Doctor Gao said that at 12 am 52 minutes, patient number 5 would be killed by a madman. When Chen Ge stood up from his seat, it was about 12. 51 am. The clock needle moved past every single digit, the ticking of the watch chimed in sequence with the beating of his heart. Everyone turned to look at Chen Ge, as if what he decided to do next would affect everyone. The memory in his mind slowly became blurry due to the sound of the mechanical watch. Chen Ge wanted to control his body but the more he wanted to do so, the more his body went out of his control.

  Green veins popped out on the back of his hands. Chen Ge’s lowered head slowly lifted, his bloodshot eyes turned to focus on patient number 5. Chen Ge was at the edge of a mental breakdown, Doctor Gao also stared closely at him. As a doctor, Doctor Gao not only did not move to stop Chen Ge, he instead took out something that was wrapped inside layers of newspaper from his pocket. He placed the object on the table before Chen Ge. When the thing landed on the surface of the table, it gave a crisp tingling sound. Something heavy was wrapped inside the newspapers.

  Time was still moving. Chen Ge’s consciousness gradually blurred. Now he was thankful that he did not take in the pills Doctor Gao was supposed to give him. If he had ingested the pill with the black lines, with the incitation from the pills, he would not have been able to stop himself at all. The edge of his fingertips slowly moved along the table until Chen Ge’s hand closed over the newspaper. Five fingers clamped together. Fresh blood leaked out from Chen Ge’s palm. The object that was inside the newspaper was very sharp. Blood soaked through the newspaper, turning it black. Chen Ge gripped the object inside the bundle of paper tightly. Large amount of blood seeped out of his palm but the curious thing was he could not feel any pain at all.

  “Why would my body react like this? I am sure that I did not take any pills, but I still cannot control myself. Is it the effect of Doctor Gao’s watch?” The mechanical watch on the table still kept on working. The needle moved second by second. 12 midnight 51 minutes, 50 seconds, 12 midnight 51 minutes 51 seconds, the sound of ticking became louder and louder, so did Chen Ge’s heartbeat. His chest rise and fell unevenly and small black blood capillaries appeared on his face.

  54 second, 55 second, 56 second!

  His hand that grabbed the newspaper could not help trembling. Chen Ge leaned his body forward. The figure of patient number 5 was reflected in both of his eyes.

  57 second, 58 second!

  At 51 minutes and 59 seconds, Chen Ge raised the object that was wrapped inside the newspaper. But just as he was about to swing the sharp object at patient number 5, there came a knocking on the room door. The knocking interrupted the ticking of the mechanical watch. This was the first time the expression had changed on Doctor Gao’s unfeeling face. Both of his brows creased slightly.

  “Hong!” The thunder screamed outside the window. Soon after that, beads of rain splattered against the window like it was trying to shatter through the glass. The storm ravished against the night. Many sounds drilled in Chen Ge’s ears, he finally regained control of his own body. Doctor Gao picked up the watch to look at the time before placing it back on the surface of the table. Then he turned to address patient number 1 again, “at 12. 52 am, you heard the knocking on the door you were in. You suspected it was the person who had been observing you who had arrived outside the door. You walked over to open the door.”


  “Impossible! He could not have been standing out the door!” Doctor Fang stood up from his seat. His stood at the door with his quivering finger pressing against the room door. Uncertainty and anxiousness made Doctor Fang hesitate for a long time. Then he pushed the door heavily open!

  “Hong!” The sound of thunder exploded in everyone’s ears. The doctors and patients inside the room all turned to look at the corridor outside the door. At the dark corridor, there was no light at all. All the sickroom doors were shut as if they were the only few people left inside the whole hospital.

  “I remember the light at the corner of the corridor should be on.” Chen Ge was slowly taking back the control of his body. He moved his arms and hid the hand that held the newspaper behind him. The newspaper was not wrapping a knife but the mirror piece with sharp edges. No one noticed what Chen Ge had done since their attention were all pulled to the corridor. The sickroom door was pushed open again. The hospital looked through the door appeared to be different from normal, if gave off a completely different feeling. If one had to describe it, the current hospital was more similar to the nightmare that had appeared in Chen Ge’s night.

  Storm and lightning were roaring outside the hospital, like it was the end of the world but inside the hospital it was so quiet that one could hear the sound of a pin falling to the ground. The dark corridor looked like it reached endlessly into the darkness. The white walls now looked more like the pale faces of dead people.

  “At 12. 53 am, you saw the corridor outside the sickroom, there was no one on the corridor. The once familiar hospital now became a bit more unfamiliar.” Doctor Gao stood up from his seat. He strapped the watch around his wrist. “you are afraid in your heart, there is a voice inside your heart that reminds you to not leave the room no matter what. Do not be compelled by your curiosity because once you take a step forward, you might not be able to return to this place anymore.”


  Just as Doctor Gao finished, the sound of a heavy object being dragged suddenly came from the empty corridor. It sounded like a fisherman had just dragged a large dead fish out from the water. Everyone was attracted by the sudden appearance of this sound. They all turned to the look at the corner of the corridor. The sound was getting closer and closer until eventually a human head poked out from the floor of the corner.

  “Zhang Jingjiu?” When he saw the human head, the name immediately floated up in Chen Ge’s mind. Since he arrived at the hospital, Zhang Jingjiu had warned him twice. The first time was at the garden, when Zhang Jingjiu grabbed him and shouted the word ‘ghost’ repeatedly at him. Because of that, Zhang Jingjiu was severely punished. He was locked up by the doctors on the fifth floor which was meant for patients with serious problem. The man seemed to have gone through plenty of inhuman torture as well.

  His second warning came when Zuo Han and Chen Ge explored the hospital late at night. Zhang Jingjiu opened his lips and uttered the word boss with what appeared to be his dying breath. From all these factors, Chen Ge could confirm that Zhang Jingjiu must be related to him, and he was definitely an ally and a friend from his past. At that moment, when Zhang Jingjiu’s head appeared at the corner of the corridor, Chen Ge could not hold himself in anymore. The wall had blocked off Zhang Jingjiu’s body so Chen Ge had no idea whether Zhang Jingjiu was lying on the ground because he had lost his mobility or the man only had a human head left.

  “At 12. 54 am……” Doctor Gao’s eyes scanned all the patients in the room. “All of you have seen the killer, now there are two choices in front of you, to kill the killer or be killed by the killer.” After saying that, Doctor Gao started to observe the patients’ reaction.

  “Everyone has seen the killer? So that means the killer is inside this room with us?” The first person to return to normal was patient number 2. The middle-aged man appeared to have shaken off the effect of the medicine. His gaze slowly returned to normal, his eyes that were bloodshot stared fixedly at the human head at the corner of the corridor. The second person to return to normal was patient number 5. His eyes that turned to Chen Ge did not contain any hostility but only fear. “Kill the killer or be killed by the killer? This is not even a choice at all.”


  “Are you sure you are trying to treat us?” Chen Ge grabbed the mirror piece wrapped in the newspaper and used his other finger to point outside the door. “The things that happened inside the room were stories that were made up by you but there is a real accident that has happened outside this room. All of you have seen that head at the corner of the corridor right? Someone is really injured!” Chen Ge wanted to save Zhang Jinjiu even though he had forgotten his actual connection to Zhang Jingjiu.

  “You really think all the stories that I have said earlier are all made up?” Doctor Gao lowered his head to look at his watch. “Didn’t you always tell me the stories that you have made up? Then do you think those stories are real or not?” Chen Ge had no idea what Doctor Gao was trying to express. His fingers tightened around the mirror piece and he prepared to leave the sickroom to investigate.

  “I will go with you.” The patient number 2 who was the first to recover also stood up. He looked tired and old but his eyes were extremely sharp. He seemed to be in the law enforcement before he was sent into the hospital.

  “Think about it carefully before you make your decision. After all, you only have one life. This reality is not a part of your imagination, you are not in the story that you have made up in your mind.” Doctor Gao stopped talking after saying that.

  Chen Ge was worried about Zhang Jingjiu. He held the wall and slowly moved towards the door. Even though patient 2 had decided to go with Chen Ge, he still maintained a safe distance from Chen Ge, as if he too was slightly afraid of Chen Ge. The two of them shuffled out of the room one after another. After they left the room, they realized things were definitely not right. The hospital was too dark. Not only the third sick hall, it was as if the lights at the entire hospital had been switched off.

  “The hospital should have back up generators. If this is some kind of accident, at least the emergency lights should be on.” Patient number 2 walked ahead and he said in a serious tone. “This is too strange. I have walked down this corridor many times already but how come it feels so oppressive tonight?” Chen Ge did not communicate with patient number 2. He had a sense of familiarity from patient number 2 but in this circumstance, it was better to trust no one but oneself.

  Dragging the leg encased in plaster, Chen Ge and patient number 2 reached the corner of the corridor. When he saw Zhang Jingjiu’s body, Chen Ge’s face darkened immediately. Zhang Jingjiu was lying at the corner of the corner. Both of his arms and legs were broken and they were arranged at a very curious angle. The loose patient’s garb could not cover up the wounds on his body. The poor man’s body was covered in boils and bruises, you could see the signs of needle injections all over his body as well.

  “Zhang Jingjiu?” Chen Ge called his name softly. Perhaps it was Chen Ge’s voice who had evoked Zhang Jingjiu’s memory. He struggled to pull his eyes open. His lips moved as if telling Chen Ge to run as fast as he could. Holding Zhang Jingjiu’s bloated hand, Chen Ge wanted to pick Zhang Jingjiu up from the ground but he was hindered by his broken leg and he was unable to accomplish this.

  “Let me help you.” Patient number 2 wanted to carry Zhang Jingjiu on his back. He grabbed Zhang Jingjiu by his shoulder and he was about to apply his strength when he suddenly realized Zhang Jingjiu’s stomach and chest were both stained with blood, soaking through his clothes.

  “Blood?” Patient number 2 immediately tore open Zhang Jingjiu’s clothes. “The wounds are very small but they reach very deep into the flesh. They look like wounds from a sharp knife but the edge of the wound is extremely irregular. There is a fixed distance between the five wounds, what could be the weapon? This is a very strange pattern.”


  Probably due to professional reason, the first thing that appeared in patient number 2’s mind was various kind of possible murder weapon. Chen Ge gestured with his hands next to him and then his face paled even more. “Number 2, come and take a look at this wound. Don’t you think they are the result of being punctured by five fingers as they plunged into his body?” Before Chen Ge said that, everything was fine, but after he did say that, the way number 2 looked at him changed. It was very strange. The distance between each wound on Zhang Jingjiu’s body matched the distance between Chen Ge’s fingers perfectly. In other words, Chen Ge’s hand could have perfectly matched the wound on Zhang Jingjiu’s body, giving the feeling that this was a wound left behind by Chen Ge.

  “What is going on here?” Doctor Sun was the third person to walk out from the sickroom. The other patients followed behind him, Doctor Gao was the last person to leave the sickroom. The strange thing was, after Doctor Gao left the room, he kept his eyes glued to his watch as if he was waiting for certain things to happen at certain moments.

  “Someone is injured! He is losing a lot of blood, we need to send him to the emergency room now!” The patient number 2 gave Zhang Jingjiu a simple bandage of his wounds. “The wounds are around his chest and stomach so we cannot carry him on our back. Hurry and find a stretcher! Someone come and help me support him!”


  “The emergency room is at the fourth sick hall, I will bring you over there.” Doctor Sun did not waste time, he had patient number 5 and 2 picked up Zhang Jingjiu and he led the way forward. A human life was on the life. Everyone was desperate to save Zhang Jingjiu so they ran into a hurry. This meant that Chen Ge who had a bag leg was slowly left behind at the back of the group. He ambled right next to Doctor Gao. When he was forced to slow down, Doctor Gao would slow down with his as well, as if the man intended to stay at the back of the group too.

  “Doctor Gao, what has happened to the treatment tonight?” The treatment was supposed to be carried out inside the room but as accidents continued to happen, the treatment appeared to have gone out of control. Now Chen Ge could not even tell whether he was experiencing the treatment designed by Doctor Gao or something had really happened at the night. After all, it had not been a peaceful night at the hospital for the past few days. No matter what Chen Ge said, Doctor Gao did not open his mouth to reply. After the latter left the sickroom, other than occasionally lowering his head to check the watch, he did not utter another world. In contrast, it was Doctor Sun who slowly took over the session, it felt as if the restrain that had been placed on him was pulled off.

  “Doctor Gao?” Chen Ge pushed lightly on Doctor Gao’s arm. The latter lifted his expressionless face and directed an icy gaze at Chen Ge. The sound of ticking echoed in Chen Ge’s eyes. Even though a storm was roaring outside the hospital, the sound of the mechanical watch was still echoing clearly in Chen Ge’s mind. [There has to be a special meaning behind this ticking sound, if there is a chance I should try to steal the watch away from Doctor Gao.]

  Chen Ge was walking next to Doctor Gao, and he quietly observed the other patients who had walked ahead. [Based on the stories told by Doctor Gao back inside the sickroom, there was a very great chance that I am the killer. In other words, I would have killed the other patients according to the plot of Doctor Gao’s story. The hospital has been trying to make me kill people and these people appeared to be already selected. Why would they do something like this, what can they gain from it? Are they trying to fill me with guilt?]

  With confusion in his eyes, Chen Ge then turned to Doctor Sun. [And what is with this Doctor Sun? Why would he help me? If the hospital want to submerge me in guilt, they will make me kill those who are close to me. If this Doctor Sun is related to me, then how come my other friends have all been transformed into patients but he has somehow become a doctor at this hospital?]

  Chen Ge could not understand the reasoning behind this at all. He also did not dare to dive too deep into this just in case he triggered his past memory. “O well, I guess the only thing I can do is to take it one step at a time.”


  After walking down the corner of the corridor, Chen Ge silently turned back to glance at the ‘treatment room’ that they had left. There appeared to be still 7 people sitting inside the room that they had just vacated.