Chapter 42: Where Is My Painting?
Of course, Lin Jin was oblivious to the fact that not long ago, Wang Ji had shamelessly substituted his work with his own.
Seeing that the eleven mutant eggs and evaluation reports were gone, Lin Jin assumed that Chief Wang Ji must have had them moved. He didn’t mind that happening because all that matters was that he had done his part. Come to think of it, it was pretty tiring to stay up all night working.
Out of habit, Lin Jin felt around the back of his waist only to be struck dumb.
His fingers felt only empty air.
“Where is my painting?” Lin Jin was shocked. He had been carrying Gu Mengzhong’s painting with him the whole time and it was placed around the back of his waist. Why wasn’t it there anymore?
Swiftly digging his memories, he recalled that he had casually placed it aside after finding it troublesome to carry around during the appraisals. He remembered placing it beside the table.
He went over to take a look. It wasn’t there.
It wasn’t under the table either.
Lin Jin was dumbfounded.
“Holy sh*t, where is my painting?”
It wasn’t found anywhere in the hall so Ye Yang figured that it must have been taken away by the apprentice on shift last night. That guy wasn’t here either but Lin Jin remembered him. He was an apprentice affiliated with Chief Wang Ji. As long as it was someone within the association, they won’t be able to escape.
That painting worth thousands of yuan must be retrieved.
Lin Jin’s drowsiness immediately faded away and he was now full of energy. With a dark expression, he marched toward the hall where Chief Wang Ji should be found. Coincidentally at the door, Lin Jin ran into the apprentice who was on shift last night.
Without sparing a single moment, he grabbed the apprentice by his collar and interrogated, “Where is my painting?”
The apprentice jolted in shock. Upon realizing that it was Lin Jin, his facial expression darkened instantly. “Lin Jin, what are you doing?”
As Chief Wang Ji’s affiliated apprentice, the guy naturally looked down on Lin Jin as well. So to have his collar grabbed so suddenly only annoyed him.
“Where is the painting I left on the table last night? You were the one on shift and it was only you who came in so apart from you, I don’t see anyone else who could have possibly taken it,” Lin Jin declared complacently. Either way, that painting had to be handed over.
At this, the apprentice was stunned. “What painting? I have no idea and I haven’t seen it. Lin Jin, stop being unreasonable and let me go. Chief Wang Ji hasn’t even reprimanded you for leaving your post without permission yet.”
It seemed like the apprentice wasn’t lying.
But this was odd.
Lin Jin let him go. The apprentice insisted that he had never seen the painting and Lin Jin didn’t have any evidence to prove otherwise. Most importantly, there wasn’t a trace of panic in the apprentice’s eyes. Did he really not take it?
The apprentice adjusted his collar as he said to Lin Jin, “Appraiser Lin, I really didn’t take your painting. For the sake of preparing gifts for the City Lord Manor’s Steward Zuo, I hadn’t slept the whole night either. Anyway, what painting is it that is making you so flustered?”
Lin Jin waved his hand dismissively.
The apprentice didn’t look like he was lying. If it wasn’t him, then it must be someone else. However, Lin Jin had no idea who it could be as many people must have come into the appraisal hall in the morning. His heart sank when that thought came into his mind.
Either one of these people was probably the thief, but the problem was, how could he find that exact individual?
Lin Jin sighed. He had been too careless. If he couldn’t find the painting, he had no one else to blame but himself for being too absorbed in designing his avatar.
Looks like no matter which world one was in, being too addicted to games was not a good thing.
At this, he hung his head and returned to his consultation hall.
Zhao Ying and Lu Xiaoyu had arrived the first thing in the morning to clean up and make tea as usual. Upon seeing Lin Jin, they hurried over to greet him.
“I’m taking a nap!”
Being in an unpleasant mood, Lin Jin simply strode to the back of the hall to catch some shut-eye. No one would be seeking beast appraisals from him anyway.
But before he had the chance to shut his eyes, someone came.
Zu Can barely slept a wink last night as well. After all, he was still slightly worried even though his pet beast was in Lin Jin’s care, so he hurried over once the Sun was hanging above the horizon.
“Appraiser Lin, why do you look so tired?”
Knowing that Lin Jin was truly capable and had the means to cure his pet beast, Zu Can acted respectfully toward him. Moreover, after Zu Can had returned home yesterday, with just a little quiet investigation, he found out who had been secretly harming his pet beast.
Had Appraiser Lin not been able to immediately tell that his pet beast was being poisoned, Zu Can might still be in the dark even after his pet beast died. Just this one factor was enough for Zu Can to treat Lin Jin as his benefactor.
Lin Jin was reluctant to talk about last night. At the thought of his lost painting, Lin Jin felt as if his heart was bleeding. He didn’t want to talk about it. He didn’t want to think about it.
Knowing that Zu Can was here to see the large sapphire turtle, Lin Jin clapped his hands and shortly after, Xiao Huo could be seen chasing the huge turtle out.
The turtle was moving swiftly and seemed much better compared to yesterday.
“I used a secret prescription, made a pellet, and fed it to him. The toxins in his body have mostly been flushed out. If you’re worried about leaving him here, I can give you the prescription and you can get someone to prepare the pellets for him. In three days, he’ll be fit as a fiddle.”
Lin Jin had a good impression of Zu Can. While the man was a wealthy young master, he wasn’t pompous, and this was an exceptionally rare trait nowadays.
Seeing that his pet beast was recovering, Zu Can was overjoyed.
“Appraiser Lin, I’ll keep him company here.”
Lin Jin nodded, signaling for him to do as he pleased.
A little while later, Zu Can said his goodbyes and left without waking Lin Jin up.
However, Lin Jin had been too upset to sleep so he simply stayed awake. Picking up his writing brush, he began copying down the blood contract methods from the museum’s stone tablet.
Forming a blood pact with Gu Mengzhong’s ink monster was quite challenging. Firstly, the success rate of a traditional blood contract method was extremely low. Secondly, despite the ink monster’s high potential, it had an unusually low intellect. It required a stronger pet beast to tame its wild nature before the blood pact could be achieved.
After comparing the few blood contract methods, Lin Jin took his brush and wrote down the method he felt was most suitable. All the required materials in this method were relatively easier to find. The only shortcoming was that it required a stronger pet beast to tame the ink monster’s wild nature.
Had it been before, the strongest pet beast Lin Jin had around him was his Xiao Huo or Elder Mo’s fire lizard. With all of them being Rank 3, it was difficult to suppress the ink monster’s nature.
But now, things were different.
With the opening of the visitation hall, it became a shortcut for increasing the records in the Museum of Deadly Beasts. Last night, of the strongest pet beasts Lin Jin had recorded, one was a rift beast, the symphony jade dragon, and the other one was a rare beast, the black falcon.
Both of them were Rank 4 pet beasts. Relatively speaking, the symphony jade dragon was merely a scale piece. Although its potential was higher if we were to judge it by its deterrence ability, the black falcon no doubt had the upper hand.
The black falcon hacked away life like it was grass and possessed a terrifying murderous aura. It was just the thing Jin Lin needed for suppressing the ink monster’s temperament.
Hence, it could be said that Lin Jin had chosen quite a simple blood contract method. The required materials were already in his possession. When Gu Mengzhong comes later, they could start immediately without having to gather anything extra.
Of course, only Lin Jin who possessed the Museum of Deadly Beasts could use this method. Because only he could borrow the power of the beasts recorded in the museum.
Everything was in place and ready for Gu Mengzhong.
After a cup of hot tea, before Gu Mengzhong arrived, Lu Yunhe could be seen walking in with Lin Jin’s consultation token.
At the sight of Lu Yunhe, Lin Jin felt a bitter taste in his mouth. This was the guy who came looking for trouble. If he weren’t Lu Xiaoyun’s older brother, Lin Jin would have never let him off the hook easily yesterday.
Although Lu Yunhe had changed his attitude immediately after that, and he had taken action without understanding the situation, Lin Jin was still reluctant to give him the time of day. Especially when considering how foul his mood was right now.
“Appraiser Lin…” Lu Yunhe called out to him, but Lin Jin ended up ignoring him. It was Lu Xiaoyu who ran over to pull her awkward brother aside.
“Brother, Appraiser Lin is in a horrible mood today. You’ve come at a bad time,” Lu Xiaoyun told him directly.
Lu Yunhe simply rolled his eyes and said, “Xiaoyun, remember that I’m your older brother. Regardless of how capable Appraiser Lin is, he shouldn’t be too proud of himself. I’m a straightforward person. If he doesn’t change his temper, no one would come seeking his services…”
Before he could finish his sentence, someone suddenly entered the hall. It was none other than the great calligrapher, Master Gu Mengzhong.