Chapter 13 The Harbinger

“Who is managing this manor now?” Mu Qing asked suddenly.

The town elder turned his head, looking at Mu Qing with an incomprehensible expression. “Sir, don’t joke around. the Dakolosha Manor has been abandoned for many years. It’s cursed land. If you insist it has a manager, then it’s Helsen, and those resentful spirits under his control!”

Jiang Cheng understood Mu Qing’s meaning. They had seen a man dressed as a butler in the manor.

Jiang Cheng asked for paper and a pen and drew the butler's appearance from memory. Before he could finish, the town elder, who was watching from the side, suddenly changed his expression. "It’s him! He’s Helsen. How could you..." The town elder suddenly paused. The next moment, his pupils contracted as he looked at Jiang Cheng, as if realizing something terrible. "You... you saw him?!"

"We all saw him," Jiang Cheng said truthfully.

The town elder's face twitched suddenly.

"Town elder, just say what you want to say." Huai Yi was frightened by the town elder’s behavior, especially the way he looked at them now, as if he was sizing up corpses.

"Legend has it that anyone who sees Ha... his face will be taken away by him, through that door, to a room that doesn’t exist at all." The town elder's fear was even greater at this moment, and he didn't even dare to call Helsen's name directly.

"But you've seen him too, haven't you, town elder?" Fatty asked considerately.

The town elder's face changed instantly, and he said nervously to Fatty, "Fatty, don't talk nonsense. That's... my situation is different from yours. I saw him when he was alive, not after he died!"

The town elder seemed to think this was very important and explained to them for a long time, the gist of which was that his situation was fundamentally different from Jiang Cheng and his group.

"Remember, no matter what, don't let him come to your door, or no one can save you." The town elder's expression was very serious when he said this. He raised his voice and emphasized, "This is what the spirit medium said."

After saying this, the town elder began to shoo them away. "Alright, I won't keep you any longer. Be careful yourselves. Also, I've had the painting prepared. It's downstairs. Take it with you."

"Do you still want this companion?" The town elder pointed at Ouyang Huanbin and asked casually, "I'll tell you in advance, his condition is very bad. I'm afraid he won't live long."

Mu Qing’s eyes scanned Ouyang Huanbin, full of scrutiny. After a moment, Mu Qing looked at Jiang Cheng and said earnestly, "Brother Jiang, after all, we came together. Let’s help if we can."

Jiang Cheng knew exactly what Mu Qing was planning. The current Ouyang Huanbin was just a useless person, at their disposal. The most direct way to use him was to leave him in the earliest room at night, as a shield.

This Mu Qing is really something, he even thought of the same thing as me!

Jiang Cheng pretended to sigh and looked at Ouyang Huanbin with an even more sincere look than Mu Qing. Then he pursed his lips, his tone sad and helpless. "Brother Mu is right. That's what I was thinking too. It's fate that we met. If we can help, alas, let's help."

Mu Qing: "Heh."

"Carry him away." Jiang Cheng waved his hand, and Fatty and Huai Yi immediately stepped forward, put Ouyang Huanbin, who was still smiling foolishly at everyone, on a stretcher, tied him up tightly, and took some medicine from the town elder before bidding farewell and leaving.

After sending Jiang Cheng and his group away, the town elder finally breathed a sigh of relief, especially Fatty's words, which stuck in the town elder's heart like a thorn.

He turned around and poured himself half a glass of wine from the shelf behind him.

A mouthful of strong liquor went down his throat, and the town elder's expression eased a lot. The curse of Dakolosha Manor loomed over this town like a haze. Just as the town elder was about to fall into his memories, suddenly, a burst of inexplicable chill instantly enveloped him.

"Who?!" He instinctively looked towards the door.

The door was closed, and he was the only one in the room.

But he clearly felt a gaze staring at him, cold, resentful, making him shiver uncontrollably, until his peripheral vision inadvertently caught sight of the painting on the table.

It was an unfinished painting. The man in the painting raised his incomplete face and smiled at him.

With a "啪" sound, the glass fell to the ground and shattered.

Jiang Cheng and his group came downstairs, got the painting. The painting was large, packed in a long box. Jiang Cheng opened it and checked it, and found no problems. The painting was the illustration from the book, but the background and details were much better.

Carrying a person, everyone was no longer in the mood to stroll around, so they went directly back to the manor. Anyway, with Brother Ouyang Huanbin around, everyone should be able to sleep well tonight.

Mu Qing took the initiative to ask to change Ouyang Huanbin's medicine, presumably for fear of him dying.

After settling Ouyang Huanbin, everyone gathered together. The painting left by the spirit medium was laid out on the table, with the book next to it, on the page with the illustration.

"Looking at this painting for a long time, I feel like..." Fatty stared at the painting, with a hesitant expression.

"It has a very strong sense of fragmentation," Jiang Cheng said.

Fatty nodded repeatedly and said excitedly, "Yes, yes, yes, that's what I wanted to say, but I couldn't describe it. This painting seems to be pieced together."

"It's the different observation angles of the painter." Jiang Cheng pointed to a corner of the painting and explained to everyone in as simple terms as possible, "This painting is a mix of several paintings of the manor from different perspectives."

"This may be what the spirit medium wants to tell us." After a pause, Jiang Cheng added.

"What are you talking about?" Bai Xiaojie became more and more confused as she listened.

"It's telling us that we can only find that hidden door by changing our perspective." Mu Qing stroked his chin, thoughtfully.

According to the last sentence left by Helsen, everyone guessed that the missing corpses were hidden behind that door, in a room that was rumored to be impossible to find.

"Should we look around the manor?" Huai Yi suggested, "Go to the corresponding locations in the painting and see if there are any clues."

"We can try." Jiang Cheng nodded after thinking.

Then the group took the painting, as well as the book, and went to the manor to search.

After Jiang Cheng's analysis, there were a total of three scenes with different perspectives in the painting, namely the crooked-necked tree with the corpse hanging, the desolate garden, and the building they were in.

After comparing the first two, no problems were found. At this time, the sky was getting dark, and the group turned back to the building. Jiang Cheng compared the painting while looking for the position.

Soon, he determined the position selected by the spirit medium when he painted. Fatty held up the painting, looked at it, then looked away, and looked at the building in front of him. "That's right, it's here."