CHAPTER 308: THE TRUTH

Yu Li sat up from the bed and threw off the covers to get up.

She wasn't in a hurry to leave the room. Instead, she walked to where Bo Jingmo had been sitting earlier, slowly took a seat, and picked up the documents the man had left on the table to examine them.

Her eyes narrowed as she looked down at the patient list - five or six patients from the fourth floor had died in a single night.

Her fingers lightly tapped against the files.

This was the first time the little system had seen Yu Li "fail," and it couldn't hide its surprise. "Sister, you actually guessed wrong this time."

Yu Li leaned back on the sofa, propping her head up lazily. "What's so strange about failure? Besides, this isn't over yet."

And who said her plan was bound to fail?

"Have you discovered the truth now?" The little system couldn't figure out Bo Jingmo's true identity, and from what it saw in the comments, no viewers had guessed it either.

"...Truth?" Yu Li slowly repeated the word before bending down to return the documents to their place.

Without another word, she stood up and walked out of the office, stopping before the door of the adjacent room.

She tried pushing it open but found it locked, just as she expected.

Yu Li's expression remained calm as she continued applying pressure to the lock, gently pushing forward.

*Click—*

A faint unlocking sound echoed in the air, accompanied by a strange odor - the metallic tang of blood mixed with the scent of burnt candles assaulted her nostrils.

Her face unchanged, Yu Li turned on the light and swept her gaze across the scene before her. She walked to the altar, running her fingers over the stone surface as she murmured under her breath:

"Blood sacrifice to nourish spirits..."

Her initial assumption had been that Bo Jingmo cut his wrist to suppress the evil spirit, trading his own life force to weaken the ghost's existence.

But the truth was quite the opposite - his bloodletting wasn't to restrain his own malevolent spirit.

Rather, this altar served to nurture souls.

Using his own blood as a medium and other souls as vessels, he absorbed and transformed them to strengthen his own spiritual power.

However, this method came with tremendous costs and risks. A single misstep could result in the absorbed spirits rebelling, potentially halving his lifespan.

In essence, it was a curse that traded life for power.

"Tsk..."

Yu Li stood up, brushing dust off her clothes, her eyes dark and unreadable.

It seemed her earlier conjectures weren't entirely wrong. Bo Jingmo did despise his other soul, but he wasn't weakening it by harming himself.

On the contrary, he had been continuously strengthening his own spiritual power.

If they originally shared one soul between two bodies with equal power distribution, Bo Jingmo had now seized more of that power for himself.

Consequently, the other Bo Jingmo's strength would continue to diminish.

But as a human vessel, his physical body couldn't withstand this accumulating spiritual energy. Even if he defeated the evil spirit, he wouldn't survive much longer. 𝐑äƝОBЁS̈

Yu Li's fingers traced the stones - they were all relatively new, clearly not used for long. Yet judging by the timeline, Bo Jingmo and his other self had been tormenting each other for quite some time.

Which meant this couldn't have been his original method.

If the goal was to suppress a soul...

Wouldn't creating an even more powerful ghost be more effective?

So this man had discovered Yu Chi's existence long ago. He deliberately allowed Yu Chi to grow stronger precisely to suppress his other self.

While permitting Yu Chi to kill and consume souls, he pretended before Yu Li to be completely unaware of the ghost on the fourth floor.

As the hospital director, he had condoned the ghost's horrific killings - this was the truth Bo Jingmo sought to conceal, the truth he didn't want Yu Li to uncover.

At this realization, Yu Li lowered her eyes, lost in thought.

Bo Jingmo... why did he hate his other self so much?

As if struck by sudden understanding, Yu Li paused and looked out the window where the words "Psychiatric Hospital" loomed large. She stared at the sign, standing silently.

Why the hatred...

Perhaps because Bo Jingmo refused to admit he was actually a mental patient himself.

One soul, two bodies - politely termed as potential dual personality.

Less politely, it's schizophrenia.

In Bo Jingmo's memory world, this was the reality he could never face.

No, not just in the memory world - even in reality, this remained his deepest insecurity.

Yu Li's arrival had intensified his sensitivity about this matter. The man wanted to present his best self to her, hence his desperate attempts to hide the truth.

In silence, Yu Li exited the room, gently closing the door behind her.

She checked her phone - less than five minutes until sunset.

Dai Liu answered almost immediately when Yu Li called.

"Hello? Yu Li? Where have you been? How does getting dinner take this long? If Sister Yu catches you, you're in trouble! Speaking of which, even Sister Yu seems to have disappeared. Where are you all?"

Dai Liu continued her rambling, completely unaware that the "Sister Yu" she mentioned was about to die.

Yu Li had overheard Bo Jingmo's conversation with Yu Yu. The two choices he offered were essentially forcing Yu Yu to choose between life and death.

Yu Yu remained oblivious that her younger brother was no longer human. How could any patient who died on the fourth floor maintain normal mental faculties?

Through the phone came the rattling sound of hospital beds being moved.

Yu Li closed her eyes briefly. "Dai Liu, are you transferring patients now?"

"Huh? Yeah, didn't the director order it? We're still clearing out beds." Dai Liu's voice grew distant then near again, as if she was looking around. "When are you coming ba—"

"Cancel the transfers."

Yu Li cut her off mid-sentence.

"Everyone stays on the third floor. No one moves."

Dai Liu sounded confused. "What?"

Without further explanation, Yu Li hung up and stepped into the elevator. The moment her foot crossed the threshold, inky black mist began spreading from beneath her feet. Like demonic tendrils, the dark fog silently enveloped the entire fourth floor.

If Bo Jingmo wanted to hide the truth, she would help him.

But first, she needed to stop him from continuing down this path.

Meanwhile, on the fourth floor...

The quiet hallway echoed with rhythmic footsteps. Patients in their rooms sat on beds, mumbling incomprehensibly to themselves. Through the thick doors, their murmurs reached Yu Yu's ears like ancient incantations.

Seeing the sudden darkness outside, Yu Yu couldn't suppress her growing unease. Tentatively, she addressed the man before her:

"...Director, why have you come to the fourth floor?"

"..."

Receiving no response, Yu Yu didn't press further, continuing to follow closely behind him.

After what felt like an eternity, the man stopped and turned around. In the dim corridor, his sharply defined features were half-concealed in shadow, his expression flickering between light and darkness.

He said nothing, simply staring impassively at something behind Yu Yu.

*Click—*

The door behind them opened.

Yu Yu turned instinctively, her eyes widening in shock at the familiar figure.

"Yu Chi?"

Emerging from the room stood Yu Chi. The sickly-looking youth wore an expression of surprise as he regarded Bo Jingmo in the hallway, yet his smile grew increasingly mocking and eerie.

"Director... it's been a while."

In response, Bo Jingmo merely curled his lips slightly. Standing with his hands in his pockets, he exuded an air of noble elegance.

Yu Chi slowly knelt, assuming a posture of utmost reverence and humility, his face obsequious:

"Please forgive my blindness. I never realized it was you helping me all along."