pjbooks Chapter 42 The Hunt Inside the Hospital!
Chapter 42 The Hunt Inside the Hospital!
"Ma Desheng?"
Wu Liang stared at the three words on the screen, and something clicked shut in his mind.
Meng Jiang leaned closer for a look: "Who?"
"The last person Sha Yuanbao saw before he disappeared," Wu Liang said. "This person's name was recorded in the case file of the recent skeleton case in Tongcheng."
Meng Jiang's expression changed.
He didn't know Ma Desheng, but he knew the name Sha Yuanbao.
The seller of Shen Xuejun's daughter was the predecessor of the skeleton found in the desolate ditch of Shiqiao Village. This line was marked at the far left of the timeline during the special investigation team's first case analysis meeting.
On the same night, a professional assassin obtained both Shen Xuejun's ICU room number and Ma Desheng's ward location.
"Zhang Ze!"
Zhang Ze stepped in through the door.
"Take three people and seal off all the ventilation openings. Search the pipe shafts floor by floor, starting from the seventh floor. If you can't find anyone, search for any remaining items. Be quick."
"yes!"
"Captain Meng, I'm going too."
Wu Liang had already reached the door, and he was now eager to know about Ma Desheng's situation.
Meng Jiang didn't have time to stop them. He grabbed the walkie-talkie, and the two of them rushed out of the conference room one after the other, leading a large group of people to the general surgery department on the third floor.
Third floor. General surgery ward.
There was only one nurse on duty at the night shift nurses' station, huddled inside the triage desk, trembling with fear.
They were clearly still reeling from the gunfire.
When she saw a group of plainclothes officers pouring out of the stairwell, she was so startled that she almost dropped her phone.
Meng Jiang flashed his police ID and, before she could speak, asked, "Which bed is Ma Desheng in?"
The nurse's fingers trembled as she typed two keystrokes on the keyboard: "318... turn right at the end of the corridor..."
Ward 318, the door was closed.
A rectangular observation window was embedded in the door panel, and the blue light of a television screen shone through the glass.
Meng Jiang gripped the doorknob and pressed it down.
It wasn't locked.
He pushed the door open very gently, and the hinges made a soft creak.
A man in his sixties, with gray hair, lay half-reclined on the hospital bed. An IV tube was inserted into the back of his right hand.
Right now, I'm tilting my head to look at the TV on the wall. The program is about two women in cheongsams having a dumpling-making competition.
Hearing the door open, Ma Desheng slowly turned his head, a look of confusion on his face.
"Who are you?"
Meng Jiang turned to look at Wu Liang, who had compared the man to the photo in the case file and nodded to confirm that it was the same person.
"Just checking on you." Meng Jiang breathed a sigh of relief. "Master Ma, how are you feeling tonight?"
"It's alright, but my arm feels cold from the IV drip."
"Then you should get some rest."
Meng Jiang left the ward. The door closed, and he turned to look at Wu Liang.
Wu Liang glanced through the observation window again, but Ma Desheng had already turned his attention back to the television.
Is it really just a coincidence?
Just then, Zhang Ze's voice came through the walkie-talkie: "Team Leader Meng! Something has been found in the third-floor utility shaft!"
The utility shaft is located at the far west end of the third-floor corridor, and the door has already been pried open by Zhang Ze.
Wu Liang followed Meng Jiang and squeezed through the narrow doorway. Zhang Ze's flashlight beam swept back and forth in the narrow shaft, where various pipes were densely packed on the walls.
"Here it is."
Zhang Ze squatted at the corner where the ventilation duct meets the third-floor floor.
A wad of dark blue cloth was stuffed into the gap between the corner of the pipe and the pipe wall.
Meng Jiang squatted down and shone the flashlight closer.
The repairman's uniform, with a screwdriver and a crushed headset lying next to it.
Meng Jiang's face darkened.
This confirms that someone within the police force was providing backup for this guy.
"He changed his clothes and could easily blend into the crowd and pass us by."
Wu Liang looked at the dark blue fabric, his expression also quite unpleasant.
The walkie-talkie crackled to life with the voice of Xiao Chen from the technical department.
"Captain Meng! The CCTV footage you asked me to check, the third-floor corridor, around 8:47 PM. There's someone—"
Speak slowly.
The person on the other end of the walkie-talkie took a deep breath, followed by the sound of keyboard clicks.
"At 8:47:22, a person emerged from the direction of the men's restroom on the west side of the third-floor corridor. He was wearing a hospital gown and a mask, and was of slender build. He then turned into the side passage next to the elevator and disappeared."
"What color should the patient's gown be?"
"Blue and white stripes, just like those worn by hospitalized patients."
"Is there anything wrong with this?"
He tapped the keyboard twice more.
"There's a dark black mark on my left arm; it's probably blood!"
Meng Jiang grabbed the walkie-talkie: "Keep all exits sealed! No one is allowed to enter, no one is allowed to leave. Patrol every public area on every floor. The perpetrator is injured. I'll say it again, the perpetrator is injured!"
The sound of walkie-talkie buttons and hurried footsteps echoed down the corridor.
Wu Liang stood next to the nurses' station, watching the patients in their gowns whispering among themselves in the corridor.
The person disappeared from the surveillance footage.
There were no stairs or elevators; every exit was blocked off.
He's still on the third floor.
He must still be on the third floor.
The nurse on duty peeked out from the nurses' station, and Meng Jiang pulled up the room numbers and patient names for each ward on the third floor of the inpatient department.
Wu Liang pressed his finger on the floor plan of the nurses' station. There were a total of eighteen wards on the third floor, and every single one was occupied.
His eyes then narrowed.
Three of the patients had just undergone surgery today and were still under anesthesia, so they wouldn't wake up all night.
"Team Leader Meng."
Meng Jiang turned his head.
"Investigate these three houses." Wu Liang's voice was very serious. "I'm worried he might be holding hostages."
Meng Jiang didn't ask any further questions. He pointed to three people and then waved towards the nurses' station. The nurse on duty stood up from behind the triage desk, her legs still trembling.
"317, 322, 326," Meng Jiang read the room numbers to her. "Which one is closest to the elevator shaft?"
"326. Turn left at the end of the corridor, next to the fire escape."
"Check that one first."
Meng Jiang walked in front, with three plainclothes officers scattered on both sides of the corridor.
The door to ward 326 was closed.
Meng Jiang gripped the doorknob, his other hand resting on the holster at his waist. He glanced back at Wu Liang, who stood two steps behind him.
The door opened.
Only a bedside lamp was lit in the room, its dim light falling on the face of a thin, elderly woman lying on the hospital bed. She lay on her back with her mouth slightly open, her breathing heavy and even. The IV fluid dripped slowly from the tube.
The curtains were drawn.
Meng Jiang quickly glanced under the bed and into the bathroom. The bathroom door was open, but no one was inside.
"Next."
322.
Meng Jiang pushed open the door, and a gust of cold wind rushed towards him.
On the hospital bed, the blankets on a middle-aged man were gone. Although he was asleep, the cold wind was clearly making him feel uncomfortable.
Meng Jiang strode towards the windowsill, taking only two steps to reach it. He looked down, then angrily slammed his fist into the hard wall.
Wu Liang rushed over and poked his head out of the window.
The east side of the surgical building is covered with a low shrubbery, and a gap has been smashed into the branches and leaves of the shrub, making it particularly conspicuous.
"He jumped?"
Wu Liang looked at Meng Jiang, whose face was extremely grim.
He was seven or eight meters tall and had gunshot wounds...
"Oh shit."
Meng Jiang cursed again.