I sat in a soft chair by the window in the ward, leisurely looking out, the warm sunlight shuttling through the slight gap in the forest, comfortable, long. A delicate dust in the sunlight of the room danced gracefully in the air.

Just as I was soaking up the sun and feeling comfortable, a soft knock on the door broke the rare silence. I looked back and saw that it was Abbot Alsace, who was standing politely by the door of the room, which was already open, and I hurried him in.

I wondered if the reason why Dean Arthas had come uninvited today was to inform me that my injuries were almost healed and that I could be discharged, but now I was obsessed with staying. While I was looking ahead and backward to stay, Dean Arthas read my heart as if he were a prophet, and he smiled at me and said, "We don't want you to go. Of course, if you want to leave the island yourself, we can't stop you. Everyone is already familiar with this island, so there is often a dead and stale atmosphere that pervades the island. With your unexpected arrival, it was like an old part with engine oil, and the speed immediately accelerated, even I, a bad old man, felt full of energy, and it seems that I will have to absorb some new people here in the future. ”

Dean Alsace was a little embarrassed to say that. "I don't know why, but even though it's a mental hospital that no one else wants to touch, I like it very much. Maybe it's because ...... The air is good, the people are good, and the food is good. "Actually, I also know that it is not just because of these ordinary reasons that I can't leave, but I really can't think of what made me stay, as if a layer of fog blocked my vision.

"You just have to like it and be happy with it. Whether you go or not, it's voluntary, and we don't interfere with it. Dean Arthas smiled brightly, "In that case, then we are you and me, and we hit it off!" When he turned around to leave, he suddenly remembered the original intention of coming here, "Oh, by the way, if you are interested, you can go and listen to a small discussion held by our hospital about the missing psychiatric patient Prio, which is in the conference room on the second floor." ”

"Hmm, okay." My mental head came all at once. I am very interested in this disappearance, not to mention the Dean of Arthas, even an ordinary person can see it.

I arrived with Dean Alsace in the conference room on the east side of the second floor of the main building, and I sat down in a chair near the door, while Dean Arthas walked in and sat next to Sergeant Patel, who was presiding over the meeting.

The scene was very noisy and lively, and it was obvious that the two factions were in the midst of an open and secret struggle. On the one hand, about one-third of the population took for granted that the mentally ill Prio was hiding somewhere on the island, while the other, less than a third, insisted that Prio had left the island and fled. Of course, more than a third of them are observing, preferring to gloat at the chatter and intensification of the bickering.

The controversy between the two factions inevitably entered a white-hot stage, and both sides insisted on their own opinions, and some of the quick-tempered people on the opposite side could not sit still, and they stood up, and fought with each other, refusing to give in to each other, and there was a great possibility of crossing the thunder pond and fighting in a tense posture.

I glanced at Dean Arthas, who was now sitting in the central seat, with his hands folded around his chest, watching with a pair of impassive eyes. I looked at the police officer Patel sitting next to him, he actually had his left hand on his cheek, and his expression was dazed, and the blank look clearly indicated that he had turned away from the scene and was wandering in some imaginary place! I turned my head to look for Officer Charry again, and finally caught a glimpse of him in a small corner on the west side, where he was whispering to a little guy who was half a head shorter than him, and I knew by the way he laughed that what he was saying had nothing to do with the case.

The debate had entered a bitter situation, and some of the competitive fighters of the two factions were confronting each other with righteous words, but the thoughts of the two police officers wandered on the edge of the room, as if it was a very vivid and realistic highlight on the stage, but the two audience members under the stage felt bored, and they did not even want to look at Baba.

At the moment when the two sides were at a stalemate, Vice Dean Barron, who was suddenly sitting not far from Patel, slapped the table and decisively suspended the discussion, which was about to be rude.

From the smile that Vice Dean Barron tried to suppress, it was clear that this was definitely not a serious debate, but more like a scene of a light comedy that was messing around.

"Alright, alright, everyone, don't be impatient." Barron said unhurriedly, as if he were trying to persuade a few children not to fight. His appearance is very ordinary, but his clothes are impressive. The size of 1.8 meters, coupled with a sturdy and neat military uniform, is really the same as the elite and noble attire of an SS officer in Nazi Germany during World War II.

"Let's not fight at every turn, okay?! Don't confuse other things from the past. Let's talk about things today and analyze the whereabouts of the mentally ill Prio. There is merit in everyone's opinions, and we can take a two-pronged approach. On the one hand, the search for any possible hiding places on the island will be intensified, and on the other hand, the police on the periphery will be contacted to spread a wide net to investigate all relevant movements in the outside world. Besides, Prio is not a perfect person, I don't think he will disappear out of thin air, and sooner or later he will show his feet. If there's a clue, we'll be able to catch him. Are you right? Officer Patel. Barron turned his head to look at Patel, his smile hinting teasing.

It could be seen that Patel's spirit had recovered a little, and he responded absentmindedly, "Oh, yes. ”

Vice President Barron went on with great interest: "As the most critical department in charge of criminal investigation on the island, I would like to briefly report to you the actions taken by our department after the escape of the prisoners. Our ministry has deployed and carried out three large-scale search operations in different areas of the island. The first operation was mainly a carpet search of the inner island area where we are stationed, including the main building, the side building, the ABC sick area, the medical housing area, the canteen and other places, and we did not ignore any seemingly inconspicuous locations in the search operation. The second operation was to expand the search in the east, west and northern areas on the basis of the original layout, and the search operation was more meticulous and detailed. The third operation further expanded the search area, even the relatively steep cliff area in the south. Not only that, but all of us did not pull down any of them, and all of them participated in this operation and went deep into the first scene of the grassroots to investigate and handle the case. ”

He paused for a moment, then changed his mind and continued: "But it is a pity that there is still not a single trace of the prisoner left. Our department has also held several small forums to analyze the various possibilities of prisoners escaping, but it is by no means easy to expand the scope of detection, and our department is short of manpower, which is not unaware of everyone. ”

The final foothold of these words is that everyone is clear, and what he means is that he will either add more manpower to him, or he will only make a small fuss and let it go. I thought that Vice Dean Barron was here to save the scene, but it turned out that he was also here to borrow Po to unload the donkey!

The whole conference room was silent, everyone had a ghost in their hearts, and no one wanted to wade into this muddy water again to undertake an errand of a small odd job next to the guard, so they all kept silent and put on a posture of not caring about the matter.

Deputy Commissioner Barron didn't have much hope for the request for more police officers, so he added, "I think this case is very simple, nine times out of ten, Prio is hiding somewhere on this island. He certainly won't be able to endure it for long, and in time he will run back hungry. At that time, it will be easy to catch him again! He looked sideways at Patel again, a disapproving expression.

Patel met his gaze and said, "Don't be afraid of ten thousand, just in case." What if Prio died of starvation or illness while hiding somewhere on this island? ”

"This kind of thing is absolutely impossible, you don't know Prio too well, he has just come out of Area C for less than a year. The prisoners in Sector C are all extremely vicious criminals, and it takes three strong guards to deal with a criminal held in that area. If you say that burning, killing and looting, Prio may have a share, and if you want to say that he will starve to death or die of disease, it is simply a fantasy! ”

Patel scoffed at Vice Dean Barron's words, but couldn't think of any way to refute his fallacy.

At this time, Dean Arthas, who had been sitting silently, opened his mouth, "What is the point of always entangled in the question of where Prio escaped, and going around in circles!" For now, we should focus more on why he ran away. What is the purpose of escaping? Peek into the trivial scenes of his past to see his essential goal. Maybe his parting this time was really just because of whimsy, or irritability, and self-inflicted blame, then it was only a matter of time before we caught him, but maybe he remembered something we didn't know about, which is hard to say. I think as long as I figure this out, I will naturally know where he is going. …… Okay, let's talk about it today, and everyone will go back and think about it. ”