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Facing what must be faced.
Ye Chenfeng made a decision, and he was determined to see it through: to safely deliver Qin Keqing to school. On the way back, it was rare to encounter any vehicles, but just then, a car appeared, dropping off its last passenger far away before turning around and passing by them. From a distance, he saw two people walking along the road.
The car stopped, and the driver inquired where they had come from and where they were headed. He then warmly invited Ye Chenfeng and Qin Keqing to get in.
Of course, Ye Chenfeng did not mention that they had just come from the Four Hospitals.
Qin Keqing was even more hesitant to speak; he was possessed by Dancing Flower. Although he had taken the Black Dog Shit Pill from Deep Mountain Old Monk, his body still felt somewhat weak. As soon as he got into the car, he didn’t want to move at all, not even his mouth.
The dark road stretched ahead, with the car's headlights slicing through the darkness. Inside the vehicle, they could see the white stripes of a crosswalk flash by and the shadows of trees on the side. The wheels made a soft rustling sound. Since the doors were tightly closed, they couldn't tell if there was wind outside; overall, the car felt eerily quiet, as if it were empty.
Ye Chenfeng's mind was consumed with thoughts of what had just happened; it played out vividly in his memory. He felt so exhausted that it seemed like he hadn’t escaped from Four Hospitals at all.
In this particularly quiet atmosphere, the driver suddenly broke the silence: “It’s too quiet. How about I tell you a story?”
The abruptness of his words startled both Ye Chenfeng and Qin Keqing, causing them to jump slightly.
“What story?” Ye Chenfeng asked.
The driver didn’t turn around; his hands skillfully maneuvered the steering wheel. From behind, all Ye Chenfeng could see were two ears peeking out from beneath a head of jet-black hair. He noticed that the driver’s neck was very pale, as were his ears and hands.
Moreover, his ears—
At that moment, Ye Chenfeng found it strange that the driver hadn’t asked them for more details about their situation or requested payment for the ride.
Qin Keqing looked exhausted; after being startled awake for a moment, he merely glanced around faintly before closing his eyes again to continue dozing off.
Ye Chenfeng thought perhaps Qin Keqing was dreaming of beautiful women; otherwise, why would he be so eager to fall asleep?
The driver seemed indifferent to whether anyone was listening to his story, whether it was one person or two. He didn't need to look back; it wouldn't affect his driving. It was late at night, and on such a wide road, there was only his car, so there were no safety concerns. Thus, he began to tell his tale.
He said this story took place not long ago, also during a late-night drive on this very road, when he encountered a pedestrian. Out of kindness, he offered the person a ride.
The man's surname was peculiar—Si. He was someone who loved to tell stories.
Mr. Si had once been a taxi driver. He recounted that years ago, he was very poor and even sold blood for money. Eventually, he borrowed money to buy a car, intending to drive a taxi.
Driving a taxi was tough; he worked day and night for just over a hundred bucks.
A friend who sold insurance told him there was a shortcut to wealth, but this shortcut came at a price.
Mr. Si believed him and first signed a long-term insurance policy. Following his friend's instructions, he went to a hospital and had the doctor issue a certificate confirming that he indeed had an illness.
Finally, Mr. Si could take a break and no longer had to worry about making ends meet for his daily meals. Under his friend's guidance, he went to the hospital, playing along with the act; to receive the insurance payout, he needed to put on a show.
However, he never expected that after waiting in the hospital for so long, his friend never came to pick him up for discharge.
He attempted to escape from the hospital.
But each time he tried, he failed. Soon enough, he was classified as a serious patient and sent to a special care unit.
Mr. Si banged his head against the wall, threatening the hospital staff while hoarsely shouting his friend's name, demanding to know why they were keeping him locked up in such a terrible place.
Someone in uniform informed him that this was a mental hospital.
Upon hearing "mental hospital," Mr. Si was taken aback. He quickly replied, "I’m not sick! I’m a driver—a taxi driver!"
Unfortunately, no one would believe his words. The louder he shouted, the harsher the punishment he received. When things got really out of hand, they resorted to sedatives to deal with him. He spent his days in the Mental Hospital feeling like years were passing by, facing those mentally unstable patients with a deep sense of fear.
One day, a patient with the surname Ren quietly said to him, "I'm not crazy; I was locked up here by someone."
Mr. Si was curious. He had ended up in the Mental Hospital because of a betrayal by a friend, but what had happened to Mr. Ren?
Mr. Ren explained that he used to work in sales selling insurance. Because the company had a strict policy that without performance there would be no salary, he had to find a way to generate results. However, after several days of trying, he not only failed to achieve any results but also wasted a lot of time.
In desperation, he heard from a friend that driving a taxi was tiring and came up with a seemingly perfect solution.
This solution involved having his friend pretend to be ill and signing a long-term insurance policy before feigning illness. By signing the insurance policy, he would have results, and his friend could receive compensation; this was entirely his own idea.
His friend was extremely grateful to him, and he received recognition from the company.
The problem was that the capital for purchasing the insurance came from money he borrowed from various sources, and he would have to sell his friend's taxi to pay back the debts.
However, unexpectedly, when he went to sell the taxi, he was informed that it was a scrapped vehicle. Moreover, it had been involved in an accident that had not been dealt with, resulting in fines amounting to tens of thousands.
Mr. Ren felt like he had suffered a huge loss.
He felt like crashing into a wall; what should he do? If he went to find this friend, surely they wouldn't acknowledge their agreement. But if he didn't confront him, how would he get the money to repay his debts?
Driven into a corner, he had no choice but to seek out the doctor who had previously helped his friend obtain a medical certificate.
The doctor did not refuse and readily agreed to provide him with a diagnosis indicating that immediate hospitalization was necessary due to severe symptoms.
Mr. Ren clutched the certificate and hadn't walked far before being caught and sent back to the hospital for forced treatment.
Mr. Si listened to Mr. Ren's story and felt that it was quite similar to his own experiences. As he focused on Mr. Ren, he realized that after many days of treatment, both of them had become a bit neurotic and hardly recognized each other anymore.
They were Mr. Ren and Mr. Si.
Two good friends met in the Mental Hospital, both driven to desperate measures by their circumstances. They decided to seek out the doctor who had issued their certificates, but getting an appointment with him proved to be no easy task.
After several attempts, not only did they fail to meet the doctor, but they were also prohibited from going outside.
The driver suddenly stopped and said to Ye Chenfeng, "We've arrived."
Ye Chenfeng was puzzled; it didn't feel like they were back in Purple City. He got out of the car and immediately saw a White Building with two Island Nation Soldiers standing at the entrance.
The two Island Nation Soldiers eyed him warily and charged toward him.
Ye Chenfeng looked back at the driver and the car, but there was no sign of either. Shocked, he shouted, "Qin Keqing... wake up!"
At that shout, he jolted awake, realizing he was still in the makeshift shelter in the woods, while Qin Keqing was curled up beside him, sleeping soundly.
What the hell! Had he just experienced a nightmare? But why did that driver seem so familiar?
Ye Chenfeng tried to recall his memories and remembered the first time he went to find Zhou Zhisheng when a patient had shouted at him, "I'm not insane, save me..."
The driver from his dream was that very patient.
He shook Qin Keqing awake and noticed that it was already bright outside.
Qin Keqing opened her eyes slightly and murmured, "Is it morning already?"
"Well, we will leave here soon and come back tonight."
Ye Chenfeng said this and suddenly felt it was strange. It seemed like he had said the same thing last night, when he mentioned going back to wait until the next day.
Qin Keqing's nose was cold and slightly red. She rubbed her nose and saw Ye Chenfeng staring blankly at the tire tracks on the ground, so she hurriedly asked, "Is something wrong?"
Ye Chenfeng felt that something was off; how could there be tire tracks here? He crouched down and reached out to touch them. The tracks were very fresh.
As Qin Keqing stood up, she noticed something rolled up on the ground and picked it up to take a look.
It was an insurance document along with a medical certificate.
"Ye Chenfeng, take a look at this."
Ye Chenfeng took the document and was stunned. The signature on the document read: deceased.
It seemed that we were rescued last night, but the person who saved us was not the Deep Mountain Old Monk; it was a patient from the Mental Hospital. Of course, this was just Ye Chenfeng's speculation. He reached out to ask Qin Keqing for a lighter and then set fire to both documents.
"What are you doing?"
"I think someone is trapped in a place because of these two documents. If I burn this one for him, he can reincarnate."
Qin Keqing looked confused and did not understand Ye Chenfeng's reasoning. The latter said, "Some things don't need to be understood to avoid unnecessary worries." After tidying up a bit, he said, "Let's get ready to leave."
"Where to?"
"To save someone."
"Help!" Qin Keqing still didn't understand.
Ye Chenfeng smiled and said, "The dead are dead; we need to save the living."
No matter how foolish Qin Keqing was, she understood Ye Chenfeng's meaning—he wanted to go to the Mental Hospital to rescue someone.
Still haunted by last night's experience, she tried to stop Ye Chenfeng. "It's better not to go. The Mental Hospital must have problems. Let's wait until we can bring reinforcements."
Ye Chenfeng sighed and replied, "The Mental Hospital is a special department. I have no evidence that this hospital has issues, and who witnessed what happened last night?"
"We saw it."
"You saw it, I saw it. So besides the two of us, who else saw it?"
Qin Keqing shook her head, not understanding what Ye Chenfeng meant.
"They'll say we're making things up, but as long as we can rescue that person, I believe with his testimony, the truth about the Mental Hospital will eventually come to light."
Reluctantly following behind, Qin Keqing muttered, "Zhou Zhisheng is dead, and Chen Peiling is also in trouble. Who are we supposed to save?"
"Save a patient who isn't really a patient."
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