By Zephyria 
Chapter 10: An Incident Occurred on the Day of the Confession
A few days later, He Yu booked a rooftop restaurant. He intended to meet Xie Xue on a weekend evening and formally express his feelings.
Xie Xue, who had answered the phone in a daze, couldn’t hide her joy the moment she heard the word “meal.”
—Okay! I’ll go! I’ll definitely be there!
“Then, the 20th at 6 PM. Make sure you come.”
—Eh? The evening of the 20th?
“Why?”
Xie Xue spoke with a troubled expression.
—The evening of the 20th might be a bit late. I just got a call from that emergency room, and they said the shelter staff are taking Grandpa Zhuang to Qingkang Psychiatric Hospital on the evening of the 20th. I was actually planning to ask the person in charge at Qingkang about the university field trip anyway…
He Yu let out a sigh.
“Then we’ll just change the time.”
—But the reservations for this restaurant are brutal. When I called last time, they told me to wait at least three months.
At those words, He Yu laughed.
“It’s fine. You can go whenever you want. My company invested in that restaurant.”
—…
This wretched capitalism. It ruthlessly tramples on the joy one earns after hard work.
—Actually, forget it. It would be a nuisance to the restaurant manager. I’m not really comfortable with that.
Xie Xue added,
—Just keep it on the 20th. I’ll finish my business as quickly as possible and let you know in advance if there are any changes.
He Yu placed his hand on his forehead. The smile on his lips grew more pronounced.
“Fine, have it your way.”
Soon, Xie Xue hung up the phone in a great mood.
I’m going to eat something delicious!
And so, the 20th arrived in a flash.
Having been chosen as the university representative to propose the project, Xie Xue wore the faculty uniform to maintain formality and headed to Qingkang Psychiatric Hospital with the shelter staff and Grandpa Zhuang Zhiqiang.
Qingkang, a private for-profit facility, was a dilapidated psychiatric hospital of less than 2,000 square meters. As soon as Xie Xue’s party stepped out of the car, they were hit by a foul stench. A nurse with a dissatisfied face was directing the movement of bed sheets contaminated with patients’ excrement toward a garbage truck. On one side, two men in charge of refueling were arguing heatedly, their faces flushed red, about a lack of gasoline.
Terrified, Old Man Zhuang stepped back and tugged at Xie Xue’s hand.
“Daughter, this is…”
“It’s okay, mister. Just stay here for a moment, and I’ll take you somewhere else later. How does that sound?”
Only then did Old Man Zhuang slowly follow behind Xie Xue into the building.
The reception area of the psychiatric hospital had a relatively calm interior. Although the facility was old, the air inside was clean and the colors were quite cozy.
“You’re the shelter director, right? Are you here for Mr. Zhuang Zhiqiang’s temporary custody service?”
“That is correct.”
“I’ve heard from the Director. Please come this way.”
Since Old Man Zhuang’s condition was relatively mild, it was decided he would be admitted to the first floor. Xie Xue only let go of her worries after being guided by the staff to inspect the ward environment. Once Old Man Zhuang entered the room, a nurse around Xie Xue’s age stepped forward with a beaming smile to keep the old man company. Once again, the old man mistook her for his daughter and began to chatter away.
“Then, I’ll leave him in your care.”
The shelter staff signed a series of consent forms once the admissions officer returned to the office.
However, since Xie Xue hadn’t come to propose the project to the reception staff, she had to go upstairs. Unfortunately, the guide, who could not leave their post, pointed her in the right direction, telling her to look for Director Liang in the office on the third floor, which operated twenty-four hours a day.
The third floor of Qingkang Psychiatric Hospital was the severe patient ward. The moment she stepped off the elevator, she instinctively felt a chill. —The atmosphere here was entirely different from the floor below.
Iron bars and iron doors reminiscent of a prison, and the screams and wailing echoing through the hallways, evoked a scene from a horror movie.
The hallway was very bright, lit by incandescent bulbs that never turned off. However, in such an atmosphere, even that light felt abnormally pale.
“I’m dying! I’m dying, hahahahaha—.”
“You lunatics! You’re the ones who are crazy!”
“I’m not human. I’m a ghost. No, I’m not a ghost. I’m human! …Who on earth am I? Human, or ghost…?”
Heavy iron doors firmly blocked every ward. Each door had a bulletproof glass window the size of an A4 sheet of paper, allowing one to peer at the scene inside.
After walking down the hallway for a while, trembling, Xie Xue couldn’t suppress her curiosity. She stopped in front of one of the quieter wards, stood on her tiptoes, and looked through the window.
Inside, a woman sat there, laughing vacantly. The entire room was filled only with devices to prevent the patient from committing suicide or self-harm. No tables or chairs were in sight. Black restraint belts draped over a special bed with no corners also caught her eye.
The mad woman affectionately fiddled with the restraint belts, giggling as she stuffed them into her ample chest.
“So who told you to cheat with that bitch? Look, that’s why… you’ve been sliced up by my hand now… Who else would caress and hold you like this if not me? Honey…”
Xie Xue moved forward.
The next ward was empty. It seemed the patient had been taken for treatment.
In the next ward, the back of a man was visible. Huddled in a corner facing the wall, he was very quietly and peacefully spreading something on the wall. Xie Xue looked closely at what he was applying. Unexpectedly, it was the patient’s own feces.
The occupant of the next ward was tied tightly to a specially made bed, perhaps because they were a severe self-harmer. Regardless of how long they had been tied, the young man held his head up, laughing and crying loudly without seeming to find it difficult.
“Fuck! Who the hell are you to tie me up? I want to die! Can’t I even die? Since you kept me alive, I’m going to kill you first when I get out of here…! Just try untying me, I’ll kill every single one of you! Untie me! Let me out right now!”
It was a succession of scenes that became more spine-chilling and soul-draining the more she saw.
The moment she took her eyes off the glass and shifted her gaze to the next room—
“Ack!”
She locked eyes with two pupils pressed tightly against the inner glass window. Caught off guard, Xie Xue screamed and recoiled to one side of the hallway, leaning against the opposite ward door and breathing heavily.
The man pressed against the glass window of the ward was staring at her with eyes like a fighting cock. His wide-open eyes were terrifyingly bloodshot. Seeing the terrified Xie Xue, the man burst into a hearty laugh of joy. His nose, red as if he had been drinking, pressed against the glass, making it look blurry and stained with grease.
Xie Xue barely managed to calm her pounding heart. At that moment, she suddenly felt a chill around her ankle.
What entered her field of vision as she looked down was—.
“Aaaaaah!”
This scream was much louder than the first.
A hand.
The iron ward door had a food slot at the bottom, along with the glass window at the top.
A pale hand had pushed through that food slot and ruthlessly grabbed her ankle as she stood by the door.
On the verge of a mental breakdown, Xie Xue jumped up in place. As she cried and screamed, stomping her feet, the small hand disappeared back inside. The occupant of the ward retreated to the center of the room, clearly visible through the glass window. It was a small boy. He was as white as if he had been bleached, perhaps due to albinism. The boy stared intently at Xie Xue with eyes that were almost transparent, revealing his white teeth.
“Noona… hehehe…”
Because she had caused such a commotion in a building with terrible soundproofing, the patients in the wards on both sides of the hallway all crowded toward the glass windows to watch Xie Xue. As if communicating among themselves, some let out shrieks, while several hands popped out from under the food slots, fluttering like seaweed and struggling to grab something.
“A woman came to see us!”
“Who is it? A doctor?”
“Doctor my ass! It’s a visitor!”
“It’s a virgin ghost!”
“Grab her ankle!”
Despite not being able to catch Xie Xue, the patients laughed insolently. With ghostly wails echoing from everywhere, she momentarily felt as if she had entered a jungle inhabited by owl spirits.
Having run out of patience, Xie Xue decided to go back. She didn’t care how busy the guide on the lower floor was. The best course of action was to come back up with that staff member once they finished their work.
But just then, someone tapped her shoulder.
“Help me!”
Before she could even count to three, Xie Xue’s psychological defenses completely collapsed.
“Shh.”
Xie Xue’s face was drenched in cold sweat. Trembling, she turned her head and locked eyes with a beautiful face.
It was a beautiful woman.
The woman was wearing a vintage-style red skirt and red high heels. She looked to be around fifty, but her features suggested how beautiful she must have been in her youth. Although she was thin, like a shriveled apple, she exuded a seductive and elegant aura.
On her chest was a name tag that read ‘Liang Jicheng’.
Like air leaking from a rubber ball, Xie Xue let out a sigh of relief and muttered in a hollow voice.
“Di… Director Liang…”
Liang Jicheng gave a thin smile. For some reason, her face was strangely stiff, like someone who couldn’t properly move their facial muscles and could only manage a superficial smile.
She spoke to Xie Xue in a low voice.
“You must never scream here. If you do, the patients will get excited and scare you even more. Now, let’s go to the office together.”
* * *
5:30 PM.
A message from Xie Xue arrived for He Yu.
[I don’t think I’ll be late.]
He replied.
[Did the field trip talk go well?]
[It went well. They said they’d cooperate so the students could visit, but there are a few more requirements, so we’re still discussing them.]
A moment later, another message arrived.
[Oh right. Director Liang, who guided me today, is a totally elegant beauty. It’s a shame you didn’t come along.]
Feeling a twinge of jealousy, He Yu threw his phone aside, got up, took clothes out of the closet, and prepared to head to the hotel.
Arriving at the hotel slightly early, the manager politely guided him to the reserved rooftop seat. Although there were private rooms, he had intentionally chosen the rooftop, which offered a panoramic view of Huzhou. The refreshing evening breeze and the majestic, beautiful red sunset were bonuses. Xie Xue would surely prefer a place like this.
6:05 PM.
Xie Xue had not yet arrived.
He Yu sent her a message asking where she was and if she was stuck in traffic. No sooner had he pressed the send button than he heard a waiter’s voice nearby.
“Guest, please watch your step on the stairs.”
He looked up. A crowd of people, looking as if they were attending a business meeting or a high-level corporate dinner, was flooding in.
He wondered if he should change seats since it was a bit noisy, and as he turned his gaze, a man with an indifferent face caught his eye beyond the crowd.
He Yu was stunned.
“Xie Qingcheng?”
Today was a day when there was an important event at the medical school where Xie Qingcheng worked. The school had booked this hotel as the venue months ago; the event had already ended, and they were now coming up for a dinner party.
He Yu hadn’t expected his plans to go awry like this. To think he’d run into Xie Qingcheng after choosing this restaurant as his date spot.
How was he supposed to confess to Xie Xue in front of this old fogey? What if he got thrown from the rooftop table down into the river below?
Similarly, having spotted He Yu, Xie Qingcheng said a few words to a colleague and approached to greet him.
“Waiting for someone?”
“…Yes.”
Meanwhile, a nosy colleague followed along. He looked at He Yu and said,
“Oh, who is this handsome young man? Professor Xie, is he a relative?”
“A client’s son.”
“Ah… perhaps a date with a girlfriend?”
There are always annoying people everywhere who throw such tactless, private questions.
He Yu smiled politely and said,
“I’m waiting for the professor’s younger sister.”
The colleague became even more excited and gave Xie Qingcheng a wink.
“The brother-in-law is handsome.”
The moment He Yu saw Xie Qingcheng’s expression, he realized. If he dared to confess to Xie Xue today, Xie Qingcheng would dare to smash his table and throw a punch right then and there.
…Better to give it up and save it for next time. Let’s just eat today.
“You’re mistaken. We’re just friends.”
Having changed his plan, he smiled proactively.
Even so, Xie Qingcheng eventually frowned.
“What are you meeting for?”
“I haven’t treated her to a proper meal since she returned to the country.”
Just as Xie Qingcheng was about to say something, the medical school table called the two of them. When the nosy colleague grabbed his arm, he had no choice but to glare at He Yu with a look full of warning before returning to his table.
6:15 PM.
Even by the time the medical school table was fully served, Xie Xue had not arrived.
Not only had she not come, but she hadn’t replied to the message he sent ten minutes ago. He tried messaging her again, but the phone remained silent.
He felt something was off. He tried calling her via messenger voice call.
No response.
This time, he made a regular phone call.
The ringing tone sounded. He waited for a long time, but there was no sign of her answering.
He called again.
Something was seriously wrong.
—The phone is turned off and will be connected to voicemail.
Not only was she not answering, but she suddenly turned off her phone?
He Yu finally realized that something was definitely wrong. He immediately bolted from his seat and left the rooftop restaurant. As Young Master He hurried out with a fierce look in his eyes, the manager said anxiously,
“Young Master He, was there something lacking in our service?”
“No.”
The look in He Yu’s eyes grew increasingly fierce as he pressed the elevator button.
“Call a car to the lobby. Quickly.”
“Ah, yes, yes.”
He Yu was seething. Fuck, why is this goddamn building so high? You even have to transfer elevators to get up and down from here!
Ding.
The elevator, which had been severely cursed, finally arrived at the restaurant floor. As the dark gray doors opened, He Yu jumped inside and pressed the close button. However, a hand reached out, grabbed the elevator door, and forced it open again.
What clueless bastard is wasting my time, He Yu thought, lifting his head gloomily. Following the slender, fair hand wearing a wristwatch up to the forearm, he saw Xie Qingcheng standing there with a cold expression.
“What’s happening?”
Forty minutes later. The hotel limousine, which had likely incurred an unknown amount of traffic violation fines, stopped in front of Qingkang Psychiatric Hospital.
He Yu and Xie Qingcheng entered the psychiatric hospital side by side.
In the dim evening, the lobby of Qingkang Psychiatric Hospital was brightly lit. A few mild patients from the first floor were heading for a second examination with a nurse.
“Who are you looking for?”
As He Yu and Xie Qingcheng pushed through the doors with fierce expressions, the nurse sitting at the reception desk flinched and stood up to ask.
“A professor from Huzhou University should have visited Director Liang this afternoon to discuss a project. I am that professor’s brother; where is she?”
“Then she should be on the third floor.”
The nurse scanned Xie Qingcheng and smiled, blushing.
“I guess the handsome brother came because he was worried about his sister?”
She threw a playful joke.
“You don’t have to worry too much. This is a regular hospital, so nothing will go wrong. The conversation probably just ran long. And Director Liang is over fifty and has a wife and children, so specifically—”
“What did you just say?”
He Yu suddenly interrupted.
“Director Liang has a wife and children?”
“Y-yes, they do.”
His complexion changed instantly.
He Yu’s uneasy premonition now solidified into the conviction that ‘a problem has occurred.’
In the last message she sent, Xie Xue had said:
[Director Liang, who guided me today, is a totally elegant beauty. It’s a shame you didn’t come along…]
—There’s no way Director Liang is a woman.
He Yu bolted upstairs without hesitation.
At the same time.
Inside the duty office of Qingkang Psychiatric Hospital, a song echoed leisurely.
“Throw it… throw it… throw the handkerchief, throw it softly behind the little one, no one must tell the little one…”
‘Liang Jicheng’ hummed a tune indifferently, stabbing a scalpel into the floor one by one.
The fan blades rotating above their head cut light and shadow in a dizzying whirl. However, something in front of her was shining brightly under a pinpoint light.
It was a corpse that had not been dead for long.
A Huzhou University faculty uniform stained with blood. A Huzhou University faculty uniform…
It was Xie Xue.
Liang Jicheng finally severed one of Xie Xue’s hands. He held it for a moment before tossing it aside with a numb expression. The hand rolled away, landing beside the cold, lifeless body of Xie Xue.