A Core Ship From The Start
Chapter 670 - Chapter 670 Chapter 496 Where We Cant Meet_1

Chapter 670: Chapter 496 Where We Can’t Meet_1 Chapter 670: Chapter 496 Where We Can’t Meet_1 Not far on the street, a man in a suit with a little mustache is gazing at Duanmu Huai in bewilderment. This man is none other than Charlie Simon, the picture dealer who is Duanmu Huai’s “distant relative”.

Previously, he was almost sacrificed by the Ghoul, and after that incident, Charlie’s mental state took a huge hit. He went to thank Duanmu Huai at his door, then sold all his collected paintings and the villa in one breath. According to Charlie, he doesn’t plan to go home anymore. He wants to travel to other places and then find a place to retire in peace.

A month ago when Duanmu Huai saw him, he was haggard with dark circles under his eyes. But now, he seems cheerful, plump, and smiling…

“I didn’t expect to see you here.”

Duanmu Huai looked at the distant relative he set up for himself and asked curiously. Charlie laughed with amusement.

“Ha, I didn’t expect it either. Honestly, I just came here at a friend’s invitation to relax and see the exhibition… Ah, I didn’t expect that kind of thing would happen.”

“That kind?”

“Yes, that’s right!”

Charlie nodded, and his eyes lit up when he saw Duanmu Huai.

“Just in time, I was thinking about contacting you!”

“???”

Although confused, Duanmu Huai still nodded, and so Charlie excitedly pulled him aside and shared his troubles.

In simple terms, after the Ghoul incident, Charlie couldn’t stay peaceful in Arkham anymore, so he sold his company and villa, planning to use this large amount of money to travel the world. Anyway, this money is enough for his upcoming life.

However, this also left Charlie feeling empty. He really loves art, otherwise he wouldn’t be a picture dealer. But now he is forced to abandon his passion, causing Charlie to worry. Meanwhile, a friend learned about Charlie’s situation and invited him out to relax. Coincidentally, there was a modern art exhibition at the Newburyport museum, so Charlie accepted the invitation and came here with his friend.

Then his friend disappeared.

… What???

“I’ve already called the police, I’ve also asked the museum staff, but there’s no clue. I was anxious, and I didn’t expect to see you…”

“………”

Looking at Charlie in front of him, Duanmu Huai was speechless.

You’re not like Conan, who brings death wherever you go, are you?

But in any case, meeting a witness to this case was a pleasant surprise for Duanmu Huai, so he asked Charlie about the whole ordeal.

Basically, the process of the incident itself was not complicated. According to Charlie, his friend invited him to see the latest exhibition here, a convention on modern civilization art exchange. Of course, don’t be fooled by the fancy name, essentially it’s just a bunch of art students entertaining themselves. Despite having various problems before, Charlie was still delighted to see the ideas and expressions of art from young people.

In Exhibition Hall One, Charlie was captivated by a sculpture, his mind as an artist and businessman began to actively work again. After finishing viewing the art pieces in the hall, his friend told Charlie that he was going to check out the next exhibition hall first. So, Charlie didn’t say much, he just nodded and after a few minutes, he moved his gaze away and went to the next hall.

But his friend was gone.

“Honestly, I thought he just went to another exhibition hall, so I hurriedly went looking. But when I searched the whole museum and couldn’t find him, I realized that something was wrong, I tried calling him, but it was unreachable…”

Charlie first asked the museum’s security about the situation, he noticed that when he mentioned that his companion was missing, the security guards seemed anxious. Nevertheless, they still accompanied Charlie to check all the exhibition halls again, even took him to the museum’s office area… However, his companion was still nowhere to be found.

Out of options, Charlie had to call the police.

The police pulled the surveillance from the museum, from the footage you can see that when Charlie was admiring the sculpture, his friend indeed walked up to him, chatted a bit, then turned and went to another exhibition hall. Then the camera switched to the other exhibition hall, you could see Charlie’s friend walking in there, then progressively walked forward in the hall.

Then he disappeared.

Yes, it is just that strange.

To point out how strange it was, Charlie drew Duanmu Huai a simple diagram. He was in exhibition hall A, his friend went to exhibition hall B, and there was a corridor between A and B. Both the exhibition halls and the corridor have cameras. According to the surveillance footage, you can see his friend leaving exhibition hall A, going to the corridor, then entering the door to exhibition hall B via the corridor.

But the camera in Exhibition B didn’t capture his friend’s figure.

So his friend seemed to have evaporated from the world when he entered exhibition hall B.

After that, the police conducted a thorough search of Exhibition Hall B, but found nothing. And according to the surveillance, that friend never left the hall.

This was truly bizarre.

So……

“I hope you can investigate this for me. I know you are very good at this sort of thing. Of course, I will pay your fees.”

“No problem.”

Of course, Duanmu Huai would not refuse such an opportunity. Why not earn double the money for the same job, right?

Taking two bites at the same cherry is indeed the best strategy.

Originally, Duanmu Huai had planned to invite Charlie along. However, Charlie, who was genuinely traumatized by the previous events, said he would wait for him at the hotel and then promptly beat a hasty retreat.

Consequently, Duanmu Huai had no choice but to reach out to Anthony again and invite him to his caravan for further discussion.

He didn’t have much of a choice. Normally, you’d discuss such matters in a coffee shop or a bar, but the problem was that Duanmu Huai wouldn’t have anywhere to sit when he got there.

Better to talk in the car. At least it’s air-conditioned.

Anthony quickly rejoined Duanmu Huai, and they both shared information. They were surprised to learn that the complainant was the same victim from Duanmu Huai’s previous case. Fortunately, Duanmu Huai had gotten the story from Charlie while Anthony, in his capacity as a police officer, learned the details from museum guards and staff. After cross-verifying the details, they felt confident moving forward.

“So, where do you plan to start the investigation?”

After going over the information, Anthony curiously looked at Duanmu Huai. Usually, the police wouldn’t interfere with an investigator’s work, but Anthony couldn’t help but wonder what Duanmu Huai was going to do.

With his capability, successfully completing this type of job seemed as difficult as climbing to the sky.

However, Duanmu Huai’s response was quite straightforward.

“I don’t give a damn. I plan to stay at the museum overnight to see what the hell is going on and then catch and kill it!”

“…………”

Indeed, a very straight answer.

“So I can apply to the museum director for a closed-door search tonight, right?”

“Sure, it would be even better if you took the lead.”

Duanmu Huai wasn’t bothered at all. After all, he had the Shadow Crow Guard’s genes. Even if the museum disagreed, he could sneak in. But since Anthony wanted to join him, Duanmu Huai had no objections. Having a police officer present can avoid a lot of explaining. He could just throw the blame on Anthony if things went south.

It turned out that federal police officers do have a certain amount of influence. After Anthony explained the situation to the museum director, the latter agreed to let the two of them stay in the museum after closing time. The museum director’s generosity was likely because there weren’t any particularly valuable treasures in the museum. After all, it was just a local museum with a shovel that’s been around for two or three hundred years considered a prized possession.

Soon after nightfall, and after the museum staff had left, Duanmu Huai and Anthony strode in.

“Clop.”

The crisp sound of footsteps echoed in the empty and quiet space. Anthony looked around and drew a deep breath. Duanmu Huai squinted his eyes, coolly observing everything around him. After a moment, he finally spoke.

“Well, let’s start the investigation now.”

First, they naturally went to Exhibition Hall B, where the missing person was last seen. This was just an ordinary exhibition hall with various kinds of oil paintings hanging on the walls, and a few very ordinary, century-old everyday items on the side. Duanmu Huai took a glance at the paintings and turned his attention to the surroundings, while Anthony was holding a flashlight in one hand and flipping through his notebook with the other.

“Hmm, according to the surveillance, the missing person walked through the main entrance, then along this wall… it’s likely that he was, like us, appreciating the paintings…”

As he spoke, Anthony shone his flashlight towards the paintings on the wall, trying to emulate the missing person’s point of view and figure out what he might have seen.

But just then, as he looked at one of the paintings, Anthony nearly screamed in surprise!

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