Chapter 12: The Scam
Aside from the rudimentary round table and soft chairs, all that was left of the counseling room was an old-fashioned instrument table and a fold-out cot.
The bracket of the bed was badly worn, and the cloth covered it was full of traces of time, and the outline of the slight depression due to the long squeezing of heavy objects could be faintly discerned.
Tang Juyi covered his wounds, limped to the small bed with a flashlight, and observed thoughtfully:
"In this way, patients who undergo psychotherapy are usually lying in bed......"
Touching all corners of the bed with his hand, Tang Juyi also tried to find something out of it, but found nothing but the moldy mattress.
On the contrary, the pipe requested by the patient of 407 was placed on the instrument table in the corner, and some other tools were stacked messily, which did not add any difficulty to Tang Juyi's search.
There were traces of someone sitting on the chair, and it was still very new, and it looked like it was left by the thin man who had died outside.
After rummaging around, Tang Juyi still didn't get any special information, and there was no X-ray or anything like that, not even a small note, so he couldn't help frowning:
"Is it really that simple? Is it okay to take a pipe and leave? The only obstacle is to be stabbed head-on by someone opening the door? β
Tang Juyi, who always felt that something was wrong, didn't want to leave so easily, although he had no clue, but the underlying intuition drove Tang Juyi to check it again.
"I'll see...... Every house I've been to this hospital is a little weird, and this one shouldn't be so normal......"
Tang Juyi thought about it as he stroked the armrest on the edge of the folding bed with his hand, but was attracted by the strange feel.
"Huh?"
Tang Juyi lowered his head and found that there was a section of the railing that was completely different from the other parts, as if something had rubbed repeatedly in this position.
"No......"
Tang Juyi suddenly had a bad association, and in order to verify his guess, he quickly moved his eyes to the railing on the other side, and sure enough, he found similar wear and tear marks corresponding to it.
Getting closer, Tang Juyi almost pushed his nose against the rough armrest, and only then did he see clearly what remained in those heavily worn places.
"Cotton and linen...... Sure enough, it was because of the wear and tear caused by the binding......"
Tang Juyi licked the corners of his mouth, and also made up a picture in his brain:
The struggling patient was confined to the bed, his limbs struggling but unable to escape, accompanied by cries of despair......
"That should be the problem, right? How could a normal hospital have such a facility in a psychological counseling room...... And only mental hospitals have-"
Tang Juyi scratched his chin while muttering, but his expression changed suddenly:
"Psychiatric hospital?!"
As if thinking of something extremely terrible, Tang Juyi hurriedly took out the X-rays in his pocket, unfolded them one by one, and spread them on the round table beside him.
"It's all pictures of the brain...... And it's all from different patients......"
Tang Juyi quickly swept over the pattern of each X-ray and established a connection in his mind.
Subsequently, Tang Juyi also rudely pulled off the paper belt on his wrist and put it together with the X-ray.
"Illness information is obscured by stains, making it impossible to judge ......"
As with the information on the paper tape, there are also maps and newspapers posted at the staircase on the third floor.
"The specific name of the hospital is not known, and most of the information in the newspaper has been erased......
Tang Juyi's thinking worked very quickly, and soon brought these doubts together:
"I thought it was just the same as the first game, to keep me from knowing where I was, but now it seems to be preventing me from getting closer to the truth......
Subsequently, Tang Juyi also recalled the situation of patients 407 and 408:
"There is nothing wrong with the patient of 407 except that he has a bad memory, and the old man of 408 is obviously in an abnormal mental state......"
Immediately afterwards, the horror experienced in the office of the medical staff also surfaced in Tang Juyi's mind:
"When the nurse described the child's condition, she mentioned "the state is wrong" and "self-talk", and if you think about it in the direction of a mental hospital, then the answer is obvious......"
Do you really believe it...... Is the activity carried out by these people a "treatment" as they say?
That cold voice made Tang Juyi remember it vividly, and at this time, it was also recalled by the situation, and merged with these strange clues to become one-truth.
"A research institute set up as a psychiatric hospital, but the actual purpose is to use mentally abnormal patients as guinea pigs for one of their special purposes...... And one of these patients has abilities beyond their control, which has caused the current horror ......"
Tang Juyi muttered to himself, many things that have not been able to figure out are also easily solved:
"No wonder only a small number of patients survived, and the vast majority of them were people who had contact with [that child]βthe old man of 407 and 408, Yan Ming, ......"
Thinking of this, the uneasiness in Tang Juyi's heart also climbed to a peak:
"In other words, the monster that has been wandering is also from the hand of the child named Xiao Zhe, and all the horrors and weirdness of the hospital also come from him......"
"This hospital...... I'm afraid it's all under his control, right? β
The powerlessness, despair, and mental confusion in the face of that child all remind Tang Juyi of the fact that Xiao Zhe's ability must be beyond the scope of human beings!
And at this time, a familiar voice sounded in Tang Juyi's ears again, which made his face change drastically:
"Are you smart?"
The distorted pulling sensation enveloped Tang Juyi's whole body, making him lose his ability to judge the environment in a burst of dizziness.
It wasn't until that distortion subsided that Tang Juyi found himself back in the original operating room.
Intact tubes, neat medical equipment, clean as new floors, and ...... Xiao Zhe standing in front of Tang Juyi.
It was only this time that Tang Juyi was able to observe the appearance of this child named "Xiao Zhe" so clearly.
Like most children, it has a dark and supple emanation, an unusually pale complexion, black earthworm-like blood vessels, and a purely jet-black eyeball...... Together, these are the root of all the horrors in front of us.
Xiao Zhe sat in front of Tang Juyi, wearing a wide white coat, draped over his body like a bed sheet.
"How's it going, isn't it a familiar picture?"
Xiao Zhe smiled and showed Tang Juyi the clothes on his body, but the words in his mouth made people shudder:
"Usually you sit in my current position, but now it's interesting to look at it the other way around."
Tang Juyi twisted his body and found that his limbs were tied to the chair, and he couldn't move even a little bit.
"Why don't you keep me exploring?"
Tang Juyi opened his mouth, but asked such a question.
Hearing this, Xiao Zhe stopped what he was doing and tilted his head:
"There's no need...... Don't you already get it? β
With Xiao Zhe snapping his fingers, a few X-rays fell in front of Tang Juyi.
There was another snap of the fingers, and what appeared was a flashlight.
And Xiao Zhe's tone is also mysterious:
"X-rays, flashlights, batteries, pipes...... It's just to get you closer to the truth, and since you've thought about it so much, you don't need to go any further, do you? β
Tang Juyi lowered his head in silence and did not respond to Xiao Zhe's words.
Regarding Tang Ju's reaction, Xiao Zhe didn't seem to care, but just said to himself:
"Doctor Yan, you've been treating me for so long, and now you don't even remember who you are...... You say, "How are you going to heal yourself?" β
Buzz β
Without the slightest warning, the objects in the operating room trembled at the same time, and a scalpel with a handle floated in the air, all floating in front of Tang Juyi, pointing at every part of his body.
Xiao Zhe's face was full of cruelty:
"I'd like to try what you've done to me......"
At this time, Tang Juyi also raised his head slowly, but his face returned to calm:
"You're lying."
When Xiao Zhe heard this, his smile froze directly on his face.
Tang Juyi's tone was calm and calm:
"From the very beginning, you wanted to mislead me into thinking that I was playing a role called 'Yan Ming' in a script and needed to unravel the truth from the perspective of this character. In the events that followed, you deepened my understanding of the role I played, and at the same time made me more convinced of my identity. β
"The illusion of the office scene is indeed a very subtle technique, and it has successfully created the image of a hidden hospital and a doctor with a strange nature of work, and I can't help but start thinking based on the ideas you laid out for me."
"And this kind of thinking is a hoax that completely deviates from the truth."
After saying this, Tang Juyi also stared at Xiao Zhe, whose expression was getting more and more ugly:
"The reason why you didn't let me continue is not because it's unnecessary, but because you're afraid that if you give me a little more time, you'll guess the real truth."
There was a dead silence.
Xiao Zhe sighed, and his face showed a frustrated look on his face that a child was defeated when he played a game:
"How did you guess?"
Seeing this, Tang Juyi smiled slightly:
"Because you're in too much of a hurry."
Xiao Zhe was stunned:
"Huh?"
Tang Juyi shook his head, looking a little regretful:
"Your eagerness to make me skip the process of returning my pipe, and the process of exploring the first floor, sat me down directly in front of you, and then gave me a set of arguments that seemed to match my conclusions, and it all went too well."
"Just as I was back in this room, I suddenly thought of a possibility......"
Tang Juyi raised his head with emotion and looked around:
"Since you can control everything around me at all times, is there such a situation-"
"The information I got from the beginning was a lie that you wanted me to know?"