I Run Away with the Earth to Save the World [Unlimited Flow] - Chapter 134

The March Hare didn’t keep Jing Qizhen and the others waiting long. In just a couple of minutes, the big rabbit came back holding the Polaroid and a few freshly printed photos in its fluffy paws.

The March Hare: “Here, this is what the inside of the Psychiatry Department looks like.”

As it spoke, March Hare handed the photos directly to Jing Qizhen.

Jing Qizhen accepted them with a nod and sincerely thanked it.

Having completed its task, the March Hare carefully tucked the Polaroid into the pocket of its elegant little red vest. The pocket, which had been flat before, puffed up as the camera went in. The March Hare patted it gently and the pocket smoothed back out again, not a wrinkle in sight.

Wang Feizhou was shocked. “A four-dimensional pocket like Doraemon’s!?”

The March Hare was confused. “What are you talking about? Sir Rabbit doesn’t understand.”

Jing Qizhen looked up at the big rabbit and suddenly remembered something. Last time, the March Hare had put something into a pocket on the other side. Apparently, the big rabbit had a fairly organized system for storing things, keeping them separated by category.

Manman noticed too and joked along with Wang Feizhou, “It’s not exactly the same. Let’s call it a March Hare-brand four-dimensional pocket. And we’ve seen two of them now.”

At that, Jing Qizhen couldn’t help but look at the March Hare again. He even felt a bit regretful.

Their relationship with the big rabbit was currently good. It wouldn’t be appropriate to snatch the little vest’s pockets now. But back in the last erosion area, when they had the March Hare cornered, it might’ve made perfect sense to confiscate its vest as spoils of war…

The March Hare’s long ears suddenly perked up and twitched as it glanced warily around. It had clearly sensed danger.

Jing Qizhen retracted his assessing gaze and said, “Let’s go. We’re heading to the inpatient building to find the patients.”

No one had any objections. Even the March Hare trailed along, swaying its long ears.

Old Xiao, wiping sweat from his forehead, muttered, “If it’s schizophrenia… we don’t even know if there are multiple survivors, or just one.”

Jin Guijuan hesitated. “Schizophrenia… is that the same as multiple personality disorder?” She’d heard of both but honestly couldn’t tell the difference.

Jing Qizhen glanced at Wang Feizhou. “Intern Wang, why don’t you explain?”

Caught off guard, Wang Feizhou paused for a beat before answering quickly, “Ah? Definitely not the same!” After that clear answer, he went ahead with a vivid explanation. “Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder. It’s really serious and requires medical treatment. It severely affects a person’s daily life. More specifically, it causes disordered thinking, behavior, and emotions. To put it simply, it’s like taking a whole, living person and splitting them into several pieces. Think about it, how could someone still function like that? They can’t even distinguish between dreams, hallucinations, and reality. Their paranoia isn’t intentional but their brain literally can’t tell the difference anymore. It’s incredibly painful.”

Old Xiao shivered. “Why are all your metaphors so creepy, kid…”

Manman casually added, “That’s just a med student thing, I think? But to be fair, Wang Feizhou’s example is pretty vivid.”

Wang Feizhou: “…” I didn’t mean to do that QUQ!

Jin Guijuan asked earnestly, “Then what about multiple personalities?”

Wang Feizhou explained, “That’s more of a psychological condition, technically called dissociative identity disorder. Each personality has distinct traits, but taken alone, each one is a normal person. If it doesn’t interfere with daily life, it’s more of a mental health issue and can be treated with therapy or even self-reflection. Compared to schizophrenia, it’s not as severe…”

Jing Qizhen added, “So psychological problems stem more from inner conflicts and self-denial, like overthinking yourself into a hole, while psychiatric disorders mean the brain itself is malfunctioning?”

Wang Feizhou nodded. “Exactly! Another example is if you separated a pair of twins and didn’t let them play together, they might be sad, but they wouldn’t be seriously harmed.”

The group chatted as they walked, making their way from the old hospital building toward the inpatient wing. Now that they had a better grasp of the erosion area’s rules, they no longer needed to climb through windows. Earlier, Lu Lingxi had already unlocked the main entrance to the inpatient building, so they simply walked right over.

The March Hare brought up the rear of the group, but after a few steps, suddenly realized something and blurted out, “You’re just going to leave like that!?”

Jing Qizhen turned back. “What else would we do?”

The March Hare: “Aren’t you going to wait for the noble Prince!?”

Manman blinked innocently and asked, “Weren’t you the only one waiting for him?”

The March Hare: “!!!”

That can’t be right! It was just an innocent Sir Rabbit! These terrible humans are seriously going to abandon the noble Prince!?

Jing Qizhen thought for a second and then said, “Why don’t you wait for him in the lobby on the first floor of the old hospital? When he comes back, you two can head to the cafeteria. When we’re done here, we’ll go there too. It’ll make it easier for Jiayang to cook.”

His plan was perfectly laid out.

Honestly, Jing Qizhen figured that with Yun Shuanghua’s food-finding instincts, even if they didn’t mention it, he’d probably end up fiddling around in the hospital kitchen anyway…

Just like in the previous erosion area’s Fairytale Kingdom, Yun Shuanghua had clearly resonated with the area, but he never really played along. Giving him a script was pointless. Better to tempt him with something delicious…

Si Jiayang suddenly got nervous and warned the March Hare very seriously, “Remember, don’t let your Prince into the kitchen! If you want a decent meal today, keep him away.”

Coming from the head chef himself, that was gospel. The March Hare froze in place, one ear drooping, and sulkily agreed, “Okay…”

So the March Hare turned and trotted back to the old hospital’s first-floor lobby to wait for Yun Shuanghua to return with groceries.

Meanwhile, Jing Qizhen and the rest of the group headed straight for the inpatient building.

Lu Lingxi reached out and pulled the door wide open, deciding to just leave it that way.

Inside, the first floor was still covered with those splattered bloodstains.

Grandma Fang observed thoughtfully. “Those survivors said it was chicken blood used to ward off evil, but even back then, that should’ve been a red flag. With this much blood, how many chickens would they need to kill?”

Jin Guijuan asked, “So, could it have just been red paint?”

Jing Qizhen reminded her, “Patients with schizophrenia can’t distinguish fantasy from reality. This erosion area is likely based on the hallucinations of someone with schizophrenia. If the patient believed it was chicken blood, that’s how it manifested here. But in the real world? Maybe someone just spilled a cup of water and the patient’s brain interpreted it as blood-red.”

Jin Guijuan nodded. “This fantasy world of the erosion area feels way too real…”

Jing Qizhen exhaled lightly.

A foreign fairytale book could turn into a real fairytale kingdom in one erosion area, and a psychiatric patient’s delusions could shape another into a twisted version of reality.

Each erosion area felt intensely real but each was deeply marked by its own distinct traits.

Jing Qizhen felt he might be worrying too much, but he couldn’t help the sudden concern that if there were ever an erosion area so real and normal that it was nearly indistinguishable from the actual world, then locating its core would be extremely difficult…

In fact, even for this erosion area, although they had narrowed down their suspects to a few survivors, that was still just an educated guess based on available clues. They still had no concrete lead on how to directly deal with what could be the core of the erosion.

Once they reached the second floor, the group first returned to the room they had previously stayed in.

The door was already open, but the plate of potato pancakes Si Jiayang had deliberately left on the table was now completely empty.

Grandma Fang remarked, “The survivors probably took it with them.”

Wilcox had already turned and opened the door to the adjacent room, calling out to the others, “No one in here, come take a look!”

That big rabbit had mentioned earlier that the survivors were hiding in the bathroom and it was clear that the survivors had been keeping their movement very limited. So Jing Qizhen wasn’t too concerned about tracking them down. Even if they didn’t find them now, odds were the ghosts would come out again at night and the survivors would reappear in what they considered the safer inpatient building.

Lu Lingxi murmured, “Since we came up here, the building’s been completely silent. I suspect they moved again.”

Wang Feizhou hesitated and then added, “Schizophrenia patients are constantly under immense pressure. Their behavior is unpredictable to normal people. There’s no point in rushing…”

Jing Qizhen had already stepped into the adjacent room where the survivors had previously been hiding. They had visited it once before, but since the survivors had been present, most of the group’s focus had been on speaking with them, not inspecting the room itself.

Jing Qizhen said quietly, “See if there are any other clues here. Try not to disturb the original setup.”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Still uneasy about the silence in the building, Lu Lingxi said, “I’ll check the bathroom.”

Jing Qizhen nodded. “Be careful.”

Wilcox instinctively followed Lu Lingxi. “I’ll go too.”

Three minutes later, Lu Lingxi’s voice came through the earpiece. “Wilcox and I searched the entire bathroom. They’re really gone.”

Jing Qizhen remained composed. “Yup. Took the potato pancakes Jiayang made and bolted.”

Everyone else: “…” This was supposed to be serious!