I Run Away with the Earth to Save the World [Unlimited Flow] - Chapter 139

Jing Qizhen said dryly, “…After all, he’s a patient and he’s already having a great time playing with himself in here. If we push him too hard, who knows what might happen?”

Lu Lingxi frowned. “But we can’t just do nothing. How are we supposed to destroy the erosion core and get out of here?”

Manman suddenly spoke up, “Wait, isn’t there a logical contradiction here?”

The Earth hadn’t caught on yet. “Huh?”

Jing Qizhen answered directly, “The core of this erosion area should be the patient’s brain, or more precisely, his mind. But the patient’s physical body is outside the erosion area.”

In the last erosion area, the core had been a book, the ‘Fairy Tale Anthology’. Eventually, that book evolved into an entire fairytale kingdom. They couldn’t find the book itself anymore, so they had to burn the whole kingdom to resolve the area.

However, this time, things were different. The patient’s physical body was still in the real world. That meant the erosion area might not even have a physical core. In other words, the core of the erosion area wasn’t a physical object; it was purely the patient’s mind.

Si Jiayang winced and frowned. “A physical core is something you can destroy. But how do you deal with a core that has no form?”

Jing Qizhen reminded them, “In the erosion area in Yunhai Wancheng Department Store, that ghost lady, Miss Li, disappeared on her own once her dying wish was fulfilled.”

However, in this erosion area, the erosion core was a schizophrenic patient. That obviously wasn’t going to be so simple.

Jin Guijuan blinked in frustration. “Fulfill the patient’s wish? Maybe what he cares most about is the relative who died in the morgue? But judging by how delusional he is, it feels like he’s far more focused on the doctors and nurses…”

Jing Qizhen agreed. “Yeah… That deceased relative may have worsened his condition, but he’s not the root cause.”

Even though Wang Feizhou had read the files on erosion areas, he still didn’t fully understand. He could only vaguely join in, “The root cause is that he’s ill, right? But we can’t exactly treat his illness…”

The Earth took a moment to process and then blurted out in disbelief, “So what you’re saying is, you’ve already found the erosion core, but you don’t know what to do with it?”

Jing Qizhen replied without hesitation, “We haven’t found it.”

The Earth: “Liar!”

Jing Qizhen: “…? How are we supposed to have this conversation now?”

The Earth grumbled for a while before finally relenting, “Okay, fine.” Then it asked, “So do you have any ideas on how to deal with this erosion core?”

Jing Qizhen was silent for a moment before answering, somewhat uncertainly, “Physical persuasion?”

The Earth: “Huh?”

Everyone else: “…” Why did that sound kind of terrifying?

The March Hare directly voiced the concern, “What do you mean by physical persuasion?”

Just then, Jing Qizhen pulled out a few special items from the previous erosion areas from his backpack. “I have a few ideas now. Let’s try them one by one and see what works.” As he spoke, he took out a book.

Seeing that familiar, cheap bootleg-looking, roadside stall’s edition of ‘Journey to Hell’, Manman instantly understood. Reading that book could cause a spiritual shock, possibly opening a metaphorical ‘new door’ for the reader, even changing their beliefs entirely.

Manman had read the book before, but as a staunch atheist, faith was something far removed from her life, so it hadn’t affected her. But for the overly superstitious and mentally unstable patient, it was very possible he’d spiral into his own delusions.

Old Xiao voiced his concern in a low mutter, “Right now, he just sees the hospital staff as ghosts. What if later, he turns the entire hospital into an eighteen-level hell?”

Jing Qizhen stayed calm. “We’ll deal with that if it happens.”

Old Xiao: “…”

He had a bad feeling about this.

Besides ‘Journey to Hell’, Jing Qizhen also brought out Snow White’s Magic Mirror and the March Hare’s Record Book. Jing Qizhen explained, “To the survivor, the hospital is full of dangerous ghosts. But clearly, he’s even more afraid of the outside world. I’ve been thinking that maybe if the survivor looks into this mirror, he might scare himself sober, even if just for a moment.”

After all, who hasn’t had the experience of waking up from a nightmare in cold sweat?

The March Hare’s gaze fell on the small notebook and it blurted, “Huh? That’s mine.”

Jing Qizhen didn’t respond.

Since it was an item from an erosion area, even if the name ‘March Hare’ was written on it, Jing Qizhen wasn’t about to acknowledge its ownership after taking it.

Yun Shuanghua also didn’t react at all. He seemed utterly indifferent to any item imbued with special erosion energy.

The March Hare glanced at its prince and saw Yun Shuanghua still watching Jing Qizhen with a slight smile in his eyes. Quietly, the rabbit closed its mouth and muttered inwardly to itself, ‘Fine, the noble Sir Rabbit is giving that notebook to you.’

Having previously encountered Snow White’s Magic Mirror, Wang Feizhou already understood how strange and powerful those items were. Noticing the March Hare staring at the notebook, he reached out to touch it out of curiosity.

After gaining access to the notebook’s information, Wang Feizhou looked surprised. “Is this a wishbook? If I write in it, ‘We successfully leave the erosion area,’ what would happen?”

Jing Qizhen replied, “If everything goes smoothly, we might really leave.”

Wang Feizhou asked cautiously, “And if it doesn’t?”

With his many years of horror game experience, Si Jiayang answered for Jing Qizhen, “If this turns into a nightmare, the only thing that might ‘leave’ is your body.”

Although Si Jiayang had phrased it rather mildly, Wang Feizhou couldn’t help imagining broken chunks of flesh suddenly appearing in the old hospital building in 2020 and he immediately shuddered.

Listening to Si Jiayang and Wang Feizhou’s exchange, Jing Qizhen lowered his head and gazed at the March Hare’s Record Book. A thought struck him; since the survivor had a habit of journaling, what would happen if the survivor wrote something in this notebook? As the erosion core himself, could he eliminate the core?

However, considering how unpredictable the March Hare’s Record Book was, Jing Qizhen ultimately suppressed the idea. In the end, Jing Qizhen said, “Let’s just give the patient his medication first.” He had already gone through every page of the survivor’s chaotic journal with the Earth, but found no mention of any dosage for the meds.

Since there were several survivors but only one actual patient, even if they had a prescription, Jing Qizhen couldn’t help but agonize over who exactly he should give the hydrochloride chlorpromazine to.

After some thought, he decided to abandon the idea for now. What now? Do they really need to wake the patient from the outside?

Suddenly, Jing Qizhen spoke to the Earth in his mind, “Babyball, you said that the patient is still sound asleep, right? Can you wake him up from outside?”

The Earth was stunned. “He can’t even hear me speak! How do you expect me to wake him up?”

Jing Qizhen: “…Forget it.”

He realized how far-fetched that was.

However, the Earth couldn’t help its curiosity and kept pressing, “What were you just thinking about?”

Jing Qizhen: “Can we not talk about it?”

The Earth was relentless, pestering in his mind. “Tell me, tell me, tell me!”

Unable to shake off the annoying ball, Jing Qizhen finally gave in. “A minor earthquake. Just enough to feel but not cause damage.” In that kind of uncontrollable natural disaster, even a sedated patient would probably wake up and get out of bed.

The Earth fell into deep thought.

Jing Qizhen quickly added, “Don’t do anything rash! I’ll think of another way.”

The Earth replied, “Tectonic activity isn’t something I can control anyway.”

Jing Qizhen raised an eyebrow slightly. “Hm?”

The Earth said confidently, “It’s just like humans, if you suddenly need to sneeze, can you really hold it in?”

Jing Qizhen admitted, “No, I can’t. Alright, let’s switch to a safer topic.”

The Earth agreed cheerfully. “Okay!”

***

After lunch, instead of rushing off to find the survivors, Jing Qizhen and the others stayed in the cafeteria to regroup and refine their plan for dealing with the erosion core.

Manman rested her chin in one hand. “When dealing with the survivors, we can’t be too gentle or too harsh. That balance is hard to manage.”

Jing Qizhen suggested, “Why don’t we call the police first? Let them try communicating with the survivors.”

The others had no better ideas at the moment, so they nodded in agreement.

The erosion area clearly wasn’t following normal rules, as during broad daylight, all the doctors and nurses had disappeared. But looking at it another way, since the ghost doctors and nurses only appeared at night, it made sense that no one was around during the day.

When the March Hare overheard that they were calling the police, its nerves spiked again. Its long ears shot straight up in alarm. “The police are coming?!”

Jing Qizhen: “…We haven’t even made the call yet.”

The March Hare immediately declared, “I’m going to hide in my rabbit hole!”

Jing Qizhen: “……”

Yun Shuanghua was watching from the side, unfazed. He even teased the March Hare, asking, “Where exactly did you dig your rabbit hole?”

The March Hare answered honestly, “Under the entire hospital.”

Everyone was dumbfounded on the spot.

Yun Shuanghua objectively commented, “Bunny, your efficiency is impressive. Better than an excavator.”

Jing Qizhen gave Yun Shuanghua a surprised glance. Was he being cheeky again? It reminded him of when they first met in the Yunhai Wancheng Department Store…

Proudly named by its prince, the Rabbit Marquis straightened his ears and then bolted.

Once the March Hare ran off, Jing Qizhen turned to Yun Shuanghua. “Buddy, do you mind calling the police?”

Yun Shuanghua nodded and stood up.

Jing Qizhen led him to the cafeteria’s landline and decisively pressed 110.