1146 Painting (2/2)

Sha Sha! Hiss Hiss!

All sorts of weird sounds made their way into her ears, making her dizzy.

Scarlet blood, like a carpet, expanded outward from the gap of the door.

”Ahh!” The young girl screamed and pushed the door open hurriedly.

Through the flickering of orange light from the fireplace, what suddenly appeared before her eyes was…

…

”The sun is shining, and the breeze is warm!”

Nietzsche scrunched his eyes comfortably, enjoying the warm breeze on his face.

He felt as though his luck had somehow changed for the better ever since he joined the Kimbert City branch of the Federal Investigation Agency and became a peripheral informer.

Not only was there a stipend of three silver sols every month, but Officer Hannibal had even found him a job as a newspaper boy.

The pay was meager, but life was much better than before. The most important thing was the identity, which made things more convenient for him.

He could now rent a room to stay in, and his living conditions were much better.

Therefore, Nietzsche was full of gratitude for this job.

”Good day, Mr. Hannibal! Are you going out?”

When he entered the branch office, he saw Hannibal, his boss who liked to cook, putting on a coat and was seemingly ready to head out.

”Nietzsche! You're just in time. Come with me to investigate a case!” Hannibal said softly.

”Oh, okay!” Nietzsche followed hastily into a black car.

”Sir… what happened?” Nietzsche was a little excited.

”Relax. Certainly nothing like that ghoul lair last time…” Hannibal showed a masculine smile. ”Otherwise, the level two investigator in charge of this district would not have come in person… What we have to do is mostly to assess whether some things were affected by extraordinary factors and whether there's a need for them to be 'handled'… You might just be a peripheral member, but you have to do more cases like this to advance!”

”Thank you, Mr. Hannibal!” Nietzsche almost burst into tears. No one had ever treated him so well, and he could not help but think of another person. ”What about Miss Vivienne?”

Vivienne had disappeared mysteriously after the ghoul case was broken, and even Nietzsche was called in for questioning on several occasions.

He was very puzzled about this and even had a hint of sadness.

In any case, that honest probationary inspector was worthy of respect, much more so than a certain wicked, black-hearted store owner.

Nietzsche could not help thinking about Simon and Andy.

Clayon had taken Simon away after he became an Extraordinary. It was said that he was going to undergo some 'training'. After graduating, there was a high chance that he would return to Kimbert City to work.

And Mr. Andy, who operated that tepid convenience store, claimed to have a masterpiece of Vincent. At this point, Nietzsche strongly suspected that Andy had just looked for a fake to deceive whichever idiot would believe him. He would not be fooled again anyhow.

”Haven't found her yet… What a pity, she has the qualifications to be an official member…” Hannibal sighed.

”Strange…” Nietzsche noted in his heart and then thought of the mission today. ”What do you need me to do today?”

”Don't worry. We're just going to investigate…” Hannibal smiled. ”… a rich businessman's missing daughter, and his servants seemed to have seen something terrible…”

While they were speaking, the car parked in front of a grand villa. Hannibal adjusted his clothes and went to knock on the door.

”You are…” A male servant opened a small gap, with panic and doubt.

”We are investigators from Watson Insurance Company. We heard about a security issue in your house and came to investigate!” Hannibal smiled and handed over a business card.

There were many such false identities through the Federal Investigation Agency, and they could fully withstand any inspection.

Shortly afterward, the two of them were invited to the study.

Robert was pale, and his eyes were bloodshot. ”Oh! My Nikita! My baby… She disappeared all of a sudden. What I need is a detective and the police, not the investigators of an insurance company!”

”Apologies!” Hannibal took off his hat and saluted. ”According to the information, a servant testified that a painting… swallowed your daughter? As the company underwriting this villa, I need to check its security now, in case there's a hidden door in the walls…”

He did not wait for Robert to answer and went to the front of the oil painting. ”Is this the great Master Vincent's work — Dream? It is said that he depicted the starry sky in his dreams, but others have different interpretations… I'm more inclined to think that it's an expression of his inner world…”

”Vincent's painting…” Nietzsche was energetic as he stared at the painting without blinking.