novelMemory of the Hospital
| ← Ch.1094 | Ch.1096 → |
1095 Memory of the Hospital 2 in 1
Chen Ge had not been so flustered ever since he entered the door. He rummaged through his backpack to look for White Tiger, but the cat was nowhere to be seen. When he was at Jin Hwa Apartments Block A, he had been in a gamble of life and death with a bunch of crazy murderers. The main concern on his mind was how to survive. After leaving Jin Hwa Apartments, his concern had shifted to the discovery and unearthing of the truth.
This world behind the door had given him a lot of pressure, and it demand his full attention. He knew that he would not be able to split his attention elsewhere, lest he missed some important details, but who would have thought that meant that he would lose White Tiger, who was supposed to be following him? Honestly, it was not until this moment that Chen Ge realized that the white cat had gone missing.
"The poor kitty, " Xiao Sun grumbled softly beside him."By the way, why would you carry a cat with you? I have heard that black cats can be used to bring good luck, but I do not think a white cat has the same effect as its black counterpart..."
"You know that it is a white cat? That means that when you saw me, the white cat was still around me?" Chen Ge turned to look at Xiao Sun.
"The cat was quite obedient. It stuck close to you at pretty much every moment, as if the rest of us would try to harm it or something." Xiao Sun had no idea that the white cat disliked them because they were dead people from behind the door. He continued to sigh."Actually, I am envious of you. I also want to have such an obedient cat as a pet. He looks so cute all curled up around you."
"That is just an illusion. The cat only sticks close to me when we are behind the door." Chen Ge shook his head."Can you still remember the last time you saw that white cat?"
"It was when you and your big sister went onto the rooftop. At the time, Granny Lee and I were waiting for you to return on the third floor. The white cat was following you when you went onto the roof, but when you returned... My memory is a bit fuzzy at the moment, but I believe it was then that it went missing." Xiao Sun's revelation provided a huge hint for Chen Ge.
As I expected, I separated from the white cat when I first entered the black fog. Does that mean it went missing inside the black fog, or did it not follow me into the black fog at all?
With White Tiger's courage, Chen Ge felt that the chance of it being the latter was much higher, but if that was the case, why did the white cat not follow Chen Ge back and stick close to him when he returned from the black fog? Chen Ge was hung up on that question. The white cat was very clever. It knew that in the world behind the door where danger was everywhere and one could die with any wrong step, staying close to Chen Ge was the safest bet. But it had chosen to leave Chen Ge at a certain moment. Did that mean that it had sensed something that would pose a danger to it around Chen Ge? Was it no longer safe for it to stay around Chen Ge?
With his brows slowly creasing together, Chen Ge was reminded of the encounters that happened to him at Jiu Hong Apartments Block 1's Room 504. The ghost children on the walls were all staring at him. It was as if Xiao Sun and Wen Qing did not exist in their eyes. Now that he thought about it, that was something that was very strange as well.
"Why would I be so targeted?" Chen Ge still had not recovered from his overwhelming fatigue. If anything, he felt weaker and weaker by the moment."Is it really possible that something has possessed me? Has it been feasting on my body?"
Most of the ghost children in the Room 504 were disfigured physically. So many years ago, the rag doll had 'stripped' parts of their body to make a 'new clothes' for itself. The thing that these ghost children hated the most should be the rag doll."Is it possible that the rag doll has found a way to possess my body?"
Using his Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge scanned his whole body again. Other than his back, which he was unable to twist his neck around to see, he checked every other inch of his body, and he did not discover anything out of place."Xiao Sun, can you check if there is anything weird on my back?"
"There is nothing on your back! If such a large cat was hanging on your back, wouldn't you think you would be able to feel its presence?" Xiao Sun did not quite understand the meaning of Chen Ge's instruction.
"I am not talking about the cat. There might be something else possessing my body. In any case, if we run across any mirrors later, please remind me." Chen Ge dragged Doctor Skull Cracker's hammer along the ground. The ghastly looking hammer felt like it had increased in weight. It drained Chen Ge to drag it along.
"Okay." Xiao Sun pouted."Seeing how nervous you were, and I thought you were worried about that cat of yours."
"It should still be hiding at Jin Hwa Apartments Block A. It has probably found a safe corner to hide. In terms of the ability to protect itself, I still have quite the confidence in it."
White Tiger did not have much going for it, but taking care of itself and staying away from danger were its top talents.
"It should be able to hang around until we return to fetch it."
Even though the white cat was very cowardly, it could prove to be quite useful at times. Its sense of danger was much stronger than Chen Ge's. It would provide Chen Ge with a warning even from the smallest twitch in their surroundings.
"After the white cat got separated from us, it was also the same time the invisible hand showed itself more often. Did it not do so before because it was afraid of being discovered by the white cat? But why would it be afraid of being discovered?"
"Chen Ge..." Wen Qing, who stood at the door, moved to lightly pull on Chen Ge's shirt sleeve.
"What is it?"
"This building looks rather different from the other buildings that we've visited so far."
Chen Ge was so concerned about the white cat that he did not give the building that they were in a good look. After he heard what Wen Qing had to say, he used Yin Yang Vision to scan the surroundings. A plaque hung on the wall of the entrance. The words Jiu Hong Apartments Block 2 could barely be made out from it. For some reason, the words had been carved out from the plaque using some kind of blade.
After entering the corridor, the difference between this building and Block 1 became more obvious. The walls were painted with a layer of incredibly white paint. A strange smell lingered in the air. Yellowed white paper was scattered on the ground.
"Jin Hwa Apartments Block A was made from Xiang Nuan's memory, and Jiu Hong Apartments Block 1 was the ghost fetus' first memory. So, whose memory is this building modelled after?"
Based on Chen Ge's previous speculation, he believed that the entirety of Jiu Hong Apartments was made up from the ghost fetus' memory, but from the look of it, that might not be the case.
"This block is even cleaner than Jin Hwa Apartments, and it does not look that old. There is not even a speck of dust on the banister. This proves that this building is occupied. Some tenants are living here." Xiao Sun contributed a useful observation for once."When we were still in Jin Hwa Apartments Block A, the tenants once said that the landlord would occasionally leave the building to go to the other blocks to have a meeting with the other landlords. That proves that there should be living tenants occupying the other blocks; not all the buildings are like Jiu Hong Apartments Block 1."
"Xiang Nuan's world behind the door is very different from all the other doors that I have entered in the past. It is shrouded in black fog. Only these few buildings are not infiltrated by the black fog, so does that mean that his memory is split into multiple parts and preserved in different buildings?" Chen Ge was feeling rather faint. He wondered if it was because he had been using Yin Yang Vision for so long. Then again, he had no other choice. He had to keep using this power of sight.
Xiao Sun thought for a while and earnestly replied, "I do not quite understand what you are talking about."
"There is no need for you to understand. I only need you to help me find a mirror as soon as possible." Chen Ge leaned against the wall. He knew very well that the ghost fetus' memory was hidden among these few buildings. Exploring these buildings was equivalent to exploring the ghost fetus' past. He wanted to know what had happened in the past, what had transpired to cause the origin of the ghost fetus; this was a chance that he would not allow himself to miss.
"You do not look well, " Wen Qing commented as she stood beside Chen Ge. She was quite worried about him."We should find a safe room and take a good rest for now."
"I'm fine. We should keep moving." Chen Ge dragged the hammer and moved up the steps. The layout of Jiu Hong Apartments Block 2 was completely different from Block 1. There was a palm-sized window on the top part of every door, so one could look into the rooms by standing outside the door.
"How come this place give me the feel of a hospital's intensive care unit?" Chen Ge walked to the window and looked into the room. The interior of the room was very strange as well. The walls were all painted white. The floor tiles, furniture, and the ceiling were all white in color."The room is so white. How obvious the blood would look if blood was to splatter inside the room."
"Big brother, perhaps the owner has a taste for the color white, or maybe they like to see everything neat and clean." Xiao Sun sometimes felt scared being around Chen Ge because the latter would often casually drop such statements that would make people overthink and shiver with fear.
"They are both buildings at Jiu Hong Apartments, so how come this building is much neater and cleaner? In my memory, there is no such building at Jiu Hong Apartments." Wen Qing was the estate agent responsible for these two residential areas. She had no memory at all of this place, so it meant that this building that they were in probably had nothing to do with Jiu Hong Apartments in real life.
Pushing lightly on the door, Chen Ge walked right into it after he realized that the door was not locked. All the things in the room were arranged neatly. The floor was plainly tiled. There was barely any dust. There was not even a black stain on the snowy white walls.
"Is it possible that the owner has an obsession with cleanliness?" Xiao Sun sighed in relief. After leaving Jin Hwa Apartments, he had finally entered a room that appeared relatively normal.
"Do not move anything in the room. Someone probably died in this room before." Chen Ge stood next to the wall in the living room and used his finger to scratch at the wall surface.
"How do you know that?"
"The coat of paint on the wall is too thick. That means that it has been applied many times. Normally, a home owner will only choose to repaint a whole wall in such a way when they encounter a large stain that is hard to remove by hand." Chen Ge could not have been clearer if he tried."The room might look white to you now, but in reality, the room might be blood red in color."
Pointing his finger upward, Chen Ge looked at the debris that was stuck in his fingernail."The innermost layer of the paint has already turned black."
"Chen Ge, come and take a look at this." Wen Qing found a diary on the couch. It did not have a name on it, just a number—0097.
"0097 is probably the patient's number, just like how the rag doll was numbered 0004 at the beginning." Chen Ge flipped through the diary. Initially, he just wanted to give it a quick read, but after looking through some of the content, he realized that he was unable to move his gaze away.
"x Month x Day, today is a day worth remembering. The doctor told me that my condition has gotten much better. I will probably be able to leave the hospital soon. How I have missed the outside world. I cannot wait to see it again.
"x Month x Day, today a new patient arrived at the hospital. His patient number was blocked off. The doctor had it temporarily stay with me. I was not expecting to one day have a roommate again. This new patient is very weird. It does not appear to be afraid of me at all. This is the first time I have encountered such a patient. Perhaps there is a chance for us to be friends, unlike my previous roommate.
"I tried to talk to it, but unfortunately, it is very stupid. It cannot even communicate normally. Such a poor little child. I like ugly people and things. No, it is more like ugliness is normal people's eyes is seen as beauty by me. The doctor said that I suffer from an obsession with ugliness, and it is a very common form of fetish.
"x Month x Day, today will be the third day the new patient has lived in the room. The doctor comes to see it every day. They seem to anticipate something happening? What is it that they are waiting for?
"x Month x Day, the new patient's body has started to reek of this horrible smell. It is like a movable body. I suggested for it to go and take a shower. This poor thing does not even know what a shower is. It does not know that one needs to take off the clothes before taking a shower. I took a long time trying to explain to him before he finally got it.
"Hmm, how shall I put this? I told the new patient he would need to remove his clothes to take the shower, so why did he go into the kitchen to grab a knife? Does one need a knife to remove one's clothing? The sound of water was mixed together with the sound of bones being peeled off. I feel like my condition might have gotten worse.
"The new patient has finished its shower, and the whole bathroom was dyed red. It even left one of its arms in my bathroom. I feel very disrespected. Perhaps because it has not taken any shower before, the new patient and I have gotten closer due to this small incident. In the end, I've found myself enjoying spending time with it because it has become uglier and uglier.
"x Month x Day, today is our seventh day living together. No one was able to stay with me for so long because those people could not understand my perspective. Then again, I helped them become more beautiful when they were sleeping at night. Every patient at this hospital has their own number. Normally, we refer to each other by our numbers, but the new patient's number is covered up, so I will have to ask him for its name. I know this is a great taboo at this hospital, but as long as neither of us tell, the doctors will never know.
"The new patient was initially reluctant to tell me its name, but after much persuasion, it finally told me its name was Trash. Or rather, people called him Trash. I could not believe my own ears. Even though it is as ugly as one possibly can be, no one should be called Trash. Why would someone expose their deficit like that?
"I told it that a person's name is very important to a person; it carries with it many beautiful wishes. I told it that it should try to give itself a new name. Make one up.
"x Year x Month x Day, the new patient finally figured out a name for itself. It said that the name was Chen Ge. It likes the name very much.
"x Month x Day, I started to refer to the new patient as Chen Ge. We spent quite an enjoyable time together until the adjacent room started to complain about the stench that reeks out from our room.
"The new patient's 'clothes' cannot be worn anymore. It will need a new set of clothes, but the doctors do not seem to be doing anything to help it. They merely come every day to do their records and then turn their expectant eyes on me. Honestly, I do not know what they are expecting.
"x Year x Month x Day, the fact that I told the new patient to come up with its own name was exposed. Initially, I did not think that was such a bad thing until I saw the new patient's patient number. 0004. It was just a normal child—why would its number be ranked so high?
"x Year x Month x Day, I finally understood why his number was ranked fourth. The reason was that name, but unfortunately, I cannot tell it the truth anymore because I will be made into its new clothes by the doctors soon."
After reading the whole diary, Chen Ge's emotions were extremely complicated. For one, he did not expect to see his own name in the diary, and he did not expect the fact that his own name was the reason the ghost fetus was placed at number four.
No, the Chen Ge mentioned in the diary is probably not me but that child that cannot be killed no matter what.
Holding the diary in his hands, Chen Ge stared at the dates that had been crossed out, and his eyes suddenly narrowed. His instinct told him to open his backpack to take out Zhang Ya's bedtime stories.
The formatting is rather similar, but that is where the similarity ends. I am probably overthinking this.
Placing both the bedtime stories and the diary inside his backpack, Chen Ge gave the room a quick inspection. After coming up with nothing, he prepared to leave.
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