Chapter 134 Bright Sanatorium "We can be happy, but we can't bear it..."
The treatment room was dimly lit, like old film reels soaked in time, floating like fragments in Jiang Yang's pupils.
He trudged through several overlapping years, scavenging in ruins as a boy and filling in bullets in pools of blood as a young man.
But the land without a master moves ever onward, and no one can remain in time. Only he is nailed to the crevice of the long river, standing alone in place, like a caged beast.
There is no death, no end, only a very, very long time.
Daylight broke.
As the helmet slowly rose, Jiang Yang vaguely heard a cracking sound, as if some kind of bone was splitting.
He blinked sluggishly, instinctively reaching out to grab something, but only grasped at rusty air.
He got up, absentmindedly took a few steps towards the door, his fingers gripping the doorknob. He stopped in place and shivered uncontrollably, as if he were frozen.
He curled his fingers to confirm. Spring has come, so why is it still so cold?
He was a little sad.
...Never mind, he doesn't remember those people anyway.
Jiang Yang was surprised to find Ji Yang sitting on the floor to the left of the door, his back against the wall, like a stone lion guarding the night, wet with dew.
Upon hearing the noise, Ji Yang's eyelashes fluttered open, and he deftly flipped himself up, supporting himself on the ground with one hand.
"Yangyang!"
The emptiness that had been so chaotic finally felt more real.
Jiang Yang took the initiative to hug him, nestled into his arms, buried her face in his shoulder, and let her tears fall onto his collar.
"Ji Yang...they're all gone..."
Some grew old, some died, and some disappeared. All the friends who were originally by his side, those who had promised to leave the no man's land together, were gone.
...
"I'm still here."
After crying for a while, Jiang Yang's voice became hoarse, and her chest ached with a dull pain, so she could only bury her face even deeper.
Ji Yang tightened his arms around him, letting him vent all his grievances on himself. His voice was deep and steady, with a coaxing patience: "I brought you breakfast. It's in the dean's office. Shall we go get something to eat?"
"Has Munasher...already been taken to the solitary confinement room...?"
Jiang Yang's voice was broken and intermittent, her syllables tinged with sobs, and even her breathing trembled.
Ji Yang gently patted his back: "He's already gone. I watched him go in. He gave me the key to his office. No one will come to us from there. There's a lounge inside. Why don't you rest for a while?"
Jiang Yang brushed her nose against the damp fabric soaked with tears, and after a while slowly raised her head, her eyelashes still wet with tears, looking pitiful and vulnerable.
"I'm not sleepy yet."
"How about we go get something to eat first?"
The tone was as soft as if coaxing a child, and Jiang Yang nodded obediently, his palm being firmly enveloped by a warm hand.
Ji Yang walked slowly, leading him upstairs as he explained, "Li Sheng texted me this morning saying that the caregiver was delivering breakfast to the ward, so I went back and got you a portion."
“So…” Jiang Yang suddenly turned her head, her gaze falling on the barely concealed weariness in Ji Yang’s eyes: “You just sat at the door all night?”
"It didn't take that long. Munashe went to the solitary confinement room at two o'clock."
Ji Yang deliberately downplayed it, but he didn't mention that it was eight o'clock now, and although it wasn't that long, he had actually been sitting for six hours.
Jiang Yang swallowed back the "why" that was about to come out of her mouth. What other reason could there be? She was just worried about him in the treatment room.
Several plastic lunch boxes were on the office desk. Jiang Yang didn't rush over to them. Instead, he went straight to a display case on the side and precisely targeted a clay figurine. Upon closer inspection, it looked a bit like Mu Nashe.
Ji Yang was on the outside of the desk, opening and arranging the lunch boxes one by one. When he turned around, Jiang Yang had already opened the cabinet door and taken them out.
Over time, the clay faded a bit. Jiang Yang held it in her hand and waved it at him: "You must have made this, right?"
Ji Yang's mind went blank for a moment. He remembered Mu Nashe's kiss, which smelled of drugs, and looked away guiltily: "I can't remember, but I think so."
Jiang Yang casually put the item in his pocket, stepped forward and stood in front of him, leaning forward. Relying on his intuition, he spoke in a voice that was neither too loud nor too soft, trying to reach Ji Yang's ear: "Are you hiding something from me?"
Ji Yang's back stiffened, then his shoulders slowly relaxed. He couldn't hide it from Jiang Yang, so he confessed, "Yangyang, I feel conflicted."
"I have mixed feelings about you and about Munasher."
Jiang Yang roughly understood what he meant. She placed her hands on the table behind him, trapping him between herself and the table, and spoke slowly and calmly, stating a cruel truth.
"Have you ever thought that Jiang Yang, who once fought alongside you, actually no longer exists?"
Ji Yang's body trembled slightly, but Jiang Yang did not stop and continued, "Neither Mu Nashe nor I are the Jiang Yang you knew at the beginning of your journey."
"Stop talking..." Ji Yang's voice became hoarse.
Jiang Yang grasped his hand that was hanging by his side: "We only exist in this relationship because of your existence."
"I know," a tear slid down his cheek, and Ji Yang's lips curled downwards: "Then did I betray him?"
"Not really. Time has no order; what attracts you is always the soul."
Jiang Yang raised his hand and used his fingertips to wipe away the tears. It was his turn to comfort Ji Yang again. He cupped Ji Yang's face in his hands and smiled, "Did Mu Nashe bully you?"
"No..."
Ji Yang lowered her head and said no, but then hesitantly complained to him, "He said that I only met him when he was 18 years old."
Jiang Yang chuckled and reached out to ruffle Ji Yang's hair: "Don't be afraid, we agreed you'd be the top."
"To be enveloped by me, to possess me, to be owned by me."
"We can be very happy, and it's okay if we can't handle too much happiness."
The person in front of me seemed to overlap with the shadow of Mu Nashe in the early morning: "Very well-behaved, very cute, I like him very much."
"Yangyang! You saw it all!"
Ji Yang immediately felt tricked, turned around and grabbed Jiang Yang by the waist, lifting her onto the desk, and said fiercely, "Call me husband!"
Jiang Yang hooked her arm around his neck and said openly, "Husband."
"Come find me at 3509 after this trial is over."
3509, Jiang Yang's room number.
A series of question marks floated through the observation room.
One observer asked, "Is there something else about your relationship that I don't know about?"
After Jiang Yang came out of the treatment room, she no longer tried to hide her relationship with Ji Yang, and their interaction attracted a lot of attention and discussion.
Some maliciously commented: "They still have the mind to talk about love while on trial. Do they think there aren't enough dead people already?"
Some gloated: "Oh my, I hope there won't be any more scenes of lovers committing suicide together."
Of course, most of the comments were prayers, praying that Jiang Yang wouldn't forget his original aspirations, and praying that... they could go home...
But they seem to have forgotten that even they need to place their hopes on others, so how could they expect Jiang Yang to remain steadfast from beginning to end?
Eggs, steamed buns, soy milk, scallion pancakes...
The steaming breakfast looked incredibly appetizing. Jiang Yang walked around to the chair on the inside and sat down, and a pair of chopsticks was placed in his hand across the table.
The scallion pancakes were golden and crispy, and Jiang Yang made a crunching sound as he took a bite. Across from him, Ji Yang didn't stop eating; he peeled an egg before finally sitting down.
He then changed the subject to Munasher's reward: "A discharge certificate appeared in every player's room."
Jiang Yang took a bite of the bun, tasted the radish filling, and frowned almost imperceptibly. He hated radishes the most.
But there were only two steamed buns, and he swallowed them without changing his expression, then looked up and asked, "What do you mean?"
Ji Yang explained, "There is a section for discharged patients that requires the patient's signature."
Jiang Yang squeezed the steamed bun in her hand: "But if our guess is correct, the player shouldn't be considered a patient yet, right?"
They reached this conclusion while they were in the archives.
The player's original identity was a caregiver. On the first day of entering the sanatorium, the player swapped identities with an NPC who was originally a patient and a "judge" who was mixed in with the patients.
This explains why, even though only 14 players entered the sanatorium, there were actually 19 "caregivers" in the end.
On the surface, the player's medical records appeared to have been archived in the archives, but in reality, because the admission was not through the usual route and because of Munashe's deliberate actions, the player's file did not contain his signature.
If the player isn't a patient, then why is the reward given by Munasher a discharge certificate...?
Jiang Yang rested her head in her palm, deep in thought. Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced at the bun she had only taken a bite of, and a hint of difficulty flashed across her face.
But before he could bravely face his fate, Ji Yang reached out and took the bun from his hand, quickly devouring it. After finishing, he patted another bun and said, "Eat this one. I forgot to tell you there's a radish inside."
"Thank you, honey."
Jiang Yang held the steamed buns, smiling like a cunning fox, her eyebrows and eyes crinkling.
"Yangyang!"
Ji Yang called out to him helplessly, but his face was full of indulgence. Of course, he also had his own thoughts on Jiang Yang's consideration: "So I think, could it be that these discharge certificates are not for the players?"
"You mean, for the judge?"
After eating his fill, Jiang Yang slumped back in his chair, rubbing his belly with one hand and pulling out his phone with the other, looking rather lazy.
“Yes,” Ji Yang nodded. The medical record had the caregiver’s signature. He guessed, “The players don’t need it. The patients who replace the players will naturally need a discharge certificate issued by the hospital director to leave.”
Jiang Yang was momentarily confused: "Munashe is going to let them leave?"
“Munashe didn’t say, and I don’t know either,” Ji Yang shrugged, his tone uncertain. “You’ll probably find out tonight.”
"I think we shouldn't have to wait until tonight."
Jiang Yang had already turned on Xiao Mei's phone and entered the message list.
[January 9th - Evening]
[A Travel Group (A: Go Wherever You Want): No way! Can you even do this?! There are only two of you! Where are you stuck?!]
[Tour group A, who just goes wherever the road takes them: What the hell! What the hell! What am I supposed to say about you?!]
[A Travel Group: You even managed to trap the examiner from the Mouguang team!]
(More than a dozen complaints omitted)
[January 10 - Morning]
[A Travel Group: You're lucky. I reported the situation, and the agent said there was a bug at the sanatorium. They asked our group to arrange a new vehicle to pick up all the players at the sanatorium and take them to the circus so they can complete the circus and then return with the group.]
Jiang Yang pointed to the latest news and showed it to Ji Yang: "Did you get a reply after you reported it to your superiors?"
"No," Ji Yang leaned forward and looked carefully. "You mean..."
Jiang Yang toyed with the clay in his hand: "Wu Yibai's goal is to send the judges back from the sanatorium to the no man's land."
Ji Yang immediately followed up, saying, "So, the reason Mu Nashe sets up a threshold for patients to sign is actually to distinguish those players whose identities have been replaced by the judges."
"right!"
Jiang Yang snapped his fingers, paused, and then his tone became serious: "This trial will severely restrict the players. Wu Yibai is determined to send them out. If we can't stop them from within the sanatorium, perhaps..."
Ji Yang's eyes lit up, but the light quickly faded: "The circus is just a regular one-on-one trial. Even if I get A-level access, the mortality rate won't exceed 20%. Besides, they can use other players to fill that gap, so the chances of them stopping me are slim."
Jiang Yang stroked her chin, looking troubled: "I see..."
"Perhaps we could try shutting down the tour groups."
The circus isn't the point; the point is the tour groups returning home. As long as the tour groups are there, the gate from the circus to the no man's land remains wide open.
But without the circus, this connection is essentially gone.
Is it possible?
Jiang Yang suddenly looked tense and asked, "What about Xiao Mei and the others?"
"As far as I know, I can transfer the NPCs of the guild to other trials."
"Then let's go find Xiaomei now!"
Jiang Yang practically jumped up from his chair, rubbing his hands together, his eyes gleaming with excitement: "Take those two guys with you while you're at it."
An hour later, a series of clattering and clanging sounds came from the restaurant's kitchen, along with cries for mercy and a few screams from monkeys.
"elder sister!"
"I was wrong, sis! Please stop hitting me!"
"Ouch! Don't hit the monkey's face! Don't hit the monkey's face!"
A moment later, Xiao Mei clapped her hands, adopting a bossy demeanor, and, stepping onto a chair, flicked her empty sleeves: "Give me your phone!"
Jiang Yang treated the two sisters like his younger brothers and hurriedly handed them his phone.
Xiao Mei called the team leader and launched into a tirade into the receiver before finally asking Jiang Yang, "What did you just say?"
Apparently, he hadn't heard anything clearly, so Jiang Yang repeated, "I'll give you a different job."
The team leader on the other end of the phone rejected the idea without hesitation: "No way! I just changed jobs! It would affect my performance evaluation!"
Ji Yang added: "Mou Guang will cover all the soul weights needed for future repairs and upgrades."
"Um..."
The commander recognized Ji Yang's voice, and his hesitation was tinged with a hint of secret satisfaction: "Well... it's not like it won't work..."
Jiang Yang and Ji Yang exchanged a glance; the rest was up to the others.
They won't offer to help, but if others are able to leave, he wouldn't mind taking them with him.
"Then I'll contact Yuejiang. You go to the dean's office."
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