The sun was setting.
Lu Sheng looked at the dilapidated attic in front of him. The nameplate on the iron fence outside the building read: Hall of Anecdotes.
He had originally planned to look for the library here, but on his way there, he saw this place. His keen intuition told him that there was a high chance that he could find the clues he was looking for here.
So he stopped and decided to go in to take a look.
He pushed open the iron fence and slowly walked in. There were two young people cleaning inside. They were holding brooms and were methodically clearing the yellow leaves in the yard.
Lu Sheng walked along the main path to the entrance of the attic.
There was a price list at the door.
"Ten Marks per visit. Please buy a ticket to enter. "
Lu Sheng threw ten Marks into a glass cabinet on the inside of the door and slowly walked in.
The attic had a structure similar to the Chinese character. The walls were hung with black and white oil paintings and corresponding explanatory texts. There were also some key items that seemed to be related to the incident.
Lu Sheng walked around. Most of the items were strange things that happened near Berlin. In front of all the incidents, there was an extra phrase: absolutely true.
"1855, a cow went missing at a farm on the outskirts of Berlin. Three police officers, Tom, Johnson, and Vincent, went missing on the same day. So far, no clues have been found."
"1843, a murder occurred in the West District of Berlin. The victim's face was black, but other parts of the body were no different from when he was alive. After forensic examination, it was found that the head had been dead for several months, but the body looked like it had just passed away."
"1871, the painter Paul, who came from France to hold an art exhibition, mysteriously disappeared in the gallery of his art exhibition. Ten minutes ago, he was still discussing with his assistant about moving a few of his paintings. Ten minutes later, when he crossed one of the corridors, he completely disappeared. Since then, no one has seen him. Only a strange symbol was left at the scene. "
Lu Sheng's pupils shrank slightly. In the photos left behind in this case, the symbol vaguely resembled the eyes of a snake.
His throat moved, and he continued to read.
The other cases were either mysterious disappearances or all kinds of bloody and strange murders.
But there was no other type of mysterious symbol found.
Lu Sheng quickly returned to the case of the painter Paul.
There were a few items left behind in the case.
There was a rusty kettle, a half-painted canvas, and a broken paintbrush.
"183 Sanctum Street." Lu Sheng noted down the address.
"What do you think? Isn't it exciting? The places recorded here are basically all well-known supernatural locations, "a young man in a suit beside Lu Sheng said with a smile. He had a mustache and was wearing a suit.
"Not bad." Lu Sheng nodded with a smile.
"It's really not bad. Unfortunately … there are fewer and fewer people who like these nowadays. I don't know how long I can last here," the young man said with some regret.
"Let me introduce myself. I am the organizer of this event, William Clark."
"My name is Jack. Nice to meet you." Lu Sheng shook hands with him.
"I've been running this themed exhibition hall for more than a year. Unfortunately … the income is far from enough to cover the expenses. Rent, daily expenses, staff salaries, etc. Every day is a torture," William said helplessly.
He glanced at the missing painter case that Lu Sheng was paying attention to.
"Speaking of which, I personally followed up on this case. I rushed over the second day after Paul disappeared. He and I are good friends. Before he disappeared, he told me that he tried his best to paint the best piece of artwork ever. He asked me to go and admire it … "
"And then he disappeared?" Lu Sheng continued.
"Yeah …" William was a little emotional. He was not even thirty years old, but he was like an old man, sighing.
"Actually, I'm a police officer," Lu Sheng said softly. "I've been through similar strange cases before. Unfortunately, my power is limited. I can't bring the murderer to justice. "
"Police? What a coincidence. " William was surprised. "Back then, the Berlin police didn't care about this case. They weren't even willing to talk about it. Only now, a few years later, the lockdown is less strict. "
"Are there any additional clues?" Lu Sheng asked casually. He did not hold out hope that he could get any clues from here.
The clues of this case must have been dug out by the police here long ago.
"Does that painting count?" William smiled bitterly.
"Can you take me to see it?"
"Of course you can." William agreed readily.
He brought Lu Sheng to the depths of the exhibition hall. He opened a locked room and pushed the door open.
It was densely packed with all kinds of things.
There were life-size dolls with springs on their backs, dark red vases with strange patterns, rusty longswords and full body armor, feathers of unknown birds, and giant bones of unknown creatures.
All sorts of things were piled up in a mess, like a storeroom filled with all sorts of discarded items.
William rummaged around inside and quickly found a tightly wrapped picture frame.
"This is it. Take a look." He passed the painting frame to Lu Sheng.
Lu Sheng took it and slowly removed the thick cloth on it. The innermost canvas was exposed.
In the darkness, a giant shadow like a snake stretched across the huge city in the night sky.
The city's night sky was lit up with lights.
"The shape of this city is the current Berlin," William reminded him. "I've looked at the map. The city that Paul drew is the bird's eye view of Berlin. I'm guessing that he must be hinting at something from this picture. "
"Hinting at what?" Lu Sheng frowned.
"Yes … A year before he disappeared, I often heard him mention some strange nouns and places when I occasionally exchanged letters with him. Since then, I've been worried about his mental state, "William said in a melancholy tone, as if he was sad about his friend's disappearance.
"What names and places?" Lu Sheng asked.
"I can't remember most of them, but I remember a few that were repeated the most. For example, Misca University, tutors, and so on. "William shrugged. "I'm guessing that he was a little absent-minded because he wanted to go back to university for further studies. Plus, he was very tired during that time …"
"Misca University? Tutor? "Lu Sheng touched his chin.
"I've checked. There's no such university in all of Germany, or even all of Europe. Maybe there's such a university in other states, but it must be somewhere unknown. I don't understand why he would hold a grudge against a place like that … "William looked puzzled.
"Do you have any information about this university?" Lu Sheng asked again. His instincts told him that there was definitely something wrong with this place.
"Hmm … let me think …" William scratched his head. "Oh, I got it. Paul also mentioned that he seemed to have passed the adult recruitment exam and applied for the exam. He was very excited at that time, saying that he had finally passed the first written exam and was about to take the second interview."
"Exam? Do you know where to apply? "Lu Sheng asked quickly.
"You can go to the education department and ask about that. That's all I know … "William shrugged helplessly.
"Okay …" Lu Sheng returned the painting to William. After thanking him, he left the exhibition hall.
After wandering around for a while, he quickly went straight to the nearest school.
After asking around a few times, Lu Sheng quickly found a school called Berlin Heller High School.
The school was having a sports day, and it was crowded. Lu Sheng found a gap when the guard wasn't looking and easily passed through the school gate.
The loud speakers were playing deafening sports day music. After asking a few students, Lu Sheng easily found the teaching and research building.
Using the psychological guidance technique, it only took him less than ten minutes to find the specialized management office responsible for recommending students to various universities.
"Knock, knock, knock."
Lu Sheng stood at the door and knocked lightly.
"Come in." The voice of an old man came from inside.
Lu Sheng twisted the lock and slowly walked in.
There were three or four people in the office organizing things. An old man was sitting at a desk near the door, wearing reading glasses and looking at the enrollment form in front of him.
Hearing the door open, the old man raised his head and looked at Lu Sheng carefully.
"Hello, what can I do for you?"
Lu Sheng slowly circulated his psychological guidance art, and asked with a sincere expression, "I'd like to ask you about this. My child is troubled about which university he should apply to. From his conversation with his classmates, I learned about a university called Misca University. He really wants to study in this university, but I've never heard of this university … So …"
"Misca University … Hmm … I can introduce you to it." The old man smiled happily, and Lu Sheng's psychological guidance technique fell through. It seemed like he was the kind of person who liked to explain things to others.
"It's normal that you haven't heard of it. This university only started recruiting students in Berlin a few years ago. It's not as famous as other famous universities, but their teachers and foundation are still good. The admission test scores are not low either. But … their interviews outside of the written test are a little strange … "
"Strange?"
"Yes. Their interviews screen out many students who think they are excellent. Many of them don't even know that they've been interviewed. Also, they're one of the few universities that only look at results, not age. "
The old man smiled. "Speaking of this, I really admire their philosophy of running a school. No matter how many times they repeat a year, they treat everyone the same. They even have an adult admission test. "
"They have an adult admission test? If that's the case, I can accompany my son to study …? "Lu Sheng showed a hint of interest.
"Theoretically, yes …" The old man was also surprised. "How about this, I'll give you their admission application. After you fill it out, you can mail it directly to the address written on it. They'll arrange written tests and interviews, so it's up to you whether you want to accompany them or not. "
In this day and age, there were very few adults who were willing to do so much for their children. The old man was a little moved, and he pulled Lu Sheng to talk a lot more.
After more than an hour, Lu Sheng was finally able to leave the office with the application form.
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