Chapter 381: Lin Ling

"Lin Ling..." Jia Yuanzhang stared at the broken "∞" symbol, suddenly finding it somewhat amusing, thinking that this was perhaps one of the few areas where the other party could show some childishness; his creativity went no further than this.

A person born with a cold temperament and stranded desires, lacking rich emotional color and having never seen the outside world, naturally would not possess high creativity.

He believed this was the origin of Lin Ling's name, a name derived from the two "0"s that emerged from the broken symbol.

However, this name did make one feel a sense of familiar nostalgia.

Lin Ling seemed very satisfied with his name, although this might also be a facade he had put on; his indifferent, smiling eyes looked toward Jia Yuanzhang, and he suddenly said, "Are you finally planning to let me go?"

Jia Yuanzhang's shoulders trembled quite noticeably, his expression stiffened, and he stared blankly at the other party; he did not understand how the thought he had not yet revealed to anyone in the hospital had been guessed by the other party all at once, and it seemed Lin Ling had perceived his inner thoughts long ago, which made him feel a chill in his heart once again.

He did not know what kind of monster his indulgence had created for this world... and why the world had allowed such an Abnormal person to be born into it?

Although the shocked Jia Yuanzhang had not uttered a single word, Lin Ling calmly answered the question that was constantly surfacing in the depths of Jia Yuanzhang's heart.

"When I first arrived here, I heard a name you called out, it seemed to be 'Mingming' or 'Minmin', in any case, they were both reduplicated names. I thought since you took me in at the time, you were treating me as a substitute for your son, so if I took a similar name, you would probably feel happy." Lin Ling's reply made the chill in Jia Yuanzhang's heart suddenly erupt, shooting straight into his brain, making him feel the surrounding temperature drop to freezing, and the colors of the world turn into deep, cold tones.

Jia Yuanzhang had never expected that when he first met Lin Ling back then, that child who seemed like a mechanical puppet, out of his mind, actually remembered everything. The reason he took the name "Lin Ling" was not actually because he had wishfully thought the child lacked creativity; the other party actually did not care at all about what he was called.

That child had been a monster from the moment he appeared; these years he had only been constantly improving, becoming an even more terrifying monster that he could not understand at all.

Lin Ling did not avoid the other's shocked pupils, his abyss-like eyes staring back, "I saw you making a choice while struggling internally at the time; you wanted to raise me, and I was looking forward to your way of raising me, so I have always been very obedient to your words, and I was also curious how long you could persist in this idea."

He walked behind Jia Yuanzhang, but Jia Yuanzhang felt unable to move; when those fair hands were gently placed on his shoulders, the fear rooted deep in his genes was shaking wildly, as if a heavy burden of a thousand jun was pressing down on him, and even his soul felt like a suppressed flame about to be extinguished.

Lin Ling's voice sounded softly in his ear, "Facts prove that some people's emphasis on family affection is unimaginable. Even though I have never responded to your expectations, you have very well constructed a profound bond between me and you in your delusions. This is good, Grandpa Dean, you have made my life very fulfilling."

"You were finally willing to let go after all." Lin Ling gently stroked Jia Yuanzhang's hair, like a sensible junior grooming the messy hair of an elder, "It's just that you haven't walked out of the past; you are still delusional that I can be equated with your deceased son, but in fact, there are no two identical people in the world. I cannot satisfy your delusions."

"How interesting, a master who specializes in treating mental and psychological problems cannot resolve his own inner knots, has been escaping, and is still escaping now, yet still thinks he sees reality clearly."

Jia Yuanzhang left Lin Ling's ward in a daze, with Lin Ling smiling and waving goodbye behind him, even praising the other party for being a good listener.

Lin Ling heard the sound of the door lock clicking, and sat down facing the wall with a calm expression, looking at the white wall in front of him, motionless.

Images appeared before his eyes, like a projected movie screen, displaying the pasts of many people.

The people inside did not look like him, yet he felt those were all his own memories.

He had once been a king in a kingdom of history who loved his people like his own children but eventually entered the Buddhist gate...

He had once been a destitute beggar who begged for food everywhere and eventually died miserably on the street...

He had once been a carefree pig waiting to be slaughtered in a pigsty...

He had also once been a sand dune that weathered and disappeared only after thousands of years...

He had once been anyone; everyone's experiences might have overlapping parts, but in the different choices of each life, he became a different person.

The end of life is death, but Lin Ling did not feel that was his own end.

People often say that the laws of heaven are clear and retribution is certain, that people are in a cycle of reincarnation, but he found that in every life he started over, he had never made even one identical choice; it seemed he had jumped out of the cycle.

In every life, he spent his whole life making choices; now he didn't want to choose, he wanted to watch others choose.

There was no purpose, just curiosity.

Hum...

His thoughts seemed to have resonated with some unknown thing; he looked up, and in front of him was already a desolate forest, a Forest Cabin built eerily between a cold pool and the forest. The door of that cabin was open, and all kinds of sounds came from the dark, hollow interior, welcoming his arrival.

To be precise, it seemed to be celebrating his return?

Lin Ling looked back at what was behind him; the prison door of the Mental Hospital was closed there, standing alone on the mountain path where the fog was gradually thickening.

"Just leaving like this seems a bit not quite right; I should leave something behind, everyone will miss me, right?" Lin Ling thought to himself. He turned his back to the Forest Cabin, and the surrounding scenery changed back to its original state; he had returned to the room he was originally in.

Finding paper and pen, Lin Ling wielded his brush and ink, writing a long farewell letter, expressing his thoughts to everyone he knew in the Mental Hospital in his memory. Every sentence was carefully designed, with rich vocabulary; in his view, this was a letter written with deep thought and genuine feeling. Perhaps some of them would feel sad about his departure.

After finishing the letter, Lin Ling walked into the Forest Cabin he had imagined in his mind without looking back, and suddenly disappeared into thin air on the room's surveillance monitor as well.

Lin Ling entered the cabin, looking at the mountain of miscellaneous items piled up inside. He put his hands on his hips, with an expression full of drive like a novice housewife, cracked his wrists, and muttered to himself: "Hmm, I have to tidy this up properly. With so many things, I should at least open a shop."