When Jiu Er woke up again, the portrait was completed.
“Thank you very much, Mr. Amis. Come and take a look at the portrait I drew for you.”
The warm and confident voice of Amos suddenly sounded beside Jiu Er.
The homeless man was taken aback, raised his head, and looked around.
The homeless man found out that Amos had appeared behind him, pushing the painting back to its original position.
The other parts of the painting were covered under a red cloth. Only this small place was exposed and allowed for Jiu Er to see it in person.
Jiu Er took a closer look at the exposed part of the painting. She realized that Amos had not drawn the prop shelf into it.
There was a homeless man with messy hair and shabby clothes. One hand reached forward, and another curled under his ribs. His eyes were mixed with confusion and cruelty; his hunger and malnutrition could be seen from his shriveled ribs and sunken abdomen.
He stood there crouched, giving the impression of a hungry wolf standing up.
His eyes were green!
Jiu Er looked at the homeless man as if he was about to step out of the painting in the next moment. Although the homeless man in the painting was theoretically her, she still couldn’t help but feel crippling fear.
She even seemed to see the homeless man’s eyes moved slightly in the painting!
It gave off a feeling like she was walking alone in a dim alley, noticing that a strange man followed her through the shadow which a street lamp projected.
It wasn’t that Jiu Er was afraid of ghosts.
—But she was more afraid of humans.
For no reason, Jiu Er was panic-stricken—
She almost screamed out loud.
But she managed to muster up her reasoning to force her voice back into the throat.
Jiu Er just smiled awkwardly, “I don’t know why but I’m a little…a little scared…”
“That’s alright, Mr. Amis.”
Amos smiled confidently, “I want this feeling. Your portrait will be placed together with other people’s portraits. This is a set of paintings. I want to use them to express homelessness like you; the hunger and helplessness of the unfortunate people. Presumably, this will also get people to pay more attention to the rights and interests of the homeless. It will be more helpful to your future life.”
Shut up with hunger and helplessness…
This is horror, evil, and untrustworthy!
Jiu Er almost retorted out loud.
But she thought about it carefully. Anyway, she was not Amis. So there was no point arguing with Amos.
“Yes, you are right.”
Jiu Er lowered her head in humiliation and said submissively, “This is indeed an outstanding masterpiece…”
It was like those in customer service apologizing despite complaining in the heart.
It felt so low and humble.
Though, Amos was very satisfied with this answer.
Painter Amos asked Jiu Er, “Would you like to try… looking at this group of paintings? The paintings you saw before have part of it missing, which cannot fully express the emotion I want to express in this group of paintings. Your painting is the last of these eighteen portraits.”
“…No, no, it’s fine.”
This will hurt my health.
Jiu Er immediately refused.
Her instinct had been frantically alerting her to avoid it.
Jiu Er’s keen intuition told her that if she saw the complete set of paintings “Feast for the Hungry,” she might die here or go crazy directly.
Then, she suddenly recalled something.
She asked respectfully, “Master… Excuse me, what time is it?”
“Well…”
Amos looked up at the clock in the room and gestured with his chin, “5:10 in the afternoon. Are you hungry?
“Let me prepare food for you?”
He said this to the three homeless men in white clothes as well.
Then, Amos smiled at Jiu Er and replied, “Would you like to take a shower first? The bathroom is over there. There are clean clothes in it.”
Having said that, he didn’t wait for Jiu Er to reply and left straight away.
“Tchi…” Jiu Er smacked her lips in disgust.
Should I take a bath?
To clean this dirty and smelly homeless man…
Even the bullet text had expressed their aversion,
“I should head off now, bye-bye.”
“Brother, remember to notify me when she finishes bathing!”
“It’s a pity. If the video here can be sent outside, I would like to record the ‘female streamer Fermented Rice Ball bathing video’ and post it on the Internet. But, when they click on the video, they will find that it is an old homeless man’s movable 4K Ultra HD Video with a 360-degree view.”
“Sir, I have called the police!”
“Who is this pervert? Come forward! Don’t just send bullet text and hide! Go to the forum and publish a post about it!”
Before the bullet texts further occupied jiu Er, the three homeless men in white robes rushed to Jiu Er’s side after Amos left.
“Uncle Amis! Why are you here too!?”
It was the youngest of the three who spoke.
Of course, he was the youngest, but he was already about the mid-20s.
“Fuck, you still run into acquaintances in this situation?”
“It’s normal. These are all homeless men from the Freezing Water Port. This place is already small, and it’s normal to know each other.”
Jiu Er was silent for a while and didn’t reply. Of course, she couldn’t reply because she didn’t even know the name of this person. At this time, the eldest man grabbed the shoulder of the homeless man “Amis” a little nervously, lowered his voice, and asked, “Did you feel something wrong?
“Just now, did you feel that your body could not move at all?”
“…You’ll felt the same too?” Jiu Er was surprised.
She just thought she was in a CG.
She didn’t expect others to feel this way similarly.
“…I feel something is wrong.”
The old man sullenly said in a low volume, “Don’t eat… too much tonight. Remember to stay awake and don’t fall asleep.”
He originally wanted to say, “Don’t eat.”
But he hesitated and changed it to “Don’t eat too much.”
Because he also understood Amis’s difficult situation.
They had not eaten till full for a long time.
If someone promised to give them three days’ worth of food and then let them die, these homeless men would agree after some hesitation.
They were all “useless people,” after all.
It was the youngest homeless man who didn’t care at all, “What are you scared of? I’ve been here for three days. It isn’t warm and cozy. I’m about to leave now… Look. Did anything happen to me?
“You are old and cowardly. If Master Amos wants to harm us, do you think we can escape? Or can the police believe it after we go out?
“Do you think our lives are more precious or the master’s?” The young man was critical of his words.
But what he said was the truth which the rest couldn’t refute.
After a brief silence, the last person said, “What the senior said is that we should be more cautious.”
The one who spoke was a homeless man who appeared to be fifty years old and had a haggard face. His accent was weird and sounded like an out-of-towner.
He was the most normal-looking person among the four people, including Amis. After putting on his white pajamas, he did not look like a homeless man but a tired clerk.
The young man shook his head disapprovingly.
“It will be three days in total. Do as you please. Forget it; I’ll go to the bathroom. Uncle Amis, don’t take them too seriously.” He said, leaving the room first.
His intention wasn’t really to go to the toilet, but more like avoiding the chatter with the rest.
Jiu Er was also a little surprised.
This young man’s behavior did not look like a homeless man.
In other words, the four people present were not strictly like homeless men.
Jiu Er was silent for a while, then asked in a low volume probingly, “Up to now, we can only work together.
“Let’s talk about it. What are your identities? Don’t lie to me. Everyone should be able to see through it.”
After Jiu Er said this, there was a sudden silence.
The middle-aged man said slowly, “You’re right. Then, let’s start with me.
“I’m a murderer.”
The older man was startled when he heard it.
He looked up at the middle-aged man, then at Jiu Er.
After a long silence, he also said, “I… was a murderer.”