Chapter 1141 – A Good Man?
”There are still three and a half hours of darkness left, before it gets dark, we have to investigate what places Dr. Fang had been to before he disappeared!”
Chen Ge’s attitude was resolute, he and Lao Wu were together, those who didn’t know probably thought that he was a police officer and Lao Wu was just a driver.
”It has to be investigated before nightfall? Do you have other things to do at night?” Old Wu inquired in puzzlement as he drove.
”This city isn’t safe at night.”
”Xinhai is the city with the best law and order in Central and South China, some of the business districts here are basically open for twenty hours, known as the city that never sleeps.” Old Wu gripped the steering wheel, “You young people should know more about this than I do.”
Chen Ge smiled and did not explain.
Twenty minutes later, they arrived at Xinhai Second Hospital.
There were a total of eleven triple A hospitals in the entire Xinhai, of which the Second Hospital where Dr. Fang was located ranked very high and was located in the most prosperous area of Xinhai.
”Hello, I want to inquire about someone.” Chen Ge and Lao Wu, who was wearing a police uniform, inquired about the front desk of the hospital, the nurse on duty originally didn’t want to take care of Chen Ge, but after seeing the uniform Lao Wu was wearing, her attitude got much better.
Accompanied by the nurse on duty, Chen Ge arrived at the ear, nose and throat department, where a doctor was checking the patient’s body.
”Dr. Fang hasn’t come to work for many days, I’m not sure about the specifics, the doctor inside is named Zhao, a colleague and close friend of Dr. Fang, he should know some information.” The nurse on duty left after saying that, Chen Ge and Lao Wu waited for Dr. Zhao to finish examining the patient before entering the house.
”Which one of you is the patient?” Dr. Zhao was very busy, he hadn’t rested very well lately, he had heavy dark circles under his eyes, and his person looked a bit spiritless.
”We’re not here to see a patient.” Chen Ge pointed to Lao Wu beside him, “This is a first-line criminal police officer from the city branch’s criminal investigation team.”
He didn’t say his own identity, nor did he say that Lao Wu was a police officer from the Hanjiang City Branch, the whole sentence was all true, but it gave the impression as if both of them were all from the Xinhai Criminal Investigation Team.
”Criminal police?” Dr. Zhao realized the seriousness of the matter, “Are you here because of Dr. Fang?”
”It seems like you do know something.” Chen Ge sat down on a chair as the real police officer, Old Wu, guarded the doorway.
”The specific situation has already been given to the people in the police station yesterday, I didn’t expect that you criminal police would come over today, could it be that Dr. Fang has really been ……” Dr. Zhao didn’t go on, but the meaning he wanted to express was clear to the few people present.
”Don’t ask what you shouldn’t ask, you only need to tell me the information you know.” Chen Ge smoothly picked up the pen and paper on the table, ready to record, and the feeling he gave off was very professional.
”In the last few weeks, Dr. Fang’s state has been very poor, there was also a problem with his surgery once, the number of patients complaining about him has become more, this was almost impossible before, Old Fang is the best ENT head and neck doctor we have here.”
”Is Dr. Fang’s trance related to his family?”
”I also met Old Fang’s family yesterday, his wife and daughter are normal and very worried about him, right!” Dr. Zhao seemed to suddenly remember something, “I heard Old Fang’s wife say that Old Fang would often talk to himself alone, saying something about them coming, them being happy, them having come.”
”They have come? Someone is secretly watching Dr. Fang?” Old Wu closed the door to the section and walked over as well, he didn’t expect to stumble upon such a bizarre case just after following Chen Ge to Xinhai.
”In the days leading up to the disappearance, Old Fang often stayed up all night, hiding in the window with a knife all the time, and from time to time, he would look out the window as if there was someone standing underneath their house. His wife and daughter were terrified and would occasionally look out the window, but there was no one outside.” Dr. Zhao sighed, “Old Fang’s wife was going to hire a psychiatrist for him, but before the doctor could be hired, Old Fang had already disappeared.”
”Neither Dr. Fang’s wife nor his daughter saw anyone outside the window, right?” Chen Ge wanted to make sure.
”Old Fang’s wife didn’t see anything, but his youngest daughter told the people at the police station yesterday that there was a woman who kept laughing hidden in her house.”
”A woman who keeps laughing?” Chen Ge’s eyes narrowed, and two words surfaced in his mind – not laughing.
”The people from the police station went to Old Fang’s house and didn’t find the woman, they thought that Old Fang’s daughter was under too much stress and had hallucinations.”
”The hallucinations were also related to certain memories, they should have thought about it more carefully.” Chen Ge didn’t bother to comment on the police station’s approach, he wanted to hurry up and find Dr. Fang now, “Dr. Zhao, do you know who was the last person to see Dr. Fang?”
”For the time being, it should be me.” Dr. Zhao looked haggard, “Old Fang took half a month’s leave, but a few days ago he suddenly came to work before he finished his leave. I saw that he was in okay shape and thought that he had recovered, so I didn’t think much of it and even made a date with him to have a few drinks after work.”
”Dr. Fang disappeared from the hospital?”
”For the time being, it looks like this, after work, Old Fang didn’t go back and locked himself in the house, I didn’t know what he was doing, when I came to work the next day I received the news that Old Fang was missing.” Dr. Zhao was a bit regretful, “If only I had paid more attention that day.”
”You don’t have to blame yourself, it has nothing to do with you.” Chen Ge frowned in contemplation as he recalled the scene when he first talked to Dr. Fang on the phone.
Dr. Fang had also mentioned that he was being watched by No Smile, and he also said that when the hospital’s treasury was renovated before, he found a letter in the old treasury, and when he opened it, it was written inside that he was told to go to some abandoned hospital in the middle of the night, and that if he didn’t go, something very bad would happen (see Chapter 1007 for more details).
”Dr. Zhao, some time ago, wasn’t your hospital’s storehouse renovated once? At that time, Dr. Fang had entered the old storage room, right?”
”How do you know that?” Dr. Zhao was surprised, but the treasury overhaul and Dr. Fang’s disappearance were two completely different things in his opinion, and couldn’t be linked together at all.
”Recall carefully if Dr. Fang’s abnormality started when he entered the old storehouse.” Chen Ge put down the pen in his hand and stuffed the slip of paper that recorded certain things into his pocket.
”It seems …… like it did.” Dr. Zhao’s expression became even more surprised, the feeling Chen Ge brought to him was completely different from the feeling he got yesterday when the police officers at the police station questioned him, “In the end, it’s a criminal investigation, it’s just awesome.”
”If it’s convenient, can you take us to the old storehouse now?”
”Yes, that side is about to be abandoned anyway.” Dr. Zhao and Dr. Fang had a strong relationship, and he was more than happy to help.
Greeting another doctor, Dr. Zhao led Chen Ge and Old Wu out of the hospital.
”The old treasurer isn’t in the hospital?” Chen Ge was a bit puzzled.
”Our hospital relocated a few years ago, the old storage room is still in its original place, and there seems to be only one or two independent departments left over there now.”
Twenty minutes later, the three of them arrived at the original site of the hospital, and after getting the key from the management office, they entered the old storehouse.
The place had just been cleaned and organized, the rows of shelves were empty, and there was hardly anything to be seen in the storehouse.
”Which area was Dr. Fang in charge of when the treasury was being renovated at that time?”
”It seems to be the innermost ones.” Dr. Zhao took out the key and opened the iron door leading to the depths of the storeroom: “Because of the aging circuits, there were no lights inside, the light was very dim, fellow nurses didn’t dare to go in, and it seemed like Old Fang was the only one who went in that day.”
”These several storerooms are also separated in the middle by an iron door, who designed it in the first place?”
”Don’t know.”
The three of them entered the middle of the storage room and found some things that didn’t even look like they would be used in a hospital, such as a set of worn out white wedding dresses, a pair of dusty shoes, and so on.
In the dimly lit room, just those tattered old shoes had a particularly} human feel to them.
”I’m not sure how these things appeared in the storehouse, the earliest grandpa who guarded the storehouse has passed away for quite a long time, this place is always locked, if not for the new dean wanting to overhaul the storehouse, I’m afraid that no one would know that there are so many shoes placed in the hospital’s storehouse.” Dr. Zhao took the flashlight and the key, he was also a little scared in his heart.
”There are all types of shoes and all different sizes, do you guys think it could be some caretaker who likes to collect dead people’s shoes? He stole all the shoes of the sick and dead and hoarded them in the innermost part of the storehouse?” Chen Ge said to himself, he didn’t pay attention to Old Wu and Dr. Zhao’s increasingly poor faces.
”This idea of yours is euphemistically a bit perverted.” Dr. Zhao pointed at the surrounding shelves, “All the shoes on so many shelves are worn by dead people? I’ve realized that you guys in criminal investigation just don’t think like ordinary people.”
Old Wu rubbed his nose on the side, he originally wanted to speak as well, but after hearing Dr. Zhao’s words, he suddenly didn’t know how to speak.
Chen Ge, who was walking at the front, didn’t reply, and he suddenly stopped after walking through two rows of shelves, “The shoes on the previous rows of shelves were all neatly arranged, so why are the shoes on this row of shelves the only ones that have fallen off? Someone has fallen here before!”
Pupils narrowed, Chen Ge compared the location where the shoes had fallen and roughly simulated the situation.
”There was a person about my height who saw something at this location underneath my feet, and he was so startled that his body hit the shelves and his shoes spread out in both directions.” Chen Ge had a very sharp insight, he inferred a lot just by relying on the location of the shoes scattered: “The thing that made the victim afraid should have appeared suddenly from behind him, and in the process of turning around, his body lost its balance and crashed into the shelves.”
Chen Ge locked a direction and walked towards it, his Yin pupils scanned the shelves on both sides, and soon he made a discovery.
”What is this?”
There was a small ball of paper hidden in a very inconspicuous location at the bottom of the shelves, Chen Ge unfolded it, and there was only one line on it – Never enter the last storage room!
”Dr. Zhao, can you see if this is Dr. Fang’s writing?” Chen Ge handed the note to Dr. Zhao, and the other party shook his head after reading it.
”It’s not Dr. Fang’s writing, but it appeared in the place where Dr. Fang’s accident happened, which means that someone kindly reminded Dr. Fang before he came in, but unfortunately, he didn’t care.” Chen Ge reclaimed the note, this was a very important clue that he wanted to keep for himself, “Dr. Zhao, can you still recall the person who entered the warehouse with Dr. Fang that day?”
”I can.”
”Did any of them have the same font as the one on the note?”
”Doesn’t seem to be either, doctors’ writing is more scribbly, they’re usually used to writing bills.” Dr. Zhao repeatedly confirmed, and finally said that the note was not written by someone who was Dr. Fang’s companion.
”Not someone from the hospital?” Chen Ge frowned, after a while he had suddenly asked, “If you want to enter the treasury, you first need to get the key from the management office, could this note be given to Dr. Fang by someone from the management office?”
Not looking for any more clues in the old storehouse, Chen Ge took the note and hurried back to the management office.
After comparing the handwriting, Chen Ge realized that the words on the note were similar to those of a treasury administrator, who was surnamed Eat, a rarely seen surname.
”Excuse me, is Eat Ren here?” Chen Ge put away the note, looked at the photos of the staff on the wall, and asked aloud.
”Brother Ren took a vacation a few days ago, do you have something for him?” The people at the management office also thought that Chen Ge and Lao Wu were from the Xinhai Criminal Investigation Team, so they had a very good attitude.
Hearing that Eat Ren hadn’t come to work for several days, Chen Ge immediately had a bad feeling in his heart, “Can you tell me where Eat Ren lives? We want to go over and ask him some questions in person.”
The person from the management office hesitated for a moment, then told Chen Ge the address of the apartment that Eat Ren had rented.
”Jen is quite withdrawn and basically won’t talk to strangers, so prepare yourselves for a closed door.” The man from the management office also had a bitter smile on his face when he mentioned Eat Ren.
”Does he usually have any strange habits? Or done certain strange things?”
”There’s nothing strange …… Right, Jen obviously lives alone, he doesn’t have any family, but occasionally he would talk to himself and chant some particularly horrible words, such as eating hands, eating eyes, eating noses, and so on.” The man in the management office felt uncomfortable at the mere mention of these words, “Once I asked him why he was always saying these things, and he told me that all of those horrible words were the names of his family.”
”This family of his is also strange enough.” Chen Ge still had half a sentence left unsaid, he felt that there might be some kind of connection between this family surnamed Eat and No Smile.
Having obtained useful clues, Chen Ge told Dr. Zhao to go back first, and he and Old Wu went to the apartment building where Eat Ren rented.
They knocked on the door for half a day, but no one opened it. Finally, the landlord came out and told them that Eaten hadn’t come back for several days.
The landlord also revealed a very important piece of information to Chen Ge, when Eat Ren last left the apartment building he was carrying a large bag containing water and various food items, it was as if he had anticipated danger and was going somewhere to take refuge.
”If my speculation is correct, Eat Ren wrote a note to Dr. Fang to try to save him, but it didn’t work, and he was worried about being retaliated against by Unsmiling, so he fled in the night.”
In Chen Ge’s opinion, this Eat Ren should be a good person by and large despite his strange name.
”If you want to find Dr. Fang, you still have to start with Eat Ren.”