Chapter 55: Human Vaporization

  After leaving the airport, I took a taxi and rushed to the hospital. The hospital was still the same, with the smell of disinfectant lingering in the air, people coming and going, flowing endlessly. With the medicine made from blood and hair by my mother-in-law tucked in my arms, I walked quickly to room 1513, this was the most relaxing moment in the past few days, the big stone in my heart finally fell to the ground.

  "Older sister..." I pushed open the door, and on the hospital bed sat a little boy.

  "Huh? Excuse me, where is the patient in this bed?" I wondered why my older sister wasn't here.

  "Am I not the patient in this bed?" the boy said mischievously.

  "Uh, I mean the aunt who lived here three days ago."

  The boy shook his head and said, "I moved in this morning."

  "Have you ever seen a police officer appear here?"

  "I've seen him in the big hall downstairs and on the driveway, there are no police uncles here."

  Alas, it's completely like talking to a brick wall. I took out my phone and dialed Old He's number, but he was always out of service area. It's strange, two hours ago we were still chatting clearly, how come suddenly we can't get in touch? On the phone, he didn't mention that his sister had been discharged from the hospital or moved to a different ward either!

  Suddenly I thought that if I changed rooms or was discharged, the nurse's station should know about it. So, I ran to the nurse's station. A thin little nurse was copying medical records.

  "Excuse me, where did the female patient who was originally in room 1513 go?"

  "Are you Xiaohui?" The nurse heard me ask and put down her pen, looking at me.

  "Yes, where did she go?"

  "What is your relationship with her? We are trying to find her family members but can't get in touch."

  I was stunned for a moment, and a bad premonition rose in my heart. "What's wrong? I'm her brother."

  "The day before yesterday evening, when the doctor was on his rounds, Ming Xiaohui was not in her ward. The hospital has been trying to contact her family, and you should be her only contact person, right? But your phone has been unreachable. So we had no choice but to retrieve the ward this morning and arrange for another patient to move in."

  As soon as I heard this, I suddenly felt dizzy and grabbed the nurse's station desk to steady myself. What was going on? Where was my older sister? The venom was about to spread, and I was anxious with worry.

  Right, I'll contact Old He again. We just spoke on the phone and it's impossible for him to suddenly disappear like that. I picked up my mobile phone and dialed his number again, still out of service area.

  Settling down and thinking about it, I couldn't run away from the temple even if I could run away from the monks. I might as well go to the Public Security Bureau. I ran out of the hospital, hailed a taxi and rushed to the Public Security Bureau.

  After getting off the car, I followed my last memory to go to the third floor office to find him, but was stopped by the security guard at the gate: "This is an office area, please go to the lobby for business."

  "I'm here to see Officer He." How strange, last time there were no guards, how did they suddenly appear this time!

  "Excuse me, which officer is Mr. He?"

  "Officer He Jiaming, his office is on the third floor, I've been here before."

  "Oh, wait a minute, let me make an announcement."

  The guard went into the gatehouse and made a few phone calls inside. Finally, he hung up the phone and came out to tell me: "Officer He Jiaming is not in the bureau today."

  I was stunned! Isn't this a case of people evaporating into thin air? Just two hours ago, we were still on the phone and everything was fine. In just two short hours, everything changed! My older sister can't be found, Old He can't be found, how could they all disappear like that?