Zhao She spread his fingers again, peering through them for a while before saying to Dai Lin, "Listen carefully, little Dai, whatever you do, don't leave my side."
After pausing to think, Dai Lin asked, "Dr. Zhao, are you sure the ghost hasn't gone towards the inpatient wards?"
Zhao She replied with full confidence, "Don't worry, even if it's a powerful ghost, this is still the inpatient department. No matter how strong, it can't just silently infiltrate a patient's room. We're professionals, okay?"
Afterward, Zhao She continued to move forward bit by bit, and Dai Lin followed closely behind him.
Then, Dai Lin suddenly noticed that as they kept moving forward, the distance to the staircase remained unchanged!
Even though he and Zhao She had been walking forward continuously, it was as though they were marching in place!
"Don't be scared, this isn't 'ghost hitting the wall'," Zhao She immediately guessed Dai Lin's thoughts. "The space of the inpatient department is not normal physical space. If it were, how could patients possibly feel at ease staying here?"
Dai Lin felt even more amazed—this hospital truly was incredible.
Soon, Zhao She finally stopped.
He moved closer to the gap between his fingers.
"Little Dai, stand firm," Zhao She's voice began to turn solemn, "we might encounter a bit of trouble."
Then, he took out his phone and dialed a number.
The call connected quickly.
"Director Chen... This is Zhao She from the Evil Ghost Department. There's a situation on the fifth floor of the inpatient building."
"A situation?"
"Ahead, in the corridor near the fifth floor's staircase, I've just spotted traces of ghost activity... But the cursed objects in the corridor aren't reacting to it, which is unusual. It could be an atypical Resentful Spirit, not ruling out the possibility of a Malevolent Ghost. Just in case, I hope you could come and provide support."
"We're currently patrolling the ICU ward; we'll come down. However, it will take some time to exit the internal deep-folded space."
"No problem, we can hold out here."
After hanging up the phone, he said to Dai Lin, "Little Dai, don't move and don't retreat backwards."
Dai Lin realized he couldn't retreat even if he wanted to because he found that whenever he took a step back, the black hole space of these ghostly eyes would produce a strong recoil against him.
The backlash from cursed objects was something doctors couldn't avoid. They were sealed with the ghosts' curses, and the curse would always strike against the seal, similar to the rejection reaction after an organ transplant. While rejection can be suppressed with medication, it can never be completely eliminated. Hence, every doctor must go to the Curse Objects Center for a check-up every month to ensure there were no signs of backlash from the curse.
These ghostly eyes... had their own will! They would not allow Dai Lin to leave!
At the same time, that will was warning Dai Lin: they could bounce back and break the seal, killing Dai Lin completely!
Therefore, Dai Lin had no choice but to follow Zhao She out because he had no other choice.
Dai Lin noticed Zhao She opening his palm to the limit, then continuing to examine each gap between his fingers.
He would bring his fingers together then spread them apart to check the gaps again.
About a minute later, he furrowed his brows and said, "Can't find the trace again, where did it go."
Hearing Zhao She say this, Dai Lin breathed a slight sigh of relief.
It was then that a voice came from behind them out of the blue.
"Dr. Zhao, what's happening?"
It was Long Yuan who had come. It turned out he had come to check on them because Zhao She and Dai Lin had not returned for some time.
Thus, Zhao She explained the situation to Long Yuan.
"It could be a Malevolent Ghost?" Long Yuan's expression became more somber. "If so, it's not appropriate to arrange for it to be in a regular ward! If only Director Mei were on duty at the hospital tonight... Ah well, no use talking about that now. Dr. Zhao, should we retreat first and wait for Director Chen and his team to arrive?"
Zhao She shook his head: "No, that won't do. As we retreat, that will be the perfect opportunity for the Malevolent Ghost to attack us. The use of cursed objects is all about timing. I'll go check the staircase ahead first, Dr. Long, you stay here and keep watch."
"Alright, be careful then," Long Yuan knew that as a doctor from the Evil Ghost Department, Zhao She had far more expertise with Malevolent Ghosts than him, a physician from the Wraith Surgery Department. After all, Malevolent Ghosts were considered a special category of powerful ghosts.
"I know. And you, Dai Lin, follow behind Dr. Long."
After that, Zhao She rubbed his hands together and moved toward the staircase.
The hospital corridors were quite narrow and long, and in fact, around the corridors, there were many curse objects set up to trigger automatically. They wouldn't harm the doctors, but if a resentful spirit passed by, it would automatically be attacked.
All along the way, he began to mutter, "Wife, wife, you have to protect me, you must protect me, ah. If something happens to me, then no one will wash your feet or rub them for you... I won't be able to hand over the Spiritual Therapy Points I earn every month to you... you have to protect me..."
The salary of the doctors was in the form of Spiritual Therapy Points.
"Pose, just pose!" Long Yuan, with his arms crossed, said to Zhao She, "You always do this act. If you could really get in trouble here, I'd do a handstand for you to see!"
Zhao She turned his head back and glanced at Long Yuan again.
"Uh... wife, maybe you could also protect Dr. Long while you're at it..."
"Get lost!"
Finally, Zhao She crossed the space and arrived in front of the staircase.
The door to the stairwell was tightly shut at the time.
There, Zhao She suddenly saw a bloodstained shoe on the ground!
Just now… was this shoe here?
"Oh no... this..." Zhao She carefully approached, opened up his left hand fingers gradually, looking through the gaps between them, then with his right hand he picked up the shoe.
"This thing..."
Suddenly, he watched wide-eyed as blood began to seep out from inside the shoe!
"Damn... I am a doctor from the Evil Ghost Department after all, this is just for scaring patients, not for scaring me, right?"
He continued to open his left palm, then, grasping the doorknob, he opened it!
In that instant, he quickly drew back his right hand and then performed a strange gesture.
Zhao She inserted his right index finger between the gaps of his left ring and middle finger, aiming forward!
"I know, you want to kill the patients in the ward!" Zhao She slowly stepped into the stairwell, murmuring, "Even common ghosts fear you and run away directly. But if you've got the guts, come out, I'll take you on one-on-one!"
After Zhao She finished speaking, there was still no response inside the stairwell.
"Sigh... is it really that hard to find a ghost you can communicate with?"
As an attending physician, although he hadn't started the surgery himself, he still had plenty of diagnostic experience.
Such situations, although rare, were not entirely unheard of.
The only problem was, this was a regular ward, far from being as secure as an ICU.
He was just here to lend a hand and cover a shift!
"You're not coming out?"
The dark stairwell was silent, with no sound and no trace of anything.
Afterward, he felt something touch the top of his head, and then, his entire face was covered!
"Ah!"
Zhao She immediately and quickly shook off whatever was on his head!
He looked closely... it was a white lab coat!
He immediately picked up the lab coat, and on it was a name badge: "Attending Physician of the Evil Ghost Department, Zhao She"!
Zhao She looked at himself, only to find that the white lab coat was no longer on him!