After hearing Doctor Pei's words,
The relationships within Jiang Long's family were chaotic—everyone thought the others were crazy. But after carefully sorting through everything, Chen Ge realized that perhaps none of them had actually gone mad.
They simply had different standpoints and different angles from which they viewed the problem, which was why such absurd things had occurred.
Chen Ge had played Fan Cong's game and knew many of the inside details.
Among Jiang Long's family of four, the younger brother Jiang Xiaohu was probably the most innocent. He was just a child whose worldview hadn't fully formed yet—there was very likely someone pulling the strings behind everything he did.
The one who lured him into making mistakes could have been Zhang Chuyu, or it could have been Jiang Bai.
The older sister Jiang Bai probably hadn't suffered from delusions at first either. The giant rag doll she saw at her father's new home in the eastern suburbs was most likely Xiao Bu's mother.
She hadn't been lying, but her mother Zhang Chuyu insisted she was mentally ill, claiming she had a delusional disorder.
As a mother, Zhang Chuyu's behavior was extremely abnormal. She personally delivered both children to a psychiatric hospital, firmly insisting they suffered from mental illnesses—this kind of behavior was highly unusual.
After thinking it over again and again, Chen Ge felt that Zhang Chuyu must have been deliberately trying to conceal something. When Jiang Bai told Zhang Chuyu about discovering the giant rag doll, Zhang Chuyu had laughed with great joy.
That was simply not how a normal person would react. Perhaps she had been suspecting her husband all along, but after hearing this news, she realized her husband hadn't betrayed her at all—he was simply carrying out some task according to plan.
"What kind of task requires imprisoning an adult and stuffing them inside a rag doll?" This question must be the source of all the tragedies. Now Jiang Long was dead by accident, both Zhang Chuyu and Jiang Bai had disappeared, and among all the victims and perpetrators, only Jiang Xiaohu was still alive. He was the sole person who knew the truth.
Chen Ge sat in his chair, staring at the white bedsheet. "Mingyang Estate started having incidents eight years ago, and Bu Yi went missing three years ago. That creates a contradiction."
"Assume she's a door opener—then the door she opened should only have appeared three years ago. But the bizarre occurrences in the eastern suburbs started much earlier. That means in addition to that out-of-control door, there could be other things lurking in the eastern suburbs."
When Chen Ge was very young, his parents had warned him he could go anywhere in Jiujiang, but the one place he must never visit was the eastern suburbs.
"The door in Liwan Town was originally under
"He really left me a massive headache." The eastern suburbs' door was already out of control. If left unattended, no one could predict what might happen.
"Before taking his own life, Doctor Gao showed me a photograph. It was taken in Liwan Town—my parents and a little girl in red standing together. That girl in red was very likely Xiao Bu. In the photo, my parents weren't threatening the girl in red. They shouldn't have been enemies."
Chen Ge's mind began racing. He had never been the stubborn type. "Whether it's
The scenes behind a door were formed from the door opener's own memories, reflecting their truest inner selves—a nightmare that could never dissolve.
"No one would willingly display their bloody, scarred inner world to others, so a door opener would certainly not want to see the door they opened lose control." Chen Ge felt that the door in Liwan Town going out of control was entirely due to interference from other ghosts and monsters in the eastern suburbs. Once he figured this out, a thought took root in his mind.
"Maybe I can join forces with Xiao Bu to eliminate the eastern suburbs' ghosts and close the door in Liwan Town!"
An ordinary person would never conceive of allying with a vengeful red-shirted ghost, and even if they did, they wouldn't know how to go about it. But Chen Ge was different—he had extensive experience dealing with red-shirted ghosts of all ages. He felt completely confident he could persuade Xiao Bu.
"Xiao Bu and her mother's deaths weren't simple. Once I've investigated everything, I'll help her fulfill her obsession." The more Chen Ge thought about it, the more feasible this plan seemed. "The hardest part of this plan isn't convincing Xiao Bu—it's finding her."
Chen Ge narrowed his eyes. His expression was rather frightening, making the doctor and the orderlies in the ward too nervous to speak up.
"Other people don't know where Xiao Bu is, but I'm not like them. I've played Fan Cong's strange game, and as I keep progressing through it, I'm bound to discover clues to Xiao Bu's whereabouts."
Actually, from the moment he started playing that game, a thought had been forming in the back of Chen Ge's mind—the real Xiao Bu was very likely hiding inside the game itself.
What he and Fan Cong were controlling wasn't merely a game character. It was a small, desperate soul trapped in an endless cycle of death.
"Men Nan said it himself—to completely shut a door, the simplest method is to find the door opener." Chen Ge now had a rough plan. He intended to join forces with Xiao Bu and every red-shirted ghost he could muster to steamroll the eastern suburbs.
"There's a red-shirted ghost in the Bailong Cave Tunnel, one at the Route 104 bus stop, and another in the Living Coffin Village. I might be able to borrow the strength of these three."
Chen Ge had dealt with the red-shirted ghost in the Bailong Cave Tunnel before—he'd nearly carried the other person straight home on his back. His heartfelt words had even moved them a little.
The red-shirted ghost in the Living Coffin Village was on good terms with
"The tunnel ghost and the well ghost would both be easy to deal with. The key is that one in the red raincoat. I'm not close with her, and I previously promised her I'd find her child within a week. Three days have already passed, and I haven't even figured out what her child looks like." Chen Ge genuinely wanted to help the ghost in the red raincoat, but he simply couldn't find any way to start. "It's only because I have good connections and don't have many enemies in Jiujiang that I didn't end up giving her my enemies' names back then."
Chen Ge decided that for the next few days, after nightfall, he would go to the Route 104 bus stop to try his luck. "For now, that's all I can do."
After thinking everything through, Chen Ge turned his gaze back to Jiang Xiaohu.
Strangely enough, Jiang Xiaohu hadn't reacted at all when other people looked at him, but the moment Chen Ge fixed his stare on him, the boy's expression grew visibly uncomfortable. He leaned back, and the ropes binding his hands and feet pulled taut.
"Why do I get the feeling this kid is afraid of me?" Chen Ge walked a few steps forward and sat right down on the hospital bed. "I know you can understand what I'm saying, and I know you're carrying a lot of things in your heart. Let's talk—maybe I can help you."