Oil Painting

At his words, the Peacekeepers finally snapped out of it. They rushed forward two steps at a time, pinned the woman to the ground, and cuffed her.

"What happened?" Captain Huang strode over. "Why could you move? Weren't you affected by that fog?"

"I don't know either." Sun Hang shrugged and handed his pistol to Captain Huang. "Captain Huang, your gun."

The Peacekeepers had already pulled the hood off the woman's head. She was a middle-aged woman around forty to fifty years old, her cheeks covered in tattoos of unknown meaning. Her bloodshot eyes were fixed fiercely on Sun Hang, who stood some distance away.

"Name?" the Peacekeeper holding her down demanded.

The woman said nothing.

"Do you know where those missing people are?" the Peacekeeper asked again.

The woman remained silent.

The Peacekeeper looked up at Captain Huang, his gaze seemingly asking for permission.

Captain Huang glanced at his subordinate's corpse on the ground, then studied the woman. He took a deep breath, but ultimately shook his head. "Take the suspect back to the Investigation Bureau first. We'll interrogate her afterward... Also, clean up the scene."

While the Peacekeepers cleared the scene, Sun Hang had already walked around the empty basement once. Finally, he stopped before the enormous oil painting hanging on the wall.

It was a Western-style portrait painted in a retro style. The woman in it was a young woman of European descent, dressed in a fiery red court gown. She was exceptionally beautiful—even though it was only an oil painting, Sun Hang could still sense the seductive charm rooted deep within her bones.

Especially her eyes. No matter what angle Sun Hang viewed the painting from, the woman in it seemed to be watching him.

Sun Hang stepped closer and reached out to touch the painting's surface.

The massive oil painting, more than two meters in both length and width, had not been framed. A thin layer of dust lay over the rough-textured canvas.

Sun Hang curled his fingers and rapped the canvas lightly.

Thump.

"Captain Huang." Sun Hang turned toward Captain Huang, who was standing dazed before the dead Peacekeeper. "There's empty space behind this painting."

"What did you say?!" Captain Huang, whose face had been full of exhaustion moments ago, suddenly looked up. His eyes flashed sharply. "What did you just say? Say it again!"

"There's empty space behind this oil painting," Sun Hang repeated.

Captain Huang took a deep breath and hurried over, rapping the surface of the canvas with his fingers as well.

"Everyone, come over here!" Captain Huang said in a low voice. "Bring the suspect over too!"

The tattoo-covered middle-aged woman was dragged before Captain Huang by two Peacekeepers, one on either side. Captain Huang grabbed her collar and asked, word by word, "What... is behind the oil painting?"

To the Peacekeepers' surprise, the middle-aged woman did not remain silent this time. She looked at the woman in the painting, then slowly said, "...Her palace."

"Captain Huang, those missing women... including Xiao Hu, are very likely inside," the Forensics expert said urgently. "Their footprints all vanished outside the basement. Unless there's a secret passage behind the oil painting that leads outside, otherwise..."

"Wait!" 0401 suddenly interrupted the Forensics expert. "Have you all forgotten the fog just now? That was obviously a supernatural ability! This woman and this whole series of cases are clearly connected to anomalous entities! Our mission is already complete. What comes next should be reported to the Investigation Bureau so they can send specialists to deal with it!"

"I've already made the report." 0398 put the issued phone back into her pocket and said flatly, "The higher-ups said the Hunters will arrive in twenty minutes."

"So we shouldn't indulge any unnecessary curiosity!" 0401 emphasized again. "Let professionals handle professional matters. We only need to wait here for twenty minutes. Once those Hunters arrive, we can call it a day!"

Captain Huang looked at the two Temporary Investigators, then at his own subordinates, but still shook his head. "As far as I'm concerned, my mission isn't over... Bring me the chainsaw!"

"Do you have a death wish?" 0401 shouted. "If you don't want to live, you don't have to drag us down with you!"

Captain Huang said nothing. He merely took the handcuff key from his pocket and tossed it to 0401.

0401 froze for a moment, then quickly picked up the key and unlocked his handcuffs.

"...Uh, I'd advise you not to leave," the young Peacekeeper who had been relatively friendly toward Sun Hang and the others quietly urged. "If you leave now, it'll be considered abandonment of duty..."

"I know!" 0401 said indignantly. "I just don't understand why your captain is so stubborn. Why does he insist on getting himself killed... why won't he stop until he finds the missing people?"

"The missing trainee Peacekeeper is actually Captain Huang's niece," the young Peacekeeper whispered into 0401's ear. "Captain Huang watched her grow up."

A few minutes later, a Peacekeeper came over carrying a chainsaw. He yanked the pull cord twice, and amid the deep roar of the engine, the sharp chain began spinning rapidly.

Captain Huang nodded at him and stepped aside.

The Peacekeeper walked forward, lifted the chainsaw, and cut into the oil painting.

The thick fiber canvas was instantly torn apart, and the wooden frame beneath it was cut open as well. Wood chips flew everywhere.

A square opening roughly one meter across appeared in the painting. Beyond it lay a deep, shadowy passage leading who knew where.

"You two stay behind and watch the suspect. Everyone else, follow me."

With a flashlight raised in one hand and a pistol gripped in the other, Captain Huang was the first to crawl into the passage.

Sun Hang followed behind him, becoming the second to enter the passage.

To Sun Hang's slight surprise, amid a faint string of complaints, 0401 and 0398 entered the passage as well.

"Curiosity killed the cat, curiosity killed the cat..." 0401 muttered as he examined the inner walls of the passage.

"You're not afraid there might be anomalous entities inside?" Sun Hang asked.

"I am." 0401 answered candidly. "But I have a feeling staying with that crazy woman is even more dangerous... After all, she already killed a Peacekeeper."

"Why did that fog avoid you?" 0398 brushed aside the hair hanging before her eyes and stared intently at Sun Hang. "I saw it clearly. When you walked over, the fog moved aside on its own."