"It will be dark in three and a half hours. Before dark, we must find out where Dr. Fang went before he disappeared!"

Chen Ge was firm in his attitude. He was with Lao Wu, and people who didn't know him might think he was a policeman and Lao Wu was just a driver.

"We have to investigate before dark? Do you have anything else to do at night?" Old Wu asked in confusion while driving.

“This city is not safe at night.”

"Xinhai is the safest city in central and southern China. Some business districts here are basically open 20 hours a day, and it is known as the city that never sleeps." Old Wu held the steering wheel: "You young people should know more about this than I do."

Chen Ge smiled and did not explain.

Twenty minutes later, they arrived at Xinhai Second Hospital.

There are eleven Grade A hospitals in Xinhai. Among them, the Second Hospital where Dr. Fang works ranks very high and is located in the most prosperous area of ​​Xinhai.

"Hello, I want to ask about someone." Chen Ge and Old Wu, who was wearing a police uniform, asked the hospital front desk. The nurse on duty didn't want to talk to Chen Ge at first, but after seeing the uniform on Old Wu, her attitude became much better.

Accompanied by the nurse on duty, Chen Ge came to the ENT department, where a doctor was examining a patient.

"Doctor Fang hasn't come to work for many days. I don't know the specific situation. The doctor inside is named Zhao. He is a colleague and good friend of Doctor Fang. He should know some information." The nurse on duty left after saying this. Chen Ge and Lao Wu waited until Doctor Zhao finished examining the patient before entering the room.

"Who among you is the patient?" Doctor Zhao is very busy. He hasn't had a good rest recently. He has dark circles under his eyes and looks a little listless.

"We are not here to see a doctor." Chen Ge pointed at Old Wu beside him and said, "This is a frontline detective from the city branch's criminal investigation team."

He did not reveal his identity, nor did he say that Lao Wu was a police officer from the Hanjiang City Branch. The whole sentence was true, but it gave people the feeling that they were both members of the Xinhai Criminal Investigation Team.

"Criminal police?" Doctor Zhao realized the seriousness of the matter and asked, "Are you here because of Doctor Fang?"

"It seems that you do know something." Chen Ge sat on the chair, and the real policeman Lao Wu stood guard at the door.

"I told the police station the specific situation yesterday. I didn't expect that you criminal police would come here today. Could it be that Dr. Fang has really..." Dr. Zhao didn't say anything else, but everyone present knew what he wanted to express.

"Don't ask questions that you shouldn't ask. You just need to tell me the information you know." Chen Ge picked up the pen and paper on the table and prepared to take notes. He gave people a very professional feeling.

"In recent weeks, Dr. Fang has been in poor condition. There was a problem with his surgery, and more patients have complained about him. This was almost impossible before. Dr. Fang is the best ENT and head and neck doctor here."

"Does Dr. Fang's mental confusion have anything to do with his family?"

"I also met Lao Fang's family yesterday. His wife and daughter were both fine and were very worried about him. Oh, right!" Doctor Zhao seemed to suddenly remember something: "I heard Lao Fang's wife say that Lao Fang often talked to himself, saying things like, 'They're coming, they're happy, they've already come.'"

"They are here? Someone is secretly monitoring Dr. Fang?" Old Wu closed the door of the department and walked over. He didn't expect to encounter such a strange case just after arriving in Xinhai with Chen Ge.

"In the days before he disappeared, Lao Fang often stayed up all night, hiding in the window with a knife, and looked out the window from time to time, as if someone was standing downstairs. His wife and daughter were very scared and occasionally looked out the window, but there was no one outside." Doctor Zhao sighed: "Lao Fang's wife wanted to hire a psychiatrist for him, but before the doctor came, Lao Fang had disappeared."

"Dr. Fang's wife and daughter didn't see anyone outside the window, right?" Chen Ge wanted to confirm.

"Lao Fang's wife didn't see anything, but his little daughter told the police yesterday that there was a woman hiding in her house who was always laughing."

"A woman who is always smiling?" Chen Ge narrowed his eyes, and two words emerged in his mind - don't smile.

"The police went to Lao Fang's home but didn't find the woman. They thought that Lao Fang's daughter was under too much pressure and was hallucinating."

"Hallucinations are also related to certain memories. They should think about it more carefully." Chen Ge did not comment on the police station's approach. He wanted to find Doctor Fang as soon as possible: "Doctor Zhao, do you know who was the last person to see Doctor Fang?"

"For the time being, it should be me." Doctor Zhao looked very haggard: "Lao Fang asked for half a month's leave, but a few days ago, he suddenly came to work before his leave was over. I saw that he was in good condition and thought he had recovered, so I didn't think much about it. I even made an appointment with him to have a few drinks after work."

"Did Dr. Fang disappear in the hospital?"

"For now, it seems like this. After get off work, Lao Fang did not go home and locked himself in the room. I didn't know what he was doing. When I came to work the next day, I received the news that Lao Fang was missing." Doctor Zhao felt a little regretful: "If only I had paid more attention that day."

"Don't blame yourself. This has nothing to do with you." Chen Ge frowned and thought, recalling the scene when he first spoke to Dr. Fang on the phone.

Dr. Fang also mentioned that he was being monitored by Buxiao. He also said that when the hospital warehouse was being renovated, he found a letter in the old warehouse. After opening it, the letter told him to go to an abandoned hospital in the middle of the night, and if he didn't go, something very bad would happen (see Chapter 1007 for details).

"Doctor Zhao, didn't your hospital's warehouse undergo a renovation some time ago? Doctor Fang went into the old warehouse at that time, right?"

"How did you know?" Doctor Zhao was very surprised, but in his opinion, the warehouse renovation and Doctor Fang's disappearance were two completely different things and could not be connected at all.

"Think carefully, did Dr. Fang's abnormality start from when he entered the old warehouse?" Chen Ge put down the pen in his hand and stuffed the note with some records into his pocket.

"It seems... it is indeed the case." Doctor Zhao's expression was even more surprised. The feeling Chen Ge gave him was completely different from the feeling he had when the police officer at the police station questioned him yesterday: "It's criminal investigation after all. It's amazing."

"If it's convenient, can you take us to the old warehouse now?"

"Sure, that place is about to be abandoned anyway." Doctor Zhao and Doctor Fang have a very close relationship, and he was very happy to help.

After saying hello to another doctor, Dr. Zhao led Chen Ge and Old Wu out of the hospital.

"The old warehouse is not in the hospital?" Chen Ge was a little confused.

"Our hospital moved a few years ago, and the old warehouse is still in the original location. It seems that there are only one or two independent departments left there now."

Twenty minutes later, the three arrived at the original site of the hospital. After getting the key from the management office, they entered the old warehouse.

The place had just been cleaned and tidied up. The rows of shelves were empty and there was almost nothing to be seen in the warehouse.

"Which area was Dr. Fang in charge of when the warehouse was being renovated?"

"It seems to be the innermost rooms." Doctor Zhao took out the key and opened the iron door leading to the deep end of the warehouse. "Because the circuit is old, there is no light inside, and the light is very dim. The nurses who were traveling with me did not dare to go in. It seems that only Lao Fang went in that day."

"These warehouses are separated by iron doors. Who designed it?"

"have no idea."

The three of them entered the warehouse and found some things that were not used in a hospital at all, such as a worn-out white wedding dress, pairs of dusty shoes, etc.

In the dim room, just the broken old shoes gave people a particularly creepy feeling.

"I have no idea how these things ended up in the warehouse. The old man who originally guarded the warehouse has passed away a long time ago, and this place is locked all year round. If the new director hadn't wanted to renovate the warehouse, I'm afraid no one would have known that there were so many shoes in the hospital warehouse." Doctor Zhao was holding a flashlight and a key, and he felt a little scared.

"There are all kinds of shoes, and in all different sizes. Do you think it's possible that a caregiver likes to collect shoes of the dead? He stole the shoes of all the dead patients and stored them in the innermost part of the warehouse?" Chen Ge said to himself. He didn't notice the increasingly bad expressions of Old Wu and Doctor Zhao.

"Your idea is a little perverted, to put it mildly." Doctor Zhao pointed at the shelves around him and said, "Are all the shoes on so many shelves worn by dead people? I find that the way you criminal investigators think is different from that of ordinary people."

Old Wu touched his nose and wanted to speak, but after hearing what Dr. Zhao said, he suddenly didn't know how to start.

Chen Ge, who was walking in the front, did not reply. He suddenly stopped after passing two rows of shelves and said, "The shoes on the shelves in the front are all neatly arranged. Why are the shoes on this row of shelves the only ones that have fallen down? Someone has fallen here before!"

With his pupils constricted, Chen Ge compared the location where the shoe fell and roughly simulated the situation at that time.

"There was a person who was about my height. He saw something at my feet. He was frightened and bumped into the shelf. His shoes scattered to both sides." Chen Ge had a very sharp insight. He deduced a lot of things just by the location of the scattered shoes: "The thing that scared the victim should have suddenly appeared from behind him. When he turned around, he lost his balance and bumped into the shelf."

Chen Ge locked onto a direction and walked towards it, scanning the shelves on both sides with his dark eyes, and soon he made a discovery.

"What's this?"

There was a small piece of paper hidden in an inconspicuous position at the bottom of the shelf. Chen Ge unfolded it and saw only one line of words on it - Don't enter the last warehouse!

"Doctor Zhao, can you see if this is Doctor Fang's handwriting?" Chen Ge handed the note to Doctor Zhao, who shook his head after reading it.

"It's not Dr. Fang's handwriting, but it appears where Dr. Fang had an accident. That means someone kindly reminded him before Dr. Fang came in, but he didn't take it seriously." Chen Ge took the note back. This was a very important clue, and he wanted to keep it for himself: "Dr. Zhao, can you still remember the person who entered the warehouse with Dr. Fang that day?"

"Can."

"Does anyone among them have the same handwriting as the one on the note?"

"It seems not. Doctors' handwriting is usually rather sloppy, and we are used to it when writing prescriptions." Doctor Zhao confirmed again and again, and finally said that the note was not written by Doctor Fang's companion.

"Isn't he from the hospital?" Chen Ge frowned. After a while, he suddenly asked, "If you want to enter the warehouse, you must first get the key from the management office. Could this note be given to Dr. Fang by someone from the management office?"

Not finding any more clues in the old warehouse, Chen Ge hurried back to the management office with the note.

After comparing the handwriting, Chen Ge found that the handwriting on the note was very similar to that of a warehouse manager. The manager's surname was Chi, which was a very rare surname.

"Excuse me, is Chi Ren here?" Chen Ge put away the note, looked at the photos of the staff on the wall, and asked loudly.

"Brother Ren asked for leave a few days ago. Do you have anything to do with him?" The people in the management office also thought that Chen Ge and Lao Wu were from the Xinhai Criminal Investigation Team, so their attitude was very good.

Hearing that Chi Ren hadn't come to work for several days, Chen Ge immediately had a bad feeling: "Can you tell me where Chi Ren lives? We want to go there and ask him some questions in person."

The person at the management office hesitated for a while, and then told Chen Ge the address of the apartment where Chi Ren rented.

"Brother Ren is a bit of a loner, and he basically won't talk to strangers. You should be prepared to be turned away." The man from the management office smiled bitterly when he mentioned Chi Ren.

"Does he have any strange habits? Or has he done anything strange?"

"It's not strange... By the way, Ren Ge obviously lives alone and has no family, but sometimes he talks to himself and mutters some particularly scary words, such as eating hands, eating eyes, eating nose, etc." The people in the management office felt uncomfortable just by mentioning these words: "I asked him once why he always said these things, and he told me that those scary words were all the names of his family members."

"His family is quite strange." Chen Ge hadn't finished speaking yet. He felt that this family with the surname Chi might have some connection with Buxiao.

After getting some useful clues, Chen Ge asked Dr. Zhao to go back first, and he and Old Wu came to the apartment building where Chi Ren lived.

They knocked on the door for a long time but no one opened it. Finally, the landlord came out and told them that Chi Ren had not been home for several days.

The landlord also revealed a very important piece of information to Chen Ge. The last time Chi Ren left the apartment building, he was carrying a large bag filled with water and various foods. It was as if he had anticipated the danger and was going to take refuge somewhere.

"If my speculation is correct, Chi Ren wrote a note to Dr. Fang, trying to save him, but failed. He was worried about being retaliated by Bu Xiao, so he fled overnight."

In Chen Ge's opinion, although Chi Ren had a strange name, he should be a good person overall.

"If you want to find Doctor Fang, you still have to start with eating benevolence."