doitstory Chapter 299: Confrontation of Personalities
Chapter 299: Confrontation of Personalities
Chapter 299: Chapter 299: Confrontation of PersonalitiesXu Huo was very lucid; he knew that Xu Zhi had died, and even if he saw Xu Zhi in the hospital, it was merely his hallucination.
This hospital might not be where the copy resided, but it undoubtedly affected people’s mental states.
After escaping, what he saw as the "real world", the "family members" who insisted on sending him to the hospital for treatment, the ’relatives’ who visited, were all steps toward destroying his spiritual world.
The most firmly held, deeply ingrained beliefs had been overthrown; anyone would begin to doubt themselves. Those who came in were more or less influenced, and the worse a person’s state, the more perfect the psychiatric hospital seemed to be.
"Xu Huo?" Yu Qingqing waved her hand in front of his eyes.
"I want to change into a different set of clothes," Xu Huo said as he walked toward his ward. As he entered, he opened his wardrobe, which contained a complete set of new clothes and shoes.
After changing out of his patient’s uniform, he headed for the visiting room.
By this time, it had gotten dark.
Father Xu and Lady Fang were leaning on each other, their eyes red as they saw him. Xu Zhi stood to one side looking significantly more mature and world-weary than what Xu Huo remembered.
"You didn’t shave your beard," Xu Huo pointed to Xu Zhi’s chin.
Xu Zhi smiled, "I’ve been so busy lately I haven’t had time to tidy up my appearance. You, on the other hand, look pretty neat; not bad."
They all sat down, and Lady Fang was the first to ask how he was doing in the hospital, how he felt, if the food was enough, and she even took out a big bag of clothes she had prepared in advance.
Xu Huo accepted the items and turned to Xu Zhi, "I heard you went abroad, what kind of job are you doing now?"
"It’s not a proper job; I’m just teaching around the place," Xu Zhi said tiredly. "I still want to start a re
In a voice exactly like his own, yet slightly higher in pitch, and with a mocking tone.
"Hearts," Xu Huo answered the question.
The poker card was placed back on the table, this time face up, it was the "Ace of Hearts," but its suit was visibly melting away.
Xu Huo frowned as the shadow behind the poker card disappeared.
The second shadow picked up the dagger in a flat, emotionless voice, "Whose blood?"
"Xu Zhi’s."
The shadow stabbed itself in the chest with the dagger, then it too disappeared.
Now only one shadow remained, along with the black sliver in front of him.
The third shadow didn’t ask a question but patted the black sliver. The object, which had been lying on the table like a piece of paper, suddenly turned into a shadow that spread rapidly, engulfing everything including the round tower and the spiral staircase, leaving behind only Xu Huo and the White Shelled Book in front of him.
Xu Huo couldn’t see himself; he could only see the book in front of him. He reached out, grabbed it, and flipped open the cover.
White spread from the book, quickly creating a path in the pure blackness leading to the spiral staircase and then winding upwards, turning all the steps white. The uneven stone surface bubbled like boiling water before calming down after a few minutes and slowly becoming smooth.
Xu Huo looked around and without lingering further, he stepped back onto the spiral staircase.
The new steps were like the surface of water; each step he took caused ripples to spread out, and with them, the white spread a little further around. As he moved, the originally neat edges of the steps undulated like waves, increasing the area step by step.
Exiting the round tower, he was back in his room. Xu Huo rubbed his forehead and sat down on the edge of the bed, pondering how to control that round tower.
"Bang, bang, bang! Bang, bang, bang!" A frantic knocking came from the door. He turned to see it was Tall Black One, and said, "The door isn’t locked."
Tall Black One turned the doorknob forcefully, but the door wouldn’t open. In a panic, he said, "Please, open the door for me..."
Xu Huo realized the other’s Psychic Power had intensified. He quickly went to open the door, and Tall Black One squeezed in and quickly shut and locked it, while saying, "There’s a strange person chasing me!"
"There’s nothing outside," Xu Huo glanced outside.
"There is! There is!" Tall Black One was agitated, leaning against the door, and peeking out from a corner of the glass window, "He has stitches on his face, clearly a man, but he was holding a woman’s hand, had manicured nails... Ah! When I came out, I overheard the doctors talking; they’re going to use us for human experiments, turn us into monsters!"
Xu Huo knocked him down with a punch, dragged him to a corner, "Just stay put for now. If you really start imagining monsters, that’ll be trouble for me too."