Kicking the stone next to him, watching it fall into the swampy lake and bloom into a large bouquet, Zhu Jue wiped the rain on his face from the running just now, frowned and turned to the painter's residence.

The sudden appearance of terror forced him to abandon the arrest of the man who was squatting outside the painter's residence, and by the time he came to his senses, he had already disappeared in the swampy lake.

Accidentally?

Or is it a deliberate cover-up?

Recalling that pale face, Zhu Jue tried to write down a few obvious features before his memory was blurred, and took out a Bluetooth headset from his trouser pocket and put it on.

"Did you find anything?"

Because it was a separate communication channel, Olivia knew that the other side was Zhu Jue when she connected it, and the latter chose to call at this time, which should have been discovered in her opinion.

"Someone is following me or squatting near the painter's house, he claims to be a policeman, you can help me ask if the police in Hessey have arranged for people to stay in this vicinity. ”

Standing in the position where he had just found the man, Zhu Jue bent down to pick up the half-broken branch as he spoke, and some mud could be seen on the side of the crack.

In this way, the person should have inadvertently stepped on the sound of a tree branch, rather than deliberately attracting Zhu Jue's attention.

"The Hesai police didn't have a staff there...... You didn't catch him?"

"When I caught him, I foresaw a guy who was more worthy of attention, there is a problem with this swampy lake where Hesai Town is located, you tell the frogman team that was arranged before to be careful, and contact me when I have a new discovery. ”

The spikes that appeared on the surface of the water alone were enough to prove that this was a monster of spiritual pollution that Zhu Jue had never seen before, and he felt the need to talk to Olivia about this first, but he didn't mention the existence he had just seen.

On the one hand, Zhu Jue was not sure what he was seeing for the time being, and it was better to forcibly inform Olivia of some specious news, which was easy to cause an overreaction.

On the other hand, Zhu Jue knew very well that once a monster like the Star Spirit was involved, it would inevitably attract the attention of the Archaeological Association, and the possibility of Olivia wanting to take charge of this case alone would probably be greatly reduced.

When those archaeologists and other people within the archaeological association arrived, Zhu Jue would only be restrained even if he wanted to investigate deeply.

Put what's going on here for a moment and continue with what you're here for.

Zhu Jue returned to the painter's residence and pushed open the door, the rusted metal latches after the dampness.

Maybe it's because no one has lived for a long time, Zhu Jue smelled a musty smell when he entered the door, but fortunately it wasn't too strong, and it was still within the tolerable range.

Widen the door to the maximum, and the rain blows into the house by the forest wind, barely washing away the smell of the living room.

The light in the house was extremely dim, not at all like what it should be in the afternoon, Zhu Jue stood at the door and fumbled for a while before finding the switch to control the chandelier in the living room.

Cans of paint, drawing boards and various models are placed horizontally and vertically on the wooden table in the middle of the room, and the living room, which was supposed to be used to entertain guests, has been transformed into a small studio by the painter.

Taking off the raincoat that was still dripping and hanging it in the corridor outside the door, Zhu Jue walked into the house, wiped his fingers over the tabletop, because he had been drenched in the rain, his wet fingers easily drew a dark mark on it, and he played with the miscellaneous items on the table, and there were no special items, except for the tools for painting, some tableware and a large number of art magazines.

Even in today's world where technology and weirdness coexist, art is still revered, even more popular than in the past.

Human beings are accustomed to seeing all kinds of technological products, and they are tired of those delicate chip parts, and only the art of artistic conception can stimulate their already almost numb brains.

Of course, there are also some people who prefer simpler and crude stimulation methods, after all, the proliferation of various psychostimulant drugs is not without reason.

The 21st International Art Exhibition, Contemporary Art, The Beauty of Nature......

After simply flipping through a few books, Zhu Jue found that almost all of these magazines contained various notes left by the painter, either his views on painting techniques or his personal impressions, he naturally couldn't understand them, but I have to say that aside from the suspicion of murder, Zhu felt that he admitted that this was a painter who pursued his profession.

Six or seven panels were stacked in the corner, each of which was a very good landscape painting to a layman, all of them were scenes from the swamp forest or the town of Hesai, the lake in the mist in the early morning, the woodland at dusk and sunset, the starry sky reflected on the lake at night, and so on.

"Is this painter really here to paint?"

Looking at the paintings one by one, Zhu Jue said to himself in some surprise.

According to his thoughts, if the painter was able to paint that kind of strange painting, and was itself involved in the murder, it was very likely that he was mentally problematic, or simply a cultist.

To put it bluntly, what he wanted to see in this room was something evil or some kind of mark, not the room full of art-related things.

"What is this?"

Holding a few drawing boards, Zhu Jue's gaze inadvertently fell on the floor inside, where there were several introductions that were clearly different from the colors of the surrounding floors.

When all the artboards are put back in place, there are still three sigils empty, which means that there should have been three paintings in their place.

What about painting?

Getting up and looking around, there was a drawing board covered with gauze on the wooden shelf next to it, and I walked two steps quickly to open it.

This is a semi-finished painting, and the content on it is inexplicably familiar to Zhu Jue......

Standing behind the stand, Zhu Jue's front is the kitchen on the right side of the living room, the curtains on both sides are hanging, covering the entire window tightly, and it is a little strange that the area facing the drawing board seems to have been deliberately cleaned, not only did nothing be placed, but even the shelves that should have been there were dismantled, and there were still two holes in the wall.

Stepping forward to open the curtains, Zhu Jue pursed his lips and looked at the swampy lake outside, he discovered the source of the familiarity he had just seen in the painting.

Looking out of this window, it happened to be the lake where I had witnessed the terrifying monster outside!

Syllable~

A crisp sound came from upstairs, Zhu Jue retracted his gaze, and hurriedly rushed up the stairs to the second floor.

"Scavenger, break the door!"

Because he didn't know which room the voice came from, Zhu Jue directly summoned three sand snakes when he stepped into the corridor.

The impact of the scavenger is obviously not something that these ordinary door locks can block, without the slightest delay, the three doors in front of it cracked, and the feedback from the scavenger was also transmitted to Zhu Jue's mind for the first time.

There's something in the second door on the left!

Suddenly rushed to the door, but Zhu Jue's pupils shrank suddenly.

Not in a hurry to step in, but raised his hand to the pinna on the left side, reconnected with Olivia, and said in a deep voice: "Olivia, you ask the police in Hesai Town when they last searched the painter's residence. ”

There were no monsters in the dark room, only a corpse lying quietly on the bed.

Rotting husks, dark brown vines grew from cracks in the cracks in the mouth, eyes, chest, and flesh, wrapping around the corpse and the bed beneath him.

The musty smell that Zhu Jue smelled when he entered the door was not because this house had been uninhabited for a long time, the real source was this "vegetative" corpse!

Wait a minute.

It was a corpse lying on the bed, so where did the voice come from?

Spiritual perception unfolded in an instant, and Zhu Jue narrowed his eyes, searching for all the lifeforms that might exist around him as quickly as possible.

As a result, his brow furrowed again.

Within twenty meters, there is no other life at all.

Woo~Woo~

The sharp and low hum caught Zhu Jue's attention, and his eyes rolled, and he immediately locked the window of this room, and the glass on the lower right was broken, and the wind and rain outside were pouring into the room from there.

Stooping down and picking up a wet stone half the size of a fist on the ground, the water stains on it had not yet dried, no doubt someone had thrown it in from the window to get his attention.

"The last search of the artist's residence was two days ago, is there any problem?"

Olivia replied after checking it out.

"A strange corpse appeared in the bedroom of the painter's residence......"

Picking up the photo frame on the bedside table, the photo in it was a middle-aged man holding a trophy and laughing, glanced at the corpse on the bed, paused for a moment, Zhu Jue continued,

"Looks like someone sent us back the 'murderer'. ”

"You just stay there and watch the corpse, and I'll bring someone over right away!"

Olivia hurriedly hung up the communication, she didn't get much useful information on the side of the deceased's family, and she was worried, when she learned that Zhu Jue had made a major discovery, she couldn't wait to rush here.

"Everyone likes to play hide and seek, what is there hiding in this town?"

Walking to the window, his fingers stretched out from the broken opening, feeling the cold wind and cold rain flying outside, Zhu Jue looked at the dense bushes not far away, and whispered to himself.