Chapter 1080: A Good Person Couldn’t Be Bad For Once? [3 in 1]
Qu Yin was one of the tenants. He was also the victim’s son and a member of the community that adhered to the rules within the apartment. If this person came out and accused Chen Ge of being the murderer, then the spotlight would be instantly shone on Chen Ge and Wen Qing. It would turn the situation from bad to worse. Out of such consideration, Chen Ge dragged Wen Qing to hide in the corner.
Qu Yin hugged Qu Yan. The two siblings felt great loss and pain. The neighbors showed pity, and everyone appeared normal, or more accurately, everyone tried to make themselves make the most normal reaction in the circ.u.mstances. The demons who had on the disguise of human skin had gathered together. Every single of them had their own agenda, and no one could really tell what they were planning.
“Wen Qing, we should proceed on our quest to find the landlord.” Chen Ge did not wish to stay there any longer. He had a very bad feeling in his heart. He knew that the people from the cursed hospital had entered the door, and the monster from the cursed hospital knew about him and Wen Qing’s presence. The fact that they had chosen to cooperate with the original tenants behind the door was probably a way to force Chen Ge to show himself.
Now that someone had died in the building, to investigate the killer, Qu Yin had a reason to knock on every door. This gave him a valid reason to go into every room to take a look. If someone refused, that meant that they had a guilty conscience, and that would prove that they were the killer.
“Such a wicked method. They had the actual murderer go and investigate the potential murderers. The real murderer is hiding among the family of the victim, practically hiding in plain sight, but he will be ignored by the rest of the tenants.”
The cursed hospital did so for two reasons. One, they could now openly investigate every single room behind the door, and two, they could easily pin the blame on Chen Ge. They could have pitted Chen Ge against the entire building of tenants. It was truly killing two birds with one stone.
“The group of monsters are familiar with the rules behind the door. Even though being inside the door has greatly limited their power, they are not that easy to deal with.”
This was officially the first time Chen Ge had crossed swords with the cursed hospital. Behind someone else’s door, both parties were trying their best to trick and scam the other.
“Even if you want me to take the blame, it depends on whether you have that capability or not. You might end up picking up the stone and having it dropped on your own two feet.”
To be fair, Chen Ge was not that worried. The rules within the apartment were broken. Even though the neighbors wanted to catch this person who had violated the room, every room had their own secret to hide. It would not be easy for Qu Yin to gain access to these neighbors’ rooms.
“For those who have darkness in their heart, once you infiltrate into their private s.p.a.ce and discover their secret, it means you have made an enemy out of them. Even if they do not kill you straight away, the seed for murder will be buried in their heart.”
Chen Ge took one last look at Qu Yin before leaving together with Wen Qing. The two silently retreated to the stairwell, and Granny Lee followed behind them. The three first went to the sixth floor. Chen Ge stood outside Qu Yin’s room door. He stood at the peephole’s blind spot and used Ghost Ear to listen in on the door. There was a woman talking to herself inside the room. But the more Chen Ge listened to her, the more he felt like she was communicating with someone. Unfortunately, only Chen Ge appeared to be able to hear her.
“This woman should be Qu Yin’s girlfriend.”
Chen Ge looked at the door to Room 601, and he was feeling conflicted. If he knocked down the door and entered the room now, there was a very high chance that he would find the evidence to prove that Qu Yin had murdered his father. Perhaps he could catch the monster from the cursed hospital hiding inside the room as well. But he was afraid of an accident. If his speculation was wrong, then he would instantly be turned into the prime suspect.
“The other party is spreading out a web for their wicked plan. This web will slowly tighten until I am eventually trapped inside.”
The monster was clever, but Chen Ge was too sharp. After he saw Qu Yin, he had figured out many things.
“If the cursed hospital has really worked together with Qu Yin, that puts me at a serious disadvantage. Instead of letting this drag out and allow the situation to get out of my hand, why not end it here and now?”
There was only a door between them. Even the monster from the cursed hospital probably would not have imagined Chen Ge would be standing right outside the door at that moment. He knocked lightly on the door. Chen Ge was not only sharp; he was determined. Yes, he would hesitate occasionally, but he would not spend too long hesitating. When the door was knocked on, the whispering of the woman inside the room instantly disappeared. It became incredibly quiet.
“At this moment, the person inside the room should have sneaked to the door and is try to observe the situation outside the room through the peephole.” Chen Ge had contemplated all the possibilities. When he knocked on the door, he pulled Granny Lee and posited her before the door at the same time. He knocked on the door again, and they waited for a while before the front door was opened a gap. The person inside the room had probably confirmed through the peephole who was outside the door. They realized that it was only Granny Lee before they opened the door. Perhaps from their perspective, a mad old woman was no threat to them. Even if their secret was discovered, it would not have mattered because who would believe the words of an unhinged person?
“Stop knocking on my door. There are no leftovers at my place. Go and find your own son for help. If you continue to hara.s.s me, I will go and report you to the landlord and have you chased out from this apartment,” the woman warned viciously.
However, Granny Lee only stood where she was; she did not answer. The woman scolded the poor old woman a few more times before she prepared to close the door. The door was pulled back, but the woman suddenly realized that she was unable to shut the door no matter how hard she tried. When she lowered her head to look, her body broke out in cold sweat. There was a hand that gripped the edge of the door tightly and refused to let go.
“Who is it‽”
“Do not worry, I just have some questions that I need to ask you.” With his hand on the door, after ensuring that the woman was unable to force the door shut, Chen Ge showed himself with an ingratiating smile.
“What do you want to know?”
“The fewer people who know about this, the better. Why don’t we go inside first?” Chen Ge pulled the front door open. He did not give the woman any chance to deny and forced his way into the room. The whole process occurred within the blink of an eye. Before the woman could react, Chen Ge was already standing in her living room.
“Who the h.e.l.l are you‽” The woman raised her voice. Chen Ge gave the woman a once over. He was actually already prepared to tear the whole place down. If the woman screamed loudly for help, he would rush forward to clamp his hand over her lips and apprehend her in the process. Chen Ge did not give her any response. The first thing he did was confirm the location of the bathroom and walked toward it.
“Stop right there! Where are you going?” The woman moved to stop Chen Ge, but when she caught up to him, Chen Ge had already pushed open the door of the bathroom. A bunch of dirty clothes were placed inside the dryer, and a few pairs of dirty shoes were abandoned at the corner of the room. Using Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge failed to find any trace of blood on the bunch of clothes.
Was I wrong?
His eyes wandered over to the sink, and Chen Ge hit the jackpot. There was a small stain of blood that was left on the edge of the sink. Moreover, there was blood that was not yet properly cleaned inside the gap of the bathroom tiles.
“There are droplets around the rim of the sink, and the room smells of soap. That can only mean that someone was using this room to clean up the blood evidence a few moments ago!”
The many different circ.u.mstantial clues told Chen Ge that his hypothesis was not wrong. “Qu Gui was stabbed to death by a sharp weapon. The whole crime scene was filled with blood splatter, so the murderer would have been covered in blood as well. There must be other traces of blood inside the house!”
With the possession of Yin Yang Vision, Ghost Ear, and Spirit Sniff, in a way, Chen Ge was no worse than an investigative officer who had years of experience under his belt. It would be very difficult to slip one by him. The blood stain in the sink confirmed Chen Ge’s supposition. That propelled him to make a braver action. After leaving the bathroom, without saying anything, Chen Ge moved on to the bedroom and started to investigate it.
“What are you doing‽” The woman’s voice turned shrill, a sign of panic, but it was already too late to stop Chen Ge. He had already pushed open the door of the first bedroom. The room was not tidy, the closet door was hanging open, and a truckload of clothes were abandoned on the king size bed. The only place in this bedroom that was large enough to hide a person was underneath the bed, so Chen Ge swiftly walked over and peeled back the covers. After seeing no one was down there, he walked out of the bedroom and headed toward the guest bedroom.
“Stop! That’s enough!” The woman gripped Chen Ge by his arm. She pulled on him so tightly that her fingers had dug into Chen Ge’s skin. She was looking like a banshee at that moment, but probably the woman herself did not even realize that.
“Why are you trying so hard to stop me? Is it because there is a secret that cannot be discovered hiding inside this room?” Chen Ge forced his way to the guest bedroom, but before he got to the door, the sound of the window being opened came out from inside the door!
It appeared like the window had not been opened for a long time, so it lodged there before it gave. The person inside the room pushed twice before the window creaked noisily open.
“There is someone inside the room!” Chen Ge ignored the woman’s protestation and grabbed at the doork.n.o.b and tried to push it open. The bedroom door was locked from the inside. Chen Ge aimed at the lock and kicked it several times before he finally got the wooden door to break down. The large piece of red colored curtain was fluttering inside the bedroom; the bedroom window was open. A blood trail lingered on the windowsill. Someone had just abandoned this room through the window.
“The person sure is mad. To not expose himself, he chose to escape from the window.” The black smoke surrounding the residential area was the hiding place for many extremely scary monsters. When he faced the black fog, even Chen Ge’s heart could not help but s.h.i.+ver, much less entertain the thought of walking into the black fog himself. Chen Ge walked to the window and looked down. All he could see was the black fog; there was no trace of a person.
The woman beside him could not stop screaming and cursing at Chen Ge, but Chen Ge did not seem to mind it at all. The woman had made such a loud ruckus that the tenants who were already tense from the murder quickly rushed over when they heard the woman’s scream.
“Honey, are you alright?” Qu Yin’s voice came from the corridor. When he ran into the room, he saw Chen Ge and his own girlfriend pulling on each other at the door to the guest bedroom.
“Ah Yin, this person has barged into the room and started to destroy our furniture!” The woman appeared to have seen her savior. She ran to Qu Yin’s side helplessly. More and more people gathered in the corridor. The neighbors regarded Chen Ge with unkind gazes. At that moment, he was pushed to the tip of the cliff; one wrong move and he would be swallowed up by the dangerous mob.
“Brother, calm down first. I think, if anything, you should thank me.” Chen Ge was not going to be frightened by this situation; he had been in much worse conundrums. At that moment, he was as calm as ever. He pointed at the bedroom door that he had kicked down and very calmly asked the crying woman, “Did I break down this door or not?”
With the matter of fact tone and the even cadence, even Wen Qing who stood next to Chen Ge thought that Chen Ge was being a bit too arrogant like he was purposely saying these words to get a rise out of the woman or the man.
“Ah Yin, this person is crazy! After he charged into the room, he bustled everywhere and even kicked down the door to our bedroom!” Qu Yin’s girlfriend complained. It looked like she was about to start crying again.
Hearing his girlfriend’s complaint, Qu Yin’s expression darkened immediately. That was because he knew what or rather who was hiding inside that guest bedroom. Now his mind was working to come up with an explanation to this problem.
“The reason I kicked the door down was because the door was locked from the inside.” Chen Ge turned to face the group of neighbors and pointed his finger at Qu Yin’s girlfriend. “Brother, at the time, your girlfriend and I were in the living room, but the door to your bedroom was locked from the inside. That proves that there was someone else inside your house at that moment.”
From the moment Qu Yin’s girlfriend confirmed that it was Chen Ge who kicked down the door, they had fallen into Chen Ge’s narration. They could only be led down the plot that was arranged by Chen Ge.
“What is that able to prove? So what if there is another person inside the room at the time?” Qu Yin’s face was turning white. He did not seem like he was prepared for this situation. He had not figured out what to say.
“This is your home, and you are not home. Your girlfriend was cooped up inside your home with another person. The implication is not my business, but when I kicked the bedroom door down, there was no one inside the bedroom.” Chen Ge signaled for the neighbors to enter the living room to look at the evidence. “When I kicked down the door, the window was open, and the curtains were fluttering in the wind. But where did the person in the room go? Why would he escape from the window? What was he so afraid of?”
Chen Ge looked at the group of neighbors and slowly captured their expressions one by one. “If you still do not understand what I am getting at, then come closer. There are blood stains left on the curtain, and there are uncleaned blood stains inside the room. They are still very fresh…”
“I get it now! The murderer who just killed Qu Yin’s father was probably hiding inside this room earlier!” the university student, Xiao Sun, shouted out directly. He was just a student, so he had not experienced something like this before. Honestly, he was still in quite a bit of shock. The other neighbors probably came to the same conclusion as well, but since every single one of them had something to hide, none of them wanted to voice the truth.
“Looks like there are clear-minded people among us,” Chen Ge said with a bright smile. He walked voluntarily toward Qu Yin. “That is why I said you should thank me. If not for me, your girlfriend would probably have been killed by the murderer to silence the witness!”
Qu Yin’s face was twitching lightly. Chen Ge’s tale was being spun so fast that he had difficulty catching up. He had no idea what Chen Ge might say next.
Looking at Qu Yin’s drab, gray face, Chen Ge very kindly moved to pat him on his shoulder. “From the situation that we managed to glean from your bedroom, the killer probably got into the victim’s home through the window. After he murdered the poor father, he escaped through the window as well. That would explain why the killer was able to get into the victim’s home so quietly even though he did not have the key to the victim’s house. Don’t you agree with me, Qu Yin?”
An observer might think that Chen Ge was just providing his a.n.a.lysis, but as an accomplice to the killer, Qu Yin was able to detect the heavy hint of threat that was inherent in Chen Ge’s words. Obviously, Chen Ge knew how the killer had gotten into the victim’s home, but he did not expose it and left some opening for all parties involved. The reason Chen Ge did this was definitely not to protect the murderer. He had a very crazy plan forming in his mind. He wanted to use this opportunity to eliminate all the mad people inside this apartment building. He knew that would be an incredibly hard undertaking, but getting Qu Yin to dangle by his fingertips was the first step of his plan.
“You have a point there. I am shocked to find out that the killer got into my father’s house through the window.” Qu Yin had no idea how much Chen Ge knew, so the only thing he could do now was follow what Chen Ge said and continue with the storyline that Chen Ge had provided.
Hearing Qu Yin agree with Chen Ge, Wen Qing was stunned beyond belief. She slowly lowered her head because she was worried that she might add trouble to Chen Ge because she was unable to control her expression.
“I kicked the door down about three minutes ago. It was around that time that the killer left; the opening between the two events was less than fifty seconds. From this, it can be proved that the killer is not one of us present at this moment.”
Chen Ge used a single statement to help clear away the suspicion from everyone present; this bandied them into a group. He could then use the power of this group to help investigate the other tenants who were not present and undermine the building from within. Chen Ge knew very well who the killer was, but he was not going to expose him. He was going to use the excuse of finding the killer to ‘demolish’ the rules of the apartment.
Qu Yin also knew who the killer was, but he had even less of a reason to reveal the killer’s ident.i.ty. Because the killer had already escaped, if he revealed the truth, would that not be equal to surrendering himself? After all, the threat from Chen Ge still lingered in his mind.
Both who knew the real killer were acting like they were searching for the killer. In a way, a consensus had formed between them. In the way they dealt with the situation, Chen Ge’s method was far more complicated and useful than the monster from the cursed hospital. With one single statement, he had cleared the suspicion for most of the people. He claimed very plainly that they were not the killers, and thus, he would naturally not go and investigate their rooms.
In this selfish world behind the door, the thing that these tenants cared the most about was their own dirty little secret. They were neighbors, but at the core, they only cared about themselves.
Therefore, when they found out their own room would not be searched and their secret would not be exposed, they sighed in relief and very excitedly aided Chen Ge to go and help expose the others’ dirty secrets. Chen Ge made use of their sick psychology and prepared to take down this building one step after another. When there were more ‘good people’ than ‘bad people’, it would be time for him to lay all the cards on the table.
The trap laid down by the cursed hospital was not only easily neutralized by Chen Ge, the latter had even taken advantage of it. If the monster from the cursed hospital knew about this, he would be so mad.
“Wait a minute, how did you know the killer was hiding in Qu Yin’s room in the first place?” The middle-aged man with the store of secret women’s underwear in his room stood forward to pose this question.
“The killer wanted to kill Qu Gui and Qu Yan, so he must have great hatred for their whole family. I was worried that Qu Yin and his girlfriend might be his next target, so I quickly came to check on her. When I arrived, I heard strange voices coming from inside Qu Yin’s room, so I knocked on the door.” Chen Ge shrugged and opened his arms to say. “I admit that my actions were rather brash, but we are talking about human lives here. I am sure you can forgive me for my quick yet rash action.”
After saying that, Chen Ge even turned to Qu Yin’s girlfriend. “You have just brushed shoulder with death. If not for me, you might have been in great danger. Shouldn’t you be appreciative of my help?”
The sound of gritting teeth came from Qu Yin’s girlfriend’s lips. She leaned against Qu Yin’s chest with tears in her eyes; she refused to turn to see Chen Ge.
“Looks like your girlfriend is quite shocked. You should go and ‘console’ her.” Then, Chen Ge walked into the living room like he owned the place. “The killer is now on the loose; he could get into any of your rooms through the window. This kind of person is very dangerous. We have to capture him as soon as possible.”
Every tenant in this place had their own secret, and their secrets were mostly hidden inside their rooms. What Chen Ge was insinuating was that there was a crazed killer who would not follow the rules. He might look into their secret, so if they did not wish for their secret to be exposed, the group had better work together to apprehend him as soon as possible.
Hearing that, the neighbors were eager to agree. They agreed to help Chen Ge without hesitation. They appeared like they wanted to catch the killer more than Chen Ge. Seeing how worried the neighbors were, Chen Ge’s lips curled upward slightly. He knew that the real show was about to begin soon. Everything was moving in the direction that he had planned.
“Perhaps I can use this opportunity to kill the monster from the cursed hospital once and for all.”
Chen Ge now had an army by his side. Wen Qing, who stood behind him, was shocked. This was rather different from the world behind the door that she had imagined.