After the incident at the Imperial City nightclub, Ye Ling and Du Yameng exchanged phone numbers. Ye Ling then left the nightclub and returned to the hospital.
It was late at night. Shen Weiwei was guarding Shen Mu's ward. Seemingly exhausted, she had fallen asleep leaning against her chair.
Ye Ling walked to the ward entrance and looked at Shen Weiwei sleeping. He didn't wake her, but placed the bank card with the password on the table beside the hospital bed.
The Shen family was originally a wealthy family, but due to the Ye family, they had fallen into their current predicament. For all intents and purposes, Ye Ling had to help Shen Weiwei with all his heart.
Ye Ling knew that if Shen Weiwei had any other options, with her knowledge and experience, she wouldn't have chosen to open a food stall in the night market to make a living.
The one million yuan he obtained from Du Yameng, while it couldn't directly change the Shen family's fate, could at least solve their immediate urgent needs.
"Money is not a concern for now, but there's still one more thing..."
Ye Ling looked at Shen Mu, extended his hand, and a ball of black energy emerged from Shen Mu's body, floating before Ye Ling.
This black energy was the curse power that Ye Ling had deliberately left in Shen Mu's body.
After all, helping Shen Mu clear the curse was only treating the symptoms, not the root cause. To help the Shen family completely escape misfortune, they still needed to deal with the sorcerer who cast the curse.
Ye Ling injected his spiritual power into the gathered black energy. The black energy then flew out the window and in a certain direction.
"The grudges of the Ye family will be settled by us. What's the point of involving others?" Ye Ling's gaze was distant as he took a step forward and vanished from his spot.
Moonlight shone into the ward from outside, casting a layer of silver sand on the floor.
A gentle breeze lifted the white curtains, lightly brushing against Shen Weiwei's face, causing her to stir.
"Ye Ling... hasn't come back yet?"
Shen Weiwei looked at her sleeping mother and murmured to herself.
Her eyes were filled with worry.
...
West Suburbs of Jiangcheng, Abandoned Hospital.
The abandoned hospital was already dark and deep. Coupled with rumors of hauntings, no one dared to come here.
It was the dead of night, and the abandoned hospital, which should have been deserted, was brightly lit in the main hall.
Hundreds of candles were placed everywhere in the hall. A bizarre pattern drawn with blood adorned the floor, instilling a sense of disgust and fear just by looking at it.
In the center of that bizarre pattern, a young girl was tied with hemp ropes, struggling continuously.
A cloth was stuffed in her mouth, allowing her only to make muffled sounds. Her eyes were filled with fear and confusion.
Drip! Drip! Drip!
The sound of leather shoes stepping on the floor echoed through the hall of the abandoned hospital, causing the girl to struggle more violently and her fear to intensify.
Soon, a gray-robed figure with a hood walked over from a distance.
"Hehehe... the sacrifice for the evil god this month is truly a gem!"
A sinister and hoarse voice emanated from under the hood. The figure in the black robe pulled down his hood, revealing a hideous and terrifying face.
It was an old man in his seventies, with deeply sunken eyes. He stared intently at the girl, a sinister smile playing on his lips.
Jian Shishi didn't know what bad luck had befallen her today. She was fired from her company in the morning, lost her wallet in the afternoon, and was attacked on her way home at night. When she woke up, she found herself in this incredibly eerie and terrifying place!
'What did I do wrong?' she thought, looking at the hideous and terrifying old man before her. While filled with fear, she also felt extremely annoyed by her bad luck!
'Why am I so unlucky?' 'What does this old man want?' Jian Shishi pondered, seeing the smiling old man reach out his hand, and a bloody small knife flew into his grasp.
'Telekinesis? Am I in a movie?' Seeing the knife in the old man's hand, Jian Shishi even began to think that some program was filming a candid horror variety show. She kept turning her head, looking around for cameras.
However, Jian Shishi's struggles were seen by the old man as extreme fear. His smile grew more joyful. He walked up to Jian Shishi and untied the hemp ropes binding her.
'Screw you!' Jian Shishi seized the moment the old man untied the ropes on her feet and kicked him hard. Then, she got up and tried to escape, only to find her legs felt as if they had been electrocuted. She felt a numbness in her legs and fell to the ground again.
"I didn't expect to catch a wild cat. If it weren't for the sacrifice to the great evil god, I would have wanted to savor your taste properly." The old man chuckled sinisterly, dragged Jian Shishi back to the center of the pattern, and used the small knife to make incisions on her limbs.
Blood flowed out, dripping onto the ground. The bizarre pattern began to glow with a scarlet light, and the flames of the surrounding candles turned green, making the environment even more eerie and sinister.
'Damn it! This lunatic is serious!' Jian Shishi wanted to struggle, but found her limbs were numb for some reason. She could only watch helplessly as the old man bled her.
Suddenly, the old man began to dance in front of Jian Shishi, chanting incomprehensible incantations, making Jian Shishi's consciousness increasingly hazy.
'I'm finished...' 'Is anyone coming to save me?' 'Forget it, I'm so unlucky, I'll just wait for the next life.' Jian Shishi realized she might die from blood loss and closed her eyes, giving up her struggle.
'If only this were a dream...' As the old man's ritual progressed, patterns similar to the one on the ground began to appear on Jian Shishi's limbs.
Just then, a ball of black energy flew in from outside the abandoned hospital and struck the old man, interrupting his ritual.
The light on the ground disappeared, and the patterns on Jian Shishi's body quickly receded.
"Who?"
The ritual, at its most crucial moment, was suddenly interrupted, and the old man felt exceptionally annoyed and angry.
He turned around, his face contorted and hideous!
The old man's roar also drew Jian Shishi's attention. She tilted her head and cautiously opened her eyes, only to see a young man in a trench coat appear in her line of sight.
'Someone really came to save me?' Jian Shishi felt a surge of ecstasy, her eyes filled with excitement. She looked at Ye Ling as if he were a prince charming!
Ye Ling walked into the abandoned hospital, glanced at the surrounding candles and the pattern on the ground, lingered on Jian Shishi for a moment, and then fixed his gaze on the old man, asking, "What are you doing here?"
Seeing that the newcomer was just a young kid, the old man secretly breathed a sigh of relief and stared at Ye Ling, saying, "You little brat, you have quite the nerve to dare disturb my sacrifice!"
"Sacrifice?"
Ye Ling was somewhat surprised. He had briefly scanned the formation array in the hall earlier and hadn't found any contract with a higher-level expert.
This was entirely a self-indulgent endeavor, having no purpose other than to drain the girl's blood using dark arts.
He guessed that this person had found an ancient book somewhere to practice dark arts and was creating formations based on the gibberish in the book.
"Never mind, I'm not interested in your affairs. I'm here to ask you a few questions. Answer them properly."
Ye Ling said indifferently, "And then, obediently accept your death."