Hearing Lily's voice on his shoulder, Charles looked in the direction she was pointing.
A few dozen meters ahead of the street is a square, which is bustling with people and has many roadside stalls selling barbecues.
"Is this considered the pedestrian street of Dihai?" Charles walked over.
After buying a bag of milk-cooked oysters for Lily, Charles walked into the busy square.
This seemed to be a local market, with all kinds of delicious food and performances appearing one after another, and Lily's eyes were almost dazzled.
Just when Charles unknowingly walked to the edge of the square, a hideous-looking blind man wearing sunglasses appeared in front of him. The flesh and skin on his face were stuck together, and it looked like some kind of burn. This horrible face seemed so out of place among the handsome men and beautiful women around him.
There was a sign under the blind man's feet, which read "Oil painting, 100 echoes per piece".
Looking at the tattered cloak on the blind man, Charles guessed that his business was not very good, but that was true, who would hire a blind man to paint
The blind man crouched timidly beside his drawing board, looking incredibly pitiful amidst the bustling environment around him.
At this moment, three young men arm in arm walked by and kicked the drawing board. Looking at the blind man squatting on the ground picking up something, the three men laughed wildly.
When Charles saw that everyone around him was indifferent to what was happening and didn't even bother to look at it, he frowned slightly. "The people on this island are not only weird, but also really indifferent."
The kind-hearted Lily couldn't bear to see this, so she rushed over with her mouse and helped the blind man organize his drawing papers.
Feeling that someone was helping him, the disfigured blind man burst into tears. "Why! Why am I so unfortunate!!"
Charles walked over and thought for a moment before saying to the blind man, "Stop crying and draw a picture for me."
Seeing that there was business, the blind man didn't care to be sad. He sniffed and stood up quickly.
"Sir, please sit here." He stumbled out a folding chair from behind the drawing board.
Watching the blind man mixing paints skillfully, Charles felt a little curious. How could a blind man paint when he couldn't even see
While Charles was thinking about this question, the blind man turned the palette and reached out to Charles' face with both hands.
"Painting with bones?" As soon as the thought came to Charles' mind, the blind man picked up the brush and started painting.
This aroused Charles' interest, and he wanted to know the blind man's skills.
A few minutes later, the blind man stopped painting, took the work off the drawing board, and respectfully presented it to Charles.
"Bang!" The nervous Charles kicked over the folding chair, quickly took three steps back, and subconsciously reached for the holster at his waist with his right hand.
The image on that canvas was not of Charles but of the lifelike Anna!
The sound of the folding chair falling to the ground immediately attracted the attention of the blind painter, and he came over with a panicked look on his face.
"Sir, my painting doesn't look like it. Please don't leave. I haven't eaten for three days. Please give me some food. Please have pity on me."
Charles took the painting with a complicated expression and took out a few hundred-dollar Echo bills and put them in his hand.
Feeling the touch in his hand, the blind man's terrifying face suddenly showed ecstasy, and he bowed deeply in the direction of Charles. "Sir, thank you for your mercy on a poor man like me. May the mistress bless you."
"Can you read minds?" asked Charles, holding the drawing paper.
"No, no, it's just some useless abilities that I gained after I became blind." The blind man huddled aside humbly with a flattering look on his face.
Charles' fingers slowly traced across Anna's face, and the imaginary memories in his mind flooded back.
"Gao Zhiming, stop playing games. I'm much more interesting than games."
"It's okay. It's just a journey underground. It's not a big deal. I'm with you. We will definitely get out!!"
Charles' expression twisted slightly, and his hands with bulging veins grasped the edge of the drawing paper and were about to exert force.
Lily jumped onto Charles' shoulder, "Mr. Charles, who is this sister? She is so beautiful."
While the man and the mouse were talking, the blind man raised his chin and kept sniffing something with his nose.
Charles finally didn't make up his mind to tear up the painting. He slowly rolled it up and stuffed it into his arms. He said with a hint of melancholy, "Let's go, Lily, let's go back."
The blind man behind him was about to raise his hand to call out to stop, but seemed to be hesitant about something and ended up saying nothing.
On the way back, Lily clearly felt that Mr. Charles was a little absent-minded, and the white mouse immediately guessed that it was related to the portrait.
"Could it be that, like in the play, the sister had a earth-shattering love affair with Mr. Charles, and then she ruthlessly abandoned Mr. Charles?"
When Charles returned to the hotel, there were three more envelopes placed at the door. This time, the people who left were two sailors and a kitchen helper.
Including the dead, almost half of the crew of the Monologue were gone.
"What's going on? Why did so many people resign? Why don't you wait until we get back to the coral island to talk about it?" Charles decided to call the crew over to ask after he finished writing his diary. This was a bit too unusual.
After lighting the oil lamp, Charles took out the painting in his arms and stared at it for a while, then put the drawing paper into the navigation diary.
Taking out the pen from his chest, Charles began to write his sailing diary, but before he could write a few words, another envelope was stuffed in through the crack in the door.
"You have to get off the boat and say it to my face!"
Then there was no movement outside the door. Charles walked over with a grim expression, opened the envelope and took a look.
When he saw Dipper written on it, his expression immediately became serious. "Lily, come out with me."
Lily jumped onto Charles's shoulders again, and the brown mice followed her like a carpet.
"Mr. Charles, why are we going out again?"
"Something is wrong. Dipper is in danger."
"Huh?" Lily's eyes widened.
Charles opened the letter and shook it in front of her. "This thing can't be written by him. That guy is an orphan. He can't even recognize all the words. How could he write a resignation letter! This thing must be forged by someone else!"
Thinking about the previous anomalies, Charles was sure that something must have gone wrong with his crew.
If the crew members don't want to work anymore, most of them will just leave. Those who have a good relationship with them will at most say goodbye in person like Old John did. Those who will write a resignation letter are definitely a minority.
Moreover, the beautiful cursive handwriting did not look like the writing of a burly man making a living on the sea.
When they reached the street, he said to Lily on his shoulder, "Scatter all your rats and call over everyone we can find on the Narwhal."
"Okay!" Lily squeaked twice, and the brown carpet on the ground instantly spread out.
(End of this chapter)