Paintings of Terror

Chapter 6: Paper Doll

Translated by Eve

Edited by EB

The paper doll boy dressed in brightly-coloured clothes grabbed hold of the window sill and slowly climbed into the room, accompanied by the sound of crinkling paper.

Ke Xun didn’t dare to move at all. His gaze was on the darkness in front of him.

The sound of paper rustling gradually came closer, bringing with it a bone-chilling breeze from the window.

As the sound approached, the penetrating cold intensified. Suddenly, the taste and scent of ash filled his nose and mouth.

It wasn’t like the ash of incense or cigarettes. Mixed inside was the suffocating smell of tar, rot and…the ashes of a cremated body.

Ke Xun felt his throat tighten. He bit down hard on his tongue and forced down his urge to cough. Inevitably, a slight shudder racked throughout his body. A second later, colourful paper pants appeared in his line of view.

Ke Xun could hear the crackling of paper above his head. Rustle, rustle. The closer it got, the louder it sounded. It felt like both the chill and scent of ash were tangible and were pressing down on him, smothering him. There was a painful sensation, like something was being pumped into his body, filling it up until he would burst.

The room was so silent it was terrifying. There was nothing but the extremely bizarre sounds of the paper doll’s movement.

Mu Yiran beside Ke Xun was like a rock, completely still. For a moment, it felt like the two of them had been abandoned by the world. Right now, no one could save them. No one could help them. They were powerless and alone, with no choice but to despair and helplessly wait as a horrible death descended upon them.

From the sounds of the paper doll’s movement, it sounded like it was currently above Ke Xun’s head. Ke Xun didn’t know what this thing wanted to do, but what he did know was that he had no power to fight it.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw the paper doll’s red lips slowly appear. What followed after was its nose that had been sketched with black ink. Just as the two almond-shaped eyes were about to meet his own, Ke Xun suddenly remembered Mu Yiran’s words. At once, he held his breath.

The paper doll’s entire face was now in view. It had blush on its cheek and a red dot between its thin, curved eyebrows. Its two ink-drawn eyes were directly in front of Ke Xun’s own, the pupils akin to a haphazard scribble made by a black pen. Being stared at by this pair of painted eyes made Ke Xun feel like all his bones had turned so cold they would soon crack and break through his skin.

The paper doll simply stared into Ke Xun’s eyes at an extremely close distance. A deathly stillness once again befell the room. It was as if there were no living humans in the quiet dark, like all there was left were three motionless paper dolls.

——Paper dolls?

So it was like this!

Ke Xun suddenly understood what Mu Yiran had been getting at.

If they were still and didn’t breathe, wouldn’t they be just like a paper doll? Like this, the paper doll in front of him wouldn’t be able to differentiate between whether he was a human or a paper doll. Therefore, it would hesitate to do unthinkable things to them.

However, Ke Xun was just about to hit his limit of holding his breath. Even if his lung capacity was greater than the average human, he still couldn’t hold his breath for too long. He could only hope that the paper doll would leave soon. Otherwise….

Although Ke Xun was at his limit, the paper doll still stood in place in front of him, showing no signs of movement. Its two dead, black eyes stared at Ke Xun’s face.

I can’t hold it in anymore.… Ke Xun was in terrible pain. He felt dizzy from the lack of oxygen. It felt like the veins in his head would soon collapse.

It was said that no human could die from suffocation by holding their breath.

Ke Xun thought that they were right.

No matter how strong one’s willpower was, it could never overcome one’s physiological functions.

Just as Ke Xun’s willpower was about to lose to his body’s reflexes, he suddenly heard a devastated, blood-curdling scream from the north wing’s central building. Soon after, another two or three people cried out. That shrilling scream could not have been made by a person. When he heard it, Ke Xun could feel the goosebumps forming on his arms.

The moment the scream had sounded, the paper doll in front of Ke Xun had stood up. The ink face disappeared from Ke Xun’s sight. Soon after, there was the sound of paper crinkling and the brightly-coloured pants began to move. Step by step, it disappeared into the darkness.

Based on where the direction the sound was going, it seemed like the paper doll had climbed out through the window. After that, all its movements were covered up by the incessant wretched calls coming from the central building’s direction.

Ke Xun’s body was drenched in cold sweat as he gasped for air.

Although it was difficult to believe, just now, he had been face-to-face with some bizarre supernatural entity and had nearly been killed by it.

Now, he truly believed that this was all real.

When he felt Mu Yiran’s gaze on him, Ke Xun raised a hand while still gasping and made an “OK” gesture.

Mu Yiran looked at him weirdly.

The other had nearly died just now but still had the frame of mind to tell other people “I’m still OK, don’t worry.”

Who knew if it was because he lacked a fear of death or if it was because he was adept at staying calm.

Mu Yiran stood up, ignoring him.

Ke Xun also crawled up to his feet and cautiously peered outside through the window.

The courtyard outside was still pitch-black but they could faintly make out the outline of the central building. Standing in front of the central building’s door was the paper boy and paper girl. The paper dolls had their backs to Ke Xun and Mu Yiran as they faced the central building, as if they were listening for signs of movement inside.

The blood-curdling, trepidation-inducing screams had already quieted down. Ke Xun remembered who the three people who had received the min strips of cloth were. One of them was a middle-aged, beer-bellied uncle. He was a hefty man and looked like a wealthy, successful man. Another one was a twenty-something year old man who had been wearing a numbed expression, as if he had already accepted his fate. The last person had been one of the three people who had entered the painting after Wei Dong and himself. That person had been completely overcome with fear and panic.

Based on how miserable their screams had been, it was very unlikely that things boded well for these three people.

Ke Xun didn’t know how to feel. A few hours ago, these three people had still been alive. Now, their right to exist had been stolen by some extremely difficult to explain, terrifying power inside that horrifying building just steps away from him.

It wasn’t like Ke Xun had never seen death before, but he had never seen death like this, unexplained and manipulated by an unnatural force. It just made him feel really unwell.

He didn’t know if he felt unresigned, indignant, afraid, or just lost.

Mu Yiran appraised this newcomer with cold eyes.

In the last painting he had entered, one of the newcomers had been scared out of his wits after experiencing another person’s death. That person had pissed his pants and wailed. He had nearly caused Mu Yiran to die with him.

There had also been another newcomer who had chosen to commit suicide.

Aside from these examples, there had been many other reactions, such as being scared silly, or being scared into insanity. There had also been people who believed that they could prevail over everything and had thus rushed out impetuously to their deaths.

Right now, the emotions the person before him showed were no different from that of the newcomers he had met in the past.

Weakness and cowardice in the world within the painting meant death without any doubt.

Mu Yiran was about to avert his indifferent gaze when he saw the other suddenly rub a hand along his face. The other man also quickly calmed down. He licked the corner of his lips that carried an innate free-spirited curve. Through his unruly gaze, Mu Yiran could see an unyielding spirit.

For some people, it wasn’t that they were not afraid of death. It was just that even if they were to die, they would want to go down fighting.

Mu Yiran shifted his gaze away but Ke Xun had already come back to his side. The other whispered, “Do you think that those two paper dolls will come back once the mourning hall falls quiet?”

He would probably not be as lucky if he were to have to hold his breath again.

Mu Yiran was silent for a while, seemingly thinking. He then quietly replied, “From what we just saw, my idea was right. As long as we don’t move or breathe, the paper doll’s won’t attack us. Furthermore, I think that they might not even try to sound us out if they can’t see us.”

Ke Xun thought that this made sense. In the beginning, the paper doll had only walked around outside calmly. It was only when it had looked in through the window and heard the sound of the sack falling, that it had gone berserk, smashing the window and climbing in.

Therefore, if they couldn’t see any ‘humans’ inside the room, would they not come in?

“Let’s move the sacks in the corner of the room and hide behind them.” Mu Yiran’s voice sounded next to his ear. “Remember, keep your movements light. Don’t make any sounds.”

“Okay.”

The two of them felt their way through the darkness, slowly advancing towards the corner of the room. Fortunately, they were not far from it. They then bent over to pick up the sacks and carefully moved them over.

There weren’t all that many sacks. It was definitely not enough to make a small fort the two of them could sit behind. They tried several different configurations and finally settled with lying next to each other on their sides. They also placed sacks over their bodies to cover themselves up.

Although they could hide themselves fully from view this way, this also meant that they could not see the situation outside either. There was no way to monitor the paper doll’s movements. If the paper dolls were to attack them, the two of them would be unable to defend or escape.

On the other hand, if they were to leave a crack, that might become the cause of the paper doll’s attack.

In the end, they decided on forgoing escape. If this method could not stop the paper dolls, then their other methods would be just as useless. They’d die no matter what they did and would just have to accept their fates.

The two of them thus lied on their sides underneath the sack fort.

The space was very tight. Even though they were on their sides, it was still very cramped. Mu Yiran was unwilling to lay face-to-face with Ke Xun so he turned to face the room. Ke Xun didn’t care as much and stuck closely to Mu Yiran’s back.

The sack fort seemed to divide the world into two. Although the world the two of them shared was cramped, it was because it was cramped that they felt a bit of a sense of security.

But when the outside world was once again entrenched in silence, the two worlds once again fused into one. The sliver of security they had felt had also disappeared without a trace.

The two of them lied on their sides, as still as possible, trying to keep their breaths as light as possible. A moment later, the sounds hidden by the darkness gradually broke through the silence, slowly growing more clear. There was the sound of the thick fog moving through the night, the howling of the wind and even the rusting of paper against the breeze.

Ke Xun had no idea how he managed to make it through the night.

He also felt like the reason he’d fallen asleep midway through the night hadn’t been because he had been sleepy, but because he had lost consciousness from having been strung too tensely.

When they walked out of the granary and into the dawn light, the sky was still one of grey and gloom. The entrance to the central building was the same as it had been yesterday. The paper boy and girl still stood in their original positions, facing the courtyard with smiling faces.

The door and windows of the central building were tightly shut, making it difficult to imagine what it was like inside. But Ke Xun didn’t care about the central building. He sprinted to the firewood room and pounded against the door. “Dong zi! Dong zi! Are you okay? Dong zi!”

The longer he pounded against the door, the more fearful he became. Even after waiting for a long period of time, he could not hear any signs of movement inside the firewood room.

Eve: Dun dun dun~contemporary romance

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