Chapter 213: A Kind Heart Is Like the Sun
Stopping the staff, Chen Ge walked over. "Are you looking for me?"
Wang Hailong was drenched in sweat, panting as he pushed through the crowd. "My brother spoke last night! He's outside the amusement park right now, says he has something very important to tell you!"
"Take me there." It was just as Chen Ge had guessed. He glanced at the tourists waiting in line, briefly briefed Uncle Xu to open the haunted house scenes first, then left with Wang Hailong.
"Sorry for interrupting your business again." Wang Hailong wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Shenglong has suffered so much over the past five or six years; I just can't calm down."
"I understand."
The two arrived at the park entrance. Across the street was a delivery truck from a hotpot restaurant, with bold characters painted on its side—Dragon Tiger House.
"He's in there." Wang Hailong led Chen Ge toward the truck. "You've seen what my brother looks like. He's afraid of scaring others, so he doesn't dare show himself."
After holding out against the Slender Shadow for five or six years, Wang Shenglong's mind had become as clear as a child's. But his body had become severely deformed. He spent almost the entire year in his room, so obese that he couldn't even get into bed, sleeping on a blanket on the floor.
Thinking of that kid, Chen Ge recalled Quasimodo, the bell ringer of Notre Dame.
Chen Ge remembered their first meeting at Haiming Apartment, when Wang Shenglong had drawn him a picture.
In the painting, a monster stood on the boy's shoulder, its gaze fixed on the people around him, as if ready to leap onto someone else at any moment.
Wang Shenglong seemed to be using that drawing to tell Chen Ge that he had no choice. If he didn't follow the Slender Shadow's orders, the monster would jump onto his family and hurt others.
He bore all the grievances alone, clinging to that unfair game, staying silent for five or six years.
Wang Hailong opened the truck's rear door. In the deepest part of the cargo area was a shadow like a small mountain.
"Shenglong, I've brought Boss Chen. Tell him whatever you need to say."
Hearing his brother's voice, the shadow moved forward two steps, making the entire truck shake.
"Don't move. I'll come in." Chen Ge and Wang Hailong climbed into the truck and closed the door.
This was his second time seeing Wang Shenglong up close. It was impossible to guess his age from his appearance—his features were buried under layers of fat, his body as wide as it was tall.
"Ugh..."
Having not spoken for years, Wang Shenglong had forgotten how to form sounds. His voice was strange, unable to produce complete words.
"Take your time. If there's something you want to say, write it down." Chen Ge initially kept his distance, standing by the door, ready to jump out at the first sign of trouble.
But after observing for a while, he noticed that Wang Shenglong was indeed different from before.
The most obvious change was that the strange smell only Chen Ge could detect was gone.
Taking a notebook from beside the seat, Wang Shenglong struggled to grip a marker and wrote three words on the page.
"I won."
Just three simple words, yet they had cost Wang Shenglong five or six years of his life. Those three words had destroyed a person.
Every stroke on the paper was heavy, revealing the emotions churning inside Wang Shenglong.
"Boss Chen, do you remember the story I told you before?" Wang Hailong leaned in, afraid Chen Ge might not understand. "When my brother was a kid, he played a game with a ghost—whoever spoke first lost. It lasted almost six years. Looks like my brother won."
After saying this, Wang Hailong lowered his voice and added, "Boss Chen, my brother just got better. Whatever he says, just go along with it."
Chen Ge glanced at Wang Hailong. This burly man had a delicate side too.
"Your brother is really something. I know a lot of people have played that game, but he's the only one who's ever won." Chen Ge took Wang Shenglong's pudgy hand. "You're amazing."
The pen moved again. Wang Shenglong wrote a few more lines: "It's only temporarily gone. It said it will come back for me."
"It'll come back?" Seeing the words in the notebook, a question arose in Chen Ge's mind. "That monster wasted nearly six years with you. Why did it suddenly leave?"
"It sensed a threat, so it woke from its slumber and tried to forcibly take over my body. When it failed, it left."
"Sensed a threat? Because of me and Dr. Gao showing up?" Chen Ge pressed on. "When exactly did the monster wake up?"
"Two days ago, at three in the morning." Wang Shenglong wrote his answer honestly.
Looking at the date on the paper, Chen Ge was surprised. Two nights ago, he had been livestreaming in the Third Psychiatric Ward.
"I entered the world behind the door and awakened the main personality of Door Nan. Could the monster's awakening be connected to the Third Psychiatric Ward?"
Chen Ge pondered this, feeling there was a link, but it wasn't the main reason.
"That night, before and after the monster left, did you notice anything strange or hear any weird sounds?"
"Footsteps walking backward in the hallway."
"Walking backward?"
Wang Shenglong scribbled a lot in the notebook but still couldn't explain clearly, sweating with frustration.
"It's okay. This is already a very important clue." Chen Ge didn't understand the difference between backward footsteps and normal ones either. He pulled out his phone and, in front of the Wang brothers, called Captain Yan.
"Captain Yan, regarding the Third Psychiatric Ward case, I've gotten another important piece of information. The escaped patient may have been near Haiming Apartment."
The monster on Wang Shenglong had escaped from behind the door of the Third Psychiatric Ward, breaking free from control and not staying with the other monsters.
For that monster to feel fear, it was highly likely that another monster from the Third Psychiatric Ward had appeared nearby.
Monsters from inside the door could only stay outside for long periods by attaching to living people. Thinking about it, the backward footsteps Wang Shenglong heard that night were probably from a patient of the Third Psychiatric Ward.
Wang Hailong listened to the exchange between Chen Ge and Wang Shenglong, initially thinking Chen Ge was just humoring his brother. It wasn't until Chen Ge pulled out his phone and called Captain Yan that he panicked.
"What's going on? How did we end up calling the police?"
He suddenly realized the seriousness of the situation. Chen Ge wasn't joking.
"Boss Chen, what were you two talking about? The police are coming to Haiming Apartment?" Wang Hailong looked tense.
"Your brother's story is connected to another case. That's all I can tell you." Chen Ge said a few more words to Wang Shenglong and then got out of the truck.
Wang Hailong followed anxiously. "Boss Chen, my brother has been home the whole time. He's never done anything wrong, and he wouldn't break the law."
"I know that. To be precise, it's the monster in your brother's story that's connected to the case."
"Monster?" Wang Hailong's expression shifted. He seemed lost in thought for a long time before finally asking, "Will my brother be affected? He's already suffered so much. He can finally speak again."
"Don't worry. It won't affect your brother." Chen Ge glanced back into the truck. Wang Shenglong, like a small mountain, was huddled in the corner of the cargo area, hiding in the shadow where the sunlight couldn't reach, his pudgy hand holding a marker as if he were drawing.