Strongest Maniac: Born in an Asylum

Green Mountain Asylum!

Director Hess refreshed his social media feed and scowled. "That shameless man. To my face, he's all smiles and 'old friend,' but behind my back, he blocks me."

Leo was a patient from his asylum. The Green Mountain Asylum should have been the first to issue a statement, to praise itself for this success. But no, someone else had beaten him to the punch.

He couldn't let this slight go unanswered.

Director Hess sat down at his computer, logged into the asylum's official website backend, and placed his hands on the keyboard. He pondered for a moment.

Title: A Landmark Case of Therapeutic Success at Green Mountain Asylum

A perfect headline. His ten fingers became a blur as the keyboard clattered furiously. When an opportunity like this presented itself, he had to capitalize on it. Otherwise, all those years of accumulating gray hair would have been for nothing.

So, they think they can just take all the credit, do they? The patient is from MY asylum!

At the Hospital.

Leo and Walter sat cross-legged on their beds, staring blankly at the cans of soda in their hands.

"This isn't Coke. It tastes awful."

"This isn't Sprite. It tastes awful."

"I want a real Coke."

"I want a real Sprite."

Mark Zhang sat quietly to the side, not daring to utter a single word. The two patients were clearly having an episode. They were drinking the exact sodas they'd asked for, yet they insisted it was wrong.

A nurse standing in the doorway overheard their conversation and remained silent. She'd been told by the doctors that whatever the patients said, you just go with it. There was nothing to be gained by arguing. It was best to just observe quietly.

Walter nudged Leo's calf and pointed at One-Eye. "He's a really good person."

"Why?" Leo asked.

"He didn't want my watch, and he still gave us money," Walter said, stroking his hand-drawn watch lovingly. He'd spent a lot of money on it, and even though it often had problems, he adored it.

"Then he really is a good person," Leo agreed.

The two of them gulped down their drinks.

One-Eye finally spoke. "You promised you would tell me about your situation. Can you tell me now?"

"Okay," Leo said calmly.

"Did you really use electricity to stimulate your own body? What did it feel like?" One-Eye asked. He had read the file Director Hess had compiled. The fact that Leo had survived so many near-death experiences meant something was definitely going on.

Leo thought for a moment. "It didn't feel like much. Just a tingling, numbing, dizzy feeling. It's hard to describe."

"Why would you do that?" One-Eye pressed.

"I wanted to cultivate," Leo said, looking directly at One-Eye. He then added, "The effect was very good. And when he stuck me with a few needles afterward, it felt even better. You were poked by him twice. Didn't you feel comfortable?"

One-Eye looked from Leo to Walter and let out a long sigh.

As I thought. I was overthinking things.

Communicating with mental patients was truly impossible. He surrendered. He wouldn't pursue it any further. It was all in his head, thinking he could get a real answer. The 500,000 wasn't a huge sum, and he didn't dwell on it. Consider it a lesson learned.

One-Eye turned his head away, unwilling to speak another word to them.

As evening fell, the sky began to darken.

"Walter, are you hungry?" Leo asked.

Walter rubbed his stomach. "A little."

"Then let's go out and get something to eat," Leo suggested.

"Okay."

The two patients slipped on their shoes and headed for the door. The nurse who had been guarding the entrance had stepped away to the restroom for a moment, giving them the perfect opportunity to slip out.

One-Eye watched them leave. He pulled out his phone and sent a text to his group chat.

« I will be back tomorrow. Patrol the city in teams of four tonight. Find any malevolent entities and eliminate them without mercy. »

Leo and Walter held hands as they ambled down the hospital corridor.

A young man saw them and felt a pang in his heart. It reminded him of when he was a child, when his father would hold his hand as he grew up. Now his father was old, and he was a grown man. They hadn't held hands like that in years. He always felt it was too awkward, too childish.

"Son, what is it?" the elderly patient asked, seeing his son staring into space.

The young man looked at his father. "Dad, let me hold your hand as we walk, just like you used to hold mine."

The old man was taken aback for a second, then a warm smile spread across his face. "Alright, son. Take your old dad's hand."

"Okay."

A heartwarming scene unfolded, inspired by two oblivious mental patients.

Leo and Walter stood outside the hospital building, looking around calmly, but also a little lost.

"Where do we go to eat?"

"I don't know."

"Let's just walk and see."

"Okay."

In a small grove of trees not far from the hospital, something stirred.

Rustle!

A black shadow flitted through the branches. A meter-long serpent, its body banded in black and red, coiled around a thick branch. Its scales gleamed with a sinister light in the dark, and its beady eyes stared intently at something moving in the shadows below.

It flicked its forked tongue, a soft hissing sound escaping its lips.

If anyone from Seaside City's special department saw this snake, they would immediately recognize it as a Level 2 malevolent entity: a Black Serpent. It was a cold-blooded and ruthless creature, notoriously difficult to deal with. A team of three or four humans of equivalent power would be no match for it. It specialized in stealthy, one-hit kills and possessed a potent venom.

The Black Serpent was in a foul mood. It resented its fellow creatures who could shrink themselves down to look cute. They had hideous, ferocious faces, but once they became small, humans inexplicably adored them. This allowed them to hide in plain sight, undetected.

The Black Serpent had also tried this transformation, but its luck had been terrible. It had eagerly approached a human, expecting to be adored, only to be met with terrified screams as the human grabbed the nearest object and tried to smash it. Later, it decided to find a braver human. That plan backfired when the man had just licked his lips and said he was looking forward to snake soup for dinner.

The Black Serpent was angry, and the consequences would be severe.

Foolish humans! Can't they see my adorable nature?

It had snuck into the hospital grove to lie in wait. From its perch, it watched a human female occasionally drag a human male deep into the trees. Strange, muffled moans would then drift out from the darkness.

Unnn~ unnn~

It was a very peculiar sound.

At the edge of the grove, a woman in her late thirties or early forties was leaning provocatively against a tree, casting flirtatious glances at the men who passed by. Under the dim light, she had a certain charm.

Leo and Walter were both very hungry. They had walked a long way and hadn't seen a single place to eat.

"Hello, excuse me, do you know where we can find some food? We're very hungry," Leo asked. He saw the woman beckoning with her finger and assumed she was offering to help them, so he walked over.

The woman looked Leo and Walter up and down, a sly smile on her face. "Hungry, are we? Don't you worry, I'll make sure you're both full and satisfied. Come with me. Two of you is just right."

"Eighty-one per person, a real bargain."

Leo and Walter glanced at each other and scratched their heads. "We don't have any money."

"Eighty-one is too expensive? Well, you're a cute one," the woman purred, looking at Leo. "So for you, I'll make it fifty. As for this old man... he's still eighty. One-thirty for the pair."

"We don't have any money," Leo repeated simply.

"We're just a little hungry," Walter added.

The woman studied their expressions. They didn't seem to be joking. Her face soured. "If you don't have any money, what are you doing over here?" she said impatiently.

"I saw you waving," Leo said calmly. "I thought you would help us, so I came over."

"Yes, that's right. Don't be mean to us. We're not bad people," Walter said, looking a little frightened.

The woman had a feeling that there was something not quite right with these two. She didn't want to waste any more time on them.

Then, under the faint lamplight, she noticed the ID tags hanging around their necks. Curious, she leaned in for a closer look.

Huh?

'Green Mountain Asylum...'

"You're mental patients?" she asked, horrified.

Leo and Walter both shook their heads. "We are not mental patients."

"You've got the tags hanging right there, and you say you're not?" the woman gasped, shocked that she had been talking to madmen all this time.

It was terrifying.

At the same time, she felt a strange flicker of pity.