After hearing Mu Yiran's words, everyone remained stunned and unable to recover for a long time.
They never imagined that these so-called "beautiful words," recited and praised in classrooms since childhood, could have such a terrifying and cruel true meaning.
"No wonder you told me to hide my head in my clothes last night..." Wei Dong murmured.
"Just as a crow can't tell if a scarecrow is a mannequin or a living person, I think that 'thing' probably can't distinguish between hiding one's head and having no head," Mu Yiran said calmly.
"So when that 'thing' saw a headless 'corpse' lying on the ground, it assumed I was dead and wouldn't try to behead me again, which is how I escaped with my life." Wei Dong suddenly realized, then asked curiously, "How can you be sure that thing won't see through my headless appearance?"
Mu Yiran continued calmly, "I can't be sure. I'm just letting you try. If it doesn't work, you'll die too."
Wei Dong: "..."
Ke Xun asked, "Didn't you just say that the original meaning of the character '辜' is beheading or waist-cutting? Last night you only told Dongzi to hide his head. What if that thing actually wanted to cut him in half?"
Mu Yiran calmly replied, "Then he's just unlucky and will die."
Ke Xun and Wei Dong: "..." So this big shot wasn't really confident last night either.
The doctor interjected, "I think that once that thing saw the headless corpse on the ground, it assumed the person was dead and wouldn't cut them in half again. Even if it originally intended to cut them in half, seeing the dead body on the ground, it wouldn't do it again."
Wei Dong opened his mouth, "Why does this 'thing' seem a bit... mentally challenged?"
The doctor smiled, "To put it superstitiously, the realm of ghosts and spirits and the human realm are inherently different, each with its own rules and limitations."
"You, a doctor, actually believe in ghosts and spirits?" Wei Dong said.
"Given the current situation, I have no choice but to believe." The doctor gave a self-deprecating laugh, "But if you want a scientific explanation, it's not impossible. It's like two-dimensional beings; beings in the three-dimensional world can't see beings in the two-dimensional world, but beings in the two-dimensional world can only perceive the projection of the three-dimensional world."
"Is it really okay for us to discuss scientific issues in a world of ghosts and spirits?" Wei Dong scratched his head.
Ke Xun's heart skipped a beat, and he asked Mu Yiran, "Then what is the original meaning of the character '央' in our names?"
Mu Yiran replied, "Hanging."
Ke Xun touched his neck and pointed to Ma Zhenhua and Zhang Maolin, "What about the '歹' character on their strips?"
Mu Yiran's voice was somewhat sinister, "The torture of dismemberment."
Ma Zhenhua and Zhang Maolin trembled in fear, almost collapsing to the ground again.
"How did you two manage to escape last night?" Ke Xun asked curiously.
The two just shook their heads, unable to speak for a long time.
"Death is random," Mu Yiran said, "It's not that everyone will face the danger of death at the same time, otherwise why give us a seven-day deadline? The first night in the painting could wipe us all out."
Ke Xun stopped asking, when he suddenly heard Wei Dong say excitedly, "Now that we've cracked the rules of death, we don't have to be afraid of that thing anymore!"
Mu Yiran looked at him coldly, "Then we'll have to vote every morning to choose one person to die."
Wei Dong was speechless.
"To avoid being elected, let's focus on finding the seal." Ke Xun put his arm around Mu Yiran's shoulder. "Do you have any clues about where the seal might be?"
Mu Yiran slapped his arm away. "I think we should start with the content of the painting."
The doctor said, "We didn't finish checking those three locust trees yesterday, let's hurry up and continue."
Mu Yiran glanced at Ke Xun. "We're only speculating about the ghost faces on the locust trees right now. We shouldn't get stuck on one place. I suggest we split into three groups: one group to continue checking the ghost faces on the trees, and the other two to look for clues in other parts of the village."
Ke Xun: "Agreed. I'll check the locust trees with you, the rest of you go to the village."
Mu Yiran: "Ke Xun and Wei Dong check the locust trees, the rest of you go to the village."
Ke Xun: "Whatever you say."
Wei Dong: "…"
The group didn't waste any more time and immediately split up.
Ke Xun and Wei Dong arrived at the three locust trees and looked up at the ghostly faces carved into the trunks. Against the backdrop of the gloomy, gray sky, the hundreds of faces appeared even more grotesque and jarring, bulging from the cracked trunks as if struggling to break free.
Wei Dong shuddered: "Why do I feel like these faces are even more prominent than yesterday?"
Ke Xun frowned: "That's right, and the expressions on their faces are more realistic. I think maybe as the days go by, these faces will become more and more prominent, more and more realistic, until..."
Wei Dong: "Damn it, shut up! You hurry up and look for them, I'll keep watch."
Ke Xun: "Keep watch my foot, let's get started, let's hurry."
Wei Dong had no choice but to carefully pick up a dry twig and, just like yesterday, stick it into the mouths of the ghostly faces one by one.
"By the way, let me ask you something," Wei Dong said, trying to bolster his courage, "why did you abstain from the vote? I think Liu Yufei's words really stirred up hatred between us. Abstaining is like shifting the blame for the killing onto someone else. That actually makes some sense. With Liu Yufei taking the fall, if no one had died tonight, I think when the vote comes tomorrow, people might remember this and take their anger out on us."
Ke Xun, perched in the tree, glanced down: "Because everyone knows we're in cahoots, and we're with Mu Yiran. Mu Yiran is…" Everyone sees him as capable; if ten people hang out with him, nine will listen to him. To others, if there's a vote, the three of us will definitely vote for the same person, right?
Wei Dong looked up: "So?"
Ke Xun's eyes flickered: "So, for them, our little group of three is a considerable threat. No matter who we choose, each of us will immediately have three votes. Right now, with eight people left, it doesn't seem like much, but as the number of people dwindles, those three votes will carry significant weight."
Wei Dong's expression became serious: "You mean…"
"When there are fewer and fewer people, our three votes will have the biggest weight. It's like whoever we vote for will die. Everyone knows Mu Yiran's abilities. The worst-case scenario is that our group, under Mu Yiran's leadership, can survive, while the others die and the number of members decreases. If there's another vote later, only the others will be voted out. Are you afraid of such a group?"
Wei Dong shuddered: "Yes, extremely afraid."
"In this situation, 'the others' can easily put the three of us on the opposing side." Ke Xun twirled the dry branch in his hand. "For the long term, we can't let the three of us survive to the end, otherwise the others will be lambs to the slaughter. While there are still many people, and our three votes don't have a large weight, we might as well destroy our group first. Kill one, and the remaining two won't be a threat."
Wei Dong: "Holy crap!"
Ke Xun tapped the tree trunk with the dry branch: "At that time, Liu Yufei and the pancake vendor had already voted for Mu Yiran. The best opportunity to destroy our group had appeared."
"Even if only one of the remaining three chooses Mu Yiran, or even if all three of us choose the same person, that person will at least get the same number of votes as Mu Yiran, and that person will still have a chance to break through.
"But what if two of the remaining three choose Mu Yiran? Mu Yiran will definitely be the one to die. Proportionally, Mu Yiran is at a greater disadvantage, which means the others have a higher chance of survival.
"The reason for this outcome is that our little group of three has put a lot of pressure on the others, ultimately prompting them to unite and attack us first for their own benefit.
"So I chose to abstain, knowing you would follow suit. This way, their psychological pressure will be much less, and they won't see us as a thorn in their side to be eliminated.
"Besides, Mu Yiran is capable, and they are hoping he will lead them out of the painting. As long as they can save their own lives, they won't easily vote for him to die.
"So choosing to abstain is turning offense into defense, to save our lives, right?" Wei
Dong stared in disbelief, his brain taking a long time to process what he'd said. Finally, he tilted his head back and exclaimed, "...After all that babbling, it turns out you were just trying to save Mu Yiran's life!"
Ke Xun replied, "Saving his life is saving ours, isn't it?"
Wei Dong said, "...Okay, I'll pretend you're right. Speaking of which, Mu Yiran has told everyone all the clues. What if we don't find the seal today, and there's a vote tomorrow? Do you think he'll be voted out? After all, he's no longer of any use to us..."
Ke Xun shook his head. "Do you think he's stupid? Why do you think he left us here and took others to the village to look for clues?"
Wei Dong asked, "Why?"
"Of course, it's to show those people that he deserves to live to the end." Ke Xun looked towards the center of the village shrouded in gray fog.
After climbing up and down the trees for most of the morning without any results, Ke Xun jumped down to rest and sat down with Wei Dong under the tree to ponder.
"I suspect the seal isn't on these ghost faces." "Ke Xun pondered for a moment before saying, "These ghost faces are too obvious. According to common sense, anyone would suspect that the seal is hidden in such a strange place. Isn't this the same as putting up a sign telling you where the toilet is?"
"That makes sense," Wei Dong said weakly. "Then where do you think the seal is?"
Ke Xun glanced at him: "Aren't you a graphic designer? This is your profession. You raise a dog for a thousand days and use it for one day. Dare to put in some effort?"
Wei Dong: "Let me tell you, I studied design, not traditional Chinese painting or oil painting!" He sighed, "What I studied is useless. Thinking about all the hard work and exams over the years, finally making it through, only to die in this crap painting for no reason, all the effort I put into making a living has become a waste. I feel that my life is full of irony and tragedy." Ke
Xun didn't speak.
Wei Dong was different from him; he was all alone. Although he was afraid of death, he had no ties even if he were to die.
But Wei Dong had parents and relatives. Even if they didn't rely on him, their only son, for their old age, they would be immersed in endless grief for the rest of their lives. The thought of
having no one to attend a funeral or being buried by one's parents both sounded pitiful.
"I remember the doctor saying everyone in this village has the surname Li, right?" Ke Xun suddenly said.
"Yes, probably from the same ancestor, maybe even within the fifth degree of kinship," Wei Dong said.
"Then isn't intermarriage among the villagers considered consanguineous marriage?" Ke Xun said.
Wei Dong: "Why are you, a gay man, worrying about these things?"
Ke Xun looked at him: "Consanguineous marriage easily leads to birth defects."
Wei Dong: "Thanks for reminding me, but I don't have any cousins."
Ke Xun: "That thing that crawled out of the coffin last night was deformed."
Wei Dong was shocked: "You mean—it might be the product of that family's consanguineous marriage?"
Ke Xun: "Although its deformity is a bit exaggerated, it's not surprising in the world of the painting. Besides, art is inherently exaggerated, right?" Wei
Dong nodded: "Yes, artworks often use exaggeration to enhance the scene or highlight the theme."
Ke Xun stroked his chin thoughtfully: "The protagonist of this funeral is a deformed child, so what theme does this painting want to express? I think the artist's thinking is very strange."
Wei Dong asked: "Who is the artist?" Ke Xun
thought for a moment: "Mu Yiran said his name is... Holy crap!"
Wei Dong: "Huh?"
Ke Xun turned to look at him: "This painter's surname is also Li."