The Light Illness Area is a classroom. The Moderate Illness Area is a ward. The Severe Illness Area, however, is a prison. What Wen Xishu needs to determine right now is which area holds the key to leaving.
Only upon figuring this out can the other two move in the right direction. He hopes it's the Moderate Illness Area, as only Zhou Fei can comprehend the complete set of rules.
At this moment, Zhou Fei's perspective is frozen. Because Wen Xishu is still.
He lies quietly in the ward, listening to the sound of insects crawling.
According to human anatomy, if such crawling sounds could occur inside the body, the person would likely be dead.
This is also the aspect that deeply confounds Wen Xishu.
"I hear these sounds... but theoretically, these sounds can't be produced inside a human body. My current perception can't even pick up a heartbeat. Yet I hear the countless sound of insects crawling."
Zhou Fei lies on the hospital bed, his eyes wide open.
At this time, an elderly figure suddenly sits up in the ward.
The room is dim, as dark as night, but Wen Xishu can smell the scent emanating from the elderly figure.
It's the scent of paper ashes, instinctively reminiscent of death.
The sound of something crawling on the elderly figure is dense, and Wen Xishu feels the elder has already been overtaken by "them."
But just when Wen Xishu thinks the elder might be getting up at night to relieve himself, his head suddenly spins one hundred and eighty degrees, his body still facing forward while his head turns to face Wen Xishu.
The elder flashes a sinister smile:
"Would you... like to buy some tea?"
A ringing sound echoed in Wen Xishu's mind. The tea-selling elder is back?
Wen Xishu remains silent as the elder's head soon turns back, letting out a sigh:
"Travel too far, and you'll forget the way home."
With a clang, the elder collapses onto the bed as if he had never risen.
Wen Xishu is greatly amazed.
The tea-selling elder is not someone he met for the first time. However, this time, the elder looks so old that Wen Xishu barely recognizes him.
What is strange to Wen Xishu is that the paper ash scent on the elder begins to fade.
"Has he locked onto me?"
Wen Xishu feels a bit scared.
Once, twice, thrice... He has encountered the tea-selling elder so many times. He has a feeling that he's been targeted by the tea-selling elder.
Yet this targeting always seems brief; the tea-selling elder is not aggressive.
The first two visits involved selling tea, but this time he only shouted a slogan before falling soundly flat.
"Did they expel him? Or did they perish together?"
The elder seems dead, not even breathing. Wen Xishu tries to listen carefully but can only hear the sound of "them" crawling in other hospital beds.
Yet he can't hear "them" inside the elder's body.
"The elder and 'them' in this area aren't the same group, just like how the elder wasn't originally part of the Chosen Train."
Wen Xishu is uncertain. Sometimes he wonders if the tea-selling elder might be some opportunity he has missed time and again?
Wen Xishu now opens his eyes, but he dares not get up or move recklessly.
He ponders:
"Zhou Fei is in the Moderate Illness Area, Chris in the Severe Illness Area... are the differences between their symptoms due to the degree of parasitism?"
Wen Xishu tries to empty his mind, to think of nothing. This is quite a challenging thing, as there must always be something in thought.
So-called emptying of the mind often involves closing one's eyes and feeling the darkness, without any intentional thinking of other things.
At this point, Wen Xishu already feels something crawling inside his own body.
The sound isn't quiet; it's even somewhat noisy.
"Consistent with Chris..."
"Almost identical sensation, it seems like the difference between Severe and Moderate Illness isn't about the progress of the parasitism..."
"Both Chris and Zhou Fei harbor 'them' inside, yearning to crawl to the brain as they cease to think. It feels like they're both at the same stage."
"This crawling sound is truly terrifying."
Rustle rustle, rustle rustle.
Like thousands of cockroaches crawling.
Yet Zhou Fei does not have it inside his body.
"Speaking of it, it's quite peculiar. These people should have all taken that white pill, then entered a coma."
"The same happened with Zhou Fei. But after these people enter coma, they have no thoughts, nor do they dream. Thus providing those parasites the chance to crawl to the brain..."
"But Zhou Fei didn't enter a coma?"
"Could he have developed a resistance?"
The term "resistance" suddenly makes Wen Xishu feel dazed, and some memories start flooding into Zhou Fei's mind.
"Your brother took first place in the grade again. In comparison, the elder brother didn't do as well, hahahah." The neighbors' voices register in Wen Xishu's mind.
Simultaneously, Wen Xishu sees the embarrassed expression on Zhou Fei's uncle's face.
This is something from Zhou Fei's elementary school days.
Soon enough, Zhou Fei reaches middle school, and he remains the top of the class, while the elder brother, Zhou Ming, slides further behind.
By the time high school arrives, Zhou Fei's uncle seems to have procured some drugs, claiming to soothe the nerves and brain.
For a period, Longxia's parents were particularly willing to spend money on one type of product - that is something that purportedly improved children's memory. From milk to health products, all sorts of factors claimed to enhance intelligence.
Both Zhou Fei and Zhou Ming were consuming some drugs as well.
At one point, Zhou Fei felt particularly lethargic, easily drowsy, and often in a daze.