He Jiajun was stunned for a moment, but quickly regained his composure.
He spread his hands and said, "If you want to play, play by yourselves. I don't have the time for that."
The man with the crew cut stood up and said, "What do you mean? If we don't finish the game, none of us can escape!"
"What does it have to do with me?" He Jiajun sneered, with a bit of pride in his tone, "My playing cards have been burned. How can I play games with you without props?"
He paused, then slowly lay back and leaned against the bed. "In my opinion, you should also burn the playing cards, so that you won't feel sick after looking at them."
The people at the door immediately began to hesitate after hearing this.
The fat man said: "I think it makes sense, why don't we also..."
"Have you forgotten that the first person who got the playing cards also tore them up, and what happened?!"
As a result, the playing cards were returned intact.
The fat man opened his mouth but said nothing in the end. He just felt that the playing cards in his trouser pocket were like thorns that pricked him.
He Jiajun's expression changed, and he gritted his teeth, "Anyway, my poker cards are gone. You can go and die if you want. It has nothing to do with me!"
The guy with the short hair wanted to get angry but didn't dare to. He clenched his fists in anger and turned to look at the others, "It's fine if he doesn't want to play, we can play by ourselves!"
After saying that, he looked at the transfer student again: "Will you come with us?"
"Together." Chen Ling put his hands in his pockets and raised his chin. "Why don't we play next door? My brother is in the hospital next door."
Wu Weiwei had been lying in the corridor eavesdropping. Upon hearing the words, he immediately returned to his bed and put on a mask.
When He Jiajun heard that they were leaving, he was so happy. This incident had nothing to do with him at all. Whether these people lived or died was just a fun thing for him.
Seeing that someone was about to leave, he shouted at the door: "Please, close the door."
The five people left just like that. He Jiajun immediately turned over and jumped off the bed, reaching into the drawer, wanting to take out the drone he usually played with to monitor the situation next door.
The drone is the latest model, a mini type, equipped with an ultra-high-definition high-speed camera that can capture the most subtle facial expressions.
He felt excited when he thought about the people next door who were scared to death.
He licked his lips, and tried hard to hook the box with his good hand and pull it out, but somehow, there seemed to be an extra pulling force at the other end of the box that was secretly competing with him.
He Jiajun's heart skipped a beat, thinking that the box was hung by a nail or something. He bent down and looked into the cabinet.
The cabinet isn't deep, so it shouldn't be that dark.
He Jiajun looked at the bottomless dark cabinet and became flustered. He tried to withdraw his hand cautiously, but a cold hand grabbed his fingers first.
The hand used his arm as a pull rope and slowly climbed out of the cabinet.
The first thing that came out was the head. When the head was raised, Zhou Yuanxin's pale face was visible.
In the next ward, Chen Ling stood up suddenly. He closed his eyes and quietly released his senses. His heart remained calm.
He had no choice but to push open the door of the ward and walk out, staying in the corridor.
The negative energy emanating from the ward did not contain any hostility, which meant that Zhou Yuanxin had no intention of killing He Jiajun now. If he guessed correctly, Zhou Yuanxin should have come here specifically to deliver the playing cards.
He Jiajun was shivering in the room. The cold touch made the back of his head dizzy and there was a sharp ringing in his ears. His body was unable to move and even his throat could not make a sound.
After Zhou Yuanxin climbed out of the cabinet, he put a bloody poker card and the rest of the poker cards into his hands.
He Jiajun's upper and lower teeth were chattering wildly, making a clattering sound. He watched Zhou Yuanxin stand up in front of him and walk past him on tiptoe.
When he was able to move, he turned around and looked behind him.
There was no one else in the ward except myself.
He Jiajun shuddered all over and sat down limply on the ground. Dense beads of sweat appeared on his forehead and back, as if he had just been pulled out of the water.
After sitting on the ground for a long time, he supported himself with one hand and slowly stood up.
His eyes fell on the playing cards in his hand.
The blood was fresh. Did it mean that something had happened to that gang of hooligans? The more He Jiajun thought about it, the more scared he became. He didn't know where he got the strength from, but he actually ran, broke open the door of the ward and rushed into the corridor, and met Chen Ling face to face.
Chen Ling glanced at the cards in his hand and said, "Let's go."
"You knew it a long time ago, right? You were waiting for me here on purpose." He Jiajun realized something and shouted loudly, "You and Zhou Yuanxin must be in cahoots! Did you recruit him?!"
"No." Chen Ling said impatiently, "The hospital is not a clean place. If we delay any longer, it will be dark."
He Jiajun suddenly remembered the tingling feeling on his arm just now. He pushed Chen Ling away with his shoulder, and went straight into the next ward without knocking.
On the only bed in the ward, there was a man wearing a mask, while several other classmates were gathered in front of the sofa.
He held the playing cards tightly in his hand, walked over, and threw them onto the coffee table with a bang.
"The rest of the playing cards are here, let's get started."
The man with the crew cut glanced at the stack of cards on the table, then raised his eyes to the rest of the people, "Everyone, please take a seat first."
Chen Ling walked to the bedside and pulled the quilt for Wu Weiwei. "Go to the door to guard if necessary. On July 14, the negative energy in the hospital will increase greatly. The ghosts of those who died of illness and sudden death may come out."
Wu Weiwei stretched out his hand and made an OK gesture.
Chen Ling came to the coffee table. The seats opposite the table were all covered with stains. He could only stand or squat.
The fat man was responsible for shuffling the cards, and the other two who had been silent were responsible for dividing all the shuffled cards into two and then distributing them to the six people present.
The poker cards were dealt out very quickly. The five people opposite Chen Ling refused to build the first layer of bridge cards. They all looked at Chen Ling and said, "You come and build the first layer first."
Chen Ling said indifferently: "Okay."
Everyone present drew two cards from their own deck and handed them to Chen Ling. In less than three minutes, the first layer of bridge cards was completed.
Sweat broke out on the fat man's forehead and with trembling hands, he placed a playing card on the first layer and held it up with two fingers.
The guy with the buzz cut was second. He matched his playing cards with the fat man's to form a triangle. Then he looked at the other two who hadn't said much and said, "It's your turn."
The two men picked up the poker cards tremblingly and followed the movements of the man with the crew cut and the fat man to complete the second triangular column.
According to the rules of the game, the fifth person should place a playing card on the two triangular pillars as the "bridge deck".
Without waiting for the short-haired man to speak, He Jiajun spoke first and said to Chen Ling in an imperative tone: "It's your turn."
Chen Ling moved quickly and steadily, putting the "bridge deck" in place and then withdrew.
After completing this step, starting from the buzz cut, the four people took turns removing their fingers.
Fortunately, the Poker Bridge is intact and shows no signs of collapse.
The second level was one-fifth of the game completed, and the rules were the same for the next level, and so on. But until the end of the third level, He Jiajun refused to participate in the game, and the card in his hand was always pressed under the glass ashtray.
After a round, it was his turn again. Chen Ling looked at He Jiajun, "Are you sure you don't want to play?"
He Jiajun had a tense face and said nothing.
Chen Ling had used the Ace of Hearts when building the first layer, and the other four players also put the cards into the poker bridge in the following game.
Only He Jiajun is left.
The blood-stained playing card looked unlucky no matter how he looked at it, and he didn't dare to touch it at all.
Seeing that the transfer student only asked a question and said nothing, the crew cut cursed him as a coward, stood up from the sofa, and pulled up the limp He Jiajun: "You are so arrogant because your family is rich and powerful, why are you so silent now? You want us to take the blame for you, I tell you, it's impossible! You have to play this card even if you don't want to!"
"Let me go!" He Jiajun pushed the man with a buzz cut in frustration, "What if I don't put it on? If you have the guts, help me put it on!"
The guy with the short hair didn't fall for his trick. He snorted coldly, picked up the ashtray, pulled out the playing cards, and threw them directly at He Jiajun's face, "It's your turn, put it up!"
When the playing cards hit his face, they happened to touch He Jiajun's lips. He didn't know if it was an illusion, but he always felt that the blood seemed to have its own consciousness and spread into his mouth.
He Jiajun spitted several times in disgust, wiped his mouth, and stared at the crew-haired man viciously: "Zhao Qiang, don't be so shameless, believe it or not, I will kill you!"
"Why are you trying to bully me? If you have the guts, go play with Zhou Yuanxin!" At this point, who cares about power and money? The man with the short hair pointed at the tip of He Jiajun's nose and said, "If you don't put this card down, we won't continue playing. At worst, we'll die together!"
The ruthlessness on the crew cut's face couldn't be faked. Although He Jiajun didn't show it, he was a little afraid in his heart.
If he drops his cards, he may not be the loser if he is lucky. But if he does not drop his cards, none of the six people present can escape!
After weighing the pros and cons, He Jiajun finally picked up his bloody poker card and, tremblingly, placed it on the "bridge deck" on the third floor.
The poker bridge is very stable, as if it were glued together.
The heavy stone in He Jiajun's heart finally fell. He raised his eyebrows and was about to signal the second person to put the cards up, but the fingers holding the cards suddenly trembled.
The solid poker bridge collapsed in an instant.
He Jiajun was stunned in the spot, then stood up and looked at the five people present angrily, "Who of you touched my hand just now? Who was it!"
The game was won and lost, and the crew cut took the cards from the other five people and said to He Jiajun with a smile: "Master He, you must be mistaken, just now only your hand was there, none of us moved."
He Jiajun's face was pale and his fingertips were trembling violently.
It wasn't an illusion at all. He clearly felt someone pressing his hand just now.
Just one click, just one click! The cards collapsed...
The game was over and there was no need for everyone to stay any longer, so the man with the crew cut left quickly with a few others. Before leaving, he was afraid of bad luck, so he deliberately left the playing cards in the ward for Chen Ling to clean up.
Chen Ling sat on the sofa, stacking the playing cards together.
When he finished packing, He Jiajun hadn't left yet, so Chen Ling looked up and asked him, "Are you scared?"
He Jiajun stiffened his neck and said, "I'm not afraid of anything!" He has been swearing more and more recently and has an extremely bad temper. The masks he used to wear on his face have been torn off at some point.
He rubbed his eyebrows irritably, glanced at the poker cards held in Chen Ling's hand, trembled all over, and ran out as if escaping.
He Jiajun returned to the ward and crawled into the quilt. He wrapped himself tightly, leaving only a pair of eyes exposed to observe the surroundings.
With a click, the door opened and the nurse came in carrying a basin.
She glanced at the person on the bed and frowned in confusion. Fearing to annoy others, she did not dare to ask more questions. She took out the washed clothes from the basin, hung them in the bathroom, and then left the ward on her own accord.
Looking at the empty ward, He Jiajun froze. He pulled the quilt covering his chin down a little and called out, "Sister Wu, Sister Wu!"
The care worker was chatting with the nurse in the corridor. When he heard it, he hurried back and asked, "What's wrong, Master He?"
"It's okay." He grabbed the edge of the quilt tightly and said angrily, "You stay in the ward today and are not allowed to go anywhere."
The nurse frowned in embarrassment, "What about tonight's supper?"
"I don't want to eat anymore!" When he was fifteen or sixteen years old, which was the time when he was growing up, He Jiajun would order the nurse to buy food for him every night. Sometimes it was the hospital cafeteria, and sometimes he had to run to a kebab shop three miles away.
The nurse was happy to have some free time and sighed.
With one more person in the ward, He Jiajun felt less scared.
He kicked away the hot quilt, lowered his head and touched his arm hanging in front of his chest, and suddenly asked: "Aren't you from the countryside? Country people should be very superstitious. Do you know any way to drive away ghosts and evil spirits?"
The contempt and class concept revealed in the words made the nurse feel uncomfortable, and her tone became colder, "Mugwort."
When He Jiajun first learned that the gangsters used grass to burn the hanging tree, he was really happy, but reality slapped him in the face.
"I know this, but it's useless. Say something else."
"Black dog blood?" The nurse said and looked at He Jiajun's bed. There was a bulge in that place since a while ago, as if there was a person hiding there. He Jiajun didn't know whether he didn't notice it or deliberately let someone hide in his bed. He didn't say anything.
Knowing that the rich young master had a bad temper, the nurse was afraid of being scolded again, so he frowned and said nothing.
"Since we can't get black dog blood now, come up with something else." After saying that, He Jiajun reached down and scratched his thigh.
The nurse pursed her lips and said, "Oh, and there's glutinous rice."
This thing is common and easy to buy. He Jiajun immediately said: "Go to the supermarket and buy me some now. The more the better!"
The nurse quickly left with the eco-friendly bag and wallet, and the temperature in the ward also left with them.
He Jiajun glanced out the window. The sky was pitch black. The building in the distance, which should have been brightly lit, had its lights off today. From a distance, it looked like a huge tombstone standing on the ground.
He was shocked by his own thoughts. In order to give himself courage and to make the ward more lively, he turned on the TV.
A documentary about the local customs and culture of Xiangxi was playing on TV. An old lady in ethnic costume was sewing a quilt with needle and thread.
The quilt was made of pieces of colorful cloth and was very beautiful, but in He Jiajun's eyes it seemed vulgar and old-fashioned.
He picked up the remote control and pressed a few buttons, but the TV picture did not change.
So he pressed it a few more times, and the documentary was still playing.
He slammed the remote control on the bedside table a few times in annoyance, pointed it at the TV again, and was about to press it when he suddenly heard a rustling sound.
He Jiajun felt a chill down his spine. He sat up straight and looked around warily.
After a few seconds, he leaned back on the bed relaxedly. The sound he just heard came from the TV. The old lady held up the quilt with her hands and lowered her head to mend a few stitches at the seam.
She buried her head very low, an action that no normal human being could do.
He Jiajun finally realized that something was wrong, and he threw the remote control directly at the screen.
With a bang, a bright spot appeared on the screen. It was as if a switch was touched, and the picture suddenly moved forward.
The old lady inserted the needle into the cloth again and again, and then pulled the needle out from the bottom. The cloth rubbed against each other, and the rustling noise not only did not stop, but became louder and louder.
He Jiajun held his head and screamed, then he put his hands on the quilt and tried to step back, but he touched something tough.
He looked down and saw that a human figure had appeared in the quilt beside him.
The human figure lay quietly, as stiff as a stone.
He Jiajun swallowed his saliva, stared with eyes wide open like a demon, and opened the quilt...
The person on the hospital bed stared at him, with obvious marks on his neck.
"Ghost! Ghost!" He Jiajun fell off the bed and crawled into the corridor.
However, the moment he stepped into the corridor, the clock in front of the duty desk rang, and it was already eleven o'clock in the evening.
The nurse at the duty desk was sleeping on the table. When He Jiajun passed by, he slapped the table frantically, but none of the three nurses responded.
After a brief hesitation, he went into the duty desk and huddled at the feet of two nurses.
He bit his nails and trembled violently. His eyes were fixed on the floor. He didn't dare to look left, let alone right, for fear of seeing Zhou Yuanxin come in.
Click, click, click... The footsteps came from far away.
In the blink of an eye, He Jiajun saw a pair of feet.
First the toes touch the ground, then the heels land... He would be able to recognize this walking posture even if it turned into ashes!
He Jiajun didn't want to look up, but his body slipped out from under the table involuntarily.
"Remember the game you played with me before?" Zhou Yuanxin disappeared and moved behind him, spraying cold air. "You said that if I can't run out of the school within ten seconds, you will burn a hole in my body."
"I didn't! That wasn't a joke I was playing with you!" He Jiajun pinched his thigh tightly, his eyes filled with tears.
"I heard it, I heard it..." Zhou Yuanxin laughed softly, his voice seemed to blend into the air, very light and floating, "I heard everything you said to Cheng Le."
He Jiajun could no longer defend himself and could only beg for mercy: "Zhou Yuanxin, I was wrong, I was really wrong! I, I just wanted to tease you, really, I have no ill will towards you!"
Seeing that Zhou Yuanxin refused to speak, he said anxiously: "How about this, you let me go, I will ask someone to perform a ritual for you, to help you transcend, to let you ascend to paradise, and to be reborn into a wealthy family in your next life."
"I don't want anything, I want you to die!" Zhou Yuanxin's voice was suddenly sharp and it actually broke He Jiajun's eardrum. Blood flowed out along the ear canal and dripped onto his shoulder.
He Jiajun frowned in pain and pressed his ears tightly. "I was wrong, I was really wrong!"
There was silence all around and Zhou Yuanxin disappeared.
He Jiajun endured the pain and seized the opportunity to escape. He stumbled all the way into an office.
The office was huge and extremely cold.
He found a cabinet and hid in it.
It was terribly cold in the cabinet. After a while, He Jiajun felt his body frozen. Shivering, he climbed out of the drawer clumsily and found that there were many large drawers on the walls around him.
The drawers were all open and the air was cold.
Under the dim light, He Jiajun looked at the shadow at his feet, and then he realized that he had not entered an office at all, but a morgue!
Someone suddenly patted his shoulder and he turned back reflexively.
A "person" with half of his head missing stood behind him, giving him a weird smile.
He Jiajun felt his heart suddenly jump to his throat. He gasped exaggeratedly and ran away, but was thrown back by someone.
In front of him, on the left and on the right, there were ghosts everywhere. Some had their stomachs ripped open, some had festering faces... They surrounded He Jiajun in the center, their eyes emitting green light.
Finished.
An idea flashed through He Jiajun's mind. He endured the pain of his skin being bitten and desperately stretched out his hand towards the door.
After all, fate was kind to him. Just when he thought he was about to die, the door opened and Zhou Yuanxin stood there straight, looking at him silently.
Pain spread all over his body, He Jiajun's consciousness became increasingly blurred, and his eyelids felt as if they weighed a thousand pounds and he couldn't open them.
When Chen Ling arrived, he was already dying. There were no wounds on his body, but he kept shouting in pain.
Zhou Yuanxin stared at the young man viciously. He still had a bit of kindness in his soul a few days ago, but now he was completely blinded by hatred and even hated Chen Ling and Wu Weiwei.
"You want to save him?" He lowered his head and tiptoed.
Chen Ling glanced at Wu Weiwei and asked him to secretly pass the ink net to him, "I'm saving you."
Zhou Yuanxin's eyes were dark and heavy. "I don't need you to save me! I want him to die! I want him to pay back a hundred times the humiliation and pain I have endured!"
He obviously didn't want to negotiate in a friendly manner. Before he finished speaking, he had already pounced on He Jiajun.
Chen Ling spread out the ink net in his hand and covered him completely. However, Zhou Yuanxin was now affected by the outside world and blessed by the Yin energy of July 15th. He was no longer the poor soul who had just died.
He ignored the burns on his body caused by the plumb line and tore the network cable in half.
Wu Weiwei cursed and took out another new thing from his backpack.
It was a simple slingshot made of peach wood struck by lightning.
Chen Ling caught the new weapon thrown in the air and raised his eyebrows, "Good craftsmanship."
Then he took out an evil-repelling talisman without a seal on it, crumpled it into a ball and put it in his leather bag, then he held the slingshot horizontally, pulled the rubber band, and aimed at Zhou Yuanxin.