Volume 1 Faith Chapter 21: If I die, I must die passionately and arrogantly
When the snow outside the tent turned pale, Ke Xun knew that the Black Sky had arrived.
Mu Yiran said that only when the Black Sky comes can the pattern on the top of the tent be clearly seen with the light of the snow. This is true because the light of the snow has changed.
Ke Xun felt that he was a little slow to realize it. He had noticed the change in the snow light since the first night he entered the painting, but he had never thought about the strangeness of this change.
But at the moment he had no time to reflect. In the pale snow light, he moved the tent to find the angle where the pattern on the tent roof appeared.
The first tent that Mu Yiran entered was his. Ke Xun did not speak to him, for fear of disrupting his memory of the pattern. He just quietly stepped aside to make room for him.
Mu Yiran looked up at the top of the tent without blinking, his dark eyeballs shaking rapidly and slightly, obviously he was trying his best to carefully record the pattern.
Ke Xun stared outside the tent and saw Heishitian's huge figure landing on the ground and walking slowly towards the group of tents step by step.
In order to avoid being wiped out at once, the seven tents were not too close to each other and maintained a certain distance, but not beyond the range where everyone could maintain a high-speed sprint.
Before Heishitian reached the edge of the tent group, Mu Yiran left Ke Xun's tent and rushed into Weidong's tent.
Ke Xun stared at Heishitian's figure and saw it walk towards the tent where Qin Ci was first.
Mr. Geng rushed out of his tent and rushed into Qin Ci's tent a few steps ahead of it.
Heishitian stopped and turned to walk towards the tent where Shaliu was.
Mu Yiran, who was in a team with Shaliu, was still in Weidong's tent. The time was too short and he had no time to remember the pattern on the tent roof.
Ke Xun rushed out of his tent and ran towards Shaliu's tent. He did not say anything to Mu Yiran because he was not sure whether the sound would attract Heishitian's attention.
What made him happy was that Mu Yiran and he had such a tacit understanding - he stayed in Weidong's tent and continued to record the patterns inside.
Ke Xun thought that since Mu Yiran had already memorized the pattern of his tent, he didn't need to rush back. He could first pair up with Sha Liu and wait and see what happened.
At this time, the four tents with people in them were all in groups of two, all meeting the required number of people for tonight. Heishitian paused again and walked towards the tent of Gengma and her son.
Dad Geng rushed out of Qin Ci's tent and ran towards his own tent. Mu Yiran left Weidong's tent and entered Qin Ci's tent.
Heishitian turned around and walked towards Geng's father's tent. Ke Xun once again acted as a firefighter, running out of Shaliu's tent and entering Geng's father's tent.
A thrilling race against death unfolded in this almost silent, tense, terrifying dark night. One, two, or even three figures kept shuttling between the seven tents at the same time. No one spoke, no one looked around, they just stared at where they were going, sprinting with all their might, risking their lives.
But in fact, everyone is becoming more and more nervous. No one is sure when the "god"-level big boss Heishitian will suddenly go berserk. The passing of time also means that the time for him to go berserk is getting closer and closer.
Everyone's hopes were placed on Mu Yiran.
Mu Yiran had already drilled through five tents, but this was obviously not enough. He still needed to sort out the seven patterns imprinted in his mind and then piece them together.
It's easy to say, but all this can only be done in the mind, so it's so difficult. Not to mention how complicated and difficult to remember the patterns on the seven tents are, just not mixing up the patterns is already an almost impossible task. Then you have to simulate a puzzle-like scene in your mind and piece together the seven patterns one by one, which tests more than just your memory.
When Mu Yiran was doing the arduous puzzle in his mind, everyone's nerves were stretched to the limit, and their hearts were beating like drums. During this time, everyone had to maintain a single tent to attract Heishi Tian's attention, so several people were running back and forth non-stop.
The double high load of mental and physical exertion made everyone tired very quickly, so that except for Mu Yiran and Ke Xun, the physical strength of the others decreased significantly, and their running speed became slower and slower.
The oldest one, Mr. Geng, was the first to collapse. His legs went limp, and he stumbled and fell on the road between two tents. His knee hit a sharp stone, and it hurt so much that he couldn't get up for a while.
Heishitian only needed two steps to reach the front, and his eight angry arms covered his head like a huge net.
Ke Xun rushed out and arrived at the moment when Heishitian's giant hand was about to grab Geng's father. He pushed Geng's father out. However, the giant hand did not stop. It opened and closed and picked up Ke Xun who was under its palm.
"Ke Xun!"
Ke Xun heard someone calling out anxiously.
It was a man's voice. It wasn't Weidong's, who always called him "Ke'er." It wasn't Qin Ci's or Geng's father's, who called him "Xiao Ke" or "Little Brother Ke."
Ke Xun was lifted up from the ground by a giant hand, and his perspective was forced to change quickly, but he still tried hard to turn his head and find the person who called him.
"Goodbye." Ke Xun smiled at him with his eyes curved, then waved.
If you die, you must die passionately and arrogantly.
Turning back, Ke Xun looked up at the huge head above his head.
The eight-armed black corpse has a pitch-black complexion, huge eyes that bulge out of the sockets, blood-red eyeballs, indigo pupils, and long breaths coming out of its flat and wide nostrils. Its scarlet mouth is split to the ears, with four huge and long fangs bared from its mouth. Its blood-red mouth is open, as if it contains a vast ocean of blood.
Finally at this moment, Ke Xun was fearless and relaxed. He even waved at it and greeted it with a smile: "Excuse me, you are really an ugly bastard."
Perhaps this Excellency had never seen a human sacrifice without screaming, struggling or fear, and he did not immediately start to "enjoy" Ke Xun. Instead, he stared straight at Ke Xun's face with his bulging bloodshot eyes.
Ke Xun was held in front of it and had to look it in the face. He saw that on this dark and ugly face, there was something vaguely trying to reveal itself.
What is it? Ke Xun opened his eyes wide and looked carefully. He heard Mu Yiran's quick and urgent command from the ground under his feet: "Tent No. 4 is moved to the left of Tent No. 1, Tent No. 3 is to the east of Tent No. 1, and Tent No. 5 is moved to the west of Tent No. 4..."
Heishitian's face was changing. Two crescent-like curved eyebrows and a pair of slender, joyful and kind eyes were faintly emerging on this black face.
It’s the kind-looking Black Corpse Heaven!
The kind-looking Heishitian wants to show up!
But it seemed that its strength was not enough. The face in front of it was still that of the angry Heishitian. The kind Heishitian was like an embryo that constantly tried to break through the surface layer of flesh membrane, struggling and squeezing hard.
The angry Black Corpse Sky was finally enraged. It stretched out its eight arms, dancing, twisting, and grabbing in the air, as if it wanted to crush all the forces in the world that resisted it. It pinched Ke Xun with two fingers, opened its huge mouth like a sea of blood, and sent Ke Xun into its mouth!
It's going to eat him alive!
Ke Xun yelled "Fuck it" - he would rather be torn into pieces instantly than go through reincarnation in this thing's stomach and eventually become a pile of divine feces. He quickly stretched out his hands and hugged the sharp teeth on the side of Heishi Tian's mouth, refusing to go into its mouth no matter what.
Black Corpse Sky stretched out its pointed, red, soft and smooth tongue. It gently hooked and rolled Ke Xun and pulled him off from its teeth. Just as it was about to roll him into its mouth, it suddenly heard Mu Yiran shout from the ground: "Turn over the tent!"
The black and red in front of Ke Xun's eyes were instantly obscured by a burst of golden light. The light was too dazzling, so he had to close his eyes tightly. Even so, his eyelids could not block the grand light. Rumbling sounds as if coming from heaven rang in his ears, sounding holy and solemn, like a piece of heavenly music. His nose was suddenly filled with the fragrance of flowers, plants and spices, which made his body and mind refreshed and his pores opened up.
Amidst this sacred music, the fragrance of flowers and the golden light, Ke Xun tried to open his eyes.
All he could see before his eyes were two huge, soft and beautiful lips. Something gently pinched him out from between the two lips. Moving his perspective, he saw that the dark and ugly angry Heishitian had disappeared, and standing in front of him was the dignified, joyful and kind Heishitian, with skin as white as jade and soft and moist facial features. Although there was still no life in his eyes, they were still able to make people feel calm.
The kind-looking Heishitian held him and gently turned his wrist. Ke Xun's face immediately faced the ground, but he saw that the seven tents had been turned over, like seven shallow-bottomed bowls, and the patterns on the bottom of the bowls formed a complete picture.
On the painting, there is a string of Gan Xiong characters composed of two tracks of flowers and flesh. Ke Xun guessed that this string of characters was probably the signature of the painter Qiu Jian.
Mu Yiran said that the skull is believed to contain all of a person's vitality and soul.
Qiu Jian, a fanatical believer of the Satā religion, engraved all his vitality and soul in the form of a signature on the offering bowl he offered to the gods, using himself as a sacrifice and devoutly offering up his faith.
As for whether he believed in the Qing sect, which regards evil as its god, or the Suo sect, which regards righteousness as its god, it is probably a matter of opinion.
In the overwhelming golden light, something that looked like a picture frame faintly appeared above the signature. Everyone filed out, and in the end only Mu Yiran was left. He stood beside the picture frame, looking up at Ke Xun.
Ke Xun felt the two fingers pinching his body loosen, and the whole person fell from mid-air. He thought that this time he might be caught in the arms of his male god like a princess, but he saw Mu Yiran turned his body expressionlessly, giving up the coordinate where he was going to land...
Returning to the third exhibition hall from the painting, everyone collapsed on the ground and no one spoke for a long time.
Ke Xun rubbed his body which was almost broken, and turned to look at the wall where the painting "Faith" was hung.
This is a typical religious deity painting. Most of the picture space is occupied by a benevolent-looking black corpse statue. The statue is surrounded by flower petals, clouds, colorful silk and various jewels, and in the hands of the statue is a painting of human skin.
The human skin painting depicts an angry Black Corpse God wearing a skull crown, a chain of human heads around his neck, and a human skin cloak. In one hand he holds a skull bowl containing a fresh human brain, in the other he holds a vajra made of human bones, and around his wrist is a human bone bracelet. In front of him are various offerings made of flesh and blood, placed in six bowls made of skulls.
Ke Xun took a closer look and found that the head in the middle of the head chain was Tan Zheng. The whole human skin used to make the cloak was Ma Zhenhua. As for the human brain, flesh and bone products, they might have come from Zhou Bin and Li Ziling.
"What are you thinking about?" Mu Yiran stood beside him, looking down at him with his eyelids drooped.
"No wonder I always felt so cramped and depressed when I was in the painting," Ke Xun pointed at the painting, "It turns out this is a painting within a painting. What we really entered is actually the human skin painting in the hands of Shan Xiang Heishi Tian."
“Fuck… It turns out we’ve been eating, drinking, defecating, urinating and sleeping in human skin?” Wei Dong was shocked, then turned his head and said, “Ugh—”
Before leaving the third exhibition hall, Qin Ci reminded Sha Liu and the Geng family of three of some precautions, such as not mentioning the world in the painting to others, and that they must enter the next painting on time according to the time and place indicated on the ticket in their pocket.
Sha Liu staggered away with a pale face, and the Geng family members of three stayed. Qin Ci said he would introduce a psychologist to provide psychological counseling for the child.
Ke Xun, Weidong and Mu Yiran left in a taxi. Ke Xun was about to ask Mu Yiran whether they wanted to go to the hotel or leave by plane immediately, but when he turned his head, he saw that Mu Yiran had fallen into a deep sleep.
"Thank you for your hard work." Ke Xun smiled and said softly.
