Paintings of Terror

"We know that the death conditions in this painting are increased and superimposed night by night." Mu Yiran said, "The first condition is that the number of tents does not meet the requirements. We have thirteen people, but we are stipulated that only Two people can share one account, one person is excluded, this kind of setting, if you look at it in a religious context, what kind of behavior is it?"

Qin Ci's eyes flashed: "Exclude dissidents."

Sha Liu then suddenly realized: "That's right! That's right! No matter what kind of sect it is, it will not allow believers with different opinions to exist. It is necessary to keep the faith in the church pure. Since you don't believe in it, why do you need to join the sect? Dissidents are of course To be ruled out!"

"Using the number of people in the tent to express the act of excluding dissidents is a symbolic manifestation of sectarian behavior," Mu Yiran continued. "The exclusion of dissidents enters the second screening, which is the second night. In the second night, The act of eliminating dissidents must continue, not just for a while. This is also in line with the actual practice of the sect. Eliminate."

Qin Ci nodded: "This is also in line with the reality of the sect."

"After eliminating the dishonest people, enter the third level of screening. And just yesterday, everyone prepared all the sacrifices—assuming that all the sacrifices are correct, I think this situation has ushered in early Prepared for the sacrifice." Mu Yiran continued.

"Indeed," Qin Ci pondered, "the man said that the sacrifice was held on the seventh day. If we prepare the sacrifice on the sixth day, then the seventh day will usher in the sacrifice immediately, and we have already prepared it yesterday. Once the sacrifice is made, it is equivalent to being in a state of preparation for sacrifice at any time."

Mu Yiran's eyes were dark: "As far as I know, there is a branch of Satuoism. Before offering sacrifices, there is a procedure for human sacrifices, and the candidates for human sacrifices are the most devout believers in the religion. After all, for believers For them, offering sacrifices in person is the ultimate expression of piety, the greatest honor, and the most glorious way to be attracted and accepted."

Sha Liu nodded again and again: "That's right, this is also God's grace to believers. From God's point of view, it is not killing believers, but perfecting, guiding and saving."

"So, so, co-authoring that thing is still out of good intentions?" Wei Dong was dumbfounded, "The original intention of this painting has also become a pious prayer and a willing desire to dedicate oneself?"

"But we're not believers," Geng Ma was terrified, "What's the use of it killing us!"

"Isn't the purpose of preaching to convert unbelievers into believers?" Sha Liu said gloomily.

"So, our act of preparing a sacrifice has instead become a hint to apply to the Black Corpse Heaven to become a sacrifice?" Qin Ci's expression was complicated and unspeakable.

"After the sacrifices are ready," Mu Yiran continued, "As a gift, last night, the Black Corpse Heaven selected the most devout believers to sacrifice themselves. At the same time, the screening conditions for eliminating dissidents and purifying believers still exist , so Li Ziling was not spared either."

Everyone was startled when they heard this, and Qin Ci said in a low voice, "So, Zhou Bin was chosen as the most pious believer... It makes sense when you think about it, Zhou Bin is indeed better than us in preparing sacrifices." More active, more... more hands-on."

Sha Liu looked at Ke Xun hesitantly, and said hesitantly, "But didn't Ke Xun not meet the number of people required by the tent last night, but he was safe and sound? How can this be explained?"

Everyone heard the words and looked at Ke Xun and Mu Yiran.

"Yeah, why? That guy looked over my head for a long time, obviously wanting to catch me out." Ke Xun also looked at Mu Yiran, "Could it be that guy hates me just like you?"

"..." Mu Yiran had no expression on his face, "I said, maybe there is no power that can be stronger than faith. The gods rely on faith to exist. Faith is a kind of spiritual power. I think, what can resist spiritual power, It’s still mental power. It was on top of your tent last night, and you may have felt the power to fight it.”

"So you mean, I used my spiritual power to defeat it?" Ke Xun raised his eyebrows.

"Or maybe there is no trick to win." Mu Yiran said with a cold face, "People without faith and spiritual power are probably invulnerable rocks for gods who need faith."

Ke Xunchong drowned his face: "You are handsome, and you are right."

Mu Yiran paid no attention to him with a sullen face.

But Sha Liu listened to what he said just now, and couldn't help but ask Ke Xun: "You must have faith, right? Do you believe in religion?"

Ke Xun looked up at the sky, then smiled: "My belief may not be applicable to you, and, no matter which religion or god you believe in, you must first strengthen your spiritual power...or let yourself turned into a rock."

Sha Liu bit her lip and looked at Mu Yiran: "I don't want to die, I have a strong desire to live, does this count as spiritual power?"

Mu Yiran answered her lightly: "No one wants to die, everyone wants to live. I believe that Zhou Bin's power of thought is not inferior to yours. As parents, Mr. Geng and his wife want to protect their children and long to live. His thought power may be several times stronger than yours."

Sha Liu turned pale: "Then...then how can Ke Xun be like this?"

Mu Yiran refused to answer, but seeing that everyone was looking at him and waiting for the answer, he had no choice but to say indifferently with a blank face: "I think, this so-called power of faith, or spiritual power, mind power, refers to It is all the spiritual power that a person really has and hides under the appearance.

"This force does not have a specific time, and even we ourselves cannot estimate its strength.

"Maybe it's stronger than you expected, as people often say, people's potential is unlimited, but you don't know it yourself.

"Or maybe it's too weak to satisfy you at all, and you just overestimate yourself.

"So I can't be sure for you whether you can fight against it like Ke Xun. If you want to be sure, you can only try it yourself. Success and failure have half the possibility."

Sha Liu didn't dare to try, so she could only look to Weidong, looking for someone with the same destiny.

Wei Dong: "..."

"I think Xiao Ke is just a special case," Qin Ci said after thinking deeply, "If an individual can contend against the belief of a demon god, then the existence of a god is meaningless. I don't think there is a second one among us. I'm like Xiao Ke, so the top priority is to think about how to deal with tonight, and to find clues related to the seal as soon as possible."

"Yeah, I've been easily distracted since I was in school, and it's impossible to rely on mental strength to compete with some demon god," Wei Dong hurriedly followed up, "Let's hurry up and find another one tonight. The sacrificers still have to divide the tents, and now there are nine people left, if it is still a group of three, maybe three sacrificers will be selected."

Geng's father and Geng's mother were also anxious when they heard the words, and Geng's mother paused: "What should I do, listen to what you said, if you don't prepare a sacrifice, you will die, if you prepare a sacrifice, you will die, there is simply no way out!"

Wei Dong smiled wryly: "It's normal not to give you a way out. Don't forget that this is a painting. Originally, we were brought in by various methods to kill us. It is unrealistic to give you a wide way out. Basically, we These people need to find a life among the nine deaths, going forward and going back is a dead end, you have to find another way to live on the dead road."

Sha Liu looked at Mu Yiran: "About the seal, does Brother Mu have any ideas?"

Mu Yiran said: "I only know that the painter Qiu Jian is a fanatical Sado believer, and his seal is likely to be hidden in places related to religion."

"Will it be in the Satuo Temple?" Papa Geng asked.

"It may also be on some kind of sacrificial instrument." Qin Ci said.

"And...will it be in the sky burial?" Sha Liu said, "After all, that kind of place is where the souls of believers like them can be sublimated."

Qin Ci nodded slightly: "We can't just talk here, we have to take action and search all the places we can think of. Brother Geng has a family of three, you can try to find it in the nearby villages. Zhao Dan asked her to stay first. Let's stay here, I think she may not be able to get out of Zhou Bin's death grief in a short time, the remaining five of us will be divided into two groups, one group will go to the celestial burial platform to search for it, and the other group will go to the nearby Satuo Temple to search for it. , Come back as early as possible in the afternoon, if there is no harvest, we need to focus on how to deal with tonight."

Everyone had no objection. Since the celestial burial platform was far away, a man with good physical strength and quick legs was needed to go, so Qin Ci took the initiative to sign up, and asked Ke Xun who of the three would like to go with him.

Mu Yiran said, "I'm going to the temple to inquire about something."

Ke Xun looked at him, then at Weidong, and smiled: "Doctor Qin, I'll go with you, and the three of them will go to the village."

When everyone was divided into groups, they immediately took action and went all out for their own lives.

When it was still a while before dark, Ke Xun and Qin Ci returned to the tent area, and saw that most of the people had also returned, except for Mu Yiran.

Zhao Dan seemed to faint from crying and was placed in a corner of the tent

"Where's Mu Yiran?" Ke Xun asked Weidong.

"We were dumped as soon as we left here in the morning," Wei Dong was depressed. "I don't know where we went. We searched all the nearby temples by ourselves, but we didn't find anything that looked like a seal."

"Where's Brother Geng?" Qin Ci asked.

Father Geng shook his head with a gloomy expression: "I searched all the tents and houses nearby, but found nothing."

Sha Liu asked Qin Ci: "What about you? Have you looked for the celestial burial?"

"I've searched, but there's nothing." Qin Ci said in a deep voice.

"What should I do..." Geng Ma was anxious, "Where else can it be? Where else can the seal be?"

No one could answer, and the tent fell into silence.

When the sky was about to get dark, Mu Yiran came back, met everyone's expectant eyes, and said lightly, "It's best to dispose of the sacrifices you prepared."

Qin Ci's eyes were fixed: "Have you found out the exact situation?"

Mu Yiran said: "No, the language barrier is the biggest obstacle. However, I took some local plants that Ke Xun and I picked yesterday to the temple, and the elders in the temple asked me for these things, as if they wanted to What to do with them, but I'm afraid I won't be able to know before tonight, so I have to wait until tomorrow morning.

"I asked you to dispose of the sacrifices that have been prepared. I just thought about it on the way back. I still think that these sacrifices will not do us any good.

"I've said before that that thing grows stronger by relying on these sacrifices. We are not sure what will happen when it grows to the extent it wants. For us, will it be A catastrophe.

"And since we know that no matter whether the sacrifice is prepared or not, it is possible to be selected and killed by that thing, so instead of keeping these things to make them stronger, it is better to simply dispose of them."

Sha Liu looked at him with some hesitation, and said hesitantly: "But... I think that if the sacrifice is kept, that thing may only pick one of us, or a few of us, but if the sacrifice is kept If they are all disposed of, it is likely that all of us will die at once..."

Mu Yiran's expression did not change at all, and he said flatly: "To stay or not to stay, you decide for yourself, I'm just making a suggestion."

Sha Liu stopped talking, and lowered her head to wipe her glasses with the corner of her clothes.