Xiao Qinxian signed a voluntary application for live animal removal and was eventually wheeled into the operating room under general anesthesia.
It was already past 5:00 PM, and Qin Ci needed to finish the surgery before nightfall.
No one was in the mood for dinner; everyone was gathered in the corridor outside the operating room—they had lingered here countless times since arriving in this city.
This surgery was the real deal, as it concerned the patient's life. Those waiting outside the operating room hoped to see a living Xiao Qinxian in a few hours.
"This surgery is particularly nerve-wracking," Su Benxin said, pacing slowly down the corridor before stopping beside Luo Wei. "I'm curious, you can see everyone's animal records, so why can't you see Xiao Qinxian's?"
Luo Wei seemed more relaxed than yesterday, his face expressionless. "According to that sorceress, this beast doesn't belong to Xiao Qinxian."
"Do you believe that? I always thought it was just a fantasy," Su Benxin said incredulously.
Wei Dong couldn't help but interject, "The fact that we were even inside the painting is already the biggest fantasy in the world. Compared to this, what the sorceress said seems like common sense..."
Zhao Yanbao couldn't help but laugh and joined the discussion, "At first, I also thought what the sorceress said was a bit bizarre, but after seeing Xiao Qinxian's test results, her blood type was B in the second test, but O in the early hours of this morning. I don't think that's a mistake by the hospital."
"That's what I can't understand the most. Her sister's soul resides in her body, yet it exhibits a different physical manifestation. This is just too outrageous." Su Benxin still expressed her doubts.
"I think this should be a unique phenomenon of Heart City. It's impossible for this to happen in our original world," Zhao Yanbao said.
Luo Wei looked at Mu Yiran sitting there. Ever since he heard Ke Xun recount the events of the day, he had remained silent, including regarding Xiao Qinxian's decision to undergo surgery to remove the beast. He hadn't offered any opinion, only saying that he respected Xiao Qinxian's choice.
Just now, Luo Wei and Mu Yiran took the train to the border of Xincheng. The checkpoints there were heavily guarded, and everyone entering and leaving the city wore solemn expressions. It wasn't like leaving the city, nor like going abroad; to exaggerate, it was more like crossing the Bridge of Helplessness to drink Meng Po's soup.
Ke Xun sat beside Mu Yiran and asked in a low voice, "Yiran, what have you figured out?"
"I think I've figured it out," Mu Yiran said.
"Figured out what?"
"Why did Xiao Qinxian receive a strange phone call on the first night? What do she and Luo Wei have in common? Why were only the two of them the ones who received the call?"
"Do you think this is related to the two souls within Xiao Qinxian?"
"The Xiao Qinxian at night is a different person, her sister. In other words, the person who answered the phone was actually Xiao Qinxian's sister." Mu Yiran knew her explanation was a bit convoluted, but she was certain Ke Xun would understand.
"You mean, Xiao Qinxian's sister and Luo Wei have something in common..." Ke Xun seemed to understand something at this point. "If we include Xiao Qinxian's sister, there are actually 14 of us in this group. Luo Wei is classified as an outsider, and there's another outsider—Xiao Qinxian's sister?"
Mu Yiran nodded silently; this was exactly the result of her earlier analysis.
"How exactly are outsiders classified? Shouldn't there be a square stamp?" Ke Xun was trying to verify the reliability of this conclusion.
Mu Yiran countered, "And how are city dwellers classified? Shouldn't there be a round stamp?"
Xiao Qinxian's sister had neither a round nor a square stamp; was she classified as inside or outside the circle?
"Today, what Luo Wei and I saw at the city border was that anyone who couldn't produce a city residence permit would be forcibly evicted from the city."
Ke Xun understood then: "In other words, people with ambiguous identities like this are categorized as being outside the city."
Logically, this should be the case; those within the circle should be compliant, while those whose identities don't match or are unclear are usually excluded.
Therefore, even though Xiao Qinxian's sister is a wandering spirit, she's an outsider, with an identity similar to Luo Wei's.
This fully explains why only these two people could receive that mysterious phone call.
"But I still don't understand, what was the purpose of that call? Was it a warning? A leak? Or a technical loophole? Such a loophole could only be overheard by an outsider?" Ke Xun made many assumptions, but none seemed substantial.
"We probably can't make assumptions about the real reason, but those calls must have had a purpose," Mu Yiran exchanged a glance with Luo Wei, who was sitting there. "I've already told Luo Wei that no matter what happens tonight, he must listen to the whole call and, if possible, try to get more clues from the other party."
Ke Xun nodded slowly, but his thoughts were somewhat scattered: "If this surgery is successful, will the sister whose beast was removed still receive the call tonight? Is she still considered a typical outsider?"
Mu Yiran couldn't answer this question either: "She wasn't a typical outsider to begin with. Besides, if she left her sister's body, she couldn't possibly leave the city."
"Leave the city?" Ke Xun frowned. "Can Luo Wei leave the city with the square stamp?"
"We don't dare to risk it, for fear that Luo Wei will be forcibly expelled from the city. But one thing is certain: people leaving the city don't have a square stamp on their documents. It's said that only when they actually reach the city's outskirts will a square stamp be placed there."
"So that's how it is. So, Luo Wei is a complete outsider." Ke Xun's words were tinged with a deep sense of foreboding, yet he couldn't quite explain the feeling.
Luo Wei was someone who should have been far away, yet here he was.
Previously, Ke Xun thought Luo Wei's identity was more like a wise, observant "puzzle solver," but now it seemed that wasn't entirely true.
The operating room door suddenly opened, and two nurses rushed out to the adjacent animal research lab.
A moment later, they returned with a large glass tank filled with nutrient solution, and went back to the operating room.
Not wanting to interrupt the nurses, everyone stood up and gathered at the operating room door to wait.
Qin Ci emerged fifteen minutes later; the surgery itself hadn't taken long, only a little over an hour.
For the first time since the animal dissection surgery, Qin Ci smiled: "The surgery was successful, the patient is in good condition."
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
"The animal's condition is a bit strange; we'll see when it's brought out." Qin Ci's words further fueled everyone's curiosity.
A moment later, two nurses came out on a trolley carrying a glass tank, which seemed to be soaking something.
Wei Dong didn't dare to go close to look directly, and squinted from a distance, trying hard to make out what it was: "Why are there so many pieces? How many beasts are there?"
Qin Ci also found it hard to explain: "This situation has never been seen before in the medical history of this city. Some of these beasts are shaped like bricks... some are wide and some are narrow. There are four small pieces of the same size, and there are also long, large pieces."
Even without Qin Ci's prompting, those standing nearby had already clearly seen that these crimson, brick-like beasts were neatly arranged, suspended in the upper half of the glass tank. There were four smaller ones on top and a long, narrow one below.
No one could decipher this eerie order.
The glass tank was temporarily moved into the animal research lab, and then Xiao Qinxian was wheeled out of the operating room.
Xiao Qinxian's condition was good; although she was still under general anesthesia, she looked healthy.
"She specifically instructed before the anesthesia that she didn't want to see the beasts' appearance or hear anything about them," Qin Ci instructed everyone.
Everyone nodded in agreement, showing empathy for the situation.
Luo Wei watched Xiao Qinxian being slowly wheeled away, his expression somewhat complicated.
Mu Yiran stepped forward and asked in a low voice, "Is something wrong?"
"She has a beast mark," Luo Wei said, "right in the center of her forehead, quite a large one."
The beast that had just been removed wasn't hers; she and her sister each had their own beasts.
Mu Yiran turned her face to the window: "This isn't the result she wanted; it's best not to tell her."
...
Special circumstances require special treatment. Xiao Qinxian must stay in the hospital ward tonight; this shouldn't be considered a violation of the rules.
The other eight people returned to their residences after dinner.
No one mentioned Xiao Qinxian's beast again, and it seemed no one cared about the woman's past inner world—now, almost half the time had passed in the painting, every hour felt like torture, and no one cared about things unrelated to the signature.
Ke Xun and the others returned to the police station dormitory. Now, the remaining four were all their own people: Ke Xun, Mu Yiran, Wei Dong, and Luo Wei.
Tonight, they decided to squeeze into the same dormitory room to sleep. In case Luo Wei received another mysterious phone call, perhaps the "leak" from the call would allow them to rescue their companion immediately.
"I also got a clue today, but I haven't had a chance to say it yet." Luo Wei felt much better after realizing he could speak freely.
"What clue?" everyone asked.
"When Su Benxin and I first met that old lady this morning, her red eyes were probably too frightening, so Su Benxin kept her distance. I asked her a question, which is also something I'm quite concerned about—does the beast still have official value after it has been exorcised?"
Everyone was surprised that Luo Wei was concerned about such a question.
"Although our focus right now is on finding signatures, that 13-kilogram beast is still a mission. Perhaps after completing this mission, we'll be closer to the truth. So I hope the beast we find can be exorcised, which would be a relief to the deceased." Luo Wei didn't understand why he had become so sentimental; perhaps it was because he felt a deep empathy for the deaths of his companions, and it always reminded him of his girlfriend's tragic experience with the previous painting.
"Can the exorcised beast actually be used?" Wei Dong asked.
"The old lady said it doesn't affect the value of the beast at all, as long as the beast's body isn't damaged," Luo Wei said, his brows relaxing a little. "Moreover, the old lady also gave me another piece of information: every weekend, a highly skilled Taoist master will appear at the hospital entrance. That person has many beasts, which he only gives away and doesn't sell."