Paintings of Terror

After falling into darkness, the light that came back on again shone on a dark painting. It was a rotten human hand, protruding from the dry land, twisted and hideously open with bones exposed. With five fingers, grabbing high towards the cloudy and hard-to-distinguish sky above.

Even though it was just a hasty glance, everyone can still feel the infinite sense of despair revealed in the whole painting.

When the light disappeared, the first thing everyone felt was a wave of heat. Not far away was a group of single-family houses scattered in a radius of more than ten miles. Behind the group of houses was a dense forest. A very deep and wide forest.

It should be a place full of fireworks and life, but in the eyes of everyone, it is a strange dead silence.

The doors and windows of all the houses are tightly closed, every part of the house is full of dust, and the windowpanes are covered with dust, making the house dark when viewed from the outside, like entrances to hell.

Everyone observed in silence for a while, until Luo He shivered and said in a low voice, "I feel that there might be something not so good in this painting..."

"Has anyone seen the name and author of this painting?" Wu You also asked nervously.

The old members have already established a tacit understanding. Usually, Weidong the artist, Ke Xun with good eyes, and Zhu Haowen, who is rational and objective, are responsible for reading the pictures. The rest of Luo Yu can see wherever he can see, and Mu Yiran is in charge of the overall situation.

So after Wu You asked, Shao Ling and Qin Ci answered her respectively:

"The title of the painting is 'Restart'."

"Illustrator: Abel."

Wei Dong wondered: "Foreign paintings?"

"Could it be that the incident of entering the painting also involves foreign countries?" Wu You was nervous, "If that's the case, when will we find out the clues, the global scope is too big..."

Mu Yiran shook his head slightly: "I have asked my people and friends in the industry to keep an eye on the movements in some foreign art museums. So far, I have not found any signs of related painting incidents. I don't know whether this painting is from the hands of foreign painters. Even if it is, it may only be because this painting is exhibited in this art gallery that it has the ability to expand a world inside the painting. In short, this is not important for the time being, and we should not be distracted now. Put aside the overall clues, the most important thing is to find a way to draw."

"You're right," Ke Xun said, "Restart, the meaning of restart, let's look for clues from the painting title and screen."

Shao Ling looked at Mu Yiran: "Have you ever heard of this painting and its author?"

Mu Yiran spit out two words concisely: "No."

"The title of the painting doesn't seem to have anything to do with the picture," Zhu Haowen took over Ke Xun's words just now. "A rotten hand is struggling to reach the sky. On the surface, it seems that it is desperately trying to survive."

"But if the hands are rotten to that extent, they should already be dead..." Luo Xun shuddered.

Qin Ci said: "I also glanced at the screen, indeed, only the dead can have that kind of festering."

"And the hand is still protruding from the ground," Wu You said, "It must be a dead person, this can't be... a zombie, right?!"

After speaking, he and Luo Kuo shivered together.

"It might be too simple and crude for you to analyze the picture like this," Wei Dong said, "For paintings, what you see does not mean what you get. Maybe the rotten human hands are just a symbol and metaphor, although from the style of painting Look, it is indeed closer to the realistic painting school, but I can't be sure at a glance, maybe it is the symbolist painting school."

"Explain symbolism," Ke Xun said.

"It is to use symbols and allegories to fabricate another world in fantasy, express one's own opinions, express one's own philosophy of life or comprehend the world," Wei Dongdao said, "This style of painting emphasizes the subjective and personal Personality, the concept of the picture is suggestive and symbolic, and the expression is not necessarily what you see, which is different from realism, and expresses your own ideas and spiritual world through the picture you imagined. "

"So the rotten hand in this painting may be just a symbol and metaphor of the artist's concept, and it may not be that there is such a hand, right?" Ke Xun said.

Weidong nodded: "If this painting is of the symbolism genre, it is likely to be like this, but if it is of the realism genre, let's hope for luck..."

"Then you say, this hand is stretched out towards the sky, and the name of the painting is 'restart'. Could it be that the restart button is in the sky?" Wu You tried to diverge his thinking.

Everyone subconsciously raised their heads and looked towards the sky. The gray sky made it difficult to tell whether it was morning, afternoon or evening.

Ke Xun took out his mobile phone, and the time displayed was [-]:[-] in the morning, which was not consistent with the time when everyone entered the painting.

I tried a few more functions of the mobile phone, and found that the lighting and camera functions can still be used, but the communication and Internet access functions are disabled as always.

"So, should we go to the residential area to find clues first, or wait for everyone to arrive?" Shao Ling asked for everyone's opinions.

"Let's talk about it when everyone arrives," Qin Ci said, "According to the usual practice, if there are not enough people, important clues will not be stimulated. Even if we look for it now, I'm afraid we won't find anything useful."

"Before everyone is here, let's think about the meaning of this painting and the direction to search for clues." Ke Xun said while taking off his coat, "It's only seven o'clock in the morning and it's so hot?"

"What season is in this painting? I feel a bit like summer." Wei Dong also began to take off his coat, which was the thickest he wore, "I'm sweating inside."

"It should be summer." Ke Xun said, taking off the outer down jacket and the inner sweater in one go, leaving only the innermost T-shirt.This guy has a lot of firepower, and when he is at home, he basically just runs around in a T-shirt.

"We physical education students are quite sensitive to temperature. The season in this painting should be midsummer," Ke Xun said, "We are now entering midsummer from midwinter suddenly, and our body temperature has not adjusted yet. I'm afraid it will get hotter soon. "

"It's very strange," Zhu Haowen said while unzipping his coat, "Although "Reverse Journey" can also let us clearly feel the season and climate at that time, the temperature of this painting has a sense of presence, which is better than mine. Any painting you have entered is true. Have you experienced similar situations in the paintings you have entered before?" asked Mu Yiran.

"No." Mu Yiran was thoughtful, "This may be a hint related to clues, temperature or climate, or it may be a reference element for the 'painting' to set the level, or for us to crack the level."

"This kind of weather is a bit like the smog in summer in City B." Zhu Haowen looked up at the chaotic sky, "It's hot, stuffy, and the air isn't very good."

"I feel that this is also a limited painting." Qin Ci looked around, "Except for this residential area and the forest behind, the surroundings are wilderness that can't be seen in other directions. Obviously, the signature will not be in the painting. These directions, I am afraid we need to enter the house to search."

Everyone looked at the dilapidated houses with the windows like black caves, and a sense of foreboding rose in their hearts.

"Brother, I don't want to go into those houses..." Luo Kuo said to Ke Xun with a bitter face.

"It's even more dangerous outside at night." Ke Xun patted his head lightly, "If you're really scared, follow me every step of the way."

"Brother Xun, please bring me." Wu You also had a bitter face.

"Take it with you." Ke Xun said.

While talking, a dazzling white light suddenly lit up behind him. The person standing facing the white light hurriedly raised his arm to cover his eyes. When the white light disappeared, everyone heard a startled cry: "Fuck! What the hell?!"

Putting down his arms and looking over, he saw two young men who were "teleported" in. They were both handsome and stylishly dressed. The outside world was in midwinter, but both of them were wearing thin clothes, and one of them was even revealing. bare ankles.

Obviously the kind of beauty-loving people who only want grace but not temperature.

The two looked at the people in front of them in astonishment, and kept looking at the surrounding environment with a confused face. The people were very tacit and silent, waiting for them to digest and then asked three consecutive questions as usual. Qin Ci even secretly Cleared his throat, ready to start explaining work.

"This...is the world in the painting?" One of the two asked hesitantly.

Everyone: "..."

Qin Ci: "Yes."

"You were also sucked into the painting?" the man asked again.

Qin Ci: "...Yes."

The man: "Then... how do we get out of here?"

Qin Ci: "Find the artist's signature."

That person: "Oh...then, can you take us with you? We are newbies and don't know anything, thank you!"

Everyone: "..."

Qin Ci: "...Okay, no problem."

That person: "Thank you! Well, my name is Xiao Kai, and this is me...this is my friend, Tian Yang."

Everyone: "..."

Qin Ci: "...cough, okay, let me introduce you, this is Fang Fei, this is Wu You, He Tang, Shao Ling, Mu Yiran, Zhu Haowen, Luo Yu, Wei Dong..."

Ke Xun stood the farthest. When Qin Ci turned to look for him, he saw a strange expression on his face. He couldn't help being surprised. He was hesitating whether to introduce his name, but he saw Ke Xun walking two steps forward. Stepping forward, he raised his hand and beckoned to one of the two newcomers. With strange eyes and a strange tone, he said, "Hi, long time no see."

Everyone was a little surprised when they heard the words, but Wei Dong's expression was as complicated as Ke Xun's, and he said: "I really didn't expect to meet here again."

The man named Xiao Kai on the opposite side was also confused. Following Ke Xun's gaze, he turned to look at his companion standing beside him: "Tian Yang, are you acquainted?"

The face of the young man named Tian Yang has changed a long time ago. First he was surprised, then complicated, and finally slightly embarrassed. He nodded and said, "Long time no see, Ke Xun."

"What about me?" Wei Dong raised his voice.

Tian Yang pursed his lips in embarrassment, and added, "Weidong, you're here too."

"En." Wei Dong casually snorted.

"What's the situation, Brother Dong," Luo Kuo quietly tugged at his sleeve beside him, "Have you guys had enemies before?"

"It's nothing to do with your child." Wei Dong didn't say anything.

"This is Qin Ci, Doctor Qin." Ke Xun took Qin Ci's interrupted words, and said to Xiao Kai and Tian Yang, "Now we have to wait for one more person, and I will explain to you in detail what happened when everyone is here. thing."

"Oh, good." Xiao Kai nodded quickly, and Tian Yang stood beside him silently with his eyelids down.

The atmosphere seemed to be a little stagnant due to the embarrassment between the three of them, no one said anything, Ke Xun and Wei Dong didn't look at Tian Yang again, but each looked into the distance.