Chapter 16 Coincidence

"Hua Ren Hospital..." Chu Jiu pondered slightly, keeping the name in mind.

"Thank you." Jiang Cheng looked at the woman with gratitude, then stood up and said naturally, "We still have to go to work, so we won't bother you any longer."

"Sit for a while longer," the woman said, seeing the two were about to leave. She wiped her hands on her sweater and stood up as well, trying to persuade them to stay. "No one comes to my place for a long time. Oh," she said, as if suddenly remembering something, patting her head, "I have a letter at home that the other residents wrote to that girl. I'll go get it for you."

With that, the woman walked towards the bedroom.

But Jiang Cheng was faster, quickly taking a few steps to stop her. "No need to trouble yourself," Jiang Cheng said with a smile, "I'm moving out today anyway."

Chu Jiu sat up from the sofa, her eyes filled with doubt.

It was clear that she really wanted to see the so-called letter, after all, Xu Yi, who lived in room 710, had saved her.

The sooner they identified the ghost, its motives for killing, and its methods, the better chance Xu Yi had of surviving.

But Chu Jiu pursed her lips and looked at Jiang Cheng, whose performance seemed to indicate he sensed danger, but...

"Scratch—"

A strange rubbing sound rang out, not very loud, but it seemed very abrupt in the quiet room.

Chu Jiu's eyes froze, and in the next second, she immediately looked towards the bedroom.

The sound came from the tightly closed bedroom door, as if someone was squatting behind the door, scratching at it with sharp fingernails.

Chu Jiu's face turned pale. She immediately thought of the fingernail ghost in Building 2.

Unlike her, Jiang Cheng didn't even look at the bedroom, his face still wearing a kind smile, as if his ears were broken and he hadn't heard anything.

The woman first looked at the bedroom door, then mechanically turned her head, staring at Jiang Cheng, and said in a hoarse tone, "I'm sorry, the cats I keep at home are shy. They must be hungry after hearing your voices."

After a while, the woman said, "They haven't eaten anything in a long time."

Hearing this, Chu Jiu's hair stood on end, and her body trembled uncontrollably. Looking at the woman's increasingly pale face, Chu Jiu understood that they had encountered a ghost.

Not only had they encountered a ghost, but they had also actively run into its home.

In fact, Jiang Cheng had realized this just now. The woman's collar drooped down, and because her skin was very white, a purplish-brown patch on the right side of her chin was particularly striking.

Jiang Cheng was no stranger to this kind of patch. It was the result of blood circulation stopping after death, the blood in the cardiovascular system lacking power, and accumulating along the blood vessel network in the lower parts of the body.

It also had a scientific name: livor mortis.

The woman was already dead. What stood before them now was a ghost.

The situation instantly became critical.

Under Chu Jiu's gaze, Jiang Cheng put his right hand into his pocket, then stuffed everything he took out into the woman's hand. "That's all I have," Jiang Cheng said, patting the woman's cold hand symbolically, and said sincerely, "Keep it to buy meat for the cats."

Chu Jiu's eyes widened. She saw that Jiang Cheng had actually stuffed a large handful of money into the woman's hand, with both bills and change, and even a few shiny coins in between.

Immediately afterwards, Jiang Cheng turned around, pulled Chu Jiu, and walked out. The woman didn't stop them, but the door wouldn't open no matter what, even though it was clearly unlocked.

Jiang Cheng didn't dare to look back, and while trying to pull the door open, he said, "Sister, don't be like this, my friend has more, I'll send it over to you later."

As soon as he finished speaking, Fatty's surprised voice came from outside the door, "Doctor?"

Hearing this, Jiang Cheng immediately stopped and shouted loudly outside, "Fatty, do you have any money on you?"

A moment later—

After Fatty and Xu Yi ran back to their rooms and rummaged through their belongings, they finally scraped together several hundred yuan, which they stuffed through the crack in the door, finally redeeming Jiang Cheng and Chu Jiu.

"Doctor," Fatty said, walking down the hallway, leaning over and whispering, "Would you say we just got... extorted by a ghost?"

Xu Yi was comforting the frightened Chu Jiu, and raised her head at just the right moment to say, "It's okay to spend a little money, as long as everyone is safe."

Having been in dungeons for so long, this was the first time Fatty had seen such an easy-going ghost, letting people go as soon as they paid up, one hand delivering the money and the other delivering the people, no credit given.

"Sensible!" he exclaimed in his heart, hoping that there would be more ghosts like this in the future, so that nightmare missions could become business simulation games.

He wasn't cut out for business, but the doctor was. He was shameless and knew how to deceive people.

"Sister Xu Yi," Chu Jiu said, looking up at her and saying quickly, "The woman just now said that the long-legged ghost in your room is called Yu Youwei, and she's a model."

"She was fine when she first moved in, but later she somehow went crazy, cursing people at night and throwing mirrors around."

"And... and Hua Ren Hospital," Chu Jiu said in one breath, clenching her small fists, "The police came to investigate after Yu Youwei died and specifically mentioned this hospital. There might be clues there."

Taking advantage of the early hour, the group hailed a taxi and headed straight for Hua Ren Hospital.

Jiang Cheng kicked Fatty into the passenger seat, while he took the middle position in the back row, with Chu Jiu on his left and Xu Yi on his right.

Whenever the car turned, Jiang Cheng acted as if he couldn't control his body and leaned to one side or the other. Chu Jiu shrank into a tiny space close to the car door, but Jiang Cheng kept trying to get closer.

Eventually, even the driver couldn't stand it anymore and coughed heavily, at which point Jiang Cheng finally restrained himself a bit.

Xu Yi, who should have been cracking down on Jiang Cheng's behavior, only stared out the window, her delicate eyebrows furrowed, and occasionally reached out to rub her shoulder, as if she was uncomfortable.

Then, she adjusted her posture, switched hands, and gently beat her lower back.

Gradually, Xu Yi suddenly felt a hand on her leg, which quickly rubbed it a few times. "Yi Yi," Jiang Cheng said, blinking his beautiful eyes, and said with concern, "Are you feeling unwell anywhere?"

Xu Yi slapped his hand away and glared at him.

After a while, that hand slowly climbed onto her waist, pinched it, and said, "Is it uncomfortable here?" Jiang Cheng swallowed, pretending not to be too thirsty, and said, "Turn around, and I'll give you a massage... would that be alright?"

The driver glanced at the police station on the side of the road, wondering if he should make a U-turn at the next intersection.

Fatty noticed the driver's abnormality and quickly changed the subject, asking the driver some nonsensical questions, and the two chatted aimlessly.

Finally, after taking another turn, the car stopped.

After paying the fare, they didn't even have enough money left to take a taxi back.

Hua Ren Hospital was right in front of them. According to the driver, this hospital was a county-level hospital, but Jiang Cheng had been to many county-level hospitals, and none of them were as impressive as this one.

"Let's go," Xu Yi urged, her face even worse than before, one hand rubbing her shoulder, her neck also looking a little stiff.