Wang Xiaodian soon found that small card on his own desk.
Pinkish white, easily mistaken for something else if not for the clear, bold line of text.
【Warm Companionship, Caring Along the Way. The Psychiatric Hospital Welcomes You!】
You may judge your own condition based on the following. If necessary, contact us and come to our hospital for treatment (Tel: 919).
1. Memory confusion; the patient may be unable to distinguish between past, present, and future;
2. The “ta” [T/N: he/she/it] originating from the patient’s memory or imagination may frequently appear. “Ta” has no physical form and cannot be touched;
3. As the patient’s condition worsens, “ta” may communicate with others and be touchable;
4. The patient may often believe they are “ta” and feel genuine happiness as more people become “ta”;
5. If a patient does not wish to trouble us or others, they may also kill themselves. We will come to collect your remains (if any);
6. The psychiatric hospital exists to alleviate and treat patients’ conditions; you can absolutely trust us.
Wang Xiaodian: “…”
Wang Xiaodian had many question marks.
Xu Xiye and Wang Xiaodian were separated by an aisle but in the same row. Seeing that his Shifu wasn’t in the mood to work and was slacking off, Wang Xiaodian leaned over and said, “Shifu, look at this.”
Xu Xiye glanced at it and said proudly, “That’s right, I made these cards.”
Wang Xiaodian’s voice caught in his throat. He paused before saying, “…Um, doesn’t item 5 seem a bit off?”
Even anomalies would think someone telling them to kill themselves had a problem, right?
Xu Xiye didn’t seem to think so. He sighed, “Alas, going crazy, having a mental illness—it’s always somewhat disgraceful. Some people don’t want to trouble others, or they care about their privacy, so killing themselves is more convenient.”
If others had to find the vital point—why, he knew some people whose heads fell off or hearts were dug out still hopped around lively. Dealing with that was troublesome.
Wang Xiaodian tried to find his displaced reason. “…Then is the psychiatric hospital’s treatment method just to kill all the patients?”
Xu Xiye disagreed. “How could you have such a dangerous idea? The hospital exists to restore patients’ health, not to kill people. If it really comes to that, it’s a last resort.”
“Actually, many people won’t admit they’re sick, and don’t think they are. Those who kill themselves to preserve face and privacy are very few.”
Xu Xiye had never actually met a crazy person. Many things he’d only heard about, or might have seen without recognizing. This illness isn’t easy to identify until the late stages.
He thought for a moment and continued, “I think Little Li’s condition isn’t too serious yet. If sent now, he might still be saved. Honestly, you outsiders get infected so easily. You’re too emotionally affected.”
Truly, knowing there was a crazy person lurking in the company, Xu Xiye was worried but not that worried. Locals weren’t that easily infected, but these outsiders…
Xu Xiye shook his head.
Wang Xiaodian had already been shaken several times. He said with difficulty, “Shifu… you’ve mentioned this psychiatric hospital many times, and you even handed out their promotional cards. Could it be…” He tried to follow the anomaly’s logic and tested, “Shifu, did you take money from them?”
“Nonsense!” Xu Xiye was both embarrassed and angry at being found out. “I just know their director and helped out a little.”
Although the director did say he’d give him a head fee.
Wang Xiaodian: “…”
Xu Xiye: “Alright, during work hours, work properly. How’s the product copy? Send it to me.”
Wang Xiaodian: “Oh oh oh.”
He quickly found the file on his computer and sent it over.
Their phones couldn’t connect to the internet here, no signal, but the Inner World had its own electronic devices. Aside from being less advanced than the outside world, they weren’t much different to use.
At this thought, Wang Xiaodian couldn’t help but wonder why he didn’t buy a phone in the Inner World.
Oh, he had no money.
And every time he used things from the Inner World, his mind got especially tired easily. Things from the Inner World shouldn’t be used too much, and things from here shouldn’t be consumed too much. That was probably why Jiang Wuning and the others hadn’t mentioned using these things for communication.
In a contaminated zone where Sanity Value could drop at any time, using these things only made things worse.
Wang Xiaodian was lost in these scattered thoughts. Over on the other side, Xu Xiye’s brows were furrowing more and more as he read.
“Wang Xiaodian.”
“Eh, Shifu, I’m here.”
“What do you think this is that you wrote?”
Their company’s latest product was a hot pot base—The Most Delicious Hot Pot Base. But what had Wang Xiaodian written?
Something like slow-simmered, endless aftertaste, fresh and fragrant, you can even drink the broth… Xu Xiye lost patience after a few glances. “Little Wang, I know you wanted to use these words to describe deliciousness, but this won’t do. It’s not outstanding and not appealing.”
Wang Xiaodian: “?”
He had actually written it quite seriously—imagining the flavor and soup color based on the ingredients, then carefully describing them with words, aiming to make customers salivate just from the description. Wouldn’t their product sell out then?
Unexpectedly, it didn’t pass.
Xu Xiye: “Take a look at the product name, and before writing, what did I tell you that our Delicious Food Company values most?”
Wang Xiaodian recalled: “…Tasty and food?”
Xu Xiye nodded. “Take it back and rewrite. My fault for not showing you examples of other products earlier.”
Then Wang Xiaodian saw large amounts of text composed of “delicious” and “food,” massive repetition and cross-repetition, and sometimes four characters randomly rearranged. It made him dizzy and mentally dazed.
Wang Xiaodian hurriedly pulled his eyes away from the screen and slumped over the desk, gasping.
Xu Xiye consoled, “I know this is difficult for newcomers. How many ‘delicious’ and ‘food’ correspond to which product, and where to place them, are all things to consider. How about this: next time I’ll take you to a hot pot restaurant. That restaurant actually uses our hot pot base and has always had good business. Once you taste it, you might get it.”
Wang Xiaodian nodded weakly. Eating out was impossible.
Xu Xiye: “If you really can’t write, start on the marketing plan first.”
Wang Xiaodian nodded again.
Xu Xiye was satisfied. Now Little Wang definitely wouldn’t pester him about his side gig. Although the company didn’t explicitly forbid it, it wouldn’t be good if the leaders found out.
Now he needed to figure out how to earn that head fee.
Little Li wasn’t willing to go, and he couldn’t just tie him up and take him. Locals were easier to talk to. Finding other crazy people in the company was the best solution.
He scanned the office. Colleagues were either slacking or working, appearing normal.
Work isn’t like school. People certainly moved around the office, and some went to other departments. Xu Xiye picked up a file and pretended to walk through each work area. Sure enough, he heard some discussions about madness.
“I suspect I’ve gone crazy.”
The other respondent was calm: “Really? Which item do you match?”
“It’s item 1, memory confusion. I remember finishing all that work, but today I see it still needs doing.”
“I’m item 4. Yesterday I ordered chicken feet in the cafeteria. As I ate, I suddenly felt that everything in front of me was chicken feet. I only realized after I’d eaten the tray and my own hand,” she sighed. “I was truly happy that so many things became chicken feet.”
“The cafeteria doesn’t allow eating the utensils, right.”
“It’s fine, just pay some compensation.”
The other colleague fell silent, looking a bit sour.
Xu Xiye also felt sour. You’re saying you’re sick? You’re just showing off that you have money.
Xu Xiye couldn’t glean anything and slumped back to his seat.
He tapped on the partition to call Brother Zhang. Brother Zhang was honest and straightforward, and their relationship was the best; he wouldn’t blab about his affairs.
He quietly explained the situation and asked, “Brother Zhang, what do you suggest?”
Brother Zhang was a bit dazed from work. Face to face, it took several seconds for him to react. “Hard to find. We’re not professionals.”
Xu Xiye felt troubled. “The director’s side can’t spare anyone.”
Brother Zhang thought for a moment and said, “The outsiders are more sensitive. The ‘ta’ they see might give clues. Once it can talk, we can ask.”
Xu Xiye was thinking the same. He looked up at the ceiling fan. In his eyes, the fan was just a fan, nothing hanging below. Little Li wasn’t looking, so he couldn’t see.
If only he could borrow Little Li’s eyes for his own use.
Xu Xiye stared at Little Li’s back, momentarily not knowing what to do.
These past few days, Xu Xiye had been eating with Brother Zhang and those outsiders. At first, he wasn’t too keen. He just wanted to bring his own disciple.
Later, he discovered that Little Li and the other two, Lu Neng and Li Qing, barely talked and had little presence. Jiang Wuning made him feel close, so he didn’t mind anymore.
Outsiders loved prying into colleagues’ gossip, especially bizarre gossip. Today they brought up the pregnant woman.
Xu Xiye was speechless.
He and Brother Zhang had nothing to say on the matter, but Sharp Head leaned in again, mysteriously saying, “I know a bit about the pregnant woman.”
“Oh?” His apprentice played along.
Sharp Head: “Rumor has it that a pregnant woman died in the restroom on the fourth floor.”
At this, several outsiders’ eyes lit up. Wang Xiaodian said, “Fourth floor? Isn’t our office on the fourth floor?”
“Correct,” Sharp Head said. “It was a dark and windy night, with rain and thunder outside. The woman planned to use the restroom and wait for the rain to ease before leaving.”
“Maybe she’d squatted too long and her foot went numb, or she stepped on some water. She slipped and fell, and that fall was disastrous. Soon a large pool of blood spread beneath her.”
“She wanted to call for help, but her phone was in her bag and she hadn’t brought it. She could only shout loudly. But who was around? Everyone else had long gone. Even if someone was still there, with the rain and thunder so loud outside, who could hear?”
“The woman could only try to crawl out for help. One hand clutched her belly, the other crawled forward, crawl, crawl, leaving a trail of bright red blood on the floor. When she reached the washbasin, she propped herself up and stood. In front of the basin was a mirror. The moment her gaze met the mirror, she never moved again.”
“What do you mean?”
“She died. The woman collapsed over the washbasin and died. Not from blood loss, but scared to death by her own reflection. Some say she saw something else in the mirror and was scared to death.”
Everyone felt chills, but Sharp Head wasn’t finished. “Later, on rainy nights, some people going to the restroom encountered strange things. You know, the restrooms on our floor, both men’s and women’s, each have four stalls. You can tell at a glance whether a stall is occupied.”
“When they entered, it was clearly empty. But as soon as the door closed, knock knock knock knock, someone knocked on the door.”
“Knock knock knock knock. They’d entered and seen no one, and didn’t hear any footsteps of anyone coming in. So who was knocking?” Sharp Head leaned in, his dark eyes looking especially eerie. “Help me, help me, help my child! A woman’s voice came from outside the door. She was knocking and pleading for help.”
Wang Xiaodian was stared at by Sharp Head’s eyes and suddenly shuddered. For a moment, he felt as if that “help me” was really a woman’s voice.
Wang Xiaodian couldn’t say a word. Jiang Wuning, though still smiling, had a heavy tone. “Who was that woman?”
Sharp Head: “Heh, how would I know? It was a long time ago. I only heard it. Everyone says the knocking woman is the same one who died in the restroom.”
A moment of silence. The outsiders all looked grim and chilled, but the local anomalies Xu Xiye and Brother Zhang were unperturbed.
Brother Zhang: “Impossible. There are no ghosts in this world.”
Xu Xiye: “Mm, mm, maybe they just walk softly. Some people like walking on tiptoe; not hearing footsteps is normal. If you can help, give them a hand.”
Sharp Head: “That makes sense. But supposedly, the person who encountered it was in the men’s restroom.”
“Men’s restroom?” Xu Xiye was a bit surprised. “Although it’s not good for a woman to enter the men’s room, the women’s room was empty and the men’s room is closest to the women’s. Crawling over to ask for help couldn’t be helped.”
He added with concern, “Poor thing. Did she get saved in the end?”
