The way Mu Yiran walked over made everyone think he was still dressed in a suit and tie, elegant and composed.
"You're here," Qin Ci greeted him, pointing to the three newcomers. "These three are in so far, five more are needed."
"I think we don't need to wait any longer, the designated time to enter the painting has passed," Mu Yiran said calmly. "The women shouldn't be here."
"What do you mean?" Xiao Baiban asked hurriedly. "I have two classmates with me, they're both girls, they should have entered this painting world too, where are they?"
Mu Yiran's gaze swept over the group of naked men not far away: "These are all men, I guess the women should be somewhere else."
"After all, this kind of place isn't suitable for men and women to coexist," Wei Dong chuckled dryly.
Qin Ci nodded: "It's getting dark, I think we should hurry up and go ask those people about the situation."
Everyone agreed, and they walked towards the group together.
The three newcomers were all young and relatively receptive to strange occurrences. Although still in a state of shock and disbelief, they obediently followed the crowd.
Qin Ci and Mu Yiran walked ahead, choosing a middle-aged man who looked honest. Qin Ci asked first, "Brother, may I ask where this place is?" The middle-
aged man was sitting cross-legged, scrubbing the mud off his body. His soft belly hung down, partially obscuring the gruesome sight, which made everyone feel a little better. When he looked up, his face showed some surprise: "Are you all new here? This is Niu Family Farm."
Farm? The group exchanged glances. If it was a farm, why weren't there any cattle or horses?
Qin Ci continued, "Excuse me, where is the manager here?"
The middle-aged man looked even more surprised: "Why would I need the manager? He's in the office, of course. It's not mealtime yet. He'll come and serve us when it's mealtime."
"Then... what are you all doing now?" Qin Ci asked again.
"Going out for fresh air, huh?" the middle-aged man chuckled. "Which farm did you guys work on before? Never been out for fresh air before?"
"Going out for fresh air?" Little Whiteboard looked at Qin Ci in a panic. "We're not going to become prisoners, are we?"
"Even prisoners can't be naked," the fat man said with a look of disgust. "Being reformed on a farm is possible, but these guys don't look like they're being reformed. They're all naked, it's an eyesore."
The most eyesore thing is you, okay? Wei Dong thought to himself.
"Excuse me," Mu Yiran suddenly spoke, "how is the daily schedule arranged on our farm?"
The middle-aged man sized Mu Yiran up and down, about to continue scrutinizing him, when suddenly his vision was blocked. He looked up and saw a young man whose looks and build were no less impressive than Mu Yiran's, staring at him with a hint of coldness in his eyes. He couldn't help but laugh: "Relax, young man. I mean no harm. I just think you guys are all high-quality, and you might get better treatment than us."
Ke Xun raised an eyebrow: "Then please answer my question."
The middle-aged man laughed again: "It's not much different from other places here. We eat three meals a day on time, roam around and sunbathe during the day, and go back to sleep at night. Just don't wander off. Don't go outside the fence or into the woods, and there's basically no extra danger. But I advise you newcomers not to cause trouble. Just stay put and behave yourselves. Otherwise, if you anger the boss, it won't be a joke."
"Boss? Who is that?" the burly man, who was over six feet tall, asked.
The middle-aged man looked around, then pointed to the thickest, softest spot on the grass, and whispered to the crowd, "That's him, Mo Mou."
Everyone's eyes turned in the direction he pointed. The area around the grass was empty; everyone else stood a few meters away, seemingly afraid to approach the center. In the center of the grass lay a strikingly handsome and incredibly strong young man.
He had a wheat-colored complexion, sharp eyes, sculpted features, and a muscular, well-defined physique. His limbs were thick and well-proportioned, broad-shouldered and narrow-waisted, exuding power.
Most striking was the aura of a leader he radiated, intimidating even without speaking or moving.
Ke Xun glanced at him and then looked away, only to notice someone's gaze had just left his face. He looked around, and when his eyes fell on Mu Yiran, he quickly jumped away.
Qin Ci and Mu Yiran asked the middle-aged man a few more questions, but they couldn't get anything new out of him. Being newcomers, they obviously wouldn't get any more clues about the painting.
The group huddled together, whispering among themselves.
Qin Ci spoke first: "I think the only thing we can do now is to play it safe. Let's try to follow what that man said, and try to stay together during our rest time tonight. Maybe tomorrow... we'll get some leads."
Only a few of the veteran members who had been inside the painting understood the implication.
Xiao Baiban hurriedly said, "It's time for exercise now. Could you come with me to look for my two classmates? I'm a little worried about them, and without my glasses, I can't see anything clearly. Please help me look for them, okay?"
"Sure," Wei Dong said.
Ke Xun: "..."
Mu Yiran said, "There's no time. I just walked around. This farm is huge, and it's getting dark. If we go looking for them, I'm afraid we won't be back before dark."
"What will happen if we don't get back before dark?" Xiao Baiban asked.
"Die."
Xiaobaiban shuddered, not hearing how many people answered with that word at the same time, and dared not say anything more, so he silently shrank into a thin strip.
"While we're at it, let's get to know each other first." Qin Ci introduced the names of the old members.
"My name is Dong Dong," said the burly man who was over 1.9 meters tall, pointing to the fat man, "This is my friend, Yuan Yuan. We're childhood friends, we originally went into the art museum to take shelter from the rain, I don't know how we got so weirdly into the paintings."
Ke Xun and Wei Dong, who were also childhood friends, glanced at the two of them, but didn't find anything in common...
"My name is Bi Jing, I was originally going to visit our teacher with some classmates, we agreed to meet at the art museum, but one of my classmates got stuck in traffic because of the rain and couldn't get there for a while, so we went into the museum first..." Xiaobaiban explained in detail with a mournful face.
Just as he was grumbling about how unlucky he was, he heard a whistle sound in the distance. The naked men around him got up and slowly walked towards the direction of the whistle, but none of them dared to walk in front of the man named Mo Mou. They all crowded around or lagged behind him, like stars surrounding the moon.
The group walked together, neither too far ahead nor too far behind. The veteran members remained calm, while the newcomers were still somewhat timid and nervous.
Ke Xun listened carefully as he walked. The naked men weren't very quiet. They walked and chatted, all of them quite content. The topics were mostly about what to eat that night. Some said, "I'm itchy, I wonder when I can take a shower," some said, "I'm thinking about women, I can't control myself," and others said, "Those newbies look pretty cool, I wonder when the boss will beat them up."
Ke Xun felt that the "looks pretty cool" one was referring to him, so to keep a low profile, he simply lowered his head and walked.
"Alright, I know how big you are, but there's no need to admire yourself while you're walking." Wei Dong's disgruntled voice came from beside him.
Ke Xun: "..." He suddenly felt several gazes shooting at him from all directions, focusing on his lower body.
"Although you've successfully pleased me," Ke Xun said, "can't you be a little more discreet? Is this the time to flaunt your wealth?"
"…Fuck flaunting wealth," Wei Dong lowered his voice to a whisper, pointing at Mu Yiran walking ahead, "But if we're talking about who's the top and who's the bottom based on size, I think you've lost. From now on, just be a quiet, beautiful bottom."
"Holy shit," Ke Xun cursed, "If you dare look at anything you shouldn't, believe me, I'll make sure you're covered in sweat for the rest of your life."
"Holy shit, you're so vicious," Wei Dong also cursed, "Everyone else would go to great lengths for their brothers, but you stab your brothers in the back for being gay. Where's your humanity?! No wonder the ancients said that bitches are heartless and gay men are ungrateful. They're absolutely right."
"…Are you two kidding me?" Fatty Yuan Yuan looked over incredulously, "I heard from Dr. Qin that at least one person dies in this painting every day. Is it just to scare us? You two don't seem scared at all."
"Brother, if you'd been through a dozen life-or-death situations like us, you'd probably be in a similar state," Wei Dong
said with a wry smile. "You get used to it, you become numb. Crying and wailing won't help. It's better to be more easygoing. Better to die laughing than to die crying… that's called integrity." Yuan Yuan, upon hearing this, couldn't help but
look Wei Dong up and down. Wei Dong: "We're all men, don't
look at me like that." Yuan Yuan: "I don't see any integrity in this guy."
Wei Dong: "…Okay, buddy, you've got a big heart. You know you're going to die, so at least leave some room for your next life."
As they were talking, the rooftops of a row of houses appeared in the distance.
The grassland wasn't flat; it was undulating, with hills and depressions. The group walked to a higher point and finally saw the entire row of houses: red brick walls, gray foundations, and a row of iron-barred windows, reaching the height of a dozen or so stories.
However, what caught their eye wasn't this row of houses that looked like prison buildings, but a huge figure standing in front of them.
Several onlookers outside the scene turned their gazes to the giant figure, then froze in their tracks, their faces filled with astonishment.
The giant figure was a bull.
To be precise, it was a humanoid bull standing on its two hind legs.
It wore dark blue overalls over a white vest, and in its hand… well, its front hooves gripped a thick, long wooden stick, while its other front hoof was on its hip. Its enormous bull eyes stared at the naked men approaching it, and it blew its whistle again.
"This… this is…" Wei Dong stammered, about to speak, when the giant bull took the whistle from its mouth and bellowed:
"Moo—moo moo moo—"
Upon hearing this, the naked men immediately started running, rushing towards the row of prison-like houses.
"I have a bizarre idea…" Ke Xun suddenly said.
"What?" Surprisingly, it was Mu Yiran who answered him.
Ke Xun clearly remembered walking a dozen steps behind him, yet he hadn't noticed how he had gotten to his side.
Looking straight ahead without glancing at him, Ke Xun answered him methodically, "Why do I feel like this cow is more like a human, while we humans are more like... livestock?"
Mu Yiran's indifferent voice rang in his ears, "You're right. On this farm, we humans are the ones being herded."