Hospital 444

"If what you’re saying is true..." Dai Lin began to feel that Mei Ge’s words didn’t seem like a lie, "then why would the dean keep that paper?"

It wasn’t strange for Mo Meige to have access to the paper, after all, her uncle was the department head, and he had the authority to read the papers, so naturally, he could also let Mei Ge see them.

"About that... I’m not sure either. However, I have a conjecture." Mei Ge found that Dai Lin was starting to take her words seriously, which relieved her. She continued delving into the topic, "Inside this hospital, the dean is not omnipotent. Some force binds him. This prevents the dean from doing whatever he wishes with us Paranormal Doctors; everything must be done within the rules."

Within the rules...

...

"Has Dr. Dai been sent to the morgue yet?"

Ying Ziye, holding his cellphone, sat in his room, listening to the information Gao Heyann was telling him.

"This is troublesome. Guarding the morgue alone is very dangerous. Not to mention that this time, a body that exceeded 24 hours and was not processed by the Department of Cursed Objects has been brought in."

"But this is a rule set by the dean. Even if Director Chen Chen of the morgue arranged this, I cannot defy it."

This was the most troublesome part for Gao Heyann.

As long as there are no explicit orders from the dean, the vice-dean could interfere by pulling rank. But once there’s a written rule, even the vice-dean is helpless. In this hospital, doctors are merely pawns under the game rules set by the dean. Doctors like Gao Heyann, who entered the hospital voluntarily, are one in a hundred.

"I see," Ying Ziye said, then glanced at the wall next to him.

On the pristine wall, blood-red characters were clearly visible.

This was a room in the apartment building belonging to one of the residents. Just moments ago, this resident had been assigned a new blood message task.

Recently, the blood message tasks issued by the apartment had one thing in common. That is, at the end of the instructions, the same sentence was always added.

"If you see a doctor with an inverted cross on their forehead, it means your soul has been contaminated. Do everything possible to survive until you return to the apartment. Prolonged contact with them means you will never return to the apartment. Those who can read this blood message must not tell any Paranormal Doctor, as they have no way to read the memory of you seeing this text."

"Dr. Ying," the voice of Gao Heyann came from the other end of the phone, "I want to ask, have... have the recent blood message tasks you’ve been issuing involved the hospital in any way?"

Looking at the blood message in front of him, Ying Ziye replied, "No, Dr. Gao."

For the residents of the apartment, the blood message tasks were as unbreakable as the dean’s rules. Every resident knew this very well.

"Good, if you get any news, please be the first to tell me."

Gao Heyann particularly emphasized the word "first."

"Alright, I will."

"Then, goodbye."

"Goodbye, Dr. Gao."

Right after that, Ying Ziye hung up.

The blood characters on the wall began to disappear bit by bit.

As she watched, she said to the resident in the room, "Do you understand what you have to do now?"

"I don’t quite understand soul contamination..."

"Ever read the Cthulhu Mythos?"

"You mean, like your SAN points plummeting?"

"You could think of it that way."

In Ying Ziye’s mind, she could still clearly remember all the content of the blood message from earlier. Right now, what she needed to consider first was how to deal with her dual identity as both a resident of the apartment and a Paranormal Doctor.

Yin Wuque recruiting himself to become a doctor was of course not for charity. He planned to use him for something, which Ying Ziye was nearly certain of.

And now, she was gradually starting to piece things together in her mind.

Then, she turned her head and looked at Dong Xie, who was sitting on the sofa behind her, pondering with his phone in hand, and asked, "What do you think, apartment manager?"

Dong Xie had previously been the identity of the apartment manager, and now that he had returned, resuming this role was only natural. Ying Ziye didn’t care about this at all, as long as someone capable was in charge.

Meanwhile, Dong Xie had used his phone to take a photo of the blood message task and was looking at the content related to doctors.

"I need to think it over. Let’s have a meeting after dawn, and I’ll share my thoughts."

"Okay, that’s fine, you should rest first."

After saying goodbye to Ziye and the tenant, Dong Xie left the room and stepped into the hallway of the apartment.

He walked slowly, heading towards the staircase.

After entering the stairwell...

Dong Xie subconsciously covered his mouth and looked behind him.

"She shouldn’t have noticed... right?"

Now, for Dong Xie, there were indeed many troubling issues to consider.

The doctor with the inverted cross on his forehead was obviously a big problem. And whether or not he should agree to Yin Wuque’s offer to join him was a question. He had now confirmed one thing: the Paranormal Doctor actually couldn’t force them to do anything.

However, becoming a Paranormal Doctor for Dong Xie might not be a bad thing.

"I need to weigh this carefully..."

Dong Xie slowly descended the stairs, lost in thought.

Spiritual pollution...

This term really made him think of too many things.

"Cthulhu Mythos, what on earth is that? And what are SAN values..." Dong Xie picked up his phone and did a search, "Oh, it’s a writer from the MiliKen country... Ah, no, no, that’s not right, here it should be called the United States... This strange translation. I have to be careful, or I’ll give myself away."

"SAN values are a concept derived from the tabletop game ’Call of Cthulhu.’ Simply put, they represent a person’s sanity, their normal cognitive ability. As SAN values decrease, it means the mind gradually becomes confused..."

...

"Have you read ’Cthulhu Mythos’? It’s the work of the American writer H.P. Lovecraft. Symptoms of a decrease in SAN values appear after an abyssal assault."

"I’m aware of that."

Through Milan, Dr. Dai was very familiar with the symptoms of an abyssal attack.

Even the most minimal abyssal assault would have a very noticeable effect on the patients’ psyche. But it wasn’t an ordinary mental illness; it was a curse at the level of the soul.

What they saw was not merely illusions, but a kind of reality on some level, and it would gradually manifest itself in their bodies. As the level of abyssal assault increased, so too would the degree of curse on the patients.

A distinctive feature of an abyssal assault was: the higher the level, the more likely it was that what the doctor faced was no longer evil spirits. The patients themselves would become the greatest threat to the doctors’ lives. When the level required treatment in the Department of Cursed Objects, ordinary Paranormal Doctors would be helpless.

"So..."

Just at that moment, Mo Meige’s expression suddenly changed.

"What’s wrong?" Dr. Dai immediately turned to look in the direction Meige was looking, but saw nothing.

"Just now... at the door... a black cat ran past!"