Chapter 155
Chapter 155
“My name is Li Xiaoming. I was an ordinary employee at Huicheng’s Guangming Group. My job was to sell the beverages our company produced.
“It sounds simple, but the work was incredibly demanding. I woke at six every morning and worked until ten at night. Besides visiting clients, I had to handle countless reports, documents, and other tasks.
“There was plenty of work, but very little pay. After social insurance and housing-fund deductions, I took home only a little over three thousand yuan a month.
“Even so, I didn’t dare quit. I was already thirty-five. At that age, finding another job outside the company would have been extremely difficult.
“Every month, I saved my entire salary. I hardly dared eat or buy clothes because I wanted to own a home as soon as possible. The goal was still impossibly far away, but I kept working toward it.”
“Wait!”
Liu Ye suddenly interrupted him, then asked nervously, “Um, how much does a home cost these days?”
“Housing prices in Huicheng are fairly high. Anything halfway decent is about twenty thousand.”
“Twenty thousand yuan?”
Liu Ye was astonished. That did not sound too bad. If he went without food or drink, he could save that much in about a year.
“Yes. Twenty thousand per square meter. I’ve only saved enough to buy a bathroom,” the man said bitterly.
He looked up and found Liu Ye completely petrified.
“Doctor, what’s wrong?”
Liu Ye stared at him and murmured, “You’ve saved enough for a bathroom? My savings couldn’t even buy the tiles in one.”
The man immediately covered his mouth. The sinister aura around him weakened considerably, and the terror that had twisted his features faded into a gentler expression.
He picked up the kettle and poured Liu Ye a cup of water.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it.”
“It’s fine. Go on.”
“Even though I worked hard, I was always passed over for promotion. Whenever I spoke to my supervisor, he promised me it would happen next time. Next time, next time-but every time, someone else got promoted. One of the trainees I mentored is now a manager, and I have to address him as my superior!”
“Wait again!”
Liu Ye interrupted him once more.
“So you’ve worked there for a long time?”
“Uh, almost ten years.”
Liu Ye stared at him.
“I’ve never held any job for more than half a month…”
The man stared back.
“Doctor, if you don’t mind me asking, how long have you been a doctor?”
“Ten minutes.”
“Oh… Hm?”
“Ha ha ha… Dr. Liu means he began filling in for someone ten minutes ago. Ha ha ha…”
The nurse hurriedly covered Liu Ye’s mouth and tried to smooth things over. Then she glared viciously at him.
For some reason, unease crept over the man. Nevertheless, he continued.
“Then one day, while I was at work, I became unbearably thirsty. I secretly drank one of the beverages I was supposed to sell.”
His expression suddenly turned excited.
“Company rules forbade salespeople from drinking our own products. But after I drank it, I felt like a completely different person! Why should I swallow every insult? Why should I worry about so many things?
“So I found my supervisor and asked whether he was going to promote me. Once again, he promised it would happen next time. Ha ha… So I grabbed a cleaver and hacked him apart! Ha ha ha… His wife and child were screaming beside him, so I sent them down to reunite with him. A family should stay together, after all. Ha ha ha…
“And then there was that bitch. I confessed my love to her, and she dared reject me, so I killed her. I killed her husband and daughter too. Ha ha ha…”
Smack!
Liu Ye slapped the man straight to the floor. He lost consciousness instantly.
The nurse stared at him.
“What are you doing?”
“Miss Nurse, may I borrow your phone? I need to call the police.”
This man was a murderer. As an upstanding citizen, Liu Ye had to fight such evil to the bitter end.
The nurse stared at him again.
“Call the police, my ass! Look at him. He’s obviously mentally ill. Of course someone like that spouts a little nonsense.”
The nurse had never imagined Liu Ye could actually strike a Fiend. If the attack provoked it, the consequences would be unimaginable.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I was only thinking about his physical condition. I forgot his mental health. My apologies.”
As he spoke, Liu Ye picked up the man and slapped him again, waking him.
The nurse stared in silence.
The man slowly opened his eyes and found Liu Ye gazing at him with concern.
“Are you all right? You suddenly fainted while you were talking.”
The man struggled upright and touched his face in confusion.
“Doctor, my head doesn’t hurt much anymore, but my face feels awfully swollen.”
The nurse said nothing.
Liu Ye said nothing.
“Ahem. That’s perfectly normal. This wound went untreated for too long, so it… became a little inflamed. Yes, that’s the problem. I understand what happened now. Before the headaches began, did you have any other symptoms?”
“I felt cold all over. Nauseous. Dizzy…”
As the man spoke, he seemed to recall something. His body began to tremble, and his eyes gradually turned red.
“Doctor, am I… dead?”
The moment he finished speaking, the sinister aura around him exploded. The nurse nearly collapsed in fright.
Because of the hospital’s experiments, every patient on this floor was a newly formed Fiend: each had drunk a Desire Potion and subsequently died for one reason or another.
They did not know they were dead, and portions of their memories were missing.
They repeated the same life every day. Fiends like these were convenient experimental subjects and vital hospital assets, so someone had to keep deceiving them.
That had been the former doctor’s job. The nurse had lured Liu Ye here because she intended to turn him into the same kind of Fiend.
But now the doctor was gone, and no one remained to restrain these Fiends. If they erupted, the hospital would suffer catastrophic losses-and she would be finished.
Just as she thought everything was over, Liu Ye spoke.
“What are you talking about? Dead? If you were dead, how could you come here for treatment? Come on, have some confidence in me.”
Liu Ye comforted the man the way he had once been taught.
The man immediately returned to normal.
“I’m not… dead?”
“Of course not. Even if you were, I could bring you back. Go lie down over there.”
The man nodded and obediently lay on the bed while Liu Ye searched through the former doctor’s toolbox.
The nurse breathed a sigh of relief. Surprisingly, the brat was rather dependable.
The man lay there happily contemplating the fact that he was still alive-until Liu Ye returned carrying a chainsaw.
“What the hell?!”
The man shot upright.
“Wh-what are you doing?”
Had the doctor learned he was alive and decided to send him on his way after all?
“Amputation. If something hurts, cut it off. Once it’s gone, it can’t hurt anymore.”
The nurse stared at him.
What kind of horrifying thing was that to say?!
“My head hurts, so you’re going to cut off my head? Sure, the pain will be gone-because I’ll be gone too!” the man roared.
The nurse hurried over to smooth things out.
“Ha ha, Dr. Liu is only joking with you. Ha ha ha… Dr. Liu truly has a remarkable sense of humor.”
She snatched the chainsaw from Liu Ye and glared fiercely at him.
“But that’s really what the doctor in our village taught me,” Liu Ye protested, looking aggrieved.
“Enough nonsense. Just follow the normal surgical procedure.”
“I don’t know what a normal procedure looks like.”
“Start with anesthesia.”
“Where’s the anesthetic?”
“The anesthetic…”
The nurse looked at the medicine cabinet, which was in ruins. The doctor had smashed every vial of anesthetic inside.
Despair returned to her face. Liu Ye thought the girl had very little composure, but he still tried to reassure her.
“Don’t worry. Leave it to me.”