Chapter 24

Chapter 24: Old Case Three

Baoshan Hospital was not far from the high-speed train station. After Ming Yue and Chen Xiu met, they decided to walk there.

The sky poured with heavy rain.

The two of them stood at the intersection, waiting for the red light.

The entire Baoshan District was shrouded in dark clouds, and the wind blew fiercely, the forecast for cloudy weather earlier in the morning was hastily updated to a rainstorm.

Chen Xiu held a single umbrella over both of them, but it couldn’t cover them properly, and they were each half-soaked.

"You’re saying..." Chen Xiu stared at the countdown on the red light, "You saw flying corpses on the high-speed train?"

"It wasn’t a corpse, Senior," Ming Yue pushed the umbrella closer to Chen Xiu, trying to shield him a little more, "It was a long-buried wandering soul. They were everywhere in the sky. When I was dealing with that young female ghost on the train, I nearly scared the crap out of myself looking out the window."

Chen Xiu pondered for a moment.

He had read Ming Yue’s file and knew well that this girl had an unusual Yin-Yang Eye. He asked, "Can you use your left eye now?"

Ming Yue touched her face and nodded.

Chen Xiu: "Is the speed of absorbing Yin energy fast?"

Ming Yue: "Very fast."

Chen Xiu smiled lightly. "It’s fine, I just wanted to use your eyes to assess the Yin energy density in Baoshan District."

Ming Yue: "……"

You really are sharp.

Earlier, there were few residents along the high-speed train route, and the Yang energy was weak, with heads flying like a rainstorm. As they approached Baoshan District, the crowd began to increase, the Yang energy thickened, and the wandering souls scattered somewhat.

Chen Xiu looked up at the souls flying through the sky, like the River of Forgetfulness in the heavens.

Compared to that, a meteor shower seemed insignificant.

This was a rain of human heads.

Ming Yue wrung out the rainwater from her sleeve and pointed to the right turn at the intersection. "The wandering souls are all coming from over there."

"Baoshan Hospital is definitely in that direction."Chen Xiu laughed heartily: "Alright, no need for navigation at all."

The green light turned on, and the two of them crossed the street shrouded in thick Yin mist. The pedestrians they passed by had mostly grim and resentful expressions, which made Ming Yue feel uneasy, worried that one of them might suddenly erupt with violence.

Chen Xiu shook off the rainwater from his hand and patted Ming Yue on the top of her head.

"Don’t be afraid."

"The Yin energy is too strong. When living people are exposed to it for too long, they'll start reacting."

"Emotional fluctuations are just the mildest of effects. If Baoshan District continues to be soaked in Yin energy, who knows, it might lead to a group outbreak."

Ming Yue nodded, quickly pulling out a Yang energy talisman from her bag, rolled it into a scroll, set it on fire, and burned it. The faint yellow Yang energy slowly spread out, warming up the surroundings significantly.

The two of them walked quickly.

Baoshan Hospital was right ahead.

The rain was continuous.

Under the gray sky, the hospital buildings loomed like a demonic mountain. The more than twenty-story tall buildings dominated the area, occupying the highest point of elevation, supporting the sky. Thousands of windows were letting Yin energy spill out, and the circular driveway downstairs was packed with cars. Chery and Benz cars were all tangled together in a chaotic mess, creating an irritating scene.

The hospital was right next to a noisy street, with cars constantly flowing. Four intersections surrounded the hospital, effectively trapping it in a deadlock. One of the busiest main road intersections faced the emergency department on the first floor.

Chen Xiu: "…"

Ming Yue: "…"

Ming Yue clicked her tongue: "The layout of the buildings around this hospital is really toxic."

The four-way blockage was a place where resentment accumulated most intensely in traffic systems, and countless innocent people had died there.

Sometimes, during the summer plum rain season, you could even look up at the intersection and see countless vengeful spirits gazing down on the human world. Just thinking about it sent chills down your spine.

Chen Xiu agreed, "Baoshan Hospital is poorly managed. With this level of Yin energy, living here wouldn’t be a surprise if people shorten their lives."

Ming Yue: "Facing directly onto the intersection, truly a place for warriors."

Chen Xiu corrected her: "The hospital’s job is to treat and save lives. As long as they don't do anything shameful, the merit of helping the world with medicine is enough to ward off evil for a lifetime. Facing the intersection is also convenient for rescuing victims of sudden car accidents."

Ming Yue: "…"Ming Yue: "But didn’t the senior just say, living inside this hospital doesn't shorten one's life?"

Chen Xiu, with a sly grin, said: "I meant, as long as you don't do anything wrong."

While they were chatting, the crowd sitting on the ground in the rain at the intersection on the left side of Baoshan Hospital suddenly stood up. They pulled out black banners, waved their hands, and screamed hoarsely:

"Trash hospital! Human lives are worthless!"

"Obstetrics is a rotten department, ruining everyone!"

Before the slogans had even been shouted for a minute, a group of police officers from across the street, who had been sheltering from the rain, rushed over. They began intercepting people and clashed with the crowd.

It was like a drill that was timed to perfection.

Ming Yue: "…"

She was dumbfounded.

She couldn't believe it. "Didn't the group say that they had already announced there was an issue with the obstetrics department, that the hospital had some strange happenings, and that the crowds should go to another place for treatment?"

Chen Xiu lit a cigarette, "You can’t imagine how stubborn the lower-class masses are. If people don’t die in front of them, they won’t wake up."

Ming Yue: "…But this is only half an hour away from Jinling city center!"

Chen Xiu sneered, "Baoshan Hospital is the cheapest among the top-tier hospitals in Jinling."

"It’s not like they told people to switch hospitals just because of the haunting. I’ve heard that the hospital has already reduced the number of admissions recently."

"But now they can’t contain it anymore, so they’ll let the hospital stay empty for a few days. They’ll handle what needs to be handled, and kill what needs to be killed."

"Otherwise, we wouldn’t even have a chance to come here. The earthly law enforcement doesn't care about us."

"And in the end, the 'people' aren’t satisfied either."

After saying that, Chen Xiu pointed at the crowd with the cigarette butt. Watching their angry faces, he felt a bitter irony in his heart.

Ming Yue once again looked stunned: "What's more important, life or money? Damn, these people."

Chen Xiu scrolled through his phone messages and sneered, "It’s more than that."

"From the investigation by Zhou Jingren, the elderly care departments are the most chaotic—there's also a strange phenomenon. Since about half a month ago, when rumors about the haunting at Baoshan Hospital started circulating, the inpatient admission rate for the elderly care departments has been steadily increasing." Chen Xiu made a lifting gesture with his hand.

Ming Yue felt a chill in her heart.The heavy yin energy was definitely not a good thing for the hospital.

Medical staff, with their strong yang energy, could endure the strain, but the patients could not.

For many people, their conditions were already critical. A slight imbalance in the yin-yang scale, and they would pass away.

The heavier the yin energy, the more people died.

When the yin energy is thick, patients could die in rows.

What good was there in turning a hospital into a breeding ground for this mold, rushing to send people for reincarnation like this?

Chen Xiu looked at Ming Yue’s pale face but didn’t offer comforting words. Instead, he sneered: “It’s just social parasites trying to get their elderly relatives to kick the bucket sooner, then take the opportunity to scam money from the hospital.”

“Medical disputes, stability maintenance, and compensation.”

“Society needs the hospital to appear weak, like a virtuous and innocent maiden.”

Ming Yue, understanding the vast amount of information behind his words, shook her head: “The law doesn’t punish the masses.”

Chen Xiu: “Of course, the law doesn’t punish the masses.”

At the opposite intersection, the farce took a break, and the police went back to the hospital building to rest. Xiao Lin, looking at his tired colleagues, felt the wet clothes clinging to his skin from the rain. It made him feel tense and smelled faintly of mildew. He sighed inwardly.

He didn’t know when this shift rotation would end.

Xiao Lin leaned against a corner pillar, filled with worries about the future.

Suddenly, a bottle of hot water appeared in front of him.

Xiao Lin subconsciously took it: “Thank you.”

Ming Yue smiled and squatted down: “You’re welcome, Officer.”

Xiao Lin took a sip: “…”

“Pfft—!”

Wasn’t this the student who bombed the subway a month ago?

Xiao Lin choked, the yang energy symbol mixed in the water made him gag continuously. His face turned red and blue from the discomfort."You... how did you get here?"

Five minutes of conversation later—

Xiao Lin understood: "I thought, how come there wasn’t much action on the investigation of Baoshan Hospital before, but recently, the frequency of police responses has been so high?" So it turns out, the Ghost Slayer is here, coming to fight for evidence.

Ming Yue: "…"

Ming Yue almost splashed him with talisman water. "Uncle, do you guys really hate Ghost Slayers that much?"

Xiao Lin’s face stiffened, stammering: "It’s not exactly that."

"After all, it’s the living world, you should give us some face."

"You can’t just blame everything on you guys every time something weird happens." That’s a slap in the face.

Chen Xiu smiled politely, the kind of politeness that felt fake: "Leave professional work to professionals."

"Unprofessional people jumping into pits—if they die early, don’t blame us for not warning them."

Ming Yue quickly pulled her senior, signaling him to speak more politely.

From that meeting with the New Media Institute chairman, she could already tell—this Spiritual Institute chairman was skilled, bold, and had a fiery temper.

He was fiercely protective, and annoyingly idealistic.

Xiao Lin, with a good temper, forced a smile and didn’t say anything.

Ming Yue changed the topic: "So, Uncle, have you guys discovered anything?"

"Why did a few deaths of intern students turn into a disaster affecting the entire hospital?"

Xiao Lin shook his head like a rattle drum:

"To involve the entire hospital in a disaster, that’s the work of yin-yang people."

"We can only investigate the obstetrics murder case at most."

Chen Xiu also squatted down, pretending to ask leading questions:"Couldn’t it be a simple case of resource competition?"

"A grudge killing caused by a few students fighting for hospital spots?"

Xiao Lin saw that Chen Xiu, who had been so cocky earlier, was now asking questions with humility. He felt good about it and, knowing that he might work with these two in the future, didn’t hold back anymore:

"Is it that simple?"

"Five intern students are dead, and this is just a mere side issue."

"Before all of this—"

He said mysteriously, "Before everything else, the obstetrics department had twelve maternity deaths in a row for a week."

"The cases were all written as high-risk pregnant women."

Ming Yue and Chen Xiu exchanged a glance.

Ming Yue, playing the white face, smiled and said, "High-risk maternity deaths aren’t that rare, after all, childbirth is close to crossing the threshold of death."

Xiao Lin, who had taken a liking to this familiar and beautiful young lady, didn’t let the scary-looking curse marks on her forehead affect his opinion:

"Don’t talk nonsense."

"The obstetrics department in Baoshan is famous."

"They must have been wrongfully killed."

Chen Xiu, playing the red face, sneered: "Just because you say they were wrongfully killed, does that make it true?"

"If that’s the case, then why do we need the Underworld?"

Xiao Lin clapped his hands, "Listen to me first."

"I’ve gathered evidence. The signatures on the death certificates of those maternity patients weren’t signed by any of the obstetrics department staff members."

Outside, the rumors about the haunting incident were blazing hot, while the outpatient building of Baoshan Hospital remained crowded, packed with people.

The strong scent of antibiotics filled the air, making anyone who inhaled it feel like they might vomit.Ming Yue turned around to look at the rioting crowd outside the hospital, still pulling banners, then glanced at the indifferent people in the outpatient building, and suddenly sighed.

Weak, greedy, and lacking empathy.

Master Russell was right【Note】.

Chen Xiu was looking at the department navigation.

Seventh floor: Obstetrics.

Sixth floor: Gynecology.

Third, fourth, fifth floors: Operating rooms.

Eighth floor: Urology and Pediatrics.

"Xiao Lin said the obstetrics department isn’t allowing entry right now."

Ming Yue pointed to the sixth floor of gynecology, "Senior, how about we check out the sixth floor first?"

Chen Xiu agreed.

The two of them went upstairs, crossed the skybridge, and entered the inpatient building No. 2.

The elevator dinged.

When the door opened, the strange air in the gynecology department filled their mouths and noses, like the smell of underwear that had been stewing for a long time.

Ming Yue frowned and fanned the air with her hand, "Are you crazy? What if the air’s not circulating and there’s an infection?"

The stench was so bad that Ming Yue almost wanted to vomit in the nearby plant pot.

Chen Xiu patted Ming Yue on the shoulder, "Don’t mind the smell."

"Look at the ceiling."

Ming Yue held her breath and looked up, instantly terrified, the breath she was holding escaping in shock, her nose filled with a white, pungent smell.

The ceiling on the sixth floor of gynecology was also the floor of the seventh-floor obstetrics.

The ceiling was densely packed with limbs—some with heads, some with butts, some with spines, and others with arms and legs. They emitted an overwhelming amount of yin energy, so thick it dripped, and faintly appeared black.

These incomplete "human bodies" were slowly wriggling, floating up and down within the thick cement ceiling half a meter above, as if the world had turned upside down. They were covered with black, blocky moss, wet and soft, dripping black juice.Ming Yue: "......"

Ming Yue stared at the liquid yin energy dripping down from the ceiling, landing on the face of a gynecology patient, flowing into her open mouth as she muttered.

...Suddenly, Ming Yue really wanted to offer her a glass of water to rinse her mouth.

Ming Yue suppressed the goosebumps all over her body that screamed for collective asceticism, "I believe what Xiao Lin said now, she was wronged."

Chen Xiu finished sending the message and put down his phone, "I believe it too."