50: Unexpected Enemy 50: Unexpected Enemy “Ah, sorry, I didn’t hold on to it…” Anna exclaimed in surprise, her face full of apologies, then she realized in the next moment, “Wait, that’s not right, there’s no one here, why am I apologizing?”

On the way here, to get more value out of the hired carriage, Lu Li had bought a box of fruit cans and fish cans.

Anna, unable to contain her curiosity, opened a can of fruit, but because she lacked control, she spilled the cherry compote all over the floor.

“Hmm…”

Anna looked around, feeling guilty like a thief, scooped up a clump of dirt from the park to cover it up, and casually threw the empty can far away, destroying the evidence.

Just when she had finished everything, the random footsteps coming from inside the hospital caught the attention of the ghost who had been busy for half the day.

Glancing up, she saw two figures running out of the hospital, sprinting towards the main gate.

“One Lu Li went in…

how come two came out?” Anna’s mind didn’t quite catch up at that moment.

…

From the back of his head came a relentless, deep pain that penetrated his mind, causing the unconscious Lu Li to furrow his brow from time to time.

Strange and fragmented colors swayed in his consciousness, occasionally accompanied by a few sounds like droplets falling through water.

It inexplicably attracted Lu Li’s mind, but as Lu Li followed it deeper into his consciousness, the outside world woke him up.

Splash—

Ice water poured onto his face, the sudden chill causing an intense suffocation that forcibly awakened Lu Li.

The sharp pain at the back of his head suddenly became clear.

As Lu Li’s eyes opened, his dilated pupils slowly regained focus.

A man appeared in his line of sight, wearing dirty blue-and-white patient clothes and a yellowed surgical mask.

Lu Li shifted his gaze, looking around, more information from the outside world feeding into his brain, already muddled by pain.

He was lying on a cold bed that was identical to those in the corridor, with his wrists, ankles, and waist tightly bound by straps, almost digging into his skin.

But the pain they caused was negligible compared to the persistent sharp pain at the back of his head.

This was an operating room.

Although he couldn’t understand why a psychiatric hospital would have something like this.

The room had nothing to do with cleanliness, the walls and floor covered with deep-colored stains,

The operating table was placed against the wall, leaving behind suspicious brown traces.

A tray held various forceps and scalpels, all of which, without exception, were stained with blood.

On the table behind the masked man, there was an oil lamp.

Next to the oil lamp, Lu Li’s belongings were laid out.

The Flintlock Pistol, oil lamp, and an umbrella.

Clearly, these were things that had been searched from him while he was unconscious.

Seeing that his money wasn’t among them, Lu Li felt somewhat relieved.

“How long have I been unconscious?” Lu Li shook his head slightly, as if his brain swayed along with it.

“Ten minutes,” the man in patient clothes replied, “I was afraid sleeping too long would be bad for your body.”

“You hit pretty hard, a little more and I might not have woken up.”

“Sorry, I usually use other methods; physical knockout was my first attempt.

Your arrival was so sudden, if it weren’t for the noise of the elevator falling that disturbed me, I wouldn’t have thought anyone would come down.”

“You live here?” Lu Li dropped his head.

Not just because it was tiring to keep it raised, but also because the cold metal frame of the bed seemed to ease the intense pain at the back of his head.

“Mm-hmm.” The masked man was non-committal, “Let me introduce myself, you can call me Richard, I used to be a severe patient in the Sixth Psychiatric Hospital, but now the hospital is closed, so I guess…

I’m discharged.”

“The Sixth Psychiatric Hospital?” Lu Li questioned.

“You don’t know?

This place used to be the Sixth Psychiatric Hospital, but people prefer to call it the Asylum.

Now it is an abandoned Asylum,” he explained.

“Are you human?” Lu Li suddenly asked.

“What kind of stupid question is that, of course, I’m human.

I need to breathe, to eat, to rest…

Being human has countless downsides, right?” The masked man showed obvious anger, but as he spoke the last sentence, his expression revealed a hint of anticipation.

As if he was expecting something.

“You look like a well-mannered gentleman,” Lu Li said at this moment, with implied meaning.

The masked man’s ears twitched slightly, seemingly because smiling had pulled at the muscles around his ears, “I think so too, but you people think there is something wrong with me!

You think I am a freak who needs treatment!”

This was not a pleasant topic, and the patient’s mental state was becoming unstable.

Lu Li changed the subject, asking, “So, how do you intend to deal with me?”

“Deal with you?

No, no, no, I would never do that…” The masked man was easily distracted, wagging his finger with a sinister laugh, “After all, you are a valuable container.”

Lu Li frowned slightly, feeling as if he was talking about something not suitable for children.

But it might also be that he wanted to use his body for experiments, to conduct some sort of inhumane test…

The words that followed from Richard confirmed Lu Li’s thoughts.

“Please enjoy the little time you have left,” he said.

The masked man turned around, went to the desk by the oil lamp, and opened a drawer to search for something.

“Please wait patiently, as I said before, your arrival was so sudden, I was completely unprepared…

Ah, found it.”

The masked man stopped searching, holding a lump wrapped in a plastic bag, and walked to the bedside.

“A lump of…

brain?” Lu Li asked out loud.

In the hands of the masked man, the white viscous substance inside the plastic bag with familiar textures trembled as if frozen.

Could it be that he wanted to replace his own brain with this paste-like substance?

The masked man did not answer but simply poured the lump of brain into a dim glass cup.

A bag of brain matter just filled the glass cup, and the masked man dropped the plastic bag into the cup and then took out a match—

Scratch—

The lit match dove into the cup, melting and igniting the plastic bag, and a pale yellow flame filled the rim of the cup.

The igniting flame was neither vigorous nor quick to extinguish; it burned slowly like a candle.

An nauseating smell began to spread throughout the surgery room.

“Are you trying to share a delicacy with me?” Lu Li frowned.

“What delicacy?” Richard discarded the match carelessly and turned his head curiously to ask.

“Brain matter; I didn’t expect you to have such a specialty dish.”

“You…

Disgusting!” Richard’s face contorted with revulsion; he felt sick.

How could the person tied to the hospital bed seem more villainous than himself?

The masked man no longer paid attention to Lu Li on the bed, preparing to leave the place.

“Are you leaving?”

Lu Li thought he would be dissected with the bloodstained surgical tools nearby, but instead, Richard had just lit the brain in the cup.

Richard stopped again, nodding seriously, “Yes, may I ask you a question?”

“Please do.”

The two of them were as amicable as a surgeon on an operating table and the patient about to be operated on.

“Why do you seem…” At this moment, Richard’s expression was full of confusion and perplexity, “not afraid at all?”

Lu Li calmly looked at the masked man and responded, “Would being afraid make you spare me?”

“Hmm…

Most likely not, it might even excite me more.”

“So there you have it.”