novelraw Chapter 1557 - 15: Phantasmagoria Syndrome
Chapter 1557 - 15: Phantasmagoria Syndrome
It seemed as if living darkness was surging outside the door.
Lu Li, covering the flashlight, squeezed into the dim light among them, gently closed the door, turned, and raised the flashlight. The beam briefly flashed past the tightly closed door of ward 203 and pointed toward the nurse’s station covered by curtains.
The beam of light penetrated the curtain but did not outline a shape. Lu Li bypassed the counter, lifted the curtain, and picked up the patient list on the table.
The list at night was unchanged compared to daytime.
Lu Li then checked the desk; the drawer was locked. There was nothing under the pillow of the folding bed either.
Once again raising the flashlight to flash past the silent ward 203, Lu Li temporarily shifted focus to other wards.
Squish—
However, as Lu Li circled the nurse’s station, a wet sound suddenly echoed underfoot.
Lu Li stepped in a water stain and slowly traced the stain back to the door of ward 204.
The drowned spirit’s remnant was inside.
Lu Li turned off the flashlight and pushed open the door into the pitch-black night’s sudden surge.
Under the dim wall light, a clustered shadow floated in front of the bed. Lu Li rushed forward and pinned it down, prepared to find it was a mere shapeless pile of clothes.
But it was harder to deal with than imagined, a force seemed to pull at it, and the drowned spirit’s remnant slipped away from under Lu Li and tried to escape the ward, yet fingers snagged it and with a ripping sound, tore open a gap.
Lu Li swiftly reacted to grab the fabric, widening the tear, yet this infuriated the drowned spirit’s remnant. Like a cold, slippery snake, the fabric swiftly tightened around Lu Li’s neck, squeezing tighter and tighter. As darkness from suffocation fogged his vision, his clenched hands loosened, and he fell into unconsciousness.
...
A patting woke Lu Li, the cold made him alert.
The opened black eyes reflected a cleaner wearing headphones and holding a mop.
The cleaner pointed to the ground to the awakened Lu Li, shook his head, then pointed at the bed, placing both hands together at the side of his face.
"... Thank you."
Lu Li couldn’t tell the cleaner what happened yesterday, climbing up from the floor.
The cleaner, unfazed, carried the mop out the open door, pushing a squeaky turning cart outside.
The calendar displayed today: the thirteenth.
Lu Li couldn’t beat Little Linna, nor could he beat the patient-like piles of clothes.
As if snow-clad, the mist outside the window reflected Lu Li’s tall figure. Although his cheeks were a bit pale, a healthy physique shouldn’t lose to a bundle of clothes...
Was his real self outside the delusion a short, frail person?
Lu Li leaned against the bed rail, wanting to sit on the bed for a while when his shoe kicked something, making a swishing sound as it slid to the bed’s underside.
He pulled up the sheets, checked beneath, and found a torn sweater interknitted with a knitting needle lying below.
This fight wasn’t without gains.
The investigation, almost at a standstill these days, finally had new progress.
He reached out, pulling out the knitting needle along with the shredded cloth, and checked the flashlight in his pocket and the potted plant on the bedside cabinet, heading to ward 205.
"Thank you..." Aidanvoya gratefully took the knitting needle, "now I can knit a sweater for Michael... Could you come by tomorrow? I have something for you."
Lu Li had been waiting for this moment.
Lu Li kept the torn cloth strip, it might still be useful.
Then Lu Li told the ship named "Andrea" that there was a pool in the activity area.
Ooh—
A responding foghorn sounded.
"She says thank you for the news," Aidanvoya translated for Andrea.
Lu Li nodded, left the room, and arrived at ward 207, Kate was sitting sideways on the bed, her long legs turning back to a fish tail.
"Is everything going smoothly for you?"
Like a cat’s tail, Kate leisurely swayed her fish tail, appearing in a good mood.
"Got what I wanted and more," Lu Li replied.
"Then mine’s no longer needed?" Kate chuckled softly, restored under Lu Li’s calm gaze, "You really have no sense of humor."
"Could I trade a piece of news with you?"
"What news?"
"I found a secret door in the activity area last night."
"A secret door?"
"Yes, it’s integrated with the wall, I guess it leads outside the asylum..."
What kind of asylum has a secret door?
Lu Li couldn’t discern if there truly was a secret door or if his delusions were affecting perception.
"Where is it?"
"In the northwest corner of the activity area. Where the wallpaper color is darker."
"Did you go in?"
"Why should I?" Kate countered, "This asylum feels quite fine to me, like home, I don’t want to leave."
Lu Li respected Kate’s wishes, continuing to roam the corridors and wards like a medical staff, drawing frequent frowns from nurses.
As dusk approached, Lu Li pushed a wheelchair to deliver a girl back to her ward, running into a nurse again, then preparing to ascend the stairs as she descended.
Lu Li guessed what she might be about to do, yet with the head nurse having a favorable opinion of him, she couldn’t achieve much.
He returned the wheelchair girl, then returned to his ward.
The drowned spirit’s remnant likely wouldn’t appear tonight. Lu Li’s target was no longer it, since the "reward" had been obtained early.
When the ghostly corridor plunged into darkness, Lu Li quietly slipped out of the ward.
The faintly repressed footsteps echoed through the empty corridor, finding nothing new at the nurse’s station, ward doors remained firmly closed, silent as if patients were sleeping.
Except for ward 213, which had remained closed all daytime, now had its door wide open.
Lu Li recalled the patients inside:
[213: False Gods; Fake Human; Sara & Adam]
Standing outside the door, Lu Li saw three patients: a giant, ugly toad squatted on one bed, a steam contour cloaked another bed next to it. And on the bed by the window, a half-male, with handsome features, wearing work pants and half-female, a beautiful figure with a half-man-half-woman appearance.
Sara & Adam—very recognizable.
"Do you need help?"
After asking, the giant frog-like patient wanted Lu Li to take it to see the God of the Deep Sea, the steam-enshrouded was confused about whether it was human or monster, and Sara & Adam were as conflicted as their appearance—she wished for eternity, he desired separation.
Lu Li noted the easy-going three patients’ requests, beginning today’s real task: exploring the third floor.
Ascending the stairs to the third floor, will-o’-the-wisp-like glows drifted through the empty corridor like stars in the night sky.
The nurse’s station was empty, and Lu Li found a patient list inside.
301: Shadow Thief of Fire
302: The Time of Silence
303: Guardian Spirit
304: Riddle of Riddles
305: Uninvited Guests
306: Crowd of Suffering
Tap—tap—
Lu Li looked up due to the echoing footsteps, quickly scanning the contents behind.
307: Night of Terror
308: Waltz of the Dress
309: Rope of Descent
310: Trustworthy Friend
311: Headless Spirit
312: Miserable Person
Footsteps followed, Lu Li turned off the flashlight, using the fleeting fireflies as guidance returned to the 2nd floor, hiding in ward 204.
Amidst the approaching footsteps, Lu Li quietly climbed onto the bed.
Upon opening his eyes again, white mist lingered outside, the calendar date shifting to the fourteenth.
Squeak—
The door pushed open, a nurse stood outside.
"The doctor wants to see you."