Chapter 171: Only One Way
The woman in the photo wore no makeup, as if she had just recovered from a serious illness, giving her a unique, ethereal beauty. Back when he was sorting through things at Haijing Apartments, Chen Ge had remarked that Men Nan’s father didn’t know when he had it good—having such a beautiful wife, yet choosing to live apart. Now he finally understood the reason.
Looking away, Chen Ge turned his gaze to the shy, timid little boy in the photo. “Is this kid really Men Nan? A child who showed all sorts of abnormalities as an infant—how did he end up unable to handle even a single mirror ghost when he grew up? Did some bodily functions degrade as he aged?”
In everyday life, there are indeed similar claims: children can see all kinds of strange things when very young, but as they grow up, they not only return to normal but also completely forget the memories from that time. “It can’t be that simple.” Chen Ge recalled something Dr. Gao had said to him before coming here: after in-depth testing, they discovered three distinct personalities within Men Nan’s body.
One was a self-protective personality, appearing in the form of his mother. This was likely the lingering thought left behind after his mother’s accidental death, attached to Men Nan, protecting him at all times.
The second personality was Men Nan’s core personality, which grew up alongside him—the normal Men Nan seen by outsiders.
The third personality was hidden deep within Men Nan’s body. According to Dr. Gao at the time, this personality had remained stuck in Men Nan’s early childhood, unable to communicate, appearing only for extremely brief periods. And whenever this third personality emerged, Men Nan would display talents far beyond ordinary people.
“Could it be that the third personality, which stopped growing, is the real Men Nan? What happened to him? Why did this personality appear?” Before entering the Third Ward, Chen Ge had also looked up a lot of material on this subject. He knew well that in most cases of schizophrenia, each personality emerges for deep-seated reasons.
It might be due to loneliness, or a desire for protection, and so on. He still didn’t know the reason for Men Nan’s third personality’s appearance, but he vaguely felt it might be connected to that door in the Third Ward.
Putting the photo away, Chen Ge began reading the third letter.
“Every midnight, that door appears on time. It stays for about a minute, then disappears again.” “I sealed off the Third Ward, forbidding anyone from approaching Ward Three at night, and instructed the nurses and orderlies on duty to keep a constant watch on that door that bleeds.” “Only three days passed before the night-shift nurse told me strange sounds were coming from behind the door. After it returned to normal, she pushed it open and looked—Ward Three was empty, not even a mouse inside.” “On the fourth day, I stood guard at the door myself. There was indeed someone moving inside, and I could faintly hear sounds of gnawing and chewing.” “On the fifth night, whatever was wandering behind the door seemed to sense something. Knocking came from inside Ward Three.” “An empty room, with knocking coming from inside out. If I hadn’t just taken a mental health test not long ago, I’d probably think I was losing my mind.” “I had the door boarded up with wooden planks and spent several days on edge. On the tenth day, violent banging came from inside the door.” “Blood seeped out, staining the entire door panel red. The scene was like a nightmare.” “I contacted the orderlies to remove the door and called in the duty doctors to stake out outside Ward Three at midnight.” “On the eleventh day, just a few seconds past midnight, everyone present heard the sound of the door being pushed open.” “The sound came from the entrance of Ward Three, where there was clearly no door.” “When the opening sound occurred, the door frame turned red. I saw it clearly—it wasn’t blood, but something like blood vessels.” “A minute later, everything returned to normal. One doctor said he saw a black shadow crawl out of the room.” “That doctor submitted his resignation that very day. The hospital was short-staffed, so I tried to persuade him to stay, but he became extremely agitated, leaving no room for negotiation.” “Removing the door didn’t help, so I simply had it sealed with bricks.” “The first few days showed clear results. But a week later, a new problem arose in Ward Three: every midnight, Ward Three and the wall beside it began to turn red, like human skin after being bruised. The redness was spreading, and I’m now worried it might extend throughout the entire hospital.” “I’ve tried every method, but nothing works. This ward never had issues before. All the anomalies started after the boy’s mother was killed. Do you think I should bring the boy back? Find the cause from him?”
After reading the third letter, Chen Ge’s expression darkened. This door was far more troublesome than he had imagined. The old director had tried all sorts of methods, all ending in failure. Not only had he failed to close the door, but the situation had only worsened. “There should be a solution here. Otherwise, the rehabilitation center would have been shut down over a decade ago.”
Chen Ge picked up the last letter, his expression gradually turning serious. On the envelope of the final letter was written an address—Linjiang New District Blood Prevention Station—something the other letters lacked.
“Dr. Chen, I did as you instructed. The door is temporarily closed.” “But I still can’t understand why Men Nan can close the door.” “What exactly is inside the world behind the door?”
This letter was very short, revealing two pieces of information to Chen Ge. First, the door could indeed be closed—it wasn’t unsolvable. Second, Men Nan was the key to closing it. “Looks like if I want to deal with that door in my haunted house’s bathroom, I’ll have to trouble Men Nan to step in.” Chen Ge looked at the end of the fourth letter: “The old director was very interested in the world behind the door. Could his disappearance be because he ran inside?”
The hospital was shut down four or five years ago, and the director disappeared shortly before that. These events must be connected.
Putting the envelopes back in place, he looked at the wardrobe. “Still feels off. These letters have no stamps. The first three don’t even have dates or addresses written on them—they couldn’t have been mailed. How did the director communicate with that Dr. Chen?”
“Besides, these are outgoing letters. How did they end up back in the director’s office?” Chen Ge narrowed his eyes, considering several possibilities: “Could it be that the director himself was surnamed Chen and had schizophrenia, writing all these letters to himself? Or did the Dr. Chen who received them return to the hospital after the director disappeared, deliberately placing these letters here to use this method to warn later visitors through someone else’s hands?”
The former was a personal issue of the director, but if it was the latter, it meant something entirely different to Chen Ge. “Who exactly is this Dr. Chen?”
After pondering for a moment, Chen Ge tucked the fourth letter with the address into his coat pocket.