Thick blood vessels covered the whole surgery room. They were like the roots of an old tree, wrapping around everyone.
The organs on the walls pulsed, and many human faces were embedded in the ceiling. It looked like a human jigsaw puzzle.
Chen Ge had imagined many scenarios where he would meet Doctor Gao, but he had not expected it to be under such circumstances.
Blood dripped on the white coat, but it did not leave any mark. Doctor Gao was the most unique existence in this world. He stood amid the blood and dead bodies, but he was wearing a white coat that symbolized hope and salvation.
With a calm expression, Doctor Gao looked at Chen Ge and said, "You came later than I expected."
"You knew I would come?"
"I knew you would come. When I first saw you on the 24th floor of Fang Hwa Apartments, I had this feeling. You gave me a strong sense of danger."
"Is that why you were on my side at the time, to prevent me from getting into conflict with the other members of the Society of Strange Tales?" Chen Ge thought back to what had happened. No. 10 had been on his side. In the end, he had even left a message under the table, telling him about the location of Linjiang New Schistosomiasis Control Station.
Doctor Gao nodded. "You're all my patients. Isn't it normal for doctors to think for their patients?"
"Patients?" Chen Ge shook his head. "You don't have the right to say that. From how I see it, you are the one with the most serious illness. The world behind the door will not lie. This nightmare that is completely twisted and made from flesh and blood is the true reflection of your heart."
"The soul is filled with flesh and blood, but that is not a sickness. Everyone's heart is twisted. If that is a sickness, then all of us are sick, and you are no exception. " Doctor Gao smiled. He seemed to enjoy chatting with Chen Ge. Be it his way of thinking or his understanding of things, the young man was different from normal people. Doctor Gao found a sense of kinship in Chen Ge. "I'm a psychiatrist, and I've seen many twisted souls. They don't blame themselves for their current state."
The voice paused, and the smile on Doctor Gao's face slowly faded. "When you came, did you see the pictures on the wall?"
Chen Ge nodded. "Those victims are the crimes committed by the Society of Strange Tales over the past five years, right?"
"Victims?" Doctor Gao lifted his head to look at the human faces on the ceiling. "From how I see it, they are the real perpetrators. They do whatever they want without considering the consequences. They live around us in human skin and continue to create misfortune. Each of them has a reason to die, and all I've done is to make their deaths more worthwhile."
"But is this fair to them?" From the perspective of a third party, Chen Ge did not purposely side with anyone. "I saw a half-dead man inside the lab. Based on what the doctors here said, for the sake of the experiment, they kept him in this state for a long time. While they treated him, they added new wounds on his body. He endured this endless torture because he bullied his classmate in primary school. He used the tip of a pen to poke his classmate's thigh. Do you think this punishment is fair?
"You question fairness because you're not thinking from the patient's perspective. You can't see the trauma in the patient's heart. You can't understand the despair in their heart, the suffocating pain that makes them want to tear themselves apart." Doctor Gao spoke faster, he seemed to be thinking of himself. "The pain is long-lasting, it is a pain that seeps into every nerve. It is tormenting you constantly. It follows you like there are countless small bugs crawling all over your body. You know they are inside your body, they have taken over every inch of your body, but you are unable to release them."
"No matter what you do, they follow you. They keep multiplying inside your body, consuming your every nerve. You can hear your memory being torn apart bit by bit until your brain is filled with these disgusting bugs. Once you close your eyes, you'll see them, and as long as you're alive, you'll be reminded of them.
"Can you understand this feeling? This is the pain that a person who has been hurt has to endure twenty-four hours a day. Now, do you still think there's something wrong with what I'm doing? "
Doctor Gao looked into Chen Ge's eyes. "Even with this kind of pain, they still try their best to live, but gritting their teeth won't bring them relief but greater pain.
"Humans are called humans because they have developed a sense of self. When a person can use 'I' to affirm themselves, they are a human. My patients, on the other hand, are slowly losing themselves, because the pain is slowly devouring 'me'. "
This was the first time Doctor Gao had said this in front of Chen Ge. His words not only touched on psychology but also sociology and philosophy. "Humans are a higher life form made up of many contradictions. This is not a simple noun, so the pain and pain they suffer cannot be measured by the word 'fairness'."
After hearing what Doctor Gao had to say, Chen Ge gripped the hammer tightly. Perhaps due to the difference in education, he did not understand what Doctor Gao was saying.
With a pleading gaze, Chen Ge turned to look at Doctor Wei. This seemed to be the first time the man had heard something like this as well. He coughed lightly and told Chen Ge, "Don't pay too much attention to the words of mental patients. Don't overthink their worldview, or else you'll go crazy sooner or later."
"Don't use madness as an excuse. When you see something that you cannot understand, you will use the word 'abnormal' to describe it, but have you ever considered who defines normal and abnormal?" Doctor Gao stood above the blood pool. He was the center of the room. "When your eyes stare at a human form, what are you looking for? A person is not a person because of their voice, movement, or appearance but because of their soul. Everything revolves around it. "
Even though Chen Ge did not understand what Doctor Gao was saying, he felt like the man had a point. This was a very dangerous signal.
When a person accepted a madman's worldview, then he was not far from madness.
"Doctor Gao, no matter how logical you are, there is one thing you cannot deny. They died because of you, and your hands are stained with blood. You have broken the law. " The blood vessels started to crawl under his skin. Chen Ge did not have much time left. He flipped through the comic and released all the employees. "You are one of the few people that I admire, and because of that, I cannot allow you to continue like this. Doctor Gao, you are sick. Ever since you pushed open this door, you are no longer yourself. Even if your wife comes back from the dead, when she opens her eyes and sees you now, she will feel like you are a stranger. This is not the you that she wants to meet. "
Doctor Gao stood where he was. His expression was calm, but the blood vessels under his feet started to rise and fall. The organs on the wall started to jump madly, and the human faces on the ceiling started to show fear.
The world behind the door was constructed based on Doctor Gao's heart. Everything here seemed to be connected to him. When his emotions changed, the whole world would change as well.
"You are not her, so how can you know what she is thinking?" Doctor Gao did not show his emotions on his face, but the world behind the door that had changed so much pointed to many problems. The top psychologist in Jiujiang could no longer maintain his composure.
"Actually, you know that yourself." Chen Ge took a small step to the side to reveal the door behind him. "The whole world is filled with rotten meat and blood, and only this door that faces the blood pool is normal. If I'm not mistaken, your wife should be inside the blood pool, right? You hope that the first thing she sees when she wakes up is her home and not the twisted things around her. "
"Doctor Gao, stop running away. Only when one is in the deepest despair will one push open the 'door', and on the other side of the 'door' is not salvation but a world that is even more despairing.
"You wish to use ten times or even one hundred times the despair to save yourself, but that is impossible."
Chen Ge wanted to say something else, but he was interrupted by Doctor Gao. "There is no need to continue. I understand what you mean."
He returned to his original expression, and there was a trace of coldness in his eyes. "I'm telling you all this because I think you might understand how I feel."
Doctor Gao stared at Chen Ge and revealed his last secret. "From the first time I saw you, I used all my connections to investigate you, and I realized that you are very similar to me, in many ways. You think I am crazy for staying alone in the underground morgue with dead bodies for five years, but do you know that in my eyes, you are also a complete madman?"
Chen Ge really did not expect Doctor Gao to have such a high evaluation of him. He had always thought that he was normal, and there was nothing special about him.
"The deeper I investigate, the more I discover the problem with you. Perhaps you don't even realize it yourself, but I can tell you very clearly that the madness in the deepest part of your heart is even hotter than mine. It's a flame that will never be extinguished, and it can burn everything to ashes."
"Are you talking about me?" Chen Ge had no idea why Doctor Gao was telling him all this, but the man did not seem to have any reason to lie to him.
"It's fine if you don't believe me. The way to prove it is very simple. There is a 'door' inside your Haunted House's bathroom. Push it open, and you'll see your real self. " Doctor Gao's eyes were still cold, but there was a smile on his face. "That night, I entered that door, and I saw your world. Therefore, I know very well that if you compare the two of us, you are the real madman."
"That door is related to me?" Chen Ge had no idea whether Doctor Gao was leading him down the wrong direction or he was really trying to give him some information. "Based on what you've said, I have also pushed open a 'door'?"
Only when one was in the deepest despair would one have the chance to push open a 'door'. Chen Ge did not think that there was anything despairing about the first half of his life. From his perspective, the 'door' should have been pushed open by someone else.
"I can confirm that it was you who pushed open that 'door' because I saw you inside that 'door'." There was a very subtle trace of fear hidden behind Doctor Gao's smile, and his lips were slightly unnatural.
"I am the one who pushed open the 'door'?" Chen Ge's heart sank. "What else do you know?"
"I know a lot more. As long as you promise to help me do three things, not only will I tell you everything that I know, I will also enter that 'door' with you and help you find the thing that you need the most. What do you say?" The blood vessels pulsed above his head, and the floor was covered in blood vessels. The blood pool behind Doctor Gao started to bubble. Obviously, his emotions had changed, and he seemed to be waiting for Chen Ge's answer.
"This is a win-win situation. I believe you won't reject it, right?"
Chen Ge was indeed very curious about the world behind his door. When he was thinking, his eyes swept over the blood pool that was still changing.
"When I came in earlier, the color of the blood pool was not so bright." Chen Ge turned to look at other places. The organs on the surrounding walls wilted like flowers, and they became dim. Things kept surging from the blood vessels into the blood pool like they were trying to drain all the 'nutrients' from the whole blood world into the blood pool. "Is Doctor Gao trying to buy time?"
His mind turned, and Chen Ge came up with a safer solution. As long as he could control Doctor Gao or his beloved wife, then he would have the upper hand.
"What are the three things? Tell me first, and I'll consider whether to agree or not. "When Chen Ge said that, he took several steps forward like he was trying to show his sincerity.
"When you took the first step, your steps were one-fifth smaller than usual. This means that you are trying to complete something that you have no confidence in. The hand that gripped the hammer tightened. Even though you tried to appear relaxed, before you realized this problem, there was about 0.3 seconds when your fingers subconsciously gripped the handle of the hammer. " Doctor Gao took out the black wooden box from his pocket. "Looks like you've realized that I'm trying to buy time, but that's not a bad thing. I'm not doing this because I don't have the confidence to win. I just want to give you a chance, a choice."
The wooden box opened, and the thick smell of blood washed away the stench inside the room. The surrounding blood vessels started to collapse, and endless blood vessels surged out to gather inside the wooden box.
About two seconds later, a bloody palm that was covered in scars reached out from the wooden box.
With hatred and anger, a monster with half of its body twisted and covered in scars crawled out.
The red eyes stared at Chen Ge, and the half of the face that looked like it had been scorched by fire cracked into an ugly smile.
Without any order from Doctor Gao, it charged at Chen Ge like a madman.
"Xiong Qing?" Chen Ge gripped the hammer with both hands and did not retreat. "Perfect timing. After eating you, I'll have another Red Specter!"
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