Thriller Zone: From the Mental Hospital to the Ghostly World

After determining the number of cycles, everyone went to Room 201.

The home of Wang Su and Ding Xiaoqin.

Just as Chen Ji and Zuo Shiming had guessed, with each cycle, the items in the apartment would be put back in their original places. The items that Hu Li and Chen Ji had tidied up in the living room yesterday were returned to the storage room.

However, Wang Lijun's portrait is still in Fei'er's teddy bear handbag.

Zhuang Rui said, "Xiao Chen, this should be the key item for the mission."

He still remembered the analogy Chen Ji had given him about the game yesterday, and now he understood many of the tricks and strategies within the domain.

Chen Ji nodded; he was kneeling on the living room floor, rummaging through the boxes.

The group had a clear division of labor: Zhuang Rui and Fei'er were responsible for moving the clutter out of the room again, Hu Li and Yuan Yuan were meticulous and were responsible for sorting and classifying the items, while the others searched the room one by one.

Items that were found to be useless in the previous cycle, such as soy sauce jars, will remain in the storage room.

As the boxes deep inside the room were gradually moved out, the seven people discovered that the items inside were getting older and older.

Soon, Murong Qing made new progress.

"Was the wife who died in room 502 named Wei?"

She said, taking out a large stack of bright red paper from the boxes that had just been delivered.

Chen Ji and Hu Li exchanged a glance, then remembered the tape on the wall from yesterday, and immediately got up and walked over to Murong Qing.

It really is an award certificate.

It was a thick stack of papers, I don't even know how many there were, from elementary school to university, and many of them were from competitions outside of school.

"Wang Weiwei!"

"It really is her; she is the daughter of this family."

All six people gathered around, and Zhuang Rui exclaimed, "What a top student!"

Chen Ji opened the box from which he had found the certificates of merit. Inside, it was filled with student supplies, including many textbooks and medals.

"No, he's a genius..."

Yuanyuan's eyes widened as she murmured to herself. In her hand was a piece of paper—an admission letter for a medical doctorate from one of the top universities in the world.

After contacting the foreign language materials in Room 502, everything matched up perfectly.

Chen Ji's eyes flashed, and he thought of the small supermarket's ledger.

He took the admission notice and was suddenly stunned.

"The date on the admission letter... is 2008."

"It's only June 09 now, how could she have finished her doctorate in just one year?"

Chen Ji frowned, a strong sense of unease rising in his heart.

"Could it be that Wang Weiwei dropped out of her doctoral program halfway through and went home to get married?" Hu Li asked incredulously.

"That's how it should be."

Chen Ji then recounted the ledger he had seen in room 502 during the last cycle.

"We also saw her friend's wedding congratulatory letter there, which was rather sarcastic."

Murong Qing's expression was complicated: "If I were her friend, I might have said something even harsher."

Even in today's world, being able to get a medical doctorate is a very impressive achievement. Who would have thought that Vera Wang would make such a choice?

"its not right?"

Zhuang Rui was taken aback, feeling that it still didn't make sense: "Even if she dropped out of school, she wouldn't have to end up helping out at a supermarket. There are plenty of other jobs she could choose from."

Chen Jidao said, "Because the supermarket is close to home."

The supermarket's address is right next to Liting Apartments.

"Moreover, I have a vague feeling that this is not the path that Wang Weiwei chose herself."

He recalled the foreign language material and pondered, "If Wang Weiwei were truly willing, she wouldn't have proactively purchased the latest foreign materials to study after dropping out of school."

"You mean..."

"Is someone forcing her?"

Hu Li bit her lip, momentarily puzzled.

Zuo Shiming sighed softly, a hint of emotion appearing in his eyes.

"Xiao Chen, it's hard to say. There could be many reasons. Maybe someone in her family is sick and she has to come back to take care of them."

He was older than everyone present and knew that life is unpredictable and that many times people make choices out of necessity.

The group nodded silently, but still harbored doubts.

However, at least we now know the connection between Room 502 and Room 201.

Wang Weiwei is the daughter of Wang Su and Ding Xiaoqin, but it's unclear what her relationship is with Room 305.

This question was quickly answered as the group found new information.

After lunch in the late afternoon, during the search of room 305, the group discovered some old documents and photos.

These documents not only relate to the connection between rooms 201 and 305, but also reveal the history of the Liting Apartments.

First, Zuo Shiming discovered an old photograph taken in the 1980s or 1990s.

This photo has a strong sense of nostalgia; it was taken directly in front of the main entrance of a tenement building.

Almost the instant they saw the photo, everyone's eyes widened!

There are only three people up there.

A man and a woman, both around twenty or thirty years old, stood at the front, behaving very reservedly.

The man was about 1.8 meters tall and wore a gray Zhongshan suit that didn't fit him well, hanging loosely on his thin body.

His expression was very serious, with the corners of his mouth turned down, his brows furrowed, and a large black spot on his neck, which appeared to be a birthmark.

Beside the man stood a woman of similar age, wearing a white polyester shirt, with a birthmark on her neck, and a similar lingering gloom in her eyes.

The two not only look very alike, but their expressions and auras also share a similar gloomy demeanor.

The woman was none other than the younger Wang Lijun!

The words on the back of the photo also confirmed the guesses of the group.

[A photo taken with my mother and brother in front of our renovated home]

[—Wang Lijun]

Below are two handwritten names, the handwriting messy and resembling scribbling:

Wang Lijun, Wang Su

And the third person in the photo is none other than...

The ghost Wu Zhonghai encountered yesterday!

That old hag with a mole on her face, wearing a black coat!

"She really is Wang Lijun's mother."

Zuo Shiming sighed, saying that he had raised this suspicion when the incident occurred yesterday.

"I never expected that Wang Su would be Wang Lijun's brother. They even have the same birthmark."

"The families involved in the murders are all relatives."

The documents they found later revealed an even longer history of the family.

There are two notification slips.

The first one is very old; the paper is yellowed and brittle.

[It is hereby announced that the original Wangjia Village will be renovated by July 1989, and will be divided into three new-style tenement buildings: Jixiangyuan, Ping'anyuan, and Xingfuyuan.]

The original residents of Wangjia Village will be relocated to different apartment units based on their original addresses.

Below is a list showing that Wang Lijun and Wang Su were each allocated a room in Jixiangyuan.

Jixiangyuan is the backdrop in that family photo.

Behind the three, at the entrance of the gray tenement building, the signboard of Jixiangyuan was brand new and shiny, with red silk hanging on it.

In the background, the faces of other residents passing by were filled with excitement, as if they were thrilled to be moving into their new homes.

Only Wang Su and the other two looked gloomy.

The second document is a more recent official notice, issued in 2001:

Demolition Notice

[Dear residents of Jixiangyuan]

In order to improve the urban living environment and enhance the quality of life for residents, the municipal government has approved the demolition and reconstruction of Jixiangyuan.

The new residential project is named "Liting Apartments".

After reviewing these three documents, everyone looked at each other in bewilderment.

"How long exactly has Wang Lijun's family lived at this address?"

Murong Qing murmured, they never imagined that the families involved in these three murders would be so deeply connected to this apartment.

On the same piece of land.

Initially, it was Wangjia Village, which lasted for an unknown period of time.

Perhaps the Wang family has lived here since their great-grandparents.

Next, Wang Lijun and Wang Su's generation were assigned to Jixiangyuan.

After the turn of the millennium, the old building was renovated on the original site, which is how the current Liting Apartments came to be.

"The past is never truly gone, and what has passed has never truly left..."

Chen Ji murmured, vaguely glimpsing the development history of a family.

What's gone has never truly left.

It's not just the ghost of the deceased old woman that's wandering around this apartment building.

Furthermore, the current Liting Apartments were built on the ruins of Wangjiacun and Jixiangyuan...