"That's right, officer, do you have any news of her? I've waited for her all these years, and it's been so hard. You know she promised me she'd come back!"
"She..." For a moment, I couldn't bring myself to tell her the truth. I was afraid the old woman wouldn't be able to bear it, so I said, "Here's the situation: we found her. However, due to certain circumstances, we need your cooperation!"
"What circumstances? What's wrong with her now? Does she have a job? Is she married? Is she happy?" The old woman anxiously fired off several questions in quick succession.
Zhang Keying and I exchanged glances. Liu Yuning sighed. Perhaps it was a pang of empathy, but she couldn't help but break into quiet sobs. Ever since her parents passed away, her personality seemed to have changed even more. I comforted her a few words, and then Zhang Keying said, "Grandma, she's doing well, but she has porphyria. Do you know about that?"
"Porphyria? Does that mean it's true?" the old woman said mournfully.
"What's true? Do you know something about this?" I pressed.
"Yes, actually, on the day she left, I saw her with a boy. I had noticed before that Yuzhu wasn't in very good health. Her skin was very fair, and she was frail, just like that boy. I suspected they might have some illness and were going for treatment, but I didn't know how to ask, and they wouldn't have told me anyway. At the time, I saw them squatting in the moonlight, I don't know what they were doing. I thought they might be a couple. Even though I didn't think much of the boy, as long as Yuzhu liked him, I didn't want to say too much. Then they left. So many years have passed, and if you hadn't found me, I probably would never have known anything about her!"
"They were squatting in the moonlight? Did they do anything else?" Zhang Keying asked.
"They, they looked like they were praying, or perhaps performing some kind of ritual. Do you know about vampires?"
It was happening again. So they already had porphyria when they were in town. Was that the reason they decided to leave? As I was pondering, Zhang Keying suddenly continued, "So, do you know of any other porphyria patients in town?"
"Yes, we do have some porphyria patients hidden here. I can tell you honestly, this is a treatment base for porphyria. The country has gathered some porphyria patients here for treatment. I don't know if my granddaughter encountered such a patient and was bitten, which caused her to become like this."
The old woman didn't understand the cause of porphyria. It wasn't caused by being bitten by a porphyria patient. It's not like a zombie. Porphyria is a genetic disease. If her parents had this disease, she would inherit it even if she wasn't bitten by a porphyria patient.
On this matter, I asked the old woman about Yuan Yuzhu's parents. However, she said that she had found the girl, and she was born at Panhe Town Central Hospital.
It seemed that to understand Yuan Yuzhu's past, we had to go to the hospital. Hospital records would surely be accurate.
After bidding farewell to the old woman, we found the hospital. During our investigation, a doctor found Yuan Yuzhu's birth date and some information on the computer. Indeed, Yuan Yuzhu had porphyria from birth. Her mother was named Jing Mengyun, but her father was never found.
This woman was formerly the院长 of the Victory Convent. No wonder she didn't dare to recognize her daughter. It turned out to be such a special identity.
We thanked the doctor and then went to the convent where Jing Mengyun resided. Seeing strangers, a middle-aged nun's hands trembled inexplicably. Her eyes emitted a dim light, her eyelashes blinked irregularly, and her lips moved unnaturally. Even before we asked, I felt something was very wrong from her reaction.
Approaching her, she seemed to try to appear calm and asked, "Gentlemen? Who are you?"
I teased her deliberately, "Don't you know? I'm a police officer!"
I showed her my badge. Jing Mengyun flinched back in fear, but she quickly regained her composure and asked calmly, "Why?"
"Jing Mengyun, I don't think I need to explain further. You should know that Yuan Yuzhu has been apprehended, right?"
"I don't know what you're talking about! I don't know Yuan Yuzhu either!" Jing Mengyun flatly denied.
"Look at this. What is it?" I produced Yuan Yuzhu's birth certificate and some other documents. Her name and many photos were on them. Jing Mengyun stammered and retreated further. Several nuns looked over, wanting to inquire, but Xia Hou and the others had already surrounded her!
She originally wanted to escape, but how could she be a match for us?
A few hours later, we were back at the Guangming City Provincial Department.
In the interrogation room, I sternly placed numerous porphyria treatment diagnoses in front of her: "Jing Mengyun, you're quite something. How many porphyria patients have you controlled over the years? If I hadn't investigated your hospital, I wouldn't have imagined it. So it was you who made them commit crimes. Do you think you're Lilith? Using the psychology of those patients to fulfill your desires, brainwashing them, instilling biblical stories. Do you think you're great? Do you think you're the ancestor of vampires? These are crimes, crimes!! You must be punished by law!!"
"I did nothing wrong. They are all porphyria patients. If I hadn't helped them find salvation, they would have lost the courage to live long ago. Wasn't I helping them?"
"But as a doctor, don't you know the real way to treat porphyria?"
"Of course I know, but with the current medical standards, it's just treating the symptoms, not the root cause. Of the patients in my hospital, has even one recovered? The answer is no! They all eventually died. So why can't they go mad once before they die, why??"
"Go mad once before they die? What kind of logic is that? If everyone with a serious illness thought like you, this world would have collapsed long ago. Do you know how many terminal patients there are in the world every day?"
I said angrily, almost wanting to flay her alive. What kind of logic was this? Did she think she was Jesus or God, capable of controlling everything?!