As soon as Lin Zhao finished speaking, all the windows in the room swung open, letting in a chilling gust of wind. The lights flickered and died, plunging us into darkness. Panicking, Lin Zhao instinctively grabbed my hand.
"Cunxi, do something! You're the expert here!"
I wanted to tell him that I was barely more knowledgeable than he was—just a hair's breadth better informed. But in this situation, explaining was pointless.
"Listen carefully," I said, keeping a wary eye on our surroundings. "Whatever happens, don't leave my side. Together, our combined yang energy will be stronger and less likely to let those things possess us."
For a while, everything remained eerily silent. When I turned around, Lin Zhao was gone.
"Lin Zhao? Lin Zhao!" I called out, panic creeping into my voice.
Suddenly, his cries for help echoed from outside the door.
"Cunxi! Help me! Cunxi, save me!"
Without a second thought, I flung the door open and ran towards the voice. I sprinted down the corridor, following his cries. Yet, no matter how fast I ran, the voice always seemed just ahead, out of reach.
"Lin Zhao?" I called again as I spotted a figure standing in the dim light. I cautiously approached, unable to see their face. Extending a hand to tap their shoulder, I froze when the figure crumpled to the ground at the lightest touch.
I hurried closer, intending to help, but before I could react, cold hands clamped around my throat.
"Ugh… you're not Lin Zhao!" I choked out, clawing at the iron grip. The strength behind those hands was inhuman, and I could barely breathe.
As the world blurred around me, the grip suddenly loosened, and I was thrown to the ground like a discarded toy. The figure turned abruptly, rushing toward something behind me. Struggling to my feet, I saw Lu Zhiqiu standing there, wielding a wooden sword like the one I'd seen in my hallucination. The blade's tip pierced a woman's chest, and she disintegrated into ash.
The man who had just attacked me lunged at Lu Zhiqiu, but he met the same fate. As he crumbled into dust, Lu Zhiqiu sneered, "Overestimating yourself."
He turned to me, his expression as cold as ever. "Didn't I tell you not to leave the room?"
Ignoring his lack of concern, I scrambled to explain what had happened. Although he said nothing, the disdain in his eyes spoke volumes.
"What were those two things just now?" I asked, curiosity overtaking my fear. "If they were ghosts, why did their bodies turn to ash after death? Shouldn't ghosts be incorporeal?"
"Those were corpse ghosts," he replied curtly.
Although his answer unsettled me, my curiosity got the better of me. "What exactly are corpse ghosts? I've heard of vengeful spirits and demons, but this is a first."
"Corpse ghosts are created when a human body is neither cremated nor buried after death. Instead, someone with malicious intent uses a matching ghost—one whose birth chart aligns with the body's. Over forty-nine days of ritual refinement, the two fuse into a corpse ghost. Finding a matching ghost and body is incredibly rare, which is why these creatures are uncommon. I'm curious—what kind of person have you provoked that they'd go to such lengths to send so many corpse ghosts after you?"
I didn't dare confess that I'd brought all this trouble upon myself by taking the jade pendant. And if I could go back, I'd probably still make the same choice.
"So, what do we do now?" I asked. "The night's just begun. Unless whoever's behind this decides to call it off, I don't see us making it till dawn."
Handing me two talismans, Lu Zhiqiu said, "We're in the hospital's otherworld now—a liminal space where the souls of the living and the dead coexist. Avoid contact with living souls at all costs."
That puzzled me. "How can living souls even be here if the people aren't dead?"
"If you harm a living soul by mistake, your police friend will have all the evidence he needs to arrest you," he replied dryly. Then he uncorked a small bottle, and a cool liquid dripped onto my eyelids. "This is cow's tear solution. It'll let you see corpse ghosts, though not other spirits."
I blinked, and the world around me changed. Shadows materialized into ethereal figures drifting through the halls.
Turning to Lu Zhiqiu, I asked nervously, "How do we tell the living souls from the dead ones?"
"The talismans will react if a vengeful spirit gets too close," he said, leading me through the labyrinthine hospital.
As we turned corner after corner, I spotted Lin Zhao lying unconscious in front of the morgue. I rushed forward, reaching out to pull him up, but my hands passed right through him.
Staring at my hands in disbelief, I looked up at Lu Zhiqiu.
"He's just like the other patients here—his soul has temporarily left his body. That makes him safer. As long as neither of us touches him, he's fine. The mother-son duo won't target disembodied souls."
I relaxed slightly until his expression darkened. "Wait, something's wrong. The hospital might have lingering spirits, but the mother-son pair should've scared them into hiding. For so many to appear, someone must be controlling them."
"Someone's controlling these ghosts? And that person knows magic like you?"
I recalled the master's words: to control ghosts, the practitioner couldn't be too far away, or the spirits would lose coherence. Since the ghosts here were orderly, the one pulling the strings must be inside the hospital.
"Can you pinpoint where they are?" I asked, anger flaring. Whoever it was had nearly gotten me killed multiple times. I needed answers.
"It's a full moon tonight. To control corpse ghosts, they'd need to set up an altar on high ground. That person's likely on the roof. Let's go!"
Without hesitation, we sprinted toward the seventh floor.
But after running for what felt like twenty minutes, we still hadn't reached the rooftop. At our speed, it should've taken no more than three minutes. Instead, it felt like we were trapped in an endless loop—a sinister, never-ending kaleidoscope.