Chapter 69: Gouging Eyes

　　Wan Chunchui quickly closed the painting and covered it with a piece of black cloth.

　　"Hu Zǐ, what's wrong?" Lu Fei turned around, looking at Hu Zǐ anxiously.

　　"My eyes hurt so much!" Hu Zǐ covered his eyes for a while before the pain subsided, and then he lowered his hands.

　　His eyes turned bright red.

　　"Can you still see?" Lu Fei couldn't help but be startled.

　　"I can see. Just now, when I was looking at this painting, I suddenly felt as if my eyes were being pricked by needles. It's better now, just a bit sore and aching, worse than staying up for several nights in a row."

　　Huzi kept blinking, pulled out the ghost-repelling talisman he carried close to his body, and couldn't help but turn pale with alarm.

　　The ghost-repelling talisman had turned to ash.

　　Huzi felt a wave of lingering fear.

　　If the ghost-repelling talisman hadn't helped him ward off that disaster, he might have gone blind on the spot.

　　Seeing that Huzi was alright, Lu Fei was finally able to relax.

　　"Manager Lu, I warned you not to look at this painting too much," Wan Chunhui said with an unwell expression.

　　Rubbing his reddened eyes, Huzi muttered, "It's not that I wanted to look. I was just curious and took a glance, but I don't know how I couldn't tear my gaze away."

　　"This painting has a peculiar allure that makes people unable to resist looking at it." Lu Fei's eyes were also slightly swollen.

　　He found that just now, he had also been unwittingly attracted by the contents of the painting. However, he had protective magic, so his eyes didn't sting like Tiger's did.

　　"That's right, several of our employees have had incidents after looking at this painting." Wan Chunhui looked at Lu Fei, "Does Manager Lu know what kind of painting this is?"

　　Lu Fei had stared at the painting the longest, yet nothing happened, suggesting that the descendants of Sinisterium Pawnshop indeed had some skills.

　　"Just based on this, we can't determine anything. Please, President Wan, tell us in detail about the strange occurrences related to this painting," Lu Fei said honestly.

　　"Why don't we talk outside?" Wan Chunhui didn't want to be near the ancient painting anymore.

　　The three of them left the warehouse and returned to the office.

　　Wan Chunhui took a sip of tea, furrowed his brows, and said in a solemn voice, "On the first day we put this painting in the warehouse, our night-shift security guard heard strange noises coming from inside the warehouse."

　　"At first, the sounds were faint and unclear, as if they were coming from a distant place. The security guard even followed the sound, but ended up outside the warehouse."

　　"He discovered that the sound was coming from inside the warehouse, and it sounded a bit like the clashing of gongs and drums on TV."

　　"He didn't have the key to the warehouse and couldn't go in to check, so he reported it to me the next day."

　　"I thought the security guard might have misheard, and since nothing was missing, I didn't pay much attention to it."

　　"But over the next few days, several security guards heard the sounds of gongs and drums in the warehouse in the middle of the night, and the sounds gradually became clearer and clearer."

　　At this point, Wan Chunhui's frown deepened even more.

　　"Since it wasn't just one security guard reporting this strange occurrence, I started to take it seriously, worried that there might be something unclean affecting the auction house."

　　"So, I organized a team to stay overnight at the auction house, right outside the warehouse."

　　"In the middle of the night, I indeed heard the sound of gongs and drums, getting louder and closer, just as they had described, as if a band was approaching us."

　　"The sound was like funeral music, very scary at that hour, and I immediately broke out in a cold sweat."

　　"However, as the manager of the auction house, I had to get to the bottom of this, or else I would have to give up this job."

　　"So, I mustered up my courage and led the team toward the source of the sound. We found that it was coming from inside the warehouse, very close, as if only a door separated us from it."

　　"After working in the auction industry for many years, this is the first time I've encountered such a strange incident. For a moment, I felt a bit frightened."

　　"There are several collections in that warehouse. If something really goes wrong and they get damaged, I wouldn't be able to afford the compensation even if I sold everything I own."

　　"I gave the key to a security guard and asked him to open the door."

　　"Guess what we saw when we opened it?"

　　Tiger, who was listening intently, couldn't help but ask, "What did you see?"

　　Lu Fei also looked at Wan Chunhui.

　　"As soon as we opened the door, the sound of gongs and drums stopped, but for some reason, that ancient painting was actually open!"

　　"At that moment, I thought, could it be something wrong with the painting? But before I could go in to check, one of the security guards suddenly dashed in and embraced the painting!"

　　"I was startled. That painting belongs to the boss, and no one could afford to compensate if it got damaged! I shouted at him to put the painting down, but he seemed not to hear me, standing there dazed, his eyes fixed on the painting."

　　"At that moment, his expression was quite frightening. His eyes were getting bigger and bigger, as if they were about to pop out. I felt something was off and took a look at the painting myself."

　　Wan Chunhui showed an expression of lingering fear.

　　"Just one glance, my eyes were so painful I couldn't even look at the painting."

　　"But the security guard just stared intently, not even blinking. No matter who called him, he didn't respond, as if he was possessed."

　　"In the end, he reached out and dug his own eyes out, plucking them out alive, with blood streaming all over his face! It even dripped onto the painting!"

　　"Everyone else was terrified! No one had ever seen such a scene, and for a moment, everyone was at a loss, not knowing what to do."

　　"I was nearly in a panic, but fortunately, I found a piece of black cloth and hastily threw it over the painting to cover it."

　　"The security guard seemed to suddenly come to his senses, let go of the painting, and covered his eyes, screaming loudly."

　　"I quickly told the others to hold him down! We all scrambled out of the storage room in a fluster and called an ambulance."

　　"He is still in the hospital now. The doctor said he is completely blind. He has also become crazy, constantly digging at his eyes with his hands and smearing his blood everywhere."

　　Hearing this, Lu Fei felt a chill run down his spine.

　　Hu Zi was even more terrified, as if his eyes were stinging again, and he could not help but rub his eye sockets.

　　This painting is no ordinary one.

　　Just by taking a glance at it, it can cause such great harm to a person.

　　Lu Fei asked, "What did he paint?"

　　Wan Chunhui shook his head: "It's just a mess, no one can understand what he painted. If Manager Lu needs, I can have someone take some photos for you."

　　"That would be best." Lu Fei nodded.

　　The content the security guard painted might be related to the ancient painting. There is no doubt that this ancient painting is an evil object that can harm people. Understanding more about it will help find better ways to deal with it.

　　There was one point in what Wan Chunhui had said earlier that he cared about very much, and he said, "Mr. Wan, you mentioned before that his blood dripped onto the painting."