Paintings of TerrorCh262 - Ice

Fortunately, the interface remained silent and stayed that way until He Tang swam to the other side.

“Can you hear us over there?” Ke Xun shouted towards the other side. vYTHKO

“Yes!” He Tang’s voice sounded farther than the actual distance they could see, very faint but still audible.

“Look into that hole toward the exit. Can you see anything?” Ke Xun shouted.

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

He Tang turned her head to glance into the terrifyingly dark hole and shivered a few times. She shook her head towards Ke Xun, “I can’t see anything, it’s too dark!”

“Alright, then go change your clothes. We’ll turn around, and let us know when you’re done.” sSrhXd

He Tang took off her soaking wet undershirt, put on the outer coat that was wrapped in Ke Xun’s waterproof jacket and called out to them.

Ke Xun and Zhu Haowen turned around and exchanged a glance. Ke Xun said, “Now let’s try the method of freezing. Let’s start.”

Zhu Haowen nodded, waiting for Ke Xun to operate. However, he saw Ke Xun looking at him and said, “You do it, you do it. I don’t know the specifics of that law.”

Zhu Haowen was speechless, feeling that this guy must be thinking about something else. Ignoring it for the time being, he opened his own interface. The book icon popped up with a dialogue box saying: “Please state the content of the law you want to apply.”

“At standard atmospheric pressure, water freezes below zero degrees,” Zhu Haowen said with uncertainty.

A line of text appeared below the dialogue box: “Law accepted. Please go to the item box to choose the item you want to use.”

Zhu Haowen opened the box-shaped icon, and a dialogue box also appeared. It said: “Please state the name of the item you want to use.”

Seeing Zhu Haowen taking no action, Ke Xun hurriedly asked, “What’s wrong?” He could see Zhu Haowen’s interface through his own. The interfaces of team members could be shared. wnqbOH

Zhu Haowen turned to him, “We overlooked an important issue. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Regardless of what item we use, making this pool of unknown completely freeze would probably take a very long time. However, our time is limited, and the time flow in this painting is different from the real world. If time here is chaotic, then it might not be long before nighttime. If we can’t get through the pool by then, death might be waiting for us.”

“Then just make one piece of ice,” Ke Xun said. “We don’t need to freeze the entire pool; we just need enough ice to hold one person. This person can sit on the ice and paddle across.”

Zhu Haowen couldn’t help but admire Ke Xun’s quick thinking. He then said to the dialogue box, “Ice.”

A line of text appeared in the dialogue box: “‘Ice’ is a type of transport. This violates the rules and is not allowed.” 16LmJU

“Hey hey, ice is formed from freezing water. This is basically the same as using water. How is it a violation?!” Ke Xun exclaimed in surprise. “Moreover, this is entirely different from swimming. None of this goes against the requirements.”

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

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Ktf gfdelgfwfca kjr atja agjcrqbga “fzmfqa obg atf kjafg lc atf qbbi” mbeiv cba yf erfv. Ktfc lo atf lmf kjr cba obgwfv ys atf kjafg lc atf qbbi, la kjr ilxfis cba jiibkfv ab yf erfv.

The box dialogue displayed: “Cannot extract existing substances in the room as items.” p95mcv

Zhu Haowen frowned, but Ke Xun unexpectedly remained calm. He scratched his earlobe thoughtfully and said, “This prompt is interesting. If ice formed from the water in the pool is also not allowed, it should have prompted a violation, like before. Now it says it cannot extract. There’s clearly no ice in this room, and when it says ‘cannot extract,’ it means it cannot extract the water, produce ice in its item box and then give it to us. Do you think that’s what it means?”

Zhu Haowen’s eyebrows relaxed a bit, and he nodded, “Yes, so it very likely means that ice made from the water in the pool might not be against the rules. It just can’t extract the water to make ice. So, we can request an item to make ice and do it ourselves with the pool water.”

Chrysanthemum Garden.

“That’s it!” Ke Xun snapped his fingers. “Ask for an ice maker, one with high capacity!”

Zhu Haowen then said to the dialogue box, “High-capacity ice maker.” CjR710

The dialogue box showed a line of text: ​”‘High-capacity ice maker’ is a complex mechanical structure. Please return to the book of laws and state the laws it applies.”

“Oh, WTF!” Ke Xun couldn’t help but swear. “This is so shameless! So everything has to abide by its rules! It’s like that common internet saying, ‘Do I need to learn how to make a refrigerator to say that your refrigerator isn’t working well?’ The hell, do we need to know how to make a refrigerator if we want to use a piece of ice? Is it going to ask us to draw the structural diagram and write chemical formulas for the ice maker?”

“Not necessarily,” Zhu Haowen said. “Since the laws include hypotheses, it won’t make us write chemical formulas or draw diagrams, because hypotheses may not be valid.”

“Do you know the laws that an ice maker applies?” Ke Xun asked him. 7dW5OG

Zhu Haowen looked at him, “I’m only a computer science major.”

Ke Xun squatted down, drawing circles on the ground, “I never thought that I would need to take exams in the paintings. The world is beyond redemption. Do study slackers not deserve the right to survive?”

Hearing this, Zhu Haowen pondered, “This is somewhat similar to the classification system adopted in some schools, where students are separated based on exam results or daily academic performance. Students with good grades are placed in one class, and those with poor grades are left in another class. Good students receive special attention, while poor students are left to their own devices.”

Ke Xun nodded, “That was exactly how my class worked. Before the college entrance exam, we were divided into high and low achievement classes. Although there was no division before the high school entrance exam, teachers placed good students in the front rows and left the bad students in the back. I was a sports recruit, so teachers basically treated me as if I didn’t exist. I had a friend who struggled academically; at that time, he was thrown to the last row. There was barely any supervision, being so far from the teacher. As long as you didn’t talk loudly in class, you could do whatever you wanted at the back, and the teacher couldn’t be bothered to deal with you.” dCnd7R

Zhu Haowen speculated that perhaps because he was treated as non-existent by the teacher, it hindered the potential of his quite intelligent brain. He said, “In some schools and even among parents, there is a belief that grades represent everything. This is even more extremely represented in this painting—’students’ who ‘pass’ can survive, while those who ‘fail’ can only die. This is probably another extreme irony from Cheng Shi towards the education system.”

“He holds quite a deep resentment,” Ke Xun remarked, looking at the calm surface of the water. “But it’s quite understandable. After all, his son died because of this.”

After a moment of silence, Zhu Haowen spoke, “No, perhaps Cheng Shi and his son in reality do not harbor such deep resentment or extreme thoughts. They have been exaggerated and magnified infinitely by the unseen force behind the painting.”

“Consider the artists of all the paintings we entered, if the resentment they poured into each painting was only a small fuse, then the resentment reflected in the painting is the barrel connected to that fuse.” Ewzl6F

“After the fuse ignites, it will only produce extremely small sparks, but with the barrel of gunpowder connected behind it. the small sparks can trigger a deafening and destructive explosion sufficient to harm people.”

“So, I feel that the artist in each painting is a ‘fuse’ being used, and what’s really repulsive is the barrel created by the unseen force behind the painting.”

“We don’t need to think about this issue now. Currently, we need to find a way to pass this level as soon as possible. I know the basic principles of an ice maker—compression, condensation, throttling, evaporation, and repeated loops. But as for more detailed steps, I’m unsure.”

“Let’s give it a try first, and if it doesn’t work, we can think of something else.” Ke Xun stood up. Y7w2EB

Zhu Haowen followed his instruction and returned to the book of laws interface. He went through everything he knew about the principles of ice making. However, he still missed a few steps and couldn’t form a complete set of ice making equipment.

Scratching his head, Ke Xun said, “Do you think this painting is deliberately making things difficult? The limitation of not being allowed to use transport seems a bit too intentional.”

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

Zhu Haowen replied, “The resentment portrayed in the paintings is always so extreme. It has infinitely exaggerated and radicalized Cheng Shi’s resentment.” ”

“The derived intention is probably this: Schools always make students rigidly learn and apply these principles and laws. They are overly dogmatic and neglectful of flexibility and practicability, as if remembering the laws can solve everything, then in this case, let’s prevent the entrants in the painting from using any tools that can directly solve problems. Provide us only with these laws, and let us use the laws and relatively simple items to solve all problems.” DfnhEl

“These simple items that serve as auxiliaries to the laws are only equivalent to the beakers, glass rods, alcohol lamps, and so on that students use in experiments. It’s impossible to directly use a beaker to achieve the goal of a complex experiment.”

“When making this painting, Cheng Shi was already insane. In his chaotic head at the time, it was impossible for him to organize something so dialectical and logical. So, as we speculated earlier, these extremely radical and almost unreasonable grudges, are a recreation from the forces behind the paintings through reprocessing and magnification.

“Wait wait—beakers, glass rods…” However, Ke Xun’s eyebrows raised, as if he thought of something. After a moment of thought, his eyes brightened. “You reminded me! Can saltpeter be used to make ice?”

Zhu Haowen’s eyes also lit up. “Ammonium nitrate would be more effective. It seems you’re not a study slacker.” CHtsM6

Ke Xun smiled and winked. “I learned about making ice with saltpeter from a post I stumbled upon online about how ancient people made ice drinks. I was planning to try making shaved ice using ancient methods, but I gave up because I couldn’t find ammonium nitrate.”

Zhu Haowen: “…” So, it was for the sake of eating.

The two didn’t delay any longer and immediately entered the interface. The law “ammonium nitrate absorbs a large amount of heat when dissolved in water, which can cause water to freeze” was approved, and they received a large amount of ammonium nitrate powder, two basins and a container for scooping water.

These types of simple tools, which do not have complex principles and operations, could all be provided by the item box. XkINj2

There was a large and a small basin, with the large one resembling a circular large bathtub and the small one resembling a single-person bathtub. Fortunately, as long as they don’t use them to cross the pool, the item box seemed to be able to meet the basic needs of the two, providing them with the item they wanted —of course, existing substances in the room could not be provided as items.

Using the container to fill the two large basins with water and placing the small basin inside the large one, they then measured the amount of water and ammonium nitrate powder and poured them into the large basin.

During the process of making ice, Zhu Haowen suddenly received a request for help. Since the help functionality was targeted only for individuals, his interface couldn’t be shared with Ke Xun at the moment, and his voice was also blocked. Only the person requesting help could hear it.

Ke Xun waited for a while and finally saw Zhu Haowen’s gaze shifting to him. “Who asked for help?” aLsjHG

“It’s Luo Bu. He and Deng Lin are a team, and they’ve encountered a bit of a problem,” Zhu Haowen said.

“Did you solve it?” Ke Xun asked.

“Yes.” Zhu Haowen replied.

Ke Xun didn’t ask for details and pointed to the ice in the basin: “Let’s make a few more, just in case it melts halfway through the crossing.” GOdS1i

They spent some more time and made three large and thick pieces of ice. Then, Ke Xun said to Zhu Haowen, “Alright, you go first, be careful.”

Zhu Haowen looked at him, “You go first. I’ll use the floating method with saltwater.”

Chrysanthemum Garden.

Ke Xun smiled, “Your swimming skills are not good. Don’t talk so much, hurry up and go before the ice melts.”

Zhu Haowen asked, “You know how to say the law?” pZIa5B

Ke Xun: “Of course, why wouldn’t I know—saltwater has greater buoyancy than freshwater, so simple! Hurry up.”

Zhu Haowen: “What if this method doesn’t work? Floating in saltwater is almost the same as swimming. What if it’s not allowed?”

Ke Xun: “Then, when you reach the other side, you can help me figure out a solution.” Saying this, he kicked several ice pieces into the pool, then grabbed Zhu Haowen’s arm, preventing him from struggling, and pressed him directly onto the ice.

Zhu Haowen frowned resignedly. He glanced at him and had no choice but to begin crossing. He knelt on the ice, hands paddling through the water, slowly drifting with the other two floating ice blocks towards the opposite side. dlY4NU

After Zhu Haowen successfully reached the other side, Ke Xun obtained the salt and poured it continuously into the pool. This process took a long time. Ke Xun didn’t dare to rely on tasting to determine the salt level of the pool water, so he had to undress and prepare to go into the water to personally feel the buoyancy.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he entered the water, a warning appeared on the interface. A line of bright red text kept jumping and flashing: “Warning — This is a violation of the rules, please stop immediately! 30 seconds countdown!“

Ke Xun hurriedly climbed out of the water, wiped the water off his face, and looked across.

On the other side, Zhu Haowen frowned, staring at this side. dSzyr9

The method of floating across with saltwater was indeed not allowed. It was deemed the same as swimming.