Chapter 10: Large Hanging Paintings
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Right when Li Teng turned and was about to walk out of the door, he turned around to discover that the dozen or so wax statues behind him had gathered at the door, standing in a line side by side, blocking his way, while looking toward him together.
Some of them held desserts in their hands, and some held wine glasses. There were still the very polite but somewhat creepy smiles on their faces.
These smiles made Li Teng's spine feel cold.
He felt that he shouldn't have entered this room so recklessly, much less attacking these wax statues rashly.
Everything that happened here seemed to have exceeded his knowledge of the real world.
It was even more ridiculous than the matter of him appearing on top of the 1,000-meter stone pillar.
"Excuse me, excuse me."
Li Teng bore with the unease and continued to walk toward the door.
However, these wax statues didn't show the least intention of moving aside. All of them blocked Li Teng's path, packed tightly together, motionless.
"People, please move aside, I'm sorry."
Li Teng walked before the wax statues and made a sorry gesture. Then, he hugged one of the wax statues by the waist and attempted to move it to the side, making room for one person to pass through.
Surprisingly, the wax statue looked like it was pinned to the ground. However hard Li Teng tried, it didn't move at all.
The other wax statues couldn't be moved either.
The door to this hall opened inward. A dozen wax statues blocked the door completely, so it was impossible to open the door unless they were moved aside.
Even if Li Teng forcefully went over their heads now, it would be pointless. He still couldn't leave this increasingly creepy-looking room.
It was impossible for him to get out by force. It seemed that he could only try to do it with wit.
Li Teng turned back and walked deeper into the hall.
He walked for a while and suddenly turned back.
The wax statues beside the door were still completely still, showing no intention of leaving.
Li Teng tried hard to calm himself down and then looked around.
In the Waxwork Museum—let's call this place the Waxwork Museum for now—on the walls was a clock and a countdown display screen just like inside the cafeteria, clothing store, and bathing center.
The time was already 11:15 a.m. There were only 40 minutes or so left in the countdown.
Li Teng felt that the situation wasn't so good.
What would happen after the countdown ends?
If he was trapped there and couldn't get out, it might be very troublesome then.
Was this Waxwork Museum actually some kind of secret chamber with hidden trigger mechanisms? And him attacking the wax statues activated the mechanisms?
He felt that it was better to stay on the street than be trapped in this Waxwork Museum when the countdown ended.
At least, he had space to run. If he was trapped there, he could only wait to die.
No matter what, he had to find a way to leave this place as soon as possible.
…
The hall looked like a cocktail party scene, with dozens of guests spread throughout the hall.
Alcohol, snacks, and cutleries were laid out on the tables. But apart from the cutleries, the alcohol and snacks all felt like models, very realistic models.
Apart from these, Li Teng's attention was caught by the large paintings hanging on the four walls.
When Li Teng entered the hall earlier, his attention had been completely focused on these wax statues, and he hadn't noticed these paintings.
Now that he was trapped, he had to look for the mechanism to unlock the room, and these conspicuous large paintings naturally attracted his attention.
These large paintings… look very much like movie posters.
Movie posters for publicity.
However, Li Teng had never heard of the titles of those movies.
Take the painting hung in front of him, for example.
The title was "Raging Tsunami".
Half of the whole painting was a giant ocean wave, more than a dozen meters high.
The other half was a beach, on which a few men and women looked at the approaching wave, terrified. Some were stunned from the shock, some were putting on life jackets, and others were desperately running to take a lifebuoy at the corner of the painting.
One of them faced the outside of the painting and was given a full-face close-up.
Li Teng felt this person's face was familiar.
After a moment, Li Teng suddenly remembered. He hurriedly turned back toward the door.
The man given a full-face in the painting was one of the dozen-or-so wax statues standing by the door!
They looked exactly the same, and only the clothes were different.
"Is there some connection here?" Li Teng frowned.
After looking at the time on the clock on the wall, Li Teng hurried to look at another hanging painting beside it.
The title of this painting was a bit strange.
It was called "Changing Hail".
The content of the painting was a bit scary.
Countless hail chunks fell from the sky, and there were men and women on the ground.
Some looked at the sky desperately, and some were fleeing into the distance frantically.
But one of them was hit on the head by a chunk of hail the size of a basketball, and the entire head was smashed. The hail chunk appeared at the place where the person's head was originally located, and the lower half was completely dyed red.
While looking at the painting, Li Teng couldn't help but exclaim, "This is clearly 'changing head', what 'changing hail'?"
In the painting "Changing Hail", there was also a person who faced outward.
Li Teng had no impression of this person. He turned around and quickly checked around the hall, but could not find this person.
Time was limited, and Li Teng didn't dare to look carefully, so he quickly looked at the next painting.
The name of this painting was "Evil Fire in Demon City".
The picture showed the streets of a city, with blazing fires everywhere. Some men and women were fleeing frantically on the streets, and some of them were already on fire.
Even more frightening were the scattered gasoline cans piled up by the street.
One of the women was rather unlucky. When she was escaping, she happened to pass by a gasoline can that was just on fire and was about to explode. The fire from the gasoline turned into a demon, and two sharp claws went hugging toward the woman. Clearly, this woman had no more chances of escaping.
Like these, the other paintings on the wall were all about disasters of various kinds—volcanic eruptions, avalanches, air crashes, earthquakes, etc.
Soon, Li Teng discovered a common feature in these paintings. Although they varied in terms of ages and gender, the characters in these paintings all added up to eight.
In some paintings, one person was given a close-up facing the camera, and in some two or three people were given a close-up facing the camera. In addition to the man at the beginning, Li Teng also found the figures in several other paintings among the wax figures.
Twenty minutes had passed with the countdown, and it was now 11:35.
The countdown would end in 25 minutes.
Apart from having a total of eight people, what other connection is there between these paintings?
Why would the wax statues in a waxwork museum move and lock the door?
Earlier, when Li Teng had been in the toilet, he had heard footsteps on the street outside.
Before entering the wax museum, he had also heard footsteps in the wax museum.
It meant that there were not only the motionless wax figures in this room but also a living person like Li Teng.
If the other living person was a normal human-like Li Teng, he also wouldn't be able to move these wax figures. Much less move so many wax figures at once without making any sound.
Unless…
Li Teng felt that something was wrong. He suddenly turned his head.
All of the wax figures in the room turned around at the same time, looking in his direction. Some had snacks in their hands, and some had wine glasses. Their faces were all full of that kind of creepy smile.
-- Gift
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