Billy Street is located in the east of Bushen City. There are apartment buildings here, arranged neatly and orderly.
The nanmu windows on the window sills of the building are quite exquisite, the reliefs on the top of the balcony stone railings are lifelike, and the patterns on the walls are also very beautiful.
The masonry pavement was covered with a layer of asphalt. In the Fifth Age, asphalt-reinforced roads were so expensive that only roads reserved for the wealthy could use asphalt-reinforced surfaces.
However, since the rise of the Steam Alliance, various technologies have developed vigorously. In 292 of the Sixth Age of the Natural Calendar, a scholar named Marvin Andrews published "On the Improvement of Asphalt Technology" in the Journal of Natural Science paper.
Just 20 years later, almost all urban arterial roads in Falorland were completely paved with asphalt, as well as in other cities. This situation has spread to almost all countries in Saigon Island.
Bu Shen City has a longer history of using asphalt. About 120 years ago, a natural asphalt lake was discovered in the east of the city. To this day, people still use this asphalt that emerges from the ground to build roads.
Nowadays, it is also used in coatings, plastics, rubber industry, etc.
There are some children chasing and fighting on the streets of Billy Street. They are lively and active, and children's laughter can be heard from time to time.
Some housewives were wearing long cloth dresses and walking in a hurry with vegetable baskets in their hands, and there were also elderly people practicing aerobics in the small square.
The popularity here is pretty good. After all, they are all middle-income families. John Harkes of the Murcott Chamber of Commerce lives here, and he has been working for Joseph for more than ten years.
There is still a faint stench coming from the sewers on both sides of the road, and some vegetable leaves and waste paper can even be seen on the ground.
Many women and children like to throw household garbage directly into the streets. At present, citizens' public health awareness is very poor.
If the streets here weren't cleaned every day, they would be as smelly and dirty as many slums. Just like the area around the cabin Ren rented, he would sleep with the windows closed at night.
Ren and Catherine were walking side by side on the street. Catherine was tall, 172 centimeters tall, with golden shoulder-length hair. She looked dashing.
And Renn has also grown taller. He is now 1.76 meters tall, with a slender figure and well-proportioned muscles. The only difference between tall and handsome is that he is rich.
The two of them walked together, turning heads frequently. The faint fragrance floated into the tip of his nose, and he couldn't help but get closer to her.
It felt strange, like being in a garden after a gentle breeze and drizzle. Ren found that the body fragrance on Catherine was a bit special.
One is the smell of perfume. Tianzhu mint has the strongest smell, mixed with the aroma of rose, iris, jasmine, etc.
Another kind of fresh and natural, refreshing and refreshing, like the flowers blooming in the forest, it does not seem to be the smell of perfume.
"Little boy, why are you so close to me? Do you want to take advantage of me?" Catherine raised her eyebrows and said naughtily with a pouted mouth.
After hesitating for a moment, Ren said uncertainly: "You seem to be able to purify the air."
"What?" Catherine was confused.
"I mean you have a fresh and natural fragrance." Ren explained.
Catherine's expression changed slightly and she stared at him with crimson eyes: "Can you feel it?"
Spreading his hands, Ren was a little confused: "I don't think you need to use perfume, it's not as good as your body fragrance."
With a soft sigh, Catherine said jokingly: "Little boy, what do you know? My sister uses 'Prosperity', a high-end perfume. A green little boy like you has probably never slept with a woman before, and you don't understand women's hearts."
Rolling his eyes, Ren shrugged: "Pretend I didn't say that!"
Catherine smiled sweetly: "Are you angry?"
"No, but I really don't understand women."
"Really? One day my sister can't get married, so I'll give you an advantage."
Ren shook his head, and he found that the other party was actually far less open than he said.
"Remember, don't talk nonsense about this matter." Catherine warned him.
Ren nodded. He was not stupid. He naturally felt that Catherine's identity was not simple, and she seemed to have a lot of background.
Soon, the two entered Building B, followed the wooden stairs to the sixth floor, and knocked on the door.
"Please come in!"
A middle-aged woman's voice sounded, and Ren and Catherine pushed the door open and took a look at the housewife in front of them. She was wearing a floral skirt, slightly stout, with a frown on her face, and a black hemorrhoid on her chin. She looked worried.
"Hello, Mrs. Hax, we are looking for your husband. Mr. Joseph asked us to come to visit him." Catherine said politely. She was always polite in front of ordinary people, but had a bad attitude in front of extraordinary people. .
With a little surprise on her face, Mrs. Hax cheered up and smiled: "Thank you, Mr. Joseph, for caring about John. He has been in a very bad state of mind recently."
She asked the two of them to wait and went to the bedroom to call her husband out.
The two met John Harkes, who had messy black hair, thick eyebrows, big eyes, a high nose, and thick lips.
His face was extremely pale, his eyes were slightly bloodshot, the dark circles were obvious, and he was very depressed, like someone who had stayed up for several nights in a row or suffered from long-term insomnia.
"You two, what's the matter?" John said weakly.
Renn spoke first: "Yes, three months ago, you acquired a self-portrait from a woman. We want to know the specific details of that day."
John's expression changed and he winked at his wife. She immediately understood, closed the door, and went into a bedroom to escape.
"She was wearing a black veil and mourning clothes. I don't know her name or appearance." John said solemnly.
"Really? That painting is not a famous work, why did you buy it? And it was from a newly widowed widow. You don't look like a healthy person now." Ren asked.
John hesitated to speak, but Catherine's voice was soft: "Mr. John, we are here under the entrustment of your boss. I hope you will explain the situation. You should know that several people who visited the painting gallery have been killed, just like that one." It’s about a self-portrait.”
"Ta-ta..."
The sound of the pendulum echoed in the living room. After an unspeakable silence, John's expression changed several times. He rubbed his fingers on his knee pants a few times, and finally sighed and told the story of the incident.
That day, he originally just went to the street to buy a few works of highly skilled young painters in the name of Joseph. While winning the favor of some down-and-out painters, he could also promote the art gallery and accumulate some reputation for the boss. He has a keen eye for recognizing pearls and appreciating art. , sigh and so on, it doesn’t cost much anyway.
Maybe many years later, after the painter dies, these works will become "famous paintings" after being promoted and praised several times, and they can still make a fortune.
When the masked woman handed over the painting, John actually didn't want to buy it. Although the painting was of good quality, the woman was wearing a black dress and was in mourning, which was too unlucky.
The widow then handed him five gold coins and said that her husband was a poor painter during his lifetime, and her dream was that one day her works would be appreciated and recognized by everyone.
Now that he has unfortunately passed away, she hopes to hang this self-portrait that her husband loved most during his lifetime in the art museum, but his wish has been granted.
When John saw this, he accepted it, not entirely out of sympathy, but just greedy for money, and he could save a sum of money to buy a painting, so why not do it.
"So, you actually don't know the other person's name or appearance." Ren said calmly.
John covered his face with his hands and regretted very much: "I shouldn't have been greedy for those five gold coins. Since that day, I started dreaming, and it was just a little strange at first.
After that, the dreams became more and more terrifying. I thought there was something wrong with the painting, but I wasn’t sure. After all, I bought a lot of paintings during that time. "
"What dream? Please describe it in detail. We are the ones your boss invited to solve this matter." Catherine took out the key to Dell's Portrait Gallery and shook it. John obviously lowered his guard upon seeing this. He had seen this key before.
Catherine suspected that the other party was the first person to be possessed by the strange spirit. Fortunately, he did not die, but was only mentally traumatized.
As if recalling something terrible, John's body tensed up and his lips trembled: "It was nothing at first. It seemed like a young artist just saved a woman who had passed out on the roadside..."
