"Careful and we should be fine." Chen Ge opened his backpack, stuffed Xiao Xiao into his jacket, then took out his tool hammer and flashlight.
"What are you doing?" Dr. Gao had heard the commotion and come out of the bedroom. He looked at Chen Ge's unusual getup and felt a headache coming on.
"Perfect timing." Chen Ge grabbed Dr. Gao and dragged him to the window. "In a bit, we'll stay on a call. You hold down room 304, and I'll go check out 303."
"Go check out 303 for what?" Dr. Gao's gaze swept over the iron hammer in Chen Ge's hand, then came to rest on the cloth doll tucked against his chest. His eyelids twitched wildly.
"The cause of Men Nan's illness should be somewhere in 303. I plan to slip in and take a look before midnight."
"You're going over there just like that? And you're bringing a doll with you?"
"If I were going alone, I might hesitate a bit longer. But with you as backup, it's a different story." Chen Ge dialed Dr. Gao's number, then tucked the phone into his chest pocket. "Stay on the line."
Dr. Gao nodded instinctively. He held up his phone, suddenly feeling the weight on his shoulders — he was responsible for the safety of two "patients" at the same time.
"Be careful!"
Chen Ge stepped onto the chair and climbed onto the windowsill. He stuffed the tool hammer into his pants pocket, gripped the wall, and stood on room 304's windowsill as he used his foot to push open the window of 303.
"Dr. Gao, do not hang up. Be ready to back me up at any moment." After speaking, Chen Ge gripped the window frame of 304 tightly with his left hand, leaned his body out, and extended his leg across to 303's windowsill.
His center of gravity was still on the 304 side. Once his outstretched leg found solid footing, he slowly released his grip on the window and let his body tilt toward the neighboring window.
About two-thirds of the way across, he sighted the frame of 303, let go with his left hand, and reached out with his right to grab it.
With a firm pull on the right hand, Chen Ge swung his body across.
"For the sake of treating a patient, you climb into the neighbor's window?"
Watching Chen Ge disappear from 304's window, Dr. Gao wanted to stop him but it was already too late. In over a decade of practice, he had never encountered anything like this during treatment.
Gripping the window frame securely with his right hand, Chen Ge crouched down slowly, pushed the window fully open, and jumped inside.
"Finally made it."
Room 303 hadn't been rented out since the incident. The interior was essentially preserved as it had been, thick with dust, and blotchy stains were still faintly visible on the walls.
The room was very dark. The concrete floor was uneven, and only when Chen Ge switched on the flashlight did he notice a worn, foul-smelling carpet laid out in the center.
"None of the other rental units, including the landlord's room, had carpet. This room has carpet laid out specifically."
When things were abnormal, there was always something sinister behind them. Chen Ge grabbed the edge of the carpet and flipped it over.
A powerful stench wafted out. Chen Ge covered his nose and mouth and tossed the carpet aside.
There was no gruesome scene like he'd imagined. Underneath were just a pile of old clothes.
All of them were men's clothing, the same size — likely belonging to a single person.