Chapter 558 - Staircase to Heaven (1/2)

Translator: Lonelytree  Editor: Millman97

The rusted door was tightly close. Chen Ge removed the sign that announced the park as closed and entered the abandoned children’s theme park. The rainbow door that was peeling, the fountain with no water, and the merry-go-round that could not turn anymore… no one had stepped into this place for a long time already. Chen Ge moved around and finally stopped at the entrance to the warehouse. Inside the room that smelled of mold and mildew was a Doraemon costume that was old and deserted.

“Hello? Are you still there?” Chen Ge had not hung up yet, but there had been no reply from the other end of the line. He walked into the warehouse and picked up the character costume. He held the costume’s head in one arm. “I’ll look after the costume for you for now. Take a good rest—you deserve it. I will wake you up when the sun climbs over the horizon.”

Chen Ge found a large bag in the warehouse and placed the costume inside it. When he was folding the costume, he discovered that there was a photograph placed inside the costume’s pocket. It seemed to have been taken at the hospital. A very young father was captured talking with the doctor, and there was a young boy as thin as a stick hiding behind the young father.

After putting away the photograph, when Chen Ge turned back to check the phone, he realized that the call had already ended.

“Forgot to ask for his name.” Chen Ge combed through his mind, and he realized that neither the article online nor the landlady had referred to the man by name. He appeared to exist only within the character costume. People only knew him as the Doraemon at the children’s theme park who loved children a lot.

Holding the phone, Chen Ge looked at the phone number. He had called the number twice, and he had been told two different life stories from two different victims.

What is the meaning of this phone number? Why would the victims call this number before they died? How do I find this baleful Specter that I’ve won from the Wheel of Misfortune?

Chen Ge thought about it, but he found no answer. He decided to continue calling the number. He held the large bag with the character costume in one hand and used his other hand to call the mysterious number.

From the perspective of probability, the baleful Specter that I’ve won this time should be more powerful than Ol’ Zhou and Uncle Yan.

The dial tone rang for several seconds before the call was answered. With his previous two experiences in mind, Chen Ge directly asked, “Hello, how can I help you?”

The other side of the phone was very busy, and Chen Ge could hear the sound of trains passing by the tracks. After the sound of the trains disappeared, the phone became quiet again, and in the background, it sounded like children were reciting something.

“Hello?” Chen Ge held the bag as he exited the children’s theme park. He called a taxi and told the driver to just leave the park for now. He would give him the exact address later.

The sound of howling wind came through the phone. He did not urge the other person—he waited patiently. After who knew how long, there was suddenly the sound of serious coughing.

“Are… are you okay? Are you sick?” Chen Ge’s voice was soft and gentle, giving the listener some support and strength. “Do you need any help from me?”

“Thank you, but I’m fine.” The man’s voice that replied sounded like he had a lump of coal in his throat. The voice was very harsh, and he would cough every time that he spoke.

“You don’t sound so great. I advise you go back home and don’t stay outside anymore, or you can tell me your current location and I’ll bring you to the hospital.”

For the previous two calls, Chen Ge had arrived at the scene after the phone call was ended. This time, he prepared to find the person on the other side of the line before the call ended.

“Thank you for your kindness, but there’s no need for me to go to the hospital; there is no cure for my sickness.” The man regained his breath after coughing for a long time. He moved slowly forward, and the wind picked up. “It’s already too late.”

“Incurable illness?”

“Yes, I’ve stayed at the hospital for a long time, but the illness is still the same. In fact, I feel like it’s not a sickness but a part of my body.”

Chen Ge was confused by the words that the man said. “Brother, do you mind telling me what kind of illness this is?”

“Late stage lung cancer.”

The man sounded like he was saying something ordinary, but Chen Ge’s heart fell once he heard that. “Then why are you outside alone? Where are your family members? I’ll drive you home—it’s very windy out there.”

“It is indeed quite windy here.” The man kept coughing. He sounded very weak and fragile like he could collapse at any moment. “I escaped without my family’s knowledge.”

A patient with late stage lung cancer running out without his family’s knowledge, Chen Ge was reminded of the two characters from his previous phone calls, and a very bad feeling arose in his heart. “What you’re doing is very dangerous. Can you please tell me where you are now? I will not interfere with whatever decision you might make—I just want to accompany you and go on a walk together. How does that sound?”

“It’s alright, I can walk on my own. Actually, after I found out I have this lung cancer, I’ve been wanting to go to a certain location.”

“What place is this?”

“The place is built on a very high location. To get there, one has to climb many steps.”

“You want to go to Jiujiang World Trade Center? Why do you want to go there?” Chen Ge rarely visited the city, but even he knew that the World Trade Center was the tallest building in Jiujiang, and standing at the roof, one could look over the entire Jiujiang.

Realizing that, Chen Ge immediately gave the driver the signal to tell him to drive to Jiujiang World Trade Center.

The man did not answer Chen Ge’s question. He just kept on coughing. Even through the phone, Chen Ge felt uncomfortable and pained for the man.

“Brother, why don’t you just stay where you are? I will come help you.”

“There’s no need.” After another series of coughs, the man became silent. Then, he probably thought Chen Ge was a good person, so he added, “You’re very similar to my former attending physician, be it the way you speak or the way you do things. Or are you actually my attending doctor?”

“Attending doctor?” Chen Ge was serious considering whether to pretend to be this character so that he could have an easier time to get information from the man. He was familiar with how problematic this number was because all the victims had called this number before they died. If Chen Ge gave it further thought, the last person that all the victims would interact with could be a doctor, so this number might belong to a doctor.