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墨書 Inktalez
It was Song Bunan's first day as an intern nurse. The morning passed in a haze of half-sleep, and by noon, he had joined the prominent figures from the partner hospital for a special lunch prepared just for them. In the afternoon, he made his rounds through various patient rooms, steadily moving toward dinner time. He felt as if his brain had been scooped out and rubbed against the ground.
Despite the many patients in the rooms, a few of them insisted on playing with him. Playing was fine; he had been trained by Ming You since childhood to excel at games like house. But why did they have to pretend to be mushrooms under an umbrella in the room? He couldn't understand.
While others simply peeked into each room and moved on, he found himself caught in five different rooms, acting as a mushroom, pretending to be a matsutake, and transforming into a Caterpillar. Each room required him to stay for at least half an hour. By the time he dragged his sore legs back to the corridor to catch up with the group, they had already finished their rounds and were heading back to the conference room for another meeting.
"Hey, look who's back! What did you find in the forest?" Xiao Mei even laughed until tears came to her eyes.
Song Bunan, who had no desire to engage in conversation, snorted and walked past her, leaning against the wall as he slowly made his way toward the conference room. He had never considered why this "nurse" was so beloved by the patients, even upon their first meeting. However, thanks to his extended stay in the patient rooms, he had made some discoveries.
The hospital walls were specially constructed; the outer white walls were made of coated panels with an inner layer of steel that was impossible to gauge in thickness. The ceiling was equipped with smoke detectors, fire sprinklers, and surveillance cameras, along with a small square object in a corner that was difficult to identify. The windows were double-layered and bulletproof; one of them bore a peculiar scratch that looked like a bullet mark.
Moreover, the patients exhibited similar symptoms—everything from their movements and behaviors to their speech patterns and thought processes were alike. Those who grabbed him wanted to become fungi, claiming that this place was the Great Forest where starry-eyed people came every day to pick them, dry them out, and throw them back. Aside from that Caterpillar, they said this was a grove of leaves where everyone turned into cocoons at night and emerged during the day when a bell rang to continue being Caterpillars.
When Song Bunan asked if anyone transformed into butterflies, they innocently smiled and pointed toward the east corridor, saying that butterflies were frozen in the sunroom.
At that moment, he happened to be on the fourth floor.
During dinner, without the company of the resident doctors, their group scattered as they searched for food in the cafeteria. The poorly made ID cards could indeed be used as meal cards. The kitchen staff wore stern expressions as they emotionlessly dumped selected dishes into trays; their rough movements often sent some food tumbling back into the pots.
Song Bunan opted for noodles, declaring that he desperately needed a warm bowl of soup noodles to relieve his aching legs. The four of them sat together in a corner where hardly anyone noticed them. Shui Su spoke casually while eating, using a low voice to mention that he had seen three different groups of security personnel patrolling; among them were armed guards in the east corridor by the iron gate on the fourth floor.
Xin Yi chose a vegetable steak salad and shared what he had observed: "Each door inside the iron gate on the east side of the fourth floor has its own surveillance camera. The main gate has a three-layer password lock—initially assessed as requiring fingerprint recognition, iris scan, and a password. The second and third floors are regular floors; I haven't seen anything suspicious there."
Song Bunan quietly picked up a pair of chopsticks from each person's plate to sample what he wanted before speaking up with somewhat muffled words about his findings regarding those specially constructed walls with bulletproof glass and how butterflies were frozen in the sunroom on the east side. "I suspect that these patients have been deliberately turned into neurotics."
Xiao Mei remained silent until she finished her food before pulling out her phone album and placing it on the table. She pointed at several photos saying, "According to comparisons, Ming Hua captured images of places with hatches not located on either the second or third floors or within open areas on the fourth floor. However, based on what we found at home regarding New Life Hospital's architectural blueprint, its actual area is much smaller than what is measured outside."
"There are hidden areas," Song Bunan followed up on her thought process. Shui Su nodded slightly and added, "The layout of the patient rooms also differs from what’s shown on the plans; the wall thickness is abnormal."
“Mighty Falcon also has several layers like this; they are specifically reserved passages, but they generally remain closed,” Xin Yi said.
Shui Su nodded and continued, “Many people create secret spaces in their homes for convenience in case of emergencies. Ordinary people would never notice them upon entering. However, if you compare it to the original blueprints of the house, you can almost instantly analyze what’s wrong. This hospital must have constructed many hidden passages connecting the wards for the convenience of transporting patients to experiments.”
“The backs of those steel plates might just be the passages,” Song Bunan said, rubbing his leg as he leaned back in his chair, stuffed from a bowl of noodles.
“Tonight, we won’t do anything,” Shui Su said, raising his hand to gesture a push-up glasses motion, signaling that someone was approaching. The group shifted their conversation to travel plans, with Song Bunan exclaiming that he wanted to go to the beach to catch crabs. At that moment, a girl named Lin Ling approached their table holding a delicately packaged item.
It was a bag of cookies wrapped in a soft plastic bag adorned with pink petals, tied at the top with a pink bow sprinkled with gold. The cookies themselves were decorated with pink hearts. Except for Xin Yi, who had his back turned to her, everyone else stared at her expectantly.
The girl shyly extended her hand and offered the bag of cookies to Xin Yi, her voice sweet and gentle as she said, “Teacher Xiao, these are cookies I baked. Please give them a try.”
Shui Su quickly covered Xiao Mei’s mouth before she could shout out in excitement and glanced thoughtfully at Song Bunan. Xiao Mei looked over too. They both thought that since Song Bunan liked Xin Yi so much—though he hadn’t officially pursued him yet—he might feel unhappy or even try to intervene if someone else showed interest.
However, Song Bunan showed no signs of negativity; instead, he appeared excited and eager for the unfolding drama. He even started giving Xiao Mei subtle signals to record the moment on her phone when he noticed their exchanged glances.
This reaction was unexpected. Xiao Mei looked at Shui Su in panic and found that her boyfriend also wore an expression of rare confusion. They were completely baffled by Song Bunan’s emotional logic.
Meanwhile, the story's protagonist, Xin Yi, seemed uninterested; his expression was less animated than when they had been discussing travel. He slightly turned his head and glanced at the girl, stating that he never ate desserts.
“He’s lying!” Song Bunan seemed to finally remember he had a phone and quickly sent a message to Xiao Mei: “He never said he doesn’t eat sweets when he was having my chocolate lava cake! He accepted candy before!”
Is this really what you want to focus on?! Xiao Mei felt her vision darken upon reading the message; if they weren’t all present, she would have kicked this clueless guy hard. Holding back her frustration as she looked back at Lin Ling, she saw the girl awkwardly retract her hand. However, the brief flash of disappointment in her eyes quickly transformed into brightness.
“Then I’ll make you sugar-free cookies!” Without giving Xin Yi another chance to respond, she dashed away, disappearing outside the cafeteria in an instant. Song Bunan leaned forward curiously, looking directly at Xin Yi with a mischievous grin and said cheerfully, “Dude, you’re something else—love at first sight! Why don’t you accept her feelings?”
His tone was sincere and concerned; Xiao Mei couldn’t tell if he was genuinely calm or just pretending to be happy about it. The one being questioned remained composed as he finished the last sip of tea from his cup and met Song Bunan’s gaze seriously before replying, “I don’t like her.”
Shui Su barely had time to cover Xiao Mei's mouth when a teasing and excited "Ah—" filled the entire cafeteria.
It was quite awkward. Song Bunan couldn't remember how he made it back to the dormitory from the cafeteria; all he could think about was the serious look in Xin Yi's eyes when he was answering his silly question. It felt like a boy in a love story explaining his actions meticulously to avoid making his girlfriend jealous. This thought exploded in Song Bunan's mind like fireworks, and he knew for sure that his face was flushed.
By the time he snapped back to reality, Xin Yi had already gone to take a shower. He stood there like a dazed dog caught in a door, frozen in place for a long time due to his racing thoughts. Inside, he was roaring and rolling around like a maggot, but on the outside, he remained dazed with a bright red face.
How embarrassing! Song Bunan scolded himself for being so pathetic, then chuckled foolishly at the thought of Xin Yi's face. Perhaps he had already developed some feelings of friendship towards him. He comforted himself with the thought that if Xiao Mei found out, she would definitely kick him for being so foolish. What would Xiao Mei say? She would probably call him stupid and accuse him of self-deception.
While Shui Su was tidying up the workbench, he discovered two hidden cameras, which Xiao Mei also found while showering. The two of them exchanged exasperated glances and merged their beds into one, losing all motivation to write their task logs.
Xiao Mei hugged Shui Su's arm and sighed, "Isn't this a bit silly?" Shui Su understood what he meant and nodded in agreement, reading the disdain in his partner's eyes. He deliberately said, "After all, there's still room for improvement in this area."
"After living this long, I turn out to be an idiot. Sigh... let's not talk about him anymore; I'm going to play some games." Shui Su took Xiao Mei's phone and affectionately poked his nose, saying that even though it was still early, they couldn't play games today anymore. "You felt so dizzy this morning; you should rest and sleep. We have to get up at six tomorrow."
"Alright then, tomorrow we’ll go kick Song Bunan's door! I want to see how scared he gets!" Facing his lover's childlike playfulness, Shui Su was very gentle as he held him close and promised that he would help take pictures for memories in the morning.
Meanwhile, Song Bunan was munching on snacks while binge-watching a show, completely unaware that he had been set up. He couldn't discuss task details with Xin Yi since they had already found two listening devices near the TV. Xin Yi pretended to share photos with him on his phone, which read: Many surveillance devices.
He gave Xin Yi a thumbs-up without any trace of the shyness he had felt earlier. "This photo is impressive; I like it. We've come here to exchange ideas for about ten days now; I hope we can find time to buy snacks at the convenience store."
Xin Yi nodded and assured him that they would have that opportunity.
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