Paintings of Terror

Chapter 9: Segments of Flesh and Crows

Translated by Eve

Edited by EB

Although the two corpses still seemed perfectly intact, on closer inspection, one could make out that they had both been sliced up into meat segments by a sharp object as if they were pieces of chicken breast. The segments of flesh were neatly arranged in their original places on the ground.

The corpses’ clothes were completely drenched in blood, wrinkled and twisted into the flesh. The soil beneath their bodies had also been soaked a dark red, emitting a thick smell of iron. Dozens of crows surrounded the corpses. Even when Mu Yiran approached, they did not fly away. They simply watched with their still, ink-black eyes.

Ke Xun turned around to throw up. His action startled Wei Dong into scampering back another seven to eight metres. “Fuck, stop! What did you see?!”

Ke Xun waved a hand. He forced himself to endure, forcing the vomit back down. He sucked in two breaths of that nastily-scented air before gritting his teeth and turning back around.

Mu Yiran was still examining the corpse, seemingly lost in thought.

Ke Xun braced himself and looked at the corpses again. The two of them were lying side-to-side. If you were to ignore the fact that they had been sliced up, based off of the position their bodies had been left in, you’d think that they had died peacefully. Their arms were placed on either side of their bodies and their legs were straightened and placed together. Their faces were also facing the sky.

Faces…Ke Xun took a few more glances at the body on the left. The sixteen/seventeen year old school girl’s naive eyes were shut and the blood on her face covered up the youthful feeling it used to give off. Her fine, soft, long hair had become tangled with the mud and blood beneath her body. A youth whose life had just started to bud was reduced to nothing but a pile of flesh so easily.

Ke Xun could not imagine what horrors the girl must have faced prior to death. He couldn’t imagine just how afraid she would have been, how much it would have hurt, or how much she wanted to go home when that frightening power that could not be resisted had slaughtered her like livestock.

The hand hanging by Ke Xun’s side shook unconsciously. Shortly after, he clenched his hand into a tight fist.

“Have you finished examining them?” He asked Mu Yiran.

Mu Yiran looked up to glance at him and nodded his head slightly.

Ke Xun didn’t say anything more. He walked over to grab a nearby shovel and started to dig.

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Mu Yiran looked at him but also remained silent.

Wei Dong stood a bit further away and didn’t dare come closer. He could only raise his voice. “What are you doing? Don’t mess around!”

Ke Xun focussed on digging. He didn’t answer Wei Dong.

More and more crows circled the air above them. Incessantly, they landed on the ground around. Seeing that Mu Yiran simply stood next to the corpses, motionless, several crows stopped watching him and began to head over to the corpses. With their sharp beaks, they began to tear at the slabs of flesh.

Mu Yiran’s eyebrows furrowed slightly and he took a few steps back.

Ke Xun looked up when he heard the noises. He turned to glance at the corpses and sudden anger welled up in his chest at what he saw. He raised the shovel in his hand and waved it at the crows. “Fuck you! Piss off!”

But there were too many crows. After shooing away a few, several more would land onto the ground. More and more came and very soon, the corpses were completely covered in these crows. He couldn’t even see the corpses anymore. They were fully covered by a dense layer of crows.

Ke Xun didn’t want to accidentally hit the corpses. Hands tied, he kept up his useless action of waving his shovel for a long time. In the end, he decided to cover the corpses up with soil. The crows all dodged to the side. Several tens—nearly a hundred—crows all lined up to watch him silently with cold, dark eyes.

“Ke Xun.” Mu Yiran suddenly called out his name with a heavy voice. “Stop. Don’t bury them.”

Ke Xun raised his head, hands clutching onto the shovel tightly. “So I should just let them get eaten by these birds?”

“Look at what they’re doing.” Mu Yiran looked at him with a frosty gaze.

Ke Xun shifted his eyes to the murder of crows and met with their still, jet-black beady eyes.

“If you bury these two, the next to die might be you.” There was a hint of vigilance in Mu Yiran’s tone. He took several more steps back. “Put the shovel down and come over here.”

Ke Xun pursed his lips together tightly. A moment later, he threw the shovel down and walked over to Mu Yiran with large strides. “Are you done examining them? I want to go back.”

Mu Yiran glanced at him. There was a difficult to perceive trace of a concession in his otherwise calm voice. “There’s nothing else I want to check.”

“Dong zi, get up. Let’s go.” Ke Xun turned around at once and left the wastelands, following the path from which they had come.

When they were a short distance away from the village, Ke Xun saw the others leave the village. They seemed to be running towards the wastelands they had just come from. Liu Yufei was at the front of the pack. Although he saw Wei Dong, he didn’t holler at him.

Everyone was busy looking for clues.

Ke Xun had calmed down. He turned to look at Mu Yiran, “Did you find any clues just now?”

Mu Yiran glanced at him, tone level. “Why do you think that I’ll share my clues with you?”

Ke Xun choked. Wei Dong was also at a loss for words. His gaze was on Mu Yiran, who hadn’t stopped moving forwards. “Although you’re right, it still stings a bit….”

Ke Xun lowered his eyes and mulled over this for a moment. He then ran over and turned to look at Mu Yiran. “You’re right. You have no obligation to share your clues with someone you’re not familiar with. We’re completely unrelated to one another. If you tell me, that’s out of the kindness of your heart. If you don’t tell me, you’re simply staying within your bounds. I can’t hate or blame you over this. Everything must be paid for in the era we currently live in.”

“Since that’s the case, then let’s discuss this as a matter of cooperation and profit. I think that I’m pretty useful. I won’t be asking for you to share your clues for free. If you share them, I will reciprocate. How about it?”

Mu Yiran looked at him, expression unchanging. He said in a frigid voice, “How will you reciprocate?”

Ke Xun tugged at his messy hair and replied earnestly. “A bad student like me can’t help with any of the thinking, but my physical strength is pretty good. If you need to run errands or do anything tiring, give it to me. all you have to do is say the word. What do you think?”

“Does it look like my arms and legs don’t work?” Mu Yiran asked.

“No. But you look like the kind of big shot that can easily get things done,” Ke Xun said sincerely, “Boss, please take me in as an underling. If you take me in, you’ll get a complimentary gift too. I promise you won’t suffer any losses.”

“You bastard, you’re the complimentary gift. Your whole family’s a complimentary gift.” Wei Dong said angrily.

“Is your thigh big or is his thigh big?” Ke Xun asked.

“Hello Boss, I’m the complimentary gift.” Wei Dong said to Mu Yiran.

It was probably because he had been shocked by how these two didn’t even bother with hiding their intentions to cling onto him, or because he foresaw that these two idiots would pester him endlessly if he were to refuse them, but Mu Yiran spoke up after walking a few more paces, face completely expressionless. “This is the first painting the two of you have entered. There are many things you don’t understand. The people who enter the paintings are not as they seem. Things will not remain peaceful forever between us. Therefore, if you two really want to form a team with you, you will first have to agree to my condition.”

“Tell us.” Ke Xun looked at him.

The earnestness in his eyes caused the coldness in Mu Yiran’s face to thaw slightly. If the other were to agree right away, then that would only have made it more difficult for Mu Yiran to trust him.

Therefore, he said with a heavy tone, “I require you two to always remember that, unless you have my given permission, you are not allowed to share the clues I obtain with people other than us three. Do you have any issues with that?”

Wei Dong looked at Ke Xun. He understood this childhood friend of his well. This kind of request did not conform with his childhood friend’s values.

Ke Xun seemed unruly and laid-back to outsiders, and even a bit indifferent or distant. But as his very close best friend who had grown up with him, Wei Dong knew that Ke Xun was actually quite pure and pretty…kind. Although he had done bad things before, it wasn’t like he had never done good deeds in his life.

Ke Xun didn’t like to bicker over gains and losses. He had never been a selfish or petty person.

He had used the inheritance his parents had left behind to open up a gym. After he was able to make enough for a living, he didn’t forget his friends.

Ke Xun brought his brethren and classmates who had troubled homes or had no ability to make any money and would soon starve to death into his gym. Those that could train others became personal trainers or instructors. Those that couldn’t worked in customer service, logistics, or finance. If they really had no skills, then they could help out by maintaining the machines, cleaning or going out and handing out flyers. He would make sure to pay them enough to ensure that all of them would be able to stay warm and full.

Therefore, although he wasn’t the type to rush over and help someone on a busy street, if something happened in front of him, he would do his best to lend a hand.

But in this painting, the people here weren’t faced with poverty or starvation. They were facing death. Lending a hand might mean saving a life, or even several lives. In contrast, not helping was the same as sending someone to their death.

Wei Dong wasn’t sure whether Ke Xun would agree to Mu Yiran’s request. Ke Xun was no saint but he wasn’t a devil either.

“Can I ask why?” Ke Xun gazed at Mu Yiran.

Mu Yiran also looked at him.

This fellow who had entered a painting for the first time was a bit hot-headed, ignorant, and seemed to be just asking for a beating at times. But the purity in his limpid eyes…made his heart involuntarily soften.

Mu Yiran looked down, his voice as cold as always. “It’s because those ‘things’ aren’t the only ones that kill you inside these paintings. Living humans can too.”

“Are you saying that it’s possible for the people who had entered this painting with us to kill us?” Ke Xun narrowed his eyes slightly. “Why?”

“There’s a rule inside these paintings.” Mu Yiran’s cold gaze was on the spiritless village in front of them. “I told you before, we only have seven days time. If we cannot find the painter’s signature or seal in seven days, everyone will die. Furthermore, every day, it is possible for someone to die from the weird powers that exist in the painting’s world. But it’s not like it’s completely unavoidable.

“Actually, the deaths caused by the painting’s forces have a random aspect to them in that they change according to the situation. For example, last night. You were on the verge of dying but you narrowly escaped because of the situation that had suddenly occurred in the central building. This wasn’t something the painting’s powers had set-up in advance. Whether you’re unlucky and die, or you’re lucky and unexpectedly survive, it all depends on the situation.

“However, there is one rule that cannot be changed or resisted. If on any day, no one dies because of this, then between eight and nine o’clock the next morning, all the survivors must get together and vote…for someone to die.”

Eve: That’s such a cruel rule.