Paintings of Terror

Chapter 199: The Newcomer’s Self-Rescue Method and the Veteran Member’s Experience

Use the mobile phone to explode and light the rhino horn.

With the experience of the painting Human Studies under their belt, the veteran members were more confident.

“This indeed a good idea.” Shao Ling nodded, “But there are advantages and disadvantages.”

“What is it?” Liu Yanlei’s tone of voice was still positive, but to other people, he was simply performing to hide his guilty conscience.

As for his guilty conscience, of course it had to do with the illusion last night and his girlfriend.

“The advantages is that if anyone who lights the rhinoceros horn will die, this method could at least prevent us from dying because of it,” Shao Ling explained. “But the downside is that, if only the person who lights the rhinoceros horn can see the phantom or the clues related to the seal, then this method would prevent us from gaining anything.”

“So now, the problem lies in this conundrum: If you want to save your life, you might not be able to get any clues to leave the painting, and if you do get a clue, it is likely at the expense of sacrificing your life.”

“So you have to decide whether or not you’ll want to use this method.”

This was indeed a dilemma for them.

“Anyway, I don’t want to light the rhinoceros horn,” Liu Yanlei said.

“I’m not lighting it either,” Yu Long said, looking at his girlfriend. “The two of us already risked our lives in the sea. You can’t just let us do all the dangerous things.”

“If that’s the case, we can only use the explosion from the phone to light the rhinoceros horn tonight,” Shao Ling said. “At least we can obtain more clues about the death condition. Then, let’s discuss how to deal with tonight’s illusion.”

Before they realized it, Shao Ling had taken control in leading the discussion and the direction in which the entire “team” would take. The newcomers accepted it quite naturally, while the veteran members withheld their opinions.

Ke Xun sat side by side with Mu Yiran, holding his hands and gently pinching his slender fingers.

“Since we know that what appears at night are simply illusions, as long as we don’t believe, we should be fine,” Liu Yanlei said, glancing at Chen Xinai intentionally or unintentionally.

“But we must also consider whether the illusion tonight will escalate. For example, if truth is mixed with falsehood, how do we distinguish between the two?” Qin Ci said.

“Then we’ll agree on a code. This way, if something is true or false, we’ll know with the code,” Luo Bu suggested.

“Don’t forget that the phantom can read your memory, so it can read the code,” Liu Yanlei said.

“Then what should we do…If this is the case, I won’t be able to believe in any of you; I don’t dare believe,” Luo Bu said in a sad voice.

“One solution is for us to use our own strengths to escape danger, since each of us can be dangerous to the other,” Shao Ling analyzed calmly. “So, if we want to be free from the illusion, we must try to ensure that we are safe. The second thing is that we should try our best to reassure the other. As long as we won’t need to rely on our companions and can reassure them instead, the phantom won’t be able to easily use us.”

“This makes sense.” Liu Yanlei nodded a few times. “I have an idea. Since falling into the sea at night will result in death, how about we figure ways to prevent ourselves from falling? Let’s tie our waists with a rope and then tie the other end of the rope to the ship’s side or the mast. No matter what the person in the illusion asks us to do, we just won’t untie the rope.”

“Isn’t that cornering yourself in?” Yu Long retorted, “If you tie yourself up and you meet with danger, it will be too late to run! How stupid!”

Liu Yanlei sneered. “Please use your brain to think. If there are any other dangers aside from falling into the sea, the illusion wouldn’t have to spend so much effort to confuse us. How simple would it be to just stab us directly in the dark? From beginning to end last night, the illusion was only bewitching us with sounds. It wasn’t touching us. So I have reasons to believe that the way the power behind the scenes kills is through illusion, and it couldn’t touch you.”

“What if the way of killing people gets upgraded tonight?” Yu Long scolded.

Liu Yanlei choked, but quickly found a reason. “If it is upgraded as you said, even if you don’t tie yourself down, you will still be killed. The probability is half and half. I would rather choose to have another layer of insurance.”

“Then do what you want!” Yu Long snorted coldly.

Liu Yanlei looked at Shao Ling, hoping that he would express his opinion. Shao Ling pondered for a moment, and said, “We don’t have to force other people. If we think something might be useful, we might as well try it. After all, we can’t guess tonight’s death conditions. Whether it is the same as last night or not, we can only think of preventative measures as much as possible.”

“Tying yourself with a rope to prevent you from falling into the sea is one way. We can brainstorm for more ideas.”

“I also have a suggestion. Although hiding in the cabin proves to be useless, we can try to hold hands with each other. As long as we do not encounter an irresistible compulsion, we’ll try our best not to let go. Maybe it can reduce the chance of the illusion using us to confuse one another. Are there any other suggestions?”

“Plug up your ears?” Luo Bu said. “So you won’t be able to hear the illusion imitating the voice of your acquaintances.”

Shao Ling nodded. “That is also one way. Is there any more?”

“Make a few simple anti-drowning tools.” It was Fang Fei who spoke. “Whether they will be useful or not, at least we’ll be prepared.”

“Then I’ll ask the two of you to please help us make them.” Shao Ling looked at her and Yu Long.

“I can also help,” Xue Ge said.

“Do you have any suggestions?” Shao Ling looked at the veteran members.

Compared with the positive speeches of the newcomers, the veteran members seemed very calm.

Quite tacitly, none of the veteran members rushed to talk. Mu Yiran finally took the lead in speaking. “My suggestion is not to rely too much on tools. The most important thing is to think in accordance with the circumstances.” For example, Shadow.

“Until the last second, never give up,” Ke Xun added. For example, Human Studies.

“Try to keep a calm and composed mentality,” Qin Ci continued. For example, The Funeral.

“Be detailed and comprehensive in observation,” Zhu Haowen said. For example, Breaking Through the Ground.

“……” Wei Dong looked at everyone, then at Ke Xun, and finally finished with a loud voice, “Trust your companions!” For example, Faith.

“Yeah!” Luo Bu exclaimed, siding with the veteran members.

“All empty talks, nice to hear but useless,” Liu Yanlei snorted mockingly.

“This is experience,” Zhu Haowen replied coldly.

“The experience of pumping people up?” Liu Yanlei sneered

“From the experience of watching other people’s death,” Zhu Haowen said coldly.

Liu Yanlei was choked again. He wanted to argue some more, but he saw that the veteran members were already getting up one after another. They said, “Discussion time over. We’ll continue to inspect the hull,” and filed out of the room one after another.

The division of labor continued in the afternoon. Some people went to sea, some made anti-drowning life-saving tools, and some checked the cabins.

Ke Xun and Mu Yiran were in charge of inspecting the lower deck, and Luo Bu had to follow along.

“Brother, brother-in-law, how about we hide in the bottom cabin at night? So we won’t be afraid of falling into the sea,” Luo Bu said.

Ke Xun thought for a moment and looked at Mu Yiran. “That’s fine. Anyway, if we can’t escape the illusion, it’ll be the same no matter where we are. We tried it on deck last night, and so tonight, we can try staying under the deck.”

Mu Yiran nodded and carefully checked the contents of the box. Ke Xun stood by and held the phone to illuminate for him. From time to time, he would reach out and rub Mu Yiran’s waist, thinking that his waist must be sore from bending over for such a long period of time.

Luo Bu looked at them for a while from the side, and sighed, “You two have a very good relationship. People say that married couples are birds of the same forest, flying together in the face of disaster. Just like you two. You encountered such terrible things, and yet it’s so enviable that you bore it together instead of letting it separate you.”

“There is nothing to envy,” Ke Xun said blankly, “Even if we are like this, there are always times when we’re not happy together.”

“Ah? You have some unsatisfactory times?” Luo Bu was surprised. “Why?”

“There are always unconscious light bulbs nearby.” Ke Xun looked at him coldly.

Luo Bu: “… Brother, Brother-in-law, you both continue to chat. I’ll scram” Then he ran away.

After spending all afternoon searching, they still came up with nothing.

After dinner, Ke Xun and Mu Yiran were responsible for setting up the mechanism to detonate the phone. Ke Xun did not contribute the phone he was using, but took out his backpack that had degenerated into a sack. He pulled out a small domestic brand-name mobile phone worth a few hundred yuan.

The dozen or so cheap mobile phones he’d purchased last time finally came into use. Ke Xun didn’t give up on his brains, and this time he still brought all these phones with him.

Luo Bu announced his proposal to hide in the lower deck at dinner and got unanimous consent.

After the meal, they set everything up. When the sky turned dark, they entered the lower deck and bolted the door leading to the lower stairway from the inside.

After clearing out a room used for storing items, they entered, blocked the door, and put on a simple, hand-made life jacket. Liu Yanlei tied his waist with a rope and then tied the other end firmly to the beam along the ceiling. Due to his persuasion, Chen Xinai also tied herself to the beam with a rope.

There was still a while before midnight, and everyone sat on the ground in a circle.

“Although we can’t predict whether tonight’s illusion will escalate,”? Shao Ling said in the darkness, “please remember two points: No matter who you hear or see in the illusion, or what the other party said, don’t believe it; The illusion will make us want to leave this place. We must try to control our impulse and not move. Of course, this premise is based on whether the dangers are all fictional illusions. If we are faced with real danger, we must leave this place to avoid it. Please decide for yourself.”

Everyone agreed, and the dark room fell into silence for a while.

Waiting for death won’t feel good, and waiting for death in a dark and silent room was even more tormenting.

Liu Yanlei was the one who sat on pins and needles the most. Since this morning, he had been in a mess. In addition to the shock of possible death, he also had a quarrel with his girlfriend Chen Xinai.

Of course he couldn’t admit that she wasn’t the one who tried to bewitch him in the vision last night.

Although it wasn’t because he had no heart for her. It was just that the person he loved most wasn’t her.

Liu Yanlei had always been reluctant to admit this, but the illusion last night relentlessly made him recognize his hypocrisy and self-deception.

Therefore, his mood became more and more chaotic. The many fragments of his life in the past twenty years flashed across his mind, such as being a student, work, his first love, blind dates, and the few girlfriends he’d dated. Life was unsatisfactory, and he himself had made all sorts of calculations, had struggled, had lied, and had cried for survival and success.

Unconsciously, time passed quickly, and someone said, “It’s almost time. Be careful.”

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