Chapter 399 - 298: Desire Oil Painting

"Failed."

"The personnel list of Sanatorium No.3 has been deliberately destroyed and cannot be recovered."

The figure of Little Dragon Man Bob appeared in the room, and he shrugged at Han Zhan.

You really can’t blame him for this.

These things happened before he even came to Great Xia North County, and even as powerful as the Northern County Celestial Net, it’s the classic case of making bricks without straw.

"Why not ask Ye Qiu? He’s also someone who came out of Sanatorium No.3; he should know."

Bob asked, puzzled.

"Everything Fourth Senior Brother was willing to tell me, he already did over meals. The rest, he either doesn’t know or doesn’t want to say."

But whether he doesn’t know or doesn’t want to say, Han Zhan has no means to do anything.

"Meng Xiaobei must have a reason for doing these things, a compelling logic that necessitates it; we just haven’t discovered it yet."

As Han Zhan mused aloud to himself, Bob, standing opposite, suddenly froze.

It was as if the network suddenly got stuck, abruptly halting there.

After a while, the network reconnected, and the diffused focus in Bob’s eyes was restored.

"It’s appeared." He blurted out.

"What has appeared?" Han Zhan asked, perplexed.

"The forty-fourth missing person," Bob said, his tone heavy.

Because there was no personnel list to conduct a detailed pinpoint screening, Bob used the most basic and crude method: monitoring the entire county!

As long as it’s a person, except for a recluse, they will go out several times a day.

Whenever they go out, Bob would observe them.

As for recluses, it’s even simpler; they usually order takeout or surf the internet, making detection less challenging.

With Bob’s current standard of the Celestial Net, monitoring the entire county was still quite a challenge for him.

That’s why he froze for a while just now.

Once the result of the entire county monitoring came out, the situation became even more grim.

"Another one dead? Who is the missing person this time?"

"Zhao Hancheng, also someone who came out of Sanatorium No.3. I screened his activity trajectory, and based on my analysis, it should be an underground Black Casino."

"So, he disappeared inside the casino?"

"You could say that."

Little Dragon Man Bob nodded slightly.

Han Zhan carefully contemplated the latest news sent back, feeling that there must be a decisive clue he had not yet uncovered.

Just then, Han Zhan’s remote communication device rang.

The virtual screen popped up with Zhan Ning’s face almost filling the entire virtual frame.

Yu Lian, standing behind him, abruptly yanked him back and gave him a playful shove.

"You two..."

Seeing Yu Lian and Zhan Ning’s clearly intimate gesture, Han Zhan tactically leaned back, instinctively widening the distance from the virtual screen.

There’s a problem.

A big problem.

Could it be that these two got too immersed in their roles in the Slaughter Battlefield and can’t snap out of it?

"Hey? Han Zhan, can you hear me?"

"I can hear you, go ahead."

"I’ve heard you’ve been troubled by a case recently, without leads. Bob has already shared it in our internal group, hoping to brainstorm collectively."

"Yu Lian and I reviewed the entire situation and found a problem."

Zhan Ning paused here, pinched his sunglasses with his right hand, and revealed his eyes.

"Since we are Knights, and after we adhere to the Knight’s Code, we must endure various desires, so we are most familiar with it."

"You should understand what I mean, right?"

Yes, Han Zhan understood.

Zhan Ning’s words enlightened him, helping him find the clue that tied everything together!

—Desire!

All the disappeared personnel from Sanatorium No.3, they all had their respective desires: Wang Gang’s lust, Zhao Qi’s wrath, Zhao Hancheng’s greed...

Every vanished person was killed at the peak of their desires!

"It’s called the Desire Oil Painting."

Ye Qiu looked at the painting displayed before him.

In the oil painting within the frame, there were a total of forty-six color blocks, with forty-four of them painted in various colors.

Only the last two areas remained blank.

Meng Xiaobei sat across from Ye Qiu, picked up a cup of strong tea prepared in advance, and took a tiny sip.

"I guessed it."

"When Han Zhan told me about those missing people and their states at the time of disappearance, I vaguely guessed this."

"Even though I was mostly insane at the time, if my guess is correct, this painting should have been hung at Sanatorium No.3 before."

Ye Qiu’s response made Meng Xiaobei slightly stunned.

He lowered his head helplessly and chuckled, "Ye Qiu, nothing can indeed be hidden from you."

"Yes, this painting was once considered an ordinary oil painting and hung in the northern courtyard of Sanatorium No.3."

"The colors on it began to fade as more people entered the sanatorium."

"These colors merged into each individual, amplifying their internal desires. When the desires were amplified to the extreme, ending their lives would allow the colors to return to the canvas."

This was Meng Xiaobei’s planned scenario.

"If you don’t follow your plan, what will happen?" Ye Qiu hadn’t forgotten what Meng Xiaobei had mentioned before.

"The desire will explode."

Meng Xiaobei’s right hand, which had been clenched into a fist, suddenly opened as if he held desire in his hand.

"The exploded desires will become numerous ’particles,’ spreading throughout North County and rapidly integrating into the body of every person who breathes the air, much like a fast-spreading virus."

What happens next needs no elaboration.

"Everyone has desires, more or less. When these particles ignite the desires within their hearts, North County will face turmoil!"

This is no alarmist talk.

"I believe what you’re saying," Ye Qiu nodded once he finished listening. "But I have a second question."

Ye Qiu raised one finger as he spoke.

"The person behind you, who is he?"

"You’re just an ordinary Awakened; there’s no way you could know any of this. The only explanation is that someone has been guiding you from behind the scenes."

"I can’t say," Meng Xiaobei shook his head.

Unexpectedly, Ye Qiu didn’t dwell on this question.

He asked his third question, which was also his last:

"This time you came, it should be to kill me, right? If I’m not mistaken, your desire is power, while mine is fear."

"Although I don’t know how the last piece of the puzzle is completed, at least by killing me, your plan should be fully finished."

"By then, the person secretly guiding and tipping you, will certainly be very satisfied and make great use of you. Your desire for power will reach its peak."

Ye Qiu spoke to this point, picked up his teacup, and raised it towards Meng Xiaobei.

He drank it all in one go.