Chapter 7: Seven: The Bewitching Guest

Seven: The Bewitching Guest

Missing Persons Notice: Li Liangcai, 29 years old, from Shenzhou City, Shenzhou Region. Residing at Room 801, Building A7, Aihe Garden, Qinglu Road, Longyang District, Shenzhou City. Went missing on September 6th and has not returned for many days. Kind-hearted people who see someone resembling the person in this photo, please call 137XXXXXXX1 immediately. If he is in poor condition, please help him. A generous reward will be given afterwards!

Attached photo: A candid shot of a man wearing glasses. He has a slender build and well-proportioned features. Judging by the man's expression and demeanor in the photo, as well as the background of a well-known university, the man also possesses the scholarly and introverted temperament of a top-tier research student.

Lin Ling gently closed the laptop screen and stretched, "Soon, another order is coming."

Meow~

The black cat lying on the Shrine poked its head out and meowed at Lin Ling.

As if he understood what the other had said, Lin Ling immediately beamed, "No, you're right, it's several orders."

Knock, knock, knock.

No sooner had Lin Ling finished speaking than a moderate knocking sound rang out; the new business had arrived just as he had said.

He made a series of faces at the mirror to the side, adjusting his features into a softer curve to maintain an approachable expression, then sat quietly behind the counter, smiling as he waited for the knocking guest to walk into the room.

The next second, the mahogany door painted with a demon mask was pushed open. Walking in was a gentleman aristocrat who looked as if he had stepped out of the Industrial Revolution era. He wore a gorgeous suit and a bowler hat, and his white-gloved hands held a gentleman's cane. He walked with a steady gait toward Lin Ling.

"Lin Laoban, sorry to disturb you again." The man's voice was quite soft and gentle, like the Don River flowing quietly under the night sky. He took off his hat and walked forward, revealing a face of stunning beauty; it was truly overly beautiful and handsome.

The man had fair, smooth skin, thin pink lips, a pair of phoenix eyes, and an enchanting tear mole. His figure was slender with soft curves... It was hard to imagine a man could be born so bewitching.

Lin Ling smiled and nodded, asking casually, "Have you found the answer you wanted now?"

"Unfortunately, I still cannot." The handsome man sighed softly and returned a double-headed spinning top to Lin Ling. "That world in the dream is still too dangerous for me. I am like a butterfly, unable to escape the primeval forest dense with spider webs. However, thanks to the help you provided, I have gradually mastered the technique of dream-building. At least now, in that world, I have a certain ability to protect myself."

"Is that so? As long as it's useful to you. Actually, you could continue to use it for a while longer." Lin Ling put the spinning top back into a red wooden box and said with a smile.

The handsome man's mouth twitched, looking as if he still had lingering fears, and said, "Lin Laoban, I don't want to be trapped forever in that eternal palace where one cannot feel the passage of time." As he spoke, he touched his right hand. A trace of blood-red appeared on the white glove of his right hand, and faintly, one could see something wriggling strangely inside the glove, as if several strip-like flesh worms were churning within.

"Hehe, doesn't that satisfy your desire? It's just that you have to pay a small price."

"Eternal loneliness is not a small price." The handsome man said with some helplessness, "I am not as capable as you, Lin Laoban."

"Capable?" Lin Ling blinked and smiled playfully, "But I am just an ordinary person."

An ordinary person? Hehe.

The handsome man brushed aside the joke, entered the main topic, and said seriously, "Lin Laoban, this time I hope to get other assistance. The Magic Sound in the attic is becoming stronger and stronger, and that thing is increasingly craving my spirit and soul. I don't want to go with that thing."

"You're going to be playing the violin wherever you go anyway, so you might as well compromise, don't you think? The greatest violinist of this century, Mr. Haimofen." Lin Ling suggested with a smile. While he spoke, he had already walked out from behind the counter and turned toward a shelf in the shop.

Hearing the praise, the disappointment in Haimofen's eyes could not be hidden. He shook his head, "To me, although that dream world beyond common sense is beautiful, it has far exceeded the limits of human concepts of beauty. It is beautiful but frightening. If I really had to play the violin for the master of that world forever, even if the pay and work were stable, I would never go."

Lin Ling smiled and finally retrieved a pair of gloves from a shelf on the top layer.

When the gloves were taken out, the shop's lights shone on them, and the blades on the five fingers of the gloves reflected a chilling, cold light.

"Since you cherish your hands so much and cannot bear to touch blood directly with them, why not just wear these?" Lin Ling looked at Haimofen, who was deeply obsessed with this pair of claw gloves. His black pupils showed no emotion as he explained, "The gloves might guide you to a brand new art."

"It is truly beautiful, but it's a pity that wearing it won't let me hold the violin bow." Haimofen took the gloves, holding them carefully, showing a slight regret, but more excitement. "However, I like these gloves very much."

As he spoke, he couldn't wait to take off his current gloves. The originally snow-white gloves had long since been stained red by blood. When the gloves were removed, a pair of hands devoid of skin and full of bloody holes were exposed to the air. The roots of the blood vessels were clearly visible, running through the jungle of flesh and blood, and together with the ghastly white bones, they constructed this Flesh World of hands.

Haimofen took off and put on the gloves. The sensitive pain nerves made his face turn pale instantly, but a flush of extreme pleasure slowly emerged on that handsome face afterward.

"Ah, this feeling... I feel that my hands have merged with them." Haimofen was extremely excited. No one would have thought that this artist who relied on his hands for a living would have such a morbid side, grinning like a madman.

Actually, to be precise, when the Magic Sound in his attic began to torture his spirit day after day and also shaved away his cherished hands, he had already begun to go insane.

A crazy person naturally would not be afraid; Haimofen even wanted revenge.

When Haimofen first came to Lin Ling, the other's crazy and murderous face was something Lin Ling still hadn't forgotten. Now, Haimofen had actually become much more normal because he had hope for revenge.

Blocking is not as good as dredging.

The mentally ill Lin Ling felt that he was a doctor with superb medical skills and high-level techniques. He understood a madman's needs too well. Look at his treatment effect now; how excellent it was!

Knock, knock, knock!

At this moment, a forceful knocking sound synchronized with the cat's meow coming from the Shrine. Lin Ling's face immediately blossomed with joy, saying, "Business is good today. I didn't expect the new guest to come so impatiently."

"Then I shall take my leave. This is the rent I am paying. I wonder how long the lease is this time?" Haimofen changed back into the gloves stained with blood and put on his bowler hat, preparing to leave.

He was still not ready to have direct contact with others. If he happened to run into a fan and let them see his current self, his image would probably be shattered.

Having lost his hands for playing the violin, Haimofen was just a mortal with no power to truss a chicken.

Lin Ling smiled and said, "Tomorrow."

Haimofen was startled, a trace of horror appearing in his eyes. The cold sweat flowing from his forehead quickly dampened the inside of his hat. Immediately, he lowered his hat brim to cover most of his face and smiled reluctantly, "It seems I have obtained something extraordinary."

As he said this, he quickly walked toward the back door of the small shop and left the hut from there.

At the same time, the guest outside the door also pushed the door open and entered.

"I didn't expect that after not seeing you for an afternoon, Ms. Yu Lianyun's complexion has improved so much." Lin Ling looked at Yu Lianyun, who had walked into the hut, and said sincerely with a smile.