Livestream: While Others Flirt, I Catch Ghosts - Chapter 16
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Chapter 16: Ghostly Shadows
[Translation By Divinity]
Rubbing his shoulder, which had nearly cracked his cast, Dong Jianren couldn’t help but sigh.
“This mental patient, aside from his messed-up brain, is in pretty good shape!”
Limping, Dong Jianren stood up and glanced at the bathroom again. He found nothing except a large pile of feces left by the old “sister” in the hospital gown.
He turned and walked out.
Back in the third-floor hallway, Dong Jianren noticed a ghostly figure standing at the entrance to the art room.
The anger from his nosebleed earlier flared up instantly.
“I don’t care if you’re mentally ill, I’m gonna rip out a clump of your hair!”
Reaching the art room door, Dong Jianren’s frustration grew when he saw the figure clearly.
It was just the plastic model he had seen in the art room. In a fit of pique, he kicked it back into the room.
He had searched the entire inpatient building with few results. He decided to check the other buildings.
Unbeknownst to him, shortly after he left, the lifeless plastic model struggled out of the room again, its black mouth opening and closing in a silent scream.
Leaving the inpatient building, Dong Jianren looked around and set his sights on the emergency building next door.
After circling it, he discovered there was no main entrance to the emergency building, only two side doors on the left and right.
‘This is the first time I’ve seen an emergency building without a main entrance. If someone suddenly needs emergency care, they won’t even be able to get a stretcher through these small doors.’
He shook the side door of the emergency building. The chain lock was just for show, and the wooden door easily swung open.
The pitch-black hallway occasionally emitted strange sounds, making his hair stand on end just by looking at it from the outside.
As he encountered more and more bizarre things, Dong Jianren gradually became numb. Even though he sensed something strange about this building, he gritted his teeth and chose to enter.
The entrance was the living quarters for the on-duty staff. The room was unlocked. Inside, besides a bed and a wardrobe, there was a large bulletin board leaning against the wall.
Several notices were posted on it. Perhaps because they were kept indoors, the writing on these papers was still clear.
[Regarding the death of Liu Moxuan in bed 218 due to self-immolation, which also led to the deaths of 31 people, including Hu Tutu, Liu Wenlong, and Dang Chaofeng, the police have completed their investigation. The case has been classified as a fire accident caused by suicide.]
The notice was issued on a certain day in November, six years ago. Dong Jianren stroked his chin, recalling the reports about this incident at the time.
In his impression, this incident hadn’t caused much of a stir. It was said that the hospital dean at the time had powerful connections and used his influence to have the police hastily close the case. Moreover, rumors circulated that many patients’ bodies were never found, and their families protested for a long time. In the end, for unknown reasons, the families gave up their protests.
Dong Jianren narrowed his eyes.
‘Missing? Disappeared?’
It seemed like he had found a clue.
Recalling the initial reports, Dong Jianren’s eyes grew brighter.
‘The report about the accident mentioned that the fire originated in the operating room of the emergency building!’
Standing in the lobby on the first floor, he followed the signs to the operating room, located on the basement level. When he descended the stairs, he was surprised to find the lights in the operating room still on, and muffled voices coming from inside.
‘Someone’s here? Isn’t this place abandoned?’
Despite his thoughts, he cautiously approached the operating room door. Peeking through the crack, a shocking scene unfolded before him.
The mentally ill old man who was supposed to be playing hide-and-seek was now tightly bound to the operating table. Two figures stood before him.
One of them was all too familiar to Dong Jianren – the security guard who had barred his entry.
The guard looked at the man in glasses, who was dressed in surgical attire and holding a scalpel, and whispered, “Brother, I’m afraid we can’t continue with this anymore!”
The man with the scalpel paused.
“What’s wrong?”
“A reporter came here today, claiming to be sent by the government. I scared him off!” the guard whispered.
Seeing the security guard again, Dong Jianren’s back was covered in cold sweat. He hadn’t realized the guard had returned. If he had chosen to climb over the main gate, he would have been caught red-handed.
The man in glasses pondered for a moment, then nodded.
“Hmm, it’s indeed time to change locations!”
“Alright, let’s hurry up and get this done! The buyer urgently needs a heart. Come, help me hold him down!”
The old man, who had been lying motionless on the bed, suddenly turned his head, his eyes meeting Dong Jianren’s through the crack in the door.
Seeing the old man’s mouth about to open wide, Dong Jianren sensed trouble.
“Brother! You found me! No! Uncle Dean, I can’t play with you anymore! I played with brother first, I have to follow the rules!”
The old man suddenly jumped up from the bed, breaking free from the restraints. The bewildered security guard was about to subdue him when the old man swung his elbow, knocking the guard to the ground. He then pushed the man in glasses over and yanked out a nearby electrical wire.
Without hesitation, Dong Jianren decided to leave immediately.
Unfortunately, his reaction was a step too slow.
The old man flung open the operating room door, exposing Dong Jianren, who had been tiptoeing away.
The wide-open door revealed the entire operating room.
The room was covered in eerie yellow talismans. Not far from the operating table lay several corpses in hospital gowns, each mutilated. Some had gaping holes in their chests, others were missing their eyes.
The moment he saw the inside of the operating room, a sound echoed in Dong Jianren’s mind.
[Ding! Main Quest 1 completed! Find the missing patient. Quest completion reward: 500 exchange points!]
When the excited old man ran up to him, Dong Jianren saw that his stomach had been sliced open, with intestines spilling out.
The old man, spitting blood, said to him, “Brother, you’re so awesome! You found me!”
Then he collapsed to the ground.
Seeing Dong Jianren eavesdropping outside the operating room, the man in glasses’ eyes turned cold. He shouted at the dazed security guard, “Grab him! Don’t let him escape!”
Just then, the severed electrical wire sparked, igniting the flammable yellow talismans.
Seeing this, the man in glasses and the security guard seemed to witness something terrifying. They ignored Dong Jianren, who was standing at the door, and rushed to extinguish the burning talismans.
Suddenly, both of them froze, their eyes rolled back, and their bodies convulsed.
Dong Jianren also felt a sudden chill.
Sensing something, he quickly summoned a small bottle from his inventory, containing a drop of blue liquid.
He took out the liquid and applied it to his eyes.
When he opened his eyes again, the scene before him made his blood run cold.
Dozens of ghostly shadows were writhing in the small operating room, each one roaring ceaselessly.
The man in glasses and the security guard were being choked by a giant ghostly shadow, nearly three meters tall.