As their eyes adjusted to the dim light, Zhou Xiao Zhen and Zhao Lan spotted Yu Xiao’s familiar figure in front of them.

    “Smiley!” Zhou Xiao Zhen exclaimed, leaping towards her and clasping her hand. “You vanished like a ghost. I thought something terrible had happened to you.”

    Yu Xiao forced a smile, feeling a pang of guilt. She squeezed her friend’s hand reassuringly. “Don’t worry, I’m fine. I came back in one piece, see?” sea??h thё novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Zhao Lan frowned, noticing something odd about Yu Xiao’s appearance. “Are you sure you’re not hurt?” She asked, concern lacing her voice.

    Yu Xiao blinked, “Hurt? No, why would I be hurt?”

    Zhao Lan moved closer and peered at Yu Xiao’s mouth. She reached out and brushed her finger over it. “Then what’s this?” She held up her finger, stained with red. “It’s blood. Smiley, talk to me. Where are you bleeding from?”

    Yu Xiao’s eyes widened. She had forgotten to wipe her mouth after biting Gu Shu. She stammered, blushing. “I…I…”

    Zhou Xiao Zhen joined Zhao Lan and inspected Yu Xiao from head to toe. “She doesn’t have any cuts or bruises. I get it, it’s an internal injury. Smiley has an internal injury!”

    Yu Xiao shook her head frantically. “No, no, I’m not injured. It’s not what you think…”

    Zhao Lan hugged Yu Xiao, tears welling in her eyes. “Why did you go off on your own like that? I should have followed you. I didn’t know it was so dangerous out there.”

    Yu Xiao sighed. “I… alright, my injury is all healed.” She gently pushed Zhao Lan away and changed the topic. “Listen, there’s something I need to tell you. The reason I went back by myself was because I discovered that Qiao Ya was the ghost hiding among us.”

    Zhou Xiao Zhen gasped. “What? But we already caught the ghost, didn’t we?”

    Yu Xiao nodded. “You caught the killer ghost, but there was another one, a more cunning one…” She quickly summarised her reasoning and what had transpired afterwards, leaving out the part where she bit Gu Shu. She shuddered. “Thank goodness I had some tricks up my sleeve, or I wouldn’t be here right now.”

    Zhou Xiao Zhen felt a cold sweat break out on her forehead as she uttered a horrified exclamation. “Blimey, that’s terrifying. Gu Shu is the most wicked of all the attending doctors. He has a heart of stone and a scalpel of steel.”

    Zhao Lan shivered in sympathy, clutching her friend’s arm. “Do you think he’ll come after you again?”

    Yu Xiao shook her head, hoping to reassure herself as well as her friends. “Probably not. This hospital is strict with its rules and regulations, right? He can’t just switch jobs whenever he wants.” She paused, then added with a faint smile, “I should never see him again.”

    But the smile faded as she thought about her own actions. She had a problem with the way she did things, she realised. She had offended too many attending doctors in the instance, and some of them harboured a grudge against her. She couldn’t handle their revenge. She needed to be more careful, more diplomatic, more respectful.

    “That’s indeed very scary,” Zhou Xiao Zhen agreed, nodding solemnly. Then she tilted her head and asked curiously, “Will Lolita also take revenge on you?”

    Yu Xiao’s eyes widened. She had forgotten about Lolita.

    She didn’t answer Zhou Xiao Zhen’s question. She only made a silent vow. Next time she entered the instance, she would do her best to get along with the attending doctors. Even if they couldn’t be friends, they absolutely couldn’t be enemies.

    But despite the dangers, she had also gained a lot in the instance. She had sold talismans for 173 points, which added to her original points, gave her a total of 324 points. She was close to reaching her goal. She could leave the Sixth Hospital any day now.

    She pushed aside her worries and focused on the present.

    “Let’s eat,” Zhou Xiao Zhen licked her lips and changed the subject. “We’ve been eating vegetarian for several days. I just want to eat meat now.”

    Yu Xiao thought of Tie Niu, she also thought of the ward round ghost, the shy ghost who had given her a one-time pity card. It had saved her life. The ward round ghost had a dream of working at St. Elizabeth. Yu Xiao had promised to help it. She planned to arrange it to the operating room, where it could enjoy the thrill of surgery. It was more comfortable to work in the operating room than in the wards, Yu Xiao thought.

    She reached for her phone, thinking of him. George. She tapped his name on the screen, but paused before hitting the call button. Was the inspection done yet? She had no idea.

    Since she was in an instance, the time in Saint Elizabeth should have moved. The inspection team was supposed to visit Saint Elizabeth and check everything out. But when? Had they already been there and left? Or were they still snooping around, looking for clues?

    (TN: From my understanding, the treatment instances occur in separate time bubbles from where they live in wards. No matter how many days they spend there, only a moment passes in their hospital. An exception occurs when they use phones to make calls, connecting two different time bubbles. At the same time, for time “to pass” in instances, patients need to be in an instance. Or maybe time only progresses to ghosts in the absence of patients in the given instance, and comes to a halt once patients are present? But there are some holes in both logics sooo~ ignore them and just have fun… )

    She shrugged and pressed the call button anyway. What did she have to lose? The phone rang once, twice, and then his voice came through, bright and cheerful.

    “George speaking.”

    “Hey, George, it’s me~!” She tried to sound casual, but she couldn’t hide the anxiety in her voice. “How’s it going? Is the inspection over?”

    “Yes, it’s over.” He said curtly.

    “Really? That’s great.” She felt a wave of relief wash over her, and she flopped down on the bed, spreading her arms and legs. “You didn’t say anything bad about me to the inspection team, did you?”

    “No, I didn’t.” He said. “I only praised you for your excellent work and professionalism.”

    “Wow, really~?” She raised her eyebrows in surprise. “You’re full of surprises, aren’t you? Have you turned over a new leaf or something?”

    He didn’t respond to her sarcasm, and said in a flat tone: “If you don’t have anything else to say, I’m hanging up.”

    “Wait, wait, don’t be so hasty.” She said quickly. “You’re such a rush-rush person.”

    “I’m not a person.” He said.

    “Fine, fine, you’re a hurry-scurry ghost.” She said, “But listen, I think we need more staff at our hospital, so I hired someone new. You should give them a warm welcome and show them the ropes, okay…”

    **

    She ended the call, and George stared at his phone, his expression cold.

    But then, his lips twitched slightly, forming a faint smile. He felt a surge of joy when he realised that soon he wouldn’t have to see or hear from this woman ever again.

    A smug grin curled on his lips as his phone buzzed again. He glanced at the screen and saw Lolita’s name flashing.

    Oh, not her. The crazy one.

    He figured she was calling to spout some nonsense at him, so he pressed the red button without hesitation.

    But Lolita was not one to give up easily. She rang him back in an instant. He sighed and picked up the phone.

    Lolita’s voice burst in his ear like a firecracker, “George~!!!”

    George: “…” He felt like vomiting blood.

    “Listen, George, I just heard that Gu Shu switched his unit to get revenge on the ‘Deaf Descendant’. And guess what? His new unit is the same instance where the ‘Deaf Descendant’ is right now. I’m freaking out, did he pull it off or not?” Lolita was pacing around like a caged animal, “I know you have a way to reach the ‘Deaf Descendant’, come on and contact her, find out if Gu Shu pulled it off or not…”

    So there were some developments that he was unaware of, huh? George smirked, he had already chatted with that woman earlier. She had clearly made it out of the instance unscathed, which meant that Gu Shu’s elaborate scheme had backfired.

    He pictured Gu Shu’s livid and dejected face, and George’s smirk widened. What a delightful piece of news.

    “He failed.” George said, “The ‘Deaf Descendant’ has already exited the instance.”

    “Damn it!” Lolita swore, “Gu Shu is such a loser! He even taunted me with assurance before, saying I was too dumb to be pushed around by the ‘Deaf Descendant’…” Lolita was seething, “No, I have to mock him back, bye~.”

    **

    Gu Shu, a solitary ghost, lingered in his own room, where he had brought his hardwood (黄杨木) table from the old Gu Family Village. On it, a bottle of wine stood half-empty, mocking his failed attempt to drown his sorrows.

    He had always cherished the quietness of his home, where he could drink tea by himself and gaze at the ancient trees and the clear sky through the window, or admire his precious tea set that he had collected over the years.

    But today, he felt nothing but despair. He had been fooled by the ‘Deaf Descendant’ twice, and both times he had failed to exact his revenge. The first time, he could blame it on his lack of vigilance, but the second time, he had no one to blame but himself. He had been outsmarted, outmatched, and outplayed.

    He was in a dark mood, and even his favourite wine could not lift his spirits.

    Then his phone rang.

    Gu Shu’s frown deepened, he loathed being interrupted.

    But he still picked up the phone, and Lolita’s voice taunted him from the other end: “How is your revenge plan going? Did you succeed?”

    “…” That sentence was like a sharp dagger, stabbing into Gu Shu’s most tender wound.

    “Hehe.” Lolita laughed cruelly: “I know everything, you failed! You pathetic thing, you can fail like this, you still have the nerve to mock me, in my opinion, the lowest IQ is you! You should change your name, don’t call yourself Gu Shu, call yourself Wooden Head…”

    (reminder, 古树 (Gu Shu) literally means “ancient tree”)

    “Bang!”

    The phone flew across the room, smashing into the wall, Gu Shu sat motionless. Thinking of the wall that he had to pay for, the phone that he had to fix, after so many years, he felt a pang of injustice for the first time.

    **

    The ward was filled with the aroma of their dinner. Zhao Lan had insisted on ordering some vegetarian options, knowing that the other two would happily eat only meat and nothing else.

    While eating, they shared their grievances about Gu Shu.

    Yu Xiao leaned forward, her eyes sparkling. “Gu Shu is such a small-minded jerk. But look at George. He’s a different story. We’re on good terms now. He even praised me to the inspection team. That’s how a doctor and a patient should get along!”

    Zhao Lan raised an eyebrow, doubtful. “Why would he do that?”

    Zhou Xiao Zhen shrugged, biting into a chicken leg. “It’s simple. He realised he couldn’t win against Sister Smiley, so he decided to join her side. He knows better than to mess with her again.”

    “Mhm.” Yu Xiao agreed, nodding. “That’s exactly it.”

    Zhao Lan felt a nagging sense that there was more to it, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. She nodded along and said, “Well, that’s good, then.”

    Zhou Xiao Zhen changed the topic. “Hey, did you get any new titles this time? I didn’t get any.”

    Yu Xiao suddenly remembered. She had been too busy with phone calls, food, and gossip to check her messages.

    She pulled out her phone and scrolled through the notifications.

    【Congratulations on completing the fourth treatment course. You have become a level five member of the Sixth Hospital Patient Exchange Forum.】

    【Because of your outstanding performance during the treatment, you have earned three basic points and three bonus points.】

    【Congratulations on obtaining the title of ‘Soul Singer’, and four bonus points.】

    Soul Singer? She liked this title. She had come to appreciate any title that sounded even a little bit good. This one sounded impressive and cool. Not bad, not bad at all.

    【Congratulations! You have earned the title of ‘Two-faced Green Tea’, along with four points.】

    (绿茶: literally “green tea”, a slang term for a woman who pretends to be innocent and pure, but is actually scheming and manipulative. It is derived from the idea that green tea looks clear and refreshing, but tastes bitter and astringent.)

    Yu Xiao stared at the words, disbelief and anger rising in her throat.

    What the hell? How did she get such a ridiculous title? And what did it even mean, ‘two-faced’? She had always been honest and straightforward, unlike some people she knew.

    She glanced around the room, hoping no one had seen her bad face. But it was too late. Zhou Xiao Zhen, her so-called friend, leaned over and whispered to Zhao Lan, her other so-called friend.

    “Misty, check this out. Look at the Title Boss’s face. She looks like she just swallowed a lemon. Even worse than when she got the ‘Shit-Hole Destroyer’ title.”

    Zhao Lan followed Zhou Xiao Zhen’s gaze and nodded, a smirk on her lips. “Wow, that must be a bad one.”

    “Poor Smiley,” Zhou Xiao Zhen said in mock sympathy. “Actually, I should be the one feeling sorry for myself. I don’t have any title at all. I’d take anything, even ‘Green Hat’, if it meant more points.”

    Yu Xiao clenched her fist and pressed it against her chest, trying to calm her racing heart. This was all the system’s fault, she thought. It was a malicious and twisted program that gave out random and insulting titles to its users.

    She took a deep breath and opened the message again, hoping it was a mistake. Maybe it would change if she refreshed the page.

    But no. It only became worse…

    【You have earned the title of ‘Red Apricot Climber’, along with four points.】

    (红杏出墙: s a slang term referring to someone having an extramarital affair. It’s a play on words where “red apricot” sounds similar to “adultery” in Chinese.

    It also comes from a poem by Tang dynasty poet Bai Juyi, where he describes a red apricot tree leaning over the wall of a courtyard, implying that the woman inside is leaning over for her lover outside.

    English alternative would be: Having a Bit on the Side )

    Yu Xiao felt a new wave of fury wash over her. She threw her phone on the bed, as if it had burned her hand. She jumped up and shouted, “This is outrageous! It’s definitely slander!”

    “Smiley…” Zhao Lan said, looking at her with a mix of curiosity and concern. “It’s just a title, not a big deal.”