Hospital 444
Chapter 111 - 24 Three Fissures

Chapter 111: Chapter 24 Three Fissures

"You don’t have much time left, Doctor Dai. My contact with you could be cut off at any moment."

"Who are you?"

Dai Lin clutched his phone tightly as he moved from the bathroom back into the living room.

This was the question that concerned him the most right now.

"We are... the ’Paranormal Doctors’ that do not ’exist.’ No, it should be said that ’Paranormal Doctors’ have never existed."

Dai Lin was frustrated with the enigmatic way of speaking, but it was clear that without the map fragments, they were not going to be straightforward with him. This cryptic communication only made Dai Lin more eager to uncover the secrets behind it.

It seems now...

Dai Lin knew absolutely nothing about the secrets hidden behind Hospital 444.

Why did that so-called "Dean" open this hospital? It was clear from the collection of Spiritual Therapy Points that the "Dean" had no empathy typically found in the medical profession. So, was the hospital opened just for those Spiritual Therapy Points? But why would such a powerful being, almost divine and demonic in nature, need patients’ consent to plunder their futures?

"If you get all the map pieces, what do you plan to do with them?"

"That, I’m afraid, I cannot tell you."

"If I give you the map fragments, will innocent people die because of it?"

"There will be."

Dai Lin was taken aback—had the other party actually given him an honest answer?

"Then I can’t give them to you!"

"What a pity..." The other side sighed, "Do you feel a pain in your forehead now?"

"How do you... know?"

"When an inverted cross appears on your forehead, you will remember the contents of the first clause of the contract... although by then, it will be too late. If you die, it would be very difficult to retrieve the map from you."

"What... what do you mean by that?"

"If you change your mind, call me. But I’m warning you, sooner or later you will not be able to contact me."

Then the call was disconnected.

Afterwards... Dai Lin had to consider a question.

What should he do now?

The time when the Devil’s Cursed Object was revived, although dangerous, was also the best opportunity to retrieve the cursed object.

Dai Lin had no other choice now.

He, after all, had entered into a contract with Han Ming. A contract notarized by the Dean meant that violators would die at the hands of the Dean.

Dai Lin walked to the front door, and then he suddenly found...

The door was ajar!

The door was open!

Dai Lin opened the door slightly and looked out into the corridor.

In the dark and silent hallway, no one could be seen.

Dai Lin rolled up his sleeve to reveal the ghost-face tattoo.

The left eye began to fill with a mass of blood vessels, converging in the pupil.

Going upstairs now to retrieve the cursed object was like snatching chestnuts from the fire or extracting teeth from a tiger’s mouth, and it was an understatement. And the pain on his forehead was becoming more intense.

Dai Lin remembered what the man had said earlier.

"Remember the first clause of the contract"?

Dai Lin could now remember the first paragraph of the contract clearly.

"The intern doctors who sign this contract must confirm this as the first natural paragraph of the contract. If it is not, it means there is a printing error in the contract, please request a new contract from the hospital’s Executive Deputy Dean."

Wait a second...

Dai Lin suddenly started to feel something was wrong.

He seemed to have forgotten something about the contract.

Important information was hiding within the chaotic fragments of his memory.

He seemed to remember something forgotten, but now it had slipped away again.

It was as if some mysterious cursed power was preventing him from recalling it all.

Afterwards, Dai Lin stood in the center of the room, looking at the doll on the table.

According to the medical plan left by Dr. Liang Zhigao, on the night of the full moon, place the doll in the most conspicuous area.

Then... on the night of the full moon, once three cracks appeared on the doll’s body, take the doll out of the house. During this time, never let go of the doll, not even for a second!

According to Dai Lin’s initial plan, he was supposed to hold onto the doll with Lu Yanran. But now, she was nowhere to be found.

Dai Lin looked at the doll...

By this time, clear cracks had already appeared on the doll’s chest and abdomen!

Dai Lin picked up the doll, lit it with his phone’s light, and finally confirmed that there were still only two cracks.

There was one crack left!

Then, Dai Lin, holding the doll, walked step by step toward the sofa where he had been before.

As Dai Lin approached step by step, his heart began to pound violently.

Now, anything could happen.

He had to prepare for the worst.

The pain in his head and forehead made walking excruciating.

If he couldn’t finish within an hour and return to the hospital, he would be too late to register at the Demons Department.

Finally, he reached the sofa, lifted his neck, and looked behind it...

There was only a space as wide as a fist between the back of the sofa and the wall, hardly enough to hide a person.

And when Dai Lin looked, he indeed saw nothing.

But Dai Lin was not convinced. He grabbed the sofa and viciously pulled it back!

The sofa was completely moved away, and then, under the illumination of the full moon, he only saw the accumulated dust behind it and nothing else.

Dai Lin rolled up his sleeve, revealing the ghost-face tattoo, and his left eye started to scan the area.

Finally...

Dai Lin found something among the dust.

It was... a small piece of Cursed Flesh.

About one gram in weight of Cursed Flesh!

Dai Lin picked up the Cursed Flesh, then immediately went to the kitchen, took out a sharp kitchen knife, and... made a deep cut over the area of the ghost-face tattoo, spilling a lot of blood onto the Cursed Flesh!

Indeed, the wound on the tattooed area healed almost instantly.

The Cursed Flesh, drenched in blood, suddenly grew a little.

Dai Lin immediately picked up the Cursed Flesh and walked into the bathroom, placing it in the shower area, then stepped out and closed the door. The glass of the shower was not very clear, only allowing a rough outline of the scene inside.

After leaving the bathroom, Dai Lin suddenly noticed...

There was a new crack on the face of the doll in his hand!

Three cracks...had come together!

Dai Lin quickly went into the bedroom and gathered some clothes, including underwear. In an emergency he had no time to spare; he had to save as much time as possible.

Once Dai Lin grabbed the clothes and went back to the bathroom, he could faintly see a human figure through the shower glass!

"Mrs. Zhang, you’ve recovered now, haven’t you?"

"I... what happened to me? Where are my clothes?"

Dai Lin placed the clothes at the shower’s door and said, "The protection of the Cursed Flesh is over for you. From now on, it can’t protect you from the attacks of evil spirits. Get dressed quickly and come out. It’s a full moon night, and we must go upstairs immediately to recover the Devil’s Cursed Object."

Then Dai Lin did not wait for Lu Yanran to reply before leaving the bathroom.

After a short while, Lu Yanran came out dressed.

As soon as she emerged, she immediately said to Dai Lin, "Dr. Dai, could you please check for me? My child..."

"The child is all right," said Dai Lin after a glance at Lu Yanran’s abdomen. "To be honest, I didn’t expect the Cursed Flesh to save the child as well. The doll has three cracks now; we must leave immediately, Mrs. Zhang. Both of us must hold onto this doll, and...never let go! I know you have a lot of questions, but please, don’t ask anything for the moment. We’ll talk after we are safe."

"Yes... I understand!"

And then... Dai Lin and Lu Yanran left the house!

"Mrs. Zhang,"

"Okay... okay."

After that, Dai Lin and Lu Yanran held the doll together, side by side, as they walked.

He looked through all the surrounding houses, which were completely empty.

As Dai Lin moved with Lu Yanran step by step toward the staircase, he began to think about the first paragraph of the contract.

When he signed the contract, he found the content of the first paragraph a bit strange.

It felt as though... printing errors in the contract were a common occurrence. But this was a contract made with a doctor; surely it must have been confirmed repeatedly, right? Especially for a special paranormal institution like Hospital 444!

"Paranormal Doctor" was not supposed to exist from the start...

What did that mean?

"Remembering the content of the first paragraph"...

At this moment, Dai Lin and Lu Yanran had moved within twenty meters of the stairwell.

All around them was still silent.

The rain outside the window seemed to have stopped as well.

Looking at the full moon outside the window, Dai Lin noticed the pain on his forehead was even more intense!

"Remembering" meant that he had forgotten about it before "remembering."

So... Dai Lin had a terrifying suspicion: was the first paragraph he saw truly the first paragraph?

It sounded absurd, but Hospital 444 itself was an extremely strange entity.

However, Dai Lin was not planning to exchange the map fragment with the other party for information, simply because of their statement that "innocent people would die because of this."

As Dai Lin arrived at the staircase, just about to go up...

From inside the stairwell, suddenly...

A soccer ball rolled out!