# 122
Chapter 122
The Second Patient
Asylum of the Gods.
In the clean, sunlit yard, Nyx wore a black gauze dress and sat on a white rocking-chair that swayed gently in the breeze. Eyes closed, she looked utterly content.
“Grandma, time for your medicine.” Li Yifei, dressed in a green orderly’s uniform, approached softly with a tray.
“All right.”
Nyx nodded obediently, took the pills from Li Yifei, and swallowed them one by one.
“Xiaofei.”
“Yes, Grandma?”
“Tell me… when will that boy Thanatos give me another grandchild? Then you’d have a little brother, and the place would be livelier.”
“……”
“Xiaofei, why aren’t you answering?”
“Grandma, your son can’t find a wife.”
“Don’t speak of your father like that.” Nyx shot him a glare, full of elder dignity. “Thanatos may be cold, but he’s very handsome.”
“…You’re absolutely right.”
As Li Yifei rolled his eyes and humored her, Lin Qiye in a white coat strolled over unhurriedly.
“Thanatos, you’ve come to see me?”
Nyx’s face lit up when she saw him.
“Mother.” Lin Qiye smiled as he stepped forward. “How have you been feeling lately?”
“Wonderful, wonderful!”
He glanced at the treatment bar above her head—still 78 %. Ever since helping her past 51 % half a year ago, progress had slowed to a crawl; it hadn’t moved in almost a month.
So medication has hit its limit… he thought.
If he was right, pushing Nyx’s therapy further would take more than this tiny asylum. Her illness was of the heart; a real cure would need outside help.
Unfortunately, he’d spent the last six months in the training camp. After last time’s incident, he didn’t dare let Nyx wander out again. Further progress would have to wait until graduation.
“Mother, rest for now. I still have things to do.”
After chatting a while, Lin Qiye gave Li Yifei a look and the two headed toward the ward building.
Li Yifei asked in surprise, “Why here? None of these doors open.”
“That was before.” Lin Qiye adjusted his plain glasses. “Now that I’ve broken through spiritually, maybe I can open the next door.”
“Next door? What’s inside?”
They reached the floor with the six rooms. Lin Qiye stopped at the second and looked up at the plaque—neither pen nor staff—then spoke slowly:
“Perhaps… this asylum is about to welcome its second patient.”
Li Yifei’s eyes bulged. “Another grandma for me!?”
“…Not necessarily. Who knows what we’ll get.” Lin Qiye shook his head.
“Director… extra patient means extra pay, right?”
“No.”
Li Yifei sighed, accepted his fate, and stepped back, clearing the doorway.
Lin Qiye drew a deep breath, placed his hand on the handle.
If he was right, each door matched a realm: “Lamp,” “Pool,” “River,” “Sea,” “Boundless,” “Klein.”
Having entered the “Pool” realm, his mental power might now break the seal on the second door.
Behind the first had been a melancholy goddess of night. What awaited behind the second?
With that question, he pulled—
Click!
A crisp mechanism rang; the runic seals dissolved and the door swung inward…
Exactly as he’d guessed!
The six doors corresponded to the six realms. He now qualified to release the second patient.
The old hinges groaned. Lin Qiye peered into the gloom; Li Yifei craned his neck to see what sort of “grandma” he’d gained this time.
In the dim room sat a young man in a deep-blue robe, head slightly tilted, abyss-deep eyes fixed on Lin Qiye like a statue untouched for eons.
An utterly ordinary Western face—yet those eyes burned themselves into Lin Qiye’s memory.
When Nyx’s door had opened, her gaze had been dull and lost; this man…
His showed no cloudiness, only unfathomable wisdom and calm.
“You’ve come,” the robed man said quietly, voice a little hoarse.
Lin Qiye raised an eyebrow. “You knew I was coming?”
“I did.” A slight nod.
Not at all like Nyx’s situation… Lin Qiye noted, then looked toward the back wall.
Lines of text had appeared:
“
Ward Two.
Patient: Merlin
Objective: Help Merlin recover. At 1 %, 50 %, 100 % progress, randomly obtain a portion of his abilities.
Current progress: 0 %
”
Lin Qiye read, then turned back to the robed man, gaze complicated.
Merlin… the legendary mage of English myth?
He knew little of those tales; after a century of lost continents and engulfing fog, few books or scholars remained. Had “Mage Merlin” not been so famous, he might never have heard the name.
The wizard who helped King Arthur ascend, forefather of British sorcery—versed in every school of magic, said to foresee the future, mighty and wise.
Yet “Merlin” was less a single man than a fusion of countless legends, a deity born of England’s yearning for the unknown.
A god of magic and wisdom.
Lin Qiye glanced again at the plaque—now he understood the staff-like symbol.
First room: Greek myth.
Second room: English myth.
Could the six wards represent six different pantheons?
If so… might one hold the myths of Great Xia?