Increíble

Capítulo 42

I could feel two jets of fire shooting from their eyes like jetpacks. I pulled Mingyang away, but he was still glaring at Moyan menacingly. "Come on! Kid!" I felt like I was dragging along a spoiled little dad. This sunny, handsome guy looked so tall and strong, how come he never grew up?

"Go look for it in the ward! Say hello to Apple while you're at it, I won't go up." He said, turning to leave.

"Where are you going?" I thought he was looking for Mo Yan, so I quickly stopped him.

"Don't worry!" he said. "I'm just looking for a means of transportation."

"tool?"

"Yes! It's so inconvenient to go to the northern suburbs without any transportation."

Oh right! I wasn't as thoughtful as him. The minibus to the northern suburbs only comes every two hours, which is really inconvenient.

I turned and ran down the corridor. If the bead had fallen to the floor, it should have made a sound! But I didn't hear anything. Besides, if it really was lost that day, it might have been picked up by the cleaning staff a few days later. I kept my head down as I searched until I reached Apple's room. She raised her voice and asked me, "Is there a gold ingot on the floor?"

"No," I said, somewhat disappointed. "I'm looking for a string of Buddhist prayer beads."

She paused for a moment, then pulled something out from under her pillow: "Is this what you mean?"

I peeked inside, and lo and behold! It was there! But the beads weren't strung together; they were scattered everywhere. "How did they get here?"

“I was already dizzy that day. My legs were weak after the knife was inserted. As I slid down, I grabbed you and grabbed this thing. I pulled it hard, and the string of beads broke. Luckily, I caught it, but I didn’t have the strength to call you. But I kept holding this thing in my hand.” She said, “After I went into the operating room, the nurse probably found it and put it in my pocket.”

Oh! I see!

Strange! The prayer beads seemed to glow faintly in Apple's hand, changing from deep red to translucent, almost transparent. I took Apple's fist and said to her, "These beads are destined for you. Since that's the case, keep them safe."

"Aren't you in a hurry to find it?" she asked.

"Yes, but your safety is important too!" I patted her head. "I have to go now, I'll come see you another day."

A ghost in a hospital ward—it's definitely not peaceful. Since these prayer beads protected the great forest from calamity, they should be able to help Apple too. My friends, may you all live healthy and happy lives; this belief is as firm as a rock, unshakable.

As soon as I ran out, I saw that the sky was gloomy and dark clouds were rolling in.

Someone honked their car lights and honked at me from the hospital entrance: "Little Crow! Get in quickly, there's going to be a downpour." Mingyang leaned out of a black Buick.

I asked in surprise, "Where did this car come from?"

"Money makes the world go round. Come on up!"

I ran toward the car lights shining through the rain and mist.

This was my first time visiting a mental hospital in the northern suburbs, and I was already shivering before I even reached the massive iron gate. A chill rose from the soles of my feet and went straight to the Baihui acupoint on the top of my head.

After passing through a yard filled with castor beans, I arrived at a white staircase, a white corridor, and small white windows—it all felt very oppressive. "What are they all doing here?" It's hard to imagine the world of the mentally ill.

"You're asking me?" Mingyang looked at the iron gate in the rain and mist. "Heaven knows."

We were greeted by a middle-aged man in a white coat. His face was full of wrinkles when he smiled, and he looked much older than his actual age. I asked him, "I'd like to see information on a girl named Xiaoyuan. Do you have any on file?"

He said yes, but doctors have professional ethics, and medical records must never be shown to outsiders.

Mingyang took the mental hospital worker to the restroom with him. When they returned, the man with the many wrinkles on his face no longer refused my request to see the medical records, and pulled out a thick manila envelope filled with documents. I looked at Mingyang, and he winked at me. I knew: money talks.

As it was getting dark, I finally saw Xiao Yuan's medical record, but I was so surprised that I was speechless.

So she wasn't dead after all!

Her medical record indicates that her last medication was taken just two hours ago.

But... what was that that followed me all that way? Wasn't that her ghost form?

My hands were shaking violently. As I slowly unfolded the medical record and looked down, I felt dizzy and disoriented.

Medical staff accompanied us down the long, narrow corridor. I insisted on going to see Xiao Yuan's ward. The only sound was the crisp sound of heels on the concrete floor, so loud it was unsettling in the otherwise quiet environment.

I asked the doctor, "What illness does Xiaoyuan have? Is it really a mental illness?"

The doctor said, "You're confusing mental illness with neurosis. Mental illness is a serious psychological disorder in which a patient's cognition, emotions, will, and behavioral activities can all exhibit persistent and significant abnormalities, making it impossible for them to study, work, or live normally. Their behavior is difficult for ordinary people to understand and appears strange and unusual. Under the control of their pathological psychology, they may commit suicide or attack and harm others. They have varying degrees of insight impairment; patients often lose the ability to judge their own mental symptoms, believing that their psychology and behavior are normal, and often refuse treatment. Neurosis, on the other hand, has a completely different cause; it is an organic disease of the nervous system."

Section 111: Approaching the Truth (2)

I didn't understand what he was saying, but I felt it was very serious: "Are you saying that Xiao Yuan's illness is incurable?"

"So far, we've been keeping her alive with medication, but there's no cure." The doctor in the white coat seemed quite troubled. "This patient likely has a neurological disorder, which is what I mean by organic lesions in the nerves."

"Does her family visit her often?"

Never.

How could that be? "Then who's covering her medical expenses?"

“A young man would come to see her every few days, leaving a sum of money each time before leaving, but he refused to leave his name.”

There are too many twists and turns in this matter; it would take countless turns to sort things out.

We stopped in front of a completely enclosed white hospital room, and the doctor said to us, "This is the one."

I peered through a small window in the iron gate: a dark, airtight room with only a small bed—a pitiful sight. A woman lay on the bed, emaciated and seemingly lifeless. She was completely naked, covered in tubes from head to toe, her mouth stuffed with a large, cork-like towel, preventing her from making a sound. Her hands and feet were tightly bound to the bed frame; only her head could turn, but her face was distorted and contorted, her eyes wide open as if about to burst, blood constantly flowing from her nostrils. She was clearly in great pain, but no sound of struggle could escape her throat.

How miserable!

Suddenly, she started to move... or rather, she struggled violently, convulsing all over, as if she had been electrocuted. Soon, white liquid began to flow from the corner of her mouth, which the towel stuffed in her mouth could not stop.

"Doctor... Doctor! Quick! What's wrong with her?" I shouted frantically to the people around me.

He merely glanced at her indifferently and said matter-of-factly, "It's the same as always. She has an attack every day, her whole body convulsing violently."

"What kind of disease is this?" I felt a fear and cold I had never experienced before.

"I've already said it, she's mentally ill."

I couldn't believe it. Although my medical knowledge was pitifully limited, there were so many complex emotions in the dying eyes of the person on the hospital bed, and a persistent, resounding voice pounded in my heart: She didn't want to die! Not at all!

"Doctor! You have to save him!" I pleaded with the doctor in the white coat.

He said, "Your persuasion is useless. If we could save her, we would have done so long ago. There's really no other way. We've done so many tests, but we still can't find the cause. She's always in excruciating pain, then her hair falls out rapidly, her pupils dilate, and now her brain is starting to atrophy..."

"How can they not find the cause of her illness? Isn't this just letting her wait to die?" I saw the person on the hospital bed convulsing and writhing in agony. Was there no one who could save her?

"There's really no other way, we've done everything we can," the doctor replied.

"Let's go!" Mingyang winked at me.

As I left the corridor, I suddenly heard a faint sobbing sound, a soft whimper, like a woman crying.

That was a spirit.

I finally understood that she was still alive, but her soul had long since left her body.

I tugged at Mingyang's sleeve: "I want to go back and take another look."

Mingyang's money helped us, and we turned back the way we came.

This time, as I walked to the end of the corridor, I paused at the corner.

"Are you scared?" Mingyang asked me.

I stared blankly ahead, and a black circle appeared before my eyes, like a miasma.

"Be brave!" He took my hand and led me forward, walking with determination.

Turn a corner.

I saw it; a swaying, floating figure was weeping against the iron window.

Xiao Yuan's soul?

She suddenly shouted at me, "I remember now, I remember everything... My memory is stuck at the time of my suicide attempt by cutting my wrists. Because of what happened afterward, I forced myself not to remember. I don't want to live like this without any dignity. If time could stand still, I would still choose that moment of suicide as the focal point of my life's memories. The silent space is my own world. Although there is hatred, I never thought I would live like this, living a life more humiliating than death."

Her physical body was already like that of a dead person. Life on the sickbed was slowly withering away, gradually heading towards death, and those who were alive were powerless to change it.

“Can’t you pass through copper and iron? This iron gate can’t stop you,” I asked her. “You can go back to your physical body.”

“No…” she shook her head, “I don’t want to die yet.”

She dug her fingers into the iron gate, her hatred growing stronger.

Night gradually fell, and the chill rose.

She said, "I attempted suicide in front of Ouyang a month ago. I thought I was dead that time, and he didn't react until I collapsed to the ground. I think his heart is made of stone."

Section 112: Approaching the Truth (3)

"Unfortunately, I didn't die. Just as my consciousness was about to drift away, a student found me and took me to the hospital."

"When I woke up again, I was lying on a white sheet. He still had some conscience; he came to see me, poured me water, and propped up my pillow. But that woman came after me, that ugly woman with a pockmarked face, the daughter of a school leader. I heard them arguing in the corridor. I had hoped to hear a loud slap, imagining that the crisp slap was from Ouyang. But how could I forget? He was trying to climb the social ladder; how could he drive away his own benefactor? Ouyang didn't come into my room again, and I gradually fell asleep. Later, in my hazy state, I felt someone approach my bedside, stand in front of me, and look at me for a while..."

"Later, I was tied up and sent here."

“I’m not crazy, why were I sent here?” I frantically pounded on the iron gate, and someone kept giving me injections and medicine. Later, I started having an attack, every day, my whole body was convulsing, I had chest tightness, nausea, and vomiting, and I kept vomiting until there was no food left in my stomach. I didn’t eat anything, and after a week, all my hair fell out, and I looked like a bald monster.

"I was terrified. I pounded on the door, I wanted to go home! I begged them."

"But no one was willing to let me out. The doctors just casually said that my cold symptoms would get better soon, but the mental illness was difficult to treat. Finally, I waited for someone, Ouyang."

"I should hate him. But when I saw him, I was so excited, like I was seeing a family member. I thought he came to save me, but he didn't take me away. The way he looked at me was so unfamiliar."

"What? Don't you recognize me?"

"There were no mirrors around, but I saw my reflection in the washbasin. I cried and screamed like a madwoman, unable to believe how I had become like this. Who was that hideous monster in the water? Who let it in?"

"The people outside watched me with the same indifference as if I were an experimental subject, watching me make a racket until I was exhausted. I was tired. So tired! My voice was hoarse, but they still wouldn't let me go."

"I watched in despair as Ouyang left without looking back, leaving so resolutely."

"One day, two days, three days... I don't know how much time passed, but then I started having abdominal pain, like being squeezed by clamps. Diarrhea followed, and they still refused to open the door. The house reeked, and mosquitoes seemed to want to devour me alive. Every day, I waited through that narrow window for a small cup of water, my lifeline for the day. My limbs swelled up, as if they had been soaked in boiling water, and I was always in pain, like being pricked with needles. Gradually, I began to lose consciousness, convulse, and go into shock... Those people in white thought I had infectious polyneuritis and gave me IV fluids every day, but there was no improvement whatsoever..."

"I'm getting more and more desperate... I don't know why I'm still alive."

"I've forgotten everything, the only belief I remember is that I want to take revenge on Ouyang."

"Get revenge on him!"

This hatred is hard to quell!

"Even if I become a vengeful ghost, I won't let him go!!"

She looked at us with eyes full of hatred.

How could I tell her that she had been poisoned by another woman, that the poison was devouring her life, turning a vibrant young woman into a mummy?

I want to see Ouyang.

I suspect that the person who secretly insisted on visiting Xiao Yuan was Ouyang; I want to meet him.

But when will he come?