Volume 1 Faith Chapter 6 The First Death Condition
The word "random" is particularly disgusting here, because there is absolutely no routine or pattern to speak of, and there is absolutely no way to respond or circumvent it, it all depends on luck.
Ke Xun glanced at Mu Yiran beside him and saw that he was motionless, like a white stone statue, and even his breathing was almost inaudible.
Ke Xun retracted his gaze, listened to the giant shadow's heavy, slow breathing, and subconsciously aligned his breathing with it. With the giant shadow's breathing masking the sound, Ke Xun could hardly hear his own breathing.
The giant shadow finally came to the side of their tent. Ke Xun saw that its eight thick arms seemed to be out of its control and were twisting and dancing in the air. Between these arms, a large dark round thing covered the top of the tent. Ke Xun guessed that was the head of the giant shadow. It seemed to be squatting and putting its head close to the tent.
A panting sound suddenly sounded above his head. Through the thin tent skin, Ke Xun vaguely saw the two eyes on this huge head blinking slowly.
It is looking into the tent.
Ke Xun closed his eyes subconsciously.
The feeling of being stared at by some indescribable thing was simply indescribable, because it was hard to predict whether this thing would stretch out its huge hand in the next second, pinch the two of them out of the tent, and throw them into its bloody mouth.
Ke Xun hoped it would leave quickly, but the panting sound above his head remained in the same place, neither hurried nor slow, and always looked at Ke Xun and Mu Yiran in the tent without any disgust or abandonment.
The longer the time goes, the more tense your nerves become, and the more broken your emotions become. It's like there's a knife tip hanging over your head, and you don't know when it will fall. It would be more reassuring if it fell sooner rather than later.
Ke Xun couldn't help but sweat coldly, his heart was beating so fast in his chest that it was about to burst. If the giant shadow's breathing wasn't so rough and heavy, he felt that it might be able to hear his heartbeat.
I don't know how long it took for me to be placed under the knife like this. The panting sound finally faded away from my ears, and the giant shadow moved its legs and slowly walked towards another tent.
Ke Xun relaxed his muscles that had been tense for too long, opened his eyes and turned to look at Mu Yiran.
Mu Yiran lay on his side, with only half of his gracefully curved jaw and one eye visible in the light and shadow.
Neither of them moved, just listening quietly to the noise outside the tent.
Not long after, a shrill scream rang out among the tents.
As the voice was so shrill and inverted, Ke Xun couldn't tell who made it. He turned to look in the direction where the voice came from, and saw the giant shadow using one hand to lift a person out of the tent. The person struggled and twisted frantically, but could not break free from the giant shadow's hand at all.
The giant shadow held him up as if it were a young mouse. It stood up straight and towered majestically. The man was lifted into the air by it. The giant shadow's other arms, which were still twisting and dancing, suddenly stretched forward together, and its thick fingers grasped the man's head, limbs and torso.
Then, gently pull.
Ke Xun closed his eyes.
But the image of blood and internal organs splattering in the air still remained on the retina.
The screams were still lingering in his ears, and Ke Xun finally recognized that the voice belonged to the young man Tan Zheng.
The middle-aged man said that two people must share one tent. So the one who died tonight was Tan Zheng, who had drawn his own tent.
When it was about to dawn, all the frozen shadows began to tremble with the wind again. It was a little cold in the tent and the wind was blowing outside. Ke Xun moved his numb body, sat up, and saw that Mu Yiran had already lifted the tent curtain and walked out.
Ke Xun followed him out and looked in the direction where Tan Zheng was caught last night. He saw bright red blood spots sprayed everywhere on the gray rocky ground, and Tan Zheng's broken body parts were thrown everywhere.
Several newlyweds were terrified. The beautiful lady named Li Ziling fainted and has not woken up yet. Zhou Bin’s girlfriend Zhao Dan vomited in the tent out of fright. Wei Dong was covered in filth and looked around with a bitter face for something to scratch his clothes.
Ma Zhenhua was so scared that he peed himself. He crouched outside the tent with a pale face, and from time to time he would bravely look in the direction where Tan Zheng died. Qin Ci and Mu Yiran were collecting the broken limbs and then covering them with a torn blanket.
Qin Ci looked at Mu Yiran: "The head is missing."
"Yeah." Mu Yiran looked up at the sky, "That thing was taken away."
Qin Ci said, "It seems that the rules this time are actually very simple. The only ones who will die are those who live alone in a tent."
"So now there are twelve of us left. No one will be left alone tonight. Does that also mean no one will die? " Ke Xun walked over and said.
Qin Ci lowered his eyes: "Obviously this is not good news. If no one dies, then vote."
Someone has to die.
Compared to those who had entered the painting before, the newcomers' acceptance and adaptability were much worse. Even when they gathered in the largest tent that the middle-aged man mentioned, several people still had very ugly faces and were so scared that they could hardly walk.
The middle-aged man was already waiting in the tent, looking at everyone with a grim look in his eyes: "The sacrifice will be held on the seventh day. You must prepare the sacrificial items, namely: five kinds of Huilu, five kinds of tribute meat, Duomu, libation wine, offering bowls, lamps, Gala, Danka..."
As the man uttered a series of strange nouns, everyone looked at each other in confusion, but Mu Yiran's face became increasingly gloomy.
"Let's gather here after dark. Let's have breakfast first." After saying this, the middle-aged man left the tent. Food was already placed on the table behind him.
The breakfast consisted of loose pasta made from whole grains, milk tea with separated water and milk, and a few pieces of sour yellow cheese. No one had any taste for the food, and the newcomers didn't even bother to eat.
"Eat something, otherwise you won't have the energy to hold on later." Wei Dong sat next to Li Ziling and comforted her.
"Is there any poison in here?" Li Ziling's eyes were red and swollen from crying. She might not be able to cry anymore, so she asked Wei Dong in a hoarse voice.
"No, feel free to eat it. It just tastes a bit disgusting, but it's better than nothing." Wei Dong said.
Ke Xun and Mu Yiran, who was sitting next to him, whispered, "That person just muttered a lot of things. Are they all related to the Suota religion?"
Mu Yiran put down the tea bowl in his hand and said in a slightly cold voice: "That depends on which branch of the Suota sect it is related to."
After barely filling his stomach, Zhou Bin, one of the newcomers, was the first to recover. He looked at Mu Yiran and Qin Ci and asked, "Where does the painter's seal you mentioned usually appear? In other words, in what form does it appear?"
Qin Ci answered him, "Every painting is different, so it's hard to say. Based on the paintings we have entered before, there are usually two ways to find the seal. One is to decipher the painter's intention in painting the painting, or the secret hidden in it, which is what we call 'breaking the situation'. The other is to complete the task set for us by the world in the painting. The location of the seal is closely related to the clues provided by the painting and the meaning of the painting that we have understood."
"But how do I break this situation? I have no idea at all!" Zhou Bin was anxious.
Qin Ci said: "In fact, we haven't found the way yet. Clues can't be found by just sitting and waiting. We can look around more during the day."
"How are we going to find it without any clue?" Zhou Bin asked.
The girl with glasses, Sha Liu, suddenly interjected, "I think the clue may be related to the ritual supplies that person just mentioned."
Qin Ci nodded slightly: "This is probably equivalent to a task set for us, so find a way to complete it, maybe there will be gains."
Zhou Bin said hurriedly: "What are we waiting for? Let's get going!"
His girlfriend Zhao Dan held his arm and said, "But what are those things? I don't understand them at all. Meat, wine and lanterns are OK, but the others sound like foreign languages?"
Sha Liu adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose and said, "I feel that this place is a bit like the Ganxiong Plateau, where the Shata religion is prevalent. Do you see the colorful flags standing in the distance? This is a very obvious sign. Then the string of nouns mentioned by the man just now, I think, is what the local language refers to as utensils."
Zhou Bin said, "Then we just need to find these things, right? Let's get going quickly. The sooner we find them, the sooner we can leave this damn place!"
Qin Ci glanced at everyone and said, "Of course we have to find the things, but we can't just look for them all at once. I suggest that we split the twelve of us into four groups and go in four directions. We should come back here at noon to communicate our progress and gains."
No one objected, so Zhou Bin asked, "How do we divide them into groups?"
Ma Zhenhua staggered to Mu Yiran and said, "Can I be in the same group with you? Please, please!"
Seeing this, Li Ziling also stood up and ran over, hugged Mu Yiran's arm, and looked at him pitifully: "Little brother, I also want to be in the same group with you, please, I'm scared..."
Ke Xun: “…”
Wei Dong: “…”
Sha Liu looked at Ke Xun and said, "Can I be in a group with you?"
Ke Xun: “…”
Wei Dong: “…”
Qin Ci looked at Mu Yiran and Ke Xun: "Is that the decision?"
Ke Xun: "I don't agree."
Weidong: “+1.”
Qin Ci: "So, we still draw lots to decide?"
Zhou Bin frowned: "Why do you have to draw lots to decide everything? Time is running out, what are you still wasting time for!"
"He's right," Ke Xun said, "It would be terrible if they separated him and his girlfriend. It's daytime now, not night. People who know each other can team up to do the mission. In my opinion, Zhou Bin and his girlfriend must be in the same group, and this brother Geng's family of three cannot be separated. The two girls are classmates, and they are both girls. It would be inconvenient to separate them, and they won't have anyone to keep them company. So they can't be separated, don't you agree?"
Zhou Bin and his family of three nodded.
Mu Yiran glanced at Ke Xun expressionlessly, thinking that this guy was going to make trouble.
He continued, "It's easy to divide the group this way. The twelve people are divided into four groups, three people in each group. Those with partners cannot be separated, and those who are alone need to be placed in the group with partners.
"We were divided into four groups based on those who were with partners, namely Zhou Bin and his wife, Geng's family of three, the two sisters, Weidong and I. Geng's family of three formed a group, and the remaining three people were divided into the other three groups.
"Both girls are girls, and they are the most vulnerable group. They need a mature, reliable man with emergency skills to protect them. This man must be Doctor Qin. If the two girls have a headache, a fever, or sprained their ankle, Doctor Qin can provide timely treatment.
"Ma Zhenhua should go to the group with Zhou Bin and his wife. There is an age difference, so it is much more convenient than being in the same group with you two, with people of the same age like me, Weidong, and Brother Xiaomu.
"So the groups are divided like this, do you have any opinions?"
Mu Yiran: “…” I knew it would be like this.
