The night seemed extraordinarily long.
"It's weird that Dongzi is drunk, and Yu Ji, if he's not drinking enough, he probably wouldn't take the initiative to drink beer." Ke Xun and Mu Yiran had already turned off the lights and lay down. Both of them lost their interest in wearing uniforms and "sleep well", and now each is lying on their own single bed on the iron shelf.
"At least alcohol is equal to people with red and no red." Mu Yiran's voice sounded particularly comfortable in the dark night, reminding people of the snow-white magnolia tree in the middle of the night.
"Well, Dongzi is not red, Yu Ji is red, and they both got drunk when they drank alcohol." Ke Xun couldn't figure it out, "Anyway, let's not drink alcohol in the future, just in case."
"These newcomers have some elusive things on their bodies," Mu Yiran looked at the faint moonlight outside the window, "such as Xiao Qinxian, such as Su Benxin—I thought there would be red marks in Su Benxin."
"why?"
"No basis, intuition."
"That woman should have a story," Ke Xun turned over. "If you have a chance, you can inquire with Lion."
"Um."
"Have you read that book? "The Scarlet Beast"." Ke Xun found that the two had never talked about their reading experience.
"No," Mu Yiran confessed frankly, "I have seen this writer's "The Golden Pavilion" and "Confessions of a Mask."
"Oh." Ke Xun paused for a while, "So Yi Ran also read that book of awakening."
"Confessions of a Mask" is Yukio Mishima's awakening to his sexuality, and Ke Xun has heard about it from many insiders.
"Actually, "The Golden Pavilion" is better." Mu Yiran paused when he said this, and suddenly found that he couldn't say how good this work was. It seemed that the things he had affirmed before had changed - the ultimate beauty, the ultimate beauty Well, the extreme extremes are not that attractive anymore.
In my heart, the once insignificant dust-like things, I do not know when to become full and rich, exist as simple as oxygen.
It is the best in the world to have a place where you can rest your body and mind. Even in a painting.
The night in the painting is passing by quietly, like a huge hourglass filled with black sand grains.
…
In the early morning, the piercing telephone ring woke everyone up, and the old-fashioned telephone ring often had the courage to tear the sky.
On the other end of the phone was Qin Ci's voice, short and low: "Zhi Chun has an accident."
Ke Xun: "We'll rush over immediately."
People from the other two rooms also ran into this room, apparently attracted by the ringing of the phone. Ke Xun put down the receiver and was about to say 'Let's go to the central hospital first', but the phone rang again deafeningly. , startling people, Ke Xun hurriedly picked it up, this time his voice was as expressionless as his master: "Chi Lei is dead."
It was Zhu Haowen who called, and Ke Xun said, "Understood, Zhichun at the hospital also had an accident."
Zhu Haowen: "Zhao Yanbao called the police immediately, and the other party said that the criminal police and the forensic doctor will be here soon."
…
Ke Xun and Mu Yiran acted as criminal police, Xiao Qinxian and Lion acted as forensic doctors, and Wei Dong was temporarily transferred from the household registration department. Several people were arranged to rush to the Cocoon Detective Office immediately.
When Chu Zhiyong arranged these tasks, Luo Wei stood aside. Since the old policeman didn't ask him to avoid him, he simply listened.
Chu Zhiyong turned a blind eye to Luo Wei. This kind of blindness is not the kind that treats people as air, but—Luo Wei, an outsider, no matter where he appears, I am afraid that Chu Zhiyong will not be surprised.
Leading the new police officers was actually a forensic doctor in his 40s, surnamed Zhao.
Forensic Zhao is thin and talks less, and more often he walks silently behind everyone.
The group of seven quickly arrived at the Cocoon Detective Office. In front of them was a uniquely designed garden villa with the bedroom on the second floor.
Zhu Haowen was already waiting in front of the villa, and was not surprised by the arrival of several companions in police uniforms: "This morning, Zhao Yanbao found out that he knocked on the door and asked Chi Lei to have breakfast, but no one responded, so we pushed the door open. go in."
Xiao Qinxian was the first to ask, "How do people die?"
Xiao Qinxian's face was pale, ever since she heard that someone died in the morning, her face has been as pale as a wall.
"I can't tell from the surface. Zhao Yanbao said that her heart has been bad since she was a child. Maybe she fell ill last night." Zhu Haowen has already led everyone to the second floor.
The decoration of the whole office is very elegant, the color is the Morandi color matching of the elegant gentleman, full of all kinds of pure white khaki and high-grade gray.
There are exactly three dormitories, as if they had been arranged in advance for the three "workers" who were staying.
Zhao Yanbao stood in front of the door of the middle bedroom, his eyes were slightly red, and he seemed to have just cried: "It was already cold when I found out."
Forensic doctor Zhao has dressed the forensic doctor neatly and led the two "apprentices" into the room first.
Ke Xun and the others avoided the door for a while, sitting on the long couch with a gray and cold air.
I don't know if it was because of the accident or because of the layout of the room, everyone felt a slight chill on their bodies, the kind of cold that was even worse than the spring chill.
"Aren't you cold at night?" Wei Dong fastened the top button of his police uniform and looked at Zhao Yanbao, who was standing on the side. He felt that it was rude to complain about the temperature now, so he added: "Listen. People who say they have a bad heart are very afraid of the cold."
Zhu Haowen turned on the central air conditioner with the remote control: "Last night, Chi Lei's room had the air conditioner on all the time, and it was still warm this morning."
The crowd fell silent for a while.
Mu Yiran asked Zhao Yanbao, "Her heart problem has always been serious?"
Zhao Yanbao lowered his eyes and didn't look at Mu Yiran: "She has been in poor health since she was a child, and has congenital heart disease. She has also been rescued because of a sudden illness before, but she was pulled back from the hands of death..."
It is also the first time for several old members to encounter such a thing as dying in a painting.
After a while, forensic doctor Zhao came out of the room and took off his mask and gloves: "The deceased died of heart failure. It is estimated that the time of death was about 1:00~3:00 in the morning."
"Did she go in pain at the time?" Zhao Yanbao asked.
Forensic doctor Zhao didn't answer. I don't know if he didn't know, or he didn't want to say it. He only said one sentence: "Please have my condolences."
Everyone was silent, not knowing what to say, let alone how to comfort Zhao Yanbao.
Xiao Qinxian's complexion was a little more rosy than before, probably because he understood the cause of Chi Lei's death, but it was reassuring - life, old age, illness and death, human nature, at least not due to some evil accident.
Forensic doctor Zhao took out a stack of documents from his briefcase: "As the relatives and friends of the deceased, you need to collectively sign the final "Dead Body Disposal Opinion."
Zhao Yanbao took over these documents with some doubts, looked at the dense text on it, and was not in the mood to read on: "What does this mean? Could you please briefly explain?"
"To put it simply, it is whether to take the beast or not. This requires the 11 of you to reach the final opinion with a minority obeying the majority." Forensic Zhao's expression was calm, as if he was explaining ordinary business.
"Take the beast?" Zhao Yanbao suspected that he had heard it wrong, "What do you mean?"
"She has a beast in her body, which can be taken out or buried with the beast. We respect your choice." Zhao Forensic Doctor said.
"In the body? Is there a beast in her body?" This time it was Xiao Qinxian who expressed horror, "How did you know that there was a beast in her body?"
"Her body has already revealed the red beast, just on the forehead. Didn't you see it just now?"
Xiao Qinxian murmured: "I didn't dare to take a closer look just now..."
Just when everyone was horrified, Mu Yiran had simply read through the "Category Disposal": "It is mentioned here that the beast can be kept in the body forever, or it can be taken out for the family to collect and commemorate, and it can also be donated to the public - I think You know, what exactly is a beast in the legal context? Organs? Fruits? Or some kind of commodity that has been materialized?"
Forensic doctor Zhao asked back, "Did you just come to Xincheng?"
Wei Dong whispered, "I just came yesterday."
Forensic doctor Zhao nodded thoughtfully: "Beasts are a unique existence in our heart city. If you find it difficult to understand, you might as well imagine it as... placenta. After a pregnant woman gives birth, the placenta also needs family members to stay. Those who agree can be taken away by the family or left in the hospital. It is not difficult to understand, it is as simple as that.”
But everyone thinks this is not so simple, especially the fact that one's own "has a beast" in itself is unacceptable.
Forensic Zhao's work task seems to have been completed. He is about to leave. Before leaving, he looked at the two "colleagues" who were wearing white coats like himself, and then said again: "Isn't your task to find beasts? Off the shelf."
"But..." Xiao Qinxian opened his mouth for a long time without saying anything.
"Don't worry, the scars after taking the beast will be invisible and will not affect the appearance." Forensic Zhao's focus will never be on the same frequency as everyone else. He patted Lion on the shoulder: "There is still a lot of work for you in the future. Come on."
Lion's expression was a little blank: "Oh guys... what else do you need to do?"
"You two are in your old business."
"What's your job?" Lion shrugged. "Oh, I'm just a photographer, what can I do?"
"Take pictures of the deceased." Forensic Doctor Zhao looked at Xiao Qinxian with a calm expression. "You come to design her clothes. Unmarried girls must dress beautifully."
Xiao Qinxian's face turned pale again: "I, I am a wedding dress designer."
Forensic doctor Zhao is not surprised: "This is also an old rule in our heart city. When an unmarried person dies, they have to wear a wedding dress. Come and design a wedding dress for her."
"… "
After forensic Zhao explained this, he picked up his briefcase and left in a hurry.
No one went to see him off, Xiao Qinxian suddenly thought of something, and chased downstairs with a pale face: "Wait, wait a minute!"
Forensic Doctor Zhao stopped in the lobby on the first floor, and saw this thin girl chasing in front of him, her eyes flashing with light that was not there before: "How much does the beast in the deceased weigh? How many pounds? How many grams are there? ?!"
"This is unknown, even if the immortals come, it is impossible to predict," Zhao Forensic Doctor smiled and shook his head, "To use an inappropriate analogy, it is like gambling stones, no one knows how many jadeites are in it. "