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Chapter 158: Thirst For Love

Everyone obviously didn’t expect the author of this painting to have committed suicide. Another painter here, Yu Ji, asked, “This Yu Beiguo should be very young, right?”

“Mr. Yu, as a painter in the same city, do you know Yu Beiguo?” Su Benxin asked.

Yu Ji said, “I only returned from abroad last year. I’ve heard about Yu Beiguo in this city a long time ago, but I’ve never met him. I heard about his death not long ago. It’s a pity.”

Su Benxin sighed softly. “It is said that his depression was getting worse, and that’s why…I don’t know much about it. Our small town is very small, and the works of many local painters are often put on consignment in the art gallery.”

“So because of the painter’s death, the painting he’d painted before his death became unsellable?” Chi Lei speculated on the side.

Su Benxin nodded and grew quiet.

Zhao Yanbao looked at the clock on the wall of the restaurant. “It’s half past eight. I don’t know when night will begin in the painting?”

This sentence was clearly directed toward the veteran members present. Qin Ci replied, “It is usually after 11 o’clock.”

“But we all aren’t sleeping in the same place. If danger occurs at night, how do we notify the others?” Zhao Yanbao considered it practically.

“Our dorms are all equipped with telephones. What about yours?” Qin Ci asked.

Zhao Yanbao nodded. “We also have a phone. I’ve already copied down all the phone numbers.”

Wei Dong said, “I don’t know if the old, lousy phones at our places could be used.”

Lion said, “It should work.”

Luo Wei got up and went to the front desk, probably to borrow a pen and paper. When he returned, he turned on more lights, and the table suddenly became much brighter.

“Write down the phone number of each dorm and make a simple address book.” Luo Wei gave everyone a piece of paper.

This proposal was very good. Everyone started to fill in the phone number on each piece of paper. In fact, every work unit had a fixed phone number; the only difference was the extension number for each room.

“There seems to be no cell phone in this world,” the young, curly-haired Zhi Chun who had been following Qin Ci in silence finally said.

“Actually, I like to read mystery novels set before the era of cell phones. The times long ago are a little better, even fingerprints and DNAs couldn’t be verified.” After Chi Lei said this, she felt that she was a little out of date, and so she let out a small cough and lowered her head to take a sip of cold lemonade.

Wei Dong watched Luo Wei, who was staying in the same room as him, finished writing down their phone number, and suddenly gave himself a knock on the head. “I just remember that the phone in our room seems to be an old rotary dial phone. The last time I used this kind of phone was when I was a kid. I wouldn’t know which direction to turn.”

“Toward the center,” Lion said. “Turn to the fixed number and there will be some resistance there.”

“You, international friend, knows better than me.”

“Phone knows no borders.” Lion shrugged.

“I’m talking about rolling, do you know rolling…?”

After they finished writing their phone numbers, everyone now had a simple address book with a series of phone numbers in their hands.

Su Benxin whispered to Xiao Qinxian, “…So, you also live in a room by yourself?”

“I’m the only woman in our place.” Xiao Qinxian didn’t bother to look at the few “colleagues” in the dormitory, always feeling that these guys were deliberately opposing herself.

“Can we two be companions?” Although Su Benxin was asking Xiao Qinxian, she had turned her attention to the veteran members instead.

Qin Ci was the first to shake his head. “The division of workplaces is a clear classification. If the premises are messed up, I’m afraid it will be regarded as disrupting the rules.”

“Okay.” Su Benxin said no more.

Xiao Qinxian sneered. “Locking the door at night is the most important thing. Let’s ask for more blessings.”

Chi Lei said on the side, “Our detective agency also has a room for each person, and because the three bedrooms are already divided, we dare not mess with the rules.”

“I think living alone isn’t terrible. The most important thing is to find the rules of the world.” This time it was Zhao Yanbao who spoke. She looked in the direction of Mu Yiran and Ke Xun.

Chu Zhiyong said, “Our task is to look for the scarlet beast in this world. As far as tonight is concerned, we haven’t even started work yet. Since this might not be considered an incomplete task, will we be punished tonight?”

“Every world has different rules. We have even experienced a world where the rules change every night,” Ke Xun said this time. “It’s off work time now, and Old Chu didn’t mention working overtime. I don’t think we will be punished for not finding the beast, at least not tonight.”

Everyone temporarily felt relieved.

But the veteran members found this matter more difficult. Sometimes, “unknown tasks” are more terrifying than “impossible tasks.”

“It’s not yet nine o’clock, so everyone can use an hour to speak freely.” Qin Ci folded the paper of phone numbers in his hand. “Since it isn’t easy to start with this world, we can start with the, painting first.”

.

“This is a good idea.” Zhao Yanbao nodded. “At the art gallery, we were looking at the painting carefully and even had a discussion about it. Now, we might as well talk about what we think of the painting. This might prove useful.”

Zhao Yanbao turned her gaze to Su Benxin, looking forward to the art gallery owner’s remarks the most.

Su Benxin pursed her lips slightly and took the initiative to speak. “If you put aside the content of the picture, what do you think of the words scarlet beast?”

No one spoke because no one understood the special meaning of these words.

Wei Dong was the first to start. “If we say these words alone, my first thought is a red horse.”

Lion said, “I think it’s a red lion.”

Zhi Chun said, “I think it’s a huge red rhino hippopotamus or something like that.”

Other people “……”

“The Japanese writer Yukio Mishima has a famous novel called Thirst For Love. I don’t know if anyone has read it?” Su Benxin asked.

Very few people have read this book. Only a few people had heard of it, and Chi Lei was one of the few who had actually read it.

Chi Lei asked, “What does this book have to do with the painting?”

Su Benxin’s skin still looked white and flawless under the bright light. “It is said that Thirst For Love had another name before it was published. The editorial department wasn’t satisfied with the original name and so it was changed to Thirst For Love.”

“Oh? What was it called before?”

“The Scarlet Beast.”

Because the name of the painting was too similar, it was impossible to tell whether it was accidental or planned.

“What’s the book about?” someone asked.

Chi Lei also didn’t know how to summarize the book. “Probably, a woman’s life experience with love.”

“Or rather, abnormal love.” It was Xiao Qinxian who spoke this time.

“Have you all read the book?” Lion asked.

Xiao Qinxian said, “I’m just curious about how a woman would be portrayed in Yukio Mashima’s work. I have only read this single book of his.”

Ke Xun whispered to Mu Yiran in a low voice, “I remember this Japanese writer is…”

“Yes.” Mu Yiran nodded his head.

I haven’t finished yet…Yes, this Japanese writer seems to be gay.

“Why do you say abnormal love?” Qin Ci asked. It appeared that he’d never read any of this writer’s work before. “The more detailed the content, the more it might help us.”

The three women who had read this book–Su Benxin, Chi Lei, and Xiao Qinxian–glanced at each other and reached an agreement. Su Benxin would tell everyone.

“The heroine in the book is called Etsuko. She personally killed the two men she loved due to her desperation for love.” Su Benxin’s voice became clearer as the light gradually dimmed.

The restaurant was about to close. Everyone cherished the last light and felt a sense of collective warmth.

“Etsuko really loved her husband, Ryosuke, but due to his fickleness, she soon fell into jealousy after their marriage and was full of suffering. Later, her husband suffered from severe typhoid fever, and he was relegated to bedrest, living on a respirator. She was left to take care of him, and that kind of care could be said to have made her both ecstatic and greedy. Because, Etsuko felt that only at this time did she really have a husband. The original text emphasized this by saying ‘Etsuko could not deny how insatiable, how senseless, the extent of her happiness was. Unexpectedly, this miserable happiness had returned to her.”

“But a word from the doctor shattered Etsuko’s happiness-‘The patient may be saved.’ Her? husband was soon regaining health and vitality, but this was not the result that Etsuko wanted. So, she unplugged her husband’s respirator and watched as he died a painful death.”

“Why?” Wei Dong couldn’t help asking. “Since she loved him and was willing to take care of him, why would she kill him in the end?”

Su Benxin’s gaze became a bit misty and her expression also turned somewhat peculiar. “This is indeed very puzzling. I can only use Etsuko’s explanation in the book: ‘Rather than have that kind of unreliable happiness, I would rather have attained a moment of true happiness. At this moment, I feel that, instead of waiting for my husband’s unreliable nature, I would rather see him dead. However, my husband’s body is still alive, in the process of betraying me…The memories of jealousy have resuscitated.”

Everyone chewed on these words, as if they could understand, but they didn’t understand at all.

“This woman is terrible.” Wei Dong took a sip of cold lemonade, feeling it washed cold and sour over his teeth.

“How did she kill the second man?” someone asked.

“The second man was Saburo, a country worker. This time, Etsuko’s feelings were a little more hidden. It could even be said that it was just her wishful thinking, but she was very serious about it. The book spent a lot of time describing this feeling, this kind of indulgence brimming from the heart.” Su Benxin’s voice was like a radio host from a night talk program, very empathetic. “This exploration of the psyche of human nature, perhaps only Mashima Yukio would have the extraordinary talent to do it so well.”

Just as someone was about to ask a question, Su Benxin suddenly said, “I remember a paragraph that describes Etsuko’s obsession with Saburo. It says–’To her, his back was like a deep ocean, making her long to throw herself into it.’ Although this is similar to people wanting to commit suicide by throwing themselves into the sea, what those people who threw themselves into the sea long for may not necessarily be death.”

When Ke Xun heard this, the fingers he’d placed on his legs moved a little. This description was indeed very attractive, both cruel and decisive, having the courage to throw caution to the wind.

Ke Xun couldn’t help himself; he cast a quick glance in Mu Yiran’s direction, only to find that the other party was looking at Luo Wei, eyes half-lidded, before suddenly raising his lids and turning his gaze to the clock on the wall.