"What I need you to do is very simple. After I leave, if a doctor or nurse comes to check on you, you only need to pretend to be asleep." Zuo Han did not have much hope in Chen Ge. "Do not say anything else. No matter what they ask you, just say you don't know."
"That's it?"
"Yes. Also, when I return, remember to open the door for me." Zuo Han lay on the bed and ignored Chen Ge.
Ten minutes later, Zuo Han glanced at Chen Ge and then stood up to walk to the door.
He silently opened the door a gap. After confirming that there was no one in the corridor, he slipped out.
"This man is too paranoid. His symptoms are indeed very similar to paranoia." Chen Ge sat up in bed. "Should I help him?"
Without thinking too hard, Chen Ge had already sensed that Zuo Han's departure that night was not as simple as an inspection of the hospital. This was also a test for him.
He did not trust Zuo Han, and Zuo Han did not fully trust him either. In the eyes of a patient with paranoia, the whole world was dangerous, and everyone was a potential enemy.
Maintaining his original posture, Chen Ge sat by the bed for ten minutes, but Zuo Han still did not return.
He looked at the door that was slightly ajar. Dragging his leg that was covered in plaster, he slowly walked to the door.
Pulling the door open, Chen Ge looked out. The corridor of the hospital was not completely dark. The corner of the corridor and the nurse's station were lit.
"This is completely different from my impression of the hospital. Is that dark and eerie hospital really a figment of my imagination?"
By now, Chen Ge had mastered the control of his mind. He would not think too deeply about any problem. As long as he did not trigger his past memory, his brain would not experience the tearing pain.
"When I think back to what happened during the day, I don't feel any headache, but when I try to think back to what happened before I fainted, the pain suddenly hits me. That itself is very strange.
"What does the memory of the past mean to me? Why do I feel pain just thinking about it? "
After taking a large dose of medicine, his body was extremely weak, and he was tortured by pain. However, under such circumstances, Chen Ge still maintained the ability to think independently.
"To a certain extent, I am quite similar to Zuo Han. He thinks everyone in the world is harming him, and I think everyone in the world is lying to me. Are we really sick?"
Since his symptoms were so similar to a mental patient, it indirectly meant that he might be a mental patient as well.
"Being able to realize that I might be sick means that I still have a sense of sickness. My self-awareness hasn't weakened … Self-awareness?" The term that popped up in his mind stunned Chen Ge. Why do I feel so familiar with the term 'self-awareness'? This thing seems to be very important to me. I need self-knowledge. I need something with self-knowledge! "
Pain washed over him like a tidal wave. Chen Ge seemed to have triggered his old memory again. Many memory fragments collided in his mind, and the pain was so intense that he almost fainted.
Chen Ge gripped the edge of the bed tightly and gritted his teeth.
"Why do I have such a deep impression of the word 'ability of self-observation'?!"
His consciousness started to blur. If Chen Ge continued to think about it, it would not only be a headache, he might even faint.
Taking a deep breath, Chen Ge tried his best to calm himself down. He followed the breathing method that Doctor Gao had taught him and repeated it several times. The pain in his brain finally subsided.
Taking a deep breath, Chen Ge tried his best to calm himself down. He followed the breathing method taught by Doctor Gao and repeated it several times before the pain in his brain finally subsided.
In just a few minutes, Chen Ge's back was drenched in cold sweat, and his body had weakened further.
"If I faint, will the other me appear? Just as Chen Ge prepared to return to his bed, footsteps suddenly came from the corridor.
"Zuo Han doesn't make any sound when he walks, so it should be the hospital worker."
Just as Chen Ge was about to return to his bed, footsteps suddenly came from the corridor.
Chen Ge still remembered Zuo Han's words. He lay down on the bed and started to pretend to be asleep. About ten seconds later, the footsteps stopped at the door of the sickroom.
Narrowing his eyes, Chen Ge stared at the door. He was not nervous, and he did not feel any anxiety. At that moment, he realized that his mental fortitude was ridiculously good.
"Bang."
Someone knocked lightly on the door. Then the footsteps came, and the person outside the door left.
"What is the meaning of this? Knocking on the door at 3 or 4 am and then leaving? Is this some kind of prank by the hospital worker? "
The person outside the door did not come in, and this was the thing that confused Chen Ge the most. "Who knocked on the door? The hospital worker? Zuo Han? The doctor? Or another patient at the hospital? "
After a while, the door was pushed open, and Zuo Han walked in with a cold face.
"How was it?"
"This hospital is very big, it is a general hospital. The third sick hall that we are in is just a small part of it." Zuo Han walked to the side of Chen Ge's bed and gestured with his hand. "If the hospital is a pillow, we should be in this corner."
"Do you have the confidence to escape?" That was what Chen Ge was more concerned about. The strange knocking earlier gave him a sense of urgency. It felt like the longer he stayed here, the worse things would happen.
"No." Zuo Han's answer was very direct. "There is a surveillance camera installed at the entrance of the building, and there are three hospital workers and two nurses guarding this building 24 hours a day. The door to leave the hospital is also locked, and I have no idea who has the key."
"The key?" Speaking of the key, Chen Ge felt like a flash of lightning in his mind. He was like a drowning man who suddenly found a straw. "I need a key!"
"Yes, without the key, we won't be able to escape." Zuo Han thought Chen Ge's tone was very strange. He did not continue the conversation with Chen Ge and returned to his bed.
"Aren't you going to sleep?" Chen Ge noticed that Zuo Han was still wearing his clothes and shoes. He was lying on his side on the bed, and he did not look like he was going to sleep at all.
"I do not want to die in my sleep." Zuo Han closed his eyes. He hid one of his hands inside his chest like he was hiding something in his palm.
A knife? That does not look like it. It should be some kind of sharp object. Did he get it from outside?
Based on what the doctor said, Zuo Han was a patient who suffered from serious paranoia. Such a dangerous person holding an unknown object in the same room as him, just the thought of it was scary.
Rationality told Chen Ge that he should be afraid, but honestly, his heart was not affected at all.
After changing to a more comfortable position, Chen Ge closed his eyes and fell asleep.
…
The door opened, and Chen Ge slowly opened his eyes. The morning light from outside the window fell on his body, and he stretched lazily.
"This kind of life is not bad. As long as I do not think about those bad memories, I look no different from a normal person."
Chen Ge turned his head around. Zuo Han was still lying in bed. He did not fall asleep until the sun came up.
"Looks like you had a good rest last night." Doctor Gao stood at the door. He did not go to look at Zuo Han but walked directly to Chen Ge's bedside. "Did you have any nightmares last night?"
"No." Chen Ge shook his head. The face of Doctor Gao in his mind overlapped with the face of Doctor Gao in real life. Perhaps he had seen it too many times, the two conflicting memories started to merge.
There appeared to be a force in his mind that was slowly changing his perception, helping him to see reality clearly and helping him to strip away the pain.
"This proves that my treatment is still effective." Doctor Gao was comforted. "Today, I will not have Xu Wan bring you any more meals. You have stayed in the sickroom for too long. It is time for you to go out and take a walk. That will be very helpful for your recovery."
"Go out and take a walk? Can I go to the theme park to take a look? "Chen Ge immediately perked up.
Doctor Gao chuckled. "You want to go see the female boss of the Haunted House? I am afraid that is not possible. Temporarily, you can only move around the hospital. "
"Okay."
"I will go get the crutches for you. Wait a minute."
After Doctor Gao left, the unconscious Zuo Han suddenly woke up. He signaled at Chen Ge and whispered, "Don't believe him."
"Why are you still awake?"
Zuo Han did not answer. He did not move like he was still asleep.
Several minutes later, Doctor Gao returned to the sickroom with the crutches. He helped Chen Ge up, and they walked out together. Throughout the whole process, Doctor Gao did not say a word to Zuo Han.
It was unclear whether Doctor Gao was afraid of disturbing Zuo Han's sleep or there was another reason.
After breakfast, Chen Ge and Doctor Gao went to the garden outside the sick hall.
Since it was past the flowering season, there were not many flowers in the garden, but it was still comfortable to stay there.
The wind blew through the trees and landed on their faces like a pair of gentle hands.
Sunlight filtered through the gaps between the leaves and fell on the ground like swimming goldfish. The plants on both sides of the path were neatly trimmed like a peaceful green lake.
"Has it been a long time since I left the sickroom?" Chen Ge slowly moved his body with the crutches.
"Why do you say that?"
"I haven't experienced this feeling of relaxation in a long time." Chen Ge touched the tree beside him and found a quiet spot to sit down.
"It's not that you haven't experienced it before, but you've been trapped inside a dark room, and you've forgotten how it feels." Doctor Gao sat beside Chen Ge. He seemed to enjoy chatting with Chen Ge.
"A dark room?"
"This dark room is your heart. You've locked yourself inside your heart, and the only thing I can do is figure out a way to get you out of that room." Doctor Gao looked at the sky, and it was hard to tell what he was thinking.
"As long as I can get out of this room, will my illness be cured?" Chen Ge asked seriously.
Doctor Gao shook his head. "Mental illness is different from psychological problems. Mental illness cannot be cured on its own, and it needs medication to help you get out of this room. This is only the first step."
"Then, how can I be considered to be cured? Actually, I feel like I'm no different from a normal person. "Chen Ge leaned against a tree, and there was confusion in his eyes.
"You don't realize that you're sick, which means that you're still a long way from recovery. Self-awareness is the basis for us to judge the severity of a patient's illness." Doctor Gao started to chat with Chen Ge.
"Self-awareness? What is that? " Chen Ge's hands gripped the edge of the wooden chair. He kept his head lowered like he was trying to hide his current expression from others.
"Self-awareness is the patient's ability to recognize their own mental state. It depends on whether they can judge whether their mental state is normal or not. In your current situation, you obviously have no self-awareness at all."
"But I still feel like I'm no different from a normal person, except for the occasional headache." Chen Ge raised his head again. He held his head, and it appeared like he had suffered from another headache.
Doctor Gao did not argue with Chen Ge. He pointed at a man who was talking to himself next to the gazebo.
The man was in his early thirties, and he was wearing a patient's garb. He stood under the sun, and he was talking to himself at the spot inside the gazebo where the sun could not reach.
Chen Ge also felt that the man looked familiar, but he could not remember the man's name.
"His name is Zhang Jingjiu. He used to stay in the same room as you, but we realized that after he stayed with you, his condition continued to worsen, so we moved him to another room."
"Zhang Jingjiu?"
"Yes, he is the son of the owner of a winery in Xin Hai. He is not that old, and he had a bright future ahead of him, but unfortunately, he has a mental problem."
"What kind of illness does he have?" When Chen Ge heard the name Zhang Jingjiu, even his expression changed.
"Undifferentiated schizophrenia." Doctor Gao stared at Zhang Jingjiu and observed his every movement. "This patient has the feeling that he can see ghosts."
"Ghosts?"
"How can there be ghosts in this world? Actually, we have done some tests on his senses, and we realized that his five senses are completely different from a normal person's." Doctor Gao said casually. "He cannot focus, and he keeps feeling like there are people talking around him, even when he is alone in the room. Furthermore, his brain has a problem when it comes to processing sounds. I will give you a simple example. When a normal person hears a sentence, their brain will try to figure out the meaning behind the sentence, but this patient only hears each word, and all the sentences are fragmented in his mind. "
When Doctor Gao and Chen Ge were conversing, the patient by the name of Zhang Jingjiu turned around to look at them. His eyes widened, and he rushed over.
Before Doctor Gao and Chen Ge could react, Zhang Jingjiu grabbed Chen Ge's hand and tried to pull him up from the chair, but he neglected the fact that Chen Ge's leg was injured, and the end result was that Chen Ge was dragged to the ground.
There was no warning, and Chen Ge did not even have time to react.
"Hospital worker! Come here! "
Doctor Gao and a patrolling hospital worker dragged Zhang Jingjiu to the side. When he was dragged away, he kept screaming at Chen Ge — Ghost, ghost, ghost!
"Are you alright?" Doctor Gao helped Chen Ge up from the ground.
"I'm fine, I'm fine." Chen Ge sat back down on the chair. He thought this was quite strange. From Zhang Jingjiu's last words, he could hear that he was afraid of ghosts. Since he was afraid of ghosts, why did he come forward to pull him?
After dragging him, he even shouted 'ghost', 'ghost', 'ghost' …
Chen Ge lowered his head to pat away the dust on his clothes, and he moved his gaze away from Doctor Gao.
"He was probably trying to remind me that there is a ghost around me, and he thinks that Doctor Gao is a ghost."
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