Lin Yan was placed in a separate ward.
After leaving the ward, Huo Ping's face still looked somewhat ugly.
They walked up to a wall in a corridor ahead, and then their bodies just... passed through the wall! After passing through the wall, the direction of gravity in the corridor had completely changed. They, who had stood before, were now slanting on the ground! Then, they stood up again.
Not far from the wall in front, there was a skeleton, half of its body absorbed into the inner part of the wall, with the other half outside, pale all over, lifting its hand and waving aimlessly.
This skeleton was also a cursed object, serving as the gatekeeper ghost protecting the patients in the ICU ward. Sealed by the Department of Cursed Objects, this curse was ensured not to harm doctors or patients, but could become a blade against other spirits.
The spatial structure inside the ICU ward was very complex and changed every hour. Even for doctors to get out took some time.
And Huo Ping stopped in front of that skeleton.
Dr. Qin behind him almost bumped into him.
"This case is quite special," Huo Ping said, turning around, "If the operation can be successful, it could create a very powerful cursed object, and the president would award our department. When you spoke just now, did you mean to let the patient choose conservative treatment and wait for death?"
Dr. Qin was stunned and said, "I... I just feel like not wanting to increase the death count of my surgical patients. You know that the president has given us all targets. Huo Ping, what are you even talking about... the curse treatment every year? Come on, we both know very well, she's very unlikely to live until the end of this year. Honestly, I don't want to do this surgery."
"Who performs the surgery will be decided internally by the department."
"Let's not talk about this now... Huo Ping, you also attended the recruitment, that kid..." Dr. Qin leaned closer to Huo Ping, asking in a low voice, "Those eyes, he is the first one to survive the implantation and pass the recruitment."
"I'm not worried about that. He is just an intern doctor now, might not turn out to be anything significant. Let's talk about it when he successfully becomes a regular. Whether he can survive the backlash of the curse is also a problem."
"Vice President Han is quite concerned about this matter. You should know... what happened back then, right?"
Huo Ping did not look at Dr. Qin but instead stared intently at the skeleton whose half body was embedded in the wall.
"When the powers that be fight, we small folk just need to do our jobs well," he said.
At noon.
After the outpatient clinic ended, Gao Heyann checked the outpatient records on the computer and said to Dai Lin, "Go have your meal first, I'll check tonight's outpatient appointments. You still have to go on duty in the inpatient department tonight."
Dai Lin could see that Gao Heyann was in a particularly bad mood.
At that time, the door to the outpatient room opened, and a female doctor walked in.
Dai Lin recognized her as Lin He, the resident doctor from the Wraith Surgery Department. He had seen her while on duty in the inpatient department yesterday. At that time, with just a glance, his eyes had read every doctor's name tag clearly.
"Sister," Lin He came up to Gao Heyann and said, "The morning outpatient hours are over, let's go have lunch."
Gao Heyann immediately asked, "How is Lin Yan doing? After all, she is my patient."
"I heard they are preparing for surgery. The CT results are not promising, it's definitely at least a malevolent ghost curse, and the surgery has been rated as level A. Because of Dr. Zhao, Director Mei hopes that the Ghost Surgery Department and the Evil Ghost Department can have a joint consultation for this case."
"That's true, given Director Mei's character, she indeed wouldn't just leave things be," Gao Heyann said as he scratched his hair, "If both departments hold a consultation, based on the accumulated case experience of both, perhaps they can make a more accurate diagnosis."
```
"It's up to Chen Jun. You should know that the Evil Ghost Department and the Ghost Surgery Department don't get along at all. Now, this patient has been completely taken over by the Ghost Surgery Department, not to mention this hospital admission relied on Chen Jun's support. Even Vice President Yin would find it hard to say anything."
Immediately after, Lin He sighed.
"To be honest, from what I've heard from the Ghost Surgery Department, it seems this patient is beyond saving."
"You're saying..." Despite expecting it, Dai Lin still felt a heavy heart upon hearing this, "According to the diagnosis of the Ghost Surgery Department, she's beyond saving?"
"Hasn't Vice President Yin mentioned to you? Against those ghosts, sometimes we are incredibly vulnerable. We can only rely on cursed objects and the hospital's facilities to barely survive."
Lin He grabbed the hair over her shoulder, occasionally twirling it around her fingers, "Take being cursed by a ghost, for example; it's like being diagnosed with cancer for a regular person. Cancer looks at a five-year survival rate, while being cursed by a ghost looks at a one-year survival rate... but her case might need prolonged treatment against the curse. Considering a curse by a powerful ghost and a twenty-year medical history, it would probably be very difficult to completely remove the curse. As long as the curse remains, the ghost remains immortal. And we, we can't kill any ghost."
"After the surgery, can we roughly estimate... her one-year survival rate?"
Gao Heyann sighed.
"Facing a powerful ghost that even the attending physician considers a challenge, surgery might not be of much use anymore. Providing conservative treatment might let her live a few more months."
Dai Lin understood and asked, "Conservative treatment, is that by using cursed objects to prevent the female ghost from killing her?"
"Right. But it can only sustain her for a few months at most. And such cursed objects are extremely expensive."
Lin He added, "Not to mention, the oral intake of cursed objects during anti-curse treatment is very painful, and the side effects of curse backlash are severe."
Dai Lin felt utterly powerless as he touched his right eye socket, where strands of the ghost's hair were still entwined.
Gao Heyann didn't notice Dai Lin's action and continued, "In the presence of a powerful ghost, the effect of cursed objects is very weak. All we can do is try to extend her life as much as possible."
The doctor understood the helplessness when facing a terminal patient.
In the face of a powerful ghost, cursed objects have little effect...
But his eyes could seal away and even absorb the ghost's hair at any time...
Could these eyes possibly... cure Lin Yan?
Suddenly, as if an idea struck him, Gao Heyann said, "If it were my sister, perhaps she could perform the surgery."
"Indeed, Dr. Gao Menghua is truly one of the hospital's best surgeons. But..."
"My sister will definitely wake up. She must!"
Dai Lin didn't know what had happened to Gao Heyann's sister, but without understanding the specifics, he decided not to pry further.
"The examination she had was an emergency CT scan, right?"
"Yes. Director Chen came to support and sent her directly for an examination at the emergency center. Her imaging report should be accessible on the computers in both the Emergency Department and the Ghost Surgery Department."
"She's my patient; I at least want to see her imaging report."
"Then you should talk to Vice President Yin. There are quite a few people over at the Emergency Department... They were all colleagues of your sister back in the day, so it should be easy to talk to them."
```