“Hid in the hospital room?”
Pu Guangrong’s expression turned serious as he pressed, “Did you see which hospital room he entered?”
Before the young police officer could reply, he waved a hand at the police officers, signaling everyone to stay vigilant.
“Not too sure, some say hospital room 6019, others say the one next door…”
The young police officer hadn’t finished speaking when he was immediately interrupted by a shout from another police officer.
“Captain Pu, over here.”
That police officer was guarding the entrance to hospital room 6020, hesitating and not daring to go in. One could notice his hand pressing on the pistol at his waist, staying alert for any possible danger.
Pu Guangrong quickly arrived at the hospital room door and reached in to turn on the light inside the hospital room.
Seeing the scene in the hospital room, he frowned: “Two more corpses, what’s really going on?”
If it was just for revenge against society, he shouldn’t have picked a place like the hospital, right?
Moreover, from the situation he knew so far, this series of killing incidents clearly couldn’t have been done by just one or two people.
The police had just arrived at the scene and hadn’t yet put up the yellow tape. The corridor was packed with patients and family members. Though they didn’t dare get too close, the several police officers obviously couldn’t stop their curiosity about spectating.
“So tragic, tsk tsk~”
“I heard Sister Wang saw the murderer?”
“Yeah, she lives right across, and I think her son saw him too?”
“Come on, that person just loves to brag. She wouldn’t have the guts to look at the murderer.”
Inside the hospital room, Pu Guangrong irritably took a deep drag of his cigarette and threw the remaining butt under his foot to stamp it out.
“Quickly put up the yellow tape and get the citizens back to their own hospital rooms. Don’t let them destroy the scene.”
The young police officer was unfazed, silently picking up the cigarette butt and putting it into the evidence bag he carried.
He said cautiously, “Captain Pu, could this case possibly involve a parasitic monster…”
“Impossible, absolutely impossible!”
Pu Guangrong waved his large hand, his tone sounding resolute.
After the existence of parasitic organisms was announced, this veteran detective naturally realized that those strange and bizarre cases he’d handled recently, which were later snatched away by the Special Affairs Bureau, were probably all related to parasitic organisms.
So even though he hadn’t seen those monsters with his own eyes, he knew what traces those monsters left when committing crimes.
At least their actions were far from as meticulous as in this case. Handling the on-duty staff, destroying surveillance, picking locks, and other highly purposeful operations didn’t seem like things parasitic organisms could do.
Most importantly, after looking for a long time, he hadn’t found any traces resembling those left by a bone blade.
“It is indeed a parasitic organism.”
From the crowd, a young man wearing a Special Affairs Bureau uniform said softly.
Hmm?
The voice sounded familiar.
Pu Guangrong abruptly turned his head.
“Officer Pu, long time no see.” Lu Bai waved with a smile.
“Uh…”
Pu Guangrong’s eyelid twitched: “It’s you, Team Leader Lu. When did you arrive?”
“I’ve been staying at the hospital tonight. See, right in the hospital room next door.”
Lu Bai stuck out his thumb and jabbed to the side.
“What?!”
“Stay calm, I know what you want to ask.”
There was a faint hint of amusement in Lu Bai’s tone as he added, “I took down several parasitic organisms tonight. To avoid scaring everyone, I already dragged the monster corpses into the hospital room ahead of time. Want to take a look?”
……
“They’re exactly like the announced monster corpses.”
In hospital room 6019, Pu Guangrong looked with slight disgust at the shriveled heads on the necks of these several corpses.
Due to the overly strong bloody smell in this hospital room, the police officers mostly stood at the entrance, using their bodies to block the onlookers’ view.
Yao Yi slumped on the hospital bed with a dead-inside expression: “Can you hurry up and move these corpses away?”
“Please bear with it a bit longer, young brother.”
The veteran detective simply pacified him, then turned to chat with Lu Bai again: “Team Leader Lu, so according to you, those several corpses in the corridor were colluding with parasitic organisms before they died?”
“Any problem with that?”
“If I may speak bluntly, this doesn’t match many eyewitness testimonies. The eyewitnesses in hospital room 09 unanimously stated that two men burst into their hospital room and fought, and during the fight, the skinny man took the chance to slit the other man’s throat with a short knife.”
While speaking, Pu Guangrong stared closely at Lu Bai, trying to spot any emotional fluctuation on his face.
Unfortunately, there was nothing, only some inscrutable smile.
“If my testimony doesn’t match the eyewitnesses, does that mean the eyewitnesses’ testimonies match each other?”
Lu Bai leaned in and patted Pu Guangrong’s shoulder: “Old Pu, the corridor was so dark, and the patients had just woken up in a daze. How credible do you think these testimonies are?”
“But…”
“No buts.”
Lu Bai directly interrupted Pu Guangrong: “There are several parasitic organism corpses here. Are you going to deny this fact?”
Pu Guangrong hesitated a bit and shook his head.
“Good then. Since this case involves parasitic organisms, by convention, it should be taken over by the Special Affairs Bureau—that is, me. Do you have any objections?”
“Team Leader Lu makes a good point, but the Special Affairs Bureau people haven’t arrived yet. How about the police assist with the investigation first?” Pu Guangrong was unsure, so he simply used delay tactics.
At least this sounded fine on the surface.
“No need for assistance with the investigation. The police lack experience handling such incidents; just focus on controlling the situation.”
Lu Bai’s tone was very mild, but after saying this, he got up and left the hospital room, which seemed a bit impolite.
In his view, staying in the hospital room would just mean more arguing.
Leaving directly would prevent Pu Guangrong from rashly interfering with the investigation even if he was dissatisfied.
Of course, stepping back ten thousand steps, Lu Bai didn’t actually think any remaining clues would threaten him. He was doing this merely to avoid unnecessary complications.
Many of the onlookers in the corridor had been persuaded back to their own hospital rooms.
But some with strong curiosity kept their house doors wide open, sticking out half their bodies to observe the situation.
The police had no way to stop it, and some onlookers were grabbing the yellow tape to watch closely from a short distance. Such situations couldn’t be completely prevented, as long as they didn’t destroy the scene traces.
“Team Leader Lu, hello.”
The Chang Tiger wore a blue-and-white striped hospital gown and stood at a hospital room entrance. Seeing Lu Bai pass by his hospital room door, he quickly greeted him.
“Who are you?” Lu Bai stopped.
The Chang Tiger bit his white teeth: “You definitely don’t recognize me, since I didn’t put the ‘smiling face’ on top of my head.”
Hearing this, Lu Bai couldn’t help but laugh.