Xiao Qinxian looked as if she had just emerged from the deep sea, her entire body soaked in sweat, her mushroom-shaped haircut losing its volume and sticking wetly to her head.
Although she had left the old woman, that terrifying red eye seemed to be glued to Xiao Qinxian, impossible to shake off.
The taxi slowly started moving back, and Xiao Qinxian sat in the back seat by the window, leaning slumped against Wei Dong beside her due to exhaustion.
Wei Dong could only loosely support her, letting her lean on him.
"I was born with a weak birth chart, and when I was little, I was often possessed. My family would invite a shaman to visit every few days. The shaman said my bones were too light, making me susceptible to possession." Xiao Qinxian's eyes stared blankly at the unfamiliar street scene outside the window. "It got much better after I grew up, and nothing bad happened, but because I'm afraid of it, I often wear things to ward off evil."
Ke Xun remained in the front passenger seat, stuffing the map in his hand into his bag. —The old woman, seeing that the "divide and conquer" attempt failed, insisted on telling their fortunes and exorcising Xiao Qinxian—in the end, Ke Xun spent 10 yuan to buy a map, and the old woman reluctantly gave up.
Xiao Qinxian's eyelids drooped slightly, but her eyes remained unblinking, making it impossible to tell where they were focused: "My father thinks my birth chart is unlucky and has always wanted to give me away, but my mother insisted on keeping me."
"How can you give away your own flesh and blood just because your birth chart is bad?" Wei Dong couldn't understand.
Xiao Qinxian smiled, a slight smirk playing on one side of her lips. "I have an older sister. She's a lucky one. The year she was born, my dad's business boomed, my mom got a promotion at work, and our old house was demolished, resulting in a substantial compensation payment. I'm different. The year I was born, my dad's business failed, and my uncle sued him for my grandfather's inheritance. Anyway, that year was chaotic for my family; my dad even called me a jinx.
My sister is truly lucky. She's a top student, excellent at sports, good at everything, and beautiful too. Although people say we look alike, not everyone with similar features is equally beautiful. Sometimes subtle differences are the finishing touch. My sister is a great beauty, and I'm just an ordinary person."
"My grandfather was an artist, so we have that gene in our family, especially my sister. She got into the best art academy in the country, and many famous painters were her mentors. She also had a great personality, sunny and enthusiastic, the kind of person with high emotional intelligence. No one would have thought she had depression, and quite severe at that. She committed suicide at the age of 25, jumping off a building.
"I can't believe her soul is in my body. How could such a high-IQ, high-EQ soul choose such an ordinary body like mine?" Xiao Qinxian let out a series of unsettling cold laughs.
The car was unusually quiet, including the taxi driver who was giving her a cursory glance.
After a long while, Qin Ci broke the silence: "How do you know it was her? What if it was someone else?"
"She has type O blood, and she has a red beauty mark under her eye." Xiao Qinxian touched the area under her eye, where the beauty mark should be. "The person Luo Wei saw was her, not me."
Wei Dong couldn't help but say: "Isn't Luo Wei's eye only able to see animal marks? What is that red beauty mark?" "Shouldn't animal marks all grow on the forehead?"
This question is probably impossible to answer correctly. Qin Ci could only guess: "Perhaps Luo Wei can see not only animal marks, but also the souls of beasts. Could we speculate that one of the two souls within Xiao Qinxian is always awake and the other asleep? During the day, Xiao Qinxian is awake, and at night, her sister is awake. Whenever one soul is awake, the body will exhibit a state corresponding to that soul."
If this is the case, it would explain Xiao Qinxian's nighttime smoking habit and the various problems discovered during the early morning examination.
"It's not just during the day and night; whenever there's no sun, she comes out and moves around. I'm not entirely unaware; it's like a faint dream, with some impressions and memories, but not deep, and I can't control them." Xiao Qinxian looked at her hands and drew an invisible dove on the car window with her right index finger. "This one is me now, but my spiritual energy is far inferior to hers."
"Do you remember the wedding dress design I drew for Chi Lei? At the time, I thought Chi Lei had appeared to me, using my hand to design a wedding dress in a completely different style. Now that I think about it, it was actually my sister who drew it."
"But it was afternoon then?" Wei Dong asked.
"It was indeed afternoon, but there was no sun then."
Everyone suddenly remembered that at this time the day before yesterday, a storm had struck, turning day into night in an instant. It was at that moment that Xiao Qinxian and her sister completed a soul swap in the unseen world, with her sister becoming the master of this body.
When the sun returned, Xiao Qinxian was reborn.
"Does your sister know Yu Beiguo?" Ke Xun turned around and asked.
"I don't know either," Xiao Qinxian's voice was still weak. "The reason I went to that art gallery was because I knew that my sister's painting would be exhibited that day. Maybe she wanted to see that painting in the unseen world."
"Did you see her painting?" Wei Dong asked.
Xiao Qinxian remained leaning against Wei Dong, seemingly unfazed: "You saw it too, and you even said your drawing was better than hers."
"Huh? Is that so?"
"You pointed to a wedding dress drawing my sister did when she was seven, and you said yours was much better."
Wei Dong paused, thinking for a moment: "I remember now, it was a pencil drawing... Wait a minute, the artist's name was Xiao Qinxian, right? It was clearly you."
Xiao Qinxian smiled silently: "Xiao Qinxian is my sister's name; I wasn't called that when I was little."
Now everyone was somewhat surprised, completely bewildered.
"Before my sister died, she worked as a wedding dress designer at the most famous international wedding dress shop in S City. Her death was so sudden that no one expected it, and of course, it brought a lot of unforeseen losses to that wedding dress shop. The shop manager came up with the idea of having me replace my sister. I also studied wedding dress design, and although I can't compare to a genius like my sister, my grades were still pretty good, so I took Xiao Qinxian's place and continued working at the wedding dress shop. We do look somewhat alike, and my sister didn't like taking photos or showing her face, so surprisingly, no one suspected anything.
To make this seem perfect, I even changed my name on my ID card."
Hearing this, everyone was speechless.
The taxi driver suddenly spoke up: "Some ghosts only recognize names. You even used her name, so naturally she thinks your body is hers too. —But, what's a ghost around when you can make so much money at an international wedding dress shop?"
"Your sister really doesn't know Yu Beiguo? Then she must know Su Benxin, otherwise how could Su Benxin have obtained her drawing from when she was 7 years old?" Ke Xun felt that this whole roundabout way of going through all this trouble shouldn't be in vain; this matter must be related to Yu Bei Kingdom.
The taxi driver suddenly spoke up again: "What did you just say, Yu Bei Kingdom? That name sounds so familiar. Which 'Yu' is the surname you mentioned?"
Wei Dong quickly answered: "It's the 'Yu' in 'rain' on top, and the 'Kui' in 'guixin' (meaning 'to be ungrateful') on the bottom. At first glance, you might think it's pronounced 'Kui'." Distracted
, the driver almost collided with the car next to him, so he slammed on the brakes and slowly swerved to the side of the road.
After stopping, the driver finally noticed the expectant looks from his passengers.
"Driver, do you know Yu Bei Kingdom?" Qin Ci asked earnestly.
The driver scratched his head: "I just feel like I've heard that name before, especially the character 'Yu'... I'm absolutely certain I've seen this name somewhere before, but where... These three characters are quite eye-catching, especially the 'Yu' character, it's written with a particularly artistic flair."
The members seemed to hear the sound of their blood rushing to their heads, almost unable to believe the answer was right in front of them.
"Driver, you really need to think hard, this Yu Bei Kingdom is extremely important to us! Please help us think!" Wei Dong wished he could hug the driver across the seat.
The driver was also stumped: "I just feel like I've heard that name before, I'm sure I've seen those three characters somewhere, but I can't remember, I really can't remember."
Ke Xun was also getting anxious: "Since you feel like you've heard it before but can't remember, then it's definitely not one of your relatives or friends... Could this Yu Bei Kingdom be a celebrity in this city? That's why you feel like you've heard it before."
"Actually, it's not exactly familiar, it's more like I've seen the characters before." The more the driver spoke, the brighter things seemed to appear, but they still couldn't find a clue, and could only feel anxious.
Qin Ci tried to coax him: "Since you've seen these words, where did you see them? In a newspaper, a book, or on a TV screen? Could it be on a billboard? Or..." "
Not those places. I don't often see this name, but I've definitely seen it before, and in a very conspicuous place..." The driver frowned and thought for a while, finally giving up. "Sorry, I really can't remember."
Qin Ci checked the time and could only say to the driver, "Sir, let's exchange phone numbers. Call us if you remember, and we'll confirm with you if we have any leads."
"Okay, I'll definitely tell you if I remember."
The police or doctor badges on the members' chests were quite effective; at least they inspired trust.
The car was already quite close to the hospital, so the group got out early and walked towards the hospital.
Xiao Qinxian's legs were still weak, so Qin Ci took the initiative to support her: "Are you really sure? I'm not confident I can get the beast out of a living person."
"I've thought it through." There was a desperate look in Xiao Qinxian's eyes. "If I didn't know about this, it would be fine. But once I know, the time for that beast to appear is not far off, maybe even tonight. — Rather than relying on luck, I'd rather rely on your medical skills."