Chapter 9

When he saw Zhong Kui's eager gaze watching him, he suddenly panicked and let go, retreating half a step, his foot stepping into thin air on the steps, almost falling.

Zhong Kui smiled, came down from the steps, carrying the high heels she had placed on the side, and without saying goodbye, walked away on her own. Luosha followed closely behind her. One person and one cat gradually disappeared from Qi Fei's sight in the night.

Qi Fei drank the remaining beer, awkwardly crushing the beer can in his hand. Dawn was approaching, and there was no point in returning to his lonely home, so he headed straight toward the police station.

Qi Fei, who was sleeping soundly on his desk, was awakened by a ringing phone.

Answering the phone, Xiao Lu's anxious voice came: "Brother Fei, it's not good, Zhu Ming'en has run away!"

"How did he run?" Qi Fei, who had arrived at the hospital, asked anxiously as soon as he saw Xiao Lu.

Before Xiao Lu could answer, a nursing staff was brought to them, supported by someone, with blood still remaining on his head.

"What's the situation?" Qi Fei asked.

"This person is the nursing staff from yesterday. He was found lying in the utility room this morning, his work badge is gone. It's highly likely that someone disguised as a nursing staff took him away in the middle of the night," Xiao Lu said, full of self-blame. "I'm sorry, Brother Fei, I was on duty yesterday. I don't know why I was so sleepy, I took a nap... I... woke up and found the person gone, the handcuff key was stolen..."

Qi Fei looked at the pale Xiao Lu and didn't mean to blame him: "Did you check the surveillance?"

Seeing Xiao Lu hesitate and not answer, Qi Fei had already guessed a few points: "It was destroyed in advance."

Xiao Lu nodded: "The line was cut. I asked the security guard, and he said he also fell asleep last night and didn't find any abnormalities in the screen..."

"Such a coincidence?" Qi Fei's brow tightened when he heard this, "You'd better draw blood for testing. The other party came prepared."

"Ah, Brother Fei, do you mean we were drugged?" Xiao Lu rubbed his temples, surprised.

"This matter is troublesome. Zhu Qi and his wife are still in detention, and Zhu Ming'en is their only son. Who went to such great lengths to get him out?" Qi Fei put his hands on his hips, and that feeling of unease surged into his heart. He walked into Zhu Ming'en's ward, looked around, and suddenly said in a deep voice, "Oh no."

"What's wrong?" Xiao Lu asked, looking at Qi Fei's solemn expression.

"Zhu Ming'en's wheelchair is gone," Qi Fei said. "I remember when we sent him back yesterday, the wheelchair was placed by his bed. Did anyone take it away?"

"It really is gone. No, it seems the person who disguised as a nursing staff used the wheelchair to transport Zhu Ming'en away."

Qi Fei pointed to the empty hospital bed: "Stealing your handcuff key is understandable, but the handcuffs are also gone, and taking the wheelchair is completely unnecessary. Unless he needed the handcuffs to handcuff Zhu Ming'en to the wheelchair to take him away. If it was to save him, shouldn't it be as light as possible? Wouldn't it be more convenient for two people to disguise themselves and just walk away?"

Xiao Lu nodded after hearing this: "Unless..."

"Unless this person didn't want to save him at all," Qi Fei looked at the empty ward, worried, "If Zhu Ming'en was controlled, they wouldn't run very far in this time." He said, looking carefully at the floor of the ward, "Hmm?" He seemed to have discovered something, changing the angle and looking left and right according to the direction of the light, then immediately squatted down.

"What's wrong?" Xiao Lu asked curiously from the side.

"Heh, look!" Qi Fei pointed to the ground. Xiao Lu looked carefully and saw two tire tracks appearing faintly under the light, shining brightly.

"Is this glue?"

"Zhu Ming'en made a scene in the electrotherapy room last night and knocked over a lot of things. I think it's something like gel that got on the wheelchair tires. Let's go!" Qi Fei said, crouching down and following the tire tracks out, all the way to the elevator entrance. He went in and pressed all the floors, looking at them one by one. Seventh floor, sixth floor, fifth floor... there was no trace of going out. Strangely, there was no trace on the first floor or the basement floor either.

"Something's not right!" Xiao Lu muttered, "They can't just disappear in the elevator, right?"

The elevator continued to descend and stopped at the last basement level.

In the dim light, two tire tracks were faintly visible.

"They really drove out. It seems we have to ask the traffic police to hurry up and investigate!" Xiao Lu said immediately upon seeing it.

Qi Fei waved his hand, not drawing a conclusion immediately, observing the surroundings, and carefully walking forward along the tire tracks.

The tire tracks didn't lead them to any parking space, but straight to a small door in the southwest corner.

The closer they got to that small door, the more they felt a chill.

It was still early morning, and the basement was dead silent. Through the small door, they vaguely heard the sound of machinery running on the other side, which seemed to be a machine room.

"Brother Fei! Look!" Xiao Lu suddenly pointed to the corner inside the small door. Qi Fei followed the direction and saw a wheelchair sitting quietly there, with bright handcuffs hanging on it.

"What are you doing?" An old voice came from behind them, which really startled the two of them in this atmosphere.

Turning around, an old man in a white coat was standing behind them at some point, looking at them with suspicion.

"What is this place?" Qi Fei showed his credentials and asked.

"Further in is the morgue. Why did you police find your way here?" the old man asked curiously.

Just then, Xiao Lu suddenly sniffed and muttered: "What is this smell? Brother Fei, did you smell it?"

Qi Fei paid attention when he heard it. Among the smells of gasoline and mold in the basement, it was mixed with a scent he was familiar with...

It was a faint aroma of wine, carrying the breath of death, overflowing from the depths of the pitch-black door hole, ghost-like, teasing Qi Fei's nerves.

He drew his pistol and passed through the small door. At the end of the few-meter passage, a light box with red characters on a white background clearly wrote the words "Morgue."

Step by step, the closer he got, the stronger the aroma of wine became. In this airtight basement, it almost intoxicated people.

The door was ajar, leaving a crack. Qi Fei's heart almost jumped into his throat.

Just as he was carefully testing, an old man suddenly reached out from behind him and pushed the door open, muttering to himself: "Huh? Did I forget to lock the door yesterday?"

Before Qi Fei could warn the old man to be careful, the scene inside the room had completely shocked the three living people.

Accompanied by the aroma of yellow rice wine rushing toward them, Zhu Ming'en's head was placed upright on the dissection table. His face was facing the door, his eyes half-open, as if welcoming their arrival.

Other parts of his body were neatly cut and placed on the dissection table. The scene was handled very cleanly, without a trace of blood. A layer of yellow liquid soaked the corpse, and the smell told them it was aged yellow rice wine—Zhu Ming'en had met the same fate as Chen Xiaojing.

Perhaps it was the wine's effect, but at that moment, Qi Fei only felt his thoughts were extremely chaotic. His vision was sometimes clear and sometimes blurry. Chen Xiaojing and Zhu Ming'en's corpses appeared alternately in his mind, changing faces and shapes, devouring his brain.

"Brother Fei, look!" Xiao Lu's voice pulled Qi Fei back to reality. His hand pointed to the wall on the side.