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Chapter 417

417 The Man and the Painter

The man took out a silk handkerchief from his pocket. The handkerchief was already stained with blood. He expertly used the handkerchief to wipe away the blood on his face, this had happened before. When the man exited the female toilet, he ran into Han Fei. He gritted his teeth and hatred was pouring out from his eyes.

He had spent a lot of money to hire the Star Shooters but he had not only failed to destroy Han Fei, he helped push Han Fei to greater popularity, which annoyed the man greatly. “You’ve done a great job in image management but remember, the higher you are, the greater you’ll fall.” The man tried his best to remain calm.

“But why would you use the female toilet?” Han Fei switched from recording voice to recording video on his phone. “Is this some kind of kink you have?”

“I merely missed the sign.” The man dumped the silk handkerchief into the trash can. His face was green from anger. As he was about to say something else, his phone rang again. Glancing at the caller Id, the man hurried away from Han Fei before he answered the phone. “Fine, give me the white shoe, I’ll handle it! Truly nothing good has happened today!” The man got into an argument with the woman on the phone again. When he turned the corner, a sound came from the male toilet, it sounded like something had been knocked over.

Han Fei then remembered the painter was still inside the toilet. He turned back to check but to his surprise, other than an overturned water bucket, there was nothing else. “What is going on?”

Han Fei exited the toilet and looked down the corridor. Holding his phone, the man didn’t enter the main hall but instead walked towards the underground parking lot. Not far behind him, the painter reappeared. He was holding a small bucket filled with red paint. The man didn’t seem to notice the painter, he continued to argue on the phone.

‘Wait, I didn’t see the painter come out from the toilet so how did he get there so fast?’ Han Fei felt like things were not that simple. His mind echoed with the words the man said, Mr. Garden Butterfly on the 24th floor and the boy with white shoes. ‘What is the connection between the boy with the white shoe and Butterfly? Why is he looking for the Butterfly? Is the painter the white shoe?’ Han Fei looked down and noticed the painter was indeed wearing a pair of white shoes.

Han Fei gave chase without hesitation. As the painter and the man were about to enter the underground car park, an arm reached out to grab Han Fei’s shoulder. “What are you doing here? The event is about to start. Director Zhang has reserved a seat for you.” Bai Xian came out to look for Han Fei because the latter didn’t show up for a long time.

“Brother Bai Xian, I came with the crew but I remember you drove here, right?” Han Fei didn’t sound like he intended to return to the hall.

“I did, what’s wrong?” Bai Xian looked at Han Fei, he had no idea what was on this young man’s mind.

“Tonight’s event is just preliminary, plus with your skills, you’ll definitely be qualified and nominated for the big awards.” Han Fei spoke quickly.

“Indeed.” Bai Xian lamented, “I’ve been nominated for years already but the award is never mine.”

“Since your nomination is certain, then it doesn’t matter if you skip this event today. I notice a lot of A-listers aren’t here either.” Han Fei reached to grab Bai Xian like he was worried Bai Xian might escape. It was Bai Xian who came to tell Han Fei to return but now it was Han Fei who was holding Bai Xian.

“You’re not wrong but I’m not an A-lister…”

“Brother Bai, this event is boring, I have something more exciting in mind.” Han Fei’s eyes glowed.

“Now?”

“Yes, I need you to drive. We’re tailing that man ahead of us, to see where he’s going.” Han Fei grabbed Bai Xian and headed to the parking lot. “The man is not acting normal, we need to watch him.”

“We’re going to catch a fugitive?” Bai Xian was shocked. He had played many roles in movies but this was the first time he had done something like this in real life.

“Quick! He’s getting into the car!” Han Fei rushed, “You only need to drive, leave the rest to me.”

“But Director Zhang has reserved the spots for both of us, if we don’t go…” Bai Xian was a very good actor and a good person. He reacted like a normal person would. There were many concerns in his mind but when he came to his senses, he was already dragged by Han Fei into the underground parking lot.

“Which one is your car?” Han Fei kept his eyes on the man. The painter who was following him had suddenly disappeared. The strange thing was the man had different gaits, sometimes he sauntered gracefully, other times he staggered clumsily. It was like there were 2 souls in his body fighting for control. When the man drove out from the parking lot, Bai Xian also drove Han Fei out to follow behind the man.

“I should be in the golden hall now.” Bai Xian never thought that one day he would be tailing another person, normally he was tailed by paparazzi. Despite the concerns he voiced, Bai Xian did his best to follow the man. He trusted Han Fei because Han Fei was famous for his acts of vigilante. Since he could provide aid to Han Fei, then he would do it. The cars drove away from the intelligent city and headed towards the city fringe.

“He’s the boss of a big company, he can’t afford a house in the intelligent city?”

“Perhaps he’s not going home.” Han Fei stared at the man’s car plate. Perhaps he imagined it but Han Fei saw the painter inside the car with the man. Driving down the main street, after the man left the intelligent city, he accelerated. His destination appeared to be Xin Lu countryside. The buildings lined the road became smaller. There were fewer lights. The density of popularity was sparser here compared to the city centre.

“Are we still going to follow him?” Bai Xian was sweating. He rarely drove so fast, he was nervous.

“Of course.” When the two spoke, a video call came in through the car. Director Zhang’s voice came out, “Bai Xian, where are you? Didn’t I tell you to get Han Fei, how come you’ve gone missing instead? I’m sitting between 2 empty seats, people think I need 3 seats for myself!”

“I’ve found Han Fei but we temporarily can’t go back.” Bai Xian focused on driving and his voice shook. “We’ve already reached the countryside.”

“Countryside?” Director Zhang’s voice changed.

“Director Zhang, I spotted a suspect at the main hall, he is related to an old case so I have Brother Bai drive me to follow him.” Han Fei explained the whole truth to Director Zhang but Director Zhang still needed time to process it.

“We’re chasing after a fugitive basically.” Bai Xian said nervously.

“So suddenly?” Director Zhang didn’t know what to say. The event had started and he was called on stage so he had no choice but to end the call.

“With Director Zhang’s experience he can handle something like this.” Han Fei was not worried.

“Hopefully.” Bai Xian felt like he had been dragged into something sinister but there was no choice but for him to keep going. There were fewer cars on the road, even the streetlights had disappeared. They drove to the northern countryside of Xin Lu. After driving down several small lanes, the man headed into a half-abandoned communal park. There were several hospitals, children’s playgrounds as well as science centres and holiday villas built by Immortal Pharma here. This place used to be so beautiful but it had been abandoned for a long time already. No one frequented this place anymore.

“Where is he going?” This place was quite scary at night. Bai Xian followed the man from afar. They meandered along the roads before they reached the depth of the park. After driving for another 100 metres, the man finally stopped. He took out a large luggage from the trunk and shuffled into one of the buildings.

“The luggage is not loaded with a dead body, is it?” Bai Xian could hear his voice trembling. “Should we call the police?”

“I already did, back at the main hall.” Han Fei narrowed his eyes. “Drive closer. You stay guard inside the car and I’ll go inspect the building.”

Bai Xian did what he was told but as the car drove forward, he suddenly saw a person wearing red waving at him in the middle of the road. He stepped on the brake. Bai Xian stared ahead as cold sweat poured down his face. “There, there was someone standing in the middle of the road!” Bai Xian was agitated. But when he looked again, there was no one there anymore. He checked the car cam and rewound the footage. The cam captured nothing. “This is impossible, I really saw it!” Bai Xian gripped the steering wheel so hard until the back of his hands bulged with green veins. “Did you see it?”

Han Fei didn’t speak. He stared at the footage from the car cam. The footage didn’t show a person but it did capture a fleeting shadow. “There is a blurry shadow there, I’ve seen something similar when we were shooting at the plant living compound.” Han Fei consoled Bai Xian, “This place is probably haunted, it’s fine.”

“It’s fine?” Bai Xian wanted to say something more but Han Fei opened the car door. “Stay inside the car and wait for the police to come. I’ll go ahead to explore.”

“How about… I come with you?” After what just happened, Bai Xian really didn’t dare to stay alone inside the car.

“Don’t force yourself.”

“No, I volunteer.” Bai Xian undid his safety belt and followed closely behind Han Fei.

“If we run into danger, just run and don’t worry about me.” Han Fei and Bai Xian soon reached the man’s car. They wanted to check what was inside the car but the car windows were tinted, they couldn’t see inside.

‘Why would the boss of an entertainment company come to a place like this at night? Is he now the female persona or his normal self?’ Han Fei had many questions and the answers were all on that man.

“Did he enter this building?” Deepest inside the park, after crossing through the bushes, there was a very artistic building. It had eastern architectural features. Even though it had been abandoned for a long time, it still looked well preserved.

“They must have spent a lot to build this place.” Han Fei planned to go ahead when he noticed Bai Xian had stopped. “What’s wrong?”

“I remember it now, isn’t this the plastic surgery hospital Immortal Pharma built a long time ago?” Bai Xian seemed to know this place. “They used to serve the most high end of customers. To be their member you have to have connections and have to go through asset verification.”

“Asset verification just for plastic surgery?”

“They didn’t just offer simple plastic surgery, but also other services, the most famous being personality implants. According to rumors, it could change the children’s personality since they were young so they could grow up to have the perfect human personality.” Bai Xian then added, “I hear many big families at Xin Lu have registered their children for this service and the children did grow up to be the best examples of their generations.”

“Do you know anyone who has been through that surgery?”

“I don’t. Who would tell others their children have taken this kind of surgery?”

“Then do you know why this hospital was shut down?” Han Fei led Bai Xian slowly ahead. The closer he was to the building, the more discomfited he felt. He had the same feeling when he first entered the plant living compound.

“I hear it was because some of the children had gone crazy. Actually many things had happened at this hospital, but the news was all suppressed.” Bai Xian shivered. “Let’s not talk about these anymore, should we return to the car?”

“Wait a minute.” Han Fei squatted down and looked into the building through the gap in the door. Someone had painted with red paint on the screen inside the room—Whose face have you stolen?

Other than that, there were many dirty pairs of white shoes dumped on the ground.

Han Fei’s fingers tightened. He regretted not carrying his nunchucks when he changed his clothes. Han Fei still had other options. He took out a pen from his suit pocket. Using the pen, he slowly pushed the door open.