Such a terrifying scene left John, a grown man, completely panic-stricken and at a loss.
Needless to say, the little girl who appeared here was definitely not human!
John instinctively ran back the way he came, but the elevator he had taken earlier was nowhere to be found.
Fortunately, he caught a glimpse of the fire escape door off to the side.
He rushed over and yanked at the door with all his might, all while keeping an eye on the girl’s movements not far away.
The girl didn’t do anything—she just stood there watching him from a distance.
But the sense of danger in John’s heart never diminished for even a second!
Was she not interested in chasing him down? No. It felt more like the calm, playful amusement of a cat toying with a mouse.
In the darkness, the figure of the little girl in white flickered in and out of sight. In the span of a blink, she transformed into the shape of an adult.
High cheekbones, sunken eye sockets, tangled and frizzy curls framing her face—John was instantly reminded of a horrifying memory from that night.
Annabelle Higgins!
The madwoman who had vanished without a trace, joined a cult, then returned to brutally murder her adoptive parents before trying to harm a pregnant Mia!
Mia hadn’t been hallucinating… everything she said was true!
Just as this thought crossed John’s mind, the fire escape door finally gave way.
He wrenched it open, charged inside, and sprinted down the stairs.
Not only had the elevator buttons changed, but even the floor signs in the stairwell had all become “13F”!
Muffled thunder rumbled outside the building, with flashes of lightning occasionally illuminating the eerily dark stairwell, allowing John to make out the steps beneath him and avoid tripping.
John couldn’t tell if this was reality or an illusion. Reason told him it was the latter.
Either way, going down would definitely lead to the first floor, greatly increasing his chances of escape.
But halfway down, John suddenly stopped dead in his tracks.
Father Andrew was still up there!
Was the evil spirit after him? Or was it after Father Andrew?!
John looked up, but no ghostly figure appeared before him. He quickly realized something was wrong.
Without a second thought, he turned and sprinted back up the stairs.
At the landing of the stairwell, a towering dark figure appeared right in front of him!
The figure was entirely dark red, with horns sprouting from its head and a terrifying face.
Its eyes glowed red, stark and vivid in the pitch-black darkness.
Overwhelming fear paralyzed John’s entire body, nearly causing him to collapse!
Suddenly, the dark figure reached out with a hand that didn’t look human and grabbed his shoulder!
A searing, burning pain exploded through him. John wrenched free from its grip and tumbled all the way down the stairs.
Dizzy and disoriented, he struggled to get back up, but a blinding light made it impossible to open his eyes.
“Dr. John? What happened to you?”
A nurse in a medical mask appeared in his field of vision, looking down at him.
Only then did John realize that he was lying on the ground, with no idea when he had fallen.
“I just…”
“There was a noise in the stairwell, so I came to check it out. That’s when I found you lying here.”
The nurse helped John to his feet, and they both noticed the pen, keys, and various small items scattered on the stairs above.
“It looks like you accidentally fell down the stairs.”
“Honestly, your condition is a bit worrying. Maybe you should talk to the director and have another doctor cover your night shift. It’s not that late yet…”
The nurse noticed that John’s hair was slightly damp with blood and made the suggestion.
But John wasn’t listening at all. A dazed look spread across his face.
He instinctively reached up and touched his shoulder—and instantly, a sharp jolt of pain shot through his brain, jolting him back to his earlier memory!
It wasn’t an illusion!
He immediately got to his feet, checked which floor he was on, and ignoring the nurse’s calls from behind, ran back up the stairs.
Up the stairs, turn the corner—repeating this four times—he finally pushed open the fire escape door and stepped onto the seventh floor, rushing headlong into Father Andrew’s ward.
No dark figure. No woman in bloodstained white. Everything in the ward was exactly as it had been before.
The medical equipment hummed steadily. The old man lay on the bed, his heartbeat stable.
Seeing this, John finally let go of the tension that had been holding him together. His body gave out and he slumped to the floor.
But just then, a crimson head emerged from behind him, resting on his right shoulder.
“May God have mercy on your soul…”
The devil’s whisper sent John’s soul into a complete void.
Suddenly, he felt as though he had drifted to a place he had never seen before.
Everything around him was dark, yet somehow transparent. His body felt light, as if buoyed by floating clouds, and he kept rising higher and higher.
Boom!
A muffled clap of thunder exploded, jolting John out of his trance!
At the same time, something cold, hard, and cross-shaped pressed against his forehead…
Just before he closed his eyes, he seemed to see a figure crackling with electricity punch another red shadow flying through the air.
“Stabilize his soul for me. I’ll come back once I’ve dealt with this thing.”
After saying this to Teresa at the door, Su Fan turned his gaze toward the red figure he had just sent flying.
Ram horns, sharp fangs, clawed hands, red skin.
Its appearance was almost exactly like that of a demon from traditional folklore.
The moment the two of them had stepped through the hospital’s main entrance, the flickering lights had suddenly stopped and returned to normal.
But Su Fan knew this wasn’t a good sign.
Not only had the enemy not left, it had successfully locked onto the floor where the priest’s ward was located!
Realizing time was running out, Su Fan ignored Teresa’s startled cry beside him, hoisted her onto his shoulder, and took off.
He entered through the fire escape on the first floor, leaped up, and in a few bounds reached the seventh floor.
Just in time to see the demon materializing behind the male doctor.
The doctor’s soul was leaving his body, his expression dazed.
Behind him, the demon opened its gaping maw, ready to devour his soul!
Su Fan set the nun down from his shoulder, slipped on his brass knuckles, and with arcs of electricity crackling around his fists, threw a straight punch right into that face!
The demon took the hit square on and went flying.
But it didn’t dissipate. Instead, it slowly stood back up.
Seeing this, Su Fan frowned, quickly assessing the enemy’s strength.
With the lightning-struck wood brass knuckles amplifying him, given his current physical capabilities, even a demon like Meg would be dead after one solid hit.
But judging by the demon’s reaction, it had taken that punch and still looked unfazed.
Looks like this one’s a tough customer.
Still, with Teresa around, he didn’t have to worry about the lives of the priest or the doctor in the ward. He could go all out and deal with this thing properly.
In front of him, the demon turned its head, revealing a face that had been nearly shattered, only to have it heal back to normal right before Su Fan’s eyes.
Just as Su Fan lowered his stance, ready to fight, the demon flashed him an eerie grin—and vanished from sight in an instant.
It ran?
Su Fan hadn’t expected that a demon with this level of power would flee so decisively, as if it had no intention of clashing head-on with him at all.
He opened his spiritual perception and conducted a thorough sweep, but found no trace of the creature.
Still, Su Fan didn’t let his guard down.
His spiritual perception had been blocked before—he couldn’t rely on it completely.
