Chapter 64: Ruins Archive [Designation T1134-426 Hospital]

Zhao Kai had seen Ji Yun pull out the exact same bead earlier, and looking at it with curiosity, he asked, "Brother Yun, what on earth is this?"

He hadn't had the chance to ask before, but now the question finally slipped out.

Ji Yun gave a simple explanation: "A Nether Soul Bead, an energy crystal formed from nether matter. That soul sand we got earlier from killing the ghost nurse is just a low-grade byproduct of this bead."

Obviously, Zhao Kai didn't understand a single word.

It was hard for Ji Yun to explain the purpose of such items to a non-transcendent. After a moment of thought, he added, "You can roughly think of it as... mana potion in a video game."

"Oh."

That made sense to Zhao Kai immediately.

While answering the fat man's question, Ji Yun picked up the burlap sack from the ground.

Everything else belonging to the corpse had vanished, so the fact that this bag remained meant it was definitely no ordinary object.

The moment it touched his hand, Ji Yun sensed a thread of "spirituality" emanating from the burlap sack.

It felt as though he were gripping a living creature of very low intelligence.

Ji Yun instantly realized what it was, and a pleasant surprise welled up in his heart: "A malefic item? No, it should be a Dharma artifact contaminated by nether qi."

There had always been certain Dharma artifacts imbued with spirituality in this world.

Nourished by the practices of cultivators, the convergence of heaven and earth spiritual energy, or the offerings of incense and faith... all these could gather spiritual essence.

Even the ritual implements Third Uncle used to eat with had absorbed the aura of incense, possessing a certain degree of spiritual power.

Now that the spiritual energy was resurgent, the spirituality within those Dharma artifacts had soared, and their might had surged as well.

People on the forums even went out of their way to collect old relics from temples and Taoist shrines and bring them into the Ruins.

Once those Dharma artifacts absorbed enough nether qi, they would either become corrupted or experience a violent surge in spiritual power, and might even undergo a qualitative transformation into high-grade malefic items or magical treasures.

Ji Yun looked at the Bagua pattern embroidered on the cloth bag and recognized it instantly.

This was no rare item, but rather a very common functional Taoist Dharma artifact—the Yin-Yang Universe Bag.

It was a "quasi-malefic item" whose spiritual pressure had not yet reached the first tier.

Its purpose was specifically to capture and contain ghosts.

...

That's right!

The black market traded not only all sorts of supplies, but ghosts as well.

The most direct use for a ghost was to kill it in exchange for [Soul Sand].

However, a living ghost commanded an even higher price.

Because ghosts held immense research value, not only the authorities were purchasing them, but various transcendent professions that used ghosts in combat—such as ghost controllers, paper-effigy artisans, and corpse drivers—also bought them in massive quantities.

A Class-D malicious ghost started at a price exceeding one hundred thousand.

Yet, that wasn't what concerned Ji Yun.

Picking up the bag, he clearly felt a hard object inside, shaped like a book.

Opening it, he found a dossier enclosed in a kraft paper folder.

It seemed the corpse had deliberately placed this document inside the Universe Bag, which was how it had survived.

Upon glancing at the file, Ji Yun realized that the deceased was indeed a member of the Paranormal Investigation Bureau.

The very first page of the document stated the person's identity.

"My name is Wang Peng, a C2-grade senior investigator from the Jianghua City Paranormal Investigation Branch. By the time you read this dossier, I and my teammates will already be dead."

...

Ruins Dossier Information: [Temporary Designation T1134-426 Hospital]

Disaster Rating: T-class

Ghost Type: Compound type of vengeful spirit and zombie

Known Background: A hospital built with Soviet aid in the 1950s, where a female nurse suffered a miscarriage, fell from a building, and turned into a vengeful ghost.

Trigger Condition: At least two or more people holding hands while walking up and down the stairs between the third and fourth floors at midnight will have a probability of entering the Ruins (symbolizing the birth of a fetus and the umbilical cord connection).

Known Intelligence: The terrifying nursery rhyme echoing through the hospital—'Two little children, holding small hands; the moon cuts off ears, walking up the stairs...'—is a crucial clue.

Identified Ghosts: 'Suicidal Vengeful Spirit' Class-D (infinite resurrection, provocation turns it into a fierce ghost), 'Operating Room Ghost Doctor' Class+ (head-turning rule), 'Ghost Nurse' Class-D, 'Red High Heels Nurse' Quasi-Class-B (do not gaze directly into its eyes), 'Birthless Ghost Mother' T-class (impervious to blades and spears, immune to all spells).

Exploration Process Records: Exploring the school archive room, we discovered clues to a classified case pointing toward the T4 dormitory building. Entered at midnight. This is a space-time interlaced Ruin; we identified at least six layers of space-time, with a masked ghost residing in the dormitory building in every single layer. At first, it was easy for us to kill several ghosts and figure out the spatial laws of this ghost building. The higher we went, the closer the time was to the modern era; the lower down the stairs we went, the further back into the past... But gradually, we discovered a problem: with every single kill, the masked ghost we encountered next time grew stronger. Regrettably, by the time we realized this, it was already too late. The fourth time we killed the ghost in the building, it had already reached the level of a 'Special-Grade Fierce Ghost'... I realized our method was wrong. We could not continue wasting time in overlapping spaces; I had to find the source—that is, the former 426 hospital. I kept descending, encountering the red-high-heeled ghost nurse, a mental soul-capturing fierce ghost with visual thermal perception, extremely dangerous and capable of close-range soul capture, whose eyes must not be met; on the third floor operating room was the slaughter doctor, where turning back meant instant death; I sneaked into the morgue... But this was the beginning of despair.

(Note: Nether God is the title for a certain type of ghost; Class-A Nether God tier is a ghost combat power rating, not equivalent.)

...

This was an investigation dossier of the Ruins compiled by the Paranormal Investigation Bureau.

Ji Yun had seen examples of such files on the forum before.

T-class designated a level of undetermined danger.

Such ratings were typically only applied to Ruins of Class-B and above.

The dossier was meticulously recorded and contained a massive amount of information.

Reading through it carefully, Ji Yun found that many of his previous doubts were cleared up.

This investigator named "Wang Peng" and his teammates were C2-grade senior investigators, clearly much more formidable than Wu Feng and his partner.

They had explored the ghost building and experienced far more paranormal events than Ji Yun and the others.

Judging from the file, "Wang Peng" and his team had easily resolved these low-tier ghosts and even killed the masked monster four times over.

The squad's strength was truly impressive.

Yet, upon encountering the red high heels, the ghost doctor, and the Birthless Ghost Mother, they still suffered catastrophic casualties.

All of "Wang Peng's" teammates perished during the exploration.

Only through those sacrifices were the traits of these ghosts ascertained.

...

Gazing at the messy handwriting, Ji Yun saw only two words between the lines: "Extreme Danger."

These were lessons paid for in blood.

The entity in the hallway just moments ago must have been the "Ghost Doctor."

By not turning around, they had miraculously averted a fatal crisis.

And the most pivotal role had been played by that "terrifying nursery rhyme."

"Wang Peng" and his team had also heard the nursery rhyme when they entered, but the content recorded in their file was different.

It only contained the simple opening lines.

There was no line about "someone hiding under bed number five."

Nor was there the line about "operating lamp, do not turn back."

The rest was largely similar.

Yet, precisely because of this slight difference, Wang Peng's squad had to sacrifice their teammates one by one just to probe the methods of those ghosts.

Reading this, Ji Yun felt a deep sense of bafflement: "Why would the content of the nursery rhyme be different?"

Shouldn't the vengeful obsession plot within the Ruins remain fixed?

He continued reading.

The final page contained the last testament.

"I have realized that I entered a misconception from the very beginning... This Ruin might not be as simple as a haunted hospital. It is a seal! The entity sealed beneath this hospital might well be a Nether God handed down from the late previous dynasty in the Jianghua region—the Birthless Ghost Mother. Furthermore, someone altered the original layout of the seal, transforming the 'Xuanji Nine-Yaos Demon-Binding Array' into the 'Ghost Mother Fetus-Nourishing Formation'..."

"Someone is deliberately utilizing a Nether God to nurture a ghost infant within this Ruin!"

"Damn it, I finally understand. I didn't stumble in here by accident; I was guided in by someone! If anyone reads this dossier, please help me deliver it to Captain Xing Weidong. He is the only one I trust! Otherwise, it spells courting death!"

...

Facts proved that "Wang Peng's" squad had been exceptionally powerful.

They had confronted nearly all the monsters in this Ruin head-on and ultimately made their way to the morgue.

Yet they also discovered that even all the ghosts in this 426 hospital combined were not the source of the resentment!

The true source was the [Birthless Ghost Mother].

Having conversed with the Seventh Great-Grandmother earlier, Ji Yun knew that a Nether God was sealed beneath this hospital.

However, the invading Paranormal Investigation Bureau agent "Wang Peng" had been unaware of this.

They hadn't wandered in by chance; they had been lured in intentionally.

Taking in all these details, the final missing pieces of the puzzle clicked into place in Ji Yun's mind: "The ones who lured Wang Peng and his group in were the masterminds behind the Fox-Hunting Detective Agency! Because they went to the school archive room and dug up certain clues, they were silenced!"

Since entering these Ruins meant a one-way trip, it was the ultimate choice for silencing witnesses.

Moreover, that final sentence practically screamed the words "there is a traitor inside the Paranormal Investigation Bureau" right onto the page!

Finishing the document, that familiar suffocating sensation once again washed over Ji Yun's heart.

No wonder the Fox-Hunting Detective Agency had to be eradicated; the mastermind dared to eliminate even people from the Paranormal Investigation Bureau, which spoke volumes about their immense influence!

Very few people possessed the capability to pull that off.

Much like the previous detective files, once this investigation dossier was leaked, it would likely spell absolute doom.

...

Because Ji Yun had already learned of the detective files beforehand, reading through this investigation dossier allowed him to piece together the entire chain of cause and effect.

The fat man and Lu Jiu, however, remained clueless.

They only perceived how terrifying the ghosts mentioned within were.

Zhao Kai wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and muttered, "That thing behind us just now... couldn't have been the 'Ghost Doctor,' right?"

Ji Yun nodded with a solemn expression: "Most likely."

As things stood, they had only just touched upon the true horror of this hospital.

Entities like the [Red High Heels], the [Birthless Ghost Mother], and the [Sealed Beast] were all described in the dossier as unsolvable existences.

No wonder the Seventh Great-Grandmother had previously claimed it was a one-way trip with no return.

There were nine Ancestral Shaman Masks in total, meaning the sealed beast possessed nine opportunities for rebirth; after being killed four times, it had already reached the level of a "Special-Grade Fierce Ghost."

If it were truly slain all nine times, how terrifying would it become?

And then there was the [Birthless Ghost Mother], impervious to blades and spears, immune to all spells.

Looking at those final lines of text, one could practically smell the writer's ultimate despair.

...

Having read the dossier, the expressions of all three grew heavier by the second.

Yet, precisely because the ghosts were so formidable, it paradoxically diluted their sense of despair.

Though they were trapped here, they wouldn't have to face those terrifying ghosts directly.

Because there were others who had entered the Ruins this time around.

All they needed to do now was wait.

Wait for big shots like Shang Xiaoyu to decide the outcome, and then wait for a chance to leave the Ruins.

If even those powerful figures couldn't escape, then there was no point in them worrying further.

Reality, however, did not grant them the luxury of waiting in leisure.

Scarcely had they finished reading the file when a crisis descended without warning.

Outside the door, the sounds of battle abruptly erupted, accompanied by the rapid patter of heavy footsteps.

Tap-tap, tap-tap... tap-tap, tap-tap...

Ji Yun found those footsteps agonizingly familiar; it was the sound of the ghost nurse's little leather shoes striking the floorboards.

So many footsteps at once—was it an entire group?

Furthermore, the sound was growing louder, heading straight toward their Room 5!