Paintings of Terror

Chapter 182: Guimei Hexagram

No one slept well that night.

Several times, Ke Xun even imagined he heard the harsh ringing of the telephone.

They endured until dawn.

When Wei Dong opened the curtains and saw the sunlight outside, he asked Luo Wei, “Did you get a phone call last night?”

No one had asked him at night, for fear that the question would prevent the mysterious call from coming through.

Luo Wei said with certainty, “There was no call.”

The moment his voice fell, the phone rang harshly, as if in retribution. The four men looked at each other for a second, and finally Luo Wei stepped forward and answered the phone. “…Okay. Understood. We’ll come right now.”

It was Qin Ci who had called and brought news that something had happened to Xiao Qinxian in the hospital last night.

Maybe everyone was already mentally prepared, because they weren’t very surprised at all. The more sudden a beast mark appeared, the stronger the danger would be.

Just like Lion that night, and now, Xiao Qinxian last night.

The four people rushed to the hospital, but no one could understand why they didn’t receive a call last night. According to the usual practice, they should have received a mysterious call to inform them of the location of the beast.

Wei Dong began to make a terrifying guess. “Could it be Xiao Qinxian who answered the phone? I mean, Xiao Qinxian’s sister? She was also an outsider.”

In other words, Xiao Qinxian’s sister may have received a call that told her what part of her body the beast would come out of.

Don’t think about it. This was already terrifying as it was.

“No, it’s not very logical.” It was Mu Yiran who spoke. “First of all, we’re not sure whether the sister’s soul had disappeared once her beast was stripped out last night. Secondly, we have ‘missed’ a few calls before, such as the one about Chi Lei and Yu Ji. Therefore, last night’s call may also be the same.”

Wei Dong: What to do… My brain has been overdrawn.

They rushed to the hospital and saw Zhao Yanbao and Zhu Haowen, both of whom also arrived at the same time. They all nodded to each other and didn’t have much time to rejoice at being ‘alive’ before rushing to the beast research lab.

Qin Ci and Su Benxin were waiting there.

“Last night, in order to deal with any emergencies that may have arised, a special medical staff accompanied Xiao Qinxian all night. However, the beast still came out from the position of her left rib…” Qin Ci’s expression was heavy. “Everyone, come in with me first and take a look at the beast.”

When everyone walked into the research room and saw the beast, they couldn’t help but let out an exclamation of surprise.

Xiao Qinxian’s beast was very similar to her sister’s. It was also placed in a glass water jar, and it was arranged neatly like bricks. There were four pieces in total, two long and two short.

The two shorter pieces were placed side by side on top, and the two longer pieces were placed one after the other underneath, forming three rows. Different from her sister’s beast, Xiao Qinxian’s beast seemed to be floating at the bottom of the water tank.

“What the hell are these things? Why do I feel more panicked the longer I look at them…” Wei Dong really didn’t understand what these crimson bricks represented.

“This…isn’t it the blocks in their hearts?” Zhao Yanbao exerted her greatest imagination.

“The elder sister had 5 pieces, and the younger sister had 4. Why did the elder sister have one more block than the younger sister?” Su Benxin didn’t dare to look too close. “But the arrangements are so neat. It’s really weird.”

Mu Yiran remained silent, observing from all angles around the two glass jars. After ten minutes, he suddenly said, “Can you put the two sisters’ beasts in the same glass jar?”

Qin Ci nodded and instructed the lab researcher to do so.

The researcher said, “Are you sure? The two beasts are likely to reject one another.”

Mu Yiran said, “Please do it.”

The two sisters’ beasts were soon placed in the same glass jar. Immediately, the elder sister’s 5 pieces were still suspended above, while the younger sister’s pieces were suspended below, forming a neat 6 rows.

Mu Yiran found an angle and carefully observed it for a long time. “Look. What does this look like?”

Everyone went to Mu Yiran’s angle to look at the beasts, and then they all felt as if their brain was no longer their own. Although the long and short rows looked familiar, they couldn’t tell what it looked like.

Zhao Yanbao guessed, “These things remind me of 6 trigrams and the like.”

Mu Yi nodded. “Yes, this is a hexagram.”

Everyone: ( )/

“The Guimei hexagram with the Zhen trigram on top and the Gua trigram at the bottom,” Mu Yiran said. <Note: Gui means return and mei means sister>

Everyone was once again shocked by the Big Boss’s depth of knowledge.

“What does this Guimei hexagram mean?” Su Benxin asked.

“It has the meaning of a woman getting married.” Mu Yiran thought for a moment and added, “The Guimei hexagram says: contending for supremacy, no advantages.”

It was originally an inauspicious hexagram, having come out of the depths of both sister’s ribs. How could it be considered lucky?

Xiao Qinxian’s older sister’s beast came out from Xiao Qinxian’s right ribs, while her own beast coincidentally came out of her own left ribs, creating a kind of left-right symmetry.

Su Benxin couldn’t help but say again, “Why do they say women are returning to their sisters when they get married? Obviously it is ‘leaving’, but why do they say ‘returning’?”

Zhao Yanbao explained on the side, “In ancient times, a woman’s marriage was the real return. Even in modern times, the marriage of a daughter is often referred to as finding a home.”

It was unavoidable that the topic would accidentally shift to the status of women.

But a thought flashed through Ke Xun’s mind. “I think this is very similar to our current situation. Obviously we entered the painting and left our original real world, yet many people felt a sense of returning home.”

Everyone thought that this made sense.

Mu Yiran further explained the hexagram, “The elder sister’s floating above is the guest trigram, while the younger sister’s sinking below is the main trigram. The elder sister is sleeping on the younger sister’s body, so that makes her a guest.”

Zhu Haowen stood the farthest away, and only glanced at the hexagram. “This is just the inner world of Xiao Qinxian and her sister. I think the most important thing for us now is to find the signature.”

Mu Yiran nodded, but still said, “Xiao Qinxian’s situation is different from ours. She is a combination of two people, one a local while the other an outsider. Her death may provide us with some clues.”

Zhu Haowen said nothing more, as if in agreement.

Zhao Yanbao explained, “Since yesterday, when Ke Xun spoke to the driver, we both thought that it was very important and so, on the way back, we also asked passersby on the streets about Yu Beiguo. These people all thought that the name was familiar, but they couldn’t remember where they had heard it. This thing is really confusing.”

“It’s really important.” Su Benxin walked to Luo Wei’s side. “I want to go to the train station with Luo Wei again today. I have already chatted with a few staff members at the station yesterday. Maybe today, I can learn more about Yu Beiguo within the city boundary.”

Luo Wei nodded. “Although they don’t have internet there, there is a computer that lists all the people leaving and entering the city. We’ll try to find a way to see if we can find anything about Yu Beiguo.”

They all felt that this was very important and so Qin Ci said, “Since it’s not too late yet, we should act immediately.”

“Yesterday, the person in charge of the station said that he has always wanted to buy a special asthma medicine made by our hospital. I wanted to bring him a few from the pharmacy, which can be regarded as establishing a relationship,” Su Benxin said.

“Okay, I’ll call the pharmacy.” Qin Ci nodded.

Su Benxin told the researcher, “Please refrigerate our beast in time. Don’t keep them at room temperature.”

The researcher nodded. “I’ll put them in the refrigerator.”

The group followed Qin Ci to his office, where he called the pharmacy, only to be told that the asthma medicine had been sold out and the earliest batch won’t be delivered until 3 in the afternoon.

It seemed that the matter of Luo Wei and Su Benxin going to the train station could only be postponed until the afternoon.

“Okay, let’s start assigning today’s tasks.” Qin Ci looked at the people in front of him. “The most important thing now is to find Yu Beiguo’s signature. After asking around, the people in this city are familiar with the name Yu Beiguo, so he should be in the city. It’s only that the painting had put up a shield so that people can’t remember where or how.”

At this time, a nurse happened to come in to make a report on some patients in the ward.

Qin Ci nodded to show he understood and then he asked the nurse, “Xiao Li, are you familiar with the name Yu Beiguo?”

“What Yu Beiguo?” the nurse asked. “I don’t remember knowing anyone with the surname Yu.”

Qin Ci wrote the three words on a piece of paper. “It’s these three words.”

The nurse had a sudden realization. “Oh, so it turns out to be these three words! Why, are these three words someone’s name?”

“Otherwise? What do you think it should be?” Qin Ci asked rhetorically.

“I don’t know what it should be. I probably thought it was a country at first, such as a country name or the era of a reign. I don’t know much about history.” The nurse smiled apologetically.

Zhu Haowen couldn’t help but ask, “Where have you seen these three words?”

The nurse thought about it carefully. “I really can’t remember them, but these three words left a deep impression on me, so I must have seen them somewhere. I just forgot, I’m sorry.”

Zhu Haowen wanted to ask if there was any medicine that could help people restore memories, because it was really maddening to see that people knew but just couldn’t remember.

If it weren’t for the fact that this was a smoke-free office, Zhu Haowen really wanted to light a cigarette and take a few puffs. In a hurry, he took two steps closer to the nurse. “What are these three characters that you have seen? What font is it? What color?”

These questions were very crucial, and everyone’s attention was on the nurse’s face.

The nurse thought about it for a long time. “I can’t remember the color. The font is very artistic. Since you said it’s a person’s name, then it seems like it might be a signature.”

“…” Everyone present seemed to hear their own cheering heartbeats.

Someone couldn’t help but ask, “Where did you see it? Can you think hard about where it is?!”