Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Engraving

After ten minutes of casual chatting in the Graduate Students' group:

[@Yuan Ye: The little junior is amazing! She can draw the Cleansing Mouth Incantation in one stroke! Groundhog Screaming.jpg]

[@Xi Cheng'en: Brother Ye, come on, you've been able to draw the Cleansing Mouth Incantation in one stroke for a long time.]

[@Yuan Ye: Is it the same? I’m in my second year of grad school, but she’s just in her first year! Xi Cheng, I can hear your jealousy!]

[@Xi Cheng'en: Hehe.]

Zhou Jingren spilled the tea, thoroughly satisfying his curious heart:

[@Zhou Jingren: The Ming family’s girl still has a strong family tradition.]

[@Zhou Jingren: Too bad, if Ming Dinghai hadn’t died, and Ming’s big brother hadn’t messed things up, Ming Yue could have received better training.]

[@Zhai Dan: Who says otherwise?]

[@Zhai Dan: I heard from Senior Guo Tianyang in my fourth year that the Ming family’s previous generation was extremely prestigious, but there’s no successor. This generation’s kids even have problems with their Yin-Yang eyes, and they can’t find anyone to cure them.]

[@Xi Cheng'en: Damn, Sister Dan, are you talking about that Ming Yue?]

[@Zhai Dan: Who else would it be? Poor thing, her parents died early, and she has a bunch of weird relatives.]

[@Xi Cheng'en: I feel like I just heard a rural family drama. I must be reading this wrong.]

Yuan Ye, a second-year Master's student, was drinking soup in the cafeteria when he saw the conversation in the group and suddenly lost his appetite.

[@Yuan Ye: What are you guys talking about? What ‘no successor, family downfall’? Isn't Ming Yue the legitimate Yin-Yang person?]

[@Yuan Ye: And also, the Ming family in the north of the city is still full of wealth, where’s the ‘downfall’?]

Xi Cheng'en, who was gnawing on bread across the table, said vaguely, “Yuan Ye, I know you admire Ming Dinghai, but the Ming family being unable to keep their hold on things is a fact.”

“The big brother’s name was... what was it? I’m not sure about his talent, but instead of properly solidifying the family business and becoming a Ghost Slayer, he went off and started a funeral home—this isn’t what people in our line of work should be doing.”

Shaking his head, Xi Cheng'en continued, “To give an inappropriate example, it’s like a noble family switching their main business to commerce. It’s just too unorthodox.”Yuan Ye calmly corrected, "The big brother's name is Ming Ye."

"It should be."

Xi Cheng'en slurped his soup, "I don't care what his name is, I just know that from Zhou Jingren’s words, Ming Yue is very talented, and I feel sorry for her—if her brother had been more serious, Ming Yue could have been even better."

"Last year, I helped teach some classes for the professors. You wouldn’t believe how badly those first-year troublemakers talked about Ming Yue."

Yuan Ye felt a heavy weight in his heart, "Youthful ignorance, no filter."

Xi Cheng'en rested his feet on the edge of the stool and stretched his legs, "They're all brought up the same way, who’s better than who? These messed-up kids."

"Enough, we're all from Jin Da undergrad, no face to talk about juniors directly."

In the evening, they agreed to visit the Medical College.

Before dinner, Ming Yue arrived at the Medical College early, taking advantage of Senior Chen Hongmei’s kindness, asking a senior from the nursing department to help apply medicine to her wounds.

"Junior, make sure to take care of yourself."

The nursing senior examined the indentation wound on Ming Yue's wrist, holding an alcohol swab while sighing.

How much heartless determination does it take to bite a piece of flesh off your own wrist, and have blood pour out at the slightest movement?

In her whole life, it was the first time the nursing senior had seen a girl so bold.

The smell of alcohol was strong, almost suffocating. Ming Yue grimaced but nodded, then casually asked, "Senior, can I ask you something?"

"That mirror in the Medical College lobby, what’s it used for?"

"It’s not really used for anything."The nursing senior pointed out the anti-inflammatory medicine, "It’s a tradition in the Medical College. Wherever there’s a dissection room, they place a mirror."

"Everything seen or unseen, all can be properly dressed and arranged, for your convenience and mine."

Ming Yue puffed up her cheeks, "So the Medical College believes in these things too—oh!" Before she could finish, the senior tapped her head with the other end of the tweezers.

The senior smiled, "Junior, science can’t explain everything. Preventing trouble before it happens is everyone’s duty."

"Besides, your Spirit College’s ghosts are coming out alive and kicking, so what’s the harm in placing a mirror?"

Ming Yue: "..."

Ming Yue tightened her lips, "You’re absolutely right, Senior."

"However, according to what you said, this mirror does have a good purpose, right?"

The senior shrugged, "Naturally, I’ve always thought the function of this upright mirror is similar to the door gods."

Door gods.

Ming Yue made a mental note.

But door gods protect against the outside, not the inside; they ward off evil, but not good.

It still didn’t explain the strange conversation Ming Yue had heard when she looked into that mirror early this morning.

The sky was filled with red clouds, the evening glow like a net, enveloping the gray Medical College building. Ming Yue squatted outside the lobby, munching on bread. The cold wind made everything feel desolate, and the scene was so bleak it almost needed a banner overhead reading "Good Family Planning."

At exactly seven o'clock, Yan Jun arrived: "..."

Soon after, Guo Tianyang and his group: "..."

Yan Jun couldn’t help but smile as he walked over and pulled Ming Yue up, "If you want to get rich, start by building roads."

Ming Yue bit her bread and continued, "Have fewer children and plant more trees."

Guo Tianyang came over, draped an arm around each of them, "The organization appreciates your awareness, so now, let’s go into the Medical College and explore the mysteries of human reproduction."Several people burst into laughter.

In front of the lobby mirror, two seniors and two freshmen from the fourth year lined up to look into the mirror.

"Ugly, really ugly."

"Look at you, your nose is crooked, your eyes are askew."

"You're uglier, damn."

Ming Yue took out a small notebook and made gestures to Guo Tianyang, "Senior, I carefully reviewed the related issues about the Medical College."

"They’re definitely not outside ghosts, they’re insiders."

"Good observation, Junior."

Guo Tianyang, interested, thought to himself, "Let's see what this freshman can deduce." "Go on."

Yan Jun calmly took out his phone to take notes.

Ming Yue had a pair of eyes and a mouth on her face. Except for the scary scar from a curse on the corner of her left eye, everything else was bright and beautiful. Once the baby fat disappeared, she would definitely be a great beauty.

But in the mirror, her mouth was crooked, her eyes were askew, her complexion was like cold iron, with white light flashing and darkening against the black sky. The reflection was haunting.

"First, there are a large number of rabbit ghosts in the living specimen lab—Senior, you must know that animal yang energy is far less potent than human energy. Even if the campus formation was removed, the Medical College’s yang energy still wouldn’t gather this many. There were hundreds of them."

"Second, according to the Medical College’s statement, the surveillance cameras in the cold storage room captured groups of ghostly figures wandering, emitting black smoke. However, when I placed the energy-storage talisman on the cold storage, the talisman should have been effective against evil and dark energy, but it showed no response."

"Then, this mirror in the lobby," Ming Yue pointed at the mirror, "It’s understandable that we, with our Yin-Yang Eyes, would see ourselves as hideous. But this morning, when I came with the senior from the third year, I heard strange conversations."

"—I recorded them."

A scholarly enthusiast, Xu Miaomiao, who had been eavesdropping, raised her hand: "Before coming here, I also analyzed the conversation that Junior described."

"One thing is very strange—"

"What does 'Why are the Spirit College students so ugly?' mean? That sounds like something said by a student or teacher from a college at the same level as the Spirit College."Ming Yue nodded. "I have the same thought as Senior Sister."

"Finally," she looked around the spacious lobby. The stone plaques hanging on the walls took on a dark and terrifying hue as night fell. Ming Yue furrowed her brows and asked:

"Senior, do you feel like these stones hanging in the lobby are missing something?"

Xu Miaomiao immediately followed her gaze toward the stone walls.

Guo Tianyang stared at Ming Yue. After a moment, he smiled and said, "Ming Yue, I must apologize."

Ming Yue: "What do you have to apologize for?"

Guo Tianyang spoke frankly: "For my previous lack of respect."

"Regarding your earlier question, I basically agree—there are many rabbit ghosts, which means that after the formation at the Spirit College was removed, a large number of spirits emerged in the Medical College, dispersing yin energy and benefiting those animals whose spirits could not gather into a form."

"As for the energy-storage talisman's lack of response in the cold storage, that’s still undecided, we haven't seen it ourselves."

"As for the issue with the mirror," Guo Tianyang continued, "based on the rabbit ghosts, I tend to believe that after the removal of the formation, an ancient group was awakened in the Medical College. These spirits are not afraid of the mirror's exorcising power and are familiar with the Medical College, so they wander around at night—most likely old inhabitants of the Medical College."

Only the old inhabitants of the Medical College could face the righteous, masculine power of the mirror and speak about the Spirit College students in such a familiar, casual tone.

This logic seemed natural to Guo Tianyang, who nodded in his heart.

"Wait a moment, Senior."

Yan Jun interrupted, simultaneously apologizing to Ming Yue. He grabbed her arm, revealing a bloodied bandage:

"If they are harmless old inhabitants of the Medical College, who spent their lives contributing to it, then why would they attack Ming Yue?"

"Ghosts can be good or evil, and hiding in a dark, damp place like a ventilation shaft doesn't sound like good spirits."

Ming Yue gave her class leader a grateful glance. In the dim night, Yan Jun’s dual-colored Yin-Yang Eyes, gold and blue, shimmered with a shadowy aura. He gave Ming Yue a polite smile.

The misty yin energy in the lobby swirled in the air, damp and slippery, making it hard to see into the distance.

Guo Tianyang thought about Yan Jun’s question, furrowing his brows for a moment, then frankly said, "Sorry, I can’t explain it."Ming Yue was very relaxed. She clapped Yan Jun's shoulder and said, "What’s there to be afraid of, little brothers? We haven't even looked at the cold storage yet, let's go!"

"Senior Miaomiao! Stop looking at the stones—Senior, stop with the mirror! It's time to go into the institute!"

The group continued down the left path.

Ming Yue led the way, throwing out a handful of revealing powder. The powder fell, absorbing both yin and yang energy, showing red and green footprints on the ground.

Ming Yue checked the photos of the ghostly footprints she had taken earlier in the morning and nodded. "Only the red footprints from the living people increased, the green ones didn’t change."

Yan Jun asked curiously, "Where did you get the revealing powder?"

Ming Yue waved her finger and raised an eyebrow with a smile. "After finishing the exam this afternoon, I took a detour to the second floor to borrow it from Senior Tan Lu."

Yan Jun nodded in approval. "Well prepared."

Ming Yue laughed, "No, no, I just wanted to have some fun with the revealing powder."

The group quickly passed through the lobby.

As the clock struck eight, the gray mist thickened, and the air became damp and sticky, like paste.

The hallway was long and straight, with white lights flickering erratically, unable to penetrate the faint yin energy smoke.

Ming Yue slapped a storage talisman on the wall to absorb the yin energy, then pointed to the first door on the right. "This is the living specimen laboratory."

Guo Tianyang nodded and made a note, drawing a layout of the first floor of the Medical College in his notebook.

The group continued walking deeper.

The hallway was silent, with only the occasional barking of a dog, a long, melodious call. They weren't sure if it was an experimental animal kept upstairs.

The row of laboratories had various complex functions, with blue security doors that all looked the same. There were more than twenty doors, and even the nameplates above them were hard to remember.

A moment later—This path is wrong.

Why is it so long?

Ming Yue furrowed her brows and checked her phone for the time. Her face was damp from the gray mist, almost dripping with water. "It's been fifteen minutes, and we still haven’t reached the corner?"

"This is impossible. The Medical College's hallway is only about five hundred meters long." Similar to the length of the ventilation ducts, I’m the woman who personally crawled through them. I can say this with confidence.

"Anything is possible. In places with dense yin energy, we can't rely on normal physical assumptions."

The others had already started spreading out, searching for the hidden mechanism. Xu Miaomiao spoke up: "Clearly, we’ve hit a ghost wall."

Guo Tianyang chimed in: "Don’t worry, juniors. As ghost hunters, we’ve encountered ghost walls many times."

"Either close your eyes and surrender yourself to the Medical College, which is full of ghosts, and just wander out randomly."

"Or break through this layer of evil spirits and dispel the evil."

After speaking, the tall and handsome senior from the fourth year casually swept his hair back and added, "I recommend the second option. It's a rare opportunity, and the experience is what's important."

Ming Yue: "..."

Ming Yue turned around to look.

As expected, the storage talisman she had placed on the wall ten minutes ago to absorb the yin energy was now gone.

The white lights flickered, overlapping and casting a halo effect, creating an extremely eerie visual.

The blue security door nameplates next to her had all turned into "Living Specimen Laboratory."

Overlapping dozens of "Living Specimen Laboratories."

The hallway was covered by yin energy, forming a false visual perspective, creating a circular loop. No matter what, they couldn't get out.

In her ears, she could hear Yan Jun and Xu Miaomiao communicating, using the red footprints of yang energy revealed by the revealing powder as a "fixed point" to test whether it was possible to go out.

After all, with the counteraction between yin and yang, the red footprints wouldn’t be distorted by the yin energy and would keep the visual perspective intact.Xu Miaomiao complained, "It's all your fault, rushing ahead. I haven't even finished looking at the stone walls in the lobby."

Guo Tianyang half-jokingly said, "Why don't we recite some Marxist truths? See if we can walk out?"

"Materialism and yang energy, no doubt it will drive away the evil, hahahaha."

Xu Miaomiao glared at him, "Go away, you copied from me during the Marxism exam."

"You didn't even memorize it properly!"

Stone walls.

Marxism.

A lightbulb went off in Ming Yue's mind, and she blurted out, "I have an idea!"

With that, she lowered her head and flipped through her phone, pulling up the photos from earlier in the morning.

The photo was of the stone wall, with inscriptions of the [Chinese Medical Student Oath] and the [Hippocratic Oath].

What the senior said made sense.

Marxism is indeed the universally accepted materialist truth.

But when it comes to various professions, their oaths hold far more significance in the hearts of their practitioners than Marxism itself. When converted to yin-yang language and arts—

Such oaths, with their pure yang power, must certainly surpass all other forces in dispelling evil!

For example, the Communist Party Manifesto for its members!

For example, the Ten Commandments for Christians!

And now, at this moment, the Oath of Medicine for the Medical College surrounded by swirling yin energy.

Each of these words and sentences was the sincere confession of the young men and women at the time, dedicated to their faith.

It was the eternal flame in their hearts.Even purer than the white robes of the Virgin Mary.

Ming Yue made a bet—

If this yin energy truly is the remnants of the old people of the Medical College, then they must be able to understand.

Then, everyone saw Ming Yue take out a purification spell and bring it to her lips. The golden light spread, and she turned on her phone’s speaker. With a voice like a strong, deep-voiced female announcer, she began to recite the words from the photo, enunciating each word carefully:

"Respected seniors, please listen."

"Health is at stake, life entrusted."

"As I step into this sacred medical institution, I solemnly swear—"

As her words echoed, the corridor filled with gray mist began to vibrate intensely. The white lights flickered like lightning. Smoke billowed, and a cold breeze, sharp as a blade, rushed toward the living people. Yet, it did not harm them; it passed through their bodies, feeling like air conditioning in the middle of winter—extremely refreshing.

"I pledge myself to medicine, to love my country, and to be loyal to the people—"

Ming Yue continued reading through the speaker.

With the naked eye, layers of gray mist began to peel away from the air in the corridor. The yin energy sank heavily, like cold water cascading down from a great waterfall, shattering cement, while the roaming yin energy was like snow on a great person’s coffin—severe and cold but without a trace of evil. It felt like an authoritative gaze from the sky, leaving everyone present shaken.

Gray figures rose from the ground, their forms indistinct and faceless, cold and severe.

They quietly listened to Ming Yue as she recited.

Ming Yue: "…"

The pressure from the faceless ghosts weighed heavily on her. Her lips were dry, and she recited the last part slowly and steadily:

"... I vow to devote all my efforts to alleviating the suffering of humanity, to assisting in the perfection of health, to preserving the sanctity and honor of the medical arts, to saving the dying and healing the wounded, to never shirking hardship, to tirelessly pursuing, and to devote my life to the development of the nation’s medical and health undertakings and to the well-being of humanity."

The gray figures stood motionless, listening to the entire oath, like rain hitting banana leaves. Once the words faded, so did the shadows.

Immediately after, the corridor was swept clean by a gust of wind and mist, eradicating everything. The ghostly wall was like a storm that came and left in an instant.

The white lights in the corridor finally stopped flickering, and the black door of the cold storage appeared in the distance.Senior student: "……"

Yan Jun: "……"

Yan Jun suppressed the emotional tide in his heart and whispered, "Well done, Ming Yue."

Guo Tianyang said seriously, "Now it's certain, the ones wandering the Medical College are indeed seniors."

Not just seniors.

Ming Yue thought to herself, forming a vague guess about her own wound.

Just now, when she was struck by the cold wind from the ghost senior, her mind suddenly cleared. She remembered something that had always felt off—

The stone wall in the hall.

That stone wall in the hall was really missing something!

The physical specimens used in the Medical College's anatomy rooms were all corpses.

However, Chinese culture emphasizes "resting in the earth," and very few people can accept being dissected and dismembered on the autopsy table after death.

Therefore, many medical colleges carve donation plaques to publicly praise the contributions of body donors to medical education, placing them alongside the college's greatest contributors to signify high status and respect.

But, where is the body donation plaque at Jin Da Medical College?

Can those few donors really support the operation of the vast Medical College for nearly a hundred years?