A soft drizzle had been falling without end. A faint wash of sunlight pierced through the rain, slipped between the narrow gap in the curtains, and spilled into the room, driving back some of the gloom and leaving behind a fragile trace of light.
The building itself looked ancient. Blue-green vines had crept through cracks and along the pipes, winding their way onto the windowsills. There was little furniture inside, and aside from the necessities of daily life, not a single unnecessary thing could be found.
The girl on the bed slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was the spotless white ceiling. Then came the familiar scent of disinfectant lingering in the air, and she instinctively frowned.
It was a hospital ward. But unlike the common wards where several patients were crammed together, this girl was clearly someone of special standing. She had been fortunate enough to be given a private room in this godforsaken place. Her freedom might have been restricted, but compared with the patients who were forced to wear straitjackets around the clock, she was, by any measure, incredibly lucky.
Lucky... Yeah, right.
Eve raised a hand, half tempted to smash the door to pieces with a single punch and sprint away. But just as the anger began to rise within her, it faded away again.
She leaned back against the pillow, casually plucked an apple from the fruit basket beside her, and began munching on it without the slightest concern for appearances.
Crunch. Crunch.
She bit into the apple with unnecessary force, looking for all the world like an angry squirrel. But Eve knew perfectly well that in this place, an apple was about the only thing she could take her temper out on.
Eve Phoenix—the heir to the Phoenix family, an investigator of the Suya Lan Hall, and the self-proclaimed captain of the Inlvig Women's Squad...
Well, none of those titles mattered anymore. At this moment, Eve was simply a patient, trapped inside a place called Black Mountain Hospital.
It had all begun with a raid on the underworld more than half a month ago. The mastermind behind that incident had been Hercules. Driven by his thirst for forbidden knowledge, he had manipulated several different factions and deliberately stirred up a conflict over that inferior Secret Blood.
The ending had been the same familiar one. A demon had appeared, and at the critical moment, Mr. Lloyd Holmes had made his dazzling entrance and brought everything to an end.
For Lloyd, the incident had ended there.
For Eve, however, it had not.
She and the other investigators from Suya Lan Hall had suffered corruption. To prevent its influence from spreading, the Cleansing Bureau had confined them all to Black Mountain Hospital, where they were subjected to psychological examinations and treatment intended to purge the corruption from their bodies and minds.
But even so, this treatment had been going on far too long.
Every day, the doctors gave her the same excuse: she had not yet recovered and was not allowed to leave.
Compared with that load of nonsense, Eve was far more inclined to believe that Arthur had simply locked her up here.
That overly concerned old father had finally reached his limit with a daughter who was constantly giving him heart attacks. So he had simply dumped Eve here for safekeeping. It wasn't as though she could escape anyway, and the old man was probably busy dealing with matters concerning the delegation.
Arthur never told Eve anything about it, of course. But after spending so much time around Lloyd, she could more or less piece things together herself.
And precisely because of those suspicions, Eve had a feeling that this time she had truly angered Arthur.
Perhaps when she was finally discharged, Arthur would send her away to some remote paradise of an island, where she could say goodbye to demons and all that nonsense forever.
Eve didn't want that.
She didn't want other people making decisions for her.
She had tried escaping more than once. Unfortunately, she was always caught halfway through. Perhaps because of her status, the doctors remained remarkably polite toward her. At worst, they locked her in solitary confinement for a while.
Ah... What a pity.
If only there were a ladder here. Eve really wouldn't mind trying that particular ticket to freedom one more time.
She straightened the sheets and got dressed. The pure-white hospital gown made her feel less like a patient and more like a prisoner. If they added some strange number to it, she was sure she would look the part perfectly.
Sitting on the bed, she swung her legs back and forth.
As usual, it wasn't long before footsteps sounded in the corridor. A nurse pushed open the door, a small cart in front of her. Mounted on the cart was a strange mechanical device.
"Time for your regular examination, Miss Phoenix."
The nurse wore a spotless white cap and mask, leaving only a pair of bright eyes visible. They all looked like that. If it weren't for the nameplates on their chests, Eve would have found it nearly impossible to tell them apart.
They treated Eve with considerable courtesy. After all, her surname was Phoenix. Even if the nurses themselves knew nothing of the secrets behind her confinement, their superiors had hinted enough about Eve's status for them to understand that she was someone important.
Then again, it made sense.
One stormy night, Eve had once smashed a guard unconscious with the leg of a chair. She had then climbed down from the sixth floor using the pipes running along the outside wall. If the guard's uniform hadn't been ridiculously oversized on her, she might very well have made it all the way out.
And that wasn't even the first escape attempt.
Over the course of more than half a month of treatment, Eve had thoroughly demonstrated to the doctors just how terrifyingly competent an investigator could be when she decided to commit a crime.
Fortunately, the security at Black Mountain Hospital was formidable enough to drag Eve back every single time.
For patients who were suffering from corruption and were also extremely uncooperative, the usual response was a straitjacket and sedatives.
But neither of those things had ever been used on Eve.
Instead, she had simply been transferred to a more heavily secured building, while patrols around the area had been intensified.
"I know, I know."
Eve answered perfunctorily, then lifted her fiery red hair.
The hair at the back of her neck had been shaved away, exposing the skin beneath. Seeing how cooperative Eve was being, the nurse wheeled the machine directly to the bedside and removed several electrodes from it, pressing them into the exposed area at the back of her head.
"Do you need a painkiller? This is going to hurt," the nurse asked.
"No. Just get it over with."
Eve urged her on.
The nurses exchanged glances. Perhaps they admired Eve's courage. Whatever the reason, they didn't bother warning her again.
They simply activated the machine.
The moment the current surged through her, a violent pain exploded inside Eve's skull.
It felt as though someone had fired a gun directly into her head.
Her vision instantly dissolved into chaos.
She grabbed the railing beside the bed with one hand, desperately holding herself upright. The world flickered before her eyes, black and white and blurred, before slowly coming back into focus.
The nurses gathered around her. After removing the electrodes, one of them used cotton swabs to disinfect the tiny wounds, while another checked the indicator lights on the machine.
After so many days of treatment, the light had finally turned a luminous green.
"Congratulations. The corruption in your body has subsided."
The nurse spoke while recording the results.
Eve had only just woken up. Moments ago, she had been refreshed and ready to begin what she hoped would be a beautiful new day.
Now her face had gone deathly pale.
The pain still reverberated inside her skull, as though someone had landed several brutal uppercuts directly on her face.
It hurt.
It really, really hurt.
"So... can I leave now?"
At the news, a faint spark of delight struggled to return to Eve's pale face. Still clutching the bed rail, she looked hopefully at the nurses.
"Not yet. You need to remain under observation for a while longer and undergo a complete examination. This was only a routine check to make sure you're currently stable."
Just as she had expected.
These nurses were never going to let her go that easily.
They pushed the machine out of the room. But they didn't go far. They simply continued down the corridor, opened the door to another ward, and not long afterward, a shrill scream echoed through the building.
Eve was already somewhat accustomed to it.
She lay back down on the bed, trying to soothe the lingering pain in her head while the screams continued in her ears.
There weren't many patients on this floor. But those who were here were, like Eve, somewhat... special.
As a result, the nurses provided them with the most comprehensive care possible, making sure every one of them received regular examinations.
Normally, the screams on this floor would continue for roughly half an hour.
Of course, there were also people capable of enduring the pain without making a sound.
Eve was one of them.
There was another patient on this floor who could do the same.
She had never met him.
This was Black Mountain Hospital, an institution under the Cleansing Bureau dedicated primarily to the study of the human mind.
If the Perpetual Motion Pump sought the truths of the material world, then the people here were attempting to uncover the ultimate truths of the mind.
Black Mountain Hospital was broadly divided into three areas.
The first was known as the Mild Ward. It housed the vast majority of ordinary patients suffering from mental illness. After all, very few people survived demonic corruption intact. These ordinary patients had consequently become subjects of research as well.
Compared with those who had been corrupted by demons, their conditions could, in all honesty, be considered mild.
The second area was the Severe Ward, where Eve was currently being held.
Most of the patients here were wounded members of the Cleansing Bureau, along with people who had encountered demons and suffered corruption. Many of them, like Eve, retained their reason. Yet because of the corruption within them, they had become dangerously unstable.
The final area was known as the Research District.
That was where the doctors conducted their studies into the mind.
Eve had no idea where exactly the Research District was located. But by now, she could vaguely sense that the names of these three areas were nothing more than a convenient disguise.
The Cleansing Bureau enforced an extremely strict system of hierarchical information control. Unless you had reached a certain level of authority, you would never know how many secrets were truly buried within Black Mountain Hospital.
Still, Eve could at least make a rough guess about what was being studied in that mysterious Research District.
The Mild Ward housed ordinary psychiatric patients.
The Severe Ward housed people who had suffered corruption.
Then what about the Research District?
Eve had every reason to suspect that its research subjects were none other than living demons.
What a messed-up world.
Eve felt the pain in her head finally beginning to ease. She reached into the fruit basket, pulled out another apple, and began to eat.
When she stepped out of her room, a guard was already waiting.
He wore a helmet wrapped in wire mesh, providing protection while allowing him the widest possible field of vision. His clothes were pitch black, and a weapon hung at his waist.
Eve walked ahead.
The guard followed behind.
He wasn't there to protect her.
He was there to make sure the girl didn't suddenly leap out of a window and escape.
During the previous attempts to recapture her, he had witnessed firsthand the girl's astonishing agility. He had even begun to wonder whether something had gone horribly wrong with the Phoenix family's education.
How on earth had they raised someone who behaved like a wild monkey?
Guards and nurses could be seen everywhere throughout the building. Iron doors were scattered throughout the corridors, and nearly everyone carried a large ring of keys at their waist.
Information and access were locked down with ruthless precision.
The atmosphere was gloomy and oppressive.
Through doors that had not been properly closed, Eve could glimpse one hollow-eyed patient after another. They sat motionless on their beds like soulless statues, staring through gaps in the curtains and clinging to whatever little light remained.
Eve remembered what the doctors had told her.
It was a procedure called a frontal lobotomy.
These patients had been corrupted to the third stage.
There was no saving them.
Without the operation, they would eventually become demons.
Most of them had once been knights of the Cleansing Bureau.
When they realized that they were destined to become monsters, some chose death.
Others chose surgery, allowing themselves to become experimental subjects of Black Mountain Hospital—bricks laid into the Wall of Reason.
The iron-barred door slowly closed behind them.
The elevator began its descent.
The guard possessed only the lowest level of clearance. His keys could open only certain doors, and every movement Eve made required him to unlock the way.
At last, the great doors slowly opened.
Eve stepped out of the ancient building wrapped in blue-green vines and into the weak sunlight.
She couldn't remember how she had arrived here.
All she knew was that when she woke up, she had already been inside Black Mountain Hospital.
There was something deeply strange about this place.
Many people in Old Dunling knew that there was a huge psychiatric hospital somewhere in the city. But whenever they tried to think about its exact location, no one could remember where it was.
It was as though no one had ever truly been there.
Eve was no different.
Sometimes, she could only stare at the gloomy clouds overhead and listen to the soft drizzle falling from the sky to reassure herself that she was still in Old Dunling, beneath that endless shroud of dark clouds.
The guard stopped a short distance away.
This was a recreation area, enclosed by several buildings. It was where the patients were allowed outside for fresh air.
Some sat blankly on benches. Others were pushed along by nurses. A few still possessed enough mobility to run about like children, chasing one another across the damp grass.
Laughter and cheerful voices filled the air. Some were even singing and dancing.
For a brief moment, Eve wondered if she had somehow wandered into the wrong place.
But humans were remarkably adaptable creatures.
Even here.
"Good morning, General Cole!"
"Good morning, Sir Deren!"
"Good morning, Soldier Gavin!"
"Good morni—ah! No, you can't eat that, Mr. William!"
Eve certainly couldn't afford to be bored in a place like this.
So during these outdoor hours, she had become friends with several patients who were still capable of holding something resembling a conversation.
General Cole was an old soldier, old enough to have been Eve's grandfather. Yet he remained surprisingly strong, and among the figures running wild across the grass, he was by far the fastest.
Eve didn't know what exactly was wrong with him.
But she did know that old Cole believed the Radiant War had never ended.
As far as he was concerned, he was a wounded general recuperating in this hospital, and he was constantly asking the doctors when his injuries would heal.
His soldiers were still waiting for him, he insisted.
He still had to drive the Gaul-Narolans back.
The only problem was that the Radiant War had ended many years ago.
Sir Deren was the man standing beneath the tree.
He wore a faint smile and carried himself with refined elegance, firmly convinced that he was a nobleman.
He hated old Cole.
As far as Deren was concerned, anyone who spent all day shouting about killing and fighting clearly had no manners.
And the man crouched in the corner, digging at the earth with his bare hands, was Soldier Gavin.
Gavin believed himself to be a soldier in the middle of a battlefield.
You might have thought he was simply digging at the ground.
But in his mind, he was digging a trench.
Old Cole was always bullying Gavin, accusing him of being a deserter.
Gavin never fought back.
After all, Old Cole was a general.
And as for the fellow lying flat on the ground and furiously chewing on the grass—
That was Mr. William.
He looked to be about the same age as old Cole.
William believed there were a group of people living inside his mind.
And every single one of them believed they were alchemists.
Screams.
Laughter.
The sound of someone vomiting.
An awkward smile appeared on Eve's face.
This place was, quite literally, a paradise.
A paradise for the mad.