The first volume of the funeral Chapter 21: Out of the painting!
They saw the three locust trees that were left behind by the crowd not far away. The ghost faces on the trees had been completely peeled off from the trunks. Thousands of ghost heads swarmed in, twisted and hideous, and rushed towards the crowd. Their messy hair was tangled into a ball, dragging behind them in a cloud of hairy mist. The slow-moving ghost heads appeared and disappeared among the tangled hair, with their facial features bulging on their pale and cracked faces, as if they wanted to catch up with the people in front immediately so that they could eat their flesh and drink their juices alive.
The pancake boss and Ma Zhenhua were so frightened that they couldn't get up after crawling for a long time. They were so frightened that their hearts were broken and they had incontinence.
Ke Xun turned his head, turned back, grabbed the pancake shop owner’s collar and ran away.
He didn't have the ability to help two people. When he was in school, he often did weighted running exercises, and the weight of an adult was already his limit.
Seeing Wei Dong also turned around and tried to pull Ma Zhenhua, Ke Xun scolded him back: "Can you pull him, idiot?! Do it within your ability and run!"
Wei Dong quickly turned around and continued running, but Mu glanced at Ke Xun in joy, turned around and grabbed Ma Zhenhua, who was paralyzed into the mud.
" Is it possible?" Ke Xun asked him.
"It seems that you have forgotten who pinned you down on the first night." Mu Yiran replied indifferently.
Ke Xun laughed and winked at him: "Don't be complacent , I was just caught off guard and you succeeded. If we were face to face, it's not certain who would win."
Seeing Mu Yiran’s face turn cold, he strode past him and walked forward.
It's really fun to tease him, Ke Xun thought.
The ghost head that was getting closer and closer behind him made people feel very bored.
Accompanied by strong winds and screams, the group of ghost heads were almost catching up with Zhang Maolin, who was running at the end. Zhang Maolin cried and ran forward desperately, but he stumbled and had one of his shoes bitten off by a ghost head that was running in the front.
Zhang Maolin subconsciously turned his head and saw that the ghost who bit off his shoe was Liu Yufei. At this moment, he was smiling hideously, revealing his tiny blue-white teeth, and pounced on him again with a howl.
"Save me—save me—" Zhang Maolin stumbled forward and grabbed Ma Zhenhua's trouser leg tightly when he climbed up the steps of the fire-watching platform.
Ma Zhenhua was dragged by Mu Yiran until he entered the fire viewing platform and barely regained his motor nerves. He used all four limbs to climb up desperately, but was unexpectedly grabbed by Zhang Maolin. He was so scared that he hurriedly pulled his legs back, but Zhang Maolin held him tightly and refused to let go.
"Let me go! Let me go!" Ma Zhenhua's eyes were bloodshot and he stared at Zhang Maolin with extreme hatred, trying hard to break free.
"Save me - please - save me -" Zhang Maolin's eyeballs were half bulged out of their sockets because of extreme fear and begging, which made his face look particularly distorted and terrifying. He used all his strength in his hands, as if he wanted to pull Ma Zhenhua down and throw him into the pile of ghost heads behind him, so that he could take his place and block the ghost heads' pursuit.
"I'll give you money - I'll give you money - I'll give you all my fortune - I have 800 million - I'll give it all to you - save me - save me -" Zhang Maolin wailed, his voice so sharp that it could almost pierce a person's eardrum.
"Let me go - go to hell! Go to hell!" Ma Zhenhua was so anxious that he kicked Zhang Maolin hard in the face and throat.
One kick, two kicks, ten kicks.
Each kick was heavier and more brutal than the last, until the last one, using all his strength, kicked Zhang Maolin in the throat, causing him to feel severe pain and suffocation. His hands loosened involuntarily, and he rolled down the stairs and fell into the vortex created by the dense hair and the pile of ghost heads piled up like grapes below him.
Countless ghost heads rushed up and instantly wrapped up Zhang Maolin. Zhang Maolin stretched out his twisted hands, as if still begging for rescue.
The ghost heads were like tumors, gnawing firmly on Zhang Maolin's body, and making biting and swallowing sounds, one after another, connected into a piece.
Zhang Maolin's shrill screams were like rough blades covered with burrs, piercing through the soles of everyone's feet.
Ma Zhenhua became incontinent again and fell and crawled desperately on the stairs.
The fire-watching platform was not very high, but it felt like it took a century to climb to the top.
On the pavilion pillar with peeling wood chips, there is a seal with dark red mud and cold words: Li Jinghao Seal.
Doctor Qin sighed slightly. Everyone had searched this place before, but there was no seal on the pillar at that time. But it appeared now. It must be because Mu Yiran had solved the problem of his painful and tragic life experience, and he had someone to confide his resentment and depression that he had accumulated for decades through the painting.
"Then what?!" Wei Dong, who was the first to run up, asked while looking at the seal.
"Hold it with your hand!" said Dr. Qin who followed closely behind.
Wei Dong was about to reach out his hand when he turned around and saw Ke Xun still behind him. He yelled at him anxiously, "Ke'er, hurry up! The bosses are catching up! Hurry!"
"You go first! I'm fine!" Ke Xun shouted, turning around to pull Mu Yiran who was left behind.
Mu Yiran was dragged down by Ma Zhenhua. When he was fighting with Zhang Maolin, Mu Yiran abandoned him and didn't want to care about him anymore. Unexpectedly, this man could catch up with him again, and now like Zhang Maolin just now, he held his legs tightly and refused to let him leave him.
The ghosts rushed forward and were about to catch up with Ma Zhenhua. At this moment, Ma Zhenhua realized the extreme fear that Zhang Maolin had just felt. He held Mu Yiran's legs tightly. He was afraid that he would be kicked down like he had done to Ma Zhenhua. He thought that even if he died, he would take someone with him.
Why, why should I die like this, but you can all live? Ma Zhenhua was unwilling to accept it, he hated it, he was extremely resentful.
When a person is about to die, his strength often exceeds the limit. Mu Yiran was dragged by him and could not get away for a while.
Ke Xun tried to pull him away, but found that this was not a good idea. They didn't have time and couldn't keep arguing like this.
Ke Xun pushed the pancake stall owner to the front and said to Dr. Qin, "Take him away!" Then he turned around and reached out to take off Mu Yiran's pants.
"You're looking for death!" Mu Yiran glared and gritted his teeth.
"What are you thinking about? What can I do to you at this time?!" Ke Xun said while his hands kept moving. In two strokes, he pulled down Mu Yiran's loose linen pants.
Ma Zhenhua slipped off Mu Yiran's pants while holding his arms, and a shrill howl came out of his mouth.
"Heh." Ke Xun wanted to kick this man into the pile of ghosts, but he still reached out and grabbed his collar and lifted him up.
Ke Xun and Mu Yiran took the last few steps almost at the same time, and both of their hands pressed on the seal at the same time. Ke Xun only felt a flash of white light before his eyes, and something like a picture frame seemed to emerge in the white light.
My body subconsciously rushed towards the painting frame. It was only a matter of a second. When I looked again, I saw the soft light above my head and the walls around me, on which hung paintings of varying sizes, bright and dark.
——I’m back, to that art gallery, that weird art gallery that led to this nightmarish and strange journey.
Wei Dong rushed over and grabbed Ke Xun's neck and shook him violently: "Ke'er! Am I dreaming?! We are back? Are we really back? Let me pinch you, does it hurt? I am not dreaming?"
Ke Xun pushed him away, rubbed his neck and coughed twice. Just as he was about to speak, he was pushed forward by a strong force from behind. When he turned his head, he saw Ma Zhenhua, kneeling on the ground with tears and snot on his face and distorted features.
"You're quite lucky." Ke Xun said expressionlessly. He didn't look at him a second time and only looked up at the painting hanging on the wall behind him.
The painting is titled "Funeral Affairs" and the artist is Li Jinghao.
Only then did Ke Xun see the true appearance of the painting.
There are distant mountains all around, and Lijia Village is surrounded by these mountains. It is indeed very remote and isolated.
The lonely village, dilapidated houses and gloomy tones all reveal the tragedy and depression that shrouds the village.
On the outskirts of the village, someone was digging a grave. At the north end of the village, a family had a mourning hall, and a few people in sackcloth were walking back and forth in the yard.
Outside the courtyard of this family, three old locust trees with ghostly and beastly appearances stood quietly and eerily.
Looking closely at the three locust trees, the trunks are indeed rugged and twisted, with shapes like human faces covering the entire surface. Looking closer, at the root of one of the locust trees, there is a human face that looks very much like Liu Yufei.
Ke Xun took a step back and looked at the fire-watching platform in the south of the village and the river beach next to it. The shapes of the two scenes really looked like the two words "Jinghao".
Ke Xun pointed at the tree knot that looked like Liu Yufei, and turned to look at Mu Yiran: "Is this originally in the painting?"
Mu Yiran stared at him with a gloomy face but ignored him.
Ke Xun raised his eyebrows and was about to ask when he heard Doctor Qin interject, "No, there is no such face in this painting. It's just because... he died in the painting. The same is true for the first two paintings we entered. Once someone dies in a painting, his image will be preserved in the painting and become part of it."
Ke Xun looked at him: "What about in the real world? Did this person just disappear out of thin air? Wouldn't anyone suspect anything?"
Doctor Qin lowered his eyes and said, "In the real world, this person will live for a few more days, but during these few days, he will lose all his memories of the painting, and then die in a seemingly normal way, which will not arouse anyone's suspicion."
Ke Xun was speechless. He stopped looking at the painting and continued to ask Dr. Qin: "What's next? Will we enter another painting right away?"
Doctor Qin calmly reminded: "Feel in your pocket."
After hearing this, Ke Xun and Wei Dong hurriedly searched their pockets. Ke Xun then discovered that he had changed back into the clothes he wore in the real world, but he took out a piece of cardboard from his trouser pocket that he had never seen before.
On the front of the cardboard, there is a line of large printed words "Changhe Art Museum Art Exhibition", and on the back of the cardboard, there are small printed words with the date, time, the address of Changhe Art Museum, and the words "Exhibition Hall No. 3".
"This is..." Ke Xun had a bad feeling.
Doctor Qin said in a low voice: "The time and place for entering the next painting. This is a ticket that only we have, and it is also... a mandatory invitation that cannot be rejected or transferred."
