Hospital 444
Chapter 254 - 45 Past Events

Chapter 254: Chapter 45 Past Events

Ji Danshu, to this day, had not recalled her past life.

Generally speaking, there were two possibilities.

One was that the awakening of her past life might be relatively late, and the other was that she was not a reincarnation of a deceased islander.

The second possibility was more likely. After all, the number of deceased on the island could not maintain an absolute balance with the newborns, meaning many of the newborns were not reincarnations of the deceased.

Actually, many people on the island, after regaining their past life memories, did not wish to contact their relatives from their former lives but wanted to live well in their current one, choosing not to reveal their memories. Therefore, Ji Danshu felt that neither her brother nor her husband completely believed that she hadn’t regained her past life memories.

Back then, that was exactly what she thought of Leng Mu. Perhaps, Leng Mu had recalled her past life, but chose to tell no one.

However, she hadn’t expected...

"Jian Shi," she said.

"Hmm?" Hai Jian Shi looked at his wife and asked, "What’s the matter?"

"I haven’t told you about Leng Mu, have I?"

"I’ve heard bits and pieces from the townspeople," he replied. "They say she disappeared and that she used to paint some very strange pictures."

"But I never told you that it was she who taught me how to paint," she confessed.

"Is that so? Well, that just shows you have an artistic talent as well," he remarked.

As Hai Jian Shi spoke, he suddenly felt that something about Ji Danshu’s gaze was off.

"Jian Shi, I remember you said you fell in love with me at first sight, right? And you also mentioned..."

Ji Danshu spoke up to this point but didn’t dare to meet her husband’s gaze anymore.

"You mentioned... you liked the way I looked when I was painting, right?" she continued.

"What’s wrong?" he asked.

With clenched teeth, Ji Danshu confessed, "Actually, when I paint, I subconsciously imitate Leng Mu."

Upon hearing this, Hai Jian Shi’s complexion subtly shifted.

At that moment, something occurred to him.

"I imitate her painting style. The difference is, I don’t only paint horrifying scenes."

"Imitating... her... style?" he echoed.

Hai Jian Shi gripped Ji Danshu’s shoulders tightly and pressed, "You mean to say, your painting style isn’t your own? Maybe you just believe you’re imitating her?"

Looking at the urgency in her husband’s expression, the fear inside Ji Danshu began to resurface.

"Jian Shi, you’ve always told me that you haven’t recalled your past life, right?"

"Yes... I have never recalled my past life..." he affirmed.

"But you’ve actually been lying to me, haven’t you?" she accused.

Ji Danshu looked firmly into Hai Jian Shi’s eyes and stated, "In fact, you’ve recalled your past life long ago, haven’t you? It’s just that your past life... is something difficult for you to talk about, right?"

"No, it’s not like that, Danshu..." he stammered.

"You have remembered your past life for a long time, and I’ve had my suspicions..." she countered.

...

"After Hai Han told us the secrets of this island, I finally understood why, back then, so many families wanted to adopt Leng Mu."

Dai Ming looked at the notebook before him, which recorded the conclusions he had reached after questioning various island residents. To gather this information, he had spent quite a sum.

"Moreover, there’s one most critical point. The time Leng Mu disappeared..."

"Exactly coincides with the time we started painting the woman in the painting all those years ago!"

The missing Leng Mu... Was she given a sea burial by the people on the island?

If that was the case, then according to what Hai Han told them, she would be reincarnated on this island.

"It’s likely that Leng Mu didn’t reincarnate, but rather became a Malevolent Ghost," Pan Yizhen added. "Hai Han told us that those who are murdered won’t be reincarnated after a sea burial."

Dai Ming actually had a suspicion about this too.

"Not reincarnating means... they actually become a Malevolent Ghost in the sea?"

"I’m afraid so."

"But why target us? We have no connection to the Bluestone Island! If you really had to say, our only common point is that we all possess a talent for painting."

"Dr. Fang once said that our paintings are a sort of cursed object. Cursed objects are a vessel for curses... Dr. Fang also said that some Malevolent Ghosts, through cursed objects, make their curses even stronger."

"Does that mean we’re actually sacrifices?"

Thinking about this gave Dai Ming the shivers.

Sacrifices that could enhance a curse?

"This sea... granting rebirth to the dead..." Dai Ming recalled the process of each painting he did, still finding it terrifying: "So the curse targeted us in order to turn this female ghost into a more powerful Malevolent Ghost?"

Dai Ming had already learned from Dai Lin and Fang Zhou that Malevolent Ghosts could vary in strength. Those stronger than mere spirits were collectively called Malevolent Ghosts. These included Resentful Spirits, Malevolent Ghosts, Wrathful Ghosts, Malevolent Spirits, and Cursed Spirits. It was undeniable that Malevolent Ghosts could grow.

"The key issue is that we can’t find any trace of a specific curse on ourselves, therefore we can’t diagnose which type of Malevolent Ghost it might be, let alone treat it, much less perform surgery. The only method is to find the female ghost, and somehow obtain a part of her, bring it back to the hospital, make it into a cursed object, and then there might be hope for treating us."

If Leng Mu was already incapable of reincarnating...

The next clue for Dai Ming and Pan Yizhen was just one point.

Who was Leng Mu in her previous life?

Back then, many families wanted to adopt Leng Mu, not just in Cold Iron Town, but also in the surrounding towns.

Especially families that had lost female relatives, they all deposited their grief onto this child who just happened to have no one willing to claim her.

"The Leng Family ended up raising her, probably also because after they adopted the child, it came closest to her original family relations. If they had brought back a mother, grandmother, or other relatives, the familial relations would have been completely chaotic."

Although it happened a long time ago, this incident was indeed still remembered by quite a few people on the island.

"But there’s one thing that really concerns me."

Back then... among the families that wanted to adopt Leng Mu, there was a couple.

They were around sixty years old, much older than the Leng family couple. And they... had just lost their own daughter.

Their own daughter, from the outcome, could be said to have been murdered.

Killed by her son-in-law.

"It is said that their son-in-law had been continuously committing domestic violence against their daughter, but even when she sought help from her parents, they merely told her to endure. And when she could no longer bear it, she decided to elope with a young man from the island, to leave Bluestone Island. However, on the night before the elopement, she was discovered, and as a result, was beaten to death by her son-in-law. And that young man, after waiting for her in vain, confronted the brute and killed him, then committed suicide."

An extreme and tragic love story.

"People who are murdered, even if given a sea burial, cannot reincarnate." When Dai Ming first heard this story, he vaguely suspected that maybe Leng Mu was the reincarnation of that young man who had committed suicide.

Until he heard about one thing.

The woman killed by the scumbag husband, she was adept at painting while alive!

"Could it be... that she is Leng Mu’s past life?"