By Zephyria 
Chapter 11: He Became a Hostage
The office door was shut tight. Even as Xie Qingcheng and He Yu threw their weight against the specially designed anti-theft door simultaneously, it didn’t budge. The reception desk employee from the floor below, feeling anxious, rushed over with the key.
“I hear sounds from inside,” He Yu said.
Xie Qingcheng threw himself violently against the door. He Yu had never seen Xie Qingcheng with such a terrifying expression in his life. From head to toe, he looked like a madman who had completely lost his reason.
“Xie Xue! Xie Xue! Are you in there! If anyone is inside, answer me! Xie Xue!”
There was no response.
Only a woman’s soft voice echoed eerily.
“Throw it… throw it… throw the handkerchief…”
“He—here, the key… the key!”
The reception employee hurriedly handed him the key.
Xie Qingcheng’s hands were shaking so violently that he fumbled twice before finally fitting the key into the lock. After turning it a few times to unlock it, he flung the door open, and a thick scent of blood rushed out. The mangled, blood-soaked corpse of Xie Xue pierced Xie Qingcheng’s vision.
Xie Qingcheng’s reason instantly ceased to function. His vision went black, as if he had been struck heavily in the back of the head. He felt as though the sky had collapsed and crushed his entire body. His tall frame lurched forward in an instant. Had he not grabbed the doorframe, he might have fallen to his knees.
The ceiling fan spun leisurely, spreading the foul, fishy stench of blood.
Working in the medical field, Xie Qingcheng was not afraid of blood. Yet in this moment, he felt as if he were drowning in the rich, crimson scent vibrating through the room. After seeing Xie Xue’s body, nothing else entered his sight. His soul had departed his body before it even had a chance to crumble. Consciousness, hearing, sight, touch… everything vanished and blurred.
He thought he heard someone screaming behind him. He wondered if it was the reception employee, but he wasn’t even sure. Xie Qingcheng’s hearing was currently failing him.
Only his sense of smell became terrifyingly acute.
The smell of blood rushed into his sensory organs, as if trying to tear his lungs to shreds.
He stumbled inside. Danger to his life meant nothing. It didn’t matter if the murderer inside lunged at him and killed him.
…Because no matter what anyone said, that was his sister.
He muttered frantically.
“Xie Xue… Xie Xue…”
His voice trembled miserably.
It felt as if only a muffled tinnitus was leaking from his cracked throat.
“Xie Xue—!”
“You can’t go in!”
Suddenly, someone grabbed his hand, pulled him back with all their might, and wrapped an arm around his waist.
“You can’t go in, Xie Qingcheng!”
Xie Qingcheng didn’t blink, nor did he try to break free from the person. He simply exerted a brutal force to push forward. His mind had already gone numb. The only thing occupying his head was the existence of one person.
It felt as if rain were pouring down before his eyes. Beneath the rain that smelled of blood, he stood with a parched body. It was the first death he had ever witnessed.
His parents had died submerged in a sea of blood. Their bodies were torn to shreds. His mother’s body was half-crushed, and one severed hand had rolled far away. When he stepped forward, that severed hand lay right at his toes.
And where he looked with those empty eyes…
“Xie Qingcheng! That’s not Xie Xue! Wake up! Look closely!”
Like a spell breaking a cursed mirror, the voice hitting his chest pulled his consciousness out of the depths of immense terror.
His head turned slowly. The pupils within his peach blossom eyes captured the source of the voice and focused.
Right…
He Yu.
What did He Yu say?
That it was a fake.
That it wasn’t the real one.
That she hadn’t died…
Suddenly regaining his senses, he turned his head back.
As expected, Xie Xue’s uniform caught his eye. But looking closer, the build of the mangled corpse was different from Xie Xue’s. It seemed as if someone had forced Xie Xue’s Huzhou University staff uniform onto the body; the buttons on the chest weren’t even properly fastened. It was a man’s corpse.
The strength left Xie Qingcheng’s legs. His departed soul rushed back into his body with an overwhelming violence.
Only after closing his eyes and catching his breath for a moment was he able to escape the extreme terror that had consumed him. Naturally, his body and face were drenched in cold sweat.
Normally, an ordinary person would not be able to identify a corpse in such a short time.
The mere smell of blood would cause them to lose consciousness and reason.
However, He Yu was a patient with a rare mental disorder called ‘Psychological Ebola.’ Furthermore, he was a Case 4, characterized by a high tolerance for cruelty.
He did not fear blood. When his mental illness flared up, he even craved it.
That was why he could determine the identity of the deceased in such a short time.
He asked the ‘Liang Jicheng’ inside coldly.
“Where is the other woman?”
‘Liang Jicheng’ looked up.
Indeed, she was a woman of stunning beauty, just as described in Xie Xue’s final message. Time had left not a single cruel mark on her face. As if she had defied time itself, she was far more beautiful and seductive than those of her own age.
The desk employee, who had collapsed on the floor behind Xie Qingcheng and He Yu and wet himself, let out a sound—whether a scream or a sob—the moment he saw ‘Liang Jicheng’s’ face.
“It’s—it’s her!”
The security guards, hearing the commotion, rushed over one after another, only to be struck with horror at the sight. A few of them shouted at the top of their lungs.
“Jiang Lanpei!”
“How did she get out?”
Jiang Lanpei was an ‘Elder’ of Qingkang Psychiatric Hospital. Like the morgues of other hospitals, Qingkang had a sort of unspoken rule—calling long-abandoned unclaimed patients or corpses ‘Elders.’
Jiang Lanpei had lived here for twenty years.
During that time, no one had come to see her.
Furthermore, because her files disappeared during the transition from paper charts to electronic records, it remained a mystery how she had been admitted in the first place.
The people at Qingkang Psychiatric Hospital only knew that she was a formidable lunatic. The reason was that she was the most ambiguously mad patient there. While others rambled nonsense with disheveled hair, she combed her hair neatly every day and conversed fluidly with the hospital staff.
However, everyone knew that while her words were logically flawless, the content was entirely fictional. In short, it was coherent nonsense.
—Don’t engage with her for long; leave immediately after treatment. This madwoman is a master of deception.
This had been a consistent rule from the day the hospital director, Liang Zhongkang, founded the hospital until he died and his younger brother, Liang Jicheng, took over the hospital with a partner.
And the man collapsed on the floor was the real Liang Jicheng.
Jiang Lanpei looked gloomily at the gathering crowd and spoke.
“Don’t call the police.”
“Quickly, report—.”
“Who dares report this!”
Jiang Lanpei brandished a scalpel toward the people before her. Madness flickered in her eyes.
“I’ve been here for twenty years. I’m sick of it! I’m leaving now, I’m going home! My children are waiting for me!”
“You—where on earth do you have children, Jiang Lanpei!”
The security captain, who was relatively brave, stepped forward awkwardly and shouted in a tense voice.
“You don’t have kids! You’re alone! We’ve looked after you for twenty years—.”
“Don’t make me laugh! Looked after me for twenty years? You call that looking after someone? Let me out! I have to leave now! Move! All of you move! If you don’t… if you don’t move, you’ll never know where that girl is for the rest of your lives!”
At these words, the expressions of He Yu and Xie Qingcheng distorted.
The veins in Xie Qingcheng’s neck bulged.
“Where is Xie Xue?”
“Who do you take me for? Why would I tell you! If I tell you, you’ll just take me away!”
Xie Qingcheng, who had been pale with fear, suddenly remembered something and took a step forward.
Jiang Lanpei instinctively retreated two steps. The sharp tip of the scalpel, dripping with blood, pointed toward his chest.
“What are you doing? I told you not to come closer!”
“You’ve taken that girl as a hostage. Right?”
“…”
Xie Qingcheng glared into her eyes, then raised his hand and grabbed the blood-stained sharp blade. As Jiang Lanpei screamed and tried to pull the blade away, Xie Qingcheng’s palm was instantly sliced open, and blood flowed onto the floor.
“What are you doing? Would it be okay if that girl dies? You—”
Immediately after, Xie Qingcheng pressed the scalpel he held against his own chest.
The expressions of everyone gathered around froze.
Xie Qingcheng spoke without blinking.
“I’ll do it.”
Jiang Lanpei also froze.
Slowly letting go of the hand holding the blade, Xie Qingcheng spoke with emphasis on every word.
“I will take her place. I’ll send people, so tell me where Xie Xue is right now. I’ll wait here. If anything happens to her, whether you’re truly mad or not, your damn life ends right here!”
Jiang Lanpei fell into thought for a moment. Her mind was confused by the sudden situation, and she couldn’t make a judgment.
Xie Qingcheng’s gaze was chilling. Even Jiang Lanpei, a cruel murderer who had dismembered a corpse, felt oppressed by his aura and found it difficult to breathe. Giving up on thinking, she pulled Xie Qingcheng toward her and pressed the scalpel against his carotid artery.
He Yu raised his voice.
“…Xie Qingcheng!”
“That lady is in B3009, in my room.”
“We’ve already checked the wards! Don’t be fooled!”
A security guard shouted loudly.
“Jiang Lanpei! There’s no one in your room!”
At that, Jiang Lanpei laughed coldly.
“Move the bed and lift the loose floorboards, and you’ll find a very small darkroom. Go together. There are other surprises waiting besides that lady.”
The security guards glanced at each other. After exchanging looks, three of them set off.
Just then, Jiang Lanpei suddenly shouted.
“Wait! …Everyone, take out your phones and put them on the floor.”
“…”
The people had no choice but to do as they were told and place their phones on the floor. There were no emergency call buttons in the ward rooms of this building; although call buttons were installed in the stairwells, they couldn’t risk using them under Jiang Lanpei’s watchful eye. Thus, Jiang Lanpei allowed the three security guards who had handed over their phones to go to room B3009, which was not far from there. The rest remained in place.
A short while later, the security guards returned as if fleeing.
What on earth had they seen in the darkroom? The faces of the three men were ashen, as if cement had dried and clung to them. Using a bedsheet as a makeshift stretcher, they brought back an unconscious Xie Xue.
Seeing Xie Xue, Xie Qingcheng’s vision turned white.
His heart could not bear it.
On one hand, a sigh of relief escaped him. Xie Xue was certainly safe. She had simply fainted, perhaps from some medication. Then, his reason crumbled again. Xie Xue’s clothes had been removed. Because it was the sweltering midsummer, only thin white lace underwear remained on her body, stripped of her school uniform.
Xie Qingcheng immediately averted his gaze. His body trembled with rage.
He soon raised his hand.
“What are you doing? Don’t move!”
“Fuck, she’s my sister!”
Ignoring Jiang Lanpei’s words, Xie Qingcheng unbuttoned his own shirt. Even though Jiang Lanpei’s trembling hand was pressing the blade in, he threw his shirt to He Yu.
Then, with bloodshot eyes, he commanded He Yu.
“Cover her!”
Without needing further instruction, He Yu covered Xie Xue with the shirt as soon as he received it. After lifting the limp body into his arms, he looked back at Xie Qingcheng and asked.
“What about you?”
“What do you mean, what about me!”
Xie Qingcheng’s voice was menacing.
“What other way is there now? I’m always unlucky whenever I meet you. Why didn’t I search that Cinderella dress back then? It would have been clean and simple if I’d just poisoned you with the candy poison inside!”
He Yu narrowed his eyes.
He felt he understood the meaning behind these words that seemed to blame him.
He knew, but Jiang Lanpei did not.
At that moment, Jiang Lanpei spoke.
“All of you come up to the roof with me. I’ll release him once we reach the roof.”
A murderer trying to escape would usually hold a hostage and say, ‘Don’t report this to the police; I’ll release the person if you call a car for me.’ But as expected of a mentally ill person who looked sane, Jiang Lanpei wanted to go up to the roof instead of down.
Did she have a helicopter prepared on the roof?
However, since the demand had been made, everyone had no choice but to follow.
“Go! You first! Lead the way to the roof! Now!”
After shouting and sending the people up, she carefully headed upward, still pointing the scalpel at Xie Qingcheng.
Qingkang Psychiatric Hospital was in a remote area far from the city, so the view below the roof was a dim, colorless haze rather than a nightscape. The biting night wind dried the cold sweat and gave him goosebumps.
Ordering everyone to sit far apart, Jiang Lanpei retreated next to the water tank. The scalpel was still pressing firmly against Xie Qingcheng’s neck.
“What is your goal?”
“I told you, I’m leaving this place!”
“That’s not your goal.”
“What do you know? When the person descending from the sky comes to get me…”
Blood began to bead beneath the scalpel blade pressing into his skin.
Jiang Lanpei stood on her tiptoes and whispered into Xie Qingcheng’s ear.
“You’re all going to die.”
After confirming that Xie Xue was safe, Xie Qingcheng had regained complete composure. His mind was very clear. In the first place, his own life meant nothing to him.
He replied in a cold voice.
“Why not just kill me now? If what you say is true, we’re all going to die anyway.”
“You—!”
“Can’t kill me?”
“…”
“I don’t know what you’re waiting for. A person from the sky? Where are there people in the sky? You can’t even see the stars because of the fine dust.”
Jiang Lanpei said gloomily.
“Whatever, just wait.”
Even as she threatened him, she seemed to be running out of stamina. After all, she was in the body of a fifty-year-old woman. It was exhausting to keep her nerves on edge and guard the others while threatening Xie Qingcheng on her tiptoes. Scanning the area around the water tank, she saw some twine used for construction. She dragged the twine with her foot, yet she did not let go of Xie Qingcheng’s neck until the end.
Soon, the binding began. She secured Xie Qingcheng firmly to the water tank’s drainage tower, tying the knots several times.
Xie Qingcheng sneered.
“You’re skilled at this. I guess this is all you’ve done during your twenty years at the psychiatric hospital?”
Having been hit where it hurt, she slapped Xie Qingcheng’s cheek and spat on his face.
“Shut up.”
Only after tying him securely and stepping back a few paces did she finally catch her breath.
Meanwhile, her eyes glittered with hatred.
“Men like you are all just animals.”
Behind the two of them, the security guards who had remained in place whispered to the three who had gone to rescue Xie Xue.
“Was there really a darkroom in Jiang Lanpei’s room?”
Unlike the others, the expressions of those three guards were a mess. The two who hadn’t regained their composure merely stared at Jiang Lanpei with eyes full of fear.
One man barely managed to answer.
“There was.”
“What was inside?”
—What was inside?
The three guards shuddered in unison.
Before they could continue, Jiang Lanpei, hearing the conversation, slowly turned her head while holding the sharp scalpel.
Then, she smiled and spoke.
“What do you think it was?”
The hatred within her smile burned like a fierce fire. Her white, smoke-like breath seemed to materialize before their eyes for a moment.
“What do you think was in there? Haha… ahahaha… Love! A very, very poignant love… right?”
Jiang Lanpei’s face distorted. She was indeed unequivocally mad.
The only guard among the three capable of speaking clutched his head. Being older and having a daughter, he spoke with a pained heart.
“Liang Jicheng raped Jiang Lanpei. For more than ten years… every single night, regardless of whether the other’s body was in pain or not… Every time, Liang Jicheng must have left photos in that darkroom; when we went in, everywhere was…”
“That’s not all.”
Jiang Lanpei chuckled.
“Did you see the skeleton in the corner?”
“…”
“That was a snack Liang Jicheng brought a long time ago.”
She cupped her palm by her mouth as if whispering. Contrary to her gesture, her voice thundered like the cawing of a crow, echoing across the rooftop.
“They probably wanted to eat outside. Fearing crumbs would fall, or that the smell would attract cats! When that bastard brought me to the psychiatric hospital, there was a darkroom in my room from the very beginning. He ate snacks in that darkroom, a place known only to him and his brother… and that young lady couldn’t bear the humiliation, so she hit her head against the wall and committed suicide!”
With every word she added, the people’s faces were stained with horror.
Only He Yu’s face remained calm throughout.
On the other hand, Xie Qingcheng was overcome with anger.
“Since the snack just died on her own without even leaving a trash bin, cleaning up must have been a hassle, so they just left her in the darkroom. They soaked her in sulfuric acid, so the flesh melted away quickly and only a few pieces of bone remained… Even then, those bastards threatened me by showing me those few remaining bones. Telling me not to commit suicide, that this is what I’d become if I died, in that sense.”
Perhaps the recollection of the horrific past was too intense for her mind, as her speech began to break erratically. However, the madness reflected on her face remained unchanged.
“I played along, pretending to be scared every day… then that bastard died… and the brother left alone… Ptu! To think that brother was an even more disgusting and thorough pervert…”
“Why didn’t you say anything sooner! And you didn’t even report it to the police!”
Unable to listen any longer, the youngest nurse had tears in her eyes.
“If you had reported it to the police, we could have helped you!”
“Who would have believed me! I’m a lunatic! A lunatic! Those bastards told you not to talk to me, to keep as much distance as possible! All you did every day was feed me medicine! Medicine! And ignore me! Who ever listened to me? Did anyone even believe me!”
Jiang Lanpei lashed out.
“I’m a lunatic! In your eyes, I must have been nothing more than a monster! A being that didn’t need to be listened to, or sincerely cared for—what could I have possibly said? And if I had spoken, Liang Jicheng might have killed me later!”
Room B3009 was like a rusted furnace, a place permeated by nearly twenty years of desire and sin.
People naturally hold prejudices against the mentally ill. Between a mad woman and the director of a psychiatric hospital, anyone would believe the latter. Thus, the darkroom beneath the woman’s bed slowly transformed into a spider’s nest, and the blood and flesh of the woman caught in the web rotted away.
“I find you all disgusting. I hate every single one of you!”
Contrary to her increasingly bleak gaze, her voice gradually trailed off. Jiang Lanpei clutched her head.
“No one can help me… I already… I can’t even remember who I am or where I came from… So… I have no choice but to return to the sky.”
Then, she suddenly snapped her head up and looked at everyone.
“All of you must follow me.”
Just as she finished speaking, she noticed something strange in the gaze of a security guard watching her. It was a tension that didn’t fit the situation. After flinching for a moment, she suddenly realized something and turned her head.
At that moment, a sharp wind blew past. Just as she barely managed to dodge, a long leg ruthlessly slammed Jiang Lanpei down onto the concrete floor of the rooftop. With terrified eyes, she stared up at the man beneath the dark, cloud-covered night sky. A bare upper body, firm and slender shoulders, and a bleak expression.
“That knot, how… how did you…”
“I forgot to mention,” Xie Qingcheng said coldly.
“My parents were police officers. I’ve played around with knots like that since I was a kid.”