117: They can't cure my madness, so they want to take my life.

As night fell.

Sword River Fish lay in bed, covered head to toe by the quilt, completely sleepless.

His heart pounded violently with a mix of tension and anticipation.

Freedom... It had been a long time since he had experienced this feeling.

He reached into his pocket and tightly clutched the cold bell.

This was his "anchor point."

And also his "talisman."

Just then.

Ding-a-ling... A faint, thread-like chime, barely audible, entered his ears from his palm.

Immediately after, a ethereal, gender-neutral voice suddenly echoed in his mind.

The cradle... is empty...

A new... sacrifice... has been placed... on the altar...

Go and see...

Go and see... those 'stories'... gnawed clean by 'reality'...

It was that voice again!

Sword River Fish's pupils suddenly constricted!

He knew that every appearance of this voice meant that something big was about to happen!

He abruptly sat up from the bed, his heart pounding incessantly.

Sacrifice? Altar?

What did that mean?

He forced himself to calm down.

He knew that this voice was guiding him.

Just like last time, it guided him to discover the truth of "the author entering the game."

He glanced at the wall clock.

Two in the morning.

It was when the entire hospital's defenses were at their weakest.

He took a deep breath and tiptoed out of the ward.

The corridor was dead silent.

Only the distant, even snoring of the orderly from the duty room could be heard.

Sword River Fish followed the guidance of the voice in his mind.

He passed through one dark and oppressive corridor after another, corridors he had never walked before.

Finally, he arrived at the second basement level of the inpatient department.

This was the hospital's "restricted area."

It was said to be a place for storing medical waste and discarded equipment.

But the pungent smell in the air, a mixture of formalin and blood, told him that it was definitely not that simple!

The voice led him to a heavy red door covered in thick sheet metal.

A prominent warning sign hung on the door.

High Voltage! No Entry Without Permission!

However, the moment Sword River Fish approached the door.

The bell in his pocket suddenly rang out with an urgent and crisp sound!

Ding-a-ling-ling-ling-ling—!!!

The lock of the seemingly indestructible iron door made a soft "click."

Then, slowly, it opened inward, creating a gap just wide enough for one person to pass through.

A more intense, more pungent smell of blood wafted out from the crack in the door!

Sword River Fish's stomach churned.

He suppressed the urge to vomit, covered his mouth and nose, turned sideways, and squeezed through.

The scene behind the door was something he would never forget.

It was a room even colder and more stark white than an operating room.

In the center of the room, there was a cold stainless steel operating table.

Above the operating table, a large shadowless lamp emitted a stark white light.

It illuminated the dark red bloodstains on the surface, which had not yet dried, making them perfectly clear.

Next to the operating table were several blue insulated containers, labeled "For Human Organ Transport Only."

One of the boxes was not properly closed.

Through the gap, one could clearly see a still-beating heart inside...

And in the corner of the room, a filing cabinet lay casually open.

Medical records with patient photos were scattered all over the floor.

Sword River Fish trembled as he walked forward and picked up the top one.

The photo showed a middle-aged man with a very honest smile.

Sword River Fish recognized him.

He was "Napoleon," who lived in the ward next door.

He always said he had lost a farm called "Europe."

And in the "Cause of Death" column of the medical record, two shocking words were stamped in red.

— [Accident].

The time of death was last Wednesday.

Sword River Fish clearly remembered.

In the early hours of last Wednesday, he was woken by a commotion.

He heard the orderlies shouting, "Patient suddenly suffered a heart attack."

Then an ambulance, with incredible speed, roared to a halt.

And then... he never saw "Napoleon," who had "lost his farm," again.

Sword River Fish's body began to tremble violently, uncontrollably.

He picked up the second, third, and fourth medical records...

[Accidental Fall from Building]

[Drug Allergy]

[Food Poisoning]

...Every name was a "patient friend" he knew.

Every cause of death seemed so "reasonable and logical."

He suddenly remembered something that made his blood run cold.

He had been here for almost a month.

He found that in this psychiatric hospital, there were never any "patients" who had been hospitalized for more than five years.

Those "old patients" would always disappear silently due to various "accidents."

Then, new "patients" would be admitted to fill their empty beds.

This place... was not a psychiatric hospital at all!

This was a human slaughterhouse disguised as "saving lives and healing the wounded"!

A terrifying truth, like the most vicious curse, exploded in his mind!

Sword River Fish felt a wave of dizziness!

He leaned against the wall, gasping for breath.

Cold sweat had long since drenched his back.

He was just an author who made a living by writing.

He just wanted to quietly finish his story!

How could he get caught in such a terrifying vortex of reality, even more horrifying than the darkest plots in his own writing?!

Run!

Must run immediately!

This was the only thought in his mind!

He stumbled out of this "red room," which was like hell.

He wanted to find Lin Wan'er immediately and have her call the police!

But... the faces of the two public security officials who had "invited" him here, like a nightmare, appeared before his eyes.

Their indifferent eyes, devoid of any emotion.

That practiced, almost "routine" "enforcement procedure."

His intuition was frantically warning him!

Behind this slaughterhouse, there was definitely an invisible "protective umbrella"!

Calling the police would not save anyone.

Instead, it would drag both him and Lin Wan'er into an abyss of no return!

Sword River Fish stumbled back to his ward.

He locked the door, leaned his back against it, and slowly slid to the floor.

His mind was in chaos.

What to do?

What on earth should he do?

His gaze fell on the map he had hidden under his mattress for escape.

Escape!

Yes!

Escape first!

As long as I escape this hell, as long as I can get my computer back!

I will write down everything here!

I want everyone to know what kind of dirty and bloody evil is hidden in the most glamorous corner of this city!

However... just as he made up his mind and was about to execute his original plan.

His gaze inadvertently caught sight of the latest medical record, which he had subconsciously brought out of the "red room."

That medical record that had not yet been stamped with "Accident."

The photo showed a beautiful woman with a haggard face.

She was holding a pillow, her face adorned with a happy and contented maternal smile.

It was her... the woman who cried and laughed every day, holding a pillow.

The woman who would share half of the candies she secretly hid with him.

The woman who, when he had nightmares, would treat him like her grown child, gently patting his back and humming out-of-tune lullabies... Sword River Fish was an orphan.

He had never experienced what "maternal love" felt like in his life.

Until he met her.

Although she was already insane.

Although she only treated him as a "substitute."

But that pure and gentle love, unadulterated by any impurities.

It was the little warmth he felt in this cold world.

And in the "Surgery Schedule" column of the medical record, it was clearly written.

— [Tomorrow night, nine o'clock, sudden death].

Sword River Fish's heart felt as if it was being fiercely squeezed by an invisible hand!

Tomorrow night at nine... And the escape time he and Lin Wan'er had agreed upon was four o'clock the day after tomorrow morning.

If... if he followed his original plan and escaped alone.

Then by the time he exposed the truth here to the public.

By the time that "delayed justice" finally arrived.

She... would have already become a cold corpse with her internal organs removed.

Save her?

Or... escape himself?

Sword River Fish's mind was plunged into an unprecedented, violent struggle!

He was not a saint.

He knew his life was more important than anything.

That woman was not related to him by blood.

Her "kindness" to him was merely the unconscious act of a "madwoman."

To gamble his only chance of escape for a "madwoman"?

Was it worth it?

But... as soon as he closed his eyes.

What appeared in his mind was that woman's loving gaze as she put candy in his hand.

It was her gentle profile as she hummed a lullaby by his bed... That warmth was real.

That love was also real.

Could he really turn a blind eye and watch this "warmth" he had longed for his entire life.

Be dismembered alive on that cold operating table?

Sword River Fish clutched the medical record, his fingernails already deeply embedded in his palm.

Blood dripped, drop by drop, along the edge of the paper, falling onto the cold floor.

One was the hope of "life."

The other was an inseparable "Humanity."

How should he choose?