Hospital 444

Dai Lin had not been at the hospital for long, but he had occasionally heard the nurses gossiping about the most powerful doctors. It was hard to argue who was the strongest among the three deputy deans, but generally, it was considered that the strongest under them would be one of the following five people:

Song Min, Lu Wen, An Zhiyuan, Fang Zhou, Li Bolin.

Among these five, the one with the highest support was Song Min; whether as the head of general surgery or as the director of the Department of Fierce Spirits, most people were genuinely convinced of her ability.

Next was An Zhiyuan, as the emergency department was countless times more dangerous than the outpatient department, with any evil spirit or curse possibly encountered. To be the director of emergency medicine was truly defying the heavens.

On the other hand... Fang Zhou was generally considered the weakest among the five. But, this "weakest" was relative to the other extraordinary individuals mentioned before. He was known for his indifference to fame and fortune and disliked being referred to as "director" or "deputy director," which was why Dai Lin always called him "Doctor Fang."

Fierce spirits and cursed objects were extremely difficult to control. Furthermore, cursed objects could easily continue to affect a doctor, so regular medical check-ups by Curse Object Department Doctors were essential. Once a doctor was deemed to have signs of curse backlash or a curse revival, they needed to receive treatment in the Curse Object Department.

The so-called Paranormal Doctors, also known as ghost-mimics, could indeed be said to be half indistinguishable from real ghosts. Once the curse fully revived, Paranormal Doctors would transform into true evil spirits! Preventing the resurgence of fierce spirits and cursed objects was truly not easy.

However, what Dai Lin found most incredible was that department heads could temporarily enter the Curse Item Unsealing State. This meant that they could become real evil spirits for a brief period, bridging the chasm-like gap between humans and ghosts!

"Doctor Fang, you have the ability to enter the Curse Item Unsealing State and then revert..."

"I can’t," Fang Zhou shook his head: "Director Li Bolin can, but I can’t. In fact, Deputy Dean Han is usually very busy, so the real director of the Department of Fierce Spirits has always been him. Aside from the heads of the Department of Apparitions, the Imaging Department, and the Endoscopy Department, almost all can do this."

At that moment, the theater began to darken.

The curtains on the stage gradually opened.

Dai Lin and Fang Zhou were sitting in their seats, prepared for what was to come. After all, they had no way of predicting what would happen next.

Raymond Harland, wearing a round top hat and a pitch-black suit, walked out. Behind him followed a blonde woman, presumably his assistant.

Even in the dark theater, across the rows of seats, Dai Lin could still clearly see the details of Raymond Harland’s left hand. So, he noticed... the magician had a small wound on the back of his hand. Although it was obviously cosmetically altered post-injury, it seemed to be fresh.

"This..."

Dai Lin realized that this was identical to the wound Fang Zhou had made on the back of his hand earlier!

"Doctor Fang, is this the ’Blood Curse’ you cast?"

"Yes."

"You just saw his face on a poster, and you could?" Dai Lin couldn’t help but gasp. He at least needed to obtain the other person’s hair!

"You must have a photo or video, and cast the Blood Curse while looking at it. If it’s a drawing, no matter how realistic, it’s useless."

Does this mean Fang Zhou could easily kill anyone he has seen?

After all, there were no wounds when he drew his fingernail across the back of his hand earlier. What if he had drawn it across his throat?

"Killing someone with a curse is not that easy," Fang Zhou saw what Dai Lin was thinking: "Indeed, I can kill someone with a blood curse, but the more people I kill this way, the greater the risk of curse backlash and curse revival increases. Eventually, my soul would be completely devoured by the fierce spirit within the cursed object. In most cases, I use it to save people. That is to say, I can use the curse in reverse, and the wounds of the person I curse with the Blood Curse will appear on my body."

Raymond greeted the audience with a bow, then said in slightly broken Chinese, "Ladies and Gentlemen, my name is Raymond Harland, and tonight, I will take you into a magical night full of wonders!"

As the curtain slowly opened, several women in black, wearing masks on the upper halves of their faces, came out and began to dance. The blonde woman circled around behind Raymond and, astonishingly, also became one of the masked women in black!

"I will bring you an extremely astonishing visual experience, please... enjoy!"

After these words, a large flock of doves suddenly flew out from behind him! Then, the doves swiftly covered his suit, and with a spin of his body, the doves flew away from him, turning his suit into red!

"Doctor Fang," Dai Lin asked while watching the magic show: "What else can this blood curse do?"

"There are many specific applications. In short, if Raymond is some kind of non-human entity, this blood curse has many ways to keep him in check."

Behind Raymond, the women in black were still dancing, swirling around him.

What kind of magic he would perform was impossible to predict in advance.

Dai Lin’s gaze was fixed on each woman, and by now, his eyes had evolved beyond his wildest imagination. For instance, he could simultaneously observe the most minute facial details of two women over ten meters apart, including the gaps between their teeth when they opened their mouths.

So far, his left eye hadn’t detected anything.

Neither the magician nor the women showed any sign of abnormality.

Yet, for some reason... Dai Lin felt an indistinct concern for the blond woman. He couldn’t explain it; it seemed to be an intuition.

At that moment, the women in black suddenly began to converge behind Raymond. And then, something miraculous happened—there were eleven women on stage, and they all gathered behind Raymond one by one. Next, when Raymond turned around...there was no one behind him!

Fang Zhou immediately turned to Dai Lin and asked, "How did they disappear? You can see through things, right?"

Dai Lin nodded and said, "I know how they disappeared, don’t worry, there’s nothing supernatural about it, it’s just a magic trick."

"Then..."

"Since it’s a magic trick, I won’t tell you the principle behind it, out of respect for the magician. We usually accuse magicians of using stooges as a form of cheating, so using these eyes of mine to see through would also be cheating. We shouldn’t be hypocrites."

Fang Zhou hadn’t expected Dai Lin to adhere to principles in such a situation.

But that was alright...what he cared about most was whether Raymond possessed supernatural powers.

As time passed, Raymond continued to display an array of magic tricks that stunned the audience on stage.

Over the next few hours, Dai Lin gradually became immersed in the magic. He had anticipated many possibilities and even thought that these tricks might actually be supernatural witchcraft.

But because of his extraordinary eyes, he was able to confirm that they were indeed magic tricks, and the more he watched, the more he admired Raymond’s ingenious ideas, many of which were his original creations.

Just then...

Suddenly, Raymond gestured, and a cabinet was wheeled out.

"Now, I need a volunteer from the audience to come up on stage," he said, pointing to the cabinet. "I will temporarily take the volunteer to another dimensional world, and then bring them back. If I choose my assistant, I’m afraid you won’t be convinced. I’ll throw playing cards to select a volunteer to come up, so everyone can be fully persuaded."

Raymond’s magic had always been highly interactive with the audience; almost all his performances involved inviting audience members on stage to strictly examine the props. He would choose different people each time, and through Dai Lin’s eyesight, it had been verified that none of these were his plants.

Fang Zhou immediately stood up, raising his hand.

"No need to throw cards, I’ll do it!"

...

...

In the profound darkness.

"My... most precious..."

In the darkness, there was nothing.

"Give it back to me..."

"Give it back to me..."