Chapter 82: The Red Moon Painting

Chen Jing caught the shift in her expression in the rearview mirror. “You need to describe that painting to me in detail,” she said softly.

Her pupils turned red again, faintly resembling two red moons within her eyes.

Hearing her words, Xu Xiao Xiao seemed to drift back into a daze, her voice wooden as she explained, “It’s a red oil painting. Not by any famous artist, and there’s no creator’s name on the back. But… but the painting is so beautiful…”

“It depicts a chaotic city. The lights are all blurred and shaking. Everyone is running, fighting… all order is gone. Only distortion and chaos remain. And above the city, taking up about a third of the entire canvas… that’s… that’s a red moon. It just hangs there, quietly watching the city below…”

“It’s just too wonderful…”

A look of rapture appeared on Xu Xiao Xiao’s vacant face. “When I used to appraise art, I’d just look at the materials, how widely known it was before the cataclysm, its pre-cataclysm price tag, the artist… But… but when I saw that oil painting, I finally understood… none of that matters… None of it is important…”

“What’s important is that feeling of ultimate beauty…”

“It’s like… like a painter, in the very moment the Red Moon appeared and everyone started going mad, only he… sat quietly by the window, brush in hand, capturing that exact instant of the Red Moon’s appearance, preserving all the shock and beauty on the canvas…”

…

Her voice had been wooden, lacking subtle inflections, just a dry narration.

Yet, discussing the painting ignited an inexplicable passion, a fervor in her voice.

Even her face, usually deathly pale from blood loss, flushed slightly, full of life.

This stark contrast sent a slight chill down both Lu Xin’s and Chen Jing’s spines.

She looked like a madwoman.

Chen Jing remained silent for a moment, seemingly picturing the painting in her mind, before asking, “And then?”

“Then…”

Xu Xiao Xiao’s attention was forced away from the painting, leaving her voice much more wooden. She murmured, “I was certain… I liked the painting. I wanted it… I didn’t want to give it to Dad because I worried he’d sell it to someone else, or lock it away… So I hid it first, then came back to the city. I didn’t tell Dad because I wanted…”

“I wanted to keep the painting for myself, without Dad knowing…”

…

Hearing this, Mr. Xu let out a heavy sigh and rubbed his face forcefully.

It was only now that he understood why his daughter hadn’t mentioned the painting when she first returned to the Main City, before she’d gone mad. In truth, if she had spoken up from the start, perhaps things wouldn’t have ended up like this.

“Dad didn’t suspect anything…”

Xu Xiao Xiao continued her story, “And my mood… it was always good. I felt full of energy, desperate to share that feeling with someone. It felt like it was constantly fermenting inside me, brewing, getting stronger and stronger. Finally, I couldn’t stand it anymore. I called A Qiang, who was on night duty, into my bedroom. I felt so empty, unbearably so. I needed something to fill me up…”

…

Her description started becoming explicit, devoid of any shame.

Mr. Xu, listening nearby, wore an expression of extreme anguish. Finally, as Xu Xiao Xiao detailed pulling different men into the restroom at the bar, he spoke up, his trembling voice overriding hers, which was still recounting every detail, “I know what happened next. Maybe… maybe I should tell you…”

“You weren’t polluted, so your account would differ!”

Chen Jing rejected his offer flatly. “If you can’t stand it, cover your ears!”

Mr. Xu sighed deeply, bent over, and buried his head in his hands.

“That feeling grew stronger and stronger…”

“Sometimes, I realized it was wrong. I’d feel angry. But when that feeling surged, it felt like it took over my mind. I didn’t want to think about anything. I hated my dad for stopping me. I felt he didn’t understand me at all. And I didn’t want to see Wei Chang because I just found him annoying. I didn’t like pretending to be normal around him…”

…

Chen Jing listened intently, then suddenly asked softly, “Did you want to do these things, or were you forced?”

“Of course I wanted to…”

Xu Xiao Xiao answered without hesitation, a strange excitement even appearing on her face.

“Before… thoughts I wouldn’t have dared to entertain, only suppressed deep down, surfaced completely. Suddenly, nothing mattered. I didn’t care about anything. I just needed to do those things because doing them could fill me up, fight the emptiness…”

“That feeling… it was too wonderful…”

…

Xu Xiao Xiao recounted her experiences bit by bit. At this moment, she was remarkably candid.

And from her narrative, Lu Xin could sense the transformation within her.

It seemed to seep into her heart bit by bit, altering her behavior. From an initial stirring, it progressed to indulgence, though she still tried to hide her actions. Later, she gradually lost all sense of shame.

She only wanted to pursue that feeling; nothing else mattered.

Then, over the course of more than a month, her behavior gradually became frantic, uncontrollable.

Finally, she became the person Lu Xin had first encountered.

…

…

Even though Chen Jing had her skip over specific details, the process still took a full ten minutes to describe.

The absurdity and strangeness of her account turned Lu Xin’s initial blush into subsequent bewilderment and shock.

“Ring ring ring…”

Just as the distorted and crazed atmosphere made the entire car compartment feel oppressive, a phone rang.

Xu Xiao Xiao’s description abruptly stopped, her eyes becoming vacant.

Chen Jing frowned slightly, picked up the satellite phone beside her, and answered, “What is it?”

After listening for a moment, she stated curtly, “Handle it according to standard procedure. I have more important things to do right now!”

With that, she hung up.

“During the screening, traces of several pollution sources were found. People have been sent to deal with them.”

Chen Jing casually explained to Lu Xin, paused in thought, then glanced at Xu Xiao Xiao in the rearview mirror again.

She didn’t ask further about her feelings while polluted, instead asking coldly, “How did you feel after regaining clarity?”

Xu Xiao Xiao looked wooden. After a moment, she said, “I remember everything.”

“After waking up, I just felt that the frantic emptiness was gone. But…”

“I still remember that wonderful feeling. I hope…”

She paused before continuing, her eyes seeming to brighten slightly, “I hope to see that painting again. That painting of ultimate beauty. I hope to go back to how I was before… I’m suffering. I didn’t want you to wake me…”

…

Hearing her words, Mr. Xu’s eyes widened.

He seemed utterly unprepared for the fact that his daughter’s eagerness to see the painting stemmed from this desire.

Even Lu Xin frowned slightly, seeming to understand why Xu Xiao Xiao had looked so strange when she was awakened.

“Lingering effects after the pollution cleanup.”

Chen Jing stated slowly, looking at Mr. Xu in the rearview mirror, “This is something you didn’t expect, right?”

Mr. Xu looked dazed and dejected. After a long moment, he said, “She… Xiao Xiao only told me it was a painting unlike any ever seen, that it would become a work of art that would stun the world… That’s her major, so I trusted her judgment. And… and she also said that as long as the painting was covered, as long as no one looked at it, there wouldn’t be a problem…”

…

At this point, he couldn’t continue.

Because he now understood that all of this was just his daughter deliberately persuading him.

She was his daughter; naturally, she knew his weaknesses.

Chen Jing was silent for a moment before saying to Lu Xin, “You did very well this time.”

Lu Xin nodded slightly.

He understood why Chen Jing said that. Given the distortion and eerie feeling the painting brought, and the terrible effect it had on Xu Xiao Xiao, it was hard to imagine the harm and distortion it could inflict on the entire Qinggang City if it were brought into the Main City, seen by more people, or perhaps suddenly appeared in an art exhibition one day…

Especially considering the father and daughter at the end – one believed she was cured and acting on her own cognition, the other trusted his daughter and felt capable of controlling the situation. Both thought they were acting out of their own free will.

But they didn’t realize they were still under its influence, their wills already twisted…

“I really didn’t expect…”

Mr. Xu’s voice sounded somewhat hoarse. “I knew about pollution sources, but I didn’t expect… it to be this severe.”

“You’ve received ample warning!”

Chen Jing replied calmly. “The reason you didn’t care enough is because you hadn’t seen it firsthand.”

“You hadn’t seen it firsthand because we handled these matters.”

“And while we were handling these matters, you were busy creating more trouble for us.”

“You can say you were deceived, influenced, but ultimately, it was your own greed at play!”

…

Mr. Xu was instantly speechless, only letting out a regretful sigh after a long pause.

His initial shell of respectability and arrogance had now been completely stripped away.

…

…

Just then, the headlights illuminated a chaotic clutter of boxes, cabinets, and warehouses ahead.

Chen Jing took a deep breath. “We’ve arrived at Bengbu Port.”