Chapter 82: Twisted Will
Chapter 82: Twisted Will
Chen Jing noticed the change in her through the rearview mirror and spoke softly, “You should describe the painting to me in detail…”
Her pupils had turned crimson again, faintly resembling two red moons within her eyes.
Xu Xiaoxiao, upon hearing her words, became dazed once more and woodenly described, “It was a red oil painting. Not created by any renowned artist, and the back bore no name of its creator. But…but that painting was so magnificent…”
“What it depicted was a city in disarray. The lights were swaying, all the people were running, fighting, all order had utterly dissolved. Only distortion and chaos remained within that city. And above the city, occupying about one-third of the entire canvas, was…was a Crimson Moon, gazing serenely down upon the city below…”
“It was sublime…”
Xu Xiaoxiao’s blank face actually displayed an intoxicated look: “Before, when I appraised a piece of art, I’d only look at its materials, how widely it was disseminated before the Cataclysm, its pre-Cataclysm price tag, or its artist… But, but until I saw that oil painting, I felt… none of that mattered… none of it mattered at all…”
“What’s important… is that sensation of ultimate, consummate beauty…”
“It was as if… a painter, at the moment the Crimson Moon descended and everyone began descending into madness, only he… sat quietly by the window, brush in hand, capturing all the awe and beauty of that instant when the Crimson Moon appeared onto the canvas…”
Her voice, previously flat and lacking subtle inflections, was merely a dry narration.
But when speaking of this painting, it was inexplicably filled with passion and fervor.
Even her face, deathly pale from excessive blood loss, flushed red now, suffused with blood.
This stark contrast made both Lu Xin and Chen Jing feel a slight chill.
She truly seemed like a Maniac.
Chen Jing remained silent for a moment, as if sketching the image of the painting in her mind, before finally asking, “And then?”
“And then…”
Xu Xiaoxiao’s focus was forcibly pulled from the painting, her demeanor becoming much more wooden. She murmured, “I was certain. I loved that painting. I wished to possess it… I didn’t want to hand it over to Father, because I feared he might sell it to someone else, or lock it away… So I hid it first, then returned to the Main City, without telling Father… because I wanted to…”
“I wanted to collect that painting myself… without Father knowing…”
Mr. Xu heard this and sighed heavily, rubbing his face forcefully.
Only now did he realize why his daughter hadn’t mentioned the painting upon returning to the Main City, before she’d descended into madness. In truth, if she had spoken of it earlier, perhaps everything wouldn’t have become this way.
“Father didn’t suspect anything…”
Xu Xiaoxiao continued her account: “And my mood remained excellent. My heart brimmed with passion. I desperately wanted to share it with someone. That sensation seemed to keep fermenting and building inside me, growing stronger and stronger. Finally, I couldn’t resist. I called Aqiang, the night watchman, into my bedroom. I felt unbearably empty inside. I needed something that could fill me…”
…
Her descriptions began to turn explicit, devoid of any trace of shame.
Mr. Xu, who had been listening beside her, wore an expression of excruciating pain. At last, when Xu Xiaoxiao reached the part about how she continuously pulled different men into the washroom at the bar, he spoke in a trembling voice, interrupting Xu Xiaoxiao who was still droning on about every detail: “I know what happened later… Perhaps… let me tell you…”
“You haven’t been Contaminated, so your account of the facts would differ!”
Chen Jing flatly vetoed his suggestion, stating calmly, “If it’s too much, cover your ears!”
Mr. Xu let out a deep sigh, bent over, and buried his face in his hands.
“That feeling… grew stronger and stronger…”
“Sometimes, I would realize it was wrong. I would feel anger. But… when that urge struck, it took over my mind. I didn’t want to think about anything. I hated my Father for stopping me. I believed he simply didn’t understand me. I didn’t want to see Wei Chang either, because I just found him annoying. I disliked pretending to be normal in front of him…”
…
Chen Jing listened intently, then suddenly asked softly, “Was it that you wanted to do these things, or that you were compelled to?”
“Of course I wanted to do them…”
Xu Xiaoxiao answered without a hint of hesitation, an eerie excitement even flickering across her face:
“Before… I wouldn’t have dared entertain such thoughts, I’d have repressed them deep inside. Now… they all surged up unrestrained. I suddenly felt nothing else mattered. I didn’t want to control anything. I just needed to do them. Because doing them could fill me, fight against the emptiness…”
“That feeling… was too wonderful…”
…
Xu Xiaoxiao recounted her experiences meticulously. At this moment, she became extraordinarily candid.
From her tale, Lu Xin could sense her transformation.
It seemed to have penetrated her inner self step by step, altering her conduct; from an initial impulse, to later indulgence still coupled with attempts to conceal her actions, and finally… she gradually shed any sense of shame.
She only chased that sensation; nothing else held importance.
Consequently, over the course of more than a month, her behavior descended into increasing madness until it spiraled completely out of control.
Ultimately, she became the person Lu Xin had first encountered.
……
Even with Chen Jing selectively prompting her to skip specific details, this process still took a full ten minutes to recount.
The absurdity and strangeness of her descriptions caused Lu Xin himself to shift from initial embarrassment to stunned disbelief.
“Ding-ling-ling…”
Amidst this twisted and insane atmosphere that made the entire compartment feel somewhat oppressive, a phone rang.
Xu Xiaoxiao’s description was abruptly interrupted; her eyes appeared vacant.
Chen Jing frowned, picked up the Satellite Phone beside her, and said, “What is it?”
After listening for a while, she responded briskly, “Handle it according to the previous procedures. I have something more important to do now!”
After saying that, she hung up the phone.
“During the investigation, we found several traces of the Source of Contamination, and I’ve already sent people to handle it.”
Chen Jing casually explained to Lu Xin, paused thoughtfully for a moment, then looked at Xu Xiaoxiao in the rearview mirror.
She did not continue asking about her experience while contaminated, but instead coldly asked, “How did you feel after regaining consciousness?”
Xu Xiaoxiao appeared expressionless and only after a while said, “I remember everything.”
“After regaining consciousness, I only felt that that maddening sense of emptiness had vanished, but…”
“That wonderful feeling, I still remember it; I hope…”
She paused there before continuing; her eyes seemed to brighten slightly as she said, “I hope to see that painting again, that incredibly beautiful painting; I hope to return to my former self… I’m in agony; I don’t want to be awakened by you…”
Mr. Xu’s eyes widened upon hearing her words.
He seemed completely unprepared for the fact that his daughter’s urgency to see the painting was for this purpose.
Even Lu Xin frowned slightly; seeming to understand why Xu Xiaoxiao had such an abnormal expression when she was awakened.
“The lingering effects after the Contamination was cleansed.”
Chen Jing said slowly; directing her gaze at Mr. Xu through the rearview mirror. “You didn’t expect this, did you?”
Mr. Xu looked somewhat dazed and weary; only after a good while did he say, “She… Xiaoxiao only told me that it was a painting unlike anything in the world; that it would be an art piece that shocks the world… She studies this field so I trusted her judgment. And… and she said that as long as we covered the painting and didn’t look at it; there would be no problem…”
He finally couldn’t go on.
Because he now understood that all of this was actually his daughter deliberately persuading him.
She was his daughter and naturally knew where his weaknesses lay.
Chen Jing was silent for a while; then said to Lu Xin, “You did very well this time.”
Lu Xin nodded slightly.
He understood why Chen Jing said that; because the distorted and bizarre sensation brought by the painting and the terrible impact it had on Xu Xiaoxiao made it hard to imagine what kind of harm and distortion it would cause to the entire Qinggang City if it were brought into the Main City and seen by more people; or; one day; if it suddenly appeared in an art exhibition.
Especially in the end; this father and daughter—one believed he was already cured and acting based on his own perception; the other trusted her daughter and felt capable of controlling the situation—both believed they were acting on their Will.
But they did not know that they were still being influenced; their Will already distorted…
“I truly didn’t expect…”
Mr. Xu’s voice sounded a bit hoarse. “I knew about the existence of the Source of Contamination; but I didn’t expect… it to be this serious.”
“You have received sufficient warnings!”
Chen Jing calmly replied. “And the reason you didn’t care enough is because you hadn’t seen it with your own eyes.”
“You hadn’t seen it because we handled these matters.”
“And while we were handling these things; you were still causing us more trouble.”
“You can say you were deceived or influenced; but in the end; it’s all because of your own greed at play!”
Mr. Xu was immediately speechless; and only after a long while did he heave a regretful sigh.
His initial facade of respectability and arrogance was now completely stripped away.
Just then; the lights ahead illuminated a mess of cabinets and warehouses.
Chen Jing took a deep breath and said, “We’ve arrived at Bengbu Port.”