Paintings of Terror

Chapter 184: Su Benxin

At noon, everyone gathered inside the hospital cafeteria for lunch.

Qin Ci and his party went to several landmark buildings in the city to look for the signature, but they all returned without success.

Ke Xun briefly described how his group had managed to obtain 7 kilograms of beasts and everyone sighed.

Zhao Yanbao listened very seriously. “Should we also ask someone to perform a soul appeasement ceremony for the beasts of our companions too?”

“Chu Zhiyong said that once we have collected 13 kilograms of beasts, we can ask someone to perform a soul appeasement ceremony for them,” Qin Ci said.

.

“Now that we have enough, how will we hand it in?” Su Benxin asked.

“We have spoken to Chu Zhiyong on the phone. He said… Before night falls, there will be specialists coming to the police station to inspect the beasts,” Qin Ci said.

When everyone heard this sentence, they couldn’t help cursing. This was just deliberately forcing people to death. Because of this, they would have to stay an extra night, and so someone was bound to die at night. If they were lucky and no one died, they would still have to face a cruel vote the next day!

“The most important thing for us is to find the signature! Only then can we get rid of all this!” Wei Dong alway put the signature first as a means of alerting himself.

Everyone nodded, and Qin Ci said, “Let’s study the map after dinner to see if there are any places where the signature can hide. Boss Su and Luo Wei go to the train station in the afternoon to find the signature. Are just the two of you enough?”

Su Benxin thought about it and said, “There was only the both of us when we talked to them yesterday. It’s not good to suddenly have someone else appear with us.”

Qin Ci nodded and asked again, “By the way, did you gain anything from watching the video today?”

At the mention of this, Su Benxin’s expression turned somewhat ugly. “I was watching it fast-forwarded…When the beast came out, I started watching it at normal speed. It was very uncomfortable to see…However, I couldn’t find anything abnormal. Xiao Qinxian didn’t answer a phone call, so at least this doubt can be put to rest.”

This sentence brought the life of Xiao Qinxian and her sister to a final conclusion. No one could determine or guess what kind of past they shared and what demons were entangled in their hearts. How the strange Guimei Hexagram came into being, no one would ever know why, regardless of whether inside or outside the painting.

It was a bit ironic that Xiao Qinxian, such a mean and prickly person, would leave behind such a mystery.

……..

After dinner, Wei Dong went to the newstand downstairs to buy a few more maps. They decided to check the maps first before moving on to the next course of action.

The asthma medicine from the pharmacy finally arrived, and so Su Benxin and Luo Wei could finally leave.

They both took a taxi and went straight to the train station.

“Don’t forget the trolley case,” Luo Wei said.

“I haven’t forgotten and have already made a deposit yesterday,” Su Benxin said. “What’s more, that Sister Lin is clearly an opportunist. She might not be impressed with just a few asthma medicines.”

Sister Lin was in charge of passenger information at the station. Yesterday, Su Benxin had gotten close to Sister Lin and had promised to bring her some asthma medicines and a nice bag.

Sister Lin said that there was no need for a bag. However, her daughter will start university soon, and she had always wanted a good-looking and sturdy trolley case.

Su Benxin agreed and said that she had a good sister who sells trolley cases and so she could get them at a good price.

Luo Wei wasn’t good at establishing relationships, particularly when it involved women talking about bags and the like. Therefore, he was distracted, thinking about other things.

In the end, Sister Lin had smiled with some embarrassment and said that she will sort out all the information today and will let them look at it tomorrow.

Opting to proceed with caution, they didn’t mention the name Yu Beiguo to her, and in fact, Su Benxin only said that her cousin had left Heart City a few years ago and the family misses him very much.

The taxi stopped at the high-end luggage store next to the train station. They paid the fee and got out of the car. Su Benxin went directly to the store to pay the final balance. When she came out, she was pulling a very feminine trolley case.

Luo Wei wanted to help, but Su Benxin smiled and said, “It’s empty and so it’s not heavy. Besides, it’s a feminine model, so it’s not suitable for you to hold it.”

They both entered the office building inside the station. Su Benxin knocked on the door of an office and entered with the trolley case. When she came out again, she said, “The data archive room is actually at the city boundary. We have to take a train to get there.”

Therefore, they took a train and finally got off the stop in front of Heart City Checkpoint Station.

The reason why it was called Heart City Checkpoint Station was because it belonged to Heart City’s Border Station, and once you go beyond, you will be leaving the city.

All passengers must be strictly screened at the Border Station. Fearing that Luo Wei’s square badge would be recognized, they got off the car in advance and walked toward the border on foot.

The front gate also had a very strict inspection. Su Benxin looked at it for a while and finally stopped moving.

Luo Wei was confused at first, but Su Benxin grabbed his arm tightly and said, “Luo Wei, we’re leaving.”

“What?”

Su Benxin let out a brief smile. “Haven’t your body been feeling bad recently? Especially at the position of your heart?”

Luo Wei was surprised. “How do you know?”

“Because I feel it too.” Su Benxin placed her hand over the area of her heart and took a few deep breaths. “It feels uncomfortable because we don’t belong here.”

“We?”

Su Benxin took the Central Hospital work card off her chest and showed the back of the card to Luo Wei. There was a striking rectangular stamp on it, and inside were the words: Outsider of Heart City.

Luo Wei had never been so surprised since entering this painting. “You are also an outsider? Why are the work cards so inconsistent?”

Su Benxin seemed a little tired and so she simply sat on the large trolley case. “I thought it was very strange at first, and I still don’t understand it even now. Maybe, it’s because I’m a chess piece arranged by the people outside of the city, so my identity is a bit like yin and yang.”

“How did you find out about your identity?” Although Luo Wei was a little disgusted with Su Benxin’s act of hiding her identity, he couldn’t help but feel a somewhat strange sense of sympathy that they were both outsiders.

“After I received the first call,” Su Benxin said.

“You got a call too?!” Luo Wei? was surprised.

“Yes, when I received the first call, I felt terrified. The unclear voice told me, ‘There’s a beast tied up inside a person’s heart and it cannot get out.’” Su Benxin seemed to be trying hard to make herself calm down. “The second day after that, Chi Lei died and the beast in her heart was a tied-up female body.”

Luo Wei looked at Su Benxin, thinking about how unfamiliar she was. He didn’t understand this woman at all. It was difficult to imagine how a person could digest such a strange and terrifying phone call by herself without asking for any help at all from her companions.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I don’t trust anyone, and so I pondered this matter in my mind until I found the clue on my ID work card. Later, during lunch, I took the opportunity to look at your card to see whether they were both the same.”

Luo Wei remembered that scene. Su Benxin’s performance was so natural, carrying only the worry and sadness that an ordinary woman would have, making it really difficult to doubt her at all.

Luo Wei tried his best to calm down. “I remember that you let me see your forehead. Since you couldn’t trust anyone, why did you let me check your forehead?”

“What did you see then?”

“Nothing. There was no hint of red.” Luo Wei recalled the scene at the time. “Just that, in the position of the hairline, there was a black spot. But you said that you were born with it.”

Su Benxin pulled her hair back. “It’s here. It’s not a black spot, and I wasn’t born with it.”

Luo Wei came closer to look at the spot. It was indeed not a black spot. It wasn’t a black spot at all. On the skin was…a tiny black hole.

“This is…”

“This is a hole. I have always wondered why I suddenly have a small hole here.” Su Benxin smiled and looked at the city borders in the distance. The profile of her face displayed no undulations, no internal conflicts. “I didn’t realize until today that my beast had left a long time ago, probably from this place on my forehead, leaving only a small hole.”

Luo Wei frowned. It was difficult to digest what was happening right now, and at the same time, his face became even more pale due to the discomfort in his heart.

“The reason why I was defined as someone outside of Heart City is probably because I have never walked into this city, if this city represented the heart of the painter Yu Beiguo,” Su Benxin said.

“You know Yu Beiguo?”

“We used to be lovers. He wanted to keep the best moments in the best moments of love. He said that this kind of thought was like a beast slowly eating at his heart. He felt as if every step he took was leading him downhill, and so he dared not go any further. He could only find a way to stop.”

“What about your beast?” Luo Wei asked. “Why did it leave and left you unscathed?”

“Because I have a way to release it.” Su Benxin’s expression suddenly became fierce. But within moments, she regained her calmness. “I helped him locate the beast that was bothering him, and it was I who taught him how to get rid of his beast. That’s the only way I could resolve my own beast.”

Luo Wei silently thought about her words and finally said, “You taught him everything, including how to commit suicide. Just like Etsuko in the story of The Scarlet Beast. Only by killing and getting rid of the thing that bothers her, can she live in peace.”

“That’s pretty much it.” The wind blew at Su Benxin’s messy, curly hair. “I received a second call on the second night, and the person told me that a painting was going to be exhibited from someone’s body. I was frightened, but I still dared to ask who this person was and why he told me this. Was this simply a dull pastime for him, or was it a kind reminder?”

“In the end, the other person said that this was an order, an order to us outsiders. These beasts are very precious to us and we need to transfer them.”

Hearing this, Luo Wei’s eyes suddenly turned to look at the large, trolley case Su Benxin was sitting on.

Su Benxin didn’t seem to notice the direction of Luo Wei’s gaze. She continued, “That person told me that when the Guimei Hexagram appears, that will be the day that we’ll need to return.”

Xida:?It’s very disappointing how the team knew to suspect Su Benxin, know she wasn’t forthcoming with information, and yet put up no guards against her at all. Smh. I hope Luo Wei will be okay.