Paintings of Terror

Chapter 166: Thirteen

Reminded of the operation that Qin Ci was going to perform in the afternoon, everyone asked him to go back and take a nap to refresh himself.

Luo Wei wasn’t good at saying such kind words, so he simply drank lemonade. Su Benxin, who was sitting on the side, turned her head to look at the work card on Luo Wei’s chest. “It’s strange. You’re just pinning it to your chest like that, but the locals here didn’t seem to see it. Through observations, I don’t think “outsiders” are very common. At least, you’re the only one I’ve seen with this status so far.”

“Right. It’s just not the locals. It’s you guys too.” Luo Wei wasn’t joking. “When I say some things, you don’t seem to hear me.”

Su Benxin didn’t seem to have heard him, and she continued to ask, “Can you take it off and show it to me? I’m a little curious.”

“Okay.” Luo Wei took it off and showed it to her. The square stamp “Outside of Heart City District” was very eye-catching. Su Benxin looked at the front and the back, and then returned it to Luo Wei with both hands. “I always feel that your status has a purpose. Maybe you would help everyone escape from Heart City in the end.”

“I hope so.” Luo Wei smiled lightly. There was a bit of loneliness between his eyebrows. Some of the words he’d said seemed to dissipate in the air, making his own companions turn a deaf ear to him. This matter was no less terrifying than having a beast.

Su Benxin seemed to have more to say. She brushed her curly hair and bangs behind her head with a little bit of embarrassment.

After carefully looking at her forehead, Luo Wei did not find any red marks. “Relax. Your forehead is clear. But…”

Luo Wei looked at the black mole on her forehead near her hairline. “Is that a mole?”

Su Benxin was relieved and nodded with a smile. “Yes, it’s natural.”

“Then you don’t have to worry.”

Su Benxin restored her bangs to its original placement. “Who knows what will happen today with this beast? This thing itself is a kind of impermanence, and if you’re not careful, you will be caught by it.”

It was rare for this woman to complain in such an open-minded tone.

Xiao Qinxian, who was sitting farther away, suddenly came over and looked at Luo Wei angrily. “Sure enough, you have been deceiving us!”

Luo Wei was too lazy to answer and so he just raised his eyebrows.

“I have a mushroom haircut, and you can’t see my forehead at all! Why did you say I have a beast mark?!” Xiao Qinxian made sure to amplify her voice, wanting everyone to judge.

Wei Dong said, “Yours is under your eye, not on your forehead!”

The beasts raised by people were also strange, and so even their positions were different.

“He couldn’t see my forehead at all, so he’s just lying that it’s under my eye!”

“I have seen your forehead, and there’s nothing on it,” Luo Wei said suddenly.

Xiao Qinxian was stunned. “I have not changed my hairstyle since coming here, and my bangs are really thick. There’s no way you can see my forehead.”

“Last night, in the hallway, you messed up your hair and all of your bangs got pushed back.”

As if she hadn’t heard, Xiao Qinxian was still babbling, “I knew you were just deliberately trying to scare everyone.”

Luo Wei: “…”

………

At four in the afternoon, Qin Ci walked out of the operating room wearily.

Everyone’s expectations weren’t as obvious as in the morning, but most of them still looked at the chief surgeon with expectant eyes.

Qin Ci didn’t have time to change out of his surgeon’s uniform. His voice came through the mask, as if from another world, “The beast is on the edge of the deceased’s heart, weighing 1974 grams. Because the beast’s body is too stiff and can easily shattered, it needs to be softened first.”

Everyone watched as Qin Ci walked to the locker room, and then slowly retracted their eyes so they could no longer see him.

Right now, Xiao Qinxian was the most excited. “I can’t believe that, since Chi Lei is so thin, she would actually give birth to a beast that weighs nearly 4 pound!”

Since Zhao Yanbao was in front of her, she didn’t dare to be too loud and only whispered to the few people around her to express her joy.

Zhao Yanbao stood dumbfounded in the hallway. Qin Ci’s words had reached her ears, and she had understood the literal meaning of each word, but could not seem to make meaning out of them.

She took two quick steps and hurried toward the locker room at the corner.

The door of the locker room was locked, and so Zhao Yanbao knocked on the door. “Dr. Qin, why does she have such a big beast?”

The person inside didn’t seem to hear her.

Zhao Yanbao continued to ask through the door, “You said that the beast is stiff. Why? Zhi Chun’s beast was very soft…why is hers so hard? That…beast, what shape is it?”

“Dr. Qin performed two operations today and is very tired. He will have to announce the answer later.” Su Benxin came behind Zhao Yanbao.

Zhao Yanbao turned to look at Su Benxin. Then, without saying anything, she turned her eyes to the glass window in the hallway. Since noon, the city had been covered with dark clouds. It seemed that a heavy rain was brewing.

She bit her lip and whipped around to knock on Qin Ci’s door once more. “How could such a big beast be removed? I just want to know how much burden Chi Lei had been carrying in her heart these years. What is the beast like?”

The door suddenly opened, and Qin Ci, who had changed back into his white doctor’s uniform, stood at the door. “It’s a female body.”

“What?” Zhao Yanbao was surprised.

“The shape of the beast is a female body, with more realistic female features. But the entire thing itself is very rigid. When I took it out, the surgical forceps accidentally caused a crack in it.” Qin Ci pinched the area between his eyebrows. He was exhausted. Although he was an experienced surgeon, it was impossible not to be nervous or afraid when peeling those strangely-shaped beasts from the body of the deceased.

Zhao Yanbao and Su Benxin were both stunned.

“A female body? That…is it a person?” Su Benxin covered her surprised mouth with her hand. “That, is it really a beast?”

“It should have been properly stored now. Let’s go and see it together.” Qin Ci’s voice was a little low.

The three of them walked towards the specimen processing room next to the operating room. Zhao Yanbao was almost unable to stand up and had to depend on Su Benxin to support her.

As soon as they saw Qin Ci, Xiao Qinxian and the others rushed over anxiously. “The big glass bottle is covered with a cloth, so we couldn’t see it!”

Qin Ci opened the door of the specimen room himself. “Come in. Be sure to keep quiet.”

There were only some instruments in the specimen processing room, and no specimens were displayed.

The glass bottle was placed on a table, and when a lab technician saw Qin Ci, he stood up and said, “Doctor Qin, the specimen is very difficult to soften. This is the first time I have seen such a rigid beast body, so I can only let it soak in the nutrient water first.”

“Okay, we need to take a look at it.”

“Please.”

Soon, everyone was finally able to see the true face of the beast. In a glass bottle the size of an electric kettle, filled with transparent liquid, there was an upright object.

“Is this ginseng?” Wei Dong squinted his eyes hard to see clearly.

Wei Dong’s description was quite apt. This beast had a human-shaped body, with a head and limbs. However, the limbs were rounded like radishes in the middle and pointed at the tip. No hands or feet could be seen.

The people standing at a certain angle around the glass bottle did not speak, for they could see more clearly than the others. They saw the front of the beast, and the outlines of its face. With eyebrows, eyes, nose, but no mouth, it’s body was obviously a woman with full breasts and a clear female lower body.

Su Benxin kept supporting Zhao Yanbao and comforted her in a low voice. “It’s not what we believe. It’s just pictographic…”

“A woman, this is obviously a woman.” After Zhao Yanbao glanced twice at it, she stopped and asked Qin Ci, “How is Chi Lei?”

It was as if Chi Lei was a living person who had just undergone surgery.

“The incision wound is stitched up. The scarless surgery in this city is very advanced. Once the ointment was used, there was no scar at all visible to the naked eye.” Qin Ci didn’t know how to comfort her. Maybe because he had been a doctor for a long time, he was numbed to death.

But this stripping after death, what could be it?

Ke Xun looked at the beast in the shape of a woman in the bottle. After watching it for a long time, his heart felt uncomfortable, and he couldn’t help but have many questions. “Why is it so stiff? What’s more, its limbs are tight and straight, as if it was being bound by…”

“You’re right,” Qin Ci said. “Do you see the thin red line at the bottom of the bottle?”

“What is that? Is it the line connecting the host and the beast?” Ke Xun said, feeling his scalp going numb.

“No, that’s the ‘rope’ that binds the beast,” Qin Ci said.

Hearing this unexpected answer, everyone was speechless for a moment.

Mu Yiran’s expression slowly turned cold. “This must be related to the host’s life experience.”

Zhao Yanbao was already supported by Su Benxin out of the specimen processing room when she gently pushed Su Benxin’s hand away and said, “I’m fine. I’m stronger than you think.”

“The knot in her heart needs to be resolved. If she can’t say it in her life, if she can’t get rid of it herself, as her best friend…you can do it for her,” Su Benxin said.

Zhao Yanbao looked at the lightning from the dark clouds outside the window, and there seemed to be a strange light in her eyes.

“I’m not trying to induce you.” Su Benxin loosened her messy hair and twisted it back into a bun. “Since she had cocooned herself in her heart, she had to open her heart and reshape her belt-bone, so as to truly open the rope of bondage.”

“If you really want to say something, it’s best to accompany the beast.” At some point, Mu Yiran had came out to the hallway. By then, the sky was completely covered by heavy, dark clouds, as if night had descended early.

Zhao Yanbao lowered her eyes and said, “Alright then, you two should stay here. Maybe what I have to say will help in analyzing the case.” Zhao Yanbao looked at Zhu Haowen, who was standing at the door. “And Haowen, you come too.”

When the group returned to the specimen room, they heard Yu Ji exclaiming, “The weight of this beast is 1974 grams! Zhi Chun’s beast was 26 grams, and the total is exactly 2000 grams!”

“Maybe this is just a coincidence?” Lion said.

“No, how could there be such a coincidence? Two people have died, adding up to exactly 2,000 grams? If it is evenly distributed, each person will have 1,000 grams! Thirteen people, the total is 13,000 grams! Thirteen kilograms!” Yu Ji’s words trembled afterward, as if he had discovered a most insidious secret.