Chapter 158: The Victim
A faint stench drifted through the air, growing stronger the closer he got to the third ward. The corridor between the second and third wards was locked, a iron door separating the two buildings.
Through the gaps in the iron door, he could vaguely make out the scene inside the third ward—tables and chairs overturned, a pile of bedding strewn across the hallway, and, more oddly, the bedding bulged as if something was hidden beneath it.
Chen Ge stood by the rusted iron door, his eyes fixed on the keyhole. He had been on the third floor of the second ward for a while now.
"Double-sided lock cylinder?"
Most corridor doors in psychiatric hospitals used double-sided lock cylinders. In an emergency, no matter which side of the iron door you were on, you could lock it, preventing entry or exit and sealing off a specific area.
This was usually a minor detail, but it caught Chen Ge's attention.
He took out the key Wang Haiming had left behind from his inner pocket and tried it in the lock. Perhaps because it hadn't been maintained in a long time, the lock cylinder had rusted shut, and the key couldn't even fit in.
"Looks like I was overthinking it. This key isn't for the corridor door." Comparing the key's tooth height and spacing with the lock, Chen Ge put Wang Haiming's key away again.
He had noticed earlier while entering the rehabilitation center that most ward doors had single-sided lock cylinders with very small keyholes—the key couldn't fit into those either.
"The key was brought out of the third ward by Wang Haiming. The door it corresponds to might be inside the third ward. Taking a bolder guess, since there are only records for nine patients in the third ward, could the missing patient from Room 3 be Wang Haiming?"
Chen Ge couldn't be sure of his guess. If it were Wang Haiming, the hospital should have discharge records, but Dr. Gao had searched through all the files without finding any information about Room 3.
"Just one Wang Haiming probably wouldn't warrant the hospital destroying all records and files."
The waters in this ward ran deep. Chen Ge wasn't all that interested in what exactly happened here five years ago; he just wanted to find the clues his parents had left behind and the method to close the "door."
Entering the third-floor corridor, Chen Ge held his flashlight and carefully walked past each room.
"Could that person I saw in the middle of the corridor earlier be hiding in one of these rooms?"
Reaching the end of the third-floor hallway, Chen Ge stopped in front of a room with an unknown purpose. A strong musty smell emanated from inside, and the door was different from the other wards, fitted with a brand-new, large lock.
"Not a speck of rust on the lock. This lock, like the one on the first ward's main door, is newly installed." Chen Ge tried Wang Haiming's key again, but it still wouldn't open.
He glanced back at the dark corridor, confirmed no one was nearby, then used his tool hammer to pry the lock straight off the door panel.
"Good thing it's a wooden door. If it were iron, I might not have been able to get in."
Pushing the door open, a thick musty smell rushed out. Inside, piles of patient uniforms, sheets, and bedding were stacked like small mountains.
"This must be the laundry room of the second ward." Chen Ge stood upright, the camera on his chest recording everything, including the words he spoke.
In this dangerous situation, he couldn't afford to relax and chat with his viewers. He simply spoke from his own perspective, voicing what he thought and saw, like he was filming a real horror documentary.
The musty smell in the laundry room diluted the ward's own stench, but it made the air feel sticky and uncomfortable. Suppressing his discomfort, Chen Ge stepped inside.
The room was large. Against the walls were several washing machines and specialized disinfection equipment, and aside from that, only mountains of dirty clothes and moldy, stinking sheets and bedding remained.
"This room doesn't seem like much. Why was it specifically locked?" Chen Ge focused on the huge pile of dirty clothes. Fighting the foul odor, he used his tool hammer to lift the outer layers of bedding.
"I feel like there's something hidden inside." Chen Ge quickened his pace. When he flipped over a heavily stained coat, the tool hammer hit an iron bar, producing a sharp clang.
"Iron cage?" He moved aside a blanket covering the top, and the sight before him made his heart race.
Beneath the bedding was an iron cage, and inside it was a young woman with her head shaved!
Her mouth was stuffed with a moldy pillowcase, her hands tied to the cage. The woman's mental state seemed unstable. Seeing Chen Ge, she shook her head frantically, waving her hands and kicking her feet against the cage.
Chen Ge was momentarily stunned. He hadn't expected to find a living person under a pile of dirty clothes.
The livestream room exploded at that moment. Bullet comments flooded the screen, and the sheer number of viewers even caused a slight lag in the video feed.
Chen Ge quietly stepped back, still very cautious. He first closed the door, then pushed the washing machine against the wall behind it. Afraid of being attacked from behind, he only dared approach the cage after blocking the door.
"Can you understand what I'm saying?" As soon as Chen Ge got close, the woman in the cage began to resist violently, making communication impossible.
"No wounds on her body, no grease stains on her lips. This woman wasn't transferred from the iron cage in the first ward. There might be others nearby."
Chen Ge pulled away more bedding. Amidst the stench, three iron cages were hidden.
The three cages were arranged in a triangle, like the three wards of the rehabilitation center. The woman was in the middle. To her left was an old man with uneven hair, looking sixty or seventy, skin and bones, with grease stains on his mouth and fingers. To her right was a middle-aged man with pale skin, as if he hadn't seen sunlight in a long time. When he saw Chen Ge enter, his eyes held a strange mix of excitement, disgust, and fear.
"Three people?"
Things had exceeded Chen Ge's expectations. His expression shifted uncertainly as ideas raced through his mind.
Gripping his tool hammer, Chen Ge kept a distance from the three cages. In a dangerous environment, encountering three strangers, the safest approach was to not trust what they said and not approach them recklessly, because the culprit might be hiding among them.
He circled around them. The cages were small, not meant for humans. A person inside couldn't even turn around.
"Three cages, but only the woman has her hands and feet restrained and her mouth gagged." More and more puzzling details emerged. If all three were victims, why was the weakest one, the woman, the only one restrained?
The old man on the left and the middle-aged man on the right—one was dull and dazed, the other had an overly expressive face. Neither had their hands or feet bound, yet neither called for help. They just huddled in their cages, staring at Chen Ge.
Compared to the livestream room, where comments were flying wildly, Chen Ge remained remarkably calm. He stood in front of the three cages, tool hammer in hand. "How long have you been locked in here?"