Starting with dissecting ghost stories

Chapter 186 You're not dead?

Shen Xing opened the few text messages sent by Chen Liming and glanced at them.

[I had someone call and ask.]

[Wu Xiaoting, female, 14 years old, was admitted to the hospital on the morning of May 28. Her guardian signed the admission form. The diagnosis section states acute stress disorder. She is currently under closed management.]

Are you going there? Visiting hours there usually end before 6:30 PM.

Acute stress disorder?

Today is my admission date.

Shen Xing put away his phone and glanced at the sky.

It was a little past 5 p.m., and the sky wasn't completely dark yet, but the clouds were low and the light was already quite poor.

If you take a taxi there now, you should still be able to make it for the visit. If you just want to ask some questions, this amount of time is enough.

"You go home first." Shen Xing handed the umbrella to Shen Yuan.

"You're going?" Shen Yuan's eyes lit up. "Can I come with you?"

"No, minors are not allowed in the closed wards." Shen Xing was telling the truth.

"Then go and check on her for me." Shen Yuan knew she couldn't argue with her, so she backed down.

"Um.

""

Shen Xing hailed a taxi and first took Shen Yuan home. Then, Shen Xing took a taxi alone to Anning Mental Rehabilitation Center.

Shen Xing leaned back in the back seat, watching the roadside trees recede into the distance outside the window, his fingers unconsciously tapping his knee.

The sutures are on the neck.

The mental hospital is under closed management.

There's one more thing... Shen Yuan mentioned a detail when relaying the story.

Wu Xiaoting asked Shen Yuan, "Do you still remember the red sky?"

Shen Yuan said she didn't remember.

Red sky... Shen Xing searched his memory but couldn't recall any of those four words.

But for some reason, the old, irregular white mark on the back of his left hand felt slightly warm when he heard Shen Yuan repeat those four words.

It was so brief that he wasn't sure if he was really hot or if it was just his imagination.

The taxi stopped in front of a four-story building with a beige exterior.

Shen Xing got out of the car and showed his work ID at the security booth at the entrance.

The certificate bears the words "Provincial Emergency Public Health and Environmental Safety Supervision Office," a title that works in most situations.

Since nobody knows what kind of unit it is, it just sounds impressive.

The security guard glanced at the ID, then at Shen Xing, and without asking any further questions, registered his phone number and name before letting him through.

When I got to the front desk, the nurse there asked me a few more questions.

"You said you wanted to visit a patient in the closed ward on the third floor?" The nurse looked up, peering at Shen Xing through the top of her reading glasses. "A family member?"

"No, it's for work purposes, a routine interview." Shen Xing placed his work ID face up on the glass panel at the front desk.

The nurse looked down at the identification, then at Shen Xing.

"Visits to the closed area require the attending physician's signed consent, and today's visiting hours are almost over..."

"7

"It won't take too long, ten minutes will do." Shen Xing's tone was calm, but he showed no intention of backing down. "I can conduct the interview with a nurse present throughout, without entering the ward, just in the visiting room."

The receptionist hesitated for a moment, then picked up the internal phone on the table and dialed a number.

After waiting for about three minutes, I hung up the phone.

"Someone from the nurses' station on the third floor will take you there. Just wait in the second meeting room on the right in the corridor." The nurse took out a temporary access card from the drawer. "Leave your cell phone, lighter, and any sharp objects at the front desk."

Shen Xing touched his phone in his pocket and placed it on the front desk.

He didn't bring anything else.

He walked up the stairs to the third floor, pushed open the fire door, and was greeted by a locked iron gate.

A young female nurse was already waiting behind the gate. She unlocked it to let Shen Xing in, and then locked the gate again.

"Come with me."

The corridor was quiet, with the lower half of the walls painted a light green and the upper half a yellowish white.

Shen Xing passed by several closed wards, glancing at the situation inside out of the corner of his eye.

Most of the patients were lying in bed or sitting in a daze. One middle-aged woman was facing the wall and talking to herself in a low voice, but her voice was so faint that not a single word could be heard.

The reception room is located in the middle of the corridor. It is a room of about ten square meters, with a square table with iron legs, two plastic chairs, and no other decorations.

Shen Xing sat down in the chair by the window and waited.

The nurse went out, and a few buzzing sounds from a walkie-talkie came from the corridor, followed by the sound of slippers dragging on the floor, coming closer and closer.

The sound stopped at the doorway.

Shen Xing raised his head and looked towards the door of the reception room.

A petite girl stood there, wearing a loose, light blue hospital gown, her hair disheveled, a transparent film from an IV catheter attached to the back of her right hand, and ill-fitting white plastic slippers.

Her face was small, and her eyes appeared exceptionally large due to her thinness. At that moment, those eyes were fixed intently on Shen Xing, who was sitting in the chair.

Wu Xiaoting.

Shen Xing looked at her, and his gaze immediately fell on her neck.

The collar of the hospital gown was quite loose, revealing some skin above the collarbone, but no sutures were visible. The starting point of the sutures seemed to be higher up, obscured by the collar and loose hair.

"Come in." Shen Xing nodded to her.

Wu Xiaoting did not move.

She seemed nailed to the doorway, her lips slightly parted, her breathing noticeably rapid.

"you...

""

She finally made a sound, but stopped after saying only one word.

The nurse standing to the side gently patted her shoulder, signaling her to go inside.

Wu Xiaoting then moved her feet, but not towards the chair. Instead, she walked straight towards Shen Xing, stopping when she was less than half a meter away from him.

She looked up and stared at Shen Xing's face.

Shen Xing noticed that her pupils were trembling slightly, not from fear, but more like she was trying her best to confirm that what was in front of her was real.

"You..." Wu Xiaoting spoke again, this time her voice slightly hoarse, "What are you doing here?"

"Your friend sent me," Shen Xing said truthfully.

"Shen Yuan?" Wu Xiaoting reacted quickly. "She contacted you?"

"Okay, please sit down first."

Wu Xiaoting didn't sit down; she remained standing, her gaze shifting from Shen Xing's face to him.

Alive... Shen Yuan's brother... the one I met before...

"You're not dead?" Wu Xiaoting asked, uttering a question that Shen Xing had never expected.

I didn't die?

Why am I going to die?

Shen Xing's expression didn't change much, but he was starting to take a little interest in the conversation.

"Sit down," Shen Xing gestured to the chair in front of him and asked, "Why do you think I'm dead?"

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