Chapter 2 Analyzing the Paintings

But at the moment, everyone's attention was focused on the paintings spread out on the table, because these paintings were rather strange. They all depicted only a horse, and they were completely identical, as if they had been copied.

What was even stranger was that staring at these paintings gave everyone an indescribable, uncomfortable feeling, as if something was not quite right.

"The shading in the painting has problems," Jiang Cheng said, reaching out to point at the space behind the horse with his hand, his tone unusually serious. "There should be something here, but for some reason, the painter didn't draw it. They just sketched a few strokes casually, which led to the whole painting being heavy in the front and light in the back, and the sense of layering was broken."

After Jiang Cheng's explanation, Fatty's furrowed brows relaxed. It didn't matter if he couldn't understand it, as long as the doctor could. They were in the same boat.

"Why did this person paint so many identical paintings?" someone asked.

Luo Tianhe's gaze wandered over the paintings. He wore a gray long shirt, and his temperament achieved a subtle balance with the study, as if he belonged to this era.

"It's not that he painted so many, but that these paintings... are all copies," Luo Tianhe said, slowly raising his head.

Before he finished speaking, footsteps came from outside the door. Everyone immediately left the room and partially closed the door. As soon as they finished, Madam Su arrived. "Masters, what are you doing here?"

"We were analyzing Master Su's condition. Master Su seems to be very sensitive to sound. We were worried that discussing it outside the door would disturb his rest, so we had to move further away," Lin Qianqian said softly and weakly, her answer impeccable.

Fatty sensed a familiar feeling from Lin Qianqian. She was a bit like Xia Meng, whom they met in their first Nightmare Assault mission. The latter was also a master at acting pure, but unfortunately, she ran into the doctor.

The doctor specialized in treating all kinds of pure and seductive women, because no matter how well you pretended in a mission, the doctor would always try to cut you open first.

Hearing Lin Qianqian say this, Madam Su couldn't help but feel grief again. "My husband has just settled down. Let's not disturb him. You've all seen his condition."

"Let's go downstairs. I have some things to tell you," Madam Su said, a hint of fear unconsciously showing in her eyes. It was a subconscious action. "Very... important."

Soon, everyone returned downstairs and sat on the sofa.

Fatty suddenly realized that Jiang Cheng wasn't by his side. He looked around and saw Jiang Cheng sitting in a very out-of-the-way spot, in a somewhat strange posture. His clothes were a bit bulging. Based on Jiang Cheng's habits, Fatty knew that he must have stolen something.

Madam Su gently grasped the hem of her dress with both hands, pursing her lips tightly. It was clear that she was very afraid, and also conflicted. "Did you... did you hear what my husband said just now?"

"We heard some, but not clearly," Yuan Shanyuan said.

"Ah—" Madam Su sighed. "You're right, my husband is very afraid of sounds. Now, as long as he hears a slightly louder sound, it will stimulate him, and he will go crazy. It's okay during the day, but at night..." Madam Su's face suddenly changed, as if she was recalling an extremely terrifying scene.

"What exactly is Master Su afraid of?" Without excessive preamble, Yao Shunyu directly asked the most crucial question.

"I don't know, but this situation started four days ago, on... on that night I told you about, when my husband hid under the bed."

"He was pinching my neck and forcefully covering my mouth, but... but the strange thing is, his attention wasn't on me. He was looking out the window. I remember his eyes at the time, especially frightened, especially nervous, as if there was a very scary person standing outside the window. He was afraid of attracting that person's attention."

Li Bai asked nervously, "Did you see that person too?"

Hearing this, Madam Su shook her head and said in a low voice, "No, I didn't see anything. There was nothing outside the window. Besides, our bedroom is on the third floor. There's no place to climb outside. How could anyone... could anyone appear outside the window?"

Fatty swallowed secretly, thinking that a person definitely couldn't, but a ghost was hard to say. Not to mention standing outside the window, it was even possible for it to be hanging upside down outside the window.

Because his ability to imagine things was too great, Fatty successfully scared himself with the scene he had imagined.

"During this period of time, my husband has been in a state of extreme panic. He hardly speaks himself, and he doesn't allow us to speak loudly either. Even when he's alone, he hides in the blankets, or under the bed, under the table, in the wardrobe... he's hidden in all these places. One day, I had just entered the room and found that my husband was gone. I couldn't find him anywhere."

"I was so scared that I immediately asked the servants to look for him, but we searched the entire house, even the pond, and still couldn't find him."

"I was alone in the bedroom, anxious. Just as I was about to leave the room and take people out to look for him, suddenly, I heard a very strange sound, like someone chuckled very softly, just once, and... it was in the room!"

"I followed the sound and found it was under my dressing table. There was a box there, filled with gifts that my friends had brought back for me from their travels."

"The box wasn't very big, and it had been lying there for a long time. I had almost forgotten about it."

"I walked over and slowly opened the lid of the box, and then... then I saw that there was a head inside! No, it was a person, a person curled up, it was my husband!"

Madam Su's tone even became tearful as she said this. "I was so scared that I didn't even scream. I had never imagined that someone could bend and fold their body into this shape."

"If I hadn't seen... seen my husband's eyeballs moving, I would have thought he was dead!"

"After I found him, my husband's face became distorted, and he began to struggle violently. Finally, the box fell over, and he crawled out of it. He really... really crawled!"

"He crawled around the room, first under the bed, then in the wardrobe, under the table, behind the curtains... in short, he crawled all over the places in the room where people could hide, but he didn't seem to be satisfied. I heard... I heard him saying very quietly, something about keeping quiet, not talking, I want to hide, don't let them find me, things like that."

"Oh, right, later he also said that he heard them, they were coming, coming to find him." Madam Su's ability to imitate was very strong. Her expression and tone gave people a sense of being there, which was chilling.

"Then do you know what Master Su heard?" Ding Zhenzong asked.

"A rustling sound, like the sound of iron chains clashing and rubbing against each other, and..." Madam Su's expression became strange. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

"And what?"

Madam Su suddenly raised her head, her eyes blank, and said, "And the sound of horses' hooves."