Chapter 46

Ghost Car 5, Punishing the Devil

"What did the culprit look like?" Os, disbelieving, asked Wang Yao again, wondering if he had misheard.

"A ghost," An Ge'er answered for Wang Yao, adding, "She's telling the truth."

Mo Fei and Jiu Yi widened their eyes in disbelief at An Ge'er, while Wang Yao looked up at him and asked, "You don’t think I’m lying?"

An Ge'er gave a slight smile and continued, "What did this ghost look like?"

"Um, it had many heads," Wang Yao recalled, visibly frightened, "Several eyes, too blurry to see clearly, and a terrifying laugh."

"Oh?" Jiu Yi stroked his chin, intrigued, "That's unusual."

An Ge'er crossed his legs in thought and turned to Os, "What did the doctors say about her physical condition?"

"Oh, her body is fine," Os replied, "But the psychologist said she's suffered severe shock."

An Ge'er smiled dismissively and said, "Even a dog knows that encountering such a thing would be shocking. Do we really need a psychologist to tell us that?"

"Ha," Jiu Yi laughed, slapping his thigh, "Well said."

"Anger, when did you start having such a low opinion of psychologists?" asked Os helplessly.

Anger didn't respond to Os. Instead, he turned to Wang Yao and asked, "Yao Yao, have you encountered that ghost before? Did you tell your parents, and then they sent you to consult a psychologist?"

Wang Yao looked surprised, gazing up at Anger, "How did you know?"

Anger smiled slightly and said, "The psychologist mentioned a bunch of issues like childhood fantasies and friendships. After that, your parents became more protective than before, but it made you uncomfortable. They started to restrict your social interactions, causing your friends to gradually drift away. So, you stopped sharing your experiences with others, didn't you?"

After hearing this, Wang Yao lowered her head and nodded slightly.

"Oh..." Os stroked his chin thoughtfully and asked, "Is that why you didn't want to talk? Then why did you decide to speak to Anger?"

"Do you know Emma?" Anger asked.

Wang Yao lifted her face, nodding with a faint smile.

"There are things you're afraid to share with others, but you've talked to Emma about them, haven't you?" Anger asked. "I saw you greeting her discreetly the other day. Do you think I'm trustworthy because I'm her relative and you believe I'll believe you just like she does?"

"Yes." Wang Yao nodded.

Anger patted her and said, "Put on your coat. We're going to catch that demon."

"Catch a demon?" Wang Yao's eyes widened as she looked at Anger, appearing somewhat frightened.

"Don't worry," Anger raised an eyebrow, "It has many heads, right? We'll pluck them off one by one."

Then, Os completed Wang Yao's discharge procedures. Together with the little girl, they left and drove towards the sanatorium.

"Anger, do you already know who the culprit is?" Os asked.

"Yes," Anger nodded, "Of course, I know."

"Who is it?" Os asked, curious.

"Os, you'll find out in time," Anger said with a smile, reaching out to stroke the neck fur of Ace, who lay on his lap.

"Anger, don't dismiss psychology so quickly. You are using it yourself to analyze that child," Os raised an eyebrow, looking at Anger.

"Os," Anger said with a smile, "don't hastily confine deduction to the narrow realm of psychology. Remember, psychology itself is a form of deduction."

"Huh?" Os scratched his head.

"Psychologists aren't clairvoyants. They study human behavior and thought... Their work is simply a form of reasoning, from behavior to thought, and vice versa. Psychology sets a paradigm, not an exception. The knowledge of psychologists applies to most people because their reasoning models are derived from the thinking and behavior of the majority. However, it doesn't apply to a minority. Not all psychologists can be detectives, but true detectives are invariably excellent psychologists." Anger looked out the window, then said to Mo Fei, "Stop the car here."

Mo Fei stopped the car at the bridge where the accident had occurred the previous day. Anger said to Os, "You wait here and remember to catch the culprit later."

"I wait here?" Os was surprised. "You mean the culprit will appear? I should call other officers over."

Anger waved his hand, "Hide in a secluded bush. If there are too many officers, the culprit won't show up. Have the police secure the area at a distance, preventing other vehicles and pedestrians from coming here."

"Oh, okay! This place is quite remote, and there aren't many cars around anyway." Os got out of the car, went near the bridge, hid in a copse, and began to make phone calls.

Anger instructed Mo Fei to keep driving.

Finally unable to contain his curiosity, Jiu Yi asked Anger, "Great detective, what purpose do I serve by being here?"

Anger glanced at him and said, "I need you to do something that's somewhat risky."

"What?" Jiu Yi asked, puzzled.

Anger gestured for him to come closer with a finger. Jiu Yi leaned in, and Anger whispered something into his ear.

Jiu Yi looked at Anger for a long moment, then gave a wry smile. "That really is dangerous... Did you help me just so I could do this kind of task?"

Anger nodded and explained, "If you don't do it, I'll have to ask Os, but he's not sharp enough and will probably mess it up. Mo Fei could probably do it, but I don't want him to. So, it has to be you."

Jiu Yi spoke dejectedly to the small flying squirrel on his shoulder, "Elisa, if I die, go find yourself a good man to marry."

The little flying squirrel covered its face with its hands, mimicking sorrow.

Anger looked away, muttering under his breath, "Stop being so dramatic. It's just a small task, it won't be too much for you."

After driving for a while longer, Anger told Mo Fei to stop the car. He then turned to Wang Yao and said, "Yao Yao, Jiu Yi is going to pretend to be your uncle. He's planning to adopt you and loves you very much. You need to be very close to him, understand?"

Wang Yao looked at Jiu Yi, who smiled and curled the corner of his mouth.

Wang Yao nodded and said to Angler, "Alright."

Angler and Mo Fei, along with Ais, got out of the car. Jiu Yi had Elisa hide in his pocket and drove alone, bringing Wang Yao to the sanatorium. Angler and Mo Fei walked towards the sanatorium.

"Angler," Mo Fei asked, "what's the mystery this time?"

Angler pondered for a moment and replied, "Mo Fei, do you know the difference between a sanatorium and a nursing home?"

Mo Fei thought for a moment and said, "Sanatoriums are more upscale, while nursing homes are more basic."

"In sanatoriums, most of the residents are not lonely elders but those with families and good living conditions who wish to live among other elderly. They come here for recuperation or to enjoy a peaceful life. In nursing homes, it's mostly elders without any family support," explained Angler. "It's like the difference between an orphanage and a boarding school for the elite."

Mo Fei nodded, "That's one way to put it."

"So, there's a fundamental difference in the people who work at sanatoriums and nursing homes, wouldn't you agree?" Angler asked.

Mo Fei, frowning in thought, nodded, "That's one way to see it. Are you referring to their treatment or mindset?"

"Treatment is a matter of resources, varying from place to place, just like how some elderly in nursing homes live happily while others suffer abuse from staff. But in terms of mentality, there should be a commonality," Angler said. "Generally, staff in nursing homes lean towards volunteerism, witnessing misfortune and thus offering love, right?"

"Yes," Mo Fei nodded, "Isn't that typical? Seeing misfortune and responding with love."

"Then what about sanatoriums, or elite boarding schools? What do you see before you? Symbols of happiness, people with means and background, whom you cannot offend lightly. What do you see? What do you give?"

Mo Fei shrugged, "These people don't need love from the staff, just professional service."

"Again, the right answer," Angler nodded and sighed, "When a happy person sees another's misfortune, they feel even more fortunate, and an excess of happiness breeds sympathy, leading them to share their surplus love. Thus, the world is beautiful. An unhappy person, seeing someone worse off, feels less unfortunate by comparison, realizing that mutual help is possible in a cruel world, keeping it beautiful. And when a fortunate person meets another, they share their happiness, keeping the world beautiful. But when an unfortunate person meets a fortunate one, that's where the balance is lost."

"Right," Mo Fei nodded, "The unfortunate feel even more so, perceiving the world as unfair."

"Many wars in human history have erupted when the number of the unfortunate far exceeds that of the fortunate, a common problem. If a hundred million are suffering while a million are happy, it might lead to the former's resentment towards the latter, sparking war. On an individual level, if a hundred are happy and one is suffering, it might cause the latter's resentment towards the former."

Mo Fei, seeming to understand, asked, "Angler, are you saying that in the sanatorium, one person's immense suffering, seeing others' happiness, led to these tragedies?"

"I've reviewed the data; initially, it was ordinary pedestrians, mostly local villagers with happy families, who were hit by the car. But later, it involved the family members of those living in the sanatorium," Angler explained. "Then there's what Wang Yao mentioned, the issue with ghosts."

"That does sound peculiar," Mo Fei said.

"Mo Fei," Angler asked with a smile, "when you were a child, did you have an image of a devil in your mind, like something you were terribly afraid of?"

Mo Fei thought for a moment and replied, "Yes, I was always scared of headless ghosts as a child... I saw a movie about it once. It seems silly now, but it really frightened me back then."

Angler nodded, "Wang Yao's issue is that she encountered the very embodiment of terror. The child wasn't lying, which means what she saw was real... In other words, she saw the terrifying things she imagined. When do people see such frightening things?"

Mo Fei frowned in thought, "In dreams?"

"More precisely, when your consciousness is not under your control," Angler said. "This is rare... during dreams, brain injury... or after taking hallucinogenic drugs."

"Someone drugged Wang Yao?" Mo Fei was astonished.

"Not just Wang Yao," Angler revealed, "Her parents might have also been drugged."

Mo Fei understood, "So that's what led to the car accident tragedy?"

"Yes," Angler nodded, "Have you guessed who the perpetrator might be?"

Mo Fei, stroking his chin, said, "The sanatorium's events often include food, like barbecues, biscuits, cakes, and drinks... That night, many people ate the barbecue and biscuits without any strange occurrences. We brought our own cake, so we didn't eat anything else... but we did drink the tea... The target for poisoning would have been carefully chosen... So the simplest way would be to put the drug in the tea. Was the person distributing the drinks the poisoner?"

Angler's mouth curled into a smile, "Very good."

Mo Fei recalled that the person serving the tea and managing the barbecue was the same, a thin middle-aged man in his forties, always smiling.

By now, the two had arrived at the entrance of the sanatorium. Inside the gates, the usual joyous atmosphere was replaced by sorrow, with a large circle of candles surrounding a photograph of a deceased elderly lady, accompanied by many flowers. Many elderly people were crying in grief, seemingly at a memorial event.

Mo Fei and Angler walked over to a stone bench.

"Emma," Angler called out.

Emma was sitting on the stone bench, her head lowered. Looking up at Angler, she said, "Angler, I knew you would come."

Angler sat beside Emma, reaching out to drape an arm around her shoulders, "Don't be sad."

Emma nodded and asked, "Angler, can you punish the culprit?"

Angler smiled, lifted Emma's hand, and kissed the back of it, saying, "I will drive away all the demons that dare come near you."

Emma nodded and reached out to touch Anger's cheek.

Mo Fei stood aside, turned his head, and saw Jiu Yi holding Wang Yao in front of a beverage distribution cart, served by a man in his forties... the same man from that night. Jiu Yi took tea and orange juice from him, giving the orange juice to Wang Yao to drink, and drinking the tea himself... Soon after, Wang Yao and Jiu Yi finished discussing the funeral arrangements for the old lady with the director and took their leave.

When Mo Fei looked again... the man who was distributing the tea was gone.

Mo Fei whispered something to Anger, who nodded, stood up, said goodbye to Emma, and left with Mo Fei.

Outside the gate, Mo Fei asked Anger, "Why didn't you tell Emma about the beverage distributor?"

Anger smiled, "I won't let Emma know that there is such a terrifying presence in her life. It would make her uncomfortable in the future. She likes that sanatorium; its air suits her health."

"Anger."

As they passed a cluster of bushes, Wang Yao poked her head out and called out to them.

Anger was slightly surprised and laughed, "I thought Jiu Yi had taken you to the car."

Wang Yao said, "Yes, he asked me if I wanted to come with him to catch the devil. I said I was scared, so he left Elisa with me here to wait for you." As she spoke, Elisa emerged from Wang Yao's dress pocket and squeaked twice at Anger and Mo Fei.

Mo Fei reached out to embrace Wang Yao, while Anger stroked his chin and remarked, "Jiu Yi is still a gentle gentleman."

"Yao Yao, did you drink the orange juice?" Mo Fei asked.

Wang Yao shook her head, "Jiu Yi told me it was just for show, and not to drink anything."

Anger smiled, and at that moment... a loud bang suddenly came from ahead...

Anger and Mo Fei exchanged glances, quickening their pace towards the sound.

Not far ahead, by the same river as last night, they saw Oscar's black jeep parked, with Jiu Yi leaning against it and Oscar pacing anxiously, exclaiming, "Why are the ambulance and police so slow!"

Many villagers had also gathered, asking, "Was there another car accident?"

Jiu Yi gestured to the crowd, "The one that fell into the river, that's the blue truck involved in the hit-and-run."

"Ah! The ghost car?"

"It's not a ghost car, just one driven by a madman," Jiu Yi said nonchalantly.

The villagers exchanged glances, arranging for a boat to retrieve the vehicle, but seemingly in no hurry to rescue anyone.

"Anger," Oscar said with a mournful face upon seeing Anger, "You knew there would be an accident. Why didn't you call an ambulance and the police?"

Anger shrugged and asked, "What happened?"

"Oh," Jiu Yi laughed lightly, "Just now, at the sanatorium, that man put something in my tea. Instinctively, I switched his cup with mine and then drove off. That man followed me, driving erratically... I didn’t touch him; he crashed into the river on his own."

Anger stroked his chin, "So, it's a case of harming oneself while trying to harm others?"

Oscar sighed, looked at Anger, then at Jiu Yi, and said, "Anger, you did it on purpose again."

Anger raised an eyebrow indifferently and asked, "Oscar, do you have any proof?"

"This isn't right," Oscar said, somewhat helplessly, "Although he deserved his fate, still..."

Before Oscar could finish his sentence, Mo Fei, holding Wang Yao who was curiously peeking over the bridge, said to her, "Yao Yao, the devil is dead now."

"Is he really dead?" Wang Yao looked at Mo Fei.

"Yes, he's dead. He won't be able to hurt you or anyone else ever again," Mo Fei said with a smile.

"That's wonderful," Wang Yao said, beaming.

Anger cast a sidelong glance at Oscar, who deflated and stopped talking. He turned towards the bridge and, jumping anxiously, asked the villagers, "Hey, has the body been retrieved yet?"

The villagers replied helplessly, "Officer, the car is too heavy. The front is stuck in the mud. We need a crane."

Oscar remained anxiously in place, making calls for assistance, while Anger, Mo Fei, Jiu Yi, along with Yao Yao and Elisa, got into the car and left the bridge.