Murderous Painting

In the bedroom.

Sun Yujia witnessed the old, suspicious oil painting appearing eerily beside Wang Yue's bedside. She was quite certain that the painting had previously been on Zhang Xia's bed and had not been moved since Zhang Xia's disappearance, nor had anyone else moved it. After all, it was someone else's personal property, and they had that much sense of propriety.

But now, the problematic oil painting is hanging right next to Wang Yue's bed, almost touching her, while Wang Yue is still fast asleep, completely unaware.

A terrified scream from Sun Yujia seemed to wake Wang Yue, who was sleeping. She said impatiently, "What is it now? I was almost asleep. Your scream is going to give me insomnia tonight."

"That oil painting is right next to you," Sun Yujia said, her voice trembling.

"What painting is next to me?" Wang Yue was completely unaware.

"Yes, the problematic oil painting that Zhang Xia brought back from outside is now by your bedside," Sun Yujia said.

"How could that painting possibly be in my possession?" Before she could finish speaking, Wang Yue turned around and immediately froze.

A huge oil painting, more than half a person's height, stood against the wall next to my bed. The painting depicted a woman with indistinct features, wearing a European-style red dress. The figure didn't occupy much of the painting; most of it was background. The background seemed familiar; although it was dark and oppressive, the architecture resembled this university.

After a brief moment of stunned silence, Wang Yue quickly snapped out of it. She exclaimed in surprise, "How did this oil painting end up next to my bed? Who put it here? It's filthy!"

Sun Yujia's tone was still terrified. "No, no one touched that painting. It seemed to just suddenly appear by your bedside. I clearly remember that when Miao Xiaoshan and Yang Jian left, the painting was still on Zhang Xia's bed. After they left, neither you nor I got out of bed."

No one had touched the painting, yet it ended up next to my bedside?

Looking at the oil painting so close at hand, Wang Yue suddenly felt a chill run down her spine for some reason.

"Let's get out of here quickly, I feel like something's really wrong with our dorm." Sun Yujia's eyes were filled with terror. If Wang Yue hadn't been with her in the dorm, she would have run out of there already.

"You're right, we can't stay in this dorm anymore. We should leave regardless of whether there's a problem or not."

At this moment, Wang Yue also recalled Miao Xiaoshan and Liu Zi's unusual behavior, especially Miao Xiaoshan's direct statement that there was something wrong with the oil painting in the dormitory and that it might be haunted.

I didn't believe it before because there was no evidence to prove that such an absurd thing was true.

But now she vaguely felt that Miao Xiaoshan's words were true.

There's really something wrong with this painting.

The next moment, Wang Yue practically jumped off the bed as if fleeing, nearly falling to the ground. Then, in a panic, she began to put on her clothes and shoes.

Sun Yujia was quicker; she had sensed something was wrong and wanted to leave the dormitory earlier, so she was already dressed.

"Wait for me, don't leave me here alone." Wang Yue became increasingly panicked, fearing that Sun Yujia had also left the dormitory, leaving her alone here.

She felt afraid even if she stayed there for just one more second.

"Then hurry up!" Sun Yujia urged anxiously. "We should have believed Miao Xiaoshan and left with them."

"What are you afraid of? It might not even be a ghost. Even if it is a supernatural event, I don't believe the ghost would dare to show itself. We can just hide next door. Ghosts will definitely be scared if there are too many people," Wang Yue said, mustering her courage.

In her mind, ghosts were just minor disturbances, at most scaring people, and not that serious.

This is a classic example of ignorance and recklessness.

Without experiencing a real paranormal event, one cannot truly understand the despair and terror it evokes.

Miao Xiaoshan had truly experienced the "Ghost Knocking" incident at No. 7 Middle School, so when she learned that there was a problem with the oil painting, she was so scared that she wanted to immediately drag all her roommates away. If these people hadn't been so ungrateful, it wouldn't have taken so long. Therefore, when Yang Jian scolded his teammates for being useless, Miao Xiaoshan didn't refute him.

"Is it ready? Let's go."

Seeing that she was almost dressed, Sun Yujia hurriedly opened the dormitory door and prepared to leave.

"Wait a minute, let me grab my bag."

After putting on her shoes, Wang Yue remembered something and prepared to go back to the upper bunk to get something.

"What time is it and you're still taking things?" Sun Yujia stamped her feet anxiously at the door.

Wang Yue said, "I just bought this bag, and it contains my phone, wallet, and other things. What if it gets lost?"

But before she could finish speaking, Sun Yujia, who was standing at the door, suddenly narrowed her eyes, her face changed instantly, and a chilling fear welled up in her heart.

Because she witnessed an unbelievable and bizarre scene.

The oil painting that had mysteriously appeared on Wang Yue's bed had changed. The originally dark and oppressive urban background had shrunk, while the blurry female portrait in the center had been enlarged, almost filling the entire frame. But this was not the real reason she felt horrified.

The truly terrifying aspect is that the hands of the blurry woman in the painting are now appearing outside the frame.

The pale, almost bloodless hands drooped slightly outside the frame, their ten fingers clearly visible, even reflecting a faint white light under the lamplight.

These are a pair of perfect woman's hands, but they emerge from an old oil painting, leaving no doubt that the true owner of these hands is likely a terrifying ghost hidden within the painting.

This horrific scene overwhelmed Sun Yujia, who was already terrified, with fear surging through her.

She wanted to escape, but her body felt numb and she couldn't move at all.

She even felt that time around her had slowed down, because she could clearly see Wang Yue constantly reaching out towards the pale hands outside the oil painting.

Wang Yue was touching her bag because, from her current angle, she couldn't see the strange hands that were already sticking out of the oil painting on the bed; otherwise, she wouldn't have been unaware of it.

"Quick, run! There's a ghost! Don't go for the bag!"

Sun Yujia wanted to shout a warning, but when she opened her mouth, no sound came out.

When people are in extreme fear, they can't even speak, let alone run away. They're like fools, frozen in place, watching helplessly as danger unfolds.

This kind of situation is not uncommon.

In paranormal events, many ordinary people behave in the same way as Sun Yujia; only those with strong mental fortitude can act quickly enough.

Because of her height, Wang Yue couldn't reach her things smoothly, and in the end, she had no choice but to stand on two steps to get a little higher.

"Found it." Wang Yue saw her bag in the corner by the bedside and hurriedly reached for it.

Thinking to myself that I should grab my things and leave as soon as possible, I figured I wouldn't stay in this dorm room since it seemed strange, and I'd figure things out tomorrow.

But just as she reached out her hand, a pale hand appeared out of nowhere and grabbed her wrist.

Cold, stiff, a chilling coldness emanated from my wrist, sending a shiver down my spine.

"Ah!"

Wang Yue screamed instinctively and hurriedly tried to pull her hand back, no longer caring about her newly bought bag.

But the pale, cold hand gripped her wrist tightly and she didn't shake it off. Instead, her quick withdrawal caused the old oil painting standing next to the wall to fall over.

Wang Yue lost her balance and fell to the floor of the dormitory, causing the oil painting that had been on her bed to fall to the ground as well.

It hit her squarely.

Wang Yue screamed like a madwoman, frantically trying to shake off whatever was on her, but then she realized that the terrifying hand grabbing her was actually reaching out from the oil painting.

But now she couldn't care less about anything else; she was just struggling and screaming on instinct.

It was both bleak and desperate.

Sun Yujia, standing at the dormitory entrance, was too frightened to move, watching helplessly as this scene unfolded.

No matter how much Wang Yue struggled, she never managed to shake the oil painting off her.

On the contrary, after only a short while, Wang Yue's struggles and screams were no longer heard.

Sun Yujia saw that Wang Yue's legs were sticking out; her entire body was trapped inside the oil painting. The painting seemed like a bottomless pit, capable of swallowing a person whole. Moreover, the hands reaching out from the painting were still tightly gripping Wang Yue's exposed legs, as if trying to pull her entirely into the painting.

Outside the oil painting, those familiar legs struggled and kicked frantically. Although Wang Yue's voice could no longer be heard, one could imagine how desperate and terrified she was. Sun Yujia was at a loss, so frightened by this scene that she collapsed to the ground and cried.

I don't know how much time passed.

Sun Yujia finally saw that the legs sticking out of the frame gradually stopped struggling, as if they had given up, or as if Wang Yue was dead. The legs left outside the frame had lost their ability to move, only twitching occasionally.

The scene calmed down.

An eerie oil painting lay silently on the dormitory floor. Beneath the painting, a pair of struggling, twisted, and deformed legs were exposed, stiff and motionless.

And at this moment.

Liu Zi, who had left earlier, was already panting as she appeared on the playground below the dormitory building.

She wanted to find Miao Xiaoshan, but more importantly, she wanted to find Yang Jian and ask him the truth.

But who would have thought that the two people would disappear as soon as he chased after them? He even circled the playground and couldn't find them anywhere. The speed at which they vanished revealed an incomprehensible eeriness.

"Make a phone call, yes, call Miao Xiaoshan."

Liu Zi was completely unaware of the terrible scene unfolding in her dormitory. At that moment, she picked up her phone and called Miao Xiaoshan.

The call carried a hint of a plea for help.