Mad Dog

Chapter 37: The Violence Of Fists Like Animals

Zhi Qi didn’t discover Jiang Qi’s illness by chance.

In fact, from the time they reconnected in high school, she felt that there was something off about the boy.

He seemed too closed off and too sharp, as if he had erected spikes all over his body to protect himself from everyone except her, cold to the extreme—even towards those with good intentions, Jiang Qi paid them no heed.

At the same time, Zhi Qi had always been puzzled by the fact that the boy had injuries and easily got headaches. She had asked him about it since she was ten years old, but in high school, she hesitated to bring it up.

That question was: Jiang Qi, why do you always have injuries?

Zhi Qi vaguely understood that there seemed to be significant issues in Jiang Qi’s family, possibly related to his injuries, but the boy evaded this topic so much that she couldn’t press him further.

The real confirmation that Jiang Qi had a problem came from an ‘accident’ in their second year of high school.

It was raining heavily that day, and after school, most students, even those with umbrellas, didn’t want to risk getting drenched, so they crowded in the classroom near the entrance of the teaching building.

Zhi Qi had forgotten her umbrella that day and could only join everyone else, wearing a grimace as they huddled in the classroom, waiting for the rain to ease before leaving.

For someone like him, carrying an umbrella was too ‘meticulous.’

But the boy was not afraid of the rain. Unlike most students who complained incessantly, he just glanced indifferently at the pouring rain outside, got up, and left without a word.

“Jiang Qi!” Zhi Qi noticed the boy’s actions and called out, following him.

At that time, Jiang Qi’s nerves were as unpredictable as the rainy weather. Listening to the pitter-patter of raindrops hitting the roof made his headache worse, and for a moment, he didn’t hear Zhi Qi calling him, still walking on his own.

He actually wished the heavy rain could extinguish the burning sensation in his mind, walking swiftly.

It wasn’t until Jiang Qi heard a distinct ‘ouch’ from behind him, particularly clear amidst the rain curtain with no one around.

He paused his steps, turned around, and saw Zhi Qi kneeling on the ground because she had slipped and fallen. The girl’s head and body were wet, resembling a drowned rat, and her once pristine school uniform was now dirty. She looked at him with a mixture of aggrievement and pitifulness.

“Jiang Qi.” Zhi Qi finally caught up with the tall boy, gaining his ‘attention,’ and sniffled as she asked, “Why were you walking so fast? I called you, but you ignored me.”

“…Sorry.” Jiang Qi, with his eyes obscured by the mist-like rain, hurried over to help the girl up, supporting her in his arms, and said indifferently, “I didn’t hear you.”

He truly didn’t hear her.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have ignored Zhi Qi.

The girl, being oblivious, didn’t dwell too much on why he hadn’t heard her.

Supported by the boy, she was about to say something when laughter erupted nearby—two students who had aimlessly wandered into an alley behind High School, seeking shelter from the rain under the eaves, were smoking. They were wearing the same school uniform as Zhi Qi and Jiang Qi. Upon seeing them, they couldn’t help but sneer sarcastically.

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Their deliberately loud voices reached Zhi Qi and Jiang Qi’s ears unhindered—

“Oh, isn’t that the school’s flower?”

“Not only that, but also the school’s ‘joke.’”

“On a rainy day, are they on a date?”

“Tsk tsk, even good students have early love?”

“These days, perhaps the school’s flowers are blind, falling for whatever comes their way.”

Jiang Qi was good at studying, but because of his overly eccentric and reclusive nature, he was unpopular among his classmates, and even the teachers didn’t pay much attention to him.

Normally, because of Zhi Qi’s presence, Jiang Qi would pretend not to hear some sarcastic remarks from certain people. After all, who would argue with fools?

But today, whether it was because of the icy rain, or because the girl was trembling gently in his arms, or perhaps because his mood was already extremely bad, Jiang Qi suddenly didn’t want to endure it anymore.

Because he was never a person with a good temper.

Jiang Qi’s eyes sank without a trace of emotion as he walked step by step towards the three laughing boys. Until he reached them, the boys gradually fell silent, and for a moment, the atmosphere became extremely tense and awkward.

“What the hell are you standing here for?” After a while, finally one of them couldn’t bear Jiang Qi’s gaze and pretended to be angry, asking, “Are you here to mess around?”

“The things you just said,” Jiang Qi spoke, his voice as cold as ice, “have the guts to repeat them.”

If it were just him, it would be one thing, but those guys just now clearly insulted Zhi Qi in their words.

Jiang Qi wanted them to repeat it. If they were brave enough, maybe he could go easy on them. But unfortunately, these guys were just good at trash-talking. Under Jiang Qi’s overwhelming pressure, the three of them looked at each other and no one dared to speak.

So, they could only blame themselves.

Jiang Qi raised the corner of his lips, but it didn’t look like a smile.

The next moment, his fist had already pounded on the face of the boy who had just said ‘the school flower is blind’. Amidst the boy’s screams, the other two boys, still in shock and unprepared to retaliate, were grabbed by Jiang Qi’s hands like iron hoops around their heads and heavily collided—

“Ah!”

Their heads knocked together, and the pain made both of them scream, almost passing out directly.

“School flower, a joke?” Jiang Qi looked at the three ‘losers’ who had fallen to the ground in an instant, disdainfully sneering, his sports shoe pressing on one of the guy’s faces, his voice cold and calm, “What are you guys even?”

“You!” The boy who was being stepped on felt deeply humiliated, gritted his teeth and said, “Jiang Qi, I’ll make you wait! I’ll get my big brother to kill you!”

Boys of this age were always arrogant. They rarely dealt with being beaten by resorting to ‘calling the police’ or ‘telling the teacher’. Instead, they wanted to solve it like adults, by calling their so-called big brother to deal with Jiang Qi.

“Sure, go ahead and find him.” Jiang Qi’s expression was calm, as he spoke, he kicked the guy’s chest hard, “Go now, crawl there.”

Once the violent factor inside him was triggered, it was hard to stop. Jiang Qi didn’t even realize his eyes had turned red.

And at the same time, flashing with a full-on murderous intent, it was as if he was excited.

For years, he had always detested violence and resisted it.

But unknowingly, Jiang Qi didn’t realize he had been assimilated into a ‘violent’ person.

That day, it was like a girl’s soft arms that stopped him, just like on the set today many years later.

“Jiang Qi! Are you crazy?” However, the Zhi Qi from back then wasn’t as calm. She was trembling in fear, stunned for a while before she realized she needed to stop the boy’s violent behavior, her voice choked with sobs, “Stop it! Stop it!”

She managed to stop Jiang Qi, while quickly dialing 120.

Violence is never justified.

Later, an ambulance took five students to the hospital.

Except for Zhi Qi, the other four all had injuries, some light and some serious—Jiang Qi wasn’t unscathed either. At least his finger bones were already mottled with bruises, and his arm, which had already been injured, burst open again from exertion, flesh and blood muddled together.

But Jiang Qi seemed oblivious to the pain.

Throughout the process of doctors stitching and bandaging him up, the teenager remained indifferent, his expression barely changing, not even lifting an eyelid. Only the hand resting on his knee would occasionally tremble lightly.

Perhaps Jiang Qi was sick.

This vague thought, which had always lingered in Zhi Qi’s mind, now flashed clearly for the first time.

So, after silently watching for a while at the door, the girl turned and went to the attending physician Jiang Qi had registered with earlier, requesting a full-body examination for the young man.

Especially… regarding neurological and psychological aspects.

Later, Zhi Qi always felt like she had been particularly crazy at that moment, but when the results came out, she finally understood the root cause of everything wrong with Jiang Qi.

He had bipolar disorder, a very severe form of it.

Zhi Qi remembered feeling somewhat dumbfounded as the neurologist explained the origin of this ‘illness’ and its implications.

Looking at the examination report, the doctor said matter-of-factly, “Mania, depression, are all neurological disorders. This classmate Jiang’s symptoms are very severe. If left untreated, it could qualify as applying for a psychiatric evaluation.”

“No, it’s not,” Zhi Qi suddenly raised her head, instinctively wanting to refute and deny, “Jiang Qi is not mentally ill, he… he’s quite normal.”

Just occasionally, he would act abnormally.

“Young lady, these kinds of mental disorders usually don’t surface initially. Nowadays, seventy percent of young people have depression, mild or severe. But do you see seventy percent of people obediently checking into hospitals for treatment?” The doctor smiled, explaining with tolerance, “This type of illness only manifests its manic side under certain specific circumstances, times, or when encountering certain stimuli. I’m saying your classmate is severe because he already exhibits strong anxiety and compulsive behaviors in his daily life.”

“I don’t know if you’re aware, but when we examined him, we found that he’s even engaged in self-harm.”

Self-harm?

Zhi Qi’s face went pale, her heart pounding rapidly. It seemed like there was an explanation for all the new and old injuries on Jiang Qi’s body…

“Right now, he’s only harming himself, but when he can’t control it anymore, he’ll harm others too. There are many elements that trigger bipolar disorder—family background, upbringing environment—but ultimately, he has been assimilated by violence.” The doctor sighed, “From a medical standpoint, I must advise you to keep your distance from this classmate of yours because when bipolar disorder erupts into violence, it doesn’t discriminate.”

Just like addicts to drugs, violence is like a drug. When high on it, you can’t distinguish who’s in front of you anymore.

Jiang Qi couldn’t control herself from hitting these sarcastic students now, and in the future, she might end up hitting her.

Zhi Qi listened quietly, her fair eye sockets barely suppressing the redness.

After a while, she asked hoarsely, “Doctor, what should we do?”

All illnesses can be treated; this isn’t a terminal condition.

Zhi Qi would rather cure him than leave Jiang Qi. That’s what matters most.

“He’s currently in a state of severe mania and depression, unable to control himself. So my suggestion is immediate hospitalization for treatment,” the doctor said, glancing at Zhi Qi’s partially dried school uniform, frowning with some hesitation. “But you’re high school students…”

Are high school students supposed to take a leave of absence for hospitalization?

Neither the doctor nor Zhi Qi knew the answer to this question, and she couldn’t decide for Jiang Qi.

So the girl could only find a way to ask, “Then, can medication work? Doctor, is there a way with medication?”

“Of course, there is, but the effect won’t be as good as hospitalization. It’s more of a chronic treatment,” the doctor shook his head helplessly, writing a prescription for Zhi Qi. “I’ll start him on a trial treatment. During this period, the patient must avoid arrogance and impulsiveness and refrain from self-harm.”

“Little girl, your classmate is probably still asleep in the ward. When he wakes up, I’ll have to repeat all this again. You can only remind him.”

Whether an illness can be cured ultimately depends on the patient, especially with mental illnesses.

Zhi Qi obediently nodded, took the prescription, and walked out, feeling dizzy and confused until she stepped out of the ward and saw Jiang Qi leaning against the door, seemingly listening for a long time.

In an instant, Zhi Qi almost screamed, her eyes widening involuntarily.

Between the pale brows of the young man, there was a hint of a sinister gray, and when he looked up, his gaze was gloomy as he looked at her.

Then, Zhi Qi unconsciously took a step back.

It was just a tiny subconscious movement, but it caused Jiang Qi’s pupils to contract as if pricked by a needle.

They stared at each other in silence for a while, and Jiang Qi gently spoke, “Qiqi.”

“Um, yes?”

“Did I accidentally hurt you too?” Whenever, Jiang Qi’s concern was always this question, his eyes were genuinely confused and lost, “Would I hurt you?”

Would there be a day when he couldn’t control himself and treated Zhi Qi like that? Beating and kicking, resorting to violence… like a beast?

“No, really not,” Zhi Qi’s suppressed redness finally burst out from her eyes, she kept shaking her head, her soft voice breaking, “Jiang Qi, you won’t hit me.”

She believed he never would.

But the young man quietly glanced at her and then turned away.

His slender figure was determined, as if about to disappear from her life.