Inside the Director's Office.
Quails gazed at the bustling VIP consultation room, his eyes reflecting a mix of admiration and scheming thoughts.
The animated faces on the glass containers beamed with wide smiles.
"I knew it," Quails muttered, his voice tinged with satisfaction. "This kid is the star of the Third Hospital! As expected, with him here, the hospital's reputation will soon bounce back. It's only a matter of time!"
His words were sharp, filled with bitterness. "He Yi... that traitor... while I was incapacitated by the Soul-dreaming Incense, he secretly allied with outsiders."
He paused, his mind lingering on thoughts of betrayal. "If it weren't for Yi Bai, the Third Hospital would have been finished. No doubt about it."
He curled up on the sofa, his mechanical eye flashing red with rage at the thought of He Yi.
"Now that He Yi's dead at Ralph's hands, I wonder if the people behind him will stay calm..."
The voice was cold and calculated, a subtle chill hanging in the air of the office.
"All this time, the hospital's been in deficit, and now—now is the perfect time to strike. The rats in the shadows... they should be moving soon enough."
A soft hiss of bubbles rose from the glass container, as though the very brain inside was simmering with thought.
Outside the VIP Consultation Room.
The line of monsters holding tickets stretched orderly down the corridor, an eerie calm settling over them. Inside the room, every three minutes or so, a new number was called, much to the satisfaction of the waiting souls.
The efficiency of the consultations was astonishing, and there had never been a mistake—until now.
"Next!"
Lina's cold voice cut through the air, her tone as clinical as the atmosphere she maintained.
Just as a headless ghost prepared to enter the consultation room, a strange, stuffed arm blocked its way.
"What's this? Trying to cut in line?!" The headless ghost froze, its decapitated head hovering ominously above, eyes narrowing with malice.
Before it, stood a peculiar doll—less than a meter tall, with a grotesque, patched-up appearance. Its body was covered in scarred, bloodstained fabric. It was a ghost doll, a common enough creature in this horrifying world.
The ghost doll unfazed by the threatening posture, calmly reached into its pocket and pulled out five bills.
"Five hundred ghost coins. This spot's mine now."
With a confident flick, the doll tossed the coins at the headless ghost's feet and walked toward the consultation room without a second glance.
The scene left the other monsters in stunned silence.
The headless ghost, now fuming, blinked in disbelief before its iron-gray face turned an even darker shade of fury.
"Who the hell do you think you are, punk?!" it snapped. "You think five hundred ghost coins will buy you a place in line? You must be looking to die!"
The surrounding monsters erupted into laughter, mocking the doll mercilessly.
"Who's this poor bastard? Five hundred coins to try and skip ahead in line?" one jeered.
"Yeah, is it just me or does that doll have a screw loose?" another added.
A chorus of voices jeered and laughed, growing louder as they made their opinions known.
The ghost doll, slammed against the wall by the headless ghost's unexpected attack, stared back with pure fury in its pitch-black eyes.
In an instant, a chilling aura of a peak-level vengeful spirit radiated from the doll's small form, freezing the onlookers in place. Even the headless ghost hesitated.
"What do you think you're doing?" the headless ghost asked, its voice now tinged with wariness.
The ghost doll's face twisted into a terrifying grin. "You greedy bastard! Five hundred ghost coins for your spot and still you're ungrateful? Time to die!"
Without a moment's hesitation, the doll unleashed a torrent of rusty iron nails, crackling with ghostly energy, aimed straight for the headless ghost.
The nails shot toward the ghost with inhuman speed, and before it could even react, the ghost's head was nearly punctured into a sieve.
"Lina."
A calm, male voice echoed from inside the consultation room.
The next instant, a woman in a bloodstained, perfectly fitted nurse's outfit appeared at the door, the very embodiment of lethal efficiency.
Clang! Clang!
Surgical blades flashed through the air, cutting the rusty iron nails mid-flight, sending them crashing to the ground.
The ghost doll, its body now torn open by the precise strike of the scalpel, crumpled to the floor, its hollow eyes losing their spark.
"Maintain order," Lina's cold voice echoed, as she turned back toward the consultation room. "Dr. Yin prefers a proper treatment atmosphere."
A stunned silence fell over the corridor.
A headless ghost, barely able to process what had happened, could only stare in shock. "Wait, did the ghost doll just get killed in one move... by Dr. Yin's assistant?"
"Did you hear that? Before it died, it seemed to shout something about 'Red'... What does that mean?" one muttered, half in fear.
"Don't think too hard," another whispered. "Just get in there, or Dr. Yin might get upset. And you know what happens when he's not happy, right?"
The line of monsters quickly surged forward, eager to avoid angering Dr. Yin.
Meanwhile, outside the Third Hospital, near an intersection...
In a dimly lit bar, a figure cloaked in a trench coat and wearing a mask, with only the occasional glimpse of straw peeking through the cracks, stood quietly. An aura of frost emanated from him, causing patrons to instinctively give him space.
In his hand, a broken straw doll, its pieces radiating cold, seemed to whisper of ominous things to come.
Without a sound, the figure vanished, leaving nothing behind but the lingering chill.
At the entrance of the Third Hospital, two burly security guards froze in place as the figure appeared before them. Their muscles locked, unable to move.
A dangerous thought raced through their minds.
The figure before them exuded the unmistakable aura of a terrifying vengeful ghost—someone not here to make friends.