He waved his hands desperately to stop him, signaling that he could not write. And from the way he acted, he seemed... a little afraid of pens and paper, too.
The doctor keenly picked up on this. His eyes flickered, and he tried pushing the paper a little closer. Sure enough, Yu Qing took another step back, his panicked eyes instantly reddening.
"Oh, did something happen to you that left you afraid of pens and paper?"
Yu Qing nodded. After a long moment, as though he had finally found someone who understood him, he met the doctor's gaze with eyes full of gratitude.
Having a patient depend on him so wholeheartedly improved the doctor's mood. After thinking for a moment, he actually sat up. "Here, type in your name yourself."
Only then did Yu Qing nod. After bowing repeatedly in thanks, he placed his fingers deftly on the keyboard. While the doctor went to get water, he tapped out a string of code. In the end, only a single character appeared in the name field: Pi.
It was a very concise name, and easy to say, too.
The doctor set down his water glass and glanced at it in satisfaction. After telling Yu Qing to stand aside, he gestured for the others to come forward.
The Tang-Suited Young Man watched quietly, thinking, Since even the director paid special attention to names, they must have something to do with some strange rule. It might involve calling roll!
So-I mustn't get called, mustn't give my real name, and mustn't make my name too simple.
It has to be something people won't want to bother reading, a name they'll hate at first glance. In that case...
The young man stepped forward and tentatively lowered his head. "H... h-h-h... h-h-h-h-h... he-e-e-hello!"
The doctor's hand trembled around his water glass. "?"
The young man said, "S-s-s... s-sorry, I... I-I-I-I... have a b-bit of a st-st-stutter!"
"Wh... when... when I say my name, I usually... s-sing... sing it!"
The doctor slowly lowered his gaze, maintaining his professional courtesy. "That's fine."
"Th... th-th-thank you!"
Then, after finishing that last sentence, the young man tugged at his collar and cleared his throat. "My name is... Alone and forlorn, Colluding together, Walking alone, A sudden revelation..."
The doctor said, "???"
His typing speed... could not quite keep up.
He looked at the young man in confusion. The young man paused. "Wh-wh-wh... wh-what? Didn't... didn't get it all?"
"I'll d-d-do... it again!"
Yu Qing clenched his hands, digging his nails into his palms to keep from laughing aloud. Then he saw the male doctor finish recording the name, rummage impatiently through a drawer, and put on a name badge before continuing, "Next."
The badge caught the light. When it tilted slightly outward, Yu Qing could make out the name on it: Xu Han.
XH... Yu Qing silently opened his system storage and examined the ring he had retrieved from Granny Ghost's stomach in one of the slots. Xu Han...
[Ding-] [Congratulations, streamer! You have obtained the key clue "Xu Han’s Severed Finger." Plot exploration: 5%. Take a good look and see whether Doctor Xu Han is missing a finger!]
Doctor Xu Han's hand... Yu Qing followed the system's prompt and looked over. No fingers were missing!
His hand was intact; only the ring was gone. There was not even a ring mark on his ring finger. No!
That wasn't right!
Yu Qing suddenly remembered something. A deep chill traveled up his back to his neck, raising goosebumps all over him.
In the morgue upstairs, the first corpse he had carried bridal-style had also worn a badge bearing the name-Xu Han.
Thump, thump, thump-
His heartbeat abruptly quickened, and a fine sheen of cold sweat dampened his palms. While Yu Qing was thinking, he realized that everyone had already registered their names and lined up as the doctor instructed. The doctor was saying, "Our sanatorium has a rule. Hauntings tend to occur at night, so every day, we send one patient upstairs for Morgue Guard Duty. I'll pick a name at random. Whoever gets called will go."
It really was roll call!
Yu Qing and the Tang-Suited Young Man both froze for a moment and looked at each other.
The sanatorium was exceptionally dangerous at night. How was Morgue Guard Duty any different from going straight to their deaths?
The others quickly realized this as well. One after another, they lowered their heads, their hearts in their throats as they anxiously picked at their hands, each fearing for their own life.
Beside the computer, the printer hummed away. The doctor printed out the patient roster, only to discover-
There were ten patients in total, yet the list ran over twenty pages???
Each person's name took up at least two pages.
What was more, some had insisted they were blind and had to write their names on paper. What they wrote was indistinguishable from illegible scrawls, yet they adamantly claimed that was their name!
The doctor said, "..."
Wouldn't calling roll work him to death?
Oh, right.
The doctor's eyes shifted as he suddenly remembered Yu Qing's "Pi." Deciding that this was the simplest name, he breathed a sigh of relief and flipped to Yu Qing's name field, only to find that it had become: 3.1415926... continuing forever.
In the end, perhaps even the computer program feared being overwhelmed. After using up two sheets of paper, it had added six dots to his name and a note: continues forever.
"Uh... Hu... Hu Zibiao."
In the end, the doctor turned his gaze toward the unconscious rapist. "Hu Zibiao will be on Morgue Guard Duty tonight. Everyone, go to the first floor and find a nurse to collect your key cards and check in."
"The sanatorium's rooms accommodate two patients each. Please follow your assignments. You may go downstairs."
Feeling they had narrowly escaped disaster, everyone hurried out of the examination room. Yu Qing brought up the rear.
As the living people left, the oppressive examination room gradually fell deathly silent. The icy chill spread like damp tentacles, invisible and formless, seeping into every gap. It brushed his earlobes and tangled around his steps. The door ahead drew closer and closer, while Yu Qing walked slower and slower.
At last, he reached the doorway, a film of cold sweat coating his temples. He had barely put half a foot outside when the doctor's cold, clear voice sounded behind him. "Stop."
Patients were not allowed to get into conflicts with doctors.
So Yu Qing slowly turned around.
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