Hospital 444
Chapter 394 - 11 Stair Treads

Chapter 394: Chapter 11 Stair Treads

Inside this hospital, there exists a power that restrains the dean?

Upon hearing this, Milan could only feel incredulous.

The dean is absolute, and no doctor can possibly defy the dean; it was common knowledge Milan had known since she was three years old. Her grandparents, her parents, they all told Milan so.

Especially her grandfather, Samuel Daren, who ruled the 666 Hospital for a hundred years, was the stabilizing force of the entire Darren Family. Yet, even he had never considered trying to challenge the dean. Not to mention anything about... a power within the hospital that could restrain the dean?

For Milan, such things were far too beyond her common sense. It wasn’t just a matter of doing it; even thinking about it felt ridiculous.

Every Paranormal Doctor had signed a contract akin to a pact of indenture with the dean, and everyone’s soul no longer belonged to themselves but was... completely owned by the dean.

This job was not one you could quit, nor retire from, one had to do it for as long as one lived, being dismissed by the dean meant death, and most importantly, it would be passed on through blood lineage. Once children reached the age of twenty, they had to enter into a contract with the dean and from then on become a Paranormal Doctor. And if one were implanted with a cursed object and could not pass a recruitment arranged by the dean, it would be a dead end.

For major families like the Dalen or the Faust, there were ways to help their children survive this ordeal. But it was different for ordinary doctors, many of whom, for this reason, chose to be DINK (Dual Income, No Kids), unwilling to birth children destined to work in such a high-mortality profession as Paranormal Doctors.

Looking at these circumstances, to say the Paranormal Doctors were slaves to the dean was quite apt, without a hint of exaggeration.

But even so, Milan still thought that her second brother’s ideas were too fanciful.

How to fight against the dean? All the dean had to do was choose to dismiss them, and he could instantly erase them from the world!

This horrific gap in power was enough to prevent most people from even entertaining the thought of rebellion!

Did her third brother also know about this? No, surely not, right? Did their grandfather know about the second brother’s thoughts?

Damon and Rosa then began to wait.

The two sat in the chairs of the outpatient area, with Milan sitting behind them.

Now, all of Hospital 444’s on-duty doctors had left.

Inside the outpatient building, only Milan, Damon, and Rosa were left alive.

Milan sat three seats behind them, confident in her ability to remain hidden, convinced that even her second brother couldn’t see through it.

At this moment, her heart was in turmoil, wavering whether to appear and persuade her second brother to abandon his crazy notion, or maybe...

"The first rule set by the dean always emphasizes that this hospital is not called Hospital 444," Rosa suddenly said to Damon, "The strangest part of this rule is that none of you ever questioned this bizarre statement."

"Yes," Damon nodded, "Before I knew you, I never thought there was anything wrong with this rule. However, this itself... this in itself is what’s most absurd."

Absurd...

Yes.

Milan thought about it and suddenly felt a faint throbbing pain in the inverted cross on her forehead.

"Mary also realized this point, she believed that the so-called Hospital 444 might exist. So... if we think backwards, there arises a very odd question."

"Yes. Let’s suppose, if Hospital 444 truly exists and the dean goes to great lengths to conceal it, then why tell us the concept of Hospital 444 in the first rule? This, this is the most bizarre part," he continued.

Milan suddenly felt very confused.

What is all this nonsense?

As she listened, she became completely unable to comprehend.

"So, the most reasonable explanation I can think of is that some kind of rule’s power is binding the dean. The dean can only punish us for breaking the rules, but conversely, the dean can’t set rules at will. The dean wants to hide Hospital 444, yet he must tell us the concept of Hospital 444."

This...

What does this mean?

"Mary does not fully agree with our hypothesis. However, she has agreed to assist us in searching for that power hidden within this hospital... the power that restricts the dean, through the rules he has established!"

A power hidden within this hospital?

Damon even proposed a hypothesis, "The dean probably does not want the doctors to unite. Therefore, he never forbids the slaughter among doctors, and even encourages them to seize the deputy dean’s position through killing. Thus, the conflict between Faust and the Darren Family was likely instigated by the dean from the beginning. Us fighting each other is the most beneficial situation for the dean."

"To go a step further, the dean would not want any one side to completely annihilate the other. It is ideal for the dean that the two families maintain a balance of power."

A silence then fell between Damon and Rosa.

Eventually, Damon asked a question Milan also wanted to know.

"Where is Mary now?"

Milan was startled to hear this.

How come... After all this time, his older brother actually doesn’t know Mary’s whereabouts?

"She is not dead now, but it’s also difficult to say in what state she is." Rosa held a piece of paper, "At least for now, she can still pass us information, though it’s only bits and pieces."

Finally... eleven o’clock was about to arrive.

Milan started to get nervous as well.

"Rosa, be careful. And..." Damon reminded her, "Remember, you must leave the outpatient area before twelve o’clock."

"Yes."

Between midnight and four in the morning, every doctor must leave the outpatient area, it is an ironclad rule.

No doctor who violated this rule has ever survived.

Afterward, Rosa walked towards the stairwell.

And Milan followed behind Rosa.

Milan at that time couldn’t understand what mystery lay within the stairs.

Only later, after sharing memories with Dai Lin, when Milan learned about the complete rules of Hospital 444, did he understand the rule of the "thirteenth step of the stairwell."

And upon learning this rule...

Milan felt a chill run down his spine.

At that time, Milan also didn’t know the kind of terrifying experience she was about to go through while following behind Rosa.

If she had known then...

She would have rather never come to the hospital that day!

Rosa arrived at the stairwell, then stood in front of the stairs, raising her wrist to look at her watch.

"Mary, what exactly do you want to tell us, now, let’s find out."

Milan nervously followed behind Rosa.

At that moment, Rosa suddenly looked at the steps.

"13... 13 steps?"

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