Despite feeling a strange sensation under the gaze, Gu Zhan remained motionless, eyes tightly shut.
The head nurse stepped forward. “I’m asking you something! Why aren’t you speaking?”
Instead of opening his eyes, Gu Zhan began to snore.
The head nurse: “…”
Is this person actually sleeping?
How could someone sleep standing up? She watched as he breathed deeply, turning toward the corner of the wall, walking into it, still not stopping, as if he were in a game character stuck on a delay.
He stumbled for a bit and bumped into a nearby cabinet.
With a crash, the already flimsy cabinet door fell open.
A skull rolled out from inside.
The white skull, now devoid of vitality, lay motionless in the light… in this space, it was just an ordinary skull that had long since lost its life.
The man in the white coat walked to the center of the room, gently picked up the skull, and turned to the head nurse, saying, “It seems like he’s sleepwalking. Is the patient’s room door unlocked?”
The head nurse thought for a moment and realized that she had indeed forgotten to lock it when she left…
Oh no, it was her mistake.
She hurried to Gu Zhan’s side, tugging at his sleeve, whispering, “Come back.”
Gu Zhan didn’t respond; when the nurse pulled him, he changed direction.
As she led Gu Zhan out, she apologized to the man, saying, “I’m sorry, Director. I overlooked it; I didn’t think there would be someone sleepwalking among this group of patients.”
The man seemed to have a good temperament, simply replying, “It’s fine. Just send him back.”
The head nurse quickly repeated, “I’m so sorry! I’ll be more careful next time!”
She took Gu Zhan out, and while pretending to sleepwalk, he didn’t dare to open his eyes. Instead, he slightly cracked them open, keeping his head down to see the way.
He noticed that the man next to the head nurse wore light gray suit pants and black leather shoes under his white coat, which didn’t look like the attire of a surgeon.
The nurse had just called him “Director.”
As Gu Zhan walked past the Director, led by the head nurse, he didn’t raise his head, but he could still feel the Director’s gaze on him—cold as ice water, yet heavy as lead.
This uncomfortable feeling lingered until he left the punishment room and returned to the ward.
The head nurse didn’t care where he had been sleeping; once she got him back to the ward, she locked the door with a click.
Back in the familiar environment, Gu Zhan let out a sigh of relief.
He looked around and sat down at Zhao Xiaoyue’s bedside.
Zhao Xiaoyue hadn’t fallen asleep yet. She looked utterly exhausted, struggling to keep her eyes open. Upon seeing Gu Zhan in the corner, her expression turned to one of disbelief.
Soon, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.
Gu Zhan leaned against the wall, preparing to rest his eyes.
There seemed to be some sort of magic in this room; not long after entering, drowsiness washed over him.
His body slid down the wall, and he relaxed involuntarily.
In a daze, it felt as though someone entered the room… with soft footsteps and quiet whispers… then someone lifted his arm and did something.
When he awoke, the sun was already up.
Voices of the other patients filled the room. Gu Zhan groggily lifted his head and, upon opening his eyes, met Zhao Xiaoyue’s worried gaze.
“Are you alright?” Zhao Xiaoyue asked, rubbing her arms awkwardly.
Gu Zhan noticed two blue stamps on her arms.
The center of the stamps bore a star, with four lines radiating outward of varying lengths. The outermost circle consisted of many interwoven thin lines, appearing quite chaotic. This stamp was identical to the one Sun Jingqiu had tried to place on him the previous day.
Gu Zhan glanced down at his own arm, and sure enough, he had one as well.
“…”
Noticing his gaze, Zhao Xiaoyue instinctively rubbed her arms again. “Why do you only have one?”
Gu Zhan was surprised. “Why do you have two?”
He initially thought the stamp appeared because he had gone out at night and got caught by the head nurse and the Director… but Zhao Xiaoyue hadn’t left the room at all; why did she have one too?
Zhao Xiaoyue replied, “I don’t know! Every morning I wake up with a new one.”
Gu Zhan caught the key point: “A new one every day?”
“Yeah,” Zhao Xiaoyue said, rubbing her arm. “I discovered the first one yesterday morning; this one is from today.”
She looked at Gu Zhan curiously. “Why do you only have one?”
Gu Zhan shook his head.
While they were talking, the man in the adjacent bed, Wen Ge got up.
Their conversation abruptly halted.
Wen Ge glanced at them and clearly noticed they were chatting, but he said nothing and walked straight to the bathroom.
There was only one bathroom in the ward; when one person entered, the others had to wait outside.
Wen Ge took a long time inside. One by one, the others began to wake up.
After a while, Wen Ge finally emerged from the bathroom, shirtless. He had a decent build and could easily charm a few people with his looks.
However, being shirtless in this situation was obviously impolite.
Zhao Xiaoyue glanced at him and quickly looked away, frowning.
But Gu Zhan noticed that Wen Ge also had a blue stamp on his arm.
And just one.
Why was that? What distinguished them from each other?
Gu Zhan sat in the corner, his mind still hazy from just waking up, slowly pondering the connections among them.
The ghost wanted to stamp him; that stamp must be significant… but what exactly triggered the appearance of the stamp on him?
And why did he have one today when he hadn’t had one yesterday?
What was different between yesterday and today? Gu Zhan suddenly remembered that he had slept in the punishment room yesterday… could that be it? But no, Wen Ge had also slept in the ward for two days, so why did he only have one?
What set him and Wen Ge apart from the others?
Beside him, Zhao Xiaoyue asked, “Should I wash up first, or will you?”
It turned out he had been thinking for too long; everyone else had already finished washing up and gone to the cafeteria for breakfast.
An hour wasn’t much time; once breakfast time was over, the cafeteria would close.
Gu Zhan said, “You go first.”
After Zhao Xiaoyue left, Gu Zhan suddenly sat up straight.