3. Fire in the stone, body in the dream

Qingshan Hospital, 11:30 at night.

The doctor on duty, Old Liu, had just refilled his cup with strong tea when, with a loud bang, the door was kicked open.

"What are you doing?" Old Liu shouted angrily.

"Er Dao, hold him down."

"Where should I hold him?"

"On the table."

Er Dao strode swiftly to Old Liu, slammed his head onto the table with a thud, causing extreme pain across half his face.

Brother Pao, pushing Chen Shuo and Wang Huiling into the ward, strolled in leisurely, "Chen Shuo says you took fifty thousand yuan from him to conspire and lock his nephew in the mental hospital?"

Old Liu bellowed, "Help, someone! There's a disturbance in the hospital!"

Rapid footsteps echoed from the corridor, but Brother Pao remained unflustered. He merely took off his Tang suit and slowly rolled up his shirt sleeves, revealing arms covered in tattoos and muscles.

As a primitive beast sheds its disguise when facing its prey, all those being watched by him should cherish their lives.

The moment two male nurses appeared at the door, Brother Pao slightly leaned to the right to dodge a punch, and the next second, he hooked his fist, striking the jaw of one nurse, freezing him in place.

Before the other nurse could react, Brother Pao, quick as a panther, dashed up to him and hooked another punch to his jaw!

"Weak."

Only after his comment did the thump sound of the two male nurses falling down unconscious hit the floor like a pair of sticks.

Brother Pao turned to look at Old Liu, still pinned on the table, "Anyone else?"

"No... No more."

"Can we talk properly now?"

"Yes! Yes!"

"Good, you three squat in a line," Brother Pao pulled up a chair, sat down, and crossed his legs, "Is Chen Ji really mentally ill?"

"No, no," Old Liu said, "He just thinks a bit abnormally, has mild violent and depressive tendencies, but he's not actually sick."

Brother Pao lit a cigarette, "Strange, if he anticipated your actions, why did he still end up being admitted here?"

"He wanted to use you to get revenge on us!"

Brother Pao shook his head, "No, if he went out of his way to borrow money from me, he must know what I'm into. Why didn't he just pay me to break your legs instead of getting himself into a mental hospital?"

Chen Shuo was speechless.

Suddenly, Brother Pao asked, "Did you guys kill his parents?"

Chen Shuo, on the verge of tears, replied, "His parents died in a car accident, and we found the driver responsible. It had nothing to do with us."

Brother Pao motioned for Chen Shuo to extend his hand and then flicked cigarette ashes into his palm, "A seventeen-year-old kid loses his parents, and his uncle and aunt scheme for his house? Shame on you. And you, the doctor, Old Deng here must have done this sort of thing before, right?"

Old Liu hastily replied, "I've never harmed anyone. Those patients are all people who committed crimes and didn't want to go to jail, coming to me voluntarily for diagnosis certificates."

"Oh?" Brother Pao seemed thoughtful, "What had those people done?"

"The most recent one was a guy named Wang Long, a construction businessman. Six months ago, he ran over a couple with his car..." Old Liu's words trailed off as he suddenly looked up at Brother Pao in horror.

With a hiss, Brother Pao pressed the cigarette onto Chen Shuo's palm, and a scream echoed through the corridor.

Brother Pao put on his black Tang suit, grabbed Old Liu's sparse hair, and led him outside, "Now I know why he insisted on being admitted into the mental hospital. To harm such a kid, you really lack virtue. Er Dao, show these guys some punishment to remember, I'll take this doctor to the sixth floor. Wang Long, I know him; he's not easy to deal with."

Chen Shuo shook uncontrollably, "This is a hospital! There are cameras; you can't commit violence here!"

Er Dao scratched the scar on his bald head, "Brother Pao, should I proceed now?"

"Repeat the process."

...

...

The ward was filled with the sound of snoring, while Chen Ji lay in bed, eyes wide open, silently staring at the ceiling.

He found that the sleep-talking in the mental hospital was especially frequent and particularly perplexing.

In a trance, he seemed to return to his childhood, hearing the clang and clatter of the green-skinned train starting up.

Ailing from frequent illness during his youth, Chen Ji would often hear screams in his dreams, prompting his father to frequently take him to the Imperial Capital to seek treatment.

When money was tight, the two of them would buy standing-room tickets on the green-skinned train

"Cicada."

"How old is the cicada?"

"A twelve-year-old cicada."

"Not for sale."

At that moment, a cry of pain from Chen Shuo echoed through the hospital.

There was no time left.

Chen Ji flipped off his sickbed, took a dagger from a strap inside his thigh, discarded the sheath, and dashed towards a certain part of the ward.

He was a bit scared, scared of what he was about to do and the consequences that would follow.

But he had no other choice.

Wang Long, drunk driving, had hit and killed a man and a woman and fled the scene. The victims died because their treatment was delayed. The next day, Wang Long turned himself in at the police station but had already secured a diagnostic certificate from Qingshan Mental Hospital. The court was supposed to review the certificate, but Wang Long's relatives gathered over sixty earthmoving truck drivers to cause a disturbance at the court, and the matter was dropped. Wang Long escaped trial and was admitted to Qingshan Hospital.

But how could you escape trial?

Chen Ji silently approached Wang Long's bedside and forcefully plunged the dagger down.

Wang Long suddenly opened his eyes and grabbed Chen Ji's wrist with his strong hands, sneering, "Did you really think I wouldn't recognize you?"

During the lawsuit, Chen Ji had his lawyer represent him, so he had never met Wang Long. But since Wang Long wanted to settle with the family of the deceased, he naturally had someone investigate him.

So when Wang Long saw Chen Ji here, he knew exactly what Chen Ji was planning.

He said hastily, "I can give you more money! A lot of money! Your parents are gone, you need to learn to look forward!"

He didn't want to kill anymore, as killing again would mean staying here for life.

Chen Ji silently pressed the blade closer and closer to Wang Long's chest.

"You're asking for it!" Wang Long, much stronger than the young man, roared and seized the dagger from Chen Ji, stabbing it into Chen Ji's left side, piercing the ribs.

Wang Long thought this strike would disable Chen Ji completely, but he didn't expect that when he snatched the dagger, Chen Ji didn't resist. Instead, he seized the moment Wang Long's hands were free and bit down like a beast on his jugular!

Blood seeped continuously from Chen Ji's lips and teeth, staining the pillow a dark purple color.

Chen Ji savored the sweet taste of blood in his mouth, the sensation of it spraying in and flowing out.

Killing for revenge for the first time, he was so terrified his heart trembled, but he bit down unrelentingly.

Wang Long felt a painful shock at his neck, an electric sensation of imminent death.

He pulled out the dagger from Chen Ji's torso and stabbed again, "Let go!"

"Let go!"

"Let go…"

With each raging shout and stab, Chen Ji remained unresponsive, only clamping his teeth tighter, tearing a piece of flesh from Wang Long's neck.

Wang Long's pupils began to dilate, and as he twisted the dagger in his hand, he muttered, "Is it worth it? Is it worth it…"

But what Wang Long didn't understand was that for Chen Ji, his life had been left behind in the past by that car accident, endless and inescapable.

Dark purple blood spread across the white pillow, just as it had across Chen Ji's life.

Snap! The iron door of the ward was opened from the outside, Brother Pao appeared at the doorway in a black Tang suit, dragging Old Liu by the hair.

Wang Long finally let go of the knife handle, his hand drooping helplessly.

Chen Ji, face covered in blood, looked up at Brother Pao, trembling all over, whether from fear or the rush of adrenaline.

Brother Pao sighed, "Too late."

Chen Ji slumped at the foot of the bed, covering the wound at his waist, and said softly to Brother Pao, "Sorry."

Brother Pao knew the young man was apologizing for using him; he grinned and said, "It's okay. Though you're about to die, it's not too late to make an acquaintance. My real name is Chen Chong, friends like to call me Brother Pao."

"Okay, Brother Pao."

"First time killing? Silent before the act, using full force during, not a word wasted, I like that," Brother Pao kicked Old Liu aside and nonchalantly lit a cigarette.

Chen Ji forced a smile, "Too bad I'm about to die."

As they talked, blood still gushed from Chen Ji's wound.

"Care for a cigarette?"

"No."

"Need help?"

"My phone is with Doctor Liu, it should have recorded his illegal transaction with my uncle, help me send it out."

Brother Pao hadn't expected, even at death's door, the young man remembered to fairly avenge each of his enemies…

He sat beside Chen Ji and asked, "Any last wishes?"

"There are none left," Chen Ji's voice grew weaker, drowsiness washing over him, yet he was reluctant to close his eyes, simply staring out the window at the crescent moon.

In the ward, the patients slowly got up, silently observing the scene.

Li Qingniao came beside Chen Ji and gently closed his eyes, whispering, "A fleeting moment in time, fire in stone, a body in dreams. Forty-nine Heavens cannot hold you, go where you must."

After speaking, he resumed his foolish demeanor and sat by the bed, while Brother Pao covered Chen Ji with the black Tang suit and walked toward the darkness outside the ward, "Pity, we met too late."