Chapter 182: The Ghost Doctor and How to Leave

Jiang Yuan's brain buzzed, leaving him barely able to think.

Living person?

In this hospital filled with monsters and weirdness, there are actually living people?!

And not just one!

He glanced around; this small examination room actually held seven or eight people!

They all wore white employee uniforms similar to his, huddled in the shadows like a flock of startled quail, each face etched with fear, numbness, and utter disbelief at seeing him.

The man who made the shushing gesture at him looked under thirty, wore black-rimmed glasses, had a pallid complexion, and chapped lips.

Seeing Jiang Yuan frozen in place, he frantically waved his hand, signaling him to hurry inside, then silently mouthed two words.

Close the door.

Jiang Yuan understood at once, reflexively pulling the examination room door shut; with a soft click, it sealed off the unsettling silence outside.

The air in the room instantly became oppressively heavy.

Everyone's gaze fixed on him like needles, filled with scrutiny and wariness.

"You......"

The bespectacled man drew a breath, as if to speak, but the moment his voice left his lips, a woman beside him yanked his arm hard.

The woman stared at him in terror, shaking her head desperately.

"Don't make a sound!" she whispered, her voice barely audible yet sharp with hysteria, "It'll lure it here!"

The bespectacled man then realized, a flash of relief crossing his face; he gave the woman a grateful glance, then turned to Jiang Yuan, lowered his body, and leaned close to his ear.

"The Ghost Doctor's patrol time hasn't ended yet."

"Any major disturbance will summon it."

Ghost Doctor?

Another new monster.

Jiang Yuan remained composed, asking in the same whisper, "What happens if you encounter the Ghost Doctor?"

The bespectacled man's body visibly trembled, his eyes showing extreme fear.

"You'll die."

"After death, your name and symptoms will appear in that logbook on the first-floor lobby. Then... you'll become one of those monsters."

Jiang Yuan's heart clenched sharply.

So that's where those monsters come from!

He suddenly thought of something, brows knitting: "But we're not patients; the logbook shouldn't list only patients, should it?"

"Because in the Ghost Doctor's eyes, employees can fall ill too. He'll seize you and keep you until your identity becomes that of a patient, then execute you."

"However," a flicker of post‑survival relief glimmered behind the bespectacled man's lenses, "employees and patients differ; as long as you stay quiet and avoid major disturbances, the Ghost Doctor won't find you—he can only sense patients' locations."

"Before the Ghost Doctor's activity period ends, we must hide. Only after it leaves can we go out to continue exploring."

Jiang Yuan understood.

No wonder these people are hiding here.

Turns out they're surviving by exploiting the identity rules.

"I'm Chen Shao," the bespectacled man said, introducing himself. "We're all... outsiders who were walking outside or sleeping at home, then opened our eyes to find ourselves in this damned place."

"After entering, we inexplicably gained the identity of either patient or employee."

Chen Shao gave a wry smile, then asked:

"And you? How did you get in?"

Jiang Yuan hid nothing, answering concisely: "I came in through the first-floor main entrance and have explored some areas of the first floor."

He said this in the same whisper.

Yet in this tiny examination room, it was no less than detonating a bomb!

"What?!"

A young man curled in the corner couldn't hold back, let out a startled cry, then was immediately smothered by the person beside him, leaving only terrified whimpers.

Chen Shao's eyes nearly popped out; he stared at Jiang Yuan in disbelief, as if looking at a devil crawling out of hell.

"You... you said you came up from the first floor?!"

"Do you have any idea what the first floor is?! It's the patients' territory! Our forbidden zone! If we employees go down, those monsters won't see us as kin; the moment they spot us, they'll go berserk, chase us down, and tear us apart alive!"

Everyone in the examination room looked at Jiang Yuan as if he were mad.

To them, Jiang Yuan's words were no different from an ordinary person claiming he'd just sworn brotherhood with a lion pride on the African savanna and then taken a dip in a crocodile pool.

This is utterly unscientific!

Jiang Yuan looked at their ghost‑seen expressions and continued to drop another bombshell.

"I switched my identity before coming up."

Chen Shao was completely dumbfounded.

He opened his mouth but couldn't utter a word for a long time.

Identity switch?

A short‑haired woman who had been silent all along finally crept closer, her voice trembling as she asked, "You... you were originally... a patient?"

Jiang Yuan nodded.

"Hiss——"

A chorus of sharp intakes of breath filled the examination room.

Chen Shao's face turned enormously complex, mixing shock and disbelief.

"Good heavens......" he muttered, "We only knew that employees must regularly patrol the first floor, or else their identity would be forcibly switched to patient, thereby summoning the Ghost Doctor......"

Those who can go down to patrol, as well as those who fled to the First Floor to avoid the Ghost Doctor......

He stopped at that point, his eyes filled with sorrow.

Not a single one came back alive.

We all thought that becoming a Patient, or going to the First Floor, was a dead end...... but we didn't expect......

He looked at Jiang Yuan, his gaze scorching.

We didn't expect that, indeed, someone could actually come back alive, and even...... even restore their identity!

At that moment, Jiang Yuan was no longer a mere ordinary newcomer in their eyes.

But a strong one who broke the Rule of Certain Death and created a miracle!

Chen Shao's attitude instantly became extremely eager; he grabbed Jiang Yuan's arm, his whole body trembling with excitement, "How exactly did you do it?"

Jiang Yuan frowned and briefly recounted the experience of encountering Jack Smith on the First Floor, where taking off the Patient Gown saved him from a peril.

Of course, he omitted the existence of Human Skin Paper, saying it was just a quick guess he made under pressure.

After hearing his account, the whole room fell into a death‑like silence again.

Everyone was digesting this information that overturned their understanding.

Taking off the Patient Gown is useless; they have tried it.

That means...... the real way to switch identities is most likely to encounter Patient No. 1, Jack Smith!

And removing one's clothes can accelerate the identity‑switching process.

"Damn it!" the young man who had previously shouted silently slapped himself hard, suppressed his voice, and cursed regretfully, "If we had known earlier...... if we had known earlier A Bin wouldn't have had to die! He was forced to patrol and never came back!"

The atmosphere in the room became somewhat sorrowful for a moment.

Jiang Yuan ignored their emotions; he now only wanted to know one thing.

"Do you have any other clues about this place?"

Chen Shao snapped out of his regret and nodded heavily.

"Yes!"

He pointed at the people in the room.

"We have already lost many comrades. Still, we have, at the cost of our lives, figured out part of the rules here."

"We know that identities switch, and that different identities must obey different rules."

At this point, a spark of light burst in Chen Shao's eyes; he stared fixedly at Jiang Yuan, saying word for word.

"We even...... have found a way to leave here!"

Leave?!

Jiang Yuan's heartbeat missed a beat.

"From the moment you enter through the First Floor Main Entrance, there is no way to leave."

"The only method is to ignite all the Red Candles in every room on the Second Floor."

"Then, enter the First Floor, and under the Patient identity, go into...... the underground second layer."

"The underground second layer has an exit."

Underground second layer?!

Jiang Yuan's pupils contracted sharply.

Isn't that an absolute Forbidden Land?!

Staff Rules Article Five clearly surfaced in his mind.

【5. All medical staff of this hospital should be familiar with the hospital's layout. Please note, this hospital has no underground second layer. If you see a staircase leading to an underground second layer anywhere, turn around immediately and do not look back.】

He voiced his doubt.

Chen Shao, however, showed a "just as I thought" expression.

"All medical staff of this hospital should be familiar with the hospital's layout...... which means the underground second layer is the staff's Forbidden Land."

Chen Shao extended a finger.

"But...... the Rules don't say that place is also the Patient's Forbidden Land!"

The sentence, like lightning, split the fog in Jiang Yuan's mind!

Exactly!

A trap of the Rules!

This Rule plays a word game!

What is a certain death place for staff may perhaps be the lifeline for Patients!

No wonder; when he was a Patient before, entering the underground second layer caused him no harm.

This discovery revived Jiang Yuan's spirit.

The puzzle that had troubled him for a long time finally had an answer.

He looked at Chen Shao, his gaze turning slightly sharp: "By the way, you should have seen the Staff Rules, right?"

"Of course," Chen Shao nodded, "but our Rules only have the latter half."

Saying that, he turned around and pointed at the mottled wall of the Examination Room.

Jiang Yuan looked in the direction his finger indicated.

Using the faint light filtering through the door crack and curtain slit, he saw a similarly yellowed paper nailed firmly to the wall.

On it was the other half of the Saint John Hospital-Internal Staff Rules!

That half, he had thought, was the key to the path of life!