Paintings of Terror

Chapter 12: Curse

Translated by Eve

Edited by EB

According to science, in real life, if a corpse were to move after death, it had to do with the electrical signals in the body. (TN: Couldn’t find anything to back this up btw. Found some articles suggesting that it could be related to the decomposition process though.)

Ke Xun mulled over this. No matter how incredible a human body’s electrical impulses got, it could never beat lightning. A bolt of lightning was probably upwards of a hundred million volts, right? A normal person would be scorched in real life. However, they weren’t in the real world right now. If that bolt of lightning were to cause a ghost to come out, who’d be able to fight it off?

“Should we hide the coffin?” Ke Xun asked Mu Yiran.

“There’s nowhere to hide it.” Mu Yiran’s gaze was heavy. “The only places we can hide it is inside the house or beneath the dirt. It’d be the same as if we were to just leave it in the mourning hall. The lightning can strike the coffin through the roof of the house. The ending would be the same no matter where we hid it.”

“…So we’re being forced to wait for death with our hands tied.” Ke Xun punched the tree’s trunk.

“If we can find the seal before night falls, then we won’t have to worry about whether lightning falls or not.” Mu Yiran started to climb down the tree after leaving Ke Xun with that.

Ke Xun had just reached the ground when he saw that the others had come back from searching the graveyard. They all looked like they had all suffered a fright.

Upon receiving Mu Yiran’s permission, he told the others about their suspicions over the ghost faces on the Chinese Scholar trees. He asked them if they would be willing to search alongside the three of them.

“Let’s eat first.” The doctor had a calm and steady disposition that was unique to doctors. “We should get as much energy as we can. We’ll search after eating.”

Lunch was once again at the old man’s home. There was only Chinese cornbread, picked vegetables and stir-fried beansprouts. Although it was hard to eat, everyone still filled up their stomachs as much as they could.

“I sincerely miss eating Tianjin-style jianbing right now.” Wei Dong whispered to Ke Xun while glancing at the old jianbing vendor sitting in front of them.

Who knew if the jianbing vendor had accepted his fate or had been scared silly. He simply sat there silently, dazed.

After lunch, everyone gathered beneath the three Chinese Scholar trees. They worked together to investigate the faces on the trees.

Wei Dong circled around the tree and then carefully stuck a branch into one of the wretched ghost face’s mouth. He then sensed someone beside him. That person quietly asked him, “Did you guys find any clues?”

When he turned his head, he saw that it was Liu Yufei.

“Isn’t this a clue?” Wei Dong pointed to the ghost face.

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“Just this?” A look of disbelief flashed through Liu Yufei’s face. “There’s no way that Mu guy would have only found this much out. He probably didn’t tell you two the rest of his clues.”

“So you’re saying that he’s really amazing?” Wei Dong asked while poking the face in the tree.

Liu Yufei snorted. “Extremely amazing. He was the first to find the seal in both of the previous two paintings. Furthermore….”

“Stopping halfway through your sentence…careful not to end up constipated tonight,” Wei Dong said.

Liu Yufei glared at him. “You can’t say that I didn’t warn you. That Mu guy isn’t as nice as he appears. His face is too deceiving.”

“I really don’t think he’s nice.” Wei Dong poked another ghost face. “But I do agree that his face is pretty deceiving.” Looking at just his face, Mu Yiran looked like a reserved and quiet person. However, he had a very alpha aura.

Liu Yufei’s face turned cold and he lowered his voice. “Did you know that none of the people who teamed up with that Mu guy in the last two paintings managed to walk out?”

Wei Dong’s hand froze mid-action. He looked at Liu Yufei in surprise. “Did they crawl out?”

“….” Liu Yufei was so angry his face changed colours. However, it looked like he was doing his best to control himself. He grit his teeth and asked Wei Dong, “Were there really no other clues?”

“How would I know? Even if he found out anything, it’s not a given that he’d tell me.” Wei Dong lowered his head and continued to poke at the faces.

“It’d be best if you were to be more on guard and suspicious while inside this painting.” Liu Yufei looked at him, “The more you ask around for clues, the closer you are to leaving this painting.”

“Okay, I got it,” Wei Dong said.

“Don’t forget, we received the same character. It’s very likely that our fates are entwined,” Liu Yufei reminded him in a heavy voice, “Therefore, I hope that you will share your clues with me so that we can think of a way to escape together.”

“All right, I got it,” Wei Dong said.

Liu Yufei glared at him for a long time. In the end, he grabbed a branch off the ground and started to stab at the faces with him.

Everyone searched for a whole afternoon. In the end, they didn’t find anything useful.

Right now, the sky was now dark as night. The thick clouds gathered overhead, billowing and changing incessantly and they crowded together.

“Let’s go back. It’s already dark.” The doctor’s deep voice made everyone’s mood even gloomier.

The old man had said that they had to go back to his house when night fell. He would be giving them tonight’s tasks.

This meant that the curtain over the second round of terror was about to be drawn.

“Those that received the gu character cloths will be in charge of standing vigil tonight. Those that received the dai character cloths will be in charge of digging graves north of the village. Those that received the yang character cloths will chop wood in the Li Family’s firewood room. Those that received the qu character cloths will guard the Li Family’s granary.”

When the old man finished speaking, he went to the room next door, leaving the eight people who all had different expressions to sink into a difficult to describe silence.

“…I…I don’t want to die….” A long time later, the silence was broken by a trembling moan. “Ke er, I don’t want to die…I don’t want to go to the mourning hall. I don’t want to die….”

Wei Dong was panicking. His face was deathly pale as he grabbed onto Ke Xun’s arm in an attempt to obtain assurance and protection from his best friend.

Ke Xun grabbed onto Wei Dong, who seemed unable to stand straight. All he felt was despair.

“The guy surnamed Mu! Where’s the seal?!” The eyes of Liu Yufei, who also had the gu character cloth, seemed to be popping out of their sockets. He rushed over, wanting to grab Mu Yiran’s collar but the other evaded him.

“Are you going to watch on unfeelingly as others die?!” Liu Yufei howled. There was a crazed glint in his eyes and you could see that he was falling apart. “Tell us everything you know! I don’t want to die! No one wants to die?! Why do you get to survive all on your own?!”

After screaming all that out, he waved his hands at the surrounding people. “This Mu guy definitely has clues that point to where the seal is! Everyone, come on! Let’s force him to tell us! He knows! He definitely knows!”

Everyone was silent. They looked at Liu Yufei, who was breaking down, like he was a dead man.

Although it was not a guarantee that the others would survive tonight, those that were tasked with holding vigil in the mourning hall…their deaths were practically guaranteed. There would be no return for them.

“I think,” the doctor said calmly, “We should take advantage of the fact that we still have some time left. Everyone should speak of any clues they’ve thought up. Perhaps after gathering everything up, we will be able to find the seal.”

When everyone continued their silence, the doctor added, “Based on the arrangements from yesterday and today, it can be deduced that the tasks of holding vigil and digging graves will sooner-or-later fall on others.”

What he was implying here was that no one could escape it. If they didn’t provide any clues and work hard with everyone else, they would eventually die here.

Noticing that everyone seemed to have been moved, the doctor continued, “I’ll get the ball rolling. In the morning, I walked through the village. I discovered a stone tablet at the edge of the village. There was a simple record of the village engraved on the stone tablet.

“Everyone in this village is surnamed Li. I think that the villagers are probably all part of the same clan. Their ancestor can be traced back to the Warring States period. He had been an official of the state of Qin. His title was ‘Minister of Rites’.

“As far as I know, the ‘Minister of Rites’ was in charge of praying to the ancestors and supernatural beings. Therefore, this position was akin to a shaman.

“I think that this clue might be related to the contents of this painting. That’s everything I’ve found up to now that seems useful. Everyone, if you think of anything, please do share it with the rest of the group. Everyone can work together to analyze this.”

When the doctor finished speaking, his gaze fell on Mu Yiran.

“Supernatural beings? Duh?!” Liu Yufei roared irascibly. “Even if their ancestor wasn’t a Minister of Rites, this painting is filled with supernatural beings! Your clue is completely useless!”

No one paid him any attention. All their gazes were on Mu Yiran, as if he were a god who would save them.

“I believe that there is a rule with regards to the deaths of the five people from last night.” Mu Yiran’s expression was calm. “As for the inscription on the stone tablet you mentioned, I don’t think it’s completely useless.”

“You basically said nothing!” Liu Yufei rushed over to Mu Yiran again, wanting to grab him. However, Ke Xun, who was standing next to Mu Yiran, grabbed hold of his wrist.

“Either you shut up and think of a solution or you’re going to lose an arm.” Ke Xun said, face completely devoid of emotion. He added a bit of pressure and Liu Yufei screamed. A layer of cold sweat appeared on the other’s forehead.

“Speaking of the five people’s deaths,” the doctor picked up from where Mu Yiran had left off, “The two who died at the graveyard were a bit odd. When we arrived, the crows had already divided the corpses among themselves. However, we could still tell that the corpses had been split into equal pieces—notice I said ‘equal pieces.’ they were extremely even portions. I thought that this was unnatural. Unless the force behind it suffered from some form of OCD, I don’t think there would be a reason for it to be so meticulous.”

Mu Yiran lowered his eyes in thought. When the doctor saw this, he didn’t disturb him. Instead, he shifted his gaze to everyone else. “Does anyone else have something to share? Even if it seems insignificant or normal, feel free to tell us.”

.

“I have something to say.” The one who spoke up was Ke Xun. When he saw that Mu Yiran seemed to know what he was going to say but didn’t seem intent on stopping him, he continued, “It’s not related to the seal but it is related to how to avoid being killed by those paper dolls.”

Everyone’s eyes immediately gathered on his face.

“Regardless of where you’re situated, do your best to hide yourself, whether that means covering yourself with burlap bags or hiding behind firewood. It’s fine as long as the paper dolls cannot see you. If the dolls approach you, you must hold your breath.”

“Why about those tasked with digging graves?” Someone with the dai character cloth asked at once.

Ke Xun shook his head. “I don’t know?”

“If nothing else, you can try to cover yourself in soil,” the doctor suggested.

“What about those in the mourning hall?” Wei Dong asked in a trembling voice, face deathly pale, “Will that thing inside the coffin come out? What if it had been the thing in the coffin that had gouged out their eyes?”

No one replied. The room was deathly silent.

“Xiao Mu, have you thought of something?” The doctor interrupted the oppressing, unbearable silence.

“I think that the fact that the village’s ancestor was a Minister of Rites is very important.” Mu Yiran looked up. Everyone’s gazes immediately turned to him.

“It was common for there to be occult practices and shaman-like people in the Spring and Autumn, and Warring States periods,” (TN: Spring and Autumn period: 770-476 BC, Warring States period: 475-221 BC) Mu Yiran said, “Curses were extremely prevalent in these eras. For example, before two states would go to war with one another, they would each conduct a ritual to curse the enemy country’s ruler. The most famous of these curses is the ‘Chu Curse Inscription.’ (TN: I was going to TN this but the author copy/pasted the Baike entry below.) Near the end of the Warring States period, when the battle for power between the states of Qin and Chu was the most intense, the King of Qin pleaded for God to protect and bless the state of Qin and lead them to victory. He also cursed the State of Chu with death. That is what is inscribed in the ‘Chu Curse Inscription’ stone tablet.

“If we connect this to our present circumstances, we can deduce that perhaps the three Chinese Scholar trees—these so-called yin trees—may be a type of curse. Some places call Chinese Scholar trees ‘Ghost Beckoning trees.’ Furthermore, it is said that they have the ability to collect yin energy and attract ghosts. Based on this, I have reason to suspect that the person who planted the trees in the Li Residence did not harbour good intentions towards the people of this family.

“Moreover, even if this is a world inside a painting, the scenario it creates must abide by logic. The story should be meticulously crafted and errorless. However, we didn’t see any members of the Li Family or any related kin. Typically speaking, this would be considered a bug.

“We have likely taken on the roles of villagers who have come to the Li Residence to help out. If we were Li Family members, our clothes would be different. Therefore, it’s clear to see that the Li Family no longer has any living members. To put it harshly, the family line has died out.

“To people from ancient times, or even people or the not-so-distant past, a family line dying out is an extremely tragic fate. It can be considered retribution or a curse.

“Furthermore, the coffin in the mourning hall is constructed out of pure cedar. It is said that a pure cedar coffin will be struck by lightning. ‘Struck by lightning’ does not have a positive connotation. Typically, people use it as a form of swearing. But if these words were to be enacted with the help of a pure cedar coffin, they would no longer be harmless swear words. They would become a genuine, intentional curse.

“If we combine all these points together, we come up with a clue that may or may not be important. That is, the family holding this funeral has been cursed. Starting from the moment those three Chinese Scholar trees had been planted, everyone in that family had died without offspring. The corpse currently lying in the mourning hall is the last of their family. As of now, their family line has completely died out.”