Paintings of Terror

"About Mirren," Mu Yiran said, "all I know is that he was only 38 years old when he died, and that he died abnormally."

"Unnatural death?" Ke Xunmao looked at him straight with its ears pricked up.

"Suicide." Mu Yiran said, "He doesn't seem to be married, he has been living alone, was found dead in his small apartment, took an overdose of sleeping pills, there is no suicide note, only a painting that has just been completed, if it is as expected, This "Pure Land" may be his last work."

"If you put it this way, it seems that you can understand the reason why this painting is named "Pure Land"," Qin Ci said, "When he painted this painting, he might have already embraced the desire to die, and death may be possible for him. It is a kind of relief, like many people, he thinks that after death, he can get the blissful ease and carelessness—could it be that he is suffering from a disease for which there is no cure, so he wants to use death as a relief?"

"There is no way to verify it at this time." Mu Yiran glanced at the six doors in the room, "If this painting is his last will, what we need to do is to find out the world he created and his life experience. What is the connection with the cause of death."

"Now that we know the contents of the three worlds, shall we check the remaining three worlds tomorrow?" Luo Weihu asked.

"I can only check tomorrow. Night is the most dangerous time in the painting." Qin Ci looked at one of the doors. "Qi Qiang and the other two haven't come back yet. I don't know if something happened."

"Hurry up and get them back!" Zhao Haicui yelled suddenly, "Could they get lost?! Could something happen?! You are familiar with this place, go and get them back!"

Wei Dong has been irritated by this woman for a long time, and he replied angrily: "Do we have this obligation?! Eldest sister, do you have a makeup mirror, please take a look at how big your face is!"

"You—" Zhao Haicui started arguing, but no one would talk to her.

"Sister Zhao, why don't we both go and look for them," said Zhang Lifeng, a colleague who came in with Zhao Haicui, "Didn't everyone agree to leave a mark? Let's follow the mark they made and look for them. We should be able to find them." .”

Although Zhao Haicui is a wonderful person, he also has an unwavering attachment to his companions. Hearing this, he gave the others a hard look, and then followed Zhang Lifeng towards the door where the other two colleagues entered.

"One last piece of advice," Ke Xun said to the two of them, "running around at night will really kill you, so you should take care of yourself."

Zhao Haicui turned her face and scolded: "I believe in you! It's okay for a big old man to meow like a cat, and you're so cute! Disgusting!"

After finishing speaking, he took Zhang Lifeng to push the door and walk away.

Ke Xun: "???"

Wei Dong spread his hands: "If people are rushing to die, Lord Yan will not be able to stop you. Meow."

Ke Xun: "..."

Everyone: "..."

It was already past eight o'clock in the evening, and everyone who stayed in the initial room sat on the floor, waiting for dawn or death.

Of course, everyone will not wait to die, analyzing the paintings and exploring clues has become a tacit working understanding formed by the old members' cooperation many times.

"There are layers of fog in front of us now, and we are more confused than any painting we have entered before," Qin Ci said in a deep voice, "There are two puzzles before our eyes:

"First, the three known worlds have very different painting styles and different ages, and no clues can be found;

"Second, what kind of effect can the props that we people get have.

"Now we might as well brainstorm, develop ideas, and don't be limited by the established cognition, even if it sounds unreasonable speculation, you can also say it for other people's reference.

"Xiao Mu, you...cough, you come first?"

Qin Ci almost choked, when he saw Ke Xun lying on Mu Yiran's lap like a lazy cat, his eyes narrowed into two crescent-shaped arcs, and he opened his mouth and opened his mouth wide. yawn.

"Fuck, I'm blind." Wei Dong covered his face with his hands, turned his head to complain at Zhu Haowen who was next to him, "I really think we straight men don't exist, you say yes, Comrade Zhu!"

Zhu Haowen lowered his eyes, expressionless on his face.

Mu Yiran raised his eyes from the face of the big lazy cat on his lap, looked at the few people in front of him, and said softly: "Speaking of the painting styles of the three worlds are very different, the props we got are actually the same. It does not belong to a painting style and period, I think it may be related to these six worlds."

As if waking up someone in a dream with the same words, Zhu Haowen suddenly raised his head and looked at him: "You mean, the props in our hands may correspond to these six worlds?"

Mu Yiran nodded slightly: "Let's do some connecting questions."

Put the thirteen props you got and the three known worlds into two sides, and then find out the correlation between them.

"I have a pen and paper." Luo Wei took out a palm-sized notebook and a pen from his coat pocket.

On the left is the props column:

two longan seeds

Ancient literati Confucian scarf

Ancient Chiseled Copper Basin

writing brush

fishing rod

cat whiskers

sword

fruit

red round stone

bunny ear headdress

cat ear headgear

dragon horn headdress

Black flared trousers and red and white striped T

On the right is the known world:

The Ancient World Before the Qing Dynasty

A paper-cut two-dimensional world in the late Qing Dynasty

Anthropomorphic animal world in the context of modern society

Everyone looked at the two columns of content listed on the paper together, and then discussed the results of the connection classification.

[The ancient world before the Qing Dynasty] Applicable props: two longan cores, ancient literati scarves, ancient chiseled flower copper pots, brushes, fishing rods, swords, fruits, red round stones;

[A paper-cut two-dimensional world in the late Qing Dynasty] Applicable props: fishing rod.

[Anthropomorphic animal world with modern social background] Applicable props: fruit, red round stone, cat whiskers, rabbit ear headdress, cat ear headdress, dragon horn headdress.

"In the props we got, there is no two-dimensional thing," Luo Wei said, pointing to the content listed on the paper, "but because there are fishermen in this two-dimensional world, Mr. Qin's fishing rod can be temporarily connected to this world .In addition, there is another bye in the props, which is the suit of black flared pants and red and white striped T. Strictly speaking, this suit is actually suitable for the anthropomorphic animal world, but since there are three other We don’t know the content of the world yet, maybe this suit can be included in the other three worlds.”

"There are thirteen of us, and there are thirteen props in total, and there are only six worlds here," Zhu Haowen continued, "It means that some of the things we have summarized above belong to the other three worlds, and the first ancient The world has the most suitable props, and from another perspective, it can be proved that in the other three worlds, there must be an existence similar to the first ancient world, which will divert these props."

"Meow, tell me, are these props equivalent to a key to break the game?" Ke Xun lay on Mu Yiran's lap, putting his hands under him like a farmer. "These six worlds are quite As for the six locks, we can only open the door and pass the customs by finding the corresponding keyhole with the corresponding key, meow?"

"Since the rules require that props are not allowed to be changed," Mu Yiran took his words, "We, the painters, can only bring the props we choose and enter the corresponding world. Perhaps in this way we can find clues and Mirren signature."

"It's no wonder that we didn't get anything after entering those three worlds just now," Wei Dong suddenly realized, "Obviously some of us entered the wrong world, and the props we carried were inconsistent with the painting style of the world we entered, just like entering the wrong password. Of course, the corresponding program cannot be opened."

"Then tomorrow, we can try to group items by item style again, and select the corresponding world to enter." Qin Ci said.

Wei Dong took out his props, the writing brush, from his pocket, and said, "According to my props, I should enter the world that Ke Er and the others entered."

"Then I will enter the anthropomorphic animal world?" Ke Xun finally left Mu Yiran's lap, sat up straight, and turned to look at Mu Yiran, "The props of Yiran are fruits, which are suitable for the first ancient world. , also for the anthropomorphic animal world, and perhaps even for the other three."

"It's like a lottery to touch the numbers," Luo Wei said. "If you touch three or more of the same numbers, you can win the jackpot. Since the fruit may be applicable to multiple worlds, you might as well try it a few times, maybe You can be right in which world, and it’s the same for others, we enter these six worlds several times in different combinations, and there will always be a time when we can be right.”

Everyone nodded in agreement, they were speechless for a while, each found a corner, and while resting, they were alert to anything that might happen after the night fell.

Ke Xun and Mu Yiran sat together, leaning against the wall, looking up at the wallpaper on the wall and ceiling. As night fell, the stars and moon patterns printed on the wallpaper gradually glowed star-yellow, and seemed to slowly It looks like a dream, if it is not in the horror painting that may die strangely and tragically at any time, this room is almost as beautiful as a fairy tale.

"Yiran meow," Mu Yiran heard Ke Xun talking to him in an unintentionally cute voice, "Did you have any discomfort after eating that weird fruit?"

Mu Yiran didn't answer, but instead glanced at him: "How do you feel now?"

Ke Xun thought for a while, then meowed: "You are very energetic, and you can see things very clearly. You see, the light in the room is obviously very dark now, meow, but I can see clearly the chin on the opposite side when I sit here. The drilled little bearded meow."

Mu Yiran frowned slightly imperceptibly, then suddenly raised his hand, and gently hooked Ke Xun's chin, and then heard a slight snoring sound from Ke Xun's chest.

"Damn meow..." Ke Xun's voice was hoarse, he arched his body upwards, and leaned closer to Mu Yiran's face, "Are you teasing me, sir?"

Mu Yiran looked down at him, and asked in a low voice, "Very comfortable?"

"It's very comfortable meow~~~" Ke Xun stretched out his hand to grab Mu Yiran's shoulder, hung his entire upper body on his chest, and pressed his nose to his cheek, "Come again, Yiran, tease me, meow."

Mu Yiran raised his hand again, but instead of hooking his chin like before, he put his hand on the back of his neck and squeezed it: "Move and see."

But Ke Xun didn't move, as if he had pinched his acupuncture point, his eyes were wide open, and he couldn't even speak.

Mu Yiran let go of him, his voice was still deep, but it was endlessly serious: "Ke Xun, you are becoming a cat."