Chapter 1: Ill

“Name?”

“Lu Yibei.”

“How old are you?”

“All eighteen.”

All eighteen? Interesting, the doctor who was writing the case file thought. He raised his head, looking at the young man before him with a strange gaze. He suppressed his curiosity and nodded.

“Care to tell me about yourself?”

“Alright,” Yibei nodded. “Something is wrong with my vision. I’m starting to see a lot of… strange things.”

“Does it hurt?” the doctor asked.

“Nope.”

“Symptoms like itching or tearing?” 

“Nope.”

The doctor frowned upon seeing his past medical history and asked again, “You had a corneal transplant from a car accident? This might be the sequelae from the transplant. Have you been checked yet?”

“Yes. Here is the report,” Yibei said as he handed the certificate to the doctor.

The doctor furrowed his brows while reading the report. Judging from the laboratory test sheet, not only did his eyes show no sign of disease, but he also recovered fully. Compared to most corneal transplant patients, he could be considered a patient with the best recovery scenario.

“This is strange! Your report shows that you are completely normal. Tell me, what strange things are you seeing?”

“Do I have to?” he gulped, his eyes wandering as he spoke. He felt a little nervous.

The doctor smiled and comforted him: “Young man, don’t be afraid. I have no other intentions; this is the basic process of seeing a doctor. I need to know what you’re going through to help you.”

I’m not scared. I’m just worried that you’ll be the scared one, Yibei thought.

“You asked for it,” Yibei sighed. “It’s strange, but sometimes I can see faint shadows appearing in the corner of my eyes, and occasionally, I can hear strange sounds as well.”

“What kind of shadows and sounds?” the doctor asked.

“Hmm… they are blurry shadows, most often at night. When I tried to turn to look at the shadows, they disappeared in an instant. As for the voices…”

“W-wait!” The doctor interrupted, feeling that something was amiss. “Are you being haunted?”

Yibei couldn’t help but chuckle: “Doctor, I came to you looking for a scientific explanation, not for you to engage in superstition.”

“Right, my bad. I made a slip of the tongue.”

The doctor was justified in his superstition, however. There have been way too many rumours about this.

“Anyways, seeing double is a common side effect of corneal transplants. Seeing that your report is relatively normal, the probability of pathological factors is relatively low, but I can’t rule out psychological and other factors just yet.”

The other factors refer to the residual memory of the optic nerve. Under certain conditions, the recipient of the cornea will see some images that the donor has seen before. This will disappear over time.

The doctor considered this possibility as the reason why Yibei was seeing shadows. After all, it wasn’t well-researched.

“If you consider the latter,” the doctor trailed off. “Are the shadows you see blurred? Can you see clearer images?”

If he had seen clearer images, then the probability of disease would have been much higher.

“Yes, but do I have to share it?” Yibei hesitated.

“Nope! Just speak to me.”

“Alright…” Yibei said, taking a deep breath. “I’ve seen clearer ones a total of three times. When I was hungry one night, I went out to eat some skewers. At the crossroads, I saw a girl in a beige floral dress alongside a yellow and white corgi as big as a car. In a flash of light, she rode the corgi into the sky.”

“Haha!” the doctor laughed at Yibei’s remarks. “Surely you’ve heard of the rumours of magical girls in our city? But that’s just a rumour, after all.”

“Of course, but I don’t take rumours seriously. Wait, does this have anything to do with my eyesight?”

“Of course. Things you often think about in your mind may affect your perception.”

‘Is he saying that I’m a psycho?’ Yibei huffed.

“Right,” the doctor continued. “What about the other two times?”

“It was raining five days ago, and I bumped into a senior in the men’s locker room. As soon as she entered, she ran away when she saw me.”

“In the men’s locker room? A girl? She must have entered by mistake. I don’t see the problem here.”

“Of course, there is!” Yibei interjected. “Her huge head fell on the ground, and she fled without picking her head up!”

The doctor imagined the scene being described and felt a chill run down his back. His hand involuntarily let go of the teacup he was holding, and the tea soaked his clothes.

“Then, what did you do”

“I called the police! That’s a normal reaction, right?”

The doctor didn’t reply. He thought that the most expected reaction was to simply run away.

“When the police arrived, I took them to the scene, but her head wasn’t there anymore. All that was left was her hairpin; it was kinda cute! It was pink with white polka dots, and…

As Yibei trailed off, the doctor adjusted his glasses slightly.

“Could you have seen it wrong?”

“Maybe, but the police don’t think so. They think that something is wrong with me and suggested that I come to the hospital.”

“For the last one,” Yibei continued. “I was entering the hospital, and I saw someone muttering something to themselves like they were being watched. They spoke about him having lung cancer, and suddenly a huge, black tumour grew on his body, and…”

“W-wait!” the doctor interrupted. “This is a hospital, my friend. Be serious; don’t joke around.”

This patient is so f*cking scary, the doctor thought.

“Does it look like I’m joking, doctor?” Yibei asked with a serious face.

“R-right. Aren’t you afraid of those things?”

“Of course, I am! What do you think?”

Indeed, he was frightened when he first saw the shadows but was surprised that he hadn’t shown signs of mental illness.

At most, he would see strange shadows by the street, glass balls clanging above him at night, the sound of water dripping in the toilet, or someone sighing beside him when he was sleeping…

Yibei rolled up his sleeves and said, “Look at my goosebumps!”

“Are the shadows the cause of your… goosebumps?”

“This is a disease, no?” Yibei asked. “My eyes were injured in a car accident, so naturally, wouldn’t I have other complications?”

The doctor thought for a moment about facial paralysis.

‘Right, his facial expressions didn’t change at all.’

“Doctor, it’s facial paralysis. Isn’t it? I can get over it, but I want to stop seeing these strange things.”

The doctor’s eye twitched at this request, but he remained calm.

“Haha,” the doctor chuckled. “My friend, don’t worry about it. I understand your situation; since you have no physical symptoms, you have to consider the psychological aspects of it. How about I help you take a look?”

The doctor planned to pass this patient on to another department.

“You’re taking me to a psychiatrist?”

“Uh… yes, but don’t worry! Mental illness is not incurable as long as there is proper treatment.”

“No need,” Yibei stopped the doctor. “I just escaped from there.”

‘So, you’re a mental patient after all?!’