The streetlight elongated Chen Ge's shadow. There was no one on the street, and occasionally, a stray cat ran past the trash cans, making a rustling sound.
I can't believe there's such a quiet street at the back of a busy city. Chen Ge walked past the darkened buildings and followed the narrow cement road to the deepest part of the residential area.
A faded stench lingered in the air. The trash cans by the road had not been cleaned for a long time. Various kinds of trash were piled up inside plastic bags, and occasionally, some things would escape from them.
Compared to the buildings before him, the building before Chen Ge looked older. The walls of the first floor were covered in various stains, and there was a lot of trash at the entrance of the stairwell.
Found it. Chen Ge looked at the six-story apartment building before him. The advertisement outside the residential area said that this was the place.
The mission location given by the black phone is Room 303 on the third floor. Meng Nan should be staying there. Chen Ge glanced at the time — it was six minutes to 8 pm. When Doctor Gao arrives, it might be inconvenient. I'll go in to understand the situation first.
He did not call Doctor Gao and walked into the stairwell.
The floor was very low, about 2.1 meters tall per floor. The railings were made of iron, and there was a red rope tied to them at regular intervals. Chen Ge had no idea what the rope was for.
Entering the building, Chen Ge smelled a strange smell. It was very light, and it was not a stench. People who were used to living here would slowly ignore this smell. Since this was Chen Ge's first time here, he was more sensitive to it.
It smells like food that has gone bad. Chen Ge stopped for a while on the first floor. He tried to find the source of the smell, but it was to no avail. The smell seemed to come from the building itself, and it seeped into every brick.
There were no lights in the stairwell, so Chen Ge took out his phone to light up the place.
There were four families living on the first floor, so it was very crowded. The building's soundproofing was not good, and one could hear the argument from the outside.
Tiptoeing, Chen Ge arrived at the third floor. He did not knock on the door of Room 303. Instead, he stood outside the door to eavesdrop on the sound inside the room.
There were four households on the third floor. The volume of the TV in room 301 was very loud. In room 302, there was a man on the phone. His emotions weren't very stable. Chen Ge could hear him repeating two sentences the most. "Don't force me anymore. Do you want me to die?"
Rooms 303 and 304, on the other hand, were completely silent.
He stayed there for two to three minutes before knocking lightly on the door of Room 303. Interestingly enough, when he knocked on the door of Room 303, the door opened.
The volume of the TV in Room 301 immediately turned down, and the man in Room 302 stopped talking on the phone. The whole third floor suddenly fell silent.
Chen Ge knocked on the door for a minute, but the door still didn't open. He was confused and whispered, "Meng Nan? Are you home? "
No one answered. Just as Chen Ge was wondering if he had made a mistake, the door to Room 301 opened.
An unkempt middle-aged man leaned against the door frame. He reeked of alcohol. "Hey! Who are you looking for? "
"Meng Nan from Room 303. He's a student from Western Jiujiang Medical University. I heard he hasn't been feeling well recently, so I'm here to visit him."
"You're looking for the wrong person. I don't know who Meng Nan is, but I'm sure he doesn't live in Room 303." The man scratched his face. His left cheek appeared to have been bitten by a mosquito.
"But my friend told me that he lives in this room." Chen Ge tried to get more information from the man. "Furthermore, you don't know Meng Nan, so how can you be so sure that he doesn't live in this room?"
"Someone died in Room 303, and after the accident, this room hasn't been rented out. Why do you think that is?" The middle-aged man placed his hand before his eyes to see the blood stains on his fingertips. He scratched the wound even bigger. "Stop knocking on the door of Room 303, do you hear me? How unlucky. "
Then the man closed the door, but Chen Ge noticed that the volume of the television was not turned up. The middle-aged man probably had not left but was hiding at the door to observe his every move.
Chen Ge did not knock on the door again. He had obtained a very important clue from the man — someone had died in Room 303, and after the accident, this room had not been rented out again.
He had found the mission venue that the black phone had mentioned, and the key now was to figure out a way to enter it before midnight.
The black phone has never made a mistake. Meng Nan's illness probably has something to do with this room. Chen Ge glanced at his watch. It was already 8 am.
He called Dr. Gao. The man was afraid that Chen Ge would not be able to find the way, so he had been waiting outside the residential area.
After explaining the situation on the phone, several minutes later, Dr. Gao led Meng Nan into the building.
When he saw Meng Nan again, Chen Ge was shocked. The young man looked completely different from a normal person, like he was born with a deformity.
His head and spine were almost dislocated, and his head was lowered like someone was pressing it down.
Chen Ge pointed at Meng Nan and turned to Dr. Gao with a questioning look.
Dr. Gao understood Chen Ge's meaning immediately, and he shook his head lightly. "His condition has worsened. After taking the medicine, he finally stabilized. Let's go in and talk."
Meng Nan, who had his head lowered, took out the key from his pocket. The light in the corridor was dim. He tried many times, but the key would not fit into the keyhole. His arms were shaking from anger like he was going to act up again.
Seeing this, Chen Ge quickly accepted the key and helped him open the door to Room 304.
The three of them entered the room. Dr. Gao and Meng Nan were already used to the smell, but this was Chen Ge's first time here. Once he entered the room, he smelled the strange smell like something had gone bad.
"It seems to be coming from the wall." Chen Ge looked around. The room was very clean, and there was no trash in the wastepaper basket. There was nothing that could have given off the stench. "Could it be that there's a dead body hidden inside the wall?"
Soon, Chen Ge rejected this speculation. The wall at the end of the third-floor corridor was specially thickened by Wang Qi. A normal apartment's wall would not be able to fit a dead body.
"What are you looking for?" Dr. Gao noticed Chen Ge's strange behavior, so he opened his mouth to ask, "What are you looking for?"
"Do you smell a strange smell?" Chen Ge stopped next to the wall between Room 303 and Room 304. The stench was the strongest there.
"A little bit. Old houses will have some kind of weird smell." Dr. Gao helped Meng Nan to the bed, but Meng Nan refused to get close. He would rather stand than sit on the bed.
Chen Ge glanced at Meng Nan and asked softly, "What's wrong with him?"
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