"You're saying Chang Gu was your client?" Li Zheng looked at Chen Ge with confusion. "You two were complete strangers before. Why would he commission someone who runs a haunted house to help him find someone? That doesn't make logical sense."
"What doesn't make sense? Me running a haunted house doesn't stop me from helping the police solve cases, does it? It just means my hobbies are broad and I've dabbled in all sorts of things." On the surface Chen Ge was talking to Li Zheng, but his eyes stayed fixed on the curtains. No one else in the room could see Chang Gu.
They had no idea that the patient who had already been sent off for autopsy was standing right behind them.
"Our police? That's quite the audacious way to put it." Li Zheng wanted to refute the point, but he genuinely couldn't find a rebuttal. They were both haunted house operators, after all, but a boss like Chen Ge was exceptionally rare—you probably wouldn't find another one in a few hundred years.
"Brother Zheng, besides calling out my name, did the patient leave any other message?"
"No, he just screamed your name before he died." Li Zheng furrowed his brow. "Be serious for a moment. We're strongly suspecting you're the one who put him in that condition. After all, at the time, in that psychiatric ward, it was just the two of you alone."
"Misunderstanding—this is absolutely a misunderstanding!" Chen Ge immediately launched into an explanation, revealing some of the things about Chang Wenyu and the parents whose children had been locked behind the gates of the psychic school.
But he didn't tell everything. He selectively shared certain details, redirecting Li Zheng's attention.
In truth, he had no idea what Chang Gu actually wanted either. After all, the moment he entered the psychic school, he had been schemed against by the Chang siblings working together. The truly wronged party here was him.
Of course, Chen Ge wasn't the type to hold grudges against the dead. He planned to take Chang Gu straight home afterward. They had a "life-and-death" bond, after all—they could sit down and have a proper chat.
If anyone else had come to Li Zheng with this kind of story, Li Zheng wouldn't have given them the time of day. He'd haul them down to the station first and ask questions later.
But Chen Ge was different. No matter how outlandish his claims sounded, they invariably turned out to be true afterward—especially when it came to predicting murders. That was practically a terrifying level of special ability.
Watching Li Zheng still turning the doubts over in his mind, Chen Ge simply unzipped his backpack. "Brother Zheng, can we set the patient's matter aside for now? I have something far more important to report to you. Actually, when you called me, I was already dressed and about to come find you in person."
"What could possibly be more important than a human life?" Not just Li Zheng—even the doctor standing nearby was starting to take issue with Chen Ge. They thought he was being rather cold.
"There is." Chen Ge pulled documents from his backpack. "Several human lives, in fact."
The moment those words left his mouth, the hospital room fell completely silent. Every pair of eyes locked onto the white sheets of paper in his hands.
"Last night I went to the old city district. I made a major discovery at a place called Jinhua Community." The confessions of crimes, written in the dead victims' own hands, were tucked into a hidden compartment in his backpack. What Chen Ge produced now was a simplified version he had rewritten in the taxi—just a few names and several key leads. Some things were better left unelaborated. As an ordinary citizen who had perfectly reconstructed murder scenes, that would raise serious suspicion. A person capable of that was very likely the killer.
Chen Ge handed the documents to Li Zheng. "See for yourself."
Even in simplified form, the contents were enough to shock Li Zheng. Nearly every unit in that building was occupied by perverts and lunatics.
The Nether Fetus had been extremely selective when choosing its tenants to accomplish its goals. Those with kind hearts were turned away. Those without perverse tendencies were rejected. Those who were purely innocent and lacking in cunning were refused too.
Over more than a decade of accumulation, rather than saying that every pervert in Hanjiang had independently chosen to live in Jinhua Community and Jiuhong Community, it was more accurate to say that the Nether Fetus had found them and lured them all together.
While Li Zheng studied the documents, Chen Ge walked over to the curtains, backpack in hand.
Seeing him approach, Chang Gu's body trembled slightly. He raised his head, looking at Chen Ge with his one remaining eye, and opened his mouth, speaking in a voice only Chen Ge could hear: "I'll be able to see my sister again, won't I?"
Chen Ge nodded. He pulled the comic book from his backpack, casually flipped to a blank page, and then silently stared at Chang Gu.
The message was clear: it wasn't convenient to talk here. If you want to see your sister, come with me.
Chang Gu had no other options. He had screamed Chen Ge's name before dying precisely for this moment.
The fact that his lingering spirit hadn't left the hospital room and had been waiting here for Chen Ge all along said everything.
The two understood each other perfectly. Chang Gu obediently stepped into the comic book, and Chen Ge, as if absolutely nothing had happened, tucked the book back into his backpack.
"Is the air conditioning broken? Why did it suddenly get so warm?" The doctor lowered the thermostat and walked a few steps closer to Li Zheng's side, seemingly curious about the contents of the white papers.
Hearing the footsteps, Li Zheng immediately gathered up the documents. He looked at Chen Ge with an extremely grave expression, his gaze containing barely restrained anger—though that anger was clearly not directed at Chen Ge.
Li Zheng was a man with an especially strong sense of justice. This was one of the things Chen Ge greatly admired about him.
"Chen Ge, you're coming with me to the city precinct right away. This is too big—I need to check in with Captain Yan first."
After giving his instructions, Li Zheng said a few words to the doctor and nurse, telling them not to place the patient in this room for the time being. Then he led Chen Ge and the other officers out.
…
At the city precinct, Captain Yan assessed the situation and immediately assembled everyone for an emergency meeting.
Everyone took their seats in the conference room. Chen Ge had his own chair too. Most importantly, none of the officers seemed to think anything was amiss about it.
The various departments compiled case files, cross-referencing them with missing persons records and police reports from years past. The officers confirmed that the murders and leads written on Chen Ge's handful of white papers matched perfectly.
"Everyone mobilize. We're heading to Jinhua Community immediately. Oh, and call in the colleagues who went home to rest!" Captain Yan personally led the charge. Once his arrangements were in place, several police cruisers rolled straight out of the precinct.
Hugging his backpack, Chen Ge sat between two officers, looking somewhat awkward. "Um… should we maybe send plainclothes officers in first to investigate? If you roll up like this, you're going to terrify the few tenants who aren't dangerous."
The mood inside the car was tense. Neither officer answered any of Chen Ge's questions.
Ten minutes later, they arrived at Jinhua Community. Police cruisers swept past one after another, sirens wailing across the old city district.
Justice may be slow, but it never fails to arrive.
Many tenants hadn't figured out what was going on, but a few had already started slipping away quietly. However, when the police arrived, they immediately sealed off both Jiuhong Community and Jinhua Community. No one was getting out.
A surprise assault, completely without warning—Chen Ge got to witness Captain Yan's characteristically decisive and ruthless side firsthand. The man was thoroughly resolute, possessing an almost terrifying instinct for every case.