Stone Painting

Translator: Cinder Translations

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"You don't need to worry about me," the Fatty quickly waved his hand. "My heart is bigger than you think."

"I see." Chen Ran squinted his eyes, staring at the Fatty, who immediately avoided his gaze. The pressure in Chen Ran's eyes was no less than Jiang Cheng's.

As for Jiang Cheng's reason for doing this, the Fatty more or less understood. He was worried that Chen Ran might suddenly attack from behind while he was observing the clue, so he decided to keep an eye on Chen Ran as well.

Su Xiaoxiao was a bit inaccurate.

There wasn't just one painting on the stone pillar; there were many, depicting different scenes that were interconnected. The Fatty stared at them, mesmerized.

The artist's strokes were rather rough, but it was clear that they had some skill. The composition of each painting was clear, making it easy to understand.

Overall, the Fatty felt that the artist must have been in a state of extreme fear or urgency when completing these paintings.

There were nine paintings in total, arranged in a grid. The first eight paintings were clear, but the ninth painting—he blinked—seemed to be only half-done.

It was a broken picture.

The missing part was the upper-left area of the painting, about two-thirds of it. The bottom-right corner—he swallowed, walked around Chen Ran, and took a closer look—depicted a person.

A strangely dressed person.

Curled up, hiding in a very small corner.

And it seemed to be a woman.

At that moment, the Fatty shuddered involuntarily. He immediately thought of the crazy old woman hiding in the lighthouse.

But when he focused again and looked at the last painting, that strange, familiar feeling disappeared.

The figure in the painting, representing a person, was drawn in just a few strokes—nothing like the simple drawings of a kindergarten child. It was impossible to tell if it was a man or a woman, or what kind of actions they were performing.

But in that brief moment, he could be certain—the figure in the painting was that old woman.

How could that be?!

The Fatty gasped heavily. His large body trembled as he tried to stop himself from gulping in fright, but he couldn't.

He wasn't sure when this painting was left, but judging by the extent of the weathering, it must have been left hundreds of years ago. That old woman... How could she have been there back then?

Was she still a human?

Just as the Fatty snapped back to his senses and wanted to warn Jiang Cheng about the old woman, he hesitated, since Chen Ran was right there. He couldn't speak openly. Right now, Jiang Cheng and Chen Ran were walking side by side like conjoined twins.

"Brother Hao, have you found anything?" Chen Ran squinted and asked.

Jiang Cheng stood up, paused for a moment, and said, "It's not clear yet. I think we should go upstairs and take a look."

When the Fatty heard Jiang Cheng's plan to go upstairs, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He could almost predict that Su Xiaoxiao's mission had failed. It was likely that Su An had already perished.

No, she, like the motorcycle woman and Liang Long, had mysteriously disappeared.

All of this was related to the old woman.

Once his thoughts opened up, everything seemed to make sense. Previously, he couldn't understand why, after the shipwreck, only the old woman survived. According to what the doctor had said about nightmares, everyone's chances of survival should have been roughly the same at the start of the nightmare mission.

How could there be a second-time player?

This contradicted the nightmare mechanism they had speculated.

Now, there were answers.

The old woman wasn't a player at all. In fact, she was a very special NPC—special enough to indiscriminately attack all players.

Thinking back to the night before, when the old woman stared into his eyes and licked her lips with her crimson tongue, the Fatty shuddered again. His legs felt like they were going to give way.

"Ah!"

In the next second, startled, the Fatty jumped up half a meter into the air.

When he looked back, Jiang Cheng had his left arm draped over Chen Ran's neck and his right hand still stretched out, maintaining the same posture as when he poked the Fatty earlier.

"You—"

"Let's go," Jiang Cheng said casually to the Fatty. "We'll go up and take a look. You just follow behind us."

"Okay, okay."

Following behind Jiang Cheng and Chen Ran, the Fatty became more aware of the tension between the two. Jiang Cheng's arm around Chen Ran's neck was firm, his muscles bulging as if ready to snap Chen Ran's neck at any moment.

Chen Ran seemed similar, his hand on Jiang Cheng's waist, though the veins on his hand betrayed a hidden power that could be just as strong as the blow he dealt to Su Xiaoxiao.

Taking a deep breath, the Fatty steeled himself. He realized that it was only a matter of time before they clashed. The outcome could be decided in an instant.

After all, if Jiang Cheng lost, and as long as Chen Ran still had breath left, the Fatty would be no match for him.

The stairs were dark, and the torches were nowhere to be found. They all stayed as close to the wall as possible. The Fatty carefully followed behind, mentally calculating the possibility of teaming up with Jiang Cheng to dispose of Chen Ran, the ticking time bomb.

After some more fake pleasantries, Jiang Cheng and Chen Ran continued forward slowly, steadily, neither of them speaking. The atmosphere grew heavy.

As they neared the lighthouse, the Fatty's previously blurry sense of the truth began to clear up.

On the way back from Black Stone Town the night before, Jiang Cheng had shared some of the problems he had discovered.

But at the time, the Fatty didn't have much of a clue, so he just listened out of curiosity. Only now did he realize how terrifying Jiang Cheng truly was.

The things Jiang Cheng had said left a deep impression on him.

According to Jiang Cheng, after they had been invited to sit down at Black Stone Town, there were still four empty seats, besides the one occupied by the blonde man who was the town mayor.

This meant that, in Black Stone Town, "people" were expected to have seven "guests."

Where did they only prepare seven portions? Was it just a coincidence?

After all, the old woman and the motorcycle woman stayed inside the lighthouse. The number of people who had appeared before the townspeople was at most six.

The second time, only Jiang Cheng, the Fatty, Chen Ran, and Liang Long were present.

Ultimately, only the three of them showed up.

But what if the townspeople knew all seven of their numbers through some form of record or an unknown method?

Delving deeper, what if the townspeople knew one of them wasn't human, which is why they didn't prepare food for her?

Thinking back to the old woman's greedy stare, the Fatty's pupils shrank, and a chilling guess began to form in his mind.

(End of the Chapter)

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Translated 4 Series, 1.65K+ Chapters and 2.01M+ Words.