Chapter 52
Behind Jiang Li, there was nothing but a white tiled wall-completely empty.
That was how things looked in Jiang Li’s eyes.
But clearly, the panicked madwoman was seeing something Jiang Li could not see.
Jiang Li turned her head again, staring at the madwoman.
The madwoman screamed and, in her frenzy, grabbed the brazier, yellow paper still burning inside, and hurled it at Jiang Li.
With a clang, the brazier landed right where Jiang Li had just been standing.
If Jiang Li hadn’t reacted quickly and sidestepped, her hospital gown would have certainly caught fire.
All the ashes from the brazier spilled out, scattering across the floor.
The madwoman buried her hands in her hair, clutching her head, and in a panic shoved Jiang Li aside and ran downstairs.
As expected, something went wrong for the madwoman.
On the second step of the Stairs, her foot slipped and she tumbled all the way down.
Amid her screams, the madwoman landed on her back, dead, on the flat ground at the bottom of the Stairs.
The nurses on that floor heard the commotion and rushed over.
Two nurses-one began CPR on the madwoman, while the other hurried off to call a doctor and fetch a stretcher.
Dark red blood seeped from under the madwoman’s dirty, tangled hair.
“Quick! Take her to the Emergency Room!”
As the madwoman was carried away on a stretcher, her terrified eyes were still fixed on the top of the Stairs-at Jiang Li’s direction.
After the madwoman was taken away, a nurse went upstairs to clean up the brazier and the mess scattered on the floor.
While bending down to tidy up, she glanced at Jiang Li beside her.
Noticing there was no number on Jiang Li’s name tag, the nurse was momentarily surprised.
“Are you new here?” the nurse asked, looking up at her.
Jiang Li looked down at her own chest.
A plastic badge had been attached to her hospital gown, but it was currently blank.
Jiang Li responded with a quiet hum and nodded to the nurse.
The nurse set the brazier aside and wiped her hands on her clothes.
“You can’t just wander around like this. You don’t have a place to stay yet, do you? I’ll take you to get checked in.”
With that, the nurse motioned for Jiang Li to follow her upstairs.
They entered a deathly silent, dim corridor.
All the doors on both sides of the hallway were tightly closed; there wasn’t a single patient wandering about.
As Jiang Li walked through, she felt the corridor was very dark.
There was a row of long lights on the ceiling, but not a single one was on.
In the gloom, the only source of light came from the venetian blinds at the end of the hallway.
“Business at the hospital has been pretty bad lately. We’re encouraged to save electricity, so the corridor lights aren’t turned on during the day,” the nurse explained as she led the way.
Jiang Li gave a quiet response.
A slight chill seeped through the damp hallway.
Jiang Li kept close behind the nurse, coming to a rusty iron door. The numbers “Room 402” above it were already faded.
The green paint outside the iron door was peeling, making its age obvious.
Standing before the door, the nurse took out a large ring of keys from her pocket, selected one, and unlocked the door.
With a creak, the iron door swung open, and two pairs of eyes inside the room immediately looked toward the entrance.
“Four-person room. Bed 2 just became available, so you’ll sleep in Bed 2.”
Following the nurse’s gesture, Jiang Li saw her assigned bed.
On the bedside table, there was still a photo frame.
The woman with the sweet smile in the photo was the same madwoman who had just fallen to her death.
The nurse moved over and casually removed the photo frame, tossing it into the trash can beside the bed.
Then she gave the bedding a quick shake, straightening it up.
“If you have any questions, just ask your roommates. They’ve all been here a long time.”
The nurse gave careful instructions and attached the name badge to Jiang Li.
There was still a faint bloodstain on the badge that hadn’t been completely wiped off.
Jiang Li was now Patient ID 1037 in the psychiatric hospital.
The nurse left the room, closing the iron door behind her.
One of the patients in the room quickly went over, grasped the lock’s knob, and with a click, locked the door.
It was only then that Jiang Li noticed that, including herself, there were only three people in this four-person room.
Bed 4 was empty-no bedding, just a wooden board.
As for Jiang Li’s two roommates, one was an old man wearing glasses, and the other was a middle-aged woman with short hair.
After locking the door, the old man returned to his wooden chair, picked up a newspaper, and began to read.
The Old Man still seemed like a normal person.
But the Middle-aged Woman immediately gave off an unsettling vibe.
She dressed the Fake Doll in her arms with baby clothes, then kept cradling it, rocking it to sleep.
It was likely that she had lost her child, which led to her mental breakdown.
Jiang Li felt herself standing there, observing them. The Old Man, who was reading the newspaper, glanced at Jiang Li sideways.
“You’re the sixth Patient ID 1037 this month.” The Old Man adjusted his glasses.
Jiang Li smiled lightly. “Is that so? Then I guess I’m the next to die.”
The Old Man hadn’t expected Jiang Li to speak so bluntly, and his eyes widened in surprise.
Thinking that Jiang Li was a bit odd, the Old Man turned away, dismissing her.
“Go check the beds. There are good things there.”
Hearing this, Jiang Li raised her eyebrows and walked over to Bed No. 2.
She rummaged through the bed a couple of times, and finally found a key and a note under the pillow.
It was the rules.
[Madhouse – Patient’s Rules]
[1. At all costs, find Doctor Lin Yi. Doctor Lin knows how to leave this place.]
[2. 7-8am, 12-1pm, 6-7pm are meal times. You must go to the Cafeteria on Basement Level 2 to eat, but do not eat pork.]
[3. Do not pick up the Spirit Money on the Stairs. It’s not for you.]
[4. The Morgue on Basement Level 3 is not a place you should go.]
[5. Do not anger the “nurses” here! The real nurses are already dead. All the nurses here are fake! Fake!]
[6. There is no Floor 0 in the hospital. Do not try to find Floor 0.]
[7. Do not approach mad patients, and absolutely do not imitate them.]
[8. If a nurse asks whether you have seen a Little Girl with twin ponytails in the hospital, you must insist you have not.]
Jiang Li used the Eye of Truth and saw that the fourth rule was false.
[The Morgue on Basement Level 3 is not a place you should go.]
In other words: The Morgue on Basement Level 3 “is” a place you should go.
Or perhaps, what it really means is-the hospital’s Morgue is your true destination…
Jiang Li flipped the note over.
On the blank side, there were several red words crawling like worms.
“Run! Don’t trust %#&@*”
The last few characters were scribbled over, completely illegible.
Just as Jiang Li was about to take a closer look, she heard a flurry of footsteps outside in the corridor.
The other two in the room almost reflexively jumped up and ran!
The Old Man, in a strange posture, quickly crawled into the wardrobe, curling up and trembling.
The Middle-aged Woman threw away the Fake Doll, nimbly squeezed into the other half of the wardrobe, and slammed the door shut with a “bang!”
Now, Jiang Li was left standing alone in the room.
Madmen…
These two madmen, what are they doing?!
Just as Jiang Li was getting anxious, a wardrobe door opened a crack.
The Middle-aged Woman peeked through the gap with one eye. “Why are you standing there?! Hurry up! There’s no time…”
The footsteps in the corridor grew more urgent, as if someone was running.
Who was out there? Why were the other patients so afraid?
Or perhaps… what was outside wasn’t human at all!
Jiang Li felt her scalp tingle.
Should she imitate these two madmen and hide in the wardrobe?
“Hurry up! Don’t just stand there! Only inside the wardrobe is safe!!”
The woman inside the wardrobe lowered her voice, urging anxiously.
The Old Man reached out to grab the door, seemingly wanting to close it immediately. “Forget her! Close the door!! Quick!”
The two of them were arguing heatedly.
Jiang Li’s Heart was pounding.
Her feet instinctively shuffled a couple of steps in that direction.
Just as Jiang Li was about to move faster, she suddenly remembered the seventh rule of the Patient’s Rules:
[Do not approach mad patients, and absolutely do not imitate them.]
If these two patients were simply mad, then by imitating them, wouldn’t she be breaking the rules?
The footsteps in the corridor were getting closer and closer to the iron door.
What should she do, what should she do…