“Where… where did that handsome guy go?” The slumber that enveloped Yu Xiao was rudely disrupted by the gentle shaking from the two sisters. Emerging from the depths of sleep, she struggled to discern the darkness of the room. “What’s going on?” she murmured, her voice a mix of confusion and drowsiness.

    “It’s us, Smiley,” Zhao Lan offered a helping hand, guiding Yu Xiao off the bed. “The lights are out now,” she explained softly. “We haven’t slept at all. A few moments ago, some medical staff entered and took away a patient from the bed furthest away.”

    Fumbling through the darkness, Yu Xiao made her way toward the door, disoriented from just waking up. In an inadvertent collision with the bedpost, a resonating thud echoed through the room, jolting her before the pain could fully register.

    “Don’t be scared, Smiley,” Zhou Xiao Zhen reassured her. “Everyone is sound asleep. There wasn’t even a stir when they took the patient from the outer bed earlier.”

    “I suspect it’s related to the medication they received during the day,” Zhao Lan speculated. “That might explain why we’re unaffected.”

    The door to the ward creaked open slightly, prompting three pairs of eyes to sneak a glance outside. The corridor lay dimly lit, silent, devoid of any movement or sound.

    Clutching the talisman tightly in her pocket, Yu Xiao took the lead. Zhao Lan followed closely behind, while Zhou Xiao Zhen trailed, holding onto a mahjong set.

    In this eerie silence, even the slightest noise seemed to echo. The trio proceeded cautiously, stepping as softly as possible, veering to the left.

    Zhou Xiao Zhen’s voice barely carried, faint like a frail spider’s thread. “Smiley, how do you know we should go left?”

    “Are you daft?” Before Yu Xiao could answer, Zhao Lan’s exasperation was clearly evident. “The right side leads to George’s office.”

    Zhou Xiao Zhen remained puzzled. “But how can we be certain they didn’t take the patient to George’s office?”

    Before Zhao Lan could offer a detailed explanation, Yu Xiao interjected, “The right side leads to George’s office. Do you know what’s on the left?”

    “I’m not sure,” Zhou Xiao Zhen admitted, shaking her head.

    “Would you like to find out?” Yu Xiao asked with a hint of curiosity in her voice.

    “Yes!” Zhou Xiao Zhen responded eagerly.

    “Then let’s investigate,” Yu Xiao suggested.

    “Okay!” Zhou Xiao Zhen’s excitement was palpable. “Let’s not waste any time!”

    As they continued onward, Zhao Lan muttered something under her breath, her expression troubled. Then, suddenly, Yu Xiao halted, causing the others to tense.

    “What’s wrong?” Zhou Xiao Zhen whispered anxiously.

    Yu Xiao pointed to a portrait hanging on the wall. The painting depicted a hospital scene, specifically St. Elizabeth’s Psychiatric Hospital, just like the one Yu Xiao had seen before. However, unlike the previous painting, this one included people.

    In the portrait, two rows of individuals dressed in white coats stood. The front row featured three figures – George, a tall, kind-looking old man in the center, and a plump middle-aged man.

    In the tense and dimly lit hospital corridor, Zhou Xiao Zhen spoke with unwavering certainty, “It’s the Dean, no doubt. Just look, he’s right there in the center.”

    No one disagreed with her statement. Yu Xiao looked towards the back, where a group of ten women stood. Thirteen people made up the gathering: the Dean, George, the daytime medication nurse, six corridor nurses, and four unfamiliar faces – one man and three women.

    Thirteen staff members seemed too few for such a large hospital. Yu Xiao wondered what other responsibilities they had.

    She had visited a ward earlier that was full of troubled patients. Many wards had their lights on. There must have been many patients in each ward. How did so few staff members manage such a large number of patients?

    Lost in her thoughts, Yu Xiao’s attention was abruptly grabbed by a tug on her sleeve. Zhao Lan and Zhou Xiao Zhen wore fearful expressions.

    “Listen,” they urged, “footsteps.”

    Yu Xiao paused, straining to hear the strange sounds. The footsteps were far from ordinary; they echoed as if they were being made by a large group of people – perhaps even more than a hundred.

    Instinct told her to go back to the ward. But as she turned around, a chilling sight met her eyes: a dark shadow was approaching down the corridor, accompanied by a deafening noise.

    “Run!” Yu Xiao urgently exclaimed.

    This time, caution was thrown aside as the three of them sprinted away. But soon their path was blocked – there was an iron door on their left with the sign ‘Operating Room’, which seemed to loom menacingly.

    “No way out!” Zhao Lan cried, terrified by the ominous entrance. “Should we take the risk and go inside?!”

    The operating room, a place full of danger, had a notorious reputation – a source of peril similar to those seen in horror films. Some would choose death over stepping inside.

    While scanning both directions as they ran, Yu Xiao suddenly spotted a solution. “Follow me!”

    Guiding them, she led the frantic rush into the nearby storeroom.

    The space was tight, cloaked in darkness, and filled with an oppressive sense of confinement. Avoiding illuminating the room, they quieted their breaths, nervously watching the floor.

    Dim light seeped in from under the door, providing limited visibility. Any passing figure outside would cast revealing shadows.

    Their hiding spot didn’t give them much time to catch their breath before the loud footsteps grew closer. The number of people outside was more than they had expected, their shadows passing by continuously for a solid fifteen minutes.

    Once the shadows finally disappeared, all three of them felt exhausted and worn out.

    Zhao Lan’s clothes were soaked in sweat, sticking to her skin. She struggled to breathe as her chest rose and fell heavily. “How many people could there possibly be? Are there really that many patients from all the rooms combined?”

    Zhou Xiao Zhen was frozen with fear. She grabbed onto Zhao Lan’s arm and whimpered, “Those aren’t people. They’re… they’re…” She couldn’t finish her sentence. “I don’t want to die yet.”

    Being slightly older, Zhao Lan quickly composed herself. She noticed that Yu Xiao had been silent for a while. She asked, “Smiley, what are you thinking?”

    Yu Xiao spoke softly, “Did any of you hear the sound of the door opening just now?”

    “Nope.” Zhou Xiao Zhen’s voice trembled.

    Zhao Lan carefully pondered for a moment and shook her head. “I didn’t hear it either. Smiley, what’s on your mind?”

    “The storeroom we’re in is very close to the operating room, less than ten steps away. Just now, there were so many shadows passing by the door. Even if they were queuing right by the operating room’s door, there should have been a really long line, at least surpassing the distance from the operating room to the storeroom.” Yu Xiao gestured with her hands, indicating the distance.

    In the darkness, her hand gestures went unnoticed, but everyone understood what she meant.

    Zhou Xiao Zhen asked, “Smiley, are you suggesting that all of them went into the operating room?”

    Yu Xiao replied, “But we didn’t hear the operating room door open.”

    “The operating room door is quite heavy,” Zhao Lan agreed. “It usually makes a sound when it’s opened.”

    “But they’re ghosts,” Zhou Xiao Zhen didn’t understand why everyone was so focused on the door issue. “Don’t ghosts just pass through walls?”

    “…”

    After a moment of silence, Zhou Xiao Zhen broke it, “Why aren’t you saying anything?”

    “…”

    Another silence followed, leaving Zhou Xiao Zhen feeling frustrated. “Do you think what I said is wrong?” she asked.

    “Spot on,” Zhao Lan agreed. “So, if they’re not outside, or in the operating room, and they didn’t come back, where did they go?”

    Zhou Xiao Zhen couldn’t follow their logic and decided to give up. “Gosh, it stinks in here. Can we leave?”

    Yu Xiao took out her phone and turned on the flashlight, revealing the messy storeroom.

    They found themselves surrounded by blue and yellow bins, along with piles of black garbage bags that emitted a foul smell. S~ea??h the N??eFire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    “Yuck,” Zhou Xiao Zhen gagged. “Hospital trash is the worst.”

    Yu Xiao shared her sentiment and reached for one of the garbage bags, tearing it open.

    Zhou Xiao Zhen turned pale in horror. “Smiley, you don’t have to do this.”

    As the bag was opened, a wave of putrid smell overwhelmed them. Yu Xiao closed her eyes briefly, before regaining her composure. Peering inside, she saw half a foot – the bones stark white at the break, with flesh curling back, surrounded by yellow fat.

    Now even Zhao Lan couldn’t hold back. Both she and Zhou Xiao Zhen covered their mouths, trying to suppress the urge to vomit.

    “Smiley,” Zhou Xiao Zhen pleaded, “Please, get rid of it.”

    Yu Xiao nodded. “Okay, I’ll get rid of it.”

    She opened the bag wider and rummaged inside. She pulled out a hand, an ear, and something else, and stuffed them all into her pocket.

    “Oh my,” Zhou Xiao Zhen trembled against Zhao Lan, “Smiley has lost her mind.”

    After pocketing a couple of human body parts, Yu Xiao securely tied up the bag and pushed it aside, saying to the two, “Let’s get out of here.”

    There was no one outside, and the doors to the operating room were still closed. Yu Xiao touched the doors. They were solid walls on both sides, with no way to pass through.

    “Where did they go?” Zhao Lan rubbed her temples, looking at the empty walls. “Smiley checked the right side of the corridor today, and we checked the left side together. There’s no Dean’s office anywhere.”

    Yu Xiao stared at the locked operating room door. “There’s one place we haven’t searched. I want to go in and see.”