Chapter 183 Frank Hospital
Wen Shi’s proactive friendliness went unanswered. The boy simply lowered his head slightly again, creating the illusion that he was nodding in acknowledgment.
On the first day, they didn’t talk much. Wen Shi stuck to the original schedule, and only started talking again when it was time to eat, offering to help the other eat those yucky food.
Jian Qingrong declined, as expected.
After breakfast, they had some relaxed study time.
The staff didn’t teach with much enthusiasm, but when they noticed the two specimens learning quickly, they nodded in approval. Intelligence also served as a criterion for selecting experimental subjects. Those with higher intelligence, when adequately nurtured, could provide some protection against mental contaminants.
The specimens were sent to the laboratory in the order of their assigned numbers.
Jian Qingrong would go first. As he was about to close the book, a small hand next to him suddenly pointed to a character on the page.
Shi.
Jian Qingrong glanced at it unconsciously. Finally, he looked directly at Wen Shi, who had a face filled with innocent enthusiasm, like the sunflowers in the book’s illustration, overly vibrant and somewhat out of place.
In this ward, except for him, an experimental subject would be disposed of almost every month. Knowing that this flower would wither quickly, Jian Qingrong put the book down and left without saying a word, following the staff.
“Wait,” Wen Shi suddenly grabbed his hand.
Jian Qingrong was forced to stop.
After a few seconds, Wen Shi let go with some regret and said just three words: “Hang in there.”
【Note: Sending items to others is prohibited during this time rewind.】
Wen Shi had originally wanted to give Jian Qingrong the leftover【Painkillers】from the merfolk instance, but unfortunately, the system strictly prohibited it. While these couldn’t heal, the two-hour pain relief they provided was just right.
When Wen Shi, relying on the painkillers, was taken back to the laboratory, he felt like he was under anesthesia the whole time. After returning, he could even massage Jian Qingrong’s wrists to alleviate the discomfort caused by the IV drip.
No. 83’s image template was originally generated based on Wen Shi. The game, following his good guy facade in front of Jian Qingrong, created an almost impossible-to-exist little sunshine persona. However, in this template, some of Wen Shi’s personality traits were mixed in. For instance, No. 83 had a spirit of resistance, constantly instilling the importance of survival into Jian Qingrong.
Wen Shi didn’t need to pretend to be a child. He could handle it effortlessly.
“Stay alive, keep going,” he said.
Every day, he would point to the sunflowers in the book and say the same words.
This flower had healing properties for bruises and injuries, just like how Wen Shi was desperately trying to heal Jian Qingrong now. Even if it could leave a glimmer of hope in little Jian Qingrong’s heart, the extreme hardships he would face as an adult might receive a slight relief.
Unlike Wen Shi’s enthusiasm, Jian Qingrong paid little attention to him, displaying an unusually cold attitude.
One of the few differences was that during study time, he would always open the same book and turn to the page with the sunflowers. Sometimes, he would sit on the bed, staring at the bell, studying it. This object was precious to him, yet he allowed Wen Shi to touch it.
With the help of painkillers and other items, Wen Shi appeared to be full of vitality, as if the experiments couldn’t bring him pain. Each time he was brought back to the ward, once the staff left, Wen Shi would once again become lively and full of energy.
Many times, he gave Jian Qingrong the illusion that No. 83 was healthy and could coexist with the contaminant.
As days went by, Wen Shi could tell from the increasingly irritable expressions of the staff that the day of his disposal was approaching.
Previously during the File quest, as the New Year’s Eve approached, the staff had shown the same kind of frustration, as if they were being forced to work overtime.
No. 83 would be disposed of on New Year’s Day.
Terrifying pus-like fluid flowed from his eyes, a sign that his body’s systems were collapsing. Wen Shi lay facing away from Jian Qingrong, as he expressionlessly tried to wipe it away. However, a pair of cold hands reached out with a tissue and wiped it for him.
Wen Shi abruptly turned around and saw that Jian Qingrong had somehow removed the needle from his arm. He stood by Wen Shi’s bed, frowning as he gazed at Wen Shi’s increasingly frail and thin body.
“Your face…” Jian Qingrong voluntarily spoke to Wen Shi for the first time. “I can’t quite remember.”
Never mind that he couldn’t remember. Wen Shi hadn’t even seen his own face clearly in the mirror. The game always blurred everything, probably to prevent Jian Qingrong from remembering his appearance too well and having a significant impact on the future.
While Wen Shi was thinking of an excuse, voices from outside suddenly reached their ears.
The workers’ complaints were filled with bitterness.
“I’m on duty again this year. It’s been two years since I last spent New Year with my family. This scheduling is ridiculous.”
“Who isn’t in the same boat?”
Ironically, they also understood the significance of New Year.
Now, even sitting up was a bit of a struggle for Wen Shi. All along, he had almost always been recounting what No. 83 had said and done from memory, trying to minimize deviations from the past.
But this time was different.
Leaning against the head of the bed, he thought for a long time and said just one sentence, “I’ll come back to find you. I promise.”
The last two words were very soft, with a flat tone, yet they carried an indescribable sense of determination.
Jian Qingrong stood silently for a long while. On his usually expressionless face, there was now a hint of complexity. He suddenly asked a somewhat naive question, “What if I don’t recognize you when you come back?”
If he had the strength to lift his hand right now, Wen Shi really wanted to pinch that face. When Jian Qingrong’s usually cold and hard expression softened, it naturally revealed a sense of vulnerability.
At this moment, Jian Qingrong was genuinely easy to deceive. Even though his rational mind told him that No. 83 was doomed, he desperately searched for any evidence that suggested No. 83 could still survive.
Humans couldn’t possibly possess the radiant qualities of No. 83. Every time he returned from the laboratory, No. 83 never complained of pain. He didn’t suffer from congenital insensitivity to pain. Once, in the middle of the night, No. 83 accidentally bumped into a table, and he clutched his forehead and cried out in pain for a while.
Perhaps, No. 83 really had some special identity, like an immortal who had descended to endure trials, or a kind-hearted spirit from a fairy tale. To brainwash the subjects, the sanatorium provided books containing specific content about these ideas, including discussions of karma and reincarnation, telling them that the more suffering they endured in this life, the happier they would be in the next.
Jian Qingrong had always detested these descriptions in the books, but this time, he wanted to believe them.
“Then let’s establish a secret code,” Wen Shi extended his hand to hook his pinky finger with Jian Qingrong’s. “With the secret code, you’ll know it’s me.”
Jian Qingrong was initially surprised, then nodded in agreement.
His gaze drifted to the books on the shelf, his mind filled with the resilient and vibrant sunflowers. Jian Qingrong’s lips moved as he was about to say the word, but Wen Shi beat him to it.
“The secret code shouldn’t be too simple,” Wen Shi thought this through carefully. “What if someone else finds out or if someone accidentally says it by coincidence?”
His current appearance was hard to remember to prevent impersonation.
“I’ve got it! Cough, cough…” He spoke too hastily, causing shortness of breath. Wen Shi held his chest and took a moment to catch his breath. “When we meet next time, I’ll ‘die’ in front of you first, and then come back to life on the spot to prove it.”
Anyway, all of this would play out in the sanatorium’s elevator shaft in the future.
The secret code that belonged to him, no one could mimic.
Jian Qingrong: “??!”
One day after Wen Shi made this horrifying statement, New Year’s Eve arrived.
No. 83 wouldn’t survive New Year’s Eve.
On this day of family reunions, Wen Shi barely had the strength to stand. He wasn’t sure if it was his imagination, but he thought he heard the sound of bells ringing outside.
Ethereal, with a metallic chill, yet it evoked a feeling of being infinitely close to happiness.
Wen Shi struggled to turn his head and spoke clearly, “The next time we meet, on the first reunion of the year, we’ll spend it together. You, me, and my family…”
“Family…” Most of the subjects brought to the sanatorium were orphans, so when Jian Qingrong heard “family,” he instinctively asked, “How many?”
Wen Shi paused for a moment and then smiled. “Just a few.”
In the intertwining times of the past and the future, we will eventually reunite. The days after our reunion will be much livelier and richer than you can imagine.
Locking eyes with each other, Jian Qingrong, from the warmth in his eyes, unexpectedly felt a spark of hope for the future.
Even though it might seem foolish. No. 83’s life was already counting down.
The door opened, and Wen Shi was placed on a stretcher by a worker in protective suit. His frail body almost seemed to float on the stretcher, allowing him to see Jian Qingrong lying on the other side of the bed.
Those eyes were dim and profound, not blinking once since a moment ago.
Wen Shi’s fingers moved slightly, and he repeated the words No. 83 had said when he last left, “Sleep, go to sleep.”
When the day comes that you can see the sun again, everything will gradually get better.
The hearse stopped at the door. In the past and the present, there had been no crematorium in the sanatorium. Nowadays, with infected individuals succumbing to the illness all around, bodies were frequently left unattended at the roadside, without anyone caring.
Abandoned bodies either rotted away or were torn apart and consumed by contaminated individuals during the night.
The staff roughly injected Wen Shi with a syringe, then tossed him onto the vehicle and didn’t forget to say to the driver, “Happy New Year.”
“Happy New Year,” the driver replied as the vehicle hit the road.
Amidst the vehicle’s jolting, Wen Shi, injected with a high concentration of toxins, watched his life steadily decreasing.
30, 20…… 3, 2—
Accompanied by a thud, Wen Shi was thrown near a tunnel, and his HP was completely depleted by 100.
He lay on his back. Tonight’s moon was so dim that it was barely visible. The health points on his attribute panel had stopped at【1】.
“A sliver of residual health can go a long way.”
Wen Shi’s mouth twitched. “I just knew…”
In every instance, he was destined to die at least once!!
【This time rewind has ended.】
A notification sound interrupted his complaint. Initially, Wen Shi thought it would loop again, but it seemed the game counted time loops and altering the past as a single event.
The tunnel, the darkness, and everything around him blurred in an instant. Wen Shi heard the sound of bones cracking, and his body began to return to normal.
His consciousness plunged into darkness, and when Wen Shi finally had the strength to open his eyes again, the man sitting on the sofa raised an eyebrow. “You’re finally back. I’ve been getting swore at nonstop.”
Those cryptic accusations in this illusion led to the formation of two new memory cocoons.
Wen Shi instinctively reached out to touch the nearby pieces of flesh, all filled with the man’s newly formed memories. Wen Shi heard the continuous output of mechanical sounds and shook his head. “It swore really dirty.”
The man nodded heavily.
Wasn’t that the truth?
He really wanted to take a drag of his cigarette, but he restrained himself, considering Wen Shi’s presence.
The man’s gaze returned to Wen Shi, and he spoke, “Go find my brain, gain inheritance rights, and restore the hospital to its original order.”
Wen Shi was taken aback.
Without giving Wen Shi any more farewell opportunities, the man lightly snapped his fingers, indicating to the game that this illusion unfolding in his memory could come to an end.
The mechanical voice sounded, as if carrying a faint sigh.
“Inheritance Quest — Doctor-Patient Relationship has been completed.”
“Please find the brain of the first Frank Hospital Director promptly to gain the approval of the patients.”
In a brief moment, Wen Shi experienced a sensation similar to teleportation for the second time. The world filled with a faint red light disappeared. Finding himself standing in a dimly lit corridor on the fifth floor, he took deep breaths as he leaned against the wall.
Without much hesitation, Wen Shi began to walk toward a destination before the dizziness subsided.
The door to the makeshift workspace was pushed open from the outside, and the person hunched over the desk working on an article turned to the sound.
The host had sustained some injuries earlier while helping Jian Qingrong delay the chase by Patient 51. Under the faint glow of a lamp, he was working on his article despite the injuries.
Seeing Wen Shi, the host was somewhat surprised. “You’re still alive?”
Because of the time rewind, Wen Shi had been gone for almost two days.
Wen Shi casually nodded. He hadn’t come here to see the host. Upon entering, he directly looked at the Frank Hospital rules on the wall.
“Order.”
Within the hospital’s order, except for the rule regarding inheritance rights, everything else was based on these rules.
Despite the absence of patients on the fifth floor, the rules set by his father were still displayed on the wall. These rules were a reflection of his father’s consciousness.
Wen Shi looked up at the words on the metal plaque, his fingers gently tracing them. He spoke with a confident tone, “I’ve found it.”
As he spoke, the metal plaque grew colder and colder, and a chill seemed to seep into his bones from his fingertips. The words of the rules gradually disappeared, and the rusty metal plaque became smooth and clear, ultimately shining as if it had been washed by rain.
A mirror appeared before him.
Wen Shi narrowed his eyes. Inside the mirror, there seemed to be a separate space where he could vaguely see a glass container.
The main quest only required him to find something, not take it with him. So, Wen Shi didn’t think about how to enter the space inside the mirror. He simply observed quietly from an invisible distance, confirming that the container held a brain.
After a long silence, he turned to the host. “Have you figured out how to end the article?”
The host shook his head.
“The 16th of every month is Friendship Day,” Wen Shi repeated a content from the rules and explained, “The patients escape from the underworld on the 15th and gain new life on the 16th, that’s why it’s set on this day.”
On the fifth day, you start searching for an important item in the hospital. On the sixth day, you gain the trust of the patients and are awarded the title of Outstanding Doctor of the Year.
A’Ao had worked diligently to find his father’s brain, knowing that finding the brain would grant him inheritance rights. Now, he had accomplished both of these tasks.
All he had to do was wait for the seventh day to inherit the hospital.
Thinking of this, Wen Shi’s tone carried an unusual tenderness. “You can conclude it with, ‘The new Friendship Day is just around the corner.'”
Frank Hospital would soon welcome its second director, and order would return once again.
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