Cannon Fodder – Chapter 81 – Miss Peach, You’re Also a Yandere

“Psy…psychiatric hospital?”

Su Tao stared at Dr. Cheng’s message, her mind instantly flashing to numerous news stories she’d seen online.

Students sent to internet addiction schools desperately exposing how those institutions actually used violent methods to “cure” addiction, even resulting in multiple deaths.

People sent to psychiatric hospitals, subjected to disdain, neglect, and abuse from staff.

The healthy developing illnesses, the ill treated to death.

A hallucination seemed to appear before her eyes: Chi Xiaocheng being sent to a psychiatric hospital by her, emerging mentally disabled.

Or on the verge of death.

Her hands trembling, she hurriedly typed.

Peach: “Dr. Cheng, this can’t be right. Why send her to a psychiatric hospital? You never suggested this before.”

Peach: “Sorry Dr. Cheng, I got too agitated and mistyped.”

Dr. Cheng: “No need to apologize.”

Dr. Cheng: “Previously I remained optimistic because you yourself were optimistic. Your positivity could be transmitted to the patient, creating opportunities for treatment.”

Dr. Cheng: “But your current state tells me you’ve reached your limit and can’t continue. Staying by your friend’s side in this condition would only have negative effects.”

Dr. Cheng: “Moreover, I’m considering your wellbeing. Your subconscious is already preventing you from contacting your friend. This is your instincts protecting you. Continuing like this, forget whether she can be cured, you’ll go mad yourself.”

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Dr. Cheng: “That’s why I recommend sending her to a psychiatric hospital. Although the chances of successful treatment are slim, this would be better for both of you.”

Su Tao instantly replied, “No! Xiaocheng absolutely cannot be sent to a psychiatric hospital!”

Dr. Cheng: “See? You’re afraid to face her, yet panic at sending her to a hospital.”

Dr. Cheng: “What exactly do you want?”

Looking at her phone, Su Tao’s lips trembled. “What…do I want?”

Scenes flashed through her mind.

Yet nothing remained fixed.

Then Dr. Cheng messaged again: “Typing explanations is exhausting. Would a call be convenient?”

Su Tao immediately snapped back to attention, calling Dr. Cheng via WeChat.

A mature, steady male voice greeted her: “Hello Miss Peach, this is Dr. Cheng.”

The voice inexplicably soothed her. Su Tao steadied herself. “Hello Dr. Cheng.”

Chi Xiaocheng, no, Dr. Cheng, initiated the conversation with her disguised voice: “Regarding your issue, as I mentioned earlier, since you’re at a loss, how about I ask questions and you answer?

“As psychologists, we often use Q&A to help patients sort through their situations.”

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Already utterly lost, Su Tao gratefully responded, “That works for me, Dr. Cheng.”

“Good. First, you don’t dislike your friend. Even though she likes you, is the same gender, and as a yandere does extreme things… you still don’t dislike her or want to abandon her. Correct?”

Su Tao sat back on the sofa, nodding slightly. “Yes, Dr. Cheng. Xiaocheng and I grew up together. Her family entrusted her to me. I can’t abandon her.”

“No no no.” Dr. Cheng said. “Don’t let external factors influence your judgment. Base it on your own feelings.”

Dr. Cheng: “Let me ask more directly: do you like her or dislike her?”

“I….”

Dr. Cheng chuckled. “Don’t misunderstand, ‘like’ isn’t limited to romance. It includes family, friends, admiration, yearning, and other factors. If you truly can’t tell whether you like her, then ‘not disliking’ equals liking.”

“‘Not disliking’ equals liking….”

Su Tao opened her mouth, instinctively sensing something wrong yet unable to pinpoint it.

She simply followed Dr. Cheng’s words: “Then… I like Xiaocheng.”

“Excellent. This brings us back to the two options: either send her to a psychiatric hospital, or try accepting her yandere nature and learn to enjoy it.”

“But Dr. Cheng, aren’t there other options?”

Dr. Cheng: “I’m giving you multiple-choice questions, not essay prompts.”

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Choices again….

Su Tao pressed her lips together. “If forced to choose… I would… try accepting her. Pretend to like her, then… see if I can cure her.”

Dr. Cheng: “Treatment comes later. Right now you’re choosing to accept her.”

“But Dr. Cheng,” Su Tao anxiously said, “saying it is one thing, doing it is another. I still feel afraid thinking about her or facing her.”

“Don’t worry. That’s exactly what we’ll address next.

“Working backwards from results to deduce the process and origins.” Dr. Cheng enunciated each word. “The current result is: Your friend became a yandere who likes you!

“So Miss Peach, our question is, how did she become a yandere? And why, after becoming one, did she like you?”

Not giving Su Tao time to think, Dr. Cheng self-answered: “Yandere tendencies form from distortion and warping. Such feelings don’t emerge from nowhere. There must be familial, environmental, or personal influencing factors.

“Now let’s analyze step by step.”

Dr. Cheng asked, “Only you know your history with your friend. Recalling from childhood, what familial factors do you believe influenced Orange’s development?”

Su Tao spaced out. “Family… Xiaocheng came from an impoverished farming family. Her parents only knew how to raise children, not educate them. Life was quite hard.”

Dr. Cheng appropriately added, “Such children lack proper guidance. They often imitate what they see and conform to it. Unable to distinguish right from wrong. That’s where distortion begins.

“And environmental factors affecting her growth?”

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Su Tao’s breathing grew slightly rapid. “Because she was small, from a poor background, and bad at socializing. Before meeting me at school, she was constantly bullied. Classmates looked down on her, teachers ignored it, the school did nothing….”

Dr. Cheng: “See? Oppression, extremism, lack of proper education, all the seeds for the second stage of distortion were planted. It’s already remarkable such children grow up normally.”

In the hospital, Chi Xiaocheng, with some reluctance yet much excitement and anticipation, softly continued questioning.

“Then, most crucially, what personal factors came from you, the target of her yandere affections?”

At this moment, Su Tao thought of something so terrifying she didn’t want to face it.

Her legs trembled; her lips lost all color.

“The personal factor is… when she was most desperate, helpless, and lost, I appeared beside her, pulled her up, and then….”

Dr. Cheng finished for her: “Then to ease her anxiety and encourage her, you kept saying you were her most important person, that you liked her most, that you’d always be together.”

“Miss Peach, from our adult perspective, your friend came from a poor family without proper education, lonely for years with no one by her side.

“Then you arrived, subtly shaping her thoughts and feelings since childhood, making her value you, like you, believe you’d always be together, until she became hopelessly dependent on you.

“These are all things you previously told me. Your naive friend was like blank paper, absorbing everything you said, heard, and taught.”

Dr. Cheng’s voice turned profound. “Judging by results alone, Miss Peach…you are also a yandere!”