I Run Away with the Earth to Save the World [Unlimited Flow] - Chapter 117

Manman thought for a moment and said, “Remember artificial blood packs?”

Jing Qizhen: “Now that you mention it, I’m reminded of that Filipino maid who helped Angelina find blood bags. I wonder how Tang Song is doing, talking to her…”

As soon as Jing Qizhen mentioned it, everyone remembered how Angelina had deliberately faked a bloody disappearance scene in her room.

Manman walked over and pointed to a specific bloodstain. “Look here at this splatter. Doesn’t it look like someone smashed blood bags filled with artificial blood on the floor until they burst?”

The others paused and tried to picture what Manman described. It really did seem that way.

Even though most people hadn’t personally smashed artificial blood bags, many had seen milk, soybean milk, or even chili paste, sweet sauce, or ketchup bags burst on the floor. Without exception, the result was always splatter.

Jing Qizhen stroked his chin. “Since this is a hospital, it might not even be artificial blood. Real blood bags are easier to find here.”

After a pause, he added, “Now a new question arises: who created this seemingly gory horror scene?”

Everyone looked at each other. Considering this was the inpatient building that even ghost nurses avoided like the plague, the same answer came to everyone’s mind at once. “The patient who stayed here?!”

That’s what Jing Qizhen had been thinking too but then another question popped up. He turned to Wang Feizhou and asked, “Does the inpatient building have a cafeteria? And if it does, would it still have food? How does the patient eat…?”

Si Jiayang: “Well… maybe they don’t need to eat.”

Everyone fell silent.

What Si Jiayang said wasn’t impossible. While ghost doctors and nurses saw humans with physical forms as infected, that didn’t necessarily mean the native infected individuals in the erosion area were exactly like regular humans.

Jing Qizhen pondered, “So one side is ghosts, while the other is infected. The only truly ordinary humans in this erosion area… might be just us?”

If that was the case, they were likely facing an entirely new dilemma.

Just then, the Earth popped up in Jing Qizhen’s mind and said, “We haven’t had the chance to talk yet. Tang Song was just chatting with David’s dad but I think what he likes most is that border collie.”

Jing Qizhen: “…There’s a bit of lag in your response this time, Babyball.”

Honestly, the Earth’s sudden appearance startled Jing Qizhen. Most importantly, it was answering a question about Tang Song but right now, Jing Qizhen’s mind was full of thoughts about those patients that he almost didn’t catch on.

The Earth: “I was just carefully checking the area outside and came right back 0.0!”

Jing Qizhen showed the Earth the date on the registration slip. “This erosion area is currently at this point in time. The current director is that retired director from the real world outside but we haven’t met his counterpart here yet.”

The Earth glanced at the slip. “November 14, 1993. It’s past midnight, so that’s today then!”

Jing Qizhen nodded. “Yeah.”

Suddenly remembering something, Jing Qizhen took out his phone and asked his companions, especially the older ones like Grandma Fang and Old Xiao, “Do you remember any big news from ’93?”

Grandma Fang and Old Xiao shook their heads.

Old Xiao frowned. “If it were my hometown, I’d know some local rumors. I remember elders telling stories when I was young. But I don’t know much about Binhai City.”

Jing Qizhen continued fiddling with his phone. “Fair enough…”

As he spoke, he had already scrolled the calendar on his phone to November 14, 1993. He glanced at it and exclaimed, “Today is the Cold Clothes Festival?”

Wilcox tried to understand and, guessing from the name, hesitantly asked, “What kind of festival is that? Cold clothes? Like put on more layers when it’s chilly?”

Jing Qizhen nodded. “Something like that. The Cold Clothes Festival is mainly a northern Chinese folk festival. In ancient times, it marked the start of winter, so the living would prepare winter clothing to stay warm. At the same time, the festival was linked to ancestor worship. People would burn paper offerings, called ‘sending cold clothes,’ for their deceased loved ones.”

Grandma Fang added, “Every year on the first day of the tenth lunar month, the Cold Clothes Festival is one of the traditional ghost festivals.”

Wilcox admitted, “Maybe it’s my bias but I’ve heard of ghost festivals. Still, to be honest, this hospital’s erosion area doesn’t seem to have anything to do with a folk holiday. I don’t really see any connection between this erosion area and a ghost festival.”

Jing Qizhen went quiet for a moment and said in a low voice, “That sounds like discrimination against ghosts with professional jobs…”

Wilcox was stunned. “Huh?”

Jing Qizhen: “All those ghosts earlier were doctors. You can’t assume this is a legitimate hospital just because they’re wearing white coats and working hard!”

Lu Lingxi chimed in bluntly, “A real hospital wouldn’t have an outpatient building full of ghosts and the inpatient building wouldn’t be sealed off and covered in blood.”

Wilcox: “…” Damn, he was actually convinced.

Manman added, “According to common folklore, the number 14 itself is also unlucky.”

Jing Qizhen nodded. “True. And who knows, maybe it’s no coincidence those ghosts started appearing right at midnight today, on the Cold Clothes Festival.”

Si Jiayang frowned. “If it really is tied to the festival, then today must be a key date. But it could also be a coincidence. The ghosts’ behavior might have more to do with the hospital’s operating hours.”

With so few clues available, Jing Qizhen and the others couldn’t reach any conclusions just yet. All they could do was keep their theories in mind and wait for further evidence.

Walking along the bloodstained corridor, the entire inpatient building was enveloped in a dead silence. Aside from the faint sound of footsteps from Jing Qizhen and the others, there was nothing else.

After a quick check of the first floor, Jing Qizhen looked at the dust on the ground and shook his head slightly. “There aren’t any footprints in the dust. No signs that anyone’s been living here, unless it’s some floating ghosts.”

Manman said, “But there’s definitely something wrong with this building.”

Jing Qizhen nodded in agreement.

The Earth immediately asked curiously, “Why?!”

Before Jing Qizhen could respond, Jin Guijuan had already asked Manman directly, “Sister Manman, how can you be so sure?”

Manman replied fluently, “Because land in cities is very limited. Binhai City is a coastal, developed city. Even back in the ’90s, land prices were already rising. I don’t know the exact expansion timeline of Binhai City’s Second Municipal Hospital, but since they added an office floor to the old building, that shows the hospital staff increased at least once. And most likely, they couldn’t afford to buy new land, so they had to make do with the old building. In such a situation with overcrowded office space and limited funding, the hospital wouldn’t have simply shut down and left an entire building unused.”

Jin Guijuan: “…”

The others: “…”

That was honestly a surprisingly realistic and unexpectedly convincing reason.

Jing Qizhen added a few exceptions. “Unless it’s an unfinished construction project, or there was a radioactive leak, or if an earthquake or some other special situation caused structural issues that turned the inpatient building into a high-risk structure.”

Manman nodded. “Yeah, that too.”

Then, in his mind, Jing Qizhen asked the Earth, “Got it now?”

The Earth replied, “…You humans are so hard to understand 0.0. But anyway, it’s not just your country. Other big cities are just as crowded.”

Jing Qizhen: “Right?”

Although the inpatient building was covered in dried bloodstains, there were no cracks or signs of collapse in the walls. It didn’t look like it was at risk of falling apart anytime soon.

After climbing to the second floor, Jing Qizhen and the others stopped on the stairs, surprised by how clean the second-floor corridor was.

Lu Lingxi glanced at the corridor, wary that someone might actually be living there. He didn’t speak right away but silently thought, ‘Could it be that all the dried blood downstairs that looked like a murder scene was faked by the people upstairs to make it seem like the whole building was abandoned, so people wouldn’t notice the upper floors?’

He gestured for Jing Qizhen to fall back, pulled his gun from his backpack, and took the lead.

Among the group, Lu Lingxi was the most skilled and familiar with firearms. His actions clearly meant he sensed danger. Jing Qizhen cooperated without hesitation.

However, as they carefully searched the second-floor corridor and found signs of activity, they accidentally bumped into someone. That person slammed the hospital room door shut in a panic.

With a terrified scream from inside, Jing Qizhen and the others exchanged bewildered looks.

To their surprise, the people hiding inside didn’t seem to care about the noise and they started talking right away.

“The ghosts are back again!”

“Didn’t they say chicken blood wards off evil? Why are they still coming up from the first floor?!”

Another person, speaking quickly but trying to calm the others, said, “Turn off the lights! The ghosts won’t find us here.”

“I spilled a bag of blood in the courtyard, hopefully it’ll lure them away.”

Hearing the panicked voices from inside, Jing Qizhen and the others looked at each other again.

The Earth sounded disappointed, “I didn’t even get a good look at their faces just now.”

Jing Qizhen said, “I didn’t either. But I think I understand why they mistook us for ghosts.”

The Earth played along. “Why?”

Jing Qizhen replied, “We’re wrapped up in surgical gowns. They can’t see our hands or faces…”

If the ghosts could mistake them for their own kind, then it was natural that the patients there would see them as something other.

Wilcox was puzzled. “I remember learning in school that black dogs’ blood is what wards off evil spirits, right?”

Jing Qizhen said, “Actually, any blood works. It depends on the school of thought. Don’t worry about the details.”

Wilcox: “…???”