C23.2

He was indeed an extremely filthy monster.

Compared to his sister, he wasn’t worth being loved at all.

From the beginning, he had been burdened with filthy sins.

Everything was the same as when he was a child, born with no one to care about him, no matter what he did he would never get the concern of others, while his sister could get everything he could wish for.

It turned out that from the beginning, nothing had changed.

 

A sense of powerless despair spread, and in deep exhaustion, You Xin fell into a deep sleep.

*******

Early in the morning, the sunlight poured into the villa, refracting broken light and shadows, Jiu Shu sat in the living room, processing the data on the computer while turning on the TV.

The TV was urgently inserting the news, that the disappearance case of the young man and woman a few days ago had been solved, and the murderer had been killed by the victim.

The surviving victim looked terrified in the camera, facing the reporter about how he escaped from the murderer. When confronted by the reporter about how he escaped the killer’s custody, he looked around nervously and blurted out: “It was an angel, a very beautiful angel …….”

He was saying that he had seen someone very beautiful, but his gaze was a little out of focus, as if he were recalling once again the image of the moment, the one who had stood with the terrible monster.

“An angel? Was it someone who helped you escape?”

 

The victim nodded and shook his head again, clearly having been turned into a psychotic state by the long ordeal.

Jiu Shu lifted his head and watched the scrawny man finally being put into an ambulance before withdrawing his gaze.

As he expected, the police didn’t find out any other clues, and the case was finally closed with the victim’s counter-murder, and following this clue of K, Jiu Shu also touched the hidden information of the Ten Elders Club.

Some of the offline strongholds hidden under the network had been investigated by Jiu Shu, and he intended to crack them one by one during this period of time.

Jiu Shu opened one of the most tightly guarded underground strongholds and pulled up the surveillance images.

Only to see a spacious conference room, several men wearing rabbit masks and suits were sitting on both sides of a long table, talking about something.

Jiu Shu increased the volume and heard them talking about something concerning K. The people from the Ten Elders Club seemed to be very well-informed, and already knew about K’s murder.

And began to rage with incompetence as they never found out anything else, bickering and insulting each other’s incompetence.

“Your stupid henchmen can’t find out anything at all!”

“You think those henchmen of yours are any better!”

The two people wearing rabbit masks pointed and cursed at each other.

 

“Alright, stop arguing, don’t disturb the god’s peaceful sleep.” The rabbit masked man sitting at the head seat on the long table seemed to be an old man with an old and steady voice.

“Yes, Lord High Priest.”

“Yes, Lord High Priest.”

The conference room immediately fell silent, it was clear that the old man was extremely prestigious, then Jiu Shu saw the slow-moving old man slowly pull a necklace out of his chest, with a shrunken version of the god’s statue dangling from it.

Zooming in on the image one could see that it was a half-converted idol with a smiling face and ragged clothes, the very same Kasmos, the god of creation in the myths and legends of this world.

“god will guide us, I have foreseen the awakening of god, the day of judgment is coming, all heresies are but tribulations given by god, and we need to offer more suffering to appease god’s’ wrath!”

Saying this, the old man raised the necklace in his hand high, and the monitor screen shook somewhat unsteadily, as if some mysterious force was literally vibrating through the conference room.

Jiu Shu thoughtfully rubbed his fingertips against his lips, making it a turn a faint red.

More suffering, as these club members called it, seemed to be an offering to the god with the suffering of some innocents.

It was only to be feared that they were about to start another bloody sacrifice. The last sacrifice was to circle a shopping mall and starve everyone inside while claiming to be ter.rorists. The terr.orists kidnapped everyone in the mall, but it ended in nothing.

He didn’t know what it was going to be this time.

[Huh! Did the taskmaster see that? You’re too weak in this world.]

The system suddenly spoke, Jiu Shu narrowed his eyes noncommittally.

The system had been quiet for a while now. Today, it suddenly speaking meant that it had some ideas.

[If you don’t cooperate with me, both you and the object of punishment will die a horrible death!]

[Oh.] Jiu Shu closed the computer and took a sip of milk.

 

[You! You don’t have any supernatural powers at all in this world! What are you going to fight those people with! You can only rely on me!]

 

The system was furious.

Jiu Shu, however, looked calm, as if he hadn’t heard, and let the system jump up and down in anger in his head until it finally died down.

He, on the other hand, rested his cheeks in boredom and watched the various murders that had started to be shown on TV again, a little sleepy.

It has been a bit too busy lately, it was time for a break.

Jiu Shu recalled the recent plot point shortly after the hero and heroine met, the theater would take an all-volunteer vacation, and from there the sad life of the object of the punishment would begin.

To avoid this, besides dealing with the two per.verts in the original novel, he also needed to change their vacation location just in case.

Jiu Shu turned on his computer again and began searching for a suitable location near Metropolis for a vacation.

 

The charisma of the heroine, Ai Li, was still something to be valued, and at any moment it could attract tricky per.verts and bring the plot back to the original world line.

He had to be cautious.

********

And at that moment, You Xin woke up from his fitful sleep.

He opened his eyes and got up to look at the undried blood beside his bed, the walls that had been wiped clean only yesterday were splattered with blood once again, and the room was a mess everywhere, as if someone had been in a fight here.

You Xin looked at the room in silence for a moment before going to wash up.

 

Washing the blood off his face with water, a slight scar remained from the already healed wound, which You Xin covered slightly with his hair.

Then he sat on the edge of the bed in a daze, his pale face with its missing expression hidden in the shadows of the room.

There wasn’t too much heavy work to do in the morning, and no one would accuse You Xin of not doing anything even if he didn’t go to work, but he was used to waking up early to go to his work.

But today, he suddenly didn’t want to be that busy.

He just felt incredibly tired, both physically and mentally as if he was carrying a heavy yoke, unable to move a single inch.

Maybe a painting would be better.

In order to ease his tense nerves, You Xin began to draw.

He drew with an indifferent expression, his sister making no mocking noises in his ear, as if she was sleeping well because she had rested too late yesterday.

Or it could be insomnia caused by overexcitement.

You Xin remembered how extremely hyperactive You Xin was last night.

It was enviable and made him a little jealous.

His pupils darkened, no longer trying to remember the things that he never deserved in the first place.

Soon after finishing a painting, You Xin looked at his brush and seemed stunned for a moment.

Lowering his eyes, he covered the panel with a piece of white cloth.

Then placed it at the far end of the clutter, where it would not be easily found.

At noon, You Xin went to the cafeteria for lunch, and then started the day, with his coworkers not far away talking about their newly acquired albums, and how good Jiu Shu’s songs were.

“It always sounds completely different from the other songs!”

“Maybe it’s because I’m used to listening to opera, but Jiu Shu’s tunes are really rebellious to the core, but they’re really good! It’s like magic I’ve looped it hundreds of times!”

 

“And how many copies of the record have you bought?”

 

“Only one copy, all the others were snatched up, I almost didn’t even get one!”

“I thought you said you were going to give one to Ai Li. What, going back on your word?”

Colleagues talked and brought the topic to the most popular actress in this theater, once Ai Li had always been the focus of the conversation, but at some point the center of the conversation changed to another person.

 

A young singer who was incredibly distant from the rest of them.

Obviously unattainable but still eagerly discussed, this singer who was too pretty to look away from.

 

“Hey, I can’t bear to part with even one copy!”

 

“Tsk!”

The crowd erupted into laughter, and You Xin sat at the other end of the stage, out of place.

 

He seemed extraordinarily silent today, and had been finding things for himself to do, as if that would keep him from thinking about things that would make his temples throb and his brain scramble.

The workers looked contemptuously at the busy figure of You Xin not far away, with disdain on their faces, whispering about You Xin, and disdainful of the way he snatched up the work.

“As if more work for the boss will get you more money, what a lapdog!”

The new worker despised You Xin, feeling that he was doing this as a complete show-off of his strength, as if comparing them to laziness would cause him to be rewarded by the boss.

 

“The guy is always gloomy, he stays in that basement all day and I don’t even know what the hell he does with his stuff, it’s disgusting!”

 

“The basement? Is that the utility room where they used to keep the clutter?”

“Yeah, no one dares to go there since he’s been here, and I don’t know what’s been tossed into it by this freak!”

 

“Anyway, there’s nothing to do right now, let’s go check it out?” The new worker got curious, eager to see how disgusting the place where this freak lived could be, and to have more of a mocking talking point in the future.

A few of the other workers looked at each other and were also curious.

 

Taking advantage of the fact that You Xin was engrossed in his work, they headed in the direction of the basement.

 

Coming to the entrance to the basement, the low steps were damp and mottled, but unexpectedly free of slippery moss, which didn’t interfere with walking, and it seemed to have been cleaned, it wasn’t as dirty as they had imagined.

The door to the basement was locked, but the theater workers brought a spare key and easily opened the door to the room.

When they opened the door, the crew didn’t see the mountains of garbage or the stench of tortured and killed animals they expected, but instead saw a room that was as clean as it could be.

The interior of the fairly spacious room was simply furnished with a bed and a set of tables and chairs, other than that it was just clutter and portraits piled up in the corners.

And a wall full of photos.

 

The whole room was clearly separated, on one side there were all kinds of things neatly arranged like he had obsessive-compulsive disorder, and on the other side there were messy photos plastered against the walls.

“What a per.vert!” The crew tsked at the photos on the wall, “I didn’t realize this guy was actually a fan of Jiu Shu!”

“If Jiu Shu knew he was liked by such a guy, he would just be sick to his stomach!”

“Hahaha I think so too!”

As he spoke, a worker looked at so many photos and tore off many beautifully taken ones, preparing to take them back for collection. Other workers also took a few of them without hesitation.

 

While despising this freak, it must be said that his ability to collect photos was quite impressive, all of them were precious photos that ordinary people simply couldn’t find.

“And so many portraits!” After taking the photos, a theater worker picked up the portraits that were neatly placed on the floor and looked at the white-skirted woman with no facial features on them.

“It can’t be Ai Li? I’m going to puke, this freak actually likes Ai Li!”

“A dreg of society like him must have had his eyes on her a long time ago! If something happens to Ai Li one day, it will definitely be his doing!”

 

The crew frowned in disgust, wanting to burn the portraits, and unceremoniously threw the panels to the ground, letting the dust stain the delicate canvases.

 

“Here’s another one, so tightly hidden ……” said one of the workers, taking out a painting in the clutter.

The painting was covered with a layer of white cloth, and when it was slowly uncovered, the worker saw more delicate brushstrokes than in the previous portrait.

 

Simple colors were drawn extremely gently by the brush, unlike the stereotypical stiffness of the previous white-skirted women, this portrait seemed to bet on a different kind of sentiment, and was particularly eye-catching.

The colors and composition were exquisite, with the white cloth off, the painting of a young man’s fine white wrists resting on his cheeks, gently leaning on the table to take a nap came into view, the worker stared blankly, his eyes stalled between the youth’s snow-white cheeks and his moving eyes.

For the first time, he realized that sometimes a portrait could portray the beauty of a person better than a photograph.

The painting was even more endearing than the magazine-snapshots that had just been on the wall.

 

“This ……” The worker was unable to look away, and didn’t make a sound for a long time, and the other workers didn’t react for a long time after looking over curiously, seeming to be absorbed in the world in the portrait and unable to extricate themselves.

The painting was as real as if the artist had actually witnessed the image of the beautiful young singer gently resting at the table in the basement.

 

And the special perspective in the painting was even more wonderful, as if a person was hidden in the dark using a careful gaze to capture every outline of the youth.

The delicate gradation of light and shadow and color changes in the painting gave it a rich texture, and one could feel the undisguised love and longing in the painting even without uttering a word.

“…… What are you doing!”

Suddenly a low, horrible voice came from outside the basement, and huge, monster-like figure stood in the doorway, blocking out all the sunlight.

The basement was suddenly dim, and the workers’ hearts inexplicably tightened as they looked toward the doorway.

All of them stiffened as they met the tall man’s dead eyes.

While the crew liked to sneer at You Xin secretly, none of them actually dared to meet the man’s eyes directly.

 

The look in his eyes, as if he were staring directly at something dead, would put everyone who looked into his eyes into a state of infinite fear, a kind of fear of the unknown that originated from deep within his genes, for no reason at all, but it was enough to make one’s heart run cold.

 

The dark basement and the tall ugly man,was undoubtedly the most classic opening scene of a horror movie, even if the next second ushered in a bloodbath, it wouldn’t be surprising.

The workers fearfully put down the photos and portraits in their hands, and tried to say something with forced composure, but their legs were already trembling subconsciously.

 

“Roll!” The tall man’s dark pupils didn’t have a trace of light, easily grabbing the collars of a few workers and ruthlessly throwing them outside the door.

 

In the crowd’s wailing sound of pain, the man returned to the basement, looking at the disorganized basement, the first thing he searched for was the painting he drew in the morning.

The white cloth had been lifted, and the portrait had been set aside beside the bed, undamaged, while next to it several portraits of women in white dresses, which had once been greatly cherished, had not attracted the man’s attention in the least.

His large slender hand picked up the white cloth on the ground, his gaze touched the youth on the portrait, and only after a few moments did he silently lower his eyes and cover the white cloth.

[You ……]

[Is it a painting of Jiu Shu?]

In his ear came his sister’s hoarse voice, as cold as a venomous snake spitting out its venom.

 

 

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TN:

OOF, THE DRAMAA

[I love it ]

See ya tomorrow ✌️