Chapter 1084: Doctor Xu
Miss Ma sat down again in front of Xu Huo, looking slightly weary. "Ask whatever you want to know. If I know it, I'll tell you."
Xu Huo once again took out his notebook and pen. Same room, same table, still the same questions from last time, only adding how she had felt physically over the past few days, such as whether her sleep had been good after taking the medication.
Miss Ma grew impatient with the questioning, then said coldly, "I don't believe you can keep me trapped here forever. The longer this goes on, the more likely Mr. Kang will discover it!"
Xu Huo sighed, regretfully closing his notebook. "Unfortunately, your evaluation results still haven't reached the level for discharge. We'll meet again next time."
Seeing that he really was about to leave, Miss Ma quickly said, "Next time? When is next time!"
"Seven days from now." Xu Huo checked his work schedule. "Next Tuesday."
Miss Ma suddenly turned to look at the calendar by the bedside. On it were marks she had scratched with her fingernails, from one to seven. Seven days had already passed!
Her expression became dazed again. Although she had been unconscious for much of the time, her periods of wakefulness were actually not short. She could clearly feel the passage of time. Though it hadn't been a full seven days as marked on the calendar, it hadn't been short either. Why? Why hadn't anyone discovered that Sun Jing was dead and that she had disappeared?
"This isn't right!" She stood up abruptly, panicked for a moment before pointing at Xu Huo. "It's you! You've been affecting my perception of time! How long has it actually been?"
Xu Huo sidestepped her, casually opened the door to leave, then called for "Zheng Da." He said to him, "Her condition is fluctuating rapidly. Don't reduce her dosage for now. If her next evaluation still shows no improvement, transfer her to Dean Kang's care."
Hearing the words "Dean Kang," Zheng Da's expression turned strange, but he still agreed readily, then added, "Zeng Shangping was just called away by the dean."
"He was supposed to be my next evaluation subject... never mind," Xu Huo said. "Switch to Cao Zheng instead."
"Doctor Xu" and "Zheng Da" both left, heading to the room diagonally across from Miss Ma's.
Miss Ma pressed herself against the crack in the door, straining to hear the faint sounds coming from that room. She caught snippets like "hallucinations," "disrupted," and "affected." However, when Doctor Xu came out again, he had a slight smile on his face. "Number 27 is good. There's improvement."
Zheng Da chimed in, "Yeah, before, he'd pick up a broom or a pen and claim it was some kind of item. When he went crazy, he'd even hit himself."
Doctor Xu left to see the next patient, while Zheng Da instructed Nurse Qian Zi to increase Miss Ma's medication.
Watching the doctors, nurses, and patients coming and going outside the window, Miss Ma felt her resolve waver for the first time. She turned around, pulled open her hospital gown, and fiercely scratched a bloody mark on her shoulder, then pulled the gown back up. She returned to the bedside and sat down. Two seconds later, feeling it wasn't secure enough, she lifted the mattress and made a new mark underneath.
Xu Huo was right across from her. He waited until she finished making her mark before turning and heading to another room.
This was an instance dungeon. He couldn't open another instance within an instance, so he could only use his spiritual power to influence the players upstairs.
Not everyone could be influenced, so he only selected three rooms.
The first room was Sun Jing and Miss Ma. The second room was Cao Zheng and Qian Zi. The third room was Zeng Shangping.
Among these five people, aside from Sun Jing and Miss Ma, the other three were cannibal players, C-rank. Their player levels weren't high, and they clearly seemed like characters who valued power above all else.
To be cautious, Xu Huo didn't incorporate more people. Instead, he created illusions for these individuals. The death of Sun Jing and Qian Zi acting as a nurse that Miss Ma saw were all just illusions. However, after learning from Zeng Shangping that Xiaohe City indeed experienced strange disappearances of personnel every time a newcomer arrived, he conveniently took care of Sun Jing.
As for Qian Zi and the other two, they were just like Miss Ma, trapped in the "psychiatric hospital."
From the earlier conversation between Sun Jing and Miss Ma, it wasn't hard to glean three pieces of information:
First, there was another place for holding people behind this building, most likely for holding women.
Second, the women here were all forced to bear children, but none of the children ever grew up.
Third, Mr. Kang, and possibly most of the players here, were cannibal players.
Sun Jing probably knew more than Miss Ma. Miss Ma, however, was fixated on her dead child and had begun to suspect Mr. Kang. From this perspective, it was more likely that these players were keeping people as a food source.
Seen this way, imprisoning women and forcing them to give birth wasn't surprising at all.
Among Sun Jing's belongings, only a hand-drawn map was of value. It had five marked points, two of which were relatively close together, while the other three were more scattered. The former were in the northwest, the latter in the east. This could be the location of the "Oasis."
Besides this, there was also a filter maintenance logbook, which detailed every repair made to the instrument. Several entries mentioned parts needed. The time span was long, but several parts were repeatedly repaired without being replaced with new ones.
Xu Huo's gaze paused on the maintenance log for a moment before he opened Zeng Shangping's room. A few minutes later, when he came out again, Zeng Shangping followed. However, he didn't stay on this floor and went downstairs instead.
People both upstairs and downstairs were keeping an eye on the outside activity, ensuring that Zeng Shangping was seen going downstairs. Xu Huo returned to Miss Ma's room, glanced at the person staring blankly at the already healed wound on her shoulder, and sat back down at the desk. "How are you feeling today?"
Miss Ma looked at him, visibly haggard.
"What exactly do you want?"
Xu Huo took a photo from his notebook. "Do you still recognize this child?"
Miss Ma's body lunged forward abruptly, but she quickly composed herself. "Where did you get this photo?"
"From your personal luggage." Xu Huo pointed to the cabinet beside him and asked, "Do you remember how the child died?"
Miss Ma's teeth chattered. "Died of illness..."
"Is that so?" Xu Huo made a note. "Do you remember the time you spent with your child?"
Miss Ma's expression hardened. "No, I don't."
Xu Huo sighed. "Miss Ma, avoidance isn't the way to solve the problem. Did your child really die of illness?"
"You once suffered from postpartum depression."
Miss Ma stared at him as he continued, "Having thoughts of harming your child during the illness is something I, as a doctor, can understand. The truth is painful, but you need to learn to accept it."
"Are you saying I killed my own child?!" Miss Ma stood up abruptly. "You're lying!"
Xu Huo adjusted his glasses and said with a smile, "If it wasn't you, then who was it?"
A new month has begun. It's been so hot lately~