Paintings of Terror

Chapter 94: Son of the Cave God

Ke Xun and Mu Yiran didn’t linger too long in front of Xin Beibei’s body, but seized the time to climb the copper ladder to the sixth floor.

The layout of the sixth floor was the same as the layout of the other rooms in the entire circular building. It was still a semicircular hall. Behind the wooden door, there should also be an empty glass jar.

But what surprised them was that the glass jar in the room wasn’t empty; it was filled halfway with a pure purple liquid .

Ke Xun looked back at the door subconsciously. It was obviously a wooden color representing safety, and the clock on the wall inside the hall also had a pure white clock face.

“What’s up with these purple liquids? Don’t tell me it’s Xiao Ye…” Ke Xun was naturally puzzled. At this moment, the first thing he thought of was Yening Chenyi, the purple victim.

Mu Yiran also couldn’t make sense of it. “I think this purple has something to do with Yening Chenyi, and there must be some significance to the purple appearing here.”

Ke Xun said regretfully, “I should have come up and taken a look this morning.”

“You’ve done your best.” Mu Yiran’s expression suddenly turned somewhat strange. “Let’s go back first.”

The reason why everyone wasn’t in the mood to go up to the sixth floor that morning was because Ke Xun had accidentally pulled out Xin Beibei’s head when trying to rescue her…At that time, everyone present was panicking, all secretly calculating the psychological shadow it must have left on Ke Xun…Mu Yiran was no exception.

When they returned to the lobby on the second floor, they discovered that the yellow bedroom window was used as the key mission point and had been nailed with wooden boards.

Qin Ci held a tool in his hand, saying, “Which room is next?”

Ke Xun scratched his head. “I’m timid so let’s nail my room first.”

Looking at each other, several old members immediately understood that the blue room was the next top priority tonight.

There was a lot of manpower, and so they were divided into two groups. All the windows in the four rooms were soon boarded up before dinnertime arrived.

The lighting in this world had always been strange. Even when all the windows were blocked, the room was still “bright,” with all the furnishings brightly colored.

“Why are the other buildings we visited so dark?” Shi Zhendong was still puzzled. “Where’s the light source in this world?”

Miao Zipei answered, “Fauves aren’t very particular about refraction and perspective, so the painter deliberately avoided utilizing light sources, probably hoping that all images under his brushes would themselves shine through like stars.”

“But he himself is a shadow worshiper.” Mi Wei was still tied up, but had been moved to the second floor. “In this world, the only thing that can make people feel the boundless darkness is only that huge shadow.”

Qin Ci glanced at Zhu Haowen subconsciously. “This was similar to what Haowen said. The other buildings are probably the shadow’s domain and are controlled by it.”

“Don’t you think this painter is very contradictory?” Miao Zipei said. “The three of us discussed this in the afternoon and concluded that, in this painting, the shadow is probably the master and the body is it’s vassal! This implied that the author himself felt conflicted about his own worship of color.”

“Therefore, he used the maze as a kind of displacement,” Mu Yiran said.

“Displacement?” the others questioned.

“I’m not sure whether this wording is accurate, but the core of this world should be the maze and not the castle as we’d previously identified.” Mu Yiran also felt a little impatient. Before he could fully figure out the answer, he speculated out loud–

“The maze should be a place where the body and the shadow can exchange, transfer, and even sublimate. The reason why the painter uses the maze to represent this important place is perhaps due to the contradictions that lie in the painter’s heart–one of the biggest features of the maze is that it makes people lose their way. In the painter’s mind, this matter might have always been a maze-like existence.”

“You mean that the artist himself is also puzzled by this?” Shi Zhendong asked with a frown.

Guo Lixia was constantly feeling at a loss, and she finally couldn’t help but ask, “I don’t understand. What is the painter so confused about that he needed a maze to commemorate it?”

Shi Zhendong patiently replied, “It’s the question everyone was puzzled by just now, which is who should dominate? The black shadow or the bright colors? And what should the painter focus on more? I think this is probably related to the painter’s creative process.”

Wei Dong couldn’t help asking Miao Zipei, “What do you know about this painter? Regardless of whether it has anything to do with this painting, you can tell us. Maybe it’ll be useful!”

Miao Zipei tried to recall. “In fact, this painter named Rong Rang has always been a little mysterious. Every time he made a brief introduction about his life in exhibitions, he only reported his birthplace and graduate school. The other thing is that he has an obsessive worship of Fauvism.”

“I remember that this painter is from Tongzhou.” Ke Xun also recalled the label on the painting from a few fragments of memory. “The author Rong Rang, born in 1993, from Tongzhou…”

Miao Zipei nodded. “He is indeed from Tongzhou. He seems to come from a very remote mountain village in Tongzhou. It is said that this painter is an orphan, but the whole village took great care of him. Although that place is very poor, the entire village contributed to his hospital costs.”

“The people in that place are really simple and honest, and so helpful.” Shi Zhendong couldn’t help but sighed.

“What other works does he have? Can you tell me everything you can recall?” Mu Yiran looked at Miao Zipei, then glanced at Mi Wei.

“Most of his works are Fauvism, with many colorful figures, still lifes, scenery…Miao Zipei said that he also created black and white prints,” Mi Wei recalled.

Miao Zipei nodded. “In the past, the A University’s art gallery had an exhibition where his prints were displayed. They were very ethnically distinctive and were completely different from the current modern style.”

“Ethnically distinctive means…” Mu Yiran asked.

“It probably reflects the scenes of the people in his hometown, such as where they work and live. I remember that one of the series of prints was called ‘Son of the Cave God’,” Miao Zipei said with certainty.

“Cave God?” Everyone was somewhat puzzled, and some even wanted to inquire which character that first word was.

“Tongzhou has many mountains with many caves, so there are many mountain gods and cave gods.” Mu Yiran was in deep thought. “In the Tongzhou people’s tradition, mountains, trees, caves, and rocks can all become gods. Meanwhile, water buffaloes, eagles, swallows, and fishes can all become demons.”

Shi Zhendong seemed to have thought of something. “I’ve travelled to Tongzhou before, and I once heard a legend about the fallen flower cavegirls. Is the cave god related to fallen flower cavegirls?”

Some people had heard of this phrase and others had not. Wei Dong directly asked, “What are fallen flower cavegirls?”

“There is a legend in Tongzhou that some girls will become chosen as brides of mountain gods or cave gods. While inside the cave, these girls would be unable to eat or drink, and once they returned, they would slowly die. This phenomenon was known locally as ‘fallen cave.’

Wei Dong felt that these fallen flower cavegirls were very pitiful. “Would these girls be married to the cave god after they died?”

“Yes, these women would be dressed up in wedding clothes after their deaths, and their funeral ceremonies were also organized as a kind of wedding.” Shi Zhendong lowered his eyelids. “According to later scientific statements, in actuality, these girls just suffered from some kind of depression.”

Mu Yiran suddenly interrupted Shi Zhendong. Looking at Miao Zipei, he said, “You just said that one of Rong Rang’s print series is called ‘The Son of the Cave God’?”

Miao Zipei nodded. “At first, I thought it was to worship the gods there, similar to descendants of the dragon or sons of the East…”

“Fallen flower cavegirls would have never married a mortal in her life, much less have children.” Shi Zhendong seemed to have guessed Mu Yiran’s thoughts.

Mu Yiran shook his head slightly. “I used to live in Tongzhou for a bit and heard many local rumors. There was a village girl who was conceived in a cave by a fallen flower cavewoman. Such children are called children of the cave gods. When their mother dies, these children will become protected by the whole village, and they are often gifted.”

No one had the nerve to delve deeper in the story behind these kinds of conceptions. At this moment, they thought that, despite being an “orphan,” the whole village even sent him to college. In this case, it was very likely that Rong Rang was one of the legendary “sons of the cave god.”

“It’s no wonder that Rong Rang has such a high artistic talent. He turned out to be a son of the cave god.” Miao Zipei sighed ruefully. “But what does this matter have to do with the contradictions in his work? Especially with regards to shadows…”

“In some extremely remote villages in Tongzhou, there are extremely pious cave god worshippers, and the villagers there also revere black,” Mu Yiran said the true meaning.

“You mean that Rong Rang was probably born in such a village?” Qin Ci said. “So then, the cave god is their totem, and black is their auspicious color.”

Everyone seemed to have to gradually touch upon the truth of the matter.

When it came to anything painting-related, Miao Zipei would never hesitate to mobilize all his brain cells. “He’s not only from an ethnic village that worships black, he is also the son of the cave god, and had thus attracted the attention of the entire village. Naturally, to such a person, black is different from the other colors. However, after being exposed to the outside world, he obsessively fell in love with the most daring Fauvism and its focus on strong colors. This is simply a complete tearing of his view of colors!”

“That’s why there are contradictions and confusions, and such things as a maze,” Zhu Haowen summarized.

Seeing the truth of the matter, everyone became silent.

The annoying NPC began to urge everyone to go downstairs for dinner. Mu Yiran directly made arrangements, “Four people are responsible for going downstairs to get dinner. Let’s eat on the second floor.”

Everyone agreed, so dinner was settled hastily on the second floor.

Miao Zipei wanted to untie Mi Wei and let her eat, but Mi Wei shook her head. “I don’t have an appetite.”

Night was gradually falling, but they still hadn’t found the signature. Mi Wei, who had been sentenced to death, would naturally have no desire to eat.

“The answer is clear. The signature must be in the maze.” It was Ke Xun who spoke.

Everyone agreed with this answer. The maze was the intersection of the body and the shadow, and at the same time, it served as a displacement between black and the other colors.

Mi Wei gave a long sigh. “But night has come… I wish you all the best tomorrow.”

Everyone was saddened, unable to say anything in return.

No one dared to enter the maze at night. Night was the world of the shadow, and they had even boarded up their windows to keep this shadow out.

“What did you find when you went to the sixth floor?” Zhu Haowen finally remembered to ask.

Ke Xun remembered and told them, “The sixth floor is very strange. There is a glass jar with purple liquid in it, but the door is wood-colored, and the clock on the wall is white.”

As for them seeing Xin Beibei’s body, Ke Xun didn’t mention it, so as not to make everyone uncomfortable.