Fear of food

Chapter 16 The Consequences of Eating Strange Food

The mess in the ward, Chen Qi's tattered hospital gown, the scratches on his back, and the bloodstains on his face all proved that he had just been violently attacked.

But Dr. Zhao ignored him and immediately tried to control the victim.

Chen Qi naturally couldn't just sit and wait to die; he could imagine what would happen after he was taken into custody.

He broke free of his arms, took a step back, and distanced himself from the two security guards.

The two security guards followed closely behind, and one of them lunged forward and grabbed Chen Qi.

Another person took out a rope from his pocket, intending to tie Chen Qi up.

Clearly, they came prepared.

Seeing this, Sun Xuechao, who was standing nearby, got up to help, but Dr. Zhao blocked his way.

Sun Xuechao looked conflicted, but ultimately didn't dare to lay a hand on Dr. Zhao and could only stand by and watch.

Chen Qi wasn't too flustered facing two opponents. He had recovered and was no longer the weakling who could be easily subdued by security guards.

Chen Qi suddenly exerted his strength, broke free from the security guard's restraints, grabbed the rope in the other security guard's hand, and pulled hard.

The security guard gripped the rope tightly, unwilling to let go. He lost his balance and was dragged forward, falling heavily to the ground.

Another security guard took the opportunity to attack from behind, grabbing Chen Qi from behind and locking him in place with his hands.

Chen Qi's arms were locked and he couldn't move. He saw the security guard who had fallen get up and rush over with the rope. In desperation, he squatted down slightly and then suddenly burst forward.

The security guard who was holding Chen Qi felt a tremendous force pulling him, and he felt dizzy and uncontrollably flew up!

boom!
His body arced through the air before crashing heavily onto the tiles of the hospital room.

Chen Qi executed a beautiful over-the-shoulder throw!
That fall was quite hard. These security guards are not young, mostly in their forties or fifties. They may have strength in their arms, but their bones and muscles are definitely not as strong as those of younger people.

The security guard lay on the ground, grimacing, and didn't get up for a long time.

The other security guard with the rope was also frightened and stood still, not daring to step forward.

Not to mention them, even Chen Qi himself was stunned.

"It feels like after eating a jianbing guozi, my body has not only returned to its peak condition, but I'm also more energetic than before!"

Dr. Zhao maintained a calm expression throughout, showing no change in demeanor despite witnessing this scene. He simply addressed the security guard holding the rope:

"Call your captain and have him bring some men over."

Chen Qi's expression changed slightly. He had only become a little stronger; he wasn't a superman.

He would undoubtedly be subdued by the security team.

Just then, a clear voice came from the doorway:

"Chen Qi, are you alright?"

Xu An'an stood at the door of the ward, holding up her phone and recording a video.

After the crowd in the corridor dispersed, she rushed to Chen Qi's ward as soon as possible.

As a result, he happened to witness Chen Qi's battle with the security guards.

Seeing that Dr. Zhao was about to call more security guards, Xu An'an hesitated for a moment, then took off her name tag and stepped forward.

"It's alright," Chen Qi said with a smile.

Physically, he is in better shape than ever before.

But judging from the situation, it's not looking good.

However, seeing the phone that Xu An'an was holding up, Chen Qi knew that he had temporarily passed this hurdle.

Dr. Zhao glanced at Xu An'an's phone, then lingered on Xu An'an's white coat for two seconds before finally looking away.

The security guard standing nearby asked in a low voice, "Director Zhao, should we make another call?"

Dr. Zhao waved his hand and said to Chen Qi, "It's one thing for you to refuse to cooperate with treatment, but you also injured a security guard and vandalized the ward. You have a serious tendency towards violence and have seriously threatened the safety of others. I have to transfer you to a closed ward."

Chen Qi's heart skipped a beat.

Being in a closed ward is really no different from being in prison.

Chen Qi didn't bother with futile arguments, but simply asked, "Dr. Zhao, what exactly do you want to do?"

Dr. Zhao said calmly, "I am a doctor, and you are my patient. Of course, I want to cure you."

“I said from the very beginning that as long as you can prove that you can eat normally, you can be discharged from the hospital at any time, and that statement still stands.”

"If you can't do that, then cooperate with us to insert a feeding tube and eat with the help of the feeding tube. You can then be discharged and go home."

“I learned today that you have been eating spoiled food again. For your health, I had no choice but to put you on forced nutritional support. Then you injured a security guard. You left me with no other option.”

"For your own safety and the safety of others, I have no choice but to put you in a closed ward."

It was obvious that Dr. Zhao said so much in one breath because Xu An'an was recording a video, as if he wanted to exonerate himself.

In short, what he was saying boiled down to one point: to make Chen Qi eat strange food!

If you don't eat by yourself, I'll force you to eat through a feeding tube.

If you don't cooperate with the insertion of the nasogastric tube, I will send you to a closed ward.

Once you're in a closed ward, you'll be helpless and have no say in anything!

The security guard lying on the ground groaned as he sat up, pointed at Chen Qi, and scolded:

"Young people don't know their own strength. You'll end up in jail even if you don't end up in a closed ward!"

Before Chen Qi could speak, Xu An'an said, "I filmed the whole thing. You guys were the ones who started it."

"We were...we were helping him get medical treatment!" the security guard argued stubbornly.

"Is it necessary to tie someone up with ropes to treat an illness?"

"That's all for safety..."

"He's just an anorexic patient. The fact that he can stay in an open ward means he poses no threat to those around him. Unless you can prove he's a danger to society, what right do you have to restrict his personal freedom?"

"This, this..." The security guard was speechless.

Xu An'an, not one to back down, then targeted Dr. Zhao: "Their security guards don't understand, and you, as a doctor, don't you know either?"

Dr. Zhao calmly stated, "As his attending physician, I have the right and obligation to adjust the treatment plan promptly based on the patient's condition."

Xu An'an wasn't easily fooled and retorted, "Does this include forcibly transferring patients to closed wards? What about the written documentation? Are the procedures compliant? Have the family members signed off on it?"

Dr. Zhao gave Xu An'an a deep look, said nothing more, and left the ward directly.

Seeing this, the two security guards quickly followed.

In the blink of an eye, only Chen Qi, Xu An'an, and Sun Xuechao remained in the ward.

"Thank you," Chen Qi said sincerely to Xu An'an.

As expected, in the end, it wasn't his closest family members who helped him, but a stranger he had only known for a few days.

He wasn't even considered a friend to Xu An'an and Sun Xuechao before. He had only met Xu An'an yesterday, and he hadn't spoken to Sun Xuechao for over a week while they were in the same room.

However, after today, Chen Qi felt that they were friends.

Xu An'an said with a straight face, "Don't overthink it, I'm just here to ask you for money."

"You want money?" Chen Qi asked, puzzled. "You owe me two yuan. You're not trying to renege on your debt, are you?" Xu An'an's tone became tense.

Chen Qi then remembered that he hadn't paid for the dried bread from this morning. He had promised to transfer the money to Xu An'an when he got his phone in the afternoon, but he had forgotten.

"I'll transfer it to you right now."

Chen Qi opened his phone and discovered that he had recently received a payment request from Xu An'an for 2 yuan.

The time was right after he replied to Xu An'an's previous message.

"So after confirming that I was still alive, her first thought was to ask me for money?"

Chen Qi initially thought that Xu An'an's "wanting money" was just a haughty excuse, but he didn't expect that she really cared.

He immediately paid two yuan and saw that Xu An'an's expression visibly relaxed.

Chen Qi seemed to realize something and asked, "You stood up for me today, won't you run into trouble later?"

Although Xu An'an had deliberately removed her name tag, she was still an intern at the hospital, so it wouldn't have been difficult for Dr. Zhao to find out her identity.

Xu An'an said indifferently, "This is not the same as helping you bring rotten food. I didn't do anything wrong, so what reason does he have to deal with me? Even if it goes to the school, I'm still in the right."

Chen Qi nodded, then looked at Sun Xuechao: "Brother Sun, you..."

Sun Xuechao had remained silent, his eyes now revealing a hint of hesitation and struggle. Finally, he made up his mind and said in a hoarse voice:

“I’ve seen that before.”

Chen Qi and Xu An'an exchanged a glance and asked in a low voice, "You mean...food?"

Sun Xuechao nodded.

"You could see it before, does that mean you can't see it now?" Chen Qi pressed.

Sun Xuechao sighed, his eyes blank, and after a long while, he slowly said:
"After I ate those disgusting things for the first time, I suddenly found that my 'hallucination' disappeared and the food returned to normal."

Chen Qi's heart skipped a beat... After eating the strange food, he could no longer see anything unusual about it?

Dr. Zhao must know this too!
That's why he kept inducing and even forcing me to eat strange foods. As long as I ate a little bit, in other people's eyes, my illness was indeed cured.

Chen Qi discovered that the core of all the conflicts was the strange food.

Dr. Zhao, along with most others including his parents, wanted him to eat the strange food.

Momo warned him not to eat strange foods, and he himself has been adhering to this advice.

Sun Xuechao, on the other hand, gradually faded from being Chen Qi's "kind" into the crowd after eating strange food.

So what exactly is the nature of these bizarre foods?

The answer to this question can only be found by Chen Qi himself.

Understanding Sun Xuechao's past experiences might bring him closer to the answer.

Chen Qi and Sun Xuechao then had a brief but in-depth conversation.

He then discovered that Sun Xuechao's situation was different from his and Xu An'an's.

Sun Xuechao lacks the ability to find wild food, and he also lacks Xu An'an's ability to make bread.

For him, there was no source of food at all, and if he refused to eat the strange food, he would have to starve.

This is also the biggest reason why he ultimately chose to eat the strange food.

"If the price of persisting is starvation, then compromise should be considered a kind of relief," Chen Qi remarked.

He asked himself honestly, without wild food, he wouldn't have survived until today.

Upon hearing this, Sun Xuechao looked up at Chen Qi, his eyes filled with complex emotions, and said, "At first, I thought so too. I thought I was cured, but everything changed after you were admitted to the hospital..."

Sun Xuechao had always thought he was sick, but when he saw Chen Qi, who had similar symptoms to his, he suddenly became suspicious.

So he began to observe Chen Qi.

He often wondered what would have happened if he hadn't eaten the strange food.

Chen Qi seemed to be the answer to this question. Sun Xuechao initially regarded Chen Qi as another version of himself in another "if" scenario, observing him silently without communicating or interfering.

But gradually, he discovered some abnormalities in himself.

Sun Xuechao clenched his fists: "Every time you sneak into eating those rotten foods near me, an uncontrollable urge surges within me, and I want to stop you!"

"As time went on, this impulse became more and more intense and harder to suppress... especially today! I was trying my best to restrain myself and almost turned against it."

Chen Qi's arrival not only made him realize that there was something wrong with him, but also made him see the abnormalities in the people around him.

Their unusual behavior, their excessive food-guarding...

But everyone else ignored these abnormalities, only he, a mental patient, could see that something was wrong.

This gave him a sense of absurd unreality and deep despair.

Because he could clearly feel that he was also changing into them, and that it wouldn't be long before he would become a member of the food protection team.

This feeling of being stuck in a quagmire, knowing that you will sink deeper and deeper, yet being unable to struggle to save yourself, is driving him crazy.

He also increasingly regretted his initial decision.

Perhaps if he persists a little longer, things might turn around?

Why didn't he persist like Chen Qi?
Sun Xuechao said, "You don't need to thank me. I helped you just because I didn't want to be controlled by that strange impulse in my body. I just wanted to prove that I am still me."

Chen Qi said earnestly, "No matter what, Brother Sun, you really helped me. Please feel free to ask if there's anything I can do to help."

Sun Xuechao shook his head: "You'd better stay away from me. I can feel my self-control gradually weakening, and it's becoming increasingly difficult to suppress that impulse, so..."

Sun Xuechao looked directly into Chen Qi's eyes: "Don't trust me too much. Who knows, one day I might become an obstacle for you!"

Chen Qi saw a hint of despair in Sun Xuechao's eyes.

Compared to others who were completely controlled without any resistance, Sun Xuechao's conscious struggle was even more painful.

However, as someone with a similar experience, Chen Qi could fully understand Sun Xuechao's final compromise.

Driven by the need to survive, and under constant pressure from family, doctors, and other surrounding environments, it's quite normal for them to eventually lose their sense of self and choose to try bizarre foods.

Compared to Sun Xuechao, he was lucky. He not only discovered the existence of wild food, but also found kindred spirits like Xu An'an and Momo.

Chen Qi didn't know what to say either; he wanted to offer some words of comfort but couldn't bring himself to say them.

As for saying things like "things will definitely get better," he doesn't even believe it himself.

In return for his kindness, he wanted to help Sun Xuechao, but he didn't know how to help, as he himself was barely able to take care of himself.

Chen Qi lowered his head in thought, then suddenly had a flash of inspiration and said to Xu An'an, "What do you think would happen if Brother Sun ate the bread you made, or my wild food?"

Dried bread is more like Xu An'an's exclusive delicacy; Chen Qi simply can't stomach it.

But it seems that no one else has tried his wild food.

If his wild food were given to Xu An'an or Sun Xuechao, would it also have that unscientific restorative effect?

Could... even the abnormality in Sun Xuechao's body be cured?

Xu An'an shrugged and said, "You can try it. Don't you have my bread?"

(End of this chapter)