CHAPTER 452: NIGHT SHIFT

It seemed like the trouble they caused had been settling. Director Qi asked in a tone filled with annoyance and regret. “What’s going on? Haven’t we decided that I’d go out to fetch you? Why did you run in on your own and create such a large commotion?”

No one had any idea what was going on, so they apologised to get the man to keep speaking. Thankfully, the man only complained for a while before getting to the main topic. Eventually, the group got to know the roles they played in this world. They belonged to a private company that specialised in handling their clients’ difficult problems. Their headquarters were in Dong Zhu City. They walked the grey area.

This time, they were sent to the hospital because the company received a request from Director Qi. From the exchanges, the group found out that their company accepted all kinds of work, as long as the pay was good.

Director Qi studied the group as if realising they didn’t look like how he’d imagined them to be. He was told that the group was very professional, especially when dealing with those things. The person at the company said to him that their headquarters had many dealings with Southeast Asian countries. They had ties to famous witch doctors. They were the most qualified to deal with these issues and thus, requested a high fee.

To prevent the client from cancelling them, Jiang Cheng quickly showed the culture of an elite. It was clear that Director Qi was still satisfied with the young man with light in his eyes.

As for the crazy woman… Director Qi sighed. After all, his request was unusual, so it shouldn’t be surprising that the people sent over were abnormal. “To be honest, if not for the abnormality of the incident, I wouldn’t have spent so much money to hire you,” Director Qi admitted. He combed the hair on his forehead. At 40-plus, he was balding.

After getting the man’s initial trust, the rest was more straightforward. The group tried not to speak, but the more they talked, the greater the chance of loopholes. Director Qi’s voice disconcerted them. He looked at them and stated, his lips shaking. “I hired you because I suspect something unclean has come to the hospital recently.” He lowered his voice, and his expression was wary. He was also scared.

Jiang Cheng knew that already. The man’s face was ashen, and he had serious dark circles. He probably hadn’t slept in a long time already. The man’s voice was weak. Unclean things…

Jiang Cheng raised his brow. After playing so many missions, it was not often that they encountered an NPC who started the quest by telling them directly that the place was haunted.

“Please tell us more in detail,” Kui Yi tried to look professional.

Director Qi sighed in memory. “This started one month ago. One day, the head nurse came to me unwillingly. She said she needed a long holiday because she had urgent family issues.”

“I didn’t approve of it.” The man explained, “It was not because of her, but there were too many people taking breaks recently. If I allowed her to leave, we wouldn’t be able to operate. Many patients have complained about that. Issues like being unable to find the nurses at the station when it was time to swap bandages and dress wounds. The nurse station was too understaffed.

“However, to my shock, the head nurse left without saying anything. When I checked with the other nurses, I realised she was not an isolated case. About half of the nurses had left. Many of them had similar cases with the head nurse. Their holiday leave was not approved, so they departed directly. The remaining nurses looked strange. They refused to meet my eyes, like they were hiding something from me.

“Due to the complaints from the family, I went to the nurse station in the afternoon. I personally had them arrange the night shift. However, when the nurses heard about the night shift, all of them refused to abide by my orders.

“I could understand not liking the night shift, but it had never been the case where all the nurses refused to work at night. This had never happened before. However, how could there be no one on duty at night? What if something happened?

“I persuaded two of them to stay, offering many benefits. I didn’t expect the younger nurse to cry. She even threatened to quit. The strange thing was that the other nurses didn’t even try to stop her. They only watched silently from the side. It felt as if I told them to stay for the night shift, they’d do the same.

“Considering what had happened recently, I felt like something was wrong. Or else the nurses wouldn’t have acted like this. Therefore, I invited the crying nurse to my office. I comforted her and asked her what was going on. I wanted her to tell me what was wrong. Crying was not going to solve anything.

“At first, she refused to tell me anything. I had to promise that I wouldn’t force her to stay for the night shift before she loosened her lips. She looked at me strangely. Eventually, she told me that some of the nurses had seen unclean things at the hospital at night.” The man paused to look at Kui Yi, “More than once.”

“What kind… of unclean things?” Kui Yi pressed.

The man started to break out in cold sweat. Jiang Cheng moved over a chair for him to sit on. However, the man didn’t even glance at the chair. He walked to his office table and removed the key ring from his belt. Then, he took out a very small one. He knelt and opened the lowest drawer. He looked through it before taking out a blue notebook.

The man’s face was heavy as he held it. He paced around. Then, he opened the book before their eyes. The man’s handwriting was beautiful, but it became increasingly difficult to read as time went on. Jiang Cheng couldn’t read the last few lines. They were written in extreme fear.

There was a word ‘Chuan’ marked at the start of a paragraph. Jiang Cheng suspected that it was a name.

“I wrote down this during my previous investigations,” The man explained, “The things everyone sees are different. Someone said they heard footsteps when they checked the rooms at night. However, when they turned around, they saw nothing.

“As they returned to their patrol, the footsteps returned. And they came closer.”