Chapter 3 Paper Man 03 Maybe I can get out after killing the monster...
Contrary to your expectation, you slept soundly.
When you opened your eyes, you looked at the unfamiliar ceiling, and it took you a while to remember what happened before you went to bed.
It turns out that everything was not a dream, it was all real.
Just as you were still smiling bitterly, you saw the four-eyed black ball coming back from somewhere, pushing a large cart.
There was a huge ceramic bathtub on the cart, and inside the bathtub were piled some daily necessities of different styles, including cups, soap, towels...
Of course, there are some weird things mixed in too.
For example, a fruit basket full of fruits, two sparkling jewel hairpins, and several books.
The monster seemed quite happy to see you woke up. It jumped to the bed and mumbled something.
You're totally out of your element.
Only then did you take another closer look at the cabin. It was indeed different from before you slept there. There seemed to be a lot more furniture and decorations. The monster even moved the pot of sunflowers to you.
However, these furniture and decorations look like they were taken out of different paintings, so the style of this originally warm cabin suddenly became extremely weird.
You have the illusion that you are being raised as a pet by a little monster.
Although it's a good thing that you are not eaten by monsters, you don't want to stay in this hellish place forever.
But...how to go back?
This looks like a tough battle, and we must conserve our energy.
Thinking of this, you did not refuse the feeding from the four-eyed black ball. You took the fresh-looking apple from the black tentacle and began to concentrate on eating the apple.
It's crispy and sweet, and tastes better than those sold outside.
Just as you were eating, you felt a strong presence of gaze falling on you, goosebumps instantly appeared, and you felt like you were being stared at.
You looked up warily, only to see the little monster's four eyes radiating desire, its gaze focused on the apple in your hand, of which only the core was left.
You asked in confusion, “…want to eat?”
As soon as he finished speaking, you saw the four-eyed black ball nod without hesitation.
You looked at the apple core, turned your head, raised your hand to take an apple from the fruit basket next to you, and handed it to the four-eyed black ball, but you didn't expect to see the little monster shaking his head again.
…
You took the apple back in confusion, and tentatively handed over the apple core in your hand.
This time, the black tentacle quickly took the apple core and held it tightly in front of its body, as if something was going to snatch it away.
After a long while, the apple core wrapped in black tentacles disappeared from your sight as if it had been corroded by something.
The four eyes of the four-eyed black ball also showed a look of satisfaction.
It's like eating something delicious.
Love leftovers?
What kind of weird habit is this?
You are very confused and think about it for a while, but when you find that you can't figure it out, you stop thinking about it.
After all, humans can't use their own cognition to define the behavior of monsters, and besides...
It is better to love eating leftovers than to love eating people.
For you, compared to these unimportant things, what is more important right now is to find a way to leave the spiritual world and return to reality.
In the world of the painting, there is no sense of the passage of time. Everything is still. Outside the window of the wooden house, it is still white, it is daytime.
All the things you brought with you are still there. You glanced at the time displayed on your phone. A whole day has passed since you entered this mysterious art museum.
Although no one may notice your disappearance so quickly because you live alone and are a freelancer, if time goes on, your family and friends will definitely find that they cannot contact you.
They would be terribly worried if they found you missing.
Your mood becomes very low.
At this moment, the little monster, who had been very quiet, suddenly made a sound again.
"Guwa guwa..."
The four-eyed black ball squeaked and screamed beside your bed for a while, then jumped away again.
Although you don't know what the little monster is up to, you think that while it's away, you can explore this unknown world and see if you can return to reality.
You jumped out of bed, put on your shoes, and began to look around.
The world in the painting is actually very mysterious. Only the part that appears inside the drawing paper is real, but the part outside the drawing paper is completely blank.
This can be seen when you open the wooden door of the cabin and find that there are no so-called snow mountains or blizzards outside, but a blank space.
The world in the painting will not complete the parts that are not covered in the painting.
You walked along the blank area, and soon you saw a familiar crack.
This crack is like a moat, surrounding the world in one painting and separating it from the worlds in other paintings.
When the little monster led the way, you carefully discovered that there were only three directions in the world of the painting. Different directions led to different paintings, which were respectively connected to the painting on the right, the painting on the left, and the painting facing the opposite wall.
You have no other ideas now. The only thing you can think of is... to go out from the same way you came in, find the painting of sunflowers, and see if there is an exit.
Unfortunately, you simply looked at the paintings in the gallery before, without recording the order and position of each painting.
Fortunately, although the sunflower has been moved back by the four-eyed black ball, the table where the vase was placed should still be there, and you still remember what it looks like.
As for the problem that the crack is too wide and cannot be passed without the help of the four-eyed black ball, you have also found a solution.
You removed the wooden door of the cabin.
I was worried that there was a blizzard outside and you might freeze to death, but now there is obviously no such worry.
The length of the wooden door was just two centimeters longer than the crack.
You stepped on the wooden board with one foot and pressed it twice. Feeling that the board was solid and did not shake, you stepped on it with confidence.
Of course, you didn't forget to pull the cart. After all, apart from the direction you came from, there are two more directions to try for each painting, so you have to bring the wooden board with you.
This process is extremely difficult.
Because the wooden door is very heavy, even with a cart, it would be exhausting just to move it up and down, not to mention that some of the paintings depict mountains and seas, making it impossible to pass through. So before you had gone far, you pushed the cart back to the cabin in dejected fashion.
After you put the door back in place, you lay back down on the bed.
After going through this, you finally figured it out. Instead of struggling on your own, you might as well try to communicate with the four-eyed black ball.
Not long after, the four-eyed black ball also came back.
This time it brought a full bucket of water and a few corn cobs.
If you don't see the water, you are not particularly thirsty. But after seeing the water, you realize that you haven't had any water for a day. At most, you drank some wine at the banquet yesterday and ate an apple two hours ago.
Just as you were still in a daze, you came to your senses and found that a black tentacle had already handed a ceramic cup filled with water to you.
The water is quite clear, I don't know where it came from.
But you don’t want to delve into it.
Anyway, I have eaten a lot of the things in the painting, so a glass of water is not a big deal.
You took a sip and tasted nothing, just the taste of ordinary purified water. You glanced to the left and found that the four-eyed black ball had extended two tentacles and was peeling corn husks by the fireplace.
After the green corn husks are peeled off, the golden corn cobs are inside. When roasted over fire, the corn skin becomes golden and crispy, and the room is filled with the sweet aroma of roasted corn.
Twenty minutes later, the roasted corn will be right in front of your mouth.
It’s hard to imagine that you also live a life of ease in the spiritual world.
It would be fine if you could live in peace with the little monster like this, but the thing to be afraid of is that it wants to feed you first and then use you to satisfy its stomach.
As you were thinking this, your expression suddenly changed, and you found that a black tentacle of the little monster was waving towards you.
Even if you didn't let your guard down, the tentacle still attacked too fast and was already on your face before you could react.
The icy touch made your body shiver instinctively the moment it made contact.
Almost as a reflex, you grabbed the black tentacle with your hand.
But unexpectedly, after you caught the monster's tentacles, you did not feel any resistance on them. Instead, you used more force and pulled the little monster's body in front of you in one go.
The tentacles in my hand became soft and no longer had that flexible feel. Instead, they began to soften and even became a little sticky.
You don't know why it's become so limp, but it's a good thing for you.
Maybe killing the monster is one of the ways to get out.
It attacked you first, so you should fight back.
You had no weapons, so you just punched the monster with all your strength, but your fist immediately sank in, and it felt like punching cotton.
The two human eyes and the four monster eyes met, and you only felt that you saw confusion and puzzlement in the little monster's eyes.
After a while, the little monster slowly moved back a little, and in your vigilant and puzzled eyes, it jumped forward again and bumped into your fist.
It's as if they treat your attack as an interactive game.
This might be...
It is not very harmful, but extremely insulting.
Just when you were wondering how it would end, you saw some small yellow pieces falling off the little monster.
You pick up the small piece and see that it is actually one-third of a kernel of corn.
…
The black tentacle was still waving in the air, as if it really wanted to take the corn kernels back.
You instantly understood that the four-eyed black ball didn't want to attack you, it simply wanted to pick up leftovers.
How to say it?
Comparing the two, it seems that you, as a human being, have a very dark mind.
You felt complicated, but you just silently stuffed the corn kernels back into your mouth in front of the little monster. However, you really couldn't eat the corn cob, so you could only watch as the little monster rolled the corn cob away with its tentacles.
Those four little round eyes were narrowed, obviously very happy.
It really doesn't seem like it has any interest in hurting you, and you finally believe that it's friendly. That means... can you find a way to communicate with it and let it tell you how to return to reality?
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