Chapter 18 Delirium

Chapter 18 Delirium

It happened to be a Saturday, but Lin Jianyuan didn’t sleep in. Instead, he got up early, brushed his teeth, washed his face, and headed out without even eating breakfast.

"Working overtime?" His roommate happened to come out of his room as well.

"Going to the hospital," Lin Jianyuan said. "For a check-up."

He had noticed something wrong yesterday at work.

Though work was draining, losing vitality after just an hour in front of the computer was downright absurd.

Since his body was sending out distress signals, of course he had to go to the hospital. So last night, as soon as he got back, Lin Jianyuan booked a comprehensive health check-up.

Roommate: "Want me to come with you? I’m free."

The pink blob floated over to him, leisurely and soft like a fluffy cloud.

Lin Jianyuan thought for a moment: "Sure."

After seeing Pei Shuo’s reaction yesterday, Lin Jianyuan knew he had unnerved his colleagues again by having a public outburst.

Indeed, it was better to have someone with him when he went out, just in case he had an episode on the street and caused trouble.

Lin Jianyuan pocketed the squeeze toy and headed out with his roommate.

Before leaving, he grabbed the trash on his way out.

Skrt—

"So handsome…"

In the operating room, a fully anesthetized patient was wheeled out from the table.

The fluorescent lights in the hallway shone on her dazed face. Her eyes wide open, she stared at the male nurse pushing her bed, her eyes glistening. "Doctor, you’re so handsome. Are you a doctor or a nurse? So handsome. So handsome."

The praised male nurse’s ears turned red. A nearby orderly teased, "That’s right, our Nurse Zhang has a lot of admirers!"

"Your butt is so handsome," the young female patient giggled. "The doctor is handsome too. Your fingers are so handsome. Hehehehe, so many handsome guys. This 10-pull is all SSR (like pulling all top-tier characters in a gacha game)."

Male nurse: "?"

The female patient continued to giggle foolishly. A doctor in green surgical scrubs passing by glanced over and laughed, "She’s talking nonsense after anesthesia. Don’t just stand there, hurry and take her to the recovery room. We have another surgery coming up."

"Okay, okay." The male nurse’s ears turned even redder as he quickly pushed the bed along with the orderly.

In the recovery room, patients lay on every bed.

The anesthesiologist was stationed there, monitoring each patient’s vital signs.

The male nurse handed over the patient to the anesthesiologist and said, "She’s a bit delirious."

The anesthesiologist was unfazed: "It’s fine. Normal."

"So handsome," the female patient said, her eyes shining as she looked at the anesthesiologist and couldn’t stop laughing. "You’re so handsome too. How are you so handsome as well?"

The anesthesiologist couldn’t help but laugh: "I’m a woman."

Female patient: "Women can be handsome too. How is everyone so handsome? This selection is great, I want them all. All of them. Hehehehe."

Just as the male nurse was about to leave, the anesthesiologist called him back to ask a few questions about the surgery.

Male nurse: "Vital signs were stable during the surgery, blood loss was minimal, around 50 ml, but the computer screen went black during the 'Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea' part (a phase of the surgery)."

The anesthesiologist, who had been taking notes, looked up in confusion.

"Huh?"

Male nurse: "The pig curtain is called 'dog.' Our nursing department leaders are all 18th-generation purebred morons. Why do people want to go to heaven? Oh, right, because the nursing department is full of stupid assholes."

Hearing this, the anesthesiologist finally understood and nodded: "Hawthorn water can indeed be used as a AA battery. Performance evaluations are overtime-exempt, and expired stool samples should be evenly applied to the dean’s gastric mucosa."

Male nurse cheerfully replied: "I’m a seal! Milk tea is fatty liver and is 23 years old this year!" He lifted his surgical gown and happily patted his belly.

The anesthesiologist glanced around, confirmed all patients’ vital signs were stable, and said with satisfaction: "Excellent overtime! I don’t bring an umbrella on rainy days because I love working!"

"You all are…" A doctor who hadn’t received any patients yet peeked in curiously, then suddenly understood. "Great! So full of energy! I’ve already paid for parking. After work, shall we go catch some research papers in the sea?"

"...?" The patients gradually waking from anesthesia looked at the medical staff in alarm.

Before long, the patients also started laughing hysterically, excitedly chatting about life.

Outside the hospital.

"Captain Shi! All civilians within 1 km of the contaminated zone have been evacuated!"

"Captain Shi! Public opinion is under control! Currently, it’s being reported as an emergency oxygen pipeline repair! More support is on the way, disguised in fire trucks!"

"Captain Shi! No casualties so far!"

"Captain Shi! The Mark level has been confirmed! It’s S-class—"

"[Delirium]." A masked man coldly waved his hand. "Move in!"

"Yes!" The entire action team followed closely behind, crossing the police line and quickly advancing toward the contaminated zone!

Beep—

"Why is it so congested?" Lin Jianyuan wondered, looking at the stalled vehicles on the road.

The road was completely jammed, and frustrated drivers honked their horns incessantly.

All the cars were heading in the opposite direction of the hospital.

At the intersection, traffic police were directing vehicles. The side leading to the hospital was blocked off with conspicuous barrier tape, prohibiting any traffic.

Maybe there’s a fire? Lin Jianyuan thought, but he didn’t see any fire trucks.

Regardless, the scene was far too unusual.

Lin Jianyuan decisively said: "Forget it. Let’s not go. Let’s leave!"

Roommate: "Heading home?"

Lin Jianyuan glanced at his roommate and instantly understood—today, his roommate was glowing again, clearly having put effort into his appearance.

Though he didn’t know why his roommate would dress up so meticulously just to accompany him to a doctor’s appointment, since he was already shining with handsomeness, he definitely wouldn’t want to go straight back.

Lin Jianyuan thought for a moment, took out his phone, and searched for nearby restaurants on a review app.

"Then let's grab a bite..." Lin Jianyuan realized it wasn't quite lunchtime yet—it was just after nine—so he changed his suggestion, "Or maybe grab a coffee before heading back?"

"Sure," his roommate replied with a smile, his easygoing nature making him seem perpetually calm.

His roommate really was easy to please and never complained.

Lin Jianyuan picked the first café he saw nearby and showed his roommate the location, who simply said, "Okay."

So the two followed the navigation. Lin Jianyuan wasn't very familiar with the area, and with the hospital area being cordoned off, they walked in circles for a long time without finding a way out.

"What's wrong with this GPS? There's clearly no road ahead. Did I miss the turn? That doesn't make sense..." Lin Jianyuan muttered, staring at his phone.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a flash of white and instinctively glanced over.

It was a young man, disheveled, wearing a loose, oversized shirt.

The white shirt was wrinkled, and the black pants underneath were equally crumpled, stained with mud as if he'd just been shoved into a dirt patch.

He had a sickly pallor, was very thin, with empty eyes and a dazed expression. His steps were unsteady, as if he were walking on cotton.

The man stumbled past Lin Jianyuan.

Lin Jianyuan looked up from his phone navigation and suddenly blurted out, "Hey."

His roommate stopped beside him. The man, however, seemed not to hear anything and continued stumbling forward.

His long, pale limbs seemed boneless, lacking any strength.

His head swayed slightly with each step, like a spore-bearing mushroom unable to bear its own weight.

Lin Jianyuan frowned, took two steps forward, and said, "Hey, man, wait up."

Only when a stranger blocked his path did the man stop. His glazed eyes lifted slightly, his gaze unfocused as it settled on Lin Jianyuan's face.

Lin Jianyuan looked at the man's loose shirt—the collar was open, revealing his collarbone.

He hadn't left it open intentionally; the button was missing.

Loose threads stuck out crookedly, like a question mark.

He himself was one big, pale question mark.

Lin Jianyuan said, "Man, are you sick? Do you need help?"

The man didn't answer, just stared blankly at Lin Jianyuan.

"Hey, man?" Lin Jianyuan frowned and waved a hand in front of his eyes, wondering if the guy was blind.

But he wasn't blind.

His silent eyes finally refocused.

The disheveled, pale man looked up at Lin Jianyuan, his lips parting slightly as he uttered a soft, hoarse word:

"Ah."

Lin Jianyuan: "?"

It was a very faint, breathy sound, impossible to decipher any tone from.

Lin Jianyuan, surprised, said, "What? What was that?"

But the man didn't speak again. His face still wore that dazed expression, his lips unconsciously letting out breathy sounds: "Ah, ah..."

Lin Jianyuan frowned deeply, suspicious. "Is he sleepwalking or something...?"

His roommate's guts churned as he asked, "What are you planning to do?"

His tone was intrigued.

Lin Jianyuan looked down at his phone. "I'm calling the police to help him. He's not in a normal state—might have gotten separated from his family."

Lin Jianyuan dialed 110 and was about to look up to check the street signs when he realized the strange man was gone.

He's gone?!

Lin Jianyuan's eyes widened in shock. A female officer's voice came through the phone: "This is the 110 emergency center. What's your situation?"

Stunned, Lin Jianyuan scanned the area, but the street was empty—not a soul in sight, let alone a disheveled man.

He quickly asked his roommate, "Where'd he go?!"

Roommate: "Huh? I don't know."

Lin Jianyuan: "Wasn't he just here?! A full-grown man—you didn't see where he went?!"

Roommate: "I was watching you make the call."

Lin Jianyuan: "………………"

"Hello?" The 110 operator was still asking, "What's going on there?"

Lin Jianyuan was at a loss for words, so he just apologized to the operator.

After hanging up, he stood bewildered, staring at the empty street.

"Was it another hallucination?" Lin Jianyuan was utterly baffled. He pointed to where the man had been standing and asked his roommate, "You saw him, right? There was definitely someone here, wasn't there??"

Roommate: "A person?"

Lin Jianyuan's heart sank, half-expecting his roommate to say, "There was no one there."

That would be a ghost story!

Fortunately, his roommate didn't say that.

Roommate said: "Yeah, there was. But he vanished in the blink of an eye. Weird."

Lin Jianyuan let out a sigh of relief.

Roommate: "Why the sigh of relief?"

His tone was amused.

Looking at his roommate's slightly upturned lips, Lin Jianyuan thought, Who laughs at something so bizarre? You're the weird one here!

That night, Lin Jianyuan saw a local trending topic.

#XX Hospital Oxygen Pipeline Leak#

Lin Jianyuan clicked on it and found it was the hospital he hadn't been able to go to today.

It turned out that the central oxygen supply pipeline of the hospital had leaked, posing an explosion risk, so the police and the fire department had urgently evacuated the crowd.

"These kinds of accidents have been quite frequent lately," Lin Jianyuan leaned in the kitchen doorway, scrolling through his phone as he spoke. "We really need to be careful when going out."

"Yeah," the roommate was stir-frying in the kitchen, the scene lively and chaotic, with intestines flailing about. It was quite a sight.

Lin Jianyuan: "By the way, do you remember the guy we ran into outside the hospital during the day? Did you think he…"

The duodenum coiled around the wok handle as the roommate tossed the wok: "What?" His tone sounded casual.

Lin Jianyuan: "...looked like he’d just finished some crazy orgy. Completely wrecked."

Clang!

The intestines slipped, and the wok crashed onto the stove.

Lin Jianyuan jumped in surprise: "What’s wrong!"

Roommate: "...Nothing, go on."

The duodenum slowly coiled around the wok handle again, the squirming colon contracting rhythmically.

Lin Jianyuan stared suspiciously for a while before realizing—the roommate was holding back laughter so hard his intestines were shaking.

Lin Jianyuan said, exasperated: "What? Doesn’t it seem like it? Look at that drained, kidney-weak look he had."

"That’s kidney deficiency?" The roommate’s tone carried a faint laugh. "I don't know."

Lin Jianyuan: "It’s kidney deficiency, right? His legs were weak, his steps unsteady, plus his eyes were lifeless, his face pale, dazed and confused…"

Roommate: "Hahaha."

Lin Jianyuan: "Hahaha."

Roommate: "Hahahahahahahaha!"

For some reason, the roommate laughed especially hard, laughing so much he couldn’t even continue cooking. The duodenum held the spatula, his entire gut shaking with laughter, intestines trembling wildly.

Watching him laugh, Lin Jianyuan suddenly started finding it hilarious too for some reason.

"Hahahahahaha!"

The two of them couldn't stop laughing in the kitchen.

Another good weekend passed, and another dreadful Monday arrived.

Early in the morning, the alarm clock rang. Lin Jianyuan mumbled, "Squeeze toy, time for work!" then squeezed his eyes shut and slapped off the alarm, planning to sleep for another five minutes.

But before he could fall asleep, he heard the squeeze toy thief say: "My home needs vitamin D—bet you didn't see osteoporosis coming! My little world holds all of human history. Mom. I'm awesome!!!"

Lin Jianyuan: "?"

What the hell was that???