Fear of food

Chapter 4: Mentally Ill Patients Have Spirit (Please Read On!)

"really……"

Upon hearing the female voice coming from outside the ward, Chen Qi's eyes narrowed.

A similar scene played out again, convincing him that this was no coincidence.

On August 29th, he found an orange in the hospital corridor and hid in the stairwell to eat it. He had just eaten half of it when the patrolling security guard arrived.

On August 30th, he found a piece of candy and put it in his mouth. A short while later, Nurse Xiaoru found him. He had no choice but to bite the candy into pieces and swallow it directly.

On August 31st, he was lucky enough to find a small cookie and a sausage. He hid under the covers to eat them, and had just finished the cookie and taken a bite of the sausage when Dr. Zhao pulled back the covers…

Every day after that was the same, no matter where he hid, whether in the hallway, under the covers, in the closet, or under the bed.

Regardless of when he chooses to do it, whether it's during the day, at night, or in the early morning.

Whenever he steals a bite, someone comes looking for him like a cat smelling fish.

This time it was even more outrageous. He had just taken a bite of his rice ball in the bathroom of an empty hospital room when someone knocked on the door.

Chen Qi remained calm and composed, chewing the food in his mouth.

With two locks blocking the way, and the rice ball being small enough to be finished in two bites, he had plenty of time to eat.

The triangular rice ball is wrapped in seaweed and filled with ham, egg, and pork floss, offering a rich texture and delicious flavor.

Whether it was a misperception caused by extreme hunger or not, Chen Qi felt that these wild foods were more delicious than the ones he had eaten before he fell ill.

He chewed his food thoroughly, allowing its delicious flavors to fully unfold in his mouth, which brought him complete satisfaction.

At this moment, the knocking on the door became more urgent, accompanied by shouts: "Bring the key to room 832!"

A moment later, the sound of a key turning could be heard, followed by the sound of the ward door being pushed open.

"Who's in the toilet?!"

Bang bang bang!
As the toilet doorknob was turned, a loud knocking sound followed.

However, the toilet door is different from the ward door; once locked from the inside, it cannot be opened with a key from the outside.

At this moment, Chen Qi had already swallowed the rice ball in his mouth and stuffed the remaining half rice ball into his mouth in one bite.

He chewed quickly, tore the plastic wrapper into a ball and threw it into the toilet, then pressed the flush button and watched the wrapper being flushed down the toilet drain.

"If you don't come out now, we're going to break down the door!"

A deep male voice came from outside; the security guards must have arrived.

"That's really fast." Chen Qi chewed a few more times and swallowed the half rice ball in his mouth.

He then turned on the sink tap, washed his hands, rinsed his mouth, and made sure there was no food residue in his mouth before calmly opening the toilet door.

He looked out the door and saw two security guards already in a charging stance. If he had opened the door a few seconds later, the two men would have already crashed into it.

"What are you doing?" Chen Qi asked calmly.

Besides two security guards, there were four nurses outside the door. One of them, who looked the oldest, had a furrowed brow and snapped:
"Why are you asking us? What are you doing in there? Why did you lock the door? Why won't you open it?"

"I was just taking a walk here and suddenly needed to use the restroom," Chen Qi said, shrugging. "Did you all have to make such a fuss?"

"It's you again, you little rascal! Were you sneaking some food in the toilet?"

The two security guards recognized Chen Qi at a glance. Recently, Chen Qi had become a well-known figure in their security team and was already a legendary figure.

Chen Qi said helplessly, "What can you possibly eat in the toilet?"

The two security guards' expressions changed. They ran into the restroom, checked it over, and then made Chen Qi open his mouth, shining a flashlight into it.

After finding nothing, they notified the nurses on the fourth floor to come up and retrieve the person.

A short while later, Chen Qi was led by Nurse Xiaoru, who had caught up with him, and took the elevator back to the fourth floor.

This forced them to stop foraging.

Along the way, Nurse Xiaoru repeatedly confirmed, "You really didn't eat anything weird?"

"Really not."

"Then why are you running around like that?"

"I just went for a walk."

“You’re so weak, you need to tell me in advance before you go for a walk so I can accompany you.”

Chen Qi thought for a moment and said, "Then come with me to walk around the hospital tomorrow morning."

Nurse Xiaoru hesitated for a moment before nodding and saying, "Okay, then I'll have to wait until I'm done with my work this morning."
-
After eating the whole rice ball, Chen Qi felt much better and his physical fatigue dissipated.

Wild foods seemed to have richer nutrients and were absorbed faster than the normal foods he was used to.

His life can be sustained by eating a serving of wild food every day, along with intravenous nutrition.

But eating only one serving of wild food a day was not enough for his body to recover from its weakness.

Chen Qi lay in his hospital bed, summarizing based on his memories.

"The moment wild food enters your mouth, it's like being marked in a game; someone nearby will immediately come to stop you."

"To call this a coincidence would be too much of a coincidence. But to say it wasn't a coincidence, it seems the people who came didn't know I was secretly eating."

"In addition, they acted too hastily."

Take what just happened as an example. He ate a rice ball in less than three minutes.

As a result, the nurse brought the key and opened the ward door. The security guard had also arrived and was preparing to break down the door.

It's hard to believe all of this happened in three minutes; the nurses and security guards were overreacting.

Chen Qi was unable to provide a reasonable explanation for this phenomenon.

He is currently focusing on his physical recovery.

"If I simply possess wild food, as long as I don't eat it, I won't attract medical personnel."

"So if you don't want your foraging process to be interrupted, you should stock up on more wild food and eat it all at once."

"But the more wild food there is, the more time it takes to eat, and I need to find a safe enough place to make sure I can eat in peace."

"But such places are not easy to find..."

Chen Qi glanced at the time and gave up on going out to find food.

A short while later, Nurse Xiaoru entered the ward and took away the phone. She then took Chen Qi through a series of physical examinations and sent him back to the ward.

Chen Qi lay on the hospital bed, forcing himself to fall asleep.

Aside from the afternoon when you're on your phone, evening is also a great time to find something to eat.

He planned to go to bed early to conserve his energy before going out to find food in the evening.

To recover as soon as possible, he must increase the frequency of foraging, seize every opportunity to hunt for food, and stockpile more wild food.

Chen Qi slept soundly until nearly 2 a.m., feeling refreshed but slightly weak.

At this time, the nurses on night duty have already made their rounds. There are far fewer security guards and nurses on night duty than during the day, and most patients are asleep.

Therefore, it is very convenient to take action and the chance of being discovered is relatively small.

Chen Qi sat up, suddenly felt something, looked to the side, and was immediately startled.

He saw that the patient in the next bed was staring at him with wide eyes!
The two looked at each other, neither speaking. The ward was unusually quiet, with only the sound of the air conditioner blowing out.

Chen Qi was held captive for a full three or four seconds before he could turn his head.

He only knew that the patient in the next bed was named Sun Xuechao and was in his early thirties; he knew nothing else about him.

Sun Xuechao spoke very little, or rather, almost never spoke, and never had any interaction with Chen Qi.

He spends all day either spacing out or counting his hairs with both hands, which fits Chen Qi's stereotype of mental patients.

Chen Qi was fairly satisfied with his roommate, because the other person was quiet enough and didn't cause any trouble, so he could be completely ignored.

His mind raced, and he quickly made a decision: he got up, put on his shoes, and walked out of the ward.

He was unwilling to give up such a good opportunity to forage, and Sun Xuechao didn't seem like the type to tattle.

This was the first time Chen Qi had ever gone out for food late at night.

Foraging for food at night isn't all good. First, visibility is worse than during the day, and second, you have to give up searching in occupied hospital rooms.

Chen Qi was afraid of scaring someone into their hospital room in the middle of the night.

This severely limits the search area to the stairwells, corridors on each floor, and some confirmed unoccupied wards.

……

Two hours later...

Chen Qi dragged his tired body back to the door of ward 408, but his eyes were shining.

He pushed open the door and tiptoed inside.

When he turned his head, he was met with Sun Xuechao's eyes, which were as big as cow eggs.

Chen Qi was startled.

This guy is still awake!
I haven't seen him sleep during the day either.

No wonder he's a mental patient, he's got real energy!
Ignoring Sun Xuechao's gaze, Chen Qi lay down on his bed, turned his back to Sun Xuechao, and took out the items hidden in his clothes one by one.

When searching for food tonight, Chen Qi abandoned his usual practice of searching floors one through eight and took the elevator directly to the ninth floor. He started searching from the ninth floor and continued all the way to the top floor, the fifteenth floor.

They also searched several empty wards on the ninth and tenth floors.

Perhaps because the floors above the ninth floor were all new maps he had never explored before, he reaped quite a good harvest.

Two hours of foraging, not counting the time he spent resting along the way, and the fact that he often had to grope in the dark, meant that his actual search efficiency was not high.

But in the end, they found a total of three wild foods.

A large white steamed bun, a head of lettuce, and a braised duck neck.

He stuffed all three food items into the pillowcase, so there was no outward sign of anything unusual.

"I wonder if storing food like this will cause it to spoil."

It's early September now, and the temperature is still very high. Normal food left under your pillow will definitely spoil in two or three days.

But wild food is considered spoiled by others, and Chen Qi wasn't sure if it could spoil further.

In the past, he would eat any wild food he found on the same day, never keeping it overnight, so he had no experience in this area.

"We can continue searching for food tomorrow night. If we can find three or four more kinds of food, we can consider eating them all at once."

"Xiaoru promised to take me for a walk this morning to see if there's a chance to get my hands on a jianbing guozi..."

Chen Qi couldn't sleep either, his mind was racing, and soon it was dawn.

However, Nurse Xiaoru was so busy today that she didn't have a moment to rest. Chen Qi saw her running around all morning without taking a break.

Chen Qi could only wait until she had some free time before bringing up the idea of ​​going for a walk.

Who knew that this wait would last until after 11 a.m.

"You promised to take me for a walk!"

"Don't worry, I haven't forgotten. Now come down with me."

"Now?"

"Yes, I'm going to the cafeteria for lunch. Will you come with me?"

"No, who goes for a walk in the cafeteria?" Chen Qi protested.

For him, there were few places in the world more terrifying than the cafeteria.

"It doesn't matter where you go for a walk, just go to the cafeteria more often, it might even whet your appetite."

Seeing Chen Qi's pained expression, Xiao Ru had no choice but to add, "After we finish eating, I'll take you for a walk around the hospital."

"Okay, let's go."

The two took the elevator down to the first floor and saw people coming and going outside, including many medical staff wearing white coats, forming a white wave that surged toward the cafeteria.

Chen Qi and his companion also crossed the internal road to reach the hospital cafeteria.

It's lunchtime now, and the cafeteria is bustling with people, mostly medical staff, patients, and their families who have come here to eat.

"Let's go, let's go to the second floor."

The second floor is the staff canteen, which is only open to medical staff. Chen Qi was pulled up to the second floor by Xiao Ru, and what he saw was a hellish scene.

Medical staff in white coats sat around tables, eating a variety of different foods.

"The stir-fried pork liver with soy sauce was especially tender today!"

A young nurse picked up a clump of tender, pink organs, so fresh they were still dripping blood. The surface of the organs was covered with densely packed bumps, like tiny eyes blinking incessantly…

"The knife-cut noodles are also good, really chewy!"

The male doctor sitting opposite her scooped up several long tapeworms from the blood-red noodle soup and put them in his mouth.

As he bit off the tapeworm, the remaining half struggled and writhed violently on the chopsticks in his hand, splattering blood and pus everywhere.

Chen Qi glanced over and saw that the "food" on everyone's plates was more and more outrageous and indescribable than the last.

"Do you want some? It's on me," Xiaoru asked, picking up her plate.

Chen Qi's face turned pale, and he shook his head.

Xiaoru knew about Chen Qi's situation and only asked politely, but still dragged Chen Qi to go get food with her.

Upon arriving at the food serving area, a strong stench of decay mixed with the smell of blood assaulted Chen Qi's senses, causing his stomach to churn.

Brain tofu, cold worm salad, stir-fried tentacles with scallions, human offal soup...

Chen Qi quickly turned his head and saw a figure in a white coat with a ponytail operating the microwave in the corner.

Ding!
The microwave oven made a soft beep and stopped working.

The man turned on the microwave, took out a browned, dry bread, sat down at a corner table, and quietly ate the bread.

Chen Qi finally saw her face. She was a girl who looked even younger than him, with a tall figure, a clean face, and delicate features. She was very beautiful.

However, Chen Qi ignored all of that; all he saw was the dry bread in the girl's hand.

He actually saw someone eating normal food!
Among the group of people eating raw meat and drinking blood in the canteen, a girl quietly munching on bread stood out in Chen Qi's eyes like a crane among chickens.

(End of this chapter)