Paintings of Terror

Translated by Eve

In hindsight, Ke Xun realized that everything had been weird since the moment he had left his house.

First of all, the middle unit on the thirteenth floor of the building behind him had had its windows wide open. Two greyish white curtains had hung on the outside of the window. Looking up at it from below, they had looked like hanging scrolls you’d find at a funeral.

When Ke Xun had looked up, it had felt vaguely like someone had been up there watching him. But because of the angle, he had not been able to see for sure whether there had been someone there. 𝘣𝘦𝑑𝘯𝘰𝘷𝑒𝘭．𝑛𝘦𝘵

That person’s body had been completely enshrouded in darkness. All he had been able to faintly make out had been an ash-coloured face behind the window. That face had been completely still. Paired with the black window frame and the two grayish white curtains, that face had looked like it was one of those black-and-white portraits of the deceased commonly found at funerals.

After that, there had been that the horny poodle that Uncle Li from the neighbourhood owned. When he had come face-to-face with it, for once, it actually didn’t hug his leg and hump it in a frenzy. Today, it had brushed past Ke Xun without paying him any attention, like a scum guy who ‘throws away his bed partners after using them.’ Instead, that horny poodle had sprinted over to a beefy-looking bull terrier in the distance.

Things had only gotten weirder after that.

For example, he had rented a bike from a bike share station. As soon as he had thrown a leg over, the seat had fallen off. Just a centimetre more and he would have become the first man in history to have been fucked in the ass by a bike share bike.

Another example: when he had met up with Wei Dong at the place they had agreed, that guy actually hadn’t been late like usual.

Or, another example: Before the two of them could head out and have fun, what had just been a blue sky with scattered clouds had instantly become covered in grey clouds. The rainstorm was imminent.

“I just knew that nothing good would happen coming out with an ass like you.” Ke Xun said, shielding his head from the rain as he ran around, searching for some shelter to duck into.

“This isn’t right, ah. I used the knuckle counting ancient Chinese divination method yesterday. It’s supposed to be a very auspicious day today, ah. It’s supposed to be a good day to go out, pick up girls and get a hotel room with them!” Wei Dong couldn’t even be bothered to cover his head. He hastily wrapped his phone around his jacket.

“You must have been calculating it with your feet instead!” Ke Xun snapped back.

“What can I do? The Wei Family’s prone to getting athlete’s foot. As the eldest grandson of the Wei Family, I have to carry forward and develop this unique, secret foot scratching technique.” Wei Dong joked with Ke Xun as usual. He then pointed across the street. “There. An art gallery.”

The Starry Sky Art Gallery.

This art gallery was really old. There was a thick layer of Boston Ivy climbing up its walls, nearly completely covering up the gallery’s windows. The entrance, however, looked rather new, as if it had been renovated not long ago. There was a sign placed out front that said it was some painter’s nation-wide touring art exhibit.

How many common folk actually knew how to appreciate art? Even though it was the weekend, there were very few visitors at the gallery.

Most of the people inside were like Ke Xun and Wei Dong—they had come in to avoid the rain.

A group of people had gathered at the entrance. They were either watching the rain or playing on their phones. Only a few people were looking at the paintings.

“Since we’re here, we might as well take a look.” Wei Dong had a need to keep busy.

Originally, they hadn’t thought of what to do today anyway. They had only met up because Wei Dong had sent a message on VChat: Want to hangout tomorrow?

Ke Xun: Sure.

And thus they came out.

As single dogs who had to rely on other single dogs to keep warm, their usual routine on the weekends was to first meet up at their usual place, and then just walk around. If they bumped into girls, they’d flirt with the girls. If they bumped into gay guys, they’d flirt with those guys. They just wanted to find someone who would stay with them even when they were broke.

Ke Xun had never appreciated art much. Forget admiring paintings, even his selfies were all distorted and blurry. He somehow managed to make it look like he had six fingers when striking a V. He was also capable of making his rather handsome face look like a botched plastic surgery job.

Wei Dong was a billion times better than him in that respect. In any case, Wei Dong graduated from a fine arts academy. Although he ended up going into one of the “top ten jobs that make you want to hold up an Er Kang hand towards your receding hairline” —graphic design, where he had to weird and ugly designs according to his clients’ wishes, he had never forgotten his original motivation. He still liked to admire famous artists.

There was nothing to do while it rained outside so they were really free. The two of them shook off the rainwater and entered through the art galley’s inner door.

——In retrospect, Ke Xun would have preferred to have remained idle. Even if he developed hemorrhoids from sitting so long, he still wouldn’t have chosen to take a step into that gallery.

The Starry Sky Art Gallery’s first floor contained the art exhibit of the painter advertised outside.

On the second floor were the paintings the gallery owned. There were both original paintings and copies.

The two of them walked around the second floor. The lingered in front of a few Western portraits.

“It’s nice looking at busty girls. It’d probably feel good to touch those.” Wei Dong smacked his lips.

“First, you have to get yourself a girl.” Ke Xun shoved his hands into his pockets, standing off to the side. He was in a pretty good mood.

Wei Dong reluctantly parted with the painting. He looked around and then pointed to the front. “There’s another exhibit over there. Do you think they have traditional erotic paintings on display?”

“Bro, think back on your life. When has your wish ever come true?” Ke Xun asked.

“Fuck, that’s too real. Why’d you have to say that? I’m going to cry and make a scene.” Wei Dong said.

The two of them leisurely made their way to the exhibit.

The exhibition hall wasn’t big. Furthermore, there weren’t any windows. There was only several small, dim yellow lights over head lighting up the room. The paintings were all hung on the wall. Under the dim lighting, the colours of the paintings seemed even darker and richer. They were also kind of fuzzy and indistinct.

“You were right. These are erotic paintings.” Ke Xun sighed. “They’re just paintings of when those people blew out the candles to do naughty stuff.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the lights in the hall went out completely. Everything around them turned black.

“…The lights didn’t have to be so cooperative. What, I said that the lights went out so they turned off?” Ke Xun’s voice echoed in the darkness.

“Then should we also act correspondingly and do something naughty too?” Wei Dong was in the mood to joke. “Be gentle, oh.”

“I don’t do straight men, thanks.” Ke Xun pulled his phone out as he said this. Strangely, the screen wouldn’t come on no matter how he tapped on it.

“Damned gay.” Wei Dong’s clothes rustled. It seemed like he was also reaching for his phone. “Fuck, it’s let me down at such a crucial moment. I swear it was full when I left home. It hasn’t been long and it’s already dead.”

Ke Xun: “Wait a second, don’t you think something’s wrong?”

Wei Dong: “Now that you mention it…no.”

Ke Xun didn’t reply. There was a strange stillness over the dark exhibition hall.

It was really, really quiet, like a deathly still kind of quiet.

“That…” Wei Dong’s voice sounded a bit unnatural now. “Do you think the walls are soundproof in this hall?”

This little, old, broken art gallery didn’t even have the money to clear off the ivy running up its exterior walls. Where would they get the money to fully-equip an exhibition hall with soundproofing?

Furthermore, why would a gallery need soundproof walls? What, did the erotic paintings emit papapa noises every night?

Wei Dong shivered. He then heard Ke Xun say, “No way. I could still hear someone sneezing outside before the lights went out. Even if there was no one outside, all noises would be amplified in such a large, empty exhibition hall. There would be all sorts of sounds coming in. But right now, I can’t hear a thing.”

There was absolutely nothing.

How could this be possible?

Even if it was the still of the night and you were out in the country side near the mountains, far from the city, there still would be quite sounds of nature.

But right now, there was really nothing. It was like they had suddenly entered an enclosed, vacuum-like tight space. There was no sound and no light.

It was a bit weird.

Silence and darkness were the source of all fear.

“Let’s head outside.” Ke Xun’s voice was still calm. He didn’t mention the problem with their phones either.

“Okay.” Wei Dong tried his best to keep his voice relaxed. He pretended not to know anything regarding as well.

It was like, as long as they didn’t talk about it, as long as they didn’t examine it in detail, they could hide from whatever was in the dark.

The two of them walked through the darkness for a while but they had completely lost all sense of direction.

“This is weird. The hall’s only so big. We should’ve hit a wall by now.” Ke Xun stopped walking.

“Um…let’s not talk about that….” Wei Dong acted like he was afraid the other would uncover something. He reached out, wanting to tug on Ke Xun.

What he felt was an icy-cold arm.

“——Fuck!” Wei Dong screamed, shaking off that arm.

Before he could do anything else, a white light suddenly emerged in the darkness with a click.

“…Is the light voice-activated?” Ke Xun was puzzled.

“Ke er...” Wei Dong said beside him, voice shaking, “Where’s that light coming from?”

Ke Xun didn’t answer.

Because he also didn’t know where that light was coming from.

There was no light source. The light was just there, in the middle of the darkness. It wasn’t an intense light. It was actually really faint.

This light shone down on the wall. It illuminated a single painting.

Only then did Wei Dong notice that the cold ‘arm’ he had touched was actually one of the metal poles of the barrier beneath the painting. The barrier was used to keep visitors at a distance from the painting, so as to prevent people from reaching out to touch the art.

There was a note between the poles. It was used to mark and introduce the painting.

The two of them subconsciously looked up at the painting.

The painting was the same as the ones they had seen before the lights had gone off. Its colours were dark and the contents were hard to make out. They could only faintly make out the some outlines.

But what was strange was that this painting seemed to be getting clearer and clearer as the two of them stared at it.

It was like someone was using Photoshop in real-time to adjust the resolution and sharpness.

It kept getting clearer and bigger.

What? Bigger?

Ke Xun suddenly blinked. This painting seemed to move with his blink. As he blinked, it suddenly grew infinitely larger. It was like the contents of that painting was going to hit them in the face. An invisible aura blew past their body, causing the hairs all over his body to stand up, as if an electric current had paused through.

In the blink of an eye, this aura disappeared behind them in all directions. It was like a hand that had unrolled a scroll and had let it unfurl a long distance.

Ke Xun then look up at the scenery around them. It took a long time before he could come back to himself.

This—where was this?!

——What the heck happened?!

——The scene depicted in the painting—it was in front of him and looked so real!

“No…it can’t be…” Wei Dong’s voice trembled as he spoke, “Is this for real…I must be dreaming…. It must still be yesterday night. I fell asleep, tired from scratching my feet. I haven’t woken up yet…I definitely haven’t woken up yet….Fuck, Ke er! This is absurd!”

After failing to deceive himself, Wei Dong shouted in panic.

Although Ke Xun had been a terrible student back in the day, he hadn’t been so bad that he would be unable to tell reality from his dreams. He was very aware that the place he and Wei Dong were currently in wasn’t a dream or illusion.

It was real. It was reality.

He looked up and took in his surroundings. Hanging in the black sky were dark clouds. It was completely empty all around them. Withered grass half their height was scattered all along the uncultivated land around them. The putrid stink of soil and dust filled the air. Not far from them seemed to be a very desolate-looking tiny village.

This was a part of what they had seen in the painting just now.

As for the other parts of the painting, Ke Xun hadn’t had the time to see them. Or rather, he had either subconsciously, deliberately not wanted to look at it, or didn’t dare to look at it.

He only remembered that out of the corner of his eyes just now, he had taken a glance at something…terrifying. Something that shouldn’t belong in the world.

“…What should we do?” Wei Dong looked at Ke Xun, scared out of his wits.

Ke Xun had also turned his face to look at him.

Their gazes met and they couldn’t help but shout in unison, “Fuck!”

Their clothes had unexpectedly changed at some unknown time. Right now, both of them were dressed in white coarse, baggy clothes of indiscernible style. Their outfit was comprised of a pair of white linen pants and a matching, Chinese-styled, unlined long-sleeve top.

“——What the hell is this?! Where did my Adidas go?!” Wei Dong’s anger temporarily overcame his fear. He looked all around, wanting to extract an explanation from somebody.

“Shh.” Ke Xun hinted at Wei Dong to stay calm. He then looked down at himself. He tried to take off the clothes that had appeared out of nowhere, but he found out that there was nothing but his own bare skin underneath. If he took it off, he’d be naked.

The sense of weirdness and uncertainty bubbled up in his chest. Ke Xun’s throat felt tight. He abandoned the idea of taking off the clothes and pulled Wei Dong along as he walked. “Let’s hurry and leave this place first.”

Wei Dong nodded, shaking all over. He looked all around them, eyes filled with panic.

Ke Xun glanced behind them. There was only uncultivated land and withered grass there too. This scene extended into a dark, fuzzy area. It was like the colours over there had been mixed together, or like the resolution wasn’t high enough, if it were a digital painting.

Ke Xun didn’t know where they’d end up if they were to head in that direction. However, his intuition had always been right. Therefore, he thought that heading back there wouldn’t be a good choice. Furthermore, staying here with Wei Dong, crying with their heads buried in their arms, would accomplish nothing. Therefore, he pointed to the front. “Let’s go take a look at that village.”

The author has something to say:

This is a horror, unlimited flow story about running for one’s life while flirting with a really handsome guy!

Eve: New story!!! I love the interactions between MC and ML a lot~ Just to reiterate, Ke Xun is our shou and Mu Yiran is our gong. I really love the mysteries the author sets up and there’s really good character development with the main cast and supporting cast as well. I love the interaction between MC and his best friend too. Warning, things can get kind of gross or scary sometimes~ Everyone’s threshold is different so proceed at your own risk please~ I’ll post the next chapter on Friday. Releases will be every Monday and Friday!