Chapter 335: Family Planning Department

The heart in my hand emitted a foul stench. Judging by its size, it didn't look human; it seemed more like the heart of a chicken or duck. 'Feeding the Little Ghosts with fresh organs... I'm afraid there are other secrets hidden deep within this hospital.' I placed the shriveled heart in the corner and ducked into the shadows.

'In this dim light, just going by the shape, these fresh organs really do resemble strawberries. I saw many paintings of strawberries in the Comprehensive Psychological Training Room. Could those paintings be hinting at something?' With so many types of fruit out there, why insist on painting strawberries? That in itself was a problem.

I deliberately tossed the shriveled heart in front of me. It didn't take long for the woman to crawl over.

She acted like a lowly servant, earnestly cleaning up the garbage the Little Ghosts left behind, stuffing the hearts they had fed on back into an opaque cloth bag.

The woman drew closer and closer. The moment she reached out to grab the heart, I lunged from the corner, pinning her down with my knee and clamping a hand over her mouth.

I pressed down with my fingers. I hadn't meant to hurt her, but the moment she realized I was there, the woman reacted with extreme violence.

Her jaw jutted up, and like a piranha, she snapped her teeth, biting fiercely at my palm.

Things were going south. I hastily yanked my hand back. The woman bit nothing but air, her teeth clacking together so hard I could hear the impact from half a meter away.

'Just how much force was that? Was she trying to bite my fingers off?!'

I delivered a backhanded chop to the back of her neck, snatched her cloth bag, and shoved it hard into her mouth.

Controlling both of her arms with one hand, I pressed against the cloth bag with the other, using my body weight to pin her to the floor. "Behave!"

The woman thrashed like a live fish hauled onto shore, struggling with all her might, her arms jerking and legs kicking wildly.

I couldn't let her make too much noise, so I had to use force. It took over ten seconds before she finally stopped resisting.

"What... what did you do to her?" Chen Xiaocang ran over, leading Wang Yu. She stared at my rough handling with hidden fear in her eyes, seemingly even more convinced that I was a wanted criminal.

"Cut the crap. Go find some sturdy rope. If there isn't any, use bedsheets or IV tubes." Don't be fooled by how quiet this crazy woman was now; she had almost broken free a moment ago. She was quite strong.

"You aren't actually planning to do something to her, are you? If I help you, wouldn't that make me an accomplice?"

"Just go!"

Startled by my shout, Chen Xiaocang found two bedsheets in an open hospital room, tore them into strips, and handed them to me.

Taking the makeshift ropes, I slowly got off the woman and examined her from up close.

This crazy woman wasn't wearing a red-and-white dress; it was just a very ordinary nurse's uniform. Torn and misshapen, it looked loose and ragged.

As for the red markings on it, they were a bit strange. Initially, I thought the Little Ghosts had just scribbled them on randomly, but looking closer, I realized the layout of the red stripes was extremely methodical. They had been deliberately drawn in a specific sequence.

"Hey, you. Help me strip her clothes off," I told Chen Xiaocang, gripping the crazy woman's hands.

"Strip her? You want me to do it?" Chen Xiaocang looked conflicted. "Gao Jian, stop. The door leading outside is already open. Don't be stubborn and sink deeper into this. Crime is a path of no return. It's not that I don't want to help you, it's just that I can't bear to watch you keep making mistakes."

"Don't make me repeat myself. Strip her!"

Chen Xiaocang had mortal eyes; she hadn't seen the lobby swarming with Little Ghosts just now. She thought I was going to assault some crazy woman we didn't even know. Seeing her advice fall on deaf ears, she grimaced and stripped off the nurse's jacket, then stood awkwardly to the side as she watched me tie the woman's hands with the bedsheet strips. "You're going to face retribution for this sooner or later."

Once the crazy woman was tied up, I laid her nurse's jacket flat on the floor. Drawn with lines of blood, the intricate stripes converged right over the lower abdomen of the uniform, forming the traditional character for 'infant.'

The traditional character for 'infant' always looked awkward to me. Staring at it for too long, it was as if this single character could be split into top and bottom parts to transform into three ghosts.

'The character for infant as the talisman head, and blood lines drawing the Talisman Core... this is an amulet drawn right on the clothes!' I was fairly familiar with the Dao of talismans and could recognize its simple structure at a glance. This talisman didn't have much great use; it could merely protect an ordinary person from being pestered by Little Ghosts and Infant Spirits.

'Drawing talismans with blood, using ghosts to control ghosts... this is an item forged by the unorthodox path.' The reason the woman was able to walk among a horde of Little Ghosts just now without having her vitality completely devoured by them was entirely because of this piece of clothing.

'Little Ghosts feed on Yin malevolence and Yin energy. As long as the Yin energy doesn't dissipate, they won't disappear. So why would the other party specifically send someone to procure fresh poultry organs to feed them? Does flesh and blood have some special effect on Little Ghosts?' I didn't know much about raising ghosts, so right now I could only make wild guesses.

Rolling up the nurse's uniform drawn with the amulet, I originally wanted to drape it over Wang Yu, but the vengeful spirit of that girl stopped me, as if this thing would cause harm to a human body.

'The girl's ghost probably wouldn't harm Wang Yu, so I'll just hold onto this piece of clothing for now.' Grabbing a cloth strip, I thoroughly bound the woman's mouth shut. My mind at ease, I turned my head and glanced at Chen Xiaocang. "Why haven't you left yet? The doors are already open."

"Aren't you leaving with me?" When Chen Xiaocang said this, most of her attention was focused on the crazy woman—stripped of her outer jacket, her hands tied, and her mouth gagged so tightly she couldn't even call for help if she wanted to.

"I have other things to do. I can't leave just yet," I flatly refused. An official livestream was different from an assessment livestream. As long as the entrusted task wasn't completed, the stream couldn't end. I had to investigate everything that had happened here and avenge those who had died unjustly.

"Other things?" Chen Xiaocang looked at the incapacitated woman, then glanced at the little boy dressed in women's clothing, the horror in her eyes thickening. "Then... I'll take my leave first."

As if fleeing a plague god, Chen Xiaocang quickly scurried out of the health center.

'She seems to have misunderstood something, but it doesn't matter.' I grabbed the crazy woman and ducked into an adjacent hospital room. I asked her many questions, but the woman didn't answer a single one.

'How can I pry some useful information out of her mouth?' The Maternity and Children's Health Center was swarming with Little Ghosts. Thinking back to the scene of a hundred ghosts gathering in the lobby just now still made my scalp tingle. Relying on a single Great Divine Mantra of the Big Dipper, it was utterly impossible to fight against all those Little Ghosts. 'I can't just search room by room; it's too inefficient, and I could easily get swarmed.'

The crazy woman completely ignored me, but her gaze would inadvertently fall on Wang Yu. I caught onto this detail.

'She and Wang Yu must know each other.' Remaining at a stalemate wasn't a solution, so I simply let go of her, wanting to see if the woman would make any unusual moves.

Her hands bound, she knelt on the floor, whimpering and whining through the gag, unable to articulate whatever she was shouting.

Then, she arched her body on the floor and, using her head for support, crawled toward Wang Yu. The action sounded mundane, but in reality, watching her do it gave off an exceptionally terrifying feeling.

Seeing the woman crawling over like a giant insect, Wang Yu's facial expression changed for the first time. His bright black eyes dimmed, and he obediently lowered his head, seeming somewhat afraid.

'Why would Wang Yu be afraid of this woman? Is she Wang Yu's mother? But even if she were his biological mother, he wouldn't be this terrified.' A guess slowly took shape in my mind. 'This woman wears a nurse's uniform and helps the hospital buy fresh organs. It's highly likely she was originally a nurse at the Maternity and Children's Health Center. To make a patient with innate autism feel such instinctual fear... could she be the "expert" who conducted Wang Yu's psychological correction?'

Just as I was about to stop the crazy woman from advancing any further, Wang Yu suddenly took a step back and spoke his first word since meeting me: "Mom."

His eyes were fixed outside the door. It seemed that, stimulated by this crazy woman, he had remembered many things.

"Is she your mom? Or are you saying you want me to help you find your mom?"

Wang Yu avoided the crazy woman and, accompanied by that girl's ghost, ran out of the room.

"Where are you going?" I grabbed the crazy woman and followed behind Wang Yu.

The child skillfully dodged the Little Ghosts along the way, arriving at a room on the first floor right next to the emergency exit and the restroom.

"Gynecology, Family Planning Department?" The name of the department was clearly marked on the door, but I had never heard of a Family Planning Department before. 'The Maternity and Children's Health Center actually has this kind of department? What do they do in there?'

I followed right behind Wang Yu, watching as he pushed open the door.