Chapter 24: Drawing
Having completed a brief exchange through their gazes, Luxianbei and Jiang Li entered Han Ye Studio one after the other through the front door.
Upon entering Han Ye Studio, Luxianbei carefully raised the diamond-shaped shield crafted from Ling Tai Purification in front of her, gripping Xuan Ying Luo Fu tightly in her other hand, ready to deal with any sudden situations that might arise ahead.
Jiang Li followed closely behind, positioning herself back-to-back with her, deftly channeling the spirit patterns’ powers to summon a blue long kn*fe, remaining vigilant toward the rear.
“Bang——!”
The moment they fully stepped into Han Ye Studio, a sudden strong wind swept through, forcing the slightly worn security door shut with a heavy thud, accompanied by a dull sound and a sprinkling of pale dust cascading down from the doorframe.
With the door closed, an unsettling silence immediately enveloped the entire studio, the sounds of wind and rain that had echoed just a moment ago seeming to fall into a distant realm.
“……”
In the silence, both of them slightly shifted their bodies, instinctively looking at each other, and then reading something identical in the other’s eyes.
Even though they felt the breeze blowing and sensed no spirit energy fluctuations dissipating, they inexplicably felt that the studio’s door had been maliciously closed by a “person.”
That feeling was akin to entering a bathroom in the dark of night without turning on the light, suddenly feeling a few icy drops of water fall on the back of one’s neck and trace down the spine—knowing full well those drops wouldn’t cause harm yet still feeling unease.
As they moved inwards from the foyer, following the dark red drag marks, Luxianbei and Jiang Li quickly discovered that the dark red tracks on the ground branched out: one leading to the main hall while several others meandered toward the bedroom direction, which was part of the original house structure.
Noticing this, Luxianbei stopped, turning to give Jiang Li a look.
“Shall we check the main hall first? The informant who provided me intel said the painter showcased three sets of paintings in the working area.”
Understanding Luxianbei’s gaze, Jiang Li nodded in agreement with her suggestion.
After all, they had initially come to seek those three paintings depicting the urban legends seen by the painter; it made sense to search for the paintings first.
After walking a few steps, Luxianbei easily found the switch for the ceiling lights in the working area.
When she pressed the switch with a “click,” the area hidden in darkness finally came into full view for both of them.
Whether due to the aging electrical system in the Old District or the heavy rain causing power instability, the lights above flickered intermittently.
Under such illuminating conditions, the furnishings within gave off a strange impression of having been abandoned for a long time.
Yet just less than a week ago, the master of this place had brought a girl interested in urban legends back home and passionately introduced her to his masterpieces… Luxianbei thought, furrowing her brow as she looked ahead.
The working area was much larger than she had imagined; the shattered vase, the fallen easel, and the broken sofa she had seen in the foyer were only the tip of the iceberg.
The working area was transformed by knocking down the walls between two neighboring living rooms and the adjoining secondary bedroom, occupying more than half the total area of the two residences and providing ample space.
From the displayed items, it was clear that this area served not only as the painter’s workspace but also as a gallery for his proud creations.
In the flickering light, many paintings of various sizes adorned the surrounding walls, the only commonality being that all of them were covered with a layer of white cloth, as if deliberately concealing something.
In this vast working area, glancing around felt as if one had carelessly stumbled into a funeral parlor.
The entire room was draped in white mourning fabric.
Luxianbei thought, “……Is it supposed to be this morbid? Is that painter running a painting studio or a private funeral home?”
Just as she mused, Jiang Li gently tapped her shoulder from behind. When Luxianbei turned to look back, Jiang Li conveyed a message with her eyes.
“Do you sense something?”
“What do you mean?” Luxianbei responded with a glance.
“It feels like something is watching us…”
Luxianbei paused, looking around with narrowed eyes.
Prompted by Jiang Li’s reminder, she carefully sensed her surroundings and indeed felt a vague sense of being scrutinized by a peculiar gaze.
It wasn’t merely the oppressive environment causing a self-induced illusion…
Even ordinary people can sense the probing eyes of others in specific situations, and this sixth sense would be even stronger for those like them, possessing spiritual awareness as spiritual ability users and urban legends.
What unnerved Luxianbei further was that she felt this hidden gaze seemed to emanate from one of the paintings encircling the walls.
This reminded her of her childhood, when she would pass by portraits of famous figures in the school corridor alone, feeling like one of them would suddenly “come to life” to watch her.
But unlike then, in this expansive studio filled with nearly a hundred paintings, all shrouded in white cloth, she couldn’t help but wonder what those paintings depicted—perhaps it was someone’s portrait, a type of animal, or even some non-human urban legend. In any case, it suggested some presence with eyes.
Among those countless eyes in the paintings, one pair, or perhaps just one eye, was “alive,” discreetly peering through the white cloth…
Just thinking about her and Jiang Li’s current predicament made Luxianbei’s skin crawl.
Admittedly, as the king of urban legends, she had long grown accustomed to a variety of grotesque appearances, but this situation still made her uneasy.
This reaction was likely a natural aversion stemming from her status as a “human” toward the uncanny.
“Whoosh——!”
Slowly exhaling a breath of pent-up air, Luxianbei could no longer tolerate the oppressive atmosphere and stepped forward toward the nearest painting.
However, as her foot landed, she quickly retreated a small step.
Looking down, she noticed a dark carpet about one meter wide laid out on the ground beneath the paintings, seemingly meant to warn others to keep their distance from the artworks.
The carpet was filthy, probably untouched by cleaning for quite some time, and damp; stepping on it felt strange, as if she had walked on coagulated bl**d soaked with hair.
Suppressing the discomfort brought by the carpet, Luxianbei raised the diamond-shaped shield in front of her, extended her hand from behind it, and swiftly pulled down the white cloth with a “swish!”
As the cloth fell, her eyes twitched at the sight of the painting underneath.
The artwork before her somehow gave off the impression of a cartoon drawing seen near a kindergarten entrance.
“……”
d*mn it, this is ridiculous!
A C-level urban legend, is it really afraid to approach this painter because of such a creepy thing?
How is this any different from being hit by a toy car and never daring to cross the road again? Luxianbei thought.
Next to her, Jiang Li pondered for a moment, slightly nodded, quietly retreating behind Luxianbei, gripping the long kn*fe tightly as she expanded her spiritual awareness to the maximum, keeping watch for Luxianbei.
Noticing Jiang Li’s actions from the corner of her eye, Luxianbei thought, doesn’t this feel a bit like two thieves breaking and entering, with one rummaging through drawers while the other keeps a lookout?
A couple of crafty thieves?
That feeling isn’t bad at all!
“Swish——!”
As the white cloth fell again, another “cartoon” style painting appeared before her.
Then came the fourth, fifth, and sixth…
As each white cloth was unveiled, more and more artworks came into view, and both Jiang Li and Luxianbei unknowingly displayed increasingly strange expressions.
The feeling from those paintings was odd…
At a glance, they resembled cartoon illustrations, but if one lingered on them for even a moment longer, deep inside, emotions like oppression, melancholy, and gloom would uncontrollably arise.
Perhaps it was due to the distorted postures of those “cartoon characters,” either disabled or with extra limbs…
Or perhaps because the ostensibly whimsical styles depicted adult-like expressions on the characters…
Or it could be that some parts of the paintings employed abnormal colors, like pale night skies, blue suns, and crimson leaves…
If normal “cartoon drawings” depicted fairy tales for children, then these paintings might just be an introductory portfolio for some offspring of an evil god.
Offspring of an evil god… Could this mean…
As if discovering a new continent, Luxianbei and Jiang Li almost simultaneously looked at each other, and in the moment their gazes crossed, they read almost identical messages in each other’s eyes.
“X Celestial God?!”
“That’s somewhat unexpected! I thought that painter was merely losing his mind after seeing some strange thing, and that was why he created those three sets of paintings. I never guessed he was actually engaged in creating ‘elementary textbooks’ for X Celestial God?” Luxianbei conveyed through her eyes.
Jiang Li tilted her head in thought and replied with her gaze, “Not necessarily helping X Celestial God; according to the records in The Book of Siye, X Celestial God and its offspring are likely to be antagonistic. It’s possible that this painter might be a follower of the offspring of X Celestial God.”
“That makes sense. Whatever the situation, we should find those three paintings to learn more.”
Jiang Li nodded.
“Okay, then shall we continue? [Heart gesture]”
Thus, after spending a few minutes, Luxianbei uncovered nearly all the white cloths covering the paintings, finally pausing in front of the last piece, approximately seventy-five inches in size.
“This is the last one. It seems those three paintings aren’t here…”
“Let’s take a look anyway?”
“Mm.”
After exchanging a glance with Jiang Li, Luxianbei took a deep breath and revealed the white cloth before her, unveiling the last painting.
As she clearly saw the content of the painting, she instinctively took a step back.
The entire painting contained only one eye.
On the pale paper, numerous dark red chaotic lines intertwined together, outlining a massive, sickly, yet vividly lifelike eye, as if it had been gouged out from the eye socket of a deceased giant, still dripping with bl**d.
Gazing back at it invoked an inexplicable sensation that her soul might be sucked away.
Just as Luxianbei was entranced by that eye, a dull sound echoed from the depths of the house they had yet to investigate.
“Bang——Bang——Bang——!”
The sound resembled something colliding with the walls, faintly echoing three times, and then abruptly stopping…
