Chapter Seven: Hospital Tales (IV)

Luo Hanya had not yet recovered from the events just now when a torrent of system messages surged in.

Exorcism effect triggered.

Sleep Spirit has been slain.

Gained 200 experience points, 1000 game coins.

Gained 100 achievement points.

Dear player, congratulations on unlocking the Knowledge Vault System. The Knowledge Vault will collect the knowledge you possess and grant you corresponding bonuses. As your knowledge grows, you will be able to learn skills, combine them, and even create new ones. Expanding your Knowledge Vault will also bestow certain titles upon you. Of course, the Knowledge Vault has many more marvelous uses awaiting your discovery and application. Knowledge is power—this also explains why my Karl is so strong.

Knowledge Vault System activated. You have unlocked Occult Studies—Beginner.

Name: Occult Studies—Beginner

Effect: Slightly increases your perception of spiritual power and marginally enhances damage against spiritual entities. Enables learning of occult skills and unlocks the Spiritual Power system.

Note: Occult? What exactly is occult? Sorry, I don’t know either.

You have reached Level 3, maximum health increased.

Spiritual Power system unlocked. Current Spiritual Power: 100. The specific value is now visible. Using skills that consume Spiritual Power will decrease this value, which can be restored through rest or items.

Luo Hanya noticed that after leveling up, his health bar, once yellow, had turned light green—his physical condition had clearly improved. Below the health bar in the upper right corner of his game menu, a new energy gauge had appeared, showing the number 100/100. This was the Spiritual Power he had just unlocked.

You can now learn the Occult Skill: Basic Maoshan Swordsmanship.

Name: Basic Maoshan Swordsmanship

Skill Type: Passive

Skill Grade:

Effect: Slightly increases damage dealt to spiritual entities.

Note: This is the swordsmanship practiced by the novice disciples of Maoshan Taoists. While not particularly effective against monsters or evil spirits, at least it strengthens the body.

Would you like to learn Basic Maoshan Swordsmanship?

Without a moment’s hesitation, Luo Hanya clicked “Yes.”

Learning Basic Maoshan Swordsmanship will cost 50 achievement points. Proceed?

Luo Hanya clicked “Continue” without delay, eager to master this sword art and go take down the Fear-Eater Demon.

Congratulations, you have mastered the skill: Basic Maoshan Swordsmanship.

Hearing the system prompt, Luo Hanya glanced at Shan Shan, who was still unconscious on the bed. He picked up the battered wooden sword and sensed the spiritual entity attached to her, discovering that it was hiding deep inside her body. He shuddered at the thought—if he hadn’t triggered the exorcism effect, he would have been powerless against it.

Looking at the sleeping Shan Shan, Luo Hanya finally decided not to attempt to expel the spirit yet. He would first eliminate the Fear-Eater Demon, since the spiritual entities were all under its command. Once it was destroyed, the spirits should disappear as well.

After one last look at Shan Shan, Luo Hanya strode from the ward with the air of a hero marching to his noble sacrifice. Suddenly, he realized a problem: he still didn’t know where the Fear-Eater Demon was. He hadn’t even seen his true foe—how could he talk of slaying it?

Luo Hanya frowned, pondering the demon’s possible whereabouts.

In most stories, the final boss is easy to locate, or perhaps it seeks out the player. Yet Luo Hanya had spent quite some time in the ward and lingered at the door, but had seen no trace of it.

“Could it be weak? Or at least, its body is? So it doesn’t dare come for me?” Luo Hanya muttered to himself. “Its name is Fear-Eater Demon, and its only appearance was to spread the Sleep Spirit…”

“Fear-Eater Demon? Fear-Eater Demon! This is bad!” Suddenly, Luo Hanya seemed to realize something and rushed toward the hospital elevator. “No, not the elevator—take the stairs.” After two steps, he caught himself—he mustn’t place himself in an uncontrollable situation in a supernatural event. He immediately changed direction toward the stairs, all the while trying to sense the spiritual energy around him, hoping to locate the demon sooner.

He hadn’t realized until now just how limited his perception was. Due to his low perception, he could only sense a few meters around him. “If I search room by room like this, the demon will have finished feasting long before I find it,” Luo Hanya thought, his brow furrowed with worry, unable to recall what clue he might have missed.

He mentally retraced the events and items he had encountered since entering this scenario, and at last realized he had overlooked both an item and a detail—the old scalpel and the patient in Bed 1, Room 205, whom the doctor had mentioned at the very beginning.

Luo Hanya quickly took the old scalpel from his pocket.

Name: Old Scalpel

Type: Weapon

Quality: Common

Attack: Weak

Attributes: None

Special Effect: None

Note: This is an old scalpel, with some blurry engravings on it: 522912, 2318.

Can it be taken out of the scenario: No.

“So it is this. But what do these numbers mean?”

“Is it a musical code? Letters? Or perhaps floor and room numbers?” A series of questions flashed through Luo Hanya’s mind.

“But there’s still a large gap—are there numbers missing?”

“Numbers…” Luo Hanya recalled the number 2051, which the doctor had mentioned at the beginning. “If I add those in, it could be 522912, 23205118, or 522912, 23120518. I know nothing about music theory, but considering the game wouldn’t make this a dead end, these numbers most likely correspond to letters!”

Once he realized this, the fog in his mind cleared, and everything became obvious.

“All that’s left is to combine the letters,” Luo Hanya mused. After careful thought, he concluded that the string of numbers most likely represented 522912, 23120518.

“R… evil… water… Does this mean the Fear-Eater Demon is in a place with water?” Luo Hanya muttered.

“Looking at the hospital’s blueprints I found earlier, this hospital uses well water, not tap water. The demon must be in the well.” Enlightenment struck Luo Hanya. “No wonder water was the medium through which I entered this realm—it all makes sense now.”

Having realized this, Luo Hanya rushed toward the location of the well from his memory. The closer he got, the colder the air became. Soon he was shivering all over, his legs growing heavier, his hands and feet aching as if frostbitten. He even noticed his health bar turning yellow again, the color growing paler with every step.