20. Are you very disappointed?

The blood vomited by the man stained Jiang Pan’s trousers. Already irritated by the dust that had soiled his clothes, Jiang Pan grew even more annoyed at the sight. He bent down, grabbed the man, and with a forceful shove, tossed the half-dead creature into the room.

The man tumbled inside like a ball. Once inside, he felt his headache vanish and his physical discomfort fade away. He raised a hand to his chest; the pain was truly gone. This room was capable of blocking out the maddening sound from outside. Shocked, the man sat up and shouted to the others, "Hurry, get inside! You’ll be safe once you’re in!"

The group outside stopped holding their ground and scrambled in. As soon as they were inside and the door was shut, they could see through the gap that the nurse was still wandering about, clutching her keys. She had no intention of leaving. Every time she lifted her feet to take a step, they made a sound like snapping branches, a noise that made one's scalp crawl.

Liu Qiang, who was gripping the door handle tightly, stood in high alert, watching the nurse through the gap. Suddenly, the nurse pressed her terrifying face directly against the opening. Liu Qiang recoiled in horror as he saw that her fair, petite face was covered in dense, tiny black holes. His body trembled; this female ghost was truly grotesque.

"Heh... heh..." The ghost let out a sound, and the half of her face pressed against the gap began to distort. Black liquid oozed from the tiny holes, and her eyeballs spun at high speed. She began to chant again: "Sleep, sleep!"

"Quiet!"

Her eyes bulged, and as she pressed against the door with too much force, one of her eyes burst. As it ruptured, more eyes erupted from the black holes on her face.

"Ahhh—" Watching this, Sun Qiang collapsed to the floor, filled with nothing but profound regret. If only he hadn't stepped into this hospital, if only—but there were no "if onlys."

"Sleep, go to sleep!"

"Shut up! Stop shouting, or I'll have you thrown into the dark cell!"

The nurse was still performing her duties as if she were working a night shift in life. It was clear that her patience for the noise of the people on this floor had reached its limit; otherwise, she wouldn't still be demanding silence even after death. Meng Shuyin watched the scene, unable to stop herself from stepping backward. The sound of keys jangling outside grew louder, and the sound of breaking branches echoed in everyone’s ears, chilling them to the bone and making their bodies tremble uncontrollably.

Chi You stood there, her gaze fixed on the nurse, her eyes filled with terror. Her fear of the nurse stemmed from the knowledge that even after death, the nurse was unable to escape the fate of having to work. She had worked until the day she died, and even in death, there was no release.

"Are you scared?" Jiang Pan noticed her terrified expression and asked with a hint of excitement. He hadn't expected to find something that would actually frighten her.

"I am," Chi You nodded, her face expressionless, before adding, "You would be too if you thought about being trapped in a job forever with no way to leave."

So that was what she was afraid of. Jiang Pan looked disappointed; he had thought she was genuinely frightened by the ghost.

"You're disappointed?" Chi You asked, seeing his heavy sigh and crestfallen expression.

Jiang Pan didn't hide it. "Yeah, I wanted to know what could actually scare you."

"Probably nothing," Chi You replied with a serious face. She had firmly believed since childhood that ghosts didn't exist, and furthermore, no supernatural entities could stop her from being a steadfast member of the Communist Party. Moreover, she was perfectly aware that she had entered an application, and everything here was fake—it was just that failing the task meant dying here.

"Really nothing?" Jiang Pan asked, equally serious. "What about working for your whole life?"

"Or never being able to make money?"

"Or having six kids, all of them boys?"

Chi You: ...

That was, indeed, more terrifying than ghosts.

"Fine, then I'm quite scared," Chi You conceded.

While the two chatted with utter detachment, the others watched the nurse, who was still squealing and pressing into the door gap, and were scared to death. They couldn't understand why these two felt no fear at all.

Zheng Hong spoke up weakly, "Are we really not going to deal with this female ghost? She's about to squeeze through."

The sound of the keys clashing was growing louder and sharper.

"Where are your talismans?" Chi You asked, glancing at Meng Shuyin. She saw that the nurse was indeed about to force her way in.

Meng Shuyin pulled out a stack of yellow paper charms and handed them over. "Here, which kind do you want?"

Chi You didn't understand talismans, but she flipped through the thick stack, pulled one out, examined it carefully, and then licked her index finger to moisten it, smearing her saliva onto the yellow paper.

Jiang Pan, standing nearby, saw this and immediately stepped far away from her. The face that could mesmerize thousands of young girls now wore an expression of revulsion. He furrowed his handsome brows and said with great disgust, "You're disgusting. You have zero hygiene. Knowing you is my greatest tragedy."

Chi You listened to his complaints, and after finishing with the talisman, she wiped her finger directly onto Jiang Pan's clothes. "Thank you," she said calmly, before sticking the yellow paper to the door.

The moment the talisman touched the door, the nurse's noise ceased instantly. Looking through the gap, the nurse was nowhere to be seen. Chi You was satisfied; it seemed to be effective.

Jiang Pan was squirming in place, his expression bizarre.

"Are you having a fit?" Chi You asked.

"I have a germ phobia; I want to change my clothes now," Jiang Pan said, looking desperate. He could have tolerated the initial dust, and he was already bordering on rage from the blood, but he could not endure Chi You's smear.

"Then take them off," Chi You said, walking to the bed, pulling back the covers, and lying down. "Everyone, I'm tired. I'm going to rest."

Chi You treated the place like her own home, closing her eyes and falling asleep the moment she hit the bed.

The others: ...

That was absurd! Was she not afraid of dying at all?

After closing her eyes, Chi You began to recall the gestures the female ghost had made; they looked like characters. But Chi You didn't know what the ghost had been trying to write. She tried to trace them in her imagination, one by one, but she fell asleep before reaching any conclusion.

She was truly exhausted. Wielding a pink chainsaw to eliminate those monsters was physically draining. Besides, they couldn't leave this room tonight, so sleeping was the only option.