Chapter Seven: The Past, Myself, and the Girl

“Oh! Old Li, I haven’t seen you in ages! Weren’t you off enjoying life with your son?”
“Huh? You’re asking me about your house…”
“I don’t really remember…”
…
“You mean the one next door… Hmm… Haven’t heard anything about it in a long time.”
“Really? I thought maybe they’d gotten in trouble and the whole family ran off~”
…
“What? My child… Isn’t my child… Sigh, we’re all grown now, I don’t think about that anymore.”

Chen Qing changed his identity as he rang one doorbell after another.
They spoke as if the missing residents had simply never existed.
They looked at the empty apartments around them without a hint of confusion.
Even when their own homes had extra clothes, or unused rooms, whenever the topic came up, they’d just laugh it off.
Chen Qing was puzzled, but this phenomenon made him think of a single word.

“Hypnosis.”
“Someone hypnotized them, made them ignore the strangeness on their own.
Someone influenced them, but couldn’t erase things door to door.
They’re too confident in their hypnotic effect… or maybe they lack the manpower.”

Chen Qing frowned. Night had already fallen, leaving only a sliver of sunset to illuminate the building.
He walked up to the top floor and stopped in front of an apartment whose door hadn’t opened for thirty-two days.
He sighed and slid the key into the lock.
Stiff, dry, and blocked with things left by time—
The door seemed to resist the visitor’s intrusion.

“I’m home…”
He muttered softly, pulling shoe covers from his backpack and slipping them on.
Once he was sure he’d leave no footprints, Chen Qing felt a little relieved.
He closed the door behind him. The entrance opened directly onto the family’s balcony.
There were flowers on the balcony, but they were all dead. He stepped closer: the soil was dry.
He entered the house; it seemed three people had lived here.

“A daughter.”
He walked into the girl’s room—a computer displayed her social media.

“Did you hear what happened at school?”
“What happened?”
“A lot of people from our school disappeared!”
“Are you kidding? Not studying, huh? Just waiting for our homeroom teacher to disappear tomorrow.”
“It’s true! I’m not joking! I keep feeling something’s wrong… haven’t you noticed (redacted)”
“What did you send? Why are there words blocked out?”
“Huh? (redacted)”
“No way, it just won’t send. Tomorrow when I’m at the girls’ dorm, I’ll tell you all about it.
But… just in case… I’ll write it up tonight and give you a copy. Keep an extra.”

Chen Qing’s face paled.
He looked at the drawer beside him, and when he gently opened it, the booklet from the chat lay quietly inside.

What was in the booklet?
He picked up the file and was just about to leave when he noticed the screen flickering with static.
The chat window—the pale blue app—was violently flashing.
Within that chat, the messages were being deleted, letter by letter, line by line.

“What did you send?”
“What did you…”
“It’s true! I’m not joking!”
“It’s true!”
“…”
“Who are you?”

He stared at the message on the screen, cold sweat soaking his clothes in an instant.

“Who are you?”
“Who are you! Who are you! Who are you! Who are you!”
“Put down my things! Who are you!”

What was it?
Was it some person in the know who hadn’t disappeared?
No, he realized at once.

“It definitely isn’t!”
“What are you?”

His hands shook, and he wanted to type the question on the screen but didn’t dare.
He looked at the blank walls—maybe there was a hidden camera, maybe some file was set to record him.
He truly didn’t dare.
He clutched the file to his chest, terrified the house behind would trap him inside.
He didn’t look back, not until he’d walked two or three kilometers did his face begin to regain some color.

Following his plan, he removed his mask in a camera-free alley.
In an empty restroom, he opened the booklet he’d carried.
On the first page, the girl’s handwriting read:

“There’s something haunting that sanatorium.
If one day you find this notebook but can’t remember who gave it to you,
please, call the police for me and run, run as far as you can.
They’re after me… and you’ll be next… the order hasn’t changed!
I’m sorry I couldn’t hand this file to you myself.
I disappeared in the west of the city (redacted).
Yes, the one next to the school (redacted).
There’s something wrong with them… there’s definitely something wrong…
Maybe you’ve forgotten. No… you definitely have.
You forgot there was once an old person in my home… maybe I’ve forgotten too.
I can feel my own memories fading… I can’t wait any longer.
Chen Qing told me… he said that shop has everything I want to know…
Anyway, for whatever reason, I kept my memories…
I have to go find out for myself.
I hope what he said is true. Wish me luck… I love you.”

“Chen Qing told her?! What kind of joke is this!
Chen Qing… Chen Qing, maybe just someone with the same name?! Who is Chen Qing, is it me? Maybe not… maybe it was me before I lost my memory?”

He gripped the cover, face pale, and stepped outside.
“Maybe it’s me.” The notebook’s pages were yellowed, the cover felt like leather.
“I have to go see… the place she mentioned.”

He gazed back at the road he’d come from. The sun was setting, leaving only his footsteps behind.
He walked on, his mind filled with countless images.
“Why did I… lose all my memories that day? Who was I before?”
He forced himself to clear his thoughts, searching his mind for information.
“There aren’t many buildings with that name in the west of the city. Only one by our school…
But that’s a private hospital… and it’s always seemed normal, with so many patients, how could anything be wrong?”

He hesitated, closed the book, then set it aside. A blade sliced across his arm; he dropped the knife, blood splattering his face.
Ten minutes later, Chen Qing was already walking through the night market.
Making his way toward the school, he soon reached the snack stall near the gate.
From here, he could perfectly observe the hospital mentioned in the book.
He could see everyone coming and going, every car entering through the back.

“Uncle, one order of spicy potatoes.”
“Coming up.”

He glanced at the hospital entrance, then spoke to the vendor: “Business has been good lately, right?”
“Recently? Not a chance.” The vendor gave a wry smile.
“But I see the hospital across the street is bustling.”
“The people from that hospital…” The vendor paused. “We used to get a lot of them, but lately, not so much. Looks busy, but it’s nothing compared to before!”

“Oh?” Chen Qing was surprised.
“Normally, we’d get tons of students during the day, then at night, we’d serve hospital staff.
Don’t look down on that little hospital—tons of workers! And always emergency runs at night!
It wasn’t unusual to see a dozen vehicles bringing in patients every night, but now… word is, another hospital opened nearby and business dropped.”

Chen Qing narrowed his eyes, fingers quietly tracing the stall’s surface.
“A dozen ambulances every night…”
He looked back, thoughtful.
“I’m afraid not all those people are patients.”

He turned aside, dialing the unfamiliar number on his phone.
“Hello? Is this Officer Jiang?”
“Yes, who’s this?”

Chen Qing hesitated.
“I have information about Wu Cheny’s disappearance.”

He waited, but the surprise he expected never came.
“Wu Cheny? Who’s that? If you need to make a report… please be more specific.”