The night seemed exceptionally long.
"It's strange that Dongzi got drunk, and that Yu Ji too. If he had a low alcohol tolerance, he wouldn't have gone out for beer on his own." Ke Xun and Mu Yiran had already turned off the lights and lay down. The day's experiences had left them with no desire to wear their uniforms and sleep together. Now they were each lying on their own single beds with metal frames.
"At least alcohol is equal for people with and without redness." Mu Yiran's voice sounded particularly soothing in the darkness, reminiscent of a snow-white magnolia tree in the dead of night.
"Hmm, Dongzi didn't blush, but Yuji did. They both got drunk after just a sip of alcohol." Ke Xun couldn't figure it out. "Anyway, let's not drink anymore, just in case."
"These newcomers all have something elusive about them," Mu Yiran said, gazing at the pale moonlight outside the window. "Like Xiao Qinxian, like Su Benxin—I thought Su Benxin would have red marks."
"Why?"
"No basis, just a gut feeling."
"That woman must have a story," Ke Xun rolled over. "I can ask Lion about it sometime."
"Hmm."
"Have you read that book? *The Scarlet Beast*." Ke Xun realized that the two of them had never talked about reading experiences before.
"No," Mu Yiran said frankly. "I've read this author's *The Temple of the Golden Pavilion* and *Confessions of a Mask*."
"Oh." Ke Xun paused for a moment. "So Yiran has also read that book of awakening."
*Confessions of a Mask* is about Yukio Mishima's awakening regarding his sexual orientation. Ke Xun had heard many people in the industry talk about it.
"Actually, *The Temple of the Golden Pavilion* is better." Mu Yiran paused here, suddenly realizing he couldn't articulate why the work was good. It seemed that what he had previously affirmed had changed—the ultimate beauty, the ultimate good, the ultimate perfection—no longer held the same allure.
Something that had once been insignificant, like a speck of dust, had somehow become abundant and full, existing as simply as oxygen.
To have a place to belong, a place to find peace of mind, was the best thing in the world. Even if it was just in a painting.
The night in the painting flowed quietly by, like a giant hourglass filled with black sand…
In
the early morning, the piercing ring of the telephone woke everyone; the old-fashioned telephone ring often possessed a courage that seemed to tear the heavens apart.
Qin Ci's voice came from the other end of the phone, short and deep: "Zhi Chun is in trouble."
Ke Xun: "We're on our way right away."
The people from the other two rooms also rushed into this room, obviously attracted by the ringing phone. Ke Xun put down the receiver, about to say, "Let's go to the Central Hospital first," when the phone rang again, startling everyone. Ke Xun quickly answered, this time his voice as expressionless as its owner: "Chi Lei is dead."
The caller was Zhu Haowen. Ke Xun: "I know, Zhi Chun at the hospital is in trouble too."
Zhu Haowen: "Zhao Yanbao called the police immediately, and they said the criminal police and forensic doctor will be here soon."
...
Ke Xun and Mu Yiran, as criminal police, Xiao Qinxian and Lion, as forensic doctors, and Wei Dong, as a person temporarily transferred from the household registration department, were all assigned to go to the Chijian Detective Agency immediately.
When Chu Zhiyong was assigning these tasks, Luo Wei stood aside. Since the old policeman didn't ask him to leave, he simply listened in for a while.
Chu Zhiyong ignored Luo Wei, not in the sense of ignoring him as if he were invisible, but rather—Luo Wei, an outsider, would likely be used to Chu Zhiyong's presence in any situation.
Leading the group of new police officers was a forensic doctor in his forties, surnamed Zhao.
Forensic doctor Zhao was thin and taciturn, mostly walking silently behind the others.
The group of seven quickly arrived at the Cocoon Detective Agency, where a uniquely designed garden villa stood before them, the bedrooms on the second floor.
Zhu Haowen was already waiting at the villa's door, unsurprised by the arrival of his colleagues in police uniforms: "Zhao Yanbao discovered it this morning. She knocked on the door to call Chi Lei for breakfast, but there was no response, so we pushed the door open."
Xiao Qinxian asked first, "How did the person die?"
Xiao Qinxian's face was pale; ever since hearing about the death that morning, her face had remained ashen.
"It's not outwardly obvious. Zhao Yanbao said she's had a weak heart since childhood; perhaps she had an attack last night." Zhu Haowen had already led everyone to the second floor.
The entire office was tastefully decorated in a sophisticated Morandi color scheme, filled with pure white, khaki, and high-end gray.
There were exactly three dorm rooms, as if pre-arranged for the three "workers" who would be staying there.
Zhao Yanbao stood in front of the middle room, her eyes slightly red, as if she had just been crying: "When they found her, she was already cold."
Forensic doctor Zhao, already dressed in her forensic gear, led her two "apprentices" into the room first.
Ke Xun and the others temporarily stayed outside, sitting on a light gray, minimalist sofa.
Whether it was because of the incident or the room's layout, everyone felt a slight chill, a coldness even more intense than the chill of early spring.
"Aren't you cold sleeping at night?" Wei Dong buttoned up the top button of his police uniform shirt, glanced at Zhao Yanbao standing to the side, and felt it was rather impolite to complain about the temperature now, so he added, "I heard that people with heart problems are very afraid of the cold."
Zhu Haowen turned on the central air conditioning with the remote: "Chi Lei's room had the air conditioning on all night, and it was still warm this morning."
Everyone fell silent.
Mu Yiran asked Zhao Yanbao, "Her heart problem has always been very serious?"
Zhao Yanbao lowered her eyes, not looking at Mu Yiran: "She has been in poor health since childhood, with congenital heart disease. She has had sudden attacks before, requiring emergency resuscitation, but she was always pulled back from the brink of death..."
The idea of someone dying in a painting was something the veteran members had never encountered before.
A moment later, the forensic doctor, Zhao, came out of the room, removing his mask and gloves: "The deceased died of heart failure, estimated time of death between 1:00 AM and 3:00 AM."
"Was she in pain when she passed away?" Zhao Yanbao asked.
Zhao, the forensic doctor, didn't answer. Whether he was unsure or unwilling to speak, he only said, "Please accept my condolences."
Everyone fell silent, unsure what to say, let alone how to comfort Zhao Yanbao.
Xiao Qinxian's complexion had regained some color, probably because she understood the cause of Chi Lei's death, which was reassuring—birth, aging, illness, and death are the natural order of things; at least it wasn't some kind of strange accident.
Zhao, the forensic doctor, took out a stack of documents from his briefcase: "As the deceased's relatives and friends, you all need to collectively sign the final 'Corpse Disposal Opinion Form.'"
Zhao Yanbao took the documents with some confusion, glanced at the dense text, and had no interest in reading further: "What does this mean? Could you please explain it simply?"
"Simply put, it's about whether or not to take the animal. This requires the eleven of you to reach a final agreement by majority vote." Zhao, the forensic doctor, spoke calmly, as if giving a routine official instruction.
"Remove the beast?" Zhao Yanbao wondered if she had misheard. "What do you mean?"
"There's a beast inside her. We can remove it, or we can bury her with the beast inside. We respect your choice," said the forensic doctor, Zhao.
"Inside her? Inside her?" This time, it was Xiao Qinxian who expressed shock. "How did you know there was a beast inside her?"
"Her body already showed a red animal mark, right on her forehead. Didn't you see it just now?"
Xiao Qinxian stammered, "I…I didn't dare to look closely just now…"
Just as everyone was collectively horrified, Mu Yiran had already briefly flipped through the "Corpse Handling Opinion Report": "It mentions that the animal can be permanently preserved in the body, or it can be removed for family members to keep as a memento, or it can be donated to the public—I want to know, what exactly does 'animal' refer to in the legal context? Organs? Offspring? Or some kind of objectified commodity?"
Forensic Doctor Zhao asked in return, "Have you just arrived in Xincheng?"
Wei Dong whispered, "We just arrived yesterday."
Forensic Doctor Zhao then nodded thoughtfully: "The animal is a unique existence in Xincheng. If you find it hard to understand, you might as well think of it as…the placenta. After a pregnant woman gives birth, the placement of the placenta also requires the consent of the family. It can be taken away by the family or left with the hospital. It's not hard to understand, it's that simple."
But everyone felt that this matter was not so simple, especially since the fact that one of their own people "had an animal inside her" was itself unacceptable.
Zhao, the forensic doctor, seemed to have completed his task and was about to leave. Before leaving, he glanced at his two "colleagues" who were also wearing white coats, and then said, "Isn't your task to find the beast? There's one right here."
"But..." Xiao Qinxian opened her mouth but couldn't say anything for a long time.
"Don't worry, the scars from the animal retrieval will be made seamless and won't affect the appearance," Forensic Doctor Zhao's focus was always on a different wavelength from everyone else's. He patted Lion on the shoulder: "You guys still have a lot of work to do, keep up the good work."
Lion looked a little dazed: "Oh… what kind of work do we have to do?"
"You two are in your old profession."
"What old profession?" Lion shrugged. "Oh, I'm just a photographer, what can I do?"
"Take photos of the deceased," Forensic Doctor Zhao calmly looked at Xiao Qinxian beside him, "You design her clothes. An unmarried girl must be dressed beautifully."
Xiao Qinxian's face turned pale again: "I, I'm a wedding dress designer."
Forensic Doctor Zhao was used to it: "This is also an old custom in our Xincheng. Unmarried people who die must wear wedding attire. You design her wedding dress."
"…"
After giving these instructions, Forensic Doctor Zhao grabbed his briefcase and left in a hurry.
No one went to see him off. Suddenly, Xiao Qinxian remembered something, her face pale, and she chased after him downstairs: "Wait, wait a minute!"
Forensic doctor Zhao stopped in the lobby on the first floor and saw this petite girl catch up to him, her eyes shining with a light that hadn't been there before: "Approximately how much did the beast inside the deceased weigh? How many kilograms? How many grams?!"
"That's unknown. Even a god couldn't predict it," Forensic doctor Zhao shook his head with a smile. "To use an imperfect analogy, it's like gambling on jade; nobody knows how much jade is inside."