Volume 1 Animal World Chapter 13 Lex
The giant cows ate and drank until dawn before they dispersed. The manager went into the farmhouse to feed everyone.
"Let's go to the lawn later. We will quietly approach the place where we dug the ditch yesterday," Mu Yiran whispered to a few people, "The giant bulls haven't slept all night, so they will definitely rest in the management office in the morning. This is a great opportunity for us. We only have one morning to escape, and we will be discovered by them when we eat lunch. So we can't stop for a moment and run as far as we can. Right now we don't know the situation outside. If we get separated, don't worry about others, save yourself first, find a signature and leave as soon as possible."
Everyone nodded, and Qin Ci said, "Although it sounds ruthless, in this situation, protecting yourself is indeed the most important thing, but we must also help each other within our capabilities. I think we should agree on a mark. If we get separated during the escape, if we still have the strength to spare, we can leave marks indicating the direction along the way to facilitate everyone's reunion. Who knows, whoever finds the signature first, even if he leaves the painting first, others can find him by following the mark."
Seeing that everyone had no objection, Qin Ci drew a few marks on the ground that could indicate the direction and express simple meanings, so that everyone could memorize them.
After breakfast, the giant bulls let the humans out to the lawn for a walk as usual. However, plans couldn't keep up with changes, and the giant bulls picked out Mu Yiran and Ke Xun and locked them in cages.
"Don't worry about us, Dongzi, just stick to your original plan!" Ke Xun shouted at Wei Dong, whose eyes were red again, "Run as far as you can, and make sure you get an autograph before you get out!"
Before Wei Dong could say anything, Ju Niu had already left the farmhouse carrying the cage.
Ke Xun and Mu Yiran stared outside from the cage door. They felt that they were led by the two cows for a while and then entered a huge room. There was a huge car parked in the room. Two people were taken into the car and thrown on the back seat. One of the giant cows was driving and the other sat on the passenger seat. After a while, the car drove out of the farm.
"Where do you think you'll take us?" Ke Xun asked Mu Yiran, "A big hotel in the city? Or the vegetable market?"
"Maybe it's an underground casino." Mu Yiran sat down against the wall of the cage and closed his eyes to rest.
Ke Xun thought about it and understood: "You mean, after last night, these cows saw our potential and decided to bring us to an underground casino that specializes in gambling, and then rely on us to fight with other humans to make a huge amount of gambling money?"
"It's pretty close." Mu closed his eyes happily.
"Okay, the cows here have all the bad habits that humans have." Ke Xun came over and sat next to him. "I feel like we're probably going to die, so we have to find a way to escape. Do you have any ideas about the signature?"
“I have no idea.” Mu opened his eyes with a frown on his face, rarely looking confused.
"Don't be impatient," Ke Xun raised his hand, trying to smooth his frown, but he retracted it halfway, "Take your time to think about it. It won't be difficult for you. The answer may be right in front of you. It's just a thin layer of window paper missing. Once you break it, you will find it."
Mu Yiran didn't say anything, but just stared into the void, lost in deep thought.
Ke Xun did not disturb him. He quietly stood up and walked to the side of the cage. He stretched his neck and tried to look out. He could barely see a little of the scene outside the car window. Large tracts of trees were passing by in front of him, and occasionally groups of sparrows flew by noisily.
"Hey," Ke Xun turned his head and looked at Mu Yiran, "Don't you think it's strange? In this painting, humans have become smaller and cows have become larger. In addition, their positions have been reversed, with humans becoming lower animals and cows becoming higher animals. So what role do birds play in this world?"
Upon hearing this, Mu Yiran suddenly raised his eyes and met Ke Xun's gaze.
"I just saw a group of sparrows. They are about the same size as in the real world," Ke Xun continued, "but the proportions between humans and cows are a bit strange. Even in the real world, the size of domesticated cows and humans is not much different. But here, the proportions of cows and us are the same as the proportions of humans and cats and dogs, while the proportions of sparrows are not much different. What scale did the painter use to conceive this painting?"
"There is only one possibility," Mu Yiran also stood up, "The name of this painting does not match the painting itself. The title "Animal World" is a bit too grand, and the painting itself does not depict a grand worldview.
“The painter wanted to cover the whole with dots, highlighting only one or two key points to render the world he wanted to create, but unfortunately, he was only a cutting-edge painter after all, with more youthful vigor than maturity and meticulousness.
"During the painting process, he overlooked some small details, or maybe he wanted to use these small details to highlight the key points he wanted to express. Unfortunately, the conception was not appropriate and the desired effect was not achieved. Instead, the painting looked neither fish nor fowl."
Ke Xun made an "I see" expression: "It seems that we made a preconceived mistake, thinking that all the paintings we entered were those impeccable masterpieces, so we didn't think about the flaws in the paintings at all. As a result, all the paintings on display this time are works by emerging painters. They have just debuted and may not be perfect. We only thought about the central idea they wanted to express, but ignored the imperfections in the paintings and even the bugs."
Mu Yiran nodded slightly: "After understanding this, we can redefine this painting. Through the various experiences we have experienced in the past few days, and through the imbalance between the proportions of cows, humans, and birds, we can infer that the painter's actual focus is not on the entire animal world, but just the subversive relationship between one or several animals and humans."
"Obviously this animal is a cow," Ke Xun said, "What he wanted to paint was actually cows and humans."
"But through our experiences over the past few days, I realized that the cows he painted are not just cows," Mu said happily, "For example, Bi Jing's fattening method is to force-feed ducks, so the cows have some of the shadow of ducks.
“For example, what you and I experienced with Dong Dong yesterday was like cockfighting or dog fighting, so the cow also had the shadow of a chicken and a dog.
“Plus the way they are managed and fed, it might be like pigs, sheep or poultry.
"So the artist concentrated and exaggerated some of the phenomena he had seen of humans treating animals on the cow."
"So, I feel... that the painter has some sympathy for animals?" Ke Xun touched his chin.
"Yes," Mu nodded happily, "So Zhu Haowen's statement is almost right. The painter may not be an extreme vegetarian, but he is very likely an animal protectionist. However, I suspect that it is a bit exaggerated to say that he is an animal protectionist. His thoughts may not rise to such a height. Judging from his cramped conception, his worldview is too narrow. He can't care about all animals. He probably only cares about certain kinds of animals. So, it's more like saying that he is an animal lover."
Ke Xun raised his eyebrows: "Generally speaking, people who have pets at home can be called animal lovers. People who have dogs love dogs, people who have cats love cats, and people who have parrots love parrots. These people also have a certain degree of kindness towards other kinds of animals, but not enough to advocate for other kinds of animals, or even pay attention to them all the time. It can only be said that if you love someone, you love him/her, and you love him/her too."
"You can say that," Mu said happily, "since the painter's starting point for this painting is narrow, we can infer that the painter should not be a pure or extreme animal protectionist.
“This is not a painting that rises to a more macro and in-depth level of humanistic thinking and humanitarian criticism; his thought is confined to a small range of phenomena.
“But of course, this does not mean that this small-scale issue is not worth exploring and thinking about in depth. It just appears to be more emotional in terms of the way it is expressed and the conception.
“To put it bluntly, this painting is more like a private work that uses painting to vent emotions.”
" This emotion is understandable," Ke Xun said. "When I was in school, the only way I wanted to vent was to masturbate or break records. This can also be considered a form of creation or creation."
Mu Yiran glanced at him coldly. "Since he was venting his anger, then it's obvious that he was angry about the relevant incident. He is an animal lover who was angry because of animals and reversed the status of humans and animals in his painting. So the reason for his anger should not be difficult to guess."
Ke Xun's eyes darkened, and he uttered two darker words: "Murder."
"Animal cruelty is something that every animal lover cannot accept or forgive," Mu Yiran said in a deep voice. "I suspect that the artist once raised an animal, and this animal was cruelly killed by someone."
"Cow?" Ke Xun put his hands on his chest. "Cows are rare in cities. Is the painter from the countryside or the mountains?"
"It's unlikely to be a cow," Mu shook his head. "In rural areas, cows are considered labor. It's unlikely that they would be slaughtered, unless someone has a grudge against the cow's owner. But the painter wouldn't elevate it to the entire human race. I'm more inclined to believe that the animals the painter raises are common, and in real life, the slaughter of such animals is very common."
Ke Xun frowned slightly: "Dog, or cat."
"I think it should be a dog." Mu Yiran said, "When I entered the painting, although the time was short, I still saw part of the pattern in the painting. In addition to the cow, there is also a cat, but the position of the cat is away from the main picture and belongs to the background, so the cat is just incidental, and the dog is more likely.
“I remember when we were looking down at the entire farm from the vent, we said that the shape of the entire farm looked like a big crouching dog. I didn’t pay much attention to it at the time, but now I think it’s almost like the dark lines and metaphors left by the painter in the painting.
"And there is another more powerful piece of evidence, which is the painter's pen name."
"Lex?" Ke Xun raised his eyebrows.
"Lex is a very common English name, and no one would be suspicious of it." Mu said happily, "But now that I think about it, it obviously has a special meaning.
"There is a dog in the United States who has been awarded a high honor award, his name is Lex.
"During the Iraq War, its owner unfortunately died, and Lex himself was seriously injured. There were more than fifty bullets in its body. But even so, Lex managed to drag his owner to the doctor with his mouth.
"So, the artist probably chose this pen name because of this."
