Finally, the end of the workday arrived, and Le Cheng returned to his dorm early to rest, readying himself for so serious fun with those piddling little ghosts tonight.
As the twelve o’clock chi sounded at night, Le Cheng woke up on ti like an alarm clock. But just as he was about to get up and dress, he suddenly felt sothing odd next to him. Turning his head, he saw a woman, unclothed, lying on his bed—her presence unbeknownst to him before. Her face was marred by burn scars, and her skin a patchwork of blue and purple bruises. When Le Cheng looked at her, she grinned, revealing her scorched yellow teeth.
"Holy shit! You’re so ugly, and you dare to climb into my bed? Do I look like I have no dignity?"
Le Cheng imdiately kicked out, sending her flying off the bed.
The woman rolled twice on the floor after being booted off the bed by Le Cheng, finally steadying herself. Then she lay there on the ground, looking bewildered at Le Cheng, seemingly at a loss as to why he was so angry.
Her reaction took Le Cheng by surprise.
Her gaze might have been blank and vacant, but it wasn’t entirely devoid of sense. Could she actually be soone he could communicate with?
Le Cheng got up and walked towards her.
"Please... please don’t hurt Sister Sofia!"
Just then, a girl jumped out of thin air. She stood in front of the burnt woman, spread her arms, her wine-red eyes filled with fear and panic as she looked at Le Cheng. Even her tiny body was trembling, but she still mustered her courage to protect the woman behind her.
Like the burnt woman, this girl was also a ghost.
He hadn’t gone looking for trouble with ghosts, yet they had co looking for him. But considering the situation at hand...
Le Cheng realized that things happening in this hospital might be a bit different from what he had imagined. So he took a few steps back, sat on the bed again, and chuckled, "Don’t worry, I won’t touch her. But I have a question... Are you with those guys from yesterday?"
Seeing Le Cheng retreat, the girl’s expression relaxed slightly, then she nodded silently.
"What do you want? Or more specifically... what do you want to do to ?"
After hesitating for a mont, the girl finally spoke, "We... We didn’t an to hurt you. We just hope you can leave this place."
"Leave?"
"Yes. This hospital is the Devil’s nest. Anyone who cos here gets marked by the Devil’s power. Normal people beco abnormal, and the abnormal beco even more so, but..." the girl stealthily glanced at Le Cheng’s left hand, "you are the only one not marked by the Demon, and can still see us, without malice towards us. So we scared you and let you see that scene, all just to make you stay away from this hospital and those terrible Demons."
"Well, aren’t you lot considerate."
"Because... We are all victims of this hospital." The girl lowered her eyelids, her face showing sadness, "In life and in death, we have endured endless pain and fear here. No one understands the horrors of the Devil more than us, so, even if it’s just one person, we don’t want to see any more victims."
"What’s her story?" Le Cheng asked, referring to the burnt woman behind the girl.
"Sister Sofia ca to communicate with you."
"Communicate?"
"Didn’t you say last night that you wanted us to tell you what’s happening here? But everyone is too scared, and so of us lost the ability to communicate because of our past traumas. So Sister Sofia volunteered... In fact, Sister Sofia really is a kind person."
The girl pulled the burnt woman forward, looked into her vacant eyes, and said, "Sofia had two children while alive, but her husband was a very violent man. Whenever he got drunk, he would beat her. Sofia never fought back, until one day, the man accidentally killed their two children in his rampage, and that’s when Sofia attacked the man in a frenzy..."
"But then that man shifted the bla first, not only accusing Sofia of killing her own children, but also claiming she was ntally ill. However, Sofia was sent to Saint Elizabeth where, under the ’treatnt’ of doctors, she really beca ntally ill. Sotis she acted manically, sotis like a lifeless puppet, and she was often bullied..."
At this point, Le Cheng observed the woman closely. Though her features were completely destroyed, her build reminded him of the patient he had seen in the "Glimpse of History."
So that’s how it is.
"Sofia eventually died in an artificial fire, and should have been freed, but under the power of the Devil, her soul was trapped in the hospital, suffering endlessly. Yet even so, Sofia never hard anyone, she even wanted to protect ... This ti, she volunteered to communicate with you."
Upon hearing this, Le Cheng couldn’t help but stroke his chin.
If everything the girl said was true, then he could sowhat understand Sofia’s logic. Sofia was severely ill, but since she took the initiative to contact him, it ant that her consciousness had monts of clarity. Plus, given her past, she might think she needs a certain kind of physical contact to communicate with a man. So she appeared on his bed.
This was her way of showing goodwill... even trying to please him.
"I see, then it seems I’m the one at fault. However..." Le Cheng said earnestly, "Even so, she shouldn’t just climb into my bed without permission. After all, even though I’m a Pervert, I still care about looks. Of course, if it were you, it wouldn’t matter."
The girl imdiately looked embarrassed, "No, we were too reckless. Please don’t bla Sister Sofia."
"The innocent know no sin, and since she ant well, of course, I won’t bla her. However..." Le Cheng eyed the girl before him. She seed to be about fifteen or sixteen years old, petite and lovely, with clean clothes that lacked the filthy feel of other ghosts, and more importantly, in communicating with him, her consciousness and logic were very clear, almost indistinguishable from a normal person.
Clearly, she seed to be a rather special individual.
"What’s your na, little sister?"
"I... my na is Clara."
"Clara... That’s a nice na, not only do you look cute, but your na is also very sweet. You’re welco to share my bed anyti."
Hearing this, Clara blushed and shyly lowered her head.
"I feel you’re different from Sofia and the others, can you tell why?"
Clara suddenly lifted her head, her expression changing rapidly, as if she had sothing unspeakable to say. After a long ti, she looked away and whispered, "My mother... was a doctor here."
Clara was not proud of this identity; her tone was even filled with a sense of guilt.
No wonder she had said earlier—Sister Sofia even wants to protect herself.
"Err-ah—"
Suddenly, Sofia, who was lying on the ground, curled up, began to emit a hoarse roar, shaking violently as if she was suffering from so extre pain.
"Sister Sofia!"
Clara’s face changed, and Le Cheng imdiately checked the surroundings, thinking it was the devil’s power attacking, but he felt nothing out of the ordinary.
"It seems that your ntion of the word ’doctor’ just now triggered her stress response. You better take her back first."
As expected, when Le Cheng ntioned the word ’doctor’, Sofia’s reaction intensified.
"Okay... okay."
Clara nodded, and then she picked up Sofia. Their bodies gradually faded before Le Cheng’s eyes until they disappeared.
Five minutes later, Clara reappeared in Le Cheng’s room, but without Sofia, her attitude beca much more reserved, standing barefoot on the floor with a look of helplessness. It was clear that she wasn’t very good at socializing.
"Clara, don’t be nervous, co sit over here."
"...Yes."
Clara tiptoed over to the bed and sat down next to Le Cheng, her little face flushed red.
"Start by telling about yourself."
"Okay."
Because she had a mother who was a doctor, Clara was not abused or violated at Saint Elizabeth. Instead, she was one of the protected. But no matter how hard her mother tried, even to the point of committing various inhumane acts, she could not cure Clara’s terminal illness. Clara’s life ended at the age of eighteen during a snowy and bitterly cold winter.
Due to her terminal illness in life, her body had not fully grown, making her look like a fifteen or sixteen-year-old loli. After death, she maintained this form.
After her death, like other victims, Clara’s spirit was confined to the hospital, for over a hundred years now.
During those long hundred years, Clara experienced countless departures. She had even seen companions from the day before being devoured by the devil the following day. But such experiences and the hundred years of ti did not awaken any powerful abilities in her—in the end, she was just an ordinary ghost.
However, compared to other ghosts, her consciousness was more complete and clear, so she had a better understanding of Saint Elizabeth.
Like all other ghosts here, Clara’s greatest wish was to leave this hospital and allow her spirit to return to the cycle of reincarnation so that she could have a complete life in the next world.
But the more she understood about Saint Elizabeth, the more fearful she beca.
Until Le Cheng arrived...
This man, being in Saint Elizabeth, yet untouched by the devil’s mark, seed very powerful.
She realized that this might be her only chance in this life.
"Mr. Le Cheng, please help us."
After telling her own story, Clara suddenly knelt down, pleading with Le Cheng, "As long as you can free everyone’s spirits from this hospital, no longer under the devil’s control, I... I will do anything!"
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