Chapter 222: Frog Hospital (14) Red Frog

When Qi Si was very young, he began receiving psychological treatment once a week.

Normal, abnormal, scientific, metaphysical, sandplay therapy, microcurrent stimulation… At that time, Qi Si clearly knew that he couldn’t be pleased by things children should like. Instead, he was interested in harming weak creatures and felt excited by bloody, terrifying scenes. These were all abnormal behaviors.

Antisocial personality disorder, this is a disease, born under genetic factors and nerve damage, lacking normal emotional understanding and emotional generation mechanisms, thus presenting a strangeness and cruelty that society cannot tolerate.

Most children, whose hobbies and interests are compatible with society, know that a cute little white rabbit is a pet they can stroke; but there are a few children, called “bugs,” who enjoy the dark pleasure of killing a little white rabbit.

Rationality, madness, and humanity—the Creator took a spoonful from each of these three jars, adding more or less according to preference, and unique human beings were thus born.

Unfortunately, this Creator sometimes dozes off, omitting a spoonful of an element, or adding too much of a certain element, and so—

Antisocial personality appeared.

When “humanity” is extremely thin, “rationality” and “madness” become prominent, making one incompatible with the group, full of danger and destructiveness.

It’s like a malfunctioning robot that, after receiving a positive command, can only return an error, ultimately exploding into fireworks for everyone to see under the programmer’s anxious and chaotic debugging.

It’s not always linked to high intelligence as depicted in some third-rate literary works. On the contrary, it’s an incomplete manifestation, like diseases such as mania, autism, and ADHD, and the outcome is likely to be confinement in a mental hospital by exasperated relatives.

But Qi Si was lucky.

On one hand, his parents never gave up on him, patiently seeking various treatment methods; on the other hand, he was a smart child from a young age and knew how to disguise himself.

If he wanted to, he could act just like a normal person, without arousing any suspicion.

When his parents were alive, Qi Si wasn’t very interested in disguising himself, because once he was deemed sick, no one would believe he could heal himself. Going to the hospital simply meant choosing between increasing or decreasing the dosage.

Instead, he felt it was like a game to consolidate family relationships, just like going to an amusement park or a zoo together. He would receive electroshock therapy in the mental hospital, and his parents would accompany him anxiously and patiently, making anyone who saw them think they were a loving family.

In short, with day after day, year after year of treatment, Qi Si’s mind successfully stabilized, and his personality successfully became stronger.

To be precise, he became deeply and incurably twisted, developing drug resistance, beyond saving for this lifetime.

“Dreams are actually reflections of the spiritual world. When a person’s self-awareness is stable to a certain extent, they can remain conscious in dreams, and even control them.” Qi Si leaned back in his chair, looking at Cheng An opposite him, a brilliant smile on his face. “I’m curious, does this dream belong to me or to you now?”

The ropes on his body spontaneously broke, scattering into dust in the air and disappearing.

Qi Si stood up, walked around the iron bed with the corpse, and approached Cheng An step by step.

He stood in front of Cheng An, tilted his head, and smiled: “It seems this is my dream now.”

Cheng An’s face was a blank white, his features and expression indiscernible.

He looked up, his voice much calmer than before: “It seems my decision was correct; you indeed have the ability to deal with the Director. Now I can tell you, the Director is the hospital itself. If you want to leave here, you must kill the Director.”

Qi Si looked at him with interest: “These are all just your words. How can I believe you’re not lying to me?”

Cheng An said calmly: “When the final moment comes, the Director will definitely appear. You will know everything when you see him.”

Qi Si nodded knowingly.

After two seconds of silence, he tapped his chin with his finger: “So, back to the original question, what benefit can you give me?”

Cheng An visibly paused, clearly not expecting the young man in front of him to be so unyielding.

Then, Qi Si was seen toying with the Cursed Pendulum, coaxing him: “Firstly, you seem to only be able to establish contact with me. If I don’t cooperate, you’ll probably have a lot more trouble; secondly, I can completely cooperate with the Director, as all my tasks are not necessarily related to killing the Director.

“Finally, I don’t care if you told the truth, or if you’re deceiving and disguising yourself, nor do I intend to examine your morals and thoughts. I just want to know if you have any value in cooperation.”

The blood-colored crystal pendulum refracted an eerie red light, and the young man’s tone was cold and unyielding, blocking all room for maneuver.

Cheng An was silent for a long time, then sighed: “The Blue Frog Hospital and the Green Frog Hospital both belong to the Director, but I know a way to build a connection between the two places. All it needs is an item with a certain connection…”

…In the Green Frog Hospital, within the dense forest, the female Ghosts aggressively closed in on Lin Chen and the female teacher.

The hospital’s layout was seamless, with hard tree trunks forming an airtight wall, tightly connected to the hospital building, enclosing a flask-shaped clearing.

The neck of the flask led directly to the hospital’s back door, and the bottom of the flask was a pond crowded with frogs.

White-clad female Ghosts, covered in blood, surged out of the hospital, leaving the players with no option but to retreat towards the pond.

But what if they retreated to the pond? There was no way out… Lin Chen held a black umbrella in one hand and a blade in the other, his retreating steps crushing dry leaves with a rustling sound like silkworms eating.

The frogs sleeping at the bottom of the pond were startled by the noise and surfaced, croaking loudly.

Under the pale moonlight, large numbers of green frogs hopped about, some climbing onto the stone platform where an infant statue rested, others jumping onto the pond’s edge, creating quite a racket.

Mixed among the green frogs were a few blue frogs, lazily basking in the moonlight on the stone platform.

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The summoning effect of the 【Umbrella Filled with Pain】 had entered cooldown, and Lin Chen knew that once he was entangled by these Ghosts, there would be no way to escape.

What to do? What on earth should he do?

He didn’t have Yu Kun’s combat prowess, nor Qi Si’s wisdom. He had been lucky to survive until now, and dying here wouldn’t be unfair, but what about the others?

Lin Chen turned his head to look at the female teacher beside him, who followed him silently like a ghost.

The woman wore a dignified long dress in blue and white, her delicate face was pale, and her dark brown eyes stared intently at the group of Ghosts ahead.

Lin Chen had thought the Ghosts were confined to the hospital building, which was why he had the Shadow Ghost take him and the female teacher to the forest behind the hospital. He hadn’t expected the Ghosts to chase them out.

His item had led them into this dead end, his misjudgment had harmed her, and she was suffering completely undeserved misfortune… Thoughts swirled in his mind, and Lin Chen gazed distractedly at the approaching group of Ghosts when a familiar voice suddenly rang in his ears: “Lin Chen, can you hear me?”

Lin Chen looked around. The female teacher was squatting by the pond, searching for something, showing no abnormalities.

That voice, it seemed only he could hear it.

Is it a hallucination? In a helpless moment, his subconscious hoped for rescue from that powerful figure?

Lin Chen gave a self-deprecating smile, but then heard the voice more clearly: “Lin Chen, I am Qi Si. I’ve established a connection with you through an item. Can you hear my voice? No need to rush to answer, just mentally say the answer, and I’ll know.”

It wasn’t a hallucination! It really was Qi Si!

Lin Chen’s breathing became rapid.

Astonishment, surprise, daze… various emotions surged in his heart, and he quickly thought: “Brother Qi, I can hear you!”

Qi Si detected the urgency in his tone and sighed: “It sounds like you’ve run into some trouble. If you don’t mind, you can tell me what happened, and we can think of a solution together.”

The calm tone was quite reassuring. Lin Chen, as if grasping a life-saving straw, described everything he had encountered since the phone call ended.

Qi Si pondered briefly, then his clear voice calmly came through: “I’ve thought of a possible solution, but I’m not sure. Are you willing to try it?”

Lin Chen nodded without hesitation: “I am willing!”

Qi Si smiled, a smile filled with approval, affection, and pity.

He said, word by word: “You need a Red Frog.”

The opportunity to establish a connection across space was the blade Qi Si had given Lin Chen in Rose Manor.

That blade was so ordinary, easily replaceable; if Lin Chen hadn’t kept it with him at all times, Qi Si would have forgotten about it.

Who would have thought that this small object, shuttling between the instance and reality, would gradually be imbued with experiences and memories, becoming part of the Eerie Game, and would, by chance, hit the bullseye.

At this moment, under Cheng An’s guidance, Qi Si’s consciousness was able to pass through the overlapping and adjoining parts of the two spaces to communicate with Lin Chen.

He meticulously described his conjectured solution, including the connection between “Red Frogs” and “infants” in this instance, and the tadpoles’ appetite for dead infants.

“I once saw dead infants transform into Red Frogs and hop away outside the operating room. You have many frogs around you, don’t you?”

Lin Chen heard Qi Si say nonchalantly.

The bloody solution was described lightly, cruel and difficult for ordinary people to accept, yet rationally, it had its validity.

Infants resemble frogs in their embryonic stage, and when artificially aborted, they are entirely blood-red, precisely like Red Frogs!

The female Ghosts had already closed in. Lin Chen turned to face the pond, covered his back with the black umbrella, blocking the first few claws that reached for him.

Although the summoning effect had been used, the black umbrella’s own strength was considerable under the influence of ghost energy.

White smoke rose from the ghost hands upon contact, and the female Ghosts howled in pain, scattering and retreating, only to surge forward again, repeating the process of advancing wave after wave.

Lin Chen crouched by the pond and reached out to grab the green frog closest to him.

The slimy sensation struggled and squirmed in his palm. He clenched it tightly to prevent it from slipping away.

“Child, where is our child?”

The female Ghosts’ cries were exceptionally mournful, and a metal ruler appeared in the female teacher’s hand, blocking the space between Lin Chen and the ghost horde.

“Act quickly. I can only buy you half a minute at most.” Her tone was flat.

Lin Chen dared not delay, tore a corner of his sleeve to cover the frog’s eyes, and then plunged the blade into the frog’s back with a reverse grip.

Blood soaked his fingertips, and a piercing, high-pitched “croak” echoed. The entire pond of frogs became agitated, emitting mournful cries one after another.

Lin Chen gritted his teeth, and as Qi Si instructed, used the blade to cut through the skin and flesh, pushing aside the shredded skin and chunks of meat until the outermost layer of frog skin was completely peeled off.

“Croak-wa-wa… croak-croak…”

The frog cried out in agony.

Rich, thick blood seeped from its muscles, quickly covering its entire body. Its mangled surface no longer showed its original color.

Its legs twitched slightly, and it became a blood-Red Frog.

The screams from the entire pond grew louder and louder, much like an infant’s cries.

The female Ghosts’ steps gradually slowed, and they looked around in confusion, as if searching for something.

“Child… our child…”

They called out softly, humming soothing lullabies.

Lin Chen swallowed, raising his right hand high, holding the blood-colored frog’s corpse as if displaying a trophy.

The female Ghosts’ gazes were all drawn to him, focusing on the Red Frog in his hand, their eyes burning with obsessive flames, as if they had found a long-lost treasure.

“Child! That’s my child! Give it back to me!”

They screamed madly, disregarding the obstruction of the metal ruler and the black umbrella, reaching out to snatch the frog from Lin Chen’s hand.

Lin Chen reacted extremely quickly, throwing the frog’s corpse into the pond even before they moved.

The bloody mass hit the water, splashing light pink water.

A silk-like, thin veil of blood spread in the water, slowly and gracefully diffusing into a pond of crimson.

Stimulated by the scent of blood, the frogs swarmed forward, greedily tearing at the flesh of their kin.

The female Ghosts also swarmed forward.

They shrieked, plunging headfirst into the pond, trying to snatch back their “child” from the frogs participating in the feast.

The female Ghosts and frogs fought each other, the pond water violently boiled, stirring up wave after wave.

The blood color deepened, rippling outwards in circles, solidifying into a lightless, deep black, making the bottom of the pond completely invisible.

Lin Chen pulled the female teacher to the side, standing in a position where they could see the entire pond clearly without being splashed by the bloody water.

They watched in silence, holding their breath, waiting for the final outcome.

After an unknown amount of time, all sounds died out. The night wind gently blew, and the water surface became calm as a mirror.

Only the infant statue in the center of the stone platform lay alone, gazing up at the white moon.

Lin Chen inhaled the strong scent of blood and murmured: “It succeeded.”

“It succeeded.” The female teacher adjusted her glasses, looking distantly towards the hospital building.

It was completely dark there; nothing could be seen.

“It succeeded.” Qi Si received the message from Lin Chen and smiled, his eyes curving. “Those frogs are indeed stupid but exploitable combat power…”