Chapter 32 On the Thirty-Second Day

Chapter 33 On the Thirty-Third Day

Chapter 35 On the Thirty-Fifth Day

Chapter 66 On the Sixty-Sixth Day

On the thirty-second day, Feng Bujue welcomed his second "regular checkup."

As with the one a month ago, he was taken by the orderlies to Doctor Yuan's office and secured to a chair.

"Hello, 3232, long time no see." After the two orderlies left, Doctor Yuan greeted Jue-ge with an indifferent attitude.

To Feng Bujue, Doctor Yuan's "long time no see" sounded like an attempt to cover something up; he instinctively used this wording because he didn't want the patient to know about the sleeping pills in the dinner, or that the doctors performed checks on them every night.

"Yes, it's been a month, hasn't it?" Feng Bujue didn't expose the truth, he just responded calmly, "At least, that's what I remember..."

"Oh? Have you been counting the days recently?" Doctor Yuan asked, following his train of thought.

"Yes, I've been counting," Feng Bujue replied, nodding.

"Why... did you suddenly start caring about these things?" Doctor Yuan asked again.

"Because..." In that instant, Feng Bujue activated his acting skills, putting on a rather complex expression, "I always feel... my memory has been getting worse and worse recently, so I want to try to remember some things."

"Oh..." Doctor Yuan responded, but didn't continue the topic.

Feng Bujue knew that the other party didn't care about the patient's condition; the regular checkups were just a formality.

However, relatively speaking, at the beginning of these conversations... the doctor's attention would definitely be more focused; if he wanted to convey some information, it was best to do it now.

"Also..." Jue-ge only waited for two seconds before immediately picking up the thread, rambling, "I've been feeling thirsty lately... weak all over, and a little mentally foggy... Oh, and the worst thing is constipation..."

When precisely stating these typical "symptoms," he also deliberately used a pace that was neither fast nor slow, creating the illusion that he was "thinking as he spoke."

This way, these words would sound more real and natural, rather than something that had been prepared in advance.

"Hmm..." Doctor Yuan was a professional after all. After doing this job for a long time, when they heard a series of "symptom" descriptions, they would almost reflexively make related judgments, and he was no exception, "...I understand."

After saying these four words, his gaze shifted slightly downwards to the side; a few seconds later, Doctor Yuan raised his hand again and wrote a few strokes on a piece of record paper next to him.

At that moment, Feng Bujue knew... his plan had succeeded.

The subsequent conversation returned to a "normal" rhythm, and ended with a pile of routine questions and meaningless Q&A.

Feng Bujue basically didn't need to lie, and could answer fluently anyway... he wouldn't let slip anything related to the "escape plan."

...

On the thirty-third day, it was lunchtime.

"It's shortened..." Feng Bujue happily ate the hemp-laced lunch and muttered, "Very good, progress is going quite smoothly..."

The thing he was talking about, the thing that had "shortened," was none other than the time of his "memory loss."

This showed that his "performance" during the checkup had been effective—after hearing that series of typical symptoms, Doctor Yuan naturally made the judgment that "the dosage of medication is too high and the side effects are too severe." Combined with Jue-ge's "very cooperative" performance in the Q&A, the doctor decided to reduce Jue-ge's dosage.

So, after breakfast on this thirty-third day, although Jue-ge still experienced a "blanking" reaction, the time of his memory loss had been greatly reduced.

Feng Bujue used lunchtime as a benchmark, and with his accurate sense of time (he had trained it), quickly deduced that... today's blanking time was nearly halved compared to before; from three hours and forty-odd minutes, it had become less than two hours.

"So... as long as I 'play asleep' for a few more days, and confirm that they're doing the same checkups every night... everything that happens when I'm 'unconscious' will basically be clarified." Jue-ge thought as he ate, "In order to minimize unexpected situations when the plan is implemented, these trivial confirmations are still necessary..."

...

On the thirty-fifth day, two hours after dinner.

Feng Bujue's caution was rewarded...

That night, Doctor Yuan and the orderlies still came to Jue-ge's room on time, but today, Doctor Yuan did more than just measure his blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing...

He also drew Jue-ge's blood.

A syringe was used to draw the blood, and the amount taken wasn't much.

Doctor Yuan's technique was very skilled; even though Feng Bujue was essentially awake, he didn't feel much pain during the needle prick.

In less than ten seconds, it was over.

Afterwards, the orderly assisting the doctor also skillfully treated Jue-ge's puncture point.

After the two left the ward, Feng Bujue opened his eyes and saw the tourniquet and disinfectant cotton ball on the inside of his left elbow.

Later that night, Jue-ge was awakened by a sound while in "real sleep."

He knew that this was the orderly coming to retrieve the hemostatic equipment, so he pretended not to know... and continued to sleep.

On the morning of the thirty-sixth day, when Feng Bujue got up to do his "morning exercises," he looked down at the needle hole on the inside of his elbow, which had almost disappeared, and muttered to himself, "In the end, I was still careless..."

By this point, Jue-ge had naturally deduced a lot of information related to what happened last night: "Yesterday was the thirty-fifth day. Assuming they draw the patients' blood on a monthly cycle, then... the last time they drew blood was exactly one or two days before I started pretending to be asleep (from the seventh day onwards); and at that time, I was still struggling through the first wave of continuous 'hangover,' and since my whole body was in pain, plus the needle prick was extremely small and well-treated... I overlooked it."

Thinking of this, Feng Bujue had already done dozens of sit-ups, and his breathing became slightly rapid, "Hoo... fortunately, I was also observing on a 'monthly' cycle, otherwise, I might not have known about this 'opportunity' by the time I executed the escape plan."

...

On the sixty-sixth day, evening.

Doctor Zhang, and the orderly whom Jue-ge met when he first came here, walked into his ward together.

This Doctor Zhang was transferred here five days ago. Feng Bujue's "regular checkup" four days ago was also taken over by Doctor Zhang, so Feng Bujue knew his surname.

If the previous Doctor Yuan was working in his position with the mentality of "seeking no merit, but seeking no fault," then this Doctor Zhang, who was a bit older, was almost working in a "sitting idly and doing nothing" manner.

Through his conversations with Doctor Zhang a few days ago, Feng Bujue had already obtained a lot of information from him...

Anyone could see... this man was very unwilling to work at this White Sand Mental Hospital; from Doctor Zhang's words, one could hear that he felt that a "talent" like him being placed in this place for two months was almost like being sent to a penal colony.

And his working principle was basically—"Anything that doesn't have to be done, must not be done."

Faced with such a new face, Feng Bujue had to test and observe. Therefore, starting four days ago, he once again stopped taking his sleeping pills (starting from the thirty-seventh day, Jue-ge started eating dinner normally and stopped pretending to be asleep) in order to obtain more information about Doctor Zhang during the physical examination.

As a result, in these few days, Jue-ge didn't hear a single useful word...

In the past, Doctor Yuan would occasionally ask the orderly about the patient's condition while examining their body, but now, Doctor Zhang... completely ignored those things; the most words Jue-ge heard in these four days were complaints like "Wouldn't this kind of thing be better done by a nurse?", implying that having someone like Zhang do these things was like using a pearl as a slingshot, or boiling a chicken in a cauldron for an ox.

However... tonight, Doctor Zhang happened to notice something.

"Eh? I say... 3232 he... has he gotten stronger?"

As soon as these words came out, Feng Bujue's heart rate and breathing immediately increased. Fortunately, the other party wasn't listening to his chest with a stethoscope at the moment, but was measuring his blood pressure; otherwise, Jue-ge's pretense of being asleep would have been exposed.

"Oh! That's right." The orderly immediately replied, "I've also felt that he's been a bit different these past few days, now that you mention it, it's true."

As mentioned earlier, the staff at this mental hospital are rotated on a certain cycle.

The doctors and orderlies who were in charge of Jue-ge in the past two months inevitably overlooked the changes in his physique because they had daily contact with him; however, the last time the Doctor Zhang saw 3232 was probably ten months ago; and the last time the orderly saw Jue-ge was a full two months ago... In their memories, 3232 was a very weak person. How could he be like this now, where you could feel the muscles on his arms even through his clothes?

"Hmm... strange." Doctor Zhang said, "The previous doctors' reports didn't say that 3232 was exercising..."

"So you actually do read the reports, huh..." At this moment, Jue-ge, who was lying on the bed, was violently complaining in his heart.

"Ah?" The orderly also asked suspiciously in the next second, "Don't you basically never look at the patients' reports?"

"Hey hey... is it really okay to say that in front of him... he's a doctor after all, and his position is higher than yours, right..." Hearing this, Jue-ge also sweated for the orderly in his heart.

Who knew, Doctor Zhang didn't care about it at all, "Ah... I don't read them."

From just this half sentence, one could know... Doctor Zhang's "slacking" work style was already well known, and he himself had no intention of concealing it.

"However..." Half a second later, Doctor Zhang's second half of the sentence was even more devastating, "Only 3232's report... I still read it, because the delusional part is quite wonderful, and can be used as a novel to pass the time."

"Damn it..." Before the other party could finish speaking, Jue-ge cursed in his heart.

"Hmm... I didn't hear Old Chen, who switched shifts with me, say that 3232 was exercising either." Immediately afterwards, the orderly uncle muttered thoughtfully.

While they were talking, Doctor Zhang had already finished measuring Jue-ge's blood pressure, and was about to use the stethoscope to listen to his chest.

"This isn't good..." Feng Bujue thought to himself, "My heart rate is a bit too fast right now, it will take at least a minute to adjust it to a state close to sleep, if he listens now..."

Whether it was luck or misfortune... at this moment, Doctor Zhang, who was about to put the stethoscope on Jue-ge, suddenly did something that even Jue-ge didn't expect.

"Hey, what do you think about taking off his clothes to see?" Doctor Zhang seemed to have a sudden idea, and turned to the orderly and said.

"Huh?" After hearing this suggestion, the orderly uncle was stunned for two seconds, but he quickly understood the doctor's meaning, "Oh oh, good, I also want to see... if he's really been exercising."

"What the f*ck?" Feng Bujue, who was lying there, was shocked at the time, and he roared in his heart, "What are you two doing? In broad daylight, in a bright and clear world, is there no justice left?"

Unfortunately, Feng Bujue's inner cries couldn't change anything.

Doctor Zhang and the orderly very skillfully unbuttoned Jue-ge's hospital gown one by one, and opened it up.

"Whoa~ what's the situation?" After taking a look, the orderly uncle exclaimed in the first instance, "He has abs, huh?"

Doctor Zhang not only looked, but also pinched Jue-ge's arm, "The pectoral muscles and biceps have also exceeded the level of ordinary people, this is obviously exercising... and high-intensity exercise."

Just like that, the thing that Feng Bujue had worked so hard to conceal for two months was so easily exposed.

Now, Jue-ge could only pray that the two of them wouldn't associate this with his plan to "escape"...

But... unexpectedly...

"Speaking of... how would a mental patient suddenly start exercising?" The orderly uncle's next sentence was, "Could it be that he wants to get stronger and then escape?"

"You're practically a god!" Feng Bujue's heart roared again, "You're the legendary Sleeping Kogoro, aren't you!"

"Ah... maybe he even deliberately used some method to cover up the fact that he's exercising, so that we'd let our guard down." Immediately afterwards, Doctor Zhang casually added in a very calm tone.

"Okay, okay, okay... you're good, you're good, you're good..." Feng Bujue was speechless.

Just as he was considering whether he should immediately burst out and execute his escape plan ahead of schedule...

"Pfft... hahahahahaha..." Suddenly, Doctor Zhang and the orderly uncle both burst into laughter.

"Hahaha... Doctor, you're really joking."

"Haha... likewise..."

"If this was true, then we wouldn't be locking up mental patients here, but rather 007 agents..."

"They're not mental patients to begin with, I wanted to correct you just now, it's psychiatric patients... the two are different."

And so, the two started chatting about other things in this pleasant atmosphere.

Obviously... they didn't take Jue-ge's exercising seriously at all.