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Just as Xiao Tao was sleeping soundly, a heart-wrenching scream suddenly echoed from the corridor. The scream almost jolted Xiao Tao awake, causing her to instinctively jump up from her chair. Xiao Tao felt as if all the world's resentment had been concentrated in that scream, and her heart trembled along with it.

Rushing out of the office, Xiao Tao and another doctor on night shift, Dr. Dai, ran straight towards the direction from which the screams were coming. The screams continued, sending a chill down Xiao Tao's spine. The closer she got to the sound, the more her heart sank, because it was clearly the old lady's room.

Upon arriving at the old woman's room, Xiao Tao and Dr. Dai gasped almost simultaneously. Through the glass window, they could clearly see the old woman, her body billowing black smoke, desperately scratching her face in agony, which was already covered in blood. Xiao Tao was terrified; she couldn't understand why a patient could emit black smoke during an attack. Dr. Dai, seemingly equally frightened, opened the door without hesitation. As the door opened and the small glass window spun, Xiao Tao clearly saw another scene reflected in the glass—a scene she would never forget. Several hideous, black-bodied demons with grotesque faces were clinging to the old woman, desperately clawing at her body with their black claws, and the black smoke was emanating from them.

When Dr. Dai opened the door and shouted to bring in the terrified Xiao Tao, the black smoke surrounding the old woman suddenly vanished, as if nothing had happened. When Xiao Tao looked at the glass again, there was nothing left. Only the old woman, her eyes wide open in death, remained, her body stiff and lifeless.

A life vanished mysteriously before their eyes. Just as Xiao Tao and Dr. Dai were calming down and preparing to call for others, the old woman, who had already died, began bleeding from her seven orifices. The crimson blood was so glaring in the darkness, and the pungent smell of blood was so jarring in the cool night. A river of blood seemed to flow across her already wrinkled face, slowly tracing the marks of time. Her face instantly became like a dried corpse, devoid of any moisture or elasticity. Her wide-open eyes appeared even more prominent, like goldfish eyes.

The crimson blood slowly flowed onto the ground, as if it were alive, slowly trickling towards Xiaotao, like a writhing blood snake. Xiaotao felt her whole body stiffen, she had no strength left to move. She seemed to hear the old woman's last words echoing in her ears: "Get out of here, get out of here..."

The day after the old lady's death, both Xiao Tao and Dr. Dai took sick leave. Xiao Tao, in particular, fell seriously ill, seemingly struck down by the disease. And the strange occurrences at the mental hospital were only just beginning…

Since that night, the number of mentally ill patients has been increasing, seemingly at a linear rate. Even more strangely, the nightly rounds are becoming increasingly daunting for the doctors and nurses.

Three days after the old lady's incident, Pei Fei was making his rounds. He was the doctor here, and although he had worked there for three years and made many rounds, for some reason, he felt that tonight was different from usual. In the past, even if someone cried out at night, it was just some sounds that resembled human cries. But now, the screams and shouts all around him, seemingly faint yet real, included screams, shrill laughter, and heavy breathing. It was as if he wasn't inspecting a ward, but rather countless torture chambers in hell. The laughter sounded like the triumphant chuckles of demons…

Waving the flashlight in his hand, Pei Fei felt that the flickering light had somehow become a solitary lamp on the Bridge of Helplessness, illuminating the path for the ghosts to return. Especially where the light shone, he always felt as if he were illuminating some kind of demon or monster, its dwarf-like figure and mountain-like face making Pei Fei's hand holding the flashlight tremble slightly. Although he knew in his heart that it was just his imagination, certain areas of his brain still unconsciously secreted feelings of fear. It was like countless ants slowly gnawing at his heart. That feeling of sitting on pins and needles made fine beads of sweat appear on Pei Fei's forehead.

Suddenly, as Pei Fei's flashlight swept across a glass window in a door, almost simultaneously, a distorted, maniacally laughing face appeared in the glass windows on both sides of the door. Although the patients' faces were all different, the faces superimposed on the windows were all the same. Pei Fei could only make out two sunken black eye sockets, with no black pupils inside, only snow-white sclera. And the nose was almost completely rotten, reduced to a black hole.

With a crash, Pei Fei was so startled that he dropped his flashlight. The instant the flashlight hit the ground, Pei Fei felt as if all the doors had been reduced to a single small glass window. On the glass of that window, countless patients' faces were reflected, overlapping with that ghostly face, spinning before his eyes...

Meanwhile, Xiao Tao's best friend, Xiang Ping, was also taking Xiao Tao's place, patrolling the second-floor ward corridor. Xiang Ping was arguably the bravest among the group of nurses, so after the old lady's incident, the glorious yet arduous task of ward rounds naturally fell to her.

Xiang Ping was an atheist and naturally didn't believe the ghost stories circulating in the hospital. However, Xiang Ping did have something she was afraid of: snakes. She hated soft, slippery reptiles, and even more so snakes; even seeing their appearance on television terrified her. Of course, it was impossible to see snakes in a mental hospital, so Xiang Ping went out to make her rounds almost fearlessly.

The only light in the dark corridor was the yellow beam of a flashlight. Xiang Ping walked slowly down the corridor. It was eerily quiet all around; even the screams of the patients had fallen silent. But the quieter it was, the stranger it felt. In this silence, a sound both familiar and terrifying emanated. It was a hissing sound, like a snake flicking its tongue, seemingly far behind her, yet also all around her, as if a ring of snakes were making the same sound simultaneously.

This sent chills down Xiang Ping's spine, raising countless goosebumps on her skin. The coldness was palpable in every pore. The flashlight, which should have felt cold and lifeless in her hand, now felt strange, perhaps simply because her palms were sweaty. Xiang Ping tried to ignore the increasingly slippery, even slightly wriggling sensation on her hands. Although she had never actually caught a snake before, at this moment, she felt as if she were holding not a flashlight, but the snake she feared most!

Thinking of this, Xiang Ping couldn't help but look down at her hand holding the flashlight. What she saw terrified her so much that her soul almost left her body. In her hand was indeed a giant snake as thick as the flashlight, its body writhing and its enormous head slowly turning, its small, cold-blooded eyes staring coldly at Xiang Ping, its blood-red tongue flicking towards her!

"Whoa!" With a scream, Xiang Ping flung her flashlight away in terror. After hitting the wall, the flashlight flew back towards her. Instinctively, she raised her right hand to shield her face. As the flashlight spun and the beam swirled, Xiang Ping was suddenly horrified to see her five fingers transform into five venomous snakes, their red tongues licking her face in an instant. The cold, sticky sensation made her vision go black…

Volume Three: Delicacies of Hell, Chapter Thirty-Six: Patterns

Volume Three: Delicacies of Hell, Chapter Thirty-Six: Patterns

"Then what about Zhou Xiangrong?" After listening to Dr. Wang's explanation, I frowned, feeling a bit of a headache, and asked.

"Her?" Dr. Wang seemed to shrink back in fear, and said, "That happened last night. Because so many doctors and nurses were taking leave, I had to stay and work the night shift myself..."

Last night, there were few stars, and the moon hid behind dark clouds, making the outside light very dim, which made Dr. Wang a little scared. On such a night, coupled with the ghost stories circulating in the hospital these past few days, even though Dr. Wang didn't believe in ghosts or spirits, the instinct to fear the unknown was still very strong. Just like now, Dr. Wang was already regretting not having someone accompany him on his rounds. Although the corridor wasn't completely dark thanks to the lights, the emptiness still made Dr. Wang quicken his pace unconsciously.

For some reason, the patients' cries were unusually few that night, sparse and intermittent, like the distant, drawn-out howls of wolves in an empty field. Unconsciously, Dr. Wang had slowly approached Zhou Xiangrong's ward. The strange scenes from the past few days seemed particularly clear at this moment, and the sound of her biting her fingers gradually echoed in his ears. The closer he got, the stronger this strange feeling became. Finally, Dr. Wang even stopped, feeling an urge to turn back to his office. Just then, the previously normal lights flickered a few times. Perhaps the alternation between darkness and light lasted only a few seconds, but Dr. Wang clearly felt darkness engulfing him. The previously closed ward doors all silently and slowly opened a crack, and behind the crack, a figure flashed out.

Looking up again, Dr. Wang was shocked to find Zhou Xiangrong standing silently before him. Her eerie, wolf-like green eyes sent chills down his spine. What surprised Dr. Wang was that her once haggard and aged face had become incredibly young. Aside from a slightly pale complexion, this was exactly the face Dr. Wang had first seen Zhou Xiangrong – young, beautiful, and possessing a strange allure. A slowly rising corner of her mouth revealed a seductive smile, which, combined with her emerald green eyes, created a strangely captivating charm. What almost made Dr. Wang faint was that Zhou Xiangrong was only wearing a top. That loose-fitting patient gown now became a fatal attraction, her graceful body partially revealed beneath the fabric, her long, slender, snow-white legs seemingly intentionally or unintentionally pressed together yet slightly parted. Slowly, Zhou Xiangrong's hand slid to the first button of her shirt, and with a gentle flick, the button was undone, revealing a large expanse of alluring spring scenery. In this environment, Dr. Wang was still parched and didn't even know whether he should turn around and run away.

Before Dr. Wang could even react, Zhou Xiangrong pounced on him, pinning him down. The two embraced, falling to the ground in a highly suggestive position. Zhou Xiangrong's lips were already pressed against his, sealing his kiss. Although he was surrounded by a beautiful woman, Dr. Wang was still perfectly lucid. This Zhou Xiangrong was probably no longer a human being! Thinking this, Dr. Wang desperately tried to push Zhou Xiangrong off him. But Zhou Xiangrong clung to him like an octopus, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't break free. What terrified Dr. Wang even more was that his body was also reacting; a primal desire was pushing him into an unknown abyss of fear…

"Then you wouldn't..." I couldn't help but interrupt at this point; I think my face must have been twitching right now.

"How could that be?" Dr. Wang practically rushed up to me and swore, angrily saying, "That woman suddenly whispered something in my ear at that moment, and I woke up in fright as soon as I heard it."

So what exactly did Zhou Xiangrong say that made Dr. Wang pull back from the brink? It was that sentence, which, under normal circumstances, might scare any man: "Give me a child!"

Upon hearing this, Dr. Wang felt as if he had been doused with a bucket of ice water in the dead of winter, which also extinguished his damned lust. Instantly, Dr. Wang, with a sudden surge of brute force, actually pushed Zhou Xiangrong, who was like a conjoined twin to him, away.

Jumping up from the ground, Dr. Wang could only ask dumbfoundedly, "Who exactly are you?"

Zhou Xiangrong didn't speak. The smile on her face vanished, and she tore off her clothes, revealing her naked body to Dr. Wang. Although her body was undeniably stunning, Dr. Wang felt no desire to admire it at all. She slowly placed her hands on her navel, and with a gentle press of her right index finger, her navel instantly expanded several times its original size. Something inside was wriggling incessantly, as if trying to burst out of her stomach.

"What are you doing?" At this point, Dr. Wang had probably lost the courage to run away.

"Look, the child!" Zhou Xiangrong actually laughed again, reaching her right hand into her navel and pulling it out. A tiny, bloodied infant's hand emerged. Next, the shoulder, then slowly, the head and neck, and finally, the entire upper body was pulled out. However, what horrified Dr. Wang was that the child had no face—just a bald head. After the infant's upper body was completely pulled off, Zhou Xiangrong stopped pulling and instead began to giggle shrilly at Dr. Wang. The laughter, like fingernails scratching glass, sent chills down Dr. Wang's spine. It looked as if an infant was parasitizing Zhou Xiangrong's stomach, blood gushing from the infant's body like a waterfall. And the infant suddenly seemed to come alive. Its tiny head suddenly tilted back, facing Dr. Wang. A mouth suddenly split open in the center of its face, which had no features, and inside were countless rows of jagged, sharp, pale white teeth.

"Ahhh!" With a terrified scream, Dr. Wang saw the infant turn around and bite down hard on Zhou Xiangrong's bare skin, while Zhou Xiangrong's face showed a strange expression that seemed to be very happy.

A hiss! It sounded like flesh being torn from a person's body. Dr. Wang saw that in the infant's only mouth, there was already a piece of bloody flesh...

At this point, Dr. Wang fell silent, remaining speechless for a long time. Later, unable to bear the heavy silence any longer, I finally asked, "And then what happened?"

"Oh dear! I'm ashamed to say, but I actually fainted afterwards. But at that time, I felt a warm current emanating from the jade pendant in my pocket. When I woke up, I felt very tired but otherwise unharmed. However, Zhou Xiangrong was lying not far from me. When I got up to check on her, she was wearing her patient's clothes properly, and there was nothing strange on her stomach. However, she was breathing very little and exhaling more, so I was afraid she wouldn't last much longer. I quickly called the doctor over, and after examining her, he said she probably wouldn't last more than a few days. I thought that if I told others about this, they probably wouldn't believe it, but you seemed to be very knowledgeable about these things when you came last time, so I had Juanzi call you over."

"I see!" Fang Lei stood up and said to Dr. Wang, "Can you take us to see Zhou Xiangrong now?"

"Oh, okay, I'll take you there right away!" Dr. Wang stood up and said to us, "Follow me."

Following closely behind Dr. Wang, I glanced at Fang Lei, whose face was gloomy. There seemed to be an inexplicable restlessness in the air. I felt a sense of unease, and the things in front of me began to appear layered, as if a fog had formed in front of my eyes, making it difficult for me to see clearly.

When I arrived at Zhou Xiangrong's ward, I nervously looked at the glass in the door. This time, I didn't see anything; everything seemed normal.

As I entered Zhou Xiangrong's hospital room, I instinctively pulled my foot back slightly. This action seemed unintentional, driven by a strange instinct. Shaking my head, I went in anyway. Zhou Xiangrong was lying flat on the bed, seemingly dying, completely still. I rubbed my eyes, finding them suddenly blurry and unable to see anything clearly. All I could see was a woman lying on the bed.

I stepped forward, blinked, and looked at Zhou Xiangrong more closely. I was stunned by what I saw: her face was covered in strange, red patterns. Was it my imagination? I rubbed my eyes again, not believing it. Wait! There were more? Were they tattoos? I tilted my head, looking at Zhou Xiangrong. Not only her face, but even her exposed neck and the backs of her hands were covered in strange red patterns. They looked familiar; where had I seen them before?

"What's wrong?" Fang Lei turned to me and asked with concern.

“You…” I looked at Fang Lei, who had a calm expression. Didn’t she see it? The pattern was too strange and too obvious. There was no way she couldn’t have missed it.

"What's wrong?" Fang Lei asked, pulling my hand with concern when she saw that I didn't speak for a while.

"Is there something on her?" I asked tentatively.

"What is it?" This time it was Dr. Wang, who was standing next to me, who asked me curiously.

“Patterns! Red, in patches, like a tattoo!” I pointed to Zhou Xiangrong’s face.

"Patterns? Where are they?" Dr. Wang looked at me as if I were a rare animal, then said, "Are you seeing things?"

I immediately shook my head and looked at Fang Lei, but unfortunately, she also had no expression at all. I moved my face closer to Zhou Xiangrong, and only then did I realize that the patterns on her face weren't patches of solid color, but rather formed by a very thin red line spiraling in circles, and it even seemed to be slowly flowing! Just then, Zhou Xiangrong, who had been keeping her eyes closed, suddenly opened them and stared intently at me.

Startled by her words, I involuntarily took a step back. But at that moment, Zhou Xiangrong swiftly reached out her hand, and before I could even dodge, her withered, branch-like claws had already grabbed my hand. I tried to pull away, but I saw the red pattern on the back of her hand trembling like a sentient snake, swimming towards the back of my hand. In the blink of an eye, I saw the thin red line disappear into the back of my hand.

"Lin Xiao!" Fang Lei grabbed me from behind and pulled me back, finally freeing my hand from Zhou Xiangrong's grasp.

"Hehe, here you go!" Zhou Xiangrong actually laughed happily, and the red patterns on her face, neck, and the back of her hands began to fade. Correspondingly, I noticed that red patterns were slowly appearing on the back of my own hands, and the areas where the patterns appeared felt slightly hot. What terrified me even more was that I felt my whole body, even my face, beginning to feel slightly hot. Pulling open my collar, I saw that pink patterns had also appeared on my chest.

"Damn it!" I yanked the blanket off Zhou Xiangrong and, under the strange looks of Dr. Wang and Fang Lei, ripped off her patient gown. Sure enough, her entire body was covered in strange red patterns, slowly fading until they disappeared completely, at which point Zhou Xiangrong finally breathed her last. I immediately rushed to the toilet as fast as I could.

Ignoring Fang Lei behind me, I rushed into the bathroom. In the brightly lit bathroom, I stood blankly in front of the mirror, staring at myself. The red markings on my right cheek, forehead, and left ear completely shut me down.

"Lin Xiao, what's wrong?" Fang Lei rushed in without thinking and asked with concern.

"Damn it!" I hurriedly reached out, and the red patterns on the backs of my hands and even my fingers made me immediately turn on the tap. Right now, I just hoped that the water could wash away these damn patterns.

Volume 3: Delicacies of Hell, Chapter 37: Bai Ling

Volume 3: Delicacies of Hell, Chapter 37: Bai Ling

Even though my hands were red from washing, the strange patterns on them were still not clear. I gave up and stopped, letting the cold water flow through my fingers, feeling a strange fluctuation in the water on my slightly warm skin.

"What's wrong, Lin Xiao?" Fang Lei kept asking me, but I couldn't say a word. All I could see was Zhou Xiangrong's eerie smile before she died.

"Lin Xiao!" Fang Lei grabbed my hand anxiously. I took a deep breath and asked, "Can you see the patterns on my body?"

"Pattern?" Fang Lei looked at my face and then shook her head.

"Here, can't you see it?" I held out my hand to Fang Lei. Fang Lei frowned, then took out a talisman from her pocket and gently extended it towards my hand. I immediately felt the temperature of the patterned skin rise instantly—it was so hot! But I resisted the urge to move my hand away. As the talisman approached, the pattern brightened noticeably, but then the talisman spontaneously combusted without any flame.

"It really is! I just saw it!" Fang Lei threw away the talisman and grabbed my hand. It was probably the moment the pattern flashed that Fang Lei finally saw the strange pattern.

"What is this?" I asked hastily. "Have you seen this before?"

"No, I've never seen one before." Fang Lei stamped her foot anxiously and said, "This talisman is for exorcising evil spirits, but it actually spontaneously combusted. It seems that the evil energy in your body is really heavy. But something's not right! If the evil energy is really that heavy, why can't I feel it at all? It's unbelievable."

"I didn't feel anything, except that the patterned area felt a little hot," I said.

“You’re not suited to stay here. You should leave first,” Fang Lei said, looking at me.

"And what about you?" I asked.

“I’ll stay and see what’s the root of this hospital being haunted!” Fang Lei replied.

“Then I’ll stay here too. I’m worried about you being alone.” After saying that, I didn’t wait for Fang Lei to argue before pulling her out of the restroom. We saw Dr. Wang walking slowly towards us. He looked like he had aged ten years in an instant. His haggard face was dull and lifeless, and he looked sallow and old.

"Dr. Wang, you must get the doctors and nurses out of here as soon as possible." I stopped him and said, "This is no longer a matter of professional ethics. If you don't leave soon, you will all be in danger."

"And what about you?" Dr. Wang sighed, asking with a hint of resignation.

"We will be together." I turned to look at Fang Lei, who seemed hesitant to speak, and stared intently into her eyes, saying each word clearly, "Even if it means death!"

At that moment, I saw Fang Lei's eyes flicker with surprise, and she immediately turned her head away. I didn't say anything more, but just held her hand even tighter. Nothing, no matter when or where, can separate us. I will protect you; this is my promise to you.

"This..." Dr. Wang looked at us with difficulty.

"Dr. Wang, don't worry, we'll be fine." Fang Lei suddenly gave Dr. Wang a happy smile, which made him sigh again. He finally agreed to our suggestion and went to have the other doctors and nurses leave the hospital immediately. Just before Dr. Wang was about to leave, he suddenly turned back, looked at us for a while, and then said softly, "Room 307 is the patient records room. If you need to look anything up… go there and take a look!"

"Really?" I was overjoyed. It seemed that Dr. Wang had finally agreed to let us look through those documents.

"Sigh... If that's helpful, that would be great." Dr. Wang said, then turned and left. Fang Lei and I rushed towards room 307; we had to find the information we needed before nightfall.

Stepping into the archives, a musty smell filled the room, perhaps due to years of lack of sunlight, making it hard to breathe. Rows of bookshelves in the dimly lit room were piled high with stacks of files covered in kraft paper. We finally found Zhou Xiangrong's file. Opening it, we learned that when Zhou Xiangrong arrived at this hospital, she had only two relatives with her: her mother, Mao Juyan, and her six-year-old daughter, Jiang Xiaojiao. Her mother, Mao Juyan, lived in a small town less than 200 kilometers from the city. Since Zhou Xiangrong was admitted to the hospital, her mother had become Jiang Xiaojiao's guardian, taking her in and raising her. She also regularly sent money to the hospital for medical expenses. However, Mao Juyan had only visited the archives once, when she first brought Zhou Xiangrong to the hospital, and hadn't come even once in the following twenty years. What could possibly make a mother bear to not see her own daughter for twenty years, even if she were mentally unstable?

In the file, what truly captivated me wasn't Zhou Xiangrong's mother, Mao Juyan, but her daughter, Jiang Xiaojiao. If she was just a child at the beginning, then twenty years later, she should be an adult. Why had she never come to visit her mother in this city, only 200 kilometers away? Was it simply because her mother had gone mad? Zhou Xiangrong was six years old when she was first brought here; she should have some memories. Could she have forgotten her mother after twenty years? Looking at the name on the file, I suddenly felt a strong urge to go back to that small town, wondering if I could find Mao Juyan and her granddaughter, Jiang Xiaojiao. Just as I was lost in thought, Fang Lei suddenly came over with a file and said to me, "Take a look at this."

"What's wrong?" I took the file from Fang Lei and opened it. There was a name I didn't recognize: Bai Ling. This was a woman who had been persecuted and nearly suffered a terrible fate during the Cultural Revolution, simply because she was a sorceress, what was then called a feudal superstitious person. But what surprised me was that the patient's relatives' section prominently displayed the name Bai Yun! Bai Yun—was it the Bai Yun I knew? Or was it just a coincidence of people sharing the same name?

"She's the old woman Xiao Tao mentioned, the first patient to die." Fang Lei's answer really surprised me. I never knew that Bai Yun had a relative who had gone mad, and she had never mentioned it to any of us.

"What is her relationship with Baiyun?" I looked down at the file again. It read: Granddaughter Baiyun. Granddaughter? I was confused. Bailing's death seemed even more mysterious, and I couldn't help but think of Baiyun again. To this day, I still don't know how Baiyun died. If it wasn't suicide, then she must have been pushed off the mountain. But who could have pushed her off the cliff belonging to the Moonshadow Clan? And why was Baiyun there?

“Bai Ling is a sorceress, and I think she might know something,” Fang Lei said. “And Bai Yun’s appearance in the Moon Shadow Clan’s territory is also very likely related to Bai Ling.”

"How so?" I asked.

"Being a sorceress isn't something anyone can do, nor is it inherited through bloodline. In other words, even if Bai Ling is a sorceress with certain incredible abilities, Bai Yun might not have them. And judging from your experience back then, I think Bai Yun is more like a normal person, rather than someone who can hide her abilities. The fact that she went to such a remote village as Zuo Mu without being discovered by the villagers means that she deliberately avoided them. Therefore, we should rule out the possibility of her going there for tourism, because an ordinary tourist would never miss the opportunity to interact with the local villagers."

"What was Baiyun doing there? And who pushed her off the cliff?" I asked, as if to Fang Lei, but also as if to myself.

"I'm afraid only Bai Ling knows this, because Bai Yun visited this hospital and saw Bai Ling before he went to Zuo Mu Village in the Moon Shadow Clan," Fang Lei said, pointing to the last visit record in the file.

"It's a pity that Bai Ling is also dead, otherwise I could have asked her." I said regretfully.

"I think she might be going there to look for the Moonshadow Clan," Fang Lei guessed.

"Maybe, but I just want to know what she's doing going to the Moonshadow Clan? Could it be that she's also after that damned Crystal Eye?" I said.

“It’s very possible. Didn’t Bai Ling say some strange things before she died, like telling Xiao Tao to leave here as soon as possible? I think she must know something, but she’s too timid to say it outright,” Fang Lei said.