Chapter 54

Shi Jian was very dissatisfied with the mental illness label forcibly attached to her copy, feeling that she was being targeted.

"Crack crack—"

The sound that interrupted Shi Jian's thoughts was the crunching of something brittle.

The sound came from a patient in the same ward as Shi Jian. He was sitting on the bed to her left, hunched over with his back to her, eating something with great enthusiasm and enjoyment.

Even though Shi Jian was someone with a very low need for gourmet food, she couldn't help but glance over.

What was he eating? Was it really that delicious?

"Duck feet, with cumin flavor."

Shi Jian didn't ask out loud, but the patient answered her initiative. He turned around, showing a friendly smile, and asked her.

"Would you like to try some? It's really delicious."

"We've got cumin-flavored duck feet here, and also spicy ones."

Shi Jian instinctively shook her head. "Thank you, no need."

She hadn't expected that in such a terrifying game copy, the patients would engage in such down-to-earth exchanges. It seemed that their relationship was quite harmonious—they were even exchanging food.

But soon, Shi Jian's heart skipped a beat. She couldn't say that things were harmonious anymore.

Because she saw bloodstains and meat debris stuck between the patient's teeth...

That alone wasn’t too alarming, since the patient had already mentioned that he was eating duck feet, and perhaps it was just a little sloppy, with debris stuck in his teeth.

However, Shi Jian soon realized that what he was holding in his hands wasn’t duck feet at all, but his own mangled hand!

Five fingers were left with only two and a half. The half-finger had its flesh and blood torn apart, with the white bone visible through the messy blood and tissue. The missing two and a half fingers had probably gone into his stomach by now.

A strong wave of nausea hit Shi Jian, and her stomach acid started churning.

The patient's actions confirmed Shi Jian's suspicions. He had already fully turned his body towards her and was still enthusiastically urging her.

"We're all patients here, and it's fate that we can meet. Don't feel shy, just eat if I offer you some."

"I love cumin-flavored food the most."He extended the hand, from which he had eaten two and a half fingers, and it was this hand that had the cumin flavor in his mouth.

"Maybe you would prefer the spicy flavor?"

The corner of his mouth curled into a larger smile as he stretched out his remaining intact hand towards Shi Jian.

He gestured to Shi Jian, signaling for her to try it, and that she shouldn’t be shy.

Shi Jian, "...Is this really the time to be polite about it?"

She felt that she had taken a heavy blow from the very start of this copy. Quietly, she shifted her body to lean further away from the patient and told him, who was so eager to share his palm for tasting:

"Thank you, big brother, but I won’t eat this."

The patient looked at her with a confused expression, as if he couldn’t understand why she was refusing such a delicious palm.

Shi Jian had to deal with this "big brother" face-to-face, but she also heard other movements behind her.

"Girl, would you like to try the scarf I knitted? It’s getting cold, your neck is so bare, you might catch a cold. Here, try it on…"

The one speaking was the patient in the bed on Shi Jian’s right. She was an elderly woman.

Her hair was gray, and she had a kind, gentle look.

However, the "scarf" she was holding was made of steel wire.

It seemed that while Shi Jian was talking to the "big brother" who was gnawing on his palm, the old lady had gotten up from her bed and was now standing not far behind Shi Jian, already in the posture of trying to wrap that steel wire scarf around Shi Jian’s neck.

Shi Jian had no doubt that this grandmother could strangle her with that steel wire scarf.

Without giving her any chance to breathe, one disturbing thing after another began to hit Shi Jian.

The "big brother" on the left also got up from his bed and started closing in on Shi Jian.

"Why aren't you eating?"

"You have to eat. If you don't, you're not giving me face. Just try a bite, it tastes really good."

The grandmother on the right raised the scarf and kept mumbling.

"Girl, try the scarf I knitted, let me put it on for you…"Shi Jian was being sandwiched between the two of them, and just listening to their constant murmuring was making her head near explode, not to mention that both their words and actions were incredibly unfriendly toward her.

Of course, Shi Jian wasn’t about to sit there and let them manipulate her. In this critical moment, she quickly regained control of her body. She lowered herself slightly and, like an eel, slipped toward the foot of the bed.

The "big brother" and the grandmother, both wearing the same striped hospital gown as Shi Jian, immediately turned their heads when they realized she had disappeared. They glared at her and quickly began to approach her.

Shi Jian's brain was working at full speed.

The ward she was in wasn’t small, with several beds. Her bed was near the window, far from the door, so it wasn’t ideal for escaping.

However, the more important reason Shi Jian didn’t want to escape was that there were two patients standing by the door.

Although they hadn’t shown any other unusual behavior for now, given the past example, Shi Jian didn’t treat them like ordinary NPCs.

If she ran to the door and those two patients attacked, she would be running straight from the wolf's den into the tiger's mouth.

Shi Jian quickly grabbed a pair of Barbie-pink high heels from her bag and put them on. She planned to kick the approaching patients with them.

However, while reaching for the high heels, Shi Jian also saw the Spirit Pet Ball.

Shi Jian: "I wonder if the Bride Ghost has softened her attitude by now. Could she be of use to me?"

Shi Jian had bought a lot of Spirit Pet snacks for the Bride Ghost at the transfer station, and the Bride Ghost had consumed all of them.

At the transfer station, because of regulations, Shi Jian wasn’t allowed to release the Bride Ghost, but now that she was in the copy, she could.

With a sense of cautious hope, Shi Jian released the Bride Ghost from the Spirit Pet Ball.

What if?

A flash of light passed by, and the Bride Ghost appeared in the ward, but she was facing away from Shi Jian, directly facing the big brother gnawing on his palm and the grandmother with the steel wire scarf.

Both patients were clearly startled by the sudden appearance of the Bride Ghost and froze in place.

Shi Jian was overjoyed: "As expected, there’s a suppressive effect between ghosts, right?"

Seeing that the Bride Ghost didn’t move, Shi Jian shouted, “Scratch them!”

Go, Bride Ghost!

However, the Bride Ghost did not attack the two patients as Shi Jian had hoped. Upon hearing Shi Jian’s voice, she squinted her eyes, quickly turned around, and muttered:

“Bad, bad!”Then, with long fingernails, she attacked.

Shi Jian, "……"

Alright, although the Bride Ghost had eaten a lot of her snacks, she still hadn’t learned the lesson that "giving people food makes them soft, and giving them your hand makes them soft" (i.e., you should be careful who you trust).

She still wanted to hurt her.

Shi Jian sighed and put the Bride Ghost back. She just wanted to say one thing to the Bride Ghost: "Dad is very disappointed in you."

……

【As soon as I saw the streamer go live, I rushed here. What kind of godly speed is this? I’m absolutely in love!】

【? Is there something wrong with my eyes? Why is the Bride Ghost here? Isn’t she supposed to be in the Happy Village?】

【Right, to the sister in front, have you seen the previous episode? I thought it was just me seeing things wrong. But that’s definitely the Bride Ghost who had her clothes ripped off by Shi Jian.】

The regular audience of Shi Jian's livestream immediately rushed in when they received the notification.

Follow Shi Jian, embrace beauty and happiness.

However, they didn’t expect to see the Bride Ghost in this new game copy.

What’s going on here?

At this moment, Shi Jian had no chance to explain to the audience. Taking advantage of the two patients still being frozen in place, she quickly circled around to the bed of the male patient who loved gnawing on his palm.

Shi Jian decisively pressed the bell at the head of the bed.

Since they were in a hospital, there would definitely be doctors and nurses around. She wondered if pressing the bell would get them to arrive quickly, just like in real life.

In reality, with such a commotion, a responsible nurse would have already come to check the situation, yet there had been no movement at the door.

However, fortunately, after Shi Jian pressed the bell, there was finally some movement at the door.

And it was the doctor and nurse—there was a whole group of them, so many that the spacious room suddenly felt cramped.

……

At the front of the group stood a middle-aged doctor, with a refined appearance, perhaps with a touch of mixed heritage, thick eyebrows, and a high nose.He looked at the scene before him and sighed deeply, "As soon as they get sick, they start gnawing on their own hands."

"Nurse Liu, give him an injection of sedative."

Nurse Liu nodded and, with the needle in hand, approached the big brother who was eagerly chewing on his own hand.

The middle-aged doctor kept directing the situation, and the grandmother was also injected with the sedative.

Shi Jian was dumbfounded: Is this the normal reaction from a doctor? That wasn’t just chewing on his hand—he had eaten a considerable portion of his fingers!

Shi Jian wanted to say something, but she wasn’t sure how to address the doctor. However, another male patient in the ward had already rushed in front of the doctor before Shi Jian could say anything.

His expression was terrified, and tears were streaming down his face. "Dr. Feng, I’m not mentally ill, I want to go home, I don’t want to stay here anymore. Everyone’s not normal... Some people are eating their own hands, some want to strangle me, and just now, I saw a female ghost in a red wedding dress..."

Shi Jian learned from the patient's words that the middle-aged doctor’s last name was Feng.

Dr. Feng listened patiently. He was tall and bent slightly down for the patient, his face full of concern.

But he spoke up, "It’s just like someone who’s drunk but refuses to admit it. A mentally ill person will never admit they have a problem."

"Nurse, give him a sedative too."

Shi Jian, "......"

She watched helplessly as the patients were forcibly injected with the sedatives and then collapsed one by one.

Dr. Feng nodded in satisfaction and murmured to himself.

"Don’t be afraid, the sedatives won’t cause any harm. At Benevolent Heart Hospital, we are always looking out for the health of our patients. They’re just temporarily asleep. You are all our patients here, and we, as medical staff, will do our utmost to help you recover and be discharged. So, we hope you can cooperate with us."

Then, Dr. Feng looked over at Shi Jian, who had been staring blankly. He greeted her kindly, "Shi Jian, did you need something from me earlier?"

Dr. Feng accurately called out Shi Jian’s name. In his hand, he held a syringe, the sharp needle glinting coldly in the sunlight.

It seemed he wasn’t planning to have the nurse do it this time; he intended to handle it himself.

Shi Jian had initially wanted to argue that she wasn’t mentally ill, but after seeing what had just happened to the big brother, how could she possibly step into that trap?

So, Shi Jian shook her head and directly denied, "No."

She sat back down on her bed, crossed her legs, avoided his gaze, and casually hummed a tune as if nothing had happened.……

Dr. Feng seemed slightly disappointed that he couldn't give Shi Jian an injection, but since Shi Jian didn’t take the bait, he had no choice but to let her off the hook.

Afterwards, Dr. Feng didn’t behave unusually. He did his rounds, asked about the patients’ conditions, and once again mentioned the importance of active treatment and striving for recovery and discharge before leaving the ward where Shi Jian was.

"Who is he?"

Shi Jian asked the nurse.

The nurse looked surprised. "Dr. Feng, he's the head of our psychiatric department and also your attending physician. You forgot about him?"

Before Shi Jian could answer, the nurse quickly added, "Right, I almost forgot, you're a mental health patient."

Shi Jian was left speechless.

No need to emphasize it again, thanks.

Shi Jian wanted to understand the conditions for clearing the copy. From Dr. Feng's words, she gathered that recovering and being discharged seemed to be the key to clearing it.

But Shi Jian clearly knew she wasn’t sick.

So, does that mean just successfully being discharged clears the copy?

Looking through the window, Shi Jian saw that Dr. Feng was still in the hallway. He seemed like he could provide quite a bit of useful information, and Shi Jian didn’t want to miss this opportunity.

After getting permission from the nurse, Shi Jian went out and caught up with Dr. Feng.

Dr. Feng didn’t seem surprised when Shi Jian caught up with him.

He asked, "Is there something you need?"

Shi Jian got straight to the point, "Dr. Feng, I’d like to know when I can be discharged?"

Dr. Feng smiled warmly. "Well, you’ll have to wait until you recover and pass the physical check-ups before you can be discharged. After all, we need to be responsible for our patients. Don’t worry."

Shi Jian mentally added what he didn’t finish saying, Don’t worry, it’s going to take a lot longer to trap you.

Shi Jian replied perfunctorily, "You really are such excellent and responsible doctors."

Dr. Feng wore his patient mask, eagerly awaiting Shi Jian’s reaction.If the tolerance is a bit higher, it would be a helpless gritting of teeth and acceptance. If the tolerance is lower, it might result in sobbing and crying.

Dr. Feng hoped for the latter. He liked to see others show expressions of despair or pain, so he could conveniently inject the sedative he hadn’t used into the woman in front of him.

But Shi Jian’s reaction was completely unrelated to what he had guessed.

Shi Jian informed Dr. Feng, "But staying in the hospital requires a lot of money, and I don’t have any left." She said it very bluntly.

Hospitals were different from schools; hospitals required patients to pay their own medical expenses.

Shi Jian, as a patient with no money, asked Dr. Feng if he could just kick her out.

Shi Jian: I have no money, kick me out, you hear me?

She brought up a very realistic problem.

This time, it was Dr. Feng who fell silent.

It was the first time Dr. Feng had encountered a patient who, unable to pay their hospital bills, was so boldly asking to be kicked out. And as an elite boss monster, suddenly facing such a stark and "I don’t have money to stay in the hospital" reality, Dr. Feng found himself unexpectedly at a loss for words.