Paintings of Terror

Ke Xun took Luo Bu for the last jump. He had a tacit understanding with Mu Yiran, without discussing it beforehand. After the dive, one led the way while the other held the rear. The group quickly lined up and moved downward.

The light from the rhino horns formed a strip of light in the sea, and they did not go out underwater.

With the rhino horn in their mouths, they could draw a meager amount of air even while undersea. This was probably due to the magical effect of “soaring through the sky” in the Materia Medica.

Since Mu Yiran and Zhu Haowen shared a rhino horn, they had to constantly pass the horn between the two of them. Fortunately, they were both calm and organized. Even if they needed to swim and exchange the horn, they cooperated with tacit understanding.

As they dived further down into the depths of the sea, the light coming from the rhino horns weren’t very large. Beyond their small circle of light, there was still pitch-black sea water that was as overwhelming as the sky, squeezing them from all directions. Under this kind of pressure, they couldn’t help but feel their chest tighten in near claustrophobia.

Everyone involuntarily accelerated their speed of diving. Darkness was the source of fear, and when their consciousness became fully cognizant that this darkness was as vast and unfathomable as an ocean, the fear in their hearts doubled, filled with nerves. 𝒃𝒆𝒅𝙣𝒐𝒗𝙚𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝒎

Luo Bu was very timid. His nerves had lasted these past five days without breaking down, but this had already surpassed his limit and cognition. He didn’t know how long he could hold on. He had never had much confidence in himself, so the more he thought about it, the more he felt as if he might not be able to hold on.

In the face of crises and hardships, some people would think “I can still hold on,” and some people would think, “I can’t hold on any longer.”

Luo Bu was the latter.

So now, under the cover of this terrible infinite darkness, he was getting more and more frightened, more and more desperate, more and more…losing the belief to continue.

I can’t hold it anymore…I really can’t hold it…I’m going to die here…I really might…die here…

Luo Bu couldn’t shed tears, because the sea water was in his eyes.

He missed his father, his mother, his girlfriend, Uncle Zhang, Aunt Liu, the stray cat he’d raised and the dog he’d found abandoned by its owner. He missed the blue sky and white clouds and even the haze outside the painting, and he missed his life before the painting.

He really didn’t want to die.

He was so scared, and there was no one to save him, no one to help him. He would die in this cold ocean and become a lonely, floating corpse.

No one could help him…

—— Suddenly his waist tightened as a hand firmly and forcefully grasped onto the waistband of his shorts and pulled him along, forcing them to speed up as they moved downward.

It was Ke Xun, the man who had taken his shoulders before they had jumped into the sea and told him, “Rest assured, I’ll take you out. Don’t be afraid.”

Luo Bu didn’t understand why Ke Xun suddenly accelerated, and even caught up with Dr. Qin, Wei Dong and Shao Ling, who were all swimming ahead.

Then he took him along with these three people, seemingly to accompany them.

Luo Bu thought for a while, and then understood.

Ke Xun was afraid that he was afraid, and even more afraid that he would give up, so he let more people accompany him, for him to see hope from the atmosphere of everyone working together to live.

Luo Bu grabbed Ke Xun’s hand that was holding onto his waistband, and Ke Xun turned his head and raised the corner of his lips in the light of the rhino horn.

What an evil, charming, and arrogant smile, Luo Bu thought. But at that moment, he especially wanted to say to him sincerely: “Brother, loosen your hand. My shorts is strangling my crotch…

Shao Ling, who was swimming next to Luo Bu, felt very broken at this moment. Because he had been paying attention to the light of the rhino horns. Each rhino horn could only burn for a limited time. At the moment, everyone’s rhino horns had burned nearly to the end and might not last even three minutes. When that happened, they would be stuck, and what awaited them was an immediate burial in the infinitely deep seabed.

He thought it was necessary to remind these people, and so he waved his hand and patted Wei Dong, who was the one closest to him. Wei Dong turned his head to look at him, and Shao Ling pointed to the rhino horn in his mouth and motioned for Wei Dong to look at how much there was left.

Wei Dong gave him a thumbs up, then turned his head back, and continued swimming as if nothing had happened.

Shao Ling:?

Didn’t you understand my meaning? Shao Ling thought for a moment. This Wei Dong seemed to be dumber than the others.

So he swam to Qin Ci, patted him, and pointed at the rhino horn in his mouth.

Qin Ci turned his head to look at him. And then he took the rhino horn in his mouth with one hand, and Shao Ling’s rhino horn with the other, exchanged the two rhino horns, and then inserted them back into their mouths. Afterward, he turned back and continued swimming.

Shao Ling:??

…No, I didn’t mean that I think my rhino horn is not good and I need to exchange it with you! ——Are current doctors so unhelpful?!

Shao Ling had no choice but to turn his head to the other side and stretch out his hand to tap Luo Bu who was closer to him. But then he took his hand back, thinking, this kid is less reliable than the others. So he swam harder and patted Ke Xun instead.

Ke Xun turned his head to look at him, Shao Ling pointed to the rhino horn on his mouth, and then made a “smaller and smaller” gesture.

Ke Xun replied with a gesture of “Don’t worry”, then he patted Luo Bu and pointed at Shao Ling. Luo Bu made an “OK” gesture and reached out to grab Shao Ling’s shorts, just like how Ke Xun was pulling him. Then, under Ke Xun’s leadership, he dragged Shao Ling on downward.

Shao Ling:? ? ?

——I’m not saying that my strength is getting less and less! ——Let go of my shorts. You’re strangling me!

Shao Ling was annoyed and helpless. He thought that this time he might really die here.

The team of seven people continued to dive in the sea. Under the huge, dark and deep sea, their faint lights looked like barely detectable microorganisms.

As it got closer and closer to dawn, the deep sea got darker and darker, as if slowly swallowing their last lights.

Finally, even Luo Bu had discovered that the light of their rhino horns was weakening. He hurriedly grabbed Ke Xun’s arm, wanting to remind him, wanting to collapse, wanting to struggle, wanting to cry with fear–

Ke Xun sensed his panic, and thinking that he was nervous and anxious again, he simply grabbed him and sped up.

Ke Xun’s physical strength was surprisingly good. After swimming for so long, despite the magical effect of the light from the rhino horns, everyone was feeling the pressure of being undersea, and they were also tasked with swimming as well. Everyone was a little tired, but he actually was able to take a person and sprint underwater.

Ke Xun quickly took Luo Bu to the front, and when he passed Mu Yiran, he gestured to him without even turning his head. He knew that Mu Yiran would definitely understand.

Luo Bu’s mental quality was the worst among them all, and he couldn’t comfort him or force him to calm down, he could only take him and charge ahead.

Ke Xun swam hard, so much so that Luo Bu could not follow at all, and so he was dragged behind like a dead fish.

Luo Bu knew that Ke Xun was trying to save him, but he did not see hope. The light of the rhino horn was dying; it was getting weaker and weaker, and the black sea was squeezing them deeper and deeper in all directions. Luo Bu widened his eyes in despair, and though the salty water stung his eyeballs, he did not want to close his eyes. He was afraid that if he closed his eyes, he would no longer be able to open them.

Luo Bu opened his eyes as wide as possible and watched as the surrounding sea got darker and darker and the light in front of him got darker and darker. He began to feel cold all over, and his muscles seemed to be stiffening into stone. He suddenly wondered if he was dead. This thought scared him so much that he desperately stretched out a hand, wanting to move.

So he moved, and his fingertips that dipped into the black sea suddenly caught something. Before he could realize what it was, a gray and swollen face suddenly broke into his vision!

–That—That was Li Yi. His body had been soaked underwater for so long that it had almost swelled into a fat, white jellyfish. The flesh on his body had begun to rot, and his eyes were tightly closed, his face composed in dead silence.

Sure enough, he’d died in the sea. Without the light of a rhino horn, he could not go anywhere. He could only be confined by this sea and die a silent death.

Luo Bu was shocked by this sudden dead face breaking into his line of sight, even nearly hitting his own face. He reflexively opened his mouth to scream, and the rhino horn slipped out. Salty sea water poured into his mouth and directly choked his lungs.

I’m dying! Luo Bu began to panic and flail. Ke Xun, who didn’t know what happened, turned around to restrain him.

But Luo Bu wanted to catch his breath. He wanted to breathe. He was choking. There was no rhino horn in his mouth, he had no air, he was dying, he was going to die, he–

In that moment when Luo Bu was caught in extreme fear, a familiar, cold and hard thing was suddenly inserted into his mouth. It was a rhino horn.

Shao Ling looked at Luo Bu in the light of the rhino horn.

This kid, despite being so frightened and having a nervous breakdown, had not forgotten to let go of his shorts even for a moment.

Shao Ling now finally believed that actions that were planted could achieve results.

If it hadn’t been for Luo Bu not giving up on him, he wouldn’t have been by his side and he wouldn’t have managed to catch the rhino horn just in time as if slipped from Luo Bu’s mouth.

Luo Bu regained the rhino horn, and Ke Xun, seeing that he had finally calmed down and was no longer flailing about, finally stopped restraining him. He waved his hand, knocked his head, and pulled his shorts again to continue their downward descent.

Luo Bu, who had experienced a shock just now, no longer dared to resist. He stiffened his body, widened his eyes, and let Ke Xun dragged him like a dead fish.

The light of the rhino horn gleamed underwater, occasionally gliding over a swollen, pale foot, though the rest of the body was hidden in the darkness beyond the light of the horn.

Luo Bu didn’t know whose foot that belonged to, and he could only try to pretend that he hadn’t seen it. Even when he was slapped in the face with a pale arm, he dared not struggle.

In what felt like a few centuries, the sea water in front of him suddenly became thinner, and the heavy pressure around his body gradually became lighter and lighter. It was as if a cloud and mist was surrounding his body, and in front of his eyes, the sea water also rose like clouds, flowing and floating.

Suddenly, his body plummeted down into weightlessness, and he fell out of the sea and, with a splash, into the deep water below him.

No, it wasn’t deep water. It was the sea. It was another sea!

This sea was different from the sea in the illusion. This sea was the real sea, with a vast expanse of azure crystals, white mists and floating waves. It was the real sea!

“Splash!”

“Splash!”

“Splash!”

His comrades fell out of the sea and into the sea one by one. As they floated, they wiped off the water from their faces.

“You’re all too reckless.” Shao Ling had held it in for too long. “What if the rhino horn goes out in the sea?”

“Isn’t this inextinguishable?” Ke Xun shook the rhino horn in his hand, and the last light of the rhino horn slowly died out.

“This is in hindsight,” Shao Ling said coldly.

“Who told you it was in hindsight?” Ke Xun shook the water from his hair, like a big golden retriever. “I’ve told you about the experiences in the first few paintings, didn’t I? The painting wouldn’t leave us with a dead end. The only way to survive was to go to the end. Therefore, the burning time of the rhino horn would be enough to cross the sea and reach this space. You think too much. Have you fallen into that suspicion problem again?”

“…” Shao Ling was speechless. What did this have to do with suspicion? No matter what, no one would dare hand his life over to a stranger who he had only met five days ago!

Shao Ling shook his head and wiped the water off his face. Seeing that Wei Dong was paddling in front of him, he couldn’t help asking him, “Why did you give me a thumbs up in the sea?”

Wei Dong was taken aback. “Weren’t you asking me how you were swimming? I thought that you were quite arrogant, but you’re still asking for praise. Is that right? It’s okay. I’ll praise you more in the future, okay?”

Shao Ling: “…”

Really, I don’t want to bother with this group of people anymore.