9-11 minutes 11.07.2023
“Most of the selected patients for sideyard are in the sickrooms. They can only leave during the day. I’ll bring you to go to find them.” The elder felt extremely unsafe. He needed other patients to share his fear.
“Better hurry up.” The longer they stayed there, the more dangerous it would be. To leave this place, one had to sacrifice the patients. Han Fei had no choice but to rely on the elder as the guide. He needed to find some real killers and then sacrifice them. Han Fei destroyed the doors of the cubicles. He nodded that most of the doors were carved with words. There were curses, mathematical formulas, diaries, and even love letters.
“We have no names at the cubicles and dorms. To better differentiate ourselves, we leave behind markings on the doors of our rooms.” The elder opened more doors, but he found no patient. He started to panic. He was worried that Han Fei would continue to treat him. When the elder reached the seventh door, he heard whispering from inside. He quickly reported to Han Fei. “There’s someone inside, but he’s as crazy as you! You must be prepared!”
“Shush.” Han Fei heard movements inside the room too. He looked at the door covered in moss and kicked it down. The dirty and messy room smelled horrible. A man in an old patient’s garb leaned against the wall. When the door was kicked down, the man was scared. He clawed at the wall madly like he was trying to climb the wall.
“There’s no smell of blood and dead bodies. This man is just a normal patient.” Han Fei looked disappointed.
“You know what those smell like?” The elder whispered.
Han Fei was too lazy to explain. He strode into the room and pressed the man’s shoulders. “What’s your name? I can bring you away from here.” The man looked at Han Fei fearfully. The man’s soul was blank. His pupils kept shivering. Finally, he stuck out his tongue at Han Fei. “Don’t kill me. I’m just a lizard.”
“A lizard?” The man appeared to have a strange understanding of himself.
“Yes. I know I don’t look like other lizards, but that’s because my tail has been cut off by the doctor. When my tail regrows, you’ll know that I’m not lying.” The man said confidently.
“Notification for Player 0000. You’ve found a unique patient—Lizard.” Han Fei couldn’t imagine treating this man. He was too unthreatening.
“Then, will you leave with me?”
“No. The lizard can’t leave the wall.”
Han Fei didn’t do anything. This patient was about 10 Shen Luo away from being a murderer.
“Sorry for disturbing you.” Han Fei closed the door and glared at the old man. “Is that a crazed murderer?”
“He thinks he’s a lizard! Is that not crazy enough?” The elder quickly led Han Fei to another room. The door of this room was filled with various formulas and theories. He entered the room. The same formulas were carved all over the door. Papers littered the ground. A middle-aged man with a disheveled head sat in the middle.
“Notification for Player 0000! You’ve found a unique patient with a fortune-telling persona—The Seer.”
“A fortune-telling persona?” Han Fei walked to the middle-aged man’s side. He looked down and noticed that the man was drawing some complicated patterns on the paper. There were many terms that Han Fei didn’t understand. “What are you studying?”
“To prove ghost’s existence.” The middle-aged man didn’t even lift his head.
“The tragedy has already happened. There are ghosts everywhere. What is there to prove?”
“Why one plus one equal two? Why can't A plus A equals B?” The middle-aged man still didn’t lift his head. “The world of math is created by mathematicians. Who created our world?”
“Are you trying to use science to explain ghosts?” Han Fei was confused.
“Science without religion is limping; Religion without science is blind.” The man tore apart his drawings. “Most people live inside the cave of foolishness. What they can see are the bits of light coming through the mouth. The things we see are filtered light. The truth is in the other world. To know the truth, we need a paradigm shift in our souls.”
“Erm…” Han Fei turned to look at the elder. He was trying to sneak away.
“We live in the dark. We light candles to find a home. However, the more we are obsessed with light, the more we’ll forget our home in the dark. In the end, we lose ourselves in the pursuit of light.” The middle-aged man said simple words, but they also didn’t make sense.
“Then what is your conclusion?”
“Perhaps we don’t exist. Perhaps the ghosts are you and me. Perhaps there is an invisible world.” He lay on the ground. “I will not leave with you. The person who should leave is you.”
“Then, I’ll leave you here with your thoughts.” Han Fei abandoned the idea of treating the middle-aged man. He was afraid that his brain would be affected. “Is it so hard to find a few patients that can be sacrificed?”
Han Fei left the Seer’s room and looked around. A room grabbed his attention. Bloody handprints covered the door. Looking through the broken glass, there was an uneven name written on the center of the wooden door—Chang Wei and thirteen members of the Wei family.
“Am I finally running into a crazed killer?” Han Fei had the paper doll guard behind him. He held the coin and kicked down the sick room’s door.
The wall slammed into the wall. The electrical wires were yanked out. This was a single ward. There was no bed in the room. There was a treatment device that looked like a coffin and a chair used for electrotherapy.
“How rude.” The broken chair slowly turned around. From his appearance alone, one could tell he was not normal. He wore a giant knitted cap, and a computer hung on his chest. Two flashlights were hidden around his waist. Every ‘electrical equipment’ the patients could have was all on him.
Perhaps he had received too many electric shocks. There were a lot of ghastly wounds on his head. His muscle was different from normal too.
“Normally, only those with suicidal tendencies, highly agitated, and can’t be treated with normal medicine will be given shock therapy. It looks like I’ve found the right person.” Han Fei put down Shang Nv. He tossed the coin and entered the room. “What is your name? Why are you trapped here?” Black mist filtered out of the abyss. Han Fei smiled warmly.
“I am the best student in computer science from a prestigious university. I started my own business when I was in year 2. I came to this hospital to be the dorm head of the internet addiction intervention center.” The patient was proud. “You don’t need to know my name. Everyone here calls me Uncle Gua.”
“You’re quite special.” Han Fei’s smile became warmer. “Uncle Gua, have you killed before? Does killing make you happy?”
The elder at the door was stunned. What kind of doctor would ask this kind of question?
“I’ve killed many people.” The patient’s expression turned scary. The excitement was dancing in his eyes. “I need to kill every night! Sometimes, ten of them, sometimes hundreds! I feel so uncomfortable if I don’t kill!” Black capillaries popped on his forehead. He pulled off the cap to expose the scars left behind by shock therapy.
“Several hundred?” Han Fei did feel some murderous aura from this person, but it was very weak.
“What about you?” The man originally looked quite handsome, but the shock therapy had ruined his face. “How many have you killed?”
“At most 10?” Han Fei walked to the man and reached out his hands.
The man was not afraid. He was quite excited. “Okay! Then you’ll follow me from now on! No! I can’t resist it anymore!” He pressed the computer before his chest. “I’ll show you what I can do.” He jumped into the coffin and started to toy with the computer. Han Fei frowned. “Your kill count is from the game?”
The man didn’t answer, but the elder outside the door was shocked. He asked in a trembling voice, “You’re not talking about a game?”
“Of course, I am.” Han Fei turned to smile at the elder. He tossed the coin and pressed his hand on Uncle Gua’s head.
“Notification for Player 0000! You’ve discovered a patient with a chaotic persona—the sacrifice chosen by the director.
“Chaotic persona: Imbalance and crazy. A rare persona favored by a ghost.”
The starlight of humanity shone in the brain. Han Fei noticed that Uncle Gua had very few negative emotions.
“Notification for Player 0000! You’ve cursed five patients with persona disability and completed the mission, healing persona. You’ve obtained a large amount of EXP, strengthening of healing persona, and one more chance to access your inventory.
“Notification for Player 0000! You’ve triggered the hidden mission—The purpose of healing.
“Mission requirement: Cure 100 patients with persona disability. After completing this mission, you’ll gain a hidden reward. There’s a chance for you to bring out the souls you’ve healed in this world.”
The system provided a huge aid to Han Fei. He had been looking for the right sacrifice, and the man before him was the sacrifice chosen by the director.
“I don’t have enough time. I need to borrow your bone and blood. I’ll cure you in the future.” Han Fei took out Rest in Peace. “Shang Nv, what should I do now?”
The head nurse’s voice echoed in Han Fei’s mind. “Use the sacrifice’s blood to lead the way and run according to the direction the blood mist spreads.”
“Okay,” Han Fei targeted Uncle Gua’s blood capillary and swung.