Chapter 71
Chapter 71
Doctor Hao’s eyes were slightly moist at this moment.
He let go of the wheelchair and walked slowly to the Ice Coffin, gently stroking Doctor Lin’s face.
His voice choked up slightly as he spoke to Jiang Li.
“Even though there was an extra medical staff member during that emergency shift, I recognized it immediately.
“But I didn’t want to expose you. I wanted… I wanted to pretend for a little while that Senior Sister Lin… wasn’t dead yet.”
A single, crystalline tear fell from Doctor Hao’s eye.
“Senior Sister Lin had a stubborn and headstrong personality. Her father named her Lin Yi because he hoped she would be tenacious and resolute. But that same personality also meant she could never become a wicked merchant.
“Senior Sister Lin’s greatest wish during her life was to kill the Dean and destroy this Madhouse. I have never forgotten that.”
At the mention of “destroying the Madhouse,” Jiang Li recalled the brand-new Spirit Money and Joss Paper she had just seen in the Floor 0 storage room.
She also thought of the familiar small slips of paper spitting out of that printer.
Jiang Li had seen all these strange things on the hospital staircases.
“The decline of the Madhouse was your doing, wasn’t it?” Jiang Li looked at Doctor Hao, her tone certain.
To clear this Instance, she still needed to uncover the truth behind the Madhouse’s “gradual decline.”
If Jiang Li’s deduction was correct, the various supernatural events in the Madhouse were partly artificial and partly due to actual Aberrations.
The artificial part was the reason for the Madhouse’s decline.
Hearing Jiang Li’s questioning, Doctor Hao’s expression became momentarily dazed. “Is that so? It seems… it seems it really was.
“I played ghost in the hospital, scattering Spirit Money, burning Joss Paper, and leaving all sorts of terrifying notes in every corner.
“I just hoped to spread rumors and attract outside attention so they would stop sending patients here.”
Doctor Hao seemed to be reminiscing about the past.
He continued to mutter, “…After I started spreading the rumors, the number of patients sent to the Madhouse did indeed decrease significantly.
“The Dean’s organ bank wasn’t sufficient anymore, and his business grew worse and worse. He was so angry he coughed up blood several times, haha.”
As soon as Doctor Hao finished speaking, the System’s prompt sounded in Jiang Li’s mind.
[Congratulations, Chosen One, for uncovering ‘The Truth Behind the Decline of the Madhouse.’ SSS Rank completion reached: 50%.]
Jiang Li ignored it and continued to look at Doctor Hao.
As Doctor Hao spoke, his gaze gradually turned cold again.
“Later, the Dean’s business began to improve because he started targeting normal people for his organ trade!
“The Dean conspired with outside hospitals.
“For any normal person who had a full physical examination and whose organs matched a buyer, the Dean would find any way possible to bring them in.
“He forced me to use every method available to suggest those normal people had mental illnesses, and then forced them to take hallucinogenic drugs.
“That entire batch of people died quickly in a state of terror.”
In Jiang Li’s pocket, she still had the physical exam report of the previous Patient ID 1037.
She had found it on the back of a photo frame that a nurse had thrown away.
In fact, Jiang Li had noticed it then.
The physical data of the woman on that report was overly detailed.
The only strange thing was that under the mental health section, it stated “Normal.”
Doctor Hao suppressed his emotions and looked at Jiang Li.
“I’ve hidden several barrels of gasoline on the rooftop. Pour them down the gas pipes from the roof, light it, and then leave.”
Burning down the Madhouse was the best way to deal with so many Pollution Sources.
Jiang Li nodded in agreement and then asked, “Aren’t you leaving?”
“No.” Doctor Hao shook his head, looking at the deceased Senior Sister Lin.
“When you leave, if it’s convenient, take Xixi with you. Xixi is Doctor Lin’s daughter. I want to… entrust you to take her to the Orphanage.”
Xixi was an Aberration, but Jiang Li did not refuse.
“Alright, I will.”
This ‘Hao Huairen’ was a man of moral ambiguity.
He was a good man, yet also a villain.
He had remained by the Dean’s side under the guise of being an accomplice.
Though he had been calculating every step for the sake of his Senior Sister Lin, secretly planning to overthrow the Dean and destroy the Madhouse, he had also done many things to assist the Dean, aiding and abetting his atrocities.
By now, Hao Huairen’s hands were stained with the blood of patients. He carried too many sins upon his back, marks that could never be erased.
Only by staying here could he wash away the guilt within him.
More importantly, he could be with his ‘Senior Sister Lin’ forever.
Therefore, perishing within the Madhouse was the best end for him.
“You should go. I still have things to say to Senior Sister Lin, so I won’t wheel you out,” Doctor Hao said in a low voice, dismissing his guest.
Jiang Li gave a soft acknowledgement and turned the wheelchair herself, heading outside.
Just as she reached the door, she heard Doctor Hao’s emotions finally spiral out of control.
His voice was thick with sobs; the string that had been pulled taut in his heart for three years finally snapped.
“Senior Sister… in your eyes, am I a sinner just like the Dean?”
“I found your daughter, the one the Dean killed. In your heart, I shouldn’t be that bad, right?”
“It’s fine if you hate me in this life. In the next life-a life where the country is at peace and the people are secure-I’ll come to pester you again. Wait for me.”
“…”
Jiang Li did not listen to the rest before leaving Floor 0.
She forced her body to stand up and made her way to the hospital’s rooftop.
The sky had turned completely black.
Darkness had descended.
Mist drifted everywhere in the air, obscuring everyone’s vision.
In this Instance of the Strange Tale World, the spatial-temporal order had fallen into complete chaos without the support of the Aberration Dean.
In the darkness, the small shop below the hospital building lit up with a ghostly yellow light.
The yellow light was dim, like a firefly, emitting a faint glow.
Article 5 of the Night Rules:
[If you get lost in the darkness, you can look for the light of the ‘Nighttime Snack Shop.’ It will show you the way.]
The small shop was located between the hospital building and the Madhouse’s main gate.
Three points in a straight line.
Therefore, in this black mist, if one wanted to Escape from the Madhouse, they only needed to walk out of the building and run toward the faint yellow light of the small shop.
That way led to the Madhouse’s exit.
…
Behind Jiang Li, a massive fire was consuming the entire Madhouse.
Neither Doctor Hao nor Doctor Lin emerged from the flames.
Countless Stray Cats swarmed out of the building, racing toward the open gates.
The moment they escaped the Madhouse, the kittens reverted to their human forms.
Amidst the mist, the family members who had waited for years appeared, embracing them.
The Madhouse’s crime lay not only in its persecution of the sane.
Its persecution of the mentally ill was also a sin.
Those mercenary, cold-blooded doctors had all forgotten-they forgot that the kittens being sent to the Madhouse did not mean they were being abandoned.
The kittens were never unwanted Stray Cats.
The kittens were simply sick.
And the kittens’ families were all still longing for them to come home.
[Congratulations to the Chosen One for discovering the truth behind the Madhouse’s decline and successfully eliminating the Pollution Source.]
[The ‘Sunshine Orphanage’ plot has been triggered. You have obtained the qualification for admission.]
[Your clearance rating for this Instance is: SSS Rank. Perfect Clear achieved! Issuing clearance rewards now.]