OBS Chapter 337 The Young Artist
Chapter 337 The Young Artist
Yan Xun thought it was a private meeting, but it turned out to be a dinner party.
The other guests, dressed formally, looked surprised when they saw Yan Xun and Levi, seemingly puzzled as to why the two vagrants were there.
Yan Xun spotted Conrad at the back of the crowd immediately. Conrad looked much better than when he appeared in the newspaper, and his wings looked as if they were being tended to by 10 servants every day.
Besides Yan Xun and Levi, the other guests at the banquet also grew wings to varying degrees.
It didn't resemble a dinner party; it was more like a costume party.
When Conrad paused briefly in the banquet hall, he saw the two people who had been called in by the butler. He walked over and shook hands with them, his gaze lingering on Yan Xun. "Are you that detective?"
"You have good taste," Yan Xun said.
Conrad looked at Yan Xun and then at Levi. "You're his assistant?"
"Yes."
“But I heard you only came to his office this week?” Conrad took two glasses of champagne from the tray of the waiter beside him and handed them to Yan Xun and Levy.
Yan Xun held the champagne glass. "You know, in order to find Liam, I need to find myself an assistant."
Since Conrad had gone over the factory to his office, he must have known they were looking for Liam.
The other party emphasized that Levi only arrived this week, which was also an implication to Yan Xun that he was well-informed and knew everything Yan Xun did.
Conrad was a fairly handsome man with neatly styled golden-brown hair, but perhaps because of his gloomy temperament, even when he smiled, he still gave off a sinister impression.
Upon hearing Yan Xun's words, he showed a sympathetic expression, "I've heard about that."
"You are looking for Liam."
"Is there anything I can do to help?" he asked Yan Xun. "I heard you wanted to contact me because of an old man who suddenly grew wings?"
As he said this, the wings on his back flapped in a fitting gesture.
Yan Xun stepped back slightly.
Conrad looked at Yan Xun. "Are you scared?"
“No.” Yan Xun shook his head. “It’s just some very bad memories.”
Conrad was clearly intrigued. "I thought everyone would like wings," he said. "I heard that the day after that man grew wings, the headline was 'Birth of an Angel'..."
He looked at Yan Xun with great interest. "Don't you think so?"
“It’s a pity,” Yan Xun shrugged. “Because I ate too many chicken wings when I was a child, some people say that the chickens whose wings I ate will come back to haunt me.”
“So I’m terrified of wings like these…” he said, his gaze lingering on Conrad’s back, “especially such enormous wings.”
“I feel that these are the vengeful spirits of those chickens who have taken human form and are trying to take revenge on me.”
Conrad was completely taken aback by Yan Xun's words. His expression froze for a moment, as if he was struggling with whether Yan Xun was genuinely afraid of wings or simply mocking him.
He thought it was the latter, but Yan Xun's expression seemed very sincere, so he could only say dejectedly, "That's really unfortunate."
“So I haven’t eaten chicken wings since then,” Yan Xun continued, making up a story for Conrad. “This is my confession.”
Both Levy and Conrad had the same thought in their minds: a smooth-talking little liar.
Conrad, unwilling to listen to Yan Xun's nonsense about "chicken wings" any longer, steered the conversation back to the old man, "You think his wife might have grown wings too?"
Why would you think that?
Yan Xun sighed inwardly and could only repeat what they had said about Liam and Bonnie's mother.
Conrad nodded, looking like he was listening very attentively.
Yan Xun guessed that he already knew about this and was just pretending.
“But the new generation hasn’t produced anyone like the person you described recently,” Conrad said.
"I heard you accidentally discovered Neil's whereabouts?"
Neil is the name of the man in the tent.
“Yes,” Yan Xun said, “my assistant discovered it.”
“My sister was very sad during that time,” Conrad said. “She didn’t understand why Neil had suddenly disappeared.”
He looked at Levy. "I've seen you once."
Levy didn't seem to understand what he was talking about.
“That time outside the farm,” Conrad said, “I was there too.”
“I never imagined Neil would be in that forest,” Conrad said, taking a sip of champagne. “That’s so unfortunate.”
"If only we had thought of going to that forest to look for it..."
"Why didn't you go to that forest back then?" Yan Xun asked.
“Since you’ve searched the city and the farms outside,” Yan Xun said, “you haven’t found any trace of Neil. If he wasn’t driving, the most likely place he would be is either someone’s basement or the forest outside the city.”
Conrad didn't quite understand Yan Xun's meaning, "...the basement...?"
Levi then added, "The detective means to rule out the possibility of kidnapping." He said to Conrad, "Since you have already searched the city, unless Neil was deliberately locked in a basement, this shouldn't be the case."
“Then you should also go into the forest and look for Liam again,” Conrad said.
“I think Liam is more like someone locked in a basement,” Yan Xun said.
Conrad was a little annoyed. "What are you implying?"
“It’s just a guess,” Yan Xun said, looking puzzled as to why Conrad was making such a fuss.
"You suspect I locked Liam in the basement?" Conrad continued.
"If that's what you think, I won't deny it."
Seeing the conversation getting out of control, Levy tried to speak up to ease the tension, but Conrad nodded, "You can come to the New Generation's territory anytime and see if I've locked Liam in the basement."
Levi: "...?"
"When can we set off?" Yan Xun asked immediately. "My assistant and I both want to go and see."
“I said, anytime,” Conrad said.
"Tonight?" Yan Xun asked.
Conrad frowned as he looked at Yan Xun, seemingly surprised that there was such a person in the world.
Finally, he slowly nodded, "Okay."
"The new generation will welcome you."
Given that the New Generation's territory was some distance from where Conrad was having his dinner party, Yan Xun and his companion were left to stay at the manor for the night, and the next day, others would take them to the villa.
The housekeeper had originally arranged two rooms for them in another building, but Yan Xun refused, saying, "We can stay together."
The butler glanced at Yan Xun, then at Levi, and finally nodded.
The villa wasn't very large, and besides Yan Xun and his companion, there were also some long-term guests living there.
According to the housekeeper, those guests were all young artists whom Conrad greatly admired—in short, those who were financially strapped but had some potential and were receiving Conrad's financial support.
The guests at the dinner party will not be staying here.
"Looks like everyone living here is a penniless wretch who can't afford the rent," Yan Xun nodded. "Just like me."
The butler didn't say anything, but simply escorted Yan Xun and Levi to their room.
After the butler left, Levi spoke, "I thought we were going to die there."
Yan Xun glanced at Levy a few more times, thinking that it might be okay if someone else said these words, but for someone who could handle those "feed" without batting an eye to say them just made people laugh.
“Conrad isn’t that petty,” Yan Xun said, pulling out a chair from his desk and sitting down. “He knows we and our boss suspect him.”
When talking about our leader, Yan Xun smiled, seemingly finding the experience of being mistaken for a member of the organization somewhat amusing.
"The fact that he sent the invitation to the office instead of the factory proves that he knows far more than we think."
"The fact that I went to see Bonnie can't be kept from him either."
“He knew our boss suspected that Liam’s disappearance was related to him, so he sent us to dispel those suspicions.”
Regardless of what they said or did, Conrad's invitation to the banquet already demonstrated his readiness to show them the New Generation.
The fact that they were allowed to enter at the start of the dinner was also to let the guests know that they had been here before, so that Conrad would not do anything dangerous while they were still on his turf.
"Could he really have hidden Liam in the basement to be so confident?" Levy asked.
“Perhaps he didn’t actually hide Liam,” Yan Xun said.
He didn't think the leader of Liam's organization would care so much about the life or death of a low-ranking member; most likely, what the other party cared about was the mission he had Liam secretly complete.
It was only because of the missing Bonnie's mother that they had some contact with Conrad's New Generation faction. Conrad wanted to show his boss that he hadn't gotten involved in the matter, so he generously allowed Yan Xun and his companion to enter the New Generation faction's territory to investigate.
"Who do you think is the most troublesome person with the rise of the new generation?" Yan Xun asked.
The answer is obvious; it can only be the leader of the Liam organization.
As more and more people in the city grow wings, once most of the city's residents have grown wings and survived, they will most likely flock to the new generation.
After all, Conrad had always promoted the idea that growing wings was a form of human evolution, that they were closer to God's creations and favorites, and that they were a higher existence than those who had not evolved.
Regardless of whether it's true or not, Yan Xun thinks that someone with wings would believe this.
This meant that Conrad not only controlled the factory land but also had so many followers and supporters, which was definitely not good news for Liam's boss.
Conrad is now sending them into the New Generation investigation partly to clear their names, and partly to show them that he has no intention of competing with them for territory for the time being.
Having figured this out, Yan Xun went to the New Generation Sect only to find out what the mysterious sculpture represented and whether the New Generation Sect was related to the Angel Church in the south.
Perhaps because they made too much noise moving into another building, Yan Xun soon heard hesitant footsteps outside the door.
He exchanged a glance with Levy.
Yan Xun gestured to Levi to open the door.
Levi showed no sign of complaint. He placed one hand behind his back, slowly walked to the door, and then suddenly flung it open—
The young men who were leaning against the door staggered a few steps.
Fortunately, someone grabbed their arms, preventing them from falling onto the carpet.
"Hi……"
The group looked at Levi somewhat awkwardly, then at Yan Xun sitting in the chair. "We're not bad people!"
“We have no ill intentions.”
Levy didn't say anything.
Finally, an older young man spoke up, "Can we talk to you?"
He pulled some banknotes out of his pocket. "I heard you're a detective, and I hope you can help us solve this."
Levi finally spoke, "I'm not a detective."
"Huh?" Several young men looked up.
“I’m just the detective’s assistant,” Levy said, gesturing for them to look at Yan Xun sitting in the chair. “He’s the detective.”
Yan Xun raised his hand at the opportune moment and greeted them.
Although it was embarrassing to have mistaken someone for someone else, they didn't mind. "May we come in?"
There were five of them, dressed casually, and most of their clothes had faded and worn out from washing.
Levi turned around and asked Yan Xun for his opinion.
Yan Xun waved, "Of course."
“But you have to pay first,” Yan Xun said. “Consultation also costs money.”
Yan Xun's answer made the five people breathe a sigh of relief. "Of course," the eldest one said. "We are willing to pay."
After the five men entered the room, they identified themselves as young artists sponsored by Conrad, each from a different field.
The oldest of them has lived in this detached house for more than five years. He has a wife and children in the city, and compared to those artists who have not yet made a name for themselves, he is already able to make a living by selling his paintings.
“It was my suggestion that this be done,” said the eldest of the three.
Yan Xun noticed that he seemed to have a lot of authority among these people; when he spoke, the others simply listened in silence.
"Are there only five of you here?"
“It’s been us lately.” The young man who spoke was of average appearance.
“Mr. Conrad has two houses for us to live in,” he told Yan Xun. “The ladies are in the other one.”
“We used to have some people living here, but recently some of them were excavated and left. Some were tired of the hopeless life and left on their own initiative.”
He said the leader's name, "He can't let us go, that's why he stayed here."
Seeing that Yan Xun looked puzzled, the leader took the initiative to explain that Conrad's funding was not unconditional, and if he did not see results after a certain number of years, he would fire these people.
Yan Xun understood what he meant. Apart from the five of them, the others had either already made great strides and left the dormitory, or they felt that there was no hope in pursuing art and left to find other paths.
"So what do you want me to investigate?" Yan Xun asked after learning the background.
The group exchanged glances, and finally the eldest member spoke up, "We had another member who lived here before."
"He's even younger, only 20 years old."
“He was a very promising sculptor. He was even younger when Mr. Conrad discovered him. He had no family, so he lived here.”
Now that this person is not here, Yan Xun understands that what they want to investigate is related to him.