Cafeteria.
At the familiar window, the one-eyed ghost blankly handed over 5 sticks of sandalwood to Saiki.
Saiki didn't stand on ceremony. After passing over one ghost coin, he headed toward Room 601.
System: "Saiki, you hypnotized him again..."
[What nonsense are you spouting?]
Saiki replied with a straight face, completely calm.
[This is mind control.]
Mind control: somewhat similar to hypnosis. While both can make others hallucinate, this one directly invades the target's mind to suppress and dominate. It's a skill Saiki rarely uses, because once applied to a normal person, they likely can't handle it and never recover—stuck in a dazed state, becoming a walking corpse.
[Yare yare daze, ever since I got this ability, I've barely used it. Only really works on ghosts. It's one of my rarely-used skills!]
"The effect is the same anyway. Don't use it anymore from now on."
(Yeah, yeah, another ability gets banned.)
Saiki opened the door. Aki and Fuyu spotted him and pounced over, but Saiki sidestepped and dodged.
Qingya set her book down upon seeing him and asked: "How was last night?"
[It was fine. Pretty useful.]
Saiki had also checked with the others. Those who lit their candles experienced nothing unusual in their rooms at night—aside from the room feeling chilly and occasional "woo woo" or "ah ah" sounds from the door, everything was normal.
"Saiki-oniichan, what's for lunch today? More sandalwood?"
Aki and Fuyu stared at Saiki with gleaming eyes.
When Saiki pulled the sandalwood from his pocket, their faces lit up with excitement. They reached out to touch it, but Saiki dodged.
Saiki wagged his index finger left and right.
[Not yet.]
Aki and Fuyu exchanged a glance, then smiled and pointed to their beds.
"Oops, sorry! We got too excited. Come on, Saiki-oniichan, sit here."
[No need. I have a few questions for you guys.]
No. 70 rubbed his palms together and shuffled over: "Hey, bro, just ask whatever you want!"
[Fine then. Last night there were tons of ghosts outside. Are they all patients from here?]
"Uh..."
He hesitated. Even Qingya's expression turned a bit off, while the old man continued meditating on the bed.
[Getting hesitant already?]
Saiki casually waved the sandalwood in his hand.
[Guess we won't eat this today then. Back to your usual stuff!]
Aki: "Nooo!"
Fuyu: "I'll talk! I'll talk!"
"Hey! Are you two sure about this?"
Aki and Fuyu instantly waved their hands in sync: "It's fine! As long as Saiki-oniichan doesn't tell anyone, no one will know, right!"
Saiki nodded.
"Ahem."
The two girls cleared their throats.
"Actually, at night there are all kinds of different ghosts outside. Sometimes not just hospital ghosts—lots we've never seen before."
[Aren't you guys ghosts too? Have you ever gone out?]
"We don't dare."
[Why not?]
"If we go out and get spotted by the nurses or security, we're done for. Haru and Natsu were just being playful and went out... and they never came back."
[Haru and Natsu—the sisters you imagined?]
Saiki furrowed his brow, wondering if he should make them take their medicine first before answering.
But the two girls looked upset and shouted: "They're not imagined! Haru and Natsu are real!"
"Ahem, bro, they're telling the truth. They really do have two older sisters."
No. 70 chimed in from the side in agreement.
Qingya also spoke: "It's true."
Saiki wiped his lips, recalling what the nurse had once said.
(So that nurse was lying to me?)
[So none of you have ever gone out?]
Aki and Fuyu scratched their heads and said in cutesy voices: "Only Grandpa Ma has gone out!"
[I see~]
Saiki nodded and distributed the sandalwood.
Qingya said thanks, then tucked hers into her chest. No. 70 carefully pocketed his: "Gotta save it for tonight, hehe..."
Aki and Fuyu took out a box, opened it to reveal the leftover stick from yesterday. One of them placed a new stick inside and grinned: "There! We'll save it like this. When Haru and Natsu come back someday, it'll be a surprise for them."
The two sat on the bed, tossed the sandalwood into the air, instantly lit it, and inhaled the incense smoke greedily—like addicts.
Humans eat food; ghosts consume incense.
At first Saiki thought they were going to eat it directly, but no—it was the burning incense. He recalled how offerings of incense were made to gods or ghosts. It made sense.
Saiki held the last stick of sandalwood, stepped forward with a slight smile at the corners of his mouth, and approached the meditating old man.
[Grandpa Ma, your sandalwood.]
This old man was the "Grandpa Ma" Aki and Fuyu had mentioned.
The meditating elder slowly opened one eye, reached out, and took the sandalwood from Saiki: "Young man, you want to ask about the outside too, right? Let me warn you first—if it's something I don't know or can't say, even if you beat me, it won't work. You can't bully an old man."
[Don't worry. I wouldn't do that.]
"Haha, so what do you want to know? Is it the same as what you asked the two little girls—about what we saw outside?"
Saiki pulled a stool from the headboard, sat beside him, and nodded.
"Sigh~"
The old man stroked his beard: "Actually, I've been in this hospital for a very long time. I can't even remember when I first arrived. My children probably forgot about me long ago... or maybe they're dead."
"Not long after I first came here, I once thought about escaping the hospital at night. But I found out it wasn't that easy. There were tons of strange people outside.
And the nurses and security kept changing. If anyone got caught, they'd be dragged to the operating table or the morgue.
I personally saw what happened to those ghosts who ran out and caused trouble."
[You saw it? Were you caught too?]
The old man nodded, a flash of surprise in his eyes: "Of course I was caught. Though I can't remember exactly what happened to those who got taken, I know it was miserable!"
The old man glanced at Aki and Fuyu, who were still inhaling the incense smoke: "Those two girls' sisters were probably caught too. I'm afraid... sigh..."
[Then how did you get back?]
The old man scratched his head: "Someone saved me and brought me back."
[A person?]
"Yeah, he was a human. I clearly remember that aura—it was definitely a person. Seemed like some kind of reporter. Wore glasses and carried a camera."
[What happened to him afterward?]
"No idea. I never saw him again. Probably dead... or maybe he left."
Saiki sighed and asked a few more questions about Medusa.
But the old man said there were so many ghosts and monsters here—who knew what "Medusa" even referred to?
When afternoon off-duty time came, Saiki put the stool back and prepared to leave. But the old man called out to him.
Saiki stood obediently in place, waiting.
After a moment, the old man pulled out a box, took out a windproof lantern oil bottle, and handed Saiki a small vial of lamp oil.
"You're planning to go out tonight, right? This will come in handy. You can put the candle inside to block the wind. Though outside it'll burn faster, putting lamp oil in works the same way."
Saiki took it and examined it carefully.
[Thanks, Grandpa Ma.]
Then Saiki headed to the gathering spot. On the way, the system murmured: "Saiki, looks like you actually got something this time. At least you got this lamp oil bottle. Normal people carrying this when going outside won't be seen by the ghosts out there, and it can repel some low-level small ghosts too."
[It's optional at best.]
"Don't act like it's useless to you just because it doesn't help much."
[Yare yare daze, what are you talking about? The point is, a clue has surfaced. That reporter Grandpa Ma mentioned—whether he's dead or left, he definitely left some traces in the hospital.]
"You're that sure?"
Saiki rolled his eyes at the system.
[Obviously. In plot terms, when you hear a story from an NPC, the events they mention will definitely tie into what's coming later. Hearing it is better than not—once you hear it, traces are guaranteed to be left behind. Besides...]
Saiki looked up, expression calm, and gave a composed smile.
[I'm the protagonist.]
System: ...
By the time they reached the gathering spot, including Saiki there were now only 4 people—down one from yesterday.
Everyone already knew who it was.
The packages handed out by the nurse were identical to yesterday's.
Lin Fan took his package and stowed it, then turned to ask Saiki something—only to find Saiki's spot already empty. The guy had vanished who-knows-where.
"(꒪⌓꒪) Ran off that fast!?"
...
Meanwhile, Saiki was in the elevator heading to the 1st floor.
Saiki glanced at the floor display: B1 to 6F.
"Sir, you have arrived at your requested floor."
[Thanks.]
After a day and night in the hospital, Saiki had discovered that the elevator lady here was actually human, with over two and a half years of work experience.
(What nerves of steel.)
Saiki stepped out of the elevator. Why had he come to the 1st floor?
Obviously, to Akiyuki's room in the 1st-floor caregivers' building.
Don't misunderstand.
Saiki had guessed that, given Akiyuki's cautious nature, she would probably come up again to ask him a bunch of scattered questions—so he came proactively.
And he wasn't wrong. When he reached her door, Akiyuki was just about to go find him.
After some scattered back-and-forth conversation ('readers don't like this part, so skipping it—no padding'),
One hour later...
Saiki walked out with hands in his pockets. He didn't rush back to his room; instead, he wandered around the 1st floor.
Coming to chat with Akiyuki was just on the way.
The real purpose was to observe carefully—after all, tonight he was going out to explore.
(Yare yare daze, this hospital is ridiculously huge!)
Since the hospital combined doctors, patients, and caregivers' building all in one, even compared to city hospitals, this place was far larger.
Saiki timed it perfectly and returned to his room at 10:30.
After tidying up a bit, Saiki sat on the headboard and quietly waited for night to fall.
"Tick tock..."
The hour hand reached 11.
The lights went out. Night descended.