"Don't scare me!" Wei Dong, Luo Yi, and Wu You exclaimed in unison, criticizing Ke Xun.
"What I mean is, let's all decide whether to stay inside or outside tonight," Ke Xun pointed out the window. "It's getting dark."
A sense of tension suddenly descended on everyone. This was indeed a difficult question. After thinking for a while, Shao Ling said, "Since it's generally believed that staying outside is more dangerous than staying inside, I think we should stay inside."
Wei Dong nodded as well: "Although staying inside might not prevent us from escaping the attack from that behind-the-scenes force, thinking about the paintings 'Funeral' and 'Faith,' staying inside might not guarantee survival, but staying outside would certainly mean death. So even if it's not safe inside, we have no choice, right?"
Everyone agreed and unanimously decided to stay inside the house that night.
Wei Dong and Luo Yi were still worried about zombies appearing at night, so they busied themselves reinforcing all the doors and windows of the house. Meanwhile, Qin Ci emerged from the living room, drenched in sweat.
When asked about Xiao Kai's condition, Qin Ci shook his head: "If we can't leave this painting soon, his condition will be quite dangerous."
"Take a break and drink some water," Ke Xun handed him a cup of plant juice, explaining the clues they had gathered, and then asked, "Have you found anything else?"
Qin Ci gulped down several mouthfuls of water to moisten his throat before saying, "Regarding the cause of Xiao Kai's symptoms, I don't think it's infrasound.
When I wiped his body with alcohol earlier, I found a mosquito bite on the back of his neck. I've seen many cases of viral infections caused by insect bites, usually presenting as malaria symptoms, and Xiao Kai's symptoms are similar to malaria."
"But it's only approximate, because the symptoms of malaria include chills, a rapid rise in body temperature, severe headaches, and persistent vomiting. I asked Xiao Kai, and the latter three symptoms apply, but he didn't feel chills, which puzzles me.
The problem now is that without the necessary medical equipment, we can't examine his internal condition. Judging from his external symptoms, his persistent high fever could easily lead to complications. However, I think we can basically rule out the possibility that his symptoms are caused by infrasound."
"If that's the case, then we need to be careful," Ke Xun said. "Mosquitoes are hard to avoid; everyone should cover any exposed skin with clothing."
"That would be unbearably hot, and we don't have much drinking water," Wei Dong said. "I think we should look for mosquito coils or something similar in the house."
"Okay, before it gets completely dark, I'll go look in the neighboring house, just in case we don't have any here." "Ke Xun said, opening the door and running out.
Gu Qingqing stared at his retreating figure in astonishment, muttering, "He's really brave..." He dared to run into that terrifying, dark house, stained with blood, and search for things all by himself.
Finally, before it got completely dark, they managed to find some things to repel mosquitoes, such as mosquito coils and floral water. Although they didn't know how long they had expired, something was better than nothing.
The floral water had faded considerably, but everyone still applied some to their exposed skin. Then they lit mosquito coils in various corners of the room. Several girls even found some thin sheets and duvet covers to wrap themselves in, at least thinner than their winter clothes.
Every night in the painting was exceptionally difficult, not only because they had to wait for the unknown, unpredictable horrors to arrive, but also because they faced the death of themselves or their companions.
"Should we move Xiao Kai from the living room to the central hall?" "Shao Ling asked Qin Ci.
After all, being together felt safer than being alone.
Qin Ci thought for a moment and said, "If Xiao Kai has malaria, then we don't need to worry about direct transmission. We can move him out, but for safety's sake, it's best to keep some distance from us."
So they moved the sofa in the central hall to a corner and let Xiao Kai lie on it, keeping a certain distance from where everyone else was sitting.
Xiao Kai's face was very pale and weak, sometimes unconscious and sometimes conscious. When he was conscious, he mostly uttered the word "pain" in a hoarse and weak voice.
Tian Yang had been staying by his side, his brows furrowed and his face solemn. When he heard Xiao Kai's painful and weak groans again, he couldn't help but stand up and walk over to call Ke Xun.
Ke Xun followed him to another corner, stood down, and looked at him: "What is it?"
"Can... we ask them to help us think of a solution?" "Tian Yang seemed to struggle as he said this.
"You see the situation now," Ke Xun said. "If there were a way, we would have used it already. The only thing everyone can do now is to rack their brains to find clues. The sooner we find clues, the sooner we can leave and save his life." "
How do we find clues?" Tian Yang asked. "Now that night has fallen, everyone can only wait to die."
"Yes, only wait to die." Ke Xun looked at him expressionlessly. "While waiting to die, all you can do is face it calmly, but that doesn't guarantee you'll survive."
Tian Yang looked at him, silent for a long time. Seeing that Ke Xun was about to turn and leave, he whispered, "Ke'er, you've changed a lot."
"So many years have passed, everyone changes." Ke Xun said calmly.
"Is he... good to you?" Tian Yang tilted his head slightly, his gaze falling on Mu Yiran sitting over there.
He wasn't paying attention to them, but simply sat there quietly, eyes lowered, seemingly engrossed in thought. He rarely commented on Ke Xun's actions, and Ke Xun seemed unconcerned about whether it would cause misunderstandings.
Their relationship… wasn't close enough yet, or…?
"What makes you ask me this?" Ke Xun raised an eyebrow. "An old classmate or an ex-boyfriend?"
Tian Yang fell silent for a moment.
"You know," Ke Xun pointed to Xiao Kai lying there, "if you both manage to leave this painting alive, you'd better make things clear to him—I heard you got married not long after graduating from university. One of my buddies was your wife's classmate, and a few months ago I heard she posted a pregnancy test on her social media. She's pregnant, right? So you're feeling lonely again, hooking up with a man to satisfy your repressed and desperately hidden true sexual orientation?" " Tian Yang, this isn't the first or second time you've done this. How long do you intend to keep being such a scumbag?"
"I'm not like you," Tian Yang looked into Ke Xun's eyes, his gaze filled with conflict and pain. "I'm not like you... I have a family, a circle of relatives. I'm not as willing to go all out as you are, without having to consider my parents' capacity to bear or accept it. I... I have to be responsible for my parents. I can't let them down or cause them pain..."
"What kind of 'genius' can say something like that?" Ke Xun laughed without a trace of amusement. "If you want to take responsibility, don't hurt others. You're married to a woman on one side, and having an affair with another man on the other. Do you know, it's because of gay men like you who commit marriage fraud that the gay community receives so much more criticism. It's already difficult enough for people like us to establish ourselves in society, and you've put a fire pit under our feet. Tian Yang, don't act like you're so deeply in love with Xiao Kai. Isn't that disgusting?"
Tian Yang remained silent, his eyelids lowered. He rummaged through his pockets for a moment, pulling out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. Just as he was about to light one, he heard Ke Xun say, "If you want to smoke, go outside."
Tian Yang paused, lowered his hand, looked up at him, and smiled wistfully, "You're still the same as before, you don't like the smell of smoke."
"Compared to the smell of smoke, I dislike the smell of scum even more." Ke Xun waved his hand in front of his nose, then turned and left.
Tian Yang stood there for a while until he heard Xiao Kai dry heaving on the sofa. He quickly went over, helped Xiao Kai up, and gently patted his back.
Qin Ci also went over to check on him and fed him a cup of water boiled with willow bark.
Xiao Kai dry heaved for a long time before finally stopping. Tian Yang helped him lie back down on the sofa, where he once again fell into a state of semi-consciousness. Tian Yang frowned, staring blankly at Xiao Kai's pale face.
Without medical equipment and medicine, Qin Ci was helpless and could only bring out the alcohol to continue physically cooling Xiao Kai.
The others sat further away, continuing to try and piece together clues.
"If Xiao Kai's illness was caused by mosquito bites, could this be the real rule of death?" Shao Ling asked.
"In that case, those blood-stained rooms had a lot of flies, and perhaps mosquitoes carrying germs were mixed in," Zhu Haowen said. "I think we need to prepare more bed sheets and blankets, in case a large number of flies and mosquitoes attack us during the most sensitive time of night, we might not be able to defend ourselves."
Everyone agreed, and they quickly rummaged through the wardrobe for any clothes or fabrics that could protect against mosquitoes, distributing several pieces to each person.
What followed was the most agonizing period of "waiting before death," where all the clues were baseless speculations, and only death could give them a prefix or a sequel.
This was the cruelest part of the painting, but those who entered the painting could only submit to its fate.
The fire, fueled by burning dry branches in a pot, cast an intermittent glow in the small living room, but the world outside remained shrouded in darkness, as if covered by a thick, black cloth, making it almost impossible for air to penetrate.
Ke Xun strained to look out the window, seeing only unsettling blackness; even the neighbor's house, so close at hand, was completely obscured.
The time on their phones finally reached 11 PM amidst everyone's reluctance and frustration.
The fire in the pot continued to crackle and pop. Everyone held their breath, listening intently to the sounds around them, their nerves stretched to the limit. Suddenly, in this suffocatingly quiet, dilapidated, and gloomy house, a twisted groan rang out. Everyone's eyes snapped towards the source of the sound, only to see Xiao Kai abruptly sit up from the sofa, struggling to get out of bed.
Sitting next to him, Tian Yang quickly helped him up and asked anxiously, "Xiao Kai, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"
(Author's note:
Boss: Reading knowledge reserves in my brain... Progress: 40%)