The first volume of the funeral Chapter 4: The Funeral Hall
Mu Yiran's voice was cold and very textured. It was a stretched, deep, refreshing and elastic sound. Listening to him speak, Ke Xun felt that his ears, as a grown man, were about to become pregnant.
"None of us knows what is really going on. We were all sucked into the painting, and the world you are in now is the world depicted in the painting. There is only one way to leave this world, and that is to find the 'signature' and make sure you stay alive." Mu Yiran's tone was calm, and he didn't seem panicked by the situation at hand.
"What is a signature? How do I find it?" Ke Xun asked.
"The painter's signature," Mu Yiran replied, "Some painters will sign their names or initials on the painting. If it is a Chinese painting, we may need to find the painter's seal. Only by finding the painter's signature or seal can we leave this world in the painting."
"This is too abstract. Looking for a signature all over the world is like looking for a needle in a haystack." Wei Dong interrupted, "What if the signature is signed under a tile on the roof? Do we have to search all the tiles on the roofs of the world?"
"The location of the signature is closely related to the content of the painting. By interpreting the painting and getting clues, we can find the signature," said Mu Yiran.
“…It may take at least a year or two to find someone.” Wei Dong had a dull look on his face.
Mu Yiran glanced at him calmly and said, "Anyone who cannot be found within seven days will die."
"Shit!" Ke Xun and Wei Dong were both shocked, "Is this true?!"
"If you don't believe me, then try it," said Liu Yufei, who had pigtails, sneering at the side. "You can do nothing for seven days and see if you die after seven days."
"No - how did he die? He suddenly lay on the ground and died or something?" Wei Dong asked.
Liu Yufei grinned nervously: "There are many ways to die. There is nothing you can't die in, only things you can't imagine."
“Fuck, is there anyone in charge or not?!” Wei Dong was shocked.
"Why is this happening?" Ke Xun still found it incredible. "Who made the rules? Who has the power to decide our life and death? Who has such a weird ability to put a living person into a painting? Doraemon?"
Mu Yiran glanced at him and said calmly, "I don't know."
"Doraemon! I'm Nobita! Don't you recognize me? Please take back your magical powers and let us go back!" Wei Dong wailed to the sky.
"Shut up!" Liu Yufei punched him angrily, "Keep your voice down! If you want to die, go ahead and die by yourself, don't drag me down with you!"
As he spoke he looked around nervously, as if he was afraid of disturbing something in the darkness.
Wei Dong was punched for no reason and was about to fight back, but when he saw the pale face of fear on his face, he couldn't help but shiver. He looked around for a while, only to find that the night seemed darker and thicker than before. The thick gray night fog had enveloped the entire village. In the hazy and chaotic place, there seemed to be something squatting there, slowly opening its black mouth.
Wei Dong didn't dare to make a sound. He even tried his best to hold his breath and rolled his eyes desperately to signal Ke Xun.
However, Ke Xun didn't even look at him at this moment. He tilted his head and continued to talk to Mu Yiran.
"How do you know what you just said? For example, you can only get out if you find a signature or seal, and if you can't find it, you will die in seven days. Who told you that?" Ke Xun asked.
Mu Yiran didn't look at him either, his eyes calmly looking at the thick fog ahead: "No one told me, this is the third painting I've entered, and the known clues are all summarized from the first two paintings."
"The third one?!" Wei Dong was shocked again, "What does it mean?"
"It means that even if you are lucky enough to get out of this painting, you will enter the next one again." Liu Yufei replied in a mocking tone. If you listen carefully, there is a hint of tragedy in the mockery.
"Why?!" Wei Dong couldn't help but ask in surprise, "Didn't we just return from the painting to the real world? Why did we have to enter the painting again?"
"I don't know," Liu Yufei shrugged and pointed to the sky, "The big boss forced me to go in. I will die if I don't."
“How did he die? Could it be that he can even control the real world?” Despair appeared in Wei Dong’s eyes.
"I don't know. Maybe." Liu Yufei had a numb face. "Anyway, whether in the real world or in this world in the painting, we are all ants. We will always be played around by the power of the upper, upper, and upper upper levels. But as the saying goes, even ants try to survive. Even if we know that we can't escape the power of the upper level, most people will always find ways to survive, right?"
"But why me?!" Wei Dong pulled his hair fiercely, "I'm just an ordinary person. I used to live a normal and good life. Why did you choose me to experience such a weird thing?!"
"How can I put it?" Liu Yufei twisted his mouth mockingly, "You deserve this bad luck."
Wei Dong stopped talking. If he could still make a few remarks in a self-deceiving manner when he first came in, now he has completely recognized the "reality" before him. He held his head with both hands, pulling his hair desperately, his eyes and face filled with fear, unwillingness, and despair.
"Dongzi," Ke Xun hugged him and pressed him hard in his arms, "It's okay, didn't we say we can go back to the real world? Don't be nervous, cheer up, we can definitely go back. Everything has a cause and an effect, and every effect has a cause. I don't believe that we can't find the source of this matter. We didn't play Nintendo games for nothing when we were young. Clearing levels and defeating old men, aren't those our specialties?"
"Nonsense, Contra has thirty lives, and Super Mario can even give out a little green mushroom as a reward for each person. Is there one here? Is there one?" Wei Dong lowered his head in frustration, but his voice sounded a little more energetic.
"Do you need it?" Ke Xun smiled, "Have you forgotten that I am Xiao Baidan, a fighter who will help you pretend and fly with his life and complete the entire Contra."
"Okay, at least give me a small white bullet so I can defend myself." Wei Dong said.
"Okay, stop imagining," Ke Xun said, "We need courage even without weapons. Even if we are ants, we must die on the corpse of an elephant."
Mu Yiran, who was walking next to him, turned his head to glance at Ke Xun, but happened meet Ke Xun's gaze that turned towards him inadvertently.
The two people's eyes met, and Ke Xun smiled at him with a hint of indifference and fearlessness at the corner of his lips.
All kinds of people enter the painting, but who can know how long they can live?
Mu Yiran indifferently shifted his gaze away and looked forward again.
In the thick gray night fog ahead, three old locust trees with twisted branches stood motionless beside a dilapidated courtyard.
"The Li family is here." Liu Yufei took a breath, his voice a little stiff and nervous.
Ke Xun looked at him sensitively: "Is there something wrong?"
Liu Yufei was not prepared for his question. He looked at him with flickering eyes and twisted his mouth: "No, go in."
Seeing that he didn't want to talk, Ke Xun didn't ask any more questions.
The door of the yard was ajar. Liu Yufei walked forward and pushed the door, which made a creaking sound. However, the shrill sound did not spread far in the silent night. As soon as it spread out, it was immediately swallowed up in the thick fog.
As soon as they stepped into the yard, Ke Xun and Wei Dong were almost shocked by the scene before them and blurted out their anger. Liu Yufei couldn't help but curse in a low voice.
The Li family's yard is not small. It is a quadrangle courtyard with a wall surrounded by a dilapidated fence. There are houses on all four sides. Outside the three main rooms on the north, white curtains and long banners are hung. On both sides of the door, there are large strings of paper money and gold ingots made of yellow and white paper. Two paper boys and girls wearing colorful clothes, with distinct features and happy smiles, are placed at the door.
It looked like a mourning hall.
"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" He cursed three times - Wei Dong was trembling all over, and the flesh on Liu Yufei's face was twitching. Ke Xun looked to the left and then to the right, and saw that the only one among the four who could still remain calm was Mu Yiran, but he could still detect a hint of seriousness and vigilance in his eyes.
"No wonder we have to wear this kind of clothes." Liu Yufei looked down at his body.
Isn't this just mourning clothes? Ke Xun was depressed and wanted to take it off and throw it on the ground, but considering that there was only a piece of white silk left in the clothes, he had to give up.
"Let's go." Mu Yiran glanced at Ke Xun indifferently.
The person who gets the cloth strip with the word "Yang" on it will guard the Li family's granary.
Ke Xun looked around and saw a piece of white paper pasted on the door of the wing room on the west side of the yard, with the word "grain" written in black on it.
On the door of the back house on the south side of the yard, the word "柴" was also written in black and white. Wei Dong and Liu Yufei, who drew the cloth strip with the word "顾", had to go to the firewood room to chop firewood.
Wei Dong cursed in a low voice - the door of the woodshed was facing the door of the mourning hall in the north, and the two paper-made boys and girls were smiling at the door.
"Dongzi, be careful." Ke Xun held Weidong's shoulder, leaned close to his ear, and lowered his voice, "There should be an axe for chopping wood in the woodshed. Take it in your hand. Be alert and don't fall asleep. Call me if something happens. If it doesn't work, run outside the yard."
"I know... I know... You should be careful too..." Wei Dong's voice trembled as he reluctantly followed Liu Yufei to the woodshed.
Ke Xun followed Mu Yiran to the granary in the west wing. When he pushed the door open, a mixed smell of dust and rotten grain hit his nose. Ke Xun almost choked and stopped at the door, pinching his nose.
Mu Yiran seemed not to be able to smell it. He walked straight in, took out his mobile phone from his pocket, turned on the screen, and scanned the room with the light of the screen. He saw a dozen large and small sacks piled in the corner of the room. The window shutters were made of solid wooden boards and were tightly closed. Not a single light could penetrate the room. Of course, there was no light at night.
"Come in and close the door." Mu turned around and looked at Ke Xun.
"Let's ventilate it first. Not even a mouse can survive in there with this smell." Ke Xun said.
"Come in and close the door." Mu Yiran repeated coldly, unmoved.
"...Are you also a reincarnated parrot?" Ke Xun sighed, stepped in and closed the door.
"Bolt the door." Mu Yiran continued to order coldly.
"Handsome guy, you are not a girl. Are you afraid that someone will break in in the middle of the night and molest you? If the door is bolted, it will be difficult for you to run away if something happens." Ke Xun tilted his head and looked at him.
"You think there won't be any?" Mu Yiran sneered.
Ke Xun was stunned, then turned around and bolted the door silently.
Mu Yiran turned off the screen of his mobile phone, and the room fell into darkness. Only the suffocating smell of dust and decay filled the air around him.
"What to do next?" Ke Xun asked.
"Stay." Mu Yiran's voice sounded even colder and deeper in the darkness.
"Just... stay here?" Ke Xun took two steps and found that the darkness was so deep and thick that it made people feel as if they were in a void universe. Every step he took was like falling into an infinitely deep black hole without warning. He felt extremely unsure.
He took out his cell phone from his pocket and swiped the screen to find Mu Yiran's position. He discovered that he had actually sat on a sack in the corner of the room, leaning there with his eyes closed and resting.
"Just stay here? Do nothing?" Ke Xun walked over and asked him.
"You can sleep too." Mu Yiran didn't even open his eyes.
"Don't we need to look for a signature or seal in this room?" Ke Xun squatted down beside him and took a picture of his face with his cell phone screen.
Looking at it from such a close distance, this person's skin is incredibly good. Under the light of the screen, his facial features appear more three-dimensional and profound, like a sculpture that has been most finely polished.
"If it was so easy to find, there would n't be ." Mu Yiran frowned slightly when he was photographed with his mobile phone. "I advise you to save the battery of your mobile phone and save it for when necessary. There is no place to charge it in this painting, and you will stay here for seven days. Of course, if you die tonight, you can use it at will."
Ke Xun quickly turned off his phone and sat down on the sack next to him: "Look at you, you have such a big grudge, you curse me to die early, will it add more life to your life or something?"
Mu Yiran ignored him.
Ke Xun was silent for a long while. In the pitch-black darkness, he could only hear Mu Yiran's shallow breathing, but he could not hear any movement outside the granary.
In fact, he really wanted to know about the three people who drew the cloth strips with the word "People" - according to the old man's arrangement, they would be responsible for keeping watch tonight.
Since we have to keep vigil, of course we have to do it in the mourning hall.
I wonder if in the main room hung with mourning banners... there is... a corpse?
