Chapter 502 Jinglin Sanatorium
Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood rode two Shadow Wolves with temporary license plates through the old streets and alleys of the old city, jumped into the "shortcut" from a nearby underground parking lot, and soon got on the fast lane. After traveling through the space network covering the entire boundary city for thirty minutes, the shortcut automatically sent them to a special exit.
A tunnel seemed to appear out of thin air. Outside the tunnel was a gloomy sky. Shadow Wolf jumped out of the tunnel. Yu Sheng looked back while riding on the wolf's back, only to see that the tunnel, which was brightly lit and supported by reinforced concrete a second ago, had turned into a huge tree hole. A huge dead tree that looked like it took ten people to hug it stood quietly there. The tree hole that served as a shortcut exit was near the root of the dead tree.
Irene held Yu Sheng's head and looked around curiously. She saw that the dead tree was surrounded by a forest. Tall trees that could not be named stretched to the end of the sight. The sky was gray, as if it was going to rain at any time. A path passed through the woods. At the end of the path, there was a large gray-white building, standing quietly in the clearing in the forest.
"Wow..." the little puppet exclaimed, "There's such a large forest in Jiecheng?"
"This forest itself is part of the Quiet Forest Sanatorium—we're not in Boundary City anymore," Little Red Riding Hood's voice echoed nearby. "Follow me, and don't stray too far. This is already the outer alien space of the sanatorium. If you wander off, you might be identified as a lost patient and forcibly teleported to the ward."
Yu Sheng rode the wolf and caught up with Little Red Riding Hood, crossing the forest path with her. Under the gray sky, the breeze in the forest was slightly cool and humid, and was obviously several degrees lower than the current temperature in Jiecheng. At the edge of the woods and the open space, he saw several huge signs standing on the ground. The signs read "Welcome to Jinglin Sanatorium", "Come to the hospital happily and go home healthy", "Stay away from the depths of the forest, be careful of the trees that may deceive you" and so on.
As they approached the sanatorium gate, Little Red Riding Hood put away her Shadow Wolf. Irene, who was sitting on Yu Sheng's shoulder, asked curiously, "Should I pretend to be dead later?"
"No need," Little Red Riding Hood shook her head. "The Quiet Forest Sanatorium is not open to ordinary people. The only people there are psychic detectives and investigators, and the rest are Secret Service employees."
As they were talking, the three of them had already arrived at the gate of the sanatorium. Yu Sheng looked up and saw that this large building was composed of three main buildings and strip buildings connected to each other. The main building in front of them was almost a high wall made of poured cement from top to bottom, and there was not even a window on it.
Even the side buildings on both sides of the main building only have a very limited number of narrow windows, all located in the corners of the building - apart from that, 90% of the building's exterior walls are a single, uniform concrete structure.
Yu Sheng didn’t know what this “sanatorium” looked like from other angles, but just looking at it from the front, this scene was enough to make people feel depressed.
Even the usually heartless Irene couldn't help but mutter, "...This building is so big, with so few windows, wouldn't a normal person go crazy living in it?"
"The environment inside the sanatorium is normal. The 'inside' and 'outside' of this building are not consistent. You'll understand once you enter," Little Red Riding Hood explained. "The windows are not visible from the outside to prevent unauthorized access to the wards, and also to prevent mentally ill patients from jumping out of the windows and escaping."
Yu Sheng blinked, thinking for a moment that he had misheard, and then he felt that the girl in front of him seemed to have said something subtly wrong - but before he could open his mouth to ask, he saw that the only gate under the high concrete wall opposite was opening.
The black metal door creaked, revealing a brightly lit hall inside. An exceptionally tall figure appeared at the door, slightly bent over, as if he had come out specifically to greet Yu Sheng and his party.
Yu Sheng looked at the tall figure, his expression startled.
The other person was over two meters tall and wore a striking white coat, but there was no human head on his neck - above the collar of the coat was a spherical fish tank, filled with clear water and bubbling with tiny bubbles. A palm-sized goldfish was swimming slowly in the water, and many tiny electrodes and probes were attached to the sides and bottom of the fish tank. Several bundles of wires converged at the tails of the electrodes and probes, extending along the collar into the white coat.
In addition, the whole body of this "fish tank weirdo" was tightly wrapped, and he wore a pair of extremely thick leather gloves on his hands.
"This is the Dean," Little Red Riding Hood whispered in Yu Sheng's ear, waking him from his trance. "The Dean is an entity generated by the Quiet Forest Sanatorium—and its true form is the goldfish."
Yu Sheng: “……?!”
He listened in a daze, the words "dean", "entity", and "goldfish" tossing back and forth in his mind. After a long while, he couldn't figure out how these words could be arranged and combined to form a sentence. At this time, the "dean" had already walked towards him. Yu Sheng saw the spherical fish tank swaying in his field of vision. The goldfish in the tank circled in the water a few times and then stopped, staring at him with its watery eyes.
The "Dean" bent down slightly and extended his hand. A slightly hoarse and lazy, gentle yet charming female voice came into Yu Sheng's ears: "Hello, I heard about you from the director - I am the fish in charge here."
This voice made Yu Sheng confused again, and then he reacted and reached out to shake hands with the other party.
He touched the leather glove that looked quite thick, and felt something soft and surging inside, as if... it was filled with water.
"I hope my appearance doesn't bother you," the hoarse and charming female voice came from a certain vocal structure under the fish tank again. "Most people - I mean those who are sane - are scared by me when they first come here. They seem to find it difficult to accept that a fish is the director of this nursing facility, but I actually do a pretty good job in this position."
Yu Sheng had just recovered from his daze at this time, and he didn't know what to say. He could only hum a few perfunctory words. He thought that he had dealt with so many strange things and creatures, and he thought he was knowledgeable and had a strong ability to accept things. But this "dean" in front of him was still a little beyond his imagination. For a moment, he didn't even know where to start complaining. After holding it in for a long time, he could only sigh in his heart that it was worthy of being a border area - this damn place is really full of talented people and beautiful scenery. What the hell is going on...
Moreover, this director is an "entity" generated by Jinglin Sanatorium... It turns out that entities can communicate with people in this way, and even cooperate with people stably?
A flash of doubt passed through Yu Sheng's mind, and his eyes could not help but fall on the numerous electrodes and probes surrounding the spherical fish tank. Were these devices installed by the Secret Service? Their purpose was to maintain the stability of the "dean" and enable him to communicate with others?
Many speculations suddenly popped up in his mind, but he couldn't ask directly. He could only suppress his curiosity and greet the other party normally. However, he obviously forgot that there was someone else at the scene who couldn't suppress his curiosity - Irene stared at the side for a long time. At this time, she suddenly stood up from Yu Sheng's shoulder and pointed at the dean across from him - strictly speaking, she was pointing at the goldfish in the fish tank: "Are you really an 'entity'? This is the first time I've seen you like this! How can an entity not only communicate with humans, but also cooperate with the Secret Service?"
"Because I haven't beaten Baili Qing." said the lazy and charming female voice.
Yu Sheng: “……?”
"And then she put me in this device," the dean continued, sounding nonchalant, as if she were discussing someone else's affairs. "Ah, that was almost half a century ago."
Yu Sheng blinked and turned his head to look at Little Red Riding Hood.
"Actually, I'm not very familiar with this place," Little Red Riding Hood muttered. "I only looked up a lot of information last night..."
At this moment, the "Director" raised his hand again and made an invitation: "Please follow me. The person you want to see is in the deep ward. I will lead you there."
Yu Sheng quickly gathered all his messy thoughts, followed the dean with Irene and Little Red Riding Hood, and walked into the building of Jinglin Sanatorium.
After entering the gate, the first thing you see is a spacious and bright hall.
There are bright lights overhead, and the surroundings are clean and spacious. There are clearly marked signboards and rest areas on both sides of the hall. Opposite the gate is a comprehensive information desk. In the hall, you can also see medical staff wearing sanatorium uniforms, and patients walking around accompanied by medical staff. No matter how you look at it, the interior of this building, which gives people a depressing and weird feeling from the outside, is surprisingly normal.
But when he looked closely, Yu Sheng finally discovered some...unusual things here.
He followed the dean through the hall, his eyes scanning the nearby walls, and from time to time he would see those "reminders" posted on the walls -
No one is allowed to cross the red beam at the lobby information counter after curfew;
Medical staff are prohibited from having exclusive contact with patients whose care level is level 2 or above;
All wards are single-person rooms. When there are two or more people in a ward, the secondary personality materialization alarm will be triggered;
The "Dean" will not be active in the corridors between midnight and 4:00 AM daily. If you spot the "Dean" in the corridors during these hours, immediately press the nearest large red button...
These reminders would not appear in a normal nursing facility.
Yu Sheng walked slowly forward under the guidance of the "director", while recalling some precautions that Baili Qing had sent to his mobile phone on the way - "visitors" must abide by various visiting rules in Jinglin Sanatorium, some special floors and wards marked with special colors are not allowed to enter, the sanatorium staff each perform their duties and will not talk to visitors casually... all of these things.
The rules are not complicated, and the Quiet Forest Sanatorium, which is only L-1 in depth, is not very dangerous compared to other foreign lands.
But this... is indeed an interesting place.
(End of this chapter)
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