Miscellaneous Records of Ning Tai’s Strange Talks

“I’ll count to three, and when I reach one, we rush out together and run to the fifth floor.”

“And what about you? You’ve got to go with me.”

“Don’t worry about me; you just have to rush; I’ll give you the flashlight, notebook, and key.”

“You…”

Fu Jue counted lightly, but at this moment it seemed so clear that it landed on Jiang Yuqin’s heart.

“Three, two, one.”

Fu Jue opened the door.

The inertia of the door rolled the thing to the ground, and Jiang Yuqin ran upstairs without looking back.

Fu Jue looked back at the thing, turned around, and ran towards Jiang Yuqin.

That thing knew that Fu Jue and Jiang Yuqin were not of the same kind, so it got up from the ground and chased after them. The blood-red, rotten meat trailed a long bloodstain, which was shocking. While crawling on the ground, it made a “boom, boom, boom” sound. But after chasing them all the way to the fourth floor, it dared not go any further when he reached the stairs.

“What did I say? Don’t worry about me. I have a way to protect myself.” Fu Jue caught up with Jiang Yuqin and said half-jokingly.

Jiang Yuqin didn’t reply, “How did you know that thing dare not go up to the fifth floor?”

“If it knows the way to the dental office, it is probably Zhang Zekai. According to the notes, Zhang Wanyu saw Zhang Zekai near the operating room on the fifth floor. He probably entered the door of that operating room. The fifth floor is not an easy place; you better be careful. I guess he died in the operating room on the fifth floor.” Fu Jue paused, “The operating room on the fifth floor seems to be offering something.”

Fu Jue seemed to think of something and asked, “Is the nurse’s station on the fifth floor? Can I find another flashlight?”

“People in the nurse station take turns to work the night shift; logically, there should be some.”

“Let’s go and see.”

It didn’t take long for Jiang Yuqin to find another flashlight in the drawer of the nurse’s station.

Fu Jue tried it: “It’s working; let’s go to your office; you can’t just stay on the fifth floor for a long time.”

Jiang Yuqin’s breath hadn’t calmed down at this time. Fu Jue smiled and said, “You are too weak; you will be panting like this after running for a while; it won’t work like this; follow me to exercise more in the future.”

Jiang Yuqin stopped panting when he heard this, and he hit Fu Jue’s head, saying, “I’m weak? Me? Weak?”

Since Fu Jue was a head taller than him, Jiang Yuqin couldn’t find a suitable place for a while, and this hit happened to land on the back of his head. Fu Jue held the back of his head and screamed repeatedly, “I’m weak, I’m weak.”

Jiang Yuqin didn’t continue to mess with him and opened the door of his office.

Same as last time, Fu Jue locked it inside with his backhand.

“Look for Zhang Zekai’s notes.” Jiang Yuqin said.

Fu Jue moved the flashlight twice and found Zhang Zekai’s last note.

[Work notes

Record time: 1998.6.2

Recorder: Zhang Zekai

Wanyu and I are going to get married soon, but in the past few days, I can always hear the sound of knocking on the door, which is very loud. I asked Zhu Yan, who is in the same office as me, and he said he didn’t hear it.

At first, I thought it was my auditory hallucinations. Maybe the pressure during this period was too great, and patients came one after another, but that was not the case. This sound lasted for a month, and I could hear it almost every day, sometimes at noon and sometimes at night; the time was not fixed.

Later, when I was on night shift, I waited outside the door, but the voice still sounded. I guessed it might not be knocking on my door. Later, I also tried to knock on the door of my own office. Zhu Yan said that I might be in a daze, but since then, the knock on the door has never sounded again, and I don’t take it seriously anymore.

But since I went to the fifth floor, the knock on the door rang again, still at the same time, but I ignored it.

I guessed that there might be a problem on the fifth floor, so I went to the fifth floor to check.

Just as I was writing the record, there was another knock on the door.]

The record was very short; it didn’t take long to complete reading it.

“On the fifth floor, all accidents happened on the fifth floor; is there anything else?”

Fu Jue shook his head and said, “No more; this should be Zhang Zekai’s last note before entering the door.”

Jiang Yuqin sighed and took out the key from his pocket, “Then what is this key for?”

Fu Jue still shook his head and said, “I don’t know; my dad never told me. Did he say anything when he gave you these things?”

“He told me not to open it and give it to you after he died. But why didn’t he hand them over to you in person? Instead, he borrowed my hand.”

“Just like this hospital, there must be reasons why he refused to use these things.”

Jiang Yuqin asked, “Then what are your plans next?”

“Is there a map of the hospital?”

“Teacher Zhou’s office should have.”

“Then let’s go to the dean’s office to see.”

It was also a coincidence that just after Fu Jue finished saying this, the lights in the office began to flicker, causing Jiang Yuqin’s eyes to hurt.

“Hurry up; it’s not safe here anymore.” Fu Jue pulled Jiang Yuqin, “Where’s the office?”

“The top floor, that is, the sixth floor, the first room after exiting the stairs.”

Jiang Yuqin took Fu Jue all the way up the sixth floor and into the office.

Jiang Yuqin stopped walking after looking at the office.

“What’s wrong?” Fu Jue asked.

Jiang Yuqin frowned, “This place is different from the last time I came; even the decorations in the room have changed.”

Fu Jue pondered for a while after hearing this and then returned to his original state: “The most important thing is to find a map now, to mark the places where you can go and the places you can’t go.”

Jiang Yuqin didn’t say anything and started to search for the map in this unfamiliar office.

“Found it; get a pen.” Fu Jue propped his hands on the desk, writing and drawing on the map.

Jiang Yuqin stood beside him and provided him with light. In order to save electricity, he turned off the other flashlight. The huge office seemed empty at the moment, as if something could jump out of the darkness at any time.

Jiang Yuqin was a little tired, and when he saw that Fu Jue had finished drawing on the map, he slumped on the office chair, sweating coldly, as if he had been fished out of the water.

“Let’s take a break, I’m a little tired.” Jiang Yuqin spoke softly.

Fu Jue looked at Jiang Yuqin’s abnormally red face and reached out to touch it.

He has a fever. Fu Jue was thinking in his heart but didn’t say it out loud.

Where can he get the water now? Where is the safe place? It has not been determined yet, and Fu Jue dare not take him around.

Fu Jue was also tired, so he sat on the ground regardless of anything happening.

In order to save electricity, he turned off both flashlight barrels, and the whole room fell into a kind of void.

He didn’t know how long it took. Fu Jue sat on the ground and fell into memories.

Because his surname was not Zhou and he had no mother, he had been a reckless boy since he was a child and did all kinds of wrong things when he was in school, like fighting and smoking.

But all of a sudden, just such a reckless boy changed his mind and wanted to study hard to get into No. 1 Middle School. Maybe God was biased towards him, and he really let him step on the admission score line of No. 1 Middle School.

After he went to high school, he did eight points of hard work and finally got a 985 in the test.

Also, after graduating from high school, his father, Zhou You, seldom cared about him; except for monthly living expenses, he had no communication with him.

He actually didn’t believe that he was not Zhou You’s biological son; maybe his surname was Fu after his mother’s surname.

On Zhou You’s desk, apart from the family photo, there was also a blurry photo of a person whose face couldn’t be seen clearly; only a very thin person could be vaguely seen. Fu Jue firmly believed that it was his mother.

But this was not the case. Later, Zhou You became seriously ill. He drove everyone out, and only Fu Jue was left alone.

He said, “Fu Jue, you are actually not my biological son; haven’t you always been curious about the photo on my desk?” That was an old friend of mine, named Cheng Jin, who passed away due to illness more than 30 years ago. He had just passed his 25th birthday when he died, but now I’ve almost forgotten what he looks like, and now I’m going to accompany him.”

……

Thinking of this, Fu Jue sat up abruptly. Yes, Zhou You told him about the person in the photo before; that person must be very important!

That person died of an illness more than 30 years ago, and the hospital would leave a record. As long as the identity of that person could be found, it would not be far from the door of life.

Fu Jue stood up and went to check Jiang Yuqin’s temperature. The fever should be gone soon. He woke up Jiang Yuqin.

“Did I fall asleep?” Jiang Yuqin’s voice was still a little hoarse when he just woke up.

“Yeah, but I have one more important thing to tell you. I remember, my dad told me about that person before he died, the most special person to him; his name was Cheng Jin. More than 30 years ago, my dad performed the surgery on him himself, but he didn’t get off the operating table in the end. The hospital must have records, right?”

Jiang Yuqin frowned, “There should be, but the hospital has made major changes since the teacher took over, and I don’t know where the records are kept.”

Fu Jue was discouraged. Knowing that he was just wishful thinking, he began to look through the work notes left by Zhou You.

Suddenly, his eyes stopped on one of them.