Paintings of Terror

Chapter 66: Interspecies Conflict

A: The correct answer was… 24 moos!

An ominous feeling enveloped the hearts of these outsiders, and no one ate anymore than they needed to. Under the watchful eyes of Dong Dong, Yuan Yuan also reluctantly gave up his beloved French fries.

Meanwhile the people in the painting were still wolfing down their food, almost as if they couldn’t wait to squeeze all the food in the world into their stomachs. As he watched them, Ke Xun was reminded of Chihiro’s parents from Spirited Away, and remembered Chihiro’s classic line:

You can’t eat until you’re fat, or else you’ll be killed.

The outsiders watched the ravenous NPCs as they continued stuffing down food. Although they clearly knew these people weren’t real, in the world of the painting they were “real” flesh and blood humans, so what was the point in seeing them as separate? It was akin to nationality; whether or not someone was Chinese or a foreigner, they were still part of the same human race. Just like whether or not someone died inside a painting or in real life, it was still a vivid and bright human life that was extinguished.

“Hey, eat less okay…. Are you guys not scared?” Bi Jing was a college student who still maintained the innocence of someone who had yet to formally enter society, and he couldn’t help but persuade some of the NPCs.

One NPC bit a mouthful of fried meat before turning his head and glaring at him: “Shut up! Don’t even think of stealing lao zi’s food! Better make sure I don’t kill you!”

“This little brother, don’t be too kind to them; they won’t listen to you. The look in their eyes has been strange ever since the food came out.” Wei Dong said, “They’re already addicted, you can’t help them.”

“The food might be like drugs to them; they can’t help wanting it.” Qin Ci added.

“Fuck, then will we also….” Wei Dong was frightened.

“If possible, let’s just eat the nuts,” Ke Xun said, “We need to hurry and find the signature so we can leave.”

“Where are we supposed to find it?” Yuan Yuan looked up; the walls of the room were too high to climb.

The old players didn’t say anything. According to experience, the signature definitely wouldn’t appear in any of these jail-like cells. Furthermore, it was the first night of the painting, and was therefore inevitable that someone would die tonight. It was just that with all of them grouped up together like this, it was hard to tell which unlucky bastard would draw the “prize”.

The NPCs continued eating their dinner for a long time, until each of them had bulging stomachs, and only then did they reluctantly stop their mouths.

But what really freaked the players out was that: after eating, these NPCs squatted near the corners and shamelessly started urinating in front of everybody, immediately blinding all their eyes.

“What the fuck-” Yuan Yuan yelled as he covered his eyes, “Does this place not have any bathrooms?!”

“When have you ever seen a toilet in a pigsty?” Dong Dong replied as he closed his eyes in disgust.

“However, the room was quite clean when we first came in,” As a doctor, Qin Ci had seen a variety of conditions during his time, and was quite calm, “That means that they probably come to clean regularly. We’ll just have to bear with it.”

“This is the most disgusting thing I’ve ever had to experience….” Wei Dong pinched his nose and lifted his head up in despair.

Just as everyone was feeling nauseated, that one NPC who was always full of provocation walked up next to Mu Yiran before squatting in position and giving him a smile that said “What are you going to do about it”.

Before Mu Yiran could even move, he saw that a figure was already one step ahead of him. He raised a slender and powerful leg before stomping it straight into the person’s chest and letting out a cold “Scram!”. In an instant, the NPC flew backwards and landed in an ugly ball three or four meters away.

The man struggled to get up and stared at Ke Xun angrily: “Boy, do you want to die?!”

He was already rushing forward as he spoke, fists flying everywhere, but before he could even reach them, he was kicked away by Ke Xun’s long legs again.

“Why are you guys still watching, let’s attack together!” The man furiously yelled for his comrades to join him, and aside from one or two who were still doing their business, the rest all viciously rushed towards Ke Xun.

“Fuck, they want to use strength in numbers?!” Wei Dong had already jumped to Ke Xun’s side, getting in position to confront the mob together.

Dong Dong and Yuan Yuan weren’t far behind; one was tall and strong, the other was sturdy and round, standing side by side, they immediately formed an impenetrable wall.

Bi Jing hesitated for a long time, but in the end he still didn’t have the courage to join them, shrinking his body into a corner in order to reduce his sense of existence.

Zhu Haowen stood still with an expressionless face.

The painting NPCs already reached the front of Ke Xun’s group, swarming up and swiping at his legs. But the outsiders weren’t weak either. Four pairs of legs, varying in sizes and skin tones, all kicked out and a distinct flesh-on-flesh sound was heard.

Just as Ke Xun was pressing down the most arrogant one and beating him up, he felt a sudden wind blow behind his head. When he turned around, he saw Mu Yiran using an arm to clamp down around another NPC’s neck, and within 2 seconds, the man dropped to the floor.

Ke Xun punched the man in front of him again and lightly touched the back of his head, feeling some goosebumps. It was then that he realized the guy that Mu Yiran had subdued was aiming to attack him just now.

He couldn’t help turn to look at Mu Yiran, and saw that the man in question was looking back at him with a cold face: “Behind you.”

Ke Xun hurriedly spun around with his arms folded to block the incoming attack before punching out, hitting the opponent’s stomach with a heavy muffled noise until the man couldn’t help letting out a “wu” and throwing up.

Ke Xun tried his best to jump away but was still sprayed across his chest and stomach. His face scrunched up with disgust before he heard Mu Yiran say to him in a chilling voice: “Do you not bring your brain with you when you fight?”

“My brain’s all filled with you alone, I can’t bear to bring it with me when I fight.” Ke Xun threw out a cheesy pickup line as he picked up the NPC who threw up and rubbed his chest with the person’s hair.

The cells next to them seemed to have heard the fighting. For a while, screams of excitement and more fighting sounds erupted throughout the whole…. Prison?…. Farm? Regardless, everything was in chaos.

The overall time it took for the outsiders vs NPC scuffle to finish was very short, resulting in the visitor’s overwhelming victory. It was unexpectedly discovered that Dong Dong and Yuan Yuan could actually fight very well; they hit ruthlessly, always targeting the most painful areas first. At first glance it was obvious that they’d been bad kids ever since a young age.

Several NPCs were thrashed around and beaten until they cowered in the second half of the room and didn’t dare move. Even the one who’d fainted earlier wasn’t spared, Ke Xun threw him over into the corner as well. A number of them were bruised and had broken noses, quietly looking up at Mu Yiran and Ke Xun.

These two were the best at fighting; even though Mu Yiran only made a move once, he was able to quickly subdue his opponent in two seconds.

There was also that other guy who, despite looking a bit awkward, had super fast reflexes and agility. He could beat people up effortlessly without being sloppy, and he hit hard.

Can’t fight, can’t fight…. These NPCs thought, even their fighting posture wasn’t as good as them.

“If you keep overestimating your abilities, I’ll beat you until even your sh*t comes out!” Yuan Yuan threw out curses as he finished up.

“Absolutely not! Don’t you think the stink of cr*p in this room is bad enough?” Wei Dong put a stop to that idea at once.

“I’ll beat you until your bile comes up!” Yuan Yuan corrected.

“……You and them are actually the same right?” Ke Xun said.

“Fuck, this one here has been professionally cursing for twenty years now, yet my skills are actually being called into question? If you think you can outdo me go ahead, if you can’t then don’t criticize others.”

“Dong zi, curse them out a bit, let him see what a true professional is like.” Ke Xun said.

Wei Dong cleared his throat before resolutely glaring at the NPCs: “If you keep overestimating yourselves, I’ll hit you!”

Yuan Yuan: “……”

After all the turmoil subsided, the sky outside the window was already dark but the painting NPCs still seemed very lively and the sounds of talking could be heard in all directions. For the old members of the group, it almost created the illusion that the terror that would occur every night in these paintings would not happen here, giving them a small sense of security.

“When exactly will the death event you guys talked about occur? What kind of event will it be?” Several newcomers crowded the old players and kept asking questions, no longer quite believing the information Qin Ci had given them at the start.

“Each painting is different from each other,” Qin Ci was still very patient, “ Some paintings will pick a random person at a random time, while others will have specific rules and death conditions. As of now, we don’t know which one this painting could be so we can only go with the flow and don’t let our guards down. We have to protect ourselves as much as possible.”

“So what you mean is that we can only figure out which kind it is once someone dies, right?” Bi Jing quickly picked the true meaning of Qin Ci’s words and stared at him with a cold look in his eyes. However, because of his nearsightedness, to everyone else it just seemed like he couldn’t focus his eyes.

“That’s right.” Qin Ci didn’t cover up the truth and calmly responded.

“So all us new people here are actually just your guinea pigs?!” Bi Jing erupted.

“You can’t say that,” Qin Ci had the stern look of a doctor on his face, “The first one to die could be me, or him, no one can say for sure.”

“But you guys have experience!” Bi Jing said anxiously, “You guys definitely know how to avoid the death event, you just don’t want to tell us right? After we die, you guys can figure out how to escape. You’re all definitely hiding something from us so that we can be your scapegoats right?”

“Hey,” Ke Xun stretched out a hand and grabbed the top of Bi Jing’s head, turning it towards himself, “This classmate here shouldn’t talk nonsense. If you don’t have evidence then don’t go around spewing shit, don’t you know what the most taboo things are in a team?”

“What, what are they?” Bi Jing was a bit scared of Ke Xun.

“The first is unreasonable suspicion, the second is instigating disharmony, the third is a pig teammate, and the fourth is people like me not controlling their temper,” Ke Xun calmly looked over, “Now let me ask you, which one are you afraid of the most?”

Bi Jing’s whole face read “the fourth one” as he shivered: “I just…. I just wanted some clarification, or else I’ll be anxious…….”

“Then do you feel like Dr. Qin explained it clearly enough?” Ke Xun asked.

“Very clearly, very clearly.” Bi Jing wanted to nod repeatedly, but his head was still in Ke Xun’s grip so he could only blink his eyes furiously.

“Don’t bother winking at me, this brother already has someone he likes.” Ke Xun released him.

The person that he liked suddenly spoke from the side: “They’re here.”

Everyone immediately perked their ears and heard the sound of hooves treading the ground at an even pace, slowly walking towards them.

Sure enough….. It was still impossible to escape having a person die at night?

The sound of hooves walked and stopped, repeatedly going by each compartment until it finally landed outside the cell that the outsiders were in.

The huge bull’s head hung over the room, his eyes roving around and carefully observing everyone inside.

Bi Jing was so scared that he hid behind Ke Xun, wanting to use his body as a shield against those penetrating eyes,

The large bovine finally stretched out a huge hoof, pushing the people in the compartment here and there before picking someone up and lifting them out of the room.

It was Yuan Yuan.

—

A: Uh oh… Ngl, this does give me motivation to work out though…

Hime’s thoughts:

KX: *flirting*

MYR: ….

KX: *is still naked*

MYR: ……….