Hospital 444
Chapter 505 - 7 Malevolent Ghost

Chapter 505: Chapter 7 Malevolent Ghost

Lu Yuqing’s cursed object’s strongest point is its ability to perceive space and time in regards to ghosts.

This ability is mainly auxiliary, but it is extremely useful during surgeries. For example, she can predict fluctuations of curse power within a patient’s body and the peak times of malevolent ghost attacks during surgery. It is no exaggeration to say that having Lu Yuqing involved in a surgery room directly improves the success rate of the operation. That is also why she was extremely favored by frontline surgeons when she was in the Evil Ghost Department.

From this alone, one can see how powerful her auxiliary ability is.

But what did she say? Awareness of a discrepancy?

Such vague and unclear words are not Lu Yuqing’s style!

Gao Heyann began to feel that something was amiss, grabbed Lu Yuqing, and asked, "No, what did you just say? I didn’t understand."

"I don’t know either. Just now at the station, I didn’t sense any ghosts approaching the platform in the past three months. But just a moment ago, I suddenly had a strange feeling..."

"Have there been any precedents for this kind of feeling?"

"Yes, twice. Those two surgeries were later found through examination by the Department of Cursed Objects to be misdiagnoses, not resentful spirit curses but malevolent ghost curses."

"Malevolent ghost?"

"Of course, saying it was a misdiagnosis is not entirely accurate. Before Director Mei established the Evil Ghost Department, malevolent ghosts were treated as resentful spirits."

Malevolent ghosts... Resentful spirits...

This reminded Gao Heyann of something Mei Quzhen had told her before.

In those days, Mei Quzhen, by her own power, added a new department to the hospital, which was a shocking event for the whole institution. Since then, doctors began to regard malevolent ghosts as a completely new curse for diagnosis and treatment.

However, according to Mei Quzhen, she seemed to have had some hidden reasons for establishing the Evil Ghost Department.

"How do you understand malevolent ghosts? You’re a doctor in the Resentful Spirit Department; surely, you’ve researched this area too, haven’t you?"

"No," Lu Yuqing shook her head and said: "Other ghosts, you can find a pattern of curses, and then target them with cursed objects for treatment. But malevolent ghosts are different. It is almost impossible to eradicate a malevolent ghost curse through surgery alone. Although it is commonly believed that all malevolent ghosts originate as sin-born ghosts, from the moment a sin-born ghost transforms into a malevolent ghost, all common sense becomes useless."

A saying circulated in the hospital.

To operate on a malevolent ghost curse is like opening a blind box. If you’re lucky, this malevolent ghost is akin to a regular resentful spirit. If you’re unlucky, the malevolent ghost may rival a cursed spirit.

To be frank, Lu Yuqing was now beating a wild drum in her heart. If she did not sense that ghosts were about to appear, she would already be considering fleeing back to the hospital.

For a main Resentful Spirit Department doctor to face a malevolent ghost was like gambling with her life. One wrong move could mean delivering her head on a platter.

Therefore, she also said to Gao Heyann, "I’m accompanying you this time, but Heyann, if there’s any danger, I’ll immediately run back to the hospital. I won’t hesitate for a second!"

She had meant to say, "I might not even look back for you then." However, such words were too much of a blow to their friendship, and she found it difficult to say them outright.

"I said, if there’s danger, you can run away first, and even if you do, I’ll still pay you afterwards."

"Well, that’s not necessary," Lu Yuqing said, valuing her life but also her pride. If she were to tuck her tail between her legs and run, yet still ask Gao Heyann for money, she couldn’t bring herself to do something so humiliating.

The two women returned to the station.

Lu Yuqing sat down again.

She refocused her sensing back to that night, directly pre-dating the car accident by two hours.

This time, she was much more serious in her sensing and kept holding Gao Heyann’s hand, ready to pull her back to the hospital if anything went wrong.

She knew very clearly that a malevolent ghost was an existence that she and Gao Heyann combined would have difficulty confronting.

As she repeatedly compared the details of her sensing just now, after over ten minutes, Gao Heyann noticed that her complexion had turned awful.

Lu Yuqing’s temples began to show bulging veins, and her pupils repeatedly dilated.

Moreover, Lu Yuqing’s grip on Gao Heyan’s hand was getting tighter and tighter.

Finally, she raised her head and said to Gao Heyan, "It’s better for you to find Director Mei to deal with this matter. This time, it’s definitely... a Malevolent Ghost! An extremely terrifying Malevolent Ghost!"

Apprehensive that Gao Heyan might not take it seriously enough, she added emphatically, "Extremely terrifying."

"Malevolent Ghost... I understand," Gao Heyan replied.

"You don’t understand!" Lu Yuqing raised her voice, "Gao Heyan, listen carefully to what I’m about to say, every single word. Go find Director Mei, report everything that happened here to her, and then, withdraw immediately, and treat the Resentful Spirit Curse properly. Don’t get involved in this matter anymore. You are just the attending physician of the Wraith Surgery Department! Stop doing anything extra!"

"But we still need to continue..." Gao Heyan protested.

"There’s no continuing, no more to follow! Do you need me to educate you on how extremely terrifying a Malevolent Ghost is? How do you think Director Mei Quzhen has been able to serve as the head of the Evil Ghost Department for such a long time? Because she is competent enough! Director Mei is a professional, and professionals should do their jobs. You aren’t specialized in this area, so don’t delve any deeper!"

Gao Heyan looked at Lu Yuqing holding her hand tightly and observed her expression, then nodded and said, "I got it. I’ll discuss this matter with Director Mei."

"And then... if Director Mei chooses not to take on this paranormal incident, you should immediately forget about it as well. Thousands upon thousands of humans have been killed by ghosts in this world, and you are not a savior. You can’t save so many people!"

"Of course, I know I can’t save that many people."

How could Gao Heyan not know that?

She knew all too well.

Once, she lived in such a happy family.

A civil servant father, a teacher mother—her family conditions could be said to be extremely good. As a child, she saw her parents as being capable of anything. Back then, she wanted to become a civil servant like her father and didn’t even realize how difficult it was to pass the civil service exams.

But everything ended in that hotel.

Her father and mother left her and her sister forever.

The ghost curse that she thought couldn’t possibly exist turned out to be real. Even the hospital was utterly powerless.

Back then, to receive treatment, one had to pay with Spiritual Therapy Points. Paying with Spiritual Therapy Points meant that one’s life would be filled with countless unknown trials and hardships, and even whether one could live an average lifespan was uncertain.

Only then... did she realize how vulnerable her supposedly omnipotent parents were in the face of the ghost curse, almost as fragile as paper mâché.

A once happy family disappeared overnight.

Even prayers to gods and Buddhas were useless. No one could save them, not even a Paranormal Doctor.

"I just wish there would be one less person like me in this world," she expressed.

"What kind of person are you?"

"Someone like me, who, even risking her life, wants to become a Paranormal Doctor because she lost her parents."

Lu Yuqing fell silent.

Her, with both parents alive, found it indeed very hard to empathize with Gao Heyan, who had lost her parents and the backbone of her family in her childhood.

"If that’s the case, then let’s go," she suggested.

"Alright," Lu Yuqing said, "I’ll accompany you on one more journey along the bus route. All the way to the site of the accident."

...

During the journey, Lu Yuqing suddenly asked, "Did you hear? Director Song personally went to the morgue to stand guard because of the rumors that Milan Dailun had appeared there. But even with Director Song taking action, nothing was found."

"I heard," Gao Heyan confirmed.

"Now, there’s another rumor going around in the hospital. They’re saying Doctor Dai Lin isn’t dead but is living somewhere in the hospital!"