Knock knock knock!
"Come in."
Lin Qiye pushed open the door and walked into the doctor's office.
Sitting behind the desk was a middle-aged male doctor, wearing a white coat with a sparse Mediterranean hairstyle, clearly a symbol of wisdom.
Lin Qiye sat down on the chair. The doctor leisurely spoke:
"Well, tell me, what's wrong with you?"
"I don't have anything wrong."
"You don't have anything wrong, then why are you here?"
"I don't have anything wrong, but I have a friend who's really struggling with a serious mental illness."
The doctor's expression grew strange as he looked at Lin Qiye, and he chuckled while brushing a few hairs on his bald head:
"Your friend, is it... could it be you?"
Lin Qiye replied seriously, "No, it's really a friend."
"Alright then, tell me about your... friend. What symptoms does she have?"
Lin Qiye hesitated for a moment, "Well, it's a bit hard to explain..."
The doctor laughed, "Then just imagine you're your friend and act it out for me."
Lin Qiye gave the doctor an odd look. After a moment of hesitation, he sighed in resignation and nodded.
With that, Lin Qiye slowly stood up from his chair. Under the doctor's gaze, he walked over to him and, without hesitation, placed the doctor's head into his embrace. He then gently patted the few strands of hair on the doctor's bald spot, his eyes full of tenderness.
In a soft voice, he said:
"My dear son, Daddy has finally found you!"
The doctor: "......"
For the next ten minutes, Lin Qiye used all his rhetorical skills to fervently explain that it wasn't him who was sick, thus avoiding being forcibly admitted into the hospital.
"So, your friend... sees everything as if they're looking at their own child?"
"Yes!"
"And she's been crying for a long time?"
"Always crying."
"Likes to sit in the yard telling stories to vases and chairs?"
"Exactly."
"How's her sleep?"
"She doesn't sleep."
"..."
The doctor frowned. "Your friend... seems to be in bad shape. I strongly recommend you bring her in for inpatient treatment."
"Her situation is a bit special. We don't have the conditions for hospitalization," Lin Qiye replied helplessly.
Naturally, he couldn't tell the doctor the truth. If he told him that the Goddess of Night, Nyx, was the one who was sick, and that she resided in his mind's mental hospital, he'd probably receive an admission form immediately.
The doctor, after thinking for a moment, started typing on his keyboard with his hands. "If she can't be hospitalized, then the only thing we can do is rely on medication. I'll prescribe some medicine for you. Take it back for her. If her condition doesn't improve, she must come in for treatment."
Lin Qiye looked a bit troubled.
Could the medicine in the real world work in his mind?
Lin Qiye wasn't sure, but even if he could bring it into his mind, he doubted whether ordinary medicine would be effective on a god.
"Doctor, besides medication, is there any other way to treat her?"
The doctor thought for a moment and slowly replied: "The symptoms you're describing sound like severe delusions. I've seen patients like this before. There was a man who loved his wife so much. After she died in a car accident, he would often talk to thin air, imagining she was still with him."
"This condition is usually caused by a huge mental trauma. The subconscious refuses to accept reality and creates a false sense of 'she's still here.'"
"If we can approach the root cause of the illness and provide psychological treatment, there's a chance for improvement. But without medication, it's very difficult."
"Medication and psychological treatment work hand in hand. Do you understand what I mean?"
Lin Qiye nodded thoughtfully.
Approaching the root cause... But he knew nothing about Nyx's past, so he had no idea how to begin!
Looks like he'd need to prepare more.
After receiving the prescription, Lin Qiye didn't go to pay or pick up the medicine. Since he knew the medication wouldn't work on Nyx in his mind, there was no point in spending money on it. Plus... the medicines were too expensive!
After leaving the mental hospital, Lin Qiye hopped on the bus to head back.
The trip to the mental hospital hadn't been a waste. At least it gave him a breakthrough idea.
Approaching Nyx from a psychological angle. To do that, he needed to understand her better.
With that in mind, Lin Qiye got off at a station and entered the Cangnan City Library.
Cangnan Second High School, School Gate.
"Hey, who's that old man?"
"I don't know, probably some parent."
"I saw him this morning when I entered the gate, around seven."
"I saw him too. He was wearing sunglasses, a shirt, and holding a coffee, leaning against the wall. I thought he was kinda handsome."
"Then why does he look like a beggar now? His eyes are all red."
"Didn't he stay there all day from this morning till now?"
"No way, it's almost ten now."
"Who knows? Oh, by the way, have you heard? Two students were murdered on their way home last night!"
"Are you serious?"
"Of course, I heard about it..."
On the opposite side of the school gate, a lonely man sat by the curb, surrounded by cigarette butts. His figure looked somehow tragic under the streetlight.
Zhao Kongcheng flicked his cigarette and cursed under his breath. No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't figure out what had gone wrong.
He'd been waiting since six in the morning, all the way till ten at night. The sun had practically fried his brain, yet he hadn't seen that kid at all.
But last night, he had definitely seen him in that school uniform!
Had the kid guessed he was going to block him and decided not to show up?
Damn it... His ass was sore from sitting for so long.
Zhao Kongcheng stood up with his hands on the ground, dusting off his pants and starting to stretch his legs. Just then, from the corner of his eye, he spotted someone across the street. A teenager in plain clothes was strolling leisurely, holding a few books...
That kid, he looked a lot like him...
Wait... huh?
Zhao Kongcheng blinked, his eyes widening in realization.
Holy sh*t!
Whoosh—
Without a second thought, Zhao Kongcheng dashed forward like the wind, his eyes bloodshot, his expression fierce!
But when he was about twenty meters away from the teen, the kid seemed to sense something, and his body trembled before he immediately started running!
The two of them were now running in a mad chase down the street!
At this moment, Lin Qiye really wanted to slap himself. Why the hell did he choose this road? He could've gone anywhere else!
Now, he'd just ghosted the guy yesterday, and now the bastard was chasing him down again!
Lin Qiye wasn't slow, but compared to Zhao Kongcheng, he was much slower. In just a few seconds, Zhao Kongcheng caught up.
Zhao Kongcheng grabbed Lin Qiye's shoulder and sneered:
"Well well, kid. Looks like we meet again!"
Lin Qiye turned his head stiffly, tilting it with a confused expression.
"Who are you?"