The Final Hour in Room 401

The rain poured down in sheets, a relentless symphony that echoed through the empty corridors of Tangxian Hospital. The night was as dark as the soul of Room 401, where a patient named Li Ming had been admitted hours ago, his face pale and eyes wide with fear.

Nurse Wang Liu, a seasoned nurse with a knack for reading between the lines, was the first to notice the change in Li Ming. "Mr. Li, you seem... uneasy," she said, her voice soft but firm. Li Ming, a man in his late thirties, nodded weakly. "I... I saw something terrible," he stammered, his voice barely above a whisper. "A man... in the hallway... he looked... like me."

Wang Liu exchanged a worried glance with Dr. Chen, the hospital's head of psychiatry. "It's the psychological stress from the injury," Dr. Chen suggested, his voice calm and reassuring. "He needs rest and time to recover."

But as the hours passed, Li Ming's stories grew more vivid, more terrifying. He spoke of a shadowy figure, a man with a twisted smile, who seemed to be watching him. "He knows me," Li Ming would say, his eyes darting around the room as if expecting the figure to appear at any moment.

Dr. Chen decided to move Li Ming to a more secure room, one that would keep him under closer observation. "If this is a delusion," Dr. Chen said, "we need to treat it as such. But if there's something more... we need to find out."

Room 401 was a small, bare room with a single bed and a window that looked out onto the rain-soaked parking lot. It was here that Wang Liu and Dr. Chen would spend the night, watching over Li Ming as he drifted in and out of sleep, his eyes occasionally flickering open to the empty room.

As the night wore on, the rain began to let up, and a faint light began to filter through the window. Wang Liu, who was on night duty, was the first to see it. "Dr. Chen, look," she whispered, her voice tinged with awe. "It's the moon."

Dr. Chen joined her at the window, and they watched as the moon's silver glow illuminated the parking lot. "It's beautiful," Dr. Chen said, his voice filled with a rare moment of peace. "But it's not enough to chase away the shadows in Li Ming's mind."

Just then, the door to Room 401 creaked open, and a figure stepped inside. It was the shadowy man Li Ming had spoken of, his face obscured by the darkness. Wang Liu and Dr. Chen exchanged a look of shock before they reached for their weapons.

"Stay back," Dr. Chen commanded, his voice steady despite the fear that was gripping his heart. The figure moved slowly, his eyes locked on Li Ming. "You're not going to hurt him, are you?"

The figure paused, and for a moment, the tension in the room was palpable. Then, he spoke, his voice a low growl. "I am him. I am you."

The words were a shock to Wang Liu and Dr. Chen, but they were not the shock that would come next. The figure stepped closer to Li Ming, and as he did, his features began to change, becoming more and more like the man in the mirror.

Li Ming's eyes widened in horror as he realized the truth. "It's me," he whispered, his voice trembling. "I... I did it."

Wang Liu and Dr. Chen exchanged a look of disbelief. The man who had been admitted to Room 401 was the killer they had been searching for. The hospital was a labyrinth of secrets, and Li Ming had been the key to unlocking them.

As the police arrived, Li Ming was taken away, his fate uncertain. Wang Liu and Dr. Chen watched as the door closed behind him, and they turned to each other, their hearts heavy with the weight of the night's events.

The moon continued to hang in the sky, casting its eerie glow over the hospital. The rain had stopped, leaving behind a silence that was almost deafening. But for Wang Liu and Dr. Chen, the echoes of guilt would linger long after the killer had been captured.

In the end, Room 401 remained a place of mystery, a place where shadows danced and secrets whispered. And for those who had worked there, the night they spent in the room would be a night they would never forget.