??Chapter 138: 137. Person in the Mirror_1
Chapter 138: 137. Person in the Mirror_1
“It was close to Chinese New Year, and the hospital had fewer people. Around this ti, even those who are ill are reluctant to co to the hospital, let alone this place, where the costs are so high. So, aside from those few long-term patients, most had gone ho for the New Year.”
“I was on the night shift in the latter half of the night, with the shift change at one, which gave
a chance to catch a bit of sleep. So think the late-night shift is exhausting, but to , the early night is even more so—you’re constantly called upon by patients getting up throughout the night, unable to sleep. But during the latter half, most patients are asleep, and one can actually get so of their own things done.”
“On duty with
was Xu Xiao, who joined two years after
and was still a greenhorn. Just after eight o’clock, she took a flashlight and went to check on the wards. I lay straight down on the on-call room bed and fell asleep quickly. I don’t know how much ti had passed when suddenly soone shook
awake. It was Xu Xiao—was it ti to change shifts? I asked her, but she didn’t reply. Only then did I notice sothing odd about Xu Xiao’s expression.”
“This girl was always lively, her eyes brimming with laughter, but that ti, her face was expressionless, stern as if she were in class; she didn’t say a word, just stared at . It was unnerving. I got up and checked the ti—it had just passed midnight. I thought she was there to change shifts, but then Xu Xiao suddenly stood erect and turned to leave.”
“I told her to wait, hurried into my clothes, grabbed the flashlight, and followed her. But Xu Xiao moved quickly and entered the elevator before I could catch up. I was a bit dazed at the ti and didn’t sense anything wrong; I just thought Xu Xiao was reminding , so I followed her into the elevator.”
“The elevator was a bit run-down; I rember the chief ntioning it needed replacent, but nothing ca of it. Young people walking briskly could beat the elevator from the first to the fifth floor. I saw Xu Xiao press the button for the fifth floor and waited, yawning. I wanted to check myself in the mirror—the mirror in the elevator was very bright. Looking at it, I saw my dark circles, which looked awful.”
“I was just about to speak to Xu Xiao, but then, I suddenly realized—in the mirror, there was only .”
“Standing beside the elevator buttons, Xu Xiao was not reflected in the mirror at all!”
“Suddenly, I thought of the old nurse who ntioned a ghost—that the hospital housed impure entities that would take people to the fifth floor, and those who followed would disappear. Had Xu Xiao already beco a ghost? Was she out to harm ?”
“I didn’t dare to speak and could only stare intently at Xu Xiao’s back. That was when I noticed Xiu Xiao was walking on tiptoe! Only ghosts walk on tiptoes!”
“The elevator reached the fifth floor, and the noise it made sent a chill down my spine. I watched Xu Xiao step out onto the fifth floor; I stood frozen at the elevator door. The corridor was unlit. I saw Xu Xiao walking towards the end of the hallway where one of the ward doors seed to be open and lighted. I wanted to call out to her, but my voice refused to co, and I could only watch helplessly as Xu Xiao entered the ward and closed the door, plunging the entire corridor back into darkness.”
“I waited for what felt like ages until the elevator again reached the fifth floor; the ding of its arrival seed to snap
back to reality. I re-entered the elevator, and seeing my own reflection, noted how pale I looked, especially around the eyes—that dark, haunted ring that made
look like soone who had seen a ghost.”
“The next day, Xu Xiao was missing. We searched the entire hospital and couldn’t find her. But every ti I took the elevator, I would instinctively look into the mirror to see if there was anyone aside from myself.”
The person who recorded this on-call log was Wang Ping. According to her records, she left the hospital in 2012 to start a business back in her hotown. Earlier this year, she had a fall in the bathroom, ended up hospitalized for half a month, and ultimately didn’t make it.
As for Xu Xiao, the one ntioned in the mo, Lu Ban had turned the hospital staff records upside down and found no trace of her.
There were several other similar on-call logs, most pointing to the room at the end of the corridor on the fifth floor, as if that room held so inexplicable power, with various strange incidents tied to it.
“If entering the hospital, that area might be a key investigatory spot.”
Lu Ban concluded.
He looked again at the information about the construction team; the leader, Liu Qingjiang, had disappeared without a trace, and most of the construction workers had already dispersed, making it difficult to find any leads. Now only the security from Jiangcheng Industries remained, guarding outside the construction site, preventing others from entering.
“Security?”
Lu Ban noted the issue.
He leafed through the records and found the security rotation schedule, seeing their photos.
The on-duty guards in uniforms, and the two workers who caught the broadcaster that day, were obviously not the sa group.
In fact, there weren’t really any workers at the construction site.
“So, who took the broadcaster away that day?”
Lu Ban thought of the phrase in the mission description.
[The disappeared have not died, they just accompany you in a different way]
“Does this an that the people who disappeared in this hospital never died but instead beca so kind of monsters, or mutated into non-human entities, still haunting the hospital? Is this why the demolition crew always encounters various inexplicable resistances when they work?”
Lu Ban speculated.
“Or is it that this place may have concealed so crisis, but Du Danping’s visit resolved the crisis to so extent, yet also left behind hidden dangers? Could soone be accidentally affected and turn into a monster?”
After three days of preparation, Lu Ban felt he was now ready to enter the hospital.
He packed up his things, took the Suona and the crowbar, compressed rations, a flashlight, and so equipnt for reviewing the recordings, then headed to Nanhua Road.
This once bustling area of the city was now extrely desolate, Lu Ban saw that the security guard in the neighbouring mall was dozing off with no shops open. The main building of the hospital, even under the afternoon sun, appeared sinister and frightening.
“There’s sothing wrong with the design here, the orientation is off, so even during the day it doesn’t get enough light. I wonder if it was designed this way on purpose, or just a coincidence.”
Lu Ban recalled the hospital’s designer, a foreigner who fell into depression after designing the hospital building and three years later slit his own wrists with a knife, committing suicide.
As for the companies that sponsored the hospital, most have collapsed or shifted to completely different industries as if everything connected with this place was dood eventually.
He looked up at the end of the corridor on the fifth floor, where the windows were tightly shut, with nothing visible inside.
Lu Ban showed his credentials to the guards and then entered the hospital gate under the guards’ peculiar stares.
Looking up once again, Lu Ban noticed what seed to be a girl standing next to the fifth-floor window. The girl had a wooden expression, staring right at Lu Ban.
Lu Ban gave her a bright smile.
Then he walked into the hospital.
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