Chapter 234

Now, only one step remains.

Li Cheng staggered forward, heading toward the stairwell.

Mescaline causes stimulation of the central autonomic nervous system, pupil dilation, tachycardia, elevated blood pressure, and induces nausea and vomiting.

Intense side effects engulfed his entire body, but Li Cheng relied on sheer willpower to climb step by step up the stairs, reaching the third floor. He tapped the pile of cardboard boxes blocking the stairwell. "Your instant noodles."

"Uh, thanks."

Dalton crawled out from the boxes, discarded the seasoning packet inside the noodles, devoured the noodle cake quickly, then, as agreed, moved aside the boxes blocking access to the fourth floor, clearing a path.

【Item Name: Instant Noodle Seasoning Packet】

【Type: Food】

【Quality: Common】

【Effect: None】

【Equip Condition: None】

【Note: Cannot be taken out of the script world】

【Note: Perhaps it can be hidden in the trash can on the fourth floor and smuggled out?】

Thus, all items had been collected. Time to go upstairs.

Li Cheng gripped the staircase railing and struggled upward. Below, Dalton let out a complex sigh. "Good luck, William."

Li Cheng did not reply. He climbed alone to the fourth floor, tossed the seasoning packet into the nearby trash can, then collapsed heavily.

The mescaline was still active; his entire head felt submerged in icy water, completely numb, unable to control any limb movement.

Squeak—

The door to the director's office at the end of the corridor slowly opened. Director Pela, the woman in the photograph, stepped out and walked slowly down the entire hallway.

Behind her, more figures gradually emerged—doctors, nurses, and the two long-term fitness-focused orderlies.

The director stood before the defenseless Li Cheng, looking down at him, and said calmly, "Help him up."

Two orderlies pulled Li Cheng upright—one on each side—facing the director.

"William, William, how many times must you repeat this nonsense?"

Director Pela sighed. "What story did you invent for yourself this time?"

"Hehehe hahaha."

Li Cheng grinned widely, ignoring Director Pela, and looked past her toward a figure behind her. "That should be Dr. Dawson."

Amid the crowd, Dr. Dawson—the tall, sunlit-smiling man in the white coat—stepped forward and nodded at Li Cheng. "I regret meeting you under these circumstances, William."

"The person who negotiated with you via the voice recorder, paid you ten thousand dollars to steal the key to the fourth-floor isolation room—it was me."

Li Cheng said lightly, "William's goal was to rescue his sister—Diane—who was locked in the fourth-floor isolation room."

Pela said nothing, only raised an eyebrow. Behind her, the medical staff stirred slightly.

"This conclusion isn't hard to deduce. Medical records show Diane was admitted on June 1st, following the death of her brother, which triggered paranoid schizophrenia and bipolar disorder."

"William's own records show multiple healed fractures prior to admission."

The mescaline affected his vision and hearing, but did not hinder Li Cheng's fluent speech. "There's a possibility William vanished during an accident—a sea voyage or camping trip."

"His disappearance was faked as an accidental death. Under the guidance of someone with intent, Diane—whose bond with her brother was strong—was made to 'develop' a mental illness."

Director Pela remained unmoved, asking calmly, "Where's your evidence?"

"My eyes."

Li Cheng blinked his left blue eye—without colored contacts. "Both individuals' original iris color was a striking blue."

"William didn't die. He survived. He returned to civilization only to learn his sister had been committed to a psychiatric hospital. So he forged his own identity and medical records, infiltrated the hospital, and sought a way to rescue her."

"To prevent others from discovering his connection to Diane, he deliberately wore colored contacts to fake his iris color."

"But here's the question: why did William use such a complicated method to rescue his sister?"

"Why didn't he simply reveal his identity and demand to take Diane away?"

Li Cheng paused, his gaze passing through the window toward the meticulously tended flowerbed below.

"Historically, Saint Elizabeth Psychiatric Hospital's two main funding sources were government subsidies and donations from powerful elites."

"The wealthy paid money to support the hospital's operation, and in return, the hospital accepted society's troublemakers."

"Such as unruly journalists, union leaders who organized strikes, civil rights activists, wealthy widows or widowers without heirs."

"This psychiatric hospital is no different. Without massive funding, how could you maintain the facilities? How could you afford a professional medical team? How could you hire attractive nurses? —ahem, ignore that last part."

Li Cheng cleared his throat. "One detail in the voice recorder's transcript caught my attention: William paid Dr. Dawson a ten-thousand-dollar deposit and promised an additional one hundred thousand dollars ten days after Christmas."

"Why ten days after Christmas? He's just an underage kid. Where did he get one hundred and ten thousand dollars?"

"Could it be William was waiting for his Christmas money?"

"No, no, no. The reason is simple: his birthday."

He nodded toward the William medical file hanging from his collar. "William's admission date was October 4th. His age: seventeen years and ten months."

"That means ten days after Christmas, on January 4th, William will turn eighteen."

"Once he becomes an adult, he can access a large sum of money—from a family trust fund, perhaps, or his late father's will."

"And the evidence? Still in the medical records."

Li Cheng said lightly, "William's deepest fear and pain is watching his mother's funeral with his sister as a child."

"Diane's medical records state she was brought to the hospital by her stepmother."

"Combining all these clues leads to the truth."

"Their mother died early. Their wealthy father remarried. Later, the father died too. The stepmother became head of the family business. The will stipulated that when William and Diane turned eighteen, they would inherit a large sum—and possibly shares in the company."

"To eliminate this threat, the stepmother orchestrated William's death and sent Diane to Saint Elizabeth Psychiatric Hospital—where she had heavily donated."

"That's why the scrap of newspaper I found in the first-floor isolation room, dated December 24th, mentioned that the new female CEO of Con Group was considering selling its U. S. operations."

So, William — already dead on a social level — chose to infiltrate the asylum; the guardian listed on his medical records was almost certainly an actor he'd hired on the spot.

As long as he rescues Diane and waits until his eighteenth birthday, the now-adult William can take back the family business and stage a Prince's Revenge. »

After that perfectly coherent account, Director Pella listened quietly, then began to clap, «Very impressive. Unfortunately, you're wrong.

Diane has been dead for a long time. All of this is nothing more than a story you've fabricated in your own mind out of guilt. »

(End of chapter)