My House of Horrors

“The man living in Room 5 was called Xu Tong. He suffered from Fregoli Delusion Syndrome. He thought that all the people around him were disguised by a similar individual, and he lived in a made-up world.

“The patient of the Room 6 was called Han Bao’er. She was a midnight show type of host. There is no picture of her in the files, but her main doctor wrote down this sentence at the bottom of her patient’s record—Just how harsh must God be to have made a woman as beautiful as this?

“Han Bao’er only stayed at the place for two and a half months before she was taken away. She suffered from a rare disease called Body Dysmorphic Disorder. She had the tendency to exaggerate the imperfections on her body, and she could not accept the slightest flaw. When she was hospitalized, she once tried to chop off her fingers simply because the nails on both hands failed to be symmetrical.

“The name of the patient in Room 7 has been lost, but he suffered from Cotard’s Syndrome or the Walking Corpse Syndrome. He believed that he was already a dead man, telling the doctors that his organs had all decayed. He announced to whoever would listen that he had seen the real world and that the reality we are living in isn’t real at all.

“Room 8 had a reinforced steel door, and the patient inside was called Xiong Qing. This patient was once the doctor of the Third Sick Hall. It was believed that his mind snapped after dealing with too many tortured souls. He was diagnosed with Hemineglect when he was thirty. This type of patient fails to be aware of items to one side of space. When asked to draw the picture of a man, he would miss out the half of the arms and legs. When asked, he said this was the real perfect form.

“Technically, this disease was not serious, but Xiong Qing was a perfectionist, so when he saw patients with a full set of limbs, he could not control himself from wanting to fix it.

“The patient in Room 9 was called Wu Fei. There was not a clear diagnosis on this patient even when the hospital closed down. Some of the doctors thought that he suffer from Asperger’s because he had exceptional memory and superhuman intelligence. Normally, he would not converse with others—perhaps he thought that everyone around him, including his doctor, was too much of a dummy to communicate with.

“During treatment, he confessed to have done many crazy things, and some of them had involved the police, but after investigation, most of them were faked, and for the real cases, the real murderer had been caught and sentenced; they had nothing to do with Wu Fei. Wu Fei had not hurt anyone when he was hospitalized, but the hospital still decided to lock him in Room 9. This was something the hospital and the police decided on after much discussion.

“According to how the hospital kept their patients, the patient in Room 10 should have been the most dangerous, but the patient is not named. I’ve looked through all the patient’s records, and the space for name was only filled with a 10. The doctors never mentioned him by name, and they often referred to him as the Devil.

“This patient suffered from Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome or Juvenile Gout. When he acted up, he would use all sorts of equipment available to ruin his own face. His perception of reality was different from normal, and he had a highly destructive tendency. Patient 10 spent most of his time tied to the bed. When he was out, he would be chained to the wheelchair with people looking after him.

“Actually, those with Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome rarely live beyond the age of twenty, so this Patient 10 is probably dead now.”

Doctor Gao listed the information on all the nine patients, and Chen Ge used a pen to jot everything all down. Looking at the recorded information, Chen Ge felt a chill up his spine. “Doctor Gao, do you know what happened to these nine people after they got transferred out of the Third Sick Hall?”

“Other than Wang Shenglong, Xu Tong, and Han Bao’er, who had records from other hospitals, the rest of them seemed to have disappeared.”

“Then do you have ways to contact the three of them?” Chen Ge wanted to know more about the Third Sick Hall before starting the livestream.

“The contact numbers on the files are mostly useless now, so even if I give them you, it’ll be pointless,” Doctor Gao rejected Chen Ge tactfully. “I’m calling you so late at night mainly to tell you that Wang Shenglong might be very dangerous. Mental patients morph into a different person when they act up. Do not purposely go and provoke them. If you are hurt, the law will not be on your side because these people are mentally unhealthy.”

What Doctor Gao meant was simple. After Chen Ge fell down, he had noticed the carpet was flat, so he suspected that Chen Ge did not trip and fall but was pushed by an outside force. He had made this midnight call to warn him of the possible dangers.

“I understand. I’ll be more careful.” Chen Ge thought about it before adding, “Doctor Gao, if you find out any more information about the Third Sick Hall, please tell me. I’m very interested in that hospital.”

“Your hobby sure is unique. Alright then, rest well. I will inform you when I come up with a new development.”

After hanging up, Chen Ge arranged the pieces of paper on the table, his brain mulling over the nine patients. Ten rooms but nine patients, why? If the rooms are arranged according to their danger level, why did the hospital keep Room 3 empty? Has the room been empty from the very beginning, or was the room left empty for a patient who died in it?

Chen Ge did not know when he fell asleep, but when he woke up, it was already morning. Looking at his watch, he saw it was 6 am. He washed his face, exited the Haunted House, jumped on his bicycle, and headed for the nearest morning market.

The market was already busy even though the day was just starting. Chen Ge was quite conspicuous amid the crowd of middle-aged aunties and uncles. He first went to buy a live cock and then went to the stall that sold pork. He stood beside the stall with his eyes open wide.

When the proprietor was finally free, he moved forward. The proprietor was a man about forty. He had noticed Chen Ge a long time ago. “What do you want?”

When Chen Ge named his request, he felt weirdly embarrassed. “I want to buy your cleaver.”

“You want to buy my cleaver?” The man’s face fell, thinking that Chen Ge was ridiculing him.

“I’m serious.” Chen Ge placed the money on the counter. “Give me a price.”

After a long explanation, the man finally understood why Chen Ge wanted his cleaver and laughed. “It’s not that I don’t want to sell you this, but nowadays, we have special machine to put the pigs down. You’ll need to go to a butcher to find the kind of cleaver you’re looking for.”