Fear of food

Chapter 1 Delicious!

The Department of Psychiatry, Affiliated Hospital of Jinghai Medical College.

Inside wardrobe number two in ward 408.

In the cramped, dark space, Chen Qi held a large, bright red apple in his hands and took a deep sniff.

The refreshing fruity aroma instantly ignited his suppressed appetite, and he couldn't wait to open his mouth and bite off a large piece of fruit.

As he chewed quickly, the apple juice filled his mouth, and the sweet taste brought him immense satisfaction.

He swallowed the half-chewed fruit whole, then took a second bite, a third bite...

Just then, footsteps sounded outside.

Chen Qi quickly sped up his eating...

"Where is the patient in bed number two?"

The footsteps suddenly quickened.

As Chen Qi chewed on the apple in his mouth, he peered through the crack in the wardrobe door to observe the situation outside. Just then, he saw a girl in a nurse's uniform rush into the ward's bathroom.

Just two seconds later, the nurse came out of the restroom, looked around, and finally her gaze fell on the wardrobe where Chen Qi was hiding.

Footsteps drew closer quickly, and Chen Qi took another big bite of the apple.

The wardrobe door opened, and Chen Qi turned his head, his gaze meeting that of the nurse. A few drops of apple juice slid from the corner of his mouth.

"Hey!"

The nurse suddenly covered her mouth and began to gag.

He then screamed in alarm, "Security! Ouch...security!"

Two middle-aged men dressed as security guards rushed into the ward.

"Quick, pull him out, ugh!" The nurse turned and rushed into the toilet.

The two security guards glanced at Chen Qi, their expressions changing slightly, and one of them even gagged.

Chen Qi was used to this, and simply turned his back to protect the half-eaten apple in his hand.

Severe malnutrition had made him very thin. Two security guards grabbed one of his arms from behind and easily dragged him out of the closet.

Chen Qi remained silent, but took the opportunity to take another bite of the apple.

A security guard reached out to snatch the apple from Chen Qi's hand, but hesitated and showed a hint of disgust on his face.

Finally, he gritted his teeth, snatched the apple, and immediately threw it aside.

She even secretly wiped her hands with Chen Qi's hospital gown.

Just then, the nurse who had vomited in the toilet returned, screaming, "Quickly pry open his mouth, don't let him swallow!"

One security guard immediately grabbed Chen Qi's chin, while another guard held Chen Qi's head in place, forcibly prying open his mouth.

The nurse reached out to remove the food residue from Chen Qi's mouth, but hesitated for a moment before taking a glove from the side and putting it on.

But in that short time, Chen Qi had already forced himself to swallow the apple he had been chewing.

He calmly asked, "Can you let me go now?"

The two security guards looked up at the nurse and asked for her opinion.

The nurse took out her phone, recorded a video of the apple on the ground, and took a few photos of Chen Qi's mouth before saying, "Security guard, let him go."

Two security guards pulled Chen Qi up from the ground and prepared to leave.

The nurse stopped them and said, "You two keep an eye on him. I'll go ask Dr. Zhao if we should arrange for him to have his stomach pumped."

Chen Qi frowned: "There's no need for stomach lavage, I don't feel unwell anywhere."

The nurse glared at her and said, "Now you're scared? Why didn't you just listen to me? If you had cooperated with the treatment, none of this would have happened!"

Just then, a middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses and a white coat walked in. He had a refined appearance and a strong scholarly air about him.

"Xiaoru, what's going on? I heard your voice outside." The middle-aged man's tone was gentle but carried an inexplicable air of authority.

"Dr. Zhao," Nurse Xiaoru said shyly, lowering her head and pointing to the half apple on the ground, "The patient in bed number two has been sneaking food again. I was just about to ask you if you want to give him a stomach pump."

Dr. Zhao met Chen Qi's gaze and asked, "Do you feel any discomfort?"

Chen Qi shook his head.

Dr. Zhao gestured for the two security guards to leave and said to Nurse Xiaoru, "If the patient has no symptoms, there's no need to schedule gastric lavage for now. Clean the ward first... By the way, did you take the photos?"

Xiaoru waved her phone: "It's already filmed, and I even recorded a video."

"Hmm." Dr. Zhao nodded slightly. "These videos and photos are important treatment materials, remember to save them carefully."

Xiaoru responded, then held her phone screen up to Chen Qi's face and said, "Look! This is what you just ate. Don't you find it disgusting?"

Chen Qi's gaze was fixed on the phone screen. The video showed an apple that was only half full, severely rotten, and the flesh was black.

Plump, white maggots were crawling on the surface of the rotten apple.

Near the tooth marks on the cross-section of the fruit pulp, there were still many white maggots with only half their bodies remaining. Even though their bodies had been bitten off, they still struggled to writhe, and a thick, pale green liquid kept flowing out of their bodies.

Xiaoru swipes the screen to switch to the next photo.

The photo shows the lower half of Chen Qi's face: a sharply defined jawline, pale and bloodless lips, and a few drops of pale green liquid remaining at the corner of his mouth...

Disgusting?
A month ago, Chen Qi would have felt nauseous, but now...

He stuck out his tongue and licked the remaining liquid from the corner of his mouth.

It's sweet and has an apple flavor.

The nausea that Nurse Xiaoru had just suppressed surged up again. She shook her head, ignored Chen Qi, and picked up a broom and dustpan to clean up the apples on the ground.

After emptying the apples into the trash can, Xiaoru took the still-half-full trash bag out to throw it away, seemingly afraid that Chen Qi would take the apples out of the trash can again.

Only Dr. Zhao, Chen Qi, and the patient in bed number one remained in the ward.

Dr. Zhao stepped forward and patted Chen Qi on the shoulder, saying gently, "Don't do that again next time. Your mother cares about you a lot, so don't make her worry."

Mentioning his mother, Chen Qi's usually expressionless face showed a slight tremor, and he asked in a complicated tone, "Dr. Zhao, when can I be discharged from the hospital?"

Dr. Zhao raised his wrist to look at his watch and said, "Come to the clinic in half an hour. We'll perform a treatment. If the treatment is effective, we can arrange for your discharge soon."

Chen Qi nodded blankly, but he didn't have much hope in his heart.

Conventional treatments did not seem to work for him.

……

Half an hour later, Chen Qi followed Nurse Xiaoru to the examination room next to the nurses' station.

Dr. Zhao was already sitting behind his desk, waiting for him.

Chen Qi sat down in the chair opposite Dr. Zhao, while Xiao Ru pushed open the door and went out.

On Dr. Zhao's desk was a hospitalization medical record, which recorded Chen Qi's basic information and condition.

Name: Chen Qi

Sex: Male
Age: 23 years old

Height: 181cm
Weight: XNUM X kg
Marital status: Single

Admission date: 2024/8/29
Medical history provided by: the patient and his mother

Chief complaint: Refusal to eat for three weeks. Present illness: The patient experienced a sudden loss of appetite three weeks prior to admission, refusing normal food intake and experiencing significant weight loss. After admission, medical staff observed an abnormal craving for rotten or spoiled food. There was no nausea or vomiting during eating, and the patient's subjective perception was disconnected from reality (they claimed to be eating "fresh apples," but actually ingested rotten organic matter). During this period, the patient was repeatedly stopped from stealing spoiled food from the hospital. Conventional feeding and nutritional support treatments were ineffective, and the patient exhibited strong resistance.

Past medical history: Generally in good health with no history of major organic diseases. Denies family history of mental illness.

diagnosis:

1. Severe malnutrition
2. Anorexia nervosa
3. Pica

Treatment plan:

1. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Exposure intervention for distorted food perception

2. Medication regimen: Olanzapine...

Dr. Zhao closed the medical record. As Chen Qi's attending physician, he knew the information in the medical record by heart.

Dr. Zhao scratched his temple and asked, "Chen Qi, you've been at our hospital for a week now. How are you feeling?"

Wanting to be discharged from the hospital as soon as possible, Chen Qi could only say against his will, "I feel much better."

Dr. Zhao smiled and asked, "How did you figure that out?"

Chen Qi said, "Before I came here, I couldn't eat anything, but now I can eat some rotten apples."

Is this considered an improvement?

Dr. Zhao opened his mouth as if to say something, but was momentarily speechless.

If you really have to say, how can you not count it?
However, Dr. Zhao quickly found another breakthrough and asked, "You've realized that you've been eating a rotten apple?"

"Hmm." Chen Qi nodded. "I've already figured it out. It's impossible that everyone's eyes and camera lenses are malfunctioning, so it can only be that I'm the one with the problem."

"It's good that you can view your problem rationally." Dr. Zhao nodded with satisfaction. "I'm very happy that you showed unprecedented enthusiasm and cooperation today, which gives me even more confidence to cure you."

"Next, I will show you some videos and pictures. After you watch them, tell me your most honest feelings."

Chen Qi nodded to indicate that he understood.

Dr. Zhao operated the computer, and soon a video began playing on the large screen on the wall behind him.

It was a compilation of food videos, edited together from the most popular videos of several popular food bloggers. The videos featured a series of big-name influencers with millions or even tens of millions of followers eating all sorts of delicious food.

Hot pot, barbecue, steak, grilled food, all kinds of cuisines...

Coupled with the unique explanations from food bloggers and mouthwatering eating scenes, viewers can almost smell the aromas even from outside the screen.

For Chen Qi, who was constantly hungry, it was extremely attractive, constantly stimulating his saliva production.

Chen Qi swallowed.

Dr. Zhao keenly observed the movement in Chen Qi's throat and smiled, "Does it whet your appetite?"

Chen Qi nodded; it had indeed made him envious.

"Let's look at another set of photos."

Dr. Zhao opened a photo, and the screen showed half an orange covered in bluish-white mold.

"This is the orange you ate on your first day in the hospital. You swallowed half of the orange, peel and all, including the thick layer of mold on the peel."

The images switch, showing in turn a sausage with black mold, a rotten chicken leg, and an apple infested with maggots.

These were spoiled foods that Chen Qi had secretly eaten during his week-long hospital stay.

However, this is not all of it, only the parts that have been discovered.

Even before being hospitalized, he had intermittently stolen some food over the past month.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have survived a month without food and only with intravenous fluids.

"How do you feel when you see all the spoiled food you've been eating over the past week?" Dr. Zhao asked.

“They don’t look like they can eat much,” Chen Qi said honestly.

In fact, he wouldn't eat the food if it looked the same to him as it does in the photos.

Dr. Zhao split his computer screen, with the left screen showing various delicious foods and the right screen showing various spoiled foods.

"Now make a simple choice: if you feel hungry and need to eat, would you choose the left or the right?"

Chen Qi felt that such questions were meaningless, detached from reality, and that making choices solely on a screen did not help his condition at all.

But he still answered, "Left side."

“Very good.” Dr. Zhao suddenly tapped the table.

The door to the clinic behind Chen Qi was then pushed open, and Nurse Xiao Ru walked in with a disposable lunchbox.

She placed the lunchbox on the table and opened the lid.

Dr. Zhao stood up, glanced at the food, and smiled, "Stir-fried pork intestines, braised ribbonfish, chives and bean sprouts, stir-fried winter melon—two meat dishes and two vegetable dishes. The cafeteria food is pretty good today."

He walked to Chen Qi's side and said, "This is my lunch today. After you finish this meal, you can prepare to be discharged from the hospital."

Chen Qi took a deep breath and picked up his chopsticks.

He reached for the braised pork intestines with his chopsticks, but then left them hanging in mid-air.

The "fat intestines" were covered with polyps on the outside and filled with coral-like yellow fat particles inside. Upon closer inspection, it could be seen that the "fat intestines" were also slightly contracting.

Chen Qi moved his chopsticks to the braised ribbonfish.

But in his eyes, it wasn't ribbonfish at all. The purple "fish pieces" were covered on both sides with something like tongue coating, and were constantly secreting thick phlegm-like mucus.

He picked up a piece of "chives and bean sprouts" with his chopsticks.

It was a small tuft of messy hair; "chives" were black, "bean sprouts" were white, and there were also some curly, coarse hairs of unknown origin mixed in.

The hair, which was still lifeless in the lunchbox, came to life the moment it was picked up, wrapping around the chopsticks and tightening rapidly, making it impossible for Chen Qi to separate the two chopsticks.

However, Nurse Xiaoru and Doctor Zhao, who were standing on either side of Chen Qi, seemed to completely ignore this abnormality.

Chen Qi struggled to brush the "chives and bean sprouts" off his chopsticks before looking at the last dish, "stir-fried winter melon".

A lump of sticky snot-like "winter melon" mixed with some blood-like impurities.

He sighed inwardly, gave up on the last dish, and stuck his chopsticks into the rice.

You can eat rice instead of vegetables.

However, upon closer inspection, it was discovered that this was not rice at all!
Each grain of rice is a white insect egg, densely piled together, with wriggling, rice-white maggots occasionally hatching from the eggs.

Chen Qi put down his chopsticks.

He suddenly felt less eager to go home, and realized that the hospital was actually quite nice.

Chen Qi sighed inwardly.

No.

I simply can't eat any more!
In the end, he still couldn't get over his own conscience.

"It seems you're not ready yet."

Dr. Zhao picked up his lunchbox and chopsticks, sat back down in his chair, took a large mouthful of worm eggs, coated them with thick, bloody snot, and put them in his mouth.

"Mmm~" he groaned contentedly as he chewed, "Delicious! The cafeteria auntie's cooking is getting better and better!"

(End of this chapter)