Murder Bureau within Bureau

  Lu Yifeng had said he wanted to have a meal with the two of us, but when we got off the train and were saying our goodbyes, who knows when we'll see each other again? He suggested that since we're on the train, let's go to the dining car and have a good meal.

  The dishes in the dining car were not very delicious and a bit expensive, but what we wanted was an atmosphere, so we didn't care about that. The three of us ordered eight dishes and each had two bottles of beer.

  During this time, we didn't chat about anything, just exchanged phone numbers and said some polite words like "take care of each other in the future" and "let's drink to our brotherhood". Lu Yifeng even put on a big brotherly attitude and kept serving us dishes.

  When Panzi and I got off the bus, it was already midnight. But after some thought, no matter what, since we're back, let's go find Li Feng to report first.

  I didn't care about the time and occasion anymore, so I gave Li Feng a call. Unexpectedly, after connecting the phone, Li Feng said that he already knew about the Su Yuan Village thing, and we two don't need to find him specially, just go home and rest well, before the next task, he will take the initiative to find us.

  I thought so too. Li Feng is a police officer, he wants to follow up on the case in Suifeng Village, just call the local police station directly and ask.

  I and Panzi are completely done with each other now, we hurried back home, each returning to our own rooms.

  I was so comfortable lying in bed that I even thought of sleeping like this and becoming a big lazy person, but before dawn broke, I was woken up by the noise.

  I heard humming and snorting outside the door. At that time, I was also confused by sleep, thinking, where did this little pig come from?

  After a while, I came to myself and realized it was Panzi calling out. He must be in pain.

  I didn't even have time to put on my coat, and I rushed to his house. When I went in and turned on the light, I saw Panzi lying on the bed with a painful face, his hands grasping the sheets tightly.

  I asked him what was wrong, he pointed to his head and said it hurt particularly badly inside, I was quite puzzled because when we came back he was fine.

  I'm not a doctor and don't know how to diagnose illnesses, but I still went over to take a look. I didn't notice anything else, just that Panzi's pupils had become particularly large.

  This gave me a fright, it's as if I've seen a ghost, I reckon Panzi has contracted some serious illness.

  Our Wuzhou city, only one affiliated hospital is barely passable, I don't dare to delay any longer, taking Panzi downstairs to rush there. In fact, I also have no bottom in my heart, at this late hour, who knows if there will be good doctors?

  It just so happened that the doctor on duty tonight was from the neurology department, and he was very enthusiastic, letting me support Panzi to enter the examination room immediately.

  I don't know what he was checking because he didn't let me see, and made me wait outside the examination room. I was anxious, so I paced back and forth in the corridor while smoking.

  After smoking three cigarettes, he asked me to go in. During this time, I thought of a few possibilities and asked him, "Is Panzi suffering from acute cerebral hemorrhage or encephalitis?"

  The doctor shook his head and said that Panzi's condition belonged to the disorder of the basal ganglia and cerebral function, and it did not belong to organic disease at present.

  I was stunned, the doctor spoke too professionally and I didn't understand. The doctor saw that I wasn't responding, so he explained again, saying that Panzi's illness, in simpler terms, is a precursor to mental illness.

  Now I understand, but also blinded. My heart says what to do, this mental illness is not easy to cure. Pan Zhen has contracted this disease, how can he complete the task? The police cannot let a crazy person dig up clues, right?

  The doctor also recommended someone to me and said that there is an expert in the local Wufu Spiritual Hospital who has done a lot of research on this type of disease, and asked me to go there and try my luck.

  I'm a cautious person, and when the doctor said that, I didn't blindly believe it. I've heard that some doctors have poor medical ethics, exaggerating illnesses and overtreating them, so I was worried that this doctor might be one of them, tricking Panzi into going to a psychiatric hospital just to collect some kickbacks.

  I went to the corridor and made a call to Li Feng, telling him about Pan's situation. He is our superior, so it's better to ask for his opinion.

  Li Feng listened to me and also proposed the same suggestion as the doctor on duty, especially since he said that the expert in mental illness had a good reputation and was quite skilled.

  I had no choice, since everyone suggested that, I could only take Panzi to have a look. However, it was already the second half of the night, and I was afraid that if we went too early, the door would not be open, so I sat with Panzi in the corridor of the affiliated hospital until dawn.

  This Wufu Spiritual Hospital is in the suburbs, to put it bluntly, it's the only place locally that takes in mentally ill people. After I took Panzi there, a nurse specifically led us to a room and said that an expert would arrive soon, asking us to wait here. She also gave Panzi an IV drip, so he could feel better.

  There's a kind of inexplicable annoyance in my heart, I saw Panzi hang up the water and actually fell asleep drowsily, so I planned to take advantage of this period to go out for a walk and clear my mind.

  I didn't go far either, found a long bench and sat down, lit a cigarette and started smoking.

  Perhaps it was the stimulation of the smoke that made my head gradually wake up. I couldn't say I was groping in the dark, but suddenly, I thought of a possibility.

  Is it possible that Lu Yifeng was behind Pan Zi's behavior? He had so many strange medicines in his travel bag, and on the dining car, if he took advantage of the opportunity to slip something into Pan Zi's food, it wouldn't be difficult at all.

  I got a bit angry and then gave Lu Yifeng a call.

  The phone rang for a long time before I picked it up. I don't know what Ah Feng was doing, but he asked me in a low voice what I wanted with him.

  I've calmed down a bit now, my head isn't so hot anymore. I thought to myself that I couldn't question him so directly, or it would be too hurtful and damaging to our relationship. So I indirectly told him about what had happened to Panzi.

  Lu Yifeng listened very seriously, until finally he heard me sigh and curiously asked me, "Panzi got sick and that's it, everyone has birth, aging, illness and death, why are you so heartbroken? Just grasp your own future well."

  I know what he said is right, but among this batch of commuted prisoners, not many people are still alive. Panzi and I are purely difficult brothers, and I don't mind him.

  I also took the opportunity to sigh and continued, "Ah Feng, if Panzi were to have an accident, I would be heartbroken and wouldn't even think about reducing my sentence or making amends. That's just a pipe dream. In that case, I'll just continue serving my time in prison and wait for my sentence to be over."

  Lu Yifeng didn't say another word and hung up the phone without even saying goodbye.

  I listened to the beeping sound on my phone and thought Ah Feng had suddenly gone online, so I suppressed the urge in my heart and didn't look for him again.

  At this time, I had also finished smoking, so I threw the cigarette butt on the ground and stepped on it. As I lowered my head, I found a shadow under me, very obvious, someone was standing behind me.

  I thought who is this? Then turned around and took a look.

  This man is wearing a patient's uniform, and at first glance, he should be a patient in a mental hospital. He looks quite disheveled, especially with that messy hair, it's simply a bird's nest.

  He stared at me with a silly grin, and I felt a sense of tension in my heart. I was afraid that this guy would suddenly go crazy and hit me or something. It's not against the law for mentally ill people to beat others, if I fought back, I'd be the one who ends up losing.

  I hastily stood up and wanted to leave, but this lazy ghost blocked me and stretched out his hand to say, "I want to smoke!"

  I really didn't want to give it to him, but I was even more afraid that if I didn't give it to him, he would stick to me. In the end, I had no choice and took out a cigarette.

  He seemed to have quit smoking for a long time and was craving it badly, so he hastily snatched the cigarette box away and started puffing on one after another greedily.

  I stood waiting for him for a while, seeing that he didn't intend to return the cigarette box to me. I thought to myself, forget it, I don't want this cigarette anymore. I turned my head and left again.

  It's strange that after I left, he suddenly said, "Du Xiaobai, thank you for your cigarette."

  Du Xiaobai these three words gave me a shock, I even had the urge to look at my own forehead in the mirror, thinking that my nickname was written on my forehead, or else how would he know?

  I wanted to ask him, but that lazy ghost suddenly ran away, and he was running very fast, disappearing from my sight in a flash.

  I can't go chasing him around a mental hospital for this little thing, I muttered to myself, what a weirdo, and then went to find Panzi again.

  The next day, I was taking care of Panzi all day. The psychiatrist also gave Panzi a check-up, but when I asked about the results, he didn't say anything and just told me to let Panzi stay here for observation for a few days.

  It wasn't until the evening that Li Feng called me, I thought he was asking about Panzi's condition, but as soon as I picked up the phone, he said to me, "Du Rui, come to the police station right away, let's meet in the backyard."

  I don't know what's going on either, but I didn't dare to delay, so I quickly hailed a taxi and went over. Since the police station was still far away, I got off early and walked cautiously to the back of the police station, being vigilant about every move around me.

  At that time, the back door of the police station was not locked yet, so I slipped in directly. Li Feng was standing at the entrance of the morgue waiting for me, and when he saw me, he waved his hand and led me in.

  This time there was no female corpse in the morgue, and the air conditioner wasn't on either. It wasn't as unbearable, so he casually sat down at a table and started chatting with me.

  I'm not as enthusiastic as he is. To be honest, this table has even held a corpse before, I have an aversion to such things.

  I just stood beside him, casually chiming in. After a while, perhaps Li Feng felt that the atmosphere was about right, he changed the subject and asked me, "Du Rui, I've inquired about Pan Zi's illness, it doesn't look very optimistic, if he really ends up living in a mental hospital in the future, what do you plan to do?"

  My head buzzed, and his seemingly unintentional question stirred up ripples in my heart. The neurologist on duty at the affiliated hospital, the expert from Wu Fu Hospital, Lu Yifeng's strange hang-up call, and Li Feng's sudden question all seemed to be connected. In other words, Pan Zi's strange illness was deliberately created by them; they wanted Pan Zi to go crazy and become a walking corpse who wouldn't leak secrets.

  What's going on in Nanshu Village, they still care about it and don't want us two outsiders to know too much. But thinking about it, there are also some unconvincing points, why am I fine?