Chapter 53
Jiang Li clenched the slip of paper, took a deep breath, and told herself to calm down.
There could never be a guaranteed death trap in the Aberration World.
This also meant that, between these two sides, it was impossible for both to want her dead!
If one of them wanted to harm her, there would definitely be some clues left behind.
Jiang Li’s index finger trembled slightly.
Her gaze quickly swept around the room.
“Hurry up! They’re at the door…”
The Middle-aged Woman in the wardrobe was still urging anxiously.
Beside her, the Old Man said in a sarcastic tone, “Why do you care about her! There’s no time, close the door!!”
The Old Man was thinking only of self-preservation.
But the Middle-aged Woman gripped the door frame, doing her utmost to stop the Old Man from closing the door.
The Middle-aged Woman wanted to save Jiang Li, but Jiang Li wasn’t listening to her.
The woman became even more anxious and angry. “Come on, hurry up! Don’t you want to live?!”
Jiang Li glanced around the room, finally fixing her gaze on the Middle-aged Woman’s bed, and stopped.
When she looked up again, her eyes were icy cold.
“No, I don’t plan to live. Go ahead and close the door, I’m not coming in.”
Jiang Li glanced at the woman, then calmly sat down on the bed.
As soon as she finished speaking, the wardrobe door slammed shut with a “bang!”
At the very moment the wardrobe door closed, the Middle-aged Woman’s face suddenly twisted into a hideous expression.
From the doorway came the sound of a key being inserted into the lock.
A “click,” and the door was unlocked and pushed open.
A nurse led a doctor into the room, one after the other.
The doctor and nurse looked like normal people.
Jiang Li glanced in their direction and let out a sigh of relief.
Fortunately… her guess had been correct!
Jiang Li’s gaze fell back on the Middle-aged Woman’s bed.
Lying on the bed was the woman’s Fake Son (a variant of the “Fake Doll”).
Although Jiang Li knew it was fake, the Middle-aged Woman clearly did not think so.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been hugging her Fake Son to sleep in the first place!
Therefore, if the Middle-aged Woman wanted to escape, she would never abandon her precious son.
There was only one reason she would leave the child behind-
That was to free her hands to kill Jiang Li!
If Jiang Li had followed them into the wardrobe, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
Jiang Li hadn’t expected these two fellow patients to put on such a coordinated act.
She finally understood why so many patients with Patient ID 1037 had died.
No doubt, many of them had been killed by these two lunatics!
As soon as the nurse entered and saw only Jiang Li in the ward, she immediately realized what was going on.
“Patient ID 525, Patient ID 526! Time for your medication, come out!”
Without looking sideways, the nurse went straight to the wardrobe and pulled open the door.
Seeing what the two were holding, the nurse was clearly stunned for a moment.
“…Listen, no one in this room wants to hurt you, everyone here is a good person. Come, be good, give me the knife.”
The nurse bent over, coaxing them like little children, tricking the two into handing over the small knife.
The two lunatics exchanged glances, handed over the knife, and then cautiously stepped out of the wardrobe.
After collecting the knife, the nurse’s expression immediately turned ugly.
“Tell me, where did the knife come from? Who brought it in?!” the nurse demanded.
The Old Man pushed up his glasses, then pointed at Jiang Li. “She gave it to us.”
The Middle-aged Woman, her eyes red after being scolded, also stretched out her hand and pointed at Jiang Li, her tone full of grievance: “It was her, I can prove it.”
Jiang Li pressed her lips together, speechless: “…”
Staying with these two really was exhausting.
“Did you bring the knife in?” the nurse questioned Jiang Li. “Don’t you know knives aren’t allowed in the hospital?!”
The nurse glared at her, tone harsh.
After all, in the nurse’s eyes, Jiang Li was just another psychiatric patient.
The two lunatics kept their hands pointed straight at Jiang Li.
Jiang Li took a step back, avoiding the direction of those two hands.
“It wasn’t me.” Jiang Li looked calmly at the nurse. “If they want to frame me, then let them produce evidence. Mere words mean nothing.”
Jiang Li was very clear: if she followed the nurse’s line of questioning, she’d fall into the trap of proving her own innocence.
When faced with slander, you shouldn’t have to prove your innocence; it’s the slanderer who should provide evidence.
That is the correct approach!
Jiang Li’s logic was sharp, while the two lunatics stammered and fumbled.
Anyone with clear eyes could tell who was mad and who was normal.
The nurse stared strangely at the three of them, frowning slightly.
“How about this,” the nurse suddenly said, taking those two knives and stabbing them into both sides of her own waist. “If you can do this, then it proves you aren’t lying.”
The nurse pulled out the two knives, and blood spurted continuously from both sides of her waist.
“?”
Jiang Li was stunned, her pupils shrinking sharply-
This nurse… seemed not quite normal either?
The nurse handed the knives to the two fellow patients.
Those two, determined to prove their innocence, stabbed themselves hard.
At last, the two bloody knives were handed to Jiang Li.
“Your turn.” The nurse’s gaze was fixed intently on Jiang Li.
Jiang Li swallowed, reached out, and hesitated to take them.
“Can I not stab my waist?” Jiang Li asked.
The nurse nodded. “That’s fine. If you don’t stab your waist, stabbing your head works too.”
Jiang Li fell silent: “…”
Things seemed to have gotten even worse.
Jiang Li wanted to refuse, but then remembered the fifth rule of the Patient’s Rules:
[Do not anger the ‘nurses’ here! The real nurses are already dead. All the nurses here are fake! FAKE!]
Jiang Li thought that any resistance would probably anger the nurse.
“Um, actually…” Jiang Li suddenly changed her tune. “I admit it. I brought these knives in.”
Jiang Li’s tone was exceptionally earnest, her eyes filled with unprecedented determination.
Upon hearing Jiang Li’s voluntary confession, the nurse shot her a look and took back the knives.
“Alright then. For violating hospital regulations, your punishment is… do 20 jumping jacks and run ten laps around the room!”
At this point, the doctor, the nurse, and the two patients were all staring intently at Jiang Li.
There was no way out.
If she didn’t do it, things would probably end badly!
Jiang Li exhaled. Fine, just do it. It’s not like it’ll kill her.
She quickly found a bit of open space and did 20 jumping jacks.
Then, she immediately assumed a running posture and ran laps around the room.
After ten laps, Jiang Li pretended to look very tired, hoping the nurse wouldn’t torment her further.
“Is that enough?” Jiang Li, hands on her knees, returned to stand before the doctor and nurse.
At that moment-
The doctor in the back, wearing a mask, took a step forward.
On the doctor’s badge were the words “Hao Huairen.”
A string of keys at his waist clinked together as they knocked.
Doctor Hao pulled a Fountain Pen from his breast pocket, flipped open the small notebook in his hand, and started jotting something down.
Jiang Li glanced over; it looked like some kind of score or evaluation.
She thought her performance should be decent, right?
After all, she hadn’t broken any rules and had been fairly obedient. Or so Jiang Li thought.
“Doctor Hao, what do you think of the patient’s condition?” The nurse looked up and asked the doctor.
Doctor Hao didn’t look at the two patients, nor at the nurse.
He only stared at Jiang Li with a grave expression:
“This talking-to-yourself issue of yours is rather serious. Has it been like this for a while now?”
Jiang Li was startled. “…What?”
Doctor Hao, face unchanged, marked a score in the notebook.
He looked up: “Can you tell me what you were just doing?
Running around the room, grinning at the air, muttering about stabbing waists-what was all that about?”