Hospital 444
Chapter 697 - 8 The Owner of Eden Hotel_2

Chapter 697: Chapter 8 The Owner of Eden Hotel_2

Gao Menghua pushed the door open.

The dome of the circular room in the divination chamber was painted with a starry sky pattern, but the constellations did not belong to any known astronomical system.

In the center of the room was a crystal round table, surrounded by three high-backed chairs. The eerie thing was that there were already three steaming cups of tea on the table, as if the host knew there would be three guests.

"Please, sit." A voice came from the shadows. Gao Menghua shuddered—the electronic synthesized voice was exactly as she remembered it, with that uncomfortable mechanical vibe.

A figure slid out of the darkness, more floating than walking.

The owner’s face was extremely old, a clear sign of advanced age.

"Miss Gao, long time no see." He turned in Gao Menghua’s direction.

Gao Menghua almost dropped her medical kit. "You... you... you are... Vice Dean Fang???"

"I’m just the owner of Eden Hotel, a descendant of Salgeni Medel." The owner made an inviting gesture, "By comparison, the position of Director of the Department of Cursed Objects at Hospital 444 is just a part-time job. Now, let’s proceed with the divination for you three."

The three cautiously took their seats.

No one would have thought the owner of the Eden Hotel was Vice Dean Fang Shen of the Curse Affairs Department!

Gao Menghua stared at the cup of tea, the surface reflecting not her face, but the image of a little girl—her childhood self.

"We are not here for divination," Ying Ziye repeated, but her voice was less firm than before. Gao Menghua noticed her pupils slightly dilating, a sign of the Brain Marrow Spirit Curse’s influence.

Fang Shen let out a laugh that sounded like electronic malfunction.

"All guests entering Eden Hotel must undergo divination, it’s the rule. Some apartment tenants were quite cooperative too—although the results weren’t very pleasant for them."

Xia Li suddenly stood up: "Where are they? And what exactly happened to the Demon Cursed Item back then...?"

"Patience, Doctor. First, let’s see what fate has in store for you, then we can talk..."

Gray mist began to swirl in Fang Shen’s eyes. Gao Menghua felt dizzy; she knew she should resist, but some power beyond her will kept her from looking away. Gradually, an image emerged in the mist—

Ying Ziye saw herself standing in a hospital corridor, a scalpel in her hand, plunged into the chest of a nurse.

Xia Li’s image showed him kneeling in rubble, surrounded by the sound of children crying.

The scene that Gao Menghua saw almost made her scream—she was standing in the hotel lobby, holding Ying Ziye’s scalpel, the blade dripping with blood. The body on the floor wore a white coat, but the face was...

A white-haired woman.

"The divination is 100% accurate," Fang Shen’s voice seemed to come from far away, "these are all your possible futures. They will be evaluated as your own Spiritual Therapy Points, connected to the structure of your soul..."

The images twisted, turning into three apartment tenants, their eyes sewn shut, mouths gaping in impossible angles, emitting silent screams.

"Ah, the people you’re looking for." Their images shattered into countless pieces, "They can never leave Eden Hotel. Just like your parents."

Gao Menghua suddenly found her hand reaching uncontrollably for the cup of tea. The same was happening to Ying Ziye and Xia Li, their gazes becoming unfocused.

"Drink it and we can delve deeper into our discussion," Fang Shen’s voice now carried a hypnotic rhythm, "Especially you, Miss Gao. Don’t you want to know where your parents went in the end? They’ve been waiting for you."

Just as Gao Menghua’s lips were about to touch the rim of the cup, a sharp pain jolted her awake—her cursed item was burning her skin.

"No!" She knocked over the cup, the dark liquid spilled onto the crystal table, corroding several small holes. Ying Ziye and Xia Li also snapped out of it, quickly pushing away their cups.

Fang Shen leaned back slightly, showing a false disappointment. "What a shame. But it’s fine, the divination is complete, the prophecy will come true. Now..." He suddenly clapped, and the room’s lights went out, "The Blood Letter Task officially begins. Whether you get the Demon Cursed Item depends on your skills."

Darkness surged like a tide. Gao Menghua felt dizzy, and when she could see again, she found herself standing alone in a hotel corridor, the doors labeled not with numbers, but with dates—she recognized the date of her parents’ disappearance.

"Dr. Ying? Dr. Xia?" Her calls echoed in the corridor, no response. Only a sound like nails scraping wood from afar, and... faint sobbing? It sounded just like her mother.

Gao Menghua forced herself to calm down, taking out a compass from her medical kit. The needle swung wildly then pointed to the door marked with her parents’ disappearance date. She took a deep breath and pushed the door open.

Inside was not a hotel room, but a child’s bedroom—her old bedroom, down to the exact same stickers on the walls. Two figures sat on the bed, backs to the door.

"Dad? Mom?" Gao Menghua’s voice trembled uncontrollably.

The two figures slowly turned. They had her parents’ faces, but their eyes were all black, no whites, their mouths curling into the same stiff smile as Fang Shen.

"You finally came, Meng Hua," her mother’s voice sounded like it came from underwater, "We’ve waited so long, why did you take so long?"

Her father stood up, his movements like a marionette. "You ran away, left us here. Now it’s your turn to stay."

Gao Menghua took a step back, slamming into the suddenly closed door. Her parents’ figures began to distort and elongate, something writhing under their skin.

"The divination said you would come back to complete the ritual." Her mother’s head rotated 180 degrees, "We all need a new ’container’..."

An alarm sounded from Gao Menghua’s medical kit, the compass going haywire. She realized at once that these were not her parents, but some things occupying their forms. She quickly drew a syringe filled with colorless liquid, injecting it into "father" the moment he lunged.

The cold from the needle surged instantly upon contact. The injected "father" shrieked in a non-human voice, deflating like a punctured balloon, leaving an empty set of clothes floating down.

"Mother" hissed angrily, charging at Gao Menghua. She dodged, a gun appearing in her hand—Wuque’s gun, the one she used to kill. The bullet pierced "mother," exploding in bright white light, dissolving her form into ash.

The room began to collapse, walls warping like melting wax. Gao Menghua dashed to the door, finding the handle too hot to touch. In utter despair, the door was smashed open from outside, Ying Ziye and Xia Li stood there, faces pale.

"Run!" Ying Ziye grabbed her arm, "The whole floor is mutating!"

The three sprinted down the corridor, the space behind them folding like paper in an invisible hand. They dived into an elevator, Xia Li frantically pressing the close button. As the doors were about to shut, Gao Menghua saw the scarlet-uniformed bellboy standing at the corridor’s end, his head sliding off his neck, still smiling.

The elevator started descending, but the display numbers jumped in reverse, then suddenly stopped at 14.

"This isn’t the elevator we came in," Ying Ziye’s voice was taut, "It’s taking us to another floor."

Gao Menghua gripped her nurse badge tightly, realization dawning. "14, the number of years since my parents disappeared. This hotel is creating spaces based on our memories and fears!"

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