Universe Infinite Canteen

Old Wang left, and Ma Lu also closed the shop, drove back to the rented villa with Old Wang.

He set the new automatic bathing room to the serene valley mode, soaking in the natural hot spring pool by the stream.

He instantly felt all his exhaustion swept away.

It seemed a bit wasteful to enjoy such a great place alone, so Ma Lu also casually sent a message to Angie, saying he had found a fantastic bathhouse and asked if Angie wanted to come for a soak.

Angie didn't reply to the message, but Ma Lu didn't mind; he copied and pasted, sending it to the Wandering Sorceress.

As expected, the Female Sorceress didn't respond either, so Ma Lu sent the message to Han Feifei and Zhen Ye.

After that, he didn't check for replies and packed all the ingredients he might need for the evening into the Collection Bag, ready to take Old Wang to the Sunshine Mental Hospital.

Of course, he wasn't going there for treatment, nor to get treatment for Old Wang.

In the afternoon, the City Manager appeared outside his restaurant. At first, Ma Lu thought it was an investigation about the God of Cooking Competition and had prepared a set of excuses.

But in actuality, that Pigeon didn't bring it up at all; it probably felt Ma Lu's performance in the God of Cooking Competition was not out of line.

It had come to discuss business this time. It hoped to have Old Wang cook a meal but not at the Universe Infinite Canteen; it was in a mental hospital.

According to it, the diner was not conveniently able to leave the mental hospital.

Ma Lu and Old Wang would have to figure out how to get into the inpatient area and find the target, a patient nicknamed Big Writer, who could offer them help.

At first, Ma Lu refused because it sounded troublesome, having to sneak into a mental hospital and look for someone.

But the City Manager then offered to pay 50,000 Star Currency and would pay 10,000 as a down payment on the spot, with the remaining 40,000 to be settled by the diner after the meal.

Ma Lu immediately expressed that always staying at home playing games and bathing was quite boring, and it might be good to occasionally visit a mental hospital to experience the current mental state of young people.

The Sunshine Mental Hospital was located in a remote place, almost in Yanjiao, and just driving there took Ma Lu nearly an hour and a half.

By the time he arrived, it was already getting dark.

Before going, Ma Lu had also quickly looked up Sunshine Mental Hospital. It's a private hospital, established in 1994, with nearly thirty years of history to its name.

The outer walls of several buildings were peeling, and most of the facilities inside were quite old.

Ma Lu first took Old Wang to the inpatient area, but as expected, they were stopped by the gatekeeper as soon as they entered the building. Even when Ma Lu said he was a relative of a patient, the gatekeeper wouldn't let them through as family visits needed to be scheduled.

So the two turned back to the outpatient building. As Ma Lu walked in, a worker was standing on scaffolding, replacing the incandescent lights in the hall.

Behind him, on the wall, was a promotion board with a row of resident doctors' photos, and below was the hospital's service philosophy—"Never forget the original aspiration; patients come first."

Ma Lu registered for a specialist appointment at the front desk, then he went upstairs with Old Wang to the specialists' clinic.

Today's clinic was run by a Doctor surnamed Zhu, in his forties, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, and was the deputy director of the department.

It seems that it was almost closing time, and he was packing up, ready to leave.

Stunned for a moment to see Ma Lu and Old Wang, he put down his thermos again and pointed to the stool in front, "Which one of you is the patient? Sit down."

"We both are," Ma Lu said.

"Ah?" Deputy Director Zhu was taken aback, "Aren't you two together? Then the one who arrived later, wait outside."

"No, we're together."

"......."

"What exactly is your relationship?" Deputy Director Zhu was also confused.

"Roommates," Ma Lu said.

"Roommates visit the hospital together? That's quite unusual," Deputy Director Zhu took the registration form.

"Then tell me what's going on with you guys."

"We've both been under a lot of stress recently and want to be admitted for treatment to recuperate," said Ma Lu.

"Do you think this is a sanatorium? We have a standard here; we only suggest hospitalization for certain conditions. Otherwise, we just prescribe some medication for you to try and then observe your condition after you go home.

"Nowadays, young people face a lot of stress from studies and work, and indeed more and more are suffering from depression. However, if it's only mild, medication can control it. Hospitalization is only necessary for moderate to severe cases.

"Have you recently had any feelings of pessimism or world-weariness, like thinking about ending your own life?"

"No," Ma Lu said, "I'm living just fine."

Old Wang also said, "I've never had such thoughts."

"That's good, your condition doesn't seem to have reached a very serious level. There's no need for hospitalization, just proactive treatment..."

Ma Lu interrupted him, "I'll just say it straight. For the past six months, I've been living with a robot. We even opened a restaurant together, serving people from other planes.

"I didn't know before, but they've been hidden on Earth, and there are quite a few of them, with all sorts of disguises. For example, there's someone who claims to be a City Manager, looks like a pigeon on the outside, but can communicate with people through telepathy.

"There's also a high school girl who was struck by lightning and died, but continued to live on as a skeleton. Oh right, this time when I went home for New Year's, I even encountered a bear at the zoo, who was actually a person in disguise."

Deputy Director Zhu perked up, "You mean the kind that wears a head cover?"

"No, no, no, he looks entirely like a bear on the outside, but before becoming a bear, he was actually human with his own secret base. After work, he'd go there to play games and watch TV.

"Strictly speaking, he isn't a visitor from a different dimension; he's a local native who used to work in a circus but later, for some reasons, switched bodies with his partner, the bear.

"The City Manager of that place arranged for him to stay in the city zoo, and that guy's personality is, well, a bit poor.

"I know that what I'm saying may sound delusional, but it's all true; you must believe me, Dr. Zhu."

"Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh," Deputy Director Zhu quickly wrote something in the medical record, then turned to Old Wang aside.

"What about you? What's your situation?"

"I'm the robot he's renting with," Old Wang said truthfully.

"Okay, okay, okay," the light in Deputy Director Zhu's eyes intensified, "Thinking and perception disorders, even hallucinations, these are all typical symptoms of schizophrenia."

"I don't think we're sick." Ma Lu said confidently and then turned to Old Wang, "We really shouldn't have come here; we should report this to the relevant authorities right away. Let's go, find a charging station to charge you up first."

"I charged up this afternoon, don't you remember?" said Old Wang.

"Did you? Anyway, let's get out of here."

As Ma Lu was speaking, he headed towards the exit, but Deputy Director Zhu stood in front of him, smiling, "Don't rush, stay a little longer. Do you have any family members? A phone number will do, give me one."

Ma Lu gave out Ma Youyou's phone number.

An hour later, after a detailed assessment by the inpatient department, Ma Lu and Old Wang got their wish and were admitted to Sunshine Mental Hospital.