Finally, under the moonlight, her body slowly reassembled, though poorly done, making her even more horrifyingly disfigured.
It seemed nothing more could be learned from her, so Ning Wei turned and went downstairs.
The seventh floor was the rooftop, the sixth floor housed the confinement rooms. What lay below them?
Ning Wei felt like she was opening a blind box, and she relished this sense of adventure.
Arriving at the fifth floor, she found even more rooms, twenty in total.
Ning Wei scanned from one end to the other, hoping to find her unlucky companions.
Instead of her unlucky companions, she encountered her nemesis, Li Ye.
Yes, she had now categorized Li Ye as an enemy.
She opened the door. Li Ye's room was clearly treated much better.
There was a bed, a desk and chair, and most importantly, a bathroom!
Damn it, seeing the bathroom made her angry again.
Li Ye sat by the window, moonlight bathing him, his entire being seeming to emanate a faint glow, as if he were the favorite of the night.
Ning Wei boldly walked in and patted Li Ye's shoulder, "What are you thinking about?"
Ning Wei turned to look at her, "I was quite surprised that you came to find me."
Ning Wei scoffed, "I just came to make sure you were all safe. It seems you are doing well. Goodbye!"
"Wait!" Just as Ning Wei was about to close the door, Li Ye reached out and stopped her.
"You're still going to look for others?"
Ning Wei gazed at the moonlight at the end of the corridor, saying with a hint of melancholy, "The night is long; it’s unbearable not to take a stroll!"
Li Ye, no longer wanting to engage, turned and continued walking.
Ning Wei made little punching and kicking gestures behind him, but as soon as Li Ye walked away, he didn't look back. She quickly followed him.
On the fifth floor, Li Ye was the only patient; the rest were inmates.
Arriving on the fourth floor, the two of them took one side each, opening doors to release passengers as soon as they were identified.
The first to be released was Tang Tang. She clung to Ning Wei, refusing to let go, "You scared me to death! This mental hospital has ghosts; they kept whispering in my ear to run, run!"
That same phrase again. Ning Wei’s expression grew distant.
This phrase must mean something. Was it the patient’s desire to escape this place, or was there another hidden reason?
"Let's go," Li Ye urged Ning Wei to continue.
Ning Wei nodded. She and Tang Tang walked hand in hand, Li Ye following close behind.
There were four passengers on the fourth floor: Tang Tang, Yuan Yuan, Mei Nan, and Song Zhi.
Next, on the third floor, Zhu Yilian and Wang Jing were found, and on the second floor, the remaining three male passengers were discovered.
From the time they entered this mental hospital until now, roughly twelve hours had passed. This was their first meeting.
However, time was limited. They crowded into one of the rooms on the second floor to report on everything that had happened that day.
Except for Tang Tang and Ning Wei, everyone else had been busy playing cat and mouse with the nurses, so they hadn't made any discoveries.
Song Zhi did mention, "I was forced to take a lot of medicine. I feel like I'm actually developing some mental issues."
Ning Wei glanced at him and gave a friendly reminder, "Remember, we are normal people. Don't let this place assimilate you, or you'll truly never be able to leave."
Ning Wei's reminder struck a chord. In fact, it wasn't just Song Zhi who felt this way; others shared the same sentiment.
Their diagnoses included schizophrenia, dissociative identity disorder, multiple personality disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and so on.
These didn't sound particularly severe, but according to the medical records, several of them became violent towards those around them when their conditions flared up.
Tang Tang, for instance, had multiple personalities. Her medical record stated that three individuals resided within this body: the primary personality, herself, followed by a middle-aged man and a little girl.
The personality prone to aggression was the middle-aged man, whom Tang Tang currently had no recollection of.
The little girl had appeared once, but rather unhelpfully. Each time the little girl appeared, it was time to take medication. She couldn't control this personality to obey, and could only passively watch herself obediently swallow all the pills.
Not long after the medication was taken, in a semi-conscious state, Tang Tang could hear ghosts incessantly yelling in her ear, "Run! Run!"
However, one of the side effects of the medication was the restriction of her movement. Tang Tang wanted to move, but her body wouldn't obey.
After everyone had spoken, they gradually returned to their respective rooms.
Ning Wei had to lock everyone’s doors from the outside again. Tomorrow, they couldn’t let the nurses discover they had sneaked out.
Li Ye was the last to return to his room. As he safely locked the door and prepared to leave, he quietly warned, "This mental hospital is problematic. You need to be careful."
This was the first time Li Ye had proactively warned Ning Wei. She felt overwhelmed by the unexpected kindness.
Before returning to her room, Ning Wei glanced at another patient confined on the sixth floor. He was still lying in bed, his position unchanged.
Ning Wei remembered the used syringes in the bucket and felt they were all used on this person.
When she found an opportunity, she had to find out what this person's illness was. After all, she, with her antisocial personality disorder, hadn't needed syringes, so why would this person use so many?
Back in her room, just as Ning Wei fell asleep, another voice whispered in her ear, "Run! Run!"
Annoyed by the disturbance, Ning Wei threw off the covers and looked. It was someone she knew.
Wasn't this the ghost who kept jumping off the building?
She hadn't expected it to find her again. Ning Wei sat up, deciding to have an all-night conversation with it.
"Are you a patient or a nurse?"
The ghost didn't answer, only repeatedly saying, "Run! Run!"
Its words grew more frantic, and its eyeballs fell to the ground.
Ning Wei sat on the bed with disgust, watching it crawl on the floor, fumbling for its only remaining eyeball.
But it was precisely because the nurse was on the floor that Ning Wei noticed a large hole in its waist, with dark red blood constantly seeping out. This was how it looked at the moment of its death.
Even as a ghost, it maintained its appearance at the time of its demise.
Ning Wei looked closely, wondering if it was a hole pierced by rebar or something similar during the fall.
She didn't just look; she wanted to reach out and touch it. Just then, the nurse ghost found its eyeball and left behind only the words, "Run! Run!"
As soon as the nurse ghost departed, the smell of blood in the room vanished. Ning Wei felt a pang of disappointment.
She had originally planned to have a talk with it, but it had chased after her only to repeat the same phrase.
It seemed this hospital was indeed problematic. Patients jumping off buildings was normal, considering it was a mental hospital. But for a nurse to jump off as well, that was a much bigger issue.
Ning Wei sat on the bed for a long time. Confident that no more ghosts would disturb her, she pulled the covers back over herself and went to sleep.