Ants of humans, ants!
"Wah..."
"Waaah..."
At some point, the person next door had come back and started playing tearjerkers again. The heart-wrenching sobs seriously disturbed Ye Jiang. Her brows drew together, and she rolled out of bed to negotiate in person.
At some point, the corridor had become unusually quiet. The ceiling lights had faulty connections and flickered now and then. Ye Jiang ignored them and headed straight for the room in question. As soon as she approached, a chill shot up from her soles, as though what stood before her were not a hospital room but a morgue.
The crying grew louder, hoarse and grief-stricken. The actor was overdoing it a little.
Knock, knock.
Ye Jiang knocked on the door and found it unlatched. Her knocking pushed it open a crack, and darkness flowed out through the gap, bringing a bone-piercing chill.
Expressionless, Ye Jiang pushed the door open a little farther. In an instant, the lights came on, revealing the room's luxurious furnishings in full.
It was a VIP room.
It was more spacious than Ye Jiang's room. The hospital bed was a large, soft bed, and the room was fully furnished with a sofa, a refrigerator, and everything else. The wall-mounted television covered almost an entire wall.
At the sight of that lavish television, Ye Jiang, who also enjoyed watching shows, felt a fleeting pang of envy.
To her surprise, however, the enormous television was not on. Nor was there a patient watching television in the room. Only piercing sobs echoed through it.
It was wet underfoot.
Ye Jiang looked down and saw water welling up from somewhere, pooling around her feet and rising past her ankles.
She lifted one foot and shook the water off.
Drip.
The droplets she shook off landed on the room's gleaming floor with clear sounds, as though falling into water.
She looked over and watched ripples spread across the flat floor. The ripples expanded, and the floor turned into a surface of water, with all the luxurious furnishings soaking in it.
A malicious gaze abruptly seized her attention. Sensing something, she looked up. An Invisible Man, transparent as water, was leaning against the large bed in the hospital room. Its body twisted and melted, barely maintaining a human shape. The Invisible Man had no clear facial features. Tears streamed steadily from its two hole-like eyes, the source of the water in the room, while piercing wails spilled from its equally slapdash mouth.
So it wasn't the television. The patient was crying.
That was what Ye Jiang thought.
"Could you..." She stared at her fellow patient. "Keep it down a little?"
The "fellow patient" paused. A moment later, the crying stopped.
Negotiation successful.
It seemed this was not an unreasonable fellow patient.
Satisfied, Ye Jiang forgave it for soaking her slippers. She nodded to her fellow patient in greeting and turned to return to her room. Just then, however, the Invisible Man's now-silent mouth suddenly curved into an utterly nasty smile. At the same time, the water filling the room turned into hands of all sizes and surged toward Ye Jiang, scrambling to seize her ankles. In an instant, several pairs of hands had grabbed her!
A penetrating, icy chill rose from her soles. Ye Jiang stopped and slowly lowered her head.
She watched the hands swarm over and seize her like prey. After a while, she lifted her foot.
With just that slight lift, she raised her foot despite seeming to be firmly captured, a creature already caged. Then she gently set it down, and every watery hand shattered.
Silence.
The air in the room seemed to stop moving. The Invisible Man stopped shedding tears, the water in the room suddenly stilled, and the malice at the corners of its mouth froze.
Ye Jiang looked at her fellow patient thoughtfully. "You want me to stay?"
"..."
Receiving no answer, Ye Jiang pursed her lips and turned to leave.
She even politely pulled the door shut.
Inside, the Invisible Man remained motionless, staring in bewilderment at its trampled hands.
An ordinary human had countered it with one simple move? This was no ordinary water. It was tougher than any metal in the world, indestructible!
This human had pinned it down as though it were a fish on a chopping board.
How was that possible?
How could that possibly be?!
It could not understand. Wasn't she an ordinary human?
Although it could not understand, that... that single step had made one thing clear: it could not afford to provoke this human.
Good, she's gone. She's gone...
Knock, knock.
A sudden knock sounded. A moment later, the door was pushed open, and the ordinary human it could not afford to provoke returned, appearing in the doorway. Expressionless, she stared at it with calm, unruffled eyes.
The Invisible Man trembled. Tears trickled silently from its two hollow eyes.
The ordinary human said, "I thought about it. I have nothing to do tonight, so I can stay and keep you company."
The ordinary human walked inside. "Can I turn on the television?"
As her gaze shifted to the outrageously lavish television on the wall, the ordinary human's eyes brightened a little.
The Invisible Man: "..."
Chapter 2: Ants of humans, ants!
The television in the VIP room delivered an extraordinary experience. Its enormous screen, high refresh rate, and wide color gamut made the television in Ye Jiang's room look like an antique. Ye Jiang put on a comedy full of dramatic twists and became completely absorbed in it. Only, her hands felt a little empty and her mouth a little idle, as though something were missing. Her attention wandered for a moment, but the plot soon drew her back in.
While Ye Jiang was engrossed in the television, the Invisible Man huddled up and secretly studied her.
The Polluted could naturally sense ability users. They had a sharp aura, a special magnetic field formed by overflowing power. Yet it had sensed not a trace of that aura from this human. Without a doubt, she was not an ability user, merely an ordinary human.
She was not tall, had a slender build, and her skin was pale with a lack of vitality.
She focused on the television, her body slouched loosely, her hospital clothes hanging empty around her. No matter how it looked at her, she was ordinary. Not merely ordinary, but a little more listless than the average human.
Even her choice of television shows was tasteless.
Had it assessed her incorrectly? Was she actually just an ordinary person who loved trashy shows?
Yes, it must have judged her incorrectly. How could a human possibly do anything
Got a Polluted?!
The Polluted, huddled up on its own turf, straightened slightly. Its empty eyes widened a little, and its subdued arrogance flared back to life with a whoosh. Malicious thoughts poured forth in an endless stream.
The corners of its mouth rose high in a nasty grin. An enormous arm shot out of the water on the floor and silently moved behind the human, spreading its giant fingers toward the back of her slender neck-
It would seize this human's neck hard, crush her bones, and shatter her head in its palm, letting her brains drip between its fingers!
At the very thought, the Invisible Man's cold body began to heat up.
Excited and unable to wait any longer, it urged the hand closer, clo-
"What are you doing?"
Ye Jiang turned around and quietly stared at the enormous hand only centimeters from her neck.
The Invisible Man stiffened.
She noticed?
How?
The enormous hand the Invisible Man controlled froze in midair. It had a premonition that if it recklessly grabbed her anyway, something extremely bad would happen!
The enormous hand hung in midair, softening as it struggled to maintain its shape. Water dripped from it like sweat.
One drop.
Two drops.
Three drops.
The water pattered onto her hospital clothes, soaking a patch. The corners of Ye Jiang's mouth moved. "You..."
The Invisible Man shuddered, and more water dripped down, like rain.
Ye Jiang: "."
She looked at the enormous hand, which had almost lost its shape, then at the water covering the floor. "Don't keep playing with water. It's bad for your recovery."
As soon as she finished speaking, the enormous hand and all the water on the floor shot back into the Invisible Man's two hollow eyes. In the blink of an eye, every trace of water vanished.
Noticing that Ye Jiang's clothes and shoes were still wet, it then swept away every last drop of water from them too.
It listened to advice.
It was easy to negotiate with.
And it was very welcoming.
Ye Jiang's opinion of her next-door fellow patient improved at once.
She went back to watching her show.
That night, Ye Jiang watched shows there until the early hours before returning to her own room. As she left, she made a point of asking her fellow patient in a friendly manner, "What do you think of me?"
The Invisible Man: "..."
Bizarre! Savage!
Seeing that her fellow patient made no sound, Ye Jiang noted that it had never spoken. Presumably, it could not talk.
Understanding, she carried on by herself. "If you think I'm a nice person, invite me over again next time."
The Invisible Man: "."
Having settled that with her fellow patient, Ye Jiang returned thoroughly satisfied. That day, the fellow patient next door did not wail again.
Was it just too lonely? After I kept it company all night, it stopped making those strange cries.
Ye Jiang slept very well.
A nurse came to check on Ye Jiang and gave her a piece of candy.
"It's wedding candy. Doctor Lin from our department got married and brought some in. There's some for everyone," the nurse said with a beaming smile.
After receiving the candy, Ye Jiang held the little sweet between her fingers and examined it. Suddenly, inspiration struck, and she realized what had been missing while she watched television yesterday. She had lacked little things like this, or something similar.
She peeled off the wrapper and popped the candy into her mouth. Sweet. She liked it.
So she held out her hand to the nurse as though it were only natural. "I really like this. Give me a few more."
The nurse froze, taken aback by the matter-of-fact demand. A moment later, she met the patient's clear eyes and saw the openness in them. She understood: the patient in bed 312 had lain there for three years, and amnesia had robbed her of some common sense.
Once she understood, the nurse took out another piece of candy. Although she gave her the candy, she did not simply indulge her, instead taking the opportunity to teach her a few principles of dealing with people. Ye Jiang took them to heart. The nurse looked down at her for a rather long time. Ye Jiang did not mind at all and studied the candy in her hand. When she finished studying it, she asked the nurse whether she had given any candy to the fellow patient next door. Her fellow patient was very friendly, so she hoped it had candy too.
"I told you, the room next door is empty. The patient staying there was discharged long ago."