Chapter 204: Wang Wei

Hearing Dr. Hou introduce himself, Li Huowang turned his face away and remained silent. He couldn't be bothered to listen to the doctor in his hallucination ramble.

Seeing the patient's strong resistance, Dr. Hou said nothing, tapped a few words on his tablet with his finger, and turned to leave.

As soon as he left, Li Huowang heard new footsteps entering the ward.

"Little brother, Dr. Hou said you're awake? Can you go to the bathroom by yourself then? I really don't want to empty your urine bag anymore, have pity on me."

This distinctive voice, along with the clear chatterbox personality, meant Li Huowang knew, without opening his eyes, that the person who entered was Nurse Wang, whom he had spoken to on the phone before.

Suddenly, a warm towel was placed on Li Huowang's face and rubbed vigorously. "Come on, young master, your humble servant will wash your face."

Li Huowang forcefully tossed the towel aside and glared at the newcomer.

It was a portly man with calm features, wearing a blue nurse's cap and a blue nurse's uniform.

The only memorable feature on his face was a dark mole on the left side of his chin.

"Oh? The young master is awake? Is there anything I can help you with?"

Li Huowang looked at him in annoyance. "Can you stop talking? Do you enjoy chatting with psychiatric patients that much? Aren't you afraid of driving yourself mad?"

"What a thing to say. Psychiatric patients bring a lot of joy. The patient in bed 89 next door was a picky eater yesterday, do you know why?"

"He actually said the eggplant looked shifty-eyed, and he was afraid it would do bad things inside his stomach after he ate it. Hahahaha!!"

After laughing, Nurse Wang resumed his work, picked up the urine bag hanging beside the bed, and went to the bathroom to empty it.

When he returned, holding the empty urine bag, he spoke again.

"Heh, your urine is quite yellow. You must have eaten something 'heating' recently. Young people are great; they can get 'heated' even from hospital food."

Without waiting for Li Huowang to reply, he continued, "Hey, kid, I heard at the nurses' station that you gained some kind of supernatural power? What happened, did you become an immortal over there?"

"What does that have to do with you?"

This Nurse Wang buzzed around him like a fly, never stopping for a moment, which made Li Huowang inexplicably irritated.

"Come on, tell me. I love listening to your crazy talk, it's really interesting. I can't play on my phone at work, so now I just rely on you to pass the time every day."

"I also heard you found a woman in there? How was she? Was she realistic? If she was, then you really hit the jackpot!!"

Li Huowang looked at the man who had offended Bai Lingmiao, his eyes burning with anger.

But the next second, the anger on his face suddenly vanished, replaced by deep suspicion. "What's your surname?"

"Didn't I tell you? My surname is Wang. You can call me Nurse Wang, but you can also call me 'Handsome Man' like the patients in beds 65 and 31. I'm not picky."

"Your surname is Wang? Is your full name Wang Deqiu?"

"No, what a terrible name. My surname is Wang, and my given name is Wei—the character 'Wei' from Wei Xiaobao, with the radical for 'fire'."

Hearing this, the suspicion in Li Huowang's eyes faded, leaving only a deep chill. "You're lying to me. You're not a nurse; you're a doctor!"

Wang Wei scratched his head in confusion. "What are you talking about? Are you having an episode again?"

"You sent my mother away because she's straightforward and not good at deceiving people. You were afraid she'd give something away by being here."

"And you've been repeatedly provoking me with your words, trying to induce a response from me."

Hearing this, Wang Wei's face showed a helpless smile.

He bent down, reconnected the urine bag, and then said towards the door, "Come in."

The ward door opened, and Dr. Hou, whom they had seen earlier, entered. He gave a slight bow to Wang Wei. "Teacher."

"See? Patients are still very perceptive. Their self-control merely decreases when they're having an episode. When they're stable, they're just like normal people, sometimes even smarter."

"So, you must always treat patients with a normal attitude. Don't assume they're simple-minded just because they have a mental illness."

After speaking to his student, he turned his head to look at Li Huowang on the bed.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am your attending physician. My surname is Wang, and my given name is Wei—the 'Wei' from Wei Xiaobao. It's a pleasure to meet you for the first time."

"Why did you pretend to be a nurse?"

"Because you have a very strong hostility towards doctors, I decided to interact with you under a different identity. But there's no real difference between a nurse and a doctor; we all serve the patients, don't we?"

Having seen through the man's identity, Li Huowang closed his eyes, refusing any further interaction with him. He quietly waited for this period to pass.

Rather than wasting time talking to him, he'd better focus on how to leave Siqi as quickly as possible.

"Student Li Huowang, do you know? Is it possible that I'm truly nothing, and I'm just your hallucination?"

"Hm?" Li Huowang opened his eyes.

Seeing the patient respond, Wang Wei continued, "I often ponder why human self-perception is so marvelous. What a person believes themselves to be, they become."

"Did you know? Not all consciousness is like this. For example, in the minds of some animals, and even in infancy, the concept of 'I' doesn't actually exist."

"And those like them won't develop mental illness. In a way, mental illness can be considered a 'higher-level' condition."

"What exactly are you trying to say? You're jumping all over the place, Dr. Wang. If you can't handle it, go on vacation. Don't treat patients until you drive yourself mad."

"Correction." Wang Wei continuously paced around Li Huowang's bed.

"It's not 'mad,' it's 'mentally ill.' However, doctors have many occupational illnesses, and neurasthenia is one of them, so strictly speaking, you're not wrong."

Li Huowang couldn't be bothered to respond and closed his eyes again.

"Li Huowang, based on my analysis of your previous recordings, it seems you gained an ability over there—an ability to displace yourself?"

"Do you know? This aligns very well with the symptoms of schizophrenia."

"You're already quite ill. You can't afford to get even sicker."

"It's fine if you ignore me; I'll still get paid anyway. But your mother will surely be very sad. After all, she paid a hefty sum to hire me."

"I forgot to tell you, this is a private hospital. The fees are very expensive, and because it's private, health insurance reimbursement is very limited."

"Do you really want to stay here for the rest of your life? Have you considered what a huge burden this will place on your family?"

"As the saying goes, 'A long illness saps filial piety from a son,' and it's the same for a mother. You're still so stubborn, always refusing to cooperate with treatment."

"Then, whether it's your girlfriend or your mother, they will eventually leave you. I've seen this kind of thing many times."

"Your ultimate fate will likely be to be sent to a cheap hospital and locked away. You'll never be able to leave, growing old in solitude."