Third-rate Thriller Novelist

Chapter 17 … The Lost Portrait (1)

The darkness in front of him dissipated, and Shen Yu found himself at the entrance of a small town.

In terms of style, it was a small European town. The steeple church in the distance was a bit dilapidated, and the nearby lake was shimmering, sunny and picturesque.

In front of them, a fair-skinned male was standing with a big black dog squatting beside him.

In addition to the two of them, there were five others who entered this horror story together.

The three young girls huddled together at this time, chatting and discussing: “Where are we?”

“I don’t know, I slept in the car, and I woke up right here.”

” Didn’t we report to go out to the province to travel with a group? What kind of tour group is so affordable, and directly sent abroad!”

And beside the girl, there is a man and a woman holding a black book, looking at them with disdain. A rookie audience who doesn’t have any books.

These two are obviously novelists and veterans with many battles.

At this moment, the man standing in front of them spoke: “Seven distinguished detective gentlemen, and madam.” “Welcome to my hometown, Rice Town.”

This is an old man with gray hair. There are wrinkles around the corners of his eyes, but he takes care of himself meticulously. With a pair of glasses on the bridge of his nose, well-dressed and elegant in conversation, he obviously has a good education.

When he was young, he must have been extremely charming.

Three unidentified girls whispered: “This foreigner speaks Chinese quite sleekly!” The old man smiled slightly, apparently well-trained, and continued slowly: “My name is Bard . I used to be a young Painter.”

“This time I invite you detectives to find my love again.”

“The girl I loved, the most beautiful girl in my heart… She finally abandoned me and left this place forever.”

Speaking of this, the old man’s eye sockets were slightly moisturized: “Fortunately, when I was young, I used a paintbrush to retain her perfect face and painted her the most beautiful portrait in the world.”

“Unfortunately, because of moving house once, I unexpectedly lost the portrait of my lover, just like losing my heart… So I have to ask you to find my old love again.” The plot begins.

While the newcomer audience was still dumbfounded, novelists such as Shen Yu all opened their books in unison.

【Seven little detectives came to the town of Rice.】

【Love makes people intoxicated.】

【But on the way to pursue love, you will encounter ghouls obstructing you.】

【Beware of those ghouls!】After seeing the beginning of the story, Shen Yu raised an eyebrow slightly.

He politely asked the old man, “Dear Mr. Bard , where was the last time you saw the portrait of your lover?”

Seeing him entering the play so quickly, the other two novelists gave him an unexpected look. Finally put away the contempt in his eyes.

The old man Bard helped his glasses on the bridge of his nose: “I accidentally left the portrait in my former residence, the villa on the west side of the town.”

Shen Yu said: “Since you know the location, have you looked for it? ”

Bard quickly shook his head:.” No, townspeople say there’s ghoul hiding in my house, so I was in a hurry to move out of the house and had lived for decades, but failed to find the portrait , ” “Ghoul?” Shen Yu caught the key word, “What is a ghoul?”

Seeing him ask what everyone is concerned about, all the novelists present suddenly pricked their ears.

A look of disgust appeared on Bard’s face: “Ghouls? Those demons, filthy creatures, and existences that feed on rotting corpses!”

“My house is near a cemetery, which is the breeding place for ghouls . A lot of weird things have happened in that house recently, you have to be careful.” He warned.

Speaking of this, Bard’s expression suddenly became lost: “There are three days left before my birthday. I really hope that the birthday gift is the lost portrait.”

Shen Yu and Yue Ze couldn’t help but look at each other.

It seems that the duration of the story this time is a bit shorter, only three days.

At this moment, another novelist suddenly asked nonchalantly: “Since you moved out of your house, where do you live now?”

Bard smiled and patted the head of the big dog at his feet: “Alice and I temporarily live in a lakeside cottage. The scenery here is very good. The flat and moist land is suitable for cute Alice to run around.”

At this time, everyone looked at the big dog at Bard ‘s feet.

This is really a big dog. It seems that it can bite a person’s neck when standing up, but it is already an old dog, thin and skinny, and its yellow teeth are not sharp but very blunt.

The dog’s fur is black, it seems that it hasn’t been bathed for a long time, and it smells dirty, like a person’s hair that hasn’t been washed for a long time, with strands knotted.

The old dog’s eyes were already blind, and there was muddy pus. When Bard put his palm on his head, he seemed to wake up suddenly, and abruptly raised his head and screamed like crazy, with a vague cry. It’s like a hysterical shrew.

Not only was this black dog unpopular in appearance, but even his personality was so violent and crazy, everyone could not help but step back.

Only Bard took the initiative to squat down and hugged his dog pitifully.

He sighed sadly: “Poor Alice, my old Alice, you are getting old just like me, and your energy is getting worse and worse. You can’t see the beautiful scenery and eat delicious food.”

“Maybe again, after a while, even you will leave me.”

Bard seemed to be in grief, holding the black dog’s neck tightly, and with his comfort, the old dog finally regained his silence and became sick again. Lying down, motionless, as if he might die at any time.

And the dog owner Bard didn’t seem to be in the mood to continue talking. After pointing the way to everyone, he led his old dog to the lake house.

The two novelists, a man and a woman, went to the west of the town without hesitation.

The three girls who were accidentally involved in the story were completely confused at this time, standing there, dumbfounded, not knowing where to go.

If you leave them in this story at will, I am afraid that in less than a day, there will be no one left.

Shen Yu said hello to them: “Let’s find a place to live, are you going?”

Looking at Shen Yu, who was like the sun and refreshing, and then at the cold and deep Yue Ze behind him, the three girls discussed with each other in a whisper. In the end, it was because they were not familiar with the place in which they were , they followed them both.

These three girls are indeed innocent and easy to deceive. In such a place, it is easy to be eaten so that there is no bones left.

Shen Yu sighed silently in his heart.

This small town is small, but it is very exotic. The houses of the residents are very beautiful, but it is too quiet.

They walked all the way, without seeing a person, and the whole town seemed to be in a dead silence.

Until then, the three girls finally realized that there was something wrong with the world, and became scared, then began to huddle together and walk slowly.

Many notices were posted on the buildings near the church. After a long period of wind and rain, most of them were already dilapidated. A gust of wind could sweep away a few pieces of paper on the wall.

A piece of paper dangled in front of them, and was grabbed by Yue Ze’s hand.

[Emily, female, 18 years old, missing for nine months, suspected to have been mutilated by a ghoul.] Shen Yu also ran to tear down a few notices and read them.

[Annie, female, 14 years old, missing for three months, according to witnesses, the last place she appeared was infested with ghouls.] [Betty, female, sixteen years old, missing for one year, no news, suspected to have been mutilated by a ghoul. ] [Jenny, female, 17 years old, missing for a month, her parents are anxiously waiting for her to go home, suspected to be related to ghouls.] [Anna, female, fifteen years old, missing for three years…]

The girls on the notice have been missing for long or short periods of time, and the dates on the notice have been new or old, but the disappearance of each girl has a big or small relationship with the ghoul.

Shen Yu and Yue Ze sandwiched some remnants of paper in the book and took them away together.

Coming to the west of the town, looking far away, you can see a three-story white villa sitting on a hillside. The pure white walls are particularly beautiful under the sunlight. There is also a garden on the first floor. At this time, its flowers are beautiful and fragrant.

The three girls who were trembling at first saw this beautiful house, but finally eased up. They cheered and ran to the villa excitedly.

“This house is really romantic! It’s much better than the place that the broken tour group took us to!” The girls cheered.

At the door, the two novelists who arrived one step ahead of them also walked out at this time, looking at their group with complicated eyes.

“What are you doing with those three burdens?” The man whispered.

The woman stabbed him quietly, stopped his next words, and greeted Shen Yu with a smile: “My pen name is Zhang Keke, let’s get to know each other ?”

This is a tall woman with strong limbs and strong facial features. Shrewd and capable, the man next to her is relatively thin.

The man saw that his companion was the first to show her favor. Although he was unwilling to do so, he finally said, “Pen name, Xie Junfei.”

Then he raised his chin proudly: “What are you two’s pen names?”

“Mint.” Shen Yu blinked, but did not say Yue Ze’s pen name.

Yue Ze didn’t seem to want to introduce himself.

At this time, the three girls saw them talking and squeezed in: “Hello, my name is Lin Miaomiao, her name is Li Qingqing, and Wang Tongtong.”

For these novice audiences who can’t provide their own benefits, Zhang Keke and Xie Junfei don’t even bother to look at them.

Only Shen Yu seriously greeted them: “Hello!”

The little girls were even more excited. Li Qingqing, who was more cheerful and outgoing, jumped out and said, “Isn’t that foreign grandfather looking for a portrait? We just walked around the room and found several pictures at once!”

They were excited to pull Shen Yu to see the portraits, but Xie Junfei on the side said impatiently: “How can it be so simple!”

“We have seen these portraits too. Many portraits of different people are hung in various rooms. It is obviously not the portraits we need to find.”

As he said, probably because Bard was a painter before, there were portraits everywhere in the room, almost all portraits of different girls. There are about a dozen of them. .

These young girls with different appearances are all radiant in the portraits, without exception, they all look straight out of the frame, with sweet smiles, youthful faces, and clear eyes, as if the person in the painting has come alive. General.

It’s just that Yue Ze frowned slightly when he saw these portraits.

Shen Yu took off a picture frame in front of him and examined it carefully.

On the back of this painting, the artist’s signature is left.

[Give me the perfect Alice-Bard.]

The girl in this painting is Alice?

The person in the painting is a little girl in a water-blue skirt, with a ruddy complexion, and her long linen hair thickly tied into a braid.

Shen Yu looked closely for a moment, then hung the portrait back to its original place, then walked into another room and took off the portrait hung on the room.

The picture shows a girl wearing a white linen dress, tall and thin, with black hair, a few freckles on her face, and blue eyes.

Behind this portrait, there is also the artist’s signature.

[Give me the perfect Alice-Bard.]

This girl is also called Alice?

Shen Yu frowned secretly, looked at several portraits one after another, and finally found a problem.

These girls with different looks are obviously not the same person, but they are all called “Alice”!

The dying old dog beside Bard also seemed to be named “Alice”.

Maybe the painter Bard’s young lover was named Alice, so he has been keen to name each of his works “Alice” from then on?

Just as he was thinking to himself, Xie Junfei and Zhang Keke also found him.

Zhang Keke put on a smile and asked, “Did you find any clues?”

Shen Yu pointed out “Alice” behind the portrait to them, and then asked, “What about you? One step ahead of us, should’ve seen the portrait first, did you find anything?”

Zhang Keke’s fingertips on the black book quivered slightly, but there was nothing on the face. She just said with a pity: “It’s a pity that our observation is not as sharp as you.”

Shen Yu stared at her indifferently. After a long while, he said faintly: “Really?”

Behind him, Yue Ze glanced at both of them coldly.

Zhang Keke’s cold sweat broke down instantly!

The unknown person from the other side cast his indifferent gaze like a blade, almost suffocating.

This person must not be provoked!

Zhang Keke reluctantly squeezed out a smile, and while walking outside, she has nothing to say in her mouth: “You guys, let’s go to another place and see…” Even though she said that, she still stand stupidly on the spot for some times. The companion who felt nothing  soon was pulled away.

At this moment, there was a scream in the direction of the living room.

“There’s a ghost-”