"Ugh... ah!!!"
The screams echoed through the cramped, dilapidated clinic. A man lay on the bed, struggling wildly.
"Darling! Hang in there!!"
A simply dressed woman with her hair pinned up desperately held down the man struggling on the bed, shouting at the top of her lungs. Beside her, the women in the rows of black-and-white photographs hanging on the wall stared fixedly at her, letting out unsettling shrill laughter.
Where was this place?
Fang Zheng looked around. Judging by the decor and equipment, this seemed to be a scene from forty or fifty years ago.
"Ugh... ah..."
The man's voice grew weaker and weaker, as did his struggles. Seeing this, the woman seemed to panic even more. She held him down tightly, muttering incantations like, "Spirits of heaven, spirits of earth, Guanyin Bodhisattva, bless us and show your power..."
"Mom! What's wrong with Dad?"
Only then did Fang Zheng notice that on the other side of the room, a girl around ten years old in a white dress, with waist-length hair, was trembling in the corner and watching the scene anxiously.
"Sachiko, don't come over!!"
The woman shouted, then continued chanting. But her efforts clearly had no effect. Before long, Fang Zheng saw the man on the hospital bed kick out his legs and breathe his last.
"Ahhh... darling!!"
Seeing her husband die, the woman clearly broke down. She threw herself over his corpse and cried out endlessly. At that moment, the girl cautiously walked over as well.
"Mom, why isn't Dad talking? What's wrong with him?"
However, the woman did not answer her daughter's question. She merely clenched her teeth and spoke in a low voice.
"Every man who marries into the Shinozaki family dies young. Is this curse truly impossible to break? No, I don't believe it.