Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
"Patient 58, it's time for your medication!" A voice called from outside the door as a burly middle-aged man entered. He was dressed in a nurse's uniform and carried a tray filled with colorful pills.
"Who are you? What do you want? I won't take any medicine!" I covered my mouth and retreated to the corner, fearfully watching the nurse. I'm not insane; there's no way I'm taking anything from here. What if it causes problems?
"58, if you don't want to take it now, we can set it aside for later," the nurse said without forcing me to take the medication. He placed the tray on the floor and walked over to me, speaking gently, "My name is Chuxiubin, and I'm the only nurse here. What’s your name, 58? Why were you brought here?"
Seeing Chuxiubin's friendly demeanor eased my tension. I lowered my hands and replied, "Nurse Chu, my name is Jiang Ling. I don’t even know why I’m here. The last thing I remember is fainting, and when I woke up, I found myself here. Everything else is a blur."
A flicker of something unusual crossed Chuxiubin's eyes before he quickly returned to his calm demeanor. "I see. Since you don’t know where you are, let me help you get familiar with this place!"
Chuxiubin opened the door and stepped outside. After hesitating for a moment, I decided to follow him. No matter what this place is, once I get familiar with my surroundings, I’ll find a way to escape. I don’t want to spend my life in a mental hospital.
In the monitoring room, Director Wang Xinyu's expression darkened as he saw me leave my room. He turned to Li Hanling and said, "Captain Li, Master Jiang Ling has gone outside. He won't be like those others, will he? What should we do now?"
Inside the hospital's monitoring room, the only visible feed was from that one room; all other cameras had been damaged by filth within the hospital, leaving them blind to any activity.
Li Hanling recalled how I dealt with the Water Corpse and felt reassured. Calmly pulling out a cigarette, he took a deep drag and said, "Director Wang, don’t worry. I've brought in an expert."
Seeing Li Hanling's expression eased some of Wang Xinyu's concerns as he turned his attention back to the only visible monitor feed. If Li Hanling knew that my powers had been stripped away, he probably wouldn’t be so optimistic.
I followed Chuxiubin into the hospital's lounge. As we walked, he explained that there were thirteen patients in total; I was the fourteenth. This was a privately established hospital run by a well-known philanthropist named Wang Xinyu. The hospital received donations from many kind-hearted individuals in society, so the conditions were quite good with various facilities in place.
As Chuxiubin and I walked along, suddenly a disheveled woman rushed out from the side. Grabbing my arm tightly, she shouted frantically, "Nurse Chu! Do you have any medicine? Please give me some! I really want to take my medicine! If I take it, I'll get better and can leave this awful place! I need to find my child; they’ve been taken by bad people! Please help me, Nurse Chu!"
"Ma'am, you've got it wrong; I'm not Nurse Chu! He's over there!" Startled by her actions, I struggled to free myself from her grip but found her surprisingly strong—I couldn't break free at all. Turning to Chuxiubin with tears in my eyes, I pleaded for help: "Nurse Chu! Please come help me!"
Chuxiubin pulled a bottle of red pills from his pocket and handed it to the madwoman, saying, "Zhao Mingyue, here’s the medicine. You should take it!"
"Thank you, Nurse Chu! Thank you!" Zhao Mingyue exclaimed joyfully as she received the bottle, repeatedly thanking Chuxiubin before turning to leave.
Chuxiubin watched Zhao Mingyue's departing figure, shaking his head and sighing. "Zhao Mingyue is a pitiful person. She was pregnant in this hospital, and when she was four months along, the director forced her to have an abortion. Ever since then, she has gone mad, constantly crying out for her child. It’s been over a month now, and she still can’t forget her baby. Truly tragic!"
"Is that so?" I looked at Chuxiubin, feeling shocked and furious. A female patient getting pregnant in a mental hospital and being subjected to such a heartless act was utterly immoral.
Noticing my change in emotion, Chuxiubin glanced at me with surprise but quickly returned to normal. He continued walking and said, "Let’s not dwell on Zhao Mingyue. Let’s go meet some other people."
Chuxiubin led me to the hospital's lounge, where eleven patients were engaged in various activities. Some were watching television, others were playing chess, while some were drinking tea and chatting. The entire lounge was filled with laughter. Everyone seemed perfectly normal, completely different from Zhao Mingyue. If it weren't for their patient gowns, I might have suspected they were staff members.
"Nurse Chu, good morning!" Upon seeing us, they greeted Chuxiubin with smiles, though their gazes toward me were less than friendly.
One person approached me and tugged at the number on my chest playfully. "58? Seems like this is the third 58 we've had! Our director really knows how to spend money!"
A few burly men walked over next, cracking their knuckles as they looked at Chuxiubin and asked, "Nurse Chu, should we teach this friend the rules of the hospital?"
Chuxiubin pulled me behind him and shot a stern look at the group. "His name is Jiang Ling, not just some 58 number. Don’t mess around with him, got it?"
Hearing Chuxiubin's words, everyone in the lounge shifted their gaze toward me with flickering eyes; their expressions were no longer as unfriendly as before. The one who had teased me earlier awkwardly apologized, "Sorry about that! Turns out you're one of us. Jiang Ling, right? I'm Wang Dan; you can call me Brother Dan."
Wang Dan placed his hand on my shoulder and addressed the others, "From now on, Jiang Ling is under my protection! You all better be nice!"
"Haha! Brother Dan, doesn’t that mean your little brother should be called Brother Dan too?"
"That's right, from now on, let's call Jiang Ling a bastard!"
Laughter erupted among the group, leaving me speechless. I never expected someone to take pride in such a nickname.
"Just call me Jiang Ling, I don't want to be known as Wang Dan's little brother." I quickly shook off Wang Dan's hand and distanced myself, not wanting anyone to refer to me as a bastard.
Chuxiubin scanned the crowd and asked, "Where's Wang Dan?"
"Bing? He's in the next game room," Wang Dan pointed to a nearby room, and I could faintly hear the sounds of gaming coming from inside.
A strange light flickered in Chuxiubin's eyes, and he looked somewhat angry. He turned to me and said, "Jiang Ling, go get Bing."
"Okay." I nodded and walked over without hesitation, though the gazes of others were filled with varying emotions.
Wang Dan looked at Chuxiubin in confusion and asked, "Nurse Chu, isn't Jiang Ling one of us? Why would you send him into that room? The last two who went in there almost didn't make it out alive."
"This Jiang Ling is different; he won't get hurt." Chuxiubin watched me enter the room calmly, but in his mind, another figure emerged—Chu Pengpeng.
(End of Chapter)
Comment 0 Comment Count