Chapter 78: Don’t Close Your Eyes When It’s Dark (Part 2)

Looking out from the top floor of the hospital, the late-night view revealed a city undisturbed by the hour. Cars streamed endlessly on the roads, lights flickered brightly, and in the dazzling neon glow, lonely figures shuffled about.

"Yes, it's dark now." I closed the door and approached Jiang Shihan. Just one window separated the hospital room from the outside world, yet they seemed like two entirely different realities.

The woman stood barefoot on the bed, her eyes following my every movement as if she were scrutinizing me.

"I know you've probably seen a lot of unbelievable things these past few days. They must have crashed into your life like a hammer, shattering everything. I understand how you feel, and I can guess your current state of mind," I said, raising my hands and sitting on the edge of her bed.

The woman lowered her head, her wide, round eyes fixed on my face as if trying to memorize every detail.

"Sudden changes like this can make people doubt themselves. You might even believe you've gone insane, that what you've seen is nothing but hallucinations," I said, pulling a cigarette from my pocket and placing it between my lips. "But that's not true. You're not crazy. Those things aren't illusions—they're real."

A bright flame burst from the lighter, its glow different from the electric light. Its warmth was tangible, something you could feel on your skin.

The flame's heat emanated from my hand. Jiang Shihan slowly crouched, like a child in summer chasing crickets in the countryside, reaching out to grasp the flame.

After lighting the cigarette, I closed the lighter, leaving her to grasp only my hand.

Warmth and softness—that was my first impression. I believed she could feel my warmth too.

"Do you see now? I'm human, someone who wants to help you."

Perhaps reminded of something, Jiang Shihan suddenly let go, pulled the blanket over herself, and shrank to the bed's edge.

She buried her head under the covers, clearly unwilling to communicate further.

"It seems it's not the right time yet." If I wanted to uncover the truth behind Huang Guanxing's death, Jiang Shihan was the only witness I could ask.

Silently smoking, I pondered how to get through to her when the sound of marbles rolling on the ceiling broke my thoughts.

"It was bound to happen sooner or later."

Room 9114 was on the top floor—who would be playing marbles on the hospital rooftop at midnight?

This was a hospital, not some paranormal research center, so the answer was obvious.

Looking up, the sound of marbles falling was deeply unsettling. But more chilling was that the first thing I saw when I raised my head were the gory, terrifying murals on the ceiling.

Even knowing they were mostly drawn with lipstick and medication, the terror they inspired still crawled into every nerve of my body.

"Has the game begun? Let's see what you've got, daring to claim a life in the city center." Having endured three live broadcasts in the Hell Show, my mental fortitude far exceeded that of an ordinary person.

While the marbles continued to roll overhead, the wooden door of Room 9114 suddenly thudded.

At that moment, my entire focus was on the ceiling, so I didn't see who or what had struck the door.

Extinguishing the cigarette, I turned on the Hell Show app on my phone and approached the door.

"Judging by the sound, it hit the center of the door. For an adult, that height would be too low—it must've been a child knocking."

Peering through the small glass window in the door, I scanned the corridor. Past midnight, most of the hallway lights were off, with only a dim glow from the nurses' station.

"No one's there?"

To be safe, I used the Hell Show app to check again. The corridor was empty, showing no signs of anything unusual. "The door can't be opened from the inside. Whoever designed this room must've been a lunatic," I muttered, inspecting the lock. Without brute force, neither I nor Jiang Shihan could leave.

"First the sound of marbles above, now inexplicable knocking—you're trying to create a terrifying atmosphere to unsettle me and make your move, aren't you?" These cheap horror tactics were nothing compared to what I'd experienced in the Hell Show. "Looks like you'll be disappointed."

When I turned back, Jiang Shihan, who had been fine just moments ago, had suddenly spread open the blanket. Her exposed feet were painfully arched backward, and she trembled with her back to me.

"What's wrong?" I rushed to her side and pulled back the blanket, only to find her clawing at her own hair, yanking it so forcefully that her scalp was visibly distorted.

I quickly checked with the Hell Show app, confirming there were no malevolent entities nearby.

"Jiang Shihan! Jiang Shihan!" I called her name loudly. When that didn't work, I had no choice but to physically restrain her.

Strands of hair, ripped out at the root, clung to her fingertips. Her scalp was red and swollen, her eyes rolled wildly, and her mouth gaped as she gasped for air.

She looked like a drowning person, drifting further from the shore, flailing her arms in vain, her head thrashing, teeth clamped tightly on the bed sheets.

"No ghosts or spirits nearby—could this be some sort of curse?" The ability to remotely induce such a state was beyond my expectations.

It took a full fifteen minutes for Jiang Shihan to recover. She lay limp on the bed, her eyes filled with terror.

"What did you see?" I asked softly. I didn't expect an answer, but to my surprise, she raised her arm and pointed at the door.

"Outside?"

Looking up, I saw nothing beyond the door.

But I knew it wouldn't be that simple. Using my phone to record, I captured a fleeting image of an old, wrinkled face in the glass window of the door.

"Who's there!" I shouted instinctively. But when I looked again, the screen showed nothing.

"A face full of wrinkles, almost bald—someone that old definitely isn't hospital staff," I thought, covering Jiang Shihan with the blanket and clutching a protective talisman as I moved to the door.

"Whether you're human or ghost, don't let me catch you." Pointing my phone's camera at the window, I watched the screen intently, afraid of missing anything.

Ten minutes passed. Then another sudden knock on the door, just like the first, without warning.

Strangely, the Hell Show app showed no anomalies. "Could I be overthinking this?"

The knocking continued at regular intervals, each knock silencing the sound of marbles overhead.

"Roughly every fourteen minutes, with less than ten seconds of variation. And each knock coincides with the marbles stopping." I started timing with my own phone. At thirteen minutes and thirty seconds, the sound of marbles abruptly ceased.

"It's coming." At the fourteen-minute mark, I got up from the wall.

"Now!" Without hesitation, I kicked the door open.

The loud crash echoed through the hallway, and I braced for complaints from neighboring patients—or rather, I wanted more people to notice the commotion. "Who's out there!"

The door banged against the wall, glass shards scattering everywhere. The light from Room 9114 spilled into the dim hallway.

Before me sat a pale little boy, his hand raised as if frozen mid-knock.

Startled, he hadn't even lowered his hand. His face was frozen in a plaster-like expression. "So it was you knocking on 9114's door all this time? That's quite the prank, little guy," I said, narrowing my eyes as I squatted in front of him.

The boy burst into tears. Moments later, a middle-aged woman emerged from a room at the end of the hallway.

"Xiao Jie! Come back here now!" Her tone was stern as she scolded the boy, who clung to her arm, sniffling but silent.

I watched the peculiar mother and son, waiting for an explanation.

But instead of addressing the issue, the woman reprimanded the boy and, as if oblivious to the shattered glass, turned to drag him back to their room.

"Your child knocked on our door multiple times. Are we just going to let this slide?" Unwilling to let it go, I reached out to grab the woman, but the boy suddenly lunged forward and bit my hand hard.

"Damn it!" The kid bit with all his might, leaving deep teeth marks.

"Lu Jie! Let go now!" The middle-aged woman quickly pulled the boy aside. With an apologetic expression, she looked at my bleeding hand. "I'm sorry. I failed to teach him properly. I'll make him apologize."

She dragged the boy to me. "Apologize to the gentleman right now."

The boy glared at me defiantly, saying nothing.

"Apologize now!"

"I won't!" His stubborn gaze was like that of a little beast with nothing left to lose.

"Apologize!" The woman's voice grew louder, but the boy refused to yield.

Just as I was about to say it was fine, the woman raised her hand and slapped the boy hard across the face.

The slap echoed loudly, surprising both me and the boy, who covered his face, staring at her in disbelief.

"You've never hit me before."

"Lu Jie, apologize now!" she sobbed, tears streaming down her face as the two of them stood in the empty hallway, crying together.

"I'm sorry," the boy finally muttered, then clung to the woman as they retreated to their room.

"Hey, I didn't really mind..." After the bite, I was sure at least the boy was alive.

"I'm sorry for the trouble. It's my fault for not raising him well," the woman said, stroking the boy's head. She hesitated before glancing at my bleeding hand and warning, "It's dark now. Tonight, you'd better not close your eyes."

"What do you mean?" I tried to ask, but she had already taken the boy into their room.

"Something doesn't feel right." I glanced back at Jiang Shihan, who was quietly lying in bed, then approached the room the mother and son had entered.

Through the glass, I saw the boy sitting alone on a stool, wiping his tears. The mother, however, lay motionless on the hospital bed, her body connected to a web of life-support tubes.

"Only the two of them in there." I stepped back and read the sign on the room.

ICU—Intensive Care Unit.