Edited—

Regarding the phone matter, Zhou Jiayu truly found it both funny and annoying. Faced with Lin Zhushui’s understated questioning, Zhou Jiayu could only explain very cowardly, “Sir is with me every day, so where is the need to make phone calls?”

Lin Zhushui, however, slightly raised an eyebrow and didn’t respond.

Zhou Jiayu coaxed him for a while longer before Lin Zhushui reluctantly made an affirmative sound.

Everyone in this room besides Zhou Jiayu and Lin Zhushui was a single dog. Thus, everyone watched the two of them flaunt their affection, their expressions full of complicated flavors.

Shen Yiqiong, sitting nearby, gloomily rubbed Xiao Zhi’s head and then rubbed his chin against Xiao Zhi. Who knew what he was thinking… Of course, there was an eighty percent chance it was about just how he could start dating.

Regarding the matter of Jiang Zhu, Xu Jian’s side quickly gave more detailed feedback. This Jiang Zhu was from H City. Born into a poor family, misfortunes never came singly. When Jiang Zhu had just reached adulthood, his family suffered a cruel blow—he encountered a car accident.

In this car accident, the driver fled, and Jiang Zhu was severely injured.

Hearing this, Zhou Jiayu recalled the masked man he had seen at the school and on the rooftop. That man seemed to have worn a mask from beginning to end, covering his face tightly. He didn’t know whether this was inseparably related to the car accident.

Afterward, Jiang Zhu’s family sold all their property to pay for his treatment. But even so, they couldn’t plug the huge hole of medical expenses. Under these circumstances, Jiang Zhu’s father again encountered misfortune. Like Jiang Zhu, he also encountered a car accident. This time it was a drunk driver. Jiang Zhu’s father died on the spot, without even a chance for rescue.

“That’s too tragic.” Lin Jue also felt somewhat lamentful hearing this story. “For a family to encounter these things…”

“It is quite tragic.” Xu Jian said, “And that drunk driver’s family was poor, completely unable to pay compensation. He could only squat in jail. Jiang Zhu’s medical expenses still had no resolution.”

“And then?” Zhou Jiayu felt this matter definitely wasn’t over.

Xu Jian said, “Afterward, Jiang Zhu’s mother started working at construction sites to earn his treatment fees. But she still couldn’t gather enough money. Jiang Zhu was soon forced to leave the hospital because he couldn’t pay the fees.”

If the matter ended here, so be it. But heaven seemed to feel Jiang Zhu wasn’t miserable enough and dealt him another fatal blow.

Due to overexhaustion, Jiang Zhu’s mother had an accident at the construction site. After the accident, the construction site boss directly found connections and bullied Jiang Zhu for having no money or power. Without paying a single cent of compensation, he settled the matter of Jiang Zhu’s mother.

After everyone heard this, their eyes held a bit more lament. Jiang Zhu’s experiences truly made one somewhat sympathetic.

“Then it seems his mental state wasn’t very good.” Xu Jian said, “Exactly how it wasn’t good wasn’t written in the files. But he was indeed sent to a psychiatric hospital for a period of time.”

Zhou Jiayu said, “His mental state wasn’t good?” Mentioning this, he suddenly remembered that young man who lived with the little golden dragon. That young man had also been treated as a madman by the locals at the time. Now thinking about it carefully, could Jiang Zhu also be in this kind of situation?

“Could it be that after suffering a severe blow, he awakened a talent in this aspect?” Zhou Jiayu asked, “For example, being able to see dirty things and such…”

Lin Jue said, “That’s also possible. There have been such examples before, but they’re very rare, and the probability is very low.”

Although the probability was low, it wasn’t nonexistent. And since Jiang Zhu appeared by Meng Yangtian’s side, that meant he definitely had something extraordinary about him.

“Then is there any news of him now?” Zhou Jiayu asked.

Xu Jian shook his head: “None. After entering the psychiatric hospital, he secretly escaped from inside. Then news of him completely cut off.”

Jiang Zhu, who had escaped from the psychiatric hospital, completely disappeared from people’s sight. Everyone quickly forgot about him. Perhaps now, mentioning the name Jiang Zhu, the number of people who could remember wouldn’t exceed the fingers of one hand.

Because this case was too tragic, the police officers who participated in handling it back then had some impression. When Xu Jian looked into his files, the police quickly pulled out this dossier.

Zhou Jiayu saw Jiang Zhu’s photo from back then. This person was indeed quite tall. At seventeen or eighteen years old, he was already 1.86 meters. His appearance could be considered delicate and pretty. In his ID photo, he smiled quietly, not showing a trace of gloominess. This made Zhou Jiayu think of him as he was now, by Meng Yangtian’s side. If it weren’t for Xu Jinghuo’s information, probably no one could connect the two together.

Now no one knew Jiang Zhu’s whereabouts. After discussing among themselves, the few of them decided to go to the psychiatric hospital Jiang Zhu had escaped from back then to see if they could discover any new clues.

In fact, whether in the past or present, the public’s attitude toward mental illness wasn’t very friendly. Unless one’s family was wealthy and hired special care, life in a psychiatric hospital was truly not a life for humans.

If Zhou Jiayu’s guess was correct, then Jiang Zhu might not have had mental problems at all. That was to say, as a normal person, he had been forcibly locked inside. Wanting to escape was a normal thing.

The psychiatric hospital’s address was somewhat remote. Currently, the only transportation to get there was by car. So everyone embarked on the journey.

As the car drove toward the destination, Zhou Jiayu noticed the surroundings growing increasingly desolate. After asking Xu Jian, he learned that the psychiatric hospital was actually deep in the mountains. It had already been open for over thirty years and was funded by the government.

“Isn’t that too remote?” The surroundings already showed no modern buildings. The road was dirt, and the car moved very slowly on it. Zhou Jiayu said, “Can people still get out after coming in?”

“Alas, how many people who enter a psychiatric hospital can get out?” Xu Ruwang said, “Even a normal person would probably be ruined after staying inside for a long time.”

Zhou Jiayu let out a light sigh.

Originally, after hearing Jiang Zhu’s story, everyone’s mood was already very heavy. When the car arrived at the destination and everyone saw what the psychiatric hospital looked like, their mood became even worse.

The psychiatric hospital sat amidst dense thickets. One could only faintly see its old, towering walls. Surrounding the walls was barbed wire. The bricks were covered with a dirty green color corroded by moss.

This place didn’t look like a psychiatric hospital. Rather, it looked more like a prison.

Because Xu Jian had already made arrangements beforehand, they weren’t stopped when entering through the gate.

The security guards at the gate were two middle-aged men in their fifties or sixties. Their expressions were extremely indifferent. Seeing the few of them, they didn’t say a word, only quietly pulling open the iron gate.

This place gave people a very uncomfortable feeling. Zhou Jiayu’s footsteps at the entrance involuntarily paused.

“Jiayu?” Lin Jue noticed Zhou Jiayu’s abnormality.

“Not very comfortable.” Zhou Jiayu honestly stated his feelings. “I feel very bad about this place…”

Actually, it wasn’t just Zhou Jiayu. Even Shen Yiqiong, whose spiritual sense wasn’t that keen, felt the atmosphere here was extremely oppressive. Although he didn’t see a single person, humans clearly had the instinct to seek advantage and avoid harm. There were some places where the moment you stood at the entrance, you no longer wanted to go inside.

Xu Jian said, “Quite a few people have died in this place.” He pointed in a direction. “Some patients’ families sent the patients in and then disappeared. After something happened to the patient, they wouldn’t appear either. The hospital side buried the patients in the back mountain.”

Zhou Jiayu furrowed his brows.

They followed the main road at the entrance all the way forward, arriving at a place that somewhat resembled a patient ward.

The outer walls of the buildings here were all gray. Weeds also grew abundantly along the roadside. On this stretch of road, Zhou Jiayu didn’t see any human figures—no doctors, no patients.

“It seems to be inside.” Xu Jian pulled open the main door of the patient ward. “Let’s go.”

Lin Zhushui seemed to sense the indescribable anxiety in Zhou Jiayu’s heart. He directly reached out and held Zhou Jiayu’s hand. A thin warmth transmitted from his palm, alleviating the emotions Zhou Jiayu had been infected with by the environment.

“This place really makes one too uncomfortable.” Zhou Jiayu muttered.

“Yeah.” Shen Yiqiong said, “It feels even more uncomfortable than a prison…” At least a prison didn’t have this kind of death-like, decaying aura.

The lighting in the patient ward wasn’t bright. Clearly it was broad daylight, yet the curtains were pulled tightly shut. The lights in the corridor were orange, casting onto people’s faces and bodies, presenting a gloomy flavor.

“How come there are no doctors?” After walking inward for a stretch, yet not seeing a single person, Zhou Jiayu leaned into the nearby office and took a few glances, discovering the office was completely empty. He didn’t see anyone.

“Are they all eating in the cafeteria at this hour?” Lin Jue looked at her watch.

“Possibly, but where is the cafeteria?” Zhou Jiayu asked. It was just past twelve right now, exactly lunchtime. But it was somewhat strange for everyone to have gone to eat lunch. Moreover, the office door was also left wide open like this. Was it because normally no one came here, so they completely didn’t worry about theft?

“Second floor?” Shen Yiqiong noticed a signboard next to the corridor.

“Let’s go, go up and take a look.” Lin Jue said.

The group followed the stairs upward. Zhou Jiayu saw that both sides of the stairs had some strange paintings hung up. These paintings were very messy, unable to identify a clear theme. They were more like paintings done on a whim. Most of the paintings’ tones were dark colors. Xu Ruwang joked, saying this hospital couldn’t have hung up paintings drawn by the patients.

Xu Jian glanced at Xu Ruwang and didn’t speak. Xu Ruwang’s expression froze: “They really have this kind of operation?”

This hospital was too abnormal. If possible, Zhou Jiayu would probably choose to leave this place immediately.

The second floor was indeed the cafeteria, and they also saw the first person since entering the hospital. That person wore a white doctor’s coat and squatted at the stairway entrance, a box of food in his hands. After seeing them, he cast a rather unfriendly gaze at them: “What are you doing? What did you come here for?”

“Hello.” Xu Ruwang said, “Because a homicide occurred that may be related to a patient from your hospital, we want to understand some circumstances…” Before he could finish speaking, he saw the doctor stand up and directly turn around and leave, not showing a good expression from beginning to end.

Xu Jian smacked Xu Ruwang’s back: “I told you not to shave your hair. Now you’re being treated as a bad guy. With your appearance, you can’t even find a wife when you go out! Look at Zhou…” He probably wanted to use Zhou Jiayu as an example, but the moment he turned his head, he saw Zhou Jiayu and Lin Zhushui holding hands shamelessly continuing to flaunt their affection. So he forcibly swallowed his words.

Xu Ruwang: “…”

After Xu Ruwang failed, Xu Jian rolled up his sleeves planning to do it himself. But clearly, the people at the hospital were quite disrespectful. This time Xu Jian had it even worse. The moment he stood over and hadn’t even opened his mouth, that doctor directly walked away.

Everyone: “…”

Xu Ruwang muttered, see, this really has nothing to do with him.

Xu Jian’s expression twisted. He cast his gaze onto Zhou Jiayu and said, “Zhou Jiayu, you come.”

Zhou Jiayu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

The entire psychiatric hospital’s people were indeed eating in the cafeteria. They stood at the entrance and saw the patients quietly sitting at the tables, stuffing food into their mouths bit by bit. The food didn’t look very tasty. Most of it was vegetarian dishes, with only a very small amount of meat. The doctors sat on another side. After Zhou Jiayu entered the cafeteria, he sensed a sense of dissonance. He quickly discovered the source of the dissonance—the strange silence in the room.

The cafeteria was truly too quiet. There was no conversation whatsoever. One could only hear quiet chewing sounds.

The entire room was like a silent film, and the doctors and patients eating inside were the actors of the silent film.

Zhou Jiayu hesitated slightly but still walked toward where the doctors were eating. Although this place looked quite bizarre, standing behind him was Lin Zhushui. He wasn’t afraid of any demons or ghosts.

“Hello.” Zhou Jiayu softly spoke, breaking the silence.

The doctors’ eating motions instantly stopped. Among them, the person closest to Zhou Jiayu slowly turned his head. He still had food in his mouth, slowly swallowing it down: “Hello.” He said this.

“Sorry, we’re from the police department…” Zhou Jiayu said softly, “We made an appointment before. We want to understand a patient’s situation.”

That doctor nodded and said, “Okay.” Then he turned his head back and continued eating.

Zhou Jiayu froze in place, somewhat embarrassed. He didn’t know what this person’s “okay” meant. But it did seem rather inappropriate to disturb people while they were eating. Zhou Jiayu thought for a moment, returned to the group, and said they should wait until these people finished eating before coming back.

Everyone expressed agreement.

Originally, eating was quite a happy thing for people. But no matter who looked at the scene in the room behind them, they wouldn’t feel a trace of warmth.

Their eating seemed to be merely a task forced by physiological needs. As long as they stuffed the food into their mouths, then mechanically chewed and swallowed, it was considered complete.

Shen Yiqiong had been looking inside the room the entire time after coming out, and his eyes grew increasingly panicked.

Zhou Jiayu asked him what he saw. Only then did Shen Yiqiong turn his head and say in a voice carrying a crying tone, “Did you all notice…”

“What?” Lin Jue asked.

“Every time they take a bite of food, they chew thirteen times…” Shen Yiqiong said.

Zhou Jiayu cast his gaze into the room and discovered that what Shen Yiqiong said was indeed correct. Every person eating in the room chewed thirteen times per bite of food—not one more, not one less. And what Zhou Jiayu found difficult to understand was that even the doctors sitting at the nearby table were no exception.

“To be honest.” Lin Jue said, “If they weren’t wearing white coats, I really wouldn’t think they were doctors…” But rather a roomful of mental patients.

She didn’t see a single bit of normal human behavior from these doctors. Whether in expression, manner, or language reaction, from the feedback of these doctors just now, they were practically identical to the patients beside them except for their clothing.

Everyone was silent for a while. Zhou Jiayu sighed and said, “Let’s wait until they finish eating and come out to see the situation.”

They could only do this.

Everyone randomly found a few seats outside the room, sat down, and began waiting.

This lunch they ate was extraordinarily long. Lin Jue checked her watch and rigidly watched them eat from twelve-thirty to two o’clock. Seeing that it was already well past two, people began trickling out of the dining hall one after another.

The doctor Zhou Jiayu had asked before also came out. He wore a white doctor’s coat with a nameplate on his chest. On it was written “Attending Physician,” and below that was his name—Li Yihao.

“Hello.” Zhou Jiayu once again forced himself to step forward.

Li Yihao wasn’t tall. His age looked to be around thirty. Judging by facial features alone, one would feel he was refined and cultured. But when he stared at people with an expressionless face, he had a kind of neurotic feeling.

“Hello.” He responded to Zhou Jiayu’s greeting.

If possible, Zhou Jiayu wouldn’t want to have too much dealings with him. But unfortunately, Xu Jian and Xu Ruwang’s attempts at conversation had been ruthlessly ignored. He could only force himself forward: “We were sent by the police to investigate the situation. Do you have time to cooperate with us?”

“Police investigation?” Li Yihao said, “What happened?”

Hearing him say this, Zhou Jiayu inexplicably let out a breath of relief. Although this person looked strange, at least his logic seemed normal. He didn’t directly ignore Zhou Jiayu’s question but opened his mouth to ask what happened.

Zhou Jiayu said, “A homicide occurred in a hotel. We suspect it’s related to a patient from your hospital, so we want to understand that patient’s specific situation.”

Li Yihao said, “A patient, which patient.”

Zhou Jiayu said, “Jiang Zhu.”

However, after hearing this name, Li Yihao’s expression instantly twisted. It was an expression Zhou Jiayu had never seen before. His facial features were almost squeezed together. His eyes were filled with terror, and even his body was trembling uncontrollably.

“I don’t know, I don’t know Jiang Zhu.” Li Yihao said rapidly, “Don’t ask me, I don’t know anything.” After saying this, he turned to run away but was grabbed by Xu Ruwang and directly lifted up.

Before Xu Ruwang’s large build, Li Yihao’s frame clearly wasn’t enough to look at. Like a little chick, he struggled in his hands, looking like he might faint at any moment.

“Don’t refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit.” Xu Ruwang rolled up his sleeves, his face full of ferociousness. Paired with his bald head, he truly looked like an extremely brutal thug.

Li Yihao was so scared he trembled all over. Finally, he looked like he was about to cry: “I don’t know, I really don’t know…”

Xu Ruwang said, “I’m really going to make a move.” Seeing that he was about to act, Li Yihao finally caved. His eyes glanced around, not knowing what he was looking at. After a moment, he softly said, “Go find the dean. I can’t say it. Only the dean knows.”

“Where is he?” Xu Ruwang asked.

Li Yihao said, “The office…”

Xu Ruwang said, “You take us there.”

Li Yihao had originally wanted to refuse, but seeing the muscles on Xu Ruwang’s arms, he still admitted defeat. He said it was on the fourth floor. Put him down first, and he would take them there.

Only then did Xu Ruwang put Li Yihao down. Everyone cast admiring gazes at him. He reached out and touched his bald head, joking, “Just missing a gold chain.”

Xu Jian said, “Master will buy you one! Buy the kind as thick as an arm, the kind that drags with a rattle!”

Xu Ruwang: “…” Master, are you serious?

Although the gold chain was quite attractive, the focus right now was Li Yihao before them. Although he had agreed to take them to the dean’s office, Li Yihao’s eyes were very evasive, looking left and right. It was obvious that if he found an opportunity, he would definitely slip away.

But until they reached the fourth floor, Li Yihao didn’t find a chance to escape. His footsteps stopped before an office at the end of the corridor. He softly said, “The dean is inside.”

Xu Ruwang said, “You go in first.”

Li Yihao said, “I don’t want to go in first. If you want to go, you go. I still have matters, I still have patients. You can’t make me go in.” When he said these words, he was practically babbling nonsense. Whether in tone or gaze, both were extremely frenzied.

Zhou Jiayu knocked on the door before him. No one responded. He hesitated for a moment but still reached out and grasped the doorknob, twisting open the office door.

With a creak, the scene behind the door was revealed. After everyone clearly saw what was behind the door, they all showed expressions of astonishment.

Behind the door was not some spacious office but rather a narrow corridor. The corridor was extremely dim, with only a faint light at the end.

“This is an office?” Xu Ruwang deliberately asked Li Yihao in a fierce voice.

Who knew that Li Yihao would nod like a pestle pounding garlic: “This is the dean’s office. The dean is behind the corridor… I’m not lying to you.” As he said this, his entire body began trembling, not knowing what he was afraid of.

“Go in and take a look?” Zhou Jiayu said.

“Let’s go.” Lin Zhushui nodded.

Xu Ruwang said, “Let’s go. We’ll all go in together and see exactly what the situation is.”

Zhou Jiayu said okay and also followed Lin Zhushui’s footsteps into the narrow corridor.

This corridor was only wide enough for one person to walk. If the height was about two meters, even turning around inside was a difficult matter. The atmosphere was also extremely oppressive.

Lin Jue muttered that if there was no one inside, after going out, they definitely had to beat up that Li Yihao. Zhou Jiayu said Shibo, you’re growing more and more violent.

Lin Jue said, don’t you want to make a move too?

Zhou Jiayu looked ahead and said, I didn’t want to just now, but I do now—at the end of the corridor, there was unexpectedly no room but rather a corner. The light source they had seen from outside was an extremely huge lamp, simply like a trap attracting light-seeking insects.

“Continue forward or go back?” Lin Jue also felt very uncomfortable here.

Lin Zhushui said, “Go.” His tone was very certain.

Hearing Lin Zhushui say this, no one refuted him. So they continued forward along the walkway, as if walking in a maze without end.

By now, Zhou Jiayu was beginning to understand Li Yihao’s unwillingness to come in. This narrow tunnel was filled with an oppressive atmosphere. As a psychologically normal person, after walking for several minutes, one began to feel agitated. Not to mention patients with mental problems.

Fortunately, after turning a few more corners, they finally reached the end and saw a door with a “Dean’s Office” sign hanging on it. At least Li Yihao hadn’t dared to deceive them on this matter.

__

Author’s Note:

Xu Jian: How can I make my disciple stronger…

Lin Zhushui: Be in a relationship with him.

Zhou Jiayu: Yes, that’s right. I’m very ♂ strong now.

Xu Jian: Mm…

Xu Ruwang: ????? Master, think clearly???