Chapter 57
After Doctor Hao finished speaking, he put on his mask, covering his black snake-like mouth, and left.
Jiang Li was left standing there, stunned.
What did he mean by that?
Just as Jiang Li was pondering, a chubby man in a maroon patient uniform came running over in a hurry.
“Help… Help me, please help me!!…”
Fatty ran at full speed. Seeing someone ahead, he looked as if he’d found a lifeline.
He rushed forward, grabbed Jiang Li, shrank behind her, and tried to hide.
Behind Fatty, a man was chasing after him.
Jiang Li looked closely-wasn’t that the Bald Man who had bumped into her earlier?
The Bald Man was over 1.8 meters tall, burly and stocky, with a face full of rough flesh.
At this moment, his eyes were bloodshot, and he was wielding a shiny object, ready to attack Fatty.
Cafeteria Rules, Article Four:
[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.]
Fortunately, the Bald Man was focused on Fatty and hadn’t noticed Jiang Li.
Jiang Li quickly lowered her head, avoiding eye contact.
“Quick! Catch him! He stole a Kitchen Knife from the Kitchen!”
Behind the Bald Man, several Staff Members from the Kitchen caught up.
Jiang Li’s heart sank!
She didn’t have time to think. In two seconds, she took off her patient uniform, revealing the turtleneck sweater underneath, spun around, and swiftly retreated to the side.
Behind Jiang Li, Fatty, who had been clutching Jiang Li’s clothes intending to use her as a shield, was left holding the thin patient uniform, stunned for a moment.
Then, with a “whoosh,” the Kitchen Knife slashed toward Fatty.
Fatty was scared half to death, dodging several attacks, each time narrowly escaping danger.
“Honey Water… Honey Water!” Fatty muttered in terror.
The next second, he spotted the Honey Water Jiang Li had left on the sink.
Fatty’s eyes lit up. He opened the lid and splashed it directly at the Bald Man!
Almost as soon as the Honey Water touched him, the Bald Man’s blood-red Eyes immediately returned to normal.
At that very moment, a security guard wearing a Leopard Mask arrived on the scene.
At the sink, the Kitchen Knife was taken away by the Kitchen Staff Members.
The Bald Man was subdued by the security guard and escorted out of the Cafeteria.
Fatty, having narrowly escaped, was drenched in cold sweat and collapsed weakly onto the floor.
Jiang Li sensed that this Fatty, who knew how to use Honey Water, was probably not simple.
She stepped forward and said, “Hello, give me back my clothes.”
Fatty didn’t even look up, handed the patient uniform to Jiang Li, and she put it back on.
“Also, you used my Honey Water.” Jiang Li put on her clothes but didn’t button up.
Because two buttons had been torn off when she took off her clothes.
Fatty was still shaken.
He buried his head, took a couple of deep breaths, rested for a moment, then looked up at Jiang Li.
“No problem, I’ll buy you a cup!”
After speaking, Fatty pushed himself up from the ground and headed to the Water Bar in the Cafeteria.
“Give me a cup of Honey Water.”
Fatty knocked on the counter and greeted the Water Bar staff, “The usual-full sugar, hot.”
Judging by Fatty’s behavior, he seemed to be a regular here.
“Do you come here often?” Jiang Li asked.
Fatty glanced sideways at Jiang Li, “Yeah! I throw it more than I drink it.”
A moment of silence.
Fatty began to grumble:
“Speaking of which, that Butcher on the Fourth Floor-the Bald Man from earlier-every time he gets Red Eye Disease, he starts yelling about slaughtering pigs!
I’m just a bit chubby, and I’ve been targeted several times! You folks on the Fourth Floor are all nuts!”
Jiang Li was puzzled, “Are the people on the Third Floor all normal?”
“Not really.”
Fatty took out a tissue, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and continued:
“Most of us on the Third Floor are in good health. After staying on the Third Floor for a while, once your score reaches above 95, you can be discharged smoothly.”
Hearing Fatty say this, Jiang Li thought of her own Score Sheet.
She currently had 50 points.
“How many points do you need to get to the Third Floor?” Jiang Li asked.
“Eighty,” Fatty replied as he reached for the Honey Water and handed it to Jiang Li. “You’re new here, aren’t you?”
Jiang Li nodded. “Yes.”
Upon hearing her reply, Fatty curled his lips and let out a mocking laugh:
“You really are unlucky. This Madhouse is about to close down and you still ended up here.”
Jiang Li was a little curious about Fatty’s words.
She simply followed Fatty as they walked out of the Cafeteria together.
“Looks like you’ve been here a long time. How come you haven’t escaped?” Jiang Li asked.
Her eyes landed on the number on Fatty’s chest, Number 022.
The fact that the number was so low meant Fatty was likely one of the earliest patients admitted to the Madhouse.
When Fatty heard Jiang Li’s question, his steps on the Stairs clearly paused for a moment.
His expression grew slightly unnatural.
Jiang Li silently noted all these oddities.
Fatty’s gaze became unfocused for a few seconds.
He looked up and down the Stairs; only after seeing no doctors around did he lower his voice and whisper to Jiang Li:
“Let me tell you. I had a friend here too, a fellow patient nicknamed ‘Big Flower Arm.’
Three years ago, we were supposed to be discharged together, but his score was higher, so he left two days before me.
The day after he left… I saw his tattoo on the pork in the Cafeteria!”
Jiang Li’s pupils widened in shock.
So, according to this, the patients’ fate wasn’t to go outside the hospital, but to end up in the Cafeteria?
And the pork heart, pork lung, and pork liver the Cafeteria served-could it be that…
Seeing Jiang Li’s stunned expression, Fatty looked quite satisfied.
He struck a knowing pose and played the senior before Jiang Li. “Anything else you want to ask? I’ll tell you everything.”
With Fatty saying that, Jiang Li didn’t hold back.
“Do you know Doctor Hao? What does his record count mean?”
“If you get recorded three times, you’re sent to the Dark Room. No food, no sleep.”
“Have you seen Doctor Lin Yi? Where is he?”
“He went mad three years ago. No one knows what happened after that.”
“Does the hospital have a Floor 0?” As soon as Jiang Li asked the question, Fatty covered her mouth in fright.
“Shh!” Fatty turned his head and looked both ways along the Stairs. “Are you crazy?”
“If it hears us, we’ll both be taken!” Fatty’s face turned pale.
He didn’t seem to be pretending.
Could the hospital really have a Floor 0?
Jiang Li clearly remembered that the Patient’s Rules had the line ‘There is no Floor 0’ marked as true.
But judging by Fatty’s reaction, if Floor 0 really did exist, then there was only one explanation left.
Floor 0 only exists at certain times!
When Jiang Li checked the rules slip, Floor 0 just happened to be absent at that moment!
That’s why the rule showed as ‘true.’
“We’re on the Third Floor. I’m off, you crazy one.” Fatty waved at Jiang Li in farewell.
Jiang Li waved back at him.
She climbed another flight and returned to her own ward.
As soon as she pushed open the door, she saw three people inside, laughing and playing together.
That’s right-three.
In the ward, a Little Girl in a pink dress with two pigtails was giggling so hard she nearly fell over.
She picked up a box of makeup and was putting it on an old man and a middle-aged woman.
Jiang Li glanced at the faces of her two fellow patients.
Their formerly sallow complexions had now been painted snow white.
Between their paper-pale cheeks, two round circles of blush looked especially striking.