Fear of food

Chapter 19 Discharge
"I'll pay you back now, and I'll transfer the money to you as soon as I get the phone tomorrow," Chen Qi said.

He was afraid that Xu An'an would change her mind, and he really wanted to transfer the money to her on the spot, but his phone had already been handed over.

Xu An'an nodded. She was very efficient and immediately grabbed a bag containing dried bread and headed straight for the closed ward.

Inside the handbag was the dried bread that Chen Qi had taken a bite of earlier, while the lychees were hidden in her sleeve.

Chen Qi was filled with anxious waiting.

I don't know if Xu An'an will be able to meet Sun Xuechao, or if she will be able to help him bring out high-quality wild food.

Nearly twenty minutes passed before Chen Qi finally saw Xu An'an return.

Seeing Xu An'an walk into room 423 empty-handed, Chen Qi felt a pang of disappointment, but still asked hopefully, "Did you get it?"

After all, Xu An'an might have hidden the high-grade wild food somewhere outside, just like last time.

Xu An'an shook her head.

She recounted her experience to Chen Qi.

Using her white lab coat as camouflage, she successfully visited Sun Xuechao as a friend.

They also successfully delivered the dried bread and rotten lychees to Sun Xuechao.

However, Sun Xuechao did not try eating the two foods on the spot, for fear of causing Xu An'an unnecessary trouble.

When Xu An'an left, she made a point of passing by the 14th floor to check the place Chen Qi had marked.

“The top three floors of enclosed wards are connected by staircases. Sun Xuechao’s ward is on the 15th floor. I pretended to go down to the 14th floor by mistake, and left through the exit on the 14th floor, passing by the place you mentioned.”

“That was indeed a ward, and it was the first ward right next to the entrance on the 14th floor. However, it was temporarily occupied by the security guards on night shift, and became their resting place at night.”

"There were security guards watching over us all the time, so I couldn't do anything. I could only pretend to go in to look for someone and take a look inside..."

As Xu An'an spoke, she took out her phone and opened a video.

The video was shaky and the camera was shaking, making the image somewhat blurry, which clearly indicates that it was filmed secretly.

However, Chen Qi could still roughly tell that this was a ward filled with clutter. There were cleaning supplies such as mops and brooms in the corner, several old security guard uniforms hanging on the chair, teacups, kettles, chargers and other items on the table, and a straw mat on the hospital bed...

The video froze for a few seconds at one point, and Xu An'an paused it, allowing Chen Qi to observe it carefully.

The footage shows the floor next to the bedside table, where there are piles of trash such as wine bottles and plastic bottles. Among these trash, there is a transparent plastic box containing a dark green mass, but it is impossible to see what it is.

“This is probably what you want,” Xu An’an said.

"What is this?" Chen Qi asked curiously.

"It should be a box of cream cake, but it was covered with a thick layer of green mold, and it looked like it was coated with matcha powder."

"Cream cake?"

Chen Qi could already imagine that, in his eyes, this must be a box of delicious-looking, sweet and fluffy desserts.

Although he doesn't actually like sweets, wild food has this magic, especially high-quality wild food, which can whet his appetite whether he likes it or not.

Unfortunately, Xu An'an couldn't bring it out.

However, you can't blame her; she really didn't have the chance.

Xu An'an said, "Since the matter wasn't resolved, you don't need to give me the money tomorrow."

Chen Qi hurriedly said, "No, you've done your best. Whether it works out or not, you deserve the money. I'll transfer it to you tomorrow anyway."

Chen Qi felt it was well worth the money to buy such intelligence for 100 yuan.

Moreover, Xu An'an specially came over after get off work, risking her life to help, and Chen Qi felt terrible for not giving her a hundred yuan.

Xu An'an didn't hesitate or refuse, and simply nodded in acceptance.

It would be a lie to say that Chen Qi wasn't disappointed or regretful about not getting the premium wild food cream cake.

But if you want to get the cream cake, you have to stay in the hospital and plot your way through.

He didn't have the time; he had already made up his mind that he had to be discharged tonight!

"After I'm discharged from the hospital, there will be more high-quality wild food waiting for me. There's no need to hang myself on a crooked tree."

Chen Qi kept reminding himself of this in order to fight against his abnormal craving for cream cake.

After repeated self-hypnosis, his obsession with cream cake gradually faded from his mind.

The yearning for freedom finally triumphed over the craving for cream cake.

Just then, Xu An'an suddenly said, "I want your sponge cake, give it to me."

Chen Qi asked in surprise, "You want to try it?"

“No.” Xu An’an shook her head. “I want to try to see if I can make it into bread.”

Chen Qi's eyes lit up.

Yup!

Xu An'an can turn any strange food into dried bread, so can wild food do the same?

If possible, would there be anything special about dried bread made from wild foods?
"I'll get you something else."

Chen Qi opened the wardrobe and took out a large twisted dough stick.

"Here, take this. It's big, hard, and coarse; I don't really like eating it."

Chen Qi would prioritize keeping easy-to-eat wild foods like sponge cakes, since Xu An'an was just using them for experiments anyway, so it didn't matter what kind of wild food she took.

It's unclear what Xu An'an thought of the twisted dough sticks, but she looked disgusted. She wrapped them tightly in a plastic bag, tied it securely, and then put it in her bag.

"Your twisted dough sticks smell terrible and stinky," she said, frowning. Just the smell made her feel nauseous.

Chen Qi was a little embarrassed: "It'll be fine after a wash."

"alright."

"Don't forget to let me know when you have the results," Chen Qi reminded him.

Xu An'an nodded: "I'll try it when I get home tonight, and I'll tell you the result tomorrow."

Tomorrow? By then I should be no longer in the hospital... Chen Qi thought to himself.
-
On the 15th floor of the inpatient department, in a closed ward.

Sun Xuechao picked up the cup and frantically poured water into his mouth, as if he wanted to shove the whole cup into his mouth.

His features were contorted in pain, and he looked as if he had been drained dry, his skin wrinkled.

Sun Xuechao shook the cup, but no more water came out. He rushed into the toilet, turned on the tap, and drank the water with his mouth.

He drank several large mouthfuls of tap water before he recovered.

Looking at the dry bread on the table, he felt a lingering fear: Luckily, he only ate a small bite!

"This stuff should be used to make sanitary napkins!" he couldn't help but mentally rant.

He sat there for a while, carefully experiencing the changes in his body. Apart from almost being drained dry, Sun Xuechao had no other sensations.

He took out the rotten lychee he had hidden in his pocket, took a deep breath, and mentally prepared himself.

The dry bread only looked a bit dry, but these lychees didn't look edible at all.

Completely rotten and spoiled, emitting a disgusting stench, and when you peel off the shell, you can see fruit fly larvae wriggling in the rotting flesh.

"Is this thing really edible?"

Although Sun Xuechao is mentally ill, he has never done anything so crazy.

He gritted his teeth, removed the pit, closed his eyes, and prepared to swallow it whole. But as soon as he brought the rotten lychee to his lips, an instinctive resistance arose within him.

Sun Xuechao's gaze sharpened. Although he was also disgusted by the rotten lychees, he could tell that this instinctive resistance was not of his own volition.

"here we go again!"

"The feeling of having one's consciousness violated..."

An instinctive urge was fighting against his will, preventing him from eating.

Sun Xuechao pinched his thigh hard with one hand while forcibly putting the lychee into his mouth with the other.

Bitter, sour... all sorts of unacceptable tastes spread across his tongue, and disgusting odors filled his nasal cavity.

At the same time, a loud banging sound came from outside the ward.

Because the rotten lychees were too unpalatable, Sun Xuechao dared not chew them at all. At this moment, he heard a knocking sound on the door. He gritted his teeth and swallowed the lychees.

But immediately, a wave of nausea rushed straight to the top of my head!
That was something that couldn't be suppressed by personal willpower; it felt as if a giant hand had reached into his stomach, churning it up inside.

Sun Xuechao felt nauseous and rushed into the toilet, vomiting into the toilet bowl.

As his vomit went down the toilet, the banging on the door outside the ward stopped.

After a while, Sun Xuechao vomited everything out of his stomach, then collapsed weakly to the ground, his face ashen.

"What a miserable experience..." he sighed. "I actually believed their nonsense!"

After calming down, Sun Xuechao got up and flushed the toilet, washing the vomit down the drain.

He didn't notice that tiny bubbles were constantly rising from the puddle of vomit, and something was wriggling slightly within it...
-
After Chen Qi saw Xu An'an off, it was exactly six o'clock in the afternoon.

As night fell, Chen Qi mentally rehearsed his escape plan for the night countless times, familiarized himself with the escape route, imagined all possible unexpected events, and prepared contingency plans.

After confirming that everything was in perfect order, he lay down on the hospital bed and quickly fell asleep.

He was exhausted today and needed to rest so he would have the energy and stamina to carry out his escape plan tonight.

If you sleep at this time, you can set off when you wake up.

His routine has been very regular lately; he sleeps every afternoon and goes out to find food late at night.

Even when he went to sleep, Chen Qi was still fully armed, with the blanket covering him tightly.

Just in case someone suddenly gives him acupuncture or something while he's sleeping...

The closer we get to victory, the more vigilant we must be.

I slept until after 11 p.m.

After waking up, Chen Qi lay in bed for more than ten minutes until he was fully awake before getting up to wash.

After washing his face, he felt refreshed and full of energy, both physically and mentally.

Looking at his body in the mirror, Chen Qineng could clearly see that he was a bit more muscular than before he went to bed.

"At this rate of weight gain, he won't be a greyhound anymore..."

He changed into his own clothes, packed his luggage, and quickly completed the preparations.

Actually, he didn't have much to bring.

Aside from your ID and a few pieces of wild food, you don't need to bring any other items such as clothes, water bottles, or toiletries.

It all fit in one backpack.

Most importantly, there were the ghost face cookies whose purpose was unknown, which Chen Qi put into his pocket.

Momo once said that eating this cookie when he was in dire straits might help him.

This is also his trump card for forcibly breaking through tonight. If he encounters an insurmountable obstacle during his escape, he will eat this cookie.

Everything is ready; now all that's left is to wait for the right opportunity.

Chen Qi approached the ward door and glanced out into the corridor every now and then. If there were still nurses or other patients walking around outside, he would have to wait a little longer.

Unlike his usual outings to find food, today he took off his hospital gown, changed into his own clothes, and put on a backpack.

If someone sees this, it will be difficult to explain.

It wasn't until nearly one o'clock in the morning, when no one was moving around outside, that Chen Qi tiptoed into the corridor.

He moved slowly and silently, his nerves taut, his ears perked up, paying attention to the sounds around him.

Fortunately, his long-term experience in foraging for food and his excellent physical condition allowed him to pass through the nurses' station and walk down the long corridor without any major incidents, successfully entering the elevator lobby.

After taking the elevator to the first floor, Chen Qi peeked out and saw the only security guard on duty fast asleep in a chair.

The main gate is locked at night, with only a small door for entry and exit, which is blocked by security guards and chairs.

Chen Qi walked to the exit, looked left and right, and confirmed that there were no other exits, nor could he find any way to get out without alerting the security guards.

The only option is to force our way in!
Chen Qi had already made such preparations.

He patted the security guard on the shoulder.

The security guard suddenly woke up, still a little dazed, yawned, and turned to look at Chen Qi with a puzzled expression.

"You are……"

"I want to go out," Chen Qi said.

The security guard stretched and slowly stood up, then seemed to sense something was wrong, and the sleepiness on his face instantly vanished by three points.

During the day, there are many visitors coming and going, but it's almost 1 a.m.... It's strange that people, whether family members or patients, would be here at this hour.

He asked warily, "Are you a patient or a family member?"

"Family members".

Do you have a visitation pass?

"No."

"Then go find a doctor or nurse and get a note."

Seeing that he couldn't get away with it, Chen Qi suddenly exerted his strength, kicked away the chair blocking his way, and sprinted forward towards the exit.

The security guard was startled, but reacted quickly, grabbing Chen Qi's clothes.

Chen Qi did not force his way forward, but instead slammed on the brakes and turned to crash into the security guard.

The security guard staggered back a few steps, but still refused to let go.

Chen Qi quickly grabbed the security guard's hand, forcibly pried his palm open, and freed his clothes.

The security guard refused to give up and tried to grab Chen Qi's backpack.

Chen Qi pushed him away, took a few steps back, and turned to run outside.

The moment I ran out of the hospital building, a cool evening breeze swept in.

Chen Qi felt refreshed and relaxed, and his steps seemed much lighter.

He felt that he should open his arms wide, shout to the sky, and it would be even better if it were accompanied by a heavy rain to truly fit the occasion.

However, the security guards behind him wouldn't allow him to stop celebrating and had already chased after him.

(End of this chapter)