I Run Away with the Earth to Save the World [Unlimited Flow] - Chapter 131

As Jing Qizhen spoke, his thoughts became clearer.

Without waiting for the others to ask, Jing Qizhen continued, “In the patient’s eyes, doctors and nurses wearing white coats are people trying to harm him. As for the police officers who appeared unexpectedly and retained a human appearance, perhaps it’s because many patients with persecutory delusions often feel that everyone around them is trying to hurt them, so some of them might choose to call the police? In the patient’s mind, although the police are strangers, they still represent the image of ‘good people’?”

Wang Feizhou nodded repeatedly at the side. “Ah, yes, that’s possible. Many patients with schizophrenia tend to have paranoid delusions. They can’t distinguish between dreams, fantasies, and reality. This tension and sense of confusion would be hard for even a healthy person to bear, let alone a patient who is already physiologically unwell.”

Yun Shuanghua was very interested in topics related to human psychology and asked from the side, “Can you explain more?”

Wang Feizhou didn’t think much of it. Since someone asked, he kept going. “Well, let’s put it this way. ‘Someone is always trying to hurt me’ is a common symptom of a persecutory delusion. But for a specific patient, like this one, he might think doctors and nurses are trying to harm him, yet still trust family members or police. Another patient, however, might believe that neighbors or people upstairs and downstairs are monitoring him and trying to hurt him. If his family tells him to stay home for treatment, he’ll think they’re imprisoning him. So that patient might constantly seek help from strangers. Of course, once a stranger actually ‘rescues’ him, he might then believe that the stranger is colluding with his family, so he’ll continue seeking help from others.”

Lu Lingxi thought for a moment and couldn’t help saying, “Isn’t this the classic nesting dolls theory?” |6|

Wang Feizhou nodded. “Exactly. You can tell a normal person there’s ‘no nesting dolls,’ but can you really explain this logic to someone who’s mentally ill?”

Lu Lingxi admitted defeat immediately and shook his head. “I can’t.”

Jing Qizhen gave a simple example. “Think of it like catching a cold. With the same minor cold, some people have symptoms like coughing and sore throat, while others just keep sneezing and have a runny nose. Some might even have headaches, right?”

Wang Feizhou said, “Yeah, exactly. It’s the same with patients who have paranoid delusions. Some patients think their own family wants to harm them, so they keep trying to run away; others only trust one specific family member, and any stranger coming close will trigger them. For schizophrenia, it’s the same. Some people become sluggish, sleeping for over ten hours a day, while others stay hyperactive, agitated, and restless.”

After thinking for a bit, Wang Feizhou continued, “Actually, it’s not just schizophrenia. Most human illnesses have general characteristics and indicators, and doctors make diagnoses based on that experience. However, when it comes to an individual, even people with the same illness may have completely different symptoms or behavioral traits, just like the cold example Jing Qizhen mentioned.”

As they spoke, Jing Qizhen and the group had already reached the first floor.

The old hospital building was deserted during the day, which made it easier for them to search. The window at the front of the pharmacy was open, but the door leading into the back of the pharmacy was locked. While Jing Qizhen was rummaging through his backpack for the key, Yun Shuanghua had already stepped up again and removed the lock for him.

Jing Qizhen nodded again in thanks. “…Thanks.”

After all, what he had was a whole keyring, and even though each key had a label, finding the right one might actually take longer than just letting Yun Shuanghua handle it directly.

Jing Qizhen went into the pharmacy and started searching the medicine shelves.

In his earpiece, Manman suddenly said, “If this erosion area comes from the patient’s own delusions, then the situations we encountered earlier make sense! We only recently entered this world, so compared to the erosion area itself, we’re purely outsiders. That means, in the patient’s world, there’s no specific definition for us.”

Old Xiao’s focus shifted suddenly. “In that case, to gain the patient’s trust, doesn’t that mean our blank official documents won’t work? Otherwise, the patient would just think we’re with the doctors.”

While searching the pharmacy, Jing Qizhen casually replied, “I don’t think it’s that bad. We’ll see how it goes.”

Just then, Jin Guijuan’s voice came through the earpiece, sounding as if she’d just realized something, “I get it now! When we wear white medical coats and pretend to be doctors, we look like ghosts to him. But once we take off the medical coats, the symbol of the doctors, he has no fixed perception of us. To him, we’re just relatively safe strangers, so he immediately assumes we’re also survivors!”

Following this line of thought, Wang Feizhou considered it and added with some realization, “Also, patients with schizophrenia are usually in a really bad mental state. But the human body has an instinct to seek help. So when he encounters us, his subconscious assumes we’re not doctors but his kindred, and that’s why he shows a mix of vulnerability, joy, and the desire to survive together with us. Humans are complex beings, and the survival instinct is one of our most primal traits.”

Lu Lingxi said, “I get the rest, but there’s one thing I still can’t figure out. If that’s the case, why do the police uniforms look like the latest real-world police uniforms, completely inconsistent with the 1993 setting of the erosion area?”

Jing Qizhen replied, “My guess is that the patient fell ill before 1993, but he was admitted for treatment and developed fear and suspicion toward medical staff around that year. November 14th, 1993, is actually a traditional ghost festival. The patient probably knew that and mentally associated the holiday with the doctors and nurses he feared.”

After a pause, Jing Qizhen continued analyzing, “If we assume this erosion area is constructed from the patient’s imagination, then after his hospitalization in 1993, he must’ve still had contact with police through other means. As someone with severe persecutory delusions and schizophrenia, it’s not strange that he might have panicked and called the police for help. From 1993 to 2020, a span of over twenty years, doctors and nurses wearing white coats remained mostly unchanged, but police uniforms underwent significant design changes. That’s why the medical staff and police appear in distinctly different uniforms.”

Jing Qizhen himself wasn’t a medical expert, so when he arrived at the pharmacy, he couldn’t recognize most of the drug names. He could only infer their purpose based on the indications written on the boxes. Although he didn’t fully understand them, the pharmacy’s drug organization on the surface was relatively systematic.

Jing Qizhen looked at Wang Feizhou. “How do you feel?”

Wang Feizhou quickly shook his head, looking slightly embarrassed. “I-I didn’t notice anything strange…” As he spoke, he pointed to a corner of the pharmacy shelf. “That’s hydrochloride chlorpromazine over there. Aside from the quantity being a little high, nothing seems off.”

Jing Qizhen paused slightly at his words. “Stock quantity…” He immediately realized something, stopped dwelling on the pharmacy shelves, and headed to the storage area behind the pharmacy to start opening full boxes of medication.

Lu Lingxi, having guessed something, naturally began helping without hesitation.

Wang Feizhou was still confused and muttered instinctively, “Eh?”

Yun Shuanghua, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, also followed along to help open other boxes.

Meanwhile, the March Hare, who had been sticking close the whole time, was still mumbling very quietly, “What are we having for lunch today…”

Unfortunately, with Si Jiayang absent, no one had the time to entertain him.

Watching Jing Qizhen and Yun Shuanghua’s movements, Wang Feizhou hadn’t caught on yet. To avoid the awkward silence, he went on explaining, “Stockpiling in bulk like this is usually for things like saline or glucose, stuff that’s used a lot—”

Before he could finish speaking, Jing Qizhen had already torn open the first box with force. Boxed chlorpromazine tablets were neatly packed inside and when the cardboard split, they spilled all over the floor.

Jing Qizhen turned to Yun Shuanghua and Lu Lingxi. “What about the other boxes?”

Lu Lingxi pushed the box in front of him and nodded. “Same.”

Yun Shuanghua also responded with a sound of affirmation, even picking up a box of hydrochloride chlorpromazine and curiously reading the text on the back.

Wang Feizhou said, “This stockpile isn’t normal… Even in a psychiatric hospital, you wouldn’t store this much medication. Psychiatric drugs are usually used in small doses.”

Jing Qizhen asked him, “Would the patient resist taking medication?”

Wang Feizhou replied, “Yes, but it depends on the situation. I once heard a teacher talk about how some patients, when in a dissociative or confused state, might mechanically take medication, not because they want to commit suicide, but because they’re almost in a trance, unaware of what they’re doing. They think they haven’t taken any pills and then just keep swallowing them one after another until the bottle is empty. That’s why, in psychiatric hospitals, medication is delivered by nurses at every meal. Patients aren’t allowed to keep the bottles themselves…”

Jing Qizhen stood up in front of the box full of hydrochloride chlorpromazine tablets.

This discovery in the pharmacy basically confirmed some of his suspicions.

If nothing unexpected turned up, the hospital pharmacy would be stocked entirely with this kind of psychiatric medication, which clearly aligned with the patient’s persecution delusions: those ghost doctors maintained the illusion of a functioning hospital on the surface, but behind the scenes, they were trying to harm him or others like him. The hidden stockpiles of medication were the undeniable evidence in the patient’s mind.

Thinking it all through, Jing Qizhen finally felt a slight sense of relief.

He bent down and picked up a random box of hydrochloride chlorpromazine tablets from the carton, only to notice that Yun Shuanghua already had a box in his hand.

Yun Shuanghua gave him a smile.

Jing Qizhen smiled back, but couldn’t help sinking into thought.

Was this guy too interested in these pills?