Chapter 37 Diu Diu, Bite Him!

Chapter 37: Diudiu, Bite Him!

This was Lin Jianyuan's first time seeing a vertebra that seemed to be smiling.

Judging by its texture and size, it was unmistakably a real vertebra—not a model, not a pig bone!

Lin Jianyuan let out a loud "Holy shit!" and threw the vertebra away without hesitation.

In the psychiatric hospital's garden, no one batted an eye at his outburst.

So much so that even Lin Jianyuan himself felt he had overreacted.

Embarrassed, he scratched his head, picked the vertebra back up, and examined it closely in his hand.

Though he had never seen a human vertebra before, based on his limited medical knowledge, it seemed genuine.

This vertebra looked peculiar. It was roughly shaped like an inverted triangle, wider at the top and narrower at the bottom.

At the top were two small, round holes that resembled eyes at first glance. Below was a larger hole, almost heart-shaped, like a grinning mouth.

After studying it for a while, Lin Jianyuan finally understood why he thought the bone was smiling.

On either side of its "eyes" were small, outward-extending bones, like the smile lines that form when a person smiles.

Around the "mouth" were two flat indentations that looked like chubby cheeks.

Lin Jianyuan silently pulled out his phone and compared it to a picture online.

Case closed.

This was the fifth cervical vertebra.

A human fifth cervical vertebra...

Holding the vertebra, Lin Jianyuan looked around blankly and noticed the other patients in the garden were still going about their business. No one paid him any attention.

He scratched his head, momentarily baffled.

After a moment's thought, it made sense.

Even though it was a psychiatric hospital, it was still a hospital.

What was the big deal about a few human bones in the garden?

Maybe it was from a cadaver used for medical studies out for a stroll.

Or maybe it was a skeleton model that had gained sentience.

Oh, so it was just a supernatural occurrence.

No big deal then.

Lin Jianyuan gradually calmed down.

He pocketed the bone, planning to ask the doctors or nurses if they had lost it when he returned to the ward.

After taking just a few steps, Lin Jianyuan suddenly spotted a familiar figure.

A slender body dressed in a hospital gown, with a dog collar dangling from the left wrist.

Xiao Liu was blocked by a group of people on the path. He tried to go left, but they wouldn't let him. He tried to go right, but they still wouldn't budge.

The group stood with their arms crossed, blocking his way with malicious intent.

Lin Jianyuan frowned, studying the group carefully. There were four boys and one girl, all around seventeen or eighteen years old. Their features still carried a youthful innocence, but their clothing was flashy.

Come to think of it, Xiao Liu was only seventeen, a senior in high school. Were these people his classmates?

Just then, Xiao Liu said, "What are you doing? Let me go. I need to get back."

The leader, a red-haired boy, suddenly leaned in and smirked mischievously. "Liu Lixue, you're something else, faking an illness to hide in a psychiatric hospital. Show me how you go crazy. Come on, act crazy for me."

Xiao Liu retorted, "Who's crazy? You're the crazy one!"

The red-haired boy's expression darkened. He reached out, grabbed Xiao Liu by the collar, and dragged him closer, saying coldly, "Don't think you can fool me by pretending to be crazy! The principal might believe you, but I don't! If you keep avoiding me like this, watch out—"

Xiao Liu, choked by his collar, was almost lifted off the ground, struggling to breathe, his face contorted in suffocating pain.

Lin Jianyuan couldn't stand it any longer. He rolled up his sleeves, ready to step in and save him, when Xiao Liu struggled and shouted, "Diudiu! Bite him!!"

Lin Jianyuan: "?"

Red-haired: "??"

Before anyone could react, Xiao Liu had already shaken off the dog collar from his left wrist.

The moment the collar was off, it was as if some seal had been broken. Xiao Liu's expression instantly turned fierce. He pounced on the red-haired boy, using both hands and feet, and bit down hard!

"Ah!" The red-haired boy was caught off guard, horrified as he was knocked to the ground. The back of his head hit the grass with a dull thud.

"Ow! Ow ow ow!" Xiao Liu howled as he bit wildly at the red-haired boy's neck, shoulders, and chest.

They say madmen are unnaturally strong, especially when biting.

The red-haired boy's clothes were immediately torn to shreds, and bright red bite marks appeared on his exposed tan chest.

The red-haired boy cried out in pain, desperately pushing and shoving Xiao Liu. But Xiao Liu clung to him like a rabid dog, refusing to let go.

"Damn it, you're really biting! Let go, let go, let go! Shit! My—" The red-haired boy was in agony, halfway through his scream but unable to finish, desperately pushing at Xiao Liu's head. "I'm going to get bitten off! You let go! Let go!"

The other high schoolers who had come with the red-haired boy were frozen in shock, too afraid to step in and help.

Xiao Liu had been stubbornly biting the red-haired boy's pectoral muscle but suddenly froze.

The red-haired boy's expression also turned strange. Seizing the opportunity, he kicked Xiao Liu hard, sending him tumbling off.

Xiao Liu landed sitting on the grass, still looking furious. He smacked his lips a few times, seemingly disgusted by the taste of the red-haired boy's clothes.

The red-haired boy clutched his torn clothes, scrambling backward on all fours.

The other high schoolers finally snapped out of it and hurriedly helped him up, turning to threaten Xiao Liu: "Don't think you can get away with everything just because you're mentally ill!"

"Yeah! Mentally ill people can't just bite others randomly! We're calling the police!"

"Qin-ge, let's go get our injuries checked! We need rabies shots!"

Lin Jianyuan: "..."

And here he thought those kids were just troublemakers.

"Wow, they're actually this law-abiding?"

"And rabies vaccine? Hahahaha, so particular, hahahaha."

The red-haired boy was helped away by his buddies, kept looking back and shooting fierce glares at Xiao Liu several times before leaving.

Xiao Liu sat on the lawn, wiped his mouth, then turned his head and spat a few times.

His expression was one of utter disgust.

Lin Jianyuan walked over and reached out a hand to Xiao Liu: "You alright?"

Xiao Liu bared his teeth at him and growled like a rabid dog.

Lin Jianyuan: "..."

Xiao Liu looked around and quickly found the dog collar lying on the ground.

He put the dog collar back on his wrist, and it was as if he had been reined in—the fierce expression on his face instantly vanished.

"Huh? What just happened?" Xiao Liu touched his cheek, looking confused. "How come my mouth is so sore?"

Lin Jianyuan: "You almost bit off that dude’s nipple, of course it’s sore."

"?!" Xiao Liu’s expression froze, then he stammered, shocked, "Huh? Who? What nipple?"

Lin Jianyuan looked at him thoughtfully.

Half an hour later, in the hospital room.

The uncle hadn’t returned yet, probably still practicing calligraphy. After the nurse came by with a cart to pass out meds, only Lin Jianyuan and Xiao Liu were left in the ward.

Lin Jianyuan closed the door, returned to his bed, and sat facing Xiao Liu on the other bed.

"Do you have multiple personalities?" Lin Jianyuan asked.

"Uh..." Xiao Liu looked a bit embarrassed, scratched his head, and said, "That’s what the docs say, but I don’t think so. 'Diudiu' obviously exists—why does everyone say they can’t see him?"

As he spoke, he gently stroked the nonexistent dog’s head on his knee.

Lin Jianyuan nodded: "A second personality being a dog is indeed pretty weird."

Xiao Liu: "Right?"

Lin Jianyuan: "But not as weird as you faking being a dog to bite someone."

Xiao Liu: "Exactly... Huh?!"

Xiao Liu caught on, his eyes widening instantly.

Lin Jianyuan sighed and raised a hand in a calming gesture: "Don’t be nervous, I won’t snitch. The door’s closed, just keep your voice down."

Xiao Liu bolted upright. He was breathing hard, his chest heaving. His light brown eyes shivered slightly as he spoke uneasily: "What are you talking about? I never..."

Lin Jianyuan looked at him calmly.

Lin Jianyuan was 27, while Xiao Liu was only 17. There was a ten-year age gap between them, and Lin Jianyuan had already had more life experience, while Xiao Liu was still a high school student living in an ivory tower.

Even if Lin Jianyuan did nothing but sit there leisurely, Xiao Liu could feel the pressure from his age and experience.

He gave in right away.

"Alright," Xiao Liu said dejectedly, "I admit it, I did lie."

"Why?" Lin Jianyuan leaned in at this point, eyes lit up. "Don’t be nervous, I’m not here to judge or blame you—I just want to get the tea. Who was that red-haired guy anyway? Some jerk who bullies you?"

Lin Jianyuan’s expression was curious, like he was digging for gossip, and the authoritative vibe of an older person vanished instantly.

Xiao Liu smiled helplessly and finally told him everything.

The red-haired boy was named Qin Ye. As Lin Jianyuan had guessed, Qin Ye, along with his crew, had been bullying Xiao Liu at school.

The reason for the bullying was also ridiculous—it was because of his name.

Xiao Liu’s full name was Liu Lixue. When his parents named him, they were probably thinking "study hard"? Go figure. In any case, for over a decade, Liu Lixue had gone by this name, and no one had ever found it strange.

Until one high school monthly exam, when an extremely difficult mechanics problem appeared on the physics test.

No one knows who first said, "I hate mechanics the most!" but the joke spread throughout the school.

Liu Lixue became famous.

At first, it was just a joke, and Xiao Liu didn’t take it seriously. But somehow, the red-haired boy fixated on him. He would tease Xiao Liu whenever he could, and sometimes, even if the hallway was wide, the red-haired boy would deliberately shoulder-check him.

Caught off guard, Xiao Liu would fall flat on his butt, and the group would burst into laughter, proudly conducting on-the-spot physics analysis.

Lin Jianyuan: "..."

Imagining the scene, he cringed. Rubbing the goosebumps on his arm, he said, "Go on."

Xiao Liu continued: "Anyway, he kept finding ways to pick on me. I have no idea what he was thinking. If I put up with it, he’d test my patience even further—like erasing the answers on my answer sheet or stuffing cockroaches into my desk."

Lin Jianyuan: "What if you fought back?"

Xiao Liu: "If I fought back, he’d escalate. He’d tear up my books and homework, or block me in the bathroom after class so I couldn’t get back to the classroom. Honestly... he’s just really bored."

Lin Jianyuan acutely sensed that Xiao Liu was different from the average bullying victim. He used the phrase "really bored" instead of more trauma-laden terms.

Lin Jianyuan pressed further: "And then?"

Xiao Liu: "At first, I’d always get so angry I’d cry, running off to somewhere deserted to scream. Later, I realized it wasn’t working—the angrier I got, the more he enjoyed it, and the more he’d come up with new ways to bully me every day. I thought, why should I? I didn’t do anything wrong—why should I put up with this? It was too much.

Then I crapped on his desk."

Hearing this, Lin Jianyuan perked up: "What? You did what?"