When the topic turned to Qin Ci's afternoon surgery, everyone urged him to go home and take a nap to recharge.
Luo Wei, not one for such sentimental talk, simply picked up his lemonade and drank. Su Benxin, sitting nearby, glanced at Luo Wei's badge: "It's strange. You wear it like that, but the locals seem oblivious. From what I've observed, 'outsiders' aren't very common; at least, I've only seen you." "
Indeed, not just the locals, but you too," Luo Wei said, not jokingly. "There are some things I said that you all seem not to hear."
Su Benxin, as if she hadn't heard, continued, "Could you take it off and let me see? I'm curious."
"Sure." Luo Wei took it off for her to see. The square stamp reading "Outside Heart City Area" was very conspicuous. Su Benxin looked at the front and then the back, then handed it back to Luo Wei with both hands. "I have a feeling this thing will be useful to us; maybe it can help everyone escape Heart City in the end."
"I hope so." Luo Wei smiled faintly, a hint of melancholy in his eyes—some of his words had vanished like air, ignored by everyone present, including his companions—the horror of this matter was no less than that of a beast.
Su Benxin seemed to have something else to say. She somewhat shyly brushed her curly bangs back with her hand: "Because my forehead has been somewhat covered, I wanted you to take another look."
Luo Wei understood and carefully examined her forehead, finding no red marks: "Don't worry, your forehead is clean, it's just..." Luo Wei noticed a black mole near her temple: "Is there a mole here?"
Su Benxin relaxed, nodding with a smile: "Yes, it's congenital."
"Then you don't need to worry."
Su Benxin restored her bangs to their original state: "Who knows what might happen today? Beasts are inherently unpredictable; one careless move and you'll be possessed."
It was rare for this woman to complain in such a carefree tone.
Xiao Qinxian, who was sitting some distance away, suddenly walked over, glaring angrily at Luo Wei: "So you've been lying all along!"
Luo Wei was too lazy to answer her, only raising an eyebrow.
"I have a mushroom haircut, you can't see my forehead at all! How can you say I have a beastly mark!" Xiao Qinxian raised her voice, wanting everyone to judge.
Wei Dong: "Yours is below your eyes, not on your forehead!"—The strange man raises a strange beast, even the location is different from others.
"He can't see my forehead at all, he's just making it up as below my eyes!"
"I saw your forehead, there's nothing there." Luo Wei suddenly said.
Xiao Qinxian was stunned: "I've never changed my hairstyle, my bangs are so thick, it's impossible to see it."
"Last night in the corridor, you messed up your hair, you pushed all your bangs back."
Xiao Qinxian continued nagging as if she hadn't heard, "I knew you were just trying to scare everyone."
Luo Wei: "..."
...
At four o'clock in the afternoon, Qin Ci walked out of the operating room wearily.
The crowd's anticipation wasn't as overt as it had been that morning; most looked at the surgeon with expectant eyes.
Qin Ci hadn't even changed out of his surgical gown when his voice, coming through his mask, seemed to come from another world—"The animal is located near the victim's heart, weighing 1974 grams. Because its body is too stiff, it's extremely fragile and needs to be softened."
Everyone watched Qin Ci walk towards the changing room, only turning their gaze away when he was out of sight.
The most excited was Xiao Qinxian: "I can't believe it! Chi Lei is so thin, yet she gave birth to nearly 4 pounds of animal!"—She didn't dare speak too loudly, only sharing her joy quietly with those around her, because Zhao Yanbao was present.
Zhao Yanbao stood somewhat blankly in the corridor. She had heard every word Qin Ci said, understanding the literal meaning, but she couldn't quite grasp it, as if she had a comprehension disorder.
Zhao Yanbao quickened her pace and headed towards the changing room around the corner.
The changing room door was locked from the inside. Zhao Yanbao knocked on the door: "Dr. Qin, why is there such a large beast?"
The person inside seemed not to hear her.
Zhao Yanbao continued to ask through the door: "You just said that beast was very stiff, what caused that? Ming Chun's beast was very soft... why is hers so hard? That... beast, what shape is it?" "
Dr. Qin performed two surgeries today, she's very tired, but the answer will be revealed soon." Su Benxin came up behind Zhao Yanbao.
Zhao Yanbao turned to look at Su Benxin, said nothing more, and turned her gaze to the corridor window—since the afternoon, the city had been shrouded in dark clouds, as if brewing a heavy rain.
Zhao Yanbao bit her lip, then suddenly turned back and began knocking on Qin Ci's door again: "How could such a large beast be extracted? I just want to know how much burden Chi Lei has been carrying all these years! What does that beast look like?"
The door suddenly opened, and Qin Ci, who had changed back into his white doctor's coat, stood in the doorway: "It's a female body."
"What?" Zhao Yanbao was dazed.
"The shape of that beast was that of a female body, with fairly realistic female features, but it was very stiff overall. When it was taken out, the surgical forceps accidentally caused a crack." Qin Ci rubbed the acupoint between his eyes; he was indeed very tired today. Although he was a seasoned surgeon, it was impossible not to feel nervous and afraid when faced with those bizarre beasts dissected from a corpse.
Zhao Yanbao and Su Benxin were both stunned.
"A female body? That... was a person?" Su Benxin covered her surprised mouth with her hand. "Was that... really a beast?"
"It should be ready by now. Let's go see it together." Qin Ci's voice was somewhat low.
The three of them walked together towards the specimen processing room next to the operating room. Zhao Yanbao could barely stand and had to be supported by Su Benxin.
As soon as they saw Qin Ci, Xiao Qinxian and the others rushed over anxiously: "That big glass bottle is covered with a cloth; they won't let us see it!"
Qin Ci personally opened the door to the specimen processing room: "Come in, everyone. Please keep quiet."
The specimen processing room only contained some instruments; there were no specimens on display.
The glass bottle was on a table. A lab technician stood up when he saw Qin Ci: "Dr. Qin, the specimen is very difficult to soften. This is the first time I've seen such a stiff animal body. For now, we can only soak it in nutrient solution."
"Okay, we need to take a look."
"Please."
Finally, everyone saw the beast's true form—a glass bottle the size of an electric kettle, filled with a clear liquid, with a red object standing upright immersed in it.
"Is this a ginseng?" Wei Dong squinted, trying to see more clearly.
Wei Dong's description was quite vivid; the beast resembled a humanoid body with a head and limbs, but the limbs were rounded in the middle and pointed at the top like radishes, and hands and feet were not visible.
The people standing at another angle to the glass bottle remained silent, for they saw it more clearly—this was the beast's front. Only the outlines of its eyebrows, eyes, and nose were visible; it had no mouth. Its body was clearly female, with full breasts and an obviously female genitalia.
Su Benxin, supporting Zhao Yanbao, whispered reassurance, "It's not what we believe. This should be some kind of symbolic representation..."
"A woman, this is clearly a woman." Zhao Yanbao glanced at it twice, then stopped looking and asked Qin Ci, "How is Chi Lei?"
It was as if Chi Lei was a living person who had just undergone surgery.
"The wounds are all stitched up. The scarless surgery in this city is very advanced. After using that kind of medicine, there are absolutely no scars, at least invisible to the naked eye." Qin Ci didn't know how to comfort her. Perhaps being a doctor for so long had forced him to accept life and death.
But what about this separation after death?
Ke Xun stared at the woman-shaped beast in the bottle for a long time, feeling a pang of sadness and many questions arising in his mind: "Why is it stiff? And why are its limbs so taut and straight, as if...bound?"
"You're right," Qin Ci said, "See that thin red tube-like thing at the bottom of the bottle?"
"What's that? Is it the tube connecting the host and the beast?" Ke Xun felt a chill run down his spine at this point.
"No, that's the 'rope' binding the beast," Qin Ci said.
Hearing this unexpected answer, everyone was speechless for a moment.
Mu Yiran's expression slowly turned cold: "These things must be related to the host's life experiences."
Zhao Yanbao had already been helped out of the specimen processing room by Su Benxin. She gently pushed Su Benxin's hand away: "I'm fine, I'm stronger than you think."
"The knot in her heart needs to be untied. If she can't speak out in this life, if she can't free herself, as her best friend...you can do it for her," Su Benxin said.
Zhao Yanbao gazed at the lightning flashing through the dark clouds outside the window, a strange light gleaming in her eyes.
"I'm not trying to mislead you," Su Benxin said, untangling her disheveled hair and re-arranging it into a bun. "Since she's trapped in her own mind, she needs to open her heart and be completely reshaped. Only then can she truly untie the ropes binding her."
"If you really want to say something, it's best to stay by that beast's side." Mu Yiran had also arrived in the corridor at some point; the sky was now completely covered by thick, dark clouds, as if it were night.
Zhao Yanbao lowered her eyes: "Alright, you two stay here too. Maybe what I have to say will help in analyzing the case." Zhao Yanbao looked at Zhu Haowen standing at the door. "And Haowen, come on over."
When the group returned to the specimen room, they heard Yu Ji exclaim in surprise: "This beast weighs 1974 grams! Zhi Chun's beast weighed 26 grams, so that's exactly 2000 grams!"
"This...is just a coincidence, isn't it?" Lion said.
"No, what a coincidence! Two people died, and together they weigh exactly 2000 grams? If it's divided equally, each person gets 1000 grams!
Thirteen people, that's 13000 grams! Thirteen kilograms!" Yu Ji's words trembled as he spoke, as if he had discovered the most insidious secret.