Paintings of Terror

“Xi Shengnan, who is still alive.”

This sentence completely surprised everyone.

“Shengnan?!” The strongest reaction came from Lu Heng. “Isn’t this photo of events that will happen 16 hours later? Shengnan had… an accident last night. Why would her image appear 16 hours later?!”

Lu Heng was so excited that he kept shaking Cao Youning who was next to him.

“I don’t understand,” Cao Youning said. “Boss Mu said it seems to be another timeline.”

“But… the other timeline has no discernible pattern, it’s simply too chaotic!” Lu Heng looked around the dark corners of the room, which appeared even darker due to the glow of the fluorite.

“Just now, Dr. Qin examined Mai Peng’s tonsils and concluded that Mai Peng’s cold progressed in a reversed sequence.” Shao Ling analyzed from the side. “If our timeline is the one in reverse, then the other timeline would be going forward, right? In the other timeline, Xi Shengnan is still alive? But here’s the problem: in our timeline’s yesterday, Xi Shengnan was also alive. Are the living Xi Shengnans in these two timelines the same person?”

“If they are the same person, then our timeline’s Xi Shengnan seems to have never been in the state shown in the photo: lying on the bed in the dark with a man sitting on the bed nearby.”

“So, if they are not the same person, then who is the other Xi Shengnan?”

“In the photo we saw just now of several days ago, Wei Dong, Luo Bu, Mu and Haowen were all in it. But who are they? Do they all have another physical body and another soul?”

Shao Ling finished his questions, but the faint glimmers he glimpsed in his confusion were not enough to illuminate the answers.

“There are no two Xi Shengnans, nor are there two Wei Dongs. No matter how the timelines twist and turn, these people are still themselves,” Fang Fei suddenly spoke up.

Koharu lay beside Fang Fei, staring at her with its bright eyes, seemingly captivated by her words.

“The symbol of the Shaman, apart from the mask, is a bracelet. Today, I heard that young Shaman girl say: the bracelet is round, and nothing can escape this circle. So, I believe that the so-called timelines are probably circular as well,” Fang Fei said, gently touching the clay bracelet on her wrist as she slowly spoke.

Shao Ling drew a circle in the void, seeming to grasp something yet also appearing more perplexed. “The concept of ‘twin-born’ that Fang Fei mentioned today and the idea of ‘seeing another self after death’ mentioned by Luo Bu, are similar. There are two timelines in this world, each with its own protagonist. Although they cannot see each other, the actions they take in their lives can have an impact on their other self.”

“I think it makes sense. This could explain my cold. The ‘me’ from the other timeline caught a cold for some reason, which then affected me in this timeline. But because our timeline is moving in reverse, my cold is exhibiting this strange reversed sequence.” Mai Peng also tried to analyze.

Fang Fei added, “Today, the young Shaman girl from the Fluorite Inn mentioned the topic of lifespan. It seems that on the day when a Shaman truly becomes a Shaman, they are told their lifespan, and it appears that Shamans have very long lifespans. The young Shaman girl said, ‘from the birth of the white fish to the extinction of the earth’s core.’ Although I didn’t fully understand it, it feels like a tremendously long period of time.”

“White fish? Could it be related to the white fish the fat uncle gave me?” Luo Bu interjected.

Mu Yiran looked at Fang Fei, “Could you briefly paraphrase what the Shaman girl said? ‘White fish’ and ‘earth’s core’, although I don’t fully understand, they seem to be crucial words.”

Today’s time was short, and after Fang Fei returned, she only briefly mentioned a few things before everyone started looking at the developed negatives on the wall, leaving little time for in-depth discussions.

Fang Fei recalled the girl’s words, “She said her lifespan is very long, from the birth of the white fish to the extinction of the earth’s core. She also mentioned that the other her must have gone through many hardships to secure the carefree life she has today. Unfortunately, she will never be able to see her other self in her eternal life.”

Upon hearing these words, Mu Yiran fell into contemplation.

Cao Youning couldn’t help but yawn and said, “I’m so tired that I can barely keep my eyes open. Shall we continue this conversation on the bed?”

Du Lingyu replied, “Every time I see the bed, I’m reminded of the scenes captured in the photos. I’m even a bit hesitant to sleep on them.”

“It’s too cold, we can’t possibly sleep on the floor,” Wei Dong thought for a moment, “How about this? The photo just now captured us all huddling together, and for some reason, there seemed to be an empty space near where Lu Heng was. Since this made people feel uneasy, I suggest we break that pattern now. Let’s not sleep in the same order as the photo!”

“But we can’t even see clearly who is next to whom in the photo, so how do we change the order?” Du Lingyu objected.

“Easy. In the photo, everyone huddled together tightly, so let’s not stick together. After all, the bed is big enough. We’ll intentionally leave some space between each of us and deliberately not follow the sequence of future events!” Wei Dong now harbored a deep hatred for paintings.

However, Du Lingyu shook her head. “I think that no matter how we try to avoid it, we cannot influence the other timeline. But it seems that timeline is precisely what determines our life and death.”

“Well, you never know. We may only see their influence on us, but perhaps we also have an influence on them!” Wei Dong wasn’t convinced. “Anyway, tonight I plan to stay away from Ke Er and keep my distance from Radish too!”

Luo Bu also yawned. “Are we going to look at other photos later? We didn’t enlarge and look at those white fish photos.”

A snoring sound filled the air. Cao Youning unexpectedly fell asleep on the bed.

Qin Ci checked the burning incense. “If we consider lantern-lighting to be at zero o’clock, it’s already six o’clock now, and we have half an hour left until the event of the first photo at 6:30.”

The display on the wall became increasingly blurry, and the colors faded.

“Strange, why isn’t this piece of fluorite as bright anymore?” Wei Dong was puzzled.

“Perhaps this stone is like Koharu’s eyes. It absorbs light during the day to illuminate at night. It probably can only last for two to three hours, and as time goes on, the light will gradually weaken.” Qin Ci analyzed.

“If only we had taken the time to finish looking at these films earlier, now we can’t see them clearly,” Wei Dong expressed disappointment.

Luo Bu yawned again. “I can hardly stay awake. How about we go to sleep?”

Since the projector was temporarily useless, Wei Dong put it back in the communal cabinet. He was about to encourage everyone to hold on a little longer, hoping to stay awake until 6:30.

Suddenly, footsteps could be heard outside the door, and the familiar voice of the lantern-lighter accompanied the steps: “Guests, go to sleep. If there’s anything to do, do them after the lanterns are lit—” 𝘣𝑒𝘥𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝑙．𝘤𝘰𝘮

These words seemed to possess some magical hypnotic power. Wei Dong couldn’t help but yawn several times. He climbed onto the bed and fell asleep, ultimately wasn’t able to hold out until 6:30.

Mai Peng was also very tired, but the pain in his tonsils made it difficult for him to fall asleep quickly. Just as he was about to get up in the dark for some water, he suddenly heard his companion, Lu Heng, in the darkness, “Say, is Shengnan still in this world?”

Mai Peng sighed. “Lu Heng, don’t think too much. We saw Sister Xi’s coffin hanging outside with our own eyes.”

Lu Heng stopped talking and fell silent for a long time before slowly speaking again, “Back in my hometown, when we hold funerals, there’s always someone to carry the coffin. Usually, it’s the deceased’s closest family or best friend. Actually, I wanted to carry Shengnan’s coffin today, but I was afraid of breaking the rules of this world, and at that moment, I lost the courage to… I truly regret it.”

“It’s all in the past. Sister Xi won’t blame you,” Mai Peng said, although he was overwhelmed by sleepiness, he still persisted in comforting Lu Heng.

“But she’s out there alone, in the freezing cold and snow,” Lu Heng added.

Mai Peng thought of the crystal coffin hanging outside the Inn and was a little scared by Lu Heng’s words, so he stopped talking.

“Mai Peng, promise me, if something happens to me here, you’ll carry my coffin. Promise me,” Lu Heng repeated in the dark.

Mai Peng felt a bit frightened, but more than anything, he felt uncomfortable at heart. “Okay, I promise you. If something happens to me, you’ll carry my coffin too.”

“Yes, it’s a deal.”

Before falling asleep, Mai Peng wanted to take another look at the burning incense, but he was so sleepy as if he was about to faint, and soon he fell into a deep sleep.

That night felt exceptionally long and tiring.

Once again, it gave people the illusion that the world had changed dramatically, that even seas had turned into lands.

Du Lingyu struggled to wake herself up. Like the previous night, it felt as if she had been pulled back from another world, undergoing a painful detachment of her entire body and mind.

Du Lingyu gazed at a corner of the room’s ceiling. Though her mood was not entirely composed, it was not as distraught and helpless as the morning before.

She turned her head to look at Fang Fei and saw she had just woken up as well. When Fang Fei’s gaze swept over her, it felt unfamiliar, even carrying a certain awe-inspiring aura that made Du Lingyu involuntarily shiver.

After a few seconds, Fang Fei seemed to truly wake up. She looked at Du Lingyu and sat up, “I can’t believe that we actually fell asleep according to the positions in the photos.”

Du Lingyu also sat up and noticed that some of them were still asleep while others had already woken up, but most of them remained in the same positions.

Originally it was Xi Shengnan on Du Lingyu’s other side, and now that the spot was naturally vacant. On the other side of Xi Shengnan was Lu Heng, and that spot was also empty now.

Lu Heng’s spot was exactly the empty spot in the photo.

“Where’s Lu Heng?” Du Lingyu asked instinctively.

This question startled Mai Peng awake. He sat up abruptly. “Where is Lu Heng? Where is he?”

Shao Ling’s voice came from the side of the wooden table, “Something happened to Lu Heng.”

Mai Peng’s gaze shifted towards the wooden table, where he noticed several veteran members standing by, and Lu Heng was lying face down on the table, as if he was extremely tired and had fallen asleep on it.

It was just like back in high school during evening’s self-study sessions, where Lu Heng would sit in front of him, and when he felt tired, he would nap on the desk for a while and then wake up soon.

“He-he’s sleeping?” Mai Peng heard himself ask.

Qin Ci sighed: “He was poisoned, with exactly the same poison that Xi Shengnan had consumed.”