Moonlight streamed in through the window. I had no idea how long I'd been unconscious. My whole body was exhausted, and sharp pain radiated from my chest. I couldn't use my ghost energy—clearly, the stabbing pain in my chest was the cause.
They'd put me in a straitjacket, wrapped up like a rice dumpling, with only my head exposed. I was strapped to the bed—a small room, maybe four or five square meters—with a rolling hospital bed beneath me.
My mind felt sluggish, and thinking was a struggle. I had no idea what they'd injected me with during the day, but now, whenever I tried to think, my brain felt drained.
"Somebody, help! I need to pee..."
I shouted loudly, but no one responded. Just then, laughter erupted nearby—foolish giggles, piercing screams, even some incoherent rambling, and then animal noises being mimicked.
"It's over. I'm really in a psychiatric hospital."
Only now did I realize for certain—I was indeed in a psychiatric hospital. All sorts of chaotic noises continued for half an hour before finally dying down.
But now, I was at my limit. The urge to pee was unbearable, waves of discomfort washing over me.
"Stop yelling, Ethan Zhang. It's useless—this place is just like a prison." Susan Li's voice came from the room next door. I stared in surprise at the wall to my left.
"If you have to pee, just go ahead—there's a diaper."
"What did you find out that made someone want to hurt you?"
"Get me out of here first, and then I’ll tell you. Just hurry up and think of something. Didn’t you save me last time?"
In that moment, I was about to lose it. If I could get out, I would’ve done it already. The more I thought about it, the angrier I got. I’d trusted them because I thought they were normal people, so I went along with their mental assessment—and ended up trapped. Suddenly, the urge to pee hit me hard, my lower abdomen felt like it was about to explode.
The pain was unbearable. I kept shouting, hoping someone would come.
"Stop yelling, it’s useless, Ethan Zhang. If you need to pee, just do it. Ha. Do you have any idea what I’ve gone through these last few months? I’m neither human nor ghost." Susan Li said, on the verge of tears again.
In the end, I wet myself. Not long after, I drifted off to sleep. A sudden noise woke me—the door swung open. I snapped my eyes open as two burly staff members entered.
"Let me go! I’m not insane! This is illegal detention!"
But the two staff members didn’t respond. They pushed a cart along, and I had no idea where they were taking me. After passing through a narrow hallway, I saw it—the seven-story main building from yesterday. They took me straight to the fourth floor.
Then I was shoved into a room full of equipment, reeking of something foul. The same doctor from yesterday was there, wearing a mask. They lifted me onto a bed surrounded by machines.
"Damn it, let me go! I’m not insane! This is illegal detention!"
The doctor said nothing, just fiddled with the machines. Then he stuck something to both sides of my forehead.
"If you know what’s good for you, let me go. Otherwise, when I get out, I swear I’ll kill you."
Suddenly, I heard the crackle of electricity. I stared in shock as the doctor smiled and removed his mask.
"Given your condition, we’ve decided to use electroshock therapy. Severe delusions and violent tendencies."
"Damn you—" I didn’t even finish before my whole body convulsed, shaking violently. My brain felt like it was melting.
My mind went blank. I couldn’t think at all. Vomit spilled from the corners of my mouth, my jaw slack, unable to say a word.
"That’s enough for today. Feed him something, then give him his meds and take him back."
They pushed me out. My brain was useless, unable to think, so I just let them wheel me along. Then I felt them pry open my mouth and shove a feeding tube down my throat, pouring some kind of liquid into my stomach. After that, I saw someone dump a handful of red and green pills down the tube.
Soon, I was wheeled back to my room. My body was weak, my head foggy. Half-awake, half-asleep, I felt someone shove the tube down my throat again, cold liquid flooding my stomach.
When I opened my eyes again, it was late at night. I licked my cracked lips, gagging at the stench clinging to my body. Thankfully, this time they hadn’t strapped me to the bed.