Chapter 51 Mental Hospital 3
In addition to the room, the ward is also equipped with a bathroom, which not only meets the daily needs of patients but also protects their privacy.
After an unknown amount of time, Lu Cen gradually calmed down. The hooded man had disappeared sometime earlier. He was covered in sweat and, with Xu Xi's help, went into the bathroom. In the mirror, Lu Cen's flushed face and moist eyes were reflected. Xu Xi put her arm around him and asked, "Can you stand up straight?"
"Yes...yes."
"Go wash up, I'll wait for you outside." Xu Xi retreated to a safe position.
The bathroom door was thoughtfully closed for Lu Cen, leaving him alone in the small space.
The white tiles were dazzling. Lu Cen leaned against the sink, breathing heavily. His hunger and delusions were almost killing him.
Hot water flowed down the showerhead, creating a misty spray.
After a while, Lu Cen's hair was dripping with water. He wiped himself as he walked out of the bathroom, where the head nurse was waiting for him in the ward.
"Take your medicine before you go to the cafeteria for dinner." The nurse smiled and placed the medicine in his hand.
Lu Cen looked frightened. After swallowing this handful of white and yellow medicine, his mouth would be bitter for a whole day. He unconsciously turned his gaze to Xu Xi, who said gently, "You can skip the injection, but you must take the medicine."
He swallowed a handful of pills with difficulty, and the nurse accompanied him to dinner. There were four other players with him. The cafeteria was on the first floor, and they had to take an elevator.
With a "ding," the elevator arrived.
As everyone filed out of the elevator, Lu Cen was at the back when a voice suddenly drifted into her ear: "You saw the murderer last night, didn't you?"
Lu Cen's pupils contracted as he looked toward the source of the sound.
The high school student gave him an innocent smile, his gaze sweeping over his lips: "Don't be so quick to deny it."
Lu Cen said dryly, "I don't know what you're talking about."
“You know perfectly well that playing dumb isn’t a good idea.” The high school student lowered his voice, afraid that others would hear: “Our task is the same. You can trust me, two people are more efficient than one.”
Lu Cen understood his unspoken meaning: in this instance, not everyone is necessarily looking for the murderer; some players may be helping the murderer, or there may be other tasks involved.
He looked at the high school student warily.
The other party seemed somewhat impressed; to think of this based on his words was quite clever.
Lu Cen denied it: "No, I have never seen the murderer."
High school students cannot deny this.
"Line up first, and get your food one by one." The nurse adjusted their formation and led them to the window together.
The lady serving the food was over forty years old and gave very generous portions. When it came to Lu Cen's turn, he hesitated, looking at the pancakes and steamed buns. The lady smiled and said, "Young man, would you like some of both?"
"Okay." Lu Cen gave a shy smile. "Thank you, Auntie."
The nurse settled them on the long table: "Eat slowly. I'll come to pick you up in half an hour. Don't make a fuss, okay?"
No one answered, but the nurse didn't seem to mind and quickly disappeared.
The shrewd man spoke first: "Since we've met in the same instance, let's get to know each other first. My name is Lu Tianhao. This instance mission clearly requires teamwork. Does anyone have any objections to that?"
"Qin Wei." As she spoke, she cried again. To this day, apart from her buff which is known to everyone, the other four are still a mystery, which is particularly disadvantageous to her. But there is nothing she can do, the buff has too great an impact.
"Zhou Yang." The speaker was a high school student.
Lu Cen noticed that although Lu Tianhao said this instance was a team effort, no one revealed what their own mission was.
"He Zhizhou".
This person seemed nonchalant from beginning to end. Lu Cen glanced at him a few more times. His temperament was somewhat similar to Xie Lin's, especially when he spoke. He was lazy and casual, but upon closer inspection, that sense of familiarity vanished. It was a cold, indifferent, and aloof demeanor.
When he came to his senses, all four of them were looking at him.
"What...what are you doing?"
"What are you looking at? Even though he is somewhat handsome, you don't have to be staring like a madman, do you?" Lu Tianhao's words left Lu Cen dumbfounded.
No...no.
His ears turned bright red from the urgency to explain.
The wave of his hand almost left an afterimage.
"Then why are you looking at him?" Lu Tianhao asked curiously.
He Zhizhou's gaze also turned towards them.
"I noticed he had a cut on his finger."
One sentence made the atmosphere cool down.
The wards are locked by nurses at night to prevent them from wandering around in the middle of the night, so they have no chance to leave the wards and naturally no chance to get injured. He Zhizhou has become the focus of attention.
Facing several probing gazes, He Zhizhou remained calm, placing his long, slender, and fair hand in plain sight: "You mean this?"
He pointed to a small wound under his index fingernail.
Lu Cen nodded.
"It's just a small wound that's torn off the skin."
Everyone had different expressions, and it was unclear whether they believed it or not.
Lu Tianhao smoothed things over, saying, "Alright, alright, I still don't know your name."
"Lu Cen".
Lu Tianhao said, "Let's talk about what happened last night. I live in room 301, which is closest to the elevator. Around midnight, I heard the elevator ring twice, with a very short interval between the two times. It's possible that the murderer killed someone and immediately took the elevator down."
Zhou Yang asked, "Approximately how long should the interval be?"
"About three minutes."
Zhou Yang glanced at him in surprise. Such a precise sense of time meant this person was a formidable character. He nodded to the other man.
Qin Wei smoothed her hair, her delicate makeup almost ruined by tears: "I didn't receive any information. I slept soundly until dawn last night, probably because I was given a sedative."
Lu Tianhao frowned: "Everyone has been hit."
"I had two injections."
Why are you the only one who's special?
Lu Cen said, "She did get two injections. I saw the second one, shortly after you went back to your room."
Lu Tianhao remained silent, tacitly agreeing with his statement.
Zhou Yang said, "Last night I heard the call bell at the nurses' station ring, around one o'clock. The nurse must still be alive then, because she answered it."
After saying that, he glanced at Lu Cen.
It's very suggestive.
Lu Cen felt a chill run down her spine from his gaze. She did answer the call, but it was the murderer who answered it.
"Furthermore, I also heard them knocking on the door of room 306."
The noisy cafeteria seemed to have been put on pause. Lu Cen's throat was dry, so he quickly drank two sips of soy milk. He forced a polite smile and said, "How did you know he was knocking on my door if you didn't come out?"
“If it wasn’t you, then it was room 304 next door,” Zhou Yang said casually, but Lu Cen knew that the other man definitely knew the murderer had entered his room.
He Zhizhou lived in room 304. He slowly wiped his mouth and said, "Instead of guessing here, let's wait for the rabbit to come to us tonight."
"That's a good idea," Lu Tianhao agreed.
"Then it's settled."
The nurse came down to pick them up on time. Back on the third floor, she said, "Lu Tianhao, Qin Wei, you two come with me. Lu Cen, the three of you go back to your wards to rest."
Being taken away alone, Lu Tianhao was visibly nervous, his words probing. Lu Cen, staring at the form on the nurses' station, broke out in a cold sweat, because he saw it read: 9 o'clock, Lu Tianhao, Qin Wei, electroconvulsive therapy.
The other two saw it too.
He Zhizhou's expression remained unchanged as he returned to his ward.
As for Zhou Yang, he went to 306 with Lu Cen.
"Is there something you need?"
Zhou Yang looked at him with a half-smile and pointed to his doorknob.
There were two drops of blood on it, but they weren't very noticeable because the doorknob was black. Lu Cen hurriedly wiped them clean with a wet tissue.
Zhou Yang watched his movements, leaning against the wall. He was wearing a hospital gown, loose and baggy, yet he exuded an air of authority as if he were wearing a suit: "I'm curious, how did you escape last night?"
"Does it matter?" Lu Cen was originally a paper tiger, easily broken. He's a little better now than before, but Zhou Yang doesn't know that. He thinks Lu Cen has other tricks up his sleeve: "That's true. Everyone has a few trump cards. How about we cooperate? If nothing unexpected happens, he'll come looking for you again tonight. We can catch him like a turtle in a jar."
"How so?"
"I'll hide in your hospital room tonight. If he comes, he won't be able to escape."
I must say, this proposal is very tempting.
But Lu Cen had witnessed the killer's fighting prowess, and Zhou Yang was very likely to lose and even get himself killed. Lu Cen's tone was full of doubt: "Can you handle it alone?"
"Why don't you give it a try and see?"
That doesn't sound plausible.
As the two were talking, Lu Tianhao and Qin Wei returned, carried back, their hands and feet convulsing, their faces pale, and their pupils dilated.
The two went to see Qin Wei first. She had stopped crying and looked terrified.
"what happened?"
Qin Wei, weak and frail, said, “So-called electroshock is the introduction of a strong current into the body to achieve a numbing effect. The electroshock therapy here is not yet perfect. I think we need to know that this is a mental hospital of that period, otherwise we might die from the treatment.”
Do you have any guesses?
"The 20th century." Qin Wei exhaled a breath of stale air: "The decoration style and equipment here are very similar to that era, but I'm not sure."
Both of them looked rather serious. You see, back then, there wasn't much data to support the treatment of mental illness, and many of the methods were simply not mature.
They were on their way to visit Lu Tianhao at 301 Hospital when they came out and saw a nurse taking He Zhizhou away. It seemed that he was also going there for treatment.
Lu Cen was taken aback; he hadn't seen his name on the form.
Unlike the other two, he was gone for a full three hours. Lu Cen suspected he had been killed and was only brought back for lunch.
"Does everyone have to go through this process?"
Zhou Yang: "It's obvious."
"Or, why don't you go and ask him what he went through inside?"
"He seems so cold, he might not even bother with me, so I'd better pass."
"I'll give it a try."
When Lu Cen entered 304, He Zhizhou wasn't lying down, but standing by the window. Hearing footsteps, he turned around. Lu Cen first saw wariness in his eyes, then regained his composure. However, some of the emotion in his eyes still slipped away, leaving Lu Cen puzzled.
His eyes looked like he had spotted some prey.
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