Chapter 52: Upside-Down Thinking
Yang Jin simply stayed and accompanied Shen Yu through the night.
During that time, Yuji returned once, only to leave again with a face full of gloom.
The next morning, as the first rays of dawn filtered through the windows, Yang Jin quietly slipped out of Shen Yu’s embrace at around seven o’clock.
A familiar announcement suddenly echoed throughout the hospital.
Attention, attention. All patients, please gather in the main hall. All patients, please gather in the main hall.
Due to your good behavior over the past two days, today’s Voluntary Labor Reward Program will begin.
Every patient may receive a task from a nurse. Completing the assigned task will earn a corresponding reward. Please continue your good behavior and strive for an early discharge.
The announcement repeated several times.
Feeling the lingering warmth Yang Jin had left behind and catching the faint scent of disinfectant still clinging to his clothes, Shen Yu calmly left the ward.
Now that he possessed the Wings of Freedom, he no longer had to worry about his sanity dropping rapidly simply for acting against the behavior expected of a psychiatric patient.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The corridor quickly filled with patients hurrying toward the lobby.
Among them, Shen Yu immediately spotted Yuji. The other man shot him a hostile glare before disappearing into the crowd.
When Shen Yu reached the hall, dozens of patients had already formed long lines in front of the nurses, each waiting to receive a task.
Only one line remained completely empty.
Head Nurse Yang Jin’s.
Not a single patient dared approach her.
Shen Yu naturally walked straight over.
What surprised him, however, was that Yuji immediately followed and stopped beside him.
Ignoring the icy pressure radiating from Yang Jin, Shen Yu smiled shamelessly.
"Nurse, could you assign me something simple? I’ve been feeling rather sick lately."
The moment she heard those words, Yang Jin’s ears immediately turned red.
A trace of embarrassed irritation flashed across her otherwise cold face.
After glancing at both Shen Yu and Yuji, she spoke calmly.
"I have a task for you."
"You are to go to the security office at the entrance of Qing Shan Psychiatric Hospital, retrieve the hospital’s delivery package, and bring it back to me."
The instant she finished speaking, a solemn system notification echoed in both Shen Yu’s and Yuji’s minds.
Side Quest: Retrieve the Delivery
Objective: Travel to the security office at the entrance of Qing Shan Psychiatric Hospital, retrieve the delivery package, and hand it over to the Head Nurse.
Reward: ×1 Rationality Potion + Real Reward.
Task Information:
Patients are forbidden from approaching the security office, as it is the closest location to the hospital’s main entrance.
Among the patients, an old saying has long circulated:
"Even during the daytime, thunder may strike.
When thunder falls, fools can no longer find their way home."
Reading the quest description, Shen Yu frowned.
"Thunder during the day? Fools can’t find their way home?"
None of it made any sense.
He glanced sideways and noticed that even Yuji looked equally puzzled.
So they had both received the same mission.
"He’s definitely planning to use Request Soul during the quest."
"Once we’re outside, Yang Jin won’t be nearby to interfere."
After a brief hesitation, Shen Yu looked back at Yang Jin.
With her affection already at 77, perhaps she would grant him a small privilege.
"Nurse... I’ve recently developed a condition where I can’t stay around other men. I—"
Before he could finish, Yang Jin glared at him coldly.
"What you did yesterday was already embarrassing enough."
"I hope you don’t make me feel embarrassed again."
Her voice was icy.
Shen Yu froze.
Behind him, Yuji immediately burst into mocking laughter.
"Oh? Having a lovers’ quarrel already?"
"I thought you could make your little ghost wife obey every command."
"Looks like even you fail sometimes."
Shen Yu ignored him completely.
Instead, he carefully replayed Yang Jin’s words in his mind.
"Embarrassing..."
Yesterday...
She hadn’t rejected him.
So what exactly did she mean?
Before he could think any further, another notification sounded.
Time Limit: One Hour
Failure to complete the task within the allotted time will result in mission failure.
"Aren’t you leaving yet?"
Yang Jin’s cold voice urged him once more.
Shen Yu looked at her.
For just a brief moment, he noticed the faint blush still lingering on her cheeks.
Without another word, he turned and headed toward the hospital’s main entrance.
Step.
Step.
Step.
The first floor of Qing Shan Psychiatric Hospital functioned as the reception and service area.
Beyond its front doors stretched a wide grassy courtyard.
At the far end stood a small security booth connected to the hospital’s exit gate.
Morning sunlight bathed the lawn in warm golden light.
Inside the booth, an elderly security guard sat quietly watching television, looking completely ordinary.
After confirming there was nothing unusual, Shen Yu cautiously stepped outside and began walking across the grass.
Snap.
Snap.
Suddenly, the clear blue sky flickered with several brilliant flashes of white light, as though enormous fluorescent lamps had been switched on above the heavens.
"...!"
When the flashes disappeared, Shen Yu’s pupils contracted.
He was no longer halfway across the lawn.
Somehow...
He was standing right back at the hospital entrance.
Staring blankly at the distant field he had been crossing only a moment earlier, Shen Yu slowly pinched his cheek.
"...So that’s what ’can’t find your way home’ means."
___ ____ ____ ____ ____
After the strange flash, Shen Yu was astonished to find himself standing right back at the hospital entrance.
He stared blankly at the lush lawn stretching into the distance before lazily pinching his own cheek.
"Did I just get teleported back?"
Still unconvinced, he lifted a foot and prepared to step onto the grass again.
"No need to doubt it."
"You really are being teleported back."
A cold voice suddenly sounded behind him.
Shen Yu turned around.
Yuji stood several meters away, his eyes dark and fixed on the sky, his body trembling slightly.
Glancing at Yuji’s headband, Shen Yu immediately understood.
The other man was still in the polluted world, his contamination level sitting at -17.
From Yuji’s perspective, those strange flashes in the sky weren’t flashes at all.
They were thunder.
Boom!
Rumble!
Under Yuji’s vision, the once sunny playground had transformed into a storm-ridden wasteland.
Dark clouds covered the sky as white, serpent-like bolts of lightning streaked overhead, striking the earth with violent crashes. Wherever they landed, the ground hissed and smoked.
Then Yuji noticed something even stranger.
After being teleported back beside Shen Yu, the exposed skin on his forearm suddenly began to pulsate.
His flesh split apart.
A pitch-black mouth slowly opened on his arm.
"Hehehe..."
The lips curled into a grin.
Then...
They laughed at him.
"...Damn it."
"What kind of mission is this?"
Yuji couldn’t understand the phenomenon at all.
However, when his eyes shifted toward Shen Yu, he froze.
Shen Yu’s body hadn’t changed in the slightest.
No mouth.
No mutation.
Nothing.
Why?
What’s the difference?
Is it because of our contamination levels?
Yuji stared at Shen Yu.
Meanwhile, Shen Yu quietly watched the numbers on Yuji’s headband.
-17... -16... -15...
The value steadily climbed until it reached -9.
"So every teleport increases contamination?" Shen Yu thought.
"Then the Wings of Freedom really are preventing my sanity from changing."
After a brief silence, he suddenly looked at Yuji.
"Hey."
"From your perspective... is the playground covered in thunder?"
Yuji’s expression immediately darkened.
"You don’t have the right to question me."
The next moment, the light in his eyes vanished.
Thud!
His body collapsed to the ground as though he had suddenly lost consciousness.
Almost simultaneously, Shen Yu felt the familiar spinning sensation invade his mind.
"...Damn."
"Not this again."
Without Yang Jin nearby, there was nothing to interrupt Yuji’s ability this time.
Shen Yu staggered unsteadily.
His limbs became heavy.
His vision blurred.
Moments later, a smile slowly spread across his face.
"So..."
"This is what the playground looks like from the normal world."
Inside his spiritual consciousness, however, Shen Yu’s soul had already been forced out of his body.
It floated helplessly nearby, glaring furiously at the figure now controlling his flesh.
"Damn you!"
His soul repeatedly slammed into his own body, but each attempt simply passed straight through it.
The possessed Shen Yu smiled faintly.
"Stop struggling."
"This is the power of an S-rank talent."
"I already told you."
"That cunning nurse can’t protect you forever."
"Low-rank talent holders will always be stepping stones for those with high-rank talents."
"I still don’t understand why you weren’t affected earlier..."
"But now..."
"You’ll become my puppet."
"My tool for trial and error."
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Under Yuji’s control, Shen Yu’s stiff body began walking across the playground once more.
Then it broke into a sprint toward the distant security booth.
But after barely running a dozen meters—
Crack!
The strange white light flashed across the sky again.
In the blink of an eye...
Shen Yu found himself standing right back at the hospital entrance once more.
