I won't be your doll

Chapter 7

Chapter Three: The First Appearance of a Strange Dream (Part Four)

4

"Alright, let's not talk about Bi Bin anymore. How's Lin Wei? And Su Shengwen, are they all alright?"

Zhong Lei tried to change the subject, but it seemed to have backfired; Yu Kai's gloomy expression became even more pronounced.

"Lei Zi, this is really hard to accept. I can't believe that both of them..."

"What's wrong?"

A shadow crossed Zhong Lei's mind.

"Lin Wei is dead. The doctor said he had been dead for at least twenty-four hours when he was brought to the hospital..."

Yu Kai lowered his head and remained silent, while Zhong Lei once again opened his mouth wide, and the atmosphere in the room was immediately enveloped by an extraordinary sense of surprise.

"How could this be? He was with us for twenty-four hours! How could he be dead?!" After saying this, he couldn't help but shudder.

“Two already…” Zhong Lei muttered softly, his eyes filled with anxiety, flashing with an inexplicable urgency. In that instant, Yu Kai suddenly felt that his brother thought not enough people had died. Although this thought was very inexplicable, it only flashed through his mind for a moment.

"So, what about Su Shengwen?" Although he already knew the general outcome, Zhong Lei still asked.

“Su Shengwen is still alive, but I think his suffering is worse than death.” Yu Kai first shook his head, then looked up, his once dashing eyes now brimming with tears.

"He's gone mad. This morning, I went to the mental hospital with Teacher Zhu. I saw him in a ward with iron bars. You and I both know him well; he's a man who hardly ever speaks, very quiet and very honest. But what we saw was a monster. In the ward, he was clutching hair he'd ripped from his own head, his face covered in countless bloody welts, his eyes bloodshot, and he had long since lost his glasses. How could a pair of nearsighted eyes emit such a terrifying gaze! And his teeth—I'd never noticed he had such sharp teeth before! Like a vampire from a movie!"

Yu Kai glanced at Zhong Lei, then his gaze drifted away.

"When he saw me and Teacher Zhu, he lunged at the gate's bars, biting down hard with his sharp teeth, growling like an angry beast. His hands were filthy and terrifying, his fingers incredibly thin—I might not have noticed before, but they were so thin! Like chicken claws! He reached out to grab us like that. Teacher Zhu was stunned. Afterwards, she told me she'd never seen anyone like that before. And me? I was so stunned I forgot to breathe." Yu Kai took a deep breath, shivering.

Zhong Lei listened silently, his mind a jumbled mess. Why? Why? Why did he die? Why did he go insane! He tried to recall everything, from the night watch to that dilapidated house—the beginning of the nightmare. First, Lin Wei fainted, his eerie gaze etched deeply into Zhong Lei's mind. Then, back in the duty room, he was delirious again. Next came Bi Bin's strange behavior. Then he went to find Lin Wei, only to discover he was no longer breathing. Then he looked up at the dilapidated house… Thinking of this, Zhong Lei suddenly felt a sharp, intense headache, as if an invisible hand was rubbing his head, trying to pry open his skull…

“Ah……”

Zhong Lei couldn't help but scream.

Soon, the ward door was kicked open, and a doctor and a nurse rushed in. The doctor was a middle-aged man wearing black-rimmed glasses, and he looked very much like Anthony Wong in the Hong Kong movie "The Untold Story". The nurse was carrying a tray and was very young, probably a recent graduate from a nursing school.

The doctor rushed to Zhong Lei, first helping him lie down, then repeatedly offering words of comfort, while turning to the nurse and whispering:

"Quick, prepare the medicine, give me another injection."

Upon hearing this, the nurse immediately began searching and quickly handed a syringe filled with medicine to the doctor. After receiving the medicine, the doctor deftly inserted the needle into Zhong Lei's left arm and slowly but surely pushed the medicine in.

Zhong Lei's breathing gradually calmed down, and soon he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

At this point, the doctor breathed a sigh of relief and then began to reprimand Yu Kai.

"What did you just say to him? Don't you know he's a critically ill patient? I've already given him an overdose of medication, you know that! His tolerance is practically zero right now! He'll have a mental breakdown if he gets even the slightest bit of stimulation! Do you know what kind of accidents will happen if I give him any more medication?!" The doctor lowered his voice, but every word struck Yu Kai hard on the head, causing him immense heartache.

Chapter Three: The First Appearance of a Strange Dream (Part Five)

five

As the setting sun cast its rays upon the three courtyards, a peaceful atmosphere permeated the air.

However, the people in the courtyard were not at peace. A short-haired young man rushed out of the main house, holding a thread-bound book. He stopped in the middle of the courtyard, paused, then slammed the book to the ground, panting heavily.

"Old-fashioned! Conservative! Old-fashioned!"

At that moment, an aged but clearly furious voice came from inside the room.

"You good-for-nothing! I sent you to school in town for two years and you turned out to be such a spendthrift?! You unfilial son!"

"Old man, calm down. Chun'er is still young and doesn't understand things yet. Don't take it to heart. He'll come back to take over the family business when he comes to his senses. If he doesn't take it over, who will?"

The young man outside, overhearing the conversation inside, showed a hint of surprise on his face. He turned around.

"Mother! You too?"

Then, an elderly woman with white hair emerged unsteadily from the inner room, her steps already faltering. The young man quickly went to support her, and the old woman reached out her aged hand to stroke the back of his hand, her voice equally aged:

"Chun'er, why are you arguing with your father like this?"

"Mother! Father is too stubborn! What's the use of guarding such a large family business? Look outside, the foreigners are practically bullying our doorstep!"

"Chun'er, you don't need to worry about the foreigners. As long as our family can protect our own property and live a peaceful life for generations to come, that's enough!"

The young man seemed a little excited.

"Mother! I think you're getting senile! The foreigners have invaded our area and ransacked our homes. How can we expect to live a peaceful life now?!"

The old woman was also getting angry.

"How dare you! How can you be more stubborn than a millstone? Our family has always been honest and law-abiding! Even if those foreigners want to plunder, they'll have to consider the prestige of our ancestors!"

The young man smiled with a hint of disdain.

"Mother, stop daydreaming. Foreigners don't care about your prestige. If they see something they like, they'll still snatch it without hesitation!"

The old woman gently tapped her walking stick.

"Anyway, your mother won't allow you to join the army. Your father and I were almost fifty when you were born. We can't let our white-haired parents bury their black-haired children!"

After saying that, she reached out and grabbed the young man's arm.

"Come on! Go back inside and apologize to your father, tell him you're not going to join the army!"

But the young man, with his back to her and brows furrowed, became even more agitated upon hearing this, and impatiently and forcefully pushed the old woman away.

"I absolutely refuse to go!"

The old woman, nearing seventy, couldn't withstand the young man's jerking. She lost her balance and her head slammed against the doorstep. Instantly, a bright red flower bloomed on her head…

"Mom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

6

"Mom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Zhong Lei was awakened by his own shouting and realized that he was soaked in sweat, with sweat pouring from his palms and soles, and his breathing was rapid, as if he had just come off a marathon.

He raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his eyelids, rubbed his eyes, and made sure he could see his surroundings clearly.

In the middle of the night, the ward was so quiet you could hear a needle. Of the four beds, only Zhong Lei was the patient.

Suddenly, a sense of loneliness gripped Zhong Lei's heart, making his entire body tense...

Chapter Four: Death Appears (Part 1)

One

Zhong Lei lay alone on the hospital bed, the surrounding darkness silently pressing in on him, making him feel suffocated. The ceiling seemed to have eyes, giving Zhong Lei the feeling of being watched; lying in bed, he didn't know how many eyes were staring at him in the darkness.

Those eyes basically contained no kindness.

This can be felt from the trembling of the body.

He dared not move his body, but his eyes were darting around rapidly, constantly looking left and right, trying to determine his position and observe what was around him.

However, all his movements were aimless, because he was now blind, there was no moonlight, and even the all-night streetlights downstairs in the hospital seemed to have been turned off—something was wrong.

Mustering his courage, Zhong Lei began to move his left hand. During the day, he remembered that there seemed to be a light switch next to the bedside table on the left.

His hand slid across the hospital bed, wriggling like a boneless snake, until it finally reached the bedside table. Then, it found the light switch and was about to press it when it suddenly touched something soft, warm, and slightly rough.

"Ah!" Zhong Lei felt a rush of heat to his head, his heart raced, and he cried out in surprise, abruptly pulling his hand back.

Another moment of stillness.

The faucet in the hospital bathroom seemed to be loose, "drip, drip..." one after another, the monotonous sound began to torment Zhong Lei's nerves.

"Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock..."

Zhong Lei was going crazy. Then, this voice, so prone to inducing wild imaginations, began to take effect. Scenes from the past twenty-four hours flashed through his mind like a slideshow: one image—the sudden lightning strike, and what he saw in the light… another—Lin Wei's eyes, ghostly, filled with savagery and hatred, like sharp knives piercing Zhong Lei's heart, gouging and cutting relentlessly, again and again. Zhong Lei could almost see his own bleeding heart… a third image—Bi Bin desperately choking himself, his face flushed red, his eyes bulging, and a deep-seated fear etched into his very being…

Suddenly!

Who's in the corner?!

Zhong Lei heard a faint sobbing sound, old and mournful, straight yet melodious, sometimes clear and sometimes mournful, sometimes plaintive and sometimes gentle.

Zhong Lei moved his black pupils to the left, trying to see into the corner, but he refused to throw the brick, fearing that if he did, a ferocious female ghost would appear behind him, placing her withered, skeletal hand on his head. Blood beads slid down her pale face, and a white, viscous liquid dripped from her mouth, drop by drop…

The crying grew increasingly heart-wrenching, and Zhong Lei was unconsciously affected by it. Beneath the immense fear within him, a trace of sadness gradually rose:

Why do I encounter so many terrible things? I haven't done anything heinous!

Why would I go to that dilapidated house?! Am I mentally impaired or insane?!

Why are Lin Wei and Bi Bin dead, but I'm still alive?!

Why?!

Zhong Lei burst into tears, tears streaming down his face like a burst dam. This series of sudden blows was too much for him to bear, and he could no longer control his emotions.

Soon, the sound of a boy wailing echoed in the ward, stirring up ripples in the previously quiet ward upstairs like water being splashed. A terrifying emotion spread from Zhong Lei's ward. Was his sadness due to memories of the past, or was it a premonition?

Chapter Four: Death Appears (Part Two)

II

The sky was so dark it was suffocating; a huge black curtain pressed down on the ground, pressing down on people's chests, instilling a sense of panic—that the sky was about to collapse and humanity was about to perish.

Rolling dark clouds, accompanied by lightning, grotesquely swirled in the sky, completely blocking out the sun. Even though sunlight could still penetrate the clouds, the ground remained unusually dark, like a pale moonlit night.