Carefree Path of Dreams

“The exhibition is over for today. Please come again next time!”

Angelina sent the last wave of tourists away with a stiff smile. She finally exhaled, patted her cheeks, and murmured, “Damn… I’m so sick of this stupid job. And that damn rule. What do they mean by the standard smile requires you to show eight teeth? Go to hell. The questions the tourists ask were so stupid and ignorant, but I can only lie. If not for the one silver sol every seven days, I would have long…”

She grumbled while changing out of her work uniform. After exiting the exhibition hall, she entered a familiar coffee shop and walked out with two long loaves of bread that exuded a creamy aroma.

After returning to his apartment, Angelina lit her stove, began brewing coffee, and fried two pieces of bacon as well. Crispy golden bacon was really enjoyable with bread.

She would be in heaven if she could also have a plate of vegetable salad.

No! Angelina, you still have a mortgage of thirty gold punks to pay off. You can’t be so luxurious…

Angelina suppressed the urge to make a plate of salad and extinguished her dinner in no time. She then brought the coffee into her bedroom.

The decorations were really simple, and only one oil painting was hanging on the wall. Many colorful lines formed an abstract and distorted eye, and the dark colors surrounding it made the eye stand out even more.

At the bottom right of the painting was a signature belonging to Vincent.

An appraiser would have found it to be absolutely authentic!

“If I could sell it… although it wouldn’t compare to Dream, it would probably be worth at least a thousand gold punks? Then, I wouldn’t have to worry about any mortgage and could live in a villa…”

Angelina stared at this huge eye and smiled bitterly.

This oil painting is her nightmare! A nightmare that could not be gotten rid of! No matter how she destroyed or discarded it, it would appear by her bedside the next day.

Even…

Angelina stared at the hazy twisted eye.

This eye seemed to see a unique change tonight. It seemed alive and blinked suddenly.

Bloop! Bloop!

A large amount of blood immediately flowed out from the pupil, and the overwhelming scarlet drowned Angelina.

“…” Angelina gritted her teeth as her surroundings became hazy.

She seemed to see a long queue of cars entering Kimbert City and stopping in front of a villa.

A wealthy businessman with a big belly and a wig emerged from a car. A young girl with a parasol was by his side and ordering the housekeeper and servants to move the furniture.

Finally, an oil painting was hung on the wall of the villa’s study.

The oil painting seemed to depict a starry night sky, but it was full of distorted figures and shadows, looking extremely abstract with an indescribable charm.

Bang!

The coffee cup landed on the floor with a dull crack.

Angelina did not bother with the coffee spilling all over. Instead, she gazed at the hazy eye oil painting and murmured in a low voice. “That’s… Dream! It’s been brought into Kimbert City!”

…

At the same time, in the villa, a young girl in pajamas was tossing and turning in bed.

If Angelina were here, she would find that this young girl was the daughter of the wealthy businessman that she saw in her hallucination.

“Why did Dad want to come to Kimbert City all of a sudden? What a hasty decision!” The young girl pouted. “I miss my old bedroom and my friends… Dad’s become so weird after he brought that painting…”

Her father, Robert, was a well-known rubber merchant who had started from a workshop that was about to close. He had seized a few well-timed opportunities and developed his company into a large one with thousands of employees.

After becoming rich, this rubber merchant was brimming with a strong desire to enter high society. So that he would not be seen as a parvenu, he invited extremely strict tutors to teach this young girl etiquette and collected various artworks.

Moreover, he had collected several of the so-called ‘unlucky paintings’ of Vincent after hearing about his legends. His obsession with the paintings grew, and he spent a lot of money to buy ‘Dream’.

“Despite the crazy pursuit of some nobles, these antiques also have some bad rumors circulating…” The young girl thought anxiously. “The previous paintings were all right, but something is definitely wrong with ‘Dream’!”

With this thought, she secretly got out of bed and tiptoed to the study.

She knew from her small adventures previously that her father was crazy about Dream and would sometimes admire this painting well into the wee hours of the morning.

This time, he had even moved to Kimbert City against the protest of others.

“There must be some secret!”

The emboldened young girl sneaked to the outside of the study.

Sha Sha! Hiss Hiss!

All sorts of weird sounds made their way into her ears, making her dizzy.

Scarlet blood, like a carpet, expanded outward from the gap of the door.

“Ahh!” The young girl screamed and pushed the door open hurriedly.

Through the flickering of orange light from the fireplace, what suddenly appeared before her eyes was…

…

“The sun is shining, and the breeze is warm!”

Nietzsche scrunched his eyes comfortably, enjoying the warm breeze on his face.

He felt as though his luck had somehow changed for the better ever since he joined the Kimbert City branch of the Federal Investigation Agency and became a peripheral informer.

Not only was there a stipend of three silver sols every month, but Officer Hannibal had even found him a job as a newspaper boy.

The pay was meager, but life was much better than before. The most important thing was the identity, which made things more convenient for him.

He could now rent a room to stay in, and his living conditions were much better.

Therefore, Nietzsche was full of gratitude for this job.

“Good day, Mr. Hannibal! Are you going out?”

When he entered the branch office, he saw Hannibal, his boss who liked to cook, putting on a coat and was seemingly ready to head out.

“Nietzsche! You’re just in time. Come with me to investigate a case!” Hannibal said softly.

“Oh, okay!” Nietzsche followed hastily into a black car.

“Sir… what happened?” Nietzsche was a little excited.

“Relax. Certainly nothing like that ghoul lair last time…” Hannibal showed a masculine smile. “Otherwise, the level two investigator in charge of this district would not have come in person… What we have to do is mostly to assess whether some things were affected by extraordinary factors and whether there’s a need for them to be ‘handled’… You might just be a peripheral member, but you have to do more cases like this to advance!”

“Thank you, Mr. Hannibal!” Nietzsche almost burst into tears. No one had ever treated him so well, and he could not help but think of another person. “What about Miss Vivienne?”

Vivienne had disappeared mysteriously after the ghoul case was broken, and even Nietzsche was called in for questioning on several occasions.

He was very puzzled about this and even had a hint of sadness.

In any case, that honest probationary inspector was worthy of respect, much more so than a certain wicked, black-hearted store owner.

Nietzsche could not help thinking about Simon and Andy.

Clayon had taken Simon away after he became an Extraordinary. It was said that he was going to undergo some ‘training’. After graduating, there was a high chance that he would return to Kimbert City to work.

And Mr. Andy, who operated that tepid convenience store, claimed to have a masterpiece of Vincent. At this point, Nietzsche strongly suspected that Andy had just looked for a fake to deceive whichever idiot would believe him. He would not be fooled again anyhow.

“Haven’t found her yet… What a pity, she has the qualifications to be an official member…” Hannibal sighed.

“Strange…” Nietzsche noted in his heart and then thought of the mission today. “What do you need me to do today?”

“Don’t worry. We’re just going to investigate…” Hannibal smiled. “… a rich businessman’s missing daughter, and his servants seemed to have seen something terrible…”

While they were speaking, the car parked in front of a grand villa. Hannibal adjusted his clothes and went to knock on the door.

“You are…” A male servant opened a small gap, with panic and doubt.

“We are investigators from Watson Insurance Company. We heard about a security issue in your house and came to investigate!” Hannibal smiled and handed over a business card.

There were many such false identities through the Federal Investigation Agency, and they could fully withstand any inspection.

Shortly afterward, the two of them were invited to the study.

Robert was pale, and his eyes were bloodshot. “Oh! My Nikita! My baby… She disappeared all of a sudden. What I need is a detective and the police, not the investigators of an insurance company!”

“Apologies!” Hannibal took off his hat and saluted. “According to the information, a servant testified that a painting… swallowed your daughter? As the company underwriting this villa, I need to check its security now, in case there’s a hidden door in the walls…”

He did not wait for Robert to answer and went to the front of the oil painting. “Is this the great Master Vincent’s work — Dream? It is said that he depicted the starry sky in his dreams, but others have different interpretations… I’m more inclined to think that it’s an expression of his inner world…”

“Vincent’s painting…” Nietzsche was energetic as he stared at the painting without blinking.