Chapter 1: The Haunted Yōlin (Part 1)

  "What's wrong with you coming to me? I'm not a doctor."

  The dean listened to the man's words and became furious, waving his hand.

  "Director, they all say you're a skilled doctor, so I thought I'd let you take a look. This situation isn't just about urology...” The man looked somewhat embarrassed. “This requires surgery, and when I went to your urology department for an examination, they said it needed to be removed. I thought to myself, this is no trivial matter. If I really get it cut off, can I still be considered a man?"

  The dean looked at him sideways and listened indifferently.

  The man continued: "So, Dean, you must save me, I really don't want to take drastic measures."

  The director said: "Okay, it's inconvenient here, follow me into the dressing room and I'll take a look."

  "Thank you very much." The man's eyes were moved to tears, almost worshipping him like a god.

  "Ah...... nothing can be done." The director shook his head helplessly and led the man into the dressing room.

  After more than half a day, the two of them walked out from inside.

  The director didn't explain the condition, but sat down, thinking while taking out a pen and writing something on a prescription.

  "You're sure you don't want surgery?"

  "Right, Dean, how can this thing be operated with a knife so casually."

  "Alright, then you strictly follow this prescription and take your medicine, pay close attention to rest and personal hygiene."

  The man was so moved that he burst into tears and grasped the hospital director's hand tightly, saying:

  "Director, thank you so much! You are a divine doctor, I really don't know how to thank you."

  The dean slowly pried open his hand, smiling and saying: "Alright, alright, we should do what we should."

  "Director, if he takes his medicine on time, won't he definitely not need surgery?"

  The principal looked at him and said slowly:

  "Alright, alright, no need for that, just take your medicine on time and it will fall off by itself."

  “……”

  The middle-aged man walked out with a resentful face, Ding Lingxiu couldn't help but sweat, looked at the dean and slowly sat down saying:

  "Hello, Dean."

  "Hello, I've seen you before."

  "Ah ah, Dean, I guess you're the one who stitched up my neck."

  "No." The principal's attitude was cold and seemed unfriendly towards Ding Lingxiu.

  Ding Lingxiu felt somewhat uncomfortable but still accompanied him with a smile and said:

  "Really? Where have we met before?"

  "You came to see me before you got sick," said the director with a straight face.

  Ding Lingxiu was stunned, the Dean went to see himself? Was it when he was sleeping? Although he knew Zhang Shanyi, but it wouldn't be that the Dean would make a big fuss to visit a small patient like him, Ding Lingxiu still couldn't react and figure out what was going on.

  "I didn't quite understand what the principal meant, why did you come to see me?"

  "Nonsense! You've even bruised my precious daughter's nose. I'm going to go take a look at this culprit."

  Ding Lingxu suddenly understood the ins and outs of the matter, and couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine as the air seemed to drop in temperature.

  "Hug... sorry, Dean, I really didn't mean to."

  "If you did it on purpose, the collar of your shirt would have been torn open by me now." The director said calmly, Ding Lingxiu couldn't sense any joking intention.

  "Yes, yes, Dean, I'm very sorry."

  The dean suddenly changed his tone and said with his hands clasped together:

  "Just apologize and it's over, you know Zhang Zhenren."

  Ding Lingxiu nodded, and at this time Zhang Shanyi also walked in.

  "Emperor of Boundless Heaven, Luo Yuanlong, this is what I called you about earlier. My friend... Zhao Linxiu."

  "Alright, I already know."

  Zhang Shanyi saw the Dean's face was not right, so he bowed and said loudly:

  "Director Luo, my friend has an urgent matter to attend to and needs to rush off. Would you mind helping him check his injuries? If it's nothing serious, could you prescribe some medicinal dressings for him to change into on the road?"

  "Sit down, both of you." The principal's anger faded from his face as he gestured for them to sit down. "Nurse Lan, come over here."

  The nurse rushed over, and the director said in a low voice:

  "Go tell the patients outside that I have something urgent to attend to and ask them to come back later."

  "Alright." The nurse nodded and said.

  "Right, help these two brew a cup of tea."

  "Thank you, Dean," said Ding Lingshu.

  The director watched the nurse walk out of the consulting room and closed the door. He then walked to the window, closed it, and pulled up the blinds.

  "Don't be in a hurry to thank me, young brother. Since you and Zhang Zhenren share the same aspirations, I can see that although you're injured, your spirit is still high, so you must not be an ordinary person." The director's expression changed from anger to courtesy, his voice gentle and polite.

  "Nowhere, I'm just an onmyodo after all."

  "Ghost Hunter? Then I suppose it's no big deal for you to catch ghosts either, little brother?" said the Dean.

  "Yes, for us demon hunters, demons and monsters are all prey." Ding Lingxiu said.

  "It's great, I'm also a good friend of Zhang Zhenren. A year ago, when the hospital was haunted, it was Zhang Zhenren who helped to subdue it. At that time, I couldn't help but think that heroes are often young, and Zhang Zhenren had already achieved so much at such a young age. Today, seeing Zhao Xiaodi, he's also strong and capable."

  "Director Ding, you're avoiding others and must have something difficult to say. You don't need to be polite, just speak freely. Ah Yi is my benefactor, his friends are my friends, and their matters are my matters. I won't shirk responsibility."

  "Alright, I won't beat around the bush either. Honestly, this matter is... utterly humiliating." The director muttered in a low voice.

  "It doesn't matter, it's just us here, you can speak directly," said Ding Lingxiu.

  "It's a dead loss." The director repeated again.

  Ding Lingxiu was at a loss for words, and could only stare at Zhang Shanyi in surprise. Zhang Shanyi also looked puzzled, turning to the Dean with a worried expression:

  "Director Luo, just say it directly, we won't spread it outside."

  The principal took a sip of water and said slowly:

  "I'm saying people have gone missing in the hospital, the corpses in the morgue are nowhere to be found."

  “……”

  Ding Lingxiu and Zhang Shanyi exchanged a glance, instantly petrified.

  "Ah, so that's how it is, Dean. I misunderstood. Please continue." Ding Lingxiu blew away the hot air from his tea.

  "It was like this, about a week ago, Old Wang from the morgue suddenly came to me in a flurry, saying that a corpse had gone missing from the morgue. At first, I didn't pay much attention, thinking that this old man, who often drinks too much, must have gotten it wrong. The corpses we store here are usually victims of accidental deaths who were rescued but failed to survive, and the local judicial authorities will find their relatives to claim them when the time comes. Occasionally, there are those who are not claimed, and they will be transferred to the funeral home on a regular basis. Everything has always been managed in an orderly fashion, and nothing strange like this has ever happened before. But this old man and the security guard searched for a long time but couldn't find the missing female corpse, and what's even stranger is that the ground in the morgue usually has a thin layer of frost, and according to Old Wang, when he discovered the corpse was gone, there wasn't even a single footprint on the ground."

  Ding Lingxiu listened quietly, thinking that it was no wonder she had a faint sense of unease since arriving at the hospital, and indeed there was something strange about this place.

  "Director, you mean the morgue is in the basement on the west side of the hospital?"

  "That's right, you've been there?" The principal was somewhat surprised.

  "No, I'm guessing." Ding Lingxiu took a sip of tea and pulled out a lighter from his pocket.

  Flickering flames, Ding Lingxiu gently pinched the cigarette between his fingers, took a puff, and handed one to the principal.

  "I don't smoke." The principal waved his hand in refusal.

  "You continue," Ding Lingxiu said.

  "Although the female corpse was an unclaimed body, it was still abnormal to disappear so suddenly and without reason. So I asked Old Wang to re-examine the autopsy records again, but there were no leads. Because of the many hospital affairs, I didn't pay much attention to this matter either. But in just a few days, another corpse went missing, and this time it was even more outrageous. It's not that the body was lost, but rather it seemed like something had eaten the corpse."

  "Eaten away?" Zhang Shanyi exclaimed in surprise, turning his head to look at Ding Lingxiu, who was narrowing his eyes thoughtfully amidst the smoke.

  "Yes, I went to the scene and saw that the freezer where the body disappeared was clearly pried open by someone. The inside of the freezer was full of unidentifiable bloody objects, the corpse's intestines were splattered everywhere, and there were several pieces of bone and a skull covered in blood...". At this point, the dean's face turned very pale, seemingly nauseous. "I quickly had security review the footage from the second floor, but except for Old Wang, no one else was seen entering the morgue all night."

  "The devoured corpse..." Ding Lingxiu pinched his cigarette holder, and his eyes became sharp.

  "Could it be... a Ghoul?" Zhang Shanyi looked at Ding Lingxiu.

  Ding Ling's eyebrows were tightly locked, and she didn't respond, with smoke suspended in mid-air.