A school infirmary was essential to any campus, but the sheer size of this one was something even Chen Ge had never seen before.
The man dressed in the most outlandish fashion behind him was presumably the doctor here. He did his best to conceal it, but Chen Ge could still spot the deep crimson beneath his outer coat.
"Red-clothed…"
In any setting, red-clothed ghosts were synonymous with danger. Their methods were bizarre and unpredictable, and they were ruthless to the bone. Even with employees protecting him, Chen Ge could very well end up hurt.
"Hello, I'm here to look for a student." Chen Ge was polite, keeping his voice low.
"Are you sick?"
"I'm looking for someone. His name is Yan Fei — he's a classmate of mine."
"Are you sick?" The doctor seemed to know only this one sentence. He repeated it over and over, and with each repetition he took a step closer to Chen Ge.
A thick wave of disinfectant washed over him. The doctor must have sprayed himself with a huge amount of disinfectant to mask his own scent.
There was no way to communicate, and Chen Ge didn't dare make any sudden movements either. He tightened his grip on the nail in his hand, mentally preparing for the worst.
The doctor advanced step by step until he stood right in front of Chen Ge, then suddenly stopped.
Those dark red eyes scanned Chen Ge up and down. The doctor stared at him for a long time, and just when Chen Ge thought the other was about to strike, the doctor suddenly spoke: "You're very sick. I see a shattered corpse. Your soul is like a poorly made toy that's been tampered with — covered in cracks, ready to shatter at the slightest touch."
"Are you… being serious?" Chen Ge could tell from the doctor's tone that he wasn't joking.
"I can see the flower deep inside every person's heart. Some are budding, some are withering and about to fall. But in your heart there is only a graveyard — and a single seed that has been gnawed on and will never take root or sprout." The doctor's eyes seemed to see straight through everything. Unfortunately, the mask covered most of his face, and Chen Ge couldn't make out his expression.
"So by your logic, I don't have long to live?" Chen Ge felt a chill creep up his spine. This red-clothed ghost was strange, but he'd gotten used to that by now. Every red-clothed ghost in the haunted school was peculiar. Compared to them, the ones he'd encountered before — Men Nan, the Well-Jumping Ghost, the Tunnel Ghost — all seemed perfectly normal.
"I don't have medicine to save you here, and I can't treat you." The doctor cut himself off halfway and turned to walk toward the other beds.
From his attitude, it was as though Chen Ge's condition was completely hopeless — all he could do was wait to die. The doctor didn't even want anything to do with him.
"Come on, Doctor — I think I can still be saved! At the very least, explain yourself!" Chen Ge trailed after the school doctor, watching him walk back and forth beside the beds with pen and paper in hand.
The beds were partitioned off by white curtains, making it impossible to see the patients inside. Yet the doctor kept scribbling away on his paper. He didn't chase Chen Ge off either — he just went about his business.
"Why do I get the feeling he's kind of… looking down on me?"
The doctor completely ignored Chen Ge, and Chen Ge had no idea whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.
"It's rare to run into a red-clothed ghost who's at least somewhat reasonable, but he's so cold about it. He must have seen something in me — that's why he's acting like this."
"Doctor, how about you take another look? What does the seed in my heart look like? You said it was gnawed on — what did the teeth marks look like? What do you think bit it?" Chen Ge chattered away in the doctor's ear, and perhaps because he talked too much and disrupted the doctor's work, the other picked up his pace, entered the fourth room, and shut the door behind him without a second thought.
"Am I your only doctor here?" Standing outside the door, Chen Ge still had plenty of questions he wanted to ask.
"Quite the temper on him. When I get the chance later, I'll definitely have him moved down to the underground morgue. Let Grandpa Wei have a nice chat with him."