Under the bright daylight, the bizarre case of scattered corpses quickly spread like wings despite the hospital's swift efforts to contain the news.
Taking advantage of no one paying attention, Chen opened the door to the rest room and soon found a row of lockers with the letter F printed on them.
2F08, perhaps representing the locker number, and the four digits following it became clear to Chen when he saw the four-digit password lock on the locker.
When Chen wrote down this code, Xiaoyu may have already been murdered, leaving behind only the key information before she could do anything else.
Chen entered the password and, sure enough, the locker 08 opened with a click. Inside were some clothes and miscellaneous items. Chen moved them aside and found a transparent plastic document bag underneath.
Opening the document bag, Chen expected to find information related to Qi, but soon realized he was wrong. The medical records and treatment records belonged to a woman named Zhou Xue.
According to the diagnosis report, this woman named Zhou Xue had serious bruises all over her arms, legs and even back. Chen stared at the photo for a while and suddenly felt that Zhou Xue looked familiar.
He seemed to have seen this woman somewhere.
As a reporter, Chen's memory and observation were still quite good, but he clearly had a vague impression of the woman in the photo, but he couldn't remember when he saw her.
Wait a minute, the photo?
A flash of light flashed through his mind, and Chen finally remembered. When he first entered the strange story, he had seen a photo on Zhao Heping's desk, which was almost the same as the one in the photo.
Chen was sure that the two photos were of the same person.
What is the relationship between Zhou Xue and Zhao Heping? Why are there these records of treatment for injuries? And why would these things appear in the hands of Xiaoyu?
Finally, it was Xiaoyu who was killed at the entrance of her own office.
Suddenly, a strange thought flashed through Chen's mind.
"Could this Xiaoyu..."
Could this Xiaoyu, like us, also be a participant in the story?
When she asked me when I came to the hospital, she had already begun to suspect my true identity?
If Xiaoyu is also a participant, then some things have an explanation. The traces on the note "Is it him" may not refer to Qi, but Xiaoyu may also suspect whether she is a participant in the story. She came to find herself, probably to confirm her true identity, and then consider exchanging information with others.
This record of Zhou Xue's injuries is the chip that Xiaoyu intends to use to exchange information.
Unfortunately, Xiaoyu did not wait to return to her office and was attacked by supernatural forces. She had no choice but to leave clues in this way.
Taking away Zhou Xue's treatment records, Chen's mood became a bit heavy.
If Xiaoyu was also a participant, her tragic death would mean that the supernatural force in the story had started to target those participants! In other words, the clues collected so far were enough to trigger the killing intent!
Just then, suddenly, Chen felt something was wrong.
Although there was no one in the rest room at the moment, the environment around him was too quiet!
The hospital was full of noise just now, but when I went into the restroom, the noise around me suddenly disappeared.
What's more, the crime happened in my office, so the police should have questioned me by now.
However, none of these things had happened, so Chen suddenly felt an ominous sense of foreboding.
A chill came from all sides, and at that moment, Chen suddenly heard a faint but steady sound of footsteps coming from afar.
Tapping, tapping.
The footsteps dragged on the ground, advancing slowly.
Even though it seemed to come from far away, Chen's face changed in an instant.
The supernatural power was coming towards him.
Looking at the storeroom in front of him, Chen suddenly had an idea.
Perhaps he could hide inside the cupboard before the sound gets close and see the true face of the ghost through the gap in front of the cupboard door.
But the risk was too great. Who knows if the ghost would find his hiding place.
Tapping, tapping, the faint and indistinct sound became clearer and clearer as it approached.
At that moment, Chen suddenly saw something terrifying through the glass window of the toilet.
At the end of the corridor, a gray mist suddenly appeared from nowhere and rolled toward him, gradually occupying the surrounding space, and the tapping sound came from the gray mist.
What was once a bustling hospital, now suddenly seemed desolate, devoid of people.
Chen felt a vague sense of unease in his mind.
He knew he had to escape.
Before the grey fog could overtake the corridor, he yanked open the door of the rest room and bolted for the stairs.
The fog outside seemed to churn in response, as if it were trying to devour him.
Not daring to look back, Chen charged for the stairs, only to find the fog coming in from both sides, trapping him in the middle of the corridor.
Just as Chen felt hopeless, a ding sounded from behind him. He turned to see he had run right up to an elevator, and the doors had opened by chance.
Without a moment's hesitation, Chen jumped into the elevator and pressed the close button. The lights went dim and the elevator sank as the doors shut just in time, with the fog in hot pursuit.
Although Chen was usually mentally well-prepared, he was greatly shocked now. Could this elevator be controlled by supernatural forces, trying to kill him here? However, just as he had this thought, the elevator below his feet had already started to slow down and soon stopped again.
The red light in the darkness showed that the elevator had descended to the B1 underground floor.
With a ding sound, the elevator door slid open to both sides, revealing a deep corridor.
Chen let out a sigh of relief. It seemed that the B1 floor was not yet affected by the supernatural power, and there was no strange gray mist in the corridor.
But it's so cold.
The temperature of the whole B1 floor was much lower than when Chen came last time, as if walking in an ice cellar.
In the silent walk, this dark corridor seemed to be especially deep and long. Chen had not yet found a way to crack this supernatural attack, and suddenly, a faint noise came from his ears again.
Shuffling. Shuffling.
It was like footsteps dragging on the ground, gradually approaching from a very far place.
That terrifying killing intent was chasing after him.