120: The author is dead! Now, a madman takes over the plot!

Half an hour later.

In the corridor of the mental hospital, a bizarre “proselytizing” was silently underway.

Sword River Fish found Napoleon, who always commanded his army of ants in the yard.

He didn't tell him any “truth,” he just handed him the “Gospel” sheet.

Then, in a tone almost like a charlatan, he said in a low voice:

“General, what you have lost is not ‘Europe,’ but your memory as the ‘God of War.’”

“This is an oracle from the ‘Mad King,’ and it will guide you to find your true ‘legion.’”

“Your soldiers are waiting for your return at the gates of Moscow.”

Ding—

The bell in Sword River Fish’s hand rang again.

This time, the sound of the bell transformed into the thunderous hooves of a thousand armies!

It transformed into the biting cold wind of Siberia!

Napoleon took the paper in a daze.

He looked at the symbols on it, which he couldn't understand but seemed to contain infinite power, and his whole body trembled.

“I… I heard it…”

“I heard the lament of my Sixth Army, lost in the ice and snow…”

Napoleon’s body began to tremble violently.

He suddenly stood up from his chair, straightened his hunched back, and with all his strength, let out an earth-shattering roar!

“For France—!!!”

Sword River Fish then found “Teacher Zhao,” who always wore a “dragon robe” made from a bedsheet and patrolled the wards.

“Your Majesty, your humble servant has brought you the art of war to quell the ‘Rebellion of the False Gods.’ This is a heavenly book; possessing it will transform your ‘royal power’ into ‘divine punishment.’”

Ding—

The bell in Sword River Fish’s hand rang again.

This time, the sound of the bell transformed into the shouts of countless soldiers of the Great Qin Dynasty.

It transformed into the shouts of “Long Live!” that echoed when the world was unified!

Teacher Zhao took the “Heavenly Book,” his hands trembling, tears streaming down his face, and he cried out, “Heaven does not wish for my demise! Heaven does not wish for my demise!”

One “madman” after another, immersed in their own worlds.

Under Sword River Fish’s “enlightenment,” they became the most devoted “believers” of this “Gospel of the Mad King.”

They couldn't understand the words, but that wasn't important.

What was important was this “Gospel.”

It affirmed their “existence,” beautified their “madness,” and bestowed upon them an incredibly noble “mission”!

—To turn themselves into a “curse bomb” to be hurled at the “False Gods”!

Some were singing loudly, as if in the Golden Hall of Vienna.

Some were gesturing grandly, as if standing atop the Forbidden City.

Some were weeping, covering their faces, as if returned to that rainy night of parting.

Their “hallucinations,” their “delusions,” their “obsessions.”

At this moment, they all seemed to be imbued with “life”!

They intertwined, overlapped, merged… transforming this small activity room into a bizarre, incomprehensible, undefinable…—“Chaos Space”!

…Just then.

Sword River Fish carried his meal tray to the center of the hall.

Then, under the gaze of everyone, some numb, some dazed, some curious.

He slowly inverted the meal tray over his head.

White rice, mixed with greasy soup, streamed down his hair and covered his face.

“Whoosh—”

The entire hall fell into a dead silence.

Even the most irritable orderlies, who were usually so boisterous, were stunned by his sudden and bizarre action.

“What is he doing?”

“He’s mad… This guy is completely mad…”

“Tsk tsk, what a pity, such a clean-cut young man.”

Sword River Fish was deaf to the whispers around him.

He slowly raised his hand and wiped the rice grains from his face.

Then, he held the bell, which he had been hiding in his palm, high above his head.

“Ding-a-ling-ling—”

The crisp sound of the bell, like a stone thrown into a stagnant pool, broke the oppressive silence.

The bell seemed to carry a strange magic.

It made the originally numb patients involuntarily stop what they were doing and focus their gaze on him.

“Do you know what this is?”

Sword River Fish spoke.

His voice wasn't loud, but it clearly reached the ears of everyone present.

“This is not a ‘hospital.’”

He looked around at the faces, some confused, some idiotic, some pained.

“This is ‘purgatory.’”

“It is the final ‘trial’ set by the gods for us, the ‘souls cast down to the mortal realm’!”

His voice began to rise, carrying an undeniable, mesmerizing power!

“And you are not ‘mental patients’ at all!”

“You are emperors! You are generals! You are poets! You are prophets!”

“You are the unyielding ‘gods’ who, because you refused to bow to the false ‘heavenly decrees,’ were stripped of your ‘divinity’ and cast into the ‘mortal realm’!”

“They made you drink the ‘Waters of Oblivion,’ making you forget your ‘names’!”

“They made you wear these ‘prison uniforms,’ attempting to extinguish your ‘divine nature’!”

“They used ‘electroshock,’ ‘medication,’ and this day-after-day ‘torment’ to try and make us completely degenerate into ‘mortals’ like walking corpses!”

“But! They were wrong!”

Sword River Fish suddenly clenched the bell in his hand even tighter!

“They overlooked one thing!”

“That is our ‘divine heart’ that will never yield!”

“Ding-a-ling-ling— Ding-a-ling-ling—”

He began to frantically shake the bell in his hand!

The urgent and clear ringing, like invisible thunderbolts, struck into the minds of every patient!

“Listen!!”

“Listen to the sound of this ‘Soul-Returning Bell’!”

“It is calling you! It is awakening you! It is reminding you!”

—Who you are!

“Buzz—”

As if to confirm his words.

In the hall, the originally bright lights suddenly began to flicker wildly!

The current let out a “sizzling” lament!

The TV on the wall turned to static!

“I… I remember…”

An old man, who always hugged a copy of the “Tao Te Ching” and mumbled to himself, suddenly trembled violently.

He violently threw away the book in his hand, his eyes wide, his hair and beard bristling!

“I am… Tai Shang!!”

“Boom!”

As soon as he finished speaking, the light above his head exploded!

Glass shards scattered everywhere!

“I… I am the First Emperor!”

Napoleon, no, it was Ying Zheng, in the corner, suddenly raised his head!

His originally timid eyes erupted with an aura of dominance that scorned the world!

He pushed aside the dumbfounded orderly next to him and strode forward.

He pointed at the group of orderlies, who held electric batons but dared not advance, and roared:

“Audacious demons! How dare you imprison me! Guards! Seize them all for me!!”

“I am Athena!”

“I am your daddy!”

“I am Apollo!”

“I am… the Great Sage Equal to Heaven!!”

One “patient” after another began to “awaken”!

They threw away their meal trays and tore off their hospital gowns!

They either sang battle hymns, recited poems, or let out roars of unknown meaning!

At this moment, the entire hall transformed into a frenzied ocean of gods and demons dancing wildly!

The orderlies were scared out of their wits by this sudden collective “episode”!

They had never seen such a bizarre sight!

This was no longer simple “mental derangement”!

This was more like a carefully planned “sacrifice” ritual!

And the “cult leader” standing in the center, holding the bell… his face wore a devilish smile!

…As night began to fall.

As the “accident” was about to arrive as scheduled.

As the cold announcement echoed again, informing the family to prepare for the woman’s “funeral.”

The atmosphere of the entire mental hospital had quietly changed.

The corridors and patient rooms became unusually quiet.

The madmen watched the orderlies who came to take the woman away with a mixture of “pity,” “fanaticism,” and “expectation” in their eyes.

That look made the strong orderlies’ hearts pound.

When they pushed open the woman’s room, they were even more terrified by the scene before them, almost scared out of their wits.

The woman was sitting upright on the bed.

She was wearing clean clothes she had sewn herself.

Her face was adorned with bizarre and solemn “makeup.”

There was no fear on her face; instead, she wore a strange smile, as if she was about to embark on a “holy war.”

“Congratulations, mortals.”

She looked at the orderlies and said softly, “You are about to personally unleash ‘divine punishment.’”

Even the experienced “head surgeon” in the operating room felt an unprecedented chill.

He could cut open a living person’s chest without batting an eye.

But he couldn’t face a “madman” who smiled while anticipating being cut open and told him it would make him “never reincarnate”!

This was a primal fear stemming from the depths of the soul!

In the director’s office.

Director Liu listened to his subordinate’s report and, in a fit of rage, slammed the purple clay teapot in his hand to the ground!

“Useless! A bunch of useless people!”

He roared, “It’s just one madwoman?! Give her a sedative! Tie her to the operating table for me!”

“Di-… Director…”

The head orderly said tremblingly, “We tried… but… but all the other patients are blocking the doorway…”

“They… they said… they said they want to ‘reverently send off the deity’s return’… and once the ‘seal’ is broken… they will ‘collectively martyr’!”

Director Liu’s face instantly turned ashen.

He could care less about one or two patients dying, but he couldn’t allow a large-scale riot to happen here!

His “business” was built on “secrecy” and “control”!

And now, that madman named Sword River Fish.

Was using a method he completely couldn’t understand to destroy his most prized “control”!

He had created a “mad order” to resist Director Liu’s “rational order”!

“Sword River Fish… Sword River Fish!!!”

Director Liu gritted his teeth as he uttered the name, “Find him for me! I’m going to cut him into pieces, inch by inch!”

However, just as he gave the order.

The mental hospital’s backup circuit breaker was quietly cut off amidst a violent shower of sparks.

The entire building was instantly plunged into darkness and chaos.

Alarms, screams, and the fervent “prayers” of the “believers” intertwined into a chaotic symphony.

And under the cover of this chaos.

Two dark figures, like ghosts, silently scaled the high wall that isolated them from the world… [Hai Shi City · Midnight · Under a certain overpass]

Piercing police sirens echoed throughout the night sky.

Sword River Fish leaned in a corner, gasping for breath.

Cold rain, mixed with the stench of garbage, hit his face.

He succeeded.

He escaped.

But he felt no joy at all.

Only endless bewilderment and a bone-chilling cold.

Just then.

On the giant LED screen of the commercial building opposite, an emergency news flash caught his attention.

On the screen was his face, looking particularly haggard from staying up all night.

Below the photo was a line of shocking, blood-red characters.

[Class A Wanted Notice]

[City Bureau Emergency Announcement: Special-grade dangerous mental patient ‘Sword River Fish’ from the Seventh Mental Health Center, at approximately 9 PM tonight, after violently injuring dozens of medical staff, fled to avoid punishment! This patient has extremely strong antisocial personality traits and violent tendencies! The public is urged to actively provide clues! Tip-off hotline: 119!]

[—Issued by Hai Shi City Public Security Bureau]

Sword River Fish looked at his “criminal” face on the screen and laughed self-deprecatingly.

His mind echoed with the mockery from the True Author.

[Welcome to the real world, Sword River Fish.]

[A world more absurd and more desperate than all the stories you’ve written.]

Sword River Fish stood in the shadows, his body cold.

He finally understood what kind of “reasonable” story development the True Author had arranged for him.

He was not a “hero” trying to expose the truth.

He was just a “madman,” a “murderer” who had fled to avoid punishment.

The entire world would become the hunting ground for him.

“Hahahahaha!”

Sword River Fish laughed again, his shoulders shaking continuously.

The “author” wanted to write him as a “madman.”

The “world” wanted to turn him into a “criminal.”

But he just wanted to be a living “person.”

He looked up at the oppressive night sky, dyed a hazy yellow by the city lights.

The rain, he didn't know when, had already begun to fall.

The cold raindrops hit his face, mixing with what he didn't know was sweat or tears.

He was free.

And he had nowhere to run.