Chapter 459: Somnambulism

After a round of questioning, Xu Mo had almost dispelled his suspicion about this patient.

A patient with severe cognitive impairment who believes he is a mushroom and sits motionless in his room every night is unlikely to be the murderer.

Xu Mo plans to interrogate another suspect first: Gate Guard Lao Ding.

After the medical staff took the patient away, Xu Mo had the police bring Gate Guard Lao Ding over.

When he learned the police wanted to question him, the honest Lao Ding instantly became nervous.

"Don't be nervous, sit down; we're just here to get some information from you, just answer whatever we ask," Xu Mo smiled, hoping to let Lao Ding relax a bit before starting the interrogation.

"Okay… okay, comrade police officer, you ask," Lao Ding was still a bit restrained.

"After the sun set yesterday, where did you go?"

"I didn't go anywhere, I stayed in the Gate Guard Duty Room the whole time."

"You didn't even go out the door of the duty room?"

"Yes," Lao Ding nodded, in a tone of certainty.

Being well‑versed in psychology, Xu Mo could easily see that Gate Guard Lao Ding wasn't lying; after the sun set yesterday, he truly hadn't gone anywhere.

This left Xu Mo a bit baffled.

Since Lao Ding didn't go anywhere after the sun set yesterday, that shows he couldn't be the murderer, because the victim died at night.

Could the murderer be the patient who left earlier? Could that patient not, as the medical staff said, sit motionless in his room every night?

That also doesn't add up; that medical staff member shows no signs of lying either, and she has no reason to protect a mental patient.

A mental patient who kills may not necessarily go to prison, but anyone who dares to shield him would certainly end up in prison; that's not worthwhile and doesn't make sense.

Xu Mo's eyebrows twitched slightly.

The murderer is neither that patient nor Lao Ding… could the investigative direction be wrong again?

If that's the case, this case becomes somewhat troublesome.

Seeing that Xu Mo was making little progress, Han Fei decided to summon all officers for a Carpet Search of the Mental Hospital; he wanted to locate the murder weapon and the victim's body, hoping to obtain clues from them to aid the investigation.

Earlier, Han Fei hadn't ordered the officers to locate the murder weapon and the corpse immediately upon arrival, mainly because he believed that simply relying on the killer's handwriting would be enough to catch the murderer, making it unnecessary to expend large numbers of officers and time searching for the corpse and weapon; after catching the killer, they could still learn where the killer had hidden the corpse and weapon. In his view, expending massive police resources and time to search for the corpse and weapon first was a case of putting the cart before the horse.

But now, Han Fei has changed his mind.

Shortcuts won't work… we still have to proceed step by step.

"Everyone, come over," Han Fei waved to the officers, preparing to order a Carpet Search of the Mental Hospital.

Upon hearing that, Xu Mo looked toward where Han Fei stood, then turned to Gate Guard Lao Ding and said, "I've finished questioning for now; you can go back. If I have any questions, I'll find you anytime."

Lao Ding replied with a sound and turned to leave.

After that, Xu Mo also moved to Han Fei's side.

"I think we should first conduct a Carpet Search here; we need to locate the corpse and the murder weapon first, which might help the investigation," Han Fei said, then looked at Xu Mo: "Team Leader Xu, do you have any good ideas?"

Xu Mo shook his head, indicating that he had no clue at the moment.

"Then let's just do as you said for now."

…

Under Han Fei's direction, the officers dispersed and began a Carpet Search of the Mental Hospital.

Gate Guard Duty Room.

Xu Mo found a book here: Dream of the Red Chamber.

It is worth noting that the book's corners were already a bit frayed, a mark from being flipped through many times.

A frayed book like this, found anywhere in the facility, wouldn't raise Xu Mo's suspicion, but the fact that it appeared in the Gate Guard Duty Room, on Lao Ding's bedside, is inexplicable.

Lao Ding can't read a single character; he even writes his own name haltingly. How could someone like that have a book on his bedside, especially a book that's been read many times?

"Lao Ding, is this book yours?" Xu Mo picked up the frayed Dream of the Red Chamber and asked Lao Ding.

"It's mine," Lao Ding nodded. "I have Somnambulism; I found this book while sleepwalking, and ever since, whenever I sleepwalk, I sit by the bedside and flip through this book."

Sleepwalking? Xu Mo was slightly startled.

It was then that Xu Mo noticed the old callus on the left side of Lao Ding's right middle finger and on the pad of his thumb.

These are marks left by years of holding a pen and writing; many people develop calluses at those spots, but someone like Lao Ding, who even writes his own name haltingly, shouldn't have such calluses.

Yet in fact, Lao Ding's hand does have such calluses, indicating he can read… the frayed book on his bedside also proves this.

Xu Mo recalled Lao Ding's behavior earlier when everyone in the facility was gathered to write that passage; Lao Ding even "drew" his own name, taking a long time to produce a line of text. At that moment, Lao Ding's performance was very natural, showing no deliberate clumsiness, which suggests he shouldn't be literate.

Literate yet illiterate? There's a contradiction… Xu Mo squinted and examined Lao Ding.

"Officer Xu, what's wrong?" Lao Ding, seeing Xu Mo stare at him with a strange expression, was a bit bewildered.

But Xu Mo didn't respond, instead immersing himself in his thoughts.

After a while, Xu Mo finally came back to himself and looked at Lao Ding again.

"How did you come to know that you sleepwalk at night?"

"I didn't know at first," Lao Ding explained. "My coworkers told me; they sometimes finish work late, and every night when they walk by they see me in the Gate Guard Duty Room reading, sometimes holding a pen and doodling, but I myself wasn't aware of it. Isn't that sleepwalking?"

"I see..." Xu Mo mused, nodding.

At the same time, he glanced around the Gate Guard Duty Room where Lao Ding was, and noticed an old-fashioned aluminum flashlight on the bedside table.

This type of flashlight is made of extremely solid material; holding it feels like holding a hollow iron rod.

Xu Mo instinctively picked up the flashlight on the table and glanced at it; the tail had a small dent, as if from being dropped.