Paintings of Terror

Everyone obviously did not expect that the author of this painting had committed suicide. Yu Ji, another painter present, asked, "This Yu Beiguo must be very young, right?"

"Mr. Yu, as a painter in the same city, doesn't he know Yu Beiguo?" Su Benxin asked.

Yu Ji said: "I just came back from abroad last year. I have heard about Yu Beiguo in this city, but I have never met him. I only heard about him not long ago. It's a pity."

Su Benxin sighed softly: "It is said that his depression is getting more and more serious, that's why... I don't know much about it. Our small town is very small, and many local painters' paintings will be put on consignment in art galleries."

"Because of the artist's death, the painting before his death is not for sale?" Chi Lei guessed from the side.

Su Benxin nodded and stopped talking.

Zhao Yanbao looked at the clock on the dining room wall: "08:30, what time does the night in the painting start?"

This sentence was obviously asked to the old members present, Qin Ci replied: "According to the usual practice, it is usually after eleven o'clock."

"After all, we don't sleep at the same place. If there is danger at night, how can we notify other people?" Zhao Yanbao thought very practically.

"Our dormitories are all equipped with telephones, how about you?" Qin Ci asked.

Zhao Yanbao nodded: "We also have a phone there, and I have already copied down the phone number."

Wei Dong: "I don't know if the old broken phone in our house can work."

Lion: "It works, it works."

Luo Wei got up and went to the front desk, as if to borrow a pen and paper. When he came back, he turned on more lights, and the dining table became much brighter.

"Write down the phone number of each dormitory and make a simple address book." Luo Wei distributed the note paper in his hand to everyone present.

This proposal was very good. Everyone began to fill in the phone number on each piece of paper. In fact, every work unit has a fixed phone number, but the extension number of the room is different.

"It seems that there are no mobile phones in this world." The curly-haired young man Zhichun who had been silent all the time was speaking, this intern doctor who followed Qin Ci silently.

"Actually, I quite like reading mystery novels before the mobile phone era. It's better to go back a little longer. Even fingerprints and DNA can't be verified." After Chi Lei said this, she felt that it was a bit out of date, so she coughed twice, bowed her head and took a cold drink Dropped lemonade.

Weidong saw that Luo Wei, who was in the same room, finished writing the phone number, and knocked himself on the head: "I remember that the phone in our room seems to be a very old dial-up phone. I have never used this kind of phone since I was a child, no Knowing when to turn is a boss."

"Fang Xin," Lion added, "to a certain level, there will be a stumbling block there."

"Ni Yi's international friends know better than me."

"Telephones don't respect borders." Lion shrugged.

"I'm talking about Zhuan'er, Ni still knows about Zhuan'er..."

Everyone here has finished writing their phone numbers, and everyone has left a simple address book with a string of phone numbers in their hands.

Su Benxin was talking to Xiao Qinxian in a low voice: "...So, you also live in a room by yourself?"

"I'm the only woman in our place." Xiao Qinxian didn't bother to look at the "colleagues" in the hospital dormitory, and always felt that these guys were deliberately against him.

"Can the two of us be companions?" Although Su Benxin was asking Xiao Qinxian, he still turned his attention to the old members.

Qin Ci shook his head first: "The division of the workplace is a clear classification. If the place is confused, it may be regarded as disrupting the rules."

"Okay." Su Ben didn't say anything more.

Xiao Qinxian sneered: "Locking the door and closing the house at night is the most important thing, let's hope for luck."

Chi Lei said from the side: "Our detective agency also has a room for each person, because the three dormitories have already been divided, and we dare not mess with the rules."

"I don't think it's scary to live alone. The most important thing is to find out the rules of this world." This time it was Zhao Yanbao who spoke, and she looked in the direction of Mu Yiran and Ke Xun: "Chu Zhiyong said, our task is to Looking for the scarlet beast in this world, as far as tonight is concerned, we haven’t started the work yet, so it’s not considered that we haven’t completed the task, and we will be punished tonight.”

"The rules are different in every world. We have even experienced a world where the rules change every night before." This time it was Ke Xun who spoke. I don't think we'll ever be punished for not finding the beast, at least not tonight."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

But the old members feel that this matter is more difficult. Sometimes, "unknown mission" is more terrifying than "impossible mission".

"It's not yet nine o'clock, everyone can use an hour to talk freely," Qin Ci folded the phone paper in his hand, "If this world is not easy to start with, we can start with that painting first."

"That's an idea," Zhao Yanbao nodded, "In the art gallery just now, we all looked at the painting carefully, and even discussed it on the sidelines, now we might as well share our thoughts on the painting, maybe it will be helpful. "

Zhao Yanbao looked at Su Benxin as he spoke, and seemed to be most looking forward to the words of the owner of the art gallery.

Su Benxin pursed his lips slightly, and took the initiative to speak: "If you put aside the content of the painting, what do you think about the four words Scarlet Beast?"

Everyone is silent, and they don't understand the special connotation of these four words.

Weidong was the first to make an association: "If I were to say these four words alone, the first thing I would think of would be a bay red horse."

Lion said, "I think it's a red lion."

Zhichun: "I'm thinking of a huge red rhinoceros and hippopotamus."

other people:"……"

"The Japanese writer Yukio Mishima has a famous novel "The Hunger of Love". I wonder if anyone has read it." Su Benxin asked.

There are very few people present who have read this book, and some people only said that they have heard of it, and the only person who said they have read it is Chi Lei.

Chi Lei: "Does this book have anything to do with that painting?"

Under the bright light, Su Benxin's skin still looks white and flawless, "It is said that "The Hunger of Love" had another name before it was published, and because the editorial department was dissatisfied with that name, it was changed to "The Hunger of Love" "."

"Oh? What was it called before?"

"The Scarlet Beast."

Everyone was stunned, because it was so similar to the name of the painting that it was impossible to tell whether it was accidental or inevitable.

"What's in the book?" someone asked.

Chi Lei didn't know how to summarize a book: "Probably, a woman's lifelong love experience."

"Or it is, abnormal love." This time it was Xiao Qinxian who spoke.

"Have you all read this book?" Lion asked.

Xiao Qinxian: "I'm just curious what the women in Yukio Mishima's works would look like. I've only read this one of his books."

Ke Xun whispered to Mu Yiran beside him: "I remember that this Japanese writer is..."

"Yes." Mu Yi nodded.

I'm not done yet... Well, this Japanese writer seems to be GAY.

"What about abnormal love?" It was Qin Ci who asked the question this time. It seems that he has never read the works of this writer. "The more detailed the better, maybe it will be helpful to us."

The three women who have read this book—Su Benxin, Chi Lei, and Xiao Qinxian, looked at each other and reached an agreement. Su Benxin will tell everyone——

"The heroine in the book is called Etsuko. Because she was desperate for love, she personally killed the two men she loved." Su Benxin's voice became clear as the lights gradually dimmed.

The restaurant is about to close, and everyone cherishes the last bit of light, feeling like they are huddling together temporarily to keep warm.

"Etsuko really loves her husband, Ryosuke, but because of Ryosuke's flirtatiousness, she fell into jealousy after marriage, which was very painful. Later, her husband suffered from severe typhoid fever and lay on the bed with a respirator to survive. Taking care of him, that kind of care can even be said to be happy and greedy, because Etsuko feels that only at this time can she really have a husband. In the words of the original text, it is "Etsuko enjoys everything without omission, how greedy and boring at the miserable happiness that had befallen her afresh unexpectedly'.

"But the doctor's words broke Etsuko's happiness - 'the patient may be saved'. Her husband regained health and vitality, which was not the result Etsuko wanted, so she pulled out her husband's respirator and saw him Die in pain."

"Why?" Wei Dong couldn't help asking, "Since you love him and are willing to take care of him, why did you kill him at the last moment?"

Su Benxin's eyes were a little confused, and his expression was a little strange: "These things are very mysterious, and I can only explain them with the help of Etsuko's words in the book: 'If I get that kind of unreliable happiness, I would rather get a momentary happiness. At this time, I Felt it would be easier to see my husband's actual death than to hope for his unreliable life. . . . and yet, my husband's body was still alive, trying to betray me . . . the memory of jealousy revived.'”

Everyone chewed on these words, seeming to understand, but not understanding.

"This woman is terrible." Wei Dong took a sip of the cold lemonade, feeling his teeth were cold and sore.

"How did she kill the second man?" someone asked.

"The second man is Saburo, a servant in the country. This time the feelings are more hidden, and it can even be said to be Etsuko's wishful thinking, but she is extremely serious about it. There are a lot of words in the book to describe this feeling. A kind of energetic lust from the heart to the body.” Su Benxin’s voice sounded like a radio host on a night talk program, and it was very empathetic, “This kind of charm excavation about ordinary men is probably only like Yukio Mishima. Only an author with special talent can describe it well."

Just when someone was about to ask a question, Su Benxin suddenly said: "I remember a passage very clearly, about Etsuko's obsession with Saburo, it is said in the book-she felt that his back was like an unfathomable sea, She longed to throw herself into it. Although there is something close to the desire of the suicide, the desire of the suicide is not necessarily death."

When Ke Xun heard this, he couldn't help moving his fingers on his lap. This kind of description is indeed quite attractive, cruel and decisive, with a kind of willingness to fight.

Ke Xun couldn't help but cast a glance at Mu Yiran, only to find that the other party was casually looking at Luo Wei who was sitting in the dark, his eyes drooped, he raised them again, and looked at the clock on the wall.