After saying this, Chen Ge had Xu Yin hand the middle-aged woman over to the Red Raincoat.
"I'll be waiting for your news."
He didn't linger at the station. Taking Xu Yin with him, he returned to the Route 104 hearse.
Wailing from the woman drifted from the station behind them. Blood seeped from beneath the red raincoat, like threads of silk cutting into the middle-aged woman's flesh.
Hearing the woman beg for mercy, the Red Raincoat didn't look happy at all. Her scarlet eyes stared at Chen Ge on the hearse, a flicker of complicated emotion passing through them.
Chen Ge hadn't used the middle-aged woman as leverage to coerce or force the Red Raincoat into doing anything. Instead, he'd handed the woman over without hesitation. That gesture had slightly improved her opinion of him.
The Route 104 hearse pulled out of the station and headed straight for the residential compound where Fan Cong lived.
The rain outside had weakened. Chen Ge took the electric scooter off the bus and pushed it into the residential complex.
After all the running around, it was already one or two in the morning. Worried about disturbing Fan Cong's sleep, Chen Ge sent him a message first.
Before long, Chen Ge's phone buzzed. Fan Cong had seen the message and called him directly.
"Boss Chen, you're downstairs right now?"
"Yeah. Hope I didn't wake you? I figured you might still be up."
"It's raining out there! I'll come down right away to get you."
"No need. I mainly came to ask you about a few things."
After hanging up, Chen Ge parked the electric scooter in its original spot, then took the key and headed into the stairwell.
Arriving at the top floor, the door to Fan Cong's apartment was open.
"My brother's sleeping in the other room. He has work tomorrow." Fan Cong was visibly excited when he saw Chen Ge. "Boss Chen, I've unlocked several more endings, and there are hidden easter eggs in that game!"
"I'm not here about the game this time." Chen Ge hadn't forgotten what had happened at the Jiujiang psychiatric hospital. He wanted to check out Jiang Long's house in the eastern suburbs.
In the game, once Xiao Bu opened the door behind the closet in her classmate's house, the entire art style began to shift. If Xiao Bu's game was reflecting reality, then the out-of-control "door" in Liwan Town was very likely inside Jiang Long's house.
Chen Ge was eager to see how an out-of-control "door" differed from an ordinary one.
"Not about the game? You came all the way out here in the middle of the night just to return the scooter?" Fan Cong stared at him blankly.
"Returning the scooter is only part of it. Come on, let's go inside and talk." Chen Ge stood in the stairwell with his backpack, feeling like there was something eerie about the staircase — as if something at the bottom was eavesdropping.
After closing the door, Fan Cong brought Chen Ge a towel. "You're practically soaked through. Do you want to change into my clothes?"
"No thanks." Chen Ge got straight to the point. "Fan Cong, you've played Xiao Bu's game too. Did you notice that the building where Xiao Bu's classmate lives looks a lot like Building One in your residential complex?"
At first, Fan Cong hadn't thought it was that similar, but after Chen Ge pointed it out, his eyes slowly widened. "Actually, yeah. The layout of the complex where Xiao Bu's classmate lives is pretty much the same as our entire compound."
"I'm planning to go check out Xiao Bu's classmate's place tonight." Chen Ge stood inside the room. His clothes were wet, so he didn't sit down anywhere casually.