Paintings of TerrorCh265 - Regain the Initiative

Qin Ci chose a very thick wooden board. He successfully crossed the iron plate and reached the exit on the other side.

On this side, Ke Xun wrapped his arm around Mu Yiran’s shoulder, brought his face close to his and kissed his cheek. “I run faster than you, you admit that right?” fKE6zd

Mu Yiran understood what Ke Xun meant. Although the Leidenfrost effect had real-world examples, an untrained person might still have psychological barriers stepping on a scorching iron plate barefoot. If they ran slow, it could be even more dangerous.

Mu Yiran pinched Ke Xun’s neck and said, “Okay, you can use the Leidenfrost effect, but there’s one condition: if wrapping clothes around your feet or piggybacking aren’t allowed, you can’t ask to switch the Leidenfrost effect to me.”

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

“Hey…..” Ke Xun didn’t expect Mu Yiran to play this card.

He also understood Mu Yiran’s intention. If these two methods weren’t allowed, they would need to come up with a new one, but new ideas weren’t easy to come by. What if they couldn’t think of one? What if the one they thought of still wasn’t allowed? In that case, Mu Yiran would be the one in the most danger. NVIdq2

Ke Xun didn’t respond to Mu Yiran’s words and furrowed his brows in contemplation. “Yiran, what if we use ice as a footpad? Does that work? Running over it quickly before it melts, wouldn’t that work?”

Mu Yiran shook his head slightly, “The requirement asks for different phases of matter. Solid, liquid, and gas are the three phases of matter. Old Qin already used the solid, and ice is also a solid. It won’t be allowed. Don’t think about it. Let’s first try the existing methods.”

Saying this, he was about to take off his clothes, but Ke Xun stopped him, “Your clothes are too heavy; use mine. Down jackets are lighter.”

Mu Yiran still took off a few layers of his own clothes, “Keep at least two for yourself; otherwise, you’ll get cold when you come out of the painting.”

“I’ll make sure to bring more clothes next time and store them in the storage locker in the museum.” Ke Xun said. Otherwise, who could bear getting stripped naked every time they entered the painting?

The two of them worked together, wrapping all the clothes they were going to use around Mu Yiran’s feet. Then, Mu Yiran turned around and faced away from Ke Xun, saying, “Get on.”

“If you feel your feet burning halfway through, don’t just tolerate it,” Ke Xun reminded, “I can use that effect halfway, and I’ll carry you the rest of the way.”

“Okay.” Mu Yiran agreed. eYBjH0

The two wasted no time. Ke Xun crawled onto Mu Yiran’s back and Mu Yiran decisively stepped onto the scorching iron plate.

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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“Is the Lei-something effect considered using a gas or a liquid?” Ke Xun asked.

Mu Yiran thought for a moment. “It should be considered a gas. It’s utilizing the suspended vapor layer.”

“Then, we just need to use something in a liquid state,” Ke Xun suggested. “Let’s use water. Let’s start pouring water now!”

“But I need you to go first before I can use it. It will take time to pour the water, and it’s not clear if we can even pour water,” Mu Yiran placed his hand on Ke Xun’s lower back. “Don’t waste time. Go over there now.” Fazcyw

“You first get water from the item box and try it out. Let’s see what kind of water it provides.” Ke Xun said.

Knowing that if Ke Xun couldn’t confirm that Mu Yiran would definitely be able to cross safely, he would not obediently go first. Feeling somewhat helpless, Mu Yiran clicked on the item box and tried to request “tons of water”.

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Suddenly, a large amount of water fell from the void, pouring onto the iron plate with a whoosh. In an instant, a ton of water landed, but compared to the area of the iron plate, it was still far from enough. The water rolled around due to the high temperature, and it did not take much time for it to evaporate completely.

“I think the method of using water should work,” Mu Yiran said. “Next time, I will request a hundred or a thousand tons of water, which should cover the entire iron plate. So, now, you go first.” 7xCMhS

Ke Xun looked at him with a thousand worries in his heart, but he could only grit his teeth and agree. Before going, he couldn’t help but leave harsh words to his boyfriend: “If you can’t pass this level, I won’t leave either. You figure it out.”

Having said that, he recited the law to the book of laws, requested water, and sprinted across the iron plate as if he were participating in a 100-meter dash.

“Success!” Qin Ci, who was waiting in front of the exit, was excited when he saw Ke Xun successfully sprinting across like a cheetah. “How’s Xiao Mu?”

“Getting more and more black-bellied.” Ke Xun replied. SByHZq

Qin Ci: “……” I’m not asking about that…

Fortunately, the things Ke Xun worried about did not happen. Mu Yiran spent more than ten minutes and was able to pour enough water that was half a person’s height above the iron plate. Then, he swam over. When he swam near the exit, the water had become quite hot.

Fortunately, his clothes were covered in Ke Xun’s waterproof jacket, so they didn’t get wet. Ke Xun helped him wipe off the water on his body and touched his skin, slightly warm from soaking in the water. He suddenly felt a bit frightened.

If Mu Yiran had swum a bit slower, wouldn’t he have been scalded by the hot water?! jsc6iN

Ke Xun couldn’t help but feel distressed just thinking about it. A surge of anger rose within him. “Damn it! We can’t go on like this! Since we entered this painting, it has been leading us by the nose. We have to do whatever it tells us, constantly racking our brains to clear each level. How do we get time to find the signature?! Don’t let it be like the ‘Scarlet Beast’ painting, where it diverted our attention and we slowly forgot our true purpose. How long will this game go on before it ends? No, we need to find a way to regain the initiative!”

Qin Ci responded: “This painting is different from the ‘Scarlet Beast’. The ‘Beast’ intentionally misled us, making us forget our original intentions and not want to leave the world of the painting. This painting doesn’t have that deceptive aspect, but… I always feel like there’s no end to it.”

Mu Yiran nodded slightly, “We must find clues about the signature during the process, instead of being constantly led by the painting to clear the challenges. This painting has a trick; it keeps setting up challenges, forcing us to continuously think about how to clear them. We have almost no spare time to think about clues for the signature. In this way, day and night are spent on clearing the challenges. If someone fails to clear a challenge, they die that night. Even if everyone clears the challenge, there’s still the issue of voting someone out. It means we are constantly generating anxiety for ourselves without any time to do something to get out of this situation.”

“Each group is trying to quickly solve the challenges and escape these rooms, but this only compresses the time for thinking about clues to almost nothing. This plays right into the trick of the painting,” Ke Xun said. “I think we should try to extend the time for thinking about the clues. Since the time displayed on our phones is the time in this painting, we should at least be able to control it. Let’s not rush to leave here. Let’s ponder the clues here and pay attention to the time on our phones. As dawn approaches, we’ll leave immediately from the exit.” VfRHQc

Qin Ci responded, “It depends on the situation, to sound a bit heartless… If we can confirm that someone from another group failed to pass, we can stay in the room and delay the time. If all the other groups have cleared the challenges, we must hurry to leave and immediately enter the next level to avoid the voting process…”

“We can use the help function to contact other groups,” Ke Xun said. “We don’t need to contact Dong Zi and Haowen’s group; I’ve already talked to Haowen. If either of us is sure that we can’t clear the challenge, we’ll contact each other and let the other side know.”

Qin Ci remained silent.

“Let the other side know” probably meant making a final farewell. mq7pHw

“I’ll contact Fang Fei’s group,” Ke Xun said.

Fang Fei’s group was made up of her, Deng Lin, and He Tang, one person with two newbies. It might be quite challenging.

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

Ke Xun was about to click on the help icon when Mu Yiran stopped him, “Save yours. I’ll do it.”

Mu Yiran connected with Fang Fei, asking about their situation. Fang Fei’s voice sounded a bit breathless, “We’re okay, just solved it, and now we’re about to leave the room.” LQS8F0

“Keep the call open, leave the room, and check if the other two groups have passed,” Mu Yiran calmly instructed.

Fang Fei acted quickly, and a few seconds later, she responded, “Shao Ling’s group has already come out, but Zhu Haowen and Wei Dong haven’t.”

“We’ll stay in the room for a while,” Mu Yiran said, “Tell Shao Ling that during this time, everyone should think carefully about any clues related to the signature.”

Fang Fei seemed momentarily surprised, but quickly responded, “Okay.” 83uv0d

After ending the call, Qin Ci expressed some concern, “Will Haowen Er and Dong Zi be okay?”

“If they really encountered an unsolvable problem, Dong Zi would have definitely asked for help,” Ke Xun said, “Since he hasn’t asked for help yet, it means they still have the capability to solve the challenge.”

Qin Ci felt a bit relieved, “So, let’s discuss clues regarding the signature. Xiao Mu, what are your thoughts now?”

“As Ke Xun mentioned, I also believe that the key to finding the signature lies in Cheng Shi’s longing for his son,” Mu Yiran said, “The death of his son is the source that led to all of this. The only one who can fix the problem is the one who created the problem. The focus is on his son.” qVdTmC

“But his son is already dead, how can we find anything related to him?” Qin Ci pondered, “Could it be that Cheng Shi… hid a portrait of his son in this painting?”

“But from what we see in the painting, besides the black background, there’s only this wavy and particle-like thing,” Ke Xun pointed overhead, “No portrait of his son… unless we have to look at it like those 3D paintings, staring at a point for a while to reveal a three-dimensional outline — Hey, maybe it’s possible, let me see.”

Saying that, he tilted his head upward, staring fixedly at the void above.

Qin Ci felt that Ke Xun’s idea might be onto something, so he also joined in and looked upward. Meanwhile, he heard Mu Yiran saying, “The painting by Cheng Shi, judging just from its name and its content, the focus seems to be on trying to express the wave-particle duality of matter. I think, the clue to the signature may also be related to this.” bRYgVt

“This Cheng Shi is also strange. Clearly, he is a painter, yet he insists on talking about physics with us. The most confusing part is that he talks about physics while he’s insane. Say, is the stuff he says even accurate?” Ke Xun complained as he looked.

Listening to Ke Xun’s casual remarks, Mu Yiran suddenly thought of something and said slowly, “Many quantum physicists are called madmen, and many who understand quantum physics also feel that they’ve gone mad. The reason lies in certain phenomena of quantum mechanics that go beyond our common sense and cognition, even beyond the range that normal people can accept. I think, Cheng Shi’s madness may be directly related to some of these phenomena.”