Separated from the outside world by a window fitted with wire mesh, Chen Ge stood at the sill. He could smell the flowers, feel the sunlight, feel the breeze brush against his skin, and see the person he longed for — yet he simply could not step outside.
The world beyond was beautiful and real, but it belonged to the people out there.
His fingers gripped the wire mesh. Rust scraped against his skin as Chen Ge silently stared at the haunted house on the western side of the park, watching the actress dressed up as a ghost.
Even with the ghoulish makeup on, Chen Ge recognized her at a glance.
"Focus on your treatment. Once your condition improves and the director approves your discharge, you'll be able to go see her." Doctor Gao treated Chen Ge well. He knew about the wretched things Chen Ge had endured, and beyond his professional duty as a physician, he genuinely sympathized with him.
"I have to get better before I can leave?" Chen Ge yearned for the world outside. He fixed his gaze on the actress without blinking, and the actress — who was selling tickets in the park — seemed to sense something, turning her head to glance toward the hospital.
Their eyes met. Chen Ge instinctively wanted to look away, but he quickly realized the actress harbored no ill will. There was no trace of discrimination or disgust in her gaze — only a hint of curiosity.
Perhaps noticing how uneasy he looked, the actress — her face painted in a fierce ghost's visage — offered a faint, gentle smile.
The exchange of glances lasted only a second or two before the actress went back to work, handing out flyers to passing tourists, holding up advertising boards, earnestly promoting her haunted house.
"Was I like her in the past, or is she playing the person I used to be…?"
Two opposing thoughts kept surfacing in Chen Ge's mind. He could not tell whether it was instinct or some kind of illness.
He did not dare to think too deeply about it — that excruciating pain threatening to split his skull was not something just anyone could endure.
Seeing Chen Ge standing blankly by the window once more, Doctor Gao sighed softly and quietly left.
The light at the horizon gradually softened, an orange-red hue bleeding into the blazing sunlight. When the setting sun disappeared behind the tall buildings, nothing remained in the sky but clusters of blazing clouds.
Beautiful. Stunning, even.
Chen Ge stood by the window the entire afternoon. The temperature slowly dropped, and a cool night breeze slipped through his collar. He shivered.
"It's dark."
Touching his chest, Chen Ge recalled the surveillance footage Doctor Gao had shown him earlier: "That person in the video — wild, like a beast — was that really me?"
Surveillance cameras did not lie. Chen Ge's subconscious trusted footage from cameras; after all, hadn't he himself used surveillance to confirm many things before?
"The other me is called Xu Yin? If the doctor hasn't lied to me, then when will he come?"
Looking down at his own body, Chen Ge found it strangely unfamiliar. He braced himself against the wall and sat down on the bed.
Night had fallen, but Chen Ge did not close the window. He felt that shutting it would bring on a wave of irritability, as if the entire room had become oppressive — like a maze with no exit.
"I want to leave this place so badly."
The park outside had already closed for the night, but the haunted house still had its lights on.
"She hasn't gone home? Does she live inside the haunted house?"
"Cleaning such a massive haunted house all alone — that must be exhausting. I wish someone would go help her."
"No, wait — why is she alone? She should have parents of her own…"
At that thought, a sharp pain lanced through Chen Ge's head. Parents seemed to be a forbidden subject buried deep in his heart. The moment anything related to his parents crossed his mind, his brain was wracked with searing agony.
He clutched his head with both hands, groaning in pain, twisting the bedsheet into a crumpled mess.
Bang, bang, bang!
A knock at the door. Doctor Gao pushed open the ward entrance, and upon seeing Chen Ge's state, rushed to the bedside, guiding him through his breathing until he calmed.
After the pain in his brain finally subsided, Chen Ge collapsed onto the bed.
"Empty your mind. Don't let your thoughts run wild. Get some rest." Doctor Gao stepped aside, and only then did Chen Ge notice that there was another person standing behind the doctor.
The man was young, his face cold and expressionless — as though he suffered from a deficiency of emotion.
"Your previous two roommates have been transferred out of this ward for various reasons. This is your new roommate. His name is Zuo Han."
There were three beds in the ward altogether. The patient called Zuo Han did not exchange a single word with Chen Ge. With a frigid expression, he simply chose the bed closest to the door.
"I hope you two will get along."
Doctor Gao gave a brief introduction of Zuo Han. During this time, Xu Wan delivered their meals into the ward. After Chen Ge and Zuo Han finished eating, Doctor Gao took out a medicine bottle from his pocket.
Only after personally watching both Chen Ge and Zuo Han swallow the pills did he leave, taking Xu Wan with him.
The wind blew through the window into the ward. Zuo Han sat by the bed near the door; Chen Ge lay in the bed by the window. Between them stood a third, empty bed.
Neither of them spoke. After about ten minutes, Chen Ge broke the silence: "If you're cold, I can close the window."
"No need." Zuo Han replied with just those two words. He stood up, checked the door, and confirming that the ward was not locked, lay down on his bed with his shoes still on.
"You don't take your shoes off to sleep?" Chen Ge vaguely felt that the name Zuo Han was familiar, but his damaged memory could not match the name to the face before him. The medicine he had just taken had noticeably slowed his thinking.
Zuo Han stared at Chen Ge's face for a long while before saying coldly, "I keep my shoes on so I can escape this room at any moment."
"Why?" Chen Ge recalled that he himself had chosen to flee in the surveillance footage. His mind had gone sluggish, but his senses remained sharp — it was almost instinctive.
"Because you're in this room. You're a very dangerous patient." Zuo Han rolled his eyes at Chen Ge.
"The pot calling the kettle black. If you weren't sick, you wouldn't be locked in here either." Chen Ge did not consider himself particularly dangerous. He merely felt that his thoughts were in chaos — the slightest effort to think brought searing pain, yet if he stopped thinking for too long, he feared certain memory fragments in his mind would vanish for good.
"I'm not sick. There really are people in this world who want me dead. That is a fact, not a symptom of my illness." Zuo Han gave a cold laugh. "Besides, even if I truly were sick, I'm still a long way from matching you."