Harry slept until around six in the morning, waking up just as dawn broke. After so much sleep, he couldn't fall asleep again.
He pulled out his phone, checked the time, and looked around. There were no more hallucinations, and he didn't feel uncomfortable. He got up, stretched a bit, and prepared to head out for breakfast.
In the hallway, some early risers were already fetching hot water, while others had returned with breakfast. As he passed the nurses' station, he noticed three nurses in white coats busy with their work.
Harry returned the charger and thanked them before asking a question.
"Did Nurse Jenny leave early?"
"Huh..." The young nurse behind the desk was momentarily stunned, then shook her head. "We don't have a nurse named Jenny in our department."
However, a slightly older nurse who had overheard him turned around and stared at Harry. She gripped the items in her hands tightly, a look of undisguised fear on her face.
Without saying anything, Harry realized something was off
'Shit! Was I hallucinating that nurse too?'
'She wasn't a human?'
'No wonder the details on her face were so real.'
Thinking it over carefully, Harry wanted to ask more, but the pale-faced nurse had already hurried into the operating room.
At that moment, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Keitj entering the floor with a few people.
Among them were two familiar faces—temporary workers from the funeral home whom Harry had seen twice before. The other two were strangers.
They walked over to the nurses' station, and Keith waved at Harry.
"How are you feeling? Better now?"
"Much better. I didn't see any more hallucinations when I woke up today." Harry watched the group walk deeper into the hospital without stopping, and he couldn't help but ask, "Director, what's going on here?"
Keith didn't answer right away. He led Harry to the end of the corridor, where the two funeral home workers entered a ward and expertly prepared the bedside. The person on the bed had their face covered by a white cloth.
The two strangers then took out some strange instruments and began scanning the room.
The director silently observed the scene before asking Harry, "Did you notice anything unusual last night?"
Without hesitation, Harry recounted what had happened when he woke up hungry in the middle of the night.
"…That's pretty much it. I went back to sleep after it. About that intern nurse, was she…?"
"Yes, she passed away a year ago. We handled her funeral."
Harry fell silent. Keith also stopped talking.
The two quietly watched as the workers completed their task, and the body was taken away. Nothing unusual happened.
Harry understood now—if the director had come in person, it was because there was a chance of an unexpected incident.
Once everything was settled, Harry finished his examination, confirmed that everything was fine, and after his IV drip, he took a taxi back to the funeral home.
———
Arriving at the office building in the front yard, Harry couldn't help but knock on the director's office door.
"Director…"
"This matter is being handled by the Blazing Sun Sect. They've been tracking it for a while now," Ke Ting began, giving Harry the conclusion immediately.
"What's going on? Can you explain?"
"Have a seat. It's a long story," Keith said, holding a teacup as he recalled past events.
"Decades ago, strange occurrences began to happen one after another. It wasn't just phantoms appearing—some people started developing special abilities, and even some ancient texts started having real effects."
"Plus, there are some odd and unusual things that we generally refer to as demons and monsters, according to ancient customs. There have been signs of those appearing too."
"In certain places, strange changes have also seen, giving rise to unique domains."
"As for 'domains,' that's what the Blazing Sun Sect calls them. Some people call them by different names."
"For example, that hospital you were at last night—didn't you notice anything unusual?"
"Other than that young nurse, everything felt about the same as when I was hospitalized…" Harry trailed off, then added, "Now that I think about it, it was too quiet. I didn't even hear anyone snoring."
"That's because you were in a domain. Normally, you wouldn't be able to touch it or see it. Only certain people can easily enter such places."
Keith paused and looked at Harry.
"For example, if you happen to be within the area when a domain appears, then you'll definitely find yourself inside it."
"…" Harry looked at the director, feeling speechless. "You knew something was wrong with that hospital?"
The director glanced at Harry, seemingly reading his thoughts.
"Don't look at me like that. I didn't know the hospital was weird."
"A year ago, that domain appeared for three days. The Blazing Sun Sect had just found some clues when the domain disappeared."
"During those three days, out of the hundreds of patients in the hospital, only one—an advanced cancer patient—was suspected to have his soul taken by something in the domain."
"Because that patient only had a few days left to live and was being kept alive by painkillers, it was impossible to determine if they died naturally or were killed."
"The young nurse you met last night also died during those two days, but her death was ruled an accident at the time."
"Back then, the domain only lasted for three days before vanishing. The Blazing Sun Sect determined that it was a relatively mild domain with low danger."
"It's likely that too many people died in the hospital, and the location was used to briefly create this domain when a patient passed away."
"Domains like this usually disappear quickly. The records were later archived."
"But last night at midnight, the Blazing Sun Sect detected signs that the domain from last year had reappeared. It vanished again at sunrise, so I came over to check things out."
Harry understood now. It wasn't that the director had to personally oversee the body collection—it was because he knew Harry's constitution was unusual and that Harry would definitely enter the domain. So, he rushed over at dawn to see if Harry was still alive.
"I only saw what I mentioned earlier. I didn't notice anything else particularly strange."
"It seems like the domain's rules aren't too extreme. We'll leave the rest to the Blazing Sun Sect. Typically, we only assist in handling cleanup or storing bodies here when the situation is uncertain."
Harry was about to ask more questions when someone knocked on the door. It was Kai. With a serious look on his face, Harry could only greet him briefly and leave.
———
After leaving the office, touched his stomach, left the office, and got on a company bike, planning to grab some food.
After riding for a few minutes, he suddenly saw a shadow rapidly growing in front of him.
Looking up, he saw a giant palm leaf falling from a tall royal palm tree.
His face changed, and he immediately jumped off the bike, diving into the muddy ground beside the road.
A loud crash followed, and his bike was struck. Debris hit the side of his face, causing sharp pain.
Harry got up and saw that the fallen leaf was about three meters long, and his bike's frame was bent out of shape.
Looking up at the tree, it didn't seem like any other leaves were about to fall. He tried to lift the fallen leaf, finding that it weighed at least thirty or forty kilograms.
Dragging his damaged but still somewhat usable bike, he turned around and headed back.
'This is nuts. Ugh... What the fuck is wrong with this world?'
'An accident then accident again, hallucinating, ghost nurse and my foot...'
After meeting that young nurse who was declared an accident victim last night, how could he think this was a mere accident?
After thinking for a moment, Harry decided he needed to report this, so he pulled out his phone and called the director.
"Director, I was nearly crushed by a falling leaf just now." Harry quickly recounted what had happened.
The director sounded a bit surprised and paused for a moment.
"Today is the anniversary of that young nurse's death. Her memorial tablet is in the Resting Hall. You can go take a look. Remember, the rules are the most important. If anything happens, call me directly. Do whatever you need to do."
Before Harry could respond, the director hung up.
Harry pondered the director's words. 'What did he mean? Is this some kind of prediction?'
In the office, Kai chuckled.
"What, you're relieved to let this kid get involved?"
"Does it matter if I'm worried? From the moment he stepped into this place, I could tell he's not the kind to shy away from trouble."
"I haven't given him anything to do these past few days, letting him make his own choices, and he hasn't tried to leave. He even came to me on his own earlier..."
"He must know by now that he's special—being able to enter the old ice storage. Even if he doesn't seek out trouble, trouble will find him."
"There's no avoiding it."
"Besides, the young nurse in that domain was clearly trying to remind him the rules and save him."
"She must have violated some domain rule during her night shift last year and is still trapped inside even after her death, unable to find peace."
"If an old guy like me can understand that, how could today's young people, with such strong adaptability, not figure it out? Plus, he was almost killed by a falling leaf just now. I doubt he'll just let that go, and I don't believe he thinks this is over yet."
Kai Qiyan nodded.
"Yes, he's definitely unusual. Right after joining, he encountered something trying to enter the warehouse, and we still haven't figured out how it managed to get in. There's bound to be more trouble in the future. For now, this domain doesn't seem too dangerous, so we might as well let him give it a try."
"But aside from this issue, I came to see you for something more important—the Soul Devouring Beast. You probably already have clearance on this matter, right?"
"We've just completed some checks, and it turns out that many chefs across three nearby regions, especially in Riverside District, have shown the same symptoms."
"Some of them forgot certain steps in cooking particular dishes, and others forgot to add core ingredients."
"But the strange part is, neither they nor the people around them found anything unusual."
"Moreover, there have been no reports of similar incidents elsewhere."
"If our earlier theory is correct, we can essentially confirm that the Soul Devouring Beast is real and is following Doomsday Computer's prediction—and it's somewhere within these three regions."
"Now, I need to borrow something from you."
———
[A/N: Give me your opinions guys. Should I change something?]