Chapter 1161 – A Sick World?
Chen Ge and the outside world were separated by a window installed with barbed wire, standing at the window, he could smell the flowers, feel the sunlight, be blown by the breeze, and see the people his heart longed for, but he just couldn’t walk out.
The world outside was beautiful and real, but the world belonged to those outside.
Fingers grasping the barbed wire, rust rubbing against his skin, Chen Ge silently gazed at the haunted house on the west side of the paradise, looking at the actress dressed as a ghost.
Even though the other party wore ghost makeup, Chen Ge was still able to recognize her at once.
”You should receive your treatment well, and when you are in remission and get the Dean’s approval to be discharged from the hospital, you will be able to go to her.” Dr. Gao was very kind to Chen Ge, he was well aware of Chen Ge’s misery, and aside from the doctor’s responsibility to the patient itself, he also sympathized with Chen Ge greatly.
”You can’t go out until you’re cured?” Chen Ge longed for the outside world, he looked at the actress with unblinking eyes, and the actress in the paradise who was selling tickets also seemed to sense something and turned her head towards the sick yard.
Their gazes met, and Chen Ge subconsciously tried to dodge, but he quickly realized that the actress did not have any malicious intent, her gaze did not contain any discrimination or aversion, but only carried a sense of curiosity.
Possibly seeing Chen Ge’s fidgety appearance, the actress with the severe ghost makeup revealed a shallow smile.
It only took a second or two for their eyes to cross, and the actress started working again, handing out flyers to passing tourists, holding up billboards, and selling her haunted house.
”Is the once me like her, or is she playing the once me ……”
Two opposing thoughts always appeared in Chen Ge’s mind, and he couldn’t say whether it was instinct or a disease.
He also didn’t dare to think deeply about it, the sharp pain that seemed to tear his head apart wasn’t something that anyone could easily endure.
Seeing Chen Ge standing dumbly next to the window again as usual, Dr. Gao sighed softly and then quietly left.
The light in the sky slowly became softer, and there was an extra splash of orange-red in the dazzling sunlight, and when the setting sun was covered by the tall buildings, there was only a single flaming cloud left in the sky.
It was very beautiful, very pretty.
Chen Ge stood next to the window for the afternoon, the temperature slowly getting lower, the slightly cool night breeze burrowed down his collar and he shivered.
”It’s getting dark.”
Touching his heart, Chen Ge’s mind flashed back to the surveillance footage that Dr. Gao had just shown him, “The person in the video that seems like a beast, is it really me?”
Surveillance would not lie, Chen Ge subconsciously felt that the surveillance footage was trustworthy, and it seemed that he himself had determined many things through surveillance before.
”The other me is called Xu Yin? If the doctor didn’t lie to me, then when will he come?”
Looking at his own body, Chen Ge surprisingly felt a bit unfamiliar as he sat on the bed holding onto the wall.
It was already dark, but Chen Ge didn’t choose to close the window, he always felt distracted when he closed the window, and it felt like the whole room had become depressing, as if it was a labyrinth with no exit.
”So eager to get out of here.”
The park outside the window was closed for business, though the lights were still on at the haunted house.
”She didn’t go home? Has she been living in the haunted house?”
”It must be hard for one person to clean such a big haunted house, if only someone would help her.”
”No, why would she be alone? She should have her own parents as well ……”
Thinking of this, another stabbing pain came from Chen Ge’s head, his parents seemed to be a taboo in his heart, as long as he thought of something related to his parents, his brain would feel a sharp pain.
Clutching his head with both hands, Chen Ge roared lowly in pain as he wrinkled the bed sheet with both hands.
”Boom, boom, boom!”
A knock sounded on the door and Dr. Gao pushed open the door of the ward, he immediately ran to the bedside after seeing Chen Ge’s appearance and guided Chen Ge to resume breathing.
After the pain in his brain subsided, Chen Ge collapsed on the hospital bed.
”Empty yourself, don’t think nonsense, have a good sleep.” Dr. Gao finished speaking and moved aside, only then did Chen Ge realize that there was another person standing behind Dr. Gao.
That person was not very old and had a cold face, seemingly suffering from emotional deficiency.
”Your two previous patients moved out of this ward for various reasons, this is your new roommate, he is called Zuo Han.”
There were a total of three beds in the ward, the patient called Zuo Han did not communicate with Chen Ge, and with a cold face, he directly chose the bed near the door of the room.
”I hope you guys can get along well.”
Dr. Gao briefly introduced Zuo Han, during this time, Xu Wan brought the meal into the ward, and when Chen Ge and Zuo Han finished eating, Dr. Gao took out the medicine bottle in his pocket again.
He watched Chen Ge and Zuo Han take the medication before leaving with Xu Wan.
The wind blew into the hospital room through the window, Zuo Han was sitting near the door, Chen Ge was lying against the window, and there was a hospital bed between them.
Neither of them spoke, after about ten minutes, Chen Ge broke the silence, “If you feel cold, I can close the window.”
”No need.” Zuo Han only returned two words, he stood up, checked the door of the room, and after indeed the ward was not locked, he directly wore his shoes and lay on the hospital bed.
”You don’t take off your shoes when you sleep?” Chen Ge vaguely felt that the name Zuo Han was familiar, but his brain memory couldn’t correspond this name to the face in front of him, having just taken the drug, his mind was running significantly slower.
Zuo Han stared at Chen Ge’s face for a long time before coldly saying, “I don’t take off my shoes in order to escape from this room at any time.”
”Why?” Chen Ge thought about how he had also chosen to escape in the surveillance video; his brain had become sluggish, but his senses were still sharp, it was like instinct.
”Because there is you in this room, and you are a very dangerous patient.” Zuo Han blankly glanced at Chen Ge.
”Fifty steps to a hundred, if you weren’t sick you wouldn’t have been locked up here.” Chen Ge didn’t feel that he was in danger, he just felt that his brain was very messy, the slightest thought would cause him to feel severe pain, but if he stopped thinking for a long period of time, he felt that certain fragments of memories in his mind would completely disappear into thin air.
”I’m not sick, and it’s true that there are many people in this world who want to get me killed. This is a fact, not that I am sick.” Zuo Han smiled coldly, “Besides, even if I am really sick, that’s still a far cry from you.”
”You know me? You’ve heard about me?” Chen Ge’s gaze changed.
Zuo Han shook his head as he opened his mouth, revealing the white pill that was pressed under his tongue, “The doctor only fed me half a pill, while I just saw that he fed you two whole pills! So even if we’re both sick, then you’re a lot sicker than me.”
”You didn’t take the medicine the doctor gave you?”
”Medicine is for the sick, why should I take medicine if I’m not sick?” Zuo Han got up and walked to the door, his finger slid over the corner of his mouth and removed the pill without a trace, “Outside the ward is the surveillance, they want to lock me up for life.”
Fingertips holding the half pill, Zuo Han will grind the pill a little bit, he is very cautious, until the pill is ground into dust before stopping.
”Can I ask one more time, what kind of disease did the doctor say you were suffering from?” Standing from Chen Ge’s perspective, he could clearly tell that Zuo Han was not a normal person.
”They said that I have severe paranoia of being victimized, but I don’t believe a single word they said, because I know that that group of doctors don’t have good intentions, they don’t want to treat me at all, they want to harm me.”
”What makes you think that?” A person suffering from delusions of grandeur is put in a hospital, he refuses to take his medication, behaves erratically, and feels that the doctors are not trying to save him at all, but to harm him, and that this symptom is instead just an indication that he is indeed suffering from delusions of grandeur.
”There is no reason.” Zuo Han paused for a moment, “Intuition tells me that things are not that simple, a lot of things in this world are problematic, I can’t say exactly, if I can get out of this hospital, there are countless ways to prove it.”
”Then you cheer up.” Chen Ge looked at his leg wrapped in plaster, “It’s almost impossible for me to escape.”
He had multiple bruises on his body, one of his legs was severely fractured and had yet to recover, his brain was sometimes lucid and sometimes chaotic, severe pain would be transmitted as soon as he thought deeply, and there seemed to be another beast-like personality hidden inside his body.
In this situation, Chen Ge didn’t think he could escape from the hospital.
”I also really want to leave.” Chen Ge looked out the window at the paradise, which was pitch black at night without any light.
The hospital room became quiet once again, neither Chen Ge nor Zuo Han spoke again.
Turning off the bedside lamp, Chen Ge lay in the middle of the darkness.
Wrapped in darkness, he developed a very comfortable feeling, as if he was finally no longer being spied on by others.
”I didn’t do anything during the day, but why am I still so sleepy? Could it be because of the medication?” His eyelids became heavy, and Chen Ge glanced towards Zuo Han’s bed before falling asleep.
Zuo Han didn’t fall asleep, he didn’t take off his clothes or shoes, lying on the bed like a cheetah, his eyes vigilantly watching the door of the room, as if a bad person would break into the room the next moment.
……
The sound of fingernails picking at wooden boards could be vaguely heard in his ears, Chen Ge opened his eyes in a daze, and he realized that there was a person standing at the door of the sick room.
Zuo Han?
Chen Ge didn’t say anything as he pretended to be asleep while moving his gaze.
On the hospital bed near the room door, the quilt was bulging, and Zuo Han seemed to have placed a pillow under the quilt.
Not daring to make any noise, Chen Ge quietly watched the figure in the darkness.
After a few minutes, the figure suddenly turned around, and he walked directly towards Chen Ge.
There were no footsteps as the person moved slowly, then stopped by Chen Ge’s bedside.
”You’re awake?”
Zuo Han’s voice came out from the silhouette’s mouth, Chen Ge knew that he had been discovered, so he didn’t continue to pretend anymore, “What are you doing?”
”Preparing to escape, of course.” Zuo Han said quietly, “From the first time I saw you, I felt that you were familiar, have I seen you somewhere before?”
”Why are you suddenly asking this?” Chen Ge’s voice was also lowered.
”When I first moved in, there seemed to be someone standing outside the door, and I suspected that the doctors and nurses hadn’t gone far, so there were a lot of things I couldn’t talk to you about in detail.” Zuo Han sat on the edge of Chen Ge’s bed, “I must have seen you somewhere, that feeling can’t be wrong. After all, the first time I saw you, I didn’t feel that you were dangerous, which is almost an impossible thing for me.”
”Why did you volunteer that you hadn’t taken your medication when you knew the doctors were probably out there? Aren’t you afraid that they will hear you?” Chen Ge was a little puzzled.
”They know that I didn’t take my medication, and I said that just to deliberately expose my brokenness so that they would be relieved.” Zuo Han stared at Chen Ge’s face, “Using the brokenness they know to paralyze them and give them a feeling that everything is under control, in reality, they don’t even know what’s going on inside me.”
”You’re quite smart.” Chen Ge instantly understood what Zuo Han meant, the very first conversation between Zuo Han and him was not completely honest.
Zuo Han suspected at the time that the doctor was right outside the door, and he had deliberately gone about saying and doing those things, not hesitating to expose some small details to confuse the doctor.
”When I see any person in this world, a sense of wariness arises in my heart, including the doctor and my parents, but you are the only exception.” Zuo Han frowned, “It’s strange, it’s the first time I’ve opened my heart to a stranger like this.”
”Maybe it’s because I’m more facetious looking?”
”Maybe.” Zuo Han’s voice lowered, “It’s hard for me to escape this place alone, I need help, if you’re willing to help me, I can take you with me.”
”Are you sure we can escape?” From time to time, Chen Ge’s mind flashed through the surveillance images that Dr. Gao had shown him, and that self that was dominated by his beastly nature terrified him.
”I’m not sure, but I know that if I stay here any longer, I’m afraid I’ll really go crazy.” Zuo Han sat on the hospital bed in the middle of the room, “It’s now three in the morning, the caretakers change their guards at zero in the evening, they will inspect the hospital at zero and three in the morning, respectively, these two time slots, and each inspection lasts about half an hour.”
”How do you know all this?” Chen Ge looked at Zuo Han with a hint of doubt in his gaze.
”You’re worried that I’m from the hospital? You’re worried that I’m testing you?” Not only did Zuo Han not get angry, the icy expression on his face also eased a lot, “It seems that you and I are indeed the same person, we both doubt this world from the bottom of our hearts. In fact, it’s not us who are sick, it’s this world, you and I have both realized that we are living in a sick world.”
Hearing the last sentence said by Zuo Han, Chen Ge felt a chill in his heart for no reason, as if the words “sick world” had some kind of strong psychological implication on its behalf, he instinctively felt extremely disgusted with these words, it seemed that only a life and death enemy would say such words.
”Is this world really sick? Is it really me who is sick? Or is it this world?” Chen Ge’s head started to hurt again.
”Are you okay?” Zuo Han frowned, what he was looking for was a helper, not a liability, Chen Ge’s body was too weak.
”My head often hurts inexplicably, do you have similar symptoms?” Chen Ge barely managed to calm himself down as he sorted through his emotions, and then realized something very strange, what he loathed in his heart were just the words sick world, this loathing was not directed at Zuo Han.
”My head never hurts, I have to stay awake all the time as a way to deal with all kinds of dangers.” Zuo Han returned to his bedside, keeping a distance from Chen Ge, “At 3:30 am, I will leave the ward, at that time, I want to ask you to do me a favor.”
”I’m not in a very good state right now, I’m afraid I can’t help you much.” Chen Ge felt it was better not to be impulsive.