Volume 1 Animal World Chapter 4: Population Conflict
An ominous feeling shrouded the hearts of several people outside the picture. No one ate anything more. Under Dong Dong's supervision, Yuan Yuan also reluctantly gave up his beloved French fries.
Looking at the people in the painting again, they were still eating like crazy, wishing they could squeeze all the food in the room into their stomachs. This scene inexplicably reminded Ke Xun of Chihiro's parents in "Spirited Away", and also reminded him of Chihiro's classic line:
Don’t eat too much or you’ll be killed.
Several people outside the painting quietly watched the people in the painting wolfing down the food. Although they knew that these people were not people in real life, in the world of the painting, they were real, living human beings. So what difference did it make whether they were people in the painting or not? It was just like Chinese people and foreigners, both were flesh and blood, living beings. No matter whether they died in the painting or outside, it was the demise of a living individual.
“Hey, eat less... Aren’t you afraid?” Bi Jing is a college student who still maintains the innocence and kindness of a person who has not yet entered society. He couldn’t help but give those people in the painting some advice.
A person in the painting, biting a mouthful of fried meat, turned around and glared at him fiercely: "Shut up! Don't even think about taking my food! Be careful or I'll kill you!"
"Little brother, don't be too kind. They won't listen. Didn't you see that there's something wrong with the way they look at the food?" Wei Dong said, "They're already sick, like they're on drugs. You can't persuade them."
"Food may be like drugs to them, which they can't quit and can't help but take," said Qin Ci.
“Fuck, will we also…” Wei Dong was shocked.
"Try to eat only nuts," Ke Xun said, "find the signature and leave as soon as possible."
"Where can I find it?" Yuan Yuan looked up. The wall of the compartment was too high and he couldn't climb up at all.
The old members said nothing. According to experience, signatures would not appear in this clearly visible compartment, and usually deaths could not be avoided on the first night in the painting. It was just that this time everyone was gathered in the same space, and no one knew what the screening criteria for death would be. Generally speaking, the "painting" would not allow everyone to be wiped out overnight. It was just that no one knew who would be the unlucky one to win the bid on the first night.
The people in the painting took a long time to eat this meal, and only stopped eating reluctantly when their stomachs were so full that a bulge appeared.
But what shocked everyone outside the painting the most was that the people inside the painting started to poop right after they finished eating, squatting in the corner and spilling it in public without any sense of shame, directly blinding everyone outside the painting's eyes.
"What the hell—" Yuan Yuan covered his eyes and yelled, "Is there no public toilet here?!"
"When have you ever seen a toilet prepared for pigs in a pigsty?" Dong Dong closed his eyes in disgust.
"But the room was quite clean when we came in," Qin Ci, who was used to seeing all kinds of patients' pathologies, remained calm, "which means they are cleaned regularly. Let's just be patient."
"This is the most disgusting thing I have ever experienced in my life..." Wei Dong pinched his nose in despair and looked up at the sky.
Just as they were feeling disgusted, they saw the guy in the painting who always had a provocative look on his face walk up to Mu Yiran with a swagger, squatted down, and looked like he was about to pull him, with his face facing Mu Yiran, and a provocative smile that said, "What can you do to me?"
Before Mu Yiran could make any move, he saw a figure taking a few steps over, raising a long and powerful leg, and kicking the man in the chest. With a cold shout of "Get out", he flew backwards in an instant and landed in an ugly posture three or four meters away.
The man struggled to get up and glared at Ke Xun like a fighting cock: "Boy, you are looking for death!"
As he finished speaking, he rushed over with clenched fists. However, before he could get close, he was kicked away again by Ke Xun's long legs.
"What are you still looking at? Come on together!" The man shouted angrily, and several people in the painting - except for one or two who were still pulling, all rushed towards Ke Xun viciously.
"Fuck, you still want to outnumber the enemy?!" Wei Dong had already jumped up, and seeing this, he rushed to Ke Xun's side and prepared to fight together.
Dong Dong and Yuan Yuan were not far behind. One was tall and strong, and the other was broad-shouldered and thick-waisted. When they stood side by side, they immediately formed an irregular wall of flesh, which was quite intimidating.
Bi Jing hesitated for a long time, but ultimately did not have the courage to stand out. He shrank his thin body into the corner, trying to reduce his presence as much as possible.
Zhu Haowen stood there expressionless.
The people in the painting had already rushed in front of Ke Xun and the others, punching and kicking. The alliance outside the painting was not to be outdone. Four black and white legs of different lengths, three tall and one fat, were thrown out at the same time, making a series of bang-bang-pa-pa sounds.
Ke Xun was punching the most arrogant boy in the face when he felt a gust of wind blowing behind his head. Turning around, he saw that it was Mu Yiran, who was holding out a long arm and clamping the neck of a person in the painting. In just two seconds, the person fell limply to the ground.
Ke Xun punched the guy in his hand away, then touched the back of his head and felt his hair was a little curled. Only then did he realize that the guy who was knocked unconscious by Mu Yiran just now was trying to launch a sneak attack on him.
I couldn't help but look back at Mu Yiran, only to see him looking at me with a cold face, and he said in a low voice: "Behind."
Ke Xun hurriedly turned back, raised his arm to block a heavy punch from the person in the painting, and then threw another punch, hitting the man's stomach with a loud thump, causing the man to open his mouth and vomit.
Ke Xun jumped away quickly, but was still sprayed on his chest and abdomen. He was so disgusted that his face wrinkled. He also heard Mu Yiran coldly said to him: "Don't you use your brain when you fight?"
"You're all on my mind. I can't bear to take you with me when I fight." Ke Xun said some cheesy love words without even turning his head. He picked up the man who fainted on the ground and wiped his chest with his soft hair.
The people in the nearby cubicles seemed to have heard the noise of the fight. They were all excited and started shouting and some even started fighting. The whole...prison? farmhouse?...was in chaos.
The fight in the compartment where the person outside the painting was, did not last long, and soon ended with a unilateral crushing of the person outside the painting. It was unexpectedly discovered that Dong Dong and Yuan Yuan were also good fighters. They punched hard and ruthlessly, and they specifically hit the most painful parts of the people. It was obvious that they had been delinquents since childhood.
Several people in the painting were beaten so obediently that they huddled in the back half of the compartment and dared not make a sound. The one who fainted on the ground was thrown over by Ke Xun. Several guys who were beaten up were squatting or sitting with bruised faces and noses, occasionally looking up secretly at Ke Xun and Mu Yiran.
These two people are the best fighters. Although Mu Yiran only attacked once , he knocked out a strong middle-aged man in less than two seconds, which can be considered a real instant kill.
And there was that **-looking boy, whose neat and powerful muscles were simply perfect. He had super-fast reflexes, and great flexibility and elasticity, and when he hit someone, his movements were powerful and swift, without any delay and even very rhythmic.
I can’t win, I can’t win… The people in the painting who were beaten thought to themselves that even their fighting postures were not as good as others.
"If you continue to overestimate your abilities, I'll beat the shit out of you!" Yuan Yuan ended with his usual harsh words.
"Stop it, do you think the smell of shit in this room is not strong enough?" Wei Dong stopped him quickly.
"Beat you until you vomit bile!" Yuan Yuan corrected.
"...You are actually in the same group with them, right?" Ke Xun said.
"Damn it, I've been making threats professionally for twenty years, but I'm actually being questioned by you guys. If you can do it, then go for it. If you can't, just keep it to yourself." Yuan Yuan said.
"Dongzi, give him a lecture and let him see what professionalism is." Ke Xun said.
Wei Dong cleared his throat and glared at the people in the painting: "If you overestimate your abilities again, I'll beat you up!"
Yuan Yuan: “…”
After a storm subsided, it was already dark outside the window, but the people in the painting did not seem to be sleepy and were still talking in a buzzing voice. This gave several old members outside the painting a slight illusion, as if the horrible incidents that would inevitably happen after the forbidden time every night would not happen here. They inexplicably found some sense of security in such noise.
"When will the death you mentioned happen? What kind of death will it be?" Several newcomers gathered around the old members and kept asking questions, as if they no longer believed the knowledge about the paintings that Qin Ci had previously popularized to them.
"Every painting is different," Qin Ci said patiently. "Some paintings may be randomly selected at random times, but some paintings have certain screening rules. We don't know which method this painting will be. We can only wait and see. Don't let your guard down and try to protect yourself."
"So what you mean is that only through death can we determine which method it is, right?" Bi Jing sensitively discovered the hidden meaning in the words, and stared at Qin Ci with cold eyes. However, because of his severe myopia, the eyes that he thought were cold and stern appeared scattered and out of focus in everyone's eyes.
"Yes." Qin Ci did not hide it and admitted it calmly.
"So, we are actually your experimental subjects?!" Bi Jing was angry.
"You can't say that," Qin Ci said with a doctor's stern face, "Maybe I or he will be the first to die. No one can predict such a thing."
"But you have experience!" Bi Jing said anxiously, "You must have a way to dodge that we don't know. Don't you want to tell us so that we die first so that you can find a way to dodge? You must be hiding something from us and using us as scapegoats, right?"
"Hey," Ke Xun stretched out his hand and covered Bi Jing's head, turning his head to face him so that he could see who was talking. "Little classmate, I warn you, don't talk nonsense without evidence. Do you know what the most taboo thing in a team is?"
"Yes, what is it?" Bi Jing was a little afraid of Ke Xun.
"One is that I'm afraid of groundless suspicion, two is that I'm afraid of someone instigating me, three is that I'm afraid of bad teammates, and four is that people like me can't control my temper," Ke Xun looked at him calmly, "Then let me ask you, which one are you afraid of?"
Bi Jing's face was full of "No. 4" and he trembled as he said, "I just... I just want to ask more clearly, otherwise I will be unsure..."
"So do you think what Dr. Qin explained just now is clear?" Ke Xun asked.
"I understand, I understand." Bi Jing wanted to nod repeatedly, but his head was still pressed in Ke Xun's palm, so he could only blink repeatedly.
"Don't wink at me. I already have someone I like." Ke Xun let him go.
The person I like suddenly said, "They are coming."
Everyone immediately pricked up their ears and listened. They heard the sound of hooves hitting the ground coming from the entrance of the farmhouse, slowly and gradually coming towards this side.
As expected... Can't we escape the rule that someone dies every night?
The sound of cow hooves stopped and started, as if it made a brief observation outside each compartment, and then walked towards this side until it stopped in front of the compartment where the people outside the picture were.
A huge bull head hung above the cubicle, its eyes turning slightly, observing everyone in the cubicle.
Bi Jing was so scared that he hid behind Ke Xun, as if he wanted to use Ke Xun's figure to hide himself.
The giant bull finally stretched out a huge hoof, poked at everyone's bodies a few times, then picked up one person and carried him out of the compartment.
It’s Yuan Yuan.
