The middle-aged man continued to speak, his body still trembling uncontrollably.
"I was very afraid, and then one day, I found a business card in my wallet. But, I had never received this business card, nor did I know how it got into my wallet."
"A business card from Hospital 444... right?"
"Yes, it felt so incredible... and then I called the number on it, and made an appointment at the outpatient clinic here."
"I showed the doctor the photo, and then she said that I had come fairly early, the situation wasn't too serious. Afterwards, she wrote me a prescription, to start with a course of treatment. After the course of treatment, when I took another photo, he never appeared again."
"My situation is a bit more complicated..." Lin Yan said, "If I hadn't come, perhaps my life would have been at risk."
"Then you've come to the right place," the middle-aged man said.
"You mentioned the doctor gave you a prescription, so what do they sell here?"
The middle-aged man replied, "No, it's not medicine..."
Just as he was about to continue, the door to the outpatient clinic suddenly opened, and the old lady walked out. His number then appeared on the large screen.
The middle-aged man stood up and said, "I have to go in first."
"One last question," Lin Yan hurried her speech, "Why did you believe what was on the card at that time?"
The middle-aged man adjusted the glasses on his nose and said, "I don't know either, at that time, I just... believed it. Excuse me, I have to go in."
After watching the middle-aged man enter the outpatient clinic, Lin Yan remembered that when she had just received the business card from the man who came from the insurance company, her first reaction was also an indescribable trust in the contents of the card, without ever considering the possibility of fraud.
About twenty minutes later... her number was called on the large screen.
The middle-aged man came out, and she walked into the clinic.
The outpatient clinic was quite spacious, looking to be about fifty square meters.
Gao Heyann and Dai Lin sat one in front of the other, with a computer placed on the table. On the right side of the outpatient clinic, there was a bed, obviously used for patients to lie down for examinations.
Lin Yan immediately recognized Dai Lin.
"Hello! Please have a seat, Miss Lin." Gao Heyann offered her a glass of water, his usually very cold demeanor becoming much warmer.
"Could it be... you're Dr. Gao Heyann?" Lin Yan had also thought the name sounded more feminine.
"Correct. May I ask... what kind of... spiritual event have you encountered?"
Upon hearing the term "spiritual event," Lin Yan immediately said, "Can you... really help me?"
"Please rest assured, Hospital 444 is responsible for treating all patients encountering supernatural phenomena such as spiritual events and curses."
Lin Yan found it hard to believe, but this hospital seemed to possess a certain magic that made her believe it all.
Under the friendly words of Gao Heyann, Lin Yan began to lower her guard and quietly started to recount, "To start from the beginning, this all goes back to when I was seven years old... My parents drove me to camp in the outskirts, in Suyuan Mountain. Then, that night, the car broke down in the mountains."
Gao Heyann made a signal with his eyes to Dai Lin, who nodded, opened a clinical record book in front of him, and as Lin Yan began to describe her "medical history," he picked up a pen to start taking notes.
"Back then, while my parents were checking the car, I was bored and crouched down to look underneath... and then, I saw something..."
At this point, Lin Yan paused.
Her hands were intertwined, gripping each other tighter and tighter. Even after so many years, that experience still sent shivers down her spine.
She picked up the glass of water Gao Heyann had given her and took a sip.
"Don't worry, just speak up boldly," he encouraged.
"Thank you…" she replied.
Lin Yan slowly collected herself and continued, "I saw a woman covered in blood lying on the ground! Her complexion was extremely pale, and her eyes… her eyes were just whites, with no pupils to be seen!"
"I was so scared at the time, I immediately called my parents to look… but when they came to see, there was no one under the car! At that moment, my parents were on each side of the car, so if that woman had crawled out, they couldn't have missed it!"
"They thought I was just trying to scare them, and no matter how much I explained, it was no use. Afterwards, I started to feel scared. Even though the car was later fixed, the trip ended early because of my insistence. But on the day we were returning to the city, my dad was driving, and both my mom and I were asleep in the back seat. Suddenly, a jolt woke me up, and then through the rearview mirror, I saw that the woman who should have been sitting beside me was replaced with that bloodied woman! And when I looked to the side… my mom was gone!"
At this, Dai Lin looked up and gazed at Lin Yan.
"What happened then?" Gao Heyann asked with an unchanging expression.
"Later, I realized that, at the moment I woke up, the car was exactly at the spot where it had broken down!"
Gao Heyann suddenly asked, "Did the police investigate afterward? Have there been any deaths there before?"
This point was crucial; she asked nearly every patient this question.
"No, I also looked into it later, and there hadn't been any such incidents," Lin Yan said.
"Continue," urged Gao Heyann.
"My mother was eventually declared dead after exceeding the legal period of disappearance. Every year on that day, my father would go to the scene of the incident. Out of fear that it would upset me, he never took me with him. But one year, after going there, he never returned."
Listening to this, Gao Heyann asked, "So your father is still?"
"Yes, missing without a trace."
"And after that?"
"I've never wanted to believe that my parents were dead. I've been looking for them these past few years but to no avail..."
Lin Yan clenched her fists silently.
"A week ago, while I was at home, suddenly someone rang the doorbell. I went to check the peephole and saw, standing outside, that woman with no pupils that I saw back then!"
Dai Lin found it unbelievable. "After so many years, you actually still remember her appearance clearly?"
"Yes, it seemed unbelievable to me as well... and at that moment, my first thought was that after she took my parents away, she had come for me... All I could do was grab a weapon and stand guard by the door, but the doorbell rang for less than a few seconds and then stopped. When I looked through the peephole again, she had disappeared."
Gao Heyann pressed on, "Did she appear only this once?"
"After that, I didn't dare stay at home anymore, but instead went to live in my office. I also obtained a peace charm from a temple. But, starting last night, I always feel like someone is following me when I walk, and I often faintly hear footsteps!"
Dai Lin continued to quickly record her medical history in the outpatient notebook.
"Next, I discovered that I would always inexplicably find myself in very secluded places, and even if I went to crowded places, they would immediately become deserted!"