Ke Xun felt Luo Wei's eyes scrutinizing him like a high-precision scanner, finally concluding, "No, you don't have it on your face."
"Then, what about Yi Ran?"
"He doesn't either." Luo Wei's gaze swept lightly over Mu Yi Ran, seemingly having carefully observed him.
Although he still didn't understand what those red marks were, Ke Xun breathed a sigh of relief. At least in the face of unknown danger, Mu Yi Ran was in the same boat as him.
Ke Xun and Mu Yi Ran fell silent, quietly waiting for Luo Wei to reveal what he had seen—
"Some people, like the two of you, have faces that are no different from before the painting. But others…" Luo Wei's voice was slightly hoarse.
"The first person I found with red marks was Xiao Qinxian. It was after we got back to the dorm this afternoon when I noticed a very obvious red birthmark under her eye. Although I hadn't observed her closely before, it seemed very abrupt. —That red, it was a red that could kill off all the surrounding colors."
Ke Xun hadn't seen such a red with his own eyes, but in his imagination, it was probably like the little girl in the red dress being pushed onto the garbage truck in the movie *Schindler's List*.
Luo Wei chuckled coldly as he spoke, "Xiao Qinxian probably noticed my overly probing gaze and became suspicious and averse to me."
"What about the others?" Mu Yiran asked.
"We found red birthmarks of varying sizes on the foreheads of Chi Lei and Zhi Chun in front of the restaurant. Something seemed off then, until we saw Dr. Qin."
"Qin Ci?" Ke Xun never expected Qin Ci to have fallen victim to it as well.
"Yes, half of Dr. Qin's forehead is covered by a dark red birthmark-like mark. It's a very old, deep red, unlike the others." Luo Wei subconsciously touched his forehead. "Most of the other people's marks are bright red, attached to their foreheads, but Xiao Qinxian's is below her eye."
Ke Xun was stunned for a while after hearing Qin Ci's name.
"Who else is there?" Mu Yiran asked.
"Zhu Haowen has a bright red dot like a red bean between his eyebrows, and Yu Ji's is on his forehead, a willow leaf-shaped mark, darker in color." Luo Wei recalled carefully. "Now take out paper and pen, I should be able to roughly draw the shapes of these people's birthmarks."
Mu Yiran was not in a hurry to take out paper and pen, seemingly wanting to sort out the current situation first: "According to the order you just said: Xiao Qinxian, Zhi Chun, Chi Lei, Qin Ci, Zhu Haowen, Yu Ji, are these six people?"
Luo Wei's voice was a little low: "There's still one missing."
"Who?"
"Me."
There was also a hint of surprise in Mu Yiran's eyes.
Luo Wei's finger never left his right temple: "Right here, a patch about the size of a broad bean, a darker color, but slightly brighter than Dr. Qin's."
Ke Xun leaned closer to Luo Wei, staring at the spot for a long time, but couldn't see anything: "Why is it that only you can see it?"—Everyone else's eyes seemed to be blocked by a red screen.
"Probably because I'm the only one from outside the city," Luo Wei said.
"But why do you, someone from outside the city, have a red mark on your forehead?" Ke Xun asked again, "When did you find this patch?"
"I saw it in the bathroom mirror. I was startled when I first saw it; I didn't expect to have one myself." Luo Wei slowly got up, walked to the window, and leaned out. He saw that Xiao Qinxian's window was still lit. Luo Wei turned back, leaning against the window, his face clean and smooth under the light—at least in the eyes of 'city people'.
"If this counts as having 'third eye,' it should have started from the moment I received the out-of-towner's ID. Unfortunately, at the time, I was completely preoccupied with my special identity and didn't pay any attention to the faces of the people around me." Luo Wei had roughly deduced the timeline. "Our red marks probably didn't appear suddenly; they must have been on our faces ever since the marks were applied. Only out-of-towners stamped with the 'Outside Heart City Area' mark can see them."
The three of them couldn't analyze the significance of these red marks, but they were certain that these red marks were related to the Crimson Beast.
"There are thirteen people in total, and seven of them have red marks. They are distributed across the three workplaces." Mu Yiran took out paper and pen and made a simple record. The remaining work was handed over to Luo Wei, who was asked to draw the shape and location of each person's red marks from memory, including the extent of the spread of the red edges—no one could guarantee that these red marks would change tomorrow, nor could they guarantee that people with clean faces tonight would suddenly develop suspicious red marks tomorrow.
Ke Xun hadn't expected Luo Wei to have some basic drawing skills, able to grasp the proportions and features of a person's face. Gradually, Ke Xun was horrified by the marks on Qin Ci's face in the drawing. Although it was done with a pencil, red itself was very evocative—Qin Ci's red marks covered the left half of his forehead, even extending to his left eye.
"His color is the darkest, almost blackish-red, and Yu Ji's is also quite dark, and the rest is mine," Luo Wei drew the last face, which was his own. "If the three of us belong to the dark red family, then the remaining four belong to the bright red family." Ke Xun
's emotions were very complicated at this moment. Seeing the most severe red marks on Qin Ci's face, he felt as if something was stuck in his chest, both worried and sad. Looking up at Luo Wei, who was drawing seriously, he also felt sad, but at the same time, he couldn't help but admire the other's composure.
When the work was assigned in the afternoon, Luo Wei, as an outsider from "outside the Heart City area," already had a sense of loneliness, as if abandoned by the world. Moreover, when he asked the old policeman and everyone else, no one could hear him on the spot.
Those red marks, like a conspiracy, were discovered by him, and only he could see them. However, while peeking into these secrets, he also saw the red marks on his own face in the mirror. It
was truly an ironic scene. As an outsider with a "clearer perspective," Luo Wei should have been the most lucid, yet he couldn't avoid being tainted by the red dust of the inner city.
Ke Xun felt somewhat depressed and reached out to touch Luo Wei's actual forehead, following the location shown in the picture. The area with the "legendary" red marks felt no different from other parts of his skin: "Does it feel any different from other parts?"
"Nothing inherently different," Luo Wei smiled gently, "but ever since I saw it, I've always felt that small patch of skin isn't my own."
This psychological change was perfectly normal.
Ke Xun: "I still don't understand what the criteria for division are. Is this difference between having red and not having red chosen after the figure is drawn, or is it predetermined before it's drawn?"
"I think it must be related to something within," Luo Wei lightly colored the marks on the figure in the drawing with a pencil. "These marks might be the gateway to the heart."
Ke Xun and Mu Yiran both agreed with this statement, but because they couldn't understand the connection, they couldn't elaborate on the matter.
The horseshoe-shaped clock on the table pointed to twelve o'clock, and Luo Wei prepared to get up: "I've only told you two about these things. Although I shouldn't have kept it from everyone, I was afraid of causing unnecessary panic."
Panic is inevitable, and some might even use it as a pretext for infighting. After all, everyone's assigned task is to "find enough beasts," and those with red marks might be mistaken for having ties to them. Just because Luo Wei glanced at Xiao Qinxian a few times, she tried every means to exclude him; how much more so for this serious "difference"? If suspicion and distrust lead to internal factionalism, I'm afraid no one will be able to escape this situation.
"No, I have to tell Qin Ci and Haowen. Although I don't know how to prevent it, we need to be extra careful tonight," Ke Xun scratched his head, "especially Qin Ci."
Mu Yiran didn't speak, but cooperatively pulled out the piece of paper with a phone number written on it.
Luo Wei had already stood up to leave: "You guys figure out the rest. It's getting late."
Luo Wei opened the door and saw Xiao Qinxian in the corridor, wearing a forensic lab coat and leaning against the wall smoking.
Luo Wei looked at her but didn't intend to speak.
Xiao Qinxian spoke up first: "I just got a phone call."
Luo Wei stopped, looking at her questioningly.
"The other person didn't say a word." Xiao Qinxian was a little annoyed, roughly combing her hair with one hand, making her mushroom-shaped haircut messy. "I just unplugged the phone line. Why don't the phones here even have caller ID? I had to unplug it to calm down."
"Are you calm now?" Luo Wei said. "If you're scared, you can squeeze in with us."
Xiao Qinxian lit a cigarette: "No need, I've always been a lucky one."
Luo Wei squinted at this "lucky one" through the cigarette smoke, the striking red beauty mark under her eye like a drop of blood.
...
Ke Xun had already dialed Qin Ci's number and heard the familiar voice on the other end: "Still not asleep?"
Suddenly, he felt a special warmth. He didn't know when, but these friends who worked together in the art world had become like family.
"Can't sleep, are you alone in your room?"
"Yes, I guess it's a special treatment for a chief physician." Qin Ci smiled wryly.
"Luo Wei came over just now, he saw some strange things..." Ke Xun briefly explained about the red marks.
There was a brief silence on the other end of the phone, followed by Qin Ci's voice: "You should have said so earlier. Draw along the edge of the red mark with a pen; that way, you can easily observe its subtle changes."
"...Let's not talk about changes yet; I just wanted to remind you to be careful."
"Don't worry, judging from that old policeman's tone, they need a surgeon here; they probably won't kill a doctor so soon." Qin Ci, like an older brother, reassured Ke Xun.
"Carry a scalpel with you when you sleep, just in case."
"Hmm, that's a good idea."
Ke Xun hung up the phone, paused for a moment, then dialed Zhu Haowen's number from his phone book.
"Who is it?" The other person seemed to be asleep.
Ke Xun briefly explained his purpose, and the other person asked again for the exact location: "A red dot between the eyebrows? That's a really dangerous location."
"Yeah, so be careful."
"How about I put a band-aid on it to cover it up? I happen to have a small first-aid kit here."
"...Okay."
Ke Xun hung up the phone and looked at Mu Yiran: "They're both quite optimistic."