The bleak world becomes vibrant with the appearance of the white dress, as if emitting a faint glow.

Lu Li quietly watched, until the figure became stuck in the narrow frame hovering on the wall, disrupting the silence. Carrying the echoing footsteps, he approached the oil painting that seemed to be illuminated by beams of light.

The girl in the white dress looked up due to the sound of footsteps, locking eyes with Lu Li's pair of black eyes.

A silent blush crept from her fair neck to her delicate face, clearly visible under the dim oil lamp.

Nobody knew why the ghost would blush, but it was the same as when Lu Li had seen her before.

Lu Li extended his hand to her, and the shy girl hesitated slightly, lightly placing her pale and ethereal hand on his, using his help to climb out of the frame.

She was a bit nervous, and as her feet moved out from under the pleated lace long dress, they were caught by the frame, causing her to fall forward.

The hand reaching out to Anna turned into an embrace around her waist, while the left hand turned backward made the motion resemble the start of a duet dance.

Anna lingered in Lu Li's arms, immersed in that starry deep, but before long, she panicked and left his embrace.

"I'm sorry... thank you."

Anna shyly shifted her gaze, not daring to look at Lu Li again, but soon her natural curiosity and awkward silence led her to ask, with intrigue, "Have we met before? Why do you seem to know me..."

"This is our first meeting."

"Are you a new employee?"

"I'm the... friend of Benjamin." Lu Li's voice seemed gentler than usual.

"You don't really look like an employee..."

Lu Li's handsome face and black eyes left a deep impression on Anna, and then was quickly replaced by something more urgent: "Did he leave you here? That guy is bad, because this gallery is haunted..."

Anna, who is also one of the "haunted", hurriedly said.

At that moment, a chill enveloped the landscape painting, cold and penetrating.

"Have you... seen... my child..."

"Come, come, let's run!"

Frightened, Anna hid behind Lu Li, pulling his coat to get him to leave.

Lu Li slightly turned his head, calmly watching the ghostly figure emerging at the edge of the oil lamp.

The bloodstained white long dress, resembling a nightgown, stained with a swelling cloth dragging behind.

"It should be in the office upstairs."

"Why... not avenge me..."

Asina's words suddenly changed, Lu Li lowered his black eyes, saying nothing.

"Why... not avenge me..."

Asina asked a second time, and as her voice turned more resentful and torn, Lu Li replied to her, "He has already died, died in pain."

Receiving the answer, Asina fell silent, retreating into the darkness with "Have you... seen... my child...", as if everything that happened before was just an illusion.

The coldness gradually dissipated, Anna, hiding behind, popped her head back out: "You also seem to know Asina?"

"She used to work here, but later she was cut open by her fiancé, Bill Eddy, and was killed along with her child."

"She was so pitiful... huh? How do you know this?"

"Benjamin told me."

Anna had no reason to doubt Lu Li, despite his mysterious aura like those black eyes, but a "friend" with whom she could communicate appeared, bringing her joy.

"Aren't you afraid of ghosts..." yet she still probed cautiously.

"Not afraid."

Lu Li looked into those clear, evading eyes.

"What if... I'm also a ghost?"

"You came out of the oil painting."

"Oh right..."

Soon, Anna forgot about being shy, though she still dared not look into those eyes. She lifted her skirt to sit down under the oil painting, chattering like a sparrow about life in the gallery.

As one of the protagonists, a statue approached, Lu Li watched it calmly, as if understanding Lu Li's gaze, the statue retreated with the sound of heavy friction.

Anna, absorbed in her own storytelling, had not noticed the statue's presence, and continued talking. After finishing the gallery's story, she began talking about her own story, the family's story.

Occasionally, a few questions sounded.

"I still don't know your name."

"Lu Li."

"What a strange name... is it a pen name?"

"No."

"Are you from Belfast?"

"No."

"Then are you from Himfast?"

"No."

"You know Benjamin, are you from Arlen Kingdom?"

"Not that either."

"Hmm... have you always been like this?"

"Always what."

"Not liking to talk?"

"Yes."

Fortunately, Anna had countless things to say.

Lu Li quietly listened to Anna recalling her past once again, also immersed in a kind of peaceful and beautiful moment...

In the distance, the bell of the church faintly rang, the morning mist shrouding the not yet awake Belfast.

The wick of the oil lamp placed on the floor became weak, the occasional passing chill no longer appeared, the statue in the depths of the gallery had returned to its original position.

"Thank you for listening to my story."

The time spent with Anna was also nearing its end.

"Will you come again tomorrow?"

With a mix of expectation and shyness, Anna lifted her gaze to meet those black eyes that reflected the oil lamp and the mist.

"Perhaps."

"...Goodbye, Mr. Luli."

With undisguised disappointment, Anna returned to the painting, and her vividness gradually faded, solidifying into the heavy form of the original oil painting.

Only Lu Li remained standing alone in the vast gallery shrouded in gray and white mist.

Lingering before the painting for a moment, Lu Li suddenly reached out to take down the frame.

In the morning, when a perturbed Benjamin arrived, he saw the exorcist holding the painting frame, with a statue placed beside him. And his calm words nearly made Benjamin drop his weight in fright.

"There are five oddities in the gallery. This painting and statue, the Dracula painting by the stairs, and two ghosts, Asina and Ruth. Asina has been dealt with, I will take this painting and statue."

"Please wait—" Breaking into a cold sweat, Benjamin did not question, because he knew about the ghosts Asina and the statue: "That Dracula painting and... and the ghost Ruth."

"You can sell the Dracula painting to the exorcist, I haven't encountered Ruth."

Intending not to clear out the gallery completely, Lu Li ignored Benjamin's plea and left the gallery.

He took a carriage running in the morning back to the Detective Agency, where he placed the statue back to its original location, lit the oil lamp, and gently tapped the painting's frame.

Anna slowly awoke, groggily drifting out of the painting.

"Where is this?" She found herself not in the gallery.

"Home."

Under the oil lamp, Anna leaned forward, getting close to Lu Li. Her doll-like delicate face showed a slight blush, her clear eyes sparkling as if they held countless stars, conveying as they did in the past: "So did you buy me?"

"Didn't cost any money, I told Benjamin there was a ghost in the painting and he let me take it."

Shy, Anna lightly lifted her skirt, bowing low to perform a noble greeting to Lu Li.

"It's a pleasure to see you again, Mr. Luli."

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