The Mystery of the Inner Demon

Chapter 9 Basement

When he saw Zhong Kui looking at him eagerly, he suddenly let go of her hand in panic and took a half step back. His foot missed half of the step and he almost fell.

Zhong Kui smiled, walked down the stairs, picked up her high heels placed beside her, and walked away without saying goodbye. Luosha followed closely behind her. The man and the cat walked away in the night and disappeared from Qi Fei's sight.

Qi Fei drank the rest of the beer and crushed the beer can in his hand in embarrassment. It was almost dawn, and he decided not to go home alone, so he went straight to the police station.

……

Qi Fei, who was sleeping soundly on his desk, was awakened by the ringing of his cell phone.

When he picked up the phone, Xiao Lu's anxious voice came: "Brother Fei, it's bad, Zhu Mingen ran away!"

……

"How did you run away?" Qi Fei asked anxiously as soon as he saw Xiao Lu when he arrived at the hospital.

Before Xiao Lu could answer, a nurse was supported and brought to them, with blood still on his head.

"What's going on?" Qi Fei asked.

"This person was yesterday's caregiver. He was found collapsed in the utility room this morning with his ID badge missing. It's likely someone pretended to be a caregiver and took him away in the middle of the night." Xiao Lu said with a look of self-blame. "I'm sorry, Brother Fei. I was on duty yesterday. I don't know why I was so sleepy that I dozed off... I... woke up to find he was gone and the handcuff key had been stolen..."

Qi Fei looked at the pale Xiao Lu, without any intention of blaming him: "Have you checked the surveillance?"

Seeing Xiao Lu's hesitation, Qi Fei guessed something: "It was destroyed in advance."

Xiao Lu nodded. "The line was cut. I asked the security guard, and he said he fell asleep last night and didn't notice anything unusual on the screen..."

"What a coincidence?" Qi Fei couldn't help but frowned after hearing this. "You'd better take a blood test. The other party came prepared."

"Ah, Brother Fei, do you mean we were drugged?" Xiao Lu rubbed his temples and said in surprise.

"This is a troubling situation. Zhu Qi and his wife are still in custody, and Zhu Ming'en is an only child. Who would go to such great lengths to get him out?" Qi Fei put his hands on his hips, feeling a surge of unease. He walked into Zhu Ming'en's ward, looked around, and suddenly said in a deep voice, "This is bad."

"What's wrong?" Xiao Lu looked at Qi Fei's solemn expression and asked hurriedly.

"Zhu Mingen's wheelchair is missing." Qi Fei said, "I remember when we brought him back yesterday, the wheelchair was placed next to his bed. Did anyone take it away?"

"Really? No, it seems that the person pretending to be a caregiver took Zhu Mingen away in a wheelchair."

Qi Fei pointed to the empty hospital bed. "I understand stealing your handcuff key, but since the handcuffs are gone, there's no need to take the wheelchair. Unless he needs the handcuffs to handcuff Zhu Mingen to the wheelchair and take him away. If they're trying to save him, shouldn't the lighter the better? Wouldn't it be more convenient for the two of them to disguise themselves and just walk away?"

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

"Unless, this person doesn't want to save him at all." Qi Fei looked at the empty ward, worried, "If Zhu Mingen is controlled, they won't get far in such a short time." He looked carefully at the floor of the ward, "Huh?" He seemed to have discovered something, and looked left and right according to the direction of the light, then immediately squatted down.

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

"Hey, look!" Qi Fei pointed at the ground. Xiao Lu looked carefully and saw two shiny tire tracks faintly visible under the light.

"Is this glue?"

"Zhu Ming'en made a scene in the electrotherapy room last night, knocking over a lot of things. I think something like gel got on the wheelchair tire. Let's go!" Qi Fei said, crouching down and following the tire tracks out until he reached the elevator. He went in and pressed all the buttons for each floor, looking at each floor one by one: seventh, sixth, fifth... There was no sign of an exit. Strangely, there was no sign of an exit on the first floor or the basement either. "Something's wrong!" Xiao Lu muttered, "They can't disappear in the elevator, can they?"

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

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

"They really drove out. It seems we need to ask the traffic police to investigate quickly!" Xiao Lu said immediately after seeing it.

Qi Fei waved his hand and did not jump to conclusions immediately. He looked around and continued to walk forward carefully along the tire tracks.

The tire tracks did not lead them to any parking spaces, but directly to a small door in the southwest corner.

The closer they got to the small door, the colder they felt.

It was still early in the morning and the basement was dead silent. Through a small door, I could faintly hear the sound of machines 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 looked in the direction and saw a wheelchair quietly placed there with shiny handcuffs hanging on it.

"What do you do?" An old voice came from behind them, which really scared the two of them in such an atmosphere.

When they turned around, they saw an old man in a white coat standing behind them, looking at them with a puzzled look.

"What is this place?" Qi Fei asked, showing his ID.

"The morgue is further in. Why did you policemen come here?" the old man asked curiously.

At this moment, Xiao Lu suddenly sniffed and muttered, "What's that smell? Brother Fei, do you smell it?"

Qi Fei listened and took notice. Mixed in with the smell of gasoline and mold in the basement was a familiar scent...

It was a faint aroma of wine, carrying the breath of death, overflowing from the depths of the dark doorway, pranking Qi Fei's nerves like a ghost.

He pulled out his pistol and walked through the small door. At the end of the several-meter-long passage, a light box with red letters on a white background clearly read "Mortuary".

Step by step, the closer we get, the stronger the aroma of wine becomes, almost intoxicating in this airtight basement.

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

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

Before Qi Fei could remind the old man to be careful, the scene in the room had already completely shocked the three grown men.

As the aroma of rice wine wafted towards them, they saw Zhu Mingen's head placed upright on the dissection table. His face was facing the door, and his eyes were half open as if welcoming their arrival.

The rest of the body was neatly cut and placed on the dissection table. The scene was cleaned up without a trace of blood. A layer of yellow liquid soaked the corpse, and the smell revealed it to be aged rice wine - Zhu Mingen suffered the same fate as Chen Xiaojing.

Perhaps it was the taste of the wine that was causing the problem. At that moment, Qi Fei felt that his thoughts were extremely confused. His vision was sometimes clear and sometimes blurred. The bodies of Chen Xiaojing and Zhu Mingen appeared in his mind alternately, changing their faces and shapes, devouring his brain.

"Brother Fei, look!" Xiao Lu's voice brought Qi Fei back to reality, and his finger pointed to the wall beside him.

(End of this chapter)