Paintings of Terror

Chapter 76: Heartwarming Corgi

Chapter 76: Heartwarming Corgi

A: Hey guys! Just in case you didn’t see the discord notif, but my lovely editor Hime discovered that I accidentally didn’t upload the entirety of ch 75 QAQ so make sure to go back and catch up if you haven’t already~

A quick aside about the chapter title because it's an interesting wordplay that unfortunately doesn't translate across to English T-T

“Why didn’t the painter just paint a dog instead of a cow?” Ke Xun asked.

“Dogs are human’s companions, and the painter loves dogs. He doesn’t want others to feel disgusted with dogs due to his radical painting. Or he could believe that dogs are loyal and friendly to humans, and no matter how much they’ve abused or killed them, dogs would never do the same to humans.”

Mu Yiran continued, “He used cows as a stand-in for dogs in the painting, as they also typically have gentle and kind temperaments. In this way, after switching roles with humans, it will appear more impactful and cruel.”

Ke Xun suddenly said: “As for cats, since he never owned one, he doesn’t care about protecting their image. In addition, there are many incidences of cat abuse, and since cats are usually seen as having cold mannerisms, he used them in the painting in order to add a sinister and eerie appearance.”

Mu Yiran nodded: “That’s why the world of this painting is far larger than the previous ones we’ve entered, and we can even go to the city at the edge of the painting. He wants to express that this “human sin” occurs everywhere, whether through pet abuse, violent killing, or wrongful consumption. He wants to denounce similar incidents that may be happening in every corner.”

“Then, where do you think such a painter would leave his signature?” Ke Xun asked.

“Maybe, this time the signature isn’t confined to a certain location.” Mu Yiran raised his eyes, light flashing onto his pupils, “This painting is a world of animals, and the artist mainly wants to focus on the relationship between them and humans. “Animal” is the key point. We speculated that the artist’s original intention when painting was to denounce the horrible behaviors that happened to an animal he loved in reality, and this animal…”

“The dog!” Ke Xun blinked at him.

Mu Yiran nodded his head and looked at the big messy-haired dog in front of him: “The painter likes dogs, and he can’t bear the image of an abused dog to appear in this cruel painting. But since his original purpose was to be the dog’s voice, it’s very likely that there will be a niche for the dog as well in the painting. In order to make viewers understand that dogs are a loyal friend of mankind, the dog in the painting will most likely appear as the savior of humans.”

“That makes sense!” Ke Xun’s eyes sparkled, making Mu Yiran inexplicably think of the word ‘puppy eyes’.

Looking away from his face, Mu Yiran quietly continued: “So, the signature of the artist won’t exist in the form of a human in this subverted world. He is ashamed by those evil people, and he also wouldn’t make his signature any of the animals that have switched roles with humans to continue the torture. He likes dogs, and he believes himself to be their spokesperson, therefore he would want the humans of this world to be redeemed only with the help of dogs. Most likely, then, his signature will be a dog.”

“Then where should we go to find this dog? There are dogs everywhere in the city, so should we take advantage of the current situation and go with the cows?” Ke Xun asked.

“There is one savior that is typically referenced to in art.” Mu Yiran looked down and thought for a while, then raised his eyes, “According to our experience with previous paintings, the signature shouldn’t be too far away from us, and it wouldn’t be in a location that’s difficult for us to access. The reason why you and I were selected to be taken to the city is probably less likely for plot reasons, and more likely because the two of us are the next pair of people fated to die. If things go according to plan, we’ll end up dying at the location. No matter how amazing our fighting is, there will still be a way for them to make us exhausted before killing us. That’s why I think going to the city isn’t the correct exit path.”

“If the signature can’t be too far away, then it can only appear near the farm,” Ke Xun scratched his chin for a bit before his eyes lit up again, “That’s right, don’t farms generally have dogs? We have to go back!”

Mu Yiran nodded: “Think of a plan.”

“You should pretend to be dizzy, and I’ll make a bunch of noise to get their attention,” Ke Xun’s strange plans were numerous, “They can’t take a dizzy human to go gamble, so they’ll have to turn around.”

Mu Yiran reluctantly agreed to this method and laid down in the cage before closing his eyes.

Ke Xun couldn’t bear to look away from the beautiful face in front of him, but tore his gaze away to grab onto two of the cage bars and started yelling.

The giant cow in the front passenger seat heard the sound and turned back, and saw the two humans in the cage tangled together. To be precise, one of the humans was riding on the other human’s back and choking their neck with a hateful expression, as if they wouldn’t stop until the other was dead.

The other human being was laying motionless beneath him, fate seemingly unknown.

The cow gave a “moo”, and the driving bull stopped the car. Both cows got out of the car and opened the rear passenger doors, taking the cage out to carefully observe the humans and exchange more moos. After a while, they took Mu Yiran out of the cage and shook him around a bit, before finally going back inside the car and turning the car around.

Ke Xun leaned over next to Mu Yiran, who could only continue to play dead, and lowered his voice: “We did it. With your godly acting skills, it’s a pity that you’re not in the industry.” He stretched out his hand, then Mu Yiran felt a light tap on the tip of his nose.

Mu Yiran kept his eyes shut, but the small green veins on either side of his forehead jumped.

The giant cow drove the car back to the farm and took Mu Yiran out from the cage again. She seemed to want to head to the slaughterhouse, but at this moment, Mu Yiran moved his body a bit. The large cow shook him again and Mu Yiran ‘came back to life’.

Seeing that Mu Yiran was in poor condition, the giant cow tossed him onto the lawn. It was still morning recess, and all the humans were basking in the sun.

Ke Xun took the opportunity to escape from the cage when Mu Yiran was carried out. Fortunately, the cows didn’t seem to care, and they seemed to have dispelled the idea of going to the city today and let him run to the lawn.

Ke Xun glanced calmly and saw that the figures of Wei Dong, Qin Ci, and the others had disappeared. After the giant cows returned to the admin room, he and Mu Yiran carefully went to the place where they had dug the ditch yesterday.

Climbing out of the ditch, they found themselves near the tall dense woods.

“Where do you think the dog will appear?” Ke Xun and Mu Yiran began discussing.

“It stands to reason that dogs are usually raised on the farm, but we haven’t seen anything from beginning to end.” Mu Yiran also had no clue.

Ke Xun thought for a while and looked at him: “What about those girls?”

This was a difficult situation.

Mu Yiran lowered his eyes, and then looked back at him: “Do what you want.”

“Then what about this,” Those puppy eyes were shining brightly, “You go follow the signs and find Dong zi and the others. Since the signature is likely to be nearby, we don’t need to escape too far. There are also trees all around, worst case scenario I can just climb one since cows can’t go up trees. I’ll go to the women’s farm and dig a trench for them outside the fence, but it’s up to their luck whether or not they escape. After that I’ll come back to join you again.”

Mu Yiran didn’t answer immediately and stared at him, seemingly weighing the feasibility.

However Ke Xun smiled: “There’s no time to think too much about it, let’s just do it this way. Don’t forget, I run very fast, no one’s ever broken my school records. Don’t worry.” He then turned around and ran.

Mu Yiran looked at his back and shook his head helplessly.

Really too headstrong.

But….

It had to be said that having such a person by your side will always make you feel… warm.

Mu Yiran’s speed was not slow.

Following the marks left by everyone on the way, Mu Yiran spent half an hour searching before finally catching up with Wei Dong, Qin Ci, and Zhu Haowen who were still on the run.

“Eh? You guys are back?!” Wei Dong was surprised, “Where’s Ke er? Where is he?” He looked at Mu Yiran in a panic.

“He will come and join us later.” Mu Yiran then told everyone about his and Ke Xun’s assumptions about the signature.

“If the signature is a dog, I have an idea,” Qin Ci contemplated. “No matter where the dog is, there’s a way to draw it out, although… the danger is too high.”

Mu Yiran seemed to think of what he was going to say, and his expression was grave.

“If there’s a dog on the farm, then this dog is probably the equivalent to a shepherd or hunting dog,” Qin Ci said. “If the farm finds that a human is missing, it’s likely that they’ll release a dog to help with the search. In that case….”

“We don’t need to take the initiative to look for the dog, and can just wait for the dog to come to us,” Zhu Haowen said blankly. “But doing so is likely to have a bad result; that is, if the dog hasn’t arrived, and the cow finds us first.”

Everyone shivered a bit, and after a moment of silence, Qin Ci spoke again: “There’s nothing else we can do, opportunities and danger will always coexist. I suspect that to leave the painting, this is the only available choice. After all, it’s impossible for the painting to let us leave easily. This is a necessary step of life or death, and it’s very possible that if we’re caught by the cows, we’ll be immediately thrown into the slaughterhouse when we return.”

“Naturally,” Zhu Haowen remained stoic, “If you want to get something, you have to be willing to bet on it. I agree with this method.”

Qin Ci looked at Mu Yiran and Wei Dong: “I agree as well.”

Wei Dong looked at the three of them: “I want to wait for Ke’er to come back.”

“Let’s climb a tree and wait,” Mu Yiran said, “He’ll be back.”

According to Ke Xun’s judgement, the girls would most likely still run and hide from the female NPCs like last time, so after quickly digging a trench with a few branches, Ke Xun snuck into the yard and carefully looked around.

Those girls were considerably lucky.

Ke Xun found them hiding behind a nearby grass mound, squatting in a circle while hugging and sobbing.

Ke Xun threw a large pile of leaves that he’d gathered to them: “Once you’re covered, follow me quickly.”

The leaves were used to cover the body and it was something he’d picked up during military training in college. He also wore some of the leaves for camouflage.

He’d first made something to wrap around his waist to cover the private parts, before he made a few more for the women so they could move around easier.

The girls trembled and followed him out of the trench one by one, but just as they were about to run into the woods, they heard a sharp long whistle from the farm.

“We’ve been discovered!” A girl exclaimed in a panic.

It was already noon since Ke Xun had spent a lot of time and effort digging up the trench. Previously, even with the other men, it had taken them half an afternoon. He was only one person, and having to use branches as tools, his hands were filled with blisters after a short period of time.

“Climb up the trees!” Ke Xun was decisive.

But how were these ladies going to climb the trees? The trees here were taller and thicker than the ones in real life, and several girls had been climbing at the roots for a long time, but they couldn’t even go past half a meter.

“What to do- what to do–” Several people broke down and cried, huddling together at a loss.

—

A: yeahhh ngl, Idk how to climb trees either LOL

H: uhh human pyramid?? Rip girls