Paintings of Terror

The group continued along the water. Ke Xun was carrying Cao Youning on his back, who had fainted from losing too much blood, with Wei Dong helping to support him from behind.

Everyone had their designated tasks. Some observed the water, some checked out the cave walls, some surveyed the ceiling, some kept a close eye on their phones, while Mu Yiran and Fang Fei oversaw the overall progress…

The environment around them was gradually changing. The temperature seemed to rise, and the ice and snow almost vanished. The number of fish in the water decreased, and the light in the cave was getting dimmer. Suddenly, Shao Ling stopped in his tracks.

“What’s the matter? Did you find something?” Qin Ci, who was walking behind him, asked.

Shao Ling’s voice sounded hesitant. “No, nothing.”

Mu Yiran’s sharp gaze shot towards him. “Shao Ling, what’s going on?”

Shao Ling had a grim expression and took a few deep breaths. “It seems like, my time is running out.”

All the members were shocked and couldn’t believe that Shao Ling would be next so soon.

“Don’t think about it, hurry up and find the signature!” Ke Xun, carrying Cao Youning, quickened his pace. “There’s no path ahead, we’ll have to wade through the water!”

Mu Yiran approached Shao Ling: “Don’t be distracted by illusions. We’re close to finding the signature.”

Shao Ling snapped out of his daze. “What? Where is the signature?”

“It’s right at the end of this water,” Mu Yiran never thought he could speak such a baseless statement so confidently.

Everyone listened to Mu Yiran. Despite not understanding Mu Yiran’s reasoning, they believed him wholeheartedly. So they regained their spirits and continued, wading through water that was about knee-deep.

Ahead was a low cave entrance that everyone had to bend down to pass through. Ke Xun, carrying Cao Youning, had to bend extremely low to make it through.

After Ke Xun passed through the cave entrance, he suddenly felt a lightness on his back. When he turned around, he saw that it was Mu Yiran, with the help of Wei Dong, who took over the “heavy luggage” he had been carrying.

Ke Xun looked at Mu Yiran. In the past, he only thought that he was slowly changing during the process of entering the paintings, but he never thought that the Mu Yiran was also changing, albeit subtly.

Mu Yiran carried Cao Youning effortlessly. Even though he didn’t speak, his gaze seemed to say, “Ke Xun, don’t look at me like that. If not because this guy hadn’t stopped breathing, I wouldn’t have bothered to care.”

Ke Xun grinned widely, displaying his typical corgi smile, and then immediately turned around to continue searching for the signature.

“There’s time on my phone! We’re out!” Luo Bu waved his phone.

Everyone felt a sliver of relief, but much of the urgency remained.

Since passing through the cave entrance, the environment had changed significantly. The water was nearly dried up in this area, and the surrounding cave walls were severely eroded by the wind.

“Something’s in the cracks of the rocks!” Wei Don exclaimed loudly.

Indeed, there was something in the cracks—things that looked like smooth, white stone slices, wedged into the crevices.

Ke Xun plucked one of the stones. “It’s the white fish? A stone white fish?”

“So strange, could these be fossilized fish?” Wei Dong was extremely puzzled.

However, Shao Ling said: “Fish fossils don’t form like this. These stone white fish seem more like… those white fish hardened and turned into stone.”

“Shao Ling, it’s great that you’re so strong-willed.” Wei Dong changed the topic.

But Shao Ling couldn’t muster a smile. He was busy extracting the stone fish from the crevices. “Now we can be sure that the fish in those photos are these stone fish. That’s why they look so stiff. But why were these stone fish in the water? The water here is almost dry, and there’s hardly anything in it.”

Zhu Haowen said, “That should be a hint ‘they’ gave to us, telling us to follow the water and find these white fish. The photo with the side view of the white fish should what we’re seeing on this wall. So, I think the answer should be on these white fish on the walls.”

Ke Xun gazed at the groups of white fish on the walls. “Have you noticed that these white fish seem to form arrow-like shapes?”

The way the white fish stones were arranged indeed appeared to be in the shape of arrows, guiding everyone forward.

“This is the information they’ve given us. Let’s hurry and follow these arrows!” Luo Bu hurriedly walked forward.

The cave became darker, and gradually, they realized that it was a dead-end, with the path blocked by a completely sealed stone wall.

The white fish-shaped arrows disappeared at this point.

Shao Ling’s steps became increasingly unsteady, and he had to lean on the stone wall: “I can’t hold on much longer… The way I chose to die was very fast. I’m afraid I won’t be able to hold on like Cao Youning…”

“That last white fish at the end…” Ke Xun said as he gazed at the white fish inserted into the stone wall high up. He looked at the stones piled up beneath. The arrangement and the height felt similar to his own handiwork. “I’m going to climb up and take a look.”

When Ke Xun reached the white fish stone and easily removed it, he already knew in his heart.

This was it.

When his fingers touched the fish, he could clearly feel traces of words engraved on it.

This was it.

Everyone gathered around Ke Xun, and in the light of their phones and the fluorite, they could clearly see a few characters on the white fish: “1995 Spring”.

Turning the white fish over, on the other side were the two words everyone had been eagerly anticipating: “Bi Di”.

The white fish stone gradually disappeared from Ke Xun’s hand.

Suddenly, at the end of the cave, a light burst forth. There were faint traces of a picture frame around the light.

At this moment, the entire cave started shaking, as if there was an earthquake.

“Hurry! Shao Ling and Cao Youning go first!” Qin Ci gave Shao Ling a push, and soon he disappeared into the frame.

Mu Yiran also quickly pushed the unconscious Cao Youning, who was on his back, into the frame.

Following suit, Luo Bu, Koharu, Zhu Haowen, and Qin Ci all exited one after the other.

Just as Wei Dong was about to leave, he suddenly stopped in his tracks, sensing that something was wrong.

Mu Yiran appeared to have no intention of leaving. He was staring at Fang Fei, who stood not far away.

Meanwhile, Fang Fei stood still, wearing her white mask, and gazing at everyone.

“Let’s go Fang Fei! We need to hurry! That piece of white fish stone seems to be sealing this place. Removing it might cause something to happen!” Wei Dong anxiously called out to his companions.

Mu Yiran looked at Fang Fei: “You can’t leave?”

Fang Fei remained silent and took out a knife from her cotton robe. “In this world, you can only take off a Shaman’s mask once. After you’ve worn it the second time, you can no longer take it off. The other me has already worn the mask. This is my second time.”

Wei Dong was so anxious that his voice was becoming hoarse. “Then just leave with the mask on!” He said as he pulled Fang Fei towards the exit of the cave. However, as soon as Fang Fei touched the light at the cave’s exit, she was forcefully pushed back inside.

“I can’t leave. I’ve transcended beyond the cycle of reincarnation. To leave, I must leave behind one of the Shaman’s tokens,” Fang Fei pointed to her mask and the bracelet on her wrist.

“How do you leave it behind?” Ke Xun gazed at Fang Fei, determined to get her out even if he had to demolish this cave.

“Take it off by force,” Fang Fei looked at Ke Xun. “The mask is too close to my brain, and I’m afraid it might be dangerous. The bracelet is almost fused to my wrist and it’s impossible to get it off. It has to be chopped off. Ke Xun, help me out here.”

“Wh-wh-wh-what…” Ke Xun suspected that he heard it wrong, and when he was about to ask again, he suddenly heard a scream.

The scream came from Wei Dong.

Fang Fei raised a knife with her right hand and chopped off her left hand, Blood gushed out in an instant.

Fang Fei took a few breaths, her trembling voice filled with resolution: “I don’t owe them anything anymore. Let’s go!”

The three men, including Mu Yiran, were left shocked by Fang Fei’s fearless act. They quickly followed her out of the cave with their heads lowered…

All of them reappeared in the familiar exhibition hall. Wei Dong went to check Fang Fei first: “Are you okay? Are you okay?!”

Fang Fei touched her face and felt it was fine. “The mask is gone.”

“I mean your hand!”

Fang Fei examined her left hand, which had turned purple. “It seems like I can’t move it.”

Wei Dong grabbed Fang Fei’s left hand. “What should we do? We need to hurry to the hospital. I feel your hand is still warm, so it should be fine… Ouch, aw aw aw…”

Wei Dong felt a sudden force from Fang Fei’s left hand, twisting his wrist as if in an arm wrestling. “Look at the situation, I know you are strong…”

“I was just testing if I can still use this hand.”

Cao Youning began to gradually wake up, but he felt extremely dizzy and showed signs of low blood sugar. He needed to be sent to the hospital immediately.

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Shao Ling’s conditions were somewhat better, aside from his pale complexion, he didn’t seem to have any other issues.

“Are you okay there?” Luo Bu asked.

“Where?”

“It’s the…the place where you choose to end things…where was that?” Luo Bu looked at Shao Ling but couldn’t tell where he might be most vulnerable at that moment.

“Not telling you.” Shao Ling stretched his shoulders. “By the way, where’s Koharu?”

Luo Bu slowly picked up his pure white electric scooter. “It’s here, my mythical creature is here… From now on, I’ll just hold it and won’t step on it anymore…”

Although everyone felt lucky to have survived their ordeal, thinking about their four companions who remained trapped in the drawing left them feeling particularly uncomfortable.

Mu Yiran and Ke Xun stood in front of this drawing, observing the subtly changing content. It was still the same house, but now there were windows, and shadows of people could be seen through them—two young men and two young women.

One of the young women was reading a book, while the other held a small bottle up to her nose, sniffing it. The two young men were both holding cameras and looking for angles to take pictures, with one capturing the woman reading, and the other aiming his lens out of the window, seemingly trying to capture what lay beyond the drawing.

“They’re each doing their own things.” Ke Xun heard Mu Yiran say.

Ke Xun said nothing and took a picture of this drawing with his phone.

“Is your companion there okay? He looks like he got sick.” the museum administrator walked in and asked.

“He’s fine, just low blood sugar,” replied Wei Dong.

“I think it might be due to the recent renovation in this exhibition hall. The smell hasn’t completely dissipated yet. I hope it’s not formaldehyde poisoning. I advise you all to head out first. We’ll temporarily close this exhibition hall.” the administrator said.

No one said anything, as there was nothing they would miss about this exhibition hall. They left the hall together.

“Brother Qin and Haowen Er are taking Xiao Cao to the hospital. We should go to the hospital too.” Wei Dong looked at the message Zhu Haowen sent to him.

“I should go as well, to check on my hand,” Fang Fei glanced at her purplish left hand.

“You don’t need to check. Your arm is almost like Astro Boy’s iron arm…” Wei Dong held his own arm and looked at Fang Fei with a tilted head.