Forbidden Land – CH 056

Even if it was a dream, it felt too real. He definitely couldn’t stay at this hotel, so where could he stay?

He couldn’t go back to his dorm for the next few days, and Zhang Chao really didn’t want to see those faces that were once so familiar, yet now so strange.

After thinking for a moment, he packed his things, took Bei Bei, went downstairs to check out, and settled the bill.

He took Bei Bei to the Shaxian snack bar downstairs, ate a bowl of wontons, and in the afternoon, they went to the west campus of the school. On the grass by Qizhen Lake, they found a secluded spot behind a large rock and sat down.

Maybe… They were looking for him, weren’t they? And what if they found him? Would they lock him up in the Seventh Hospital (Hangzhou Mental Hospital)?

He had nowhere else to go, so he could only stay here for the afternoon.

The weather was fine, a sunny day. From the mushroom-shaped loudspeaker beside the lawn, the school song was playing melodiously. “Great minds aren’t arrogant, like the ocean embracing rivers. Learning has no boundaries, reaching to the heavens and earth… The ancients spoke of seeking truth, truly inspiring one to seek reality…”

“The ancients spoke of seeking truth, truly inspiring one to seek reality?” Hearing this, Zhang Chao suddenly paused, a few thoughts seeming to surface in his mind.

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The lyrics of Zhejiang University’s school song were written by the renowned scholar Ma Yifu more than half a century ago. The entire song was in classical Chinese, making it very difficult to understand. When Zhang Chao went to university for military training, he had to sing this song every day. Every student knew the school song by heart, and naturally, they all understood the meaning of the lyrics.

Normally, hearing the school song would seem perfectly normal. But now, Zhang Chao felt a little dizzy. Hearing this school song, he suddenly thought that decades had passed since the New Culture Movement, so why was the school song still written in classical Chinese?

Didn’t it seem strange?

“The ancients spoke of seeking truth, truly inspiring one to seek reality…” Could there be another meaning hidden in these words? He couldn’t quite put his finger on it; it was just a feeling.

He didn’t dwell on it. Listening to the melodious tune, his mood improved slightly. He picked up a book and started reading. The black cat lay obediently basking in the sun beside him.

If things could stay this way, that wouldn’t be bad.

But so many things remained unresolved; how could he have peace of mind?

How would he live his life from now on?

He thought for a long time, finally coming up with an idea that even he found absurd and astonishing: he’d go to the School of Medicine again that night!

“Whether it was a singing woman, a white-clad ghost, or a strange animal, bring them all on! Let’s see what’s going on. I refuse to believe that a person’s will can be influenced by external forces. I’m going to break into the School of Medicine at night. If ghosts really exist, they are afraid of people; otherwise, wouldn’t everyone in the world be killed by them? I refuse to believe that ghosts can actually make me jump off a building!”

Through extremes, people often became stronger.

Thinking this way, he felt a sense of peace.

Sometimes, waiting for fear to arrive was more terrifying than the fear itself.

Perhaps this was what it was like to face fear directly.

He sat there until dusk, then put the black cat back in his bag. To avoid being seen by anyone he knew, he quietly went to the small supermarket in another school, quickly bought bread and milk, and returned to the grassy area to wait for nightfall.

He didn’t turn on his phone. Looking at the sky, it was only around 5 PM; it would be another four hours or so. Bored, he turned on his phone. Within minutes, dozens of calls appeared. Half were from Chen Rong, and then there were his parents, Lin Yi’ang, Teacher Liu, Wu Yu, Zhu Xiaoyu, and some other classmates.

Zhang Chao shook his head and gave a wry smile. “You all think I’m crazy. I’m not better yet; how can I see you?”

Then came dozens more text messages, mostly from Chen Rong, with some from his parents, Lin Yi’ang, and other classmates. They were basically asking where he was, urging him to come back quickly, and saying they were all worried sick.

But seeing Chen Rong’s name, he hesitated to open the messages. He trusted Chen Rong the most, yet she had always seen him as someone she could “cure.”

Haha, he suddenly realized how ridiculous he looked.

After pondering for a long time, Zhang Chao finally opened Chen Rong’s messages. The first few were asking where he was and urging him to come back quickly. The later ones said she didn’t mean to deceive him and hoped he would think it over and come back soon. Scrolling to the end, a long text message from Chen Rong, several hundred words long, caught his attention.

“Zhang Chao, I didn’t mean to lie to you. I know you’re very upset right now, and so am I. Indeed, at first, I only treated you as my patient, even deceiving you into taking psychiatric medication. But I gradually realized that your situation isn’t so simple. Some things are difficult to explain using psychiatric knowledge. That’s why I thought you might not actually have a mental illness, but rather, as my grandfather used to say, you might be possessed by an evil spirit. So I also became superstitious and took you to Beigao Peak to see that very accurate fortune teller. Even now, I still don’t understand what’s wrong with you. But you must believe me. Even if you refuse to go back to school these next few days, you must promise me you won’t go to any secluded places alone again. I can’t explain these things clearly, but I increasingly feel it’s very dangerous. Besides, I have another feeling that someone might be pulling the strings behind the scenes. I can’t explain everything in a text message; I hope you can hear it from me in person. I haven’t slept all night. If you see this message, please reply, okay? Please?”

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Zhang Chao sneered, “You still want to lie to me? You didn’t sleep all night, not because you were worried about me, but because the patient is missing. Humph, the hospital and the leaders will definitely punish you severely. None of you believes me, so it seems only I can prove it by finding out the truth myself! Humph, whether there’s a ghost or someone is playing tricks, I’ll find out the truth.”