We ran after the crowd and headed straight for the garden-like place at the back of the hospital. The Xining District Psychiatric Treatment and Research Center covers a large area, no smaller than the Beilou Hospital I visited before. The whole hospital is roughly divided into the inpatient department, the administrative building and the research center, with the inpatient department as the main department, and the research center is just a name, and the real researchers are scattered in the research institutes of various medical universities.

Apart from these places, most of the remaining areas are used for patient activities. We are in a remote corner behind the inpatient unit, where the vegetation is luxuriant, there are not many signs of artificial pruning, and the sunlight is also blocked by these vegetation, and the further we go inside, the more cold it becomes.

I rubbed my arms and cautiously followed the security guards, and finally came to the edge of a small artificial lake. Men in police uniforms who arrived earlier than us had already fenced the scene, and I could only stand outside the cordon and peek inside.

On the bank of the river stood a tall woman in her fifties, dressed in a white coat. She has a lot of aura, and at first glance she looks like a leader or something. At this moment, she was looking at the lake with a solemn expression, and her heart was heavy. On the other side of the lake, there is a small boat floating in it, and the salvage team is working in it. Beside the woman stood a sheriff-like figure, with gray hair, lips pursed tightly, and a frown.

"Come up!" Suddenly, also outside the cordon, Xiao Li, who was standing next to me, said secretly. I immediately noticed that a man on the riverbank wearing a hospital gown had been fished ashore. The patient was soaked, stiff and pale, apparently dead.

The middle-aged woman sighed, glanced to the side, and hurriedly left the scene. The medical examiner examined it, shook his head, and several police officers dragged the body away. The crowd gradually dispersed, and everyone gradually returned to their respective posts.

"Sister-in-law!" Xiao Li pulled the cordon and shouted.

The middle-aged woman turned her head when she heard the sound, searching the crowd for the source of the sound, and when she saw Xiao Li, her tightly knit brows finally stretched a little: "Mo Bai." She said, turning to walk towards us, "Why don't you tell your sister-in-law in advance, I'll pick you up at the door early." ”

The middle-aged woman helped Xiao Li sort out her clothes like a mother, her eyes were full of love, she was indeed a sister-in-law like a mother.

"I'm so old, I want you to pick me up. This is the editor-in-chief of our 'Persona', Wu, and she is willing to help. Xiao Li said and pushed me in front of the middle-aged woman, "This is my sister-in-law, Dean Chen Hui Chen." ”

"Hello, hello," Dean Chen immediately shook my hand when he heard that I was here to help, "Let's go, don't stay here, let's go to the office." ”

Xiao Li told me before that his sister-in-law was a hospital executive, but he didn't expect it to be the director. We followed her to the office of the administration building, and along the way she pointed to the calligraphy and paintings hanging on the walls of the hospital corridor, and proudly praised Li Mobai's writing and painting, saying that he was particularly talented since he was a child. Entering the office, we sat on the guest couch.

"Editor-in-Chief Wu, I'm really bothering you, something has happened here recently." Director Chen personally made us tea and said straight to the point.

"You don't have to be so polite, I'm friends with Mo Bai, just call me Xiao Wu." I hurriedly got up and took the cup, "President Chen, what happened in the hospital?" ”

"It's also happened in recent months." She blew open the tea leaves in her cup and took a sip of water. "For no reason, several patients died. At first, I thought it was a criminal case, but I called the police. In the end, the investigation found that every patient who died fell into the water on their own, that is, committed suicide. ”

"The conditions of our hospital are relatively good, and our attitude towards patients has always been very kind, and we have done a good job in terms of control. Because there was no one going to the place where the water fell, and there was no surveillance, we don't know what happened there. According to the investigation by the Guò police, these patients should have walked out on their own in the middle of the night. As you can see, the patient who has just been salvaged is the first to die after the monitoring was installed. Just ......"

"Just what?" I asked.

"The security guard in charge of surveillance fell asleep that night, and the surveillance records were gone. No one saw him walk out. We locked every patient's room, but some patients still ran out at night. There is no such coincidence in the world, I am worried about what kind of demon is doing it. I've read Editor-in-Chief Wu's Persona, and I think you're well-informed, let's see if you can help our hospital. Dean Chen finally finished speaking and let out a long sigh of relief.

Naturally, I agreed, but how to investigate it is a problem. I still have Zhao Cheng in my heart, and I don't know when it is more appropriate to speak. This time it's just me, Qin Chuyi and they are not there, and there is not much left of the rhino horn incense that was burned last time, so I can only go to the scene of the fall into the water to check it first.

"This deserted garden was originally a very beautiful place." Xiao Li, who followed me, said, "When I was young, my sister-in-law was a doctor in this hospital. My brother was busy at work, so I followed my sister-in-law to pass the time in the hospital. At that time, I used to come to this place to play, because no one bothered me, and because it was beautiful. He said, pointing to the lake in front of him.

The lake is only two streets wide and can be seen from the front and back to the left and right, and is technically a pond. There is still a cordon around the pond, but this is not a criminal case and the scene is not protected. I walked to the lake, and my shadow was reflected in the calm surface of the lake. I stared silently at my reflection, the lake glowing like an X-ray in the dim light.

"Ahh I don't know if it was dazzle or what, but I suddenly felt my reflection smile at me. My feet slipped and I almost fell in. Xiao Li hurriedly came over and pulled me, the calm lake rippled because of my disturbance, and my reflection was wrinkled, and it looked a little hideous.

"Be careful! The lake is slippery, and you'd better stand on that rock and observe the lake. He pointed to a suitcase-sized stone not far away.

I walked up to the rock, and sure enough, my feet were much smoother, and from this angle, the sun could shine in a little bit. I looked at the golden glittering spot in my hand and said excitedly, "It's really much smoother here, how did you find it?" ”

He smiled shyly and said, "I used to come here a lot to play, and I like to wash my pen here." ”

"Wash the pen?" What a hobby.

"Yes. Ever since I learned the story of Wang Xizhi's inkpool, I have been washing my pen here until I got a job in the editorial department, and then I moved out of the hospital, and naturally I have never been here again. ”

Legend has it that Wang Xizhi often writes in the pool, washes the inkstone in the pool, and after a long time, the pool water runs out of ink, and is called "ink pool". I didn't expect Li Mobai to love writing and painting to this level.

"According to the number of times you wash your pen, this small pond should have been dyed black by you a long time ago, why is it still green now." I don't think this lake is like living water, it's more like stagnant water that has been abandoned for a long time. Such stagnant water does not stink and retains a certain level of clarity, and it is quite possible that there is an undercurrent underground.

"I haven't thought about this question, if this pool was really blackened by me, I would have become a calligrapher a long time ago." Xiao Li said jokingly.

There were no clues from the on-site investigation, so we had to continue wandering around the hospital. Before I knew it, it was already dark, and I was going to be stationed in the psychiatric hospital tonight to see what the surveillance would capture.

It's getting dark, and the temperature is dropping a lot. Li Mobai brought me a security guard's clothes and put them on, and stayed with me in the security room to observe the surveillance. He also brought some calligraphy and paintings from the room where he had been staying, and we talked about the contents of these calligraphy and paintings as we passed the long midnight.

The sleepiness gradually hit, and cup after cup of coffee went down to the stomach, pulling at the nerves that had been sleeping. The two of us obviously didn't have much experience staying up late, so we could only talk all the time.

"Eh, what is this?" I pulled out an ink drawing from a large pile of copied scriptures and poems. It shows a young woman standing in the same garden we had been to in the morning, as if picking flowers. The garden is also much more beautiful than it is now. Even though it is an ink painting, I can still feel the colorful colors contained in this painting.

"Ah, this." Xiao Li touched his head a little embarrassed, "This is a dream that I painted when I had nothing to do." ”

"Dreams?" At the mention of this word, my heart can't help but beat a little faster.

"Hmm. When I was in high school, I fell asleep in that little garden and had a dream. In my dream, a young girl picking flowers on the grass is very beautiful, as if it happened to me, very real. As soon as I woke up, I drew what I had seen in my dream, but unfortunately there was no colored paint, and the girl's face was not seen very clearly. ”

I looked at the ink painting in front of me, and a few brushstrokes seemed to be immersive, which is the charm of traditional Chinese painting. I just wanted to continue to appreciate Xiao Li's calligraphy and paintings, when I suddenly saw a change in the surveillance video.

"Editor-in-Chief Wu! You see! Xiao Li apparently noticed this change as well. The two of us stared closely at the surveillance in the corridor of the inpatient department, our eyes unblinking, for fear of letting go of any small detail.

On the black-and-white screen, a patient in a striped hospital gown appears. As if sleepwalking, he slowly walked out of his hospital room and moved towards the end of the hallway. It's because the picture isn't very clear, and I always think it's a little strange how he walks.

"How is that possible! The lock of the room is only available to the nurse on duty, how can the patient open the door by himself! Xiao Li couldn't believe his eyes and said in surprise.

I quickly looked at the monitor at the nurses' station on the other side, and the three nurses on duty were all asleep on their desks. I suddenly realized that this thing was too strange, there must be something wrong, and I had to see for myself.

I just wanted to go back to discuss with Xiao Li, but I found that his expression had changed from surprise to horror, his mouth was wide open, and his eyes were wide open, as if he had seen something incredible.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

He shuddered, slowly turned his face to me, and said to me in a voice that almost trembled, "Editor-in-Chief Wu...... You...... Look at that patient......"

I thought to myself that the patient had just walked out of the ward, and nothing strange had happened. I looked at the walking patient again, and that's when I realized something was wrong. This look gave me goosebumps, and I finally understood why Li Mobai was so frightened.

The walking patient had already marched under the monitor, and his vision became clear. His eyes were closed, his face still asleep, but his body was facing away from us. In other words, he is moving backwards.

He expertly avoided all obstacles, his limbs swaying strangely as if they were being pulled, and a pair of eyes seemed to grow behind him. This strange way of moving forward made the atmosphere of the entire corridor suddenly terrifying.