Am I really hallucinating?

Chapter 627 Let's eat later

Zheng turned around and replied, "It's blood."

Mo Mang distanced himself: "As expected?"

"Why is there still blood?" Chasilu had just come from Emily's matter, and then he heard new shocking news.

Zheng Fan walked up to the sculpture and ran his finger over it: "It's pure human blood, but it's dried up. It's mixed with normal pigments and has been masked by the smell of other pigments and stones, so you didn't notice it, and it is indeed not easy to notice."

Chaxilu shivered again. He felt that the studio where he had spent so many years seemed so unfamiliar at this moment!
"As for why there was blood..." Zheng Fan said, "Those who are not involved can leave now."

"Huh?" Emily, standing at the door, paused for a moment. "Can I stay and see what's going on?"

She also realized that Zheng Fan and Mo Mang must have been summoned by Qiaxi Lu to resolve the strange events, as she had recently heard Qiaxi Lu rambling on about his recent experiences.

Actually, she initially thought it was all her fault that Chasilu was in this state. When she heard him say that he was going to have someone from the agency investigate, she was afraid of being found out, so she just decided to come and take a look.

Little did she expect that her little scheme would seem to be nothing more than a minor detail in the corner of this studio.

"It doesn't matter, but don't complain if it affects your appetite and sleep quality at night." With that, Zheng Fan picked up the toast: "Split it in half, let me think... I'll cut it vertically."

"Ouch?"

Although Toast was puzzled, it was only natural that it would not refuse Zheng Fan's order. It squeezed out a small knife from its mouth and cut the humanoid sculpture from top to bottom.

Instantly, a foul stench wafted out, difficult to conceal even amidst the surrounding smells of paint and stone.

Inside the statue, fresh flesh and bones were roughly stuffed in and mixed with the stone, even including fabric and leather from clothes and shoes, like a clumsy kitchen apprentice carelessly kneading together various ingredients to present to his master as an unexpected surprise. The absurd and horrifying scene was witnessed by everyone present.

This made Chasilu's face even paler, while Emily covered her mouth and nose, her pupils trembling violently, and she could feel her stomach churning.

Then, Chaxilu immediately turned his head and said, "Don't look! If you're going to throw up, don't do it in my studio!"

"Is this what you're focusing on right now?" Mo Mang complained.

“We definitely need to pay attention to this. It already smells terrible, so we shouldn’t add to the ventilation burden.” Zheng Fan agreed with Chaxilu’s reaction. “I already said I don’t recommend watching it. Just hold it in until you’re in the toilet to throw up.”

He waved at Emily while making sarcastic remarks, and Emily immediately turned and ran into the bathroom, whereupon a sound of vomiting was heard.

Just by listening to the sound, you could tell she was vomiting quite violently. Mo Mang didn't feel anything at first, but as she listened, she also felt a little nauseous.

Is this contagious?
Chaxilu clasped his hands together and muttered incantations, seemingly beginning to pray to the gods.

For a normal person to suddenly see such a scene would be enough to cast a shadow over them for years, or even a lifetime. If the meat were a little rotten and crawling with maggots, it would be even more flavorful.

"Aww?" Toast didn't seem to mind at all and even asked if he could have a bite.

"The meat quality is unknown, so don't eat it yet," Zheng Fan told Toast to be patient.

"Isn't it 'don't eat it for now' instead of 'can't eat it'?" Mo Mang felt that Zheng Fan and Toast's pace of investigation was much slower than Lin Yilin's. If Lin Yilin was Sherlock Holmes, then Zheng Fan and Toast were probably a combination of the White-Haired Detective and Mr. Bean.

Zheng Fan looked at the flesh and blood tightly bound to the stone before him: "It's very fresh, like it was just killed. But the bloodstains on the sculpture's surface have been exposed for a long time, which shows..."

"The statue killed more than one person. Is the one inside the one that was just killed?" Mo Mang felt he understood.

"Sculptures have excellent preservation properties," Zheng Fan said, adding that he didn't quite understand. Mo Mang: ?
"The blood is from the same person; the sculpture just didn't clean up the blood on the outside," Zheng Fan stated bluntly. Being able to directly read information in a detective game is practically cheating, eliminating even the need for complex detection methods. It's no wonder Mo Mang was confused; the game they were playing wasn't the same as what they were playing.

"So who exactly is this person?" Chaxilu swallowed.

“There’s a familiar hallucinatory aura; it’s from the Black Cult, the cult that suddenly came out to chase you just now,” Zheng Fan explained considerately.

Chaxilu's mind was a bit confused, and his lips trembled so much that he couldn't even ask a question for a moment.

"The Black Cult had infiltrated this studio before, but they were killed by these special super-inspired statues. After that, they chose to target Chasilu himself directly. That's roughly how things developed," Mo Mang summarized.

"So... why did I attract this cult? Is it because I'm one of those so-called psychics?" Chasilu's mind was still unclear.

"At the moment, this is probably the only possibility," Mo Mang nodded.

However, after saying that, he looked at Zheng Fan, who hadn't spoken, and seemed unsure of what to do.

"How come this thing is still here?!" A shout came from the doorway. Emily, her face pale, stared wide-eyed at the disgusting sculpture in the studio. Her stomach acid surged again, and she quickly covered her mouth and nose, turned around, and sprinted into the toilet.

Zheng Fan, Mo Mang, and Qia Xilu withdrew their gazes and shook their heads helplessly at each other.

Even Chassil himself didn't break down, but Emily, on the other hand, vomited every time she saw it. She's just too fragile.

Perhaps this is simply a matter of talent.

"Do you still want this?" Zheng Fan pointed to the sculpture containing flesh and blood.

Chaxilu quickly shook his head: "How can I take it now that it's like this? It hurts to part with it... but there's nothing I can do."

Each sculpture here is the culmination of his painstaking efforts, but the thought that each of these things could come to life at any moment, and that he wouldn't even know when they killed someone...

He spent a lot of time walking back and forth next to the sculpture, even working right next to it, with the mangled corpse so close.

The more everyday the scene, the more peacekeeping elements are added, and the more a sense of fear, which doesn't come with direct stimulation but can gradually erode a person's sense of security, will continuously seep into their mind.

He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he felt countless gazes sweeping over him from within the studio. Every statue seemed to have come to life.

He lowered his head, not daring to look closely at the statues; the more he thought about it, the more terrifying it became.

Just then, a slurping sound accompanied by chewing was heard. Chaxilu looked up and found that the horrifying sculpture of the corpse had disappeared, leaving only a few drops of blood on the ground.

Beside him, Toast seemed to be chewing something, but after swallowing it in big gulps, nothing else remained.

Chaxilu: "..."

Mo Mang: "..."

So when they say toast is delicious, they really mean it.

Suddenly, the toast doesn't taste as good anymore.

(End of this chapter)