Chapter 17 The Voice from the TV

This instantly reminded him of what Jiang Cheng had once told him in Jiangcheng, about the child searching for his missing parents in the hospital.

"Sha sha sha—"

The static on the old television suddenly surged more intensely, as if something hidden was about to appear.

After a moment, the static from the television gradually diminished, replaced by the sound of footsteps.

The footsteps were chaotic, suggesting there were three or four people, and the sound of their feet impacting the ground resembled that of hard bluestone slabs.

The next second, Tang Qisheng's eyes widened abruptly. He could actually hear voices coming from the television. These familiar voices were like a thunderbolt from the blue to him.

"Are we really going in? Should we observe a little longer?" The fatty's voice was as clear as ever. "This Scripture Repository looks...looks too quiet."

"Yeah, don't forget, those evil monks, Huide and Huiming, haven't shown up yet. There might be an ambush nearby." A young woman's voice followed. Tang Qisheng thought carefully, but he didn't recognize her.

After a long pause, Jiang Cheng's voice, deep in thought, finally spoke, "Let's circle around and see what's happening. Be careful, don't split up."

"How much time do we have left?" the fatty asked during their movement.

"If we go by what Daoist Ling Xiao said, at most an hour. But that's not the key. I mean, this place isn't the key." Jiang Cheng paused, then sighed with some hesitation, "I'm also waiting. I think the most crucial clue should be in the hands of Tang Qisheng and Zhu Jie's group."

Hearing these two names, the fatty was clearly irritated, "Don't mention them. I get angry every time I do. Do you think they've been recruited by the Night Watchmen? Why haven't we heard from them in so long?"

"That Tang Qisheng looks shifty-eyed and has a belly full of tricks. If he really dares to betray us, I'll have Wu-xiongdi flay him alive when he gets out!" It was obvious that the fatty had had enough of Tang Qisheng and Zhu Jie's inaction.

"He's not that stupid. Forget it, let's wait and see." Jiang Cheng lowered his voice, ending the topic.

Then there was some discussion about Daoist Ling Xiao and Abbot Fuji. Tang Qisheng was confused, but he remembered some of the terms they mentioned, such as the Precept Holding Monastery. He remembered Jiang Cheng mentioning that they were trapped in a Buddhist temple called the Precept Holding Monastery.

But Tang Qisheng couldn't understand how, how could Jiang Cheng and Wang Fugui's voices come from the television when they were being immersed in jars filled with the director's brain tissue? It even sounded like a live broadcast.

Before Tang Qisheng could think further, the voices on the television gradually faded, eventually being drowned out by the static of the electricity. But Tang Qisheng knew that this was just the other side doing it on purpose, and the experiences of Jiang Cheng and Wang Fugui on the other side of the television were still continuing.

"Who exactly are you?" Tang Qisheng looked at the boy, who was nothing more than a broken body. "How could my companions...how could they appear on television?"

He could tell that this scary-looking rag doll was just the boy's subordinate, only executing the boy's orders. The key was still this child.

Tang Qisheng also had a little bit of confidence at the moment. The other party had saved him from the rotting director, so they obviously didn't intend to abduct him here just to kill him.

Hearing this, the rag doll moved. It took out a tattered notebook from the back of the cart, then took out a pencil. The boy grasped the pencil with his only four remaining fingers, awkwardly writing on the notebook.

Leaning closer, Tang Qisheng noticed that the notebook was the medical record paper commonly used in hospitals, which also matched the message Jiang Cheng had conveyed to him.

"Your friends have been captured by the director and are being held in the mental laboratory. This is a terrible experiment." The boy's childish handwriting appeared on the paper. This was also a reply to Tang Qisheng.

"Then how can I rescue them?" This was the question Tang Qisheng cared about.

"You can't rescue them directly, that would only harm them. Their consciousness is in an unbelievable world. The director's ultimate goal is to trap their spirits, to let their consciousness slowly die, and then seize the initiative and occupy their bodies." The boy explained very seriously, "As long as they die in the mental world constructed by the director, their consciousness will also die, and what remains will only be an unowned shell. What the director wants is your friends' bodies."

The boy's wording and thinking didn't seem like something a child of his age should have. He wondered if this had something to do with his experiences.

"I need to go to their mental world, that Precept Holding Monastery, and then I can wake them up and save them?" Tang Qisheng roughly understood what the boy was trying to say.

"No need, and you can't do it either. I will help you, as long as you are willing to cooperate with me." Another line of words appeared on the paper.

At this point, Tang Qisheng understood that the boy needed something from him, "What do you need me to do? Find your missing parents?"

Hearing the word parents, the boy's remaining upper half of his face suddenly became eager, and the hand holding the pen also trembled. After a moment, a more scribbled line of handwriting appeared, "I want you to help me find my mother! My father has searched the entire hospital during this time and has not found my mother!"

"Father..." Tang Qisheng didn't remember seeing the boy's father. He only remembered this elusive rag doll.

Getting closer, Tang Qisheng was able to carefully examine the rag doll. Slowly, he discovered more oddities. He didn't find any loose threads or traces of sewing on the rag doll. The rag doll's entire body seemed to be one piece, and some of the details were handled very well. The fingers were as flexible as those of a living person, and even the feet had five toes.

The next second, Tang Qisheng frowned. He noticed a small tag hanging on the rag doll's left big toe, which reminded him of the toe tag on the corpses in the morgue.

A bold hypothesis emerged in Tang Qisheng's mind, and the boy's next words confirmed it, "He is my father. The director killed him. When the director was cutting up my body and using me for experiments, I took advantage of his carelessness, dug out his eyes, and used his eyes to revive my father."

Looking at the newly appeared words on the paper, Tang Qisheng was deeply shocked. He never thought that the director's eyes had been dug out by such a child.

"You have to be careful. The director is a madman. He is a monster. He has personally carried out many insane experiments, some of which are simply unbelievable. He uses the doctors, nurses, and patients in the hospital as experimental subjects. This place is hell!"

"He is the source of all the horror in this hospital. He doesn't even spare his own body!"