When Anthony turned his head and looked toward the wall behind him, he saw a painting hanging there—a monster that looked extremely terrifying, vicious, and impossible to describe with words. At that moment, it had its mouth wide open, roaring as if it were about to pounce on Anthony!
This immediately startled Anthony, and he hurriedly stepped back. At that moment, Duanmu Huai noticed his abnormal reaction and quickly withdrew his gaze.
"What's wrong?"
"I just saw a painting. The subject was pretty scary—almost gave me a fright."
Anthony let out a breath of relief and looked at the painting again. Then he froze.
Under the beam of the flashlight, the painting hanging on the wall in front of him was nothing more than an oil painting of sunflowers. The monster he had just seen had completely disappeared!
"???"
Seeing this scene, Anthony was dumbfounded.
Where did the painting go?
"What's wrong?"
"The painting disappeared. I clearly saw a painting of a monster lunging out just now..."
Frowning, Anthony raised the flashlight and scanned the surroundings. But the oil paintings around them were all normal. Some depicted apples, some tulips, and some roses. Most of them were simply paintings of flowers and plants. There was absolutely nothing resembling the monster Anthony had described.
Did I see it wrong? That's impossible...
Compared to Anthony's confusion, Duanmu Huai simply glanced around calmly before speaking.
"If you didn't see it wrong, then I have an idea."
"What idea?"
"Maybe the monster that attacks people is hiding inside the paintings."
"Inside the paintings??"
"That's right."
Duanmu Huai nodded.
"We already checked the case files earlier. They clearly state that the times and locations of the disappearances are different, but the only common point is that all of them vanished when no one was watching them. That means the problem probably isn't with any specific exhibit in a certain hall. It's more likely that some monster is using a method to hide itself and then attacking its prey when they're alone."
As he spoke, Duanmu Huai slowly looked around at the decorations.
"So how could a monster hide itself without being discovered? If it were possessing an antique or some decorative object, it would be easily noticed. But paintings are different. After all, oil paintings are hanging everywhere in this museum. If Sheriff Anthony didn't see wrong just now, then that thing clearly tried to attack you while hiding inside a painting."
"...I didn't expect you to think so much about it."
Anthony turned to look at Duanmu Huai in surprise. To be honest, after being shocked by Duanmu Huai's physique, Anthony had no doubts about his combat ability. However, he had been rather skeptical about Duanmu Huai's other capabilities. Generally speaking, people with strong bodies tended to be more straightforward thinkers. Yet Anthony hadn't expected that just based on his description, Duanmu Huai could deduce all of this and even put forward his own hypothesis.
Frankly speaking, this kind of reasoning would be dismissed as nonsense in most places. But as the officer responsible for [U-level cases], Anthony had already experienced plenty of unbelievable events.
Moving through paintings was nothing. He had seen far stranger things.
"So what should we do now? Should we find that painting?"
"No. That's too troublesome."
Duanmu Huai shook his head in rejection of Anthony's suggestion.
"There are so many paintings in this museum. Who knows how long it would take to find it. And since the other party has this kind of ability, it might even set a trap for us and deliberately mislead us. So... we might as well lure the snake out of its hole, kill it directly, and then check which painting has the problem afterward."
"..."
Never mind what I said earlier. This solution really is simple and violent.
"So you mean... we split up???"
Anthony instantly lost his composure. Heaven and earth be his witness—just because he was the officer responsible for these kinds of cases didn't mean he had any supernatural abilities! Asking him to face a mysterious monster alone—if he wasn't scared, that would be a miracle.
Hearing Anthony's words, Duanmu Huai rolled his eyes, then reached into his coat and took out something before handing it to him. After receiving it, Anthony realized it was a strange ornament. It bore the symbol of a warhammer, and in the center was the imprint of a skull.
"This is...?"
"A protective charm. It'll keep you safe."
"..."
Hearing Duanmu Huai's explanation, Anthony twitched the corner of his mouth and looked down at the "protective charm" in front of him, especially the vividly sculpted skull on it.
This is a protective charm? Are you sure this isn't some kind of cursed object?
"Thanks."
Anthony silently complained in his heart but accepted the charm anyway. Although the thing looked eerie no matter how he examined it, Anthony had dealt with many strange incidents before and had seen plenty of bizarre objects—mummified lizards, monkey paws, shriveled children's skulls... Folk religions like Voodoo often produced all sorts of strange amulets. Compared to those, this one actually looked relatively normal.
In theory, it would take a lot of time for just two people to search the entire museum. Fortunately, the museum itself wasn't very large and only had four exhibition halls in total. So the two agreed to start from the main hall and move to the left and right respectively, searching Halls A and B on one side and Halls C and D on the other, before meeting again in the central hall.
To be safe, all the lights in the museum were turned on. The entire place was brightly illuminated. This eased Anthony's nerves slightly. He held the flashlight in one hand and rested the other on the pistol at his waist while carefully watching the walls in front of him.
The oil paintings hanging on the walls were naturally the cheap kind. Many of them were even donated by nearby universities or local residents. Regardless of their value, at least hanging them up didn't look embarrassing and added some cultural atmosphere to the museum.
Of course, because of this, the paintings on the walls were extremely varied. Some depicted landscapes, others flowers and plants, and there were even some that looked like insane abstract works.
In other words—complete nonsense school.
What's even good about this thing?
Looking at an oil painting titled "Dawn" in front of him, Anthony couldn't help muttering inwardly. Although the title was Dawn, the painting had absolutely nothing to do with light. It looked like someone had painted a sheet of paper black and then randomly scribbled blue, yellow, and green strokes on top as if they were drunk.
If the person who painted this wasn't in the museum, Anthony was more inclined to believe they had been locked in prison for alcoholism.
There was nothing unusual in Hall C. Anthony circled around once and then left the hall, standing in the corridor while looking at the empty floor stretching out on both sides. He felt an indescribable sense of tension and fear.
To be honest, he was beginning to regret coming here. He wasn't even sure whether that monster really existed...
While letting his thoughts wander, Anthony entered Hall D.
However, just as he stepped inside and walked forward, something suddenly changed.
The exhibition hall door, which had been wide open, slammed shut with a bang as if pushed by an invisible force.
Anthony was startled and immediately turned toward the door. But before he could even walk over to check it, the lights illuminating the entire hall suddenly went out. Not only that—even the lights in the corridor outside and the opposite exhibition hall seemed to extinguish at the same moment.
In the blink of an eye, the entire hall became a box completely swallowed and wrapped in darkness.
Only the light from Anthony's flashlight still shone.
"Damn it!!"
Seeing this scene, Anthony was shocked. Although he had mentally prepared himself, when everything actually happened, he still felt uncontrollable fear and tension. He quickly raised both hands, leaned against the wall, gripped the flashlight in reverse, and raised his pistol to aim forward.
Under the dim beam, Anthony couldn't clearly see what was around him. The entire hall now seemed to be covered in a layer of pitch-black mist. Everything appeared vague and indistinct. He could feel his heart pounding wildly, while an indescribable tension and fear surged through him, driving him almost mad.
I have to get out of here!
Anthony rushed to the window and raised his hand, attempting to smash the glass and escape.
However, his hand never struck the glass. Instead, an invisible yet solid and flexible barrier blocked him.
It completely stopped Anthony's next move.
Seeing this, Anthony didn't hesitate. He raised his pistol and pulled the trigger toward the window.
"Bang!!"
The gunshot echoed through the dark exhibition hall and was quickly swallowed by the surrounding darkness. Yet there wasn't the slightest crack on the glass. The bullet itself had vanished without a trace.
At the same time, Anthony heard a strange set of footsteps emerging behind him.
"Tap... tap... tap..."
He hurriedly turned around, shining the flashlight forward while gripping his pistol tightly and breathing heavily. He wasn't sure whether Duanmu Huai had heard the gunshot. The hall now felt completely different from before. He even suspected that he had been swallowed into another space.
Maybe this was how the others disappeared.
They weren't here anymore—they had simply vanished.
Would I disappear like them as well?
The dragging footsteps drew closer and closer, yet Anthony still couldn't see anything. His eyes widened as he stared around desperately, trying to catch even the slightest clue.
Then he saw it...
What kind of monster is that!!
The moment the flashlight beam illuminated the shadow, Anthony finally saw it.
No—or rather, he didn't see it clearly at all.
Even under the flashlight's beam, he could only barely make out the monster's outline. It looked like a transparent creature. Only a few lines and shadows seemed to belong to this world.
Fortunately, its entire body was translucent, making it impossible for Anthony to clearly see its true appearance.
But it was obvious that the monster had been enraged.
It let out a shrill, unpleasant roar and suddenly accelerated, lunging toward Anthony. As it moved, its originally translucent body began to change, revealing its true form!
"BOOM!!!"
Just as the monster was about to reach Anthony, a massive hand suddenly emerged from behind him, clenched into a fist.
The fist smashed directly into the monster, blasting it flying away!
"So you finally showed yourself, you bastard!"
At the same time, accompanied by an angry roar, Duanmu Huai strode out slowly from the shadows.
(End of Chapter)