novelraw Chapter 1551 - 9: Phantasmagoria Syndrome
Chapter 1551 - 9: Phantasmagoria Syndrome
The knocking unsurprisingly received no response.
Lu Li listened for a moment at the door, then turned away.
The patient named "The Drowned’s Remembrance" only appeared at night, but Lu Li faced a problem now: the patients’ requests had reached a dead-end with no clues.
The eyes of the doll, the knitting needle of the woman, the activity area’s key, the flashlight for exploring at night, the wheelchair girl’s prosthesis, the intestine dragging woman’s child.
Lu Li didn’t know where to find what these patients needed—the only solution was to focus on the patients who were difficult to approach and were temporarily set aside.
Lu Li thought of the patient list behind the curtains at the nurse’s station... It would be best to get hold of it, even just for a while.
He walked through the corridor and arrived at the nurse’s station on the other side.
After calling out a few times, Lu Li got lucky; the head nurse wasn’t inside.
There was no one visible in the hallway, and the wheelchair girl in the distance hadn’t noticed. Lu Li’s arm reached over the counter, pulled aside the curtains, and picked up the patient list from the cabinet.
[Second-floor Patient List:]
201: Sculpture, Asina, Wheelchair Girl
202: Flowing Cat; No Name Woman; Whitely
203: The Drowned’s Remembrance; Stone Demon; Mrs. Slav
204: Evildoers; Little Linna
205: Aidanvoya; Merchant; Andrea
"What are you doing there!"
The sudden harsh questioning caused Lu Li’s hand holding the patient list to tremble slightly. He looked up at the angry nurse: "How did you appear?"
As long as he acted calmly, he wouldn’t be suspected.
But it didn’t work with the nurse; her sternness and prejudice towards Lu Li made him associate her with paranoia. Did his subconscious match "Yellow Old Hag" to the nurse?
"I just saw the paper fall to the ground and picked it up." Lu Li glanced at the patient list.
206: Crow Mask; Golden Retriever; Model
207: Boy; Big Sister; Kate
"I saw you reach into the counter and pick it up." The doctor pierced through Lu Li’s lie.
Lu Li frowned slightly.
He had checked that there was no one in the hall before he started stealing the patient list, but the nurse saw it and appeared next to him without him noticing... How did she do it?
"Then it should be my delu—"
"Are you all discussing something interesting?" A rough voice and the sound of bones hitting the tiles appeared simultaneously.
The head nurse arrived, but to Lu Li, it was good news.
"Head nurse, this patient is stealing."
"I said I just saw it fall to the ground." Lu Li showed the "picked up" list to the head nurse, "Why are you accusing me?"
208: Pig King; Dog Meat; Gatekeeper
209: Worm Family
In front of the head nurse and the nurse, he casually scanned the paper.
210: Mishelia; Mildred Hampri; Friday
211: Leader Weirdness [ ]
"The patient list? What reason do I have to steal this?"
"Our patient is telling the truth."
As expected, the head nurse, who favored Lu Li, sided with him. More importantly, from the nurse’s viewpoint, a patient had no reason to steal such a thing.
"Thank you for your trust." Lu Li returned the list to the head nurse.
"But I have a question."
Lu Li pointed to the patients after room 204, "Why is my name not here?"
212: Blood Spirit; Spider Princess; Snot
213: False Gods; Fake Human; Sara & Adam
"Because the doctor temporarily assigned you here... But your condition is quite stable, maybe you’ll be discharged soon." The head nurse praised Lu Li as if a child picking up trash.
"Thank you."
Lu Li released the patient list and looked towards the nurse.
"You’ll soon be up on the third floor, I guarantee..." The dark yellow nurse stared at Lu Li with a curse-like gaze.
Lu Li remained silent for a moment, calmly watching the head nurse: "Did you hear that?"
"Apologize to the patient." The head nurse said.
The dark yellow nurse stood silent, refusing the command.
The bones making up the head nurse "clattering" and shaking, spawning, as if a mighty evil ghost’s shadow was reviving between them.
"I said... apologize."
"Head nurse, she probably didn’t do it intentionally." At this point, Lu Li spoke up for the nurse.
It’s obviously not wise as a patient to offend a nurse, especially one of the few human-like figures on the second floor of the hospital.
Even though she hates him.
"I’m sorry."
The nurse delivered an apology devoid of emotion or sincerity.
The weird shadow awakened on the head nurse’s bones disappeared.
"I forgive you, but don’t scare me again." Lu Li said to the flickering, resentful nurse, "If my condition worsens, the doctor might interfere."
"..."
The nurse said nothing, leaving with the crisp sound of high heels.
But Lu Li didn’t want to miss this opportunity. After saying goodbye to the head nurse, he pursued the nurse and followed her: "Do you have time?"
The nurse didn’t answer, turning toward room 210.
Though Lu Li was quicker, blocking the door.
"You are interfering with my work." The nurse didn’t raise her head to look at Lu Li.
He could feel the oppression similar to the head nurse’s anger.
"Just one question." Lu Li grasped the doorknob and opened the door for her, "You seem to dislike me, why?"
"You should know."
"I don’t know, my memory only lasts from speaking with the doctor—"
Bang—
The door sound echoing in the hallway and the scattered hair strands answered Lu Li with the nurse’s dislike.
He could only guess she seemed to know him before his memory loss... So what happened? A poor woman harmed by him? Or had they encountered somewhere?
And the habit before his memory loss led Lu Li to stop pondering questions with no answers and prepared to engage the hard-to-reach patients—starting with room 209 next door.
But this thought was just wishful thinking... What blocked Lu Li was not a refusal but that he couldn’t understand the "patient’s" language.
[209: Worm Family]
A chaotic group of worms with Hydra Worm features and size, yet with earthworm-like habits wriggling in a dirty room piled with gravel and soil. It was hard to understand why the nurse allowed it to be so dirty here, or perhaps... it was still a "delusion."
"Hello?"
Lu Li’s greeting received no response. The "soil particles" scattered on the tiles were more attractive to them.
Not wanting to give up, Lu Li borrowed a pen and paper from the wheelchair girl, holding a note with greetings and returned to the door of room 209—it was still no use.
Lu Li could only accept failure at the first step and continued from room 210.
[210: Mishelia; Mildred Hampri; Friday]
The friendly wave from Friday set a good start.
"Has he been discharged?"
Mildred Hampri’s bed was empty, and Friday on the bed next to it quickly nodded.
Lu Li pondered how to engage in conversation: "Do you need help?"
Friday blinked at him: "But it seems you need help more than me."