “When I was in high school and wanted to vent, aside from one instance, my runs were record-breaking. This could also be considered a kind of creation.”

Mu Yiran glanced at him coldly: “Since it’s venting, then he obviously had some anger from related incidents. An animal lover was angered and reversed the relationship between humans and animals in the painting. It’s not difficult to guess the cause of his anger.”

Ke Xun’s gaze lowered, and he spit out two heavy words: “Senseless slaughter.”

“Animal abuse and unneeded slaughter are two things that every animal lover cannot accept or forgive,” Mu Yiran’s voice was also heavy, “I suspect that the artist himself has also raised animals, and that animal experienced being tortured and killed.”

“Was it a cow?” Ke Xun crossed his arms, “In general, cows are hard to find in cities. Did the painter come from the countryside or the mountains?”

“It’s unlikely that it’s a cow,” Mu Yiran shook his head. “Cows are considered a source of labor in the countryside, and it’s unlikely that they’ll be tortured and killed unless it’s for a holiday feast, but that’s not something that would cause the artist to hate the human race. I’m more inclined to believe that the animal raised by the painter is a common pet, moreover in society it’s an animal that is commonly abused.”

Ke Xun frowned slightly: “A dog, or a cat.”

“I think it should be a dog.” Mu Yiran said, “Right before I entered the painting, although it was only for a short moment, I was able to see part of the canvas. In addition to the cows, there were also some cats, but since they were located farther away from the focal point and were basically part of the background, I think a dog is more possible.”

“I remember when we were looking down at the farmhouse from the vent, the shape of the entire farm looked like a large crouching dog. I didn’t care about it at the time, but now that I think about it, that was equivalent to a secret clue that the artist left behind.”

“There’s also another powerful piece of evidence, which is the pen name of the artist.”

“Lex?” Ke Xun raised an eyebrow.

“Lex is a very common English name, and it wouldn’t cause people to think any deeper.” Mu Yiran continued, “But now that I’m thinking about it, there’s another meaning to it.”

“America has a dog that’s been awarded with countless honors, also named Lex.”

“During the US-Iraq War, its owner unfortunately died, and Lex himself was seriously injured. There were more than fifty bullets in its body, but just like that, Lex kept dragging the owner to the doctor with his mouth.”

“Therefore, it’s very likely that the painter’s pen name came from this.”

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A: MYR and KX keep getting to have their dates in the most uncomfortable places LOL

H: phew that was a lot of dialogue… I hope our boys can finally get some proper date time after this painting