Chapter 116 - Popular

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Liu Xiaodan woke up to the sound of the heart machine again. Like before, he had a respirator on, and lights were flashed at his face and c.h.e.s.t. He moved his arms, and his wrists were once again cuffed to the bed. Even his ankles were bound by cloth restraints.

His eyes forced closing again at the strength of the light. Since there was no actual sound of human activity, he just laid there to rest.

Recollections of what happened earlier came to his mind in silence. He was fighting against strong ghosts, and a king came to intercept them. Old Xiong was badly hurt, and he got away with just a wound on his arm. Guangru almost killed the baby while the twins had been eaten successfully.

After so, there was this thing with Li Feng. He got in trouble with a king and had been asking for help even if Mian Tianyu was around. That guy really seemed to be an idiot like what Li Yunru had said. He could have just stayed still and let his grandfather handle everything.

However, that wasn't really how Li Feng was wired, was it?

"I wonder what kind of mother he had. She must be the one that gave him that kind of reckless behavior… or someone else high up their family." Liu Xiaodan hummed as he remembered his parents instead. He could admit that he never acted like how Liu Li or Wu Qianqian did.

"Maybe we just both got it from someone else..."

"Xiaodan, tell me what's on your mind. Speaking with yourself should be lonely." A familiar voice resounded in the room as footsteps echoed across the floor. Amidst the blinding light, it was now evident to him that he was in a small room, with an adjacent observational room as well.

Else, they wouldn't have walked in exactly when he was making noises.

Liu Xiaodan opened his eyes with a squint, and someone moved the light down to keep him from being blinded. When his vision recovered, he recognized Fan Meiling smiling down at him. He returned the smile for courtesy.

"Dr. Fan, why am I being watched? What time is it?" Liu Xiaodan chuckled as he moved his feet, trying to show that he was bound.

"No need to be scared, Xiaodan. We're just following standards." Fan Meiling stood next to him and checked up on the machines that were concealed from his sight. "It's only noontime, don't worry. Are you hungry?"

"Starving."

Fan Meiling only raised one side of her mouth before pushing buttons on some machines, recording the readings they had, and saving them onto the backups. She then turned them off and released Liu Xiaodan from his binds. "I'll let Nurse Yun know that you're heading to the food and leisure hall—"

Liu Xiaodan flicked his gaze at her, and she seemed to have caught it. She held her words and smiled as if acknowledging his stare.

"Dr. Fan, there seems to be a dreaded treatment among the Tier-Four patients. Do you know about it?"

"Ah, that. It's not really something we discuss with patients, but since you're a friend of mine, I'll let you in it." Fan Meiling laughed out as she pushed the lights away from Xiaodan, not turning the lights off. "It's just electroconvulsive therapy.

"They get scared of it because of stigma and other patients' romanticization of the effects. It's not really that dangerous in today's technology." Fan Meiling led Liu Xiaodan outside the room. "You have your consciousness intact so there's no need for you to undergo the treatment."

Liu Xiaodan paused when he was standing under the door frame. He then turned behind him past his shoulder, staring at the lights in the pitch-black room. "Really? Can I try one time? I might end up losing my nonsense about ghosts and their ability to kill..."

The doctor held the knob and moved the door to close it, forcing Liu Xiaodan to move forward and get out of the way. She eyed Liu Xiaodan before walking ahead. "Every patient will go through it by order, Xiaodan. You just need to wait for your turn then."

The place he was in was very different from the Sick Hall he once woke up in. It seemed to be a different hall where they would send people to. Then again, it's not like Dr. Fan would b.a.r.e all their secrets to him. He was not a researcher in Cherry Med now after all.

He then got escorted to the food and leisure hall. The people from his floor were all staring at him as if they had seen a monster in his human body. Liu Xiaodan only smiled at them as he sat down. "Hey, I'm not in a straitjacket. Why do you look at me like I still am?"

"Xiaodan, are you… we didn't see you earlier," one of them whispered, "Did you hear that… that sound from earlier? We heard a crying baby, and it was very loud. My head felt like splitting when I was in my room..."

"That was the baby..." Chen Anna clawed at her leg. "I'm so sure of it."

"Ay, I'm sorry about that. It came without warning; it even tried to hurt other people in the area." Liu Xiaodan only chuckled as he rubbed his head. "I can't control them when they attack me. I didn't manage to deal with it swiftly either. Did anyone get hurt aside from having their ears ringing?"

The eyes then locked on him. Half of them didn't believe him when he insinuated that he had gotten rid of the ghost baby while the other half was frozen terrified at the power of his friends. Didn't he say that he would feed the baby to his friends? Was the ghost baby killed already?

Chen Anna stretched out her trembling hand to hold Liu Xiaodan's perfectly steady hand. She tried to smile as if wishing for good news. "I heard it cry in pain as it had never before… is it gone for good?"

Liu Xiaodan paused for a while before taking his hand away from her grip and using the same hand to stroke at his neighbor's head. "Don't worry, Miss Anna. It might have survived, but it won't show up again for a while. I'm sure it's not going to follow you home."

"Home?" Chen Anna's eyes quivered as she took in air. This man had spoken of a place that most of them had not seen in a very long time. Some of them had been here for ten years while others just around seven. The newest ones were that unstable woman and Liu Xiaodan.

"I heard we will never be able to leave this place anymore..." one murmured, causing everyone to lower their heads. "They said that all eligible patients get sent into a final check-up, but they were never seen leaving the facility."

"Really?" Liu Xiaodan frowned. That's quite improper for a famed institution like the Cherry Med. However, if they were indeed doing so, that meant that they were doing something illegal, right? Just then, he remembered about the treatment and the kings hiding in the Treatment Hall.

'Could it be that they were feeding the people to the ghosts?'

…

Liu Xiaodan was walked to his room on the fourth floor while he was checking his properly bandaged left arm. He had dug deep into this arm of his just to get the blood and miasma out. Even if it was a crude way of fighting, it proved to be a little effective especially against that reflection and that baby.

When he opened his door, he saw Yun He pushing cotton inside Old Xiong. Two more nurses were mending his tears. The male nurse then smiled at him. "Sorry, I have a feeling that you liked this bear a lot so I was fixing him in your sleep."

"Hehe, we saw him stitching miserably so we came to help him." One of the nurses chuckled before patting the bear's head gently. "Then again, how did you get such a big bear like this in here? I'm pretty sure this is against protocols. I can't even bring my own teddy bear in here."

"...they said I might get lonely on my own so they gave me a bear." Liu Xiaodan couldn't tell them that Old Xiong would come in and out if he wanted. They would probably run away, and Liu Xiaodan would be left to mend the bear on his own. He then petted the bear "Old Xiong so popular with ladies, ah."

He ended up chatting with the girls while Yun He felt a little bitter. This guy was like ten years younger, but he was a little smooth with the girls. They had been laughing lively, being showered with compliments as they worked efficiently on the bear.

Liu Xiaodan was only lucky that he was good at making people feel good enough so he could ask them to model or star in their projects. Coupled with tricks found in Xu Disung's sleeve, he managed to have the female nurses fix Old Xiong with love.

Then again, Yun He didn't know that, and so he somewhat regretted fixing the bear now.

After a couple of hours, the nurses finally finished mending Old Xiong. It was worth noting that not only was it done as professional seamstresses had done it, but the bear also looked even in all places. It was very impressively done that even Yun He was surprised at their skill.

"Don't tear him again, okay?" One of the nurses chuckled before bidding goodbye to attend to their own patients.

"Ay, I have no idea you can charm women as good as you charm ghosts." Yun He joked as he laughed out when Liu Xiaodan moved Old Xiong to his normal spot on his bed. He then sat down at the edge. "You must be quite popular in school."

"Hehe, I'm popular for being a ghost-hunter and a criminal, Nurse Yun." Liu Xiaodan laughed, finding the luxury to joke around as well. "Probably a little for being that creepy guy that would ask pretty girls creepy things like 'are you interested in starring in your school project?' "

"Oh, why would you ask them that?"

Liu Xiaodan's eyes glinted before scooting closer to Nurse Yun. Perhaps, it was time for him to find a real pastime other than devouring ghosts. "I took up Film and TV Prod in college. I actually like reading books and scripts, as well as directing. Nurse Yun, is there a library here or anywhere I can watch movies in?"

Yun He felt like he had spoken about something he shouldn't have. "Erm, I can get you books, but about the audio-visual room… that would be out of my area. Only the director could decide on that."

"Director Sun?" Liu Xiaodan then smiled. "Can I speak with him?"

Yun He only chuckled...