bookcurios Chapter 131 [The Asylum] Hallucination? The Painted Skin Ghost?
Chapter 131 [The Asylum] Hallucination? The Painted Skin Ghost?
Chen Ji stared at the man who was speaking. The man's smile was bitter as he stood in front of a slightly ajar door.
This face is familiar...yet strange.
The man had black hair, wore gold-rimmed glasses, and his nose and mouth were very similar to Chen Ji's. He had a calm and gentle demeanor.
Does Dad look like this?
Chen Ji was momentarily dazed. His remaining impression of his father was only the pale corpse in the morgue, whose skull was dented and whose face was covered in wounds.
"You've grown up."
The man said softly, "Time flies."
Chen Ji remained silent.
He didn't react at all, looking at his "father" in the white coat as if he were looking at thin air.
"Dad" silently stepped forward, getting closer to Chen Ji, so close that Chen Ji could see the deep longing and affection in his eyes.
"You've grown taller, you're an adult now..."
"Dad" carefully examined Chen Ji's face, his tone tinged with sadness: "But I always think of what you looked like when you were little."
"Do you remember when you were seven years old, you insisted that your dad take you to buy candied hawthorns?"
"You're so tiny, like a little kitten, always making a fuss." A wistful smile appeared on his face. "Dad was afraid you'd get lost, so he carried you on his shoulders, and you said it felt like riding a rocking horse."
Chen Ji's originally indifferent face finally showed a slight smile at the corners of his mouth.
"dad....."
"I do not remember."
"Because this thing never actually happened."
Across from him, the man's smile froze for a fleeting moment.
The next second, his expression returned to normal, and he was about to say something when Chen Ji interrupted him.
Chen Ji smiled and said:
"That was something I made up when I was twelve years old, in an essay."
"It's very realistic, isn't it?"
"Perhaps it's because it's so real that it left such a deep impression on my memory, making you feel that it's real."
Cracks immediately appeared on the man's face!
His eyes began to dart around erratically, and his words became disorganized and incoherent:
"And...when we were six, we went hiking..."
"Let's go to southern Hainan to see the sea..."
Chen Ji silently watched the man opposite him rummage through his memories.
Seemingly realizing he had been exposed, "Dad's" face gradually began to distort and blur.
Until he was reconstructed into another face: his mother, Zhang Sufen.
"If you had enough time, would you like to transform everyone I know?"
Chen Ji said softly.
He suddenly felt bored and wished he could take out his monkey doll to block out his hearing and stop listening to this fake "mother" continuing her emotional appeal.
Chen Ji walked to the desk, with Zhang Sufeng still following him closely, her voice now even more mournful.
"Son, are you angry with your mother?"
"Son, do you remember when you were six years old, you had a high fever, and your mother carried you to the hospital?"
Chen Ji made no reaction and began to flip through the documents on the table.
He quickly found a hospital employee handbook and turned to:
Please read this page carefully: [Measures for Handling Patient Violations].
Beside him, "Zhang Sufeng," dressed in the dean's white coat, hesitated slightly as if trying to stop him, but her words conflicted with the instructions in her brain.
After a few minutes, she finally realized that Chen Ji hadn't been affected at all, and her face immediately cracked as before.
Immediately afterwards...
Her face turned pale, and a bloody gash appeared on her neck.
This is Zhang Sufeng's state when Chen Ji murdered his mother.
By then, Chen Ji already knew that the mother in front of him was a demon in disguise.
"Zhang Sufeng" seems to have made no attempt to conceal her identity anymore.
It's practically a blatant declaration that she is the Painted Skin Demon.
Her voice became venomous and crazed, every word accusing Chen Ji of being a mother-killer who deserved to go to the deepest hell.
Chen ignored it.
It's impossible for him to break down now.
He had long realized that if the director of this mental hospital truly existed, he would only be outside the home.
That is, the master of this "Netherworld" and Tang Qin's mentor!
Zhang Sufeng's curses became increasingly vicious, each word piercing the heart. She even tried to grab Chen Ji's hand, but he easily shook her off.
After reading the "Patient Violation Handling Measures," he put the "Employee Handbook" back in the drawer, opened the bookshelf, and began searching for medical records.
Soon, amidst a jumble of scribbles, Chen Ji found the medical records for wards 3A04 and 3A05.
[Tianhai City Mental Hospital Patient Information Card]
Patient Name: Liu Yuan
[Diagnosis: Phobia]
[Description of symptoms: Fear of mirror images]
Mirror... a mirror?
Chen Ji thought for a moment, tore off Liu Yuan's headshot from the medical record, and put it in his pocket.
Liu Yuan was a male doctor.
The patient's medical record for 3A05 is Xiao Guo's.
However, this medical record is strange; it only has a photo and no patient information card.
Was it taken away?
Chen Ji frowned slightly. He flipped through the other medical records, but found nothing.
He took out his own copy, tore it into pieces, and then looked back at "Zhang Sufen".
The other person seemed to be in a state of confusion, their face constantly changing shape and reassembling, sometimes becoming a father, sometimes a mother.
Chen Ji shook his head, looked around the room again, and after confirming that there were no other clues, he pushed open the door to the inner cubicle.
There was no room behind the door, but a straight staircase leading downwards.
Chen Ji did not hesitate and went downstairs.
After descending about five floors, the stairs are cut off, leading to an iron gate.
The door was locked.
What could be inside?
After thinking for a moment, Chen Ji concluded that the location of the door should lead to a room with a large hall on the first floor.
The most likely entrance is either the pharmacy or the back door of the payment counter.
He had a slight thought and went back to the dean's office on the fifth floor.
The disguised figure remained standing there blankly, as if it had crashed.
Chen Ji sat down beside him and heard several footsteps outside. He knew his time was running out.
"Once I'm outside, I can't think..."
"So, you have to make up the lie first."
Chen Ji thought for a moment, then tried to control his confused expression, and said in a trembling voice:
"I saw my dad..."
No, that sounds fake.
He coughed twice, his voice even more perplexing.
"Du Tingfeng, I saw my father..."
Add a touch of excitement.
"No, impossible, he's already dead!"
"The one inside is a demon in disguise!"
After practicing several times, Chen Ji's expression finally became flawless, making him appear like a half-madman forcibly maintaining his sanity.
"Once I'm outside, I can't think... but I don't need to think."
Chen Ji whispered.
He had finished his thought process in the dean's office; once he left, he only needed to follow his instincts.