“The whole hospital is filled with ghost? How is that possible? If you say one doctor or one patient is possessed by ghost, then perhaps I can believe you but the fact that the whole hospital could be haunted is rather hard to believe.” Chen Ge did not voice his real thought, he was merely following the rationality that was set up in his mind.
“Well, to know whether it is true or not, we only need to go and ask, right?” Zuo Han was very courageous. “The screams came from above us. This hospital zone that we are in has 7 floors in total, so the sickroom that he is in should be on the fifth or sixth floor.”
“Are you sure you want to take this risk? If you run into any worker outside the room, then you will be in very serious trouble. I believe it is a very serious offense to wander around in the hospital at night,” Chen Ge was very cautious.
“I am not the one taking this risk alone, we are taking this risk together?”
“We?”
“You said it yourself that it was Zhang Jingjiu who came to pull on you voluntarily and even called out to remind you of something this morning, don’t you think that is rather abnormal?” Zuo Han stood at the door and kept on luring Chen Ge to join him like the devil. “I have encountered that patient before, all he ever did was to talk to himself. He would never actively approach someone, therefore, this proves that you are a unique presence to him.”
“But I have no memory of him at all.” Chen Ge did not dare to think of his past memory lest the pain suddenly came back again.
“Brother, I am telling you the truth. You might not believe me but the pills that the hospital is feeding you every day is used to suppress your memory, their intention is not to cure you but to change you into someone that they approve.” Zuo Han lowered his voice, “This world has its own set of rules that it operates on, and those who do not abide by the rules are viewed as patients, in contrast those who are willing to fit into the rules are considered normal persons, this is a whole entirely abnormal oppressive system.”
Seeing that Chen Ge’s conviction was slowly shaken, Zuo Han continue his persuasion, “You once told me that the moment you started to think about your past, the headache would come, is that a symptom of any kind of mental illness? If you ask me, they have tempered with your brain and placed some kind mechanism there that prevent you from thinking about your past.”
“But why would they do something like that? Why would you stop me from remembering my own past?”
“Perhaps the truth of this sickened world is hidden in your memory, in any case, your memory must be something that is feared by the hospital and thus they have to do everything within their power to stop you from remembering it, this is a very simple logical observation.” Zuo Han slowly convinced Chen Ge. In the end, the two of them decided to wait for the patrol to finish and then they would the room together to investigate. At around 1 am, Zuo Han and Chen Ge pushed open the room door and exited to the corridor.
“There are cameras at the corner of the stairs but the people on duty might not be paying attention to the surveillance at all times. As long as we can move fast enough, they might not be able to detect us.”
“So, essentially we’re hedging our lives on a bet?”
“There is no other way, because if we destroy the cameras, that would be directly telling the hospital that someone is trying to resist the hospital so all we can do now is to bet.” Zuo Han looked at the plaster around Zuo Han’s leg. “When did you injure your leg? How long will it take to recover? I do not wish to carry an incapacitated person with me when I try to escape from this place.”
“They told me I ran into a car accident about a year ago but theoretically speaking, any injury suffered then would have been healed by now so this broken leg must have nothing to do with the car accident. Therefore, it must have occurred after I fell sick.”
“Well, isn’t that interesting. In other words, you are telling me a mental patient suddenly broke his leg while inside the custody of the hospital.” Zuo Han looked at Chen Ge coldly, “You poor thing who has lost your memory, do you still think the hospital has your best interest at heart?”
“You suspect it is the hospital who broke my leg?”
“All the beautiful things are an illusion. Cruelty and sickness are the main theme of this world.” Zuo Han’s eyes were bloodshot. “How about a bet? I bet that your mental illness will be cured before your leg does.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Through many different observations, I believe you are the most dangerous patient here. After your leg recovers, the hospital will be anxious, therefore, some kind of accident will befall you and various kind of supposed coincidence will cause your body to constantly in a stated of injury.” Zuo Han’s eyes were shining darkly. “When I think about something, I have the habit of seeing from the worst possible outcome. I do not have any anticipation towards the innate kindness of human nature. If my words have offended you, I hope you do not mind, in the future, you will realize who is really looking out for you.” Some people would run into the most beautiful accident in the deepest despair and some would encounter the cruellest truth in the most beautiful dream, Chen Ge did not think Zuo Han’s words were in any way offensive, if anything, he agreed with Zuo Han’s point of view. It was then that he realized he was slowly agreeing with the perspective of a patient diagnosed with paranoiac delusion.
“When we see Zhang Jingjiu later, no matter what happens, I need you to be calm.” Zuo Han led Chen Ge to the corner of the stairs. The lights in the hospital were still on at night but the lights provided no warmth. Every single ray was radiating a chill and walking down the corridor, it could cause one’s hair to stand on end.
“The hospital in the morning is different from how it is at night.” Chen Ge also did not know how to describe this change. He merely felt that the hospital that he had seen in the final fragment of his memory was slowly overlapping with the hospital before his eyes, the illusions appeared to be returning. Zuo Han and Chen Ge were incredibly lucky. They came all the way to the fourth floor and they did not encounter any hospital worker, the whole area was very quiet.
“This place gives me the feeling more like a slaughterhouse than a mental asylum. Everywhere there is blood that we cannot see and souls whose mouths were sewn shut are hiding at every corner.” Zuo Han’s tone was getting crazier. At this moment, he looked like a quintessential mental patient that Chen Ge had seen on television show before. The patient was seriously ill but he had not realized it, in fact he thought he was still in very good condition. “Starting from this floor, all the doors are locked, looks like the patients who stay here are all serious mental cases.” Chen Ge and Zuo Han came from the normal sick zone, their room door was not locked, they could leave and enter freely. The doctors and nurses could enter their room freely as well. But the rooms on the fourth floor were completely different. There was a lock outside the door and the patients inside had their freedom limited, if they wanted to leave, they needed to get the permission from the doctors and nurses first.
“Thankfully, there are windows on the doors or else we would have wasted our journey tonight.” Just as Zuo Han and Chen Ge arrived at the fourth floor, they heard the echoing sound of footsteps coming from the stairs below them.
“The sound comes from the duty room, the patrols are coming!” Zuo Han had already scouted out the location of the duty rooms and the nurse stations. He grabbed Chen Ge by his hand, carried the man over his shoulders. “Jesus Christ, why are you so heavy!”
“Where are we going?”
“Shush, keep your voice down.” Zuo Han carried Chen Ge who could not move that swiftly to the nurse station at the end of the corridor. Both he and Chen Ge hid under the counter at the nurse station.
“We’re hiding at a place like this? Are you sure they won’t come and check this place?” Chen Ge thought Zuo Han had a really big heart.
“After midnight, the workers and nurses would switch their shifts. I have been observing them for the past few days. The night workers like to stay in the duty room on the first floor, they rarely come to check the nurse stations.” Zuo Han was the kind of person who had a brave heart but a careful mind. He was never going to fight a war that he had not planned but he was not going to miss out on a good opportunity due to hesitation either. The footsteps slowly approached. The two patients stopped talking at the same moment as if they had already planned this beforehand. Both of them appeared strangely calm. The footsteps eventually walked past them but neither of their heart rate had changed like this was something that they would encounter every day.
“You need to memorize the location of the nurse stations, there are one each on the first floor, fourth floor and seventh floor. If we run into any serious accident, I will distract the workers while you try and go hide at the nurse station.” Zuo Han’s tone was still frosty and it carried no emotion but Chen Ge could discern the actual concern that the man had for him. It was hard to imagine that a patient who had paranoiac delusion would be so considerate towards others. Through this details, Chen Ge started to reconsider the words that Zuo Han had told him earlier.
Chen Ge’s brain would always be surfeited by contradictory thoughts. Every time he tried to think, these two opposite thoughts would collide and it felt like they were trying to tear his brain apart. One of the parties was the hospital that was represented by Doctor Gao, and the other party was the patients represented by himself. The former symbolized recovery and bright future while the latter symbolized a dark past and a whirlpool of despair.
Sometimes, Chen Ge also did not know how to choose. The medicine and the peacefulness that he was experiencing in real life was slowly dulling his senses and convincing him to accept his current life but at that moment, Zuo Han had shown up in his life. They were both patients but Zuo Han had placed a seed of different thought in Chen Ge’s mind.
After the footsteps left the fourth floor, Zuo Han and Chen Ge climbed out from behind the nurse station. Zhang Jingjiu’s voice should come from this floor. Zuo Han and Chen Ge had no idea which room he was staying in so they had no choice but to look through the door one by one. Both of them knew how Zhang Jingjiu looked like so each of them was responsible for one side of the corridor, they leaned on the small window on the door and looked into the rooms.
Most of the patients were asleep after taking their medication, but some of the patients were doing strange things inside their rooms. For example, one of the patients were shivering uncontrollability under his bed and there was another patient who folded a piece of paper into the shape of a fruit knife and she kept stabbing it at her pillow. These were rather explainable symptoms of mental illness. Chen Ge moved to the middle of the corridor. Just as he was about to look into the next window, he suddenly realized there was a face looking at him on the window!
The patient was standing at the other side of the door and the face was placed at the window. The two pairs of eyes met, Chen Ge was given quite a fright. The sensation of numbness over his skull and the shot of adrenaline over his body brought back a sense of nostalgia.
[Is this the sensation of fear?] Chen Ge’s lips split into a smile. He did not feel any discomfort, in fact his brain started to become more active and excitement lit up his eyes. His hands pressing on the door, Chen Ge looked at the patient on the other side. The patient inside the door was like a puppet without soul, after looking at Chen Ge for a long time, he slowly wandered away.
“Found him.” Zuo Han whispered softly. Realizing that there was no response from Chen Ge, he turned back to look and he saw Chen Ge was looking through one of the doors with excitement on his face.
“What are you doing?” Zuo Han did not dare to raise his voice, one was because he was afraid he might attract the attention of the workers and two was for some reason, his instinct told him to be careful around Chen Ge.
“Oh, it’s nothing.” Chen Ge’s expression returned to normal. The fear merely gave him a temporarily sense of stimulation. The two patients squeezed at the door outside Zhang Jingjiu’s room. At that moment, Zhang Jingjiu was lying on the ground, his eyes were lifeless. There was no obvious wound on his body but the man’s face was scarily pale. Zuo Han tried to open the door but the door was already locked, he could not push it open. He knocked on the door lightly. Zhang Jingjiu inside the room appeared to have his soul taken away from him. He did not budge from his position and did not move at all.
“Looks like we will have to find a way to approach him in the morning. Now I am afraid that they might send Zhang Jingjiu to the quarantine area. Outsiders will not be able to enter that place and patients who are sent in rarely come out again.” Zuo Han appeared agitated.
“I came out from the quarantine area. Don’t give up just yet, let me try.” Chen Ge stood at the door and knocked on it. He very easily called out Zhang Jingjiu’s name. Zhang Jingjiu who did not react to Zuo Han’s voice earlier suddenly blinked his eyes when he heard Chen Ge’s voice. He slowly turned his head around to look at the door. When he saw Chen Ge’s face, the fear in his eyes subsided. His lips moved like he was trying his best to say something.
“I think he is calling me boss. Why is that?” Chen Ge had no idea why he knew how to read life, it appeared like this was one of the talents that he was born with.
“From what I hear, Zhang Jingjiu’s father is a CEO of a big company at Xin Hai, he is a disreputable second generation young master, why would he call you boss?” Zuo Han turned to Chen Ge with confusion and then he realized Chen Ge’s face was quite scary. His forehead and cheeks were bursting with black and green veins. “Are, are you alright?” Zuo Han instantly noticed something was wrong. He grabbed Chen Ge by his shoulder and tried to move him away but a chill came from his palm. Chen Ge’s body temperature was rapidly dropping, Zuo Han had a moment thought that he was carrying a dead body. When Chen Ge was ‘acting up’, hurried footsteps came from downstairs, the workers chose this timing to inspect the corridors.
“Am I that unlucky?” Zuo Han looked at Chen Ge. With a grit of his teeth, he carried Chen Ge on his back again and he started to run away from the sound of the footsteps. Chen Ge on his back became heavier and heavier. Zuo han bit on his teeth. “This is just one person but how come it feels like there are multiple person crawling on my back?”
Avoiding the cameras, and predicting the workers’ location through their footsteps, Zuo Han drafted the safest route to the nearest nurse station in his mind. He even predicted that the two workers might move separately so he used the timing that they had split up and finally successfully brought Chen Ge back to their room. After closing the door, Zuo Han directly deposited Chen Ge on the bed. Then he crumpled to the ground and gasped greedily for air. “In the end, I found no clues and I was almost exposed. Next time, I think I should just go on my own.” Zuo Han knew now was still not the time to rest. He adjusted his breathing and dragged Chen Ge to the bed near the window.
“Can you hear me?” Zuo Han tried to communicate with Chen Ge but then he realized not only Chen Ge’s face, the latter’s body started to surface with black veins too. The blood veins were like poisonous snakes, they looked incredibly scary. “Bursting of blood capillaries and they appear black and green in collar. A person of slender build would have this problem more often. Even though he looks weak, his body is incredibly muscular, especially his arms and legs, they are as muscular as athletes that I have once dissected! That takes away the possibility of weakness of constitution, the lack of red blood cells or irregularity of cellular metabolism will not cause this kind of symptoms either. This kind of symptoms is most commonly accompanied by poisoning, so my guess is right all along! The doctor has mixed the pills with poison! This is the aftereffect of overdosing on poison and medicine!”
Zuo Han was wrecking his mind on how to cure Chen Ge. About several minutes later, Chen Ge who was in a semi-conscious state had his body temperature gradually rise back to normal and the blood capillaries started to fade away.
“A medical miracle? The man is still able to recover after that kind of status?” Zuo Han really wanted to split open Chen Ge’s body to inspect the internal make up of his body. His gaze gradually regained focus. Chen Ge recovered his rationality, “It was you who carried me back here?”
“Who else do you think it would be? I have carried you for the whole journey back. I am definitely not going to bring you with me next time.” Zuo Han massaged his shoulders. “Your body looks even but why are you so heavy?”
“Perhaps because I carry too many things on me.” Chen Ge pushed against the bed with both of his hands but he failed to sit up even after multiple tries.
“What happened to you earlier?”
“I cannot explain it myself. When I saw through Zhang Jingjiu’s lips that he was calling me boss, my fragmented memories in my brain felt like they were going to explode. Multiple voices rang out at the same time and they were all calling me boss.” Chen Ge took in a deep breath. “I have not heard most of these voices before, but in that moment, I have already memorized their voices. If I can hear them again, I definitely will be able to recognize them!”
“That was all?”
“There is another discovery that I found. When we were inspecting the rooms earlier, I was given a fright by one of the patients. The sensation of horror made my mind active, there seems to be some kind of connection between myself and this sensation of horror.” Chen Ge held his brain.
“You like to be scared? What kind of strange obsession is that?” Zuo Han took several steps back.
“I do not know how to explain it, but when I am faced with this emotion, the memory fragments in my mind appear to come alive, they actively connect with each other and show me the past that I have forgotten…” Chen Ge tried to think back of that feeling and then he said with certainty. “I need more stimulations.”
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