Chapter 68: The Cage

Sangsang Ye wore her long black hair loose, with bangs resting over her deep, dark eyes.

Her naturally fair skin looked even whiter against her pale complexion, and the striped hospital gown hung loosely from her frame. Combined with exquisite facial features that looked as though they had been meticulously carved by a fine sculptor, her mere appearance was enough to evoke pity in anyone.

Yet, it was only her appearance; at this moment, a dangerous aura emanated from her face.

Her slender, pale hand rested nearby. With just a slight application of force, that hand could inflict harm upon the people slowly approaching her.

Especially since she was acutely aware of these people's physical weaknesses, making them seem like nothing more than rabbits.

As for the sedatives in their hands, they posed not the slightest threat to her.

Her black pupils were deep and bottomless, causing the two men who met her gaze to swallow guiltily.

"Don't move... we aren't going to do anything to you," the slightly younger doctor said, his conscience clearly pricking him.

Su Xu spoke up again from the side, "Don't be afraid, she won't do anything! I am Sangsang Ye's attending physician; I've been managing her psychiatric treatment for months now. Trust me, don't listen to Jingyue Zhang—she is not getting better!"

"I am sure you saw this morning that the director officially designated me as Sangsang Ye's attending physician. Everything concerning her is my responsibility!"

Su Xu's words dispelled any hesitation and doubt remaining in everyone's eyes, and several doctors and nurses began attempting to approach Sangsang Ye once more.

Sangsang Ye looked at them and smiled. "Su Xu, I know what you're trying to do."

"Be a good girl, just be a good girl, and I won't do anything to you." Su Xu looked at her with affectionate eyes, though a desire for control so intense that he himself hadn't noticed lurked in the depths of his gaze.

Sangsang Ye leaned against the window and looked at him. "Has anyone ever told you that your gaze is disgusting?"

A momentary flash of displeasure crossed Su Xu's face; he did not like a Sangsang Ye who refused to remain under his control.

"Stop dreaming. No one is going to save you. Even if the police come, so what? You're a psychiatric patient now..." He forcefully suppressed his anger and whispered to Sangsang Ye.

Sangsang Ye raised her gaze to look at the two doctors who had already closed the distance to within half a meter of her. "Think carefully. Are you willing to gamble your entire professional career? If you leave, the worst you'll do is lose a job; if you stay, there is a high probability your medical licenses will be revoked."

This threat carried immense weight. Having spent over a decade studying hard through the bitter winters, they had not become doctors simply to commit evil deeds.

Losing their means of livelihood was a fatal blow to anyone.

"We..." The younger doctor looked toward the person beside him.

Sangsang Ye's deep eyes locked onto him. "Put down the sedative."

The younger doctor immediately raised both hands. "No, I actually think you're losing your mind."

He genuinely wanted to cry. Why on earth had he gotten himself tangled up in a mess like this?

Sangsang Ye looked at the bodyguard, signaling that she could now officially take action.

The bodyguard gave an almost imperceptible nod to indicate she was ready.

Taking advantage of this opening, the other doctor lunged straight toward Sangsang Ye.

Yet his movements appeared far too clumsy before Sangsang Ye. With the fluid grace of a police officer, she directly reached out, neatly pinned the hand holding the sedative, and pressed him hard against the nearby table.

The others were simply uninformed onlookers who had genuinely believed Sangsang Ye was having a psychotic episode and had walked in to help.

At that moment, the nurse-cum-bodyguard took advantage of the fact that Su Xu wasn't watching Sangsang Ye to violently shove aside the two black-clad bodyguards holding her, delivering a single punch that knocked Su Xu straight to the floor.

She slammed her knee down, pinning Su Xu firmly to the ground. How could Su Xu's physical strength possibly match that of a trained bodyguard? He couldn't even manage a struggle with his back and waist held so fast.

The remaining black-clad bodyguards prepared to step forward, but the bodyguard swept her leg, sending both men crashing to the ground in one swift motion.

"Ahhhhh!"

Under the female bodyguard's foot, Su Xu let out a miserable shriek.

At that exact moment, the police walked in.

Sangsang Ye paused in surprise. Did someone actually call the police?

Or had the super-intelligence system done it?

After all, capable of assessing the current scenario and recognizing the high degree of danger, the system might well have decided to call the police.

Sangsang Ye pulled out her phone and dialed her lawyer.

"Come and pick me up." The lawyer's movements were a bit slow—was the situation on the other end too troublesome to deal with?

The person on the other end quickly replied, stating she would arrive immediately.

The female bodyguard was extremely considerate; seeing the police begin to take control of the scene and clear the area, she wheeled Sangsang Ye over so she could roll out.

Su Xu tried to argue his way out of it, but Sangsang Ye pointed out that the gaming system possessed environmental scanning and recording functions.

The entire scene of Su Xu attempting his malicious plot had been directly recorded.

It was useless for him to argue that it was merely a piece of white cloth and that there were no drugs involved at all.

Without waiting for him to finish, Sangsang Ye flatly accused him of attempted premeditated murder.

In truth, the objective of Su Xu and the people behind him was very simple: they wanted to force Sangsang Ye to retaliate, or even directly injure someone.

The knife placed on the table—something that should never have existed in a psychiatric hospital—was meant to provoke Sangsang Ye into a relapse to achieve their goal.

Similarly, the metal fork previously arranged by the nurse served as another tool designed to trigger a psychotic episode in Sangsang Ye.

They genuinely classified her as a lunatic who could relapse at any moment and kill when she did.

The cold, guiltless apathy of an antisocial personality, devoid of self-control, fear, social responsibility, or any moral framework—

Aside from physicians, very few people truly understood this.

The reason Su Xu acted this way was precisely because he knew how such individuals operated.

He knew that once provoked, they would stop at nothing to destroy others.

When they relapsed, even if a child on the street spoke a little too loudly, they would rush over and attack the child.

Madness, cruelty, and hatred formed the bedrock of these people's existence; their psychological worlds were as fragile as foam, shattering at the slightest poke.

By continually provoking her, they could subject her to harsher treatments and ultimately torture her into becoming a genuine madman.

This hospital held the majority of the Ye family's shares. As long as she was certified insane, her cheap excuse of a father would become the sole heir to the estate.

Months of failing to secure the property had already exhausted all his patience.

As for those willing to dirty their hands today, they were simply those who had chosen a side.

When the potential gains were enormous, people would always be willing to take the risk, no matter how great.

The arrival of the police spared Sangsang Ye the trouble of making a report herself.

After viewing the footage, the police immediately slapped handcuffs on the lot of them.

The hospital director hurried over, trembling with guilt upon entering the room. Chattering nervously, he blurted out, "It's all a misunderstanding! A complete misunderstanding! Our treatment methods were just a bit too aggressive."

"In other words, you're in on it too?" Sangsang Ye adopted a policy of offering no self-defense, knowing they weren't interested in listening to whether she had been harmed or not.

Hearing this, the director didn't dare admit anything and promptly shut his mouth.

Su Xu stared furiously at the director. "It was you! You ordered me to do this!"

"Don't talk nonsense!" The director hurriedly severed all ties, turning to Sangsang Ye. "This has nothing to do with me, I..."

Sangsang Ye cut him off mid-sentence and looked at the police. "I suspect the director is also implicated in this crime. You might as well take him along for questioning."

The footage captured earlier, combined with the people present in the room, clearly pointed to a case of intentional assault.

Such a case could never be treated as a routine dispute. Upon hearing Sangsang Ye's suggestion, the police nodded in agreement.

The director's jaw dropped. "No... no... it has nothing to do with me!"

"Let's see who dares!"

At that moment, an angry shout echoed from the distance.

The female bodyguard considerately turned Sangsang Ye's wheelchair around to give her a direct view of the newcomers.

The man who had arrived was Sangsang Ye's cheap father, Ye Xiao. Walking over with rapid, hurried strides, he burst out, "This daughter of mine has an antisocial personality and is completely out of her mind; her words cannot be trusted! I am her legal guardian, and you have no right to mischaracterize normal medical treatment as assault and drag her doctors away!"

He rattled off a long string of complaints before glaring at Sangsang Ye.

His expression practically screamed: *Why won't you just drop dead, you scourge?*

"My actual attending physician has already confirmed with his own mouth that I have entered a period of stability," Sangsang Ye said indifferently.

Ye Xiao stepped forward and demanded, "Let them go. The doctors were only acting in your best interest."

"I can't let them go. They are suspected of committing a crime—the police station isn't run by me," Sangsang Ye sneered, raising her eyes to look at him.

Ye Xiao turned to the police and insisted, "I am her legal guardian. I can make decisions on her behalf."

Everyone present was left speechless. Ye Xiao looked far crazier than any patient in their psychiatric ward.

The police fell silent as well. It was already the year 2035, yet people could still be this ignorant of the law!

Soon, Sangsang Ye's lawyer arrived.

The police quickly made arrangements to take their statements, determined to investigate the matter thoroughly.

Throughout the process, Ye Xiao kept babbling on, though unfortunately, no one bothered to pay him any mind.

Sangsang Ye didn't care about the rest, because everything was bound to happen anyway.

Yet there was one piece of good news: she was being wheeled out of the psychiatric hospital in broad daylight, right out in the open.

When she had entered, it was winter; upon leaving, everything was bathed in lush greenery under a pleasant sun.

Lawyer Lin was a remarkably sharp and capable woman of forty. After walking out, she leaned close to Sangsang Ye and said, "Apologies. On my way here, some punk tried to cut me off, and handling that delayed me a bit."

They had originally scheduled to handle the matter today, but she had still arrived a step late.

"It's fine," Sangsang Ye shook her head.

Needless to say, it had been done on purpose.

It was inevitable that Ye Xiao and Ye Zhe would try to obstruct her; neither of them wanted to see her walk free.

That was precisely why they had moved so quickly, even going so far as to drag her off to be tortured so the lawyer wouldn't be able to find her.

It was simply a pity that they were a step too late.

Ye Xiao could never have imagined that Sangsang Ye had already quietly set so many pieces in motion.

The secure layout he thought he had constructed was already beginning to collapse.

She turned her head to look at Ye Xiao, who was currently boarding a commercial vehicle.

Once he entered the police station, there was no telling when he would ever come back out.

After recording the statements, Lawyer Lin immediately submitted the gathered evidence, verifying and communicating with the investigating officers.

Before Ye Xiao even registered what was happening, the police brought by Lawyer Lin slapped handcuffs on him.

"You are suspected of attempted murder, and we are arresting you in accordance with the law." The police directly produced various pieces of evidence.

Gazing at the medication purchase records, the fingerprint comparisons showing the swapped bottles, and that short snippet of surveillance footage, Ye Xiao's expression instantly shattered.

Then came his desperate protests of innocence—he insisted he hadn't done it, that it wasn't him!

Sangsang Ye drove the final nail into the coffin. "I suspect that this whole incident was also instigated by Mr. Ye!"

"I am your father!" Ye Xiao screamed at Sangsang Ye. "Why are you framing me?!"

Sangsang Ye glanced at him. "Framing? The evidence is right in front of your eyes and you call it framing? Don't be so absurd."

The police nodded at Sangsang Ye and led Ye Xiao away.

Lawyer Lin crouched down, locked eyes with Sangsang Ye, and smiled. "You're free. I will petition the court for a re-evaluation of your psychiatric status. Your condition has always been stable; you don't need to stay in a psychiatric hospital, nor do you need any guardian nonsense."