Chapter 200!!! 
Under the illumination of the moonlight, the three white skeletons, as if glowing with a layer of cold light, formed a stark contrast with the black roses around them. This scene was so bizarre that Ke Shaobin couldn’t help but rub the goosebumps on his body, and said, “The corpses have turned into skeletons, how to confirm the identity? We can’t do a genetic test!”
Liu Zhaoqing was a medical student, in his eyes these skeletons were similar to the models that the anatomy teacher showed them. He did not have the slightest fear, stepped forward, squatted down and took a closer look. After a moment, he concluded, “From the shape of the pelvis, one male and two females. Judging from the degree of bone age development, two of them had obvious osteoporosis and were older, the other was younger. Human beings are buried underground, completely turned into white bones and dead for at least 2 years.”
Xu Yishen lamented, “Senior brother Liu was a veterinarian dissecting ancient animals in the Ice Age, and in this course, he is a forensic doctor that analyzes corpses. He also can heal our injuries with gauze, he is truly an all-purpose doctor ah.”
Liu Zhaoqing looked at him helplessly, “Don’t make fun of me, I have no choice but to fill in with my inadequate skills!”
Yue Xingwen asked, “Can senior brother tell the cause of death? For example, are there scars left on the bones from sharp objects, or are there any signs of strangulation of the vertebrae in the neck?” He usually read a lot of reasoning novels, and also knew some simple knowledge of forensic identification, so he stepped forward and squatted beside Liu Zhaoqing to carefully observe the human bones.
Liu Zhaoqing immediately concentrated and checked again. “Xingwen really got to the point! The neck vertebrae of the three corpses have traces of fracture, and no scars have been found in other locations, so it’s very likely that all three were strangled!”
The other students heard the conclusion and looked at each other.
Suddenly, Xin Yan asked in a low voice, “If the body is buried underground, will it slowly decay and the clothes on the body disappear?”
Everyone was stunned by the question, and Yue Xingwen quickly realized this key point. “I remember the course <Death Code>, the deceased was found in the attic storage room, and the body also turned into a pile of white bones, but the white bones were still wrapped in the bride’s wedding dress.”
The scene of white bones wrapped in the red wedding dress was still fresh in the memory of the students who had experienced that course.
Liu Zhaoqing said, “Yes, the body will decay, but the fabric of the clothes worn on the body can’t disappear in just a few years. Unless, when the three bodies were buried underground, the clothes on their bodies were stripped off by the murderer.”
There was no trace of cloth around the three corpses dug out by Zhang Xiaonian. The only explanation was that the murderer took off their clothes when burying them.
Ke Shaobin said, “Why did the murderer do this?”
Jiang Pingce said calmly, “I guess, there are two reasons, one is that the murderer hates them extremely, and taking off their clothes when burying the body had the meaning of humiliating the dead. Second, the deceased’s clothes are easy to reveal some identity-related information, and after taking them off with only white bones remaining, the difficulty of reasoning will be greatly increased.”
Yue Xingwen agreed with Pingce’s statement, he summarized, “The deceased, a male and two females, were strangled, and the cause of death was mechanical asphyxiation, and the time of death is more than 2 years. Among them, one male and one female are older, and the other girl is younger. The murderer stripped them naked and buried them in the garden full of black roses, as if the murderer wanted to provide the roses with nutrients from their rotting corpses. That’s all the information we know so far, let’s continue back to the old castle and investigate.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Everyone followed Yue Xingwen back to the old castle.
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Everyone recognized the world-famous painting at first glance.
The darker tones of the painting depicted a woman with black clothes and black hair. The woman in the painting did not have eyebrows or eyelashes, but her features did not appear to be out of place, instead, it gave a very gentle feeling. She seemed to be smiling, but there was no obvious smile on her face, and everyone felt different when they saw this painting.
If they usually saw this painting, everyone would not find it so horrifying. However, in a dark castle, with Xin Yan’s spirit lamp, they suddenly saw such a painting at the entrance of the second floor…
Everyone always felt a chill down their spine, as if they eyes of the woman in the painting had been staring at them.
Xu Feixue said solemnly, “In fact, the painting <Mona Lisa> is not that simple, and there is a rumor about this painting—— It is said that Leonardo da Vinci first painted a version of the Mona Lisa, and then covered this layer of portraits on the basis of the first version, so, if you look closely, there are actually two human faces in this painting!”
Ke Shaobin couldn’t help but be curious when he heard this, “Two faces? Where is it? Why didn’t I see it…”
Xu Feixue said, “The first face was covered by the face painted later, of course, it could not be seen by the naked eye, but later scholars used computerized layers to restore and magnify it several times, and found that her eyes seemed to have another pupil. That is, underneath this face, there is also a face of the first version.”
Most painters, who discarded a draft, would take a new canvas and start over. If Leonardo da Vinci, as legend has it, drew one version of the painting and then a second one on top of it, covering up the original figure, then there was indeed a ‘second face’ hidden in this painting.
The more they listened, the more they felt their hair stood up—— What did it mean to put such a painting in the old castle?
Yue Xingwen just wanted to speak, but suddenly, the corners of the woman’s mouth seemed to gently rise in the painting in front of him.
It was not significant, so Yue Xingwen rubbed his eyes and looked carefully. The woman in the painting was still motionless, and did not make the action of ‘rising the corner of her mouth’.
Yue Xingwen asked Jiang Pingce in a low voice, “Did you just see that the corners of her mouth moved?”
Jiang Pingce frowned and said, “No.”
Yue Xingwen looked at other students and asked, “What about you guys?”
The others also shook their heads: “It’s not moving ah!” Ke Shaobin adjusted his glasses, said stiffly, “Was the person in the painting moving? Xingwen, don’t scare me!”
Xin Yan said, “Maybe it’s an illusion due to the flames of the spirit lamp being blown by the wind?”
Yue Xingwen nodded. “It makes sense.”
How could a painting that had already been drawn, with a character in it, move?
It was probably because he was too nervous, and the light was dim, so there was an illusion. Yue Xingwen took a deep breath, changed the topic and said, “Continue the investigation. There are two rooms on the second floor, and everyone moves in two groups, each with a spirit lamp, pay attention to your safety. Once you find clues, communicate in the chat channel at any time.”
The 13 people consciously divided into two groups and each entered two rooms.
Yue Xingwen walked to the door of the room, always feeling that someone was watching him from behind. He suddenly turned around and looked at the <Mona Lisa> oil painting hanging at the entrance. The woman in the painting was motionless, so it seemed that it was really an illusion just now?
He put his mind down and turned to go inside the room.
Just after they all walked into the room, the woman in the painting at the entrance suddenly raised the corners of her mouth, revealing a strange smile, and then, her entire face instantly rotated, and a second face hidden behind the painting appeared.
On the woman’s second face, a tear of blood flowed from the corner of her eye.
The group led by Yue Xingwen entered a drawing room.
There was a black canvas in the middle of the drawing room, with a large box of colored paints next to it, and some discarded sketches on the floor.
Xu Feixue picked up a few drafts, unfolded them and looked at them, saying, “It’s the drafts of those abstract paintings we saw downstairs. Our deduction was right, the paintings hanging in this old castle are all copy works. However, to be able to copy something as similar as the original painting, this painter’s painting skills should be very impressive.”
Jiang Pingce suddenly squatted down, picked up a long hair from the ground, and looked at Yue Xingwen. “Is it a woman’s long hair?”
Xu Feixue glanced back and said, “not necessarily. Many men who engage in art like to have long hair to show off their personality. There are several guys in our Art Department who have long hair.”
Jiang Pingce nodded and kept this hair for the time being.
While letting Xiao Tu take a photo of the scene, Ke Shaobin said, “There are still a few paintings hanging on the wall here, what do you mean by it?” He pointed to the wall on the other side of the drawing room.
Xu Feixue immediately walked over and said, “The painting in the center, <The Starry Night>, is Van Gogh’s masterpiece.”
The two colors of blue and yellow were mixed in The Starry Night, spiraling and curving, it was full of imaginative colors. The village under the Starry Night was looming, and next to it was a towering black-brown flame-like thing.
Zhang Xiaonian pointed to the black part of the painting and asked Xu Feixue, “What is this?”
“It was a dark brown tree shaped like a giant flame. Rushing to the sky, representing the carnival of the star and moon.”
The contrast between the flame-like tree rising up into the sky and the quiet village next to it was so stark that it gave the whole painting a touch of eeriness.
Xu Feixue continued, “The origin of this painting is also rather special. When Van Gogh had a mental breakdown and lived in a mental hospital for treatment, he painted this painting during his hospitalization, and the village in the painting is where his mental hospital is located.”
Yue Xingwen frowned when he heard this. “Have you noticed that the paintings hanging in the castle are very strange. The <Blackboard> we saw on the 1st floor before, the painter was sitting on a friend’s shoulder and scribbled casually; The <Mona Lisa> legend has it that a second face is covered on top of first face; <Starry Night> is Van Gogh’s word during his psychiatric treatment.”
Ke Shaobin scratched his head. “These paintings have nothing in common at all, right?”
Jiang Pingce suddenly said, “Actually, there is.”
Everyone looked back at him in unison, and Jiang Pingce said calmly, “The theme of this secret room should be substitution and swapping. One of the abstract paintings on the 1st floor, there is a painting called <Exchange>, which uses a large number of bright color blocks; <Mona Lisa> on the 2nd floor, with the second face covering the first, is equivalent to the later replacing the former; The painting of <Starry Night> hanging in the drawing room, with trees rising like flames, contrasts sharply with the quiet villages around it, and seems to remind the murderer of the calm on the surface and the madness in his heart.”
Yue Xingwen followed his words and said, “There is no one in the old castle. Among the deceased, a man and a woman were older, and the other girl was younger, very much like a family of three. It’s likely that the murderer wiped out the entire family and took their place?”
Jiang Pingce nodded. “This is just my guess. The current clues can’t analyze too detailed things.”
Yue Xingwen said, “En. We have to find more evidence. Ask senior brother Liu if they have gained anything.” He said that while sending a message to the chat channel: “Senior brother Liu, have you found any clues?”
The message was sent but there was no response.
Yue Xingwen was puzzled: “Senior brother Liu? Senior brother Xu?”
Lan Yarong quickly typed: “Manluo, Zhuo Feng? Qin Lu, Qin Miao, can’t you see the messages?”
The chat channel still only had their typed words, without any response from any of the other group’s teammates.
The six people were just chatting with them on the 2nd floor, what happened?
Yue Xingwen’s face changed. He immediately rushed out the door, and was greeted by the <Mona Lisa> hanging at the entrance. The woman in the painting had actually changed her face!
Thanks for the update 😍😘
I mean, most of painters using same paper/canvas if it goes in wrong way, why it’s so special? Because he’s Leonardo da Vinci?
Thank you for your translation 🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍