28: Chapter 28 The hand inside the door says, "Don't believe it."

"Do Not Believe." Two bloody characters. Stuck on the inside of the Ward 105 door.

In the surging darkness of the pollution, they were as glaring as if seared by fire.

Lin Jin's movements paused for a moment. The blood on his shoulder dripped down his white coat. One drop. Another drop. It fell into the black water beside the doorframe, quickly swallowed by the pollution.

But his eyes remained fixed on those two characters: "Do Not Believe."

The handwriting was very sloppy. It looked like it had been written in extreme haste, perhaps even while dying.

But Lin Jin would not mistake it. That was Lin Shoushan's handwriting.

When he was a child, notes left by his father would often appear next to broken appliances at home. "Don't touch." "Wait for me to fix it." "Don't throw the screws around." "This thing can still be used."

The handwriting always had a habit of slanting slightly to the right. And the two characters inside the door were the same.

Seeing Lin Jin suddenly stop, Chen Ye's eyes turned red with anxiety. "Brother Jin!" "Don't just stand there!" "The door is about to explode!"

The door to Ward 105 was vibrating violently. The Isolation Anchor had been driven in more than halfway, and the runes were glowing, but it hadn't fully closed yet.

Countless palms were clinging tightly to the door crack from inside. There were children's hands. Adult hands. There were even hands that had rotted down to the bone. They seemed unwilling to be locked back in, frantically tearing at the doorframe.

Shen Tingxue also saw the line of characters inside the door. Her expression changed slightly. "Did your father leave that?"

Lin Jin did not answer. Because the Hand of Rules had already popped up a warning.

[Maintenance Interruption Risk Rising] [Isolation Rule Reconstruction Progress: 91%] [If interrupted now, it will cause the Isolation Anchor to backlash] [Estimated Pollution Outbreak Range: Inpatient Department 1st Floor]

He couldn't stop. But the words inside the door were like a nail, hammered fiercely into his mind.

Don't believe what? Don't believe the little girl in Ward 105? Don't believe the Head Nurse? Don't believe the Dean? Or—don't believe The Hospital's order for him to fix the door?

Inside the door, the little girl's crying sounded again. This time it was no longer sharp. Instead, it was weak, as if it were about to disappear. "Brother..." "Did you see it?" "Your dad came here too..." "He wanted to save me too..." "But they lied to him..."

Lin Jin's eyes turned cold little by little. This trick again. Using his father as bait. But this time, Lin Shoushan's handwriting had actually appeared inside the door. Mixing truth and falsehood was the most disgusting trap.

The Hand of Rules flickered constantly. [Information Pollution Detected] [Current Information: Partially True, Partially Forged] [Suggestion: Do not change maintenance actions based on unknown information]

Lin Jin took a deep breath. He forced himself not to think. He could not be dragged down at the final step. No matter what was hidden inside the door, Ward 105 had to be sealed now. If it wasn't sealed, everyone on this floor would die.

He gritted his teeth and raised his wrench. "Close the door first." "We'll investigate later."

The crying inside the door stopped abruptly. The next second, the voice became incomparably resentful. "You won't save me either." "You Repairmans are all the same." "You only know how to fix rules." "You don't care if people live or die."

Boom! The black pollution in the door crack surged violently! The wound on Lin Jin's shoulder, where the tentacle had just been severed, tore open again. Black blood threads burrowed into the wound.

[Pollution Erosion: 39% → 43%] [Warning: Approaching High-Risk Threshold]

Chen Ye's expression changed drastically. "Lin Jin!" He no longer called him Brother Jin, but instinctively shouted his full name. Because Lin Jin's complexion was terrible right now. Pale. His forehead was covered in cold sweat. The black patterns on his white coat had almost crawled up to his neck. If this continued, even if the door was fixed, Lin Jin himself might be swallowed by The Hospital.

Shen Tingxue's gaze turned cold. She didn't rashly unleash a big move. Instead, she stepped forward half a step, and ice-blue light condensed into an extremely thin ice blade in her palm. "Chen Ye, block the left side."

Chen Ye reacted immediately, raising his shield to hold back the arms squeezing out from the door crack. "Okay!"

Shen Tingxue slashed down with the blade. Crack! Seven or eight arms reaching for Lin Jin were frozen and severed. But as soon as the ice blade fell, more palms reached out from inside the door. It was as if a hell was locked inside.

Shen Tingxue did not retreat. Her Ice Phoenix Core glowed slightly on her chest. The low-temperature circuit that had just been established began to operate, forcibly keeping the pollution outside the core. She raised her hand and slashed three times in succession. Each blade precisely severed the pollution tentacles attacking Lin Jin without accidentally damaging the doorframe and the Isolation Anchor. This level of control made Chen Ye couldn't help but curse: "Awesome!"

Shen Tingxue said coldly: "Less talking, more blocking." Chen Ye grinned. "Got it!"

The two of them, one on the left and one on the right, forcibly bought Lin Jin the last few seconds.

The Head Nurse stood in the back, never having made a move. She just stared at Lin Jin. Stared at the white coat on his body. Stared at the wrench in his hand. And also stared at the two bloody characters inside the door.

"Do not believe..." She whispered it once. For the first time, a certain complex emotion appeared in her voice.

Lin Jin heard it. But he did not turn back. "Do you know what these two characters mean?"

The Head Nurse was silent for a moment. "Inside Ward 105, the first incurable patient of The Hospital is locked up." "It is also the first error sealed by the Maintenance Department."

Lin Jin did not stop his movements. "Sealed by the Maintenance Department?" "Yes." The Head Nurse's voice was very low. "Because after the treatment failed, she began to pollute other patients." "She would learn to speak like them, remember their memories, and imitate their loved ones." "Finally, she would make them open the door voluntarily."

Chen Ye felt a chill down his spine. "That means, when she said Lin Jin's father just now..." The Head Nurse looked into the door. "It might not be fake." "But it also might not be her own memory."

Lin Jin's eyes darkened slightly. He understood. The Ward 105 pollution entity would absorb memory fragments of people who entered the ward or came into contact with it. That's why it knew Lin Shoushan. It could also write, or replicate, Lin Shoushan's handwriting. But this didn't mean his father was inside the door. And it certainly didn't mean everything it said was true. This was the meaning of "Do Not Believe." It wasn't about not believing a specific person. It was about not believing any emotional inducement provided from inside the door.

Thinking of this, the last trace of hesitation in Lin Jin's heart was completely suppressed. He raised his wrench and smashed it fiercely against the end of the Isolation Anchor. Dong! The runes lit up brightly.

[Isolation Rule Reconstruction: 96%] The little girl inside the door let out a shrill scream. "Lin Jin!" "You will regret it!" "Your dad couldn't get out back then precisely because he closed this door!"

This sentence exploded like thunder. Lin Jin's fingers tightened slightly. But he did not stop. "Then I must close it even more." "What he didn't finish." "I will finish."

The final hammer blow. He smashed it down. Dong!!! The Isolation Anchor was completely driven into the doorframe. The runes on the black nail instantly connected the entire door. All the palms in the door crack were forcibly dragged back at the same time. Strands of black hair pollution, as if burned by fire, shrank frantically. The Ward 105 door slowly closed amid a harsh grinding sound. Bang! The door was closed.

The pollution in the corridor receded back into the door like a tide. The lights began to flicker and recover. The black hair on the walls withered inch by inch, turning into ashes.

The broadcast sounded intermittently. [Ward 105 isolation rule reconstruction complete.] [Pollution leakage stopped.] [Night Shift Maintenance Worker task complete.] [Evaluation: Abnormal.]

Abnormal? Lin Jin looked up. The next second. A new prompt appeared. [You did not follow standard treatment procedures.] [You did not follow the Dean's cleanup procedures.] [You used a discarded Isolation Anchor to complete reverse maintenance.] [The Hospital records updating—]

Chen Ye had just breathed a sigh of relief, but upon hearing these few lines, his face turned green again. "Why is there still a record?" "Not satisfied even after it's fixed?"

Shen Tingxue looked at the Head Nurse. "What will happen with an abnormal evaluation?"

The Head Nurse did not answer. Because she was also looking at Lin Jin. In those pitch-black eyes, for the first time, there was no pure hostility. Instead, it was like looking at someone who had already stepped into a forbidden zone.

A few seconds later. The broadcast sounded again. [Night Shift Maintenance Worker Lin Jin.] [Obtained temporary authorization: Maintenance Department Archive Access.]

The air suddenly went quiet. Maintenance Department archives. Lin Jin's pupils shrank slightly. It was here. This was the real reward. Or rather, after Ward 105 was sealed, some old authorization of The Hospital that had been suppressed finally loosened.

The Head Nurse's expression, however, changed suddenly. "You cannot look." Her voice was urgent for the first time. "The Maintenance Department archives have been sealed by the Dean." "If you look now, you will be marked by the Dean."

Lin Jin looked down at the back of his hand. The pollution erosion had stopped at 43%. Not far from 50%. Reason told him that he shouldn't continue to touch deeper things now. But his father's name had appeared too many times. The medical record card. The bloody characters inside the Ward 105 door. The Maintenance Department. If he missed these clues, he might not be able to find them next time. He looked up. "Where are the archives?"

The Head Nurse was silent. The broadcast answered for her. [Maintenance Department Old Archive Room has been opened.] [Location: Basement Level 2, next to the old operating room.]

Chen Ye's expression stiffened. "Back to Basement Level 2 again?"

Lin Jin did not speak. Because at the end of the corridor. The footsteps of the Faceless Dean. Sounded again. Tap. Tap. Tap.

The broadcast fell coldly. [Rounds finished.] [Please submit the maintenance report, Night Shift Maintenance Worker.] [Reporting location: Deans Office.]