novelraw Chapter 300: Den of Ten Thousand Poisons
Chapter 300: Den of Ten Thousand Poisons
Su Zhan was keeping his head down when a violent argument suddenly reached his ears.
A man wearing the same gray-white patient uniform.
He looked to be around fifty.
He was gripping an orderly’s arm with all his strength, his eyes bloodshot, his voice hoarse as he kept shouting, “I’m not crazy, I really’m not crazy, let me out! I’ve been framed! My son… it was my son who sent me here! He wants my house! Go check, go check!”
The orderly’s face didn’t change at all. He twisted the old man’s hand away with ease. “Not crazy? Everyone who comes here says they’re not crazy! Behave!”
The old man didn’t give up. He kept shouting, “What I’m saying is true! You can’t keep me locked up like this! I have identification, my name is…”
“Shut up!”
The orderly cut him off harshly and shot a look to the side.
Two other orderlies immediately stepped forward. One grabbed him on the left, the other on the right, roughly hoisting the old man up. They ignored his struggles and pleas, dragging him toward the corner of the yard.
They brought him to the door. The iron gate opened, revealing pitch-blackness inside.He seemed to know what awaited him: “No! Don’t! Let go of me! I was wrong! I won’t do it again! Please—!”
His pleading was cut off abruptly.
The iron gate slammed shut with a heavy clang, sealing him completely away.
The other patients buried their heads lower, their bodies trembling even harder.
Su Zhan stood where he was.
He could faintly hear wails coming from behind that iron door.
The sounds lasted for quite some time.
The iron door opened again.
The old man was dragged out.
He collapsed like a puddle of rotten mud, his patient clothes in disarray.
His gaze had completely gone blank, he stared emptily at the sky, drool running from his mouth, his body twitching uncontrollably now and then.
All the earlier rage had vanished.
The orderlies and the other two came out, cracking their wrists, their faces wearing the sick satisfaction of people who had just exerted power over someone.
Su Zhan watched everything silently.
Here, saying “I’m not crazy” was the ultimate kind of madness;
it invited the cruellest “treatment.”
One orderly noticed the newcomer, Su Zhan.
He grinned maliciously and staggered over.
Suddenly he reached out and shoved Su Zhan hard on the shoulder. “Hey! New guy! You’re fucking blocking my way! Don’t you know the rules!?”
Su Zhan stumbled.
He kept his head down, imitating the frightened looks of the other patients, his body trembling slightly, making no sound.
The orderly, seeing no strong reaction, seemed unsatisfied. He leaned closer, almost nose-to-nose with Su Zhan, spitting near his face, “Mute, huh? I’m talking to you! Look at that filth you’re wearing, did you roll in a cesspit before you came in? Huh?”
The two other orderlies folded their arms and watched with grins.
Su Zhan could clearly smell the stale cigarette breath coming from the man.
Anger flared inside him.
But reason held his urge to retaliate firmly in check.
They were deliberately picking a fight. They were enjoying the pleasure of domination built on others’ suffering.
Su Zhan kept playing the trembling wretch.
The orderly, pleased with his cowardice, laughed triumphantly and shoved him hard again. “Get out of the way! Don’t fucking be an eyesore!”
Then he turned away, satisfied, and continued joking with his comrades.
Su Zhan stood where he was, head bowed. Only after they had gone a distance did he slowly lift his eyelids.
What the old man had said… could very well be true.
Sending inconvenient elderly parents to a psychiatric hospital to seize their property—such an utterly despicable thing could absolutely happen!
And if that were so, then the darkness behind it would be even deeper.
“This psychiatric hospital… isn’t just embezzling government subsidies,” Su Zhan thought. “They’re trading with the rotten-hearted people in society.”
The old man’s son, to get the house cleanly, would surely pay the sanatorium a hefty bribe or strike some gray deal.
The sanatorium, in turn, would force a mentally clear ordinary person into becoming someone who ‘needs’ compulsory treatment.
“And that’s only the tip of what I’ve seen…”
A chill ran down Su Zhan’s spine. “What haven’t I seen yet?”
Cheating subsidies, gray deals, illegal detention, patient abuse…
A nest of every poison!
This place was a den of ten thousand poisons!
Su Zhan had originally thought this was just a heartless money-swindling operation, but its filth surpassed imagination.
It wasn’t only siphoning off government funds;
it was preying on the flesh and blood of the weak.
“Abusing psychiatric patients is already despicable enough. Now even those who aren’t mentally ill are being locked up here, driven mad by violence…”
Su Zhan slowly organized his thoughts.
He never considered himself a good man, nor a righteous avenger.
His initial idea was simple: leave this damned place quietly without revealing his strength or identity.
But after thinking for a moment, he realized that was nearly impossible.
Right now his identity was officially a patient the sanatorium used to claim government subsidies.
If he disappeared, the sanatorium couldn’t explain it to the authorities, and the subsidies would stop.
Cutting off their money would be like killing their parents;
the director and the doctor would not let it go. They would surely report it, and might even lie to cover their tracks.
Then the news would inevitably reach the Aberrant Purge Division.
“In other words, if I leave, exposure is almost certain. The only difference is the speed at which the information spreads versus my own speed.”
Su Zhan had never intended to fight for justice for these pitiful people, nor to tear down this cesspit.
What happened to these strangers was none of his business.
In the Mist World, he had long since let go of unnecessary sympathy.
His only concern now was how to exploit the time gap before the news spread.
“I must reach Black City before they file their report. As long as I get into Black City, I’ll have a chance to breathe.”
As for how to leave…
When he left, taking out that bastard who shoved him, and any orderlies who might cause trouble, wouldn’t be out of the question.
Su Zhan calculated carefully: this sanatorium was filthy to the core—embezzling subsidies, illegal detention, abuse… a pile of shit.
The director must have skeletons in his closet.
If a few orderlies simply died, would the director dare loudly report it?
He wouldn’t!
Because once a higher-up investigation dug in, all his rotten deeds might be exposed.
Investigations into missing patients and into dead people are worlds apart.
“He would have to swallow it and might even help cover it up as an accident.”
The other psychiatric patients?
Su Zhan was powerless and uninterested in helping.
This world was the way it was;
everyone struggled on their own.
Compared to those patients, how much better was his own situation?
He had no one to help him either.