DDT - Chapter 91
Chapter 91: Female Ghost × Little Pitiful One (21)
As night deepened, the corridor gradually fell silent. Figuring the time was about right, Yi Shuhan waited for the last round of nurses' patrols to finish before having Chi Junluo climb onto her back. She gently pulled the door open a crack and, after confirming no one was outside, slipped out of the room. She headed for the restroom first. It had been several days since they'd last met up, and with her worries settled, Yi Shuhan first checked the restroom to make sure it was empty. Only then did she stand before the mirror and see the pale, long-haired woman standing behind her.
The human and the ghost chatted idly. Yi Shuhan naturally reached out and took Chi Junluo's hand. They interacted like a pair of close sisters. When Chi Junluo wasn't paying attention, Yi Shuhan smoothly pushed up her left sleeve. Then, under the pretense of playing around, she raised Chi Junluo's left arm, revealing an exquisite, golden, tattoo-like pattern. In those two or three seconds, Yi Shuhan firmly committed the three-lined pattern on her wrist to memory. Chi Junluo was completely unaware of Yi Shuhan's small movements, but Yi Shuhan was inwardly shocked. That incredibly vivid, nightmare-like dream from that night… the golden pattern on the wrist of the woman whose face she couldn't see was nearly identical to the one on Chi Junluo's wrist. It was as if fate was trying to tell her that Chi Junluo was perhaps not so simple.
Remembering that the little boy was waiting for her in the fifth-floor stairwell, Yi Shuhan suppressed her doubts and pulled Chi Junluo along as she snuck toward the emergency exit.
The nurse on the night shift was dozing off at her desk. Yi Shuhan tiptoed up the stairs.
The stairwell lights were off, with only the dim, yellow glow of the emergency lights providing faint illumination.
By the fourth floor, Yi Shuhan could already see a flickering red light coming from the fifth-floor landing.
Climbing to the fifth floor and rounding the corner, she saw a little boy squatting on the stairs. In front of him were two short, thick red candles, their flames dancing cheerfully. On the floor was a ceramic box used for food during the day. Beside it were several stacks of paper money, a small iron basin, and two sticks of thin incense.
If an ordinary person were to see such a bizarre scene in a stairwell late at night, they would probably scream in terror. However, the two people and one ghost present had all seen their share of the world, so they naturally felt no fear.
"Sisters, you're here," Shi Qi said, looking up when he heard their footsteps. His face was somewhat pale in the candlelight.
"Good evening," Yi Shuhan replied with a nod, walking over.
She and Chi Junluo squatted down beside Shi Qi. Looking at all the items on the floor, Yi Shuhan was a little surprised. "How did you get all this strange stuff?"
Shi Qi proudly lifted his little head and took out a fruit-brand 7S phone. He tapped a yellow app on the screen. "I secretly used an errand-running app to buy it for me during the day."
Hearing this, Chi Junluo gave Shi Qi a thumbs-up. It certainly made things much more convenient. In this day and age, having a phone was a blessing.
Seeing that the main characters had arrived, Shi Qi clapped his hands, opened the small ceramic box, and placed it in the center of the iron basin. Then he unwrapped the paper money, lit it with the candles, and placed the burning stacks into the basin. Soon, all the paper money was ablaze.
Shi Qi lit the two thin incense sticks and used wax from the candles to fix them upright in the basin. The flames leaped higher than the ceramic box for a moment. Then, Shi Qi took a paper spoon from his pocket and tossed it into the fire.
After a short while, the paper money had burned to ash. The two incense sticks emitted curling smoke, and to Yi Shuhan's surprise, the food in the ceramic box had vanished.
But in Chi Junluo's eyes, the curling smoke from the two incense sticks was supporting a dark brown, box-shaped object. Inside was the very same food that had been in the ceramic box. The recent fire had warmed the food, and at Shi Qi's direction, Chi Junluo felt around in the ashes of the iron basin and retrieved the spoon that had been burned earlier.
Chi Junluo carefully held the dark brown box and ate the human food she hadn't tasted in so long. Meanwhile, Yi Shuhan learned from Shi Qi that this method—burning paper and setting up incense in a round container after midnight—was a way to open a gate between the yin and yang worlds. It utilized the time when yin energy was at its peak, using the incense and the arranged items as a formation and the ceramic as a vessel to transfer things that didn't exist in the other realm.
Chi Junluo ate with great relish. The two people and one ghost formed a loving circle, exuding a harmonious atmosphere in the midnight stairwell.
By the time Chi Junluo finished her feast, the two incense sticks had nearly burned to their ends. As they extinguished, the things in Chi Junluo's hands turned to smoke and dissipated into the air.
Chi Junluo was truly amazed. How interesting.
The two people and one ghost cleaned up the stairwell and returned to their respective rooms. Full and satisfied, Chi Junluo clung to Yi Shuhan's back. In the dark, silent corridor, the "pat, pat" of Yi Shuhan's footsteps echoed.
Back in Room No. 1, Yi Shuhan closed the door and slipped into bed. A mysterious force lifted a corner of the blanket, and she faintly felt a ghost embrace her from behind.
"Chi Chi, have you been trapped in this room all this time because of resentment?" Yi Shuhan asked in the darkness, finally voicing the question she had long wanted to ask.
Chi Junluo was silent for a long moment before shaking her head slightly. "Not entirely. So many years have passed, and I've actually forgotten many things. The reason I'm still trapped in Room No. 1 is probably because of a lingering attachment."
"A lingering attachment?" Yi Shuhan asked, puzzled.
"I died full of hatred in this room. Until the moment death came, I was a patient. Because of a doctor's mistake, I lost my life forever. After so long, the hatred has faded. I just hope to see the patients in Room No. 1 recover and leave this place that has trapped their lives, to move on to their own futures." Chi Junluo's ethereal voice slowly recounted her story. "Seeing a patient recover… that's probably my lingering attachment."
Yi Shuhan was silent for a while before speaking softly, "If I get better, will your attachment be resolved? Will you no longer be trapped in this dark little room?"
"Perhaps. If you get better and recover, maybe I'll be truly free," Chi Junluo replied.
"Then if I get better and leave this place, can you come with me? Can you stay with me forever?" Yi Shuhan waited with a hopeful heart for Chi Junluo's reply.
Chi Junluo confirmed with the Heavenly Dao that the Power of the Heavenly Dao in this world had been collected. Now, only contracting the soul fragment remained.
She could use various methods to provoke Yi Shuhan, leave this world at any time, and fulfill the contract requirements. As for what happened to this world's Yi Shuhan afterward, it could be outside her consideration.
But after spending so much time together, Chi Junluo couldn't bring herself to be so cruel. Perhaps, rather than just leaving, she hoped more to see Yi Shuhan get better, leave this place with no future, and find a life that truly belonged to her.
Chi Junluo raised her left hand, rolled up her sleeve, and looked at the three golden lines on her wrist. She thought to herself, perhaps this is another form of companionship.
"I will stay with you." In another sense, we will always be together.
Hearing Chi Junluo's reply, Yi Shuhan finally closed her eyes in peace. She resolved to cooperate fully with the doctor's medication and treatments. She would get better soon, break Chi Junluo's lingering attachment, and take her away from this damned hospital. She would show her a more beautiful world!
Listening to the breathing of the person in her arms gradually become even and steady, Chi Junluo sighed softly and tightened her embrace around the thin frame, her thoughts drifting to the previous worlds.
In every world, she had established deep trust and an excellent relationship with the heroine. In the last world, she even seemed to have developed feelings for Yi Han, who was an emperor and a man. After traveling through three worlds, she had deliberately approached Yi Shuhan, intentionally creating connections and emotional exchanges. When their relationship was strong enough, she would leave abruptly in front of the heroine to establish the soul fragment contract, causing intense emotional fluctuations in Yi Shuhan. She deliberately provoked her, hurting her feelings to achieve her goal.
This was, in fact, deception.
Chi Junluo frowned in frustration. Even though she was a ghost in this world, without a heart or lungs, at this moment, a strange, dull ache emanated from the depths of her soul.
"Heavenly Dao, Heavenly Dao, in the previous worlds, after I left, was the heroine okay?" In the quiet of the night, Chi Junluo finally remembered the Heavenly Dao she had neglected for so long.
The Heavenly Dao, lying on a bed dozens of meters wide in her sea of consciousness, rolled over in dissatisfaction, not wanting to deal with the Chi Junluo who hadn't bothered with it for so long. "Heavenly Dao! Heavenly Dao!" Chi Junluo's persistent voice harassed the Heavenly Dao in her sea of consciousness. The Heavenly Dao couldn't help but sit up. It rubbed its head, feeling a headache coming on as it thought about what happened in the previous worlds.
Although Chi Junluo had left behind a sliver of divine sense in the previous worlds, which had led to the creation of parallel worlds, it didn't want to do anything extra this time.
"They are doing very well," the Heavenly Dao's slightly impatient voice sounded, and then it ignored Chi Junluo again.
Doing very well?
Chi Junluo was a bit baffled. She felt something was strange. She began to carefully recall the endings of each previous world, but her mind felt as if it were filled with water, unable to think clearly.
She remembered them so clearly before, so why couldn't she recall them now?
Combined with the Heavenly Dao's perfunctory answer just now, she felt something was not right. She had a gut feeling that the Heavenly Dao was hiding something from her.
After confirming that she couldn't get any useful information from the Heavenly Dao, Chi Junluo stopped bothering it. She held the person in her arms and lay quietly on the bed, waiting for the next day to arrive.
The matter with Yi Shuhan's stepfather quickly became a major story reported by all the big media outlets. Many people had recorded videos at the scene, and everyone saw the shocking image of the thin girl dragging a bald man out with one hand when the door opened. This was followed by the leak of the surveillance footage from the Third Hospital's reception room. The bald man's vulgar, lewd, and classless words provoked the disgust of countless netizens, who discussed the evil of human nature. Everyone awaited the law's punishment for this beast of a stepfather. Fortunately, the media had the decency to heavily censor Yi Shuhan's face.
About a month later, the verdict was announced. The stepfather, a Mr. Zhang, was found guilty of attempted rape. Due to the heinous nature of the incident and its significant negative impact on society, he was sentenced to five years in prison.
After staying in the city for a few days, Yi Shuhan's mother returned to their county. The news had spread so quickly and widely that it was even a hot topic in their small town. Because the details were so specific, the townspeople quickly figured out that it was Yi Shuhan's family involved.
The gossip among the neighbors was extremely nasty, with a large number of onlookers and slanderers spreading malicious rumors. In the end, with the help of a friend from the city, Yi Shuhan's mother filed for divorce. After quickly dealing with their small shop at home, she sold it and, with her friend's help, found an ordinary job in the city. She planned to save more money to support her daughter's education after she was discharged from the hospital.
With a goal in mind, Yi Shuhan actively cooperated with her treatment at the Third Hospital. During the day, whenever she had time, she would pester Chi Junluo in the library to teach her how to draw. Every few days, the human and ghost duo would sneak out to the restroom at midnight when no one was around to meet up. Their days were quite interesting.
Time flew by. Before long, the news about her stepfather became old news, and the hype slowly died down. Even the serial killer case from not long before was gradually forgotten by the public as new stories captured people's attention. The old would eventually become the past, and no one mentioned it anymore.
This was, of course, a very good thing for someone preparing for a new life. Since they were ready to embrace a brand-new future, no one wanted to be held back by the past.
More than half a year passed. With just over a month until New Year's Eve, Yi Shuhan had unknowingly lived at the Third Hospital for nearly a year. Away from her terrifying stepfather and the toxic environment of her hometown, coupled with months of diligent care, Yi Shuhan felt she had changed immensely.
Two days ago, Yi Shuhan had just completed a large battery of tests. Today, the doctor brought good news: Yi Shuhan's recovery was excellent, and all her test results had reached the level of a normal person. In other words, she could be discharged very soon.
The doctor was very satisfied with Yi Shuhan's cooperation over the past few months. If only all patients were as easy to manage as her.
The attending doctor called Yi Shuhan's mother. Upon learning that her daughter could be discharged in two days, she was moved to tears. After half a year of work and with the small savings she had accumulated from her business in the county, she had secured a small storefront in the city and started a snack shop. This way, Yi Shuhan would have a stable place to live after her discharge. With the remaining money, and with a friend's help, she bought an enrollment spot at an ordinary high school, planning for Yi Shuhan to return to a normal student life after the winter break ended.
Everything was moving in a positive direction.
The day before Yi Shuhan's discharge, Chi Junluo discovered that the confinement of Room No. 1 had vanished.
She was free.
But starting that night, Chi Junluo felt an inexplicable force from the world pushing her away. She had a feeling that in the very next second, she might dissipate between heaven and earth.
Could it be that once this ghostly body's lingering attachment was resolved, her soul was destined to scatter?
Chi Junluo wrapped herself in the Power of the Heavenly Dao to barely stabilize her ghostly form. She had to hold on at least until she saw Yi Shuhan out of the hospital and on her way to a new future. If she just dissipated during the night and left this world, Yi Shuhan would surely panic the next day when she couldn't find her.
It was better not to cause any more trouble.
For the entire night, Chi Junluo sat by Yi Shuhan's bed, quietly watching the little head peeking out from the covers.
Chi Junluo couldn't resist reaching out to stroke the top of Yi Shuhan's head.
It was fluffy and felt nice. This familiar sensation… it seemed she had a similar impression in the last world.
This world wasn't as dramatic as the last, but now that it was truly time to leave, Chi Junluo found herself incredibly reluctant.
She still couldn't identify the source of this reluctance. In her jumbled memories, something extremely important seemed to be shrouded in mist. Chi Junluo thought that if she could recall those missing, chaotic memories, perhaps something would change.
Unfortunately, even by dawn, Chi Junluo couldn't remember anything. Hearing the wake-up bell, she tapped her head in frustration. Her time in this world was running out.
Yi Shuhan woke up to the bell and, like any other day, washed her face and brushed her teeth. But she knew this would be the last time she performed this routine in the hospital.
Today, she was leaving.
After washing up, Yi Shuhan returned to Room No. 1, her companion day and night. Then her eyes widened in surprise. She could actually see Chi Junluo, semi-translucent, floating in a corner of the room.
This was the first time she had seen the ghost Chi Junluo face-to-face without the aid of the restroom mirror at midnight. The feeling was so surreal. At that moment, Yi Shuhan felt that the distance between them was so close. Chi Junluo wore the blue and white patient uniform, her skin pale, her long, smooth black hair cascading over her chest. She looked semi-transparent, and her body seemed to faintly glow with a golden light.
An inexplicable panic rose in Yi Shuhan's heart. It felt as if in the next second, the girl who had accompanied her through her darkest days was about to ascend to the heavens.
Yi Shuhan suppressed her panic. She changed into the new clothes her mother had brought her a few days ago, folded the patient uniform neatly, and placed it in a tote bag. Then, she pulled out a well-preserved stack of drawings from under her bed. These were the drawings she had pestered Chi Chi to teach her, as well as the ones Chi Chi had drawn for her at the very beginning.
Chi Junluo floated behind Yi Shuhan, watching her pack her few belongings into the tote bag, feeling a mix of emotions. The girl she had accompanied for months was about to leave, to completely depart from this place and find her new life. And she herself could not linger in this world any longer.
Yi Shuhan made her bed, picked up her tote bag, and stood at the door of Room No. 1, taking one last serious look at everything inside. Then she reached out, turned off the light, stepped out of the room, and closed the door. Chi Junluo floated by her side the entire time.
Yi Shuhan went to the Third Hospital's cafeteria for the last time. The breakfast selection wasn't extensive. She got a basket of steamed buns and a cup of soy milk and sat at her usual seat in the corner.
Chi Junluo sat quietly across from Yi Shuhan, watching her eat in silence.
A moment later, Shi Qi also arrived with his tray. He sat at the table next to Yi Shuhan's. When he saw Chi Junluo glowing with a golden light, a flash of surprise crossed his eyes.
Shi Qi politely greeted Yi Shuhan. Seeing her clothes, he knew she was being discharged.
After getting along for several months, Yi Shuhan, Chi Junluo, and Shi Qi had become a tight-knit group. Shi Qi often helped Yi Shuhan bring Chi Junluo some tasty treats at midnight. At first, it was from the cafeteria, but later it was all takeout ordered by Shi Qi. The weekly or bi-weekly late-night supper club had seemingly become a habit for the two people and one ghost.
Now, the day of their parting had arrived.
After breakfast, Shi Qi walked Yi Shuhan all the way to the hospital entrance. Although they walked as slowly as they could, they inevitably reached the end of the road.
Before leaving, Yi Shuhan wrote down Shi Qi's QQ and phone number. She carefully placed the slip of paper in her pocket. As she stepped out of the hospital building, the early morning sunlight, carrying a hint of warmth, fell upon her. She turned back to say goodbye to Shi Qi, only to find that Chi Junluo, who had been following her, had vanished without a trace.
Shi Qi waved at her. "Goodbye, Sister Shuhan."
Yi Shuhan wanted to say something more, but a hand rested on her arm. Her mother had come to pick her up.
In an instant, Yi Shuhan's heart felt empty. The sun was shining brightly, yet she felt a faint chill.
Yi Shuhan mechanically followed her mother's steps into a taxi waiting at the hospital entrance. When she looked back at the hospital, she finally saw Chi Junluo sitting on the outer edge of the rooftop railing.
Chi Junluo's semi-transparent body glowed with a golden light under the sun's rays.
With a "thud," the taxi door closed. Her mother got in from the other side. The driver turned the key and started the engine. Yi Shuhan quickly rolled down the window. She looked up, watching the figure on the rooftop gradually fade, becoming transparent, and finally disappearing completely. A gentle breeze blew past, and even the last speck of gold vanished into the air.
There was nothing left.
The scenery before her began to blur. The taxi driver successfully started the car, and the hospital building receded bit by bit. Something hot rolled down her cheeks.
A warm hand holding a tissue gently wiped the tears from Yi Shuhan's face. Her mother's slightly panicked and concerned voice came from beside her. "Han Han, what's wrong?"
Yi Shuhan took the tissue and wiped the remaining tears from her eyes. "It's nothing, Mom. I'm just so happy to finally be out. I'm just a little emotional."
Her mother was relieved and began to tell Yi Shuhan about their future plans.
Her mother's hopeful, chattering voice filled her ears, but Yi Shuhan stared blankly at the scenery flying past the car window.
You said you would stay with me forever.
Chi Junluo, you big liar…
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