Chapter 55 Mental Hospital 7
A cacophony of sounds rushed into my ears.
Because of the fear of death, there is panic, fear, and even a sudden outburst of shouting and commotion.
"Dr. Xu, this is the fifth one already."
"If the murderer can't be found, everyone should pray that they won't be the next ones to die."
"Did the killer intend to kill everyone in the hospital?"
"Shut up and stop saying such scary things."
The man moved his mouth and stood behind Xu Xi.
The head nurse, lost in thought, suddenly felt her eyes redden and murmured, "Xiaohua..."
Qin Hua was a nurse on the third floor and had the best relationship with the head nurse. She leaned against the pillar, feeling weak.
Lu Tianhao squatted beside the corpse, his brows furrowed.
"Damn it!" A stranger kicked a nearby shelf hard, the sound of which echoed through the hall, silencing everyone instantly. He roared, "What the hell are you looking at? Is your hospital just a bunch of idiots?! Now one of your own people is dying. If a patient dies, you'd better think about whether you can handle the consequences!"
Many people showed expressions of disgust. This person's words implied superiority and were grating to hear.
Xu Xi's expression remained unchanged: "Don't worry, the hospital will definitely give these deceased people an explanation."
As soon as he spoke, the restless people calmed down.
Looking at the people in the lobby, Lu Cen finally realized that this hospital had six floors in total, and all the floors above the third floor were wards.
Qin Hua was dressed in a nurse's uniform, her face covered by a mask. Her bright eyes still held the emotions she felt before death. She had a gash on her chest that was still bleeding, but there were no other wounds on her body. Various bottles and jars were scattered on the ground, and medicine was spilled all over the floor. It seemed that she had just come out of the pharmacy and was suddenly attacked.
Xu Xi: "Send it to the morgue first."
"Wait a minute," Lu Tianhao said. "Let's find out what happened first. The body is still warm and the blood hasn't clotted, so the time of death should be no more than half an hour."
Xu Xi looked at him and after a long while said, "Whatever."
"Why are you asking me questions, you're a patient? What, do you want to be a detective? Dr. Xu, don't spoil them too much. Patients should act like patients. I need to go back to sleep."
"that is."
"This is none of the patient's business."
Lu Tianhao's expression changed.
Xu Xi didn't speak. Under everyone's gaze, he casually said, "Lu Tianhao is indeed not very convenient. How about this, Lu Cen, you ask him."
A thunderous clap of lightning nearly knocked Lu Cen off his feet.
How could he possibly know that?!
"Hurry up, everyone's waiting."
"Dawdling and procrastinating."
"Are you even capable?!"
Lu Cen took a deep breath and asked the first question: "Who discovered the body first?"
"I."
Lu Cen was a little surprised that it was the head nurse who said this.
Her expression was miserable, and her words were incoherent: "Xiaohua was on duty today. Before she left, I asked her to go to the pharmacy to restock the medicine. I waited upstairs for a long time but she didn't come up. I thought she was confused and couldn't find the medicine. Who knew that when I came down, I would see this scene..."
"Are there any differences between the crime scene then and now?"
"The same."
"Is there anything wrong with Xiaohua today?"
"No, it's the same as usual."
Lu Cen glanced at the corpse, and seeing Qin Hua's skin turning pale, his heart skipped a beat. He hurriedly said, "I've finished asking."
Before long, everyone had left.
Lu Cen followed behind Xu Xi, looked up and asked him, "Can I see all the male patients' records at the hospital?"
"What are you doing?"
"I think the murderer is male."
How was this conclusion reached?
"Because the murderer was very strong, and the wound on Qin Hua's body was stabbed diagonally from top to bottom, which means that the murderer was taller than her, or rather, much taller."
Xu Xi glanced sideways, straightened her white coat, and whispered in his ear, "Then do you think I look like a murderer? I'm strong and tall enough."
"Ding." The elevator has arrived.
The shadows of the two were cast on the floor. A cold wind blew by, and Lu Cen's back was covered in cold sweat. He lowered his head awkwardly and said, "No... it doesn't look like it."
"Oh? Why?"
“You have no reason to kill them.”
How do you know I have no reason to kill them?
Lu Cen had suspected him, but now she dared not reveal the slightest clue.
Fortunately, He Zhizhou and the others also entered the elevator, and the two ended the conversation.
"By the way, how did you get in from outside?"
Lu Cen's eyes widened, but before she could find an excuse to speak, He Zhizhou said, "Taking a walk with me outside will help with your recovery."
"Walking helps with recovery? As a doctor, I've never heard of that."
He Zhizhou said, "That's because Dr. Xu is ignorant."
Lu Tianhao gasped. Xu Xi, this NPC, clearly had the most say in this instance. Had He Zhizhou gone mad to provoke him?
Xu Xi's expression was unreadable; she said calmly, "Blindly using methods won't help the illness."
A dark glint flashed in He Zhizhou's eyes: "Illness? I don't think I'm sick."
Someone nearby mocked, "Mental illnesses all say they're not sick, and I'm not sick either."
He Zhizhou didn't reply, but met Xu Xi's gaze and said, "If this is an illness, then what about Dr. Xu?"
The small elevator fell silent.
Because Qin Hua died, the head nurse became the person on duty today. Under her supervision, Lu Cen swallowed a handful of pills with a bitter face and drank two glasses of water to suppress the taste of the medicine.
He had intended to go out to find Xu Xi, but she arrived first.
I brought the materials.
Lu Cen counted them: sixteen.
Aside from five security guards and two doctors, the rest are all patients. Subtracting the four players, there are a total of five patients.
The murderer is among these sixteen people; excluding the players, there are twelve others.
Lu Cen first examined the patients. Among the five, two looked sickly and had other ailments, making them unsuitable for combat. Another patient had been admitted to the hospital the day before yesterday. Lu Cen felt that the murderer had a clear target and must have spent a considerable amount of time in the hospital, thus eliminating three of them at once.
The remaining two are named Fan Zhen, a boxer who gradually developed hallucinations after his opponent died due to a mistake in a match, and he always said that he could see ghosts.
We've gained combat power.
Another patient, Ming Xiaosheng, was hospitalized for three years after being kidnapped by criminals. He was later rescued, but he was left with severe psychological trauma, which is now getting worse and worse, and he hardly ever leaves his room.
Lu Cen frowned and went to look through the security guards' files again. The shortest tenure was two years and the longest was fifteen years. They were all quite skilled and between twenty-eight and forty-five years old. Lu Cen was inclined to believe that the older ones were not the murderers. Based on the files alone, Lu Cen could not rule out anyone else.
Why are you suddenly interested in these things?
Lu Cen snapped out of his daze and noticed Xu Xi sitting beside him, one hand resting on the back of the sofa behind him, her legs crossed. It was a dangerous distance that went beyond the bounds of social interaction. Oblivious to this, Lu Cen whispered, "The sooner we find the killer, the better. What if I'm the next one to die?"
Xu Xi chuckled: "How could that be?"
Lu Cen was very puzzled: "Why not?"
He was the unlucky guy who was targeted by the murderer on the very first night!
Xu Xi stared at him, the other's body heat gradually seeping into his clothes: "The patient's room door is very secure, it can't be opened by external force. As long as you don't wander around at night, nothing will happen."
Lu Cen was startled. How did the murderer get in on the first night?
How did they get back to their rooms yesterday?
He asked anxiously, "Why can't I open it?"
"After 10 p.m., to prevent patients from escaping or having an attack, only access cards can be used to open the doors of each room."
"Access card?"
With a flick of her finger, Xu Xi revealed a card between her well-defined knuckles.
It was entirely blue, with the hospital logo on it and the words "access card" in the center. The material was very ordinary. Lu Cen took it and asked, "Is this the only one in the entire hospital?"
“I and the other doctors each have one, and the head nurse also has one.”
Lu Cen seemed to be deep in thought. After returning the card to him, he yawned. His physical condition was too poor, and he was already exhausted after running around for so long in the afternoon.
Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes.
Sleepiness came on suddenly and quickly, but Lu Cen forced herself to stay awake and asked, "Has Dr. Xu already finished get off work?"
Xu Xi stood up: "Okay, you should get some rest."
Before going to bed, Lu Cen felt that something was wrong with what Xu Xi said, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
He was sleeping soundly, but in the middle of the night he was awakened by a loud noise. He tried to wake up, but his eyelids felt like they weighed a ton, and his consciousness was wavering.
After an unknown amount of time, the sounds outside stopped, followed by a slight knocking of the door.
The light from the corridor pierced Lu Cen's eyes. He frowned, his arm twitching unconsciously a few times. The next moment, the light disappeared, and a thick smell of blood filled the air.
The person sleeping peacefully had kicked off half of the blanket, and his hospital gown was loosely open, revealing his chest area without reservation. The bluish-purple marks had darkened considerably over the past half day. In his sleep, Lu Cen dreamed that he fell into the sea, and the icy seawater rushed into his mouth and nose, making him feel suffocated.
The dream felt so real. Lu Cen struggled relentlessly, desperately, but to no avail. Gradually, his strength ran out, the light on the sea receded further and further away, and he sank into the boundless darkness.
Just when he thought he was going to drown, someone pushed him from below. The moment he surfaced, his breathing became rapid, and after coughing for a while, the pain in his lungs disappeared.
Lu Cen was in a daze. He felt that there was someone by the bed. He used a lot of effort to pull the blanket over his head.
He didn't enjoy his sense of security for more than a few seconds before the blanket was ruthlessly pulled off.
He was very aggrieved: "Ghost...don't eat me..."
He had seen a horror movie before where a ghost would always appear by the protagonist's bedside or under the bed in the middle of the night, staring at the protagonist with its eyes that only had whites.
“The blanket…” he murmured.
A thin blanket covered his head, making it look like a morgue.
Lu Cen's breath hit the blanket, and he slept even more soundly. Suddenly, something grabbed his feet, and the blanket was pulled up from the foot of the bed to the head. Two strong arms propped up beside his ears, and cold air swept in, making Lu Cen shiver.
Her eyelashes trembled, and her body curled up into a ball.
Before long, the iron-like heat made him shudder, and his skin turned bright red.
Unsure if she had bumped into something, Lu Cen whispered, "It hurts..."
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