Chapter 55
Meanwhile.
As the elevator doors opened, Jiang Li also saw a “Hospital Floor Directory” inside the elevator.
She skimmed through it.
From top to bottom, not counting the Rooftop, there were a total of seven floors.
In order:
[Top Floor-Rooftop]
[4th Floor-Inpatient Area]
[3rd Floor-Inpatient Area]
[2nd Floor-Treatment Area]
[1st Floor-Registration Area]
[Floor -1-Sealed Area]
[Floor -2-Cafeteria Area]
[Floor -3-Morgue]
There was no Floor 0.
Just as the rules stated:
[There is no Floor 0 in the hospital. Do not attempt to look for Floor 0.]
But Jiang Li always felt that the existence of this rule must have some significance.
“Come on, don’t just stand there.” The nurse pulled Jiang Li toward the elevator.
Jiang Li glanced at the people inside.
There was a doctor with half his head missing, a nurse bleeding from all seven orifices…
A total of twelve bizarre medical staff, all sorts of Aberrations.
Each of them stared wide-eyed, looking at Jiang Li with delight.
Some even stuck out their tongues at Jiang Li, drooling like dogs.
Jiang Li’s heart tightened.
If she went in this time, she might never come back out.
“Hurry up, hurry up, I’m starving, get in already.”
The nurse entered, grabbed Jiang Li’s hand, and urged her impatiently.
She couldn’t anger the nurse, but it was best not to go in either.
The Experts watching the Live Streaming Room were all anxious at this moment.
No one thought Jiang Li would be foolish enough to just walk in.
-“Play crazy, right now pretending to be insane is the best option!”
-“Exactly, Jiang Li’s current identity is a psychiatric patient. As long as she acts crazy and refuses to go in, she’ll definitely get away with it!”
-“No, no, no, you’re wrong. Jiang Li is pretty calm by nature, pretending to be crazy isn’t her style.”
-“Nonsense! In the face of life and death, what’s wrong with acting crazy? How could Jiang Li not understand that?”
As the Experts argued noisily, there was movement in the Live Streaming Room.
Everyone looked up at the live feed.
In the Strange Tale World, Jiang Li straightened up, her expression unchanged, stepped forward with her right foot, and walked in.
Jiang Li’s action left all the Experts watching the live stream dumbfounded.
What was she doing?!!
Wasn’t this just walking to her death?
Had Jiang Li lost her mind…
But in the next second, a shrill alarm sounded throughout the Live Streaming Room.
“Beep beep beep beep, beep beep beep beep!”
The elevator’s overload alarm went off just in time.
Jiang Li’s lips curled slightly.
As the last person to enter, she immediately stepped back out.
Jiang Li had already noticed that detail-
The elevator sign stated: Maximum capacity 13 people!
Jiang Li had quickly counted just now.
There were twelve people inside.
If she and the nurse went in, that would make fourteen-definitely overloaded!
Even if she went in, the elevator wouldn’t operate due to the overload.
That’s why she dared to walk in so calmly.
“What a pity, you all go ahead,” Jiang Li turned back and smiled kindly at the nurse.
The nurse’s eyes showed obvious disappointment. “Ah? You’re not coming… alright then.”
“Then go to the Patient’s Cafeteria by yourself.”
The elevator doors closed.
All the Aberrations disappeared from Jiang Li’s sight.
Jiang Li stood at the elevator entrance for a while, observing the situation on the 3rd floor.
This floor, like the 4th floor, was also an inpatient area.
But the patients on the 3rd floor all wore “maroon” striped hospital gowns.
The people on this floor seemed to have much milder psychiatric symptoms, but their complexions weren’t much rosier.
Jiang Li followed the crowd downstairs.
Soon, she arrived at the Patient’s Cafeteria on Floor -2.
Jiang Li took a tray from the disinfection cabinet, and the Staff Member in charge of the cabinet was handing out chopsticks.
“Do you need chopsticks?” The Staff Member would ask every patient who took a tray.
Jiang Li guessed that perhaps, in the past, some lunatic had grabbed a bunch of chopsticks and thrown them around the cafeteria.
Jiang Li observed for a moment.
The patients passing by the Staff Member could be divided into two types.
The first type are patients dressed in ‘dark red’ striped uniforms.
These patients are generally very obedient.
When given chopsticks, they all say ‘thank you’ before accepting them.
The second type, like Jiang Li, are patients dressed in ‘blue and white’ striped uniforms.
Usually, when these patients are handed chopsticks, they glance at the Staff Member with a blank expression.
Then they resolutely shake their heads, ‘No!’
And hurriedly carry their trays away.
The Staff Member is both annoyed and amused.
He wants to force chopsticks onto this type of patient, but seems worried they might go crazy and hit him.
In the end, he can only give up.
When it’s Jiang Li’s turn, the Staff Member also asks, ‘Do you want chopsticks?’
He didn’t expect much, but Jiang Li nodded directly, ‘Yes.’
The chopsticks were snatched from the Staff Member’s hand, leaving him momentarily stunned.
Jiang Li didn’t say anything more, lifted her feet, and walked toward the food counter.
She had noticed that the paper wrapping around the chopsticks had something on it.
After lining up, Jiang Li immediately tore open the wrapper and read the tiny, densely packed text on the paper.
[Madhouse – Cafeteria Rules]
[1. Please observe the principles of a civilized cafeteria: no violence, no destruction of public property.]
[2. During meals, please try to sit with patients of the same type. The cafeteria is not responsible for any safety incidents caused by chaotic seating!]
[3. The cafeteria provides pig heart, pig liver, pig kidney, and pig lung. Each person is limited to one portion. No extra servings, no waste.]
[4. If you accidentally make eye contact with a Fellow Patient with Red Eyes, do not hesitate-run! Run immediately! But remember, never run out of the cafeteria.]
[5. Drinks at the Water Bar are free, but taste terrible. Not recommended.]
[6. If you see the water in the sink turn red, immediately turn on all faucets until the water runs clear.]
[7. Do not speak while eating or sleeping.]
‘Dang dang dang-‘
The canteen worker angrily banged her ladle, her expression unfriendly as she urged Jiang Li.
‘Patient ID 1037, stop looking, stop looking, hurry up and choose your food!’
Jiang Li looked up and put away the slip of paper.
‘Pig heart, potatoes, greens, one serving of rice, thank you.’
The canteen worker scooped the rice first, then the potatoes and greens, and then asked:
‘How many pieces of pig heart?’
While she asked, Jiang Li noticed a strange curve at the corner of her mouth.
That feeling of wanting to laugh but holding back…
It seemed this trick had fooled many people.
Jiang Li didn’t answer with a number, but said directly, ‘One portion.’
Hearing Jiang Li’s reply, the canteen worker glared at her and begrudgingly went to scoop the pig heart.
Cafeteria Rules, Article 3:
[The cafeteria provides pig heart, pig liver, pig kidney, and pig lung. Each person is limited to one portion. No extra servings, no waste.]
It says ‘one portion,’ not ‘one piece.’
If Jiang Li had been careless and let the canteen worker lead her by the nose, answering ‘one piece,’
She might have become the next dish herself.
The canteen worker muttered curses at Jiang Li under her breath.
Then, with a flick of her ladle, she scooped three pieces of pig heart and placed them on Jiang Li’s rice.
‘Hurry up! Don’t block others!’
The worker handed the tray to Jiang Li.
But before Jiang Li could touch it, the canteen worker let go.
With a clang, the metal tray slammed against the white-tiled windowsill.
Half the rice and vegetables spilled out of the tray.
Deliberate!
Jiang Li’s eyes turned cold.
Violence isn’t allowed in this cafeteria, huh? Jiang Li clenched her fists.
She thought for a second, then picked up her tray and walked out of the line.
The worker kept cursing, ‘Serves you right!’
Hearing this, Jiang Li turned her head, stared at the worker through the glass window, and met her gaze:
‘Granny, your mouth smells worse than the dirt under a seventy-year-old homeless man’s toenail.’
Jiang Li smiled as she said this. If you didn’t listen closely, she almost sounded polite.
The canteen worker’s face flushed.
Realizing everyone was watching her, the worker grew furious, slammed down her ladle, and tried to climb out the window.