Chapter 456: Handwriting

"Did you notice anything unusual last night?"

"Last night? No... I didn't notice anything before I fell asleep," the guard shook his head.

Only Lao Ding works as the gate guard in this Mental Hospital.

Of course, even though he's the only one watching the gate, the security at the Mental Hospital is fine; after all, internal management is very strict, and most of the time the patients stay in their wards and don't get out, and they won't run out either, because under normal circumstances most patients are immersed in their own world.

The gate guard is essentially just a figurehead; on ordinary days he only opens the door for staff coming to work, so there's no need to hire many people for the gate.

"What time did you go to sleep?" Xu Mo asked again.

Guard Lao Ding thought for a moment, then replied, "Around ten o'clock, certainly not past eleven; I usually sleep at that time."

So the crime must have occurred after eleven? Xu Mo glanced around and spotted a camera on the tall wall directly facing the gate.

Following Xu Mo's gaze, Han Fei also saw the camera and couldn't help asking.

"Is that camera functional?"

The director's face turned a bit embarrassed: "That... that broke a couple of days ago, and no one has come to fix it."

The surveillance can't be relied on either.

Xu Mo shifted his gaze back to the head inside the plastic bag.

The head was covered in blood, making its features indistinguishable at a glance.

After a careful look, Xu Mo noticed there were no fingerprints on the head; the killer was still somewhat cautious.

He wiped away some of the blood from the head.

Once the blood was cleared, the victim's appearance emerged; a man in white standing behind the director immediately pointed at the head and said.

"This... this is a patient from our facility!"

Earlier, the head had been placed in a plastic bag, and with blood covering it, no one in the facility dared to touch it, so it went unrecognized.

Now Xu Mo opened the bag and gave it a quick clean, which allowed the victim to be identified.

Xu Mo was not surprised by the man's words.

He had already guessed that the victim must be someone from within the Mental Hospital—either a patient or a medical staff member.

The hospital's wall is very high; if the bag had been thrown in from outside, it couldn't have landed right against the wall—no one could toss it that precisely.

Moreover, the guard said that when he first found the plastic bag, it was tightly wrapped and he didn't realize it contained a head; he even thought it was trash and was about to throw it away. If the bag had been flung in from outside, being tossed over such a high wall and then landing would have torn it, not left it intact, and the guard would have instantly seen what was inside, not mistaking it for garbage.

In addition, the provocative note placed on the edge of the bag proves this: while the bag could be thrown in, a light, fluttering note couldn't be tossed over such a high wall.

These points aren't hard to infer.

The victim must be internal staff, and the crime scene must also be inside the Mental Hospital.

"Tell me about this person—did he ever hold a grudge against other patients?" Han Fei looked at the man, wanting to inquire about the victim.

The man thought for a while, then shook his head.

"Probably not. He doesn't like to talk, prefers to be alone, either zones out or mutters nonsense, doesn't get close to anyone; I doubt he'd hold a grudge against anyone."

Han Fei instantly sensed how tricky this case was.

No surveillance, no suspect, the corpse is incomplete—there's virtually no starting point for investigation.

But at that moment, Xu Mo suddenly spoke up.

He pointed at the head.

"The victim's occiput shows marks from a heavy object—a fatal wound, a single blow killed him... judging by the shape and depth of the wound, the killer was likely an adult male, and the weapon was probably a hammer or similar blunt instrument."

"Also..." Xu Mo glanced at Han Fei: "Han Team, I don't think we need to fuss over whether the victim held grudges with other patients; the behavior and thoughts of mental patients can't be compared to normal people, and any reason that ordinary folks can't grasp could become a motive."

Han Fei pondered Xu Mo's meaning, then slowly nodded.

Indeed, that's something he hadn't considered earlier.

The thoughts of mental patients are hard to fathom.

If the killer is also a patient, his motives multiply; it might not be a vendetta—perhaps he simply disliked the victim's hairstyle, or the victim ate a side dish before the main meal, or he thought the victim's way of drinking water was ungraceful—any of these odd reasons could be a motive...

"Is it possible the murderer isn't a mental patient?" At that moment, the director interjected.

As soon as the words fell, the officers all turned to him, eyes scrutinizing.

"We can't rule that out!"

No, I'm just sharing my thought; don't look at me like that! I didn't kill anyone! The director's mouth twitched, he stepped back a bit, and decisively fell silent.

Regarding whether the killer is a patient or medical staff, Han Fei already had his own view, but now he wanted Team Leader Xu's opinion: "Team Leader Xu, what do you think?"

"I think this isn't something a normal person would do," Xu Mo shook his head, pointing at the note beside the plastic bag: "A normal person wouldn't leave a note like this at the scene."

He still leaned toward the guess that the killer is a patient; any sane person would probably never leave such a note beside the corpse.

"If you think you can catch me..."—a show‑off attitude, that's so over‑the‑top, not at all a normal person's style, but it fits a mental patient's behavior.

Han Fei nodded, and Xu Mo thought along with him: "I think the same, but we can't rule out that someone deliberately used this note to mislead us."

Speaking of the note, Han Fei suddenly had an idea and thought of a method.

He looked at the director.

"Gather everyone in the facility and have each write a sentence on paper!"

Handwriting, too, is a usable clue.

It's a good method... Xu Mo glanced at the crooked characters on the note and added, "Have them write it with both their left and right hands; I want to watch them write."