Chapter 94

The old woman had long since died, her body riddled with several bullet holes, still bleeding. A pistol lay discarded beside her, seemingly used for suicide.

At the same time, Xu Mo caught a stronger, more pungent odor of decay emanating from the body, similar to the one he had smelled from Mengmeng’s mother, but much more intense.

“Daddy!” The little girl Mengmeng called out as soon as she saw her father.

Han Ying quickly covered her eyes to prevent her from seeing the body on the ground.

“Mengmeng, follow Auntie, don’t come over here,” Guo Lin instructed upon hearing his daughter’s voice.

“Daddy, where’s Mommy?” Mengmeng asked.

“Mommy is away on business,” Guo Lin replied, walking over to take his daughter, but he didn’t tell her the truth.

Han Ying called out loudly, “Doctor Li, I have a question for you.”

The old man in his sixties, Li Helin, responded indifferently to Han Ying’s words, “I’m tired, I don’t have time to treat patients today.” He then instructed the bodyguards, “Please see them out.”

The bodyguards gathered around, ready to escort them out.

Han Ying pleaded, “I’m not here for treatment. I have a prescription you wrote, Doctor Li, and I want to verify it with you.”

Li Helin ignored her and walked deeper into the courtyard, saying before he left, “After you see them out, have someone take the body away.”

The bodyguards surrounded them, and one of them, seemingly the leader, said, “Doctor Li needs to rest. Please go back and wait if you have any matters to discuss.”

By “go back,” he meant returning to the bamboo houses. But as they approached, Xu Mo immediately noticed that the bodyguards also emitted the same odor of decay, clearly from the blood splattered on the old woman’s body.

The bodyguards escorted everyone out of the courtyard, and the old woman’s body was carried out and thrown outside. The lead bodyguard said to Guo Lin, “Mr. Guo, please take your wife’s body back.”

Guo Lin had become strangely calm. He handed Mengmeng to Han Ying, walked over to the old woman’s body, and crouched down to examine it closely.

The lead bodyguard approached him and whispered, “Mr. Guo, whether you believe it or not, this body is indeed your wife’s.”

The old woman’s clothing was identical to his wife’s, and Guo Lin clearly noticed this. After hearing the bodyguard’s words, he felt that this body might indeed be his wife’s.

But why had his wife become like this? He couldn’t figure it out.

He was both afraid and sad, reaching out to touch his wife’s body but suddenly pulling back as if avoiding a snake.

He stood up and looked at the lead bodyguard, who advised, “Please take it easy, Mr. Guo. Doctor Li has done his best, but your wife’s condition was quite special.”

Guo Lin sighed, “Alright, this is my wife’s body.” He paused and continued, “But I remember you have a service for storing bodies, right?”

The lead bodyguard was taken aback, then said, “Yes, we have that service. We have a dedicated basement, and the收费标准 is...”

Guo Lin interrupted him loudly, “I don’t care about your收费标准. Move my wife’s body to the basement immediately.”

“Alright,” the lead bodyguard responded, signaling to the other bodyguards. Two of them immediately carried the old woman’s body in another direction.

Guo Lin turned to look at Xu Mo and Han Ying, then said, “Please go back first. Take Mengmeng with you. I’ll come over after I’ve settled...” His words were vague, but Xu Mo and Han Ying understood his meaning.

“Daddy, where are you going?” Mengmeng called out.

“Daddy has some business to attend to. Mengmeng, go back with Auntie. Daddy will be back soon,” Guo Lin replied, then followed the two bodyguards.

Xu Mo and Han Ying had no choice but to take Mengmeng back to their residence. About two to three hours later, Guo Lin returned after settling the body. He immediately planned to leave with Mengmeng, looking hurried and anxious.

When Xu Mo asked about the body, Guo Lin was evasive and couldn’t explain clearly. However, before leaving, he warned Xu Mo and Han Ying to leave as soon as possible.

But Han Ying hadn’t yet clarified the matter of the prescription. How could they leave? After he left, the two discussed the situation, finding it inexplicably strange. If the old woman was indeed Mengmeng’s mother, why had she aged so drastically in just a few days?

Xu Mo knew that her condition was definitely related to the odor of decay, but he couldn’t understand why a decaying body would age so rapidly.

After much discussion, they decided to leave as soon as they clarified the matter of the prescription.

The next day, they went to the courtyard without waiting for Li Helin to send for them. The gate was closed, and the bodyguards were nowhere to be seen. They stood outside, peering through the fence at the security booth, but saw no one.

Han Ying pressed the doorbell, and after a long wait, a man’s voice came through the intercom, gruffly asking, “What do you want?”

Han Ying politely asked, “I want to see Doctor Li. Is he available today?”

“No,” the man replied coldly and went silent.

“Hello! Hello!” Han Ying called out a few more times, but there was no response. She waved at the camera, but no one paid attention.

Xu Mo sighed in frustration, “It’s no use. Let’s go back. It seems we won’t see Li Helin today.”

Han Ying had no choice but to return with him.

On the third day, they went again. As soon as Han Ying pressed the doorbell, a man’s voice shouted, “Get lost!” The tone was agitated and extremely rude.

Han Ying was startled and took a step back.

Xu Mo, furious, stepped forward and said into the intercom, “Did you take your medicine? Why are you so angry?”

“Get lost! Damn it, if you don’t leave, I’ll shoot you,” the man shouted hoarsely.

“Hey! What’s wrong with you? We want to see Doctor Li,” Han Ying said.

“Doctor Li is not available. Get lost!” This time, it was another man speaking, even more agitated.

Xu Mo and Han Ying looked at each other, puzzled by the bodyguards’ behavior. They had no choice but to return to their residence and wait.

On the fourth day, they went again, but after ringing the doorbell for a long time, there was no response. The courtyard was eerily quiet, seemingly deserted. Xu Mo planned to climb over the fence to check, but Han Ying stopped him.

On the fifth day, it was the same, and the courtyard seemed even more silent. By this time, they had stayed at the inn for over a week, but the man managing the inn had not come to collect the fee.

They couldn’t figure out what was happening and decided to ask someone. They went to the store and the main gate, but saw no one. It was clear that everyone had gathered in the courtyard.

They were certain that everyone was still in the courtyard, as Xu Mo, when he got closer and listened carefully, could hear faint sounds coming from deep within the courtyard. However, the sounds were indistinct because everyone was inside the buildings, and the walls muffled the sounds.

They waited for two more days, growing increasingly anxious. On this day, they went to the courtyard, rang the doorbell, but received no response.

Xu Mo listened carefully and was startled. The courtyard was eerily quiet, and he heard no sounds, as if everyone had left or gone far away.

“Let’s go in and check,” Xu Mo suggested. “I’ll climb in and open the gate for you.”

“Alright,” Han Ying agreed after a moment’s thought but added, “Be careful.”

Xu Mo nodded, went around to the side, and climbed over the fence into the security booth. The booth was quiet, with a lot of snow piled at the entrance, undisturbed, and no footprints, indicating that no one had entered for days.

Xu Mo found the control button, opened the gate, and let Han Ying in. They walked deeper into the courtyard.

Facing the main gate was a rock garden. They walked around it, and the ground was covered with deep snow, undisturbed, and no one had cleaned it.

They looked at each other, both surprised.

Han Ying nodded, and they continued deeper into the courtyard. There were many rock gardens and paths, with houses scattered among the rocks. They chose a direction and continued forward.

After walking for a few dozen steps, Xu Mo stopped suddenly, his ears perking up.

“What’s wrong?” Han Ying asked softly.

“There’s someone in this house,” Xu Mo replied softly, frowning.

He heard heavy breathing from inside the house, as if someone with tuberculosis was struggling to breathe.

Han Ying, seeing him standing still, asked, “Should we go in and check?”

Xu Mo hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “Alright, but be careful. Let’s knock on the door first and see how they respond.”

Han Ying agreed, and they approached the door. She knocked and said politely, “Is anyone in there? We need to see Doctor Li.”

After a moment, a very weak voice from inside said, “Help me!”

The voice was very low, indicating that the speaker was extremely weak, almost a faint moan.

They were startled and pushed the door open. Inside, they saw a man lying on the floor. The man was very familiar; he was the driver who had driven them in the snowmobile.

However, in just a few days, he seemed to have aged by several decades. Not only that, but he was visibly aging at an alarming rate, his hair turning white, and his face quickly wrinkling.

In just a few minutes, he had transformed from a middle-aged man in his thirties or forties to an extremely old man.