Paintings of Terror

As Du Lingyu disappeared, the snowstorm outside raged even harder, as if it could bury this tiny Lantern Inn at any moment.

“Woof, woof, woof—” From outside the window came Koharu’s barking, as if urging everyone to go. “Let’s go, we’re running out of time,” said Zhu Haowen. Fang Fei climbed back onto the windowsill. “Follow me, jump down!” Fang Fei’s figure quickly disappeared through the window, and her voice came from outside, “All of you come down!” Everyone didn’t waste any more time and jumped from the window one by one until they landed safely on Koharu’s back. Only then did their suspended hearts find solid ground. Luo Bu lay on Koharu’s furry back, feeling the familiar warmth. “Koharu, save up your strength, don’t tire yourself out!” “Woo, woof, woof…” Koharu responded to its owner. The warm breath it exhaled was particularly visible in the snowy night, like steam from a train. “Why’s there one person missing?!” Ke Xun counted the number of people. “There should be ten people, but why are there only nine?” Everyone was stunned for a moment and quickly realized that Mai Peng was missing. “What happened? Where’s Mai Peng?” Ke Xun’s gaze swept between them. He couldn’t believe that a living person just disappeared. “I was the last one to jump down just now. I clearly saw Mai Peng jump down too. He was behind Qin Ci and in front of Cao Youning.” Cao Youning was completely frozen. He shed a lot of tears just now because of the departure of his companion Du Lingyu. Now, those cold winds had frozen his tear streaks. His expression was stiff. “Mai Peng? Mai Peng clearly jumped down, he was right in front of me when he jumped down! I saw him jump with my own eyes!” Cao Youning’s voice broke from anxiety. Fang Fei’s snowy white mask stood out in the night. She looked back at the window’s location. “We’ve completely entered the tunnel, and the tunnel’s entrance has closed. It won’t open again until tomorrow.” “But, Mai Peng, he, where did he go?!” Cao Youning was frantic and helpless. He clumsily crawled toward the edge, trying to find clues below. But below was an abyss, shrouded in the howling wind and snow, making it impossible to see anything. Mu Yiran’s hair was also disheveled by the wind. “It seems that Mai Peng’s deaths intersect at this moment. This was inevitable.” Cao Youning turned his head back, his voice trembling with extreme sadness. “I don’t understand. Everyone else jumped down safely. Why did it happen to Mai Peng only… Are you saying Mai Peng died at this moment?!” Mu Yiran’s voice was somber. “We should be entering the third night of our timeline now. It seems that in another timeline, Mai Peng died at the end of the fourth day. This world may seem like it has a chaotic sense of time, but it actually follows an extremely strict temporal boundary. Faced with predetermined death, there’s no room for even a second of delay.” Cao Youning’s voice wavered weakly in the cold wind. “So, you mean… Mai Peng just now…he fell just now? Where is his body? Where is he now?” No one answered this question, and no one could answer it. PNVFa4