Chapter 648: Discharge from Hospital

The commotion at Kangning Hospital quickly died down. Qian Fu was imprisoned, and for a while afterward, Li Huo never found needles in his food again. This implicitly proved that he was the one who had put the needles in the food.

Eating, taking medicine, watching TV, attending mutual aid groups, participating in talk therapy, getting fresh air, and sleeping – these were almost the only activities available in the psychiatric hospital. Two months passed in the blink of an eye. Apart from a little boredom, everything was normal. During this time, both his mother and Yang Na visited him. They were very happy to learn that he had not experienced another episode.

One morning, Li Huo sat in his ward, quietly waiting for his cup of instant noodles to soften. A psychiatric hospital certainly wouldn't provide instant beef noodles in a cup; he had simply mentioned it during Yang Na's last visit. On her second visit, she brought him an entire box.

Just as Li Huo waited three minutes and was about to lift the lid, a familiar face appeared at the doorway. "Yi Donglai, you're finally here."

"I have a lot on my plate. I'm just your former attending physician, not your personal nanny."

"Besides, my junior colleague Wu and I are in regular contact, so I'm always updated on your condition."

"It looks like you're recovering quite well," Yi Donglai said, sitting on the bed and watching Li Huo eat his instant noodles with a folding fork.

"It's alright. It's been three months, and I've pretty much adapted to everything," Li Huo said, taking a sip of soup.

"On the phone earlier, you sounded quite urgent. Are you not feeling that way anymore?"

Hearing this, Li Huo swallowed his noodles, thought seriously for a moment, and said with some hesitation, "How should I put it? As time goes by, those memories are blurring. Now I'm a bit unsure whether they were my delusions or things that actually happened." Things he clearly remembered doing hadn't happened in the real world. It seemed the only possibility was that the problem lay with him. Yet, Li Huo knew he wasn't sick at all.

Hearing this, Yi Donglai nodded approvingly. "And since you started taking the new medication, has that situation reappeared?"

"No," Li Huo replied, continuing to eat his noodles. Given that it had only happened once, Li Huo decided to observe further. If the situation never reappeared, he wouldn't pursue it, and would simply consider it a bizarre dream.

Just then, Wu Cheng entered from outside. He leaned in and whispered something to Yi Donglai, and the two then walked out together to talk in detail. They spoke outside for a full half hour and made several phone calls during that time.

When Yi Donglai re-entered the ward, he held a tablet. "Here, Huowang, please answer these questions."

"Questions?" Li Huo took the tablet and saw the multiple-choice questions displayed on it.

"I always insist others act according to my ideas and often become furious when they go against my will."

"I'm always uneasy about letting others handle tasks and prefer to do them myself."

"I am often troubled by thoughts that enter my mind for no reason."

Reading the questions, Li Huo looked up at Yi Donglai, his voice tinged with excitement. "Is this the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, or SCL-90? Does testing me with this mean that if all the scales come back normal, I can be discharged?"

Yi Donglai looked at Li Huo with some surprise. "You certainly know a lot about this. Go ahead and do it; this is just the first test."

Hearing this, Li Huo mustered all his energy and began completing the questions. His fingers even trembled slightly; he was finally going to be discharged! Li Huo completed the test very seriously. Next came various other examinations, including being hooked up to machines to observe for any abnormal electrical activity in his brain.

After all the procedures, they instructed Li Huo to return to his ward and wait. This waiting period was exceptionally agonizing. Li Huo finally understood what it meant for a day to feel like a year.

Finally, when Wu Cheng entered and unlocked the handcuffs on his wrists, Li Huo was so overwhelmed with excitement that he nearly cried. He was truly going to be discharged. However, as soon as the handcuffs were removed, something resembling a black electronic watch was simultaneously locked onto Li Huo's left ankle.

"What is this?" Li Huo asked, his newfound joy dimming somewhat.

"Considering the trouble you caused before, electronic monitoring for a year is getting off easy."

"So this thing will constantly monitor my location?"

"It's not just monitoring; it's a restriction. This device is constantly online. Once you're out, you cannot go within 500 meters of any school—whether it's a kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, or high school."

"If you stay in the vicinity for just five seconds, it will immediately alert the nearest authority. At that point, even a doctor's confirmation that you're not ill won't suffice," Yi Donglai explained the device's restrictions to Li Huo. "And don't even think about removing it. It will alert authorities if it's damaged or if it stops detecting your pulse."

"Once you're home, don't wander. Strictly speaking, you're not completely free yet; you'll need two months of home treatment to stabilize your condition."

Hearing this, Li Huo nodded knowingly. It seemed his previous actions had indeed been extreme. Even after being discharged, he still faced various restrictions. But as long as he could leave as a normal person, additional restrictions didn't matter. At least he was getting out.

"Li Huo, remember to take your medication on time after you're discharged. Don't stop taking your medicine, no matter what else you stop. Let's go; your parents are waiting for you at the lobby entrance."

"Yang Na didn't come?"

"Typically, for patient discharge, we only notify immediate family. Hurry, they're already here."

Accompanied by Yi Donglai and Wu Cheng, Li Huo removed his blue and white striped hospital gown and changed into casual clothes. When Li Huo appeared before Sun Xiaoqin in his casual clothes for the first time, she burst into tears of joy. Li Jiancheng, standing nearby and holding some items, appeared to be trying hard to control himself, but his trembling hands betrayed his true emotions. Seeing a tearful Sun Xiaoqin turn and about to kneel before Yi Donglai, several people quickly stopped her.

"Sister Sun, please don't get emotional. Please get up, this is just my job."

After a flurry of activity, Li Huo finally exited the hospital. The moment he stepped out of the hospital, Li Huo looked up at the white clouds in the sky. He had never felt that the clouds were so beautiful, or the air so fresh.