A strange silence fell over them, until Yu Xiao and Zhang Kui blurted out at the same time.

    “He just called me inhuman!”

    “One of us is not human!”

    “…”

    Another pause, as Yu Xiao and Zhang Kui exchanged a glance. Their words made sense on their own, but together they sounded like an insult, as if Zhang Kui was accusing someone.

    “No.” Zhang Kui shook his head, baffled by Yu Xiao’s interpretation. “Why would Gu Shu curse you? He’s an attending doctor, he doesn’t swear. He was warning us, ‘There’s a non-human among us’.”

    Yu Xiao and the others kept their thoughts to themselves, but they all thought the same thing: that’s because you don’t know him well enough.

    Especially Yu Xiao, who was certain that Gu Shu was cursing her.

    “That…” Zhao Lan cleared her throat and drew everyone’s attention. “We all know that the attending doctor never lies, but he likes to play tricks on people. What Gu Shu said might not be literal, and besides, most of us are familiar with each other, so I doubt that a ghost could slip in among the nine of us.”

    Zhao Lan reasoned like this, but the real reason why she and the others didn’t believe that there was a ghost among them was, the guide didn’t say anything about it.

    “You four from the Fourth Hospital are not rookies, why are you so naive when it comes to this?” Zhang Kui eyed someone and said: “Most of us do know each other, but there’s one person who doesn’t.”

    He said that and everyone remembered, there were four of them from the Fourth Hospital. But Yu Xiao and the others shared a room, while the other patient was by himself, and no one knew anything about him.

    “Jiang Hai (江海).” Zhang Kui fixed his gaze on the man who was quickly shunned by the others, his voice stern. “Can you prove your innocence?”

    (江 (Jiāng) is a common surname that means “river”.

    海 (Hǎi) is a unisex given name that means “sea” or “ocean”.

    江海 could be interpreted as “a river sea” or “an oceanic river”.)

    Jiang Hai was a man who faded into the background, with a mediocre height and face, and a quiet demeanour. Ever since they had woken up in the morgue, he had barely uttered a word, and if Zhang Kui hadn’t singled him out, Yu Xiao would have forgotten about him.

    “I’m human.” Jiang Hai met Zhang Kui’s challenging question with a calm tone. “The burden of proof is on you, not me. You have no evidence to accuse me, so why should I show you anything? Is it just because I entered the instance alone that you suspect me?”

    “It’s not only that.” Zhang Kui’s small eyes gleamed with certainty, as he gestured at Yu Xiao and the others. “The three of them are from the Fourth Hospital, just like you. How come they read the guide, but you didn’t?”

    Jiang Hai opened his mouth to speak, but Zhang Kui cut him off. “Don’t even try to say that you heard them say it, so you didn’t bother. You know very well that at the start, only the three of them went to look for the business card, while you were with us, pounding on the door. You never read the guide at all.”

    This analysis was logical and convincing, and not only the others, but even Yu Xiao and the others felt that Zhang Kui had a point, and started to doubt Jiang Hai.

    “Hmph.” Jiang Hai’s face turned dark, and he clenched his teeth. “There are so many posts on the forum every day, do you expect me to read them all? Besides, I don’t care for the forum anyway, what’s wrong with skipping this guide?”

    Zhang Kui scoffed. “Don’t you think your excuse is weak and unconvincing?”

    Jiang Hai had nothing to say, while Zhang Kui and the others stared at him coldly, creating a tense standoff.

    That’s when Yu Xiao spoke up. “Actually, it’s easy to tell who’s not human.”

    She pulled out a Thunder talisman and said, “This is all we need. We just stick this on everyone, and the non-human will be exposed.”

    That was a smart idea, and Zhang Kui felt a twinge of annoyance. Why hadn’t he thought of that? He had a talisman too.

    “I’ll go first!” Jiang Hai yelled, and then marched up to Yu Xiao and grabbed the talisman from her.

    Nothing happened. The talisman stayed in his hand, inert.

    Zhang Kui gaped, his mind racing. Jiang Hai holding the talisman meant he was human, so did that mean his whole analysis was wrong?

    “Did you see that?” Jiang Hai waved the talisman around, making sure everyone got a good look. “Do I look like a ghost to you?”

    The others frowned, and one of them said, “Jiang Hai, we’re sorry for accusing you earlier, that was our mistake. But Brother Kui’s analysis was reasonable, you have to admit you were acting suspicious.”

    Jiang Hai seethed, but he knew they had a point, and besides, he was outnumbered and outmatched. Arguing would only make things worse. So he tossed the talisman back to Yu Xiao with a glower, and retreated to a corner by himself, brooding.

    “Alright.” Yu Xiao scanned the others. “Who’s next?”

    “Me.” Zhang Kui stepped forward and took the talisman, but the talisman remained silent.

    The others didn’t hesitate to do the same, eager to clear their names. They all came over and touched the talisman in Yu Xiao’s hand. Soon, nine people had handled the talisman, and the talisman had shown no sign of life.

    “The result is clear.” Yu Xiao pocketed the talisman, smiling. “Gu Shu was messing with us, and you all fell for it.”

    “True.” Zhao Lan agreed. “The guide we read never said anything about this.”

    The group relaxed a bit, though they still had some nagging doubts, but they paled in comparison to the facts. Zhang Kui was a good natured soul, and he made the first move to walk over and offer his hand, saying, “I apologise, I was wrong, I shouldn’t have been so quick to judge you.”

    Jiang Hai eyed him for a moment, then took his hand and shook it. “You were looking out for everyone, caution is a virtue in this situation.”

    With that, they made peace, and Yu Xiao was glad to see it. She enjoyed a good show, but she didn’t want the team to fall apart at this point.

    She said, “Let’s go and see the rooms first, and then I’ll fill you in on the guide.”

    The hospital had set up eight single rooms for them, which meant that one person would have to bunk with someone else. Seeing this, Yu Xiao was more convinced that Gu Shu was getting back at them, haha, he was petty enough to scheme over such small things, what a spiteful male ghost.

    “Sister Smiley, let’s share a bed!” Zhou Xiao Zhen squealed and grabbed Yu Xiao’s hand.

    Yu Xiao saw her face and recalled the scene before when she demanded that Yu Xiao turn into Leonardo to sleep with her, she couldn’t handle this kind of enthusiasm.

    Zhao Lan also said, “You should stay with Precious.”

    Yu Xiao was a bit surprised, Misty was a smart and level-headed person, she was dependable in everything. But she wasn’t the type who liked to boss people around, she usually kept her opinions to herself on this kind of thing, unless there was something fishy. (TN: Targeting Ghost)

    Thinking of this, Yu Xiao nodded.

    The nine people picked their rooms, and then they met in Zhang Kui’s room.

    Yu Xiao didn’t beat around the bush, she took out the blue bow tie, and went straight to the point. “The guide says this, this nurse could have lived, but she had just broken up with her boyfriend that day, she was feeling down, and when she was in the morgue, she grabbed something from a drawer, which unleashed the ghost, and she was killed by the ghost.”

    With a firm grip on the blue bow tie, Yu Xiao explained, “She didn’t rest in peace after her death. She had a score to settle with her ex-lover. She escaped from the morgue and took over a nurse’s body. And this bow tie, dropped in the cold chamber, was the only clue we had.”

    She paused and added, “You might wonder why I had to enter the morgue, knowing the clue already. Well, it’s not that simple. According to the guide and the comments below it, the clue for this instance changes every time. It could be anything on the nurse’s body, not just the bow tie. So I had no choice but to go in and check.”

    She looked at them and said, “So tomorrow, when the hospital resumes its operation, we’ll look for the nurse who’s missing a bow tie. That’s our target.”

    She finished the guide, having done the most difficult part for them. They all felt a wave of relief wash over them.

    “It’s getting late.” Zhao Lan said, “I should head back to my room and get some rest.”

    They all left Zhang Kui’s room, except for Yu Xiao and Zhou Xiao Zhen, who went to room number two. As soon as they entered, Zhou Xiao Zhen threw herself into Yu Xiao’s arms. “Sister Smiley, I’m terrified.”

    “Of what?” Yu Xiao asked, gently peeling her off like a plaster.

    “Sniff sniff… A ghost cursed me…” Zhou Xiao Zhen whimpered, recounting her encounter with Gu Shu.

    Yu Xiao’s eyes flashed with anger when she heard it. “Gu Shu is such a jerk…” Sёarch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    “Don’t worry, it’s okay.” Yu Xiao reassured her, handing her some Life Protection Charms and Thunder Charms. “If the ghost tries anything, you’ll zap it with these.”

    Zhou Xiao Zhen nodded gratefully. “Okay!”

    **

    In the dead of night, a shadow crept up to Gu Shu’s door, and left a bunch of red roses on the doorstep.

    **

    Yu Xiao was deep in a peaceful slumber, when a sudden pressure on her chest jolted her awake. She gasped for air, and saw Zhou Xiao Zhen sprawled over her, oblivious to her distress. She shoved her off without a word, and got up to use the bathroom. She had secured the doors and windows of the ward with talismans, so nothing could harm them.

    When she exited the bathroom, and was about to crawl back into bed, she heard a faint noise in the corridor outside the ward, like someone had sneaked by.

    She shrugged and turned to investigate. The corridor was dimly lit, and she saw no one.

    Yu Xiao followed the corridor with confidence, not because she was foolish, but because she had dozens of talismans to ward off ghosts, and had used two physical cards to boost her strength to that of a bull, which allowed her to handle people. She couldn’t imagine anything that could pose a threat to her, so she walked towards the source of the noise.

    Then she spotted a bunch of red roses on the floor in front of a door. She picked up the roses, and they were surprisingly fresh, with droplets of dew on them. She could tell they were freshly picked.

    Who was so romantic to send flowers in the dead of night? This room was not one of the eight wards they lived in, so it must have been occupied by an NPC in this instance, right?

    How sweet, Yu Xiao held the flowers and felt a pang of envy. She had lived for twenty years, and she was lonelier than a ghost.

    Who lived in this room? It must be a gorgeous female NPC, right?

    As she thought that, the door swung open, and Gu Shu stood at the doorway.

    Yu Xiao was stunned, thinking how unlucky, this was his room!

    The next second, she saw Gu Shu gaze blankly at the roses in her hand.

    Yu Xiao hastily explained, “What are you staring at, these are for you.”

    “…”

    She should have kept quiet, but her explanation made it worse.

    “Don’t get any ideas.” Yu Xiao was about to explain further, when she saw Gu Shu glare at her coldly, and then utter one word before slamming the door.

    “Lame!”

    Yu Xiao: “…”

    Yu Xiao held the flowers in one hand, and rubbed her nose with the other, wondering what the hell was going on.