Hospital 444
Chapter 539 - 1 The Amnesiac

Chapter 539: Chapter 1 The Amnesiac

"I... I am... Who am I?"

Terror.

No matter how much she searched her brain for memories, she couldn’t find a single specific experience.

She could remember all the common knowledge, including language, but she just couldn’t remember any specific experiences of her own. Even...

She couldn’t even remember her own name.

"It’s okay, it’s all right."

Before her was a middle-aged woman with slightly graying temples. She grasped the amnesiac woman’s hand, saying, "The doctor said it’s only temporary. You were scared, so you temporarily lost your memory. After a while, you’ll remember everything."

After a while, she would remember everything?

Hearing the middle-aged woman say this, the amnesiac woman finally felt a little relieved.

If she could never find her past memories again, that would be too terrible.

"I am your mother, Song Ran. Remember, your name is Hai Yunlan."

Hai Yunlan...

"The sea as in ’ocean,’ the clouds as in ’cloud,’ and the breeze as in ’lan’... This is Heisong Town Hospital. The doctors told us that if you can’t regain your memory within two weeks, we will take you to a larger hospital in the province to see a specialist in neurology."

"I..."

"Apart from memory loss, the examination results indicate that your central nervous system hasn’t suffered any damage. So, you can rest assured that your daily life will not be affected and you won’t need rehabilitation. The doctor said there’s no problem with you being discharged from the hospital now."

The amnesiac woman still felt no sense of reality.

Mother...

The middle-aged woman before her, Song Ran, was her mother...

No sense of reality.

She looked out the window.

Not far away, she could see a coastline.

"You see, this is a map of our Heisong Town, where we live."

Song Ran took out her phone and showed Hai Yunlan a map of Heisong Town.

Heisong Town was a small town located on an island amongst a group of islands in the southeastern sea area. There were about twenty islands in this group, with Heisong Town situated on the smallest island, Heireef Island, which was also the furthest from the mainland. To the southeast was another island, about three times larger.

"Heisong Town is the only town on the island, with a total population of less than two thousand people. Most of the people in town live on the southern side of Heireef Island; the north side is predominantly forest... Our area has a developed fishing industry, we live by the sea and off the sea."

"Wait a minute..."

At the moment, Hai Yunlan still couldn’t bring herself to see this woman as her mother.

"I want to ask you a question. This is what I’m most concerned about... You said I lost my memory because I was frightened. What exactly happened to me before I lost my memory? What kind of scare made me lose it?"

Upon hearing this, Song Ran lowered the hand holding her phone, bit her lip, and said, "I’m not very clear about it either. When we found you, you had fainted. Of course, you didn’t suffer any physical injuries, so it’s presumed that the reason you lost your memory was due to fright."

"Fainted..."

"Listen carefully, Yun Lan. What I’m about to say next is crucial, and you must remember it firmly."

She leaned close to Hai Yunlan and said in a low voice, "This is the most important thing. I’ve already spoken to the hospital staff and slipped them some money, so they won’t tell anyone you’ve lost your memory. After you’re discharged, do not reveal to anyone, except me, that you’ve lost your memory. Act as if everything is the same as before. I’ve already requested a long leave for you. Once you regain your memory and get through this period, you’ll be fine."

"Why?"

It was evident Song Ran had anticipated that Hai Yunlan would ask this question.

"Not far from where your incident happened, another person has also gone missing. This, of course, has nothing to do with you... but I worry it may lead to some unpleasant associations. If we tell others you’ve lost your memory, we’d have to explain why, and that would be troublesome. Anyway, you’ll recover your memory soon enough; better to do less than more, isn’t it?"

Better to do less than more...

Hai Yunlan faintly felt that something was amiss.

"If my disappearance has nothing to do with that person, then why would there be a need to..."

"That’s why, if someone asks you, you say you have amnesia. Then, how can you make others believe that it indeed has nothing to do with you? Someone might even suspect that you are feigning amnesia on purpose... Now, no one else knows where you were found except me. This way, a lot of trouble can be avoided."

Hai Yunlan pondered this, feeling that what Song Ran was saying seemed to make sense.

"Is the missing person someone I know?"

Upon hearing this, Song Ran immediately showed a nervous expression.

"Did you remember something?"

"No, not like that," Hai Yunlan shook her head, "I was just thinking that maybe I know the person who disappeared..."

According to Song Ran’s implication, if people knew where she was found, they would suspect her involvement in the person’s disappearance.

Then, perhaps she originally knew the missing person.

"About that, I’ll talk to you more slowly later. You’ve just woken up not too long ago, and the doctor advised you to rest properly."

Song Ran tucked in the blankets and said, "You rest for a while first, I’ll go and talk to the doctor again."

Watching her "mother" leave the ward, Hai Yunlan still felt an overwhelming sense of unreality.

It hadn’t been an hour since she had awakened.

Her memory was a complete blank, as if she had just been born today, forced to accept these totally unfamiliar personal relationships.

Song Ran said she was her daughter, but Hai Yunlan only felt a strong sense of strangeness towards her, unable to feel a natural closeness. This was something Hai Yunlan found extremely puzzling.

Even if she truly had lost her memory, why would she feel this way towards her own mother?

Is she really her mother? Or could it be... that their mother-daughter relationship wasn’t that close?

However, what Hai Yunlan was more concerned about was the "missing person" that she mentioned.

The "missing person" that she knew.

What exactly was going on?

It wasn’t long before the doctor arrived.

Hai Yunlan had already seen this doctor when she first awoke. After some routine checks and an initial diagnosis of her amnesia, the doctor had left.

But, Hai Yunlan was still very uneasy.

Was her amnesia really temporary?

What would happen if her memory never came back?

Just the thought of such a possibility was terrifying. Therefore, she had been trying desperately to remember, but her memory remained a blank.

Regarding this town called Heisong Town, this island called Black Reef Island...

She couldn’t remember anything.

"Doctor," she immediately said to the doctor in front of her, "If I were to meet people I’ve met before or go to places I’ve been, could I then recall my memories? Doctor?"

After thinking it over, the doctor said, "Miss Hai, listen to me. Your amnesia is only temporary; don’t be overly anxious or tense. I’ve studied neurology at a big hospital in the province before and have dealt with cases similar to yours."

After hearing what the doctor said, Hai Yunlan was still uneasy. This state of blank memory gave her no sense of security; it meant she couldn’t discern the truth of anything anyone told her.

After a series of checks, she was finally determined to be fit for discharge.

As she was about to be discharged, Song Ran helped her pack her luggage, and said, "Your uncle is coming to pick us up by car, and he will call us later. Alright, I’ll introduce your uncle to you properly later. Before that, there is something else I need to explain to you. Remember, this is even more important than not letting people know you’ve lost your memory."

At this moment, she leaned close to Hai Yunlan’s ear and spoke in a low voice.

In the room now, there were only the two of them, mother and daughter; no one was passing by the door.

Even so, she still spoke in such a hushed tone, showing how cautious she was.

"If anyone asks you... although it’s unlikely anyone will ask, but... if someone asks you such a question... remember, answer as I have taught you!"