Chapter 176: She Scribbled Furiously In Her Notebook |
George’s face soured. He opened his mouth to retort, but Gluttony, who was shovelling dirt nearby, boomed, “Don’t trust him! George says nasty things about you behind your back!”
Yu Xiao arched an eyebrow. “Oh?”
George’s jaw dropped.
“You— Lies!” he sputtered, then hastily turned to Yu Xiao. “I swear, I haven’t breathed a word against you since your last visit to St. Elizabeth’s!”
Yu Xiao glanced at Gluttony, who readily elaborated, “He was badmouthing you before that, with Gu Shu and Lolita. They said some right awful things… They even said they wanted to kill you, divide you up, with Lolita eating your tongue, Gu Shu your heart, and George your brain…”
George wilted.
“Well, well,” Yu Xiao purred, fixing George with a look that sent chills down his spine. She strolled over and patted his shoulder. “Don’t worry, I trust you completely. I wouldn’t dream of holding Gluttony’s words against you.”
In the distance, Gluttony slumped. These workdays were so dull; he’d hoped for a good row, but it seemed this woman was made of tofu.
He knew her pettiness, her wicked sense of humour, and her unnerving habit of being sickeningly sweet to ghosts right before unleashing hell.
As expected, her voice turned saccharine. “Speaking of trust, as a friend, you’d help me out of a tight spot, wouldn’t you?”
George pressed his lips together, refusing to be baited.
Yu Xiao smiled. “Your silence is all the confirmation I need!”
George choked back a protest, but Yu Xiao was already addressing the pretty nurses nearby. “Ladies, if you please, step back and maintain a half-metre distance from each other.”
George watched the nurse beside him obey, a prickle of unease crawling up his spine. “Why the distancing?”
“Oh, just testing the effective range of this little gadget,” Yu Xiao trilled, turning to Nightmare. “Nightmare, start the timer.”
Nightmare nodded, eyes gleaming. George felt a surge of primal terror. “No! I don’t want—”
Before he could finish, Yu Xiao brandished a feathered stick. Its purpose was unclear, but as she flicked it towards George, he felt a profound shift within him.
He lunged for the stick, a mindless hunger overtaking him. Yu Xiao, with a mischievous grin, moved it away. George followed, his movements dictated by the whims of the feather.
She held it high, then low, then danced it across the ground. George, a cat puppet to its allure, rolled on the ground, clothes gathering dirt, dignity evaporating.
Ten minutes later, the stick’s magic faded. Yu Xiao and Nightmare, notepad in hand, made meticulous observations about the gadget’s effects.
【Prop: Cat Teaser Wand. Range: Single target. Duration: Ten minutes. Effect: Induces a state of frenzied pursuit of the wand in the target.】 Yu Xiao scribbled in her notebook, a satisfied smirk playing on her lips. 【Additional notes: control limited to behaviour, no memory alteration.】
George, now freed from the wand’s influence, slumped in a corner. The humiliation of the past ten minutes was burned into his memory. He traced a stick figure with a high ponytail in the dirt, stabbing it repeatedly with his finger.
“George!” Yu Xiao’s cheerful voice echoed across the clearing. “Come along now, time for us to test the next exciting item!”
George froze, his blood turning to ice.
He scrambled to his feet and bolted.
“He’s running,” Nightmare observed from beside Yu Xiao, a hint of amusement in his voice.
Yu Xiao merely raised an eyebrow. “Can you catch him?”
“With ease,” Nightmare assured.
“Then fetch him, would you? We have work to do.”
**
Three minutes later, George stood before Yu Xiao, stiff and dismissed with a disdainful flick of Nightmare’s hand. Yu Xiao examined a dirty bar of soap that Tie Niu had given her, puzzled over its purpose. Was she supposed to wash George with it?
He looked up, fear flickering across his face. His eyes darted to the soap, and in an instant, he slapped it out of her hand.
“Oi!” Yu Xiao exclaimed.
The soap fell to the ground. George, still trembling, picked it up and quickly placed it back in her hand.
“Thanks…” Yu Xiao muttered, confused.
George remained silent.
“Can someone bring a basin of water?” Yu Xiao called to the nurses, who watched the scene with a mix of amusement and apprehension. “I need to test this soap.”
“Just throw it,” Nightmare whispered from behind.
“What?” Yu Xiao frowned. “Why?”
Nightmare took the soap from her hand and threw it into the distance.
Yu Xiao was about to protest this casual treatment of her props, but George was already running across the clearing. He retrieved the soap and presented it back to Nightmare.
Nightmare: “Thank you.”
George, once again, fell silent.
“That’s what it’s for,” Nightmare added, turning to Yu Xiao with a knowing look.
Yu Xiao blinked. And then it clicked.
“Ah!” She slapped her forehead. “Of course! It’s for fetching things!”
【Prop: Soap. Range: Single target. Cooldown: Negligible. Effect: Compels the target to retrieve and return the soap to the user.】 She scribbled furiously in her notebook. This was even better than she had anticipated.
“Alright, what else do we have?” Yu Xiao rummaged through her collection, pulling out a chipped white porcelain bowl.
She turned it over in her hands. “How does this one work?” she pondered, then glanced at George. “Hungry?”
He scowled. “No.”
“Tie Niu, some food, please!” Yu Xiao called.
“I don’t want to eat!” George protested.
“But how am I supposed to figure out what it does?” Yu Xiao sighed dramatically. “Come on, George, help me out.”
He turned to leave, but Yu Xiao instinctively thrust the bowl towards him. The effect was immediate. George stopped, his face becoming an unreadable mask.
“What do you want?” he asked, his voice flat.
“What?” Yu Xiao frowned. “I just need you to—”
“What do you want?” he repeated, his gaze unwavering.
This was definitely unusual, even for George. Yu Xiao’s mind raced, desperately trying to make sense of it all. She decided to take a chance.
“I want… your hair,” she said slowly.
Without a word, George reached up and plucked two strands from his head, carefully placing them in the bowl. “Here.”
“Wow,” Yu Xiao breathed. This was too good.
George said nothing, his expression unchanged.
“So it’s not for eating, it’s for making requests!” Yu Xiao exclaimed, practically giddy with excitement. “From now on, I can have anything I want?”
She held the bowl out to George again. “I want your belt.”
George stared at the bowl.
A minute passed.
“Why hasn’t he unbuckled his belt yet?” Yu Xiao wondered aloud.
Nightmare, who had been observing the exchange with his usual unsettling stillness, spoke up. “Perhaps the cooldown hasn’t expired.”
“Ah,” Yu Xiao nodded sagely. “Of course.”
【Prop: Chipped Bowl. Range: Single Target. Effect: Extracts a desired item from the target, overriding their will to refuse.】 Yu Xiao jotted down the final entry, a triumphant gleam in her eye.
By the time they had finished testing the day’s haul, twilight had painted the sky in hues of orange and purple. Yu Xiao slung the bag of props over her shoulder, Nightmare having transformed into a cat and curled up inside.
“Until tomorrow, Tie Niu,” she said, nodding to the skeleton figure.
Tie Niu bowed deeply. “Farewell, Dean.”
Yu Xiao turned to George, who lay sprawled on the ground, his eyes glazed and his clothes askew. “See you tomorrow, George.”
A strange noise was his only response.
**
Back in their ward at Sixth Hospital, Zhao Lan and Zhou Xiao Zhen were huddled in a corner. Zhao Lan straightened up, stretching her stiff muscles as Yu Xiao and Nightmare entered. “How’d it go?”
“Productive,” Yu Xiao declared, tossing the notebook onto her bed. “We figured out all the new props.”
Zhao Lan scanned the notes, her eyes widening with each entry. “Impressive! Most of these are incredibly useful. We’ll make a killing.”
“Exactly,” Yu Xiao grinned. “I’ll keep a few things for the Sixth Hospital’s shop, get Lu Xu and the others to handle the rest.”
She turned to Zhou Xiao Zhen, who was still huddled over something in the corner. “Any luck with the board?”
Zhou Xiao Zhen sighed, a hint of desperation in her voice. “We’ve tried everything short of burning it. Nothing.”
“Really?” Yu Xiao peered over her shoulder.
The once-pristine white board was now a riot of colour. A crudely drawn turtle with an upturned tail occupied the centre, surrounded by the words “I am a tortoise.” Besides the numerous scratches marring its surface, a patch of black char marked one edge.
Yu Xiao pointed at it. “You said you didn’t try burning it?”
“We didn’t,” Zhou Xiao Zhen insisted. “That was from the electrocution attempt.”
“And why is it damp?” Yu Xiao frowned, noticing droplets of water clinging to the board’s surface. “Did you pour water on it?”
“No,” Zhou Xiao Zhen said, her voice barely a whisper. “It started leaking after I drew the turtle. Misty thinks it might be crying.”
Yu Xiao stared at her, speechless. This was even weirder than usual.
“We’ll try burning it tomorrow,” Zhou Xiao Zhen said, standing up. “How did your testing go?”
“Surprisingly smooth,” Yu Xiao said, accepting a glass of water from Nightmare and settling onto her bed. “We managed to decipher each prop’s function. Anything exciting happen here?”
“In the ward?” Zhou Xiao Zhen chuckled. “Nothing ever happens here except my epic struggle against this blasted board.”
Just then, Yu Xiao’s phone buzzed.
Zhou Xiao Zhen peered at the screen. “First Hospital?”
“Probably,” Yu Xiao said, pressing the speaker button.
A burst of static crackled from the phone, echoing through the otherwise silent ward.
“What’s that noise?” Zhou Xiao Zhen whispered, her eyes wide with apprehension.
Zhao Lan leaned closer, her brow furrowed in concentration. Zhou Xiao Zhen, listening intently, suddenly declared, “That sounds like someone scoffing down mahua.”
- (【麻花; máhuā】: Mahua is a traditional Chinese twisted dough snack that is often fried until crispy. It’s a popular treat in many regions of China.)
Before Yu Xiao could ask what was happening on the other end of the line, a voice cut through the static. “Greetings, Deaf Descendant.”
“Um, hello?” Yu Xiao replied. “Are you calling from the hospital–”
“Have you forgotten me already?” the voice interrupted, a hint of playful reproach in its androgynous tone. “Just because you’ve got a new phone?”
Recognition dawned on Yu Xiao. “It’s you! The one who called from the ghost’s phone…”
“The very same,” the voice confirmed, the sound of crunching continuing unabated. “Speaking of which, that pesky ghost hasn’t bothered me lately. Why is that? Aren’t you curious to ask me anything?”
Yu Xiao found this individual’s casual approach rather unsettling, but their words piqued her curiosity. “Can you actually answer my questions?”
“Try me.”
“Do you know anything about the senior patient who was discharged many years ago?” Yu Xiao asked, getting straight to the point.
“Nope,” the voice chirped. “Ask me something else.”
Yu Xiao was about to retort that she wasn’t running a ghostly Q&A session when something occurred to her. “Those nightmares… they’ve really stopped?”
“Of course,” the voice said, a touch smug now. “And they weren’t nightmares, darling. They’re sweet dreams.”
Yu Xiao hesitated, a chill crawling down her spine. “Did you… eat someone?”
“Oh, absolutely!” the voice exclaimed, practically giddy with delight. “Delicious! I can’t believe I waited so long to try it. If I’d known human flesh tasted this good, I would’ve started ages ago!”
Yu Xiao slammed the phone down, her stomach churning. Zhao Lan and Zhou Xiao Zhen, who had been listening with growing horror, exchanged uneasy glances.
“Oh my god,” Zhou Xiao Zhen whispered, her face pale. “She’s gone completely round the bend, hasn’t she? Does it mean she turned into a ghost?”
“Probably just a matter of time,” Zhao Lan sighed.
“If only I could live for another five hundred years…”
Another call interrupted them. Zhou Xiao Zhen flinched. “Is it her again?”
Yu Xiao glanced at the caller ID. “No, this is different.”
She answered cautiously.
A raspy voice spoke. “Deaf Descendant?”
“Speaking,” Yu Xiao replied. “Are you calling from the First Hospital?”
“Why did you slip those notes into my room?” the voice demanded.
“I need to ask you something important,” Yu Xiao pressed on, ignoring the question. “Do you know anything about a senior patient who was discharged many years ago?”
A beat of silence. Then, “I know of him, yes. But I didn’t know him personally.”
Disappointment tugged at Yu Xiao, but she pushed on. “What can you tell me?”
A heavy silence fell upon the line. After what felt like an eternity, the voice rasped, “Why do you want to know?”
Yu Xiao hesitated, then decided to be honest. “I’ve heard that he discovered a way to combat the intrusion of negative yin energy before he was discharged. I need to know what he learned.”
A harsh laugh crackled through the receiver, turning into a mocking cackle. “Are you delusional? If such a method existed, do you think I’d be in this state?”
“But it’s real!” Yu Xiao insisted. “Do you know about the Heart Hospital?… I got the information directly from there. It has to be true! He found a way before he left the hospital.”
Silence again, heavier this time. Yu Xiao waited, feeling a knot of dread forming in her stomach. Just as she was about to lose hope, she heard a faint sound through the phone, a muffled sob barely audible above the static.
“He found a way…” the voice choked out, a tremor of despair in its rasp. “Then why… why didn’t he tell us?”
Yu Xiao held her breath. She refused to believe that the senior hadn’t tried to pass on his knowledge. Maybe not directly, but he must have left some kind of clue, some message for them to find.
Something must have gone wrong. Something must have prevented his message from reaching them.
He must have done something. He wouldn’t have agreed to the director’s plan, only to change his mind at the last minute, unless he had a plan of his own.
“Before he was discharged,” Yu Xiao asked slowly, “did anything… unusual happen at the hospital? Anything at all?”
“No,” the voice snapped back, the word dripping with bitterness. Then, a click as the call abruptly ended.
Yu Xiao sighed, her shoulders drooping. “Maybe I’ll never find out what he knew.”
Zhao Lan gently squeezed her shoulder. “Perhaps some things are not meant to be. Come, Nightmare has brought dinner. Let’s eat.”
“Smiley,” Zhou Xiao Zhen added softly, “we’ve done everything we can.”
“You’re right,” Zhao Lan agreed. “We’ve done our best.”
The four of them gathered around the table, a blanket of weariness settling over them.
Zhou Xiao Zhen, always the one to break the tension, chirped, “So, tell us what happened at St. Elizabeth’s today!”