Paintings of Terror

Chapter 233: Coffin

The poisoning was intentional, and the poisoner was very planned and purposeful. It was done quietly, without anyone noticing, and successfully made Xi Shengnan the only victim.

“If the target of the poisoner was Xi Shengnan, then this poisoning case was done perfectly.” Shao Ling frowned. “I really can’t figure out how the poisoner knew each of our taste.”

“That’s right,” Luo Bu also said, “I don’t even know your tastes. I used to think Brother Dong liked spicy food.”

Wei Dong gave Luo Bu a sharp look: Your words will offend the hairlines of all artists in the world…

Shao Ling also nodded slightly: “Even if we experienced the previous painting together, I don’t know everyone’s tastes.”

Cao Youning also followed up and said: “We in the photography group know each other well, because we often go out to gather inspirations together, but we don’t know about you guys at all! This matter just doesn’t feel right no matter how much you think about it. No one can guarantee that only Sister Xi would eat that bottle of poisoned chili sauce.”

Du Lingyu: “I think it’s impossible for our group of people to kill each other, but the outsiders know even less about our tastes, so how could they kill Sister Xi with such accuracy?”

“Unless it’s a case of conditional killing, this time the target is someone who loves chili peppers, just like a murderer who only killed women in red dresses many years ago.” Cao Youning said.

“No, no, this matter is not as simple as what you said.” Qin Ci put away his poison test needle and covered the jar of poisoned chili sauce with a lid using a cloth towel. “The Inn Officer just brought up another case after some inspection. That Xiayu died the night before, but the murder weapons in her body were brought in from the outside world. This matter is very strange.”

“The time in this world is very chaotic, and I suspect that the poisoning of Xi Shengnan is also related to the disorder of time.” Shao Ling said.

At this time, the door suddenly opened, and the Inn Officer walked in with a few of his subordinates: “Relatives of the deceased, do you have any other request? If not, we are going to move the corpse into the coffin.”

There are many things that had not come to light, but Xi Shengnan must be returned to the earth, even if it was the frozen earth.

No one raised any objections.

Qin Ci handed the jar of poisoned chili sauce to the Inn Officer: “…that’s all we can provide, just like we don’t understand why someone poisoned Xi Shengnan, we also don’t believe that Xi Shengnan would do that to Xiayu… I really can’t think of a motive for committing the crime.”

The expression of the Inn Officer had always maintained a subtle sense of alienation: “No one can tell what happens after the lights go off. I have already asked the Master Shaman of this Inn, and he speculated that it was a man who poisoned Xi Shengnan. That man will also receive retribution.”

This sentence contained a lot of information. It would take them a long time to digest.

“Aren’t you all going to send off your companion? Then come together.” The Inn Officer walked out of the room first after saying this.

Several of his subordinates carried Xi Shengnan’s body out of the room and carefully placed it into the crystal coffin in the corridor.

Everyone followed behind Xi Shengnan’s coffin and walked slowly forward.

Qin Ci walked alongside Mu Yiran, and asked in a low voice, “Xiao Mu, you have been quiet today, did you think of something?”

Mu Yiran put his mind away and looked at Qin Ci who stood beside him: “Speaking of the current situation, when Xi Shengnan died, it was only us, her companions, who stayed by her side and no outsiders came to take a look. However, yesterday Xiayu also died in an unnatural way, but that caused a certain amount of panic.”

“This… is it because the Chu family has a relatively large amount of influence?” Qin Ci speculated.

“I hope that’s not the reason. I don’t want that Chu family to trouble us,” Mu Yiran coughed lightly, “Comparing the two murder cases, there is only one conclusion, that is, the crime scenes are different — Xi Shengnan died in the room, and Xiayu died in the square on the second floor.”

“You mean that the crime scene was where the people gathered to look? The crime scene where Xiayu was killed?” Qin Ci became more and more confused, “If this is the case, then the murderer has no chance to kill Xiayu in public.”

“This ties together with what the Officer said just now. No one can tell what happens after the lights go off.” Mu Yiran said slowly.

Ke Xun also couldn’t help but said: “And that Master Shaman. Last time, he shared his speculation after seeing Xiayu’s body, but this time, he hasn’t shown up. How did he know that the murderer is a man?”

“Master Shaman is a very mysterious existence in this world. If I guess correctly, they may be able to see through time.” Mu Yiran presented his guess.

Fang Fei, who was walking nearby, heard this. Her pace slowed down, as if she was deep in thought.

Everyone followed the crystal coffin in front and walked up the steps. They slowly reached the top floor of this Inn. Passers-by often stopped to look at this strange funeral procession, albeit with a mere curiosity. After all, the life and death of others had nothing to do with them.

The top floor was a large wooden dome. On the side of the dome, there was a circle of gray windows made of glass. The Inn Officer ordered someone to open one window, and the biting cold wind blew in, as if it could freeze everything here into ice sculptures.

“Let’s hang the coffin. After the freezing process, everything will be in peace.” The Inn Officer performed the funeral ceremony with a serious expression.

Several funeral directors tied the crystal coffin with strong ropes, and then carefully prepared to lift it out of the window.

Lu Heng suddenly became a little out of control. He was in a daze and had been sluggish like a wandering soul just now, and now he suddenly rushed to the crystal coffin: “I don’t believe that Shengnan is dead! I don’t believe it! She is still so young. She is not even thirty years old!”

The Inn Officer’s gaze became sharp: “You’d better keep your mouth shut. If you keep talking nonsense about these taboo words again, I will send an order to freeze you into the ground with her.”

Cao Youning and Mai Peng hurriedly pulled Lu Heng aside.

“Lu Heng, we don’t want to see the situation today either,” Du Lingyu comforted him, “The more important thing now is to live on and find out the cause of Sister Xi’s death.”

Hearing this, Lu Heng stopped struggling but there was nothing but emptiness in his eyes.

Because the window was open, the top floor of the entire Lantern Inn was extremely cold. Du Lingyu put on the cotton hood that was part of the robe and wrapped herself up tightly. She bolstered up her courage and walked towards the window where the coffin was sent out.

The crystal coffin was sent down steadily. Xi Shengnan’s blackened face was gradually covered by the rapidly gathering ice crystals on the surface of the crystal coffin, from hazy to until completely invisible.

The rope was passed down slowly at a constant speed, as if operated by some kind of precise machine, making people believe that this coffin would never fall from imbalance.

Du Lingyu felt a piercing coldness on her face, only to realize that there were still snowflakes outside. She didn’t dare to lean out from the window to look out, so she huddled between Ke Xun and Wei Dong and looked at the slowly descending crystal coffin on tiptoe.

The headache and tinnitus came again, and Du Lingyu even felt her vision was blurred. If it had not been the cold wind, she might have fainted.

“Xiao Du, are you alright?” Ke Xun noticed that Du Lingyu looked a bit odd. Wei Dong held up Du Lingyu’s fainting body just in time.

“I don’t know what happened. I felt like I was hallucinating just now,” Du Lingyu looked at Ke Xun and Wei Dong, whose eyebrows and bangs were snow-white from the blowing wind, and felt that these two people suddenly turned into gray-haired old men in a few minutes.

Du Lingyu was in a cold sweat. She felt her teeth chattering. Ke Xun and Wei Dong helped to move her away from the window.

“It’s too cold outside, at least twenty to thirty degrees below zero.” Wei Dong wiped his frost-covered eyebrows, “I guess you were about to faint from the cold.”

But Ke Xun looked at Du Lingyu seriously: “What was your hallucination just now?”

Du Lingyu paused. The hallucination just now seemed to still appear in front of her eyes. Her eyes were dazed, and she murmured: “I saw, under Sister Xi’s crystal coffin, that there is a dozen more coffins hanging. They line up neatly in a vertical row…so many coffins, they look like a train…it’s so terrifying, it really is terrifying…”

Wei Dong and Ke Xun looked at each other, and at this moment they could only pat Du Lingyu’s shoulder lightly: “Don’t be afraid. It’s white outside, it’s easy to trigger hallucinations.”

Ke Xun knew that the following questions might be cruel, but he still asked while it was still fresh in Du Lingyu’s memory: “How many coffins were there?”

Du Lingyu shivered and recalled: “Fifteen… No, maybe less than fifteen, I didn’t count, probably…”

“Thirteen?” Wei Dong heard himself speak out this terrible answer.

Du Lingyu glanced blankly at Wei Dong: “Probably, about twelve or three.”

“Were all those coffins exactly the same?”

“Exactly the same, but because of the distance, I couldn’t see the inside…” Du Lingyu was surprised. She was trying hard to observe in that terrifying hallucination just now, “It’s not over yet. Later, I heard the click of scissors and the coffin at the bottom fell.”

This hallucination was so terrifying that even Wei Dong trembled when he heard it.

Ke Xun held Du Lingyu’s hand tightly, trying to calm her down: “What happened after it fell?”

“After that, there was another click. The sound was very clear and loud, and then the second before the last coffin also fell…it fell into the abyss below, a gray abyss where you couldn’t see anything…” Du Lingyu subconsciously covered her ears.

Wei Dong didn’t know what he should do now, so he opened his arms and hugged Du Lingyu like a comrade in arms, trying to give her some warmth and strength.

Meanwhile, Ke Xun has already walked to the Inn Officer’s side: “Excuse me, Officer, what is the burial ceremony like? This is the first time I have attended a close one’s funeral.”

The Inn Officer glanced at Ke Xun calmly: “Cut the rope with a pair of golden scissors, and the crystal coffin will descend into the frozen soil on its own. Only then she can truly rest in peace.”

Ke Xun’s heart trembled. He didn’t expect that Du Lingyu’s hallucinations would be so similar to the actual ceremony.

“But, but she is still very young.” Ke Xun’s voice was regretful, but his eyes kept looking at the Inn Officer.

“Reincarnation is fair to everyone. Death is the real consummation.” The Inn Officer showed a faint smile, “By the way, we have prepared a magnifying glass for you. To prevent such vicious incidents from occurring in the future, it would be best to decipher the contents of that medical book as soon as possible.”