13 Minke Street

The car started moving. After driving only a few hundred meters, Karen heard a slight noise from behind. Then, an arm wrapped around his neck, followed by the smell of alcohol next to his ear.

“Madam, I’m driving,” Karen said.

The next moment, Karen felt his earlobe being sucked into something smooth and warm. This feeling was slightly intoxicating.

“Madam, I’m driving,” Karen had to remind again, while slowing down the car at the same time.

“I’m so stupid~” Mrs. Hughes whispered softly in Karen’s ear.

“Madam, how are you stupid?”

“I’m such an ugly, unfortunate, and stupid woman.”

“Madam, don’t say that about yourself.”

“Didn’t you call me stupid?” Mrs. Hughes asked. “On the phone.”

“When did I ever…” Karen’s heart suddenly skipped a beat.

“Also, this afternoon in the living room, weren’t you and that cop discussing about me too? I could tell from your expression and tone that you were full of contempt for me.”

“Mrs. Hughes, don’t joke like that,” Karen said, while silently checking the situation behind him through the rearview mirror.

“You expressed disdain for my artistic ability. No, you expressed disdain for me as a person, Karen. I’m sad, so, so sad that you would see me this way.

“You know, the moment I first saw you, I wanted you in my bed. I would’ve given you true pleasure, make you a…real man.”

Karen slowly moved his left hand down the steering wheel, and his right foot was ready to step on the gas pedal.

Slamming on the brakes should make her lose her balance behind him, then he could take the opportunity to get out of the car.

But…damn it!

Why do I have such a habit? The police in Roja City won’t check if you’re wearing a seat belt or deduct points for it, so why did I still habitually put my seat belt on?!

“Wuwuwu…” Mrs. Hughes started to cry. “Karen, you really broke my heart. I gave you that watch, and you don’t even wear it.”

“Trust me, Mrs. Hughes, starting tomorrow, that watch will always be with me, never leaving my side.”

“A man’s mouth is not to be trusted.” Mrs. Hughes slowly raised her other hand from behind her back. “But I have another way to make you fulfill your words just now.”

Through the rearview mirror, Karen watched her movements.

Step on the gas pedal, slam on the brakes, unbuckle his seatbelt with his right hand at the same time, open the car door with his left hand, take advantage of the inertia to break free of her arm’s restraint on him, then throw himself out of the car first even if he had to tumble out.

She was probably holding a knife. At most, she would cut him a few times, causing some injuries and bleeding, but it wouldn’t be a big problem.

Karen quickly planned all this in his mind, until he saw what Mrs. Hughes was holding in her other hand.

It was a revolver.

Fuck, it’s a gun!

The next moment, the cold muzzle of the gun was pressed against his temple.

Karen knew that no matter how fast he moved, he would not be faster than a bullet.

He had to temporarily give up all his previous plans. Being slashed a few times with a knife probably wouldn’t kill him, but a bullet…

“Madam, I feel like for an artist such as yourself, you should use a knife. Using a gun has no soul.”

“I don’t have much strength, so I can’t use a knife. Only when I held a gun did Cole and Old Darcy behave themselves in front of me.”

“I’m different from them. I’ve seen Cole, he’s very big. Although old Darcy is old, he’s been working as a cremator, so he’s also very fit.

“I’m different. I believe that if you used a knife, madam, no, even if we were to fight hand-to-hand now, I probably wouldn’t be your match.”

“Hehehe, you’re really funny. Look, you still think I’m an idiot.”

“No, madam, the idiot is not you, it’s me.” This was Karen’s true feelings at the moment. Not long ago, he had done a criminal psychological analysis in front of the police chief, and even laughed at the murderer for being stupid.

Then he went and drove the murderer around the streets.

But sometimes…how can I put it? When the other party is really stupid enough to break your expectations, it’s like going from one extreme to the other.

At this time, Chief Duke, who had just received the news at the police station, was also in shock.

One was her lover, the other was her old employee.

The former had just been kept by her, and the latter died in her crematorium.

Put their identities side by side, and the implication was direct and obvious.

But because Cole was from out of town, it took some time to investigate his identity and connections here, which gave Mrs. Hughes room to keep moving around freely.

This murderer was simply indescribable with the word ‘stupid’. She didn’t even know to hide herself after committing the murders.

“Madam, can I say something?” Karen asked, doing his best to keep his voice steady. “I’ll drive you home now. You can have a good sleep, and we’ll pretend that what just happened never happened. The weather will be very good tomorrow, with bright sunshine and fresh air. Rest assured, I’m very good at keeping secrets.”

“You’d better not talk nonsense now, Karen, because every word you say now, after it enters my ears, all I hear is: You’re stupid, you’re stupid, you’re stupid!“

“Alright.”

“I need a place now; a quiet place where I won’t be disturbed. I want to spend this good night with you.”

“It would be my honor, madam. Where would you like to go?”

“I can’t wait any longer. I can’t wait, especially since I’ve had a lot to drink tonight. I feel very excited.”

“Me too, madam.”

“Turn left ahead. Go to 128. They just moved out, right? It’ll be nice and quiet.”

128?

Karen suddenly felt a little… conflicted.

That was an area that he would always ask the driver to avoid whenever he took a taxi in and out.

But at the same time, when he heard Mrs. Hughes choose that house, he secretly sighed with relief.

He had a psychological shadow over that house. But the problem was his situation now was already as bad as it could get.

Seeing a ghost is a very scary thing. But in the face of death, ghosts are not so unacceptable.

One reason was that there was nothing more frightening than death itself. Secondly, after you die, you would become one of them anyway.

Karen slowly stepped on the gas pedal, and the sedan turned a corner very smoothly at a uniform speed. After continuing forward for a while, it stopped in front of 128.

Mrs. Hughes opened the car door first, got out, and then pointed the gun at Karen again.

“You get out too.”

“Yes, Madam.” Karen got out of the car.

“Open the trunk.”

Karen walked to the back and opened the trunk, which contained a hiking bag.

“Pick it up.”

Karen picked up the hiking bag. It was a bit heavy. Judging from the feel of it earlier, there were quite a few tools inside.

“Are these your paintbrushes?” Karen asked.

“Yes, the brushes you once called mediocre.”

“If I had known the artist was you, Madam, I would have knelt at your feet long ago.”

“Go inside.”

“Yes, Madam.”

Pushing open the gate, Karen carried the bag and walked in, with Mrs. Hughes following closely behind.

Karen was thinking: if he swung this backpack at Mrs. Hughes right now, could he knock her down?

He quickly abandoned the idea. He doubted if he could even swing the bag.

Moreover, Karen noticed that Mrs. Hughes’ grip on the gun was very steady.

“Do you know when Mary and I first met?” Mrs. Hughes asked.

Based on normal logic, a funeral home owner and a crematorium owner must have met through business partnerships.

But Aunt Mary hadn’t been a mortician for that long either. The Hughes Crematorium was originally managed by Mr. Hughes. Only after Mr. Hughes passed away did Mrs. Hughes take over.

“The first time I met Mary was on an afternoon. I had just won the shooting championship, and before I went on stage to receive the award, Mary came to do my makeup.”

“Madam, please rest assured. I’m very timid. I will do exactly as you say.”

“Good. Now, open the door.”

“I don’t have the key.” Karen put his hand on the door handle.

Click.

The door opened.

The door was not locked!

What Karen didn’t know was that a few days ago, a young man named ‘Jeff’ had also stood here and sighed at this door in a similar way. 

“With all the valuables moved out already, why lock the door?” Mrs. Hughes laughed. “Even if the door was locked, I have tools in my bag that can pick the lock anyway. Now, go in.”

Carrying the bag, Karen entered the house.

“Keep going forward.”

“Yes.”

Snap! 

Mrs. Hughes turned on the light.

“Madam, turning on the light might draw the neighbors’ attention,” Karen kindly reminded.

“This is a heartless society. I don’t think that a neighbor will notice whether a house that had been moved out should be lit at this time, and no one will be bored enough to call the police about it.

“Of course, even if they did call the police, by the time the police arrived, whatever was going to happen would have already happened.”

“I completely agree with your view of the police, Madam. Their response time is even slower than our family’s hearse.”

“Go upstairs.”

“Yes, Madam.”

“The master bedroom.”

“Yes, Madam.”

“Now, put the bag down, and lie down on the bed.”

Karen walked to the edge of the bed and sat down.

With one hand holding the gun, Mrs. Hughes slowly squatted down and opened the bag, seemingly rummaging through the tools inside.

“Madam, if Aunt Mary hadn’t insisted on dragging me to the barbecue, you tonight…”

“Yes, it should have been Mary originally. She’s my good friend. I know her very well, and having her embodied in my work would give me immense resonance.

“Just like Cole, who knows my sensitive spots, and Old Darcy, who’s worked with me for so long.

“You should understand, the most important thing in art is resonance.”

“Yes, Madam, I agree completely.”

A mocking smile appeared at the corner of Mrs. Hughes’s lips. “Didn’t you say skill level matters too?”

“Believe me, Madam, that was a blasphemy against the sacred art by an uncultured outsider like me. I’ve repented for it countless times in my heart already.”

Mrs. Hughes took out a knife from the bag. This knife looked a lot like the ones butchers use at the market. It should be very convenient for chopping ribs.

“Now, you can lie down. Or, you can choose to resist. This is your last chance.

“Minke Street is not one of those vagrant streets. The public security has always been very good. So a gunshot would definitely alert many people. But don’t worry, I can ensure you that the moment the gun goes off, your body will already have several holes in it.”

“It’s truly a difficult choice,” Karen sighed.

“Indeed.”

“Madam, your first work was a religious painting for the Berry faith, and your second work was a religious painting for the Abyss Church. I’m very curious, what do you plan to do with your third work… No, don’t answer yet. Let me try to guess…is it the Order of God?”

Mrs. Hughes was a bit surprised.

“Did I guess correctly?” Karen pretended to be surprised as well.

“Yes, you guessed correctly.”

“Let me guess again… The one you want to pay homage to is the painting of the God of Order punishing his daughter, Ankara, the Light of Order, right?”

“Karen, I have to admit, you really understand me.”

“Yes, Madam. I feel like aesthetically, we have so much in common and so much that we can share with each other, so…”

“That’s why I chose you, Karen!”

“…..” 

“Actually, you are not a substitute for Mary. The first choice for this work was you. If you had come back a little later this afternoon, I would have had no choice but to choose Mary.”

“Madam, I think before starting a work, you need to plan it out. Ankara’s body was torn apart.”

“Yes, so I’m prepared. I’ll chop you into tiny little pieces, hmm, after you die, so you won’t feel the pain.”

“But how do you plan to depict the scene of the giant beast’s mouth devouring Ankara? I don’t want you to repeat your regret with Old Darcy. You know, you didn’t actually manage to complete that work successfully.”

“This time, I have a very good way.”

At this moment, Karen suddenly noticed a black spot on Mrs. Hughes’ face, and the black spot was slowly spreading, covering one of her eyes.

And when she spoke the next sentence, Mrs. Hughes’s voice changed, adding a masculine tone, becoming gruff. “My artistic presentation this time is to chop you up into small pieces and then eat you, bit by bit.”

Karen was very familiar with this voice.

On the phone: You’ve disrupted my artistic creation.

It was the same voice as that time!

So what’s going on with Mrs. Hughes?

Of course, she couldn’t be a man dressed as a woman like Piaget. She was a woman. Karen was sure of this because when he was driving at night, Mrs. Hughes, who was lying in the back seat, lifted her skirt all the way up, and under her skirt, she was wearing very thin and narrow lace panties.

Although Karen didn’t look on purpose, just those few glances made it very clear.

So Mrs. Hughes was definitely not a man!

And now, the feeling of her walking towards him step by step was like…like she was possessed by something, carrying a kind of obsessive, mad emotion.

Karen’s eyes searched around. He desperately wanted to spot a red high heel right now, but sadly, he didn’t see any.

The touch of red that he had avoided in the past, he now wanted to see very much, even to the point of kneeling down and kissing the soles of its shoes.

“Karen, I acknowledge your wisdom, and I acknowledge that your artistic appreciation surpasses mine. So I plan to use this method – first, to complete my work, and second, to inherit everything of yours after eating you.”

“I have one last request. An artistic request. I hope you can fulfill it for me.”

“Speak.”

Karen pointed at the old-fashioned peanut tube radio. “Madam, I feel that playing a soft, soothing music on the radio while you chop me up will make for a very poetic scene, don’t you think?”

Mrs. Hughes hesitated for a moment. She was really considering the suggestion, and then….

“I think you’re right.” She stretched out her hand and pressed the radio’s power switch.

Just then, there was a bit of static on the radio at first.

Then, a magnetic male voice came from the radio:

“Dear listeners, good evening. Welcome to the ‘Roja Storytelling’ program…”