Master of the Stars

Chapter 48: Schizo Disease (Part 2/2)

Regardless of the thoughts of the two youngsters, Luo Shuqing and her husband, the intellectual Mo Haihang who possessed a doctorate, both appeared to be exhilarated by the idea of the health pod. After lunch, they brought the two youngsters to a side building of the sanatorium.

Although Luo Nan and Mo Peng appeared to have surrendered on the surface, they were actually planning something in private. If the time comes when their parents would be sold on this product, they would firmly opposite it. They would absolutely prevent their parents from being swayed.

The so-called “Health Pod” was located in a place that had a similar setup to the main building. There were individual rooms with special nursing personnel in each one. It was like a napping place, but rather like a high-standard Spa…… As long as human resources were involved in this day and age, the seller could have as high as an asking price as he wished.

Mo Peng’s eyes lit up when he saw the sweet smile of a young nurse. The problem of this being a con was long forgotten. He was practically itching to go inside and give it a try.

Luo Shuqing had booked four rooms in advance that were next to each other. They each selected one to enter. Luo Nan and Mo Peng room’s were to the edge, and Luo Nan range of senses just so happened to cover the room next door. He heard that fellow ask bashfully:

“Do I need to take off my clothes?”

“......”

Luo Nan was disinclined to pay attention to the other room. Right now in his room, a pretty nurse was performing part of the service. She was explaining the various benefits and basic operations of the health pod.

Luo Nan just took her words to be a commercial. They went in one ear and out the other. Surprisingly he was quite interested in the health pod itself instead.

Perhaps it was an impression left by a particular experience that Luo Nan felt something special about sustainment pods and the like. This didn’t mean he felt fondness or hate towards it, but rather he had a feeling of vagueness that stemmed deep in his memories.

The health pod was displayed in front of him and, like being implanted with a suggestion from a hypnotist, it was as if he had dived into the turbid murky waters of the deepest depths of his memories. This sort of feeling was very complicated, very chaotic. But Luo Nan didn’t dislike it at all.1

It’s true!

Luo Nan followed the nurse’s instructions and entered the pod. The cover closed and gentle music began to play with a faint flowery scent that seemed to blend into the background.

Everything operated as normal as time progressed. The cover was made of a special material that turned from translucent to opaque, slowly blocking off light from the outside world.

Luo Nan closed his eyes, thinking that it was quite pleasant to take a noon nap in this manner. But then seven, eight seconds later, he suddenly opened his eyes:

Something’s wrong! There’s something wrong with this smell!

Luo Nan pressed the open button inside the pod by reflex and at the same time came a muffled sound. Someone was knocking against the health pod’s panel.

The cover turned back from being opaque to being translucent. Luo Nan’s reactions had been quick. When the lid flipped open, the person outside went, “Ah!” from nearly getting his arm pinched.

Luo Nan sat up abruptly. The heavily chained crow was humming with earnest on the mental plane, the place where his greatest strength lay.

Anyway, he met face to face with the person outside the pod right at this moment.

The pretty nurse was long gone. The person standing outside the pod was a young doctor wearing a white gown. He wore glasses and looked rather scholarly. He would give people a better impression if he spoke fewer words.

“Are kids these days all this impatient?”

The young doctor stretched by habit and then sighed. He took out a proper and strict attitude: “Student Luo Nan. I am your attending doctor. Zhang Yuliang 2.

Luo Nan’s gaze began as a cold stare, but gradually he felt that the appearance of this young doctor faking being serious matched with a certain someone in his memories. He couldn’t quite grasp who it was for a while. It was only until the doctor finished introducing himself and when Luo Nan saw the nametag on the doctor’s chest did Luo Nan probe out with a conclusion.

“You’re…… Brother Octopus?”

“Cough. I’m Zhang Yuliang. The Yuliang that means shining splendor. “

The more the young doctor talked, the more certain Luo Nan became. Luo Nan hushed himself and relaxed, but he couldn’t help wanting to laugh.

On the night of the 28th, it was none other than this ability user who wore a cartoon octopus t-shirt. Although he looked funny, this ability user had displayed the exquisite ability to concoct hallucinogens. He took a room filled with dozens of people and turned all of them into idiots with confused minds.

And now the white gown he wore, along with the gold glasses he wore for fashion purposes, made it seem like he had grown older by ten years in an instant. At first glance, he was a highly educated professional doctor.

But the funny charm hidden beneath this doctor broke through this phony appearance when those eyebrows were raised, reflecting out the side that Luo Nan was most familiar with

“Hi Bro Octopus, how’s it going.” Luo Nan was still thinking about how Octopus had reached the level of perfection with his drug concoction methods. Luo Nan, being rather well-versed in the subject, felt great admiration towards Octopus.

And, this outstanding hallucinogen master was working as a doctor in a mental illness sanatorium….. Hmm. Seems to match up quite well.

“This weekend shift was so chill, but then someone just had to destroy it. Things aren’t going well at all.”

Octopus ignored Luo Nan’s good intentions. He swiped through the flexible screen in his hand until he found the relevant material. He spoke rhythmically:

“Schizophrenia. A serious mental illness that occurs in 1% of the world population and has a genetic factor to it. Those who have family members with schizophrenia have their own odds of getting the disease increased by several-fold.”

“The examinee’s grandfather is a patient with a serious case of schizophrenia. Four years ago, the examinee had a lung failure due to a disorder in the functionality of his nervous system and had entered the hospital for treatment. The hospital had notified the family of the possibility of death.”3

The current diagnosis of the examinee is as follows. It seems that the disease has developed a step further. The possibility of development of the inherited disease is not ruled out. Improper electric stimulation, drug stimulation, and sudden emotional stimulation all have the possibility of triggering the disease condition.”

“Tsk Tsk. Mr. Psychic, I really didn’t expect you to be this kind of person.”

Luo Nan finally realized at this time: “Bro Octopus. My Aunty and them……”

“Mrs. Luo Shuqing has stated that a certain person was speaking to himself quite a bit this morning. He had spoken words full of accusations and warnings such as “How is XX Corporation handling things” and “I’m down anytime”. Moreover, there was no clear relationship between these words and his usual behavior at home.”4

“Therefore, Mrs. Luo Shuqing suspected that this were early symptoms of schizophrenia. She was also worried that about the resistive nature of a certain someone, so she went through with this plan in order to have an examination done…… How pathetic that our sanatorium’s high-end health pod was used as an anesthetic device.”

Luo Nan didn’t know what he should say for a time. But soon he came to: “My Aunty and they absolutely wouldn’t have been able to think of this convoluted plan!”

Octopus spread his hand: “Isn’t it the responsibility of a quality doctor to resolve difficulties between a patient and his family? And this health pod can also do brain scan imaging. It’s quite convenient.”5

He looked at the time: “Your legal guardians will be here soon. Will you talk to them to make things clear? Or will you be good, lie down, and play pretend?”

Luo Nan laughed bitterly, but he immediately laid down and closed his eyes.

“Smart choice. Oh right. I won’t violate the taboos of the Society. For your body scans and the like, I’ll use fake ones to handle things kay.”

“I’ve troubled Bro Octopus then.”

The lid of the pod closed once more, isolating Luo Nan from the light of the external world. But even though things were like this, Luo Nan was actually able to sense the surroundings outside of the pod. He could “see” his Uncle and Aunt open the door and enter the room. They were filled with a seriousness from head to toe. They had cautious and concerned moods.

Luo Nan stopped paying attention to the specifics of Octopus’s deception. He was absent-minded, his thoughts numerous and disorderly. He didn’t know how time passed.

1. Sustainment Pod. In Chapter 31.2, Luo Nan described to Xie Junping how his mother had suffered a fatal injury while Luo Nan was still in her womb, but she had managed to save Luo Nan by putting him in a sustainment pod. This is likely the deep memory referenced here.

2. Zhang Yuliang (张瑜亮, literally Zhang Shining Splendor). Zhang is a last name. Of note is the fact that the characters of Octopus (章鱼, Zhang Yu) is pronounced exactly the same as part of Zhang Yuliang's name, Zhang Yu. So his name sounds like Octopus Liang. I'm tempted to make his name Octo Pushine, but no one has a name like that in real life...

3. Luo Nan's lung failure. In Chapter 2, it was mentioned that Luo Nan had a lung failure during his first attempt at using drugs to sculpt his mind.

4. Luo Nan speaking out loud. In Chapter 46.2 and 47.2, Luo Nan had spoken out loud by accident when using the HexaEar due to his lack of training.

5. This means that Zhang Yuliang was the doctor who came in Chapter 48.1 when Luo Yuandao was having his episode. Luo Nan and Mo Peng ended up waiting outside for ten minutes. This was when Zhang Yuliang communicated this "deep sleep health pod" plan to Luo Nan's Aunt and Uncle.