The room exploded in a heart-stopping crash of thunder as Ye Tao’s scream died in her throat. A thick, choking cloud of smoke billowed around all the girls, momentarily erasing their budding mistrust and replacing it with a primal surge of fear.
When the smoke cleared, the scene that greeted them was grim. Zhao Lan found herself sprawled on the ground, Zhou Xiao Zhen draped protectively over her. Across from them, Ye Tao knelt motionless, staring blankly at a charred figure on the floor. It was Zhang Qi Qi, transformed by multiple lightning strikes into a blackened, unrecognisable silhouette.
A pang of sympathy stabbed at Yu Xiao’s heart as she saw the vacant look in Ye Tao’s eyes. Anger still simmered, but concern won out. She knelt beside Ye Tao, gently taking her hand.
“Tao Tao,” she said softly, “You almost hurt Misty. Don’t you know how much she cares about you?”
Zhao Lan, using a healing talisman to patch up her friend injuries, while casting a worried glance at Zhou Xiao Zhen.
“You didn’t hold back, did you?” she sneered. “Three broken ribs for Precious? If that punch had landed on my head, I’d be singing karaoke with the ghosts.”
Despite the pain that made her pale and sweaty, Zhou Xiao Zhen defended Ye Tao. “Come on, Misty, Tao Tao was just scared. Don’t hold it against her.”
Ye Tao remained a silent statue, her gaze glued to the charred remains of her friend.
Distress clouded Yu Xiao and Zhou Xiao Zhen’s faces.
“It’s okay, Tao Tao,” Zhou Xiao Zhen said, tears welling in her eyes. “You’re not alone. We’re still here.”
Yu Xiao, her voice firm despite her own churning emotions, added, “That’s right. I promise I’ll always be there for you. You’ll never be alone again.”
Zhao Lan stood nearby, her face a mask of conflicting emotions. Why Ye Tao? Why try to hurt her for Zhang Qi Qi? What did she have that she didn’t?
Unable to resist any longer, Yu Xiao tugged at Zhao Lan’s sleeve. “Say something,” she pleaded. “This silence is creeping me out.”
Seeing the pain mirrored in Ye Tao’s eyes, a sliver of Zhao Lan’s anger melted. Love, for all its complexities, tugged at her heart. Stepping closer, she knelt beside Ye Tao and spoke in a gentle voice, “Alright, enough with the sadness. Zhang Qi Qi might be gone, but we’re still here for you, aren’t we?”
The air crackled with the wrongness of it all. Zhang Qi Qi lay still, a blackened husk, yet the three figures around her chattered on, how much they worried about her. Ye Tao fought back a hysterical laugh. Karma, they called it. But this? From the moment she’d decided to mess with Yu Xiao for Qi Qi, it felt like a cosmic punchline to a joke she never wanted to be a part of.
A single tear escaped her eye and landed with a sizzling hiss on Zhang Qi Qi’s blackened form.
Seeing this, Zhao Lan’s sobs choked the air, thick with ugly jealousy that even death couldn’t quite extinguish.
“Go,” Ye Tao rasped, her voice hoarse. “Live well. Don’t let this place twist you into…me.”
“We’re not leaving you,” Zhou Xiao Zhen’s voice shook with fierce loyalty.
Ye Tao groaned. Frantically, she dug through her pockets, the familiar weight of countless hospital cards a cold comfort. Over the years, she’d amassed a collection, each one a tool, a weapon against the darkness. But none of them could cancel each other out.
Tears blurred her vision as she looked at them. “It’s 8:20,” she choked out, the words tasting like poison. “If you don’t leave now…”
Yu Xiao frowned, her eyes fixed on Xiao Long’s phone clutched in her hand. “No,” she stated simply, her voice firm.
“You can’t be serious!” Zhao Lan cried, her voice cracking.
Zhou Xiao Zhen squeezed her hand, her eyes pleading. “Please, Ye Tao. For us. Don’t give up.”
But Ye Tao felt hope draining away, leaving behind a chilling emptiness. “I… I can’t. I’m just… so tired.”
Picking up Zhang Qi Qi’s phone, she walked towards the door, each step heavy with finality.
Yu Xiao’s hand reached out, but it was too late. The door slammed shut, severing their connection to Xiao Long’s room and to her only hope of escape.
The silence that followed was absolute, broken only by the echo of their despair.
Ye Tao reopened the door. revealing a strange room. She frowned, opening and closing the door a couple more times, each time, a different room materialised, each one eerily similar to the last. Finally, a living room appeared, it’s only distinguishing feature a door on the far wall.
“See if that’s the way out,” she instructed, her voice tight.
Yu Xiao cautiously stepped through, her eyes scanning the room. “There’s a door here!” she called back, her voice laced with excitement.
Zhao Lan hesitated, her gaze darting between the door and Ye Tao. She loved Ye Tao, considered her a true friend, but the thought of leaving Smiley and Precious behind was unbearable.
A sharp click broke the tense silence as Yu Xiao opened the door, revealing a long, sterile corridor. Just as she was about to call out, a figure materialised in the doorway.
Shi Guang stood there, cold and menacing, his usual indifference replaced with a chilling intensity. “Those who trifle with time,” he intoned, his voice a low growl, “will pay the price.”
“Misty! Precious!” Yu Xiao scrambled back, her voice high with panic. “He’s going to hit me!”
Zhao Lan and Zhou Xiao Zhen, jolted from their grief, rushed to flank Yu Xiao, their eyes narrowed at the ghostly figure.
“Don’t even think about it!” Zhao Lan snapped, her voice laced with protective fury. “Assaulting patients is against hospital regulations!”
Shi Guang’s jaw clenched, his silver hair practically vibrating with unspoken words. He opened his mouth as if to retort, then seemed to think better of it. With a final, disgruntled “hmpf,” he turned and left.
“What was that ‘hmpf’ about?” Zhou Xiao Zhen wondered aloud, her brow furrowed.
Zhao Lan offered her analysis. “He’s probably plotting his revenge on Smiley.”
Yu Xiao snorted. “Like I’m scared of him. Next time, he gets a failing grade!”
“Heh heh heh,” Zhou Xiao Zhen chuckled. “He has no idea who he’s dealing with.” She turned to share a conspiratorial grin with Ye Tao, only to find the other woman gone. The smile vanished from her face, replaced by a dawning sense of dread.
The door to the bedroom stood closed, an empty frame against a backdrop of impossible hope. Ye Tao was gone, swallowed by Time Hospital.
A heavy silence descended, thick with the bitter taste of loss.
“I don’t think I can ever love that… intensely again,” Zhou Xiao Zhen whispered, her voice choked with tears.
Zhao Lan simply sighed, a world of grief contained in that single breath. Yu Xiao placed a comforting hand on her friend’s arm. “We have to go back.”
Together, they stepped back through the doorway, leaving behind the room, the hope, and the friend they would never see again. The familiar corridor rippled around them, and then, with a dizzying lurch, they were back in the sterile reality of the sixth hospital ward.
As the echoes of their harrowing adventure faded, so too did the lingering effects of the deeply immersive, and highly distracting, love card. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.
Zhou Xiao Zhen slapped her thigh, a panicked look on her face. “Oh my god! We almost got stuck there!”
She threw her arms around Zhao Lan, clinging to her like a lifeline. “Thank goodness for Misty and her, uh, yandere love! We wouldn’t be here without her.”
Zhao Lan gently pried her off. “Thrilled to be of service,” she deadpanned, but her eyes held a flicker of something heavier. “You know,” she began, her voice uncharacteristically hesitant, “what if it were you two in danger? If I could save you, but it meant…hurting someone else… I don’t know what I’d do.”
The confession hung in the air, a stark contrast to their usual banter.
Zhou Xiao Zhen remembered Ye Tao’s words, the unspoken question they both tried to ignore: what happened to Smiley? Was she safe? Had their escape come at a terrible price?
Yu Xiao interrupted their spiralling thoughts. “We don’t need to worry about that,” she said firmly, idly tapping Nightmare’s head. “We just need to make sure we never end up in that situation.”
Zhao Lan nodded slowly, taking a deep breath. Yu Xiao was right, as always. Dwelling on hypotheticals wouldn’t help.
She pulled Precious next to her on the bed. “Thank you,” she murmured, her voice thick with emotion. “Does it still hurt?” she added softly, her fingers gently tracing the spot where Ye Tao had hit her.
“Doesn’t hurt anymore,” Zhou Xiao Zhen chirped, prodding at her side with a mixture of fascination and lingering anxiety. “Getting hit by a function card is so weird! I actually felt like…like I would like to die for Ye Tao.”
While Zhou Xiao Zhen and Zhao Lan dissected the bizarre aftereffects of their ghostly encounter, Yu Xiao pulled out her phone. Time to regroup. She dialled Yu Qing Lang’s number, bracing herself for her usual brand of impatient affection.
The phone rang for an eternity before Yu Qing Lang finally picked up.
“What?” she snapped, her voice sharp with annoyance.
“Sister, it’s me,” Yu Xiao said brightly, ignoring her tone. “I’m out of Time Hospital!”
A beat of silence. “Took you long enough.”
“It wasn’t about being slow,” Yu Xiao protested. “We were in different time streams!”
“Ugh, whatever,” Yu Qing Lang sighed, the sound carrying across the line with crystal clarity. “Don’t call unless it’s important.” And with that, she hung up.
Yu Xiao rolled her eyes. Honestly, between her and Wide Sea and Sky, she was starting to think grumpiness was contagious. Undeterred, she dialled Wang Dong Dong’s number.
“Hello…” His voice sounded weary, a stark contrast to her own buzzing energy.
“Brother Dong Dong, it’s me!” Yu Xiao announced, unable to contain her relief. “I’m out of Time Hospital!”
“Oh,” he replied, his voice flat. “It’s you. It’s been so long, I almost forgot.”
Yu Xiao’s cheerful facade faltered. “How could you forget?”
“It has been a while,” Wang Dong Dong coughed. “Glad you’re out. Just… stay safe, alright?”
“Speaking of which,” Yu Xiao chimed in, her curiosity piqued. “I heard on the news someone got slapped with a 50-point fine and banned from instances for a month after that whole Time Hospital mess. Who was it?”
“Who else?” Wang Dong Dong said with a tired sigh. “Flying to Someone Else’s Bed.”
Yu Xiao winced. He’d helped her out of a tight spot, and now he was paying the price. “Listen,” she said, a wave of guilt washing over her. “Do you have his contact info? I want to compensate him.”
Flying to Someone Else’s Bed answered the phone with his usual boisterous energy. “Well, if it isn’t the young lady herself! Thought you’d forgotten all about me.”
“Never!” Yu Xiao laughed, relieved to hear him sounding so upbeat. “Just got out of Time Hospital.”
“Good, good,” he said, his tone turning surprisingly business-like. “So, about those smart devices you promised…”
Guilt gnawed at her again. “Soon, soon!” she assured him. “Speaking of which, I heard about the fine. Fifty points, right? Let me make it up to you with some function cards.”
“Got plenty of those, love,” he said, sounding almost bored. “Anything a bit more…special?”
Yu Xiao drew a blank. “Special how?”
“You know,” he said, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. “Something unique. Something nobody else has. Something…interesting.”
She racked her brain. What did she have that fit that description? “I’ve got the heart of a fire ghost,” she offered tentatively.
“What am I supposed to do with that?” he asked, sounding less than impressed.
“Um…” Yu Xiao stammered. “I don’t know, actually.” She really didn’t have anything else that screamed “collector’s item.”
“Alright, let it be this one,” Flying to Someone Else’s Bed said decisively. “Send it to me.”
“Hmm?” Yu Xiao was perplexed by his request. “This is quite useless.”
“I know, just give it to me,” insisted Flying to Someone Else’s Bed. “I have a fondness for such peculiar yet useless things.”
Yu Xiao sighed, “…Alright then.”
“And don’t forget the smart phone you promised us. It must be one that can access the Sixth Hospital forum.”
“I understand. I’ll go buy the phone right away,” Yu Xiao assured him. “Give me your nicknames and numbers. I’ll need them to log into the forum.”
“Ugh, I’m so useless,” Zhou Xiao Zhen groaned, scrolling through her messages. “Didn’t get a single new title this time.”
“Same,” Zhao Lan sighed, echoing her friend’s disappointment.
“What about you, Smiley? Any cool titles for you?”
“Haven’t checked yet,” Yu Xiao said, already moving on to the next task. Her fingers flew across the screen as she saved Flying to Someone Else’s Bed’s contact information. “I need to find Lu Xu. Gotta get those new phones.”
Zhao Lan’s eyebrows shot up. “How many phones are we talking about, exactly?”
“Twenty-three,” Yu Xiao replied, her attention still glued to her screen.
“Twenty-three?!” Zhou Xiao Zhen squeaked. “Does Lu Xu even have that many phones?”
“He better,” Yu Xiao muttered, a flicker of doubt crossing her mind. He had been awfully quick to agree…
**
Ever since Luo Jin’s unsettling episode, things had been tense. Thankfully, he’d been acting normal since, which went a long way in reassuring Lu Xu. Still, living in a perpetual state of “what if” wasn’t exactly ideal. Lu Xu was just about to call Yu Xiao, hoping for some kind of reassurance, when her name popped up on his screen.
“More bad news?” he asked, his voice tight with apprehension. Luo Jin, sensing his anxiety, gestured for him to put the call on speaker.
“Hey,” Lu Xu said cautiously. “What’s up?”
“Just one small thing,” Yu Xiao said, her tone casual.
Lu Xu’s heart lurched.
“I need to buy some mobile phones.”
He let out a breath he didn’t realise he’d been holding. “Phones, huh?” he said, relief flooding his voice. “How many are we talking?”
“Twenty-three, precisely.”
“Bulk order, huh?” Lu Xu chuckled, picturing her surrounded by a mountain of phones. “What, are you starting your own mobile empire?”
“Just answer the question. Got the goods or not?”
“Hold your horses,” he said, pulling open a drawer overflowing with neatly arranged smartphones. He prided himself on his inventory, but even he had his limits. “Twenty-three is a tall order. Let me make a few calls.”
“Wait, other people sell phones here?”
“Honey, this is a horror hospital, not a monastery,” Lu Xu chuckled. “We’ve got entrepreneurs in every corner. Hang tight.”
**
While she waited, Yu Xiao started going through her messages, a wave of notifications popping up after her unexpected detour through time.
【Congratulations on completing your ninth course of treatment! You are now a Level Ten member of the Sixth Hospital Patient Forum!】
【Excellent work! You’ve earned three basic points and three bonus points.】
【Congratulations! You’ve earned the title ‘Manipulator of Time’ (4 points). High five!】
Manipulator of Time? Was that a dig at her messing with the Time Hospita or Shi Guang, or just a coincidence? Knowing her luck, it was probably going to make Time itself angry.
【Congratulations! You’ve earned the title ‘Yu Han San Returns’ (4 points).】
【Congratulations! You’ve earned the title ‘Mirror Ghost Master’ (4 points).】
Ah, right. Yu Xiao fished a small, ornate mirror out of her pocket. The Mirror Ghost from the Time Hospital. Had she really managed to smuggle it out?