Since all these rules and superstitions are outdated, what's wrong with me indulging in some me

Lu Changsheng closed the evolution illustration book, put it back on the bookshelf, and began searching for other information in the index.

"Demography...demography..."

He read aloud in a low voice, his fingers tracing the spines of the books, finally stopping at an inconspicuous corner.

Jinghu City Population Data Yearbook: Historical Compilation

The book was thick, its cloth cover worn and frayed. Dust settled as Lu Changsheng pulled it from the shelf. He carried the book to the nearest reading table and opened the cover in the pale light streaming in from the window.

The first page is a table of contents, arranged by year. Lu Changsheng flipped directly to the last ten years.

2973 Kiang Wu City Population Report

Total population: 127,435

Number of births: 1,042

Death toll: 3,876

Average life expectancy: 32.7 years

Lu Changsheng's fingers hovered over these numbers, and he felt a chill.

The mortality rate is much higher than the birth rate.

The population continues to decline.

Their average lifespan is only a little over thirty.

Is this the so-called "happiness" and "perfection" brought about by suppressing negative emotions?

Lu Changsheng recalled the sight of Li Mei vomiting blood.

How could a living person not feel any negative sadness when faced with the death of their mother?

The cost of ignoring negative emotions is borne by each individual's body.

They are unaware of fear when faced with danger.

Faced with pain, yet unable to find relief.

In the end, only one's own body will get hurt.

Lu Changsheng found an empty seat, looked out the window, and sorted out all the information he had gathered over the past three days in his mind.

This is Jinghu City, which used to be a sanatorium for mental illnesses. Dr. Chen Jingming proposed the "Negative Emotion Suppression Method," which teaches people to suppress and ignore their negative emotions. Over time, the negative emotions are actually separated from the body and become "it."

Under certain conditions, all citizens will still occasionally see "it," but because of Chen Jingming's "silence therapy," people ignore negative emotions in their daily lives.

However, the body cannot withstand the long-term negative state, and may suddenly fall ill or have a shorter lifespan.

Or they might end up like Zhang Ping, unable to properly deal with their negative emotions, experiencing emotional breakdowns, and seeking help from psychological counseling.

Looking out the library window, Lu Changsheng saw pedestrians smiling, seemingly enjoying a life of ease and comfort. But to Lu Changsheng, it all seemed utterly ridiculous.

In this world, "normal" is a collective consensus, while "seeing the truth" is a symptom.

Although he had a basic understanding of the background of this instance, there were still some questions he couldn't answer.

He took out the scrap paper from his clothes that had previously drawn "it".

Listed neatly above—

1. If "it" is the entity of everyone's negative emotions, then whose negative emotions does Aokiji represent?

2. How did they choose themselves to be psychologists? Why is it that after removing a person's heart and putting "it" back in, the psychologist can no longer see "it"? Why didn't they die after their own heart was removed?

The world is technologically advanced, but people are exceptionally fragile. Even minor injuries can easily kill them. So why can I survive having my heart removed?

Lu Changsheng frowned, thought for a moment, and then wrote down the most crucial question.

3. Zhang Ping, a key character in this instance, was previously hospitalized. Why was she released without any memory of the incident?

4. Why does my employee ID have access to the inpatient department? What does the code "gm" refer to?

The pale light of the library illuminated his profile, while outside the window, the city of Jinghu continued its orderly operation. He carefully put away the note, stood up, and returned the "Jinghu City Population Data Yearbook" to its original place.

He left the library, walked through the quiet streets, and returned to the Jinghu City Mental Health Center.

"I need to see the administrative assistant."

Lu Changsheng said to the pretty nurse at the front desk.

The nurse nodded: "Okay, please wait a moment."

She dialed the internal line, whispered a few words, and then hung up: "The assistant said she's waiting for you in her office. Please go up to the third floor, the second room on the left."

Do you have a deck of cards? Can I borrow one?

Lu Changsheng suddenly seemed to remember something and asked the nurse.

"some."

The nurse was taken aback, then nodded and took out a deck of cards.

The nurses sometimes play a few rounds of cards during their lunch break, and occasionally patients will borrow them from her.

"Thank you, I'll return it to you in a bit."

Lu Changsheng nodded and turned to walk towards the elevator.

The third floor was the administrative office area, with carpeted corridors and closed wooden doors on both sides. He found the second room on the left, with a sign that read "Administrative Assistant's Office".

He knocked on the door.

"Please come in." The familiar voice of the administrative assistant came from inside.

Lu Changsheng pushed open the door and entered.

The office was spacious and clean, with floor-to-ceiling windows offering views of the city of Mirror Lake. The administrative assistant sat behind her desk, still dressed in a smart business suit, her smile impeccable.

"Dr. Lu, please have a seat." She gestured to the chair opposite her. "I heard Zhang Ping has recovered."

"She stabbed someone yesterday, and she's already healed today?" Lu Changsheng's voice turned cold as he looked directly into the kind eyes of the administrative assistant.

The administrative assistant smiled and said, "Ms. Zhang Ping has recovered. Isn't that great? You have one less patient who needs treatment, and your workload will be reduced a bit."

Lu Changsheng was too lazy to waste words with her.

"I want to see her," Lu Changsheng said. "As her attending physician, I have the right to check on her condition."

The administrative assistant gently shook his head:

"I'm sorry, Dr. Lu. Since the patient has refused psychotherapy, we have no right to disturb her life any further. This is a matter of respecting the patient's privacy."

"Refusing psychotherapy?" Lu Changsheng sneered. "So she agreed to go to the inpatient ward?"

The administrative assistant's smile began to stiffen.

"Dr. Lu, your task now is not to dwell on a patient who has already recovered, but to focus on your work..."

The next second, she stopped abruptly.

"Snap—"

A yellow talisman was accurately pasted onto her head.

The administrative assistant's smile froze on her face. Her body remained in a half-turned position, completely still, with only her eyes still moving in terror, showing that she was conscious but had completely lost control of her body.

"I'm sorry, assistant, I apologize for the inconvenience."

Lu Changsheng spoke in a low voice, his tone calm and even. He walked past the frozen administrative assistant and went straight to her office computer.

The screen was still lit, displaying an unfinished daily supplies request form. Lu Changsheng gripped the mouse, closed the current window, and began a rapid search on the computer.

Instead of wasting time searching through folders, he directly typed the keywords into the search bar: "high sensitivity", "inpatient department access", "GM", "surgical records".