"It can be confirmed now. The patient exhibits relatively strong symptoms of irritability, so please be cautious," Dr. Cheng announced.
"He really has a mental illness?" the female police officer asked with a very serious expression.
"Yes," the psychologist nodded, hands inserted in his lab coat, "I have to go now, but when I come tomorrow, I will issue a psychological assessment report for the patient."
"Ah... okay, thank you, Dr. Cheng."
"You're welcome."
After the psychologist had left, the female police officer mused to her male colleague, "It seems... we need to reassess the speculated cause of Chen Yu's death."
"I'll report it to the chief," the male police officer said as he also turned to leave.
Inside the interrogation room.
Having overheard all this, Chen Yu really wanted to burst out and loudly prove his mental state. But obviously, doing so would only affirm that he indeed had a mental issue.
After a moment of silence, Chen Yu sat back down on the "chair of regret," striving to keep his emotions calm.
About half a minute later, the interrogation room's iron door was cautiously pushed open by the female police officer, who peeked in to check on Chen Yu.
"Hello," Chen Yu forced a slight smile, politely, "Please have a seat."
"Chen Yu, how are you feeling now?" the female police officer asked in an unusually gentle voice, as if coddling a child.
Chen Yu: "..."
Female Police Officer: "Are you feeling unwell?"
Chen Yu: "Beautiful sister, you're a police officer, you should have enough judgment. I'm not sick."
The female police officer nodded, "I understand, no sick person ever wants to admit they are sick, but I believe you will get healthy."
Chen Yu: "… Fine, I admit I am sick."
The female police officer continued nodding, "So, you absolutely must not give up on treatment."
Chen Yu: "Damn it!" he exclaimed, slamming the table and rising in fury, "That damn doctor is the one who's sick! His entire family is seriously ill, damn it!"
"Calm down," the female officer took a step back, gravely, "Irritability isn't actually that frightening; it can be self-healed by adjusting one's mood."
Chen Yu: "..."
After watching the female police officer for a while, Chen Yu sighed heavily and waved his hand weakly, "Forget it, just take me back to the dormitory, I need to rest for a while."
"Okay."
Following the female police officer to his temporary residence, Chen Yu flopped onto the cot, not wanting to move at all.
This was a dormitory specially vacated for him by a police officer.
Since he was not a criminal, he couldn't possibly stay with the criminals.
Seeing that Chen Yu seemed to have calmed down, the female police officer left relieved, closing the door behind her.
Alone in the narrow dormitory, staring at the empty ceiling made his scalp tingle. A bad premonition grew stronger and stronger.
He increasingly wanted to go home.
Though both involved staying in one place without moving.
Controlling oneself meant freedom.
Being controlled by others meant crisis...
"..."
"..."
"What a curse."
Perhaps truly exhausted,
Chen Yu fell asleep without realizing it. Day quickly turned to night.
When he next opened his eyes, it was to the loud ring of a phone.
"Hm?"
Groggily, Chen Yu rubbed his eyelids, instinctively pulled his phone from his pocket, blindly answered the call, and pressed the receiver to his ear.
"Hello? Little brother?"
The familiar voice helped clear his grogginess considerably, and he sat up and yawned, "Hello? Sis?"
On the other end, his sister's voice sounded anxious, "You're at the police station? Why does your title say 'deceased'?"
Chen Yu jumped in shock, "How did you know that?!"
"I saw it on TV! Your local station in Qingcheng, it aired just at noon! What the hell is going on with you? Who have you angered?"
"What the fuck? Those sons of bitches reported it so quickly?" Chen Yu's emotions, which had calmed down, flared up again.
"What in the world is happening? I was wondering why you haven't been home in almost a year, and it turns out..."
"It's a long story, we can catch up and I'll explain when we meet," Chen Yu interrupted, "Right now, just make sure the family doesn't find out—keep it from Mom."
Female voice: "It was Mom who told me."
Chen Yu: "..."
After a moment of silence, Chen Yu, exhausted, said, "Alright, then I'm hanging up, I need to call home."
Without waiting for the other end to speak, Chen Yu hung up the communication and dialed his home directly.
"Beep——"
Soon, the call connected, and Ms. Chen's voice came through, "Son, did you send money again? I've told you, your dad's surgery isn't urgent."
"Well... no, I didn't send money," Chen Yu hesitated, "I wanted to talk about the news report today..."
"You saw it too, right!" Ms. Chen exclaimed excitedly, "It's so funny, the title on top of the unlucky guy's head was 'corpse'! That's like confirming he's dead for sure. The victim is just like you, also in Qingcheng. So you and your sister be careful out there, don't get into trouble, and pay attention to your safety. Don't take dangerous side jobs just for money."
Chen Yu: "Mom, didn't you recognize who that person was?"
"Who?" Ms. Chen was startled, "Do I know them?"
"Fine, Mom, no worries, I'm still busy, I'm hanging up now." Chen Yu ended the call.
"..."
"...What's with this inexplicable feeling of loss."
With a thud, Chen Yu lay back down, let out a long sigh, stayed awake for a while, then got up and walked into the even narrower bathroom to quickly wash his face, put on a hat to cover his "title," and left the police dorm.
The corridors were empty.
Outside was pitch dark.
All windows were open for ventilation, but with iron bars outside, there was definitely no escaping.
Chen Yu, hands in pockets, stood for a while, then walked toward the police station lobby.
Having studied in Qingcheng City for two years and combining memories in his mind, he knew the local TV station's noon news was replayed in the evening and the following morning. He decided to see how those damned reporters covered it.
Didn't they show his face clearly?
Walking into the lobby, the duty officer, an old colleague, was lounging with his legs crossed, drinking tea. Seeing Chen Yu, he was startled, "How did you get out?"
"My sentence ended," Chen Yu casually remarked, looking around the lobby and noticing besides the duty officer, there were two other people.
These two were in handcuffs, squatting in front of the heater, watching the TV hanging in the lobby.
They were "suspects" that had been brought in.
One had the title [Office Worker]above his head.
The other had the title [Office Worker]as well.
Chen Yu scratched his chin, walked not too far from them, and squatted down in the same position to watch TV.
Seeing it was the Orange Melon channel, he picked up the remote and switched to the local TV station of Qingcheng City.
"Orange Melon channel, not even dogs watch," Chen Yu muttered.
The two handcuffed "suspects" exchanged a glance, looked Chen Yu up and down a couple of times, but kept quiet.
Changing his squatting posture, Chen Yu noticed it wasn't time for the news replay yet, and turned to chat with the two men, "Fellows, how did you guys get in here?"
One of them, slightly shorter, immediately came in hot, pointing at the man next to him and barked, "He's a rapist! Pah! He's ashamed to say it. Trash."
"A rapist, eh?" Chen Yu was shocked, then pursed his lips, "Definitely not a good sort. Too disgusting."
"You can say that again. Born and raised by his parents, rearing him through hardship, paying for his education, and this is what he does? Fucking disgraceful, a complete waste," the shorter criminal raved, venting his anger, trying to distance himself from the other, but unable to get away as they were tied to one heater.
He could only hatefully kick the other man.
The other man staggered from the kick, shrunk his head and was too scared to make a sound.
"Right, kick him dead," Chen Yu spat on the floor, then asked, "So, bro, how did you come to be here?"
"Me? I was the victim," the shorter criminal replied.
Chen Yu: "..."
The shorter criminal added, "Now, an accomplice."
Chen Yu: "..."
...