Starting with dissecting ghost stories

Chapter 184 Body Alienation (4K)

What exactly is wrong with my body?

Shen Xing wasn't quite sure.

The bicycle had been completely crushed into a pile of scrap metal by the truck, making it impossible for him to ride it. He could only walk home in the pouring rain.

Fortunately, there was nothing wrong with the phone.

As he walked, Shen Xing felt a strange sensation originating from within his body, a sensation that even affected his gait.

Fortunately, the torrential rain may have caught the attention of some people who noticed this "strange person" walking in the downpour, but they couldn't recognize who he was.

Shen Xing returned home, took off his soaking wet clothes in the master bathroom, and looked at himself in the mirror.

He still had a rather thin physique. He had tried to eat more, but no matter how much he ate, he could not gain weight. His physique seemed to have always been somewhat different from that of ordinary people.

However, Shen Xing's current concern is not about his figure, but rather the strange feeling he had when he was walking earlier.

He reached out and touched his chest, pressing gently.

Shen Xing's fingers, through the soft skin, touched something hard underneath... but that thing wasn't a rib; Shen Xing could easily pry it apart with his fingers.

Like muscles protecting the heart?

After pressing on several different areas, Shen Xing felt several sharp, slightly painful bumps inside the skin, confirming some of his suspicions.

That's right... his ribs are basically all broken.

The original ribs have lost their function and have become scattered bone fragments inside the body.

What maintains the original function of the ribs is a whole piece of muscle connected together.

A normal person, after being run over by a large vehicle, would have their ribs shattered. Whether they would survive is uncertain, but it is certain that they would never be as "lively and energetic" as Shen Xing is now.

If something is wrong, it's inside your own body.

This discovery did not alarm Shen Xing. He simply took a shower and, while moving his body, felt the strange sensation of stretching every muscle.

After wiping the moisture off his body, Shen Xing had a general understanding of his own body.

I felt no restriction in my movements, except for the pain caused by the ribs embedded in my chest cavity when I turned my body, there were no wounds.

As for internal bleeding... that was completely outside Shen Xing's considerations.

Because he saw it all for himself: the dark red blood vessels crawling out of his body licking up all the blood beneath him.

magic..

Shen Xing found a utility knife, disinfected it briefly with alcohol, then extended his left hand and gently cut his left index finger with the knife.

There was no blood seepage.

Moreover, his wound healed itself, and within just a few seconds, it had completely disappeared.

Shen Xing put down the knife. He reached out in disbelief and tried to pry open the part he had just cut with his fingers, but he failed.

The spot that was cut by the utility knife has now healed completely, with no scabs or scars, as if the cut had never been made at all.

This, in any case, can be considered an unusual event, right?

Why did I only discover the abnormality in my body today?

If this is a special ability that one's body has always possessed, then one or those around them would probably have already noticed it, not to mention the numerous physical examinations they've undergone since childhood.

Should I tell Lu Lingyun? Should I go to the hospital myself? Or should I try to solve it myself?

Shen Xing did not sense any danger to his life.

This is definitely a supernatural ability... If I possessed such an ability, wouldn't that mean that some, or even most, of these urban legends are true?

My sister messaged me today about that strange story at school, and it really deserves investigation.

Because those strange tales had already started circulating when he was still working in the school clinic.

Anning Mental Health Rehabilitation Center.

It's called a rehabilitation center, but it's actually the only mental hospital in the small town. It's just given a nicer name, since the words "mental hospital" are too offensive and would be embarrassing for the families.

Third floor, closed ward for women.

The corridor floor was yellowish terrazzo, waxed, and reflected the light from the overhead fluorescent tubes.

The air was filled with the mixed smell of 84 disinfectant and expired bed sheets. It wasn't unpleasant, but after smelling it for a while, it made you feel like your nasal cavity was being disinfected as well.

Wu Xiaoting sat on the edge of the hospital bed, her feet dangling over the edge, her toes not touching the floor, swaying back and forth.

She was wearing a loose, light blue hospital gown, with the cuffs extending beyond her fingers. The transparent film from the IV catheter was stuck to the back of her right hand; the IV line had been removed, but the film remained stuck on.

Her gaze fell on the round wall clock on the opposite wall.

The second hand ticked away, making an extremely faint "tick-tock" sound.

The sound was exceptionally clear in the quiet ward. Wu Xiaoting stared at the second hand, counting down the seconds.

Hanging bell.

Wu Xiaoting reached out and touched her neck.

My fingertips touched a rough ring of bumps... it was a suture.

The black surgical sutures started behind the left ear, circled most of the neck, and extended to above the right collarbone.

She remembered how the sutures came about.

Her head was ripped off.

Under a scarlet sky, in the image of a clock hanging in a wooden house rising into the sky, her head is torn directly from her torso by some force from her cervical spine.

Then, the world restarted.

When she woke up, her head was already back on her neck.

Wu Xiaoting still remembers the expression on her mother's face when she saw the stitches.

It wasn't shock, it wasn't fear, but... exhaustion.

The weariness of "Here we go again, just like I expected."

Her mother took her to the hospital, and the doctors couldn't explain how the sutures appeared. But for a girl with a history of mental illness, the doctors gave a very reasonable explanation: self-harm.

Wu Xiaoting had no way to refute it.

Whenever she tries to explain the truth, recounting her memories of the red sky, the flying cabin, and the ripped skull, everyone around her looks at her with the same unanimous gaze.

She was all too familiar with the way people looked at her.

It's like watching a patient who is destined to never get better.

So she was sent here.

My mother signed the consent form when she was admitted to the hospital. Her hand was shaking, but she still signed it.

She didn't resent her mother.

If it were me, seeing my daughter suddenly with a ring of stitches around her neck, crying and saying the world had turned red and that human heads were flying in the sky... I might also sign the hospital admission consent form.

There were twelve people in the ward.

There was an auntie who smiled at the window every day, a young woman who washed her hands until they peeled, and a girl about her age who squatted in the corner all day scraping the wall with her fingernails. They were all patients.

Wu Xiaoting was the only one who was sober.

But the more lucid he is, the more it seems like his condition is "serious".

It was as if they had made up their minds about something.

Wu Xiaoting jumped off the bed.

She slipped on her slippers and walked out of the ward. The corridor was empty; most of the patients were either in the activity room or resting.

The nurse stood at the corner at the end of the corridor, while two nurses on duty were filling out forms with their heads down.

Instead of heading towards the nurses' station, Wu Xiaoting walked towards the public restroom at the other end of the corridor.

The toilet had no door, only a half-wall partition that reached chest height.

Wu Xiaoting walked into the innermost cubicle, turned around to make sure no one was following her, and squatted down.

She took something out of her hospital gown pocket.

It is a one-yuan coin.

She needed to use the dollar she had to make a phone call at the coin slot of the public telephone at the end of the corridor.

Wu Xiaoting held the coin, squatting in the cubicle, her heart pounding.

You only get one chance. Each coin-operated phone costs one dollar and allows for three minutes of talk time; the call will automatically disconnect after that.

She had to explain everything within three minutes.

The question is... who should I call?

Wu Xiaoting was somewhat confused.

The only person who is certain that he remembers himself is perhaps Shen Yuan.

Wu Xiaoting had memorized Shen Yuan's phone number.

In a world that hasn't been restarted yet, after the two became friends, Wu Xiaoting actively remembered one of the few strings of numbers she could remember.

Her memory isn't great, but there are some things you can remember without a good memory.

Wu Xiaoting waited until 2:55.

The nurses would be changing shifts at this time. I learned this from the murmurs of another "patient". She didn't want to spend the night in the mental hospital. If she could, she would leave today, so she was willing to take the risk.

She stood up, walked out of the restroom, her steps neither fast nor slow, the soles of her slippers making a soft rubbing sound on the terrazzo floor.

As she passed the nurses' station, she didn't speed up, as that would have attracted attention.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that both nurses had their heads down, and a list of medications and a handover book were spread out on the table.

It's over.

Wu Xiaoting continued walking forward, until she reached the corner at the very end of the corridor, near the stairwell.

A gray-white coin-operated telephone hangs on the wall, and the wall next to the telephone is covered with various numbers and graffiti written in marker, most of which are now blurred.

She picked up the receiver, pressed the cold plastic shell against her ear, and heard a low buzzing standby sound.

Wu Xiaoting inserted a one-yuan coin into the coin slot.

"bite."

The sound of the coin falling echoed in the empty stairwell, and Wu Xiaoting's heart suddenly raced.

She started dialing numbers. Her fingers paused on the keys for half a second, not because she had forgotten the numbers, but because her hands were shaking.

That's all.

"beep"

Please answer the phone...please...answer the phone...

Class time... Yes, it's class time now, so the phone is definitely on silent...

"beep"

"Hello, the user you dialed is temporarily unavailable."

'

Wu Xiaoting bit her lip, hung up the phone, and picked it up again.

With two minutes and twenty seconds of call time remaining on the screen, she dialed again. *Beep*

"Feed?"

Wu Xiaoting almost dropped the receiver.

Although she spoke very softly, she could tell that it was Shen Yuan on the other end.

"Xiao Yuan, it's me." Wu Xiaoting gripped the receiver tightly.

"Xiaoting? What's wrong?"

'

"Listen to me, I've been locked up in a mental hospital, Anning, do you know where I am?"

"I know you were... but..."

'

"Don't say anything, listen to me, I only have two minutes." Wu Xiaoting's back was pressed against the wall, her gaze fixed on the corridor. "Xiaoyuan, do you remember me? Do you remember what happened before? The red sky?"

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone.

"What red sky?"

Can not remember.

Wu Xiaoting's heart sank.

"It's okay, you don't need to worry about it. You have to come and rescue me, Xiaoyuan. They say I'm self-harming, but you know I wouldn't, right? Let's work together to come up with a plan to escape..."

""

The sound of slippers slapping against the floor came from the other end of the corridor. Wu Xiaoting turned her head and saw a nurse walking from the direction of the nurses' station, carrying a plastic medicine cup in her hand.

There's not enough time.

"Xiao Yuan, please help me... I need your help. Anning Mental Rehabilitation Center, third floor..."

""

"Hey? Why are you making a phone call here?" A nurse's voice came from the corridor, her footsteps quickening.

Wu Xiaoting slammed the receiver back onto the phone; the nurse had already seen it.

"Wu Xiaoting, you can't just make calls to the ward. Who did you call?" The nurse stepped forward. "I didn't call anyone... I dialed the wrong number."

Wu Xiaoting lowered her head and put her hands behind her back.

"Let's go back to the ward first."

The nurse led her back, and halfway there, she picked up the walkie-talkie clipped to her waist.

Wu Xiaoting didn't hear the content clearly, but she could guess what it was.

Making phone calls without authorization in a closed ward is a violation of regulations.

As expected, she was not taken back to her original ward.

The nurse led her through the activity room, down another corridor, and stopped in front of an iron door labeled "Isolation Observation Room".

Solitary confinement.

When the door opened, Wu Xiaoting glanced inside. It was about four square meters, with a soft plastic mattress fixed to the wall. There were no windows, and an incandescent light bulb embedded in the ceiling, its shade covered with dead flying insects.

"Wait here for a bit, we'll talk when the doctor arrives," the nurse said, standing outside the door.

Wu Xiaoting didn't struggle and went inside.

The iron gate behind me closed, and the latch clicked open.

Wu Xiaoting stood in the middle of the solitary confinement cell, looking up at the dead flying insects on the ceiling light fixture.

She reached up and touched the stitches on her neck.

At least... the call went through. At least Shen Yuan heard it.

She did everything she could.

Wu Xiaoting sat on the soft mattress, hugged her knees to her chest, and rested her forehead on her knees.

She wasn't afraid of dark rooms; she had been to places a hundred times more terrifying than this in her dreams.

She was afraid of something else.

Shen Yuan no longer remembers anything that happened before. Where is her sister, Lu Wenyin?

If they don't remember... is there anyone in the world who knows she was telling the truth?

Yucai Middle School.

Shen Yuan put her phone back in her school uniform pocket.

Wu Xiaoting's call was abruptly cut off, the last few words almost swallowed up, but "Anning" and "third floor" were clearly heard.

Anning Mental Health Rehabilitation Center.

When Shen Yuan heard that Wu Xiaoting had been sent to a mental hospital in the morning, she thought it was just a common mental problem.

But his logic on the phone was clear, and he didn't seem to have suddenly fallen ill.

On the podium, the Chinese teacher is reading the text aloud.

Shen Yuan sat in her seat, holding a pen in her right hand, with the pen tip hovering one centimeter above the workbook.

A red sky?

Wu Xiaoting asked on the phone if I remembered the red sky.

Doesn't she remember what this is that she absolutely has to remember? Has she ever seen it before?

The sunsets did look quite red for a few days... but they probably have nothing to do with what Wu Xiaoting was talking about, right?

"Shen Yuan?"

"ah"

Shen Yuan snapped out of her daze; her Chinese teacher was standing in front of her desk.

"I'm asking you, what is the central idea of ​​the third paragraph?"

"Uh...yes..."

'

Shen Yuan looked down at her textbook and realized she didn't know which page she had turned to.

"Sit down, and be more careful next time."

The teacher glanced at her left hand, which was in a splint, and turned back to the podium.

Shen Yuan sat down again, her mind completely elsewhere.

Ask your older brother after school... he'll definitely have a solution.