Chapter 7

As night fell and it was past 8:30, the patients were herded into the ward. The nurses and doctors arranged for each patient to lie down, strapped them with safety ropes, and then turned off the lights and left. Just last night, there was an incident where a patient, known as "God," attempted to jump from the building. The doctors and nurses were especially thorough in their checks today. Even Zhang Daodao, a seasoned patient, was strapped with a safety rope.

That night passed without incident. The next morning, from the moment he started eating breakfast, Zhang Daodao felt something was off. The atmosphere in the hospital seemed unusually heavy. He tried to figure it out by counting on his fingers but came to no conclusion. Zhang Daodao touched the blue pencil, looked around, and then quickly lowered his head to rub his eyes, muttering, "Well, something big must have happened. Everything seems to be covered in a red veil."

After breakfast, he went down to the activity room. In the corridor, he saw a few doctors and nurses huddled together, whispering with rather depressed expressions. Zhang Daodao sauntered over, and the doctors and nurses immediately dispersed. Seeing that Su Jinjin was still there, Zhang Daodao's eyes lit up, and he approached her, saying, "Doctor Su? Why aren't you changing shifts and going back to the dorm to rest after your night shift?"

Su Jinjin was not from the local area and lived in the hospital-provided dormitory, which was right across from Building 3. Beyond the outpatient department and the administrative building were the two dormitory buildings for the doctors.

Su Jinjin had a serious look on her face. She came over and grabbed Zhang Daodao, whispering, "Is the one you said would cause trouble yesterday, Teacher Chen?"

Zhang Daodao was taken aback and laughed, "Teacher Chen? Guanxi? What happened to him? Did he release more photos? Do you have the seeds? Give me a copy!"

"Who's Guanxi!" Su Jinjin was amused and exasperated, "It's the counseling teacher, Chen, the attending doctor of the patient who attempted suicide yesterday! He jumped from the building last night and committed suicide. His family is causing a commotion at the administrative building! It's very strange. He left a suicide note that said, 'I am the real God!' Isn't that the patient you called 'God'?"

Zhang Daodao said "Oh" and didn't seem to care, turning to leave. Su Jinjin quickly stopped him, saying, "Don't leave yet. The other doctors say he was influenced, but I find this strange. I saw the suicide note when I was called for questioning, and the handwriting doesn't match Teacher Chen's! Do you think...?"

"Think what? Was he possessed by a ghost?" Zhang Daodao sneered, rolling his eyes. Just then, he felt someone else approach and interject, "There are no ghosts in this world; you must believe in science. The existence of souls is only divided into good and evil. Evil souls cannot remain in the human world, so we need to purify them!"

The confused patient suddenly appeared, mumbling a bunch of nonsense. Zhang Daodao and Su Jinjin turned to glare at him and shouted, "Get lost!"

The confused patient continued mumbling and sneaking glances at them, then left in a huff. Zhang Daodao then said, "God committed suicide, and he had no grudge against Doctor Chen. Even if he became a ghost, he shouldn't have targeted him!"

"Phew~" Su Jinjin sighed in relief, "That's good. I talked to that patient with Teacher Chen. I didn't even dare to mention his name, for fear he would target me!"

Zhang Daodao nodded and followed up, "What's the situation? How did he get talked into suicide?"

Su Jinjin shook her head, "Before him, Teacher Chen had two troublesome patients, both of whom were overly religious. They were never cured, and Teacher Chen was under a lot of pressure. He even said, 'If there really is a God, He should wake these patients up.' Then the suicidal patient came, claiming he was God and talking about returning to the origin."

"Returning to the origin?" Zhang Daodao was taken aback, "Does he believe in Daoism? That's a Daoist concept."

Su Jinjin explained, "It's actually about suicide. I don't know the specifics of what he said to Teacher Chen, but I accompanied him during his discharge yesterday. He said, 'If I die and you live, you are God!' I got goosebumps all over when I heard that, and Teacher Chen seemed a bit stunned too."

Zhang Daodao laughed, "What's the deal with God? Maybe a psychology student hypnotized Old Chen? Or maybe Old Chen was just fooled."

Su Jinjin shook her head, "Forget it. As long as it's not a ghost, I'm not afraid. I still have to clean up after Teacher Chen! I'll go now."

Zhang Daodao nodded, "If you have any questions next time, come ask me. Don't overthink it! Your situation is almost as bad as that confused patient's!"

Su Jinjin didn't respond, but a patient in his thirties approached and interjected, "Yeah, that makes sense. Confucius said: know-is-know, no-know-is-no-know, it's know!"

Zhang Daodao nodded seriously and gave the patient a thumbs up, "Selina, your English is truly impressive, just like a returnee from abroad!"

The patient looked pleased and started spouting a bunch of Chinglish. Zhang Daodao didn't continue the conversation and turned to enter the activity room. As soon as he entered, he saw Old Han sitting on a chair by the door. The old man had his eyes closed, as if he knew Zhang Daodao had entered, and said, "You can chat with Selina? Do you really believe he's a returnee from abroad just because of his broken English?"

Zhang Daodao sneered, "What's it to me? I don't care if he is or isn't."

Old Han sighed, "I didn't expect what you said yesterday to happen today. I didn't think God was so convincing, to the point of convincing Doctor Chen to suicide."

"Whatever," Zhang Daodao clicked his tongue, "It's not that impressive. Such patients appear every year. It's just that Chen had bad luck, encountering several troublesome patients in a row, which affected him. Plus, his wife had died, so he was already depressed. Otherwise, it wouldn't have happened."

Seeing Old Han nod in agreement, Zhang Daodao continued, "Didn't I tell you to find out about the new patient? What's the situation?"

Old Han nodded, "I heard he attempted suicide at home and was brought to the Seventh Hospital after being resuscitated. He's staying in the room where God was supposed to be. I don't think he'll have time today, but we might get a result by tomorrow. If he doesn't have suicidal or violent tendencies, we might get to see him. From what I saw, he doesn't seem like the suicidal type."

Zhang Daodao raised an eyebrow, his dead fish eyes unchanged, "What? You saw him? I'm seeing ghosts. We came in around the same time, so why can you go up three floors and I can't? I thought the patients you made worse were more numerous than mine."

Old Han smiled but didn't respond. Suddenly, there was some commotion behind them. Zhang Daodao turned around and was taken aback, saying, "Old Han, the actor is going crazy, he's even wearing the clothes of the suicidal Doctor Chen!"

After saying this, no one responded for a long time. Zhang Daodao turned back and saw that Old Han was gone. Zhang Daodao felt a bit deflated and shook his head, "This crazy old man, does he really have special abilities?"