Chapter 4: Manifestation

The next day, Liu Guodong, with two heavy dark circles under his eyes, appeared at the hospital.

He hadn't slept all night; the Great Compassion Mantra played on loop the whole evening, but the "dong dong" thudding against his ear was like maggots in his heel bone, impossible to shake off.

His reflection in the mirror showed a wax‑yellow complexion, blood‑shot eyes, and a gaunt expression like that of an addict.

"Acute anxiety disorder—must be hallucinations caused by excessive stress."

He faced the mirror, hypnotizing himself over and over.

This is a hospital, a hall of science, filled with materialists. As long as he returns to this rational environment, those demons and specters will naturally vanish.

He forced his spirit to hold on and began a day of ward rounds.

A group of intern doctors trailed behind him, each clutching a small notebook, reverent and deferential. The feeling of being surrounded like a moon among stars helped him regain a bit of his former confidence.

"Next, Bed 7, postoperative observation."

Liu Guodong walked to the bedside; the patient was a middle‑aged man recovering well.

He habitually lifted the stethoscope hanging around his neck, put on the ear tips, and pressed the icy chest piece against the patient's chest.

"Dong, dong, dong......"

The familiar heartbeat sounded, steady and strong.

Liu Guodong exhaled, "See, it was just my imagination after all."

However, just as he was about to lift the stethoscope, the normal 'dong dong' sound suddenly changed pitch.

A cold, vengeful, electric‑static curse, threaded through the rubber tube, poured straight into his brain!

"My heart... so cold..."

"Liu Guodong... why... did you take my heart away..."

"Next... it's you...!"

That voice was none other than Zhou Xiaosheng's!

"Ah—!"

Liu Guodong's hair stood on end instantly; he felt as if stung by a scorpion, yanked the stethoscope off his ear, and hurled it hard onto the floor!

"There's a ghost! A ghost!"

He let out a terrified scream in front of all the interns and patients, his body uncontrollably recoiling backward, knocking over the medicine cart beside him.

Bottles and jars shattered across the floor, the crisp clatter sounding especially harsh in the quiet ward.

The entire ward instantly fell into dead silence.

Everyone stared with a dumbfounded, as‑if‑they‑were‑looking‑at‑a‑fool expression at the usually lofty chief of cardiac surgery.

"Director Liu... are you... are you okay?" a nervous intern whispered.

"Ghost... there's a ghost... right inside the stethoscope..." Liu Guodong stammered, pointing at the broken pieces on the floor.

The scene became extremely awkward.

At that moment, a calm, steady voice came from behind the crowd.

"Hmm? What are you all gathered here for? Where's the work at hand?"

The crowd turned, and saw Chu Che in a clean Doctor's Lab Coat, hands in his pockets, strolling slowly. He adjusted the gold‑rimmed glasses on his nose, his gaze sweeping over the wrecked floor and the dejected Liu Guodong.

"Dr. Chu!"

The interns, as if seeing a savior, quickly cleared a path.

Chu Che walked to Liu Guodong's side, looking down at him.

"Just one night and it got this bad?"

"Seems the effect is quite good."

"Then let me... add the final spark."

A barely perceptible smile curved his mouth; Chu Che gently steadied Liu Guodong's trembling arm, his face showing just the right amount of concern.

He bent down, picked up the broken stethoscope, glanced at it, then gently patted Liu Guodong's back and said softly:

"Director Liu, you look pale—have you been overworking lately?"

He paused, leaned close to Liu Guodong's ear, and in a volume only two could hear, continued:

"You must take care of your heart; it's... very fragile."

Those words, like a barbed needle, drove hard into Liu Guodong's most sensitive nerve!

Liu Guodong snapped his head up, meeting the calm, unruffled eyes behind Chu Che's lenses.

In that gaze there was no mockery, no pity, only a faint thread of concern.

Yet that very concern seemed to hint at something, making Liu Guodong—who knew Chu Che meant no harm—feel a chill from scalp to heel!

【Target: Liu Guodong】

【Sanity: 15/100】

Cavity Person Zhou Xiaosheng floated in a corner of the ceiling, coldly watching it all.

It could clearly "smell" the fear emanating from Liu Guodong, continuously flowing into its own body.

That aura was tastier than any offering.

Its power was rapidly increasing.

Its once‑semi‑transparent body seemed to solidify considerably. It even felt it could soon break through the invisible membrane and truly touch this world.

It won't be long......

It will soon complete its first revenge.

Afternoon.

Liu Guodong still had an important surgery.

He entered the operating room in a daze, forcing himself to focus. He needed a flawless surgery to prove he wasn't insane.

He walked to the instrument table, preparing to pick up the surgical knife.

Just as his fingertip was about to touch the knife handle.

"Clang—!"

A deafening, ear‑splitting roar!

The entire stainless‑steel tray, filled with surgical instruments, seemed to be shoved by an invisible hand, sliding straight off the rack and crashing heavily onto the floor!

Sharp blades, scissors, hemostatic forceps… scattered across the ground, reflecting the cold light of the shadowless lamp.

Everyone in the operating room jumped in fright.

This abnormal situation became the last straw that broke the camel's back.

Liu Guodong's mental defenses were completely shattered at that moment.

He could no longer endure it, screamed out of the operating room, cancelled all his work for the day, lied that he was unwell and needed leave, and without even changing out of his Doctor's Lab Coat, he fled the hospital like a madman.

He could not stay at home, nor could he remain working in the hospital.

He drove his car, aimlessly racing through the streets, and finally chose a hotel.

He naively thought that merely changing location would cut off the ever‑present fear.

In the suite, he threw himself onto the soft big bed, covered his head with a blanket, trying to find a moment of peace.

"Zzz......"

The huge LCD TV in the room turned on by itself.

On the screen, instead of a welcome image, a blinding field of snowflakes appeared.

As the snowflakes dotted, pale twisted faces gradually emerged, their eyes gouged out, bleeding black tears, and their chests, without exception, were black voids.

Zhou Xiaosheng's face was right in the center, staring at him intently.

"Ahhh!"

Liu Guodong was terrified, his soul fled, rolling and crawling out of the hotel room, even losing one shoe.

Now, only one thought remained in Liu Guodong's mind.

Only the one who tied the bell can untie it.

It is it… it must be Zhou Xiaosheng's ghost taking revenge on me!

I must go back, back to where it all began, to confess to him!

As long as I reach that place…

As long as I obtain his forgiveness—

Night deepened.

Liu Guodong suddenly revved his car and, like a lunatic, sped back to Jiang Hai City Second Hospital, rushing toward the operating room where he had personally killed Zhou Xiaosheng.

He pushed open the heavy door, fell to his knees with a thud, then crawled with hands and feet to the cold operating table and curled into a ball.

He knelt in the empty operating room, repeatedly kowtowing, tears streaming down his face.

"Zhou Xiaosheng! I'm sorry! I'm not human! I shouldn't have ripped out your heart!"

"Spare me! Please spare me!"

"I wasn't the mastermind! It was Manager Li! That rich Manager Li! He wanted your heart! Go take revenge on him! Don't come after me!"

He shifted all the blame onto that "Manager Li".

Just as he was incoherently confessing.

The huge circular shadowless lamp above his head began to flash wildly.

Sizzle...... sizzle-sizzle......

The unstable electric hum in the silent operating room sounded like a Death Summoning Talisman.

The light flickered, stretching and distorting his Shadow on the wall into grotesque shapes.

Suddenly.

"Snap!"

The shadowless lamp went out completely.

The whole world fell into utter darkness and deathly silence.

Liu Guodong could even hear his own heart pounding.

One second.

Two seconds.

"Hee hee hee......"

"Heh heh heh......"

Waves of terrifying women's and children's laughter came from all directions, chaotic, rapid, sharp, drilling into his brain.

Just as the laughter was about to drive him mad, all the sounds stopped abruptly.

Extreme darkness.

Extreme silence.

【Target: Liu Guodong】

【SAN: 0/100】

【Murder Rule Stage Two "Manifestation", conditions met.】