Paintings of Terror

The night seemed extraordinarily long.

"It's strange that Dongzi is drunk, and Yu Ji, if he can't drink enough, he probably won't take the initiative to drink beer." Ke Xun and Mu Yiran have already turned off the lights and lay down. Both of them lost interest in wearing uniforms and sleeping in bed, and now each lay on their own iron single beds.

"At least alcohol is equal to people with or without red." Mu Yiran's voice sounded very comfortable in the dark night, reminding one of the snow-white magnolia tree in the middle of the night.

"Well, Dongzi is not popular, but Yu Ji is. Both of them are drunk when they drink." Ke Xun couldn't figure it out, "Anyway, let's stop drinking in the future, just in case."

"There are some elusive things about these newcomers," Mu Yiran looked at the faint moonlight outside the window, "such as Xiao Qinxian, such as Su Benxin—I thought Su Benxin would have red marks."

"why?"

"Unfounded, gut feeling."

"That woman should have a story," Ke Xun turned over, "If you have a chance, you can ask Lion."

"Ah."

"Have you read that book? "The Scarlet Beast." Ke Xun found that the two had never talked about their reading experience.

"No," Mu Yiran said frankly, "I have read "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion" and "Confessions of a Mask" by this writer."

"Oh." Ke Xun paused for a while, "It turns out that Yiran also read the book of awakening."

"Confessions of a Mask" is Yukio Mishima's awakening of his own sexual orientation. Ke Xun has heard many insiders talk about it.

"Actually, "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion" is better." Mu Yiran paused at this point, and suddenly realized that he couldn't say how good this work was. It seemed that what he had previously affirmed had changed—extreme beauty, extreme Well, the extreme, the extreme, is no longer so attractive.

In my heart, things that were once insignificant like dust became full and rich at some point, existing as simply as oxygen.

It is the best thing in the world to have a place for body and mind.Even in a painting.

The night in the painting passes quietly, like a huge hourglass filled with black sand grains.

……

In the early morning, the piercing ringing of the telephone wakes everyone up, and the old-fashioned telephone ringing often has the courage to tear the sky.

On the other end of the phone was Qin Ci's voice, short and deep: "Something happened to Zhichun."

Ke Xun: "We'll rush there right away."

People from the other two rooms also rushed into this room, apparently attracted by the ringing of the phone. Ke Xun put down the receiver and was about to say, "Let's go to the Central Hospital first", but the phone rang again deafeningly. , startled people, Ke Xun hurriedly picked up, this time the voice was as expressionless as its owner: "Chi Lei is dead."

It was Zhu Haowen who called, Ke Xun: "Understood, Zhichun at the hospital also had an accident."

Zhu Haowen: "Zhao Yanbao immediately called the police, and the other party said that the criminal police and the forensic doctor will arrive soon."

……

Ke Xun and Mu Yiran were criminal police officers, Xiao Qinxian and Lion were forensic doctors, and Wei Dong was temporarily transferred from the household registration department. They were arranged to rush to the Cocoon Detective Office immediately.

When Chu Zhiyong was arranging these tasks, Luo Wei stood aside. Since the old policeman didn't ask him to avoid him, he simply listened to him.

Chu Zhiyong turned a blind eye to Luo Wei. This kind of blindness is not the kind of people who regard people as air, but——Luo Wei, an outsider, no matter where he appears, Chu Zhiyong will probably be surprised.

The leader of the new police officers was actually a forensic doctor in his 40s, surnamed Zhao.

Forensic Zhao was thin and seldom spoke, and most of the time he walked silently behind everyone.

A group of seven people quickly arrived at the Cocooning Detective Agency. In front of them was a garden villa with a unique design, and the bedroom was on the second floor.

Zhu Haowen was already waiting in front of the villa, and was not surprised by the arrival of several companions in police uniforms: "Zhao Yanbao found out this morning, and knocked on the door to ask Chi Lei to have breakfast, but no one responded, so we opened the door go in."

Xiao Qinxian was the first to ask: "How do people die?"

Xiao Qinxian's face was pale, ever since she heard that someone died in the morning, her face has been as pale as a wall.

"It can't be seen from the surface. Zhao Yanbao said that she has had a bad heart since she was a child. Maybe she fell ill last night." Zhu Haowen had already led everyone to the second floor.

The decoration of the entire office is very elegant, the color is the elegant gentleman's Morandi color scheme, full of various pure white khaki and high-grade gray.

There are exactly three bedrooms, as if they were arranged in advance for the three "workers" who moved in.

Zhao Yanbao stood in front of the door of the middle bedroom, his eyes were slightly red, it seemed that he had just cried: "When I found out, I was already cold."

Forensic Zhao had already put on his forensic medical outfit, and led the two "apprentices" into the room first.

Ke Xun and the others avoided the door for the time being, and sat on the taupe-gray, indifferent couch.

I don't know if it was because of an accident or because of the layout of the room, everyone felt a slight chill, the kind of cold that was worse than the coldness of spring.

"Aren't you cold when you sleep at night?" Wei Dong buttoned up the top shirt button of the police uniform, looked at Zhao Yanbao who was standing aside, and felt that it was impolite to complain about the temperature, so he added: "Listen People who say they have a bad heart are afraid of the cold."

Zhu Haowen turned on the central air conditioner with the remote control: "The air conditioner was always on in Chi Lei's room last night, and it was still warm this morning."

The crowd fell silent for a while.

Mu Yiran asked Zhao Yanbao: "Her heart problem has always been serious?"

Zhao Yanbao lowered her eyes, and did not look at Mu Yiran: "She has been in poor health since she was a child, and she has a congenital heart disease. She also had a sudden illness before, and she was given emergency rescue, but she was pulled back from the hands of death..."

It was the first time for several old members to encounter such a thing as illness and death in the painting.

After a while, Forensic Doctor Zhao came out of the room and took off the mask and gloves: "The deceased died of heart failure, and the time of death is estimated to be between 1:00 and 3:00 in the morning."

"Did she walk in pain?" Zhao Yanbao asked.

Zhao Fayi didn't answer, whether he didn't understand or didn't want to say it, he just said: "Please mourn."

Everyone was silent and didn't know what to say, let alone how to comfort Zhao Yanbao.

Xiao Qinxian's complexion was a little rosier than before, probably because she understood the cause of Chi Lei's death, but it was reassuring - birth, old age, sickness and death are human nature, at least they did not die from some kind of evil accident.

Forensic Doctor Zhao took out a stack of documents from his briefcase: "As the relatives and friends of the deceased, you need to collectively sign the final "Death Disposal Statement."

Zhao Yanbao took these documents with some doubts, looked at the densely packed text on them, and was not in the mood to read on: "What does this mean? Could you please explain briefly?"

"To put it simply, it is whether to take the beast or not. This requires the 11 of you to reach a final opinion with the minority obeying the majority." Zhao Forensic has a calm expression, as if explaining ordinary business.

"Get the beast?" Zhao Yanbao suspected that he had heard it wrong, "What do you mean?"

"There is a beast in her body, which can be taken out or buried with the beast. We respect your choice." Zhao Fayi said.

"Inside? There is a beast inside?" This time it was Xiao Qinxian who expressed horror, "How do you know that there is a beast inside her?"

"Her body has shown the red mark of the beast on her forehead. Didn't you see it just now?"

Xiao Qinxian muttered: "I didn't dare to look carefully just now..."

Just when everyone was collectively horrified, Mu Yiran briefly read the "Corpse Disposal Letter": "It is mentioned here that the beast can be kept in the body forever, or it can be taken out and kept by the family as a souvenir, and it can also be donated to the public—— I want to know, what does the beast refer to in the legal scope? Organs? Fruits? Or some kind of commodity that has been materialized?"

Zhao Fayi asked back: "Are you guys just coming to Xincheng?"

Wei Dong whispered, "I just came here yesterday."

Zhao Fayi nodded thoughtfully: "The beast is a unique existence in our heart city. If you find it difficult to understand, you might as well think of it as...the placenta. When a pregnant woman gives birth, the placenta needs family members to stay or stay." Those who come to agree can be taken away by the family or left in the hospital. It is not difficult to understand, it is as simple as that.”

But everyone feels that this matter is not that simple, especially the fact that one of us "has a beast in his body" itself is unacceptable.

Forensic Zhao's task seemed to have been completed. He was about to leave. Before leaving, he looked at the two "colleagues" who were wearing white coats like himself, and said again: "Isn't your task just to find animals? Here are off the shelf."

"But..." Xiao Qinxian opened his mouth for a long time but didn't say anything.

"Don't worry, the scars after taking the beast will be made seamless and won't affect the appearance." Forensic Zhao's focus was never on the same frequency as everyone else, and he patted Lion on the shoulder: "There is still a lot of work for you in the future, Go ahead and do it."

Lion's expression was a little blank: "Oh, what are you going to do?"

"You two are old enough to do it."

"What kind of business?" Lion shrugged his shoulders, "Oh, I'm just a photographer, what can I do?"

"Take a picture of the deceased." Forensic Zhao looked at Xiao Qinxian who was beside him with a calm expression, "You come to design clothes for her. Unmarried girls must dress beautifully."

Xiao Qinxian's face turned pale again: "I, I'm a wedding dress designer."

Forensic Zhao was not surprised: "This is also an old rule in our Xincheng. When an unmarried person dies, he has to wear a wedding dress. Come and design a wedding dress for her."

"..."

After Zhao Forensic explained this, he picked up his briefcase and left in a hurry.

None of the people went to see him off, Xiao Qinxian suddenly thought of something, and chased downstairs with a pale face: "Wait, wait a minute!"

Forensic doctor Zhao stopped in the lobby on the first floor, and saw this thin girl chasing after him, with a light that was not there before: "How much does the beast inside the deceased weigh? How many catties? How many grams?" ?!"

"This is unknown, even if the gods come, they can't predict it," Forensic Zhao shook his head with a smile, "To use an inappropriate analogy, it's like betting on stones, no one knows how many emeralds there are. "