Paintings of Terror

It was a bit stuffy in the cafe, Ke Xun rolled up the sleeves of his jacket, revealing his strong forearm, there were some bruises and pinches on it, Ke Xun wanted to cover it up too late, so he had to explain: "Every time it happens" stay For the thought of 'living in this city for the rest of my life', I give myself a hard pinch."

Wei Dong looked at the scar on Ke Xun's forearm, and couldn't help cursing: "This city is a trap, a trap that wants to lure us all into it! Ke Er, you still know how to remind yourself, I didn't realize it at all before 'revealing the secret' , I was thinking about looking for beasts in my mind. Even now, I have to force myself to let the word 'signature' light up like a light bulb in my head!"

Ke Xun put down the sleeve of his left arm, not wanting everyone to focus on himself: "Actually, the most uncomfortable person is Luo Wei. He is the only sober person, but there are unspeakable sufferings. Just now we talked about Su Benxin, I Now I'm a little worried about Luo Wei getting along with her. ——I always feel that Lion's death is not simple, he and Su Benxin talked for a long time after coming out of the restaurant last night."

Although Su Benxin also explained this later - I was really scared when night fell, so I wanted to chat with my old friends. We were kind of comforting each other at that time.

"I was a little worried about Luo Wei before, but some sensitive content will be blocked in the communication between people outside the city and people inside the city. This may be a kind of protection for Luo Wei. Moreover, when we were grouped, I met Luo Wei's eyes. He is a very smart person, and he will take precautions against Su Benxin." Mu Yiran put his right hand on Ke Xun's hanging left arm, as if gently stroking those scars.

Qin Ci had already finished the coffee in his cup: "Let's talk about Xiao Qinxian again. I was surprised by the results of her examination."

Wei Dong was choked by the spit of water in his mouth, he didn't expect Qin Ci to hold back such a boring cannon: "Pfft—cough cough, what's wrong with Xiao Qinxian?"

"Xiao Qinxian was sent to the examination room at four o'clock in the morning. She panicked at first, and then she was extremely uncooperative, even manic. The medical staff had to give her a sedative. She was in a state that can be regarded as mental Split." Qin Ci said.

Wei Dong said with a serious face, "I believe that, that woman looks abnormal during the day."

Mu Yiran wrote down some things in his notebook, and then asked, "Have you checked further?"

"The subsequent examination was also surprising. Xiao Qinxian has a history of smoking for ten years, and also has a history of drug use." Qin Ci said, "There are also many scars on the body similar to those left by oneself."

Wei Dong's eyes widened. Although Xiao Qinxian was quite unpopular, he really didn't see that she was a marginal woman, with a history of drug abuse? ——"Isn't she a wedding dress designer? I remember that she is still doing design in a famous wedding dress salon in S city. She said it at lunch yesterday, and said that this time she is going back to her hometown to visit relatives... It is also a bad luck reminder of."

Qin Ci shook his head: "But the medical examination can't be wrong, and the scars on the body can't be wrong either. ——If it's not self-harm, it's long-term abuse."

Ke Xun filled everyone with a cold water bottle, and took a sip to refresh himself: "It's so messy, it feels like eating a snack with multiple layers, there are cakes, biscuits, and a lot of Weiwei." Melted cream or something."

Wei Dong: "I'm holding back foreigners, that's called 'Napoleon'..." After all, Wei Dong didn't continue his teasing decompression, because when it comes to "foreigners", it reminds people of Lion, the foreign photographer with a sunny smile, Every time, I will pay special attention to articulating and say "Oh, nieces" aloud, and I will talk about my adventurous photography experience...

Mu Yiran took a sip of ice water, and after two nights, there was already a layer of green stubble on his face, but it didn't show a trace of carelessness, on the contrary, it added some informal dignity: "Different roads lead to the same goal , although the situation of Su Benxin and Xiao Qinxian seems tricky, they will all form a main line in the end."

Wei Dong nodded. Ever since he thought of the "signature", he has never forgotten the central idea, and he has devoted himself to preparing for the painting: "Finding a signature on the street is like looking for a needle in a haystack. The only hint this painting gives us now is 'Beast', I think the signature must have something to do with the beast!"

Everyone agreed on this point, Qin Ci said: "Just now Xiao Mu mentioned that Su Benxin recited the title page of "The Scarlet Beast". There are words. I was wondering, could the words on that woman's forehead have something to do with the words on the signature?"

Qin Ci's analysis made Ke Xun and Wei Dong raise their eyebrows and give a thumbs up, and then everyone waited for Mu Yiran to analyze.

Mu Yiran: "I have also made this assumption in my heart, and even imagined who this woman would be... But, after all, the woman in "Apocalypse" is the embodiment of a cult, and the words on her forehead are also very evil, if If these characters can be equated with the author's name..."

Ke Xun's eyes lit up, and the others seemed to think of something—"The author actually did the opposite. He didn't draw this painting to condemn the Scarlet Beast, but to praise it! So in this Xincheng, the beasts in people's bodies will be enshrined on the altar!"

Mu Yiran nodded: "However, Zhao Yanbao has brought back different voices from the university city this morning, and this voice has already formed a certain scale in this city. It is becoming more and more difficult to guess the original intention of the painter."

The beast returns to its body and its soul is complete.

At this time, these eight characters are printed on the wall of the cafe, in an avant-garde slogan style.

……

At lunch time, everyone returned to the hospital and gathered in the cafeteria to eat like yesterday.

It was still the same single room as yesterday, but there were three fewer people, which made people feel depressed and depressed.

"By the way, how is Xiao Qinxian? What about her lunch?" Zhao Yanbao asked.

"She is eating a nutritious meal, and she is still emotionally unstable. Let's go see her after lunch," Qin Ci said.

Zhao Yanbao looked at the delicacies on the table but had no appetite, so he only drank some orange juice: "The people in the university town are against the beast stripping operation, and they are also against the beast exchange. I learned from them that there are some people in society who specialize in Buy some mentally ill patients at a high price, then raise them, and even feed them some drugs that make their illnesses worse. It is said that such people have a higher chance of having animals in their bodies, and proper feeding will make animals rare.”

Zhao Yanbao looked at the glass filled with bright orange juice: "It's really inhumane."

Everyone also gradually felt the rot of this city inside the gold and jade exterior, and the more they saw this clearly, the more they wanted to escape.

"We seem to be able to see this painting more and more clearly. The artist himself is probably full of contradictions." Zhu Haowen said.

Regarding Yu Beiguo's analysis, everyone has not had time to talk to Zhu Haowen and Luo Wei, so it is inconvenient to say anything more at this time.

Wei Dong had already eaten half full, and looked up: "We don't have any valuable clues here, we only know that in this city, surgeons are very respected, and today in the cafe because of Dr. Qin's job card No bill."

Su Benxin looked at his 'colleague' Qin Ci, and smiled: "It seems that Dr. Qin is really suitable for this place. Many colleagues in the hospital are full of praise for Dr. Qin."

Qin Ci smiled lightly and did not speak.

"Today's sweet and sour pork is not ready, it's too sweet." Ke Xun changed the subject naturally, looked at Luo Wei, "I haven't heard you talking today, how is it, did you get something out of the trip just now?"

Luo Wei's expression was calm, not as painful as yesterday. He took a sip of the soup before saying, "We're going north today, and it's next to the train station, so there are all kinds of people."

"Train station?" In Ke Xun's impression, trains are often a means of transportation connecting cities. If there is a train in Xincheng, it should lead to outside Xincheng.

"Yes, the train goes out of the city." Luo Wei said, "The train tickets that people take also need to have special stamps. Some people plan to leave the city forever, and some people are on business trips or running For business, these people can’t leave the city border, they can only talk to people and make deals at the border.”

Su Benxin, who was traveling with Luo Wei this time, also added at this time: "Yes, those who leave Xincheng can never come back, and other foreigners who want to settle in this city need to do some special treatment , I feel like erasing memory or something.”

Luo Wei smiled wryly: "So, I have been trying to figure out what it means for the painter that I, a foreigner, is arranged in the city."

The whole Heart City is full of contradictions—contradictions inside and outside the city, conflicts of opposing views about the beast.

Luo Wei continued: "However, we met a tall man at the train station today."

"Senior?"

"Yes, it's an old lady who runs a stall at the train station, and it's a divination stall." When Luo Wei talked about this person, his eyes showed a rare look, "This old lady can tell at a glance that the two of us One is an outsider."

"You two?" Wei Dong looked at Su Benxin who was sitting there, "What does this outsider say?"

Luo Wei: "I also found it strange. When she saw me for the first time, she said in a strange dialect: Why did a foreigner come here. I thought at the time that she saw that I was a People outside the Xincheng area, how could she know that she would say after seeing Su Benxin: "Outlanders also bring a foreign woman."

Everyone felt strange when they heard it. Su Benxin said: "That old lady is very mysterious, and her appearance is also very strange, even a little weird. Her eyes are different colors. However, she is really very clever. She can actually see that I and I Rowe is someone who comes from outside the picture."

"Did she mention painting?" Mu Yiran suddenly asked.

"No, but she said that both of us are outsiders, isn't it strange? According to the original division, only Luo Wei is obviously an outsider among us." Su Benxin said.

Luo Wei went on to say: "So it's an expert, she seems to be able to see things we can't see, including this painting, maybe including the signature."