Chapter 3: Fire in the Stone, Dream in the Body

Qing Shan Hospital, 11:30 PM.

Doctor Lao Liu, who was on duty tonight, had just refilled his cup with strong tea when the door was kicked open with a bang.

"What are you doing here?" Lao Liu shouted angrily.

"Second Blade, hold him down."

"Where?"

"On the table."

Second Blade strode over to Lao Liu and slammed his head onto the table with a thud, causing half of his face to burn with pain.

Pao Ge pushed Chen Shuo and Wang Huiling into the ward slowly and deliberately: "Chen Shuo said you took 50,000 yuan from him and conspired to lock his nephew in a mental hospital?"

Lao Liu roared: "Help! Help! Someone is causing a disturbance!"

The corridor echoed with hurried footsteps, but Pao Ge remained calm. He simply took off his Tang suit, rolled up his shirt sleeves, and revealed his full-armed tattoos and muscles.

When a wild beast sheds its disguise to face its prey, everyone it targets must cherish their lives.

The moment two male nurses appeared at the door, Pao Ge slightly leaned to the right to avoid a punch, and in the next second, he delivered a thunderous hook to one of the nurses' chins, rendering him stiff.

Before the other nurse could react, Pao Ge, like a panther, darted in front of him and delivered another hook to his chin!

"Too weak."

Only after he spoke did the thuds of the two nurses hitting the ground and falling unconscious be heard.

Pao Ge turned to look at Lao Liu, who was pinned to the table: "Anyone else?"

"N... No."

"Can we talk now?"

"Yes! Yes!"

"Good, the three of you, line up," Pao Ge pulled a chair over, sat down, and crossed his legs: "Does Chen Ji really have a mental illness?"

"No, no," Lao Liu said, "He just has some unusual brain circuits, a slight tendency towards violence and depression, but he's not really sick."

Pao Ge lit a cigarette: "Strange, if he could predict your actions, why did he end up here?"

"He wanted to use you to get back at us!"

Pao Ge shook his head: "No, if he could specifically find me for a loan, he must know what I do. If he gave me money, he could have just bought your legs. Why would he put himself in a mental hospital?"

Chen Shuo: "..."

Pao Ge suddenly asked: "Did you kill his parents?"

Chen Shuo, on the verge of tears, said: "His parents died in a car accident. The driver was found, it has nothing to do with us."

Pao Ge gestured for Chen Shuo to extend his hand and then flicked the ash onto his palm: "A 17-year-old kid whose parents died just half a year ago, and you, his uncle and aunt, plot to take his house. You're scum. And you, doctor, you've done this before, haven't you?"

Lao Liu hurriedly said: "I've never harmed anyone. The patients I handled were all criminals who didn't want to go to prison and came to me for diagnosis certificates."

"Hmm?" Pao Ge pondered, "What did they do?"

"The most recent one was Wang Long, a businessman in earthworks. Six months ago, he hit and killed a couple while driving..."

Lao Liu suddenly looked up at Pao Ge in terror.

With a hiss, Pao Ge pressed the cigarette butt into Chen Shuo's palm, and a scream echoed through the corridor.

Pao Ge put on his black Tang suit and dragged Lao Liu by his thinning hair: "I know why he had to be admitted to the mental hospital. You really lack virtue to harm such a child. Second Blade, give them some punishment to remember, I'll take this doctor to the sixth floor. I know Wang Long, he's not easy to deal with."

Chen Shuo trembled like a sieve: "This is a hospital, there are cameras, you can't commit murder here!"

Second Blade scratched the scar on his bald head: "Pao Ge, now?"

"Repeatedly."

...

...

In the ward, snores rose and fell. Chen Ji lay in bed with his eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling.

He noticed that the delirious talk in the mental hospital was especially frequent and hard to understand.

In a daze, he seemed to be back to his childhood, hearing the clanging of the green train starting.

As a child, Chen Ji was often sick and would hear battle cries in his dreams. His father would often take him to the capital to seek medical help.

When they had no money, they would buy standing tickets on the green train.

They would sit in the space between two carriages. When Chen Ji was tired, he would lie in his father's arms and sleep. When he was hungry, his father would take out instant noodles from his backpack, queue for hot water, and let him eat first.

When he woke up, Chen Ji would lean against the window, asking endless questions, and his father would patiently answer.

Later, when he was 12 and his illness was cured, his father made money in business and bought a villa.

On summer nights, his mother would teach him to catch cicadas with a flashlight in the yard, soak them in salt water, and fry them.

During the New Year, his mother would take Chen Ji to cut paper flowers, paste couplets, and steam beautifully shaped steamed buns.

On the hospital bed, Chen Ji wiped away his tears with his fingers.

Li Qingniao appeared at his bedside: "Now, if you sell me something, I can answer one more question for you."

Chen Ji's eyes were vacant yet deep: "What do you want to buy?"

"A cicada."

"How old a cicada?"

"A 12-year-old cicada."

"Not for sale."

At that moment, Chen Shuo's cries of pain echoed through the hospital from downstairs.

There was no time left.

Chen Ji jumped out of bed, took a dagger from the band on his inner thigh, and ran to a certain spot in the ward.

He was a bit afraid, afraid of what he was about to do, and afraid of the consequences.

But he had no other choice.

Wang Long, after driving drunk and hitting and killing a man and a woman, fled the scene. The victims died due to delayed treatment. The next day, Wang Long turned himself in at the police station but had already obtained a diagnosis certificate from Qing Shan Mental Hospital. The court was supposed to review the certificate, but Wang Long's family gathered over 60 earthwork drivers to cause a disturbance at the court, and the case was dropped. Wang Long escaped trial and was admitted to Qing Shan Hospital.

But how could you escape judgment?

Chen Ji silently approached Wang Long's bed and plunged the dagger down with all his might.

Wang Long suddenly opened his eyes and grabbed Chen Ji's wrist with his strong hands, sneering: "Do you really think I don't recognize you?"

During the lawsuit, Chen Ji always had his lawyer represent him, so he and Wang Long had never met. But Wang Long, wanting to reconcile with the victims' family, had investigated him.

So when Wang Long saw Chen Ji, he knew what Chen Ji was up to.

He said urgently: "I can pay you more money! A lot of money! Your parents are gone, you need to learn to move on!"

He didn't want to kill again. If he did, he would have to stay here for the rest of his life.

Chen Ji pressed the blade down silently, inching closer to Wang Long's chest.

"Looking for death!" Wang Long, who was much stronger, roared and snatched the dagger from Chen Ji, stabbing him in the left side of his waist, piercing through his ribs.

Wang Long thought this blow would render Chen Ji powerless, but he didn't expect that when he grabbed the dagger, Chen Ji didn't resist. Instead, he pounced like a wild beast and bit into Wang Long's carotid artery!

Blood seeped from Chen Ji's lips and teeth, staining the pillow black and purple.

Chen Ji felt the metallic taste in his mouth and the sensation of blood gushing in and out.

This was his first time killing for revenge, and his heart trembled with fear, but he refused to let go.

Wang Long felt the pain in his neck, like an electric shock, a sense of impending death.

He pulled the dagger out of Chen Ji's chest and stabbed again: "Let go!"

"Let go!"

"Let go..."

With each angry shout and stab, Chen Ji remained silent, his teeth clenching tighter, tearing a piece of flesh from Wang Long's neck.

Wang Long's pupils began to dilate. He muttered as he twisted the dagger in his hand: "Is it worth it? Is it worth it..."

But Wang Long didn't understand that for Chen Ji, his life had been left in the past by that car accident, endless and inescapable.

The black-purple blood spread over the white pillow, like it spread over Chen Ji's life.

With a click, the iron door of the ward was opened from the outside. Pao Ge, wearing his black Tang suit and dragging Lao Liu by his hair, appeared at the door.

Wang Long's right hand finally released the dagger and fell limp.

Chen Ji, covered in blood, looked up at Pao Ge, trembling from fear or the aftereffects of adrenaline.

Pao Ge sighed: "Too late."

Chen Ji sat at the foot of the bed, holding his wound, and whispered to Pao Ge: "Sorry."

Pao Ge knew the boy was apologizing for using him. He smiled: "No problem. Even though you're about to die, it's not too late to meet. My real name is Chen Chong, and my friends call me Pao Ge."

"Okay, Pao Ge."

"First time killing? Calm before the act, full force during, no unnecessary words, I like that," Pao Ge kicked Lao Liu aside and lit another cigarette.

Chen Ji smiled bitterly: "I'm about to die."

As he spoke, blood continued to gush from his wound.

"Want a cigarette?"

"No."

"Need help?"

"My phone is with Doctor Liu. It should have recorded evidence of his illegal transactions with my uncle. Help me send it out."

Pao Ge didn't expect the boy to remember to seek justice for every enemy even in his last moments...

He sat next to Chen Ji and asked: "Any last wishes?"

"No," Chen Ji's voice grew weaker, a wave of drowsiness hit him, but he didn't want to close his eyes. He stared out the window at the crescent moon.

In the ward, the patients slowly got up and silently watched.

Li Qingniao came to Chen Ji's side, gently closed his eyes, and whispered: "Life is fleeting, like a spark in the stone, a dream in the body. The forty-nine heavens cannot hold you. Go, go where you belong."

After speaking, he resumed his dazed appearance and sat by the bed, while Pao Ge covered Chen Ji with his black Tang suit and walked out into the darkness: "Too late to meet you."

...

(Friends, I'm back, long time no see.)

(Except today, updates every day at 6 PM.)

(End of Chapter)