Chapter 164: Wang Haiming's Secret
"Why are you asking that question?" Xu Tong regretted it as soon as he said it. He glanced at the skull-crushing hammer in Chen Ge's hand and his tongue loosened up considerably: "Wang Haiming used to be a patient here. Because he often made mistakes, he was locked up in the Third Ward several times. That guy was pretty interesting."
"Be more specific."
"He was originally just a patient in the regular ward, living on the second floor of the Second Ward. But this guy had a messed-up head—he kept insisting he wasn't mentally ill." Xu Tong grinned, forcing out an ugly smile: "Truth is, we all know we're not sick, but this fool was the one dumb enough to say it out loud."
Being called a fool by a diagnosed mental patient—if Wang Haiming were still alive, he'd probably feel pretty humiliated.
Xu Tong's smile carried a hint of creepiness. His perspective was different from a normal person's; he probably still believed, even now, that he wasn't sick.
"What happened next?" Chen Ge found that talking to mental patients could be quite dangerous, especially ones like Xu Tong, who could unconsciously灌输 their distorted view of the world to others.
"Not only did Wang Haiming refuse to cooperate with the doctors' treatment, but when the hospital took强制 measures against him, he got into a big fight with the orderlies."
"Assaulting medical staff—that's the worst mistake you can make in a mental hospital. Wang Haiming was punished that same day. At first, they just locked him in the isolation room, but this guy was too far gone. Not long after he got out, he fought with the nurses again for refusing to take his meds. He fantasized he was a multimillionaire who could buy half the hospital, and he swore that once he got out, he'd make those doctors and nurses pay. About ten minutes later, that fool paid the price for his words. The hospital put him in a straitjacket and sent him to the isolation room in the Third Ward."
"That was his first time in the Third Ward. When we saw a newbie, we were all excited, but he wasn't friendly to us at all—he even spat at me."
"He looked full of energy, cursing all the way. This poor newbie had no idea what it meant to be sent to the Third Ward, but he found out soon enough."
"The isolation room in the Third Ward had another name—the electroconvulsive therapy room. It's one of the common physical treatments in psychiatry, and the doctors who used it on patients said it was pretty effective."
"Of course, as a正规 private hospital, to improve patient comfort and safety during treatment, they usually combined it with intravenous anesthetics and muscle relaxants."
"The isolation room had excellent soundproofing. When Wang Haiming came out again, he was much more docile. We all thought the treatment had worked well."
"He was quiet for a few days, then got into another argument with the orderlies over hiding his meds. This guy had a natural sense of adventure—maybe he really was a successful businessman with tens of millions in assets before entering the hospital."
"The second time he came out of isolation, we all thought Wang Haiming would accept his fate. But who would've guessed that this guy would plot an escape late at night? And the most unexpected thing was, he actually succeeded."
"Although he was caught the next day, he used that one night outside to contact his ex-wife. I don't know what they talked about, but in less than a month, she handled all the paperwork and took him out."
From Xu Tong's account, Chen Ge gained a deeper understanding of Wang Haiming: "How do you know all this?"
"After he was brought back, his freedom was restricted. The hospital decided to lock him in the unused Room 3 of the Third Ward. But he only stayed there one night and almost died. The hospital had no choice but to let him stay with me temporarily." Xu Tong's twisted face had slowly returned to normal.
"Do you know what happened to him that night in Room 3?"
"He seemed to see a lot of people—the room was filled with many, many people."
"Did he tell you all this?" Chen Ge hadn't expected things to be so complicated. Wang Haiming had even stayed in Room 3 of the Third Ward.
"How could I talk to a fool?" Xu Tong sneered. "That lunatic talked to himself every night. I just overheard part of it."
Chen Ge nodded. To get to the bottom of all this, he'd probably have to enter the Third Ward himself.
"Second question: After the hospital was shut down, why did you patients from the Third Ward come back here?"
"Coming back here—everyone has their own reasons. I don't know about others, only my own situation." Xu Tong looked at Chen Ge: "Only here can I escape the surveillance of people like you, and only here can you leave me alone."
"You need to take your meds." Chen Ge stood up. Xu Tong might not have been lying.
The old man and the woman had trembled in fear at the mention of the one-armed man, but they hadn't shown such strong reactions to Xu Tong. The old man had even dared to bite his hand, which showed that Xu Tong was different from the deformed face and the one-armed man—he hadn't done those terrifying things.
The iron cage was already battered beyond recognition from Chen Ge's hammering. He silently set the hammer aside: "I heard a female nurse died in the Third Ward. Do you know anything about that?"
"Yes, I do. The hospital even held a memorial service for that fat woman in the activity room on the second floor, hoping patients, their families, and doctors could understand each other." Xu Tong seemed to know what Chen Ge wanted to ask next and waved his hand: "The nurse's accident had nothing to do with me. The police interrogated me. That night, I stayed quietly in my room, didn't say a word to her, and didn't even see her."
Chen Ge nodded and asked Xu Tong a few more questions about the Third Ward and the director of the mental hospital, but unfortunately, he knew very little.
Xu Tong was the type of patient who behaved himself. His condition was that he couldn't interact with living people. The more people he saw, the more agitated he became—he felt everyone's face was the same and wanted to kill them all. But when left alone in a room, he acted perfectly normal, just like anyone else.
"I hope everything you've said is true." Chen Ge found two cameras and set them up. He pulled out his phone and glanced at it.
Despite the black screen for so long, his popularity hadn't dropped—it had even broken through 150,000. His livestream name had also appeared on the gift leaderboard.
"What's going on?" He checked the comments and realized what had happened. Although he had taken down the cameras and covered them, the microphone was still clipped to his collar!
Xu Tong's scream earlier, including the subsequent discussion about the nurse's death, had all been broadcast live!
By accident, the热度 was now skyrocketing, the rankings were soaring, and the screen was flooded with comments: "Damn! This is too real!"
Chen Ge didn't know what to say at this point. Since things had come this far, instead of hesitating, he might as well throw all caution to the wind.
"Thanks for the gifts! Thanks to Doubi Little Fairy for the tip! Thanks to every viewer in the livestream!" Chen Ge aimed the camera at himself: "What you see and hear isn't necessarily fake! Tonight, I'll bring all of you a livestream that can never be replicated!"