"Are you alright?" Chen Ge quickly grabbed Ying Bai's arm. The girl instinctively took a step back, but Chen Ge still caught hold of her.
She didn't struggle. She just stayed quietly by Chen Ge's side, like a small cat.
"Until your grandfather arrives, I'll take care of you." Chen Ge ruffled the girl's hair, his fingers threading through her dark locks. "I'll take you away from here. Let you see what the outside world is like. I couldn't give you happiness when you were alive, but in death, at the very least, I'll let you feel the warmth of the human world."
The girl didn't quite understand what Chen Ge was saying. She simply nodded obediently and asked timidly, "What… what's your name? Are you also one of Grandpa's adopted children?"
"You could say I'm your grandfather's client. I'll protect you — make sure you're never hurt again." Chen Ge picked up his backpack and was about to leave when he glanced toward the room at the very back of the infirmary.
The Spirit School's infirmary had four rooms. Ying Bai and Yan Fei were in the third one, and there was one more beyond that.
"Ying Bai and Yan Fei should count as among the worst cases, and even they don't qualify for that last room?" Chen Ge crouched in front of Ying Bai, curious. "Do you know who lives in that final ward?"
"Only students and teachers who've been seriously hurt, or who've completely broken down and gone mad, get sent in there." Ying Bai's large eyes darted toward the fourth room with a trace of fear. As she spoke, her body unconsciously leaned away from it. "A lot of people have gone into that ward, but you rarely see anyone come out. Maybe there are other exits."
"This infirmary only has one entrance." Chen Ge shielded Ying Bai behind him, clicked on the voice recorder, and crept up to the door of the fourth ward.
The person in charge of the infirmary was a Red-clothed ghost — Chen Ge had encountered one before. The white lab coat worn on the outside was nothing more than a disguise.
He gripped the doorknob and turned it slowly. The door wasn't locked. Chen Ge pushed it open just a crack.
Blood seeped through the gap. When the door swung fully open, Chen Ge squinted slightly and instinctively stepped in front of several students.
The fourth ward hadn't been prepared for patients at all. There were no beds or medical equipment inside — only mirror after mirror, their surfaces covered in cracks.
In front of every mirror hung a white lab coat soaked through with blood. They were all the same size, as though they belonged to a single person.
Chen Ge covered his mouth and nose and entered the fourth ward with utmost caution.
A warm, humid sensation pressed against every inch of his skin. The moment he stepped inside, it felt as though he had plunged into a sea of blood. The coppery stench surged over him, almost suffocating.
"Why would the infirmary have a ward like this? I've seen mirrors like these in the school the Painter reconstructed, too." Chen Ge stopped in front of the nearest mirror and lifted the lab coat draped over it. The entire surface was blood-red, riddled with cracks.
"The same as the mirror I saw in the repair room of the East Campus faculty dormitory." His fingertip grazed the surface and nearly drew blood. "I'm standing in front of the mirror, but it won't reflect me. Just a field of red…"
He was about to move to the next mirror when a voice suddenly reached his ears.
"Help me… don't go… please, help me…"
Chen Ge froze. After confirming it several times, he realized the voice was coming from inside the mirror.
"Someone is trapped in the mirror?" His pupils contracted. He stared at the blood-red mirror bristling with cracks.
"Help me… it's so dark in here, I can't see anything. Don't close the window — please, will you help me?" The voice grew clearer, as though someone were standing right at the mirror's edge.
"How am I supposed to help you?" Chen Ge took a step back. He knew perfectly well that on this land behind the door, drenched in despair, compassion and mercy simply didn't exist. Good intentions going unpunished was the best you could hope for.
"There's a shard in the upper-left corner of the mirror that's been put back in the wrong spot. Find it, and put it where I tell you — then you'll be able to see me."
"That's it?" Chen Ge eased forward, but just as he was about to reach the mirror, he stopped short. "I can help you, but what's in it for me?"
"What do you want? Anything I have — it's yours!"
"Tell you what. I'll ask you a few questions, and if your answers satisfy me, I'll help you." Chen Ge pointed at the row of white lab coats. "How much do you know about the doctor in charge of this infirmary? That guy looks like bad news."