CH 160

Translated by Dust Bunny

Edited by Crooked 

Noticing Song Nainai was looking at him with anxiety, Gu Xizhou was silent for a moment before stepping aside and pointing to the landline on the table. “You can use that.”

Song Nainai’s eyes curved into a smile. She picked up the phone, glancing at Gu Xizhou furtively and giving him a shy smile. After picking up the phone, she dialed a string of numbers.

“Du— Du—”

After the busy tone, someone on the other end of the phone picked up. 

“Son, when are you picking me up, ah… I don’t want to be here; I want to go home.” Song Nainai clutched the phone, covering the receiver with her hand, whispering the same words.

The man on the other side spoke in a low voice. “Alright, alright, alright. I’ll come pick you up tomorrow. Go to bed early, okay mom? Your son will pick you up tomorrow.”

“Really?”

The old lady’s voice was pleasantly surprised. On the other end of the phone, the old lady’s son sounded exasperated. “Okay mom, go to bed early, ba.”

“Okay, I’ll go to sleep.”

“Mom, you call the doctors in the hospital and I’ll persuade them.”

“Alright, alright.” Song Nainai handed the phone to Gu Xizhou and smiled. “Doctor, my son said to give the phone to you. H-he’ll talk to you!”

“He’s going to pick me up!” 

Song Nainai danced around happily when she said this. Gu Xizhou lowered his eyes, gaze sweeping over her smile lines. After he took the phone from Song Nainai, he said in a low voice, “Hello sir.”

As soon as Gu Xizhou finished speaking, the man on the other end of the phone pelted him with words. “Didn’t I tell you not to let my mom use the phone before? What’s the matter with you, ah? If I could let my mom live at home, would I send her to you?

“Don’t let my mom use the phone in the future! I’ll visit her when I’m free.”

Hearing his put upon tone, Gu Xizhou frowned, looking up to see Song Nainai smiling sweetly at him like a child. Gu Xizhou merely ‘en’ed. 

The man swore at Gu Xizhou, admonishing him, “Be careful or I’ll complain about you!”

Gu Xizhou didn’t care about him and hung up.

“Song Nainai, go back to bed, ba,” Gu Xizhou said softly.

Song Nainai opened her mouth, seeming as though she wanted to chat with her son. She seemed very disappointed when the phone was hung up, but then she thought of something and smiled. “I’m going back.” 

Gu Xizhou smiled at the old lady and nodded. “Sleep early.”

“I know, doctor.”

After Song Nainai left, Gu Xizhou sat with the others on duty in the office with the door propped open.

“What did the person on the phone say to you just now?” Si Yu asked, sitting on the desk and patting Gu Xizhou’s shoulder. 

In a low voice, Gu Xizhou repeated what Song Nainai’s son had said on the phone just now, his face expressionless. Si Yu shrugged, jumping down to sit at the desk next to Gu Xizhou’s. “Will you let that grandma call again?” He asked in a low voice.

Gu Xizhou pursed his lips, crossing his legs as he spread out his hands. “I’m not afraid of him complaining about me. Since this world is real, let Song Nainai call and see if something can’t be changed.”

Si Yu nodded his approval. “Okay.”

Hearing Gu Xizhou’s words, Fang Zhi’s gaze couldn’t help drifting to the phone in the office. What was Song Nainai’s original ending? 

While Fang Zhi thought, Si Yu was talking with Gu Xizhou in a low voice. The two chatted and time passed unnoticed. Fang Zhi glanced at the time and reminded the other two. “Si Ge, Gu Ge, it’s time to check the rooms.”

Fang Zhi pointed to the clock on the wall, placing the clipboard in Gu Xizhou’s hands. Gu Xizhou called to Si Yu and the three people left together. There were only five patients on this floor, but it was necessary to record the temperature and blood pressure of each of them. It seemed simple, but it was actually pretty tedious.

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The original peace was disrupted by this sound. Hearing this kind of sound at night, let alone in a sanatorium, was terrifying.

Hearing the noise, Gu Xizhou furrowed his eyebrows, turning towards the entrance of the hallway. The yellow wood door was locked. Each door had a pane of frosted glass. In one of the windows was the indistinct outline of a human figure.

“Bang! Bang!” 

Something outside slammed into the iron door covering the yellow door twice. Si Yu grabbed Gu Xizhou’s hand and turned to Fang Zhi. “Have you recorded everything?”

Fang Zhi bobbed his head. “Y-yes.”

“Hurry, let’s go back, ba.”

Gu Xizhou wanted to open the door to investigate, but he was dragged after Si Yu while the thing outside banged on the door again. 

“Don’t look. It’s not a person outside.”

As soon as Si Yu spoke, Fang Zhi grabbed a corner of Gu Xizhou’s clothes, pointing down the hallway. “The thing outside is gone,” he whispered.

Gu Xizhou turned to look at the frosted glass. The dark shadow was gone.

Da, da, da. 

It was the sound of footsteps. The thing was going upstairs.

The three people returned to the office. Gu Xizhou thought the people upstairs would scream and shriek and run downstairs. But when he waited for a long time without hearing any sound, he naturally leaned against Si Yu and drifted off to sleep.

His neck was being wrung by two hands so that he couldn’t breathe.

Gu Xizhou’s forehead was covered in cold sweat. Just as he tried to look for support, his shoulders were seized and someone whispered, “Xizhou, wake up, wake up!” 

Hearing the voice in his ear, Gu Xizhou opened his eyes, Si Yu’s face coming into focus. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

“Another dream?” Si Yu asked, brows pinched into a ‘川’ character.

Gu Xizhou didn’t try to deny it, nodding his head.

Fang Zhi wet his lips, speaking in a low voice as he pointed to the ceiling. “There’s noise coming from upstairs…” 

It seemed that something was grating against the floor as it was dragged.

Kssh—

Kssh—

Gu Xizhou and Si Yu glanced at each other before looking up at the same time. A blood stain spread across the snow white ceiling, dark red blood dripping from the ceiling. 

Then Gu Xizhou heard footsteps. They were sporadic at first before quickly becoming dense…

The sound was no longer scattered, but urgent. At the same time a panicked scream came from the hall.

Gu Xizhou got up and walked out of the office. There was no light in the hallway. He said that there would be no accidents tonight, but it was too early to rest assured.

Gu Xizhou was standing in the hallway when he heard someone pounding on the door frantically from the otherside. 

“Open up! O-open up! Save me! S-save me!”

Fang Zhi gulped, looking at Gu Xizhou as he said urgently, “This voice sounds a little like… Feng Yuanyuan.”

Feng Yuanyuan was a tall girl and another mission taker. They had spoken today. Fang Zhi heard her voice and Gu Xizhou also thought it was similar. With Gu Xizhou, Fang Zhi was brave. He followed Gu Xizhou over and looked at the lock, but then he hesitated.

“Fang Zhi.” Si Yu suddenly stopped them. 

Fang Zhi was reaching for the handle when he heard Si Yu call out to him and quickly turned around. “Si Ge, wh-what’s wrong?”

Si Yu shook his head. “Break the glass.”

Break the glass?

Fang Zhi glanced at the frosted glass and turned to pick up a broom from a corner. Using the broom head to break the glass he shone a flashlight through it. An unfamiliar woman stood outside the door, but her voice sounded like Feng Yuanyuan. 

The woman’s mouth didn’t move when she spoke.

It was easy to tell that this was not a normal person.

The woman turned her head to stare at Fang Zhi. Outside the metal door it stretched out its hand and repeated incessantly: ‘Save me, save me,’ but her mouth didn’t move. The woman knocked as though its life depended on it, waiting for someone inside to open the door.

Fang Zhi immediately got goosebumps when he saw this scene. That thing didn’t leave, it stayed by the door staring at them intently. At the same time it opened its mouth revealing jagged bloody teeth. 

When the woman opened her mouth, Fang Zhi clearly heard Feng Yuanyuan’s voice grow louder. That voice seemed to be coming from the depth of its throat. From distant to very close, the voice slowly became louder and louder.

Fang Zhi shivered, the air suddenly growing cold.

If the voice in the woman’s throat was indeed Feng Yuanyuan’s, then… where was Feng Yuanyuan?

Fang Zhi’s alarmed expression amused Gu Xizhou. Was this boy not used to the ways of the supernatural world? Dead people were normal. 

Si Yu looked down at the female ghost. Paying it no mind, he grabbed Gu Xizhou’s hand and called for Fang Zhi to stop. “Go back to the office.”

Not long after they returned to the office Fang Zhi hesitantly asked, “The people working upstairs, are they…”

“Are you asking if they’re dead?” Si Yu asked casually.

Fang Zhi, “…” 

Si Yu’s eyes narrowed, his face cold and indifferent. “Dead.”

Fang Zhi, “…”

The corners of Si Yu’s lips curled. “Guess why the people upstairs opened the door?”

“…why?” 

Si Yu swiveled the chair around and said, “Because it’s also in the hallway, ah.”

“It can’t be, ba… Si Ge, don’t scare me…” Fang Zhi turned pale.

Si Yu gave him a fake smile and said lightly, “I’m just kidding.”

Fang Zhi, “…” It doesn’t sound like you’re joking, wuwuwu. 

It was silent the rest of the night. In the early morning, as Gu Xizhou slept against Si Yu, he heard the rustle of footsteps. He opened his eyes to see Song Nainai’s gray hair.

Song Nainai leaned in, knocking on the office door.

“Doctor, doctor, you’re awake!”

Gu Xizhou glanced at the clock hanging on the wall. It was 5:50. Song Nainai came in and said shyly, “Doctor, can I use the phone?” 

“Go ahead,” Si Yu said, opening the door so that Song Nainai could come in. Song Nainai called, asking the man the same question from yesterday.

“Son, when will you come bring me home, ah… I don’t want to be here; I want to go home.”

The old woman’s voice was very quiet as if she was afraid.

The man on the other end was as perfunctory as yesterday before asking the old lady to hand the phone to the doctor. Si Yu said hello and put the phone to the side. Gu Xizhou could vaguely hear the man spewing profanity. 

“Did you listen to me at all?”

Gu Xizhou watched as Si Yu, who had sent Song Nainai back, picked up the phone again. “Listening now.”

After speaking, Si Yu put the phone to the side and let the other person scold him until he got bored and hung up.

At 6, the nurses came to switch off. The two nurses looked at the patient records. They took temperature and blood pressure before allowing Gu Xizhou and Si Yu’s group to leave. 

The two nurses saw Song Nainai standing in the door. One of them revealed a helpless expression and said to the old lady, “Song Nainai, we can’t lend you the phone. Your son has complained to us.”

“If you let me call, I promise he won’t complain about you. My son listens to me the most!”

“No can do!” the older nurse said coldly.

“Th-that’s okay, ba,” the old woman mumbled like a child. Her wronged eyes were brimming with tears. With the back of her hand, she wiped the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand. Her shoulders slumped and she walked out. 

Once the old lady was gone Gu Xizhou heard the older nurse say to the younger one in the distance, “This is how you have to deal with these old people, otherwise they will look for you all the time.”

“Song Nainai seems pretty pitiful,” the younger nurse said, unable to remain silent.

“What are we supposed to do? She looks pitiful, but if you let her call, that son doesn’t care about her at all. He will only complain and deduct money from us.”

“There are many pitiful people here and those living on the psych floor are even more sad. They come in without an illness but they are still sick.” 

The younger nurse inhaled and nodded obediently, following her back into the office with her notebook in hand.

Naturally, Fang Zhi also heard the nurses’ conversation. Plus they were on duty all night last night and let Song Nainai make three phone calls.

Right after their shift Gu Xizhou and the others went upstairs. Feng Yuanyuan’s blood was everywhere. The man who had teamed up with Feng Yuanyuan was also missing. There was only blood, they searched the whole floor and found no bodies.

The disappearance of two of their teammates saturated the atmosphere with terror. At breakfast, everyone was asking Gu Xizhou’s group about what happened last night. 

“Last night something knocked on the door, but we didn’t open it. After a while there was a sudden burst of noise and footsteps upstairs. I don’t know what happened.”

“Something…” When they heard Fang Zhi’s words no one needed any further explanation. They knew what he meant. Whatever knocked on the door yesterday was not a person.

“So, so long as we don’t open the door, we’ll be fine?” one of the men asked, his white coat a little big on his small frame. He had dark circles under his eyes. Clearly he didn’t sleep well last night.

“That depends on whether the thing is inside or outside the hallway,” Si Yu said lightly. 

“Are there any on the floors?” The small man swallowed, his expression fearful. His whole body felt unwell.

Si Yu spread his hands. “You’d have to ask Feng Yuanyaun. By the way, after that thing eats someone, it can use their voice, so be careful.”

“What’s the situation in the other building?” Si Yu asked, changing the subject. The building next door was all mentally ill patients and the situation was more complicated.

The people who worked in the mental ward last night shook their heads and said, “The patients in that building were all strapped to the bed and were gagged. They just used their bodies to shake the iron beds all last night.” 

“Nobody rang the bell.”

The people guarding the nursing home were speechless. Of course no one rang the bell, they were all tied down and couldn’t ring it if they wanted to.

“When we were changing shifts yesterday, I think one of the patients died.” The girl with glasses thought for a moment and said, “I heard one of the nurses talking about it this morning.”

A patient? 

Gu Xizhou raised his eyebrows slightly and lowered his voice. “A man or a woman?”

The thing that knocked on the door last night was approximately thirty years old when it died and was probably mentally ill. Even though there was no sound of chains accompanying it, it was still worth investigating.

“I don’t know… Should we go ask after dinner?” The girl asked tentatively.

Gu Xizhou nodded. “Sure.”