"Very well, we’re one step closer to the truth," Fang Xiu murmured to himself. He had never intended to leave but rather to explore the Qing Shan Mental Hospital.

  The two continued forward and soon came across two large pools of blood not far down the corridor.

  The amount of blood was staggering, splattered across the surrounding walls. Amid the blood were scattered fragments of flesh and bone, as well as shredded real estate office uniforms and security guard uniforms.

  The bits of flesh and bone looked like leftover scraps of food, bearing clear tooth marks and signs of being torn apart.

  Looking at the familiar clothing, Fang Xiu knew immediately—these were the remains of his colleague and the security guard who had gone to check the power earlier.

  Clearly, they had been devoured by the supernatural entity.

  At this sight, Fang Xiu suddenly understood why the entity took three minutes to reappear after the man disappeared, but only two minutes after the woman vanished.

  The interval of the entity's appearance was determined by the amount of flesh consumed.

  The female colleagues at the real estate office were, by industry standards, at least presentable—most were slender and well-proportioned. Naturally, their "meat quantity" was far less than that of their male counterparts.

  It took the entity about three minutes to devour a male colleague, but only two minutes for a female colleague.

  "Brother Xiu! They... they were eaten by the entity?!" Zhao Hao beside him trembled, his face deathly pale.

  Fang Xiu ignored him, focusing instead on the shredded clothes. The cuts were unnaturally clean, clearly made by some sharp blade. Recalling the supernatural beings he had seen earlier in Qing Shan Mental Hospital, the figure of the female doctor immediately came to mind.

  The precision of the cuts strongly suggested they were made by her scalpel.

  Just then, rapid footsteps echoed from behind them.

  Turning, they saw Wang Ziteng and the others emerging from the dark corridor.

  "My God! What is this place? Wasn’t this supposed to be the real estate office?"

  "This looks like a hospital!"

  Wang Ziteng and the others gasped in shock, their faces filled with panic and disbelief.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  Indeed, no one could have expected that after walking through the corridor of the real estate office, they would step out into a completely unfamiliar hospital setting.

  "Fang Xiu, Zhao Hao, you two came out first—did you find anything? Did you see Xiao Zhao and Xiao Li?" Manager Wu Dahai asked, his voice trembling.

  "Xiao Zhao and Xiao Li, they..." Zhao Hao shakily pointed at the two pools of blood on the ground.

  Wang Ziteng and the others followed his finger, and their pupils instantly contracted.

  "Blood! So much blood!" Li Feifei screamed uncontrollably.

  "These are... Xiao Zhao and Xiao Li’s clothes!" Wang Ziteng’s expression grew even grimmer, sweat pouring down his face as if he had just realized something horrifying.

  "They were eaten..."

  The moment these words were spoken, a wave of terror swept through the group.

  "Wang Shao! Quick, let’s get out of here! I want to go home, wuuu..." Li Feifei was so terrified she burst into tears, clutching Wang Ziteng’s arm and pleading.

  Wang Ziteng snapped back to reality. "Right, right, we need to leave!"

  He was about to lead the group forward, but as he stared down the unfamiliar, empty hospital corridor, his legs refused to move.

  Who knew where this corridor led? What if the entity’s lair was right ahead?

  Wang Ziteng was under immense pressure, like the first person leading a group through a haunted house.

  Yet, the others all looked to him as their leader, crowding behind him in fear.

  Fortunately, Fang Xiu soon took the initiative, sparing him the dilemma.

  Having finished his observations, Fang Xiu calmly began walking deeper into the corridor, with Zhao Hao following closely behind.

  Seeing someone take the lead, Wang Ziteng no longer hesitated and strode forward.

  However, unlike Zhao Hao, who stuck close to Fang Xiu, Wang Ziteng maintained a distance of about three meters—perhaps out of pride or some other reason.

  Tap, tap, tap...

  The empty corridor echoed with the sound of their hurried, deliberately muted footsteps, as if they were afraid of alerting the entity.

  Then, abruptly, the footsteps stopped.

  Fang Xiu, who was at the front, had halted, and like sheep following their leader, Zhao Hao stopped as well.

  Then Wang Ziteng and the others.

  Wang Ziteng wanted to ask why Fang Xiu had stopped, but his pride kept him from speaking.

  Asking would make it seem like he didn’t dare move forward without Fang Xiu leading the way.

  "Fang Xiu, why did you stop?" Li Feifei’s voice was frantic with fear.

  The woman was already terrified out of her wits, her usual composed, elite demeanor gone. Seeing Fang Xiu stop, her desperation to escape made her blurt out the question.

  Fang Xiu didn’t answer. Instead, he checked his phone and, after a moment of silence, said, "Time’s up."

  "What do you mean, time’s up?" Li Feifei asked reflexively.

  The others were equally confused.

  Only Wang Ziteng understood. His face instantly paled, and he hurriedly raised his left hand to check his expensive wristwatch.

  "Three minutes!"

  The group immediately realized what was happening and panicked.

  Then, from behind them came a crisp, cracking sound.

  Like the twisting of joints.

  When they turned around, their blood ran cold.

  A female doctor in a white coat, her hair disheveled, her limbs grotesquely elongated like a spider’s, and her eyes entirely white, was hanging upside down from the corridor ceiling.

  The cracking sound was the noise of her neck twisting.

  Because she was suspended like a spider, her face was initially upside down—the top of her head pointing downward, her chin upward. But as her head rotated 180 degrees, her face aligned with theirs.

  A silent wave of fear washed over them.

  The difference between the entity’s absence and its presence was staggering. When it stood before them in the flesh, even the bravest would tremble.

  The female doctor stared fixedly at the group. Then, her limbs began to move frantically, scuttling toward them like a humanoid spider.

  "Ahhh!!!"

  Li Feifei’s scream was like a starting gun. The group bolted like madmen, desperate to escape.

  This time, no one needed to lead the way—in fact, they shoved and pulled at anyone blocking their path.

  Some of the weaker ones were knocked to the ground in the chaos.

  Like Li Feifei.

  As a delicate, pretty woman, she had clung to Wang Ziteng’s arm for protection. But when danger struck, Wang Ziteng was the first to shake her off, leaving her sprawled on the floor as he fled for his life.

  Wang Ziteng reacted quickly—he was the first to run and soon took the lead.

  But Fang Xiu and Zhao Hao stood directly in his path.

  Yet Fang Xiu and Zhao Hao weren’t running.

  Zhao Hao was simply frozen in terror, while Fang Xiu was observing.

  Just as he had deduced, the killer was indeed the female doctor from the mental hospital.

  After all, most of the supernatural entities in Qing Shan Mental Hospital were confined to their rooms. Though some doors had been opened earlier, he hadn’t encountered any other entities during his exploration. The only one he had seen was this female doctor—because she wasn’t a patient but staff, she hadn’t been locked away.