Chapter 156: Artificial Panic

Chapter 156: Artificial Panic

Actually, even Ceng Xing didn’t recognize Gong Hengjin. When Cheng Xi later went to search for him in an attempt to better understand the situation, Ceng Xing sourly replied, “We had to ambush her in the city plaza. My god, she was running and jumping around as she nonsensically scolded people and bit at them. It was enough to torment someone to death.” He then glanced at her, before mockingly saying, “It’s lucky that you weren’t the one to go. Otherwise, with how you usually deal with these situations, you’d probably have to take leave, go home, and enter quarantine.”

“Patients suffering from AIDS don’t need to be quarantined, Dr. Ceng.” Cheng Xi ignored his ridicule and coolly reminded him of basic medical knowledge. “Has she…… infected a lot of people?”

“Yes. Allegedly, more than ten.”

Cheng Xi frowned. “That’s impossible.” From what she could tell, Shen Wei had only done something in February, and in the two months between February and April, even if Gong Hengjin had had sex as often as she could, it would have been quite difficult for her to reach a two-digit number.

This was because, before Gong Hengjin knew that she had AIDS, she had wanted to pull Shen Wei down with her. Thus, she wouldn’t have gotten involved with any other man besides Fu Mingyi during that period.

“What makes it impossible?” Ceng Xing stared at her strangely. “Apparently, she started acting abnormally about half a month ago. She suddenly went crazy and started hunting all over for men to have sex with. Even after that, she would repeatedly haunt the streets, and once she found a single man, she’d pounce on him and try to kiss him, kiss and even bite. By the time we arrived, we heard that last night, when she was roaming around the city plaza, ten hoodlums had gathered around her and played a kissing game with her. So even saying it’s merely a two-digit number is a conservative estimate.” As he said this, he suddenly realized something. “You know her?”

“:……”

Cheng Xi nodded. “Yes. Half a month ago, she came to the hospital. You and a bunch of other colleagues were there with me, on the ground floor.” Since Ceng Xing didn’t recognize her, Cheng Xi had to remind him of this incident, as this was an important clue to understand the patient’s current behavior.

Ceng Xing was somewhat stupefied. “My god! That means that she’s been doing this for over half a month?”

Cheng Xi replied, “No. I think that, at that time, she was still clear-headed, and just felt somewhat anxious. I don’t think that she knew that she had AIDS yet.”

AIDS was a horrifying monster in people’s minds; however, the possibility that it could cause someone to go crazy just from having it wasn’t something that Cheng Xi had anticipated.

The whole department was on edge due to Gong Hengjin’s arrival. Just like the little nurse had said, patients solely suffering from mental illness weren’t scary, and patients solely suffering from AIDS weren’t scary; what was truly scary was when a patient with both mental illness and AIDS had a tendency to attack people.

What was even more scary was when they found that her oral cavity was damaged.

Usually, kissing wouldn’t put people at risk for contracting AIDS; however, if the infected person’s oral cavity was damaged, and then she bit people……

That night, Cheng Xi saw the aftermath of this incident on the local news. The headline was sensational: a businesswoman had contracted AIDS at a bar, and then frantically spread it to almost a hundred people.

Along with the news was a picture of Gong Hengjin before she went crazy. She was dressed in a green blouse and white skirt, emanating a quiet elegance. Because the censoring in the picture was imperfect, even someone like Cheng Xi, who was relatively unfamiliar with her, could recognize that it was Gong Hengjin with one glance.

Cheng Xi carefully combed through the news. When Gong Hengjin had first started hunting for unaware people to kiss on the streets, many people had thought that this was a new hidden-camera-type game. Due to how pretty and fashionable she seemed, quite a few men took advantage of her, but when they let their guards down, she bit them.

Since none of her victims had known that she was infected with AIDS, no one had thought anything more of it. At most, they scolded her or smacked her away after being bitten.

That was, until this morning, when she was stopped by a “good-intentioned person” while she was roaming the streets. That person wanted to send her home, but while the two were tussling, she suddenly shouted that she was ill. Only then did someone call the police. When the police arrived, they noticed that she seemed to be mentally unstable, and only then did they finally notify her relatives and call some psychiatrists from Renyi over.

Cheng Xi immediately sent the news article to Shen Wei and then called her. “Do you know anything about this?”

Shen Wei started laughing. “She’s not a particularly renowned person! How would I know what she’s been up to?”

“Shen Wei!”

“You’re suspecting me?” Shen Wei’s tone cooled down, as if she had become faintly agitated. “Then call the cops! See if they can catch me! And you’re probably unaware, but she called the cops on me the day she was confirmed to have AIDS. At that time, the police proclaimed me innocent, and all her accusations were tossed out as unfounded ones. This is all a result of her wanting too badly to be Mrs. Fu. In her hallucinations, she thought that I had hired someone to hurt her and that I killed someone. But now that she’s been sent over to you, isn’t that just more evidence for her insanity? She’s gone crazy and inflicted suffering on an untold number of people. What does that have to do with me?”

Cheng Xi fell silent, only saying slowly after a while, “If I’ve misunderstood you, then I apologize. However, I hope that you understand what you’re saying and what you’re doing. People always say that one should repay their debts and avenge their grievances. However, doing so in an uncontrollable fashion is simply evil with a motive. Revenge is a poison. While it offers a temporary reprieve, it will inevitably lead to damnation. Shen Wei, in my heart, you’re the most perfect woman I know. You’re willing to love and hate freely, fiercely independent, intelligent, rational, but still gentle and kind. We’ve been good friends for so many years, so I won’t suspect you. I’ll stand by your side to the end, but you have to love yourself. Don’t make me turn around in the end only to find that all the people by my side have vanished.”

Then Cheng Xi hung up without waiting for a response. She covered her face in agony and remained silent for a long stretch of time. When Lu Chenzhou saw her, he rubbed against her a little. She ignored him, and then his hand directly reached into her clothes.

Cheng Xi forcefully stopped him. “Lu Chenzhou, I’m in a very bad mood right now.”

Lu Chenzhou obstinately replied, “I’m also feeling very bad. We should be rolling around in bed, but we’re currently wasting our time.”

“……”

Lu Chenzhou looked at her, and his face once again became the taunting expression of a faraway god looking down at a stupid mortal. “What are you worrying about? You’re not the one who commited evil deeds, you’re not the one who harmed others, and if you couldn’t have stopped it or dealt with the aftermath, what’s there to worry about?” As he said this, he pulled out a strip of paper. “What you should be worrying about right now is that you haven’t tested yourself today, and I very much dislike shooting it outside!”

“……”

Lu Chenzhou was already hugging her again and trying to pry her clothes off. Cheng Xi noticed that his movements were surprisingly gentle, and as she continued to hold onto his hand, she hesitatingly asked, “Lu Chenzhou…… are you trying to console me?”

His hands stilled for a moment, and then he fiercely yelled, “Shut up!” before he kissed her.

But on that day, he really didn’t go at her too ferociously. For the most part, they hugged and silently cuddled in bed.

Even though he still ended up harassing her for most of the night, Cheng Xi was surprisingly touched by his thoughtful actions. o(╯□╰)o

But just as she started feeling a little better, an unexpected person came to find her the next day.

Fu Mingyi.