Chapter 6, The Murder Case in the Hospital

There is an invisible ghost chasing her

Alright, I will go and do it right away

Do not meddle in others' affairs! The guillotine continued to speak, erupting in sharp laughter, creaking loudly.

It takes less than a minute to walk from the observation room at one end of the corridor to the water room at the other end, yet she has been walking for quite some time and still cannot see the lights of the hall.

There were two people standing back to back against Xia, twisted together in a peculiar posture, blocking her path. The footsteps behind her gradually approached, and the two individuals turned around, leaving her with no place to hide

I had a nightmare again

She did not dare to turn back. She had heard from others that there were balls of sunlight on top of a person's head and shoulders. If one were to recklessly turn around, the sunlight would extinguish, and then there would be nothing to keep the ghosts and monsters at bay. She reminded herself to absolutely not turn around, even though at this moment she could feel something exploring the nape of her neck, accompanied by some strange rustling sounds coming from behind her.

This is not the way back

She stood rigidly against the wall, her entire body tense, unable to think, unable to move her feet. At that moment, footsteps echoed in the darkness.

Xia Xia gasped in surprise and ran towards the light without a second thought, completely unaware of the dangers that lay ahead. She only wanted to escape, to flee from the entity standing beside her, the nature of which she did not understand.

I did not harm you, do not cling to me! She shouted in her heart, quickly walked into the water room, filled a container with water, turned around to leave, but nearly bumped into a woman in white.

The entire corridor was filled only with her faint breathing and footsteps, each sound piercing her eardrums and striking her heart. She tried to slow down and lighten her steps with the book, but the sounds felt increasingly heavy and urgent. Gradually, she realized that the footsteps were not hers alone.

Your water has spilled, are you not going to refill it

Tap, tap, tap

Tap, tap, tap

This torment seems endless, leaving her trapped in nightmares from which she cannot escape. What has she collided with? What has she provoked? Or is there something that insists on troubling her? Why is she being told not to meddle? Is it related to the case of Li Jingming?

Mind your own business? What does this mean? Xia Xia was puzzled. However, she was currently feeling anxious and breathless, having no mind to pay attention to these matters, only wanting to return to the ward as soon as possible. She walked quickly, her footsteps still echoing as before, which made her uneasy. A minute later, this unease turned into fear

The nightmare in the middle of the night finally made Xia suffer from an illness. She has a fever

It seemed like a long, long time ago when she ran to a door, above which were written four blood-red characters—Intensive Care Unit

The corridor was extremely quiet

The sound was exceptionally piercing, breathtaking, and eerie in the air, yet there was no one by the door. Then the door closed, and the slow, measured footsteps sounded again, still approaching Xiaoxia, coming closer and closer until they stopped in front of her, and then an unseen ghostly hand grasped her other ankle.

The rooms on both sides were shrouded in darkness; not a single patient was present, and even the duty nurses were absent. The entire emergency area was as silent as a grave. Initially, Xia Xia, still in a daze, did not notice this, but soon felt that something was amiss, realizing that this was far from the normal state and atmosphere one would expect in a hospital.

What is following her

Alright, but please do not do this again in the future, and do not meddle in others' affairs.

Wanli picked up the empty water cup to fetch water, while Xia Xia weakly turned over, facing the wall and sighed

The sound halted before her, as if that thing was staring at her from across the way, yet she could see nothing. Then, a cold hand grasped her ankle.

Who would come at the dead of night! Wan Li said casually. In fact, he had seen the silhouette of a nurse, which sent a chill down his spine. However, it might just be a routine check, so there was no need to mention it to Xiao Xia

The woman was so close to her that their faces were almost touching, which startled her into dropping the water cup onto the ground. The plastic cup did not break, but the sound was sharp and crisp, echoing far and wide.

The nurse in the water room

Something is slowly approaching from her left side

She stared wide-eyed at the distant yet near black mist, but could see nothing, only the footsteps drawing closer and closer and closer.

She slept very restlessly, always feeling as if someone had suddenly pushed her just as she was about to fall into a deep sleep, making her feel as though she was about to fall off the hospital bed. In this half-dreaming, half-awake state, she suddenly woke up again in the middle of the night, feeling so thirsty that her throat felt as if it were on fire. At this moment, Wanli and the observing patient in the adjacent bed, along with their accompanying family members, were sound asleep. Not wanting to disturb them, she decided to go to the water room at the end of the corridor to get some water to drink.

This realization filled Xia with terror, and her instinct for survival compelled her to keep running. In the seemingly endless corridor, only the heavy panting of Xiaohan and the urgent "tap-tap" sound echoed, as if the monster were driving her forward. The slow yet distinct footsteps followed her closely from behind. Whenever she stopped, it would catch up to her, impossible to shake off, until she found herself at the nurses' station in the intensive care unit, though she could not recall how she had gotten there.

Just as Xia Xia was lost in her thoughts, the nurse from her nightmare suddenly entered the observation room silently. She quietly stood behind Xia Xia, wearing an evil smile on her face, extending her bony, withered hand towards the back of Xia Xia's neck. However, the clear sound of footsteps coming from the corridor forced her to halt her actions. With a resentful expression, she placed a medicine bottle on the bedside table and then floated away. At that moment, Xia Xia realized that the hairs on her back were standing on end. She abruptly turned around, only to see Wan Li returning from fetching water, standing at the door peering in.

Xiao Xia was so astonished that she could not speak. She only saw Li Shulun move closer, gently grasp the nurse's head, and embrace her affectionately, a smile appearing on his face—stiff, eerie, strange, yet malicious. This smile then slowly transformed into the face of Li Jingming.

She leaned against the wall in terror, glancing left and right, realizing she was in the middle of a dimly lit corridor, surrounded by impenetrable darkness both in front and behind her. Only a faint yellow light flickered in the distance, resembling a ghostly flame luring one into a trap.

I want to drink water

Has anyone been here

She burst in and stopped in front of a brightly lit hospital room. She saw that the bed inside was empty, the patient nowhere to be found, and above the bed was the name of the patient—Li Shulun. Li Jingming's biological son, the only survivor of that bloody incident

"Xia Xia, wake up and look at the book. Xia Xia, Xia Xia, what is wrong with you?" The familiar voice brought her back to consciousness, and the face she recognized from afar made her illusions vanish in an instant, yet the feeling of fear lingered

It is a nurse! Xia relaxed and felt that her suspicions were quite ridiculous, speculating that the footsteps she heard earlier also belonged to her. "I’m sorry, I—I tend to startle easily, please don’t mind me. I—I’ll head back now"

Eyes without pupils, a pale face, a frail body; Xia Xia had seen his photograph in the files, it was Li Shulun. At this moment, he was expressionless, mechanically using a scalpel to cut into a person's neck. The person was kneeling in front of Li Shulun, but as her neck was nearly severed, her face had bizarrely turned 180 degrees to face Xia Xia.

"Did I scream?" she asked weakly, vaguely recalling how she had completely lost control, which was unlike her usual self who never liked to shout. "I hope I didn't wake anyone up"

"Shh, be careful, you might wake others," said the woman in white softly. She had an excessively calm face, with a fresh wound on her nose, as if it had been cut by something.

No. Thank heavens, you are not like some women who scream for no reason, which is unbearable. Look, " Wanli pointed to the adjacent hospital bed and said softly, " still sleeping soundly.

It moves slowly when she does, it moves quickly when she does, it stops when she stops, maintaining the same pace as her; yet she feels that thing getting closer and closer to her, until it is pressed against her back, blowing cool air into her nape

The door behind me opened with a creak.

Xia Xia recognized the decapitated owner, and an immediate chill ran down her spine. The nurse stared at Xia Xia, her face devoid of pain, instead bearing a somewhat pleasurable expression, just fixated on her. Suddenly, the ghost that had been chasing Xia Xia shoved her hard, causing her to fall right in front of the nurse, splattered with the blood gushing from the freshly severed neck. Terrified, Xia Xia quickly turned her face away, but the head, like a lantern held by an invisible person, turned to face her. "Don't meddle in other people's affairs!" she suddenly spoke.

After casually taking a few pills, I managed to stay at the office for half a day, but my high fever persisted. I had no choice but to take leave and go to the hospital. However, after being troubled until the evening, I still could not bring down the fever, and in the end, the doctor decided to keep me for observation.

She has no relatives in this city and is unwilling to trouble her friends, yet Wanli learned about her situation and came to take care of her uninvited. This moved her greatly, but due to her fever, she could only engage in a few casual conversations before drifting off to sleep

I know. It's all my fault; I fell asleep. Otherwise, if you were a bit restless, I would have woken you up, and you wouldn't have to be so scared. Look at all this sweat on you. " He touched her forehead, " but at least the fever has subsided.

No, thank you

In a state of shock, Xia Xia had completely forgotten the principle of not turning her head. Suddenly, she turned around to look in the direction of the water room. However, all she saw behind her was a dark, indistinct mass; there was no sign of the water room, nor was there any trace of the nurse.

Xia Xia also wiped her face, then looked at her hands, finding no traces of blood, only a dampness. This was indeed a nightmare; although she had awakened, her throat still burned with pain.

It was only then that Xiaoxia remembered that Li Shulun was being treated in this hospital, but she did not understand why she had come here, what it had to do with her, and where Li Shulun, who should still be in a deep coma, had gone now.