Chapter 62: Moth

Just as the words fell from Zhou Mo’s lips, Zhang Huai'an returned, nodding at Zhou Mo with a smile.

The nod indicated that he had confirmed Yu Chun was indeed problematic, while the smile on his face suggested the matter had nothing to do with Xia An.

Zhou Mo smiled silently. In truth, he was not at all surprised by this outcome; various signs pointed to Xia An being a remarkably clever woman who would not expose her fox’s tail so easily.

An elderly woman looked cautiously at Zhou Mo, then at the approaching Zhang Huai'an, assuming Zhou Mo was there to arrest them. Flustered, she blurted out, "How did you know?"

The elderly security guard beside her opened his mouth and said with a helpless expression, "A useless old woman who ruins more than she accomplishes..."

Since things had reached this point, denial was futile. Under Zhang Huai'an’s puzzled gaze, the old security guard said, "Fine, since you want to know, I’ll tell you everything. You detective are far more capable than the City Guard."

"As for the matter you asked about, I do have some recollection. The person who used to live on the top floor was a child, though that was several years ago."

At this, the old security guard let out a deep sigh. "He truly was a good child, it's just a pity he was destined never to become a genius."

Zhou Mo’s eyes lit up. "What do you mean? Is there a story behind this?"

The old man picked up the teacup on the ground and took a sip. "It was about three or five years ago. There was a boy who would run to the art gallery every few days to look at the paintings. Because he didn't have much money and looked rather strange, he would always rush over just as the gallery was about to close to catch a couple of glances."

"At first, the curator was startled, but later he realized the boy had a talent for painting. Seeing that he was having a hard time, the curator let him work part-time as a cleaner here and provided him with a place to stay."

"The child was talented, and in order to be able to look at the paintings here every day, he agreed. Every night, apart from cleaning up, he would secretly look at the artworks below. Sometimes, he would get so engrossed that he would stare at them for the entire night."

"At first, we were also frightened by the boy's appearance, but later we realized he was a kind-hearted and good child, so sometimes we would help him out."

Zhou Mo clicked his tongue; he felt as though he could already guess the ending of such a plot. "I'm waiting for your 'however'."

The old security guard gave a bitter smile and drew a circle around his own face with his finger. "However..."

"Good times don't last. He caused big trouble because of his face and his talent."

"In the curator's words, the boy was extraordinarily gifted and would surely become a master in the future. To help him, the curator even secretly included the boy's paintings in the exhibition when holding an art show."

"Who would have thought that the boy's paintings actually won the appreciation of a high-ranking big shot, who insisted on meeting him in person. But unexpectedly, when the boy appeared, his appearance frightened the big shot's daughter out of her wits."

Tch...

Zhou Mo rubbed his forehead helplessly. "So the big shot sought revenge?"

The old woman beside him sneered, "People like us who work the mud are worth nothing in the eyes of big shots. Just to coax his daughter, that person had the boy beaten up and even slandered his paintings as stolen plagiarisms."

The old security guard clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction and glanced back at the old woman. "Do you just have to show off how capable you are?"

Zhou Mo waved his hand. "Go on. What happened to the child afterwards?"

Another old woman glared at the old security guard. "What else could happen? The child knew nothing except how to paint. A single word from that big shot sealed his doom. He locked himself in that room for a full week, and when we finally went to find the curator to open the door, we found that the child was already dead..."

"The curator is heartless too, refusing to let us go inside and take a look..."

"Later, the curator found that place unlucky, so he sent a construction crew to renovate it, and somehow it turned into a storage room."

Zhou Mo and Zhang Huai'an exchanged glances. Clearly, the child's death was by no means that simple; there must be something else hidden within it.

The object carrying that subconscious monster was definitely hidden in that room. Now they just needed to find that object and destroy it, and this matter would be over.

Zhang Huai'an’s mood was somewhat complicated at the moment, and he lowered his head, lost in thought.

However, Zhou Mo frowned. Could this matter really be this simple?

Keep in mind this was an incident related to the Prime Truth; surely these people wouldn't have nothing better to do than create a subconscious monster just for fun?

Zhou Mo asked again, "Did that child look somewhat like an insect?"

The old men and women all fell silent together, but eventually nodded.

The old security guard shook his head with a sigh. "I'll be straight with you. The boy looked like what your City Guard calls a moth, except his eyes weren't as exaggeratedly huge as a moth's."

Zhang Huai'an’s expression instantly changed. "Why didn't you tell the City Guard about this earlier?"

The old man rolled his eyes. "Don't you have any self-awareness about your own capabilities? Besides, this happened several years ago. It's normal to forget things when you get old."

"On the contrary, it was your City Guard's long-legged female captain who handled this case back then. Even your captain didn't know, so what trouble were we supposed to be adding? I think it's not that you didn't remember, it's just that you lot were slacking off. An old man like me can remember if someone just jogs my memory, surely young people's memories aren't that bad?"

Zhang Huai'an’s expression grew increasingly ugly, his face even beginning to turn pale.

It was the captain again...

"How could this be..."

Ignoring Zhang Huai'an's expression, Zhou Mo looked at the old man and asked, "Since you knew you couldn't stay inside for too long, why didn't you warn the curator?"

The old man was suddenly startled. "Oh no, I completely forgot about that! The curator has been spending a bit too much time in the art gallery these past two days and barely goes out to the garden for walks!"

Zhou Mo suddenly had a bad premonition; trouble usually struck at moments like this.

Just at that moment, the sound of shattering glass suddenly rang out from above their heads. Following that, large chunks of glass fell from above, landing precisely not far from where everyone was basking in the sun.

Everyone quickly stepped back and looked up, only to see a pair of huge moth wings flash past the window, immediately followed by the shrill, miserable scream of Curator Yu Chun.

"Help! Help me!"

"There's a monster!"

Zhang Huai'an moved to act, only to find that Zhou Mo had already rushed to the main entrance of the art gallery, holding a familiar-looking crowbar in his hand.