Translator-Rhapsodite
Editor-PerpetualMreow, Proofreader-adjective
The five people in the villa took turns napping for a while, and finally, it was exactly midnight when they left the house.
Mo Tiangen was responsible for driving. Before starting the car, Ji Dong and the others glanced at the villa where the Blue Team was staying and saw another car driving out of the courtyard.
However, Yin Jun and the others probably had a different target from the Red Team because after leaving the villa, they immediately turned onto the main road and headed in the opposite direction.
In the late-night city, the traffic had noticeably decreased.
The abandoned hospital on the outskirts of the city that Ji Dong and the others were going to was especially barren. With the help of the mobile navigation system, Mo Tiangen managed to control the car’s speed to staying on the verge of speeding.
They raced all the way to the front of the Tzu Chi Hospital before 1 am.
“This is it.” The five of them got out of the car and looked up at the building in front of them. They had seen photos of Tzu Chi Hospital online before, but the images in the photos could never compare to what they were seeing with their own eyes.
Unlike the large multi-story hospitals that easily reach two or three dozen floors in the city center, Tzu Chi Hospital was not very big in terms of land area it covered and also had a low number of floors.
From outside the hospital walls, Ji Dong and the others could see three buildings, forming a slightly irregular inverted “π” shape.
If observed from an aerial perspective, the frontmost building of the hospital was an outpatient building; it wasn’t tall, with only four floors. Behind the outpatient building, there were two buildings on the left and right.
The one on the left was the slightly taller inpatient department, with a height of nine floors. The one on the right was a separate building independent of the outpatient and inpatient buildings.
Its structure was more complex, with a central courtyard connected by a bridge. It had three floors in the front and four floors in the back that were rumored to be an administrative building.
As it had been abandoned for many years, Tzu Chi Hospital was naturally dark, with only a security guard room next to the gate still lit with dim lights.
Ji Dong slipped to the window of the security guard room and looked inside.
He saw an old man in his sixties wearing a shabby security uniform, lying on a small bed inside the duty room, sleeping.
“The door lock is here.”
At this moment, Fan Luming, who was standing by the gate, lowered his voice and waved to the rest of them. Ji Dong and the others quickly gathered around.
The hospital has been abandoned for many years. Even the name sign had been taken down. Only a few blurry and old characters remained on the tiles. The iron gate of the courtyard was pulled up, with a thick chain tied in the middle. There was also a fist-sized copper lock on the chain, covered in rust stains. It seemed like something no one had touched for many years.
Fan Luming reached out and grabbed the large copper lock, flipping it over.
Then, they saw an insertion slot on the lock that had a completely different design.
Ji Dong: “…”
——No, you’re an old copper lock. Why do you use the “swipe card” method to open?
But now was not the time to complain.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Klwf kjr qjrrlcu ys fnfgs rfmbcv, jcv atfs mbeivc’a vfijs.
Vb Al Gbcu abbx bea atf agjcrqjgfca “Obmjalbc Cmalnjalbc Jjgv” ogbw tlr qbmxfa jcv lcrfgafv la lcab atf mjgv riba yftlcv atf mbqqfg ibmx.
Qlat j rboa “milmx,” jr lo j gfji xfs tjv yffc lcrfgafv lcab atf ibmx, atf ijguf mbqqfg ibmx jeabwjalmjiis qbqqfv bqfc.
The group removed the chain and gently pushed open the tightly closed courtyard gate.
The old man in the duty room was still sleeping soundly, completely unaware of the unexpected visitors.
“Alright, let’s go in!” Ji Xiao’niao took a deep breath, encouraged himself, and stepped into the courtyard of the abandoned hospital.
——Strange Tales of Tzu Chi Hospital, begin.
The entire hospital was pitch black.
They found a light switch near the entrance of the outpatient building, but it didn’t work.
They had to use their flashlights to see. These flashlights were equipment they found in the villa. In the TV wall cabinet in the living room, they found many useful items for nighttime operations, from tactical flashlights, to head-mounted lights, and even night vision goggles.
It was obvious that the game organizers didn’t want to make it difficult for them to move around at night.
“I think this hospital probably hasn’t had its power cut off yet because the duty room outside still has lights on, and it doesn’t seem like they’ve connected their power source.”
Fan Hemian from the architecture department whispered as she walked, “I think that the circuit breakers for these buildings may have been pulled.”
“This…”
Ji Dong asked for the others’ opinions, “Do you think we should put the circuit breakers back?”
Fan Hemian thought for a moment and replied, “I think it would be better to switch them back on. In case we encounter something later, having lights would be more convenient.”
“Mm.”
Ren Jianmo also agreed, “I remember the electrical room is behind the administrative building. We can go there first and fix the circuit breakers.”
So the group didn’t immediately enter the outpatient building, but instead crossed the courtyard and found the electrical room hidden next to the corner of the administrative building.
There was a copper lock hanging outside the electrical room, but this time they couldn’t swipe a card.
Mo Tiangen originally wanted to resort to violent destruction, smashing the lock to get it over with. While he was looking around for something handy, Fan Hemian had already taken a hairpin from her head, straightened a piece of wire, and inserted them into the lock. After fiddling for a while, she actually managed to pick open the copper lock.
Ji Dong: “…”
He silently admired her while also feeling a bit amazed.
Indeed, after experiencing various [Films] for a long time, one’s skill tree would continue to grow. Even a well-bred young lady can now work as a thief part-time.
The process of entering the electrical room and flipping all the circuit breakers went surprisingly smoothly.
After putting all the circuit breakers back in place, they tested the lights in the electrical room, and they all turned on with just a press. However, due to the long period of neglect, a thick layer of dust had accumulated on the light bulbs, making the light appear dim and yellowish.
Everyone let out a sigh of relief.
That’s how people’s psychology works.
When people find themselves in a completely unfamiliar dark space, they instinctively feel uneasy and fearful. But once they know that they can turn on the lights at any time, they immediately feel a compensatory sense of spiritual comfort.
“Let’s go.”
Ren Jianmo grabbed Ji Dong’s arm and pulled him, saying, “Let’s go to the outpatient and inpatient building.”
They needed to figure out what exactly was haunting this place.
The group retraced their steps, crossed the courtyard, and returned to the front of the outpatient building.
With a “click,” Ji Dong turned on the lights in the lobby.
Over time, most of the light bulbs had broken, resulting in much dimmer lighting than expected. The waiting hall also looked extremely empty, with scattered unfinished items and eerie shadows everywhere, making it a bit creepy to look at.
However, it was still better than having to hold a flashlight throughout the entire map exploration.
Valuable items have been gradually moved out over the past decade, leaving behind only some worthless clutter. From large benches or reception desks to scattered paper and stationery, everything was haphazardly scattered in the outpatient lobby and covered in thick dust.
It completely met the standard of “ruins.”
It was quiet everywhere, so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.
They walked forward, stepping on the thick layers of dust, leaving footprints on the floor tiles.
“It’s actually quite nice like this.”
Fan Luming brushed off the dust from his sleeve and looked back at the footprints of the five people behind him. He muttered, “At least now, no one else can sneak up on us.”
Ji Dong walked ahead of him and glanced back at Fan Luming. “But how can you be sure that the ones approaching us are definitely ‘people’?”
He emphasized the word “people.”
“Hiss!”
Fan Luming gasped, “Don’t say such scary things! You’re making it sound like we’re in a haunted place!”
Ji Dong looked at him with pity and said, “Isn’t it haunted here now?”
Fan Luming shivered twice and fell silent immediately.
While they were talking, they had already walked through the semi-circular lobby of the outpatient building and entered a corridor on the left.
The remains of the sign indicated that this corridor led to the internal medicine outpatient department.
However, at that moment, an unexpected incident occurred without any warning.
Just as Ji Dong turned the corner, there was a sudden “creak” sound, and several IV stands standing in the corner unexpectedly toppled over.
His reaction was quick. Without looking back, guided only by the sound of the wind behind him, Ji Dong leaped forward and directly collided with Mo Tian’s back.
“Ah!”
Mr. Dagen shouted as Ji Dong pushed him forward, causing him to stumble. But it didn’t end there. All six IV stands toppled like a domino effect.
As the front one leaned and tilted, the front end with four iron hooks directly smashed into the bulletin board on the wall.
Then, a completely unexpected scene unfolded.
The glass on the outside of the bulletin board suddenly cracked into pieces, whether it was due to air pressure or something else, the glass shards scattered in all directions, splashing directly towards Ji Dong and Mo Tiangen’s direction.
At that moment, they both heard a sound and turned their heads, exclaiming “What the heck!”
They awkwardly squeezed together and took several steps back
Fortunately, the glass shards from the broken glass didn’t cause much harm. They didn’t even touch the corners of their clothes and just fell onto the tiles with a clattering sound.
“Could this be what they say online, that accidents always happen mysteriously in hospitals?”
Although this accident wasn’t dangerous, Mo Tiangen was startled and nervously touched his chest.
“So, are we already starting to encounter ghosts?”
Hearing this, everyone felt a chill in their hearts and reflexively spun around in place, looking around in all directions, as if trying to find any abnormalities around them.
The hallway remained quiet, except for the five of them.
Fan Luming even specifically looked down at the tiles.
There were only footprints belonging to the five of them on the dusty ground, and there were no extras.
“Maybe I accidentally bumped into the IV stand earlier…”
Ji Dong comforted himself while turning around, preparing to continue walking forward.
But in that instant, when he turned his head, his gaze unexpectedly swept across the curved mirror hanging on the corner of the ceiling.
That was a mirror placed at the corner to prevent collision accidents caused by blind spots. However, the mirror was covered in thick dust and had lost its reflective function, only vaguely reflecting some dark shadows like frosted glass.
Despite this, Ji Dong still unexpectedly saw an additional shadow on the curved mirror!
The figure was just behind them, about three to five steps away, hiding on the other side of the corner, leaning forward as if peering at them!
At that moment, he finally experienced the feelings of those protagonists in horror movies.
Ji Xiao’niao was so scared that his hair stood on end. He quickly turned around and looked behind him.
However, there was nothing peering around the corner. The hallway was empty.
will i be able to sleep tonight? maybe. will i get nightmares? i’m pretty sure i will
Why does an abandoned building have a security guard? I kept expecting him to be a ghost…
I’m so glad I waited for morning to read this…