95: Chapter 95 Lucia State Hospital

The car drove north for nearly three hours.

The palm trees of Los Angeles were long gone, replaced by pine trees on both sides of the road that grew increasingly dense, their twisted branches reaching toward the sky like countless withered hands.

The sky was gray, the clouds hanging low. Occasionally, a few rays of sunlight leaked through the gaps, casting bright patches on the hillsides, but they were quickly obscured by the clouds again.

The road became narrower and narrower, changing from a highway to a provincial road, and then to a rural lane.

The asphalt surface was pitted and bumpy. The car jolted violently as it drove over them, and Elizabeth had to slow down.

"We're almost there."

Sean looked out the window.

In the distance, halfway up the mountain, was a cluster of grayish-white buildings.

They weren't tall, only three stories, but they were very wide, like a giant beast crouching on the hillside.

The windows were narrow and sealed with iron bars. Some of the window panes were broken, leaving dark holes that looked like blind eyes.

Most of the roof tiles had fallen off, exposing the black waterproof layer that flapped slightly in the wind.

The front of the building had a large wooden door with peeling paint, revealing the grayish-white wood underneath. There was a line of text on the lintel, too blurred to read.

Elizabeth parked the car outside the iron fence gate.

The iron gate was rusty, with chains wrapped around it several times. The padlock was as big as a fist and also rusted.

She turned off the engine, and the three of them got out of the car.

The air was as cold as a knife's edge. The white mist Sean exhaled drifted for a moment before dissipating.

The air here was completely different from New Orleans, smelling only of the astringent scent of pine resin mixed with rotting fallen leaves.

"This is it," Elizabeth said as she got out of the car.

Sean stood before the iron gate, looking at the building inside.

The courtyard was overgrown with weeds. Dead vines climbed from the base of the walls to the second floor, entangling the entire building like a net.

The branches of several old oak trees rested on the roof, their bark covered in moss.

The wind poured in from the valley, whistling through the broken windows like someone crying.

"It's been closed for nearly fifty years." Ballard stood beside him, holding her phone and taking photos of the building. "No one manages it, and no one demolishes it. It's just left like this."

Sean turned his head. "Why does no one manage it?"

Ballard snorted coldly and put away her phone. "The higher-ups want to keep it. No one knows the specific purpose."

"For a place like this, demolishing it costs money, and after demolition, there needs to be planning, and after planning, there needs to be approval. By keeping it, they don't have to do anything. The budget is approved as usual, and the funds are received as usual. Every year, a little money is allocated for maintenance. They call it maintenance, but it's really just hiring someone to watch it so homeless people don't go in and start fires."

Are American land laws really this bizarre?

Sean complained inwardly and nodded without commenting.

Speaking of which, he had seen plenty of this sort of thing at the police station.

It wasn't that it couldn't be done, but that they didn't want to do it.

There was no benefit to doing it and no downside to not doing it, so who would want to take on extra trouble?

Elizabeth walked to the iron gate and reached out to tug at the chain.

The chain rattled, and the padlock struck the iron gate with a dull thud.

She turned around and looked at Sean. "Are we going in?"

Sean looked at the building.

Those dark, hollow windows were like eyes, watching him.

But...

With Elizabeth there, what the hell was he afraid of?

"Let's go in!"

Elizabeth pulled a key from her pocket.

It wasn't an ordinary key; it was the very old kind, made of brass with deep teeth.

She inserted the key into the lock, turned it twice, and the lock opened.

The chain fell to the ground with a clatter.

Elizabeth pushed the gate open, and the iron door let out a piercing screech.

Sean asked curiously, "How do you have a key?"

Elizabeth glanced at him. "Is this thing difficult to obtain?"

Sean thought about it; indeed, for a Vampire like Elizabeth who had lived for a century, such a thing was no problem at all.

So Sean stopped asking and followed her, with Ballard bringing up the rear.

The three of them walked through the overgrown courtyard, stepped over the dead vines, and arrived at the wooden door.

Elizabeth pulled out another key and opened the door.

When the door was pushed open, a scent of decay wafted out from inside.

The smell of rotting wood, the smell of dust, and something else Sean couldn't quite name—like something that had been dead for a long time and was still decomposing.

In short... it smelled terrible!

Sean took a deep breath and walked inside.

Elizabeth followed, her high heels clicking sharply on the terrazzo floor.

Ballard was the last to enter, her hand resting on the small of her back as her gaze swept across the iron doors on both sides, as if counting how many rooms there were.

The corridor was longer than it looked from the outside; it took nearly a minute to reach the end.

Large patches of paint had peeled off the walls on both sides, revealing the grayish-black concrete beneath. Some places still had old graffiti.

It wasn't modern spray paint, but carved into the surface with a nail or something similar, stroke by stroke.

Sean stopped to take a look. It was carved with "HELP" in capital letters, crooked and shaky, as if someone had carved it in great pain.

At the end of the corridor was a lobby.

Larger, emptier, and taller.

The ceiling was four or five meters high, and the chandelier above had long since shattered, leaving only an iron frame hanging crookedly.

Documents were scattered on the floor—yellowed paper with blurred handwriting.

Sean crouched down and picked up a sheet. It read "Lucia State Hospital, 1958 Annual Report." The words below were illegible, soaked by water, the ink bleeding out like blue flowers.

At the end of the lobby was a row of windows. Most of the glass was broken, and the wind pouring in from outside made the documents scattered on the floor rustle, as if someone were flipping through them.

Ballard stood in the center of the lobby, turned in a circle, and frowned as she looked at the iron doors, iron windows, and iron bed frames.

She said, "What can be found in a place like this?"

Elizabeth didn't answer her.

She looked at Sean and said, "Try to feel it."

Sean glanced at her.

She stood there, hands in her trench coat pockets, her posture relaxed, but her eyes were serious.

Sean closed his eyes.

[Intermediate Magic: Active Activation]

Golden light surged from his body. it was very faint, like a lamp about to go out in the dim lobby.

Magic spread in all directions, sweeping through every corner.

He felt it.

It wasn't like the faint traces in the New Orleans church.

This place was different.

The aura here was thick and heavy, as if someone had lived here for a long time, treating it as a home.

A demon!

Its aura had seeped into the walls, the floor, and every crack in the ceiling.

Like oil, like blood, like an indelible stain.

Sean opened his eyes. "This place has been infested by a demon."

Ballard's expression changed instantly. "A demon?"

Regardless of whether Ballard could handle it, Sean nodded seriously. "Yes, exactly what you're thinking. That kind of demon."

Elizabeth's eyes lit up.

She thought to herself, "As I suspected! This kid has many secrets!"

"Being a little patient is worth it..."