Huang Ling's husband had collapsed at the entrance to the White Dragon Cave tunnel, something Chen Ge hadn't anticipated.
"The Shadow is extremely cunning. He may have sensed something coming, which is why he fled in advance—but why would he go to White Dragon Cave? Is this a hint, or is there something he needs inside that tunnel?"
"Huang Ling's husband collapsed outside the tunnel—does that mean the Shadow has abandoned him? Perhaps there's a spare body waiting inside the tunnel for the Shadow to use."
Several questions swirled through Chen Ge's mind, but none of them had clear answers. He glanced at the time and said to Li Zheng, "Captain Li, can I go ask him a few questions?"
"We're at the hospital. The doctors are examining Jia Ming's body right now. His consciousness is muddled and his thoughts are scrambled—we probably won't get anything useful out of him just yet."
"Then can I at least see him?" Chen Ge wanted to confirm personally whether the Shadow was still inside Jia Ming.
After getting Li Zheng's approval, Chen Ge changed his clothes and rushed to the People's Hospital without delay.
Over the course of one night, Chen Ge had gone in and out of the amusement park entrance several times. At first the old gatekeeper had greeted him cheerfully, but eventually even the old man was getting tired of it.
Just past six in the morning, Chen Ge arrived at the People's Hospital. Police officers stood guard outside two of the hospital rooms. The moment he approached, one of them stopped him.
"I'm looking for Captain Li Zheng from the city branch—I spoke with him on the phone earlier." Chen Ge dropped Li Zheng's name. One of the officers studied Chen Ge's face, squinting for a good while, before actually recognizing him.
"Captain Li left instructions. Follow me." The officer led Chen Ge to the first room on the left. "Jia Ming is in here. His mental state is unstable—don't say anything that might set him off."
"Understood." Chen Ge glanced at the room next door. "Jia Ming is in this one—who's in that room?"
"His wife, Huang Ling. We went to Huang Ling's place first tonight and found her in a strange state, almost like she'd taken some kind of drug, so we brought her in as well."
"Appreciate the work." Chen Ge gently pushed open the hospital room door. Li Zheng and a female officer were sitting about a meter away from the bed, talking to the person lying in it.
The sound of the door opening drew every pair of eyes in the room toward the entrance.
That in itself wouldn't have been a problem—Li Zheng and the female officer already knew Chen Ge was coming, so they stayed perfectly composed. But just as Li Zheng was about to greet him, Jia Ming, lying on the bed, suddenly let out a piercing scream.
His face went deathly pale. He threw himself to the far side of the bed, wildly emotional, his trembling finger pointing straight at Chen Ge. "Ghost! Ghost! He's a ghost!"
The IV needle was ripped from his arm, but Jia Ming didn't seem to feel any pain at all. His eyes were locked on Chen Ge, terror threatening to spill over.
None of the people in the room had expected this kind of scene. Li Zheng called for the doctor, and several people worked together to pin Jia Ming back down on the bed and restrain him.
"Should I administer a sedative?" the doctor asked Li Zheng. Li Zheng shook his head—he was curious why Jia Ming had such an extreme reaction upon seeing Chen Ge.
Only after Jia Ming had calmed down did Chen Ge finally sit down in a chair.
Strangely enough, ever since Chen Ge had stepped into the room, those eyes of Jia Ming's had been fixed on him alone. Every time Chen Ge so much as edged closer to the bed, Jia Ming would flinch like a startled cat, desperate to get away.
"It's all right—with us here, he can't hurt you. Besides, I can tell you with complete certainty that he's a living person, not a ghost." Li Zheng gestured for Chen Ge to sit beside him.