Paintings of Terror

Chapter 156: Ke Xun and Mu Yiran in Police Uniforms

A group of thirteen people followed the police officer back to the police station.

Wei Dong looked at the door of the police station and felt that “Mr. Painting was finally serious.”

“New arrivals have to register here before they can apply for a temporary residence permit.” The policeman brought them to a room with a female police officer. “Xiao Zhang, I’ll hand these people to you. They want to apply for a permit.”

Police Officer Xiao Zhang seemed to be busy with something on the computer in front of her. With her eyes still fixed on the screen, she slammed down a stack of forms with one hand. “Fill out the forms first! The pens are on the table, and there are reading glasses on the windowsill!”

So 13 people had to look for a place to fill out their forms. Ke Xun pushed the only chair by the table to Mu Yiran and simply used to the side of the window sill to write, guarding a container of plastic reading glasses and a pot of malnourished cacti.

Ke Xun had never applied for a temporary residence permit in the real world before. He looked at the contents of the form and found that they all contained basic items, such as gender and nationality ID number. What’s more, he didn’t even need to provide proof.

The girl with the very short hair that looked like a young man came over and said, “Can I borrow a pen for a quick moment? This one ran out of ink.”

Ke Xun quickly finished, but when he handed the pen over, he saw that the other person’s paper was mostly filled out. The one thing left to be filled out was the first line. The girl smiled and said, “I’m used to writing my name last.”

Ke Xun suddenly felt that this was a good habit. This way, even if someone had to abandon their paperwork, at least they wouldn’t leave their names behind.

The girl also glanced at Ke Xun’s form. “It turns out to be these two words.”

“Otherwise?”

“I was just thinking, why would this guy be called ‘Science’?”

Ke Xun remembered that when he was a child, someone had called him “Scientist” as a nickname. The name itself wasn’t malicious, but when pinned on a slacker in science like himself, it was really malicious.

Ke Xun watched as the girl picked up the pen and wrote the name: Zhao Yanbao. The writing was actually very strong, calm and happy. It really didn’t look like a young woman’s handwriting.

“Yanbao, are you finished?” the girl with the Mori shawl came over. “Which ‘Ya’ was my previous name? Should I add a female character to it?”

Zhao Yanbao said, “No.”

“Oh.”

It turned out this was also a pair of close childhood friends, just like Ke Xun and Wei Dong.

“Are you all done?” The policewoman finally looked at them politely. Her face didn’t change even when she saw a “rare treasure” like Mu Yiran. “Hurry up and hand it in when you’re done!”

After checking the forms one by one, she then compared them to the information on the computer.

Wei Dong thought, can your computer here find our information?

“There seems to be no issues, so I’ll give you each a certificate first.” The policewoman took out a thick stack of temporary resident permits that looked like business cards out from the drawer. She untied the rubber bands and began to issue the permit. “Fill in your name. Afterward, go to the next room to have it checked and stamped.”

In the next room, an elderly policeman was on duty. With reading glasses on, he scanned through their forms and marked some. In between, he asked, “Qin Ci, are you a doctor?”

Upon being called, Qin Ci nodded. “Yes, a surgeon.”

“How many years have you done surgery?”

“Almost ten years.”

“Okay, we’ll need your talent here!” As if the elderly policeman had found a treasure, he wrote Qin Ci’s occupation on his “business card” and then stamped it. As he handed it to Qin Ci, he added, “You’ll need to report to the central hospital in a while.”

The certificate in Qin Ci’s hand was like a work permit, which read: Qin Ci, Male, Department of Surgery, Heart City Central Hospital.

This place even arrange work? Ke Xun and his companions shot each other a brief look but also didn’t bother with analyzing this too much.

The old policeman looked at the curly-haired young man and said, “Your name is Zhi Chun?”

The curly-haired young man nodded hurriedly, and it was then that everyone realized there was a photo of each of them on their respective forms. It was a photo taken with a camera, the quality of which was like something from a driving school test.

When was this photo taken? Their faces were captured so clearly. Everyone couldn’t help but look around the room, not knowing whether there was one or more hidden cameras.

The old policeman continued to ask Zhi Chun, “Do you also do surgery?”

Zhi Chun nodded. “I just graduated from medical school, and now I’m just a surgical intern. The scalpel…I haven’t had a chance to use it yet.”

“Did I ask you for so much? Don’t answer without me asking.” The old policeman suddenly turned cold.

Zhi Chun stuck out his tongue secretly but maintained a smile on the surface. “Okay, got it.”

The old policeman’s tone softened. “Just follow Dr. Qin and work with him.”

Zhi Chun carefully took the work permit that the old policeman had handed over and went to stand beside “teacher” Qin Ci.

The old policeman continued to look at the form. Perhaps he wasn’t satisfied with it, so he became annoyed. “What is this? Artist Designer? What kind of work is this?”

Wei Dong’s name was indirectly called and so he stepped forward. After clearing his throat, he decided to introduce his profession to the elderly. “Art Designers refer to technical talents who process and create print media, coloring, tuning, creative processing and production. They can be divided into print media artists, web artists, and 3D artists. Generally, it is necessary to be proficient in Photoshop and other web design software.”

Wei Dong had already memorized this answer from Baidu Encyclopedia, thinking that as an art designer, he would be asked by various aunties every New year, and so he simply gave the most standard answer, which would be immediately followed by:”Hey, technical talents! How much do you earn a month? Do you even earn an annual salary?”

…Wei Dong scratched his head, looked innocently at the old police in front of him, and listened as the old man said, “We don’t need this kind of talent here.”

Whether it was out of the professional habit of an artist, or out of the habit of being forced to “enter paintings,” Wei Dong had observed the city earlier. With a smile, he retorted, “There are many design companies on the street just now, and some LED boards flashing job advertisements calling for art designers.”

The old policeman raised his gaze from the mirror and looked sharply at Wei Dong. “You can’t complete the mission this way.”

This was the first time they heard the word “mission,” and so everyone was nervous, especially the veteran members–Mission? It was brought up so straightforwardly?

Wei Dong boldly asked, “Officer Chu, what is our mission?”

Chu Zhiyong was written on the nametag pinned to the old policeman’s chest.

Chu Zhiyong didn’t seem to hear him. His eyes were fixed on the form in his hand, and then he looked up from the photo to find Zhao Yanbao in the crowd. “Are you Zhao Yanbao? A psychiatrist?”

Zhao Yanbao stepped forward to stand next to Chu Zhiyong’s desk. Her thin, short hair was like the color of pine needles in the twilight. “I’m only a graduate student from the Department of Psychology, not a psychiatrist.”

Chu Zhiyong looked at the heroic girl in front of him, pondered for a moment, and wrote her work unit on the certificate: Choujian Detective Agency.

Zhao Yanbao took her permit noncommittally and imitated Qin Ci by pinning it on her chest.

The room was very quiet as everyone waited for the old police officer’s assignment, or rather, for him to deal with them.

“Why are so many of you people engaged in the arts?!” Chu Zhiyong scratched his messy gray hair. “A renowned art appraiser? A wedding dress designer? A photographer? A painter? An art gallery owner?”

Several “artists” were a little embarrassed and didn’t answer. Only the “renowned art appraiser” Mu Yiran still had an indifferent expression. His gaze slightly shifted to the window, as if he was admiring the sunset outside.

“Two can come work at the police station.” Chu Zhiyong lit a cigarette and took a few slow breaths.

Ke Xun secretly compared his height with Lion, and as he was hesitating, the old policeman’s voice sounded in his ears. “Ke Xun, since you’ve practiced sports, come to our Criminal Investigation Department, and the one over 1.9 meters tall, you can also come to the Criminal Investigation Department.

In this way, Ke Xun and Mu Yiran were happily assigned to work together, and the two of them also got their certificate together…er, work permit…

Lion, a photographer, and Xiao Qinxian, a wedding dress designer, were assigned to the police station’s forensic department. Xiao Qinxian was very puzzled about this, and she asked a lot of questions, but the old policeman acted as if he didn’t hear her.

Wei Dong was also assigned to the Household Registration Department in the police station. In Chu Zhiyong’s own words, he was “in charge of registration.”

The remaining people stood in place without embarrassment and waited to be allocated. Chu Zhiyong told Qin Chi and Zhao Yanbao, “There are four people left. You each can choose two to work with you.”

Therefore, Zhao Yanbao chose the Mori girl Chi Lei and Zhu Haowen.

Since Qin Ci gave the selection opportunity to Zhao Yanbao–for him, people with no medical experience were all the same–the two who fell to him in the central hospital were Su Benxin and the painter Yu Ji.

“It’s getting late, and your dormitories have been arranged according to your unit.” Chu Zhiyong looked at his watch and prepared to get off work.

It was getting dark, but right now, they still didn’t know anything about the death conditions. Going back like this would be a gamble.

As a “newcomer” at the police station, Ke Xun took a step forward and gave the old policeman a salute. “Uncle Chu, what is our central mission?”

Chu Zhiyong revealed a smile that wasn’t quite a smile. “The young people who came to Heart City, most of them are here to fall in love. I don’t know much about you young people.”

When he was walking on the streets earlier, Ke Xun remembered that there were billboards everywhere that read “City of Romance,” perhaps as a way to highlight the charms of the city, like Paris, the romance capital?

Su Benxin had just pinned her work permit with the words “Surgery of Heart City Central Hospital” on her chest when she suddenly recalled the theme of her art exhibit, Mature Love, which fitted perfectly with this. Was it a coincidence or….

Those who had not experienced death inside the world of a painting would always guess that the painter had good intentions.

However, Mu Yiran studied the work permit in his hand and finally asked his own question, “Officer Chu can only do things under orders. The sooner we understand the core of the task, the sooner we can complete it. This permit is only valid for 13 days. I’m afraid we won’t have much time.”

When everyone heard this, they hurriedly looked at their work permit, only to see a line in small font at the bottom: Permit Validity: October 17th — October 30th.

The year wasn’t indicated but no one cared much about it.

“13 days? What do we need to do in 13 days?” Xiao Qinxian was the first to ask this question.

“Find enough beasts,” Chu Zhiyong said, as if thinking out loud.

“What?”

“Find enough scarlet beasts.” Chu Zhiyong looked at everyone with gray eyes.

“How much would be enough?” Mu Yiran grasped the secondary point. There would definitely be more information about the scarlet beast in the future, and so there was no need to ask about it now.

“13 kilograms.”