Global Collapse

Chapter 22 Title: Can You Eat It?

At this moment, Chu Changge had already arrived on the third floor. He used some special methods to shake off the ghost on the first floor.

The entire first floor is a mourning hall.

The second floor is entirely occupied by hospital wards.

Just as he had imagined, the third floor was entirely filled with prison cells.

This floor was also without power, pitch black, and had a similar layout to the second floor, with one side being a wall and the other side being prison cells.

This place resembles a long-abandoned prison cell; the ground is damp, some railings are rusty and peeling, and the air is filled with a musty, damp smell.

Even though the cells were empty, every cell door was tightly closed and bound securely with iron chains.

Above the cell door hung some small signs, it was unclear whether they were for prisoner introductions or something else, but the handwriting was still faintly discernible when looking up.

Chu Changge shone his flashlight on the sign closest to him: "Number 023, Li Guodong, charge: intentional homicide..."

He held two pieces of paper in his hand, which were from Yang Shuang's coffin in the mourning hall: a wanted notice for Ma Gang and a letter of thanks for reporting him.

Gu Mian had read both pieces of paper and then put them back on the coffin, so when Chu Changge returned to the mourning hall, she saw them immediately.

"Ma Gang, the one who corresponds to the prison cart should be Ma Gang, and he's also the vengeful ghost on this third floor." He thought to himself as he continued walking forward.

If nothing unexpected happens, Ma Gang's cell should be among these rooms; we need to find that room.

Time is running out. Gu Mian and the others are probably in danger. We need to quickly connect all the clues into a storyline to solve the reasoning problem.

Chu Changge walked down the dimly lit corridor.

Before long, a familiar name came into view.

Unlike the other cells, this cell door was inexplicably open and swaying slightly, looking somewhat eerie in the darkness.

The sign on the door was mostly tattered, but the original writing was still visible.

"Case No. 042, Ma Gang, was convicted of intentional homicide and released after serving thirteen years in prison. Thirteen years later, he murdered a woman again with a long axe and attempted to assault a police officer during an arrest. He will be sentenced to death."

Chu Changge looked at the sign at the door.

This woman is most likely Yang Shuang, the one who reported him on the first floor. It's quite possible that Ma Gang, after being released from prison, still harbored resentment and committed murder again.
But the police wanted notice clearly stated that the informant's information would not be exposed, so how did he find out about Yang Shuang's report?
Chu Changge glanced again at the open prison door.

The prison wasn't large, with gray-black walls and a gray-black floor. In the corner was a bed that looked like it was made of cement.

The bed was covered with the prison's standard sheets and blankets, but there seemed to be a different color on this bed.

He glanced at the slightly swaying cell door beside him. If he went in now and something blocked the doorway, he would have nowhere to escape.

But he didn't hesitate for long before he strode in and reached out to pick up the unusual color from the bed.

Without immediately looking at what it was, Chu Changge picked up the item and turned to leave. Fortunately, the usual tropes from horror movies didn't happen; the doorway remained empty, with no terrifying figures blocking her way.

But Chu Changge immediately understood one thing—the routine may be late, but it will never be absent.

A pair of feet appeared on the ground not far from the prison door.

Without hesitation, he quickly turned and ran towards the stairs.

The circular corridor was very long, and there was only one staircase. Chu Changge ran for a long time before he saw the staircase entrance, and the sound coming from behind him was almost touching his back.

In a split second, he sprinted to the stairwell, slammed the door shut, and without even turning on his flashlight, grabbed the handrail and rushed down the stairs.

Chu Changge ran all the way to the second-floor corridor, then rushed into a random ward and hid.

Fortunately, the ghost on the third floor didn't follow us.

He listened intently behind the door for a while, and only when he heard no sound outside did he feel relieved enough to unfold the thing he had been clutching.

This is what he got from the cell on the third floor: a small piece of paper with a death certificate written on it.

There's also a group photo.

He first looked at the death certificate by the light coming from the window.

"This is to certify that Zhao Lanhai, a resident of our district, female, pregnant, had an argument with her neighbor Yang on October 2, 2003. Due to an accidental fall, she suffered severe bleeding and premature birth of her fetus. Because she did not seek help in time, she died from excessive blood loss on the way to the hospital."

Below is Zhao Lanhai's ID number and date of birth, etc., which are not very useful.

Chu Changge looked at the group photo again. There were three people in it, two of whom he recognized: Yang Shuang, the vengeful ghost from the first floor, and Ma Gang, the vengeful ghost from the third floor.

The remaining woman, whose photo he hadn't seen before, had a large belly and looked to be seven or eight months pregnant.

The three seemed to be good friends and had a very good relationship.

A heavily pregnant woman stands in the middle, smiling at the camera. She must be Zhao Lanhai, while a young Yang Shuang is affectionately holding her arm.

Standing on the other side of Zhao Lanhai was a man whose face was none other than Ma Gang, the wanted poster.

He had one hand on Zhao Lanhai's shoulder, and the two looked like a married couple.

However, Yang Shuang's face in this photo has been marked with a large red X, so hard that it almost tore the photo apart. It is clear that the person who drew the X hates Yang Shuang very much and even uses a photo to vent their anger.

The photo was actually found in Ma Gang's cell, and it goes without saying who drew the cross.

The bottom right corner also shows the date the photo was taken: August 22, 2003. Ma Gang committed the murder on September 23, so this photo was taken exactly one month before the incident.

At that time, the three were still friends.

Now Chu Changge understands how Yang Shuang found out Ma Gang's hiding place and reported it.

He looked at the clues in his hand, trying to string them together.

"On September 23, 2003, Ma Gang committed murder and fled. The Ministry of Public Security issued an arrest warrant. Of course, Ma Gang could not tell anyone his hiding place, but he was afraid that his pregnant wife, Zhao Lanhai, would worry, and he trusted her enough to tell her his hiding place."

"The pregnant woman, Zhao Lanhai, and Yang Shuang were good friends. During their conversation, Zhao Lanhai may have inadvertently revealed Ma Gang's hiding place to Yang Shuang, who then secretly reported it to the police."

"Around October 2nd, the Ministry of Public Security arrested Ma Gang, who was on the run. His wife, Zhao Lanhai, discovered that Yang Shuang had secretly informed on him, so she went to confront her. The two argued and an accident occurred. Because she didn't get help in time, Zhao Lanhai died on the way to the hospital... She died in the ambulance."

"When Zhao Lanhai died, Ma Gang had already been imprisoned, beginning a thirteen-year period of confinement. While in prison, he learned of his wife's death and the cause of it, which fueled his resentment towards Yang Shuang, a resentment that festered for thirteen years."

"After serving his full thirteen years, Ma Gang was released from prison and immediately found Yang Shuang, killed her, and then prepared to escape again. Unfortunately, he failed to escape and was caught and brought back to prison to be executed."

The story of this instance is truly enigmatic.

Many of the details were made up by him. Chu Changge has always had a good imagination, and as a law student, the stories he added were quite logical.

Although there are still many questions, the overall storyline has emerged.

Once you know this storyline, you can generally pass the written test.

As he pondered this, he glanced at the LED board in the corridor; it was already 9:50.

You can start answering questions at 10 o'clock.

"I need to find Gu Mian and tell him the storyline." He thought to himself as he opened the door and walked into the hallway.

"This is a six-and-a-half-star dungeon, it shouldn't be this easy," Chu Changge pondered. "The difficulty is probably mostly in the top lane..."

"It's very likely that during the road test, the ghosts associated with the three cars will appear to interfere with the player. You might not encounter a ghost during the written test, but there's a 100% chance of encountering a ghost during the road test."

"If a vengeful ghost appears in the car, the person in the driver's seat will likely die on the spot, so the driving test is the most difficult part of this dungeon."

Thinking about this, Chu Changge felt a headache coming on again.

The written exam seemed to have no real purpose; it only helped them understand the story between the three cars and the three vengeful ghosts.

But is the purpose of this written exam really only that simple?

Is it really that simple?

As he pondered, he glanced at the clues in his hand, and then Chu Changge's gaze settled on the group photo.

In the group photo, Yang Shuang's face was almost slashed. Just one group photo made Ma Gang want to tear her to shreds. If it were a solo photo... she would probably have been torn to shreds.

"Tear it to shreds..."

photo……

Suddenly, Chu Changge seemed to understand something and looked towards the stairs. He remembered that there was a photo of Yang Shuang hanging on the door of Yang Shuang's mourning hall on the first floor.

He hadn't quite understood the purpose of hanging photos in front of the mourning hall before, but now he did.

Thank you for the donation that got me into the group to urge for more updates (づ￣3￣)づ╭～


(End of this chapter)