Chapter 267: Reality

Su Yang sent a car from the Bureau of Heresy to take Bai Liu and his family to the sanatorium, and had already spoken to the director of the sanatorium, who promptly met them on arrival and led them inside.

The building on all sides is surrounded by a small, well-kept garden in the middle, and the building in the quietest corner is more upscale, with a small pond with lotus flowers and fish on the side of the main entrance, which looks better than the other buildings.

"The patients in 906 are in the innermost building."

The nursing home manager leads Bai Liu through the small garden, walking quickly as he explains, "We have two hospitals nearby that we work with, and there are often not enough hospital rooms, and they are not comfortable and spacious."

"Some patients who are financially well off and don't want to stay in a ward can transfer themselves to our nursing home here if they are willing to pay the cost of nursing home accommodation."

"That's how the patient in 906 was transferred."

The director of the sanatorium said, "This patient's doctor told me that the patient's illness was not an emergency situation, that no organic pathology had occurred and that it was purely a psychological problem of its own."

"The doctor said that the patient was reluctant to remember what had happened a week ago, and that he was reluctant to remember it because he rejected the memories of the past, and that the medication was of limited use to the patient, and that he needed a more relaxed environment to heal and recover over time, so he was referred to us."

With that, the man in charge looked up at the building, which was hidden in the trees, with a complicated expression.

"But for this patient, it's probably a blessing to have it all behind him."

Bai Liu looked to the person in charge: "A long stay in a place like this, it costs a lot of money, doesn't it?"

"Himself." The chief replied, "The patient in 906 has lost both parents and relatives, and he inherited a large estate, enough to keep him with us for decades."

"He has a bank card dedicated to paying our expenses here and we just transfer money on it every month."

"And it seems like he's got some sort of business of his own, I don't know exactly what it is, like online games or something, and every week there's a lot of money coming into the bank, but when asked where he gets the money from, the 906 patient himself is confused and says he doesn't remember."

The director explained, "Because this patient can only remember what happened within a week, it has been unclear to him where the money came from last week."

Bai Liu nodded knowingly.

Once a week, this frequency is clearly a transfer of points won by Du Sanying in the game into the household.

The person in charge led Bai Liu and the others to the lift: "As this patient has only one week's memory and has cognitive problems, he is very frightened of his surroundings and would like you to be quiet and friendly when you see him, so as not to frighten him."

When the lift reached the ninth floor, the person in charge led Bai Liu's group through the corridor, around the corner and stopped in front of the door of room 906.

From the door came a strangely accented flick of the tongue, "Someone's coming! Someone's coming!"

Mu Sicheng wondered, "Is this ...... a bird call?"

"Oh! I almost forgot!" The person in charge tapped her head before opening the door and turned to Bai Liu apologetically, "I forgot to tell you that the patient in 906 has a parrot."

"????" Mu Sicheng's head was full of questions, "What does he have a parrot for?!"

The person in charge said, "The patient in 906, because he only has a week's memory, he often tries to record what he did a week ago, but the nursing home side is not supplying sharp objects to mental patients to avoid them hurting themselves, so we cannot provide him with a pen."

"Then he got a parrot to teach it to say some key words as a reminder of what he had done a week earlier."

Mu Sicheng is very confused: "Don't you provide electronic devices? Like a mobile phone or something? Let him use a memo on his phone."

"We provide." The man in charge spread his hands, "But this patient will forget his boot code after a week, and won't remember any information."

Mu Sicheng: "......"

The person in charge was helpless: "We are a professional nursing home here, and we are not allowed to record any information about the password for the patient, it is suspected of invasion of privacy."

"And with the violent switch-on, all the original data inside the phone disappears, and we have also suggested devices such as tape recorders, electronic drawing boards and so on, but the patient of 906 also had a reduced awareness of his voice and drawings after his memory loss, and he could not believe that these were what he had written down a week earlier."

"Patients trust their pets more than these electronic devices."

The director sighed: "We weren't allowed to have a parrot either, but after asking the doctor, who felt that keeping a pet might improve his cognitive condition, we finally had to agree."

"But the parrot is not kept indoors, it's hung outside on the balcony, so it's OK."

The man in charge finished and knocked softly on the door, "May I come in, please?"

There was a long silence inside before the parrot's peculiar and polite reply came, "Come in."

The man in charge pushed open the door to the empty ward with the balcony window open and the screen billowing, the parrot standing haughtily on one foot on the bar, but there was no one on the bed or in the open toilet.

Mu Sicheng turned his head four times: "????? Where is everyone?!"

Both Bai Liu and Liu Jiayi's eyes rest on the edge of the bed.

The man in charge sighed habitually, then knelt down to look under the bed and said softly, "- Mr Du Sanying, don't be afraid, we're not bad people, we're just here to see you."

Mu Sicheng bent down incredulously, and just as he had suspected, Du Sanying was actually hiding under the bed!

The skinny boy cowered in the corner clutching bedding and pillows, half his face blocked from view, his knees curled insecurely to his chest, only one eye showing very warily from the edge of the quilt, his glasses shrugged up to his eyebrows.

"I don't know you guys." Du Sanying said in a small voice.

He shrank in a little more and it was clear that he would not come out easily.

The man in charge slapped his forehead with a headache.

Bai Liu bowed and thanked him, "Please, can you give us a moment alone with him?"

The man in charge nodded inexorably, "- call me if you need anything, don't scare him too much, he should have just recently had his memory cleared."

After the head of the group had left, Mu Sicheng's eyes lit up, his sleeves were rolled up and his fists were sharpened as he tried to pull Du Sanying out.

Mu Sicheng still holds a grudge against Du Sanying for his unjustifiable luck in overpowering him, stealing a lot of his loot and always playing innocent in front of him!

Although I felt that this guy was also quite miserable, since he was acting like he was begging to be bullied, Mu Sicheng felt sorry for himself if he didn't do something about it!

As soon as Mu Sicheng's hand reached under the bed, Du Sanying gave a startled "ahh" and the bed collapsed into a corner, with the broken frame pressing right into Mu Sicheng's hand.

The IV stand at the side of the bed tipped over, threatening to plunge into Mu Sicheng's throat.

Tang Erda steadies the frame with a quick eye.

Mu Sicheng screamed in dismay and pulled back his hand quickly, jumping to his feet and blowing his smashed red palm at the same time.

He looked in horror at the barred bed that had suddenly broken, "Can this nigga break too?!"

Liu Jiayi's eyes showed pity: "Du Sanying is 100% lucky, do you think you can forcefully pull someone like that out from under the bed?"

She looked at the bed, "As long as he doesn't want to come out himself, Du Sanying will be the one who stays safe and sound under the bed today, even if the earthquake buries us all."

Mu Sicheng shakes off his smashed hand in disbelief, "So you didn't tell me earlier?"

Liu Jiayi looked at him with a sidelong glance: "You have to verify it, you look positive."

Mu Sicheng: "......"

There is no such thing as a smart person.

Bai Liu crouches down, his hands on his knees, level with the terrified Du Sanying at the bottom of the bed, then after a brief pause, without hesitation, he grips the bed rail and leans in.

"!!!" Du Sanying, frightened, stomped frantically into the bed, screaming, "Don't come any closer! You'll get hurt!"

Bai Liu lay peacefully beside him, smiling sideways at Du Sanying: "So you're not hiding under the bed from anyone because you're timid, but because you're afraid someone near you will get hurt, are you?"

Du Sanying stared blankly into Bai Liu's black eyes. He slowly loosened the thick blanket around himself, as if shocked by something beyond his common sense, and looked Bai Liu up and down incredulously, stammering.

"...... you, you're okay?!"

Bai Liu offered his hand in a friendly manner, "Perhaps I should say first time, Bai Liu."

"-a gamer you've met once."

Du Sanying stared at Bai Liu for a moment, as if to make sure that Bai Liu would not be hurt by being near him, before he tentatively extended a finger and tapped Bai Liu's hand very lightly before withdrawing it and whispering a reply.

"...... I'm said to be called Du Ying, that's what the patient sign above my bed says."

Instead of withdrawing his hand, Bai Liu turned his whole body to face Du Sanying and moved a little closer to him, smiling gently and whispering, "You helped me once, can we go out and talk?"

Du Sanying looks at Bai Liu with suspicion for a long time, as if he is sure that nothing can really happen to this person who is close to him, before hesitantly placing his hand on Bai Liu's palm.

"Okay, good."

Bai Liu pulled outwards with the force of Du Sanying's hand in his palm, pushing away from the collapsed bed and pulling Du Sanying straight out from under it.

When he came out, Du Sanying subconsciously distanced himself from Bai Liu. He looked away uncomfortably, clasped his hands to his chest, bowed his back and scowled, his whole body in a tense posture of resistance to the outside world.

At first glance it was clear that he hadn't interacted with anyone for quite some time.

Bai Liu took a kindly step away from him, backing up to a position that made Du Sanying less constrained, and spoke, "This isn't the first time we've met, but I don't think you remember me, we met in a game and you helped me out a lot."

Du Sanying turned his head to face Bai Liu, his eyes round with surprise: "...... me, help you?"

Bai Liu smiles: "Yes, you've done me a great favour, and I've come to ask for your help this time too."

"And I hope you'll see that we've been friends in the past and lend a helping hand."

Du Sanying's eyes went wide: "...... you're my friend?"

"Of course." Bai Liu lightly carves out an identity for himself as he looks at Du Sanying with seeming nostalgia and a light smile, "- if you hadn't forgotten about me and ignored me in the first place, I would have chased you all the way to the game."

Bai Liu drops his eyes as if lonely and sighs regretfully, "Unfortunately, you forgot about me after a pleasant game and never had the chance to meet again."

"We had a chance to be soul-best friends."

Mu Sicheng: "Pfft!!!"

God's TM soulmate!

You mean the kind of best friend who takes away their soul?

Du Sanying felt very sorry for forgetting his soul mate, and he loosened his arms around his chest, wiped them against the seam of his hospital gown and stole a glance at Bai Liu.

"Sorry ......" Du Sanying blushed a little in shame, " Bai Liu, I forgot about you, I don't even remember what games we played... ..."

The parrot on the balcony heard a certain key word and, like a repeater doll with a switch triggered, blew up and waved its wings vigorously, flicking its tongue loudly and screaming, " Bai Liu, Bai Liu, bad guy, bad guy, encounter, run! Run!"

Du Sanying: "......"

Bai Liu: "......"

Tang Erda: "......"

Liu Jiayi: "......"

Mu Sicheng: "Pfft - !!!"