Chapter 11 Acceptable

Although making phone calls at night always makes people feel uneasy, everything becomes acceptable compared to the imminent real crisis.

With trembling fingers, Tang Qisheng dialed the maintenance department's number. It rang many times without being answered. Just as Tang Qisheng was about to give up and look for another way, the call suddenly connected. A thick male voice came from the other end, groggy and full of impatience, "Maintenance department, who is this?"

Tang Qisheng's voice was very kind, after all, it wasn't great to bother people for repairs in the middle of the night. "Hello, this is ward 3017. The clock in our room is broken. Can you repair it?"

"Yes, but it's too late now. I'll do it tomorrow," the man replied casually.

Tang Qisheng's heart, which had been hanging, settled down a little. "I'm sorry, but we'd like it repaired now, if possible. Sorry to trouble you."

"Are you out of your mind, asking me to come over and fix a broken clock for you in the middle of the night?" The man's attitude was terrible. It sounded like he'd been woken up by the call. "Are the people in the maintenance department not people? Is that why you order us around like this? Sleep when it's dark, and we'll talk about anything else tomorrow. That's it."

With a "bang," the other side hung up the phone, and all of Tang Qisheng's prepared words were useless.

If he wouldn't come to repair it, he wouldn't come. At least it would have been good to ask what time it was.

After waiting for a few minutes, the other side didn't pay any attention to him. Seeing this, Tang Qisheng had no choice but to bite the bullet and call again.

This time, the other side's attitude was even more rude than before and was already about to curse, but Tang Qisheng was also prepared. "Don't worry, we can pay you."

The shouting on the other side stopped abruptly. After a moment, the tone changed instantly. "It's not about the money. You know that we in the maintenance department do physical work, and we don't earn much all day long. We're responsible for the odd jobs in the hospital, and they don't even give us bonuses for this job of yours…"

"Consider this me asking you for a favor. I'll pay you separately, and it has nothing to do with the hospital," Tang Qisheng interrupted him.

"That's so embarrassing. Then you wait, I'll bring my tools over. I'm in another building, and it's a bit far, but it won't be long!" The man hung up the phone cheerfully.

Zhu Jie picked up her phone, nodded at Tang Qisheng, and her face didn't look good. "Your feeling is right. Just knowing the current time is useless. The two phones we have, and this clock, all three have different rates of time flow, very different. Time here is disordered. We can only ask someone to repair it."

Tang Qisheng sighed and looked at the door with worry in his eyes. "We'll play it by ear later. It's hard to say what's coming."

Naturally understanding what Tang Qisheng meant, Zhu Jie had the same worries. Having experienced so many missions, too many people had died at the hands of ghosts in disguise.

After a few minutes, a burst of footsteps echoed in the corridor. It sounded like the heavy old-fashioned leather shoes, which matched Tang Qisheng's impression of the other person.

Soon the footsteps stopped outside the door. "Knock, knock, knock," a knock sounded, and it seemed rather urgent.

"Who is it?" Tang Qisheng asked from behind the door. The ward door didn't have a peephole or glass to look outside.

"It's me, little brother, the maintenance department. You called me to come just now." The voice outside was the man's voice from the other end of the phone, but the tone was much more enthusiastic than at the beginning.

Tang Qisheng's eyelids couldn't help but twitch. He felt very strange. The other party clearly said that he was a little far away from him and asked him to wait a while, but how long had it been? Only a few minutes. Moreover, judging from the other party's footsteps and breathing, the other party definitely didn't run, but just walked slowly.

He could hesitate, but the person outside couldn't wait any longer. "Knock, knock, knock," another knock sounded. "Little brother, why don't you open the door? I'm asking, are you going to fix it or not? If not, I'm leaving."

"Yes, I'm fixing it, I'm fixing it. Wait a minute, I'll open the door for you." While Tang Qisheng was trying to reassure the person outside, he mouthed something to Zhu Jie. Zhu Jie took a few steps lightly and suddenly turned off the light in the room.

After the light suddenly went out, the room instantly turned dark. At the same time, Tang Qisheng and Zhu Jie both gasped.

The ward door wasn't very sturdy, but rather an old-fashioned painted wooden door. There was a small gap left at the bottom of the wooden door. The corridor lights were on, so light came in through the gap under the door.

But what made the hair on the back of their necks stand up was that the light coming in was very even and didn't leave any shadows!

But at this moment, just outside the door, the "person" making the sound was standing there!

Tang Qisheng and Zhu Jie immediately retreated and held their breaths, no longer making any sound.

Sure enough, it wasn't a person from the maintenance department at all, it was a ghost!

Calculating the time, the real maintenance department people should still be on the way.

After the lights in the ward went out, the "person" outside seemed to realize that he had been exposed. A few seconds later, footsteps sounded again outside the door.

But this time, Tang Qisheng and Zhu Jie broke out in cold sweat. What they heard was the sound of high heels, the sharp heels hitting the concrete floor, making a crisp sound that made people tremble.

It was a pair of red high heels. Tang Qisheng almost subconsciously recognized this. The thing outside was the nurse wearing red high heels in the child's diary!

After about a few minutes, the sound of high heels had completely disappeared, and Tang Qisheng and Zhu Jie heard very clearly that the sound went to the stairs at the corner of the corridor and then went upstairs along the stairs.

"Tap."

"Tap."

"Tap."

…

The nurse wearing high heels came from the fourth floor, which was completely consistent with the information left by the child.

Before they could catch their breath, footsteps sounded again outside, but this time, the footsteps were more hurried. It was the sound of men's leather shoes, the footsteps were hurried, and there was also the sound of tools rubbing together.

The footsteps stopped outside the door, and then began to knock.

"Who is it?" Tang Qisheng suddenly asked.

"It's me, little brother, sorry to keep you waiting, I went to get my tools." The voice outside was very honest and made people feel at ease. It was the man from the other end of the phone.

But having learned from the previous lesson, Tang Qisheng didn't dare to open the door rashly. He suddenly asked, "What's the phone number of your maintenance department?"

The person outside was stunned, and after a few seconds, he truthfully reported a string of numbers.

Zhu Jie quickly walked to the phone and checked the phone book. It matched perfectly.

Most importantly, this time there was a shadow outside the door.

Just as Zhu Jie breathed a sigh of relief and was about to let Tang Qisheng open the door and let the person in, she suddenly caught a glimpse of the gap behind the bedside table where the landline was placed.

Curiously, she moved the bedside table away. The next second, a broken phone line hung down in Zhu Jie's horrified eyes.