Just like a light that is turned on briefly, after the lights are turned off, the tungsten filament gradually dims and fades.
This is the price of staying awake for three consecutive nights - the day flies by, as if the hour hand turns into a second hand.
Perhaps if he continued, Lu Li would fall into an eternal night without daylight - or he might pass out at some point and wake up in a hospital bed the next day.
Before the last glow disappeared, Lu Li found Kate and relied on contact with other patients to "resist" the rapid passage of time and fulfill his agreement at the same time:
"Get ready, let's go to the activity area."
"You did it?"
"Um."
Kate stretched out her curled up fishtail and hung down beside the bed. As she landed, her straight and smooth legs seemed to be pulled away from the sheets.
Lu Li watched it and wondered how "paranoia" could justify the scene before him.
Taking Kate to find the crow mask, she told Lu Li that the thing should be hidden behind the abandoned sofa in the utility room of the activity area - take it out and bring it back, and the flashlight will be his.
"Lend me your flashlight and I'll find what you want faster." Lu Li still didn't give up on getting the flashlight in advance.
Crow Mask also still refuses.
Before heading to the activity area, Lu Li returned to the ward while the embers of nightfall had not yet disappeared, and piled up the bedding to create the illusion that he was still resting in the ward. He then sent the wheelchair-bound girl back to the ward, and led Kate towards the activity area.
corridor.
Shadows quietly spread towards the two figures walking from behind. At a certain moment, the wall lamp on the wall at the end of the corridor lit up, faintly dispersing the darkness, protecting Lu Li and Kate who came to the door from being swallowed up.
The gatekeeper in a brown cloak blocked the door, and it was even colder than usual.
"I only promised to let you in."
"Then I'll give my qualifications to her."
Lu Li stood a little further to the side, revealing Kate behind him.
The gatekeeper stared at Lu Li for a moment, and his attitude became a little relaxed: "...Go in."
"Thanks."
Lu Li thanked the gatekeeper and motioned for Kate to go in, reminding her of the commission to help find the crow mask.
"I don't want to see you." the gatekeeper said suddenly.
Lu Li realized something and tentatively walked towards Kate, who was watching from behind the door. He was not blocked and entered the activity area.
The door closed behind you.
The spacious and dark activity area spread out in front of you. It was still dim as if the hospital was reluctant to install too many lights, but it was a little brighter than the wall lamps like night lights in the ward.
Lu Li's attention fell on those unnatural light sources. The fluorescent vending machines and the TV screen showing snowflake noise. They had attracted his attention in the past two days.
"I'm going to look around," Kate said.
Lu Li nodded and agreed to Kate's departure. He looked away and looked for the utility room along the edge of the activity area.
Passing by a vending machine with fluorescent lights on the wall, some cigarettes, snacks and bottled water were neatly placed in the window that reflected the outline of Lu Li.
There was something strange about what the vending machine sold - Lu Li thought it would be blood, eyeballs and pieces of meat.
The door not far away opened, and a shadow came into the activity area. Lu Li looked at it briefly and then returned to the vending machine, thinking quietly.
He had no money, and even if he had money, he would not waste it here. Instead, he thought that during the nearly twelve days he came to the hospital, he had no physical needs.
Regardless of eating, excreting, sleeping and desires.
Or are they selectively forgotten or replaced by paranoia?
After leaving the vending machine, I passed by the TV. There was a sofa leaning in front of the TV with flickering snowflakes. There was already a shadow sitting on the sofa, and the weird shadow was long and narrow.
Lu Li walked around them and looked around the hall-like activity area again.
Shadows were scattered and wandering in the activity area. Kate stood in front of the window and looked at something. There was even a gurgling fountain in the center of the activity area.
Lu Li walked through the hall, reached the wall, and found the utility room door.
Squeak——
The door rubbed against the floor tiles opened a gap, and the dim light from the activity area spilled into the lounge, revealing the outline of the object.
The utility room is very dark and is filled with discarded beds, sofas, desks and cabinets like a warehouse. It seems that all the dilapidated items from the hospital in recent years have been piled here.
It can be expected that the things left behind by Crow Mask will not be easy to find.
Lu Li rolled up his sleeves, opened the door completely, and let the utility room change from dark to gloomy, looking for an outline that fit the description.
The moving debris raised dust, but what was more troublesome than the choking dust were the debris dormant in the darkness - whenever Lu Li stepped into the darkness, he would be surrounded by indescribable murmurs.
"What are you doing?"
A shadow suddenly peeked into the utility room.
Lu Li and Kate outside the door said, "Look for what Crow Mask wants."
"I'll help you."
"She said it was behind the sofa." Lu Li knocked down another sofa, leaving nothing but dust.
Kate's help accelerated Lu Li's speed, and when he saw her rummaging in the darkness, Lu Li asked strangely: "Aren't you afraid of the dark?"
"Why are you afraid?" Kate's blue eyes lit up in the darkness, and Kate found Lu Li standing where he could see his outline clearly, "Are you afraid of the dark?"
Lu Li remained silent.
Kate smiled and said: "Are you really afraid of the dark?"
"Does the hospital have a canteen?" Lu Li changed the subject.
"Of course, you haven't been there yet?"
"I don't remember." Lu Li lowered his eyes slightly and was about to ask something more when Kate suddenly raised a box wrapped in oil paper.
"Is this it?"
Kate raised her hand to lift the hair from her forehead,
"If there is no second person hiding something here."
Lu Li took the oil paper box and had no intention of exploring what was inside: "I'm going back."
"Don't you want to go shopping again?"
"I haven't slept in days."
Lu Li didn't know what would happen if he continued to endure it, and he thought it wouldn't be good. By this time, the drowned person, Can Nian, should have gone back.
"See you tomorrow morning." Kate and Lu Li waved.
After closing the utility room door, Lu Li said goodbye to Kate and left the activity area.
There was another problem blocking him - the darkness outside the corridor.
Lu Li asked the gatekeeper for help, but he just wanted to watch the joke.
At this time, a tall and thin shadow walked out. Lu Li recognized it as a businessman and tried to follow closely behind it.
The shadow was indifferent to Lu Li's approach, and the darkness did not wrap around and engulf him. Returning to the corridor of the ward, Lu Li pushed open the door of Room 204 and saw the shapeless shadow of the businessman entering Ward 205.
Then, Lu Li found bruises on his feet. The drowned man was there.
Lu Li, who needed to rest, dragged the bed to block the door. Remembering that it could slip through the door, he took out the patient clothes in the drawer and blocked the door.
Now, he should be able to have a good sleep.
…
The gray mist dispels the depression of the night.
Lu Li woke up early in the morning and looked at the calendar that only had one day.
He restored the hospital bed, put away the patient clothes, and took the box to find the crow mask.
Crow Mask kept his promise and gave Lu Li a flashlight.
Snap——
Turn on the flashlight and shine a bright beam out the window.