Chapter 36: Past Events at the Hospital

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I said unhurriedly, “So this time, I can only trade with all of you using real currency. You’ll have to exchange it for spirit money yourselves.”

At once, the eyes of all those wandering ghosts lit up. Little Bean Sprout hurriedly said, “Third Master, you should have said so earlier! If you don’t have gold bars or ingots, I can lend you some! Keep all your real money for yourself!”

“Get lost!”

I pulled Little Bean Sprout over beside me, took out my wallet, and drew out a fifty-dollar bill. After wiping away the yang energy clinging to it, I handed it to him.

“Use it sparingly!”

Little Bean Sprout beamed as he stood behind me, lifting his little head and flaunting himself before the ghosts.

Money was the most common tool for driving off ghosts. As the saying went, “Money passes through the hands of ten thousand people,” and thus carried an especially strong aura of yang. In addition, money could bear the fortune of an entire age, making it more than sufficient for dealing with ordinary little ghosts.

Ghosts could not use real currency. They did not even dare touch it. Only after its yang energy had been removed could they take it to buy spirit money, find a place to burn it, and finally receive the money for themselves.

There was no direct exchange rate between currency from the living world and spirit money. No one could calculate such a rate for you. Among ghosts, however, there was a saying that one bill from the living world was worth one hundred thousand in spirit money.

I had no idea whether that was accurate, but if you traded real currency with ghosts, they were certainly making an enormous profit.

I laid out the money and said, “Those who know about the Black Tiger Malefic that once afflicted this hospital, and those who have seen anyone coming here these past few days, stay behind. Everyone else, leave!”

Most of the wandering ghosts departed with disappointed expressions. Only an old woman and a young ghost remained. The others did not go far; they all hid in the shadows, eager to see how much I would pay them.

I paid them no mind and asked directly, “Who knows about the Black Tiger Malefic?”

The old woman said, “Third Master, I know about it. When the Black Tiger Malefic struck, I was working as a nursing aide in this hospital.”

The old woman was straightforward enough. Without requiring me to ask further, she began:

Back then, this maternity and infant hospital did not have surveillance cameras everywhere as hospitals did now, but security around the nursery was still extremely strict. Anyone entering from outside had to pass through three doors, each watched by someone.

Who could have imagined that, despite such tight security, a black cat would still get inside? It bit ten babies in the nursery, killing nine of them.

The scene was beyond horrific. Blood covered the floor of the nursery, and the sheets were soaked through with it.

When we rushed in, the black cat’s eyes were still glowing green. It looked as though it wanted to eat people. Several of us chased it and beat it before we finally managed to kill it.

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I had beaten the cat’s head nearly flat, yet its eyes remained terrifyingly wide, still gleaming with ferocity.

We stood to one side, none of us daring to touch the cat’s body. At that point, a relative accompanying one of the hospital patients said, “That black cat has eaten so many people. It’s bound to turn into a demon. We have to deal with it quickly, or it may come back to seek revenge.”

We were all terrified when we heard that.

In all my years, I had never seen such a vicious cat.

But none of us knew what to do with it. The relative who had spoken then claimed to be from Fortune Street and said he knew how to handle the matter.

The hospital director knew him as well. He said the man’s surname was Zong and that he was a feng shui master. His wife had come to the hospital to give birth, and the only child in the nursery who had survived was his son. The director said that Mr. Zong should handle the matter and dispose of the black cat. In return, they would waive all his hospitalization and medical expenses, treating it as a sort of gift.

Mr. Zong wrapped the cat in red cloth and took it away, burying it in the wasteland behind the hospital. Afterward, he returned to the director and said that the bodies of the nine children also had to be dealt with.

The children had died immediately after birth, and their resentment was too great. Unless someone performed rites to send them onward, they would certainly haunt the hospital.

At first, the director refused. Mr. Zong insisted that the bodies had to be handed over to him.

The director was willing, but the nine families might not agree.

The children had died in the hospital, which already bore responsibility for the tragedy. Some of the families were still demanding compensation. If the hospital now approached them and said it wanted to take away and bury the bodies, who would consent? The compensation, which might otherwise have been negotiated downward, could even rise. The director could only say they would have to wait.

But what happened afterward proved Mr. Zong right. The nursery had no children left in it, yet at night, the sound of babies crying could still be heard.

Some pregnant women staying in the hospital would wake in the middle of the night with a chill on their bellies. When they opened their eyes, they would see a blood-covered baby crawling across them.

At first, the director did his best to calm everyone. But within three days, the ghosts in the hospital grew increasingly violent. Some people could even see a child drifting across the ceiling in broad daylight.

The patients began demanding transfers. The director could no longer sit by helplessly and had no choice but to invite Mr. Zong back.

Mr. Zong said, “I’ll say the same thing as before. If you want the ghosts to settle down, you must give me the children’s bodies so I can deal with them.”

The director had no other option. He went to persuade the families, and only after agreeing to their demands for compensation was he able to hand the nine children’s bodies over to Mr. Zong.

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Mr. Zong said, “The bodies must be buried behind the hospital, surrounding the black cat. They will bite the one who killed them. Once they have bitten the black cat until its spirit is utterly scattered, their revenge will be complete. When the resentment of those spirits has dissipated, I will return and perform the necessary rites. Then the hospital will surely be peaceful.”

“There’s something else. That nursery can no longer be used. The resentment there is too strong. If you send newborns inside again, they may easily die. I must seal the nursery.”

By then, the director was so terrified that he had lost all sense of reason. Whatever Mr. Zong said, went.

Mr. Zong had people cover every door and window of the nursery with black cloth. He went inside and busied himself for quite some time. When he emerged, he locked the nursery doors and pasted numerous seals across them.

He told us that the nursery must never be opened again, no matter how much time passed. Ideally, the entire corridor should be sealed off as well so that no one could enter.

When he buried the bodies in the wasteland, he likewise had people surround the area with black cloth, allowing no one to watch.

After finishing everything, he specifically instructed the director that the two places he had sealed could not be touched for at least five years. Once five years had passed, he would return to deal with the remaining matters.

After Mr. Zong buried the bodies, the hospital truly became peaceful.

Everyone in the hospital said that Mr. Zong was a true master.

Mr. Zong stayed at the hospital with his wife for half a month. Before they were discharged, the director invited him over once more to arrange the feng shui of his office. Mr. Zong claimed that once the feng shui had been properly arranged, the director would enjoy a smooth official career and abundant wealth.

And it really seemed to happen just as he said. Before long, the director rose rapidly through the ranks.

In the third year, however, he was arrested for embezzlement and other crimes.

Before his arrest, that director had stripped the hospital bare. It could no longer even afford to pay its employees, and no one was willing to take over the place. A perfectly good maternity and infant hospital went under in less than three years.

Every doctor and physician left.

Sigh.

The nursing aide sighed repeatedly as she reached this point. It seemed she still felt some attachment to the hospital.

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