Chapter 57: Slaying the Phantom and Breaking Its Spirit, a Death Dance on the Edge
“As a doctor, your appearance is of no concern to me. In my eyes, you are merely a patient.”
“You are ill, and I treat you—it’s that simple.”
His body was gripped by a deformed hand, like a figurine being held. Ji Yan’s expression was somber, yet his tone remained calm.
The bizarre patient, long tired of such perfunctory replies, sneered, “Every doctor says the same thing. If you were transformed into someone like me, you’d break down before anyone else.”
“I am indeed ill; every corner of my body is diseased.”
“Then tell me, doctor, can you restore me to that original form—skin tender and smooth, body slender and graceful?”
“You cannot. You’re all a bunch of quacks who just talk big but do nothing!”
Dragging her grotesque, swollen body forward, the strange woman pressed her face—melting bit by bit from the drug’s reaction—right in front of Ji Yan, malice thick in her eyes.
Yet, unexpectedly, Ji Yan nodded. “I can.”
Not only the Bull Player and the Hen Player, but even the bizarre patient was momentarily stunned.
“What?”
Ji Yan nodded again calmly. “I said I can.”
“Fine! If you can’t, I’ll drain the fat from your body to fill my rotting skin!”
Whether out of a sliver of hope or simply to find an excuse to drain Ji Yan, the deformed hand finally released him.
The Bull Player, covered in ugly pustules, glared darkly and muttered, “Waste of time.”
“Dead sooner or later, it’s all death.”
Ji Yan’s medical kit was the most basic intern’s set, containing only a few surgical tools and simple anesthetics.
Could he possibly reshape that grotesque mountain of flesh, swollen with fat and covered in nodules, back into a slender, elegant figure?
Impossible.
The Hen Player stepped back as well.
Satisfied with receiving the standard task reward, she was ready to leave the ward and report back.
Yet, an inexplicable curiosity made her want to see how Ji Yan would escape this predicament.
She assumed his promise was merely a stalling tactic.
But after stalling, what then?
No one knew what Ji Yan was thinking.
He opened his medical kit and pretended to tinker for a while before pulling out a scalpel.
“I’ll perform a minor operation first.”
The bizarre patient scoffed, “Do whatever you want; I only care about the results.”
Ji Yan took the scalpel and made an incision on the lower abdomen.
However, the cheapest scalpel was instantly corroded into metallic slag by the pus beneath the flesh just as it cut through.
“Doctor, your scalpel is this poor quality, and you want to operate on me?”
The strange patient’s eyes mocked him.
Ji Yan looked at the scalpel, now reduced to just the handle, and sighed slightly. “No matter. The scalpel’s gone; I’ll try another tool.”
He discarded the scalpel and flipped his palm to reveal a delicate silver needle.
This was the embroidery needle awarded by the strange old grandmother in the previous mission.
Pinching and slicing, the slender needle instantly tore open a huge gash.
As the skin broke, the accumulated fat squirted out, not a drop of blood in sight. Ji Yan observed silently.
“What next? What’s your next step?”
The bizarre patient stared intently, no longer mocking but filled with cold hostility.
Ji Yan paused, then shook his head. “Your illness is in your mind.”
“No matter what your body looks like, you’ll never feel satisfied.”
Hearing this, the strange patient was unsurprised but grabbed Ji Yan again, voice sharp, “After all this talk, you’re just like all the quacks!”
“Either you say it’s a mental illness, or you sweet-talk to appease—always the same ugly human nature!”
Held firmly, Ji Yan’s expression remained as calm as still water. “Then I’ll say it another way.”
“You’re not even a monster now—you’re a complete freak.”
“To keep the one you love, you forced yourself into the shape he preferred, correcting every flaw, taking all kinds of medicine. In the end, you lost him and turned into a hideous old witch everyone despises.”
“I’ve seen many clowns in my day, but you, Harley Quinn, are a first.”
Ji Yan’s tone shifted suddenly.
When life is threatened, unlike the Bull and Hen Players who sweet-talked to soothe the patient, he took the opposite approach.
His words were like sharp swords, mercilessly tearing open old wounds.
The other two players thought they misheard.
Their eyes wide as quail’s eggs.
Was this guy aware he was doomed and just decided to throw caution to the wind for a last verbal lashing?
“This guy’s crazy. He thinks the daytime safety mechanism means the patient won’t kill him?”
A truly broken and enraged patient ignores any safety rules; violating hospital regulations only means the patient suffers some punishment.
“What did you just say?”
As expected, the bizarre patient’s expression first froze, then twisted into a terrifying grimace in her darkened state.
She didn’t know how Ji Yan knew about her past.
But now, the murderous intent was so intense she no longer cared to ponder it.
Feeling the crushing pressure of death, Ji Yan maintained his cutting words.
“You think keeping your beloved man close means there’s hope?”
“Filling your body with fat daily, covering your drug-ravaged flesh with heavy makeup, hoping one day some miraculous doctor will restore you to your original self?”
“Forget it.”
“That’s impossible. This body will haunt you forever. You’ll never escape being called ‘monster,’ ‘ugly,’ ‘disgusting’…”
“Shut up!!”
“Shut up! I’ll chew you up, you…”
The bizarre patient screamed but did not tear Ji Yan apart. Instead, she clutched her melting face and howled in despair.
Freed, Ji Yan did not run away. Instead, he stepped closer.
His words continued mercilessly.
Each sentence tore open wounds, each phrase crushed the heart.
The Bull Player and Hen Player were utterly dumbfounded.
Why was he still taunting and insulting the patient?
“No, stop talking!”
“I said stop! I don’t want to listen!”
The strange patient tore at her ears, trying to block it all out, but it was futile.
Her mental defenses shattered, emotions surged to their peak.
“This guy actually used this method to escape death?” The Hen Player had never seen a player break a bizarre patient’s composure like this.
“What good does it do? Don’t forget, our primary task is to soothe the patient’s emotions.”
“This guy only made the patient collapse, worsening her condition. If the patient doesn’t kill him, after task failure, that Goat-Headed Doctor will definitely finish him off!”
The Goat-Headed Doctor had no tolerance for mistakes from his interns.
Ji Yan’s actions surely twisted the doctor’s mouth in fury.
He would undoubtedly consume Ji Yan and raise a new apprentice.
The Hen Player fell silent.
She felt this Ji Yan surely understood that.
If he didn’t run and only kept insulting the patient, what was his purpose?