The 13 kilograms of beast seemed to represent the combined total of the beasts within these 13 people.
The thought sent shivers down everyone's spines. Yu Ji even exclaimed, "Everyone has beasts inside them, it's just that some appear at a time! They'll all come out sooner or later! There are 13 days anyway! They'll all come out one by one!"
"Please keep quiet," said a staff member from the specimen processing room.
Qin Ci, standing at the door, gestured for them to leave: "We have some things to discuss, please excuse us for now."
Yu Ji was still speaking angrily when Wei Dong and Lion pulled him out the door.
Xiao Qinxian, unusually, didn't complain about being excluded. She was unusually silent, perhaps because she had seen the oppressive and distressing female beast, or perhaps because she believed Yu Ji's so-called "13 kilograms of beast distribution theory"—for this unbreakable "vicious cycle," even the "lucky ones" were likely doomed.
Ke Xun was still standing at the door. Zhao Yanbao, who was about to close the door, glanced at Ke Xun outside and was about to say something when Ke Xun repeatedly said, "You guys talk, I don't want to hear these kinds of stories." With that, Ke Xun closed the door himself.
Some of the others went to Qin Ci's office to wait, while others sat on chairs along the corridor looking out the window.
Outside, it was still as dark as night, and the rumbling thunder seemed about to shatter the sky.
Xiao Qinxian asked a nurse for paper and pen, preparing to design 'wedding attire' for the two deceased.
The atmosphere in the specimen processing room was even more oppressive. Zhao Yanbao sat closest to the glass jar containing the female animal, her gaze somber as she recounted a story—
"Chi Lei and I were childhood friends. In our hometown, a small town, the preference for sons over daughters was very strong, and our two families were no exception. However, my family was relatively better off. Although my parents favored my younger brother, at least they were willing to support my education. Chi Lei's family… Chi Lei was the one with the least dignity in her family. Whether it was her older brother or her two younger brothers, they all bossed her around and pushed her around. Her parents turned a blind eye. If anyone caused trouble, she was always the one who got beaten. Her father used to beat her mother, and later he beat her. She still has a deep scar on her scalp, from when her father was drunk and hit her with an iron hammer. To heal the injury, she shaved her head. She was 15 years old at the time.
"Her mother didn't take her seriously either."
"She and I both got into a top high school, but her family wouldn't support her, so she went to a vocational school instead. To save on accommodation fees, she had to squeeze into her aunt's house in the area. We rarely saw each other for those two years. After graduating from vocational school, she started working and even got a boyfriend."
Zhu Haowen looked at Zhao Yanbao with a hint of doubt, not wanting to interrupt her.
Zhao Yanbao explained, "Chi Lei wasn't born a lesbian, not even acquired one. In terms of sexual orientation, she's always been attracted to men.
"Unfortunately, she never met a decent man. Neither her family nor her boyfriend treated her like a human being, nor did they treat women like human beings, including her mother.
"Her boyfriend even suggested swapping girlfriends with his buddies one day, and she left, never returning to that wicked little town.
"I had already been accepted into a university in City B, and she came to stay with me. We rented a place together and lived together. We were just each other's support, like family. She knew my secret, but we could never have that kind of relationship. Some things innate can't be changed; she couldn't change her body with her will." " Besides, I also had someone I liked back then.
"People like me aren't accepted by most of society, and I studied psychology because of so much inner confusion. Sometimes I think it's pretty good; it seems my feelings are purer, and I'll never encounter blind dates or pressure to get married that match my sexual orientation, let alone marry for the sake of continuing the family line.
"Chi Lei and I have completely aligned values, and our lifestyles have merged. We're rare soulmates, better than friends or family, but not quite lovers."
Zhao Yanbao paused for a moment, as if summarizing her thoughts.
Qin Ci couldn't help but ask, "Did Chi Lei already give up on all men back then?"
Zhao Yanbao smiled faintly, "We found that it's the same everywhere. In metropolises like S City and B City, people's thinking isn't much better than in our backward little town."
"At that time, I was working as an assistant at a psychological counseling center, assisting a very prestigious psychologist. Chi Lei often came to see me and occasionally consulted the psychologist about psychological issues, receiving very helpful assistance. We all respected him then.
"After working there part-time for two years, I decided to come out for my girlfriend at the time. But she ran away. She was also studying psychology; after I came out, she went abroad and cut off all contact with me. Coming out is practically a disaster in our profession. In the eyes of ordinary people, homosexuals are psychologically unhealthy and have no right to be psychologists to treat others."
Indeed, it seems most people really think that way.
"After I came out, Chi Lei suddenly stopped coming to our counseling center, and the prestigious psychologist inexplicably went abroad for further studies." Later I learned that the psychologist had been sexually assaulting Chi Lei for two years because he had evidence of my sexual assault. If Chi Lei didn't satisfy him, he would release this information, making it impossible for me to "work in the psychology field for the rest of my life..."
Outside the window, a thick darkness surged, thunder tore through the city sky, and a sudden downpour began.
"That night, we both cried in the darkness. She said she had evidence of that beast's sexual assault, but he had already immigrated abroad. Chi Lei didn't want to spend the next few years dealing with a lawsuit, and she felt that releasing the information would also harm herself. At the time, I didn't understand. I thought we should stop everything and fight the case. The one who would truly be unable to work in the psychology field was that hypocrite."
"Chi Lei told me to keep quiet, even saying that her life was inherently unlucky. Later, she talked about living at her aunt's house while attending technical school, how she had been sexually assaulted by her uncle and cousin... She told her mother and aunt, but they didn't believe her, whether they genuinely didn't believe her or were just pretending not to hear."
Outside, the torrential rain poured down, the fierce wind ravaging the half-lit world into a crumpled black-and-white photograph, attempting to tear it to shreds.
"We stayed together, intending to spend the rest of our lives together.
" "Even with this safe haven, Chi Lei could never escape the constraints imposed on her by a patriarchal world. The pain from her family of origin only intensified in adulthood, making it impossible to break free." Zhao
Yanbao gently stroked the glass bottle in front of her, her gaze softly fixed on the female beast inside: "In an unfair world, women have very little voice. Saying you're 'long-haired and short-sighted,' or 'God laughs when women think,' are just commonplace remarks to them, without malice, even with a hint of indulgence… but in reality, they are subtly and overtly excluding women from social classes. Every year, the Spring Festival Gala would feature several skits about henpecked husbands. I've never seen a wife with that kind of domestic power in real life. My profession involves a wide range of people, but I've never seen anything like it, and I don't know if such works count as a kind of deception of unmarried women by experienced women."
The men in the room remained silent, unsure what to say.
Su Benxin was somewhat moved, seemingly empathizing.
Zhao Yanbao seemed to be speaking only to the female beast: "Look at you, with beautiful eyes and eyebrows, yet no mouth. Is it because you have something to say but can't speak? Look at you, a perfectly healthy person, yet you insist on being naked. Is it to give a satisfying, naked exposure and lash out at those who lust after you? Look at you, you clearly have strong limbs, yet you lack hands and feet. Hands can grasp everything, feet can travel the world! You stand stiffly like this, upright. Are you wary of the dangers around you, or is it because of the rope binding you? That damned rope is broken. Get well soon, get well soon."
Large tears fell onto the outside of the glass bottle: "I know you can't love me, but have I ever blamed you? For us, love is the least worth mentioning."
Su Benxin lowered her head, unable to hold back her tears.
Qin Ci seemed to suddenly notice something and walked over to examine the glass bottle: "The beast has changed! The beast is slowly softening!"
Mu Yiran didn't look this way, but slowly got up to leave: "Let's give them some time alone."
...
The beast inside Chi Lei's body eventually softened into a round ball. Zhao Yanbao said this might be a kind of alternative relief.
The beast's weight didn't change, still 1974 grams, plus the 26 grams from Zhi Chun's beast, totaling 2000 grams.
Yu Ji was still panicking, and Wei Dong comforted him: "These paintings we've acquired are meant to induce panic, and you're supposed to be a painter."
Ke Xun tried to use Qin Ci's computer to look up information, only to find that there was no internet in this city. He asked the nurse, who asked suspiciously, "Sir, do you want to send a fax?"...
Ke Xun: "No, no, I just want to order takeout..."
"Then you can call takeout."
"Thank you."
This world has no internet, the paintings must be trying to hide something. What could be afraid of being found out from the internet?
"What do you want to look up?" Mu Yiran appeared beside Ke Xun at some point.
"What exactly is written on the title page of the book *The Scarlet Beast*?" Ke Xun sorted out the questions in his mind one by one, this being the first one he wanted to solve.
"Su Benxin and Xiao Qinxian, these two people who have read this book, surely someone will remember it." Mu Yiran glanced at Su Benxin, who had also entered the room.
Su Benxin was drawing back the office curtains, revealing a clear, bright blue sky after the rain.
"There is indeed a sentence on the title page: I saw a woman riding on a scarlet beast—Revelation Chapter 17." Su Benxin turned her head from the window.