Chapter 306
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Chapter 306: I Miss Her
An unconventional method?
Using something akin to forbidden ruins and forbidden items, separating the two on the condition that their souls remain unharmed. Dr. Li pushed up his glasses. “Of course, I’m not sure about the actual details. After all, I’ve never encountered such a patient before, so this is just theory on paper.”
“Alright.” Lin Qiye sighed.
He had already thought of a method to strip the two souls from one body and turn them into two independent entities, but such a way to separate souls without injury is not something one can casually possess. Only a few very special forbidden ruins or forbidden items can do it, yet forbidden items can’t be brought into the Gods’ Psychiatric Hospital…
Curing Bragi and Idunn completely is destined to be a difficult and lengthy process.
“However, I think that since there’s no sign of mutual rejection between these two souls, there’s no particular problem if they aren’t separated in the short term. But there is one thing that must be noted: their mental state,” Dr. Li added.
“When two souls live in the same body for a long time, they inevitably create underlying mental stress for each other. Timely relief is absolutely necessary—ideally, they need to be mutually accommodating to avoid any mental rejection.”
Lin Qiye furrowed his brow, nodded in partial understanding, and said nothing more.
To be honest, he didn’t quite grasp what Dr. Li was talking about. He had no idea how to address this ‘relief’ issue. After all, he was just a half-baked doctor, not as professional as Dr. Li.
Seeing Lin Qiye’s expression, Dr. Li’s lips curled slightly. “Your case is extremely rare, and the angle is quite tricky. I don’t recommend you dive too deep into this… But if you really are interested in studying mental illnesses, I could give you some of my notes. They contain my insights from years of research and might be of help to you.”
Lin Qiye’s eyes lit up at this. “Then I’ll be sure to thank you, Dr. Li.”
After all, Dr. Li was the best psychiatrist in all of Great Xia. For Lin Qiye, who was only a halfway decent doctor, those notes were naturally of immense value. If he could fully comprehend them, dealing with the handful of patients in the hospital shouldn’t pose much of a problem.
Lin Qiye chatted with Dr. Li for a while longer, then turned back into his room. About ten minutes later, an orderly came in carrying a thick stack of notebooks.
“These are from Dr. Li,” the orderly announced, placing the notebooks down. The heavy stack landed on the table with a dull thud.
Lin Qiye glanced at the pile of notebooks standing nearly as tall as a person and couldn’t help saying, “Isn’t this a bit much?”
“Too much? This is only one-tenth of Dr. Li’s notes. He was worried you wouldn’t have room to put them here, so he just had me bring you this first batch.” The orderly gave him a look as though he’d never seen the world before.
Lin Qiye fell silent.
No wonder Dr. Li became the top psychiatric expert in Great Xia at such a young age—this level of commitment is far beyond what ordinary people can match. He wondered if that thick head of hair on Dr. Li’s head was even real…
Lin Qiye pulled out a chair and sat down at the desk, staring at the towering stack of notebooks beside him, lost in thought.
With so many notes, he definitely couldn’t take them with him if he tried to escape. And who knew how many years it would take to finish reading and absorbing them all. Besides, he couldn’t carry anything into the Gods’ Psychiatric Hospital…
After a moment’s consideration, Lin Qiye came up with a plan.
Since he couldn’t take these notes with him, he would copy them all into the Gods’ Psychiatric Hospital. He was stuck in this small room every day with nothing else to do, so it was a perfect use of his time.
…
Gods’ Psychiatric Hospital.
Bragi peeked surreptitiously out of his room, glanced around to ensure no one was paying attention, then clutched the lyre in his arms and slipped out.
He walked straight through the second-floor corridor, tiptoed down the stairs, took a quick look outside, and then spun around, darting into the first room next to the stairwell.
Click!
The door locked.
Whoosh!
The curtains were drawn.
Alone in the dimly lit room, Bragi let out a long breath.
Holding the lyre tightly, a spark of excitement flitted through his eyes. He lowered his head and plucked the first string.
Ting—!
A clear note rang out, and Bragi immediately clapped a hand over the string, cutting the sound short.
He hurried to the window, lifted a corner of the curtain, and peeked out anxiously.
No one had heard him.
Elated, Bragi returned to his seat, cleared his throat, took a deep breath, and began to sing in earnest.
“Ah—what a—”
Bang—!
Bragi froze.
The door was flung open, and Lin Qiye, wearing a white coat, appeared in the doorway. He was momentarily stunned to find Bragi sitting there in a dark corner of the room.
Their eyes locked.
“Ah… ah… ah-choo!” Bragi quietly slipped the lyre behind his back, pretending he had just sneezed.
Lin Qiye’s mouth twitched slightly. “…What are you doing in my office?”
Bragi pondered for a moment. “Admiring it?”
…
Lin Qiye rolled his eyes and opened the door wide. “I need to work. If you really want to recite poetry, ask Merlin to put up a noise-blocking spell for you.”
Bragi’s eyes immediately lit up!
He whipped out his lyre again and dashed from the office like a gust of wind. “Thank you, Director!”
“Wait!” Lin Qiye suddenly remembered something. “Hold on.”
Bragi stopped in his tracks and turned around in confusion.
“Have you felt any discomfort lately? For instance, unexplained fatigue or anxiety?” Lin Qiye asked, then added, “And becoming uncommonly good-looking doesn’t count.”
Bragi blanked for a moment, thought carefully, and shook his head. “Not at all. I feel full of energy every day, like I have endless enthusiasm for poetry… It’s just that…”
“Just what?”
Bragi’s expression dulled. He looked at the lyre in his hands and fell silent for a long while before speaking in a crestfallen tone. “I miss my wife…”
Lin Qiye froze on the spot.
“I see,” he said after a pause. “Alright. Off you go. I need to work.”
Walking into his office, he drew the curtains open and watched Bragi outside. The man was hugging his lyre tightly, looking like a dejected tall boy as he trudged off.
Lin Qiye let out a long sigh, returned to his desk, and copied down his first sentence on a blank sheet of paper:
“A patient once asked me: Is this world real? And if we cannot be certain of its reality, how can we be sure we exist?”
“That’s an interesting question. In my view, it doesn’t matter whether the world is real or not. What matters is whether there have been people and experiences that make us feel that even if the world were an illusion…”
“This illusory life would still be worthwhile.”