Chapter 1162: Sickened World? (2 in 1)
There was a window equipped with an iron net that stood between Chen Ge and the outside world. Standing at the window, he could smell the fragrance of flowers and the caress of the wind. He could even watch the person who was the most important in his mind, but what he could not do was leave this place. The world outside was very real and very beautiful, and the outside world belonged to the others. His hands gripped the iron net, and the rust cut against his skin. Chen Ge watched theme park on the western side quietly, his eyes never leaving the female actor in the ghost costume. Even though she was wearing heavy makeup, Chen Ge managed to pick her out from the crowd at first glance.
“You have to cooperate to receive the treatment. After your condition gets better and after we get the approval from the hospital director, you will be able to leave the hospital, and you can go and meet her in person.” Doctor Gao treated Chen Ge very kindly. He was familiar with Chen Ge’s sad background. Other than the doctor’s responsibility toward his patient, he felt deep concern and pity toward Chen Ge.
“I can leave this place after my illness is cured?” Chen Ge desired the outside world. He could not keep his eyes away from the female actor. The female actor who was selling tickets at theme park seemed to be able to sense something, and she turned her head to glance at the hospital. The two’s eyes met. Chen Ge subconsciously wanted to move his eyes away, but he soon realized the female actor did not mean him any harm. There was no trace of stigmata or disgust in her eyes. If anything, there was only more than a bit of curiosity. Perhaps she could discern the panic and anxiety within Chen Ge. The female actor in the ghost disguise gifted a light smile at him. After the one to two seconds when their eyes met, the female actor returned to work and started handing out flyers to the pa.s.sing visitors. She kept holding the advertis.e.m.e.nt board and tried her best to promote the haunted house.
“The former me is just like her, so she is acting like the former me…” Two contradictory thoughts appeared in Chen Ge’s mind. He could not tell whether this was his instinct or this was a symptom of his illness. He did not dare spend too much time contemplating this further. The pain that felt like it was about to tear his mind open was not something that could be stomached by anyone. Seeing that Chen Ge had returned to his post by the window, Doctor Gao sighed softly and then turned to silently walk away.
The sun over the horizon became softer. A hue of red and orange filtered through the light. When the dawning sun was blocked by the skysc.r.a.pers, it appeared as if the sky was on fire. It was beautiful and breath-taking. Chen Ge stood by the window for the whole afternoon. The temperature around him slowly dropped. The gentle night breeze crawled into his collar and caused the man to s.h.i.+ver.
“The sky is getting dark.” He touched his chest. The surveillance video that Doctor Gao had him watch earlier flashed across Chen Ge’s mind. “The beast-like person that appeared in the video, is that really me?”
The camera would not lie. Chen Ge believed subconsciously that the surveillance video was trustworthy evidence because in the past he had often used similar surveillance video to confirm many things. “The other me is called Xu Yin? If the doctor has not lied to me, when will he arrive?”
Looking at his own body, Chen Ge suddenly felt like he could not recognize it anymore. He leaned against the wall and slowly moved back to his bed. The sky was already dark, but Chen Ge did not choose to close the window. For some reason, whenever he thought about doing that, he would be wrought with discomfort. It was as if by closing the window, the air would become suffocating inside the room like he was dropped inside a maze that had no exit. “I wish to leave this place.”
The theme park outside the window had already stopped its day of operation, but the lights were still on at the haunted house. “She does not return to her own home? Or is the haunted house her home? Has she been living in the haunted house? It must have been quite taxing to clean up such a large haunted house on her own. If only she had someone else to go and help her. But wait, why is she alone? Shouldn’t she have her parents with her?”
When this thought crossed her mind, more sharp pain pierced Chen Ge’s head. Parents appeared to be a taboo inside his heart. Whenever he thought about anything related to his parents, his brain would respond with enormous pain. His hands hugged his brain. Chen Ge growled in pain. He curled up into a ball on the bed.
Bang bang bang!
The sound of knocking came as Doctor Gao pushed open the door. When he saw the status Chen Ge was in, he immediately ran to his side and helped him through a series of breathing exercises. After the pain disappeared from his brain, Chen Ge collapsed onto the bed.
“Clear your mind and stop thinking about these other things. Try and get a good night’s sleep.” After Doctor Gao said all that, he moved to the side. It was then that Chen Ge realized there was another person standing behind Doctor Gao. The person was not that old, but his face was expressionless. He appeared to suffer from a lack of emotions.
“Due to various reasons, the two previous patients that shared this room with you have been moved away. This will be your new roommate. His name is Zuo Han.” There were only three beds in total in the room. The patient who was called Zuo Han did not communicate with Chen Ge. With the same frosty expression, he walked to choose the bed that was closest to the door.
“Hopefully, you guys will get to know each other and help each other.” Doctor Gao gave Chen Ge a quick introduction of Zuo Han. During this period, Xu Wan arrived to bring meals into the room. Once Chen Ge and Zuo Han had finished their dinner, Doctor Gao took out the medicine bottle from his pocket. After he personally witnessed Chen Ge and Zuo Han swallow the pills, Doctor Gao left the room with Xu Wan. The night breeze blew into the room. Zuo Han was sitting at the bed close to the door, and Chen Ge was lying on the bed next to the window. There was an empty bed between them. Neither of them spoke. After ten minutes later, Chen Ge was the first to break the silence. “If you think it is cold, I can close the window.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Zuo Han replied snappily. He stood up to inspect the door, and after ensuring the room door was not locked, he climbed back into the bed with his shoes still laced to his feet.
“Aren’t you going to remove your shoes before you go to sleep?” For some reason, the name Zuo Han felt very familiar to Chen Ge, but his brain could not match the name to the face before him. Since he had just swallowed the medicine, his brain was operating conspicuously slower than normal. Zuo Han stared at Chen Ge’s face. After a long time, he coldly said, “The reason I am not removing my shoes is so that I can leave this place as soon as I can.”
“But why?” Chen Ge was reminded of the fact that he had once chosen to escape this place through the evidence shown to him on the surveillance video. His brain was not working as fast as he wished, but his senses were still very sharp. It was as if his instincts were kicking in.
“Because you are inside this room and you are a very dangerous patient.” Zuo Han rolled his eyes at Chen Ge.
“That is pot calling the kettle black. If you weren’t sick, you wouldn’t be here.” Chen Ge did not think he was that dangerous. If anything, he thought his mind was very fuzzy. Whenever he tried to concentrate on something, his mind would respond with pain. But if he stopped thinking for a long time, he felt that the only memories that he had of himself would completely disappear.
“I am not sick. There are indeed many people who wish to harm me in this world. That is the truth, not because I am sick.” Zuo Han scoffed coldly. “Furthermore, even if I am really sick, I am in a much better condition than you are.”
“You know me? You’ve heard about my stories before?” Chen Ge’s eyes that looked at Zuo Han changed.
Zuo Han shook his head. He opened his mouth to reveal the white pill that was hidden under his tongue. “The doctor only fed me half of a pill, but I saw that he fed you two whole pills! So even if we are really sick, your illness is much more serious than mine.”
“You did not swallow the pills that the doctor gave you?”
“Pills are meant for patients who are sick, and I am not sick, so why should I consume the pills?” Zuo Han sat up and walked to the side of the door. His finger slid across his lips and removed the pill without a trace. “The corridor outside the door is heavily surveilled. They want to trap me here forever.”
Squeezing the half pill between his finger, Zuo Han gradually grinded it down. He was very carefully until he grounded the pill into dust. Only then did he stop.
“If you do not mind me asking, what kind of illness did the doctor say you suffer from?” Standing from Chen Ge’s perspective, it was clear that this Zuo Han had something wrong with him.
“They said I suffer from serious paranoia and delusions, but I do not believe a single word that they say because I know the bunch of doctors are up to no good. They do not intend to cure me from the very beginning; they want to harm me.”
“Why would you think that?” A patient diagnosed with paranoia was sent to a hospital. The fact that he refused to take his medication and the strange way that he was acting as well as the belief that he thought the doctors were not trying to save him but harm him, all these were signs that he was indeed suffering from the illness that the doctor said he had.
“No reason.” Zuo Han paused for a moment. “My instincts tell me that things are not that simple. There are many things in this world that are problematic. I cannot tell you exactly why. But if I can leave this hospital, I am sure there will be numerous ways to prove that I am right.”
“Then good luck to you.” Chen Ge glanced at his right leg that was wrapped in plaster. “I couldn’t escape even if I wanted to.”
His body was covered in bruises, one of his legs was broken, and his brain only worked sometimes. Whenever he was deep in thought, he would be a.s.saulted by pain, and apparently, there was a second persona living inside his body that would lash out like a beast. Under these conditions, Chen Ge did not think he would be able to escape from this hospital.
“How I wish to leave this place as well.” Chen Ge looked at theme park outside the window. Theme park was completely dark in the night, there was no light at all.
The room once again returned to silence. Neither Chen Ge nor Zuo Han spoke again. Closing the lamp on the bedside table, Chen Ge lay in the darkness. Being enveloped by darkness, he felt strangely comforted like the eyes that had been watching him could not see him anymore.
“I have not done anything throughout the day, but how come I still feel so drowsy? Is it the effect of the pills?” His eyelids became heavy. Before Chen Ge drifted off to bed, he glanced at the bed where Zuo Han was. Zuo Han did not go to sleep. He did not even change out of his clothes and shoes. He curled on his bed like a panther as his eyes followed the door alertly as if he believed that someone would burst into the room in the next moment.
…
He could hear the sound of nails scratching against wood. Chen Ge opened his eyes blurrily, and he saw someone standing by the room door.
Zuo Han? Chen Ge did not say anything. He pretended to still be asleep while he moved his eyes in the dark. On the bed nearest to the door, the bed was bulging. Zuo Han appeared to have stuffed his pillow under the bedsheet. Without making any noise, Chen Ge quietly watched the figure in the dark. After a few minutes, the figure suddenly turned around and headed directly toward Chen Ge. There was no sound of footsteps. The person moved very slowly before he finally stopped beside Chen Ge’s bed.
“You have already woken up?” Zuo Han’s voice came from the mouth of the figure.
Chen Ge knew that he had been discovered so he stopped with the pretense. “What are you doing?”
“Of course, I am trying to escape from this place,” Zuo Han whispered. “When I first laid eyes on you, I felt you are very familiar. Have we met somewhere else before?”
“Why would you suddenly ask me about that?” Chen Ge also lowered his voice to a whisper.
“When I first moved in there, I noticed there were people standing outside the door. I suspected the doctor and nurse had not wandered away, so I did not dare to share too many words with you.” Zuo Han sat on Chen Ge’s bed. “I must have met you somewhere else before. I am certain of that. After all, when I first saw you, I knew that you are not dangerous at all. If there is anything that I am certain of, that would be it.”
“Since you knew that the doctor was just outside the door, why would you volunteer the information that you did not consume the pill? Aren’t you afraid of them finding out?” Chen Ge was confused.
“They already know that I have been skipping my meds. The reason I said that out loud was for them to put their guard down, for them to think that I did not realize they were spying on us.” Zuo Han stared at Chen Ge’s face. “Use their known secret to undermine them, to give them a feeling that they are in control, but in reality, they have no idea what I am thinking at all.”
“You are quite a clever person.” Chen Ge instantly understood what Zuo Han was saying. The conversation that they had in the late afternoon was not entirely filled with truths. At the time, Zuo Han suspected the doctor was just outside the door, so he purposely said certain things and did certain things, even going so far as to expose some of the smaller details to confuse the doctor.
“Whenever I encounter anyone in this world, there will be a guardedness that rises inside my heart, and that includes when I am around my parents and the doctors, but you are the only exception.” Zuo Han frowned. “It is very strange. This is the first time I’ve felt so open in front of a stranger.”
“Perhaps because I have a personable face?”
“Perhaps.” Zuo Han lowered his voice even further. “I know how difficult it is to escape from this place, so I need a friend. If you are willing to help me, I can bring you with me.”
“Are you sure we can successfully escape from this hospital?” The image of the beast-like self that Doctor Gao had shown him kept appearing in Chen Ge’s mind. The persona that had gone berserk made him feel fearful.
“I cannot be sure of that, but I know that if we stay here any longer, we will go crazy for real.” Zuo Han sat on the bed in the middle. “It’s now three in the morning. The workers change their s.h.i.+ft at midnight. They will go on patrol around the rooms around midnight and 2 am. Each patrol will last for about half an hour.”
“How did you manage to find all this out?” Chen Ge’s eyes that fell on Zuo Han slowly gained a tint of suspicion.
“You worry that I am one of the people sent by the hospital? You are worried that this is all a test?” Not only was Zuo Han not offended, the icy expression on his face softened a lot. “Looks like we are the same kind of people. We bear suspicion regarding this world from the bottom of our hearts. Actually, it is not us who are sick; this world is sick. You and I have already realized that. We are living in a sickened world.”
When he heard the last sentence that Zuo Han said, Chen Ge’s heart was gripped by an inscrutable chill. It was as if the term sickened world represented a strong psychological pressure. He instinctually felt resentful and cautious of these few words. In his mind, only his nemesis would say something like that.
“Is this world really sick, or am I the one who is sick? Who is the one with the illness?” Chen Ge’s head started to throb with pain again.
“Are you alright?” Zuo Han started to frown. He wanted to look for a helper, not a burden, and Chen Ge was too weak physically.
“My head gets painful for no reason. Do you have similar symptoms?” Chen Ge forced himself to calm down. He tried to arrange his emotions and realized something very strange. He was disgusted by the term ‘sickened world’, but the disgust did not include Zuo Han, who uttered the term. It was as if he knew subconsciously that Zuo Han was not the one who was connected to that term.
“That has never happened to me. I need to stay on alert at all times to respond to any possible danger.” Zuo Han returned to his bed and maintained a distance from Chen Ge. “At 3:30 am, I will leave this room. At that time, I need a favor from you.”
“I am not in a good condition. I do not think I will be of any help to you.” Chen Ge still believed that, in their situation, it was best to not act too rashly.