Chapter 202: The Madwoman
No matter how loudly Chen Ge shouted, the white cat refused to come down. After a few minutes of stalemate, Chen Ge gave up trying to force it.
"This cat has a mind of its own. It came running over on its own at lunchtime, but the moment it saw me packing my bag, it bolted straight out."
Looking up at the tree, Chen Ge felt a bit helpless as he slung his backpack over his shoulder and left the amusement park.
He took a taxi to Fanghua Yuan Residential Complex. By now, the sky had darkened, and few people were entering the neighborhood.
"Last time I was here, I forgot to ask Dr. Gao about this place. This complex has been around for a while—I wonder if anything unusual has ever happened inside."
Chen Ge pulled up the police files on his phone. The information only mentioned that the patient from Room 2 had last been seen at Fanghua Yuan, without revealing her specific address.
"This makes things tricky. The police use numbers to identify each patient. I don't even know her name, and with just a photo, it's hard to make much progress."
Fanghua Yuan was a mid-to-upper-range complex in Jiujiang. The front section consisted of six older, low-rise buildings, while the back had three newly built high-rises, each over twenty stories. Wang Xin's family had lived in one of those new high-rises.
"Might as well ask the security guard."
His main goal here was to fulfill the tape-bound ghost's wish and recruit her as a Horror House employee—that was the top priority for tonight. But since he was already here, he'd also look into the patient from Room 2 of the Third Psychiatric Ward.
Approaching the security booth, Chen Ge opened his phone and pulled up the photo attached to the police files. "Excuse me, do you recognize this woman?"
The patient from Room 2 had individually perfect facial features, but when put together, they gave off an odd impression.
Instead of answering, the security guard eyed Chen Ge warily, as if he'd spotted a suspicious character. "You're not a resident here, are you?"
"No, I'm not," Chen Ge replied honestly.
"Then there's no reason for us to answer your questions." The guard stepped out of the booth. "If this person lives here, we can't disclose resident information. If she doesn't, I wouldn't know anything about her anyway."
Chen Ge was taken aback by the guard's response—he wasn't following the usual script.
"Xiao Gu, don't cause trouble." An older guard in his sixties, who had just changed out of his uniform into casual clothes, came out of the booth with a chuckle. "Young man's got a short fuse. He got chewed out over a minor issue today, so he's in a bad mood."
"I'm in a great mood, Old Wang. You should clock out now—I've got this handled." The younger guard waved him off impatiently.
"Handled? I'm afraid you'll be getting chewed out again tomorrow. You never learn, always so abrasive with people." Old Wang shook his head with a sigh. "How many times have I told you? We're just security guards. Nod more, talk less. Whether someone's right or wrong, don't jump to judge."
"It's fine. I actually admire that kind of straightforwardness—no pretense." Chen Ge quickly interjected, genuinely finding the young guard amusing. "What's your name?"
"Gu Feiyu. Just call him Xiao Gu. He's the night shift guard here—brave, a good guy, but speaks without thinking." Old Wang clearly had a protective streak for Gu Feiyu.
"Night shift guard? So you patrol the complex at night too?" Chen Ge's focus wasn't really on Gu Feiyu himself; he was subtly steering the conversation elsewhere.
"We guards protect the residents' safety 24/7." Old Wang brushed dust off his pants. "Anyway, were you looking for someone? Give me a name—I've worked here ten years, I know most of the residents."
"I don't know her name, but I have a photo." Chen Ge tapped the image and handed his phone over.
"A photo makes it even easier." Old Wang took the phone and looked down. The moment his eyes landed on the screen, all color drained from his face, and he nearly dropped Chen Ge's phone.
"You know her?" Chen Ge stepped forward.
Old Wang shoved the phone back at Chen Ge as if it were a hot potato.
"This woman is important—she's connected to a lot of things." Chen Ge considered invoking Officer Li's name.
"That woman again? The police asked about her yesterday." Gu Feiyu, blunt as ever, blurted it out without thinking.
"And what did you tell the police?" Chen Ge grew even more curious.
Old Wang held up a hand to stop Gu Feiyu, his expression complicated. "That woman's a madwoman. I told the police the same thing when they came yesterday."
"A madwoman?" Chen Ge stood in front of Old Wang. "Judging by your reaction, she left quite an impression on you."
"It's nothing, really." Old Wang was a smooth operator, always holding something back. "The woman in the photo goes by the surname Bai, but I've always suspected her ID was fake—the photo doesn't match her real appearance at all."
A hint of fear lurked in Old Wang's eyes. "The reason I remember her so well is that two or three years ago, when she first moved to Fanghua Yuan, she kept getting complaints. Her neighbors said strange smells came from her apartment, and there were loud arguments at night."
"That's it?"
"At first, it was manageable. The property management talked to her, and she admitted she was wrong. She apologized and even offered financial compensation—very cooperative."
"That doesn't sound like a madwoman to me." Chen Ge pieced together the clues in his mind. The woman had been released from the Third Psychiatric Ward four years ago, moved to Fanghua Yuan three years ago, and disappeared two years ago.
"About two or three months later, rumors of hauntings started in her building. People said they saw a white figure in the hallway after midnight."
"Some residents claimed they heard scratching at their doors in the dead of night, along with a low, woman's voice asking, 'Is anyone home? If not, I'm coming in?'"
"This was way beyond a prank. Our security team started staking out the building."
"But the strange thing was, every time we set up a stakeout, the white figure and the voice vanished—like she was playing hide-and-seek with us."
"We're not made of iron. After two weeks of round-the-clock shifts, most of us couldn't take it anymore, so we gave up."
"For the next month or so, the white figure and the voice didn't show up. We relaxed, though we still sent two guards to patrol that building every night."
"Then, in the second month, the colleague on duty with me took a sudden leave of absence. I didn't dare patrol the building alone."
"But that very night, I got a call from a resident saying the voice might be back."
"I grabbed my baton, took the elevator, and went to the floor in question."
"The moment the elevator doors opened, I saw a white figure not far away, crouched at someone's door, muttering under its breath, 'Is anyone home? If not, I'm coming in?'"
Old Wang's face wrinkled as he spoke. Even now, recalling that memory filled him with an inexplicable dread.
"That white figure was the madwoman, right?" Chen Ge could empathize with what Old Wang must have felt back then.
Can't write during the day at work, too scared to write alone at night—such a dilemma. Time to quit...