Chapter 265: Chapter 187: Deceitful Painting? What a Load of Bull, Why Not Call It Human Skin? (2)

Ning An listened to his complaints and suddenly said, "If it’s not your restaurant’s food that’s the problem, then whose problem is it?"

Lin Yanke chimed in, "Yeah, people fell into a coma right after having breakfast at your place. You claim it has nothing to do with your restaurant, but that leaves us in a difficult position."

Xiaohu fell into a mental storm and then, uncertainly, said, "The painting."

"Painting? What painting!" Ning An and Zhang Xingmin exchanged a glance, and Zhang Xingmin immediately stepped forward and asked viciously.

"Yes, the painting, it’s the painting..."

As Xiaohu’s memory became increasingly clear, his voice grew much louder.

"Though the two little girls fell into a coma, their breathing was smooth. Their parents thought they ate something bad. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if they had eaten something they were allergic to at my place, so I paid for the kids’ medical expenses upfront, and we talked for a bit.

The girl’s mother said the children were fine. They just went somewhere and sat for a while, and when they came back, they anxiously asked how the painting was, but their mother saw nothing in their hands and thought they were joking. She didn’t mind, but the girls fainted quickly, and that’s why they thought I fed their children poisonous mushrooms..."

"A painting without a physical form, sudden coma; it does sound like the kind of mushrooms from Lingnan."

"Yes, I even reflected on whether I wasn’t careful when buying mushrooms, and mistakenly bought some I shouldn’t have, but I really couldn’t figure out what went wrong.

So, I decided to wait for the hospital’s test results before asking their parents for the money back. After all, if you’re upright, you don’t fear your shadow being crooked. Their parents were busy, so I was too embarrassed to browse Douyin and sat across from the children, seeing if I could help. It was then a girl suddenly opened her eyes and smiled at me..."

Xiaohu’s face suddenly turned fearful, and his speech paused, with an inexplicable terror in his tone. Ning An promptly asked, "One of the children woke up? Wasn’t it said that until now, not a single child has woken up?"

"She didn’t wake up."

It was Zhang Xingmin beside him who answered the question first. Then he took out his phone and played a surveillance video only a few seconds long: "The little girl just woke up, smiled at him, and then fell into a coma again. She hasn’t woken up since."

"That smile, I’ve seen it, I’ve seen it..."

At this moment, Xiaohu was trembling visibly, goosebumps erupting on his skin as if recalling something terrifying. He kept shaking his head, terrified, saying, "You, come see something with me, and you’ll understand..."

Looking at the boss who seemed absent spiritually, the group, though puzzled, followed his lead. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

They rounded half the town to the town center, where a place resembling an ancestral hall could be seen at first glance.

However, it was not as reserved as in people’s usual impressions. Instead, its gates were wide open, exuding an air of welcoming all guests.

"Hmm? This ancestral hall seems different from those in TV shows," Lin Yanke marveled.

At this time, Xiaohu also slightly came to his senses, and hearing this remark, a bit of red appeared on his pale face: "This ancestral hall is also a revenue stream for our town. As long as you buy a ticket, you can take photos here, and we have people who will help change the names on the ancestral tablets to your own surname..."

"Ah, well... you all have quite a unique mindset..."

Ning An was greatly shocked.

It truly is a tourist town, exploiting every resource to its fullest, even managing to find business opportunities in ancestors long gone.

"So, what’s so interesting about the ancestral hall?" Lin Yanke looked around but found nothing unusual, and the Golden Light Talisman in her arms showed no warning signs.

"It’s that painting, it must be."

Xiaohu looked at the ancestral hall, as if invaded by terrifying memories, his face twisted in fear, akin to having glimpsed Hell.

Lin Yanke shook her head, pulled out a Golden Light Talisman, and pasted it behind him, the warm aura flowing over, helping Xiaohu regain his senses.

He wiped his cold sweat away, still in shock, and said, "Our ancestral hall not only enshrines tablets but also houses portraits of significant ancestors."

"But these portraits are specially kept in a small room. Without the elders’ keys, no one can enter."

"Children, you know, the more you’re told you’re not allowed to do something, the more you want to do it. So when I was young, I was eager to try, but the elders kept a strict watch over the keys, so I couldn’t steal them. But it wasn’t much of an issue."

As he led everyone into the ancestral hall, he explained awkwardly, "Back then, internet cafes were popular in town, and you could learn all kinds of lock-picking techniques online, so that lock was nothing to me."

Stepping over the high threshold of the ancestral hall, Lin Yanke chuckled and said, "It seems the people of your town really honor their ancestors, dedicated a room just to store their portraits."

"Honor them? Hell no!" Xiaohu suddenly turned around and said through gritted teeth, "Callously tossing their own ancestors’ portraits around, is that honoring them?!"

"Hmm?"

That puzzled everyone, sensing something wasn’t right.

Zhang Xingmin quickly asked, "What did you see in there?"

Xiaohu suddenly stopped in his tracks, closed his eyes, and spoke in a quivering voice:

"I saw ancestors’ portraits discarded everywhere, with traces of rats evident. I also saw a battered yellow pear wood box inside, storing a painting..."

"What painting?"

"I don’t know, I never heard the elders mention the woman in the painting, but there she was. When I unrolled it, it seemed freshly painted. The person in the painting was so lifelike, I’ve never seen anyone so beautiful..."