"I checked today, and the soil on the lawn is still fairly loose," Mu Yiran said. "Let's try digging a trench along the edge of the fence and escape through it."
This suggestion immediately excited everyone, their eyes sparkling with hope.
Mu Yiran glanced back at Ke Xun, who remained in the same position, eyes lowered, motionless.
The giant bull began distributing lunch, and all the nuts were given up by the people inside the painting—because the leader wanted them, no one dared to take them.
To have the strength to dig in the afternoon, everyone ate more nuts and drank water sprayed from the pipes when the giant bull cleaned the cubicles, water that everyone had saved from empty beverage bottles yesterday.
Ke Xun didn't eat, but just sat there, one leg bent, arm draped over his knee, half his face buried in his arm.
Wei Dong, who was next to him, noticed his unusual behavior after eating for a while and was about to ask when Mu Yiran came over and made way for him.
Mu Yiran sat down next to Ke Xun and said in a low voice, "Ke Xun, look at me."
Ke Xun tilted his head, resting it on his arm, his dark eyes looking at Mu Yiran's face.
Mu Yiran felt that, in that instant, Ke Xun resembled an infant just opening his eyes to the world, his clear black and white eyes filled with confusion and bewilderment at this vast world.
Facing such a face and such eyes, Mu Yiran didn't notice the lines of his own face softening unconsciously. He simply met those eyes and spoke softly to him, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have let you go."
"It's okay," Ke Xun said. His voice came from within his arms, like that of a tender and vulnerable toddler.
Mu Yiran pursed his lips, his voice growing even lower and deeper: "Forget about that, Ke Xun. Treat this place as a painting, as a horrific and bloody R-rated movie. You need to know... the people who died in the painting didn't die the same way in the real world.
"After returning to the real world from the first painting, I went to find those who died in the paintings. Although they were indeed no longer alive at that time, their relatives and friends still remembered them, and it was confirmed that they hadn't experienced a horrific death in reality.
"You can treat the way of death in this painting as an exaggerated image; it's just been rendered with blood and horror. There's no need to project it onto reality, much less be affected by it. Do you understand, Ke Xun?"
"Understood," Ke Xun said.
Mu Yiran looked at him.
He only verbally understood. His dark, blank eyes and expressionless face still clearly showed that he was still deeply trapped in that hellish experience.
Mu Yiran finally sighed softly, raised his hand, and placed it on the back of Ke Xun's neck. "Rest for a while." His hand grasped the natural V-shaped tip of Ke Xun's hair, the furry hair licking his palm. His long, slender fingers, resting on the carotid artery in Ke Xun's neck, applied slight pressure. In just two seconds, Ke Xun slumped and fell onto him.
When Ke Xun woke up, he heard Bi Jing's screams in the distance. He got up and rushed to the fence gate to look outside. He saw a giant bull wearing a skirt holding him high in the air.
"What's going on?" Ke Xun asked Wei Dong, who looked terrified.
"I don't know," Wei Dong shook his head. "That female bull... that cow was brought in by the keeper. It seems like she was choosing people. After a while, she chose Bi Jing. I don't know what she's going to do with him. It's still daytime. Is he going to be eaten again...?"
Ke Xun remained silent, glanced at him a couple of times, and then left the fence gate.
Turning around, he saw Mu Yiran looking at him. He paused, then smiled, "I'm alright. Thank you."
Mu Yiran didn't speak, but that didn't mean he hadn't noticed the slight tremor in his hand when he heard Wei Dong say the word "eat."
Bi Jing was taken away by the cow. His screams only caused a brief commotion among the humans, which quickly subsided, and they continued their numb eating, drinking, and playing.
The cow, the caretaker who had seen off the cow, returned and released all the humans out of the farmhouse.
The people outside the scene moved silently to the far edge of the fence, taking turns as lookouts while the others dug a ditch.
The grass here was indeed soft, and with five people working together, they were surprisingly fast. By mid-afternoon, they had dug a shallow ditch large enough for one person to crawl out.
But this wasn't the perfect time to escape. Dinner time was approaching, and every time the caretaker cow herded the humans back to the farmhouse, he would count them. If six people were missing, he would definitely search the area and chase after them immediately.
Only after nightfall, once the caretaker has finished cleaning the farmhouses and left, will there be ample time to escape and get as far away as possible.
"What if they pick someone from among us tonight?" Dong Dong asked anxiously.
"Wasn't Bi Jing arrested? Maybe tonight it'll be him..." Wei Dong felt his words were somewhat unkind, though the truth was obvious, but he kept quiet.
"Even if they pick from among us," Zhu Haowen, clearly without any psychological burden regarding "kindness" or "morality," stated bluntly, "Sacrificing one to protect the others is worthwhile."
Everyone fell silent.
Although no one wanted to be the one sacrificed, they had to admit the argument made sense.
After dinner, the people outside the frame entered a tense state; if they were to choose someone, it would be within the next one to two hours.
They waited silently and nervously in their respective corners by the wall when suddenly a bright white light shone in through the window. Turning around, they saw that the large lights above the lawn had been turned on, illuminating the large open space in front of the farmhouse as if it were daytime. Several giant bulls were leading several more giant bulls that had never been seen before towards them. Each of the unseen bulls carried a cage on its hoof, and inside each cage was a human.
"What are they doing?" Wei Dong asked in bewilderment.
No one could answer him; they just stared outside in silence and vigilance.
The farmhouse door was flung open with a clatter, and two bulls that were in charge of the procession walked in, heading straight for the compartment where the humans were.
"No..." A huge fear and despair appeared in Wei Dong's eyes, "They're choosing people..."
The stark difference in size, height, and strength made even the thought of escape too tragic to arise. Everyone could only stand there helplessly, waiting for death to come.
The giant bulls walked to the door, looked down at the crowd, and with a hoof extended, lifted each person in the cubicle to examine and select them, occasionally whispering among themselves.
Finally, they chose four people:
Dong Dong, Mo Mou, Ke Xun, and Mu Yiran.
"Ke'er—" Wei Dong cried out in shock and despair, "Why—why are there three people—"
His scream trailed off.
Why couldn't it be three? "The Painting" had never stipulated that three people couldn't die simultaneously in one night.
"Dr. Qin, knock him unconscious!" Ke Xun roared at Qin Ci.
However, even after Ke Xun and the others were dragged out of the farmhouse, Qin Ci couldn't bring himself to do it.
The four were taken to the open space outside the farmhouse. There were no tables, chairs, or hot pots set up, no knives or wooden buckets, only an empty ground, a dozen giant bulls, and the people in cages they carried on their hooves.
The cows were communicating, and one of them brought out something that looked like a fortune-telling tube. Each cow drew a fortune from it.
After the tickets were revealed, two of the bulls stepped forward, while the rest stepped back, forming a circle and clearing the center.
The two bulls each put down their cages, released the people inside, and then stepped back, also standing outside the arena.
The two men in the cages were extremely strong and tall, with fierce appearances and an aura of bloodlust.
They glared at each other, baring their teeth menacingly, circling each other to test each other, then suddenly lunged forward simultaneously, attacking each other with incredible speed and force, punching, kicking, and grappling—a brutal fight ensued.
"Damn it…this is cockfighting?!" Dong Dong finally understood.
He had seen videos of cockfighting online; it was nothing like the fun and entertainment people imagined.
It was an exceptionally cruel, bloody, and deeply disturbing act of depravity.
He still vividly remembered the video from several years ago, the bloodied, mutilated rooster's gruesome death.
He couldn't understand who came up with this form of entertainment, or where their psychological pleasure came from.
Of course, this thought only flashed through his mind and disappeared. All he remembered about the video was a simple "Holy crap!" and the most common comments about it were just sarcastic remarks like "chickens fighting."
He didn't have the empathy to pity a chicken, to consider its thoughts and emotions. They were just chickens, birds, lower animals.
They wouldn't know that a rooster that died proudly and with dignity was nothing more than a "chicken" in the eyes of humans.
The two humans fighting in the circle were clearly of different strengths. One of them was already covered in blood, with three or four teeth missing.
Yet he continued to fight desperately, as if fighting was the only thing in his life—a fight that meant either death or life.
And so, he died, beaten to death, punch by punch, by the stronger one.
The giant bulls clapped and whistled, creating a commotion.
The dead were dragged away and thrown into the slaughterhouse, while the survivors were put back in their cages, where their masters fed them through the gaps as a reward.
Some of the giant bulls pulled out what appeared to be money and handed it to the victorious human's master, ending a round of cockfighting-style gambling.
The second round quickly began, with a man even stronger than the previous one, Mo Mou from the Bull Family Farm, entering the arena.
Mo Mou, seemingly accustomed to such occasions, excitedly and without hesitation charged at his opponent: "Man, the consequences of provoking me are severe, you can't afford it. I'll let you taste my big thing properly, you'll be begging me for mercy!" Mo Mou was the
previous leader of the humans at the Bull Family Farm, and although he had been defeated by Mu Yiran, his strength was still considerable. He was tall, strong, handsome, full of fighting spirit and ambition, intimidating and proud; even Ke Xun dared not underestimate him.
However, the powerful Mo Mou was knocked out in one blow by his opponent's heavy punch.
His opponent threw only one punch, a powerful blow that struck him squarely in the head. He was sent flying backward, twitching a few times before falling still.
The giant bulls watching erupted in laughter. The farm's managers seemed somewhat embarrassed and annoyed. They weighed the three remaining humans in their hands, seemingly choosing the one capable of fighting their opponent, before their gazes fell upon Mu Yiran, the new leader of the humans they had raised.