In the corridor, Ana Shen stood at the vermilion door, holding something like a manuscript in his right hand, and silently reciting something. His left hand holds a chain, and the other end of the chain is hidden in the shadow behind him.
——
On the other side of the door is a European-style living room, where a fat middle-aged man sits on a soft leather sofa and smokes a cigarette.
From his position, he could just see the narrow slit in the sky through the window.
The sky was like a torn bag, and blue-purple light was spreading out from the eye-like cracks, spreading through the window onto the luxurious decoration of the living room.
There is a distinctive oil painting hanging on the wall, which is the work of Stanwijk Krohn. Under the blue-purple light, the girl holding the water bottle is full of mysterious and demonic temptation.
It can be seen that the owner of the house has the same taste as Chen Gengnian.
If it were other times, maybe the two people could become good friends. But now, Chen Gengnian is not in the mood to pay attention to this.
Whether it was the ashtray filled with cigarette butts in front of him or the way he glanced at the clock from time to time, it was obvious that he was anxious and impatient at this time.
At 3:32 in the afternoon, he had been waiting at the other party's house for forty minutes, and the psychiatrist for the appointment had not yet shown up.
"I shouldn't have been here in the first place."
Chen Gengnian stubbed out a half-smoked cigarette, put it in his pocket, picked up his brown briefcase and prepared to leave.
If the psychiatrist who had been working with him hadn't suddenly become ill, and the inspection department was pressing hard for documents, he wouldn't have found this nook and cranny.
As expected, cheap goods are not good.
Chen Gengnian decided to go back to Central City. The worst he could do was spend a little more money to silence the prosecutor. If it was just this time, it shouldn't be a big problem.
"Where are you going, Mr. Chen?"
As soon as Chen Gengnian opened the door, he saw a young man dressed as a doctor standing at the door, looking at him searchingly.
Chen Gengnian asked uncertainly: "Shen...Doctor Shen?"
Ana Shen smiled and nodded: "We started the video on the AP, did Mr. Chen forget it?"
After confirming the identity of the other party, Chen Gengnian's fat face sank slightly: "Doctor Shen, do you know how long I have been waiting here? A full forty minutes! Is this your attitude towards patients as a psychiatrist?"
"Forty-seven minutes and thirty-eight seconds, to be exact."
Ana Shen glanced at her wrist, then raised her head and said apologetically: "I'm sorry again. To express my apology, you can get a 50% discount on the consultation fee."
"If you don't mind, we can start the first treatment now."
Seeing that the other party was so sincere in admitting his mistake, and that he had been waiting for a long time, and it would waste more time to find another doctor, Chen Gengnian did not continue to care.
"...Let's not do this next time."
Chen Gengnian opened the door and let Ana Shen walk in.
Ana Shen: “Thank you for your understanding.”
"I was preparing a gift for you before, so I wasted some time."
Gift? what gift?
At this time, Chen Gengnian discovered that Ana Shen's left hand was still holding a chain. The other end of the chain was holding something unknown and was blocked by his body.
"I heard that Mr. Chen likes to eat dog meat. Look, I spent more than an hour carefully selecting this for you from the market."
As Ana Shen said that, he pulled the chain and pulled out the things behind him.
Chen Gengnian took a closer look and saw that the other end of the chain was not a dog, but a boy of eight or nine years old!
The child looked at the two of them with horrified eyes, but he didn't move or scream. He looked like he was scared to death.
"As the saying goes, one black, two yellow, three flowers and four white. Mr. Chen is an expert in eating dog meat. Come and see how this looks."
Chen Gengnian looked at Shen Yan, who seemed to be unaware and was still boasting, and his face was so dark that water could drip from his face.
Chen Gengnian suppressed his anger and asked in a deep voice: "I am a little delusional, but I am not crazy yet. What do you want to do if you bring a child over and tell him to eat dog meat?!"
"Where did you get this kid? Do you know that you have broken the law!"
"I think you're not a psychiatrist, you're just a lunatic." Chen Gengnian angrily took out his AP bracelet and prepared to call the police: "Think about how to explain it to the police officer!"
However, Ana Shen did not step forward to stop him.
He gave Chen Gengnian a strange look, squatted down and untied the chain on the boy, then patted the child on the head, and the child jumped out.
Chen Gengnian looked at Ana Shen inexplicably and asked, "What are you doing? Do you think everything will be fine if you let him go?"
Ana Shen took out a stack of files from the bookcase and turned to the page about Chen Gengnian: "Chen Gengnian, who suffered from severe delusions and cognitive impairment, accidentally killed eight children in the orphanage because he mistook his children for wild dogs. children.”
Ana Shen looked at Chen Gengnian and said in a gentle tone: "Now it seems that Mr. Chen's illness is about to be cured."
When he said this, Ana Shen straightened her back and her whole demeanor changed.
It's like a person has returned to what he is good at, becoming confident and calm.
"What do you mean?"
The sudden change confused Chen Gengnian. He asked uncertainly: "Just now... what you just did... were you diagnosing?"
Ana Shen nodded: "Only what is revealed without the patient's knowledge is more real and has more reference value."
"If this has caused trouble to you, I can only say sorry." Ana Shen sat up straight and shook hands with Chen Gengnian: "But I still want to say congratulations. Mr. Chen no longer needs further treatment."
No need for treatment?
Are you kidding me? I'm paying you to tell me that I'm not sick?
Chen Gengnian frowned: "Dr. Shen... Isn't it too arbitrary to make a diagnosis of recovery based on this alone?"
"My situation is a bit complicated. How about you listen to me tell you about some of my recent performances, and then you can make your own judgment?"
Ana Shen changed her sitting position, nodded with a smile and said, "Of course, if this makes you feel comfortable."
"The biggest anomaly probably started when the crack appeared in the sky."
"Since then, I have always seen some weird... figures, a bit like children. They will follow me when I am alone, but rarely make a sound..."
child? Is it related to the experience in the orphanage?
Ana Shen took a pen and wrote notes on a piece of paper from time to time, focusing on the words orphanage, children, and guilt.
"Excuse me, are you sure you only saw these 'little children' after the cracks in the sky appeared? They were not hallucinations that started after the incident in the orphanage?"
Chen Gengnian thought for a while and shook his head: "No. I'm sorry about the orphanage, but I had a very serious delusion at that time. I blamed myself for a long time afterwards and resigned as the director. But I can be sure , I saw the illusion started from the appearance of that blue-purple crack."
"You also know that a huge crack suddenly appeared in the sky a few months ago, which once plunged all mankind into panic. Many people have suffered from some psychological problems due to excessive stress. Well... yes... that's right."
Ana Shen glanced at Chen Gengnian's fat face inquiringly for a few times, then circled and crossed out the words "guilt mentality" on his note.
"When they first appeared, they were far away from me, as if they were a little afraid of me. At that time, I didn't pay much attention to it. It was not until later that they started to get closer to me. I felt panic and told my family about it. They suggested I see a psychiatrist.”
From being far away to gradually getting closer...is it a process of gradual psychological distortion of the patient?
Ana Shen bit the pen, a description like this was a bit like horror novels from ancient times.
Or is it that the patient has read similar horror novels, so when he has psychological problems, he automatically organizes and reproduces the memories in his mind?
"You said those shadows are getting closer to you. How close are they to you? Are they riding on your shoulders like they are now?" Ana Shen suddenly said.
Chen Gengnian's face instantly turned pale: "What...what did you say?"
Ana Shen pointed at the top of Chen Gengnian's head: "A little boy, wearing a white shirt, with curly hair, bent his arms back and hugged your head. He seemed to want to gouge your eyes, but his arms were twisted It's so powerful, now I can barely hold your head."
The spacious living room instantly became quiet.
Cold sweat continued to pour out of Chen Gengnian's fat face. He wanted to turn his head, but found that his neck was completely stiff, as if a pair of cold calves were wrapped around it.
Just when Chen Gengnian was about to collapse, Ana Shen suddenly smiled and said, "I'm just kidding you, Mr. Chen."
"This is our second course of treatment. It tests the patient's mental endurance and is also the standard for assessing the patient's mental health. I hope you don't mind."
"I don't mind, I don't mind."
I just want to beat you to death.
What a bullshit treatment plan, you will scare me into becoming mentally ill even if I don’t have mental illness.
Chen Gengnian wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "Doctor Shen is well prepared for this treatment. He has even found out the victims in the orphanage more than ten years ago. It's hard for you."
"Although it is more troublesome, I will make some preparations in advance in order to better understand the patient's condition."
Chen Gengnian wiped away the sweat, took a deep breath, and gradually calmed down.
"That child was the first child in our hospital to have an accident. He climbed the wall to escape because he was chased by a wild dog. Unexpectedly, he broke his arm and injured his head. He died not long after."
Ana Shen asked: "Is it because of him that Mr. Chen developed paranoia later on?"
"Maybe so."
After two rounds of stimulation, Chen Gengnian's spirit dropped visibly, and he no longer wanted to answer Ana Shen's questions.
However, Ana Shen seemed to have gotten the answer he wanted. He did not continue to treat Chen Gengnian but gave the final conclusion happily.
"Mr. Chen, I have a general understanding of your situation. Although your paranoia has been relieved, new mental problems seem to have appeared."
As he spoke, he filled out a few documents on his AP bracelet and sent them to Chen Gengnian's AP.
"This is your psychiatric diagnosis certificate. Please keep it. We will conduct further treatment when your physical condition permits next time."
Chen Gengnian looked at the medical certificate and felt happy.
Although there were some twists and turns in the process, the efforts were not in vain, and I made up a bunch of lies about illness on the fly.
"When I rest for a while, I will definitely come see Dr. Shen again."
After making a bunch of verbal promises, Chen Gengnian got up and left, almost running away.
The goal has been achieved. If he continues to stay with a neurologist, Chen Gengnian feels that he is really going to be cured.
But on the way out, Chen Gengnian couldn't help but take out a mirror and take a look at the top of his head.
In a daze, he seemed to really feel something strange on his shoulders and eyes.
"It's all that psychiatrist's fault. He almost drove himself crazy studying mental illness. Bah, what the hell!"
Chen Gengnian complained while looking at the time. At 5:05 pm, his precious son was about to get out of school.
"Pick up my son, then go to the kennel to pick the fattest black dog, and have a hot pot dinner to celebrate."
…
Walking out of the long-abandoned unfinished building, the narrow crack in the sky hung low on the roof of the building, and the blue-purple light was blocked by the building.
Ana Shen whistled, and a big black dog sprang out from the ruins nearby and squatted down at his feet obediently.
Ana Shen touched the big black dog's head: "Let's go home."
