# Chapter 37

### Chapter 37: Diudiu, Bite Him!

This was the first time Lin Jianyuan had ever seen a vertebra that could smile.

Judging by the size and texture, it was definitely a real human vertebra—not a model, not a pig bone.

Lin Jianyuan let out a startled curse and flung the vertebra away without hesitation.

No one in the hospital garden even blinked at his outburst.

Even Lin Jianyuan started to feel like he might be overreacting.

Awkward, he scratched his head, picked the vertebra back up, and studied it closely.

He’d never seen a real human vertebra before, but with what little medical knowledge he had, this one looked genuine.

The vertebra was an odd shape—roughly an upside-down triangle, broad at the top and narrow at the bottom.

Two round holes at the top looked like eyes. Below, a heart-shaped opening grinned like a wide mouth.

He stared at it for a while before realizing why it seemed to be smiling.

Little bones stretched from each “eye,” like laugh lines when someone smiled.

Flat dimples beside the “mouth” gave the illusion of chubby cheeks.

Lin Jianyuan quietly pulled out his phone and searched for a matching image.

Mystery solved.

It was the fifth cervical vertebra.

A human fifth cervical vertebra...

Clutching the vertebra, Lin Jianyuan glanced around. The other patients in the garden went about their business, ignoring him.

He scratched his head, a little lost.

But after a moment, it started to make sense.

It was a psychiatric hospital, but still a hospital.

So what if there were a few human bones in the flowerbeds?

Maybe it belonged to a cadaver out for a stroll.

Or perhaps a skeleton model that had come to life.

Or maybe he was just seeing ghosts.

Well, that was fine then.

Lin Jianyuan gradually calmed down.

He stuffed the bone into his pocket, planning to ask the nurses or doctors later if they’d lost it.

He’d barely taken a few steps when he spotted a familiar figure.

A thin boy in hospital clothes, a dog collar dangling from his left wrist.

Xiao Liu was cornered by a group, blocked on both sides no matter which way he tried to go.

They stood there, arms crossed, faces full of malice, blocking his way.

Lin Jianyuan frowned, sizing up the group—four boys and a girl, maybe seventeen or eighteen, still baby-faced but dressed in flashy, gaudy clothes.

Come to think of it, Xiao Liu was only seventeen, a senior in high school. Were these his classmates?

Xiao Liu said, “What do you want? Let me go. I need to get back.”

The red-haired boy in front stepped up, grinning wickedly. “Liu Lixue, you’re something else. Faking it all the way into a psych ward. Come on, show us how you go crazy. Give us a show.”

Xiao Liu snapped back, “Who’s crazy? You’re the crazy one!”

Red Hair’s face darkened. He grabbed Xiao Liu by the collar, yanking him close. “Don’t think you can get away with this act! The principal might buy it, but I don’t! Keep dodging me and you’ll regret it—”

Xiao Liu was hoisted nearly off the ground, struggling to breathe, pain twisting his face.

Lin Jianyuan couldn’t watch anymore. He rolled up his sleeves, ready to step in—when Xiao Liu suddenly shouted, “Diudiu! Bite him!!”

Lin Jianyuan: "?"

Red Hair: "??"

Before anyone could react, Xiao Liu whipped the dog collar off his wrist.

As the collar flew, it was like some seal had broken inside him. His face twisted with ferocity. He lunged at Red Hair, biting down with teeth and claws.

“Ah!” Red Hair shrieked, caught off guard as Xiao Liu tackled him to the ground. His head thudded against the grass.

Xiao Liu howled, biting wildly at Red Hair’s neck, shoulders, and chest.

They say madmen are freakishly strong—especially when they bite.

Red Hair’s shirt was shredded in seconds, his tanned chest covered in angry red bite marks.

Red Hair screamed, shoving at Xiao Liu, but Xiao Liu clamped on like a rabid dog and wouldn’t let go.

“Fuck, you’re really biting me! Let go, let go! Shit—my—” Red Hair was nearly hysterical, screaming mid-sentence, then choking on his words, desperately shoving at Xiao Liu’s head. “You’re going to bite it off! Let go, damn it!”

The other high schoolers were frozen in shock. None dared step in.

Xiao Liu, still clamped onto Red Hair’s chest, suddenly froze.

Red Hair’s expression twisted oddly. He seized the chance, kicked hard, and sent Xiao Liu sprawling onto the grass.

Xiao Liu landed on his backside, still furious. He smacked his lips a few times, as if disgusted by the taste of Red Hair’s shirt.

Red Hair clutched his shredded shirt and scrambled backward on hands and feet.

The others finally snapped out of it, hurried over to help him up, and shouted at Xiao Liu, “Don’t think you can do whatever you want just because you’re crazy!”

“Yeah! Just because you’re a psycho doesn’t mean you can bite people! We’re calling the police!”

“Qin, come on, let’s get your injuries checked! Get a rabies shot!”

Lin Jianyuan: "..."

He’d thought these kids were delinquents.

Turns out, they were sticklers for the rules.

And a rabies shot? Hilarious. So by-the-book, it was almost cute.

Red Hair left with his friends’ help, glaring at Xiao Liu over his shoulder the whole way.

Xiao Liu sat on the grass, wiped his mouth, and spat a few times in disgust.

He looked utterly revolted.

Lin Jianyuan walked over and offered Xiao Liu a hand. “You alright?”

Xiao Liu bared his teeth and growled like a stray dog.

Lin Jianyuan: "..."

Xiao Liu glanced around, quickly spotting his dog collar on the ground.

He slipped the collar back onto his wrist. Instantly, the ferocity vanished from his face, as if the seal had been restored.

“Huh, what just happened?” Xiao Liu rubbed his jaw, puzzled. “Why does my mouth feel so sore?”

“You nearly bit his balls off. Of course it’s sore.”

“?!” Xiao Liu froze, then stammered in shock, “What? Whose? What balls?”

Lin Jianyuan studied him, thoughtful.

Half an hour later, back in the ward.

The old man hadn’t returned—probably still practicing calligraphy. After the nurse came by with the medicine cart, only Lin Jianyuan and Xiao Liu were left.

Lin Jianyuan closed the door, sat on his bed, and faced Xiao Liu across the room.

“Are you dealing with multiple personalities?” Lin Jianyuan asked.

“Uh…” Xiao Liu looked awkward, scratching his head. “The doctors say I am, but I don’t think so. Diudiu is real. I don’t get why they all say they can’t see him.”

As he spoke, he gently patted the invisible dog head on his knee.

Lin Jianyuan nodded. “A dog as your second personality—that’s pretty wild.”

Xiao Liu: “Right?”

Lin Jianyuan: “Still, not as wild as you pretending to be a dog and biting people.”

Xiao Liu: “Exactly… huh??”

Realization dawned, and Xiao Liu’s eyes went wide.

Lin Jianyuan sighed, raising a hand in reassurance. “Relax, I’m not going to snitch. The door’s closed. Just keep your voice down.”

Xiao Liu nearly jumped out of his skin. His breathing quickened, chest rising and falling. His light brown eyes trembled as he stammered, “What do you mean… I didn’t…”

Lin Jianyuan watched him, calm and steady.

Lin Jianyuan was twenty-seven; Xiao Liu, just seventeen. A decade between them, and Lin Jianyuan had years of street smarts, while Xiao Liu was still sheltered in school.

Even just sitting there, Lin Jianyuan’s presence carried the weight of experience. Xiao Liu could feel it.

He gave in at once.

“Fine.” Xiao Liu drooped. “I admit it. I lied.”

“Why?” Lin Jianyuan leaned in, eyes gleaming. “Don’t worry, I’m not judging. I just want to hear the gossip. Who was that red-haired guy? Some asshole bullying you?”

With that look of eager curiosity, all his intimidating older-brother energy vanished.

Xiao Liu gave a helpless smile and finally spilled everything.

Red Hair’s name was Qin Ye. Just as Lin Jianyuan suspected, Qin Ye and his gang had been bullying Xiao Liu at school.

The reason for the bullying was absurd—his name.

His full name was Liu Lixue. Maybe his parents wanted him to “study hard”? Who knew. He’d had that name for seventeen years and never thought much of it.

Until one day in high school, when a brutal physics question showed up on a test.

Someone blurted out, “I hate mechanics the most!” and the joke spread like wildfire.

Liu Lixue became infamous overnight.

At first, it was just a meme. Xiao Liu didn’t care. But somehow, Red Hair fixated on him—teasing him at every turn, sometimes even bumping into him in the hallway on purpose.

Caught off guard, Xiao Liu would get knocked down, and the group would burst out laughing, smugly doing a “force analysis” on the spot.

Lin Jianyuan: "..."

Just picturing it gave him secondhand embarrassment. He rubbed the goosebumps on his arms. “Go on.”

Xiao Liu went on, “He just kept coming up with ways to mess with me. I never knew what he was thinking. If I put up with it, he’d push harder—like erasing my answers on tests, or stuffing cockroaches in my desk.”

Lin Jianyuan: “What if you fought back?”

Xiao Liu: “Then he’d just get worse. Tearing up my books and homework, blocking me in the bathroom after class so I couldn’t get back. He must have had a lot of free time.”

Lin Jianyuan noticed Xiao Liu was different from most victims—he called it “free time,” not something more traumatic.

Lin Jianyuan pressed, “And then?”

“At first, I’d cry from anger, run off to yell where no one could hear me. But then I realized—the angrier I got, the more he enjoyed it, the more creative he got. I thought, why should I put up with this? I didn’t do anything wrong. Why should I suffer? I couldn’t take it anymore.

So I took a shit on his desk.”

Lin Jianyuan perked right up. “Wait, what? You did what?”