Chapter 38 Bone Resonance

Chapter 38: Bone-Chilling Echoes

Xiao Liu was a bit embarrassed, his ears reddening as he repeated, "I took a dump on his desk. Secretly, of course, when no one was around."

"Savage," Lin Jianyuan said, his lips curling into a wide grin as he asked eagerly, "And then?"

"Then he totally lost it, of course," Xiao Liu said, also laughing. "He was practically suffocated by the smell. It was hilarious."

"Did he know it was you?"

"Yeah, we have surveillance cameras in our classroom."

"Holy shit, you even dared to do it with cameras around. Looks like you really wanted to take a dump on his desk. What happened next?"

"Then the homeroom teacher called me over and asked why. I told her about the bullying, but she still didn’t believe me because I had no proof. I said the surveillance cameras in the classroom that caught me taking a dump on his desk must have also caught him tearing up my homework."

"Right."

"But then the homeroom teacher said the surveillance footage is only kept for a week. The cameras only caught me taking a dump, not him bullying me. And she said my taking a dump in the classroom seriously affected the other students. The homeroom teacher said she had to handle this seriously."

"What’s her deal?" Lin Jianyuan frowned. "Does Red-haired have some kind of background? Why is the homeroom teacher protecting him like this? Does she have no eyes or brains? Who would take a dump in a classroom unless they were pushed to the brink?"

Xiao Liu got fired up too: "Exactly! So I was really angry at the time. I thought, why is this happening? I didn’t do anything wrong, so why is everyone bullying me? I was so upset. Then I took a dump on the homeroom teacher’s desk too."

Lin Jianyuan: "?"

???

Wait, how did we jump to taking a dump again???

Lin Jianyuan laughed so hard tears nearly came out, and he quickly pressed, "And then what?"

Xiao Liu: "Then the homeroom teacher totally lost it too. All the teachers in the office lost it. They marched me to the principal’s office, and the principal was also furious after hearing what happened. He said I was disrespecting teachers and acting lawlessly, and that I should be expelled immediately. I was so mad at the time, I thought, why is this happening? I’m the one who was bullied and wronged, so why am I the one getting expelled in the end? I was so upset…"

Lin Jianyuan said matter-of-factly: "Then you took a dump on the principal’s desk too."

Xiao Liu scratched his head sheepishly.

*Looking innocent.jpg*

Lin Jianyuan was already laughing uncontrollably. He didn’t know how to react to this, so he just gave Xiao Liu a thumbs-up and said sincerely, "Dude, you’re a legend. You did what I’ve always wanted to do but never managed to."

Xiao Liu blushed: "Ah, stop praising me, I’m embarrassed. Actually, I’m really pissed now because the principal really is going to expel me. I had no choice but to act insane."

Lin Jianyuan: "So you’re on medical leave?"

Xiao Liu: "Yeah."

Lin Jianyuan nodded: "That’s good. You’re a junior in high school now—if you really got expelled, you’d be in trouble. It’s better to take a year off, wait until you’re in a better state, and then return to school. Red-haired will have graduated by then, so you won’t run into him again."

"Yes, yes, that’s what I thought too. But I didn’t expect that even after hiding in a mental hospital, he still won’t leave me alone. Don’t you think he’s messed up too?" Xiao Liu sighed.

Lin Jianyuan said: "Just ignore him."

"Mm." Xiao Liu suddenly seemed to remember something and asked curiously, "By the way, how did you tell I was faking?"

"Because you were constantly observing the reactions of people around you," Lin Jianyuan said. "When mentally ill people really lose it, they’re completely immersed in their own world—they don’t care about anyone around them."

"Oh, oh, you’re so experienced," Xiao Liu said with an impressed expression.

Lin Jianyuan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry and continued, "And even though you were acting insane, you still knew your limits when biting people. You were holding back the whole time, not going all out. When Red-haired was scared enough, you deliberately went easy on him. For a mentally ill person, you were pretty restrained."

"Ah?" Xiao Liu was stunned. "I didn’t deliberately go easy on him."

Lin Jianyuan said in surprise, "I’m talking about when he kicked you. If you hadn’t let go, would he have dared to kick you? Wouldn’t you have really taken a chunk out of him?"

"..." Xiao Liu’s expression suddenly turned very strange.

Lin Jianyuan asked suspiciously, "What?"

"Um... it wasn’t going easy..." Xiao Liu stammered.

Lin Jianyuan: "What do you mean? What wasn’t?"

Xiao Liu struggled for a moment before finally saying, "It wasn’t that I deliberately went easy on him. It was... uh, he got hard."

Lin Jianyuan: "???"

Who am I? Where am I? What did I just hear??

What got hard? Who got hard?

What part of who got hard???

Seeing Xiao Liu’s awkward, amused, and embarrassed expression, Lin Jianyuan realized he hadn’t misunderstood.

He instantly understood why both of them had frozen at that moment.

Why Red-haired had frantically lifted his leg and kicked Xiao Liu away, and why Xiao Liu had only pretended to fall to the ground and couldn’t get up, instead of chasing after him to keep biting him.

Typical high school boys.

Even getting bitten by a dog can turn into a diamond.

Speaking of high school students, Lin Jianyuan suddenly remembered another college student.

Right. How is Pei Shuo doing?

Lin Jianyuan immediately called Pei Shuo.

He had called Pei Shuo yesterday afternoon after arriving at the hospital, but Pei Shuo hadn’t woken up yet.

Although Qin Shi and the others had said Pei Shuo was fine, Lin Jianyuan couldn’t shake the worry.

Fortunately, this time the call was quickly answered.

Pei Shuo’s bright voice came through the phone.

"Bro!"

Just hearing that voice made Lin Jianyuan picture a Golden Retriever, tail wagging, enthusiastically running toward him under the sunset.

His mood immediately improved. He sighed in relief and asked Pei Shuo, "How are you doing?"

"I’m fine, bro. But I still get to rest today—feels like I scored, hee-hee." Pei Shuo’s tone made it sound like he’d gotten a huge win.

Lin Jianyuan was speechless for a moment: "You fainted, of course you should rest. Did you expect to just brush it off and get back to work?"

"It wasn't really a big deal, actually," Pei Shuo said, a bit embarrassed. "I didn't expect a guy like me to get low blood sugar just from skipping breakfast."

Lin Jianyuan was stunned. "Low blood sugar? You had low blood sugar?"

"Yeah," Pei Shuo replied. "I overslept yesterday and didn’t have time for breakfast. Then I was in a rush on the way and missed the elevator. I thought, oh no, isn’t being late going to get me fined? So I hurried up the stairs. Didn’t expect to black out while running... Ugh, I really didn’t see that coming," he said. "Back in school, I could run two or three kilometers easily. How did my stamina get so bad after just a few days of working?"

Lin Jianyuan felt a bit dazed listening to this.

He found Pei Shuo’s words strangely familiar. Not long ago, he’d had a similar experience himself, which made it all sound perfectly logical.

But then what about all the weird stuff he’d seen?

He’d clearly seen Pei Shuo being swallowed by that asshole giant mouth monster into the trash compactor. They'd even talked to each other inside.

Lin Jianyuan tried to feel him out gently, "Do you remember what you were doing right before you passed out?"

Pei Shuo seemed confused by the question. "Huh? I was running up the stairs, wasn’t I?"

It seemed Pei Shuo had genuinely lost that part of his memory.

Lin Jianyuan couldn’t help but frown. What on earth was going on?

He thought back to all the weird shit that had happened at the company over the past couple of days.

First, everyone was inexplicably losing things.

That wasn’t even the weirdest part. The key was that the people who’d lost things would go from panicking to suddenly acting as if they’d lost their memories, forgetting what they were even looking for.

Then there was Pei Shuo’s disappearance.

It seemed like Lin Jianyuan was the only one in the entire company who remembered Pei Shuo. Others would even blankly ask, "Who’s Pei Shuo?"

Let alone notice he was missing.

And then there was the wretched big-mouthed creature and the giant freaky eyeball in the stairwell.

And the roommate.

—Right, Lin Jianyuan had almost forgotten. How did his roommate end up at the company?

Not only that, but the roommate had also swallowed the giant freaky eyeball whole in one bite!

Recalling that scene, Lin Jianyuan’s expression turned grim.

He knew his roommate eats anything, but this was ridiculous!

How could he even eat a random giant freaky eyeball off the street?!

He could practically imagine the sensation of biting into it and the thing gushing goo in his mouth.

The more he thought about it, the more grossed out he felt.

No, if he kept this up, he’d start thinking his roommate wasn’t all cute and cuddly anymore!

Lin Jianyuan had originally wanted to discuss yesterday’s weird shit that went down with Pei Shuo, but now it seemed impossible.

Pei Shuo’s memory had gaps. He only remembered passing out and waking up in the hospital.

Everything that happened in between was a complete blank.

So what did all of Lin Jianyuan’s experiences amount to? Was it all in my head again?

But at the end of those hallucinations, his roommate had genuinely appeared before him. They’d even taken a ride together to the hospital.

He’d even accompanied him to see Dr. Cen.

If the roommate was a hallucination, how come Dr. Cen could see him too?

If the roommate wasn’t a hallucination, then what exactly were all the things Lin Jianyuan experienced yesterday???

What was illusion? What was real?

Lin Jianyuan couldn’t tell the difference anymore.

Frustrated, he ran his hands through his hair and scanned the room, as if searching for some clue in his surroundings.

Then he looked up and noticed the layout in the hospital room.

Lin Jianyuan smacked his knee. It dawned on him.

Right, how could I forget again?

I’m a mental patient! Isn’t it normal for someone with a mental illness to have trouble telling hallucinations from real life?

Didn’t I check myself into the hospital precisely because my condition had worsened?

So why am I stressing myself out over this?

If I could figure it out, wouldn’t I not need to be hospitalized???

With that thought, the huge weight in Lin Jianyuan’s heart instantly lifted.

He felt totally relaxed.

"Bro Yuan?" Pei Shuo asked, puzzled by the silence on the line. "Hello? Hello? Is the signal bad? Bro Yuan, can you hear me?"

"I can hear you," Lin Jianyuan said. "It’s fine, I just spaced out for a sec."

"Oh, okay," Pei Shuo said. "Bro Yuan, just worry about getting better. I’m actually fine. Low blood sugar—after they gave me an IV, I woke up and was okay. It’s just that Qin Shi was a bit worried about me, so she asked me to stick around the hospital for observation one more day. I’ll be back to work tomorrow. Bro Yuan, how about you? How are you holding up?"

Lin Jianyuan said bluntly, "I still can’t tell hallucinations from reality."

For all he knew, the Pei Shuo he was talking to on the phone right now might also be a hallucination.

Pei Shuo sighed. He seemed to want to say something comforting but didn't know what to say.

Just then, someone grabbed the phone, and Qin Shi’s bright voice came through.

"Alright, Lin Jianyuan. Now you can stop worrying—Pei Shuo is fine!"

Lin Jianyuan let out a laugh. He complained, "You went to see Pei Shuo again. How come no one’s visiting me?"

Qin Shi said, "No, it’s just me today. I came to help the kid with his discharge."

The term "kid" immediately made Pei Shuo embarrassed.

Lin Jianyuan heard Pei Shuo’s awkward cry of "Jie!!!" from the other end of the line.

Lin Jianyuan had to laugh. He made small talk with Qin Shi for a bit longer, and she also told him to focus on recovering and not to worry about work stuff anymore.

Even so.

After hanging up, Lin Jianyuan couldn’t help but start recalling the unfinished work he still had to deal with.

He was increasingly unable to distinguish between hallucinations and reality, so he probably wouldn’t be discharged anytime soon.

The company was definitely understaffed. But, logically speaking, that was the company’s problem, not his.

No matter how short-staffed the company was, it had no right to demand he work through his sick leave.

Still, the mountain of tasks had to be handled by someone.

And Pei Shuo would be hit the hardest.

Lin Jianyuan didn’t want to take responsibility for the company; he only wanted to take responsibility for the people around him.

Lin Jianyuan sighed and nevertheless pulled his laptop out from the bedside table.

The laptop was something he’d asked Qin Shi to bring him yesterday when she and the others came to visit.

He usually used a desktop at the office. Sometimes, when he had to travel or work outside, he’d bring the laptop.

So, the laptop also contained backups of his work.

At the time, Qin Shi had joked, "No way, you’re still insisting on working even in a psychiatric hospital? What determination, working even from a psych ward!"

Right now, Lin Jianyuan pulled down the small bedside table, placed his hands on the laptop’s membrane keyboard, and had only one darkly humorous thought:

This isn’t 'the body disabled but the spirit strong'—this is 'the body strong but driven to disability.'

Lin Jianyuan had originally intended to write a handover document so that whether it was Pei Shuo or someone else taking over his work, they wouldn’t be completely in the dark.

But when he mentally reviewed all the tasks he had on hand, he painfully realized: there were too many things, and they were too messy.

If he really had to write out every single thing in a document, the text alone would run several thousand words, not to mention images, videos, and other content that couldn’t be easily described in words.

Lin Jianyuan immediately felt overwhelmed and instantly felt like ditching it all.

But the moment he thought that Pei Shuo would most likely be the one taking over his work, he started grumbling and got to work.

That young guy Pei Shuo, who usually seemed so full of energy—you’d think he was in great shape. How come he started having low blood sugar not long after starting work?

It just goes to show how severely work tortures the human body!

Better not to overwork him—what if he faints again?

There was no proper desk or chair in the hospital room, so Lin Jianyuan had to sit on the bed, leaning against the small over-bed table as he struggled to type.

The posture was terribly unergonomic, and before long, Lin Jianyuan felt an aching back and sore waist, his spine feeling as if it had been filled with cement—stiff and heavy.

He rubbed his sore neck, knuckled his stiff lower back, and, in this extremely uncomfortable position, barely managed to finish the handover.

Finally, having more or less sorted out these documents, Lin Jianyuan closed the laptop and lay back on the bed.

His entire spine made a series of cracking sounds.

Jeez, the strain. His spine felt like it was rusting.

Lin Jianyuan remembered that spine-popping stretch he’d seen online.

He spread his arms, flipped one thigh over the other, and kept his upper body still while twisting his lower body 90 degrees, stretching his lumbar spine.

Crack.

Crack-crack-crack—

In a certain overgrown, abandoned warehouse.

Somewhere in the darkness, the sound of cracking bones echoed.

The sound grew more and more frequent, making it impossible to pinpoint its exact source.

The only certainty was that the grating noise was getting closer and closer.

So close it felt as if it were knocking directly on the eardrums, striking the skull and spine, traveling down the spinal cord.

"What do we do? I can’t move!"

In the impenetrable darkness, a comrade right nearby let out a panicked cry.

The shout was like a stone dropped into a lake, sending ripples of fear through everyone, igniting their terror.

"I can’t move either!"

"Why? I didn’t even touch anything!"

"I didn’t touch anything either! I can’t see anything—where are you all?"

"Everything below my chest is paralyzed—I can’t feel my hands or feet! Wait, something’s crawling up my spine… Help! Anyone who can move, come help me!"

"Help!"

"Help!!!"

One desperate cry after another gradually faded into silence in the darkness.

In the vast, empty warehouse, the members of the operation team, dressed in combat gear, slowly solidified into stillness as if cast in cement.

Twisted into human-shaped instruments.

If anyone had been present, they would have realized that the darkness enveloping them didn’t actually exist.

The setting sun shone obliquely through the window, vibrant green vines climbed the abandoned warehouse, and birds chirped melodiously in the distance.

If one ignored the strangely posed, contorted cement statues in the center of the warehouse, it would have been such a warm and peaceful scene.

Crack, crack.

The strange, brittle sound of bones, like some ancient melody.

Using human bodies as instruments, with lamentations as the overture.

The eerie music reverberated through the desolate, empty ruins of the warehouse.