Yu Qing: I have a husband

The boy's reflection lay in those clear, gentle eyes.

As he gazed longer, affection shimmered and tangled in their depths, as though it might melt into water.

Scratch, scratch, scratch-

At last, the man lowered his gaze. His finely jointed hand swept rapidly across the sketch paper before him, and before long, a stunning portrait emerged on the page. It was unmistakably Yu Qing's face!

The bright incandescent lights reflected in his silver-rimmed glasses. The man's lips curved slightly as he admired it in silence for a while. Finally, he set his pencil to the paper and wrote a name beside the portrait.

-Yu Meiren.

Inside the instance, Yu Qing shivered without warning.

As he entered the elevator, he glanced back at the two people who had rushed back onto the ninth floor in the final twenty seconds, his eyes darkening.

Xu Han's hunting target had changed.

A succession of yawns sounded beside his ear. Yu Qing knew Qian Lai was lazy, probably the son of some wealthy family.

Usually, he would saunter along with his sunglasses on, taking advantage of his height to drape an arm over Yu Qing's shoulders and save himself some effort.

So when he saw the young man mumbling and reaching toward him again, Yu Qing thought nothing of it. After a brief remark, he connected to Qian Lai's system and began sorting through the clues they had just found together, but...

This time, that arm hovered three centimeters above his shoulder, yet never... settled onto it?

His hands paused over the clues. Yu Qing slowly turned his head, only to see Qian Lai rub his nose and discreetly withdraw his hand. He even deliberately... put more distance between them.

Yu Qing: ?

He tentatively glanced behind him, thinking some terrifying ghost might be hiding in the elevator, but... after looking all around, he found nothing.

Only Qian Lai kept backing away awkwardly. The moment he saw Yu Qing approach, he shouted in alarm, "I... I-I don't like men!"

"Huh?"

Yu Qing narrowed his eyes, quickly understanding. He turned around and strode straight toward him. "You... saw my hobbies field?"

They had been standing close together, and their systems were connected. It was hardly surprising that Qian Lai had seen his identity information.

As Yu Qing approached step by step, Qian Lai retreated to the very back of the elevator. His hands trembled slightly as he clutched the handrail in utter despair, looking exactly like a scumbag playing innocent after abandoning his wife and child. "Look, I only leaned on you because I'm lazy. Don't... don't get the wrong idea..."

Finally, Yu Qing stopped in front of him.

Qian Lai looked down at his thoughtful expression, convinced he had really gotten himself into trouble. He immediately steeled himself to speak, but just as he was about to explain, Yu Qing said, "I don't... like you either."

Qian Lai silently breathed a sigh of relief, only to hear him add, "I have a husband."

"!!!" Qian Lai's eyes flew wide. "Have... you... you have..."

Ignoring the young man stammering behind him, Yu Qing turned back and continued sorting through the information. "The instance boss is my husband. I'll definitely get out."

"Hiss..."

Was it his imagination?

Yu Qing shivered. Why did the air around him feel... even colder after he said that?

He sorted through the information the entire way back. Upon returning to the ward, Yu Qing asked the ghost woman to guard the door for him, then organized what he had learned from the diaries-

This was a corrupt sanatorium.

These patients were all sacrifices chosen by the Angel.

After being chosen, they first had to sit in the cafeteria and be forced to eat human flesh.

Yes, the elderly Cafeteria Granny would tell them it was human flesh, then force them to swallow it bite by bite. While they were off guard, she would turn off the cafeteria lights and create eerie noises around them, such as "Don't eat me" and "Give me back my life."

Once they were frightened out of their minds, foaming at the mouth or unconscious, they would be carried back to their wards.

The next day, they would go through the same thing again.

After a month of this repeated torment, the director would take them to live in the little rooms on the ninth floor. Every day, they endured all kinds of electric shocks and brainwashing, while being made to thank and worship the director as their savior.

During this process, the director forced them to keep diaries, using these to observe every detail of their psychological changes.

From "I am human" to "I am an animal," they would eventually be trained into animals of the twelve zodiac signs, just like Xu Tang.

She had always believed she was a rabbit!

Once this brainwashing process was complete, the final step could begin-skinning.

After they were fully domesticated, they would be wheeled into an operating room and have their skin removed intact. Animal fur would then be implanted into their bodies, and they would gather quietly around the Angel statue as animals, welcoming new patients who entered the Sanatorium full of hope.

And worst of all, throughout this entire process, they were forbidden to scream, call for help, or even make a sound.

Because the Sanatorium required silence. The moment they made a sound, the Doctor would beat them with a whip or a belt!

That also explained why those ghost women feared his belt even though they were clearly capable of killing the Doctor.

-It was an ingrained oppression carved into their very bones, something they could neither break free of nor escape.

Of course, not every sacrifice qualified. Rabbits, for instance, were small, so little girls had to fill that role.

The unqualified "animals" were fortunate enough to keep their skin intact, but they would be thrown into the morgue and tied to beds for some other purpose.

What purpose?

The diaries did not say. Yu Qing thought they were probably used as ingredients for the cafeteria. Moreover, as he sorted through the information, the pronoun he had used throughout was-"she."

Because these "sacrifices" were all women and girls, including Xu Han's daughter. The director had tricked her into coming, too, and trained her into a "rabbit" as one of the sacrifices.

But regardless, this evil, brutal sacrificial ritual had never used a single male!

If no males had been used, then... why had Xu Han's corpse appeared in the morgue?

What was this one male going to be... used for?

The clues had reached a dead end. Yu Qing suddenly felt a little regret-he should not have given those clothes away. That way, Xu Han would have kept pursuing him for revenge, allowing him to get close to Xu Han and uncover more of the truth.

How could he find Xu Han?

Jingle, jingle-

At last, the bell on his wrist caught his attention.

Yu Qing slowly lowered his head. After thinking for a while, he removed the bell, then looked up at Qian Lai, who was considerately drawing talismans for the ghost women nearby.

He asked, "Can you draw a Ghost-Exorcising Talisman? The kind that can cripple without killing?"

Qian Lai: ?

"What?!"

While he was still puzzling over this, a sudden "Aaaaaaaah!" rang out behind him.