Patting Wen Qing's shoulder lightly, Chen Ge whispered, "Cheer up. Now is not the time for sorrow and regret."
Wen Qing took a long time to recover. She took a few deep breaths and nodded.
"Next, we will go to the tenth floor and find out what the landlord's real secret is. After we find out everything, we should leave this building." Xiang Nuan and the monsters from the cursed hospital had all disappeared. Chen Ge did not want to stay at the same place for too long. He was afraid that he might miss something.
Ten minutes later, the group gathered at the corner of the stairs that connected the ninth and tenth floors. They had searched every corner of the room, but they had found nothing.
"The final secret of this building should be hidden on the tenth floor. Everyone, be prepared." When Chen Ge said that, his eyes scanned Doctor Li and Big Head.
Doctor Li and Big Head carried the opaque bag that contained the lockpicking tools. The two of them stood together and avoided eye contact with Chen Ge. It appeared like they had another plan in mind behind Chen Ge's back.
Are they going to make their move?
Chen Ge acted the same as usual. His tone and expression did not change much, but he no longer exposed his back. He walked beside Wen Qing and Xiao Sun.
When they went up the stairs, Chen Ge purposely grabbed Kong Yin and kept asking him some unimportant questions.
When they parted ways earlier, the few tenants had gone to different rooms, but when they returned, Doctor Li, Big Head, and Kong Yin were together. The four of them appeared to have reached the limit of their tolerance toward Chen Ge.
When they arrived at the tenth floor, it did not take long for them to pry open the door to Room 1006. The more they pried open the door, the more familiar they became.
After the door was opened, a faded stench drifted out from the room like something had rotted.
"Normally, only the landlord will come to the tenth floor. This floor is not for rent." Qu Yin covered his nose and mouth. For Chen Ge, this was a normal stench, but for the tenants inside the building, it was very pungent. On the other hand, the Foul Odor that Chen Ge found unbearable could not be smelled by anyone else.
Room 1006 had only been roughly renovated, and the floor was covered with puddles and stains.
Following the pungent smell, they entered the room and found that there was no other furniture in Room 1006 except for a large freezer.
"Is there a dead body in the freezer?" Wen Qing hid behind Chen Ge, but Chen Ge pulled her to his side.
"Don't leave my sight. Although the corpses are scary, they won't kill you. It's not safe behind me." Chen Ge opened a freezer. It was filled with rotten vegetables and meat. There was also a large bucket of purified water. "Why did you prepare so many ingredients?"
The few of them opened all the freezers in the house, but there was nothing scary. The first few freezers were filled with food, and the last freezer was filled with all kinds of spoiled meat and raw food. There were a few big bags of medicine in the freezer.
Chen Ge took out a packet of medicine from the freezer. He opened one of the bottles and looked at it. "This kind of medicine is granular. After absorbing moisture, it will speed up the decomposition of the medicine, and it will seriously affect the medicine's effect. The landlord has a lot of this medicine, and he is very familiar with it. He probably wouldn't store it inside the freezer. Other than that, look at the raw meat scattered around the room. The person probably just wanted to find a place to store the extra medicine. "
"After the landlord died, it was definitely the killer who had the key. Are you saying that the killer has been here before?" Doctor Li walked to Chen Ge with an opaque black bag in his hand.
"I did not say that." Chen Ge turned to look at Doctor Li. "Speaking of which, you have such a respectable job, and your salary is not low compared to normal people. Why do you insist on staying here?"
"I'm used to it," Doctor Li replied lightly.
"Used to the dirtiness of this place, or used to the chaotic management of this place?"
"I'm used to the air here. I feel very comfortable living here, and I am too lazy to move to another place." Doctor Li closed the freezer. "Come on, let's go to the next room."
He carried the black bag with his back to Chen Ge and purposely walked past Chen Ge.
Chen Ge carried the bag, and his eyes did not even look at Doctor Li. Instead, he tilted his head to study the rather nervous Qu Yin.
"What are you looking at?"
"Nothing." Qu Yin held his stomach with one hand and followed Doctor Li and Big Head out of the room.
Xiao Sun was about to walk out as well, but Chen Ge grabbed his arm. "I want to ask you a question."
"Go ahead." Xiao Sun still had not figured out who the killer was, and he was deep in thought with his brows furrowed.
"When the electrician was killed, did you hear anything?"
"I didn't hear much, but I have a feeling that the electrician seemed to know Auntie Ding and Doctor Li. They don't seem like normal neighbors." Xiao Sun could see some details, but his thinking was too narrow.
"They were very close, but Auntie Ding and Doctor Li insisted on killing the electrician. Why do you think that is?"
"Silence them?"
"Yes, the electrician is a madman who abuses the weak, Auntie Ding is a human trafficker with mental problems, and the scariest one is Doctor Li. He is the mastermind behind everything." Chen Ge suddenly said something like that, and it was very informative.
"When did you find out about this? Why did you only say it now? What are you planning to do? " Following the real killer to find the killer, running through the whole building, Xiao Sun was terrified just thinking about it. He did not dare to trust anyone anymore.
"Everyone has their own secrets, and you are no exception. However, some people's secrets will not harm others, but some people's secrets are built on the foundation of harming others." Chen Ge patted Xiao Sun lightly on his shoulder. "Human nature is the most complicated thing in the world. It is a unique brand that is unique to an individual. I will not force you to make any decision, but I hope that you will give it some thought before you decide what to do."
The appearance of Xiao Sun behind Xiang Nuan's door proved that there was something wrong with him. However, he was not assimilated by this kind of environment, and the darkness around him did not cause him to sink. That was probably why he had mysteriously disappeared outside the door.
Chen Ge believed that Xiao Sun was worth fighting for. Along the way, he had been observing Xiao Sun.
It was difficult to gain Chen Ge's trust in the world behind the door because Chen Ge was the kind of person who trusted others easily. However, there was one good thing about him, and that was once he truly believed in someone, he would rarely waver.
"No matter what happens next, the first thing you need to do is protect yourself and stop spouting nonsense."
Before this, Xiao Sun was just a stranger to Chen Ge. Whether the man lived or died, Chen Ge did not care that much. At most, he would lend him a hand if he could.
Now that Chen Ge wanted Xiao Sun to become his companion, naturally, he would not allow Xiao Sun to 'spout nonsense' to attract trouble.
After hearing what Chen Ge had to say, Xiao Sun was confused, but he nodded subconsciously.
Big Head's scream came from the corridor. Chen Ge walked out of room 1006 and saw Big Head sitting in the corridor. His hand was holding his stomach, and blood was seeping out through the bandage.
Big Head's injury had become more serious. Doctor Li had suggested that he go back to rest, but Big Head refused no matter what. He seemed to know what was going to happen next, and he wanted to stay and help Doctor Li.
Soon, the other doors on the tenth floor were opened. From room 1006 to room 1002, they did not find anything useful until they reached room 1001, which was the room at the end of the corridor on the top floor of the building.
Before the steel door was fully opened, Chen Ge's group heard a sound coming from inside the room. It sounded like a child crying.
"There's someone inside the room?"
Chen Ge initially did not pay much attention to the child's crying, but when he noticed the strange expression on Doctor Li's face, he started to feel that something was wrong.
If Doctor Li, the real killer of the landlord, did not know why there would be crying coming from inside the room, then it meant that something had happened inside the room.
When the door was fully pulled open, the group saw the scene inside the room, and their expressions all changed.
The floor and wallpaper of Room 1001 were painted with open eyes. There was no furniture like a coffee table or sofa in the living room. Instead, there were more than ten televisions of various sizes.
The televisions were stacked on top of each other. The screen in the middle was open, and it was showing a child sitting in the middle of more than ten televisions. His face was pale, and his pupils were shaking. He looked at the televisions around him anxiously.
"Xiang Nuan!"
When she saw the boy on the screen, Wen Qing could not control herself and screamed out loud.
Her own child had once experienced something like this. Wen Qing stood at the door of the living room. Her eyes reddened instantly, and her shoulders were shaking uncontrollably.
She did not dare look at the television, but her eyes could not help but wander to the screen. The child on the screen was struggling alone. The expression on his face alternated between normal and ghastly. He looked like a monster.
The key had been taken away by the killer, but Doctor Li's expression was one of shock. Obviously, he did not know who had turned on the television. This did not mean that he was cleared of suspicion, but it meant that the person who turned on the television probably did not need the landlord's key to enter the room.
Xiang Nuan's image instantly appeared in Chen Ge's mind. "The door pusher is Xiang Nuan, and this is the world behind his door. Is he trying to lead us to the truth?"
The group stood where they were. Just as they were considering whether they should enter the room or not, Xiang Nuan, who was on the television screen, suddenly raised his head. Through the screen, he looked at the group of people standing behind the door.
"Let's go …"
A very soft voice came out from the television. Then, all the screens on the television were switched on, and one image after another was broadcasted.
The middle-aged man from Room 302 was comparing the mannequin's body and twisting the mannequin's joints.
In Room 205, a man in his fifties tossed Granny Lee's portrait before Granny Lee. He tossed the tributes on the table onto Granny Lee's body and strangled Granny Lee.
The man from Room 701 used a cigarette to smooth out his fingerprints. He held a knife and stood next to the mirror. A wanted poster with his own picture was pasted on the mirror.
The young woman from Room 702 was sitting before the computer. She was covered in blood, and behind her was the dead body of a middle-aged man. She appeared to be searching online for the fastest and most effective way to deal with large trash.
In Room 505, a man with light make-up was wearing his wife's clothes. He held his wife's picture in his hand. Looking at his wife's frozen body in the mirror, he assumed the same pose as his wife.
In the kitchen of Room 602, a man washed his hands again and again. He used various tools to scrub the skin off his hands, but he did not stop. The more he washed, the more blood there was. No matter how hard he tried, he could not get rid of the blood.
In Room 301, Wu You's eyes and ears were covered by an adult whose face could not be seen. His parents who were lying in a pool of blood were being dragged out of the living room by the other tenants.
…
A series of chilling videos played on the screen. Xiang Nuan was surrounded in the middle. His expression became more and more menacing. His hands waved wildly as he grabbed something from the ground and shoved it into his mouth.
After he finished eating, all the images on the screen started to flicker. As he slumped heavily to the ground, all the images on the screen disappeared.
The room became quiet. The only thing left in everyone's ears was the sound of Wen Qing crying that was filled with remorse.
The images in the video were very real, and it was because of how real it was that they were even scarier.
"Is this the final truth of the building?" Xiao Sun felt like he was being driven mad.
"You are wrong. This is only a part of the truth." Chen Ge turned to Doctor Li. "Why are there no videos of you, Big Head, Auntie Ding, and the electrician in the videos that were played earlier?"
"Is that so strange? Doesn't this mean that we are just ordinary people? "Big Head interrupted.
"Stop lying to yourselves. You know very well what the electrician has done. You killed him to protect yourselves." Chen Ge pulled open the zipper of his backpack. "The killers who killed the landlord are the four of you."
The atmosphere in Room 1001 was heavy. After a long time, a creepy smile appeared on Doctor Li's cold face. "You are right. The landlord saw our secret, and he was killed by the four of us. Those teeth and the letter of commitment are all ours. You are very clever, but it is too late for you to understand this. There is no longer anyone in this building who will help you. "
Seeing the scary smile on Doctor Li's face, Chen Ge smiled as well. His smile gave off a warm feeling, but in this situation, his smile appeared even creepier. "How did you know that I only understood this now?"
Hearing what Chen Ge said, Big Head and Doctor Li laughed. The two of them waved at Qu Yin, and the three of them surrounded Chen Ge from three different directions.
"Actually, we have been lying to you from the very beginning. I am not a pediatrician, and Big Head is not my patient." Doctor Li pulled back his sleeve to reveal the scary scars and needle holes on his arm. "Both of us are patients, and we are very serious patients who cannot control themselves."
They searched inside the black, opaque bag. It not only contained lock-picking tools but also two sharp knives.
"When we were going up the stairs, I wanted to take these things out from the bag many times, but in the end, I resisted the urge." Doctor Li held the knives. He did not treat Chen Ge as a human being. His gaze was more like that of a sheep waiting to be slaughtered. "I always thought this building was very noisy, but now it is finally quiet. I can officially become the new landlord."
"You sure wish." Chen Ge reached his hand into his backpack. "Actually, I have also lied to you. I am not a psychiatrist. The patients that I have treated call me Doctor Skull-cracker."
His five fingers gripped the handle of the hammer that looked like a living human spine. When Chen Ge said the last word, he charged forward and swung the hammer heavily at Qu Yin's body.
Qu Yin, who coughed out a mouthful of blood, collapsed to the ground. His face was filled with disbelief.
Before he could say a word, before his brain could process what was happening, his chest caved in.
"Why me …"
His body lost the ability to move, and Qu Yin looked like he was about to die.
"Now, there are only two of you left." Chen Ge stood at the door. The barbs on the hammer scraped against the wall, creating a creepy sound.
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