Chapter 122: Sleepwalking?
"Wang Haiming was haunted by something unclean in the mental hospital, and after he was discharged, he brought that monster out with him."
"The two sides must have been fighting for control of his body. Wang Haiming refused to compromise and ended up dead in his rented room."
His bizarre manner of death and the strange behavior that only occurred at night all supported Chen Ge's speculation.
"After Wang Haiming died, the monster he brought out of the mental hospital might have stayed in this building. His body was moved during the day, with police and onlookers everywhere—the monster wouldn't have dared to show itself. By nightfall, Room 303 was completely sealed off, leaving the monster no chance to hunt."
"Normally, this monster from the mental hospital would have been trapped in that room forever. But judging by the current situation, it's already struck a deal with the young man in 302 through some unknown method."
"Probably having learned its lesson from Wang Haiming, the monster didn't forcibly take over the young man's body this time. Instead, they seem to have a mutually exploitative relationship."
Chen Ge looked at the sparrow corpses on the ground. "There's a lot of blood on the clothes; these few sparrows aren't nearly enough. The deal between the monster and the young man must have started a long time ago."
He recalled what the young man had said earlier in his room. When the occupant of 302 was shouting, he'd said, "Stop pushing me!" That phrase revealed a lot.
First, he was being forced to do things against his will. Combined with the situation in Room 303, the unclean thing was likely compelling him to bring back live prey.
A few sparrows were nowhere near enough to satisfy that monster, so its demands were probably for larger live animals—stray cats, stray dogs, or even living people.
Second was the young man's choice of words. During the argument, he didn't refer to the other party as "you" but as "you all," suggesting that more than one unclean thing was pressuring him. This was also what puzzled Chen Ge the most: what exactly was the monster that Wang Haiming had brought out of the mental hospital?
After putting everything back in place, Chen Ge walked toward the window. Due to the angle, the young man in 302 didn't realize he'd been spotted. When he saw Chen Ge approaching the window, he immediately retreated into his own room.
"Now I have one more person to watch out for tonight." Chen Ge stepped onto the windowsill, gripping the frame tightly. As he shifted his weight, his peripheral vision caught a glimpse of the bathroom in 303.
Behind the half-open door, a tall, thin shadow seemed to stand, bearing two different faces.
"Someone?!"
Startled, Chen Ge nearly lost his grip. He focused his gaze, but the bathroom was empty again, though something seemed to flicker briefly in the mirror facing the door.
Standing on the edge of the windowsill with no safety measures was too dangerous. Chen Ge didn't linger, shifting most of his body toward 304 and slowly climbing inside.
"Find anything?" Dr. Gao asked, more out of politeness than genuine curiosity.
"Look at this." Chen Ge pulled the key from his pocket. "Dr. Gao, does your hospital have any doors that require this kind of key?"
Dr. Gao took the key and examined it. It was only slightly larger than an ordinary key. "It doesn't look like a key for an operating room or an office. I'm not sure."
Getting no answer from Dr. Gao, Chen Ge had to pocket the key for now, planning to try it out once they entered the third ward.
"You rummaged around next door for ages and only came back with a key?" Dr. Gao hung up the phone. Chen Ge had been so secretive when he left, only to end up with such an anticlimactic result.
"Don't underestimate this key. It might be the key to tonight." Chen Ge put the key away and glanced toward the bedroom. "Is Men Nan asleep?"
"I don't recommend letting him sleep in Room 304. The patient is already afraid of this environment. If he falls asleep here, he's likely to give himself psychological cues, and the chances of having nightmares are very high." Dr. Gao was worried about Men Nan's condition. "Now that we've confirmed his psychological issues stem from his childhood experience, we should treat the root cause and provide appropriate psychological counseling."
"It's not as simple as you think." Chen Ge patiently explained to Dr. Gao, who had never seen the things from that other world, so his thinking had its limits. "If Men Nan's only problem was the psychological shadow from his mother's murder as a child, why did his condition only worsen after he moved into this new apartment?"
Dr. Gao couldn't answer that question either.
"The childhood experience was just a trigger. The real problem lies in this apartment. Something here is severely stimulating him, causing his episodes—that's the true cause." Chen Ge tried to express his thoughts without revealing the existence of those things.
Dr. Gao nodded after listening. Though Chen Ge gave him an unreliable impression, one thing was undeniable: Wang Xin's condition had started improving after spending time alone with Chen Ge.
From a doctor's perspective, he was curious about Chen Ge's methods and thought processes. But from a patient's perspective, as long as the treatment worked in the end, that was all that mattered.
Chen Ge could see Dr. Gao hesitating. Convincing him wouldn't be easy. "Even if we take him somewhere else, he'll still have that dream. Haven't you already tried that? In my opinion, we might as well let him sleep here. We'll stay by his side, and if he shows any signs of distress or pain, we'll wake him up immediately."
Treating psychological disorders was a long process, and there might be more issues down the road. After much deliberation, Dr. Gao finally agreed.
Once they'd decided, they entered the bedroom, only to find Men Nan already lying on the bed.
He was too tired, his chin resting on the pillow as he dozed off at the edge of the bed.
Chen Ge picked Men Nan up and placed him properly on the bed. He was about to check Men Nan's head and neck, but Dr. Gao stopped him.
"Let him sleep."
"Yeah." Chen Ge pulled up a chair. "We'll split the watch—one of us takes the first half of the night, the other the second. If anything abnormal happens, we wake him up immediately."
"You go rest first. I'll handle it here."
Dr. Gao told Chen Ge to sleep on the sofa in the living room while he stayed in the room to watch over Men Nan.
Before coming, Chen Ge had spent the afternoon running around the haunted house with an iron hammer, and in between, he'd made twenty-four fake human heads. He was indeed a bit tired. He set his phone to vibrate, scheduled an alarm for midnight, lay down on the sofa with his head resting on Little, and soon fell asleep.
...
Half-asleep, a vibration in his palm jolted Chen Ge upright on the sofa. He checked the time—it was exactly midnight.
He entered the bedroom and found Dr. Gao with a worried expression. Before he could speak, Dr. Gao gestured for him to be quiet.
The two stood by the bed. After about five or six minutes, Men Nan, who had clearly been asleep, suddenly propped himself up with his arms, as if trying to sit up.
After several failed attempts, his arms flopped back down to his sides, as if the one who had just moved wasn't him at all.
"Sleepwalking?" Chen Ge whispered to Dr. Gao, who shook his head slightly and pointed at Men Nan's eyes.
Following Dr. Gao's finger, Chen Ge saw that Men Nan's eyes had been open the whole time, but three-quarters of each eye was white.