Hospital 444

At this moment, Yin Wuque was in the surveillance room of Hospital 444, reviewing the security footage from the second floor’s payment counter.

When he saw a hand extending from the ceiling, snatching up the ghost, Yin Wuque said, "She wasn’t successfully captured; she has already fled."

Behind Yin Wuque stood Song Min and Mei Quzhen.

"This patient also exhibited the same Sign of the Devil," Mei Quzhen lifted her right hand, "unfortunately, my Devil’s Cursed Object is gone. Earlier, He Yan even wanted to take a blood sample to consult me for the investigation."

Yin Wuque began to rewind the surveillance footage to watch it in slow motion, hoping to find some clues.

"Here..."

Then, Yin Wuque suddenly pointed to a corner in the hallway next to the payment counter, "Who among you will go check it out?"

With the footage in slow motion, Yin Wuque finally noticed a fleeting figure in that corridor, precisely at the moment when the ghost was grabbed to the ceiling board.

"That place should lead to the stairwell. If the figure went there, it’s likely that the constraints of that corridor would make it hard for them to escape. But... it would also be difficult to detect."

Mei Quzhen was about to volunteer when Song Min cut in, "I’ll do it, Director Yin."

"Be careful, Director Song."

Though he said that, Yin Wuque trusted Song Min immensely. Even though Yin Wuque was Song Min’s superior and his medical expertise exceeded hers, Song Min’s experience and clinical knowledge far surpassed his. Moreover, Yin Wuque was fully aware of how powerful Song Min’s cursed object was.

Even if she encountered a malevolent spirit, Song Min would be able to make it out unscathed.

The second floor’s payment counter was now deserted.

It was already after ten o’clock.

In two hours, all doctors would have to withdraw from the Outpatient Department; no one could stay there, as per the firm rule set by the hospital director.

At this place and time, only Song Min was present.

Song Min raised her hand to her right cheek and then... tore it off fiercely!

After that...

She actually ripped off a large piece of her facial skin!

But behind it, there was no flesh or blood; what was exposed from the torn wound was notebook paper!

The sight was utterly surreal.

The back of the skin she tore off was also notebook paper, with clearly visible lines running across it.

Then, after flipping the paper back and forth a few times, the side that was originally skin also turned into notebook paper!

Subsequently, the notebook paper began to stretch bit by bit, growing larger... until it became A5 size.

Song Min held the notebook paper in front of her as letters began to emerge on it!

The first things to appear were today’s date and the weather.

Then came the words:

"I’m walking step by step on the second floor of the hospital at night, quickly reaching the corridor in front of the stairwell. Here, there are two wandering ghosts, and I haven’t found the ghost Director Yin was looking for.

I walked down the corridor, and a while later, suddenly, a ghost appeared behind me, pouncing towards me."

Seeing this section, Song Min took out a pen, crossed out the word "behind" on the paper, and then wrote "five meters ahead."

After pondering for a moment, Song Min added another sentence, "The ghost on the corridor is heavily constrained and moves very slowly."

"Mm, like this the difficulty of capturing it shouldn’t be too great..."

Before Song Min could finish saying "great," the six words she had just written, "moves very slowly," vanished.

"No good..." Song Min wasn’t surprised by this.

Her cursed object, this diary, had completely merged with her own body.

The diary could predict the future up to two days in advance. However, if Song Min’s actions differed from the diary’s predictions on the same day, the content of the diary would change, and the foresight would be limited to within ten minutes.

And if the future turned against Song Min, she could moderately modify the diary’s content to steer it towards a more favorable outcome for herself. But naturally, she couldn’t modify it as she pleased, otherwise she would be invincible. The modifications had to be within reason, well within certain limits, and most importantly... under the seal of the Department of Cursed Objects, the diary couldn’t be used to curse doctors and patients to death.

After that, Song Min continued to edit.

If the part she modified didn’t pass, she would keep changing it until the words stayed in the diary.

Finally, the content she modified was approved. She checked her watch, and at the very front of the paper, she wrote the exact time, three minutes from now.

Then, she confidently walked forward. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

But after a while, she suddenly had a feeling that something was off.

Picking up the diary paper again, Song Min was shocked to find that the content had been altered!

The time changed to the present!

The content read, "The evil spirit appeared behind me, and I didn’t even realize it."

Just one line of text.

The evil spirit was... behind her?

Song Min wasn’t scared at all; her cursed object wasn’t just in this diary.

Without any hesitation, she turned around!

Then, she saw in the pitch darkness behind her, a figure emerging.

"You’re not the devil," Song Min realized something at the moment, "The host for a demon, right?"

The shadow remained silent, then slowly retreated, fading into the darkness.

Song Min coldly watched but didn’t pursue.

Clearly, the other party couldn’t kill her.

But she likewise couldn’t do anything to them.

From the beginning, the evil spirit could leave this place at any time.

All along, treatments related to demonic curses had been impossible to obtain any information from the Demons Department. This meant... if the general emergency department encountered a patient with a demonic curse, it would be very difficult to diagnose and transfer them to the Demons Department immediately. Especially in the emergency center, without an immediate diagnosis and proper treatment, it was hard for patients to survive. Such cases, although rare, could easily result in casualties among the doctors.

The breakthrough in treating devil’s curses came when Han Ming brought back a Devil’s Cursed Object from America that year.

It was after that, that Hospital 444 finally mastered the imaging diagnostic standards for demonic curses, which were later known as the "Sign of the Devil." Of course, not all patients displayed the typical radiological features, but at least the doctors weren’t diagnosing blindly anymore.

Song Min lifted her hand and pushed back her bangs, only then realizing her forehead was covered with sweat.

When she returned to the monitoring room, Yin Wuque and Mei Quzhen also wore solemn expressions. Through the surveillance, they too had seen what just occurred and were close to coming over to help.

"Under the restrictions of the hospital, the evil spirit can’t do much to us," Yin Wuque comforted, "Don’t worry too much, Director Song."

Song Min didn’t fear that evil spirit; to fight it out head-on was also possible.

But the evil spirit wasn’t going to fight you head-on!

It could leave whenever it wanted, and she simply couldn’t keep it there!

So, she felt quite frustrated inside.

...

When Dai Lin left the hotel, his mood was still very gloomy.

Now, he just hoped, as Yin Wuque said, that his brother could be discharged from the hospital.

Just then, his phone rang.

The caller was... Tang Li!

Previously, Dai Lin and Tang Li had indeed exchanged phone numbers; the number Dai Lin mentioned was the one Gao Heyann gave him.

"Dr. Dai, is there no one beside you now?"

"No," Dai Lin replied.

"There is something I need your help with. Listen closely, I want you to do something for me... just consider it a favor for our joint efforts last time, please help me," Tang Li requested.

"What do you mean, Dr. Tang?"

"Please, Dr. Dai, don’t ask why."

Dai Lin looked around quickly, confirming with the Devil’s Eye that Han Ming’s people hadn’t followed him.

Although Tang Li was a doctor in the emergency department, under An Zhiyuan’s authority, she was undoubtedly not part of the Han Ming Faction.

"Alright, Dr. Tang," Dai Lin agreed.

"Thank you, Dr. Dai," Tang Li expressed her gratitude.

She then instructed, "Make sure no one is following you, then go to a FamilyMart on Linding Road in W City. Describe my appearance to the cashier there, and tell them that I paid with counterfeit money just now. Ask them to check the cash register for you. Inside, there is a hidden hand-drawn map fragment."

Hand-drawn map???

Dai Lin immediately understood, "Dr. Tang, the map fragment that An Minglu had in her mouth that day that you stayed behind to help us with, is it in your hands?"

"Yes. I used my cursed object to make the cashier think it was real money. I will transfer a hundred yuan to your WeChat shortly; help me pay and exchange for the map fragment. Remember... this is very important, remember... after you get the map fragment, immediately, at once, teleport to the hospital and hide it in your doctor’s rest room! Do not give it to anyone! Remember, do not give it to anyone, not even He Yan!"

"Even Dr. Gao... also? Dr. Tang, why are you keeping that map fragment hidden?"

"I’ve said... please don’t ask why. You, who just joined the hospital, are the only person I can trust! This is a task entrusted to me by Meng Hua... I must complete it for her!"