Hospital 444

Xie Chengjun was writing a prescription for a female patient in front of him.

"Don’t worry, your current condition isn’t serious. According to my clinical experience, this is just a Resentful Spirit that has recently transformed. It’s entirely appropriate for you to have registered at the Department of Spectral Internal Medicine~~"

"That’s such a relief, thank you, Doctor." The patient let out a big sigh of relief and said, "This past month has been like living in hell for me; no matter where I go, I always see that ghost... So, just by taking this Cursed Flesh, I’ll be okay?"

Xie Chengjun’s flamboyant handwriting was a true legacy of real-world doctors. After finishing the prescription, he looked up at the patient and said, "You only need to get 200g of Cursed Flesh to start with. Any more than that and you probably won’t be able to finish it, eat it three times a day, 1g at a time. However, I have to remind you of something very important. Whether the ghost appears by your side or not, you must come back for a follow-up. You can’t stop taking Cursed Flesh until I say you can, not even for a single meal. Any excess has to be returned; keeping it would lead to trouble."

"About the excess part, can Spiritual Therapy Points be refunded?"

"You’re quite the joker, refunding Spiritual Therapy Points—such a thing, I haven’t seen in all my years."

"How can this be okay? I return the excess Cursed Flesh to you, but don’t get any Spiritual Therapy Points back?"

Xie Chengjun twirled his pen and said, "Alright, go get your Cursed Flesh."

"Really, no refund?"

"No, absolutely not, definitely not. If you really feel like you’re at a loss..."

"What can I do?" The patient immediately showed a look of hope.

"You could eat the surplus Cursed Flesh and then you’ll turn into a Resentful Spirit yourself. Then, you could go and haunt others and have them come to our hospital for treatment. That way, you don’t lose out, and neither do we. Isn’t that perfect?"

"..."

"Next!"

And the next ones to come in...

...were none other than Dai Ming and Pan Yizhen.

"Hello, Doctor. It’s like this..."

After Dai Ming sat down, Xie Chengjun carefully scrutinized his face and couldn’t help feeling that his face bore a passing resemblance to Dai Lin’s at first glance.

"Dai... Ming, right?"

"Yes."

"Tell me, what’s happened?"

"It’s like this." Dai Ming took out a stack of his and Pan Yizhen’s drawings and placed them on the table, saying to Xie Chengjun, "Doctor, ever since I was young..."

Dai Ming recounted his experiences from childhood to the present, while Pan Yizhen supplemented with her experiences.

After they had told their story, Xie Chengjun picked up the drawings and began to examine them closely.

His expression... gradually shifted from joking to serious.

Seeing the change in Xie Chengjun’s face, Dai Ming pointed to one of the drawings and said, "Doctor Xie, it’s like this when I drew this picture, I was half asleep, just subconsciously holding the pen, and I ended up drawing this, and it’s so terrifying..."

"Let me ask you something." Xie Chengjun’s tone of voice had become grave and terse: "Have you seen this female ghost in the real world?"

"No."

"No."

Dai Ming and Pan Yizhen gave the same answer.

Xie Chengjun put down the drawing and looked seriously at Dai Ming and Pan Yizhen.

The most fearful thing for a patient is the doctor’s look like that.

"The two of you need to get a CT scan, immediately."

A CT scan? 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"We’re not here for a physical examination, why would we need a CT scan..." Dai Ming felt it was somewhat absurd.

"Our CT scans are for the soul." Xie Chengjun’s fingers deftly typed on the keyboard and quickly hit the "Print" button, after which, the printer next to him started printing out the image report form.

"You two, 1000 Spiritual Therapy Points each, go to the registration desk on the first floor to pay, then go to the second-floor imaging registration to make an appointment. Take the elevator, definitely don’t take the stairs. But if you must take the stairs, remember... count the steps. If there are more than twelve, you must go back and redo it until there are only twelve steps again."

"We’ve already been told by the registration downstairs. The nurse emphasized it too. We’ll... take the elevator."

"A wise decision. If you can get a CT today, get my number for a follow-up after the report comes out."

"Wait..." Pan Yizhen asked anxiously, "Doctor, what’s our current condition? We... we’ll be okay if we just stop drawing these pictures, right?"

"Whether you draw it or not, nothing will change anymore," Xie Chengjun returned the draft to them. "Anyway, go have the examination first. Before the examination is done, I can’t give you a definitive diagnosis."

"Doctor, you—don’t scare me!" Pan Yizhen became increasingly nervous. "Are we in danger of losing our lives?"

"Ninety percent of the patients who come to this hospital are in danger of losing their lives. Alright, go and pay first, make an appointment. We’ll discuss everything once the reports come out."

Pan Yizhen wanted to ask more, but Dai Ming tugged at her hand and said, "Let’s go pay first."

After the two left the outpatient clinic, Pan Yizhen looked anxiously at the imaging request form. The written clinical diagnosis conclusion was: Resentful Spirit Curse. Just those simple four words!

"That female ghost..."

Pan Yizhen walked on, and suddenly her legs went weak, and she almost fell to the ground.

"I—I don’t want to die, Mr. Dai, I really don’t want to die!"

Dai Ming hurried to hold up Pan Yizhen and said, "It’s okay, it’s okay... This is the hospital, that doctor will surely be able to cure us! He definitely can!"

Latter on, Dai Ming consoled Pan Yizhen, "Dr. Xie asked us earlier if we had seen that female ghost in the real world, and neither of us had, which means... the curse hasn’t reached the point of being incurable!"

"Mm... Yes, you’re right!"

For the current Pan Yizhen, what Dai Ming said was like throwing a plank of wood to someone drowning—of course she would choose to desperately clasp onto it!

"It can still be treated, it’s definitely treatable! If it can be cured, then the Spiritual Therapy Points and all that are just a part of something I’ll get in the future. Just give up the points! The important thing is to stay alive!"

"Let’s go pay first, and then get a CT... to think there’s a CT that can scan the soul!"

Just at that moment, Xia Li happened to pass by the corridor. He was about to go to the inpatient department for his shift. As he walked past Dai Ming, he said subconsciously, "Dr. Dai?"

Initially, Dai Ming didn’t react, but he later realized that the doctor beside him seemed to be calling his name.

"Are you... calling me?"

"Sorry, I mistook you for someone else," After a closer look, Xia Li realized it wasn’t Dai Lin.

"Oh, it’s okay."

After Xia Li walked away, Pan Yizhen said with suspicion, "Such a coincidence? The person he mistook for you has the same surname as you?"

"Yeah, quite a coincidence..."

When they reached the elevator, Dai Ming pressed the button. His mind was swirling with thousands of thoughts, so much so that he didn’t immediately realize what it might mean to have a "Dr. Dai" who looked a lot like himself.

The payment process went quite smoothly, and even though Dai Ming didn’t know what 1000 Spiritual Therapy Points meant, he still bit the bullet and paid.

At worst, it’s just losing the job he had now, right?

Then, the two went to the second floor to make an appointment registration.

"You’re in luck," the nurse in charge of registration said. "You can have it done tomorrow morning. Is nine o’clock okay for you?"

"It’s fine..." Dai Ming thought to himself that he might just have to take another day off.

"Yes," Pan Yizhen was eager to have the examination done as soon as possible, "the sooner the better. How long does it take to get the CT report?"

"Usually two to three days. A soul cross-section scan has at least a few hundred images, and the doctors in the Spirit Radiology department need to examine each one carefully. You are scheduled for the ultra-thin layer scan, so it might take a little longer."

"Ultra-thin?" Dai Ming suddenly became anxious. "Does that mean it’s serious?"

"It means a more detailed examination is needed; it doesn’t imply that the situation is necessarily very serious, about four to five days for the results."

Dai Ming and Pan Yizhen were desperate, how could they wait that long!

"Is there no way to speed it up?"

"For an expedited process, our director can use Cursed Flesh to assist in your examination, which would be much quicker, and the results could come out by tomorrow evening or the day after. However, the cost would multiply by quite a bit. For both of you, it would be 8000 Spiritual Therapy Points."

Eight thousand?

What would that mean for the future?

If they lost their health, it would be a grievous loss.

"Forget it... let’s wait then."

"Be sure to come over ten minutes early for the examination tomorrow morning. Keep the form, and you’ll need the form for the examination tomorrow."