Superman Termination Manual - Chapter 502

Chapter 502: Chapter 253 Bedlam Asylum Journal (Part 4)_3 Chapter 502: Chapter 253 Bedlam Asylum Journal (Part 4)_3 Francis’s lips moved slightly, murmuring a string of indistinct numbers as he quietly arranged the books from bookshelf number one.

Seeing Ke Yinzhi and Fan Quan both watching intently, as if not wanting to miss any crucial clues, Ke Mingye suddenly felt excluded and sighed before messaging Fan Quan.

[Failed Man: How’s it going, cultured man, got any leads?]
[Fan Quan: Lots of guesses, just too many to know where to start, especially since we know nothing about that TK. But… now we do.]
[Failed Man: What now?]
[Fan Quan: This patient who’s working as a library administrator is a bit odd.]
[Failed Man: Don’t tell me you’re thinking this bald guy is the “TK” that you and my bro are looking for?]
[Fan Quan: Not really but if TK was collaborating with him, then a lot would make sense.]
[Failed Man: Keep it up, try to find the leader of Revolutionary Late Bell before my bro slaughters me–it’s pretty much a race with King Yan at this point.]
“Mr. Francis, what are you doing?” After watching for quite some time, Ke Yinzhi finally couldn’t help but ask curiously.

“Playing a game.”

“What game?”

“There’s this person, a patient. He gave me an order to arrange the library’s books and the cards in the card room,” said Francis hoarsely, “If I win, I can prove to him that my memory is good. We play this game often. We’re… good friends.”

Ke Yinzhi’s eyebrows slightly raised.

He thought: “If that’s the case, it would explain why the card room and library are only open once a month, yet TK is able to pass messages to his contacts inside the asylum every week.”

Similarly, Fan Quan displayed a hint of surprise, but he tried to keep his composure.

Fan Quan spoke up, “Sounds intriguing, can we join this ‘game’ too?”

“No, it’s a game between the two of us,” said Francis slowly.

Ke Yinzhi asked, “Who do you play this game with?”

“I… I don’t know.”

Francis, head down and deeply focused, continued with interruptions, “I can remember everything, just not names or faces. But we’ve been playing this game for a long time; he’s… my only friend.”

Ke Yinzhi and Fan Quan both fell silent for a while.

Ke Mingye, arms crossed, said coldly, “Francis can’t remember faces or names, so he’s ostracized by society, different from you criminals.”

“I see…” Ke Yinzhi paused, “Supervisor, you mentioned before that every book has a serial number.”

“Yes, they do. You can check in the notebook at the front desk. Help yourselves,” Ke Mingye pointed at the table by the front desk.

Hearing this, Fan Quan swiftly took Ke Yinzhi’s place, took a few quick steps to the front desk, grabbed the notebook from the table, and then flipped through it with Ke Yinzhi.

“Thank you,” said Ke Yinzhi.

“No problem,” replied Fan Quan, “I’m just as curious about what ‘game’ he’s playing.”

“Seems like we’re all the same, driven by strong curiosity and a thirst for knowledge.”

As Ke Yinzhi teased and looked at the book’s serial numbers in the notebook, he glanced again at the 24 books Francis was rearranging.

Comparing it to the data in the notebook, he quickly realized that the serial numbers of the 24 books on bookshelf number one were precisely 01 to 024.

Soon after, Francis rearranged the 24 books on bookshelf number one and walked straight out of the library towards the adjoining card room.

Ke Yinzhi and Fan Quan followed behind him.

“Do you remember, the order in which these 24 books were arranged?” Ke Yinzhi suddenly asked.

“I remember the serial numbers too,” Fan Quan stated bluntly.

“Oh, same here.”

Both watched as Francis used a key to open the card room and approached a cupboard with boxes of playing cards.

At a glance, there seemed to be a thousand decks of cards, all neatly arranged. Each deck was also labeled with serial numbers like 001, 002, and placed in strict order from left to right, top to bottom.

Just like before, Francis murmured something under his breath while he took out decks of cards one by one and rearranged the cards inside.

Then, after a short time, he put all the cards back into their boxes and placed the decks back in the cupboard.

“So, what game do you think he’s playing?” Ke Yinzhi rested his chin on his hand.

After thinking for a moment, Fan Quan said, “The books he arranged in the library, could they correspond to the cards in the card room?”

Ke Yinzhi said, “I think there’s a possibility. Just now the sequence of the 25 books he arranged, from left to right, top to bottom was serial number 02, serial number 05, serial number 09…”
Muttering to himself, Ke Yinzhi reached out and pulled out the decks with the corresponding serial numbers from the cupboard.

“The order of the book placements, could that be the sequence to take out the playing cards…” Fan Quan thought silently to himself.

Ke Yinzhi said, “By arranging the cards inside the boxes, perhaps he’s transmitting some kind of message with the order of the playing cards?”

Fan Quan asked, “Then what information do you think it could be?”

“We’ll know when we look.”