Volume 1 Faith Chapter 10 The Second Death Condition
"Don't talk nonsense to me. It's already like this. There's no point in talking big and giving me chicken soup!" Wei Dong wiped his face with his hand, his cheeks flushed nervously, and stared at Ke Xun.
"Dongzi, calm down." Ke Xun noticed Wei Dong's rapidly changing mood and reached out to hold his shoulder, but he pushed his hand away.
"Okay, I don't need your pity," Wei Dong knew he was emotionally broken, he spoke without thinking, but he couldn't stop himself, "Don't act like you are so positive and energetic, do you really not want to die? Have you really never thought about giving up?
"Ever since your parents... Look at what a piece of shit you've become. There's not even a decent piece of furniture at home. You have to make do with whatever you eat, drink, defecate, urinate, and sleep. You don't care about money. You live today but not tomorrow. You spend as much as you want. If you run out of money, you'll die. Am I right?
"What were you like before? What are you like now? Don't you have any idea?
"It doesn't matter if you die without any worries, but I don't want to die! I have a father and a mother at home, and I still have a job. I'm not like you who has seen through the world and lives a mediocre life. I just want to live a good life, like before, an ordinary life. I..."
Wei Dong spoke with a nasal tone, covering his face and burying his head in his knees.
Ke Xun didn't say anything, just sat there motionless, his eyes fixed on the tattered felt rug beneath him.
Mu Yiran didn't say anything either. The only sound in the tent was Wei Dong's suppressed, heavy breathing.
The panting lasted for a long time, gradually becoming slow and long, and the sound seemed empty, lingering around the body and even above the head.
Ke Xun grabbed the back of Wei Dong's neck and whispered into his ear: "Dongzi, be quiet."
Wei Dong suddenly stopped and froze under Ke Xun's palm, not daring to move.
The snow outside the tent turned pale. In the sky, which looked several times lower than during the day, a large mass of thick, black, and sticky stuff slowly slid toward the ground. It gradually grew into eight sturdy arms, a torso, and a head. Two sturdy, bent legs fell to the ground and took slow steps.
Lie down. Mu Yiran gestured to Ke Xun and put the purple moss in his arms.
The tent was so small that three people had to lie side by side, and it was still very crowded.
After Ke Xun pushed Wei Dong down, he turned around, turned his back to him, and faced Mu Yiran.
Mu Yiran was lying down halfway when he saw this. He paused, turned around, and left the back of his head to Ke Xun.
Unexpectedly, just as he lay down on his side, the guy behind him used his hands and feet to get on top of him and hugged him tightly from behind. Mu Yiran's body stiffened, and he reached out to pinch Ke Xun's hand that was around his waist. With a force, Ke Xun immediately broke out in a cold sweat due to the pain.
"The place is small, be patient," Ke Xun whispered in his ear, "Dongzi is about to be squeezed out."
After a long time, Mu Yiran finally let go of his wrist.
Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of a few small purple jalapa flowers emerging from his arms, and his forehead muscles throbbed involuntarily.
This person is the only one he has ever seen in his life. He is the best at taking advantage of the situation and will dare to climb up to the roof and remove the tiles if you give him a chance!
The giant shadow slowly walked to the tent where Sha Liu and Li Ziling were. The last person to form a group with them was Qin Ci. The giant shadow bent over their tent to check, and eight uncontrolled arms were twisting and waving in chaos.
After looking for a while, the giant shadow moved its legs and walked towards the tent where the family of three was.
After observing for a long time, the giant shadow finally came to the tent where Ke Xun and the others were.
A huge black mass rumbled against the top of the tent, and its heavy, long breathing seemed to be right beside his ears. Ke Xun heard the faint sound of body friction , and then the scratching sound of nails scratching on the tent skin.
——Did it choose this tent?
Ke Xun felt Wei Dong's body trembling behind him, but he couldn't help him, nor could he help himself.
Perhaps because this was Suo Jin's second painting, he had more experience and feelings about death, and he had become more resilient and accustomed to the fear. Or perhaps it was because Wei Dong's out-of-control emotions and the careless words he said just now had touched upon the pain that Ke Xun had been avoiding thinking about for so long. Now that death was imminent, he was suddenly able to face his true inner self.
Then Ke Xun unexpectedly discovered that he was not so afraid of death.
However, Wei Dong was wrong, he lived a mediocre life, not because he had lost the desire to live a good life, he just had no worries and obsessions, so he lived more casually and capriciously.
He is not afraid of death, but he is also willing to live hard.
His belief is not money, or maybe he has no belief at all, or maybe following his heart is his true belief.
The sound of nails scratching the tent suddenly disappeared.
The huge shadow slowly moved away from overhead and walked towards the tent where Zhou Bin, Zhao Dan and Ma Zhenhua were.
A shrill scream suddenly rang out, and a huge shadow stood up, with its head in the sky and its feet the ground. Several arms twisted and entangled, and all grasped the person who was struggling frantically in the other hand.
“No - please - let me go - I don’t want to die -” Ma Zhenhua’s heart-wrenching voice seemed to come from his chest being torn open, and in the next moment, the giant shadow’s hand pinched his scalp and tore it gently.
Ke Xun closed his eyes. Ma Zhenhua's screams, like those of a wild beast or a ghost, almost pierced his eardrums.
The cry continued for a while, gradually weakened, and then disappeared.
No one else died that night.
Maybe it was because he almost didn't sleep the whole night, or maybe it was because Ma Zhenhua's death had stretched people's nerves to the extreme and caused them to be tired, Ke Xun actually fell asleep in the second half of the night. When he opened his eyes, it was already dawn. Mu Yiran was no longer in the tent, and Wei Dong was sleeping like a pig beside him.
Ke Xun got up and walked out of the tent. He saw Mu Yiran standing there motionless in the morning light, looking at Zhou Bin and the others' tent.
Ke Xun walked over and followed his gaze, and saw a large bloody human figure curled up on the ground not far from the tent.
That was the person who was skinned alive, Ma Zhenhua.
"What's going on?! Aren't there sacrifices for protection? Why are people still dying?!" Zhou Bin, who crawled out of the tent, collapsed to the ground, covering his head in despair.
Qin Ci turned around to block the two girls' sight and told them not to look over there. The Geng family's three members did not even come out of the tent.
"This time, they died in a different way," Ke Xun retracted his gaze and looked at Mu Yiran, "It seems that these sacrifices are ineffective, and the number of people in each tent doesn't seem to matter much to the giant shadow's selection of people."
"The number of people in the tent is only the first death trigger condition ," Mu Yiran said as he pondered, "When this condition cannot be met, we will resort to the second best and use the second death condition for screening."
"What do you think the second condition is? Does it have something to do with the type of sacrifice?" Ke Xun said as he pondered.
"Maybe." Mu said happily.
"I don't know if it's my illusion," Ke Xun said, "but I always feel that the giant shadow last night was bigger than the one the night before."
"Are you sure?" Mu looked at him in delight.
Ke Xun thought about it carefully and nodded: "Yes, and I am sure that the difference in size is definitely not caused by the distance of the light. It is indeed bigger and taller than it looked the night before."
Mu Yiran lowered his eyes and thought. Ke Xun did not disturb him. He went back to the tent and picked up Wei Dong. When he came out of the tent again, Ma Zhenhua's bloody body had been covered by Qin Ci with a torn blanket.
"The skin was peeled off completely and neatly," Qin Ci was talking to Mu Yiran in a low voice in the big tent, "There was no trace of residue. It was peeled off in one piece. I suspect that this is the same as the previous painting. Something has determined the different ways of death for all of us."
"Is it because of the different sacrifices?" Sha Liu interjected.
"But this can't explain why only Ma Zhenhua died last night." Qin Ci said.
"Maybe it's because Ma Zhenhua never personally prepared the sacrifices like we did." Zhou Bin had recovered from his morning breakdown and had been comforting his frightened girlfriend. "He was in extreme panic the whole time, timid and cowardly. When we were preparing the meat yesterday, he didn't help at all and was shivering beside us."
"That makes sense," Qin Ci nodded slightly, "It seems that except for him, all of us have at least tried hard to find a sacrifice."
"So, since the rest of us have obtained the sacrifice with our own hands, no one will die tonight?" Sha Liu asked.
Qin Ci did not answer, but just lowered his eyes in thought.
Mu Yiran pondered and said, "The death rules of this painting are obviously different from those of the previous one. If the death rules of the previous painting are to determine the way of death by classification, I think this painting may be to conduct an overall screening based on whether the set conditions are met.
"'Painting' has set up death screening conditions here. Once someone meets a certain condition, that person will be selected. But if no one meets this condition, then soon, 'Painting' will use the second condition to screen us.
"By analogy, the conditions will become more and more severe, and the possibility of avoiding death will become lower and lower. This also means that there will be no situation in this painting where no one dies in a single night."
Several people who had experienced the previous painting exchanged glances that showed they knew what was going on.
Qin Ci thought thoughtfully: "In other words, the screening criteria for the first night are people who are alone in the tent, and the screening criteria for the second night are people who have not prepared the sacrifice by themselves."
"No," Mu Yiran looked at him, "I think these two conditions are superimposed. The condition on the first night is the lone person in the tent. If there is still someone alone on the second night, this condition still applies. But if there is no one alone, then the second screening condition will immediately appear. At the same time, the first condition still exists. Then, the people who will be selected are [the lone person] and [the person who has not prepared the sacrifice personally]. No matter which of these two conditions is met, they will be selected."
Qin Ci's eyes darkened. "That is to say, these conditions are added and superimposed with each passing night. On the third night, there will be a new screening condition, which will be used together with the first two conditions to screen us for death?"
Everyone was shocked when they heard this.
What does this mean? It means that the limit on the number of people per tent has not been lifted and remains in place.
