After becoming invincible, start having fun in the world

Chapter 354 Clues, Crocodile Ghost

The dark figure with a crocodile-like face was spread out in a "T" shape, holding a half-man-high, equally dark and twisted axe in its hand. The dim moonlight divided its shadow into four parts, like a saw cutting through the scene, dividing it into five areas centered on the boy on the cross.

It seems the paint has been left out for a long time, and the image is now blurry; only one of the five areas remains clear.

That was an area at the top of the cross, representing the "head" that had been separated.

In the painting, a human head has its eyes closed and mouth open, with foul blood overflowing from its seven orifices, turning into trickling streams that spread outwards. Around it are patches of thorny rose bushes, writhing as if sucking up the flowing foul blood. It is unknown what techniques and paints the artist used, but under the moonlight, the roses appear even more scarlet, like works of art made of flesh and blood.

The moment Conan saw the scene clearly, he was struck dumb.

There was no other reason than that the severed head painted before him was none other than Chu Ke, with whom he had recently spent a considerable amount of time!
"Boom!"

The heavy snow fell from the sky, creating dazzling flashes of light that illuminated the bedroom.

Conan is a materialist; before this, he never believed in ghosts or gods.

But at this moment, he felt a chill run through his body, as if he had fallen into an ice cave.

Memories flooded back, and Conan was certain that Chu Ke was not a fake; the body temperature and heartbeat when they got close proved that the other person was indeed a living, breathing person.

But why has he become the "dismembered young master" in the legends of the strange and supernatural at this moment?
What exactly was that thing that had been with me before?
Looking up again, Conan's eyes met those of Chu Ke's severed head in the drawing.

Weren't your eyes closed before?
Lightning flashed again, and Conan was finally startled, slipping and falling off his chair.

"what!"

"bump!"

The door to the room was pushed open, and the crystal chandelier once again emitted a dazzling light.

"What's wrong!"

Upon hearing Conan's shout, the three members of the Mori family finally realized that Conan was missing and immediately followed the sound.

Seeing that Conan had only fallen off the stool, Mori was furious. He took three steps forward, clenched his fist, and delivered a lightning-fast punch to Conan's head: "You brat! Running around all day! Do you even know what's going on?!"

Even Ran got unusually angry and immediately tried to add another drill to Conan's head.

But the next moment, thunder roared again!

"Boom!"

It seems that this action caused a problem with one of the circuits, and the previously radiant chandelier suddenly lost power and went dark.

Moonlight flooded the room once more, shining through the jewels in the window and illuminating the painting.

The next moment, everyone present saw the changed portrait.

"..."

The painter's sharp style vividly portrays the boy's suffering, making him seem like a demon about to crawl out of the painting.

Everyone present was speechless for a moment until the chandelier came back on and the portrait was restored to its original state.

The nobleman in the painting cast a disdainful glance at the crowd, startling them from their reverie.

"What was that just now...?" Mori asked, somewhat bewildered.

"You saw it too? I thought I was seeing things!" Yuanzi exclaimed in surprise.

Xiao Lan immediately noticed something was wrong: "Isn't that Mr. Chu Ke?!"

Just then, Mori felt someone tug at his trouser leg.

"Aaaaaahhhhh..." The sudden tug startled Mori, who looked down to find it was Conan. He casually gave Conan a bump on the head: "Don't suddenly pull on people's pants legs! It's scary!"

Conan covered his head speechlessly and handed the booklet containing the legends to Mori.

Mori curiously flipped through it, and his expression immediately turned serious.

Despite Mori's top-notch ability to identify the real culprit, he is still a police academy graduate. The moment he finished reading the booklet and combined it with Kid's announcement, many things became clear.

He immediately went to the wall and turned the light back on. Sure enough, the hellish drawing reappeared. "So this is the jewel Kidd is going to steal?" Mori stroked his chin and looked at the blood-red eyes on the window.

However, this matter is none of their concern now, since the owner of the manor is dead, and it's not even clear whether he's a ghost or a human.

Their priority now is to wait for dawn and leave. Let Kidd steal whatever gems he wants.

At this moment, Ran and Sonoko also took the booklet and finished reading it. Only then did they understand why Conan had suddenly asked about the name of the manor earlier.

The two of them felt a chill run down their spines.

"Should we go and find all the bodies like the book says?" Yuanzi asked, a little flustered. "It says we can only leave this manor if we find all four limbs."

"It's just a horror story," Mori scoffed. "Besides, we're only stuck because the bridge is broken. We'll be fine once it's repaired at dawn."

"Besides, so many years have passed, those bodies have probably been found and destroyed, or they've already decomposed, right?"

The group nodded, agreeing with Mori's assessment.

"Anyway, let's leave here first. I keep feeling like that painting is watching me."

“Me too,” Xiaolan agreed.

Everyone unanimously agreed to return to the recreation room and reunite with the others.

Conan followed him away.

But at the very last moment, he inexplicably turned around and glanced back.

In that instant, he saw the crocodile-faced shadowy figure, identical to the one in the painting, standing silently on the balcony outside the window, holding a black saw.

"!!"

In the blink of an eye, the figure vanished.

"A hallucination?"

----------

As the crowd dispersed and the lights went out, the hellish portrait reappeared.

In the empty room, the sofa suddenly moved.

The next moment, a white figure emerged from under the sofa, lightly leaped up the window, removed the gem that had transformed into an eye, and aimed it at the moonlight.

"...Indeed, it wasn't."

Kidd put the jewel back in its place, and the portrait reappeared.

"So the legendary portrait really does exist," Kidd remarked. "But how do we get out of here now..."

As the last word fell, Kidd lunged to the side.

Almost simultaneously, the massive saw slid through the air, taking away some of Kidd's hair.

After landing, Kidd turned around as lightly as a cat, meeting the gaze of that pitch-black crocodile face.

"Gudu..."

Kidd swallowed hard. "Would you believe me if I said I was just passing by?"

So the legend was true!

The crocodile ghost nodded, and then the saw fell again.

"Boom!"

The leather sofa shattered instantly, sending debris flying and leaving a bloody gash on Kidd's face.