The sofa everyone had just moved was blocking the doorway. Ke Xun's phone light shone on the floor next to the sofa, illuminating the cracks and grain of the dark yellow wooden floor with a bright white light. Microorganisms and dust in the air swirled chaotically in the light.
And on this very floor, a pool of thick, black blood was slowly seeping in from a tiny crack under the door behind the sofa. It accumulated more and more until it gradually formed a bloodstain resembling a human face.
The corners of the mouth on this blood-stained face were wide open, and because of the meandering bloodstains, it was impossible to tell whether the expression was smiling, crying, or screaming in agony.
"Holy crap!" Ke Xun exclaimed in shock. He hadn't expected that while the door and windows could block the skin, they couldn't stop the blood; even the smallest crack could allow it to seep in.
Ke Xun reacted quickly, grabbing a cushion from the sofa and throwing it onto the blood-stained face on the floor, then stomping on it and rubbing it hard against the bloodstain.
Everyone: "..."
"Watch the window gaps." Mu Yiran reminded everyone. Wei Dong and Fang Fei, who were standing closest to the window, immediately checked the gaps and found that thin streaks of blood were already seeping into the room. Without saying a word, the two tore off the curtains, crumpled them up, and quickly wiped away the bloodstains.
Wu You, He Tang, and Gu Qingqing went to help. Mu Yiran reminded them again: "Be careful, don't let your skin come into contact with the bloodstains, just in case. The curtains will be soaked with blood soon, so don't use them for too long."
"This won't do. The curtains and cushions will be soaked with blood sooner or later," Shao Ling said, "and we don't have many things we can use!"
"We still have our clothes, which can last for a while!" Ke Xun said.
Shao Ling: "..." Trying to trick me into taking off my clothes again.
"We have to think of a way quickly, Xiao Kai's condition is not good..." Qin Ci and Tian Yang were supporting Xiao Kai, who was still vomiting. He was hunched over like a shrimp, vomiting so much that he looked like he was about to have trouble breathing.
While patting his back, Tian Yang anxiously and bewilderedly looked at Ke Xun.
However, Ke Xun paid no attention to this, still frantically rubbing the cushion on the floor with his feet. The bloodstains were wiped away, but quickly gathered again, each time forming a grotesque and distorted human face. The bloodstains seeped in faster and faster, gradually forming human shoulders, necks, and upper limbs. An arm stretched out desperately forward, fingers flexed, as if trying to grab Ke Xun's ankle.
"Everyone stand on the coffee table!" Mu Yiran shouted.
Everyone abandoned their futile efforts to wipe away the blood and rushed towards the only coffee table in the center of the room. However, a problem arose: the coffee table wasn't large, but there were thirteen people. Even if they huddled together, they could only fit six or seven people at most.
"Yiran, Qin Ge, Haowen, you three stand in the middle. Dongzi, Luobo, Shao Zong, Tian Yang, stand with me on the side, facing inwards. Tian Yang, carry Xiao Kai on your back. The rest of you carry the girls. Yiran, you three hold onto our clothes in the middle so we don't lose our balance and fall." Ke Xun quickly made the arrangements, and everyone cooperated very well, quickly taking their positions on the coffee table.
Fortunately, the coffee table wasn't made of glass, nor was it a tall coffee table with a single tabletop and four thin legs, but a low table with a solid wood base, which was quite sturdy.
Ke Xun carried Wu You, Wei Dong carried Fang Fei, Luo Ling carried Gu Qingqing, and Shao Ling carried He Tang, and they stood on the table one by one. But when it came to Tian Yang and Xiao Kai, a problem arose—Xiao Kai had started to convulse, shaking and twitching, and Tian Yang couldn't even carry him on his back.
"You carry Wu You, I'll carry Xiao Kai!" Ke Xun was about to switch with Tian Yang.
Tian Yang glanced at the crowd crammed around the coffee table, lost in thought for a few seconds. Only when Ke Xun called him again did he suddenly smile wistfully: "No, Xiao Kai's condition might cause you all to fall. I'll help him onto the sofa."
Without hesitation, he helped Xiao Kai onto the sofa blocking the doorway.
The sofa was covered in cotton and cloth, which easily absorbs liquid. For safety reasons, Mu Yiran didn't suggest anyone step onto the sofa; after all, no one could predict what might happen when the large amount of blood and grime flooded the room.
Ke Xun tossed Tian Yang a spare phone: "Use this to shine a light on the floor. If you see anything wrong, call us!"
Tian Yang turned on the phone, but couldn't hold it steady to shine the light on the floor. Xiao Kai was leaning against the sofa back and door panel, vomiting and convulsing. Tian Yang had to desperately hold him down with both hands to prevent him from falling to the ground.
Seeing this, Zhu Haowen, who was standing in the center of the coffee table, crouched down, turned on his phone, and held it out between everyone's legs, shining the light on the floor under the sofa.
The bloodstains on the floor, untouched by human wiping, were rapidly reforming, forming a grotesque human face, a twisted torso, and grotesque limbs, crawling out from under the sofa in a liquid-like state, leaving trails of blood behind it.
When it reached the space between the sofa and the coffee table, it stopped crawling, and the grotesque bloody face slowly looked around on the floor, seemingly contemplating something.
"It can only move in a liquid, flat state," Zhu Haowen told everyone.
"That's strange," Wei Dong said, puzzled. "The human skin we saw earlier was piled up by the blood, not in a flat state!"
"I suspect that the blood contained more than just human skin," Ke Xun frowned, recalling. "There were also some viscous lumps and twigs, which is why the human skin was piled up. But now those things are blocked by the door, and only the blood can get in, so it's just a liquid flat state now."
"So, this blood might not be able to do anything to us?" Luo Yu asked hopefully.
"That might depend on..." Zhu Haowen adjusted the angle of his phone's light, shining it back under the sofa, where another blood-stained face peeked out menacingly, "...how much blood has flowed into the room."
The filthy blood kept seeping in from under the door and through the window cracks, and pools of human-shaped bloodstains gradually covered the entire floor of the room, making the whole floor look like a densely packed silhouette of human figures drawn in blood.
These humanoid bloodstains were crowded together, their blood-stained faces packed tightly together, their eyes, noses, and mouths forming countless bloody holes scattered throughout.
As more blood poured in, the blood on the ground began to pool, and these pools of varying sizes gradually merged into one, soon forming a shallow pool of blood on the ground.
"The situation is not optimistic," Zhu Haowen said in a low voice, his eyes stinging from staring at the blood for too long. He turned off his phone's light and closed his eyes. "At this rate, the blood might reach the height of the coffee table before dawn."
"We need to think of a way to break this," Shao Ling said, looking around. "First, we need to figure out what the purpose of this blood and human skin surrounding us is!"
"Just... kill us..." Luo Yu said, sweating profusely, lifting Gu Qingqing, who was carried on his back, onto his shoulder.
Gu Qingqing was very attentive and quickly asked, "Are you tired? I'm sorry... I'm a little heavy..."
"It's not your fault," Luo Cheng said, slightly out of breath, "It's just that my stamina is too poor. If I can get out of this painting alive, I'll definitely learn to exercise from my brother..." "
I'll do it." Mu Yiran stretched out his hand, "Squat down."
Luo Cheng didn't try to be brave and squatted down as instructed. Mu Yiran reached out and lifted Gu Qingqing off his back, then lifted his long leg and stepped over Luo Cheng's shoulder. Luo Cheng shifted his body, and the two successfully switched positions. Gu Qingqing was now steadily carried on Mu Yiran's back.
"Compared to the supernatural forces in the painted worlds we've entered before, this blood and human skin are clearly 'clumsy,'" Mu Yiran continued, picking up where Shao Ling left off. "Because they don't have the ability to pass through walls or control our senses or actions, I think if this blood and human skin can harm us, the type of harm shouldn't be aggressive. Looking at this blood, after the human skin and the unidentified lumps Ke Xun saw were blocked outside the room, it still tried its best to get inside, but very 'well-behaved' by maintaining a liquid, flat state, slowly accumulating. Therefore, I suspect its purpose might not be a sharp attack, but rather to surround, submerge, or even just to 'make contact.'"
That's why he suggested everyone stand on the coffee table; he had already made this guess the moment the tainted blood seeped into the room.
"Why would we come into contact with this blood?" Shao Ling frowned, pondering, following Mu Yiran's train of thought. "Could it be… that if we come into contact with this blood, we'll turn into those human skins?"
This question sent chills down everyone's spines.
Just as Shao Ling was about to continue speaking, Tian Yang's anxious voice suddenly rang out from the sofa: "Xiao Kai! Xiao Kai! How are you? Say something—Xiao Kai! Look at me! Say something!"
Everyone quickly looked in the direction of the voice and saw Xiao Kai leaning back on the sofa. Under the light of the phone in Tian Yang's hand, his face had turned bluish-black. His eyelids drooped, and his eyeballs seemed about to burst out of their sockets, filled with blood.
But the most terrifying thing was his face, or rather, his skin. His entire face was expressionless, as if his face was no longer under his control and might slip off his skull at any moment.
Xiao Kai could no longer speak, but he seemed to hear Tian Yang's call. He turned his head to 'look' at him, and thick black blood suddenly gushed from his nostrils.
"Xiao Kai—" Tian Yang trembled as he cupped Xiao Kai's face in his hands. "Xiao Kai—don't do this… Xiao Kai… hold on… hold on…"
"Tian Yang, try not to touch his blood…" Although he knew it was cruel, Shao Ling couldn't help but remind Tian Yang.
The blood flowing from Xiao Kai's nose was an abnormal color. Out of caution, after reminding him, Shao Ling asked Qin Ci, "Is his condition… still within the normal range of illness?"
Qin Ci frowned. His professional ethics as a doctor made it difficult for him to stand idly by while treating a patient, but the situation before him was different from the real world.
"It's hard to judge at the moment," Qin Ci tried his best to stay clear-headed and rational, staring intently at Xiao Kai's face. "Hao Wen, help me shine a light on his face."
Zhu Hao Wen turned on his phone again and shone the flashlight on Xiao Kai. The light was a bit dazzling, but at this moment, he couldn't care less about politeness.
Tian Yang had no time to pay attention to what everyone was saying. He cupped Xiao Kai's face with one hand and frantically used his sleeve to wipe the blood flowing from his nostrils with the other, trying to stop it from flowing into his mouth.
Qin Ci's keen eyes, accustomed to meticulous surgery, couldn't discern whether Xiao Kai's pupils had dilated, but they could clearly see blood beginning to leak from his eyes.
Whether he saw it clearly or not, it wouldn't affect the final outcome.
Author's Note:
★A little preview: The next chapter might cause discomfort to some readers, roughly equivalent to the level of that scene in "Animal World." So please be cautious when opening tomorrow's chapter; prepare artificial mosaics, eat something light... Mwah~ (^罒^)