You're Not Sick, but You Are Guilty

[Task—Please leave this place in a civilized manner.]

The priest's hair was streaked with gray. He stood on the church platform, book in hand, chin lifted in an arrogant tilt as he looked down at Xu Lingqu—like a deity gazing upon mere mortals.

Xu Lingqu glanced at him, then turned to survey the believers surrounding her.

Their white religious robes covered striped blue-and-white hospital gowns. From their stares and odd mannerisms, it wasn't hard to tell they weren't ordinary people—they were psychiatric patients.

This priest had gathered a flock of the mentally ill, declared himself their shepherd, and then dragged a psychiatrist here to certify them all as sane.

When Xu Lingqu didn't respond, the priest spoke again. "Dr. Xu, you are the most authoritative psychiatrist in this city. You can absolutely prove that these people are not sick. They must escape the confines of the hospital for God, walk upon this earth, spread His teachings, and receive His blessings!" He spread his arms wide toward the ceiling as if genuinely receiving divine grace.

The patients below mimicked his gesture. The priest lowered his arms and fixed Xu Lingqu with a creepy, satisfied smile. "Dr. Xu... surely you won't refuse to work for God. Every doctor before you who defied His will, who lied and violated the doctrine, has already been processed—found guilty."

At the words "found guilty," the patients all turned their dead-eyed stares on Xu Lingqu. Most of their gazes held no light whatsoever, as if at any second they might surge forward and tear her apart limb from limb.

"Of course I'll issue the certificates," Xu Lingqu said flatly. "After all, I am the most authoritative psychiatrist in this city, aren't I?"

The priest's smile dimmed slightly, his eyes turning vicious as he stared at her. Every doctor before had a shred of professional integrity—they'd refuse to sign, and then, at his call, the patients would beat them to death. This Dr. Xu had no integrity at all; she was actually willing to certify a group of obviously insane people as healthy.

"Yes, Dr. Xu, you are the most authoritative. But what we need is a paper certificate—something to ensure that the next time the police come, none of us will be taken away." The priest adjusted his glasses. "So... do you have one?"

Xu Lingqu obviously didn't have any damned paper certificate.

She was wearing a black high-collar shirt, jeans, and a white doctor's coat over it all. She didn't even have a pocket that could hold a piece of paper.

This priest hadn't brought the psychiatrist here for a certificate at all. He'd brought her here to use the patients as a pretext for a so-called trial of guilt against another doctor.

Xu Lingqu sighed. "I can't issue one right now."

The priest's eyes flickered. The patients stirred restlessly.

"But it's not because I didn't bring the paperwork," Xu Lingqu continued. "It's because I'm sick."

The priest frowned. "You're a doctor. How could you be sick?"

"That's exactly why I'm sick. You said it yourself—I'm the most authoritative psychiatrist in this city, so I know I have an illness." Xu Lingqu looked down at the believers, whose eyes were vacant and confused. "I suffer from dissociative identity disorder. The psychiatrist is only my primary personality. My secondary personality is a bishop. Right now, I'm in my bishop personality, so I know everyone here is healthy, but I can't sign the certificate."

"The Lord has sent me to deliver His message." Xu Lingqu looked at the priest, a hint of amusement flickering in her eyes. At the mention of the Lord, the patients all nodded as if they fully understood. A few of them even dropped to their knees and began kowtowing toward Xu Lingqu.

The priest's expression soured. He knew she was spouting nonsense, but he forced out a challenge: "What right do you have to claim the Lord sent you? Dissociative identity disorder? You're lying!"

"You're the one lying," Xu Lingqu said, the corner of her mouth curling up. "You said my primary personality is the most authoritative psychiatrist. I told you what my primary personality's diagnosis of me was, and now you say I'm lying? And if I switched back to my primary personality and issued the certificates right now—would that even count? Would everyone be free to leave the asylum and worship our Lord?"

"You—" By the usual script, the patients would have already swarmed her for a trial of guilt at his call. But Xu Lingqu's mouth was a machine gun of absurd sophistry, and she'd dragged this out long enough. There was no logic to any of it, and yet the patients believed her. Because they were insane!

The priest stood there like a robot that had glitched, frozen in place. Xu Lingqu stepped out of the ring of patients, walked up to the platform, reached out, and snatched his holy book out of his hands. Then, with a swift, subtle motion, she kicked his legs out from under him and sent him tumbling off the platform.

The movement was discreet enough that the patients below barely saw it. They simply stared, fixated, at the holy book now in Xu Lingqu's hands.

"How dare you lay a hand on me! Striking a man of the cloth is a sin!" The priest scrambled to his feet, raising his voice in the usual call to his flock. "We must now hold a trial of guilt against her! Everyone! Tear her apart!"

The patients didn't move. They hadn't seen Xu Lingqu do anything, and besides, she had opened the holy book and was now gazing at them all with gentle compassion, as if she truly were the Lord's messenger.

In her white coat—compared to the priest's all-black vestments—she looked far more like one of their own.

"The Lord says that lying is a grave sin. Whether common folk or the rich and powerful, all must pay for their lies. I imagine the clergy are no exception." Xu Lingqu cast the priest a look of pity and mercy.

Being stared at with such compassion, the priest only felt a chill run down his spine.

"Just now, in this sacred place, you committed several grave sins. You called me the most authoritative psychiatrist, yet you refuse to accept my diagnosis of myself. If I can't even diagnose myself, how can I certify anyone else? That's your first sin. When I revealed myself as the bishop, you instead urged everyone to attack me—that's your second sin. You claimed I struck you, but I clearly didn't. You fell on your own. I tried to catch you but couldn't, and now you're falsely accusing me—that's your third sin."

Xu Lingqu closed the holy book with a soft thump and sighed.

"Father, you're not sick. But you are guilty."

The patients didn't understand much else, but they understood "guilty." That was the very concept the priest had drilled into them. Now, their eyes burned with fervent zeal. It was time to hold the arrogant father who'd once stood above them to a trial of guilt.

"I hope that after everyone has served as your judges, the Lord will show you mercy."

Xu Lingqu pushed open the church doors and walked out, the sounds of the patients swarming the priest echoing behind her.

Her skill panel had unlocked.