632 Parents

The guards dragged Han Fei out of the doll costume, bound him on the stretcher with the straps, and hauled him into the ambulance. Throughout this process, the man with peppery hair didn’t do anything. He was a very rational man. He knew sending Han Fei to the hospital was the only way to solve the problem. Therefore, he stood to the side and watched like the other visitors.

The doctors closed the ambulance door. Han Fei finally didn’t have to suffer the gauntlet of strange gazes anymore, and he slowly calmed down. The doctors in the white coat started to bandage his arms. When they saw the scars on Han Fei’s arms, they were shocked too.

“Doctor Han, your son’s condition has worsened. There are so many scars here.” The paramedic knew the father. The paramedic carefully helped Han Fei deal with the wounds to prevent them from being infected.

“This is my fault, this is all my fault…” The man who was called Doctor Han mumbled to himself. There appeared to be a bigger conspiracy at work. The ambulance soon arrived at the hospital closest to the theme park. Han Fei was sent to the fourth floor.

“Doctor Fu, the patient discharged from the hospital yesterday has acted up again. He escaped alone from home and slipped into the theme park around dawn.” The doctor on the ambulance summarized the situation for Doctor Fu. As Han Fei’s former main physician, he was very familiar with Han Fei’s condition, “Did he hurt anyone this time?”

“No. The scars on his arms are all self-inflicted, and the wounds are definitely not deep. It’s like he was doing this to experience pain.” The doctor pointed at Han Fei’s arm and said.

“Has he gained self-mutilation tendency? Is it caused by hallucination or something else?” Doctor Fu frowned. He had not encountered such a complicated patient before. After a moment of silence, Doctor Fu looked at the middle-aged man. “Doctor Han, what has your son experienced in the past? Did you hide anything from us?”

Doctor Han shook his head. “I’ve told you everything.”

“Are you sure?” Doctor Fu stared at Han Fei’s father. “Only severe trauma would cause amnesia and other psychological problems…”

“Are you suspecting me? I’m willing to do anything to save my son!” Doctor Han said firmly.

“That’s not what I meant.” Doctor Fu opened his arms. “Anyway, I won’t waste your time anymore. There are nameless bodies popping up around the city. The coroners should be quite busy.”

“I’ll leave after Han Fei’s mother is here.” Doctor Han said coolly. Half an hour later, the woman who brought Han Fei home appeared. She stayed to accompany Han Fei while Han Fei’s father left for work. The treatment continued until 1 pm. Han Fei still couldn’t remember anything. He couldn’t even remember his parents’ names.

“The medication must continue. Even though his actions are still hugely different from a normal person, he already knows how to control himself. At least he didn’t hurt any innocent people this time. That is already a good improvement.” Doctor Fu said a lot, but the summary was the medication must continue.

Hearing that her son’s condition had improved, the middle-aged woman nodded her thanks. She followed Doctor Fu deeper into the hospital to retrieve the new batch of medicine. Han Fei sat on the bed alone. He realized that he’d be extremely anxious when he was inside the hospital. This was a place of healing, but he felt intense danger. Han Fei looked like he was spacing out, but he was actually observing everyone that walked past him. The doctors and nurses would glance at him whenever they passed. Their gazes made Han Fei feel uncomfortable. They looked at him like he was a different species, something that was harmful to humans. Han Fei gripped his fists. He tried not to feel the fear and focused on arranging the info in his mind.

‘The middle-aged man with peppery hair calls himself my father. He is a coroner, but he appears to have hidden something from my main physician.’ Han Fei’s brows twisted together. He had no idea who was really looking out for him. As an amnesiac, he felt like the whole world wanted him to die. Everyone was playing a game and what Han Fei needed to do was to survive until the end, while the entire world worked to kill him. Han Fei’s scars started to bleed again. However, the physical pain was nothing to him. ‘I seem to be used to pain. But based on the literature in my bedroom, I should be a scriptwriter or an actor.’

“Han Fei, it’s time to go home.” The middle-aged woman’s voice came from the other end of the corridor. She was holding a pack of medicine. Seeing the medicine pills, Han Fei had the urge to escape again. The medicine was poison in his eyes, and he’d die from eating them.

“These medicines have some side effects. They are heavy on the body, so try to take them after a meal. Also, remember to increase the dosage.” Doctor Fu handed the prescription note to the woman. He looked at Han Fei. “He has recovered a lot, so the treatment is effective.”

This casual observation caused Han Fei to shiver. Doctor Fu’s treatment might not be for Han Fei’s benefit. Han Fei couldn’t trust these people, but he was only given a bad choice or a worse choice. The woman was glad when she heard the report from Doctor Fu. She led Han Fei away from the hospital. Similar to the first day, the woman led Han Fei home. She had Han Fei sit on the couch while she went to cook in the kitchen. The woman cared about Han Fei a lot. However, Han Fei was very unfamiliar with this kind of care. In his memory, there was no such character that cared about him this much.

‘Is she really my mom?’ Han Fei had little to no memory of his parents. He tried his best to think, but his mind was blank. ‘What is written on that missing page of the script? If my mother is not my mother, she would have destroyed the whole script if she saw the story, and she wouldn’t just tear away one page…’ Han Fei closed his hands together. ‘Did I tear away the page myself? I hid the most important page somewhere else?’ Han Fei was resistant to going home. Once he was home, he was reminded of what happened yesterday night. He knew this place was dangerous, but he had to come back because this place had traces of his life. He needed to regain his memory.

Soon, the middle-aged woman was ready with the meal. She placed two vegetarian dishes on the table.

“Another vegetarian meal?” Han Fei looked at the dishes, which were similar to yesterday’s. This home was on an endless loop.

“They are your favorites.” The middle-aged woman looked at Han Fei with heartache. “If you want to try some new flavors, I’ll cook them tomorrow.”

“My favorites are vegetarian dishes?” Han Fei placed the food in his mouth. The food was delicious, but he felt like the woman was lying. Compared to vegetables, he should like meat more. Gorging on meat, that was his joy. Han Fei finished the meals and stood up. He walked to his bedroom and closed the door. He hugged the trashcan and forced himself to vomit into the plastic bag. Doctor Fu had said that the medicines had to be taken after the meal, but the middle-aged woman didn’t say anything after the meal was over. So the medicine had probably been mixed into the food. Furthermore, the middle-aged woman entered the kitchen right after they arrived home. She went in with the pack of medicine, but when she came out, they were gone. ‘After I had her cooking last time, I felt drowsy and woke up at night. By then, the whole house was already filled with ghosts. There is a high chance the dishes are contaminated.’

Han Fei sealed up the plastic bag and hid it deep inside the dresser. Then, he recovered everything.

After twenty minutes later, the bedroom door opened. The woman removed her apron and tucked Han Fei into bed. She sat beside his bed for a long time. “We have no idea if this is correct or not. But certain mistakes can’t be stopped once they have been started. Perhaps this is a punishment for us that you’ve become like this.” Then, she stood up and left. Han Fei heard her making a call in the living room. “Won’t you arouse your suspicion staying that often in the basement? Do you need any tools? Okay, I’ll clean the first-floor basement.” The woman hung up. She rummaged through the living room and left.

“Perhaps I’m really an actor. I could act asleep so naturally.” Han Fei opened his eyes. He opened the dresser and dealt with his vomit. He then stood in the middle of the living room. Before the sky was dark, Han Fei didn’t feel that afraid standing there. He felt the strangeness begin after night fell.

“I should look for the things I left behind first.” Han Fei picked up the scripts on the table. He realized he might be a horror movie scriptwriter. All the scripts were about ghost stories. Concluding the incomplete and ruined ones, there were 99 scripts in total. Most of the scripts only had one sentence or words of inspiration. It was hard to connect them. Han Fei used his superhuman memory to memorize them.

“The sixth story—the rental tenant. The woman moved into the building in the month of July. Her stomach grew bigger and bigger.

“These stories happen all over the city. Most of them read like real events.” Han Fei turned to the other books. He looked through them one by one, trying to find if there was any note. When he picked up Salinger’s The Heart of a Broken Story, he noticed a bookmark. He turned to the page and noticed a sentence had been marked out. ‘There are some people who think love is sex and marriage and six o’clock-kisses and children, and perhaps it is, Miss Lester. But do you know what I think? I think love is a touch and yet not a touch.’

“What is the meaning of that?” Han Fei tried his best to think, and a scene appeared in his mind. Just that morning, when that mother at the theme park saw his face, she approached him subconsciously to touch his face, but then she quickly pulled back. ‘Hmm, maybe she is featured deeply in my story.’ Han Fei shook his head.

Han Fei glanced at the time and mulled over the things his mother said on the phone. “Who was she talking with? Why did she need tools? And what is there to clean up at the first-floor basement?” After some hesitation, Han Fei decided to take a look. After all, he would leave this house sooner or later. He placed all the books and scripts inside his backpack and then left through the front door.

“I can suppress my fear before the night arrives. After it is dark, I’ll be dominated by fear. I need to take advantage of this.” Han Fei entered the stairwell and walked silently. Soon, he arrived on the first floor. With just a glance downwards, Han Fei broke out in goosebumps. Every cell in his body told him to stay put. Something terrifying was hidden in the basement. However, the stairs that led to the basement were very familiar like he had already taken this route many times before.

Han Fei entered the dark corridor of the first-floor basement. He was about to move forward when he heard footsteps. A strange smell assaulted his nostrils. A thought surface. ‘That’s formalin.’

He had no idea why he was so familiar with the smell of Formalin when he was supposed to be a scriptwriter or an actor.

Suppressing his fear, Han Fei moved down the corridor, following the shadow in front. He saw many blood stains and crazed messages written in red. Han Fei covered his mouth. Suddenly, the shadow stopped. Han Fei couldn’t hear what the person on the other side of the phone was saying, but he could hear the shadow clearly, “The bodies are hard to deal with? I can’t go there now. There are many bloodstains to clean… Okay, I understand.”

The figure who was cleaning the bloodstains in the basement was the middle-aged woman who called herself Han Fei’s mother.

 

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