It took the girls three minutes to discuss the issue of compensation and finalise the amount at 1470 yuan.
“I’ll give you my contact information. Send me 1470, and I’ll send the things to you,” Sixian smiled.
Yibei was speechless. How did things turn out this way?
She simply mentioned converting the compensation into equipment for recording videos, but she didn’t expect her to sell it.
“It’s okay! Really! I don’t need the equipment.”
“Oh, but you do!” Sixian replied. “With the same price, you’re only gonna get a set of equipment. With me around, you’ll get debugging by a professional videographer like me!”
“Besides!” Sixian continued as she slung her arm around Yibei. “Since we have the same hobbies, we can partner in the future!”
She’d do well as a saleswoman, Yibei thought.
“I-I think I’ll do fine by myself…” Yibei muttered.
“No! Think about it: It’s dangerous for a girl like you to do broadcasts like this alone by herself. I can protect you! I’ll have you know I’m an expert in Muay Thai!”
“Ah, we can discuss this later, but first…”
While speaking, Yibei’s eyes drifted towards the oil painting in the corner. Although the girl’s face was completely obscured by the messy red lines, she swore she could feel gazes coming from the oil painting.
“I agree. Something is wrong with that painting,” Sixian chirped.
Shouldn’t you be running away, then? Yibei thought, but he didn’t move to stop her.
Sixian held the camera in one hand and the steel pipe in another, carefully leaning towards the oil painting in the corner.
“Ladies and gentlemen, after a boring wait, I finally found something interesting!”
She approached the painting as she talked into the camera and stopped a metre away from the oil painting. She used her pipe to toss the cloth obscuring the portrait, and the moment she opened it, she took a big step back.
Yibei frowned. She had no concept of death at all.
‘She’s reckless.’
Yibei followed close behind with the statue, standing guard behind Sixian.
Sixian shone the beam of her flashlight on the oil painting, and Yibei could only frown as she stared at the canvas.
At a glance, she thought that the painting was of a young girl lying on the ground, but that was not the case.
The girl in the painting has her neck, hands, and feet twisted in a strange arc as if they were all broken.
Coupled with the messy red lines drawn on it, it was as if she had fallen from a tall building.
“There’s a name written on it…” Sixian whispered into the camera. “Zhao Ke? Is that the painter?”
The moment Sixian uttered the name “Zhao Ke,” Yibei could feel the name resonating out from her mouth, spreading into the deep, dark ends of the entire campus.
Her eyes started to burn slightly, and an ominous feeling filled her heart.
Something woke up, and a huge, malicious shadow silently enveloped the entire campus.
Boom! Boom!
The oil painting suddenly seemed to come alive, shaking as if it were trying to break out of the canvas.
And the traces of red paint seemed to become eerily vivid.
Sixian took several steps back, and the oil painting bounced off the easel.
The oil painting flew towards Sixian, and the girl in the painting seemed to come alive, stretching her broken arms towards Sixian.
In the blink of an eye, Yibei leapt forward with the statue and slammed it straight into the oil painting. A pale, golden light flashed in the room, and the oil painting flew upside down to the height of the room; there was no movement.
A horrifying scream filled their ears.
Holding the statue, Yibei moved a little closer to the oil painting. After confirming that it was no longer moving, she glanced at Sixian.
The camera had since fallen from Sixian’s hands and onto the ground. Holding the steel pipe with both hands, she breathed heavily as she stared at Yibei.
“You… you’re not here to broadcast about urban legends. You’re here to hunt them…”
Yibei frowned as they stared at each other: “T-that’s not true. I’m here to do a broadcast, but I’m also here to hunt them down. I’m actually a member of Acala’s sect, and this is the special weapon of our sect.”
As she spoke, she knocked on the statue a couple of times, making a clear, ringing sound.
Thinking about it, she placed the statue on top of the overturned oil painting.
“I get it now!” Sixiang yelled.
“What is it?”
“You noticed that there was something wrong with my companions, so you deliberately led me away, right?”
“Uh, well…”
Yibei didn’t have the guts to tell her that she ran away simply because Sixiang was chasing her.
However, now that Sixiang mentioned it, she has, in fact, sensed that something is amiss with her companions.
Her energy intake was somewhat lower than expected, and she thought it was due to some individual responses to urban legends.
However, now that Sixiang mentioned it, it means that one of her companions must be an urban legend in disguise.
At least she could confirm that Du Sixian was human.
However, just as she was about to warn Sixian, Sixian rushed out of the classroom with the steel pipe in her hands.
Sixian left her flashlight behind, and it pointed straight at the oil painting.
On the back of the oil painting, insulting and derogatory words were written in red paint, and the object of those words was none other than Zhao Ke.
Staring at the paint, her eyes burnt, and a blurry image formed in front of her.
“Zhao Ke, why don’t you just kill yourself?”
“You-you’re a pervert! Why the hell did you just draw?”
“The art teacher just feels bad for you; you aren’t actually good at drawing…”
“I’ll break your fingers so you will never ever be able to draw again…”
The malicious, venomous words kept ringing in her ears, and Yibei’s brain swelled.
Suddenly, all the insults died off, replaced with a strong sob.
A phantom of a boy appeared in the corner of the room, holding an oil painting tightly in his arms as if he were guarding something important.
He wore a pair of black-rimmed glasses with bangs that almost covered his eyes. He looked like an ordinary boy.
‘This must be Zhao Ke.’
Yibei felt bad for him. She recalled when there would be bullies in every class. Jealousy is a dangerous disease that seems to affect everyone.
The burning in Yibei’s eyes suddenly intensified, and the scene in front of her was like the scenery outside the window of a speeding car, passing quickly, one after another.
She could see a frail student trying to cover the malicious words with white paint again and again, only to have more harmful words scribbled on the canvas.
They were no longer satisfied with seeing him in pain, and they wanted him to suffer. So, they destroyed his painting.
All the images dissolved into darkness, and Yibei floated in that sea of black.
Then…
A faint, yellow candlelight dispelled the darkness. Four candles were placed in the four corners of that small, enclosed space. A white porcelain plate was placed in the centre of the room.
Zhao Ke could be seen squatting next to the plate, pressing his bandaged fingers on the plate.
‘Plate Deity.’
However, the Plate Deity game needed at least three people to play, and Zhao Ke didn’t have any friends.
So, he made himself some.
The canvas was cut into the shape of a human body, and he painted faces on them. And as soon as he had friends, their dull eyes were illuminated by the candlelight.
“O Great Plate Deity, please reveal yourself… please…”
As Zhao Ke repeated the mantra, the white porcelain plate turned and made a soft sound.
And his eyes were painted over with red.
“O Great Plate Deity, can you kill them all for me?”
In a moment of silence, the necks of the four paper figurines were sliced in half.
A cold wind whispered affirmations into Zhao Ke’s ears, extinguishing all of the candles as he fell into darkness.
