Nightmare Apostle

Chapter 99: Chapter 99: Artwork

She didn’t answer the woman’s question, not solely to keep secrets but also for fear of scaring the woman and causing the clues to break off, "Think carefully, what can you remember about that colleague? Accent, clothing, any mannerisms or habits, any information will do."

After careful recollection, the woman slowly said, "Appearance... I really can’t recall her face clearly, but she was definitely a woman, no mistake about that. Her voice was slow and very shrill. All I remember is that she wore a pair of high heels, red strap high heels!"

"The woman you mentioned, did she have any contact with you?" Da Xiong, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke up.

"Contact?" The woman was startled by the interruption.

"I mean, did she touch you in any way, her hands, body, hair, during the entire process of speaking to you, any part of her, including her clothes, did she touch you? Did you feel anything?" Da Xiong was surprisingly serious, always carrying that black case on his back.

"This..." The woman had difficulty answering and after a long pause, she slowly shook her head, "I... I don’t remember, but I don’t think so."

Hearing this, Da Xiong let out a slight sigh of relief, "Good, it looks like it’s still at the first contact stage, and with the tool we brought, we should be able to handle it." fгeewebnovёl.com

The woman blinked, suddenly looking a bit fearful, "What, first what, what... what are you talking about?"

"It’s none of your concern, you only need to answer our questions, I assure you of your safety, and you’ll be going home to see your mother soon."

Upon hearing Beibei say this, the woman immediately became compliant.

"After this incident occurred, what was the company’s attitude?"

"Oh, Ms. Hong from the company stepped in to help sort this out for me. I didn’t expect her to be so fierce normally but handle the matter quite righteously. She let me pay 20,000 yuan myself, and the company compensated the rest. In the end, I asked Sun Qiang, and he received a total of 40,000 yuan. Actually... his injury wasn’t that serious, he was discharged from the hospital after a week."

"But after such an incident, I couldn’t stay in the company any longer, I... I was truly afraid, it was weirdly ominous, so I resigned and left."

"Did you keep in touch with the former company after leaving?"

"No, not until you guys found me. Otherwise, I would never come back to this place for the rest of my life." The woman wrapped her clothes tightly around her, clearly frightened.

"What were you responsible for in the company?"

"Art registration."

"Where exactly did you encounter that woman?"

"It was... in the corridor outside the bathroom, next to the bathroom by the Fifth Appraisal Hall."

After asking a few more questions until the woman could no longer provide any more valuable information, Beibei stood up, "All right, we’ll leave it at that for now. If you suddenly remember anything later on, make sure to contact the officer to inform me. Every piece of information you provide is very important."

"I... I understand." The woman nodded repeatedly, very cooperative.

Just as Yang Xiao and the others were about to leave the room, the woman suddenly called out to them. Her expression was incredibly strange for a moment, and she moved her lips but failed to speak a word.

"Is there something else you want to say?" Beibei frowned.

"No, it’s just that... I wanted to ask if the woman I met is... whether she is..." The woman grew increasingly afraid, evidently aware that something was off about that person, but she was reluctant to believe it.

"No, she isn’t." Beibei led the way out the door.

Upon hearing this, the woman’s tense body suddenly relaxed, and she collapsed onto the bed, crying and gasping for air, as if she had been brought back to life.

Back in the previous room, Captain Xu was smoking. Seeing the group enter, he immediately dropped his cigarette onto the floor to extinguish it, "How did it go?"

"We’ve found some clues. Captain Xu, what were the dates of the three incidents?"

"The first incident, which also happened to be the earliest, occurred one and a half months ago. The second was three weeks ago, and then there’s today’s case."

"Besides these, are you certain that no other incidents have occurred?" Beibei frowned deeply, looking very seriously at Captain Xu, "Can you confirm it?"

"What do you mean by that?" Captain Xu’s face showed some discomfort, as if such a matter could be mistaken.

"Don’t misunderstand, Captain Xu. What we mean is, could there be some incidents that didn’t involve injury, and because they weren’t as apparent, might have been overlooked, such as... disappearances?" Da Xiong suddenly interjected.

"Disappearances?" Captain Xu was taken aback, "But if someone disappears, eventually someone will report it, right? Even if the company wants to conceal it, how long can they hide it? If a person goes missing, the family of the missing will report it. Those who work here wouldn’t be homeless drifters without identities."

"That’s good. We just wanted to make sure, as it’s very important for our next steps." Yang Xiao also pitched in to smooth things over.

"Captain Xu, we have a rough idea of what happened, and now we’d like you to introduce us to the company’s situation."

"Here’s the thing: the company specializes in high-end art appraisal and operates on a strict membership basis. One must become a member first to participate in transactions. The name may sound impressive, but the goods are quite varied; they accept everything. From basic antiques and calligraphy to obscure fossils, strange rocks, and even some unknown abstract art pieces. Basically, if someone is willing to pay for it, they’ve got it. They can also find specific items via various channels based on member requests, even private customizations. In short, they’re very resourceful."

"Were there any significant events in the company leading up to the first incident?" Beibei inquired.

"We looked into that as well, and no, the company’s operations were very stable at that time. They were receiving goods, selling them, and making private customizations of art pieces—primarily that. Employee feedback also matched the results of our investigation."

"How long has this company been established? Has it always been here?"

"Yes, always here, about six years in total. According to our investigations, there hasn’t been a single police call here in six years." fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓

Beibei narrowed her eyes and took a deep breath, "Six years without incident and now suddenly frequent troubles. It seems the problem lies with the items they’ve been collecting."

"Captain Xu, please have someone check for us. Using three weeks as a cycle, look into how much stuff this company has taken in during the three weeks before the first incident. We don’t need to worry about the things they’ve sold off; we’re interested in what’s still here."

"Alright, I’ll get on it right away."

Just as Captain Xu stood up, the door was suddenly thrust open from the outside. A police officer appeared, flustered and out of breath.

"What’s with the panic!" Captain Xu scolded.

The policeman had a strange look on his face, struggling to speak clearly, "Captain, the surveillance footage from this morning... has been retrieved! There’s something in it... You’d better come and see for yourself!"