Peach-Orange! – Chapter 340 – The Cage

Watching Chi Xiaocheng fall asleep instantly, Dongfang Wen touched his half-bald head and turned to check the readings on the instruments connected to her pulse and heart.

Utterly baffled.

He waved his hand, and Su Tao, who had been hiding in the partition, immediately tiptoed out with the other two.

They moved carefully, afraid of waking the sleeping Chi Xiaocheng.

But Dongfang Wen waved his hand dismissively, speaking in a normal tone, “Don’t worry. Once under hypnosis, she won’t wake up until she recovers all her memories, unless we stimulate her nerves to make her truly feel external interference.”

Dongfang Yang whispered, “Really?”

“I’ve been in this field for twenty years. Why would I lie to you about this?”

Dongfang Wen scratched his head again. “But in my twenty years of practice, this is the first time I’ve seen something like this.”

Si Chen walked up to Dongfang Wen and looked at the machine’s readings. “According to the data, Chi Xiaocheng is indeed deep asleep. It’s been less than a minute since she fell asleep.

“Professor Dongfang, your hypnosis skills are incredible!”

Though he said this, he was actually marveling at Chi Xiaocheng’s acting skills, or perhaps some high-tech trickery. Either way, even the machines were fooled. Amazing, sis!

Dongfang Wen himself was conflicted. “It’s not that I’m incredible. I know my own skill level. It’s just… strange!”

Su Tao spoke calmly, “Then, Professor Dongfang, does this prove that your hypnosis was successful? Is Xiaocheng now searching for her memories in her dreams?”

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As she spoke, Su Tao took off her down coat and walked over to Chi Xiaocheng, draping the warm coat, still carrying her faint scent, over her.

Looking at the peacefully sleeping face, she finally allowed a small smile to curl her lips.

Dongfang Wen nodded helplessly. “She is indeed asleep and has entered her dreams through her subconscious. But it’s just… odd. I’ve treated many amnesia patients with this hypnotic method.

“They usually fall asleep within 30 seconds to 5 minutes. The more severe the amnesia, the faster they fall asleep.

“But the normal time for falling asleep is 3 minutes.

“Because during hypnosis, I also need to guide them. People follow the swaying of the pocket watch, starting with focused attention and gradually becoming distracted.

“This process takes about three minutes. Even patients who’ve had amnesia for 30 years take about two minutes to fall asleep quickly.

“The most severe case I’ve treated was a patient who lost 50 years of memories. That person fell asleep in 1 minute and 28 seconds.

“But her…” Dongfang Wen checked his stopwatch but realized he hadn’t paused it yet. He had no choice but to say, “She fell asleep in about 10 seconds, and at that point, I hadn’t even started the preliminary hypnosis.”

The old professor took a deep breath, then sighed heavily.

He bowed deeply to Su Tao. “Before this, I repeatedly suspected she was faking her amnesia. Now I see it was my misdiagnosis. I sincerely apologize, Miss Su Tao!”

As a titan in the medical field, his bow startled Su Tao.

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She quickly helped the old man up and reassured him before asking, “Then does Xiaocheng falling asleep so quickly mean she’s lost a lot of memories?”

Dongfang Wen nodded responsibly. “Though it’s unexpected, I believe my theory isn’t wrong. The more severe the amnesia, the faster one falls asleep. Once the subconscious memories are slightly triggered, they surge out like a tide

“The brain can’t handle it and activates a protective mechanism, causing the person to fall unconscious. During this prolonged sleep, the mind sinks into the subconscious memories, gradually accepting them bit by bit.”

Dongfang Wen’s eyes darkened. “What she’s lost… probably isn’t just the few months of memories since your argument.”

…

As the group discussed Chi Xiaocheng, the person in question, who had secretly upgraded her intermediate acting skills to advanced, was planning to fake sleep when she suddenly lost all memory.

When she opened her eyes again, she was here.

A pure white space. She knelt on the ground, surrounded by countless flickering screens floating like projections. She looked at them but saw only static, like a TV with no signal.

“Why am I here…?

“Did I transmigrate again?

“No… was I hypnotized?”

Chi Xiaocheng tapped her chin with a finger, unable to calmly assess the situation.

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As she pondered, the sound of high heels clicking against the floor echoed in her ears. “You were indeed hypnotized. That old man really knows his stuff.”

Chi Xiaocheng looked up. “Xiao Hei?”

Dark Xiaocheng reached out a hand, effortlessly pulling her up from the ground, and explained, “This is your subconscious mind. After being hypnotized, your primary consciousness arrived here.”

“My subconscious… then that means—”

Before Chi Xiaocheng could finish, the vast white space around her suddenly began to collapse. It shifted, then reformed.

She now stood inside a prison cell, facing a tall iron cage. Inside the cage was a girl with long gray-black hair, shackled at the wrists and ankles. She knelt silently by the bars, eyes closed, as if lifeless.

At the sight, Chi Xiaocheng immediately reacted, her eyes turning blood-red. “Tao-Tao!”

She shouted and tried to rush into the cage, only to pass straight through the iron bars, even stumbling through Su Tao’s body.

The space rippled like water, proving that the Su Tao in the cage was just an illusion.

Dark Xiaocheng’s eyes filled with pity. “This is your subconscious. Aside from me, everything here is false. The Su Tao in the cage is the true form, or rather, the situation of Su Tao as you perceive her.”

She looked at the cage. “She’s trapped in this cage, unable to resist, unable to struggle. She might not even realize she’s in a cage.”

Dark Xiaocheng pulled Chi Xiaocheng aside. “Look closely. What else is inside the cage besides Su Tao?”

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Only then did Chi Xiaocheng notice that, aside from the imprisoned Su Tao, the cage contained dolls of various sizes.

A black cloth doll wearing glasses.

A red-haired doll with a sun pattern on its body.

A doll with broken ears, its stuffing spilling out.

A shattered doll with broken limbs scattered on the ground.

And a turtle doll hiding in the shadows, silently watching everything outside.

The scene inside the cage slowly shifted, as if forming a cozy bedroom.

But in the blink of an eye, the warmth of the bedroom turned back into a cold prison.

After a few glances, Chi Xiaocheng’s pupils contracted. Beside Su Tao’s legs, she spotted a lifeless, wooden scarecrow doll dressed in orange clothes.

Looking down, Chi Xiaocheng realized that everyone she knew was locked inside this cage.

Except for her.

She was outside.