Without wasting any time, the two quickly and quietly ran along the wall towards that direction, climbing up the brick seams again. This time it took longer and was a more severe test of their stamina. Fortunately, Ke Xun kept up steadily without making any mistakes, and finally successfully climbed to the ventilation shaft, then slipped out with Mu Yiran.
Standing at the edge of the ventilation shaft and gazing into the distance, the moon was bright and the stars were few, and the visibility was unexpectedly high. Unlike the polluted world of humans, the air here was so transparent that it didn't seem like a monster's realm.
And so, in this clear and transparent night, Ke Xun saw a forest of tall buildings on the horizon.
That was a city.
Unlike the other paintings they had entered before, where the edges of the central image were low-resolution backgrounds, even the Ganxiong Plateau in "Faith" and the modern metropolis in "Breaking Ground," the very edges they could see were still blurry.
But here, there seemed to be more cities beyond cities, and more skies beyond skies, so vast and boundless.
It was like a real, living world.
"Does this mean we can go to a wide area, and within that area, we won't be bound by the 'Nighttime Death Law' even at night?" Ke Xun casually gave a name to the rule in the painting: "No one may leave the designated area at night, or they will die."
Mu Yiran nodded, but his expression was somewhat somber.
"What is it?" Ke Xun asked softly.
Mu Yiran lowered her eyes, then looked at him. "This also means that the area where the signature is located is much larger, and our search will be much more difficult."
Ke Xun also lowered his eyes, then raised them, a optimist smile playing on his lips. "Although the 'painting' has always shown us endless malice, you see, every painting before has clues. The clues it leaves us, no matter how difficult, are always within our reach. It won't give us clues that are absolutely impossible to think of or do, so..."
Mu Yiran, who had been staring intently at him, suddenly smiled upon hearing this, but quickly stopped. "So, no matter how vast the world depicted in the painting is, the clues will definitely exist within our reach."
Ke Xun's eyes still held the amazement he had just witnessed, and his expression faltered for a moment before he smiled again. "That's right, be optimistic, we can definitely find it. Shall we continue?"
"Yes." Mu Yiran withdrew her gaze and looked around.
The farmhouse's lawn was large but irregularly shaped, winding around some bushes and low rocks, enclosed by a tall wooden fence. Viewed from above, it resembled a crouching dog. Beyond the fence, stretching to the distant edge of the city, was a dense thicket.
Nearby, on either side of the farmhouse, were several tall buildings. Through the windows, the interiors were visible, and the two identified which was the manager's office, and which were the slaughterhouse and food processing area.
Since climbing would take too much time, they didn't have time to explore all these areas at night and make the round trip, so they had to abandon that plan. They simply circled the farmhouse along the walls of the cubicles, checking every corner, but unfortunately, they found nothing of interest.
By the time they returned to their cubicle, dawn was approaching.
After breakfast, everyone was let out for some fresh air.
However, there was no opportunity to proceed with yesterday's plan, as several giant cows were also on the lawn, carrying out a huge, low-rimmed wooden tub and filling it with water using a hose.
"Time for a bath!" Several figures in the painting shouted joyfully, chasing and playing around the wooden tub.
"..." Ke Xun glanced at Mu Yiran. In this situation, suddenly having to take a bath together... emmm... even though there were dozens of other mandarin ducks entering the water at the same time. While
Ke Xun was feeling a mix of emotions, the water in the tub was already filled. The giant bulls bent down and began to lift the humans and throw them into the water. Some people didn't seem to like bathing, struggling to flip out of the tub after being thrown in, but they couldn't overpower the huge bulls and were thrown back into the tub time and time again.
"Moo moo." A giant bull called out to Mu Yiran, pointing to the tub and telling him to get in.
Judging from the pronunciation, it seemed like they had given him a nickname, "Mu Mu."
Ke Xun inexplicably wanted to laugh, but not wanting "Mu Mu" to be thrown around by the giant bulls like a piglet, he quickly pulled him up and jumped into the tub himself.
Water splashed as Ke Xun emerged from the water, his hair ruffled like a golden retriever. He then turned his head to snap a picture of a domineering CEO
emerging from the water. Mu Yiran, on the other hand, tilted his head back as he surfaced, his soft hair swept back by the water, creating a stylish and sophisticated look reminiscent of a restrained CEO. Water droplets slid down his smooth forehead, some clinging to his eyelashes, sparkling like diamonds, some sliding down his straight nose, disappearing into his slightly parted lips, and some brushing his long neck, landing on his perfectly sculpted collarbone.
...It was simply too alluring.
What was even more captivating was his cold and handsome face, both alluring and restrained, practically...
a devil.
When Mu Yiran stepped out of the basin, Ke Xun was still soaking in the water, silently singing the national anthem, when he felt a hand reach up from behind and press down on the top of his head, the fingers curling and grabbing his messy fur.
"Don't delay our business, come out." President Mu's low, cold voice sounded in his ear.
Ke Xun obediently came out and saw Qin Ci, Wei Dong, and the others, cautiously keeping an eye on their surroundings.
The giant bulls seemed to be moving equipment again, taking out a thin tube and several strange utensils from the food processing room.
"According to yesterday's plan," Mu Yiran said in a low voice to the group, "Divide into groups and slowly approach the rooms you need to go to. Don't be too obvious. I'll lure the giant bulls away, and you can go in during that time. One of you go inside to search, and the other will keep watch outside. Remember, don't linger, go in and out quickly, safety first."
Everyone nodded and immediately dispersed.
Ke Xun led Wei Dong towards the slaughterhouse, strolling slowly, getting closer and closer.
Just as they got close, they suddenly heard a scream. Thinking that Mu Yiran's group had started their operation, they looked in the direction of the sound, only to find that it wasn't him, but Bi Jing.
Bi Jing was being strangled by a giant bull, his cheeks clamped shut, forcing his mouth wide open. Another giant bull, holding the thin tube they had just seen, was inserting one end deep into Bi Jing's throat.
Ke Xun and Wei Dong were stunned by the sight. Wei Dong, after a long moment of shock, stammered, "This depth... it's going straight into his stomach, isn't it..."
The other end of the tube was connected to a strange machine, at which the giant bull was pouring porridge-like food into it.
"This is..." Ke Xun frowned deeply, "force-feeding."
Wei Dong was horrified.
Bi Jing was too thin. If used for animal husbandry, his quality was clearly extremely unsuitable. So he needed to be fattened, quickly and effectively.
Wei Dong couldn't bear to watch Bi Jing struggle painfully between the giant bull's hooves any longer, so he turned his face away and squatted down, dry heaving.
Fortunately, the force-feeding didn't last long. After Bi Jing's stomach swelled up, he was released, and the giant bull picked up the next thin person and inserted the thin tube into his stomach.
Ke Xun stopped looking and instead looked at Mu Yiran in the distance.
Seeing that he seemed to be speaking to the people in the painting beside him, who clearly had a high degree of obedience to their leader, they fearfully and respectfully split into two groups. Suddenly, one group started running towards the distance, and the other group gave chase. After catching up, a chaotic brawl ensued, and the entire lawn was thrown into chaos. Mu Yiran took advantage of the chaos to run towards the entrance of the food processing room where Zhu Haowen was.
The chaos on the lawn attracted the attention of several giant bulls. They temporarily released the few skinny people who were still being force-fed and got up to chase after the humans who were running around and fighting. The people outside the painting seized the opportunity to immediately enter the rooms they wanted to go into, leaving one person to stand guard at the door.
Ke Xun was glad that Wei Dong hadn't followed him in.
He would never forget the scene before him—no, perhaps not even in his next life, or the life after that.
The slaughterhouse made him realize what a living hell was.
The walls, the floors, the huge long tabletops, and the gaps between various machines were all stained with bloodstains of varying depths and colors, both new and old.
If you look closely, you can see bits of meat tangled in some places, bone fragments embedded in others, and fingernails scattered about.
But these pale in comparison to the entrails and intestines soaking in blood in the large bucket in the corner, to the still-bloodied human skeleton displayed on the huge chopping board, and even further to the rows of iron hooks on the wall
, where human bodies—skinned, limbs severed, abdominal cavities ripped out, heads chopped off, or dismembered into pieces—are displayed. Below them are enormous troughs, neatly categorized and filled with human hearts, livers, intestines, or limbs overflowing, or piles of heads. Their hair has been shaved off, their eyes closed or open, their lips agape or biting their tongues, some with faces as if asleep, others contorted in agony.
His brethren, like raw meat awaiting processing, are displayed here so neatly, coldly, and without dignity.
Of course.
Low-level food chain species have no dignity.
In the trough filled with human heads, Ke Xun saw Yuan Yuan. Above him was a fresher head, that of a forty-year-old woman.
The commotion outside took a long time to subside, and all the humans were herded back to their respective farmhouse cubicles.
"Nothing found in the caretaker's room," Qin Ci shook his head.
"Nothing in the food processing room either," Mu Yiran said, showing no sign of disappointment.
Everyone looked at Ke Xun.
"Nothing," Ke Xun said.
Mu Yiran studied his face for a moment.
"This is probably the most perplexing painting I've ever seen," Qin Ci said, his eyes deep. "Was the artist simply trying to make people understand the natural law of the survival of the fittest more directly and deeply?"
"Perhaps he was an extreme vegetarian," Zhu Haowen said. "When I traveled abroad, I encountered vegetarian protests; many people held signs protesting that animals ate people."
"So maybe the signature will be on vegetables?" Wei Dong said.
"Or perhaps, ironically, on a knife or axe," Qin Ci said.
"Or maybe on a cow's horn?" Dong Dong said.
"Ke Xun," Mu Yiran didn't join the discussion, but walked up to Ke Xun, staring at him with deep eyes, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Ke Xun said.
Mu Yiran looked at him for a long time, and seeing that he was silent with his eyelids down, she didn't press him further. She turned to look at the others and lowered her voice, "This afternoon we went to the fence. Ke Xun and I deduced that even at night, it's possible to leave the house and go outside, so we can't just sit here and wait to die. We should at least try to escape."
"How do we escape?" Dong Dong and Wei Dong asked in unison in low voices.