Every time she passed the single ward where the young student was staying, the nurse couldn’t help but take another look.

Although most hospital workers had experienced strong winds and waves, this time things were indeed a bit strange.

The door of the ward had been sprinkled with a layer of white rice.

For the past week, two men would come over silently at night, move folding stools over and guard the door to the left and right like door gods, and then silently walk away once dawn arrived.

The nurse taking care of Li Xiu was also aware that there were several talismans taped under the boy’s bed. This matter naturally made the nurse a bit nervous. However, on the night Li Xiu arrived, orders came from above, telling her to turn a blind eye to it all and not ask any questions, and even more so to not tell Li Xiu about these strange things, so as not to frighten him.

“Of course, this is also for your safety. If you don’t ask more questions or delve into it, you won’t provoke anything…..”

The nurse thought about the meaning-laden words of the head nurse and shivered all over. After all, those foolish young people in horror movies who knew there was a tiger in the woods yet still went there were in the minority. The doctors and nurses going in and out of this ward all carried out these orders from above meticulously. They didn’t look too much or ask any questions, simply treating those strange arrangements like air.

But on such a quiet night, the nurse looked at the rice at Li Xiu’s door and had some doubts.

Avoiding the surveillance, the nurse carefully took out her cell phone and fearfully mentioned it in a private group chat.

[Am I overthinking things? Why is it so cold in the hallway tonight?]

[Wa, you’re playing with your phone on duty again. Aren’t you afraid of a nursing department inspection?]

Someone responded to her immediately.

[I don’t usually do this, but today is special.] The young nurse couldn’t help but take another glimpse of the door. [I’m particularly scared today.]

[You mean that room? Don’t look at it. The more you look at it, the more strange it’ll become.]

[Didn’t your bosses say not to make any inquiries?]

[But something really isn’t right today. When I passed by that ward, my back felt especially chilled.]

The more she looked at the discussion on her phone, the more afraid she became.

It felt like something was coming.

A chill hit her. The nurse’s hand shook, and she turned off the screen, shoving the phone back into a drawer.

There was silence all around. The air conditioner was turned too low, making her shiver from the cold.

The nurse subconsciously glanced at Li Xiu’s ward. Although the two men guarding the door looked strange, she felt a little more at ease with them accompanying her in the ward at night.

But with that glance, the nurse’s movements froze.

What was going on? Why…..why was the white rice at the door starting to turn red at a speed visible to the naked eye?

“Wu…..”

A faint whimper came from the closed ward.

“Not good!”

The moment the rice turned red, Xu Qinghe, who had been guarding the door in silence, jolted and immediately leapt to his feet.

“Li Xiu!”

Without hesitation, the older man kicked open the door of the ward and rushed in with Qiao Yang.

The lighting inside the ward was dim.

Light from the corridor poured into the room, allowing Xu Qinghe to see everything clearly.

He saw a huddled figure shivering on the bed, unable to move, with only a thin quilt covering him.

There was a person on top of that quilt.

Of course, that thing only looked like a person.

Its entire body was red, soft and moist like a hunk of flesh that had just lost its skin. With long, thin limbs and a large body, it nearly occupied the whole bed while lying on Li Xiu’s quilt.

And its face was currently covered in a paper mask.

The pale cheeks of the paper mask were soaked with blood, and a dark red outline under the white paper could be vaguely seen.

The eye sockets were gouged out, and the area below them was now wet with black and red blood.

It simply looked at Teacher Xu and Qiao Yang, who had just now barged into the room.

The scarlet lips on the mask that grinned all the way to its ears moved slightly, as if it was smiling.

Then a gust of wind blew and the strange, twisted figure suddenly vanished as if it had been a nightmare—

“Damn!” 

Teacher Xu’s expression shifted greatly. He reached into his pocket, and when he raised his hand again, he scattered out a large handful of newly-burned talisman paper.

Paper dust scattered inside the room. It seemed ordinary, but where the dust fell, there were many traces of light gray on all the walls of the ward.

One on top of another.

They looked vaguely like palm prints.

“Watch its marks!” Teacher Xu called out anxiously.

As his words fell, the palm prints that were originally only on the walls began to spread at an alarming speed.

Everyone in the room heard an odd and subtle slapping sound somewhere in the dark.

The palm prints stretched from the walls to the ceiling.

“T-Teacher, I can’t move—”

Xu Qinghe rushed toward Li Xiu on the bed. Just as he was about to reach out and take Li Xiu out from under the quilt, a chill abruptly spread from his wrist to his entire body.

Something crawled over him.

It was obviously insubstantial, but Teacher Xu was instantly unable to move.

All the joints in his body crackled, and there was a heavy weight on his shoulders.

Xu Qinghe bit the tip of his tongue and felt a stinging pain. His mouth filled with a fishy sweetness. The man swallowed a mouthful of blood and spoke with difficulty to the figure at hand: “Li Xiu…..take this…..and run…..”

As blood spurted from the tip of his tongue, the man regained a meager ability to move. Slowly, he handed a sheet of talisman paper toward Li Xiu.

However, he soon heard Li Xiu’s trembling cry.

“Teacher Xu, I’m not in bed…..who are you talking to? Wuwuwu…..”

Only then did Teacher Xiu realize that Li Xiu’s voice was coming from under the bed.

The youth’s face was paper-white as he peeked his head out from under the bed to look at the immobilized man above with terror.

In the fright just now, Li Xiu had hidden under the bed in order to avoid that “thing” that was following him everywhere.

Xu Qinghe gasped. He moved his eyes with difficulty.

Unable to change position, his field of vision was limited. He could only catch a glimpse in his peripheral vision of the blue-white hand with bloody fingertips stuck to his arm.

That thing was hiding under the quilt, gripping him firmly.

Without fire, the talisman spontaneously ignited at Xu Qinghe’s fingertips.

However, the life-saving talisman that was supposed to suppress dark things not only burned Xu Qinghe’s fingertips slightly, but also didn’t harm that thing.

Xu Qinghe’s expression sank slightly, and another mouthful of blood from his bitten tongue spurted out.

“Qiao Yang!” he shouted.

But Qiao Yang, who was supposed to watch his back, didn’t respond to his call.

[“Hahaha…..Xiao Qiao, ah…..”]

[“We’re all brothers. Qiao Yang, if you don’t play with us, you won’t be considered a friend.”]

[“Come, come, it’s not far ahead. Let’s have a drink.”]

In the ward occupied by only three people, several male voices could be faintly heard.

Laughing and joking, they lingered behind Xu Qinghe, next to Qiao Yang.

Light from the door shone in, casting long shadows on the floor.

Next to Qiao Yang’s shadow were several hazy figures.

Judging from their shadows, they seemed to have their arms slung intimately over Qiao Yang’s shoulders.

Qiao Yang was unknowingly being pushed by the shadows toward the ward’s window.

Now Teacher Xu could see the shadows next to Qiao Yang without much effort — how could they be Qiao Yang’s friends? They were the same people who had died in Qiming Secondary School before!

Everything from Song Cheng’s chest to his lower abdomen was torn open, his internal organs hanging out.

Wang Rongfa’s body was completely distorted and no longer human.

A rope was tied around Ou Yang’s neck, and the lower half of his body had fallen off due to extreme decay.

When he saw that those voices were about to bewitch Qiao Yang into jumping through the window, large beads of sweat dripped from Teacher Xu’s forehead.

His lips traced out words rapidly as lines of blood leaked from the corners of his mouth.

However, the scriptures Teacher Xu recited couldn’t be spoken aloud.

Qiao Yang was in danger, and he himself wasn’t faring much better.

His body shook continuously, the weight pressing down on his shoulders growing heavier and heavier…..

Strands of black hair hung down over the man, obscuring his vision.

A murky, ferocious female voice continuously murmured in his ear.

“They should all die…..”

There was a bloody cheek close to the side of Xu Qinghe’s face.

Because her tongue would fall from her broken jaw, everything the female ghost said was very unclear.

“I begged you to save him…..I begged so many people, ah…..”

“Save him, that’s my child, ah. He’s still so young…..”

“A-Yu…..my poor A-Yu…..How could anyone treat him like that…..”

“Yet why aren’t you willing to help me?”

There was an evil wind and resentment in the room. 

Teacher Xu’s face was pale, and he had difficulty breathing.

In his incrementally blurry vision, some very hazy scenes appeared—

A woman.

A woman who was extremely thin due to a fatal illness, yet still beautiful.

She knelt in front of a group of people and begged them to help her rescue her abused child.

However, after being asked for countless amounts of money and other fees, the people who had promised to expose the matter and get her custody back broke their promises without exception.

When the woman became more vocal and fierce, seeing that the situation might really be out of control……

Someone lifted her off the bed and pushed her out the window of the ward.

. . . . . . .

With the yin qi invading his soul, Xu Qinghe’s eyes, nose, and ears gradually oozed blood.

Even the blood seeping from the tip of his tongue was turning from bright red to pitch black.

The man’s body began to shake, and the moment he was about to collapse—

“Prosperity, democracy, civilization, harmony. Civilization—”

Li Xiu’s tearful voice sounded.

The youth had mustered the courage to crawl out from under the bed. While crying and reciting the core values of socialism, he grabbed the exercise book on the bedside table and threw it at the black shadow enveloping Teacher Xu.

Surprisingly, the black shadow that even a spiritual spell had difficulty affecting let out a shrill wail when it was hit by the exercise book.

The female ghost’s form dispersed slightly. The power suppressing Xu Qinghe relaxed for a moment — and he naturally didn’t miss this fleeting opportunity.

“In the name of the Tienfeng Sect, the great immortal subjugates demons, and evil is defeated. With eagles and hounds at the head, two generals hear the call and stand before the altar. The emperor proclaims divine power according to law and order, and demons and ghosts will be punished and sealed. The supreme holy power is vast and boundless, compelling obedience to the divine northern emperor—”

At his sharp shout, two balls of fire suddenly appeared in Teacher Xu’s hands.

The shadows trapping him immediately dispersed in the firelight.

Then, with quick steps, he rushed toward the window.

At this time, Qiao Yang had one foot on the windowsill, his body falling forward. He was just about to jump from the ward’s window. Xu Qinghe grasped Qiao Yang’s collar and threw  him back onto the floor.

“But we agreed, ah….. to go…..get a drink. Just one cup. My teacher…..told me something is wrong…..”

Qiao Yang’s eyes were still empty after being dragged back into the room. Mumbling continuously, he tried to climb back up onto the windowsill again.

Xu Qinghe didn’t hold back. In front of Li Xiu, who had lost his head in fear, he slapped Qiao Yang several times in the face.

Qiao Yang’s face swelled up at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Finally, the young man stretched out his neck and vomited several mouthfuls of black blood. Then he lost strength entirely and fell unmoving into Teacher Xu’s arms. 

“T-Teacher Xu…..”

Li Xiu stared at the young man motionless in Teacher Xu’s arms. His knees weakened and he couldn’t keep himself from falling to the floor.

As if guessing what had Li Xiu so panicked at this moment, he wiped his face and called out, “He’s not dead,” patting the limp disciple in his arms. 

“It’s just that the yin qi impacted his soul, so he has no strength for the time being. Don’t worry, he’ll wake up again later.”

As he spoke, Teacher Xu covered his mouth and coughed several times. Black blood dripped and oozed between his fingers.

The man looked at Li Xiu and said softly: “Fortunately…..fortunately you helped me, otherwise I really don’t know what would have happened…..”

Having said this, he used the hand that wasn’t wet with blood to hand the exercise book that had fallen to the ground to Li Xiu.

Li Xiu looked dumbly at Teacher Xu for a moment, then took the exercise book back and hugged it tightly in his arms.

“I, I thought it would be useless,” the youth said inanely.

“But I didn’t know what to do, so I just recited those words…..”

“Cough, cough. It was useful.” Teacher Xu coughed, smiling. “As I said, if you learn and study hard, you won’t need to fear these ghostly things.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Oh my god…..”

“What happened?”

There was a commotion outside the door.

Li Xiu opened his eyes to look toward the door, only to find nurses and security guards crowded there, looking at those of them in the room in bewilderment.

So much had obviously happened, yet they approached as if they had just now realized something was wrong.

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Chapter 48 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 50