Why did it suddenly get dark?
Is it going to rain?
Pedestrians on the street looked up at the sky in astonishment. Just a moment ago it was bright and clear, how did the sky suddenly darken?
And it wasn't caused by dark clouds.
"The sun has disappeared!" Astronomers Observation this phenomenon and broke out in a cold sweat.
The sun did not disappear gradually like during a solar eclipse, but rather vanished suddenly, like a light being turned off.
"Could Supernatural phenomena have become so powerful that they can interfere with the existence of the sun?"
Some countered, "The sun didn't disappear; it's more likely that it was blocked by something. As the core of the solar system, the disappearance of the sun would inevitably trigger unimaginable physical disasters, and it's absolutely impossible for it to simply turn dark."
Others say, "Perhaps it's another anomaly. Although 'disappearances' happen all over the world, it doesn't mean other Supernatural events won't take advantage of this time. After all, reality isn't a TV drama where villains follow the rules and come one after another, giving the good guys a buffer and recovery period in between."
"The consequences of the sun disappearing could be more severe than the event itself."
What's wrong with this world?!
At the hospital.
Su Yu's hospital bed was next to the window, which she had specifically requested. When she fell into the pit, she instinctively protected her head—not because she was afraid of getting hurt, but because she was afraid that the mask and headgear she had modified from Golden Corpse Bag would be damaged. All the fabric of her clothes was mixed with gold, so she had really squeezed the Investigation Bureau dry.
But compared to those major corrupt officials, her petty "embezzlement" is nothing.
"Ms. Su, are you really not going to change out of your hospital gown?" the young nurse asked for the nth time, her eyes fixed on the gold-threaded gloves on Su Yu's hands. "This isn't good for observing the wound..."
"I'm fine," Su Yu answered mechanically, while counting the cracks in the ceiling. This was a technique she had learned at the Investigation Bureau —when you want to end a conversation, you have to act like a difficult mental patient.
The nurse sighed and left.
Su Yu glanced at her phone. It was 12:17 PM. The sunlight outside the window should have been at its strongest, but it suddenly dimmed. Not the kind of dimness you get on a cloudy day, but as if someone had suddenly turned off the sun.
"Is the power out?" the old lady in the next bed muttered.
People who were discussing the trending video all turned to look out the window.
Su Yu sat up abruptly, ignoring the sharp pain from her wounds. She pulled back the curtains and saw that the sky was pitch black, with no moon or stars, only a suffocating and unnatural darkness.
The streetlights in the hospital garden turned on automatically, but then exploded one after another a few seconds later.
"Ah--"
The first scream came from the corridor outside the ward.
Su Yu's body moved faster than her mind; she had already rolled out of bed, reached for the gold-threaded mask from the bedside table, and put it on.
The eye area of the mask is made of specially made mesh gold wire, which may slightly affect vision, but can effectively block Supernatural attacks.
"In case of emergency, everyone please stay in your wards and do not move around!" The loudspeaker in the hallway blared, but with a strange static noise. "Please do not move around..." (repeated)
The broadcast suddenly turned into a gurgling sound like some kind of flowing liquid, followed by a dull thud as something heavy fell to the ground.
Everyone was startled by the situation. Su Yu slowly walked to the door and opened it a crack.
In her vision, the emergency lights in the corridor flickered, staining everything blood-red. A doctor in a white coat was kneeling on the floor vomiting—no, not vomiting, but countless black, medical record-like substances were gushing from his throat. These "papers" folded automatically in mid-air, transforming into the format of a standard medical record, and then floated away...
Her breathing stopped.
At the end of the corridor, an old-fashioned medical record cart creaked as it was pushed forward. The metal body was covered with dark red stains, and the stacked medical record folders wobbled precariously but never fell off. The person pushing the cart was a human figure wearing an old-fashioned nurse's uniform, whose face was shrouded in writhing shadows.
Su Yu glanced at it briefly before immediately turning her head away, her heart pounding wildly.
It was a Fierce Ghost, and she was quite familiar with it.
"It's a 'Patrol Medical Record Cart'!" She had seen it in the Investigation Bureau's files. The pattern of the murders was related to "the records," one of the Supernatural events that occurred in Jing City when the Black Fog Encloses the City. Its level of terror was very high, classified as B!
For ordinary people, encountering a Class B Supernatural event is basically a matter of life and death, with a very low survival rate.
But... Su Yu remembered that this ghost had clearly been contained by Consultant Wen and imprisoned in the Investigation Bureau's containment room, so why was it here now?
Has something happened to the Investigation Bureau? Have all the Fierce Ghosts inside escaped?!
Various negative thoughts lingered in Su Yu's mind. Although the Investigation Bureau had left a terrible impression on her, she sincerely hoped that the Investigation Bureau would stand forever.
If even the Investigation Bureau has collapsed, then ordinary people won't have much of a chance to survive.
Just then, the elderly woman in the next bed curiously peered towards the door. "What's going on outside?"
"Don't go out!" Su Yu warned in a low voice, "And don't look out the window."
It's too late.
The old woman had already drawn back the curtains, then let out a scream. The scream lasted for two seconds before abruptly stopping. Her mouth seemed to be pinched shut by an invisible hand, turning into a strange smile.
The creaking sound of the medical record cart grew closer.
Su Yu huddled behind the door, her mind racing. The first rule of survival in Supernatural events: Don't make any rash moves, lest you trigger the killing pattern.
What's the pattern of those "Patrol Medical Record Cart" again?
Su Yu desperately tried to recall the various Supernatural files she had memorized when she worked at the Investigation Bureau —this was one of the basic training courses for investigators.
[Project No. B-035 "Patrol Medical Record Cart"]
[Description]: The exterior is an old, creaking metal medical record cart. The body is covered with indelible dark red stains, like dried blood mixed with some kind of drug residue. The medical record folders piled on the cart are always in a state of "almost overflowing" yet "never being filled".
The cart was being pushed by a blurry, humanoid silhouette dressed in a faded, old-fashioned nurse's uniform, its face shrouded in a constantly writhing shadow, with only a vague outline visible below that it appeared to have no mouth.
[Activity Pattern]: It first appeared in the ██ Hospital in Jing City and will wander randomly inside the hospital.
The medical record cart will slowly move along a fixed route and will not actively enter locked rooms.
[Rules of Murder]:
Core rule: It must be documented.
When the medical record van passes by, it will "record" if any living person nearby is in the following state:
--There are obvious external injuries or symptoms on the body, such as missing limbs, blood all over the body, violent coughing, or screaming caused by fear-induced mental breakdown.
--Be aware of the existence of the medical record cart and show "excessive attention" or "try to avoid its route", look directly at the shadow of the cart, try to follow or study the medical record cart, or deliberately avoid its route.
Once the rule is triggered, the shadowy nurse on the cart will stop and pull a brand new, blank medical record folder from the ever-filling pile of records. The nurse will then use a pen that drips black ink to "write" the victim's name out of thin air on the cover (even if the victim has never revealed their real name).
Once the medical record folder is generated, the victim will instantly feel an indescribable, chilling sense of being "cursed".
[Method of Murder]: The victim does not die immediately after their name is written on the medical record.
Within a very short period of time, the victim's body will develop symptoms that match the "recorded" symptoms in the medical record folder.
For example, if a medical record shows "advanced malignant tumor," the victim's body will rapidly develop unexplained malignant tissue proliferation and ulceration in the corresponding area.
Even more bizarrely, the medical records might contain diagnoses that don't exist in real-world medicine, or even gibberish. In such cases, the victim will die in an extremely distorted and incomprehensible manner.
After a victim dies, their medical record folder becomes worn and is automatically moved to the pile of files on the medical record cart.
All the information about the "Patrol Medical Record Cart" was provided by Wen Jingyan, Su Yu felt that this information should not be too inaccurate.
At this moment, the old woman who had been peering through the door suddenly walked mechanically back to the bedside and began to tidy up the already neatly arranged bedding. Her movements were so precise and rigid that she seemed like a puppet being manipulated.
Su Yu understood that the old woman had become Ghost Slave and was now perhaps inducing others to break the rules of murder.
Apart from the old woman, everyone else in the ward remained deathly quiet. Even if someone didn't understand the situation and tried to shout, they would be held down by those around them.
The medical record cart stopped in front of Su Yu's ward.
Su Yu held her breath and calmed herself. After all, she was wearing gold, so as long as nothing unexpected happened, she would definitely not die.
The doorknob turned slowly, accompanied by a harsh metallic scraping sound.
Just then, a commotion came from the other end of the corridor. The medical record cart paused for a moment, then creaked and turned toward the source of the noise.
The crisis was averted; better to sacrifice a friend than oneself. Everyone in the ward breathed a sigh of relief.
Su Yu peeked through the crack in the door and saw that in another ward, for some unknown reason, several young people were arguing and even fighting each other. They had bruises on their bodies and were considered patients by the medical record cart to be recorded.
Taking advantage of the distraction of the medical record cart, Su Yu slipped out of the ward. Someone called her softly from behind, seemingly wanting her to take them with her, but she ignored them.
She wore clothes that could ward off Supernatural, and she didn't dare test human nature if others noticed anything amiss.
She wanted to go down to the first floor and leave the hospital through the main entrance.
You can't use the elevator; the stairwell is at the other end of the corridor, and you have to pass the nurses' station...
She moved close to the wall, her footsteps barely making a sound. A trembling nurse at the nurses' station saw Su Yu out, and she mustered her courage to follow behind her.
The creaking of the medical record cart came from the right-hand corridor, accompanied by the sound of something being dragged.
Su Yu quickened her pace, but suddenly stopped at the corner. A little girl in a hospital gown stood there, head bowed, clutching a worn-out teddy bear.
The little girl ignored Su Yu and went straight to the nurse.
The nurse tried to pull the little girl away with her.
"Sister," the little girl looked up, her eyes completely black, "Were you recorded too?"
The nurse's blood froze instantly. She saw a brand-new medical record folder hanging around the girl's neck, with a string of gibberish written on it in black ink.
"I... I just went to see a doctor." The nurse realized something was wrong with the girl, forced herself to answer in a normal tone, and slowly backed away.
"But the doctors are all dead." The girl's voice was stiff and lifeless; she was practically a Ghost Slave.
The creaking sound of the medical record cart came from behind.
The young nurse, sweating profusely, looked to Su Yu for help.
Su Yu nodded with a look of pity on her face.
A glimmer of hope immediately appeared on the young nurse's face.
Su Yu slowly walked towards the nearby fire door, pressed the emergency button hard, and the piercing alarm sounded instantly. The automatic sprinkler system started, and the silhouette of the medical record cart became blurred in the water mist.
"Let's split up and run!" Su Yu said in a low voice.
The nurse immediately got to work.
Su Yu ran in another direction. In fact, her series of rescue actions were useless; the water mist couldn't stop the medical record van from killing people.
But why would she go through all that trouble?
It was a sudden act of kindness on her part that allowed the young nurse to find solace in her final moments, preventing her from dying in despair of abandonment.
"I'm so kind." Su Yu thought to herself as she rushed into the stairwell, nearly stepping on a corpse—a security guard, still holding a walkie-talkie. There was a hole in his chest, stuffed full of neatly folded medical records. Even more terrifying, from the darkness below the stairs came a familiar creaking sound...
There's another mobile medical record van!
Su Yu's back was pressed against the wall, and the icy temperature seeped through her clothes, sending chills through her.
The creaking sound from below the stairs grew closer, accompanied by the rustling of medical records being turned over, while behind them, on the other side, the fire alarm blared, and the first medical record cart was still lingering.
Two! There are two mobile medical record carts at this hospital!
Her temples throbbed, her breathing became rapid, and she suddenly remembered what Wen Jingyan had said: After Fierce Ghost kills someone, the level of terror will intensify as the number of people killed increases.
No one can clearly explain the relationship between humans and Fierce Ghost, or why Fierce Ghost become stronger after killing people. Just like no one knows why the Supernatural cannot affect gold.
They are all based on some kind of fundamental logic engraved at the very bottom.
Su Yu thought that the second "Patrol Medical Record Cart" that appeared might be a sign that the Fierce Ghost's terror had increased.
It's also possible that this thing was originally plural, Wen Jingyan only took in one of them and imprisoned it in the Investigation Bureau.
We must leave as soon as possible, no matter what!
The medical record cart came up from downstairs. Su Yu pressed herself against the wall, holding her breath, and dared not move as she loaded the stones.
She was afraid that her breath would be detected and attract the attention of the Fierce Ghost.
Fortunately, her outfit did not disappoint her; the medical record cart drove past her, completely ignoring her.
Seeing this, Su Yu breathed a sigh of relief; the clothes had proven effective!
It's no wonder she stole public property against her conscience!
With her own safety assured, Su Yu immediately increased her escape speed, rushing towards the hospital gate before Ghost Domain or similar entity formed within the hospital...