Chapter 1: The Haunted Yōlin (Part 1)

  "Hey, give me a fright."

  A clear and pleasant voice entered Ding Lingxiu's ears, and Ding Lingxiu took a closer look, immediately realizing that the beautiful woman with a Band-Aid on her nose in front of him was the nurse who had been knocked down just now.

  The beautiful nurse was holding a flashlight and shining it under her face, thinking she could scare Ding Lingxiu. If it were someone else, they might have been frightened in such a gloomy environment if suddenly called out.

  But this female nurse seemed to have forgotten about the band-aid on her nose, and by doing so, she was undoubtedly telling Ding Lingyu that she was a ghost who had been cute to death.

  "You're so scary that even a ghost would be afraid of you!" Ding Lingxiu smiled, thinking to himself that this was truly a case of a fisherman meeting his match, and yet he didn't even realize who the person he was trying to scare was.

  "Cut it out, don't be so uncooperative. Next time I give you an injection, I'll use a bit more force." The nurse said with a raised neck and a playful tone.

  "Hehe, thanks for the advice, I just love playing thrilling games." Ding Lingxiu cupped his hands.

  "Cut, transform."

  "Hey... beautiful girl, don't say that, we're not even familiar with each other, how can you evaluate me like that."

  "It's written all over your face!"

  "Alright, okay, you're still not asleep so late, what are you wandering around in the corridor for?" Ding Lingxiu found her very interesting, although she looked cold as ice, but actually was a lively girl.

  "Nonsense, of course it's for rounds. Otherwise, if the patients were like you, how would they be able to sleep without suddenly becoming violent? And what about you, sneaking around everywhere in the middle of the night? Are you up to no good?"

  "Hungry, can't even have a midnight snack?"

  "Now that you mention it, I'm a bit hungry too, it's all your fault!"

  "What does your hunger have to do with me?" Ding Lingxiu looked at her sideways, once again admiring the woman's incredible logic.

  "It's related, what can you do?" The little nurse stood with her hands on her hips, looking at Ding Lingxiu.

  Ding Lingxiu was also speechless, muttering:

  "To cook rice you need grain, to speak you need reason. Since you're so reasonable, I admit I was wrong. How about I treat you to a meal?"

  "Hehe, I was waiting for you to say that, wait for me, still one ward short."

  "Okay."

  Ding Lingxiu lit a cigarette, with both hands leaning on the windowsill. Due to his natural good looks, he often had girls hitting on him, and it had become a habit for him. Ding Lingxiu also didn't have the hobby of pretending to be aloof, so his relationships with women were always pretty good.

  But men are such creatures that although they are flirtatious, once a woman who is unattainable yet has feelings walks into their heart, she will be unforgettable no matter how much time passes.

  As Ding Qinyu was about to leave, the two of them had a quarrel over trivial matters, and even their farewell took place in an atmosphere of sulking.

  Sometimes, Ding Lingxiu would think: When we click the exit button of some programs, the system will remind us: Press again to exit the software. I wish that in life, when we slam the door and leave after a quarrel, there would be a voice telling us: Take one more step and you won't be able to come back.

  Language is such a thing, so powerless when expressing love; yet so sharp when expressing hurt.

  Because of Ding Qinyu, Ding Lingxiu never wanted to open his heart, for more than a year, he wasn't doing it for the so-called "guarding one's body like jade", but rather, even if the water has cooled down, it can still be drunk. But once the heart cools down, all happiness seems desolate.

  Ding Lingxiu was stunned, and soon the female nurse walked out of the ward.

  "Let's go, huh? Why are you smoking?"

  "This is a corridor, but not a ward."

  "Yes."

  The female nurse pointed to a sign in the corridor, Ding Lingxiu took a look and saw that it was written "No Smoking".

  "Whatever, I've said it already. It says no smoking, but this trash can still has cigarette boxes pressed on it, and inside are all cigarette butts."

  "You should complain less, I really don't know why you men smoke this stuff."

  "You don't understand this, do you? Do you know why people smoke? Although smoking wastes money, it brings happiness. Can 10 yuan buy you 20 moments of happiness?"

  "Cut it out, what nonsense theory." The female nurse rolled her eyes.

  "Haha, better than your 'that's just how it is' tyrannical theory, let's go, what to eat."

  "Spicy pot is downstairs."

  The two took the elevator downstairs and arrived at a mala xiangguo restaurant on the first floor of the hospital. It was already close to midnight, but surprisingly, the mala xiangguo restaurant had not closed yet, and there were still two tables of customers.

  "By the way, what's your name?" the nurse asked.

  "My name is Zhao Linxiu, born to repair Lin's, what about you?"

  "Hehe, you're really funny, then I'll be called Luo Huaiyu, what's the allusion?"

  "Need you ask? Of course she can give birth to a daughter."

  "Cut, you really can talk nonsense." Luo Huaiyu smiled gently, like a snow-covered jade bud, bright and beautiful beyond compare.

  "By the way, I was really scared when you startled me just now. You said there are still some strange people in this hospital at night." Ding Lingxiu said this on purpose, but in his heart, he was thinking of a plan to find out from Luo Huaiyu the reason for his unease.

  "You don't say, I wonder if you believe in ghosts or not?"

  "Why don't you believe?"

  "Then I'll tell you, don't be afraid, okay? This hospital's intensive care unit had a real paranormal event happen before." Luo Huaiyu said mysteriously, and deliberately swallowed her saliva to set the atmosphere.

  "Really? Tell me about it."

  "This happened in room 204 on the second floor. The fourth bed in this room is very ominous, it's said that previously an old man died in this bed due to a doctor's negligence in a medical accident. As a result, his family made a big fuss, putting wreaths and urns at the hospital entrance every day to demand compensation. Although the hospital agreed to pay compensation, his family refused to give up."

  "Nowadays, being a doctor is a profession that saves lives and treats injuries, seemingly glorious, but also comes with such risks. If a medical accident really happens, the psychological pressure and social pressure to be borne are unimaginable," said Ding Lingshu.

  "That's true, but the key issue isn't that. Later on, there was an incident where his family members made a huge scene and even wanted to burn paper money in front of the hospital gate to pay respects to the old man. The security guard went over to stop them, but unexpectedly they started fighting. In the chaos, the security guard accidentally knocked over the urn with the old man's ashes. It was like when it rains, it pours - at that moment, it really did start raining and many of the ashes were washed away. His family members were furious and ended up beating the security guard until he was seriously injured."

  "This is also a bit too much, and that security guard is quite unlucky." Ding Lingxiu lit up a cigarette and continued to listen.

  "It's not just a coincidence, but what happened next is even more unbelievable. The security guard was seriously injured and sent to the ICU, and it just so happened that he was placed in the same bed as the old man who had passed away in room 204. As a result, this security guard mysteriously died on Thursday at 4 o'clock." Luo Huaiyu's eyes were wide with excitement as she spoke, and even she couldn't help but feel tense from her own tone.

  Ding Lingxiu listened quietly, furrowing his brow: "And then?"

  "The mysterious death of this security guard was just the beginning, and things only got more bizarre from there. Every Thursday at 4:00, patients in bed number four of the ICU would die under strange circumstances, all due to asphyxiation. The entire hospital was on edge, with nurses trying their best not to send patients to that ward. As time went on, rumors began to spread like wildfire - some said the head doctor's medical skills were subpar, while others claimed the ward was haunted by the ghost of the old man who had died unjustly."

  Ding Lingxiu looked at Luo Huaiyu incredulously. As a demon hunter, accurately identifying the type of demon was his specialty. Although he hadn't used his demon-tracking compass, based on experience, the aura he felt in this hospital was absolutely not a vengeful spirit, but rather an indistinct and unutterable sense of foreboding and malice, which completely contradicted Luo Huaiyu's account.

  "Isn't it so evil? Later on, that ward was empty?" Ding Lingxiu asked.

  "It wasn't over yet, one day later, the hospital ward was almost full, and the nurse really had no way out, so she pushed a patient to that bed number 4. That night, around four o'clock in the morning, not a single nurse dared to make rounds, but the attending physician of this department happened to be on duty, he wanted to clear his name, decided to investigate." Luo Huaiyu took a sip of water, paused for a moment, deliberately keeping Ding Ling's stomach guessing, and only continued after a long time:

  "The doctor stood at the door of the ward, almost 4 o'clock, his legs were numb with fear. Suddenly, he really saw the patient on bed No. 4 in ward No. 4 struggling to pull the curtains and screaming loudly. Although the doctor was afraid, he still summoned up the courage to run over and take a closer look. Guess what he saw?"

  Luo Waiyu leaned forward, asking Ding Lingxiu in a gloomy tone, as if waiting for him to tense up. However, Ding Lingxiu was puffing on his cigarette, looking completely at ease.

  "What did you see?"

  "Outside the window, there was an old man sweeping and cleaning, who pulled out the plug of the oxygen cylinder next to the hospital bed and plugged in the vacuum cleaner. This is the old man's weekly routine..."

  “……”

  Ding Lingxiu looked at Luo Huaiyu speechlessly, neither laughing nor showing much fear. In fact, Ding Lingxiu had already known from her expression that this was something she made up.