Incurable

Wu Zhong faced the many patients chasing him from across the door.

After catching his breath, he picked up his phone and called the police.

"Hello? Someone's trying to kill me—there are so many of them, they've all gone crazy..."

"At the hospital, yes, No. 1 Hospital... Holy shit!"

As Wu Zhong was reporting the incident, he suddenly saw smoke spreading through the crowd.

Then, countless wisps of vapor seeped out through the crack beneath the door and the shattered gaps in the glass.

The vapor seeped from the noses and mouths of the patients chasing him, whirling like ghosts.

It passed through the gaps in the door and formed a dense, humanoid cloud before Wu Zhong.

It had a lewd-looking face, a scrawny body, and a bare upper torso. It looked like another shriveled old man.

Wu Zhong was stunned. A chill crawled from the soles of his feet up his spine.

"It's a ghost!"

"Heavens! There really is a ghost!"

Remembering his grandfather's words, Wu Zhong understood at once.

It had to have been this smoky, ghostlike thing that had drifted in through the window earlier. His grandfather had seen it, which was why he said a ghost was trying to harm him.

Later, the ghost must have possessed the patients and controlled them to hunt him down.

But this ghost was terrifyingly powerful. It could possess and control so many people at once.

But why hadn't it controlled him?

"Run!"

Wu Zhong had no time to think. Seeing it fly through the door, he spun around and bolted down the stairwell.

If it had merely been crazy people trying to kill him, he would have dared to fight. But a ghost coming for his life? Fight it with what?

He had never imagined ghosts truly existed. At that moment, his entire worldview was collapsing.

Superpowers might still have other explanations, but ghosts meant that myths, legends, and supernatural stories might actually be real.

"Who are you? We have no grudge against each other, so why are you trying to hurt me?" Wu Zhong roared as he ran.

Since it was a ghost, surely it should settle grievances with the right person. He had never harmed anyone in his life, so why was a ghost trying to kill him?

The ghost actually answered, "This minor deity does not wish to harm you either, but you... must die."

Its voice was ethereal and drifting, like wind and rain.

Wu Zhong was utterly confused. What the hell was wrong with this ghost? Why was it being so polite?

It called itself a minor deity and addressed him respectfully, yet insisted that he had to die.

"Crash!"

Wu Zhong had only made it down one floor when the ghost's cloudlike body howled after him, engulfed his entire body, and swept him into the air!

His feet left the ground as a mass of watery vapor carried him toward the window.

Was this ghost trying to throw him to his death?

Wu Zhong reacted quickly and slammed the window shut with a bang.

The ghost froze. Rather than even trying to smash through the window, it immediately switched tactics. Its lower body wrapped around Wu Zhong, forcing great quantities of watery vapor into his nose and mouth.

In an instant, his nasal passages filled with vapor, water choked his lungs, and suffocation flooded his mind.

His head even felt like it was splitting apart, as though his brain were about to swell with water.

"Mmgh! Cough, cough, cough!"

Wu Zhong struggled in agony, but his feet could not touch the ground, and the opponent was made of cloud and mist. He had no idea how to fight back.

He did not want to die. His eyes nearly split open with fury.

At the brink of death, inspiration suddenly struck him.

Clouds and mist had no fixed shape. They shifted and drifted unpredictably.

Though his hands and feet passed through it, he could still feel that it was not nothingness. It was simply a mass of watery vapor and cloud.

If that was the case...

"Take this punch!"

Wu Zhong viciously drove out a fist. It split open a mass of mist with overwhelming force and blasted a cloud gate through the creature's chest.

The cloud gate swung open. Dense mist twisted and churned around its blurry edges, but the opening itself could not close!

"Hiss..."

The old ghost lowered its head and looked at the huge hole in its chest. Wu Zhong's head emerged from it, gasping for air in the empty space.

Water poured from Wu Zhong's mouth and nose as he coughed, then he struck again with his palm.

This time, it landed squarely on the old ghost's face, slapping its head into a hole framed like a doorway.

Its face had opened into a gate!

"Ha! What kind of bullshit ghost or god are you? If you've got a physical body, why should I be afraid of you?"

"I'll stomp you to death!"

Wu Zhong broke free and saw that the old ghost no longer had a face. Its facial gate stood open, unable to heal!

This clearly affected it badly. After all, if it could act as nothing more than a cloud of mist, why would it need to condense into its current human shape after passing through the crack in the door?

Why not simply chase him as a cloud of mist?

Clearly, it could only act conveniently after condensing its own image.

And Wu Zhong had opened two gates in its body with one punch and one palm strike.

No matter how the mist tangled and surged, the openings remained there, unable to shrink.

At the moment of life and death, Wu Zhong had discovered an alternative way to use his ability.

It really was mind over matter. He had punched a hole into the thing, thinking of it as opening a door.

And it truly counted as a door, directly triggering the "Door-Welding" effect. Not even a ghost could heal a door formed in its own body.

It was equivalent to forcibly locking the wound in place, making it incurable.

Of course, Wu Zhong had only been trying anything he could.

He had never considered that his ability could be judged in such an abstract way. After all, he had poked holes in things before, but the effect had never triggered passively.

In other words, he had to actively use it for this alternative kind of door to work.

It was truly strange, bizarre, mind over matter, beyond nature.

Wu Zhong even felt that he seemed more like a ghost than the thing in front of him...

Meanwhile, this old ghost was surprisingly materialistic...

At first, when he saw a ghost, he had truly panicked. He had truly been afraid. But after it spoke, the illusion had somehow shattered.

Then there was the fact that it had a physical body made of cloud and mist. His fear of ghosts vanished at once, and only then did he think of opening a door through its body.

"Come on! I'll stomp you to death!"

Having survived the disaster, he did not run. Instead, he charged forward and launched a fierce kick.

"Bang!"

Using his foot worked just as well. Another huge hole was smashed directly through the ghost.

The old ghost was quite large, but it was very light.

It was not actually that formidable. Otherwise, it would not have needed to try to wrap him up and throw him to his death, or suffocate him... such pathetic moves.

Now that every one of Wu Zhong's attacks caused "real injuries," one hole per punch, even a ghost could not endure it.

Wu Zhong punched and kicked it relentlessly, chasing it down and beating it into a honeycomb.

It truly looked like a honeycomb, covered in holes like densely packed little doorways.

The remaining body of the old ghost tore itself away from that portion of watery cloud and mist. Like a lizard shedding its tail, it fled at high speed.

"You cowardly ghost! Don't run if you've got guts!"

Wu Zhong was worked up from the fight and gave chase. There was no fear left in his heart, only exhilaration.

But when he chased it down to the next floor, the ghost was gone. Instead, he saw another group of patients and nurses in the corridor, wielding all sorts of makeshift weapons and staring at him with murderous intent.

Among them, the female nurse gripped a huge syringe and thrust it straight at him like a charging knight.

"Slash!"

Wu Zhong hurriedly stopped. There were more than a dozen people before him. Though they were all elderly, weak, women, and children, two fists could not beat four hands.

Besides, he had no suitable weapon. As the syringe came stabbing toward him, Wu Zhong casually reached out and grabbed the Honeycomb Cloud Gate from midair, then began swinging it wildly.

The cloud and mist were too soft. It was like an inflatable hammer, making only muffled thudding sounds as it struck people.

But that was enough. Wu Zhong did not want to hurt these possessed people. He only wanted a weapon he could use to defend himself.

This unhealable, cloud-and-mist construct of multiple rings was perfect for the job.

"Thud! Thud! Thud!"

Wu Zhong stood on the stairs and used the terrain to his advantage. Every person who came at him got smashed back.

With this thing in hand and his own strength behind it, he could knock people down without hurting them.

He fought as he retreated, eventually returning to the floor above.

Then he heard that the police had arrived.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a group rushing upstairs from below. Wu Zhong dispersed the ring in his hand, then casually released the doors and windows he had made earlier.

Only then did he force his way through the crowd and race downstairs. "Help! There's a ghost!"

Only two police officers had come, while the rest were security guards. Wu Zhong hid behind them as the possessed people caught up.

"Stop! Everyone, stop fighting!"

A square-faced police officer shouted, glaring at the elderly men and women chasing them down. Empty-handed, he stepped forward and grabbed an IV stand that was swinging toward him.

"It's useless. They're all..."

Wu Zhong was about to explain when he saw the murderous intent suddenly vanish from their eyes. Their savage expressions quickly eased, turning into confusion and pain.

"Ow!"

"I can't... I can't go on..."

"Help... help me..."

They immediately staggered in all directions. Some barely remained standing by leaning against the stair railings, while others collapsed outright, clutching various parts of their bodies.

For a moment, the stairwell was filled with misery, with groans and moans ringing without end.

The police officers were bewildered by the scene. Were they being set up for a scam?

The security guards understood the situation better. "They really did go crazy just now. They were chasing this kid and trying to beat him up. I saw it all on the surveillance cameras."

Wu Zhong's mouth twitched. "Then why didn't you come help me?"

The security guards said nothing. Only a young one spoke up. "How were we supposed to help with a ghost? I saw the ghost's shadow too."

At those words, several guards shuddered.

The two police officers scoffed. "What ghost? Help the patients up first."

Together with the nurses, everyone helped the patients back to their rooms. Wu Zhong also went to help.

Soon, more and more people arrived on the floor—nurses from other floors, even staff on duty from other buildings.

Everyone worked together to settle the patients, but then something unfortunate happened.

"Someone's not making it..."

Crying broke out. The police went over and found that several patients with particularly severe cardiovascular and cerebrovascular illnesses no longer had heartbeats.

The nurses were performing emergency CPR and arranging to send them to the emergency room.

Seeing that the matter was serious, the two young officers immediately reported it to their superiors. More and more people arrived to take control of the scene, and even the fire department came.

After confirming that his grandfather was all right, Wu Zhong was placed in a break room, where the square-faced officer stayed with him and talked.

The others went to check the surveillance footage and determine what had happened.

But there was nothing particularly complicated about it. The footage showed Wu Zhong dragging a caregiver out of the ward while two old men chased him... Then the nurse on duty rushed over and smashed him over the head with a bottle, sending glass shards flying.

After that, patients began chasing Wu Zhong one after another, pursuing him all the way to the stairwell.

Wu Zhong must have braced the door shut from the outside. The view was unclear, but in any case, the patients were all packed into the corridor.

The police even saw mist spreading out from the patients' bodies and passing through the doorway. As for what happened outside, they had no way of knowing, since there were no cameras in the stairwell.

But even that footage made the situation clear. There really had been a ghost!

"It's true, I saw it with my own eyes. That cloud of mist came out and condensed into a human shape. It was a shriveled old man with a bare upper body..."

Wu Zhong recounted everything that had happened after his grandfather woke him up.

Naturally, he left out the details of his battle with the ghost and how he had punched open ghost gates.

He only said that the ghost had a physical body made of cloud and mist, and that he had escaped through desperate struggle.

Comparing his account against the footage, the officers' lips turned pale.

They looked at one another. Wu Zhong could see that they were afraid too, because this had gone beyond their understanding.

A firefighter who had been listening suddenly asked, "Did that ghost say anything to you?"

Wu Zhong froze, then said, "It called itself a god and said it had to kill me."

The firefighter's eyes shifted slightly. He brought over a drawing board. "Describe what it looked like. The more detailed, the better..."

Wu Zhong looked at him strangely. So did the police officers.

"Man, you're..."

Sketching suspects was supposed to be police work, wasn't it? Since when did the fire brigade do it too?

"I'm pretty good at drawing portraits. Let me give it a try," the firefighter said with a smile.

The officers did not stop him, so Wu Zhong described everything in detail.

The firefighter's pencil moved without pause. Scratch, scratch, scratch—before long, he had finished a sketch.

When Wu Zhong saw it, he was stunned. "That's it!"

It looked incredibly alike.

The old ghost's form was made of smoke and mist to begin with, somewhat blurry, as though it had low resolution. The drawing was therefore almost exactly the same.

The firefighter grunted and stepped outside.

A little while later, a leader entered the room.

Several police officers stood up and called out, "Captain Tang."

Captain Tang's expression was grave. "Four victims have already lost their lives in this case. Whether the killer is a ghost or a human, we have to do everything we can to solve it!"

"Mr. Wu, there's still a great deal we need to learn from you. Please cooperate and come with us."

Wu Zhong stared in shock. "Someone died?"

Captain Tang nodded solemnly. "Four patients died after resuscitation efforts failed..."

Wu Zhong sprang to his feet in panic. "What about my grandpa? How is he?"

The firefighter cut in, "Your grandfather's holding up quite well."

"In this incident, every victim had hydrocephalus to some extent. Your grandfather has a slight case too, but doesn't he have surgery tomorrow? They can take care of the hydrocephalus while they're at it."

"Both procedures have high success rates, so you don't need to worry too much."

Wu Zhong let out a breath of relief. But when he thought of the four patients killed by that old ghost, fear still lingered in his heart.

Hydrocephalus? That old ghost had a body made of clouds and mist, brimming with moisture. It was only natural that possessing and controlling others would leave behind some residual fluid...

Still, Wu Zhong looked up at the firefighter.

The police officers were all still dumbfounded, unsure how to deal with this paranormal incident. So why was this firefighter so calm?

And in such a short time, he had already gathered and understood all sorts of information, even knowing perfectly well that Wu Zhong's grandfather had surgery scheduled for tomorrow.

Wu Zhong wouldn't have found it strange if a police officer had been this organized, but the man was a firefighter. This case wasn't even part of his job.

"Fine. Of course I'll cooperate with you."

Wu Zhong got to his feet and went with them.

After leaving the hospital, he rode in Captain Tang's police car, traveling without obstruction the entire way.

When they arrived at the city bureau, he was assigned another conference room to rest in, and Captain Tang poured him a cup of tea.

It was still the same questions, and Wu Zhong repeated his answers once more.

"Everything I said is the truth. You've seen the surveillance footage too. That's all I know. I'm confused myself—I have no idea how I ended up provoking a ghost."

"I'm still shocked that ghosts really exist in this world."

Captain Tang sighed after hearing this. "Whether it's a ghost or something else, if it exists, then we must face the objective facts and view them rationally."

"You said it had a physical form, made of water vapor. Since it's material, there's nothing to be so shocked about. Maybe it's some kind of strange life-form. There are plenty of unknown things in this world."

Wu Zhong said, "That's why I stopped being afraid later. I just started swinging wildly and managed to break free. The ghost wasn't very strong—it just wouldn't die, that's all."

"Mm..." Captain Tang only gave a distracted response, clearly preoccupied.

Seeing that, Wu Zhong asked, "Um... is there anything else you want to ask? Can I leave now?"

Captain Tang was about to answer when a group of people suddenly entered the conference room.

The leader wore an administrative uniform. Beside him stood someone in Daoist robes, while the rest were all dressed in firefighter uniforms.

Wu Zhong recognized one of them. It was the firefighter from earlier.

"Mr. Wu, of course you may leave... if you aren't afraid of being plagued by even more ghosts and monsters, with accidents happening one after another." The distinguished-looking middle-aged man in the administrative uniform sat down across from Wu Zhong.

Wu Zhong glanced at him, then stared blankly at the Daoist beside him. "What do you mean? Is this... some kind of exorcism ritual for me?"

The Daoist was very young and handsome, with his hair tied in a topknot. He wore blue Daoist robes and cloth shoes. He had no ritual implements, only a case in one hand.

At those words, he smiled and opened the case. It was filled with guns!

They gleamed brightly, their models unusual—solid, weighty, and clearly built for serious business.

"I don't know any rituals, but if another ghost dares come here, this humble Daoist knows a little about gunplay."