Chapter 83: The Fall

"Bang!"

I sprinted from the hospital's top floor all the way down to the lobby in a single breath, slamming the fire exit doors open.

"Someone, help!" My shout shattered the quiet of the hospital. A few on-duty doctors jogged over, rubbing their eyes.

"Don't panic. Which ward is your relative in? Just take a breath and explain."

"What are you yelling for? This is a hospital. Keep your voice down!"

Panting heavily, I pointed at the security doors leading to the basement. "Open them! A patient took the elevator down underground!"

"Nonsense," one of the half-awake doctors said through a yawn. "You need clearance to take the elevator to the basement floors. Only a handful of doctors know the password."

"I saw it with my own eyes. The elevator stopped on the third basement floor!" I grabbed his white coat. "Open the doors right now. It's a matter of life and death!"

Left with no choice, the doctors hurried back to the duty room for the keys. The back-and-forth cost us precious time.

By the time they finally unlocked the doors, five minutes had already passed.

Ignoring the doctors' attempts to stop me, I took off down the stairs. The basement corridors were eerie and oppressive, so quiet they felt like another world entirely.

Most of the doors lining the hallway were locked tight. Their padlocks were caked in dust, indicating they hadn't been opened in a long time.

I searched floor by floor, shouting Jiang Shihan's name into the deep darkness, but received no response.

"Hey, that's enough. If you keep this up, we're calling the cops."

"Where did this psycho come from in the middle of the night?"

"Is he with that mob from the medical dispute the other day? Are they back for revenge?"

The doctors stood on the staircase, watching me from a distance.

But I stubbornly continued my search. "There's no way I saw it wrong. The elevator stopped on the third basement floor."

I checked every room, but most were locked tight. There was no way anyone could have gotten inside.

Staring blankly down the hall, I clenched my fists. Whether it was just my imagination or not, the temperature down here felt several degrees colder than on the surface.

'It's been ten minutes at most. He's dragging a woman along with him—where could he possibly hide?'

As I tried to figure it out, two doctors came over and grabbed my arms. "Which ward are you from? Disturbing the hospital in the middle of the night is a serious offense."

"We already told you, only a few doctors have access to the basement. Have you got such a guilty conscience that you're starting to see ghosts?"

"Yuanhe, don't talk nonsense."

As we walked out of the basement, my brow furrowed. To think the culprit had managed to snatch her away and hide right under my nose.

"I was too careless. I shouldn't have been so impulsive; I should have searched the ward first..." Looking up at the nearby elevator, I froze. The digital display read "9."

"Doctor, did any of you just use the elevator?"

The on-duty doctors shook their heads. "We all ran over here to deal with you. Who would be using the elevator? Besides, the top floor is the special care ward. Very few people go up there on a whim."

"If it wasn't you, could it be Jiang Shihan?" This adversary was anything but ordinary; I was practically being played like a fiddle.

Shaking off the doctors' grip, I took the elevator up to the ninth floor with them in tow.

The door to Ward 9114 remained exactly as I had left it. A faint light spilled out into the corridor.

"Where is the on-duty nurse? Where did she run off to?"

"Dereliction of duty. No wonder the family members are going crazy. Hurry up and check if the patient is all right!"

The group of us crowded into the room. They were from different departments, and some had no idea who was even staying in this special care ward.

"My god!" As soon as they entered, several doctors recoiled in terror at the drawing on the ceiling.

Meanwhile, I stood alone beside Jiang Shihan's bed, scanning her belongings inch by inch.

"Her pillow and slippers are in the exact same positions. The blankets are thrown back, and there are no clear signs of a struggle. She probably wasn't coerced; she left willingly."

Without thinking, I pulled out a cigarette and clamped it between my lips. "Why would she run away? Why does she start acting strangely as soon as night falls? And what connection does this have to the old man's head the little boy mentioned?"

I looked up once more at the bloody, terrifying picture on the ceiling, depicting a tiny stick figure struggling helplessly amidst a horde of ghosts.

'The perpetrator can make Jiang Shihan see things that normal people can't, and even trigger her episodes remotely. Could this be some kind of evil arts?'

Unable to come up with an answer, I turned to look out the window. The city in the dark shimmered with scattered lights; the night was already deep.

'She couldn't have run far. Once the police arrive, I'll pull the hospital's surveillance footage.' This was the city center, and Jiang Shihan would stick out in her hospital gown, so a sliver of hope lingered in my chest. 'As long as she hasn't been killed, we can definitely find her tonight!'

I took out my lighter, sparking it beneath the cheap cigarette hanging from my lips.

The instant the flame sparked from the lighter, I heard the sound of scraping against metal railings overhead. It wasn't coming from the ceiling, but from the hospital's rooftop.

"There's someone on the roof?"

I slowly raised my head. In that moment, time seemed to freeze, and the sight before me was forever seared into my mind.

A woman in a hospital gown plummeted from the rooftop. In that fraction of a second, her body dropped right past the ninth-floor window.

Our eyes locked, separated by nothing more than a thin pane of glass.

Yet, the two sides of that window were entirely different worlds.

I saw it with absolute clarity. As she plunged past my eyes, her hand reached toward the flame in my palm. Unfortunately, she didn't touch warmth this time—only the freezing glass.

That face finally smiled in the last moments of her life. She looked at me for what felt like an eternity, yet was only a split second. The corners of her mouth curled up as her lips parted, uttering the final sentence of her life: "do not close your eyes when the sky turns dark!"

The lit cigarette slipped from my lips. Every muscle in my face began to tremble. "Jiang Shihan!"

The entire building could hear my hoarse, desperate scream. By the time my hand reached out the window, the sound of a perishing life had already reached my ears.

"Bang!"

Car alarms started blaring. The tranquil night shattered, just like the glass on a ward door.

"Somebody jumped! Somebody jumped! Someone jumped off the building!"

"Call the cops! Dial 120!"

"Where are the doctors? Hurry! Somebody jumped!"

Downstairs and inside the room, everything devolved into chaos. My hand remained outstretched through the window, more than half my body pressed against the frame.

"Jiang Shihan..."

A bloody flower bloomed in the dark night. Plunging from the ninth floor headfirst, her chances of survival were practically zero.

"Calm down!"

"It's too dangerous, don't do anything stupid!"

Two doctors pulled me back from the window. I didn't resist; every ounce of strength had drained from my body.

This was the closest I had ever been to death—separated by just a single pane of glass.

I had survived three broadcasts for the Underworld Live Show, and I thought nothing in this world could ever scare me again. But in the instant Jiang Shihan fell past the window, I felt an indescribable terror. It was a primal awe of death.

Sitting on the hospital bed where Jiang Shihan had once slept, my usually clear and organized mind was a total mess.

It wasn't until someone shook my shoulders vigorously that I jolted awake as if from a dream, subconsciously crying out the final words Jiang Shihan had left me before she died—do not close your eyes when the sky turns dark!

"Gao Jian? Why are you here?" the newcomer asked in surprise. He was tall and burly. It was none other than Wu Meng, the deputy captain of the Criminal Investigation Brigade.

"What does 'do not close your eyes when the sky turns dark' mean?"

"Captain Wu, you're here just in time!" I slapped my forehead. "I was the one who called the police just now. The patient was taken hostage and then thrown off the roof."

"Take your time and explain. Xiao Chen, take notes."

"Screw the notes!" I vaulted off the bed and grabbed Wu Meng by the sleeve. "Captain Wu, come with me to the roof to gather evidence. Xiao Chen, right? Pull up all the surveillance footage in the hospital. The killer should still be in the building! And pay special attention to the cameras in the elevators!"

The police officer called Xiao Chen looked at Wu Meng, who nodded. "Do as he says."

Accompanied by a doctor, Wu Meng and I went up to the rooftop.

The hospital's roof offered a wide view, and the wind was fierce.

"Ward 9114 is to the south, follow me!" The few of us ran over to the spot where Jiang Shihan had jumped. This was directly above Ward 9114.

I crouched down to examine the area closely, refusing to overlook even the slightest clue.

Wu Meng walked up beside me. "Judging by what you said earlier, are you suggesting the woman didn't commit suicide, but was murdered?"

"I can guarantee with absolute certainty that her death was a meticulously planned murder!"

The wind on the roof had blown away most of the evidence, but it left behind one very strange item.

Right where Jiang Shihan had jumped from, there sat a pitch-black wooden box about the length of a palm. Inside the open box rested a tiny effigy woven out of hair.

The figure had no eyes, and its appearance was absolutely identical to the stick figure Jiang Shihan had drawn on the ceiling in her own blood!