Chapter 34 Brain Crash

Chapter 34 Brain Freeze

Cen Zheng looked up at Lin Jianyuan, who was greeting his roommate.

"Dr. Cen said he has something to discuss with you... Well, I'm not sure what it is. Have you eaten?"

Lin Jianyuan's lips curved into a smile, his eyes alight.

That expression was clearly directed at a very close friend. Cen Zheng could tell at a glance that Lin Jianyuan was completely at ease at this moment.

There was just one problem.

The friend Lin Jianyuan was addressing was thin air.

He even made space for the air, inviting it to sit right in front of him.

Cen Zheng couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

Then he spoke to the air, "Hello. So, here’s the thing—Lin Jianyuan’s condition has had some changes recently..."

As an experienced psychiatrist, Cen Zheng was well-versed in the art of communicating with "nonexistent friends."

He didn’t need to know what the "nonexistent friend" said in response; he just had to take control of the conversation's pace and keep it ambiguously moving forward.

Cen Zheng calmly explained the hospitalization precautions to this "roommate," without arousing any suspicion from Lin Jianyuan.

After confirming Lin Jianyuan’s condition, Cen Zheng handed him the prepared hospitalization form.

Lin Jianyuan took the form and said, "Thank you, Dr. Cen. Will you still be in charge of me during my hospitalization?"

"Yes," Cen Zheng thought for a moment, then replied, "Our ward management here is quite strict, and since it’s your first time, you might not be familiar with it. How about this—I’m almost done with my outpatient shift. Wait for me outside, about half an hour? Then we can go to the inpatient department together."

Cen Zheng really didn’t feel comfortable letting Lin Jianyuan handle the hospitalization process alone.

Lin Jianyuan was a bit surprised: "Huh? Oh, no need, I can go by myself."

Before Cen Zheng could explain, Lin Jianyuan figured it out on his own: "Oh, you’re worried I might run off halfway and want to personally escort me there, right?"

Cen Zheng couldn’t hold back a chuckle: "You saw right through me."

"I won’t run, don’t worry. I’d love to take some sick leave," Lin Jianyuan said with a smile, waving his hand. "Besides, isn’t my roommate here to keep an eye on me? If I don’t get better, my roommate won’t let me go home either."

As he spoke, he glanced at the air.

Whatever the air roommate said, Lin Jianyuan’s smile grew even brighter, his eyes filled with mirth.

Cen Zheng observed Lin Jianyuan calmly and suddenly realized a logical point.

Roommate—male.

Is Lin Jianyuan gay?

Cen Zheng had an epiphany. He recalled that it’s indeed trendy online lately to refer to one’s husband or wife as "roommate."

Wow. So that kind of roommate.

Calling the air a bro is one thing, but falling in love with the air too?

That’s even sadder.

After leaving the consultation room, Lin Jianyuan and his roommate went to the first-floor hall to complete the hospitalization procedures at the window.

Lin Jianyuan took out his medical insurance card to swipe it, then turned to his roommate and said, "Why don’t you head back first? Don’t you have classes tonight?"

Roommate: "Nope. Don’t feel like going back."

Just as Lin Jianyuan was feeling warmed, he noticed that when the roommate said "don’t feel like going back," his attention wasn’t on him at all.

The roommate kept looking around, his tone brimming with uncontrollable excitement, like a little kid visiting the zoo for the first time.

Lin Jianyuan couldn’t help but feel speechless: "Alright, alright, you still want to check out the inpatient department, huh?"

The roommate laughed: "Sure."

"I wasn’t inviting you!!" Lin Jianyuan laughed and playfully bumped him with his shoulder.

"Oh, you weren’t?" The roommate chuckled, dodging and bumping him back playfully.

The two bumped into each other back and forth in front of the window, and Lin Jianyuan’s mood instantly lifted.

"Actually, I’m kind of curious what the inpatient department of a psychiatric hospital looks like too..." Lin Jianyuan murmured.

Just then, he noticed the clerk behind the window glance up at him with a rather complicated expression.

Lin Jianyuan suddenly felt a bit embarrassed. He remembered he was almost thirty—how could he be so cheerful about being hospitalized?

The roommate was in his early twenties, so acting like a kid was one thing, but why hadn’t he grown up either, laughing and joking along with his roommate? This was supposed to be a hospitalization for an illness.

Lin Jianyuan immediately straightened up, wanting to tell his roommate to act more seriously too, so they wouldn’t get beaten up by other patients once they entered the inpatient department.

But the roommate suddenly said, "I’m going to get something else to eat. I can’t take it—the more I look, the hungrier I get."

"Come back!" Lin Jianyuan grabbed his roommate, tucking a large bundle of intestines under his arm. "Don’t run off. If you get lost, I won’t be able to find you!"

Roommate: "I can come find you."

Lin Jianyuan: "But it’s your first time here too—you don’t know your way around either. Alright, stop messing around. Let’s go check out what’s good to eat in the cafeteria later... Can inpatients in psychiatric hospitals even go down to the cafeteria on their own?"

Muttering to himself, Lin Jianyuan walked off, playfully roughhousing with his roommate.

The staff at the payment window watched this patient, who had come alone to handle his hospitalization while chatting and laughing with thin air, and immediately understood what was going on.

They couldn’t help but feel a mix of emotions.

There’s one good thing about mental illness—you can still accompany yourself to the hospital when you’re sick.

At least you’re not alone.

As it turned out, psychiatric hospitals are quite different from regular hospitals.

Once you enter the inpatient department, it’s like diving into the deep end. Forget going out to eat—even ordering takeout is a hassle.

Every floor and every intersection in the inpatient department has access control. However, it’s still not quite like the insane asylums portrayed in movies, as each patient’s condition varies.

Patients with milder conditions don’t need to be monitored as strictly. Thus, most doors in the mild symptom ward are left open, and inpatients have quite a large area for free movement.

Lin Jianyuan was assigned to the mild symptom ward. Seeing that the environment was relatively relaxed, he couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.

The ward was a three-person room, and two patients had already moved in before Lin Jianyuan.

Lin Jianyuan was assigned to the middle bed. To his left was a teenager, and to his right was a middle-aged man.

Contrary to Lin Jianyuan's expectations, both patients seemed quite talkative. As soon as Lin Jianyuan entered, they started chatting warmly with him, asking about his condition.

Lin Jianyuan explained his condition, and the two patients openly shared their diagnoses with him.

The older man was a regular patient at this hospital, having been admitted multiple times. The teenager, like Lin Jianyuan, was a first-time patient and still unfamiliar with the environment.

After chatting with them, Lin Jianyuan immediately understood why he had been assigned to this room.

Both patients were also hospitalized due to hallucinations.

Kindred spirits in misfortune, Lin Jianyuan felt an instant connection with his fellow patients after exchanging stories about their conditions.

Time flew by. Before he knew it, the sky was growing dark.

In the evening, the orange-red sunset painted the sky. A warm glow streamed in through the window, though the only drawback was that the window couldn’t be fully opened—just a small crack.

This was also different from what Lin Jianyuan had imagined.

He had assumed the windows in psychiatric hospitals would all have iron bars.

It seemed the conditions in the low-acuity ward were quite good. Staying here for a few days wouldn’t be a problem.

As for the high-acuity ward, Lin Jianyuan didn’t even dare to think about it. Even if the accommodations were good, the other patients would probably be frightening.

Though it might not be appropriate to say, even a psychiatric patient like Lin Jianyuan could be afraid of other mentally ill patients.

According to the mental health regulations, inpatients were not allowed to leave casually. So all three meals were brought to their beds by caregivers.

The food was quite decent. As Lin Jianyuan ate from the tray, he sent a message to his roommate:

"Where are you at?"

The roommate didn’t reply.

Just as Lin Jianyuan was about to call him, someone else called him first.

It was Qin Shi.

Lin Jianyuan answered, and Qin Shi’s worried voice immediately came through: "How are you doing over there? What did the doctor say?"

Lin Jianyuan briefly explained his situation and then asked, "What about Pei Shuo?"

Qin Shi: "Pei Shuo just woke up, but he’s still disoriented. The emergency department ran a battery of tests on him and found nothing. The doctor said he needs to be kept for observation."

Lin Jianyuan nodded: "What about his family? Have they been notified?"

Qin Shi sighed: "Yes, but his family is in Z City. It’s a four-hour flight, and they can’t even get a ticket. Taking the train would take over twenty hours…"

Lin Jianyuan quickly said: "Then forget it, twenty hours is too long. Tell them not to rush and wait for available flights tomorrow."

Qin Shi: "That’s what I said… Anyway, we’ll take turns staying with him at the hospital for now."

Lin Jianyuan felt a bit guilty.

As Pei Shuo’s supervisor, he should have been the one staying with him at the hospital.

But he was hospitalized himself.

Lin Jianyuan opened his mouth but didn’t know what to say, so he just scratched his head.

Qin Shi seemed to sense his mood and quickly changed the subject: "By the way, which room are you in?"

Lin Jianyuan: "Don’t worry about me. Just take good care of Pei Shuo."

Qin Shi laughed: "We’re already at the inpatient building! Stop being stubborn. What floor are you on? What’s your bed number?"

Lin Jianyuan felt touched.

Soon after, Qin Shi arrived with a group of colleagues, bringing some fruit.

Since it was a low-acuity ward, visitation was still permitted. If it were a high-acuity ward, visiting policies would be much stricter, and they wouldn’t have been able to enter today.

Lin Jianyuan glanced around and noticed Su Zhiwei wasn’t there—probably staying with Pei Shuo.

Everyone was chatting and laughing, urging Lin Jianyuan to get some rest.

"Let me tell you, that idiot Jiang Chen was bad-mouthing you, saying Pei Shuo fainting was one thing, but how could you also take sick leave—it wasn’t you who fainted," Qin Shi said with a chuckle. "But as soon as your admission paperwork came through, that idiot Jiang Chen immediately clammed up."

"I can imagine," Lin Jianyuan nodded. "What about Yu Xiuli?"

"Yu Xiuli obviously had nothing to say either. It’s not like she can make you come back to work from a psychiatric hospital."

Everyone laughed.

Lin Jianyuan laughed along.

For some reason, hearing about those two idiots didn’t make him as angry anymore.

Maybe because he was more focused on his own condition now.

After some chatting, it was about time for the colleagues to leave.

Once they were gone, the room fell quiet again. Only then did Lin Jianyuan notice that his two patients were one playing games and the other watching short videos.

Both were wearing headphones, probably to avoid the noise.

Lin Jianyuan quickly apologized to his patients.

The teenager took off his headphones and smiled: "It’s fine, I’m not avoiding the noise—I’m on voice chat with my teammates."

The older man also said: "Same here. I’m listening to an audiobook and didn’t want to disturb you, so I kept it to myself. Hahaha."

Lin Jianyuan thought to himself that he’d met some good people.

How lucky was he to end up with two saints even in a psychiatric hospital?

Somehow, Lin Jianyuan suddenly thought of his roommate again.

He checked his phone and saw that his roommate still hadn’t replied, which made him wonder.

What could his roommate be doing that he hadn’t replied for so long?

…Wait. His roommate didn’t need to explain.

They were just roommates!

Lin Jianyuan shook his head at himself.

The nurse came in with the med cart to distribute medication. After taking the pills, Lin Jianyuan felt a little sleepy, so he pulled the curtain and lay down to sleep.

The medication given by the nurse in the evening likely contained sedatives, as it wasn’t long before steady snoring came from the beds on both his left and right.

Lin Jianyuan quickly fell asleep.

After some time, half-asleep, he felt as though he was touching something cool and soft.

The sensation startled him, yet it felt strangely familiar.

Lin Jianyuan forced his heavy eyelids open, straining to make out shapes in the darkness.

He then realized he found a large mass of his roommate's pale pink offal nestled in his arms, with an esophagus resting on his forearm.

Lin Jianyuan’s brain instantly froze.

Reflexively, he yanked his roommate’s intestines.