novelraw Chapter 1546 - 4: The Phantasmagoria Syndrome
Chapter 1546 - 4: The Phantasmagoria Syndrome
Even though they had only known each other for a brief "four days" — and met three times. Lu Li still went to see Evildoer off — standing in front of the stairs on the second floor, witnessing Evildoer descending the stairs without looking back.
The incident of receiving the oil painting gave Lu Li some ideas. He went to the nurse’s station behind the curtain and rang the bell:
"Before Evildoer was discharged, they gave me an oil painting. I can’t understand this painting. Is there any patient here who can appreciate it?"
"Of course, child. Miss Kate in room 207 is very knowledgeable about oil paintings."
A coarse, deep voice that Lu Li had heard before emerged, stirring the curtain and revealing a paper placed on the edge. The text on it was brief yet lengthy, seemingly a list of patients...
Miss Kate?
Lu Li could remember the two patients in room 207: one was covered in sores, the other was a eyeless doll.
"Thank you."
Shifting his gaze from the re-covered curtain, Lu Li returned to room 204.
The living tree basked in the sun; without Evildoer, the night wouldn’t be easy... but new discoveries dispelled the gloom.
When Lu Li arrived at room 207 with the oil painting, he fortunately found the door open, and there was an additional patient — with a wet dark green scaly lower body and an upper body of a female mermaid lying sideways on the bed.
Who among them is Kate?
The sore-covered humanoid had no obvious female characteristics, and calling the doll Miss Kate seemed reasonable, but the mermaid seemed more fitting.
Lu Li looked into those beautiful, clear deep-blue eyes like a siren’s: "Are you Kate?"
The other two patients in the ward turned their gaze in this direction as a result.
"Do you know me?"
The voice spoke in normal human language, neither enchanting nor piercingly sharp.
Lu Li raised the oil painting: "A friend gave me this painting. I have no ability to appreciate art and can’t understand what this painting expresses. The nurse said you have immersed yourself in this field for a long time."
No requests or direct refusals, Kate asked Lu Li to hold up the painting:
"The technique is ordinary, and the style is common — nothing special."
Kate gave a simple review and then shifted her attention from the oil painting to Lu Li: "Where are you from?"
Lu Li shook his head: "I don’t remember."
"Amnesia? Memory loss?"
"The doctor said it’s delusion."
Those deep blue eyes displayed a clear interest: "Can you be more specific?"
"What I see differs slightly from reality, like the surrounding environment."
"Does that include us?"
"Yes."
Kate’s interest deepened: "What am I?"
"A mermaid."
"The ocean, huh... I do long to be free like a fish in the ocean," Kate mused noncommittally and then gestured toward the other two beds: "What about them?"
"A doll, and another with ulcerated skin."
Lu Li lowered his voice, ensuring only Kate could hear; discussing others in their presence wasn’t polite.
"... I can’t think of any connection."
Kate pondered for a moment, then when Lu Li asked her about their real appearances, Kate revealed a girlish cunning.
"That’s a secret."
This oil painting didn’t bring new clues, but at least this ward didn’t.
Lu Li prepared to try the exhaustive method. There are 13 rooms in total on the second floor; trying 11 more times should yield results, as long as he avoids drawing the nurse’s attention by frequently entering and exiting the rooms.
Leaving room 207 with the painting, Lu Li first found the girl in the wheelchair to show her the painting.
"It’s beautiful. Did you paint it?"
"No."
The conversation about the oil painting ended there, and the melody of a lullaby echoed in the corridor once again.
The door of room 211 was closed, and as Lu Li hesitated on how to enter room 210, an elderly voice came from within.
"Young man outside, you’ve been walking back and forth several times..."
Having a reasonable excuse, Lu Li entered the room and spoke with the elder who initiated the conversation: "I received an oil painting, but I can’t understand it."
The silhouette on the adjacent bed, veiled like a gauzy cloak, waved at Lu Li,
The elderly man tilted his head back slightly, squinting at the oil painting for a moment: "Hmm... Sorry, child, I can’t make sense of it either."
"Let me take a look." A woman’s voice emerged from the cloaked silhouette. After Lu Li raised the painting, she rubbed her chin: "I can’t understand it, but I bet someone who values family would love it... Mishelia, can you see anything?"
Lu Li felt an icy chill permeate his bones as he looked at the bed by the window with a blood-stained long dress.
Those crimson eyes settled on the painting, then moved away.
"She says she can’t make out anything. I was just guessing," the cloaked figure chirped brightly.
"You could try asking other patients?" The elder regretted not being able to help Lu Li, "Everyone here is quite friendly; they won’t mind answering."
The elder offered Lu Li a new idea: he could try approaching every patient.
Even if "killed," he would simply start anew the next day.
As Lu Li prepared to visit other wards, the elder called after him: "Wait a moment. Young man, I enjoy stories. Could you tell me yours?"
"I can’t remember." Lu Li shook his head.
"Amnesia, huh? Poor thing..." came the voice from the cloaked figure.
"Could you at least share how you acquired this painting?"
Lu Li briefly recounted learning a lullaby from the girl in the wheelchair and singing it to Evildoer, which led to Evildoer gifting him the oil painting that could not be taken away.
"A fascinating story... If you have new stories, would you share them with me?" the elder asked.
"If I have any."
"I’m Mildred Hampri. And you?"
"Lu Li."
"By the way, take this." The elder reached under his pillow and handed a tablet to Lu Li’s outstretched palm, "The new nurse made a mistake and gave me the wrong medicine... Maybe it will be useful to you."
Lu Li intended to say he had no use for it either but accepted the tablet just as he had accepted the painting, then bid farewell to Mildred Hampri and Friday.
Upon leaving the ward, he coincidentally encountered the nurse emerging from room 207. She glanced at the painting Lu Li held but said nothing.
The doors of rooms 209, 208, and 207 all closed simultaneously, standing before room 206,
accompanied by the silhouette wearing a Crow Mask, a golden retriever, and a tall, grotesque figure inducing a visceral fear.
Lu Li raised the painting, now more fluent in his plea for help.
Only the sound of heavy breathing came from behind the Crow Mask. The tall grotesque figure rotated its head to stare at Lu Li, and the relatively normal golden retriever suddenly rose and barked at the painting.
Had it discovered something?
But a problem arose simultaneously — no matter what this golden retriever used to be, Lu Li couldn’t comprehend its speech now.
If only he had medicine...
Lu Li remembered he indeed had medicine, taking out the pill given by Mildred Hampri from his pocket, and then realized he should have asked more clearly: is this pill useful to him?
As Lu Li prepared to take the pill, the Crow Mask suddenly said, "You shouldn’t take medicine at random."
It was also a woman’s voice.
"What kind of medicine is this?"
Lu Li held onto the pill.
"An anti-inflammatory; only those with severe inflammation need to take it." The Crow Mask paused slightly, "But you could treat it as a candy, as long as you don’t mind the bitterness."