Chapter 0157: The Victims
A faint stench wafted through the air, which seemed to get stronger the closer they got to the third sickbay.
The hallway in the middle of the second and third sickbay was locked, and an iron door separated the two sickbays.
Through the gap in the iron door, one could vaguely see the scene inside the third building, tables and chairs were dumped, a large pile of bedding was thrown in the corridor, and what was even stranger was that underneath the bedding was bulging as if it was covered with something.
Chen Ge stood next to the rusty iron door, his eyes staring at the lock hole on the iron door, he had been on the third floor of the second patient building for some time.
”Double-sided lock core?”
Most of the access doors in psychiatric hospitals were double-sided lock cores, and in case of emergency, no matter which side of the iron door one stood on, one could lock the iron door, prohibiting internal and external passage and blocking off a certain area.
Originally, this was just a very insignificant point, but it caught Chen Ge’s attention.
He took out the key left behind by Wang Haiming from his personal pocket and tried it against the lock hole.
Probably because it hadn’t been maintained for a long time, the lock hole had rusted to death, and the key couldn’t be stuffed in at all.
”Looks like I was overthinking, this key is not a passage door key.” Comparing the height and spacing of the teeth of the lock hole and the key, Chen Ge re-stowed Wang Haiming’s key.
He had noticed when he entered the rehabilitation center that most of the ward doors had single-sided lock cylinders with small lock holes, and that key couldn’t be stuffed in at all.
”The key was brought out by Wang Haiming from the third ward, the door corresponding to the key is probably in the third ward. Another bold guess, there are only nine patient profiles in the third patient building, could that disappearing patient in room three be Wang Haiming?”
Chen Ge couldn’t be sure of his guess, if it was Wang Haiming the hospital should have left a discharge record, but Dr. Gao checked all the information and there was no information about Ward Three.
”Just one Wang Haiming shouldn’t be worthy of making the hospital destroy all information and records.”
The water in this ward was a bit deep, Chen Ge wasn’t too interested in what actually happened here five years ago, he only wanted to find the clues left behind by his parents and the way to close the “door”.
Entering the third floor corridor, Chen Ge held a flashlight and carefully walked past one ward after another.
”The person I saw in the middle of the building corridor just now, could he be hiding in one of the rooms?”
Coming to the end of the third floor corridor, Chen Ge stopped at the door of a room whose purpose was unknown.
This room emitted a strong musty odor, and the door to the room was not quite the same as the other patient rooms, with a brand new large lock hanging on it.
”There’s no rust at all on the lock, and this lock is newly installed just like the lock on the door of the first sickbay.” Chen Ge took out Wang Haiming’s key and tried it, and it still wouldn’t open.
He glanced back at the dark corridor, and after making sure no one was nearby, he lifted his tool hammer to pry the lock right off the door panel.
”Luckily it’s a wooden door, if it was replaced with an iron door, I really wouldn’t be able to get in.”
Pushing the door of the room, a strong musty smell came out, and a small mountain of hospital gowns and bed sheets and bedding were piled up inside the room.
”This should be the laundry room of the second sick building.” Chen Ge’s body stood straight, the camera on his chest recorded everything, including the words he uttered.
Being in danger, he didn’t dare to relax to communicate with his water friends, but just stood in his own perspective and said what he thought and saw, as if he was making a real horror documentary.
The musty smell in the laundry room diluted the stench of the sick building itself, and it felt like the air in the room had become sticky and uncomfortable.
Forcing himself to endure the discomfort, Chen Ge entered it.
The room was large, with several washing machines and specialized disinfecting instruments placed against the wall, other than that there were only piles of dirty clothes and moldy and smelly bed sheets and bedding left.
”This house doesn’t look like much, why is it specially locked?” Chen Ge focused his eyes on the huge pile of dirty clothes as he forced himself to endure the unpleasant odor and used a tool hammer to pick apart the bedding outside.
”It always feels like there’s something hidden inside.” Chen Ge accelerated his movements, and as he lifted a stained outer garment, the tool hammer touched the iron bars with a crunching sound.
”An iron cage?” He moved the bed of quilts spread on top of it, and the image in front of him made his heart skip a beat.
Hidden beneath the bedding was an iron cage containing a young woman with a shaved head!
Mouth stuffed with a moldy pillowcase, hands tied to the iron cage, the woman’s mental state was not too stable, looking at Chen Ge desperately shaking her head, her hands waving, her feet stomping outward on the cage.
Chen Ge did not react for a moment, he did not expect to find a living person under a pile of dirty clothes.
The live broadcast room also exploded at this time, the pop-up screen swiped the screen, and even because of the excessive number of speakers, even the live broadcast screen had a hint of lag.
Chen Ge quietly backed away, he was still very cautious, first closing the door to the room and then pushing the washing machine by the wall behind the door.
He was afraid of being attacked from behind and blocked the door of the room before he dared to approach the iron cage.
”Can you understand what I’m saying?” As soon as Chen Ge approached, the woman in the cage began to fight back desperately, unable to communicate at all.
”There are no wounds on the body, and there are no oil stains on the lips, this woman wasn’t transferred from the iron cage in the first sick building, there may be other people present around.”
Chen Ge ripped off the bedding next to her again, and there were a total of three iron cages hidden in this stench when.
The three iron cages were placed in a straight line, just like the three sick buildings in a rehabilitation center.
The woman was placed in the center, on her left was an old man with uneven hair, looking sixty or seventy years old, as thin as a bone, with grease stains remaining on his mouth and fingers; on the woman’s right was a middle-aged man with pale skin who didn’t seem to have seen the sunlight for a long time, when this man saw Chen Ge come in, his eyes were very strange, intertwined with excitement, disgust, and fear.
”Three people?”
Things went beyond Chen Ge’s expectations, his face clouded over as an idea popped into his head.
Gripping the tool hammer tightly, Chen Ge kept a certain distance from the three iron cages.
In the middle of a dangerous environment, having encountered three strangers, the safest thing to do was not to believe what they said or venture close to them, as it was likely that the murderer was hidden among them.
Chen Ge walked around them, the cages were not big, they were not meant for people at all, a living person could not even turn around when they burrowed inside.
”Three iron cages, only the woman’s hands and feet are restrained and her mouth is gagged.” One could feel more and more puzzled, if all three people were victims, why was it that the one who was restricted from moving was the woman with the least strength?
The old man on the left and the middle-aged man on the right, one was demented and dull, and the other had an unusually rich facial expression, both of their hands and feet were not restrained, but no one opened their mouths to ask for help, and they just shrank in the iron cage and looked at Chen Ge.
Compared to the live broadcast of the pop-up screen, Chen Ge was extremely calm, he stood in front of the three iron cages with a tool hammer in his hand, “How long have you been locked up here?”