Blood threads pierced through the red-clothed female ghost’s body. Bai Yu leaned against the wall, silently waiting for the result of Zhao Mingyue’s battle.
She wasn’t worried about Zhao Mingyue’s personal safety; the opponent was very weak and couldn’t break through the countermeasures she had left on Zhao Mingyue. The only thing she needed to guard against were enemies hiding in the shadows.
It didn’t take long for Zhao Mingyue to finish up. That fierce ghost had its head smashed in by her hammer, as dead as it could possibly be.
“Let’s go to the doctor’s office. There shouldn’t be any problems there anymore,” Bai Yu spoke, stepping into Zhao Mingyue’s shadow.
The corridor remained gloomy. Wearing her backpack, Zhao Mingyue walked toward the innermost part of the corridor. As she passed those wards again, she didn’t go in to cause trouble for those ghosts. After calming down, she realized that picking fights with these minor ghosts served no real purpose.
At the innermost room, Zhao Mingyue arrived at the door. This appeared to be the office of some director.
The main body of the wooden door was actually black. She reached out, wiped it, and brought her fingertips to her nose to sniff. There was indeed a thick layer of carbon ash on it, as if the door had been burned by a roaring fire. The problem was, Zhao Mingyue hadn’t seen any signs of fire damage anywhere outside this door.
Pushing the door open, the office inside was very clean, though a pungent, burnt stench permeated the air. If this smell were at a fire scene, she would find it normal, but this room was so tidy, completely unrelated to a fire.
She didn’t go straight to the desk but stood by the wall, using the pointed end of her hammer to scrape against it. Sure enough, beneath the layer of white putty was a wall blackened by fire.
This couldn’t help but remind her of the time at the Sunshine Apartment, when the old landlord, in order to trap the female ghost Xiao Lian, mixed her corpse fluid with putty to paint the walls, using disinfectant to cover up the emitting stench.
“A fire happened here, but not in the other wards.”
She walked over to the desk. The desk looked like it had been newly moved here, without even any signs of use. She picked up and carefully examined some documents placed on it; they were basically useless magazines and files, completely brand new and never even flipped through.
Zhao Mingyue even smashed open the desk’s lock, but there was absolutely nothing inside.
“How can this be? Since those guys guided me here, it shouldn’t be completely devoid of clues.”
Muttering to herself, Zhao Mingyue’s gaze shifted from the desk to a coat rack nearby. On it hung a white coat and a work ID. The name read Sun Hongwei. The face was unrecognizable; the photo on it had been intentionally scribbled over with a red marker.
From the pocket of the white coat, Zhao Mingyue fished out a fountain pen and a small notebook, which recorded the symptoms and treatment methods of several patients.
“Patient No. 13: Schizophrenia. Firmly believes that his sister, who died many years ago, lives inside his body, and frequently communicates with her after 12:00 AM. After 1:00 AM, the hallucinated sister’s persona takes dominant control of the body. Exhibits strong aggressive tendencies. Severe condition. Approach with caution.”
“Treatment Plan…” The treatment plan column wasn’t filled out; it was blank.
“Patient No. 7: Persecutory Delusion. Always imagines a non-existent ghost is trying to kill him. Treatment efficacy after hospitalization is poor; instead, there are signs of worsening delusions. Extremely afraid of doctors. Must remove work uniform during treatment, otherwise there is a risk of being attacked.”
She read through several pages in a row, all dealing with psychiatric issues, which was normal enough. After all, the predecessor of this hospital was a psychiatric hospital; having psychiatric patients was completely expected. The problem was the last page. A guy named Patient No. 16 actually hallucinated that he was a doctor and attempted to treat other patients.
Any patient that went through his hands, without exception, saw an across-the-board worsening of their condition.
This guy also attempted to attack doctors, steal their uniforms and work IDs, and even sneaked into a doctor’s office in an attempt to attack them, bringing a knife and rope.
Reading this, Zhao Mingyue suddenly felt a creeping sense of terror upon closer thought.
The handwriting introducing this last patient was different from the previous records. He didn’t even write down the patient’s physical characteristics. The person recording this wrote more as if writing a diary entry. Following it was a coherent, detailed breakdown of how to kill the doctor, then set a fire to burn the doctor to death, and hide the corpse in the wall behind the cabinet.
Putting down the notebook, Zhao Mingyue looked at the large iron cabinet beside her. No wonder the doctor’s ID had been scribbled over; it looked like this patient’s doing. And no wonder such a detailed little note was written, knowing absolutely everything about this last patient.
Zhao Mingyue didn’t pull open the cabinet; instead, she forcefully shoved it aside. Sure enough, at the base of the wall, she saw the corpse.
The corpse was burned black and shriveled. Its already frail body had been reduced to half its original size after incineration. Hollow out a hole in the cabinet, scoop out half a hole in the wall, and the corpse could be perfectly stuffed inside.
“Why lead me here? Did I miss some clue?” Just then, a few blood threads appeared, moving the corpse aside and pulling out a notebook from beneath the body.
“There’s more?” Zhao Mingyue half-squatted, taking out a small flashlight to shine on the notebook, while the blood threads controlled by Bai Yu turned the pages for her.
Bai Yu was taking care of the young girl Zhao Mingyue. After all, not everyone had the courage to flip through a notebook pressed beneath a corpse for who knows how many years. Even with the courage, it still felt incredibly creepy.
“Another patient has disappeared. What exactly is happening? Can anyone tell me? Everyone keeps their heads down, refusing to speak. A dead silence fills the air everywhere.”
“No, this is impossible. That old lady is clearly dead. Who on earth did I see last night?”
“Is it daytime? I can’t be sure. It’s so cold here, the sunlight has no warmth. Everyone’s faces are deathly pale. A patient pointed at the sun and told me that it’s clearly the moon.”
“It’s dark. I’m terrified of the night shift. Those damn footsteps are echoing again. There are many people moving around in the backyard, but… there’s clearly no one there.”
“It’s 9:00 PM. Sure enough, the sound of reading is coming from the ward again. I think I’ve gone mad. I’m actually listening to figure out what book those things are reading.”
“Is there something wrong with everyone’s brains here? Went to apply medicine at 11:00, and all the patients are missing.”
“Something happened in the morgue again, just as expected. The newcomer, Little Chen, was scared to death inside. I told the director long ago not to cooperate with the criminal investigation squad. Isn’t our hospital eerie enough? Ever since these corpses arrived, the hospital has been in total chaos. There are unclean things here.”
“The old security guard resigned. Before leaving, he told me to get out quickly, too.”
“He said the corpses in the morgue came alive. Isn’t that a joke? I saw the corpse brought in yesterday: a construction worker who fell from a building and smashed his head. Honestly, even if he became a ghost, without a head, I don’t believe he could still harm anyone.”
“What ghosts? I don’t believe it. They are nothing but rotting husks.”
“A female corpse arrived today. Very beautiful. Rumor has it she was a boss’s secretary, murdered by his current wife.”
“Ah, she is so beautiful. I knew it, how could there be ghosts? If there really were ghosts, she would definitely wake up and scold me, blaming me for being too rough.”
“Sigh, I still can’t forget her. That young girl, fifteen years old. So young, so beautiful, so pitiful. Those damn security guards, actually letting the corpse escape right under everyone’s noses. They should have been fired!”
The rest of the notebook was filled with this doctor’s perverted confessions. It wasn’t hard to see that after that corpse escaped, this guy frequently went to the underground morgue to do unspeakable things to the female corpses sent there.
Zhao Mingyue extracted what useful clues she could from it, which weren’t many right now. But the major issue of the inpatient department having its day and night inverted meant the people inside were outsiders to reality, yet Dr. Sun, living outside the hospital, was completely unaware of it.
Also, the mysterious fourth floor that appeared in the underground morgue… Zhao Mingyue felt it was necessary to investigate.
“Bai Yu, did you notice the problem?”
“There’s an Evil God here. It used a barrier to affect the entire hospital, inverting Yin and Yang.”
“An Evil God?”
“Yes. The location here was problematic to begin with. Under the Evil God’s influence, it has become a massive ghost-nurturing ground.”
“Hiss, no wonder there are so many ghosts. Why did those people lead me here? Could it be just to let me discover the secrets here?” Zhao Mingyue couldn’t figure it out. Was there something wrong with these people’s brains, exposing their own base like this?
“A mole,” Bai Yu remained silent for a moment before giving this answer.
“Huh?”
“This organization did indeed want you to come here, but their purpose was to kill us. If nothing unexpected had happened, the doctor’s ghost and Patient No. 16 would have nurtured two Red-Clothed Ghosts.”
“That powerful? So where are these two Red-Clothed ones?”
“They were killed by someone.”
With Bai Yu laying it out like this, Zhao Mingyue finally understood. “You mean someone in this organization is a mole. Knowing these people wanted to lure me here, they pre-emptively killed the two Red-Clothed ghosts and left clues so I could learn the secrets of this place?”
“Yes.”
“Then this person is a good guy.”
“Don’t be naive. This person wants to borrow our knife to kill.” Only now did Bai Yu’s tone become solemn.
As for this hospital itself, it wasn’t actually a big deal, just that there were more ghosts than usual. She felt this place couldn’t even compare to Eternal Life Village, which made her feel that the people of the Ghost Domain were nothing much.
But this guy who deliberately left the clues was not simple.
This guy intentionally left such obvious clues, completely unafraid of exposing their identity. Mainly because even if Bai Yu and Zhao Mingyue knew of their existence, what could they do? Would they just not attack?
Zhao Mingyue stood up, walking out of the doctor’s office deep in thought. The first floor was essentially fully explored. She couldn’t be bothered to check the opposite side of the corridor, so she simply decided to go to the second floor.
At the same time.
Twin blades violently pierced into the eyes of a red-clothed nurse. Shen Shuyun wrapped her legs around her neck, using the momentum of the twin blades to spin and leap into mid-air. The moment she landed, the female ghost’s head tumbled to the ground.
Behind her, Lu Liangting, wielding a pair of bizarrely shaped scissors, also dispatched two ordinary fierce ghosts. Lu Liangting had his own Red-Clothed ghost; right now, a man’s figure emerged from his shadow, manipulating a large swath of black-red blood threads to attack a Red-Clothed fierce ghost.
At this point, the nurse ghost couldn’t hold on much longer. Lu Liangting specialized in ganging up on ghosts with numbers. With four fierce ghosts surrounding and attacking one Red-Clothed ghost, victory was only a matter of time.
“Duck your head!” Shen Shuyun shouted sharply, throwing her short knife.
Lu Liangting didn’t have time to fully dodge; he could only throw his body to the side as much as possible. It flew right past his hair—he even saw a few of his own severed black hairs.
This combat style was way too hardcore. Just now, if he had reacted a beat slower, never mind having his brain pierced, he would’ve at least lost an ear.
It had to be said that Shen Shuyun’s attack was decisive. Her knife accurately struck the Red-Clothed fierce ghost’s forehead. If she hadn’t seized that opportunity, it would have been very difficult to hit.
Shot in the brain, the female ghost was quickly defeated, dismembered and devoured by the several fierce ghosts Lu Liangting had brought.
Eating a Red-Clothed ghost would give his fierce ghosts a significant boost, a major step forward in their overall strength. Opportunities like this didn’t come by often. Just as Lu Liangting stood up, he happened to see the people from the Ghost Domain standing at the stairwell.
One of them—the fierce ghost he carried in his hand was one of the killers who murdered his sister back then! Even if those three fierce ghosts were burned to ashes and ground into dust, Lu Liangting would still recognize them.
He would never forget it. Even in his dreams, he frequently dreamt of that night.
At this very moment, he was somewhat blinded by hatred. Earlier, on the drive to the hospital, he had repeatedly told himself that no matter what he saw at this hospital, he must restrain himself. Only by keeping a clear head would he have a chance at revenge.
But when he actually saw that killer, he simply couldn’t suppress it in his heart.
In truth, even if Bai Yu were here and knew exactly what had happened to Lu Liangting, she wouldn’t blame him for the big talk he made before coming. She might even actively help this male lead who, in her eyes, was being somewhat impulsive.
Because after Lu Liangting’s sister was murdered, her corpse was hung from the roof of a building. That day, she wore a blood-stained white dress, her legs chopped off. A long rope around her neck suspended her from the top, left to the mercy of the strong winds, forcing Lu Liangting to watch her swing back and forth in the gale.
Just like that Red-Clothed fierce ghost who had just come upstairs said to him: Look, a sunny doll.
Anyone going through an experience like this would feel the same. Seeing that ghost appear before his eyes, he wished he could lunge forward and tear off a piece of its flesh raw.
Moreover, at this moment, Lu Liangting charged toward the third floor. Shen Shuyun yelled from behind but couldn’t call him back. Ignoring whether it was a trap, she charged up to the third floor right behind him.
With such recklessness, the result was naturally an unsurprising disaster. The number of ghosts on the third floor was terrifying. At the doors along the corridor, a dense mass of fierce ghosts wearing patient gowns stood at the entrances of the wards, blocking the already narrow hallway.
And at the very end of the corridor, those two people were standing there. Beside them were two Red-Clothed fierce ghosts with terrifying auras.
Lu Liangting’s gaze locked onto the fierce ghost wearing a red suit on the left. His nails dug almost into his flesh, his eyes burning with rage. His entire body was trembling—not from fear, but from fury and remorse.
He hated himself for being so weak. He hated himself for lacking the strength to go up and tear them apart alive. Given the current situation, how could he not know the other party had deliberately lured him here? He had no hope for revenge. He might even be killed himself.
“I’m sorry, blame my incompetence…”
With so many ghosts, not even counting the two guys at the end, there were four Red-Clothed ghosts. What could he possibly use to fight them? Unless… Bai Yu were here.
