The doll in the thirteenth photo looked rather pitiful. It had been picked out of a garbage heap by the girl, only to be abandoned in one later.
"There are no other photos in the drawer; this is the last one."
"This should have been the first time it was abandoned." Chen Ge was merely speculating, but the doll's willingness to trust others meant it hadn't yet fully embarked on the Netherborn's path at that time.
It believed it could be friends with the girl, and perhaps the girl, in some moment, had truly considered it a friend. But reality dealt it a heavy blow.
"The girl's family must have all been killed by the Netherborn, and the girl herself became the doll's doll." Chen Ge closed the drawer and headed towards the living room.
The girl leaned against the chair, seemingly unable to stand. Without the white cloth bindings, she probably couldn't even sit up straight on her own.
"Can you hear my voice? If you can, blink your eyes or nod your head..." Chen Ge helped untie the white cloth from the girl's body. Throughout the process, the girl showed no reaction, allowing Chen Ge to handle her as if she were a toy without a will of her own.
When all the white cloth was removed, the girl's body slumped to one side. As Chen Ge reached out to steady her, several blood-red photos fell from her.
These photos were completely different from the ones in the drawer. They were taken in the dead of night against a blood-red backdrop. The subjects were the girl's family, each killed in a different manner.
"So this was its revenge?" Chen Ge examined the photos carefully. He noticed something peculiar: besides the girl's family and the doll, there was another person in those blood-red pictures.
One photo, taken outside Room 504, bore the room number. The girl's father had collapsed, his remaining leg clutched by the doll. Inside Room 504, besides the two of them, stood a doctor in a white lab coat.
"Was he a resident of 504?"
This same person appeared in all the blood-red photos. The doctor's face was scratched and unrecognizable, but his white lab coat was distinctive—covered in tiny burn holes from ash and smeared with large patches of a substance resembling grease.
"The doll was abandoned, looking pitiful, but it didn't seek revenge immediately, instead staying in the garbage heap on its own. Could its sudden change be related to this doctor?" Chen Ge felt he had found another crucial clue. The shadow's first change came from entering the Horror House's behind-the-door world; its second change might be because of that doctor.
"Wen Qing, did a doctor ever live in the Jiuhong Community?"
"Yes, but I don't remember clearly." Wen Qing thought for a moment. "I'm not sure if it was a doctor, but when I first started working at the Jiuhong Agency, I often saw people in white lab coats coming out of the Jiuhong Community."
"Really?"
"Mhm, but after Xiang Nuan and I also moved to the Jinhua Community, I rarely saw those white-coated doctors anymore."
"I see." A guess surfaced in Chen Ge's mind. He picked up the blood-red photos. "Let's go check out Room 504. The answer should be there."
Ever since learning of the Cursed Hospital's existence, Chen Ge had become very wary of the medical profession. He didn't know why, but whenever he saw someone in a white coat, he felt the urge to follow them secretly.
"Xiao Sun, is your injury any better?" Chen Ge suddenly looked at Xiao Sun.
"I feel like it might be getting worse. It hurts more and more, with no sign of healing." Xiao Sun shook his head. "Why are you suddenly concerned about me?"
"I was thinking of having you carry this girl with us. Since you're still hurt, forget it." Chen Ge laid the girl flat on the sofa.
"We're not taking her with us?" Wen Qing sounded reluctant. The girl looked so pitiful, like a doll abandoned by its owner.
"We reconstructed part of the scene through the photos, but we're still unclear on many details. Bringing her along rashly would be too dangerous." Chen Ge gave a simple example: "What if she suddenly wakes up while we're fleeing and refuses to let go of your neck no matter what?"
"Alright, then we'll leave her here for now."
"After we've explored the entire building and confirmed there's no danger, we'll come back for her."
Chen Ge left Room 404 with the blood-red photos. He noticed the bloody handprints in the corridor had increased again.
Those prints had no pattern; they seemed to be crawling around them.
"I have a bad feeling. Let's hurry—we're going to the fifth floor!"
Toy debris on the floor had become more plentiful. No matter how lightly you stepped, it made a sound. In the quiet corridor, the crunch underfoot was somewhat harsh.
Following Chen Ge's lead, they didn't stop and headed straight for the fifth floor.
The stench in the air grew much stronger. This floor was clearly different from the previous ones. The walls were covered with bloody handprints of all sizes, as well as claw marks and crude doodles everywhere.
Those doodles looked like a child's scribbles—extremely simple in line, yet somewhat frightening. For adults, this kind of innocent yet terrifying imagery had a tremendous impact.
Additionally, Chen Ge noticed something peculiar: the fifth floor's walls also had many fu characters pasted on them, but unlike the lower floors, these were pasted right-side up.
"During Chinese New Year, households paste fu characters upside down for the homophone meaning 'fortune arrives,' carrying a good omen. The lower floors all have inverted fu, but the fifth floor has them right-side up. Is this meant to tell people that 'fortune' is on this floor?" Having seen so many inverted fu characters, Xiao Sun found the right-side-up ones somewhat unfamiliar.
Chen Ge ignored him and walked straight to the door of Room 504.
All the bloody handprints in the hallway, large and small, converged here. Chen Ge estimated that all the handprints had crawled out from here and eventually crawled back into this room.
"The secret of this entire building should be inside Room 504." Chen Ge stopped outside the door, his gaze sweeping over the room number on the half-open door.
Xiao Sun and Wen Qing approached. The three stood together, fully prepared.
Raising his arm, Chen Ge grabbed the doorknob. Before he could even push, the door was suddenly pulled open a crack.
Something seized Chen Ge's wrist. Wen Qing screamed. Xiao Sun stumbled backward in fright. Chen Ge was startled too, but he reacted almost instantly.
Just as he was about to grab his attacker, a bundle of cloth fell from the gap in the door.
"You all saw it! It opened on its own!" Xiao Sun pointed at the door. "Are we still going in?"