"So this is the outside world." Lin Fan stood within the residential complex, observing his surroundings. He had never left Green Mountain Mental Hospital before.
He realized he still preferred Green Mountain Mental Hospital. This place was too quiet.
Snapping back to reality, he walked towards the bus stop and waited patiently.
Beep beep!
The number 666 bus pulled up to the curb. Lin Fan boarded and paid two yuan.
The bus driver, a man with a receding hairline, saw Lin Fan's student uniform and kindly reminded him, "Student, you have a student card, you can just swipe it."
"Oh." Lin Fan nodded.
Beep!
"Student card."
The driver blinked, confused by Lin Fan's actions. He had already paid two yuan, why swipe the card as well?
Is there something wrong with his head?
Nevermind. Two extra yuan, I'm happy.
The bus moved slowly.
Lin Fan sat down. Soon, a cute little girl with pigtails and a backpack boarded the bus. She stood there, holding onto the railing, her small body swaying with the movement of the bus.
"Sit here." Lin Fan said.
The little girl, probably a second-grader at most, smiled, revealing two dimples. "Thank you, big brother."
"Mm." Lin Fan nodded.
The bus started and stopped, and after an unknown amount of time…
Slap!
"What's our Yangyang doing?" Someone slapped Lin Fan's shoulder, using quite a bit of force, deliberately so.
Lin Fan ignored him. He didn't recognize the person.
"Chen Yang, you've gotten so arrogant now, you're ignoring me?"
Zhang Hao was very annoyed. Usually, Chen Yang would act like he was seeing his grandfather when he saw him, shrinking back like a grandson, not daring to utter a word.
At most, he would say, "Don't hit me, I'm afraid of pain."
Lin Fan searched his memories.
He knew that Zhang Hao, with his long, shaggy hair, was one of the people who bullied him.
They were in the same class.
Zhang Hao would extort money from him. After school, he would block Chen Yang on the road and beat him up if he didn't obey.
"Didn't I tell you to save a seat for me?"
"Why didn't you save me a seat today?"
Seeing that Lin Fan still ignored him, Zhang Hao angrily turned him around, preparing to use a furious glare to let Chen Yang know he was courting death.
However, when he saw Lin Fan's eyes…
Zhang Hao was a little startled. It wasn't that Lin Fan's eyes were terrifying, but rather they were too calm, tranquil without a ripple.
"Chen Yang, are you sick?"
Zhang Hao was embarrassed and angry. He was the school bully, yet he was startled by a single glance. If others found out, how could he still maintain his reputation?
Just then, the little girl sitting there spoke softly, "This big brother gave his seat to me."
Zhang Hao naturally wouldn't argue with a primary school student. There were so many adults around.
If someone he knew saw him, they'd tell his dad, and he would definitely get a beating.
Zhang Hao glared fiercely at Chen Yang, clenched his fist, and shook it, the meaning clear: Just you wait after school.
Suddenly, there were screams from the front of the bus.
"Murder!"
"A madman is killing people!"
The crowd surged, everyone terrified.
A man held a kitchen knife, yelling, "I'll kill you all! I'll kill you all!"
Lin Fan looked at the man.
He shook his head slightly.
It wasn't a familiar scent, they weren't the same kind. He wasn't mentally ill. It seemed these people had some misunderstanding about mental illness.
"Ah!"
Zhang Hao saw the man with the kitchen knife approaching and collapsed to the ground in fear, scrambling desperately into the crowd.
Damn it.
My luck is so terrible!
The man with the kitchen knife saw the little girl and his expression became ferocious, charging towards her with the knife. "I'll kill you!"
If nothing unexpected happened, the second-grade girl would definitely fall in a pool of blood.
The surrounding passengers watched in horror.
Their hearts ached.
Someone, please save this innocent little girl.
Thump!
Everyone closed their eyes, not daring to look. But they didn't hear a scream. Opening their eyes, the scene before them stunned them.
The student in school uniform had caught the blade of the kitchen knife with his bare hand.
Drip, drip, drip!
Blood dripped from his palm onto the floor.
Even the man wielding the knife stared blankly at the scene.
"What are you doing?" Lin Fan asked calmly.
"Let go of me!" the man roared, glaring at Lin Fan. But looking at Lin Fan's eyes, the man actually lowered his head, seeming to avoid his gaze.
It was like a fake meeting the real deal.
That aura suppressed him.
"Doesn't it hurt?" the man asked.
Lin Fan said, "It hurts."
The man roared, "Then let go!"
Lin Fan said, "What are you doing?"
The atmosphere inside the bus quieted down.
The man stared blankly at Lin Fan. Perhaps, he was completely bewildered, not even knowing what he was doing anymore.
The driver shakily called the police.
"Ah!"
The man with the knife clutched his head and screamed.
I want to kill people.
Why won't you let me kill?
Lin Fan gripped the handle of the kitchen knife and gently pulled the blade out of his flesh. Blood spurted out.
He threw the knife on the ground.
He helped the collapsed Zhang Hao up and extended his bleeding right hand.
"Hello, classmate. Let's get to know each other again."
Zhang Hao trembled, his lips pale. Looking at Lin Fan's calm expression and then at the continuously bleeding right hand, he felt even more afraid.
But he slowly extended his hand, nervously saying, "H…Hello."
Sticky, warm.
Zhang Hao was terrified.
He was filled with fear towards Lin Fan. Seeing the blood flowing from his hand, he felt dizzy for some reason, as if he was afraid of blood.
Wee-oo, wee-oo, wee-oo!
The sound of police sirens approached.
Following closely behind the police car was an ambulance.
Soon, the police secured the bus and apprehended the man. They saw a tag hanging from the man's clothes.
Mentally ill.
"Student, thank you for your bravery. You saved the people on this bus from disaster. That guy was mentally ill; his family didn't supervise him well, and he escaped."
The police officer expressed his gratitude. Then, seeing the blood flowing from Lin Fan's hand, he immediately called for a medic to bandage it.
Lin Fan gave the apprehended man a meaningful look. "He's not mentally ill."
Hearing this, the police officer's eyes lit up, sensing some hidden secret. "Student, did you discover something? You're so certain."
"No, because he doesn't deserve to be called mentally ill." Lin Fan said.
The police officer was a little confused, not quite understanding.
Forget it.
There's no need to pursue this.
The medic bandaged Lin Fan's hand, admiringly saying, "Student, you're really strong. You didn't even cry out in pain with so much blood loss."
Lin Fan calmly replied, "My will is very strong. Pain is just a form of training. I've long since gotten used to it."
The medic stared blankly at the student.
For some reason, he felt something was strange.