Las lágrimas de Guanyin

Capítulo 6

"Here it is!"

The little boy shoved something into Bai Yue's hand. When Bai Yue looked at it, she was terrified. The gift the boy had given her was a hideous blue skull...

"Help!"

Bai Yue screamed and woke up from her nightmare. She sat up, her eyes wide with terror, and looked around the empty hospital room. Suddenly, she realized the door was open! The blanket on the bed was also mysteriously gone! Bai Yue was instantly stunned! Luckily, Xiao Huan was still fast asleep beside her, and nothing had happened.

Bai Yue got out of bed shakily and closed the ward door again.

"Auntie, I'm so cold!"

Just as she was about to turn around, she suddenly heard the boy's voice behind her. She was so frightened that she almost fainted, her whole body trembling. She turned around abruptly and found that standing behind her was Xiao Huan, who had gotten out of bed at some point.

"Xiao Huan, why are you up?"

"Auntie, I need to pee."

"Oh, Auntie will take you to the restroom."

This is the fourth floor of the hospital's inpatient building. The restroom is at the far left of the corridor, while Xiao Huan's ward is at the far right. It's a long walk from the ward to the restroom. The hospital at midnight feels even more eerie and desolate. Bai Yue leads Xiao Huan down that long corridor, her heels echoing crisply on the floor. The dim light casts two shadows, one tall and one short. Passing other wards, they occasionally hear intermittent coughs and painful groans emanating from one of them, adding to the inexplicable terror in the cold, silent midnight.

As Bai Yue walked, she suddenly noticed the shadows of three people—one tall and two short—appearing ahead! She was terrified! She turned around abruptly, but saw no one else; the shadows had vanished. She gripped Xiao Huan's hand tightly. At that moment, she had a strange feeling; the corridor suddenly seemed eerie and unsettling, as if something terrifying was lurking ahead. Bai Yue's legs trembled slightly.

After walking down the long corridor, they arrived at the restroom. Xiao Huan went in to urinate, while Bai Yue waited for him at the restroom door.

"Auntie, I'm so cold!"

Suddenly, a boy's voice came from the dimly lit stairwell. Bai Yue shivered violently, and asked in a trembling voice:

"Who are you? Why are you hiding in the dark?"

In the dim light, Bai Yue saw a small shadow swaying incessantly at the bottom of the stairs, seemingly shivering from the cold.

Mustering her courage, Bai Yue shakily approached the stairwell and peered down the stairs. Suddenly, she saw a small shadow swiftly descend the stairs and disappear into the darkness below…

Section Two: Finding the Son

The sky was already beginning to lighten.

The hospital was eerily quiet before dawn, even seeming somewhat mysterious.

This is a very old hospital, originally built in the early 1930s, with a history spanning several decades. During the Anti-Japanese War, the hospital was forcibly occupied by the Japanese invaders and became a secret base for their bacteriological experiments. Many people perished in these experiments, becoming countless innocent souls. After liberation, the H city government rebuilt the hospital. Due to its long history and advanced medical facilities, it is now an important hospital in H city.

The fog was very thick this morning, shrouding the entire hospital in a white, hazy mist. The thin, veil-like fog drifted and floated through the hospital, light and ethereal like a ghost, penetrating everywhere. Even the wards in the inpatient building seemed to be filled with a cold, damp fog.

Bai Yue had gotten up very early; she couldn't sleep at all, spending the entire night thinking about that strange and frightening child. Although this was a hospital, where countless people had died, Bai Yue didn't believe in ghosts. However, she now had to wonder: was the child from last night a human or a ghost? Why was he here in the dead of night? Why did he stay hidden in the darkness? Was he really a homeless, wandering orphan?

Suddenly, Bai Yue remembered the terrible dream she had last night, and the horrifying gift the child had given her in the dream. Was it just a dream? If it was just a dream, then who opened the door to the ward last night? And where did the blanket by the bed go? Thinking of this, a nameless fear welled up in Bai Yue's heart.

"Tap—tap—tap"

Just then, a knock sounded on the ward door. The sound was heavy and drawn out, and it was unusually jarring in the quiet of the early morning.

Lost in thought, Bai Yue was startled by the sudden knock on the door. She calmed herself slightly, immediately realizing it was probably the doctor making rounds. She quickly opened the door, but to her surprise, the person outside wasn't a doctor, nor a nurse. It was a woman with long hair, wearing a blue dress, her face pale, her expression cold. The woman seemed to emanate a chilling aura, which rushed towards Bai Yue's face, causing her to shiver and tremble slightly.

Bai Yue glanced at the woman standing in the doorway with a hint of surprise, and asked in confusion:

Who are you looking for?

The woman's face remained expressionless. After a while, she said calmly:

"I'm looking for my son."

"Looking for your son? Which ward is your son in? I didn't see him come over."

As Bai Yue spoke, she subconsciously glanced around the ward. Apart from Xiao Huan sleeping in the hospital bed, there was no one else.

Didn't he come here last night?

"last night?"

Suddenly, Bai Yue remembered the strange child from last night. Could that child be her son?

"Last night, it seems a child came by." Bai Yue's voice was slightly tense. "Are you his mother? He seemed to be freezing. Why didn't you give him clothes to wear?"

The woman did not answer Bai Yue's question; her pale face remained expressionless.

Suddenly, Bai Yue seemed to remember something. She stared at the woman in confusion and said, "But, but that child said he was an orphan, without a mother or a father."

"Yes, he was a poor orphan. His father and mother were both dead, murdered!"

The woman's tone suddenly turned fierce. Bai Yue was startled and involuntarily took a step back.

In an instant, the woman's angry face returned to its original indifference. She gave Bai Yue a cold stare before turning and leaving.

Bai Yue found her gaze strange.

As the woman's blue figure slowly disappeared into the mist, Bai Yue felt a strange sense of fear welling up inside her.

Suddenly, she remembered what the woman had said earlier. If the child's mother was dead, then who was that woman? Could it be... could it be the ghost of the child's mother? Bai Yue's heart trembled, and she dared not think any further.

The thick fog gradually dissipated, and the sky brightened considerably. The morning air was unusually cold, and the sky remained overcast. The rain that had fallen all night had temporarily stopped. Some noise began to rise in the hospital. Several cleaning workers were sweeping downstairs, and doctors and nurses with solemn expressions appeared in the inpatient and emergency rooms, all looking hurried, as if something important had happened in the hospital.

Around eight o'clock, a male doctor in his thirties walked into the ward. He was Xiao Huan's attending physician. He examined Xiao Huan and found that her condition was good. He told Bai Yue that Xiao Huan's condition was improving rapidly. After two more injections and some medication today, she could be discharged first thing tomorrow morning.

Bai Yue was very happy to hear that Xiao Huan would be discharged from the hospital soon.

"Thank you, Dr. Liang."

"You're welcome." Dr. Liang glanced at Bai Yue and smiled slightly. "Miss Bai, you don't look well. Did you not sleep well last night?"

"It's alright, I'm just a little uncomfortable in the hospital environment." Bai Yue smiled awkwardly. "Oh, by the way, Dr. Liang, are there any other children in this ward?"

"There's one, a little girl, in room 405. What's wrong?"

"No, it's nothing, I was just asking casually."

Meeting Dr. Liang's gaze, Bai Yue lowered her head, her face showing some panic.

"Miss Bai, please take good care of Xiao Huan. I'll be leaving now. A nurse will come to give him an injection later."

As Dr. Liang spoke, he gave Bai Yue a meaningful look before hurriedly leaving the ward.

Bai Yue stared blankly for a while, then suddenly felt a surge of irritability. She walked out of the ward into the corridor and took a deep breath of the morning air. Suddenly, she saw two nurses standing outside the next ward, seemingly talking in hushed tones. Bai Yue listened intently for a moment; they seemed to be discussing skeletons or something about someone dying, but their voices were too soft for her to make out.

After a while, the two nurses seemed to see Bai Yue. They exchanged a glance and then hurriedly walked away.

Section Three: The Bloodstained Blanket

Around 8:30, the hospital director, accompanied by a group of hospital leaders, hurriedly arrived at Xiao Huan's ward. Their faces were all very serious. The director gave Bai Yue a cold glance, said nothing, and walked into the ward, carefully inspecting it. He even lifted the blankets on Xiao Huan's bed to look at something, seemingly searching for something. Afterward, the group quickly went downstairs, without saying a word to Bai Yue the entire time.

Bai Yue was bewildered by their actions; she couldn't understand what was going on. However, judging from the expressions on the faces of the hospital leaders, she sensed the seriousness of the situation—perhaps something major had happened at the hospital.

At that moment, a nurse came to give Xiao Huan an injection. After the injection, Bai Yue cautiously asked her if something had happened at the hospital. The nurse shook her head and didn't answer Bai Yue's question. She quickly packed up the syringe and other things, glanced at Xiao Huan's hospital bed, then at Bai Yue, and hurriedly left the ward.

Around nine o'clock, two police cars slowly drove into the hospital.

Accompanied by the hospital director and other hospital leaders, Chen Feng, the captain of the Criminal Investigation Team of the Municipal Public Security Bureau, and his assistant Xiao Yang, strode hurriedly toward the hospital's inpatient building.

Chen Feng's expression was very serious, his brows were furrowed, and he remained silent.

Soon they arrived at the second floor of the inpatient building, where the incident occurred in ward 207.

In room 207, Chen Feng saw Zheng Ansheng's wife, Li Lan, sitting blankly in a chair, tears still wet on her face. Lying on the bed was her mother-in-law, Zheng Ansheng's mother, Zhao Guihua, who had suddenly died the previous night. The doctor's preliminary diagnosis suggested the cause of death was a sudden heart attack caused by excessive shock. Deep fear was still visible in her wide-open eyes; her face was distorted and grotesque from extreme fear and pain. Even more horrifying was the eerie blue skull imprinted on Zhao Guihua's forehead!

Zhao Guihua was hospitalized two days ago after suffering a heart attack, and her daughter-in-law, Li Lan, stayed by her side. After a series of emergency treatments, Zhao Guihua's condition had stabilized by yesterday afternoon. Last night, seeing that her mother-in-law's condition was much better, Li Lan went home because she was worried about her children. Today, she had planned to pick her mother-in-law up from the hospital, but instead, she received this devastating news.

"Dean, is this the blanket you were talking about?"

Chen Feng pointed to the blanket covering Zhao Guihua and asked.

"Yes, this is it. This blanket originally belonged to ward 425 and has a hospital-issued serial number on it." The hospital director pointed to the serial number on the blanket and continued, "I don't know how this blanket ended up here for no reason, and it also has many unidentified bloodstains on it. We have already done tests and it has been proven that these bloodstains are not Zhao Guihua's blood."

Chen Feng looked closely at the white blanket and saw many specks of blood on it. He could also smell a faint fishy odor.

"Dean, may I ask who is the patient in room 425?"

"He was a child from an orphanage."

"Have you been discharged from the hospital?"

"not yet."

"Okay, let's go to the fourth floor and take a look."

Chen Feng ordered two officers to stay and protect the scene. Without his orders, no one was allowed to touch anything in the ward, including the deceased's body. He then led the team up to the fourth floor.

Upon arriving at ward 425, Chen Feng saw Bai Yue. Since he had dealt with Lin Qiu before, he naturally recognized Bai Yue.

"Miss Bai, it's you."

"Officer Chen, has something happened?"

Bai Yue was somewhat surprised to see this "uninvited guest".

"Ms. Bai, Officer Chen is here to investigate a case and needs your cooperation."

The dean glanced at Bai Yue and said.

"Miss Bai, you don't need to be nervous. We're just here to ask you about some things."

"What exactly happened? I... I don't know anything."

Bai Yue felt a little panicked. She didn't understand what had happened and how it had gotten involved with her.

Chen Feng carefully inspected Xiao Huan's hospital room, and then said to Bai Yue:

"Miss Bai, could you come with us to room 207?"

"OK."

Stepping out of the ward, Bai Yue felt uneasy and anxious, unsure of what had happened.

Soon, we arrived at ward 207 on the second floor.