Chapter 377: The Instigator

Laoba is a terrifying and sinister instigator who is unaware of his own nature; he is a figure feared even by certain psychopaths.

Although Jia Yuanzhang's Mental Hospital is open to the general public, there are always exceptions, because there are always special prisoners whom prisons cannot house or cannot house in time, such as psychopathic prisoners.

Due to the extremely obvious aggressive tendencies of psychopathic prisoners, the cells used to house them often cannot meet general standards; thus, not only is the prison used for their detention special, but the cells are also custom-made, and such special prisons are currently few and far between nationwide.

There was once a theory about the end of the world, which posited that humanity is currently in an era of spiritual civilization, and that humans living in this era value spiritual civilization. Ironically, as everyone knows, the end of the world did not happen; perhaps this is because humanity is actually in an era contrary to the prophecy. Current humans not only do not value the construction of spiritual health, but instead value material desires, yet in reality, most people are not satisfied in terms of material goods either. At times, both material and spiritual aspects present a state of dual collapse, which seems to have caused the doomsday prophecy to be invalid from the very beginning.

Against the backdrop of such an era where collective spiritual civilization is not very healthy, more and more mental problems have appeared in humans, and correspondingly, psychopathic criminals have increased day by day.

Combining the shortage of housing in detention prisons and the gradual increase in psychopathic prisoners, these two major reasons mean that some psychopathic prisoners have to be temporarily arranged to be transferred to special mental hospitals that have a certain foundation and capacity for detention, such as the mental hospital where Jia Yuanzhang is employed.

It is precisely because of this that Laoba, who for some reason can always break through confinement and come out of his locked room at any time, always has the opportunity to come into contact with those psychopaths who have to come out for fresh air on schedule.

At first, the workers at the mental hospital were also worried that those heinous psychopaths, who lacked any concept of good, evil, right, or wrong, would harm Laoba. Of course, what they feared most was that Laoba, who was already a ticking time bomb, would be tainted by the ferocity of those psychopaths during his contact with them and turn into a psychopathic criminal.

But it was not until the staff of the mental hospital discovered that Laoba was not only unaffected by any of them, but was instead able to influence those psychopaths, using unknown means to incite them into a frenzy, causing the prisoners to clash with one another.

Miraculously, not a single one of the prisoners who clashed would harm Laoba; Laoba always remained like air, an outsider, looking around at the riot with interest, freely weaving through the gaps of the chaotic battle.

Only after those psychopaths received injections and calmed down did they slowly realize that they had been bewitched by Laoba.

And the strange thing is just that: not a single one of those psychopaths would be angry about it; instead, they developed a sense of awe toward Laoba, which made all the staff at the mental hospital feel baffled.

Jia Yuanzhang once mustered the courage to speak with Laoba alone, asking him what his reason was for inciting the psychopaths to attack each other, and whether he enjoyed witnessing chaos—did it make him feel excited?

Laoba's reply was: "It is not out of fun or anything; I simply analyzed their current situation for them and informed them of the choices they could make, and they made the choices their hearts desired. I am merely looking forward to the developments after they make their choices; as for whether the result is good or bad, I have no interest at all. I only focus on the process."

He was so frank that Jia Yuanzhang felt dazed, with a faint panic in his heart.

Jia Yuanzhang suddenly understood that Laoba was no ordinary "instigator"; he used methods even more sophisticated than "instigation."

Later, Laoba was no longer satisfied with "instigating" psychopathic criminals; as if he had grown tired of watching their drama, he turned his gaze toward other ordinary mental patients living there, and even set his sights on the workers within the hospital.

Under Laoba's "guidance," gentle mental patients might become violent, or they might become even more peaceful, or exhibit other emotional and behavioral expressions.

Violent mental patients might also become gentle, or even refined, cheerful, and highly affable, but they might also directly transform into psychopathic criminals.

Jia Yuanzhang had originally thought that as long as the hospital workers—these ordinary people—remained on guard in their hearts, they would not be so easily caught in Laoba's trap, but this relaxation was precisely what triggered the largest-scale turmoil since the establishment of the mental hospital.

I do not know how Laoba did it, but he successfully made more than half of the hospital workers "fall ill" on the same day, collectively becoming as frantic as mentally deranged lunatics.

Jia Yuanzhang does not know, and does not want to know, how Laoba managed to do all this; just looking at the result is enough to make him feel a strong sense of fear toward that young man.

After that riot, everyone in the hospital with a certain level of normal thinking ability feared Laoba from the bottom of their hearts. The other party seemed to have a mysterious magic, making them worry about whether they might have been controlled by Laoba without knowing it, and that one day they too would become one of the rioting lunatics.

Therefore, everyone had to take such a unique existence as Laoba seriously. He had to "enjoy" more "high-level" and "strict" cell treatment than the average mental patient, and his ability and range of movement had to be restricted to prevent him from having the opportunity to appear anywhere in the hospital where people were present, tightly guarding against this young man stirring up trouble again.

And just as Jia Yuanzhang noticed at this moment, Laoba cannot be kept locked up; he always escapes confinement in an incredible way, but he will never escape to the world outside the prison, only remaining active within the prison.

Realizing that Laoba could not be normally confined, Jia Yuanzhang had no choice but to monitor him at all times.

If he cannot be kept locked up, then he must be kept in sight at all times, to stop him before he brews a new round of "bitter wine"!

This is useful, but very tiring.

After Jia Yuanzhang discovered that Laoba was about to run out of the confinement area again, he immediately brought people with a dark face to capture him and bring him back.

Although it was called a capture, Laoba never resisted, allowing himself to be escorted away by a group of people and returned to his room.

"Number 8, can you just stay in your room honestly for one day and not run out as you please!" Jia Yuanzhang reprimanded Laoba for his "inconsiderate" behavior. Facing that face that was as incredibly young and immature as ever, he could never adopt a tough attitude; it was more like scolding his own child.

Laoba said very innocently: "I did, I stayed in my room honestly yesterday and didn't come out."

The corners of Jia Yuanzhang's mouth twitched slightly; it was indeed a fact, but his true inner thought was that he hoped he would never come out of that room, at least not until he gave up his desire to "counsel" those people, and this was nothing short of a pipe dream.