Chapter Seven: The Horrifying Revelry in the Hospital

The infant’s eyes gleamed with a green light. After staring at Xiao Zi for a moment, it suddenly exploded, dissolving into a cloud of smoke.

“Cough, cough.”

Xiao Zi, who was parasitizing Ruan Qing’s body, was badly choked by the smoke and began to cough.

Before the smoke had time to disperse, a voice rang out.

“Little girl, how did you find your way here?”

Following the sound, she saw an old man with a hunched figure and glasses slowly approaching, clad in a white lab coat.

Floating beside him were a dozen or so semi-transparent infants of various sizes, none fully developed, and behind him stood several humanoid, bizarre creatures. Yet the old man himself exuded no unusual aura; he seemed just like an ordinary person.

Before Xiao Zi could respond, the old man adjusted his glasses and spoke again, “Hmm? Aren’t you Ruan Changhong’s daughter? It’s been a long time.”

Ruan Changhong?

Xiao Zi immediately understood. Based on what Ruan Qing’s mother had said, he already knew that the girl he was parasitizing was named Ruan Qing, so it made sense that her father was called Ruan Changhong.

It seemed this old man knew the person he was parasitizing.

“So? Has your father really mastered the method to turn ordinary people into ghost controllers? Even you have become one?”

Listening to the strange old man, Xiao Zi narrowed his eyes and stayed silent.

“Tell me, did your father send you to find me, or was it someone from the Bureau of Investigations into Strange Entities?”

“You are Doctor Liu?”

“If I’m not Doctor Liu, then who? What’s going on?”

After the old man confirmed his identity, Xiao Zi’s lips curled into a cold smile. “I came to find you myself.”

“Oh? You came to find me? Why? Want to learn the secret of controlling multiple strange entities from me? Ha ha ha!”

But before he could finish his sentence, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his abdomen.

Looking down, he saw a long gash had appeared, blood pouring out uncontrollably.

Xiao Zi regarded him with a sinister smile. “I came here for you, found you specifically, and I’m here to kill you!”

At that moment, the infants in the sky swiftly flew toward him, shrieking loudly as they came.

Xiao Zi was certain that their cries could definitely affect human mental fortitude.

Unfortunately, he was no longer human.

He casually grabbed a vengeful infant, channeled the energy within him, and instantly absorbed it, causing his mission progress to increase.

Seeing this, Doctor Liu hurriedly pulled out a bell from his coat, ready to shake it.

---

But Xiao Zi’s eyes were quick to spot this move.

“Trying to use your tricks in front of me? Dream on!”

A flash of blood-red energy streaked by, and Doctor Liu’s hand holding the bell flew several meters away, landing heavily on the floor.

Xiao Zi released his aura, transforming into a blood-colored beast that lunged at the vengeful infants.

Midair, the giant beast, shaped by the energy within Xiao Zi, swallowed the vengeful infants in one gulp. Each infant was converted into a stream of dark energy that slowly merged into the beast.

When the beast returned to Ruan Qing’s body, the system prompt sounded.

[Congratulations, host, mission 2 completed. Reward: Level +1]

Now, Xiao Zi’s power had reached E-level, with immense improvements in every aspect.

Looking at Doctor Liu now, the smile on his face was more unsettling than ever.

Doctor Liu was on the verge of losing control. He never expected his opponent to be so strong, and the vengeful infants he had painstakingly cultivated were wiped out in an instant!

“You’re not Ruan Qing! Who are you really?” He turned to the bizarre creatures behind him. “What are you waiting for? Protect me!”

But before his words finished, his eyes turned pitch black, devoid of all light.

His head was already five meters away, eyes still wide open.

[Congratulations, host, mission 1 completed. Doctor Liu slain. Reward: Nightmare Mark]

Looking around at the remaining strange entities, they stared at him with blank, bewildered eyes, unsure what to do.

Xiao Zi shook his head and walked to Doctor Liu’s severed arm, crushing the bell under his foot.

The moment the bell shattered, countless wails like those of vengeful spirits echoed throughout the hospital.

At the same time, he was bombarded with terrifying value notifications.

[Terror Value +30]

[Terror Value +15]

[Terror Value +20]

[…]

So it could be played this way.

But glancing at the other strange entities, he found they had all fled.

Before he could think further, a series of screams shattered the quiet of the night.

This was destined to be an extraordinary night.

---

Xiao Zi immediately detached from Ruan Qing’s body.

Now that he had reached E-level, the abundant energy within him allowed his spirit form to manifest, so he no longer needed to parasitize Ruan Qing.

Moreover, after such a major incident, remaining inside Ruan Qing’s body might arouse suspicion among other ghost controllers, and it seemed her father was not an ordinary man. All in all, there was no need to use Ruan Qing as a host anymore.

He looked at the new, round, black energy in his hand, knowing it must be the system’s Nightmare Mark reward.

He glanced at Ruan Qing below and immediately planted one on her.

This way, he could continue to glean information he didn’t know through Ruan Qing. Once he obtained what he wanted, he could retrieve it later.

Having finished this, he plunged himself into the hospital, joining the night’s terrifying revelry.

The next day, Sun Shihe arrived at the hospital. Unlike before, his face was full of distress.

Last night, the hospital was the scene of a bloody massacre. With most ghost controllers having been reassigned, the carnage lasted until dawn.

Entering the hospital, the air was thick with a nauseating stench of blood.

Inside the buildings, every step left a crimson footprint.

Looking at the bloody handprints on the stairwell and the terrified expressions of the corpses, it was easy to imagine what had transpired the previous night.

“What happened?” Sun Shihe asked a man dressed just like himself.

“Don’t even ask. Another gang of strange entities at work. They were all low-level, except for one E-level, probably the leader. I suspect the Immaculate sent them to draw the attention of the Bureau of Investigations into Strange Entities.”

“Any clues?”

“Most of them escaped last night. People only saw lots and lots of ghosts, but were too busy fleeing to notice anything. Now some are out hunting down these entities, and our PR team will do their part.”

For some reason, hearing this, Sun Shihe was reminded of the strange entity he was investigating, the one that might possess a forbidden domain.

“Have you checked the bodies of the deceased? Are they missing anything? Like... their souls?”

Hearing Sun Shihe’s question, the ghost controller slapped his thigh. “I hadn’t paid much attention, but now that you mention it, quite a few of the dead are indeed strange.”

“Tell me in detail.”

“Well, it seems the E-level leader was very interested in human souls, hearts, and limbs. Many victims were missing these, and all had traces of that E-level entity nearby.”