I dug up the magical girl's corpse.

Chapter 51 Psychotherapy

boom!

Chen Mu remained silent for two seconds before grimacing. He felt pain in his hand, which was numb from the shaking, and he had to shake it several times before stopping.

She was unable to open the door to the solitary confinement cell.

The monster's power was not awakened as she wished; she remained in the body of an ordinary young girl, punching the iron gate and nearly injuring herself in the process.

"As expected... the monster's power cannot be used in this body."

Chen Mu's brows furrowed; this was exactly what she had expected.

The "weirdo's" power was obtained by deceiving history through the ability of the "Book of Time," which only granted him an extraordinary physique out of thin air in his original male body. However, this girl's body is essentially a parallel world with a different timeline and a branch in history; therefore, the "Book of Time" has no effect on this world.

In other words, Chen Mu has now lost all her extraordinary abilities and is just a sickly, thin girl who cannot break through this room at all.

"This is going to be difficult."

Chen Mu rubbed his hands and slowly sat down again.

She originally thought that if she could use the power of the "monster", she would be confident that she could break out of the mental hospital. In her enhanced physical state, although she could not compare to the "transformation" of a magical girl, dealing with ordinary people would definitely not be a problem. Ordinary restraint nets, electric guns, or anesthetics would not have much effect on her unless she took out a real gun.

But a mental hospital probably wouldn't be equipped with that kind of weapon; she could easily escape by simply grabbing someone as a hostage and threatening them.

But that's no longer possible. All that's left for her is a frail body, making a surprise attack impossible.

While Chen Mu was still seriously considering what to do next.

Suddenly, the door opened by itself.

"Um?"

She paused for a moment before remembering to cover her eyes with her hand, the sting causing tears to well up in her eyes.

"Oh, don't cry, you look like I'm your savior."

The person who opened the door was a doctor in a white coat, Wang Dashan, the attending physician from before. He chuckled and said, "Don't panic, I'll let you out right away."

...

"How are you doing your job? I've told you so many times, call me immediately as soon as she's conscious. We're here to treat patients, not to put her in a prison—"

Chen Mu sat in Dr. Wang's office, listening to him give the caregiver a thorough dressing-down.

Finally, the caregiver had to bow and apologize to Chen Mu before being allowed to leave.

"...It's okay, it was indeed my illness that caused me to injure someone."

Chen Mu shook his head, his expression calm, and said nothing else.

She had some doubts, unsure whether Dr. Wang was putting on an act or being genuine, and remained somewhat wary.

After all, patients in this mental hospital have virtually no human rights. Why would he suddenly release me? Is it truly out of compassion for a healer?

If that's true, why would they condone a patient being locked up in a dark solitary confinement cell for a month? Even prisons don't impose such harsh punishments. You know, even the most vicious murderers become docile after being locked in a dark room for a week. They tremble with fear and obey orders every time the topic comes up, never daring to go back.

This mental hospital is probably even more strange than I imagined... Chen Mu couldn't help but think.

"Haha, Mr. Chen, I'm sorry to have troubled you. I just found out you were awake."

Dr. Wang, however, seemed very kind and approachable. He adjusted his glasses and said with a smile, "Speaking of which, this is only our second formal meeting, isn't it?"

He used the title "Mr. Chen," clearly indicating that he regarded "Chen Mu" and "Chen Mu" as different personalities.

Chen Mu naturally accepted the title, outwardly expressing great gratitude to Dr. Wang:

"Thank you... thank you for rescuing me, otherwise I don't know how much longer I would have been locked up."

"It's alright, it's alright. We're glad you understand. We don't mean to harm you. The main thing is treatment and management to prevent you from hurting yourselves."

Dr. Wang chuckled and casually uttered some official jargon.

He took out a pen from his chest, opened the medical record, and quickly got to the point:

"Alright, Mr. Chen, let's have a routine check-up. Do you remember anything that happened this past month?"

Chen Mu shook his head: "I only heard that I hurt someone and talked nonsense, but I don't remember it."

"Yes, that's normal."

As Dr. Wang wrote in illegible, distorted handwriting on the medical record, he explained, "This is a typical manifestation of dissociative identity disorder. The consciousness and memories between the different personalities are not interconnected. For you, the past month has been like a blackout. When the other personalities were in control, you didn't remember what happened during that time, and vice versa."

"oh."

Chen Mu had no knowledge of this kind of medical knowledge, so he could only accept whatever Chen Mu said.

As Dr. Wang was writing, he suddenly asked, seemingly casually:

"...How's things going on your end? Have you found out the truth about your wife's death?"

"?!"

Chen Mu suddenly snapped out of his relaxed state, straightened his back, frowned, and stared intently at the doctor in front of him.

Dr. Wang quickly put down his pen, raised his hand, and said:

"Oh dear, oh dear, don't get agitated. I don't have anything for self-defense here. Don't try to provoke me."

"Dr. Wang, what does this mean?" Chen Mu asked, his expression still unfriendly. "Why are you asking these questions?"

"I'm just curious, don't overthink it."

Dr. Wang put down his pen and said helplessly, "Look, you've said so much nonsense. To others, it sounds like nonsense, but to me, the logic is quite clear, with a beginning and an end, a complete storyline and worldview. After all, I am your attending physician and have collected all the recordings, but there are still gaps in the sentences, no complete context, so I only understand half of what you're saying."

He looked at Chen Mu with great interest and said:

"So, could you tell me the whole story? I want to know what you were experiencing in that magical girl world?"

"Aren't these all just delusions that trigger my illness? It's pointless, isn't it? Does knowing these things help with treatment?"

Chen Mu still didn't give in, and calmly asked him in return.

"There really is."

Dr. Wang nodded, it was unclear whether he was making up an excuse on the spot or had prepared it in advance: "I call it 'Confirmational Dissociative Identity Disorder Therapy,' a treatment method I created. Through repeated conversations and consultations with you, I help you confirm the reality of the 'Mr. Chen' personality, solidify you, and thereby optimize and eliminate other undesirable personality traits."

"You mean... you're going to replace my original teenage personality?"

Chen Mu frowned, surprised that the doctor actually had a set of arguments, but she quickly retorted, "Isn't the priority in general psychotherapy to ensure the recovery of the primary personality?"

"Haha, there's no such thing as a 'primary personality' or 'secondary personality.' For patients, the safe and stable personality is the good personality, while the other personality traits that manifest are the bad personality."

Dr. Wang shook his head, pointed at Chen Mu with the tip of his pen, and said:

"Now that you can think rationally, act safely, and have normal conversations with people, once you've stabilized and gotten rid of the old ways, the treatment is successful."