Chapter 544: Chapter 472: Boyfriend
The Ghost had used the toilet more than once; it seemed like a habit left over from its life. Moreover, every time the Ghost entered the bathroom, regardless of whether it committed murder or not, it would leave bloody shoe prints.
What was even stranger was that the high heels’ prints inside the bathroom did not point towards the victim’s body but towards the toilet instead.
Yang Xiao subconsciously stepped forward, placing his left foot on the position of the high heel print, while his right foot naturally fell. At this moment, everyone shivered, because Yang Xiao’s posture resembled someone about to unzip and urinate.
"It... it was a man..." Che Xuexiang gasped in shock.
Although this was only a speculation, it caused a huge stir among everyone. Lian Jinsun immediately pulled out the newspaper he carried, and after about ten seconds, he found it. Just a week before Fei Yong was killed, a man had been struck and killed by a truck.
The day Fei Yong died was exactly the seventh day after the man’s death.
Rolling up the newspaper, Lian Jinsun spoke urgently, "Everyone split up. I will check the newspaper for this man, Chu, you go to the mental hospital, continue to find out about Ning Houfu’s situation, and the rest return to the hotel and wait for new information."
Lian Jinsun’s arrangements were logical, and without hesitation, everyone took their respective roles with Lian Jinsun and Che Xiangxue forming one group, Zhang Man and Yang Xiao another, while Monk Wukong and the timid Wen Chongxian hailed a taxi and returned to the hotel.
About half an hour later, Yang Xiao and Zhang Man arrived again at the Penang Mental Health Emergency Center. The weather was fine, and many patients accompanied by medical staff were sunbathing in the yard, wearing blue and white hospital gowns, short-sleeved and shorts.
As during their last visit, Doctor Wu warmly greeted them, but this time, they had to wait for half an hour in a small room before seeing Ning Houfu.
Ning Houfu was seen sitting on an iron chair, dressed in blue and white striped hospital attire, looking listless, his hands and feet separately bound to the chair’s armrests and legs with restraining straps.
His hospital gown, long-sleeved and long-pants, seemed very thick, fully wrapping his body, but it was severely discolored and washed out to a whitish tone.
"What is going on here?" Zhang Man demanded.
Doctor Wu smiled nervously, "Investigator Zhang, you might not know, but the mental state of our patients here is very unstable. We worry about frightening your leaders."
Yang Xiao made an excuse to have a moment alone with Ning Houfu, asking Doctor Wu to attend to his own affairs. It was obvious that Doctor Wu was reluctant, but eventually, he agreed, giving them only 15 minutes.
There were no cameras in the room, which Yang Xiao had noticed upon entering. As soon as the door closed, Zhang Man began questioning, "Ning Houfu, do you recognize us?"
Ning Houfu, bound to the chair, remained silent, his gaze vacant, his body occasionally twitching, apparently very uncomfortable from the restraints.
"Do you remember how you came here?" Zhang Man continued.
Seeing no reaction from Ning Houfu, Zhang Man directly administered a strong dose, staring into his eyes and speaking softly, "Do you still remember the name Qichi Courtyard No.3, and what exactly did you see in the bathroom that night?"
Even such a sensitive question didn’t stir any emotion in Ning Houfu’s eyes, and seeing that she could not extract any information, Zhang Man was profoundly disappointed.
"Click."
The light in the room suddenly went out, and before Zhang Man could react, she heard a deep, rough roar accompanied by sounds of violent struggling.
The next second, another "click" sounded, and the light turned back on. Yang Xiao was standing by the wall, fiddling with the switch.
At this moment, Ning Houfu’s face was flushed red, he was breathing heavily, his eyes filled with despair, and his whole body could not stop trembling.
"What are you doing?" Zhang Man glared at Yang Xiao, her face showing displeasure.
Yang Xiao seemed unfazed, slowly nodding his head as he watched Ning Houfu, who was reacting violently, "It seems he’s very afraid of the dark. The incident was too traumatic for him; he has lost the ability to communicate verbally and is left with only the most basic instincts."
Zhang Man sighed, "Do you have any ideas?"
"Currently, in the known cases, there’s only this one survivor. Ghost wouldn’t have let him off easily; there must be a reason he survived."
Yang Xiao approached Ning Houfu and as Ning opened his mouth to scream, Yang Xiao quickly grabbed his chin and stuffed a rag into his mouth, "Come over and help!"
At Yang Xiao’s direction, Zhang Man helped hold Ning Houfu down while Yang Xiao took the opportunity to pull open Ning’s clothes. The next second, the sight before her stunned Zhang Man. Beneath the hospital gown, there was another piece of clothing, a sky-blue slip dress!
Ning Houfu, this grown man, was actually wearing a woman’s slip dress under his clothes!
After regaining her composure, a chill swiftly swept over Zhang Man’s entire body. She looked at Ning Houfu with fear in her eyes and stepped back unconsciously, as if he was the Fierce Ghost.
"Don’t be afraid, he’s human." Yang Xiao lowered his voice, staring intently at the sky-blue dress hidden under the hospital gown, thoughtfully adding, "It seems this is the reason he survived."
A few seconds later, Doctor Wu burst in with his team, likely having heard the commotion. Upon seeing the blue dress exposed on Ning’s shoulder, Doctor Wu’s gaze faltered, his expression visibly tensed, "Observer comrade, please listen to my explanation, we... we haven’t abused the patient, it all was his own choice, we... we also..."
A few minutes later, Doctor Wu took the two of them to his office, cleared everyone else out, sat down, and sighed deeply. Across the old-fashioned office desk with a glass top, he looked at Yang Xiao and Zhang Man with a complicated expression.
"Observer comrade, it’s a long story about this. You don’t know the particularities of Ning Houfu; he... he was brought here by the police, a survivor of a horrific incident." Doctor Wu spoke in a restrained and flat tone, "He was wearing this blue dress and... also flesh-colored stockings when he was brought here. The man he lived with was killed; he’s the only survivor. According to the police, they found him in the bathroom, already dressed like this when they discovered him."
"Was that man his boyfriend?" Yang Xiao asked in a low voice.
Doctor Wu didn’t speak, only nodded.
Now Yang Xiao understood; it seemed that Ning Houfu’s dressing style had helped him escape the disaster.
"Ever since he was brought here, he has refused to take off this dress. We’ve thought of every possible solution, but none worked. Only when wearing this dress does he feel safe, otherwise he screams, refuses to sleep, and even harms himself," Doctor Wu recalled, "But later we found that replacing it with other dresses works too, as long as they are blue and of a similar style, he isn’t picky about the rest."
"Observer comrade, I’m telling the truth, and if you don’t believe it, you can verify it with the police station. We haven’t mistreated any patients." Doctor Wu looked earnest, even pleading.
"I will report everything exactly as it happened," Zhang Man said, closing the notebook in front of her and looking up, speaking earnestly.
After leaving the hospital, the two stood outside the hospital’s main entrance. Yang Xiao had already planned his actions for the night; it was his turn to stay vigilant, and he needed to buy a blue dress and flesh-colored stockings to wear.
"Buzz—"
A vibration came from the pocket, Yang Xiao took out his phone; it was Lian Jinsun calling. After picking up, Lian Jinsun’s excited voice rang out, "Found it! This time it’s correct, the man who was hit and killed was also a student of Donghui Vocational and Technical College!"
"What’s his name?" Yang Xiao quickly asked.
"Wang Zhongli!"
