Figure in the Painting
Bangââ
The heavy room door closed. ăJian Changshengă and ăHeart 9ă stood inside the empty room, letting out a long breath...
"Finally shook them off..."
This was the original Beidou ăCasinoă, but now it was Chen Ling's property. Before leaving, he had arranged everything properly. The casino area operated as usual, while some hidden rooms deep inside had become ăJian Changshengă's temporary stronghold.
Although it wasn't as luxurious as the auction's ăVIP Guest Loungeă, the layout was also quite good. The most important thing was that the location was hidden, and coming in and going out was very safe.
"Shaking them off wasn't hard. The main thing was that we had to lure them near the Beidou Consortium." ăHeart 9ă shrugged. "If that guy ăHeart 6ă hadn't insisted on causing trouble, I would have killed them all long ago!"
"You almost killed me too!" ăJian Changshengă couldn't help but curse, "We've only been together for a few days, and you've already blown me up twice! The enemy didn't harm a single hair on my body, but one of my own cracked my head open with a bomb!"
"Don't mind these details. As long as the task is completed, it's fine!"
ăHeart 9ă said with a smile.
ăJian Changshengă rolled his eyes at him, turned on the lights in the room, and looked out the window. The first floor of the ăCasinoă was crowded with people. This time was exactly when it was fully packed. People from all walks of life in the Red Dust ăMain Cityă gathered here, spending money like water, and business was extremely booming.
"ăHeart 6ă left. Next, we can only rely on ourselves." ăJian Changshengă murmured to himself.
"Not 'us', you."
ăHeart 9ă sat on the sofa, casually peeling an orange and tossing it into his mouth. "You can call me for fights, but in other aspects... I will most likely only be a hindrance."
"... I can see that."
To tell the truth, ăJian Changshengă was really afraid that if this master was unhappy one day, he would blow up the ăCasinoă over some trivial matter. Then everything they had done up to now would be for nothing, returning overnight to the days of gnawing on steamed buns by the side of the road.
"What plans do you have next?" ăHeart 9ă asked.
"What plans can I have? Hold our ground, gather information, and wait for the other members of the ăDusk Societyă to come over." ăJian Changshengă looked down at the crowded ăCasinoă. "At least, we shouldn't be short of funds now."
"You should learn more from ăHeart 6ă when you have time. Look at his disguises and wealth-gathering, he's proficient in everything. I don't know where ăCorpse Shattering Chuă found this talent."
ăJian Changshengă: ...
"Right, what about that painting?" ăJian Changshengă seemed to have remembered something.
"It's with me."
ăHeart 9ă swallowed the orange in his mouth, then opened his mouth wide, stuck his right hand in and dug around. Unexpectedly, a metallic clashing sound came from inside his throat, as if an entire ăWarehouseă was hidden there...
After a moment, he seemed to have grabbed something, and a slender scroll was pulled out from his mouth.
ăHeart 9ă handed ăThe Scrollă to ăJian Changshengă, but the latter took a half step back with a look of disgust, as if he found it a bit sickening...
"No saliva on it!" ăHeart 9ă couldn't help but curse.
ăJian Changshengă reluctantly took ăThe Scrollă and unrolled it. There was indeed a mark of the ăEight of Clubsă on the back, but when he turned it to the front and saw the portrait of a maid, his brows furrowed unconsciously, and he let out an uncultured sigh identical to Chen Ling's:
"What the hell is this drawing..."
"Don't ask me, I don't understand it either."
ăJian Changshengă turned the painting over and over in his hands and looked at it for a long time, but couldn't figure out anything. Just as he was preparing to put it away and find time to hand it over to the ăDusk Societyă, his nose suddenly twitched.
He froze for a moment, doubtfully brought the painting close to his nose, and sniffed forcefully.
"That's not right..."
"What's not right?"
"There is a smell of blood in this painting."
ăHeart 9ă raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth wide in shock. "What is this, ăPath of the Soldieră, [Military Dog] ăPathă?!"
ăJian Changshengă: ...
ăJian Changshengă knew that ăHeart 9ă was taking revenge for his previous "ăPath of the Artisană [Robot] ăPathă" comment, and was too lazy to argue with him. He placed ăThe Scrollă flat on the table, and began to observe it bit by bit from the side.
Subsequently, he seemed to have discovered something. He pressed his fingertip against the corner of ăThe Scrollă and forcefully wiped downwards.
Under the wash of his ăKilling Intentă, the pattern on ăThe Scrollă rapidly peeled off, and beneath it, another pattern was revealed...
"What's the situation, there are two paintings?" Seeing this, ăHeart 9ă spoke in astonishment.
"It should be that the ăEight of Clubsă painted another layer on top of this original painting, covering up the original content..." Glints of light flashed in ăJian Changshengă's eyes. He rapidly peeled away the maid portrait on the surface, and an entirely new scroll was exposed before their eyes.
ăHeart 9ă sized up the painting inside and spoke doubtfully:
"What the hell... Underneath the ăPortrait Paintingă, is still a ăPortrait Paintingă?"
"Also a woman?" ăJian Changshengă stared at that face for a long time. "Who is this person, do you recognize her?"
"Don't recognize..."
"I also don't recognize her."
"The woman on this painting, is exactly the message the ăEight of Clubsă exhausted all his efforts to pass to us?" ăJian Changshengă scratched his head, deeply puzzled. "But... but who exactly is she?"
On ăThe Scrollă, a woman was lying quietly on the ground, her hands peacefully folded together. Flower petals formed from embellishments of fresh blood were spread all around her, bright and serene.
The woman was wearing a white scientific research robe, as if she had fallen asleep.
If Chen Ling were here, the moment he saw this woman's face, his mind would inevitably be greatly shaken... Unlike ăJian Changshengă and ăHeart 9ă, barring any accidents, he was perhaps one of the few existences in this era who could recognize this woman.
A member of the original ăRed Star Fragmentă ăExploration Teamă, and currently one of the ăNine Monarchsă of humanity...
Doctor of ăString Theoryă, ăSu Zhiweiă.
...
"Finally back."
Chen Ling pushed the cart, traveling across the desolate gray earth. Seeing the faintly discernible ăClown Peakă in the distance, he let out a long breath.
He took off that golden mask, reached up to his chin and gave a tear, changing back into Chen Ling's appearance. The black windbreaker also transformed into the ăGreat Crimson Theatrical Robeă, fluttering in the wind.
"Yi ya!!"
ăClownă sat on the mountain of piled-up silver note boxes, his small face also written full of excitement. For him, this was his first time traveling far. After playing wildly outside for a few days, seeing ăClown Peakă again now, he also missed it very much.
He jumped forcefully on the silver note boxes, and his entire person flew up against the wind, landing lightly on the top of ăClown Peakă. Facing Chen Ling walking slowly up from the bottom of the mountain, he struck a "welcome home" pose.
Chen Ling smiled and patted ăClownă's head, saying:
"ăFifth Brotheră, I will go report back to the senior brothers and senior sisters first... We'll see each other again at dinner."
"Yi ya!!"
As his voice fell, Chen Ling pushed the cart to the edge of the cliff, and with the entire cart of silver note boxes, leaped down!