Volume 1 Faith Chapter 9: Humanity in the Face of Life and Death
Qin Ci glanced at the sky outside the tent, then looked at the silent people in the tent, and said, "It's normal that we can't get the answer from the people in the painting, but we still have to be more careful in the future. Once we 'wake up' them, we may suffer backlash. I think we have to find a way to continue to look for the remaining sacrificial supplies. Before that, we still have to think of a way to survive tonight. Fortunately, we have twelve people now, even if we divide them into groups of three, we can be evenly divided, and there will be no unqualified people."
Ke Xun looked at him and said, "I think this is more dangerous. If three people can be evenly divided into groups, doesn't it mean that every group of people may be picked by that huge black shadow?"
Qin Ci lowered his eyes and was silent for a moment.
"I think," Sha Liu interrupted in a hoarse voice, "the key to self-preservation may be the sacrifices we found today. With these sacrifices, can we avoid being chosen by that shadow?"
The others' eyes lit up when they heard this.
"That must be the case!" Zhou Bin jumped up. "Let's take the sacrifice into the tent, and it will definitely be protected!"
"Then let's divide them into groups and offer sacrifices." Qin Ci said.
Zhou Bin's eyes were sharp. "The other meats among the five tribute meats were found by everyone together. I have no objection to sharing them, but I got the human flesh. I needed your help, but none of you were willing to help. You just watched from afar, so the human flesh belongs to me. Zhao Dan and I are in a group. There is one spot left, and anyone of you can come."
"I - add me, let me be in the same group with you, okay? Please!" Ma Zhenhua knelt in front of Zhou Bin with a thump.
"Then you." Zhou Bin had no expression.
Li Ziling, who had been watching with a pale face, suddenly pulled Sha Liu and said, "We found Wu Hui Lu, so it should belong to us," and then looked at Mu Yiran, "Brother, join us, we will have three people."
Weidong stared in amazement.
"You are so shameless, sister," Ke Xun laughed, "Did 'you' find the Five Wisdom Dew? Then let me ask you, which of those jars contains big incense, which one contains small incense, which one contains male semen, and which one contains phlegm? If you can tell me all of them, you can take all of the Five Wisdom Dew, I won't say a word."
Li Ziling bit her lip and quietly pulled the tamarisk next to her with her hands.
Sha Liu said awkwardly: "There are quite a few earthenware jars anyway, let's divide them up."
Li Ziling was anxious: "There's not enough to share. We only got a little blood!"
Sha Liu stopped talking. Li Ziling frowned and stared at Ke Xun for a while, then spoke with a nasal voice: "Then can you tell what is in each of those jars?"
Ke Xun folded his arms and raised the corners of his lips slightly: "Why, if I can tell the difference, will we be able to take all five cans?"
"Why do you take it all?" Li Ziling saw Ke Xun's expression and was not sure if he could really tell the difference. "Sha Liu and I got . You can't take it. The other four are not small either. Why can't you give us some?"
"Beauty, where does your self-confidence come from?" Wei Dong couldn't help but interrupt, "Everyone in the world is your brother and has to give in to you?"
"Men should give in to women," Li Ziling said with a husky and soft voice, looking pitifully at Mu Yiran, then at the other men, "Besides, I'm not forcing you. The four kinds of Wisdom Dew are already plenty, why can't you give us some?"
Wei Dong was so angry that he laughed: "You have a good idea, beautiful lady. The other four are found by us. If there are more, we can share them with you. The remaining one is found by you. If there is less, it cannot be shared with us. Can I ask who taught you the ideological and moral education class in elementary school?"
"It's not that I won't share with you, it's just that there's very little," Li Ziling burst into tears, "We searched the entire village and only found a girl who had just finished. The blood wasn't ready-made, we asked for the cloth she was wearing when she had her period. She hadn't had time to wash it yet, so she gave it to us. It was only the size of a small drop, and it was still dry. How are we going to share it?"
When it comes to women, Wei Dong felt a little embarrassed. He couldn't say anything for a moment and could only look at Ke Xun.
Ke Xun withdrew his gaze from Mu Yiran's face and said calmly: "Since there is no way to divide it, then don't divide it. You can divide half of the remaining four types among yourselves."
Wei Dong snorted: "They are all here, but we are short of one. Who knows if it will be useful?"
"If one of them is useless without it, then the others will be useless too," Ke Xun said calmly, "After all, we haven't gathered all the required sacrifices yet . Anyone could die."
After Ke Xun finished speaking, he turned to look at the others: "Who wants to be in a group with us?"
No one said anything. Apparently everyone still believed that the two people who only possessed four types of Wisdom Dew were in greater danger of death than others.
Ke Xun smiled and said, "Anyway, each tent can only have three people. No one wants to be in a group with us, so one more person is needed for each tent. We are not in a hurry. We will go back to the small tent first. You can discuss it among yourselves. Once you have agreed, one of you can come over. You are welcome anytime. Dongzi, let's go."
Having said that, he turned around and walked out of the big tent.
Wei Dong followed him into a small tent and sat down on the felt blanket with a depressed look on his face: "This is called knowing the appearance but not the heart. Beautiful women are poisonous."
Ke Xun lay on his back on the blanket, his hands behind his head, his eyes closed: "In the face of life and death, human nature is revealed, men and women are the same."
Wei Dong looked at him and said, "Ke'er, are you really willing to watch your idol squeeze into the tent of those two women?"
Ke Xun said indifferently: "They have the complete set of Five Wisdom Dews. It is safer to be in a group with them than with us."
Wei Dong shook his head and sighed, and was about to speak, but suddenly he saw the tent curtain being lifted, and then a person walked in.
Wei Dong was speechless as he looked at the person who came and pushed Ke Xun with his hand.
Ke Xun opened his eyes, met Mu Yiran's indifferent glance, and then raised the corners of his lips.
"Boss, why are you here?" Wei Dong moved his butt to make room for the boss.
The tent was still the same small tent as yesterday, originally only big enough for two people to lie side by side, and now with three people in it, it was even more crowded.
Ke Xun sat up and smiled at Mu Yiran, who was sitting in front of him. "Welcome to my humble home. I'll give you a bunch of flowers to express my happiness."
As he spoke, he suddenly stretched out his hand from behind and handed a small bunch of purple wild flowers to Mu Yiran.
Wei Dong was stunned at the side, and couldn't help but want to give his best friend a compliment - when did he get this flower? He is so damn patient. He waited until now and finally got the chance to show his affection. It would be a shame if Boss Mu didn't let him turn gay.
Mu Yiran seemed to be slightly startled as well, his eyes falling on the bouquet of brightly colored flowers.
It's Mirabilis jalapa.
When did this man pick so many? Was it when he was looking at the mountain and thinking in the afternoon?
Do you think he likes Mirabilis jalapa?
He even hid it on his body and brought it back. Perhaps he had thought that he would share a tent with him at night, so he prepared a little surprise for him.
Ke Xun thought that Mu Yiran would at most glance at the flower, then give him the cold shoulder as he did before, and never talk to him again.
Unexpectedly, Mu Yiran reached out and took the flowers. Ke Xun felt a sudden shock in his chest and looked at him with flickering eyes.
Mu Yiran held the flower, lowered his eyes and thought for a moment, then raised his eyes to look at Ke Xun: "Mirabilis shouldn't bloom at this time of year. It's a bit strange for this kind of flower to appear here."
It turned out that he was interested in this flower for this reason. Ke Xun took a few flowers from him and looked at them carefully. Except for the lack of fragrance, they were no different from ordinary flowers. He put them on his ears and said, "Maybe it was a painter's mistake, or an artistic fiction. What do you think, Dongzi?"
"Yes." Weidong said.
Mu Yiran said, "It's impossible to be a typo, but if it's for artistic effect, maybe, or maybe, this flower has other purposes here."
Wei Dong also took a few flowers and looked at them. He said, "When we make pictures, sometimes we do add some details to make the picture harmonious or novel. However, making pictures is different from real art works. I don't understand what role these flowers play in this painting."
After saying that, he wanted to throw it away, but seeing that Ke Xun and Mu Yiran were still thinking about it, he finally pinned the flower on his belt.
Ke Xun asked Mu Yiran: "Do you have any ideas on how to decipher this painting?"
Mu Yiran sat cross-legged, his tone calm and solemn: "At present, these are just speculations, without any basis. If we want further evidence, we can only verify it through sacrifice."
Only through sacrifice tonight can we gather more conditions to avoid death.
Thinking of how Tan Zheng died last night, Wei Dong couldn't help but shudder. He took out the stone chip that Ke Xun gave him from his pocket and checked whether the edge was sharp. "Maybe I'll use this thing today... I hope I can free my hands when I need it, so that I don't end up like Tan Zheng, with his hands and feet being clamped. That would be devastating..."
Ke Xun thought of the strange figure with eight arms last night and asked Mu Yiran, "What do you think that thing is? A spider spirit? An octopus monster?"
Mu Yiran said: "Even if they are spirits, gods and demons, they are gods and demons from the Satya pantheon. I have a vague guess."
"What is it?" Ke Xun asked.
"Malaka, transliterated as Malaga," Mu said with a solemn look, "was originally a pagan demon god, and was later subdued by the gods of the Satya religion, and accepted the summons and commands of high-level practitioners. Among the several variants of Malaka's image, there is an image with eight arms. And based on the death of Tan Zheng last night, it is also more or less proved that the giant shadow is suspected to be Malaka."
"Dismemberment?" Ke Xun raised an eyebrow.
"Maybe it's not just dismemberment," Mu Yiran mused, "Everything will depend on tonight."
"I'm scared." Wei Dong said, "If Magala is a demon god, how can mortals like us be its opponent? How about I die first? I won't wait for it to make a move. Once it makes a move, I'm afraid I won't have a chance to end it."
"Don't talk nonsense," Ke Xun looked at him, "Don't give up until the last moment. I don't want to die at all."
“Really…” Wei Dong stared at something in the void in front of him, his hands tightly clutching his robe, trembling slightly.
Last night was the first time since he entered the painting that he saw with his own eyes a living person being slaughtered by such an irresistible and terrifying force.
The overwhelming feeling of fear and powerlessness made his bones shiver and freeze.
Weidong knew that he was like an ostrich, the best at deceiving himself, burying his head in the sand and avoiding everything he didn't want to think about.
If during the day I could still escape and suppress my fear by making jokes and pretending to be relaxed, then at night I could no longer suppress this irresistible fear.
Wei Dong felt that fear had broken his last rational nerve, and an inexplicable mania and evil fire surged through his defenses. He looked up at Mu Yiran, who was always calm and composed, and at Ke Xun, who had always protected and helped him since he was a child. Their strength and fearlessness made him look more fragile and humble. He could not stand the torture of fear, nor could he stand being compared to others and looking so pitiful and powerless.
Wei Dong suddenly exploded.
