Chapter 644: Mental Patient

Chapter 644: A Mental Patient

Hearing the sounds from outside the door, Li Huowang abruptly shot to his feet. In irritation, he yanked back the blanket and strode toward the entrance with a furious air.

As soon as the door opened, Li Huowang saw two men in patient gowns leaning against the wall, eating snacks while debating philosophy.

One of them wore plastic-rimmed glasses and had an elegant, slicked-back hairstyle. It was this man whose delusional ramblings he had heard just moments earlier from within the ward.

But Li Huowang didn’t care about that now. He simply found this newcomer extremely irritating—his mouth never stopped chattering without end.

"Get lost! It's only seven in the morning, why are you making such a racket?"

"Oh~ You little comrade, don't interrupt me while I'm speaking. Do you know what I’m doing? I’m fighting for the necessary rights of our special group!"

Before he could say more, his companion noticed the handcuffs on Li Huowang’s wrists and quickly pulled him away.

Though the man was driven off, Li Huowang no longer felt sleepy. He sighed deeply, turned around, and went inside to put on his shoes.

He had to admit, being a perfectly normal person locked up with these mentally ill patients was truly torturous.

And especially since dealing with those who were not entirely lucid, he couldn’t take out his anger on anyone—he would only be labeled as having a relapse by the doctors, pushing his discharge date further away.

After putting on his shoes, Li Huowang stood in the empty single room with nothing to do. So he got up and headed toward the dining hall for breakfast.

"Sui Sui, are you hungry?"

The breakfast at the psychiatric hospital offered no surprises—steamed buns with vegetables and porridge.

Li Huowang took his tray and sat down in a corner to eat, thinking about how long he still needed to stay before being discharged.

Wei Shili, the manic-depressive soldier, had already been released. Now it was likely his turn among the group members to be discharged next.

With nothing else to do, Li Huowang began eating again when suddenly he felt something tighten at the back of his neck.

When he turned his head, he saw Qian Fu, the personality-disordered patient he'd encountered earlier, staring at him from afar.

Seeing that Qian Fu was merely watching him without doing anything else, Li Huowang ignored him and continued eating.

Living in a psychiatric ward inevitably meant encountering such situations. One just had to keep a calm mindset.

There were cameras everywhere, so he doubted this guy would dare do anything outrageous.

As for what he had said before, Li Huowang had long since dismissed it. After all, nobody really pays attention to the words spoken by a stranger suffering from mental illness.

After breakfast, another round of group meetings began, where patients gathered in a circle. Li Huowang honestly didn’t see any real benefit in such gatherings.

If encouragement alone could cure mental illness, then why bother taking medicine every day?

The plastic chair in the upper left corner of Li Huowang’s section was now empty. He wasn’t surprised, as Wei Shili had told him he was leaving soon.

However, the chair belonging to Wang Wansu, who suffered from schizophrenia, was also vacant, which puzzled him slightly.

"Why did Sister Wang leave too? Has her condition improved?" Li Huowang asked the depressed girl beside him.

Zhao Ting shook her head with a pale expression. "No, she hasn’t gotten better. Her husband just didn’t transfer money into the hospital account, so they kicked her out."

"I shared a room with her. She actually wanted to stay because her condition was improving gradually. But the doctor said the hospital isn’t charity—no money, no treatment."

Hearing this, Li Huowang let out a soft sigh. People outside often assumed that anyone in a psychiatric ward, once the doors were open, would desperately try to escape the asylum like madmen running wild.

But in reality, most mentally ill individuals who were still relatively rational understood they were sick and wanted to get fully cured.

Some even chose to come to the hospital alone, hiding their condition from family members, bringing only clothes.

Only those whose behavior was completely uncontrollable would end up being forcibly dragged into the hospital like in TV dramas.

Mental patients were people too, no different from others who were ill—they just had their illnesses in different parts of the brain.

Compared to escaping, they preferred to be completely cured in the psychiatric ward and return to society as healthy individuals.

Yet reality was harsh. Hospitals needed to make money, especially private ones. Even if doctors knew a patient’s condition was hopeless, they’d still be sent away if there was no payment.

Without money, there was no cure; with illness, there was no income. Many fell into this vicious cycle, watching their conditions deteriorate step by step until they became useless or insane.

To avoid adding more psychological burden to Zhao Ting, Li Huowang comforted her gently: “Sister Wang’s condition is manageable. Besides, her schizophrenia is mild. As long as she keeps taking her medication, it’ll stabilize. Don’t worry about her.”

While they talked, Li Huowang noticed Wu Cheng approaching with two new patients.

One was the slick-haired man with glasses who had appeared at his door earlier. The other was a thin old man.

"Good morning, everyone. Our group has lost two members today, so we’ve added two newcomers. This gentleman here is Yuan Heping, and this fellow over here is Wang Gang. Let’s give them a warm welcome!"

Others gave sparse applause. Li Huowang didn’t move. His mind wandered, trying to figure out how to pass the boring time.

As soon as the two newcomers sat down, Li Huowang noticed the man with glasses looking at him. When Li Huowang looked up, the man quickly looked away.

"Alright, why don’t both of you introduce yourselves first?"

In the agonizing wait, time passed slowly, as if an entire year had gone by. Finally, this endless mutual support session came to an end.

During the whole ordeal, he received no help whatsoever—only learned the diagnoses of the two newcomers.

The old man had obsessive-compulsive disorder, and the one with glasses had schizophrenia. Nothing particularly unusual.

Once everyone stood up and picked up their chairs to leave, Li Huowang took a deep breath and stood up. That tormenting morning was finally over.

Just as he followed the others toward the dining hall for lunch, a kind-faced man approached him—the same idiotic one from before.

"Brother, here, it's delicious," he said, holding a small pack of Wangzai Little Steamed Buns.

Li Huowang reached out to accept it, but just as he was about to thank him, a shadow darted past him from the side.

"Watch out! They’re here! Danger is approaching!" The voice whispered urgently into Li Huowang’s ear before quickly disappearing.

Although Li Huowang only glimpsed the back of someone’s head, he recognized it was none other than Qian Fu.

Li Huowang frowned, stood still for a moment, then shook his head and continued walking toward the dining hall.

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Next chapter update at 11:32 PM.

(End of Chapter)