Paintings of Terror

Chapter 68: Is it Worth it? It is

Wei Dong waited until the bull was farther away from the group before finally letting out a breath, fearfully creeping over towards Ke Xun to ask: “What’s the situation? Are they going to kill someone in broad daylight?”

“I’m not sure, but it seems like fighting is prohibited in this area,” Ke Xun’s gaze fell onto the distant Mo Mou who was standing alone, “Whether it’s chickens or monkeys, all animals have a leader who is responsible for maintaining order.”

Wei Dong: “Like… like a class president?”

“It’s a bit different from that,” Ke Xun said, “Their boss would definitely have to be the strongest and most capable one in the group, and they gain their seat through fighting the previous leader. If they win, they become the leader, and the former one is expelled from the group. Of course, other members can challenge him as well and the cycle continues, therefore the leader will always be the strongest one.”

Wei Dong: “Looks like this Mo Mou…..”

Ke Xun: “Yep, he’s the leader of this group, and as far as I know, chicken farmers usually won’t initially kill the head chicken because they need it to keep the other chickens in check.”

Wei Dong shook a bit, then quickly lowered his voice and asked: “What you mean is-”

“Kill Mo Mou, become the leader, avoid being killed.” Ke Xun carefully said each phrase, “But this person won’t be me, it’ll be Mu Yiran.”

“Will he agree?” Wei Dong wasn’t quite convinced.

“That’s why I’m going to help him.” Ke Xun said, “You give me a hand.”

“What, what do you need me to do?” Wei Dong was suspicious.

“Find an excuse to get Mu Yiran further away from here,” Ke Xun quietly ordered, “After that, I’m going to go pick a fight with Mo Mou. Once it becomes a ruckus over here and that large bull hears us, make sure to pay attention: the moment it leaves the farmhouse, hurry and bring Mu Yiran over to where we’re fighting. Whether or not I’m at an advantage or a disadvantage, I’ll pretend like I’m being beaten, and then you’ll plead with Mu Yiran to help me out. That way when the bull comes over, Mu Yiran will have beaten Mo Mou, and it’ll acknowledge him as the new leader.”

“But what if you and Mu Yiran aren’t able to defeat Mo Mou?” Wei Dong fearfully asked.

“Do you think we’re dumb- if we can’t beat him individually we can just go together,” Ke Xun said, “Besides, I don’t think Mo Mou is strong enough to take both of us at the same time. I just need to make sure to put Mu Yiran in a position to win before the bull arrives.

Wei Dong was swayed a little, but quietly said: “I’m just scared that if he becomes the leader and you annoy him too much, you’ll also be taken away by the cow like Dong Dong was. Ke-er, is it worth it? He’s never even shown you a smile before.”

“It’s worth it.” Ke Xun said.

Wei Dong couldn’t speak for a long time, before finally murmuring: “Mu Yiran may never know what he’s missing…. There’s someone in the world who loves him this much.”

Ke Xun was a man of action; after discussing the plan, he immediately set out to put it in motion.

After he saw Wei Dong take Mu Yiran and the other outsiders away, Ke Xun began heading towards the formidable Mo Mou.

Before he came close, he was stopped by Zhu Haowen who suddenly appeared.

“You want to fight with him?” Zhu Haowen asked.

“En,” Ke Xun put a finger up to his lips and then sent a wink at him, “Don’t spread that around.”

“You’re doing this for Mu Yiran?” Zhu Haowen asked another question.

“And for world peace!” Ke Xun joked, going around him towards Mo Mou.

Zhu Haowen suddenly asked in a loud voice: “Is it worth it?”

Tsk, how strange.

How come so many people keep asking if it’s worth it?

Ke Xun interlaced his fingers as he lifted his arms into the air, palms facing upwards as he stretched.

Liking someone isn’t the same as doing business- always having to worry about if you’re getting the right price, always having to bargain, always having to seek the right opportunity.

What they should be asking him is “Are you having fun?”.

Is it fun fighting for the person you like?

It’s very fun.

Is it fun plotting for the person you like?

It’s very fun.

Is it fun dying for the person you like?

Wu… although it’s a bit scary, but knowing that it might help him survive, it’s fun.

Is it fun when the person you like doesn’t like you back?

I’m currently in the process of trying to get him to like me back, so it’s fun!

Ke Xun stood in front of Mo Mou, causing the NPCs surrounding Mo Mou to all cast looks at him.

“I want to fight a round with you.” Ke Xun told Mo Mou.

Mo Mou’s arrogant gaze slowly fell onto Ke Xun’s face, chest, and…. That place below, staying there for a few seconds before raising his eyes back up to look at Ke Xun’s face.

Ke Xun: “……” Well, males will evaluate other males in these three areas: appearance, strength, and….. ability?”

“Are you satisfied with what you see?” Ke Xun put his hands on his hips.

Mo Mou haughtily snorted: “Small man, you’ve succeeded in getting my attention.”

Ke Xun: “……”

Ke Xun: “Please call me Ke Xun.”

Mo Mou: “In this place, only the leader is qualified to have a proper name.”

Ke Xun: “Hehe, are you sure your name isn’t a pet name?”

Mo Mou: “Don’t try to irritate me, small man, or else I’ll show you what you wanted.”

Ke Xun: “Fuck, please stop acting so cringy, I’m starting to get goosebumps.”

Mo Mou: “Small man, I’ll give you one last chance, either leave immediately or stay put and gratefully accept everything I’ll bestow upon you. Don’t blame me for not warning you; you won’t be able to bear all my rage and punishment.”

Ke Xun jeered: “Fuck, you’re going to win already. My legs are growing soft, please stop talking and get to hitting me!”

Mo Mou: “Since you seem so desperate for my big guy, I’ll satisfy you. Hopefully it won’t be so painful that you can’t get up later and regret it.”

Ke Xun: “…..Can you please fucking clarify, when did I express being desperate for your ‘big guy’?!”

Mo Mou took out his big guy — it looked super hard — his fists.

Ke Xun didn’t want to wait any longer, if he did, he might just end up being defeated by this cringy guy’s words alone.

His long legs pushed in into the air, almost resembling an unfurling lotus flower.

Mo Mou couldn’t avoid this kind of professional kick, body twisting and staggering two steps to the side. It surprised Ke Xun that he still remained standing; he’d learned that kick from a brother who could do martial arts, and he hadn’t met anyone who could still stand after taking a hit.

On the other hand, not only did Mo Mou stagger a little before immediately resuming a fighting stance, seemingly unaffected by the kick, he thrust out a ‘big guy’ towards Ke Xun’s chest.

Ke Xun’s reflexes were beyond those of normal humans, his body was able to dodge before throwing out a particularly lethal knee. Mo Mou was also not slow, sidestepping Ke Xun’s knee and at the same time, went straight for his balls…..

Ke Xun: “…… Fuck your ancestors.”

Can the human leader in this cow farm have a little more face please! Stealing someone’s ‘peaches’ while naked, aren’t you afraid of holding them in your hand and vomiting in your heart?!

Fortunately, Ke Xun’s reaction speed was always timely. He hurriedly closed his legs to prevent his ‘peaches’ from being swiped, but the opponent immediately changed his move, throwing a strong shoulder forward that directly crashed into Ke Xun’s nose bridge.

When Wei Dong brought Mu Yiran and the others to the fight as planned, he saw Ke Xun’s face that was covered in blood, as well as Mo Mou’s fist still punching his jaw.

Wei Dong let out a loud scream: “Ke-er!” Completely forgetting about Ke Xun’s plans, he was ready to go all out and rush in, when he was pulled back by Mu Yiran.

“Ke Xun has the upper hand.” Mu Yiran calmly evaluated the two that were still fighting.

It was at this moment that Wei Dong’s head finally cleared, promptly rambing: “Big boss, you have to go help him. Look at his face all covered in blood, even if he’s winning right now, the blood loss will get to him eventually. It’s flowing even more than period blood! Oh- look look, he can’t do it, he just took another hit! And another kick! Ai- now he’s rolling on the floor- big boss, t-this, at this point only you can really help him, the rest of us can’t do anything ah!”

“Do you not see that he’s still hesitating,” The words came from the Zhu Haowen who popped out of nowhere. The “he” was probably referring to Mu Yiran, Zhu Haowen’s face was indifferent with a touch of hostility, “He probably doesn’t want to get involved and implicate himself.”

Good job! What a godly teammate, Wei Dong praised. With this kind of provocation, even if the big boss didn’t want to make a move before, he’d have to now. You wouldn’t be able to tell at first glance, but It seems like this comrade Zhu has superior tacit understanding and good timing!

Mu Yiran didn’t bother paying attention to these two people, his eyes still fixed on Ke Xun and Mo Mou who continued to roll around, his eyebrows furrowed slightly.

He didn’t understand, when he first got here, Ke Xun clearly had the upper hand, yet in the blink of an eye he was suddenly pressed down. He was beaten up and down by Mo Mou and made several mistakes that he usually wouldn’t have; it was completely unlike his usual abilities.

At first, Mu Yiran thought Ke Xun was just trying to trick the enemy, but looking at it now, he’d collapsed on the ground unable to even flip over.

Could it be that in addition to the nosebleed from the first punch, he was also suffering from internal injuries?

Mu Yiran stepped forward towards the fight, having not heard any of Wei Dong and Zhu Haowen’s words this whole time. Right before Mo Mou’s heavy fist was about to hit Ke Xun’s chest again, he stretched out his arm to block the hit.

Ke Xun’s legs weakened causing him to stagger back a few steps before he sat down on the ground, panting, and looked at Mu Yiran with an eager look in his eyes.

“….” Mu Yiran felt like something was off.

Usually when facing such a strong opponent, Ke Xun wouldn’t have given up so easily… at the very least he would worriedly say something like “be careful”, it was even more likely that he would directly propose to join hands and defeat the opponent together.

The circumstances really didn’t allow Mu Yiran to think about it any longer, as Mo Mou was already rushing towards him, even letting out a cold and arrogant sentence: “Want to play 3P? I’ll fulfill your wishes.”

Mu Yiran: “……”

Ke Xun: “………….”

Wei Dong and Zhu Haowen: “……………………..”

Men fighting butt-naked wouldn’t look good on most people, but Mu Yiran was definitely an exception. He wasn’t like Mo Mou, someone who would frequently hurt the eyes by squatting down to punch and jumping up to kick, his **** flopping everywhere. Mu Yiran used his two long legs to move around swiftly and only used his arms to defend and attack.

Wei Dong was fully invested in the fight when he saw Ke Xun stand up and walk over to him and Zhu Haowen with his back to the fight, reaching his hands out to put on both their faces.

Wei Dong: “What are you doing.”

Ke Xun: “How can my male god be someone you can look at.”

Zhu Haowen: “He’s nothing in my eyes.”

Ke Xun: “Then it’s the same whether your eyes are open or closed. Since nothing’s happening anyway, just keep them closed.”

Zhu Haowen tried to struggle, but was quickly spun around by Ke Xun and forced to keep still in Ke Xun’s arms.

Zhu Haowen quieted down, and after not saying anything for a bit, finally spoke up: “If you don’t personally see him fight, won’t you be worried?”

“What’s there to worry about? I believe in him.” Ke Xun’s voice was tinged with a slight smile as it rang softly by his ear.

—

A: So is ZHW a 2nd ML? O.O

H: I’m sensing vi~bes~