Paintings of Terror

Chapter 16: Unexpected Character Meaning

Translated by Eve

Edited by EB

“What are you trying to say?!” Liu Yufei pounced over, wanting to throw a punch.

Ke Xun was tall and his arms were long. Before Liu Yufei’s fist could reach his face, his palm had already slammed against the other’s face. His fingers clenched around Liu Yufei’s visage and then he tossed the other man casually to the side, causing him to stumble onto the floor.

“Dong zi, it’s your turn,” Ke Xun said.

“I’m the same as Ke er,” Wei Dong said, “I’m just a normal person. I don’t have any personal strengths or merits. All I can promise is that I would never screw someone else over.”

“Our Dong zi is a graphic designer.” Ke Xun added on his behalf. “He’s an expert in the arts. He can give us a professional opinion and unique perspective with regards to art. He’s fit for the task of researching this world.”

Wei Dong thought, how on earth does that make me qualified for that?

The doctor then turned to look at the jianbing vendor. “What about you? Is there anything you want to say?”

The jianbing vendor widened his bloodshot eyes. “I don’t want to die. I really don’t want to die. Please, I beg you, don’t choose me. I don’t want to die…I don’t want to die….”

When the doctor saw that the jianbing vendor was only going to keep repeating this one phrase, he didn’t ask him anything more. In the end, he turned to Mu Yiran. “It’s your turn.”

Mu Yiran said one sentence: “I have clues.”

“……”

Three words. Simple, rough and to the point.

If one were to compare Ke Xun’s words to a fatal blow, then Mu Yiran’s words were like a full team KO.

He had clues.

No matter who had to die, he couldn’t die.

It was that simple.

The doctor cast his gaze down. “All right, we’ve all said our pieces. Now…it’s time to vote. There isn’t a lot of time left.”

The expression on everyone’s face turned heavy and complicated.

It didn’t feel good to become an executioner.

However, having to face death felt even worse.

“I’ll go get pencils and paper.” The doctor got up to look for the old man. He then came back with a sheet of yellow paper and several charcoal pencils.

After tearing the paper into eight pieces and handing them out, he said, “Everyone, state your names. If you don’t want to say your real name, just give us something to call you by.”

“Ke Xun.” Ke Xun was the first to speak up. “The ‘Ke’ from ‘corgi’ and the ‘Xun’ from ‘to seek.’”

“Wei Dong.” Wei Dong was next. “The Wei from Wei Qing, the Qing from ‘cyan.'”

Everyone: “….”

Wei Dong suddenly realized he had made a mistake. “Uh...the Dong is from ‘thing.’”

Ke Xun glanced at him. He knew that his friend was really nervous.

Mu Yiran said, “Mu Yiran. The Mu from Muye, the Yi from ‘delighted’ and the Ran from ‘leisurely.’”

Next came the single father and the company boss. One was named Ma Zhenhua while the other was named Zhang Maolin.

The jianbing vendor wasn’t willing to say his name. He kept on begging, “Don’t choose me. Please, I beg you, don’t choose me….”

“Let’s just call him ‘A’ then.” The doctor sighed and then cast his gaze over to Liu Yufei.

“What are you looking at me for?! In any case, I can’t die! Write someone else’s name. Other people here are completely useless. Whether they live or die, it doesn’t affect our country at all. No one would miss them if they die!” Liu Yufei howled.

“Let’s call him SB.” Ke Xun sighed quietly.

Wei Dong. “Suits him.”

The doctor was the last to announce his name. “My last name is Qin. Qin Ci. The Qin from Qin Shihuang and the Ci from ‘bestow.’”

Silence once again befell the room.

Eight names, eight lives. It was already inevitable. The choice was now in front of their eyes with no option to postpone it any further.

The company boss, Zhang Maolin, pulled his phone out and glanced at it. He then looked up at everyone, panicked. “There’s only five minutes until nine…w-we have to vote now….”

Everyone’s expressions warped.

The arrow was already loaded into the bow. There was no time left for hesitation.

The doctor was calm. He cast his gaze downwards. “Let’s vote. What has to happen will happen.”

The five minutes felt like both an eternity and a blink of an eye. Except for Ke Xun and Wei Dong, who had already chosen to abstain, everyone picked up their pencils.

While casting their votes, some people were expressionless, some people looked conflicted, some people had on vicious expressions and some people bawled.

A minute before nine, everyone placed their papers onto the table and slowly pushed them into the centre.

Even without revealing what was written on the papers, the world within the painting would know who had the most votes.

Everyone simply sat there with blank expressions on their faces. They all stared at the papers, waiting for the sentence to arrive.

Second after second passed. The single father, Ma Zhenhua, and the company boss, Zhang Maolin, couldn’t help but start to cry alongside the jianbing vendor.

Meanwhile, the doctor and Mu Yiran were calm and expressionless throughout the entire process.

Wei Dong stared at a corner of the table in a daze. Ke Xun’s gaze was downcast as he leaned back against his chair, motionless.

Liu Yufei was shaking all over. His fists were tightly clenched and there were large droplets of sweat seeping out of his forehead.

It was unknown what time it was, but Liu Yufei finally seemed to snap. He abruptly jumped up and let out a bloodcurdling scream. “I don’t want to die—I have to go back—fake—this is all fake—I’m dreaming—this is a nightmare—I need to wake up—I don’t want to be asleep any longer—let me wake up—”

Like a madman, Liu Yufei pushed the door open and sprinted outside, as if by doing this, he could break free of this strange world’s shackles. Everyone promptly followed after him. However, when they reached the door, they ended up seeing Liu Yufei tumble onto the courtyard’s fence.

The jagged, pointy tips of the bamboo fence pierced Liu Yufei’s body and blood started to squirt out of his wounds.

Liu Yufei let out miserable shrieks and flailed his limbs, trying to get off of the fence.

He looked like a grasshopper whose stomach had been punctured by a toothpick.

Thick lines of blood gushed down the bamboo and Liu Yufei’s screams and flailing gradually weakened.

Eventually, he stopped moving. His lifeless body simply hung over the fence, making him look like a piece of dried meat.

Ma Zhenhua and Zhang Maolin collapsed onto the floor, knees having gone weak. They both cried silently, although it was unknown whether it was because they had been frightened by Liu Yufei’s death or because they were rejoicing the fact that they had escaped death today.

Meanwhile, the jianbing vendor had lost control of his bladder from the fright.

The doctor looked at Liu Yufei’s corpse, and shook his head, a complicated expression on his face. He was about to say something to try and alleviate this stifling, difficult-to-describe atmosphere, when he saw Mu Yiran suddenly make his way to Liu Yufei’s corpse. He couldn’t help but say, “You can’t save him. He’s already dead.”

Mu Yiran didn’t answer him. He headed directly towards Liu Yufei’s corpse and bent down to examine it closely. He then heard a voice behind him. “You want to investigate the cause of his death?”

Mu Yiran turned to glance at the person who spoke. He saw that Ke Xun had followed after him at some point in time. The other was calmly watching him.

The others hadn’t come over. Mu Yiran turned his head back to Liu Yufei’s corpse. The sharpened bamboo sticks that made up the fence were completely soaked in blood. They had thoroughly pierced through Liu Yufei’s waist and had nearly split his body in half.

“Chopped in half at the waist.” Mu Yiran coldly spat out these cruel-sounding words.

Ke Xun, however, felt that, aside from indifference, he could make out that the other sounded like he had made a discovery.

By the time they returned to the house, the old man had already set the table with breakfast. As if nothing had happened, he repeated his words from yesterday in his lifeless voice. “Everyone worked hard last night. Have breakfast. There isn’t much work to do during the day so everyone can rest. Come find me when night falls. At that time, I will assign everyone with their tasks for the night.”

After saying this, he turned and headed for the inner room.

Ma Zhenhua and Zhang Maolin were still paralyzed on the floor, sobbing. The jianbing vendor had collapsed onto a chair. His urine had slid down his leg and onto the floor. The doctor was leaning against the door frame, seemingly lost in thought. Wei Dong was hidden in a corner of the room from which he wouldn’t be able to see the corpse.

Mu Yiran went to sit at the table. He had just raised his hand when he saw Ke Xun dutifully hand him a piece of steamed corn bread. The other then grabbed one for himself as he called Wei Dong over. “Come eat.”

“Fuck, you still have an appetite?” Wei Dong was shocked.

“We should eat more at a time like this.” Ke Xun pointed to one of the chairs. “Didn’t you hear what that old man said? We’re still going to be assigned tasks at night. We were lucky to survive last night. Who knows whether we’ll make it through tonight? Even if we’re lucky enough to all survive tonight, won’t we have to vote again tomorrow? Hurry up and come eat! You’ll only have the energy to find the signature if your stomach’s full!”

Wei Dong thought that he was right so he reluctantly went to sit at the table. He forced himself to eat the steamed corn bread and congee.

The doctor had also come over upon hearing Ke Xun’s words. He silently ate his fill before placing his chopsticks down. He looked at Mu Yiran. “Xiao Mu, can you tell us about the clues you’ve obtained now? How about sharing it with everyone?”

Ma Zhenhua and Zhang Maolin forced themselves to stand up at once when they heard the doctor say this. They also came to sit at the table, anxious gazes directed towards Mu Yiran.

Ke Xun felt like if Mu Yiran didn’t spill anything, these two people would swallow him alive.

Mu Yiran didn’t seem to have any intentions of keeping things secret anymore. He suddenly lowered his head and untied the piece of cloth with the character ‘yang’ written on it from his waist. He then placed it onto the table.

“These strips of cloth determine how we die.”

The doctor was a bit surprised. “Although I know that there’s something odd about these clothes and that they determine our teams, how do they determine our causes of death?”

Mu Yiran pointed at the character on the strip of cloth. “On the first night, the three people who died in the mourning hall had the character ‘min’ and they had all lost their eyes. The two people who died at the grave site had the character ‘qie’ and their bodies had been sliced into pieces before being eaten by crows. Liu Yufei, who had just died, had the character ‘gu.’ He died by waist chopping.”

The doctor nodded slightly, still confused. “I don’t see what relationship their causes of death have with these characters.”

Mu Yiran said, “Remember, you said that the forefather of this village was akin to a shaman. I also said that curses were very prevalent during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. Furthermore, the most famous of these curses was the Chu Curse Inscription.”

“The Chu Curse Inscription was engraved in stone during the Warring States period. The form of writing used was the small seal script. The predecessor of this was the bronze script. And before the bronze script, we had the oracle bone script.

“In the ancient past, there was always a heavy supernatural aspect to everything, regardless of whether it was related to weapons or writing. The ancients respected and revered written word far more than modern people do. As such, they would use written words to evoke curses or the powers of their gods.

“For the character ‘min’ from the word ‘renmin,’ most people only know of its current meaning—’people’, or ‘the common people.’ However, the meaning ‘min’ had upon creation was truly terrifying.

“The form the character ‘min’ had in oracle bone script is made up of what looks like an eye, pupil included. Beneath that eye is a sharp cross. The original meaning of this character is ‘to piece the eyes of the people with a sharp weapon so as to enslave them by blinding.’

“This meaning of the word is even more evident when we look at the bronze inscription version of the word. The ‘min’ character in bronze inscription lost the pupil. The cross also became longer and pointier. It even pierces straight through the eye.

“And then there’s the ‘qie’ character. In oracle bone script, it is made up of the character ‘xi’ and the equal sign. ‘Xi’ represents pieces of meat while the equal sign represents equality. If we put these meanings together, ‘qie’ means ‘an equal division of meat.’

“In primitive communist times, food was the most important communal commodity. Meat was considered the highest grade food at the time. Evenly dividing meat was an important ceremony when it came to offering sacrifices to one’s ancestors or when praying to the gods. Therefore, the original meaning of ‘qie’ was to ‘evenly split and eat meat.’

“The last character is ‘gu’. Gu is made up of the characters for ‘gu’ (old) and ‘xin’ (suffering). The ‘gu’(old) character represents a big axe whereas the ‘xin’ character represents a person who is about to be executed. Therefore, the original meaning of ‘gu’ is ‘to use a big axe to execute someone via beheading or bisecting them at the waist.’

“After seeing the deaths of those five people on the first night, I had started to grow suspicious of these characters. However, I hadn’t said anything yet because there hadn’t been enough examples yet. But after seeing Liu Yufei’s death, I felt like I had enough evidence to support my conjecture.

“The characters on these strips of cloth have been infused with their cruel original meanings. In addition, the ancestor of this village was a shaman capable of performing curses. If we put these two together, we can deduce that these pieces of cloth are cursed items that are able to determine our causes of death.”

Eve: When I first read this part, the linguist in me got all excited and spent quite some time researching it. Was kind of a bummer that it wasn’t completely factual. But it is still interesting nonetheless.