Chapter 120: He Came Back
"Banging his head against the wall? Like something got inside his head?"
Chen Ge pondered the middle-aged man's words, feeling that Wang Haiming's symptoms were somewhat similar to Zhang Peng's.
Both might have been possessed by something unclean, except Zhang Peng willingly allied with the filth, while Wang Haiming chose to resist and struggle.
Midnight is the time of day when yin energy is strongest, and when unclean things are most active. That would explain why he always had episodes in the dead of night.
Chen Ge decided to follow this line of questioning further: "Brother, aside from going crazy at night, did Wang Haiming have any other unusual behaviors?"
"He seemed pretty normal when he first got out of the mental hospital, just didn't talk much. After spending some time with him, we realized there were a lot of off things about this guy. During the day, it wasn't a big deal—sometimes he'd even greet people on his own. But once night fell, he was a completely different person. Banging his head against the wall, cursing at mirrors and walls, choking himself until his face turned purple and he wouldn't let go."
Through the middle-aged man's account, Chen Ge learned about Wang Haiming's past.
Wang Haiming's second wife had swindled his money and gotten him committed to a mental hospital. If this was a premeditated setup, then Wang Haiming was most likely normal before entering the hospital.
A normal person goes into a mental hospital, undergoes some treatment, and comes out with problems.
"The unclean thing on him must have come from that mental hospital." Chen Ge had his answer and asked another question: "Can you tell me more about how Wang Haiming died?"
The scruffy middle-aged man raised his bottle and took a big gulp: "I don't know why you're curious about a dead man, but I'd advise you not to dig too deep. Be careful you don't get yourself caught up in it. That room is a bit cursed."
"Thanks for the warning, but I know what I'm doing."
After Chen Ge's persistent insistence, the middle-aged man finally revealed the truth: "Back when Wang Haiming was thrashing around in his room, we could all hear his screams. The neighbors would come help or call the cops. But the day he died, no one in the whole building heard a thing. The next morning, when the landlord went to bring him food, she found his body already cold."
"What did the death scene look like?" Chen Ge asked one more question, crucial for piecing together the cause and effect of the incident.
The middle-aged man gave Chen Ge a strange look, puzzled why this young guy was so interested in such things: "I was there too. Wang Haiming had a big hole in his head, and the wall between rooms 303 and 304 was splattered with blood. His face was blue and purple, looked like he suffocated to death. There were finger marks on his neck, but later the police compared them and found they were left by Wang Haiming himself."
"So you're saying he choked himself to death?"
"The scene only had him alone, doors and windows intact. Seems like the only possibility." The middle-aged man finished his last drink and casually stuffed the bottle into the shoe cabinet: "Done asking? It's still early, I need to go downstairs and buy more booze."
"Still early?" Chen Ge glanced at the pitch-black sky outside the window but didn't dwell on the man's words: "Last question. After Wang Haiming's death, did anything strange happen around here?"
As soon as he asked, the scruffy middle-aged man's face shifted slightly. He looked at the hundred-yuan bill in his hand and whispered to Chen Ge: "A lot of the old tenants in the building have seen it—Wang Haiming came back."
"Wang Haiming isn't here anymore, is he?" Before Chen Ge could finish, the middle-aged man pushed him out the door. "Hey! Explain yourself!"
Standing in the dim, low hallway, Chen Ge thought about the man's words: "Wang Haiming came back?"
After a moment's hesitation, Chen Ge headed back toward the landlord's first-floor apartment.
Wang Haiming was likely someone who came out of the Third Psychiatric Ward. Getting information about that place from him could be valuable, and for that reason alone, Chen Ge would follow this lead to the end. After all, the Third Psychiatric Ward might hold clues left by his parents.
Knocking on the landlord's door, Chen Ge stated his purpose, and the landlord reacted strongly.
She warned Chen Ge that if he kept lingering in the apartment building and causing trouble, she would call the police.
The iron door slammed shut. Chen Ge stood at the hallway entrance, feeling a bit helpless.
The landlord didn't want to recall those events, and no matter what Chen Ge said, she refused to cooperate.
"If I use a hammer to break the lock on 303, this lady's temper might actually get me arrested."
Back on the third floor, Chen Ge planned to discuss things with Dr. Gao inside the room, but he stopped at the door.
"Why is the person in room 302 still on the phone?" From the rental unit came a young man's voice, repeating the same phrase most often—Are you trying to drive me to death?
"It's been half an hour since I entered Men Nan's room. Hasn't the young man hung up yet?" A long call wasn't unusual, but what was strange was that he'd been repeating nearly identical sentences for that long.
"Who's he arguing with? I've only heard his voice this whole time, but the way he's talking doesn't sound like he's on the phone." Chen Ge eavesdropped by the door for a while, recalling what the middle-aged man had said—Wang Haiming used to argue with himself when he had episodes.
"This guy's got issues."
He knocked on the door. The arguing inside stopped immediately. After a dozen seconds, the door cracked open, and a young man's voice came from behind it: "What is it?"
"About the room next door, 303—"
"I don't know."
Before Chen Ge could finish, the young man shut the door.
Having asked everyone he could, Chen Ge couldn't think of a better approach for now. He returned to room 304, greeted Dr. Gao, and stood alone by the wall.
"The black phone says the mission location is room 303. I need to check it out before midnight." Chen Ge rubbed his temples, walked to the window, and pushed open the window of room 304.
Rooms 304 and 303 were adjacent, their windows only about a meter apart.
"I should be able to climb over." He brought a chair over, stepped onto the windowsill, and tested it. The window of 303 wasn't locked and could be opened directly.
"Getting over shouldn't be a problem, but if I run into something inside 303, I might not have time to climb back." Chen Ge looked down. The third floor wasn't too high, but it wasn't low either. Unlike Ping An Apartment, the ground below Hai Ming Apartment wasn't grass but hard concrete.