Seeing that Wen Yan seemed to have finished reading through the case files, Feng Yao spoke up slowly.
"Based on our experience, low-level domains that cover a large number of people but pose little danger almost always share this characteristic.
The more a domain's rules fit with the normal rules people are supposed to follow, the steeper the price when you break them.
The inpatient building is a typical example. Here, both the patients and the night-shift medical staff can get through the period covered by the domain completely unaware and unscathed.
Since there's an Inspector, there's a good chance there's a domain controller enforcing the rules. In a way, that's actually good news."
"Good news?"
"Yeah..." Feng Yao nodded, but something seemed to cross his mind and his face darkened. After a pause, he said, "Because a domain with no controller is actually even more dangerous. Scorching Sun Department once had a main squad that got completely wiped out in a domain without a controller."
Feng Yao closed his laptop and looked at Wen Yan.
"I've read your file. You only joined Virtue City Funeral House a few days ago, and you don't have any prior record of contact with this kind of thing. You don't have the relevant experience either.
I don't know why you're getting involved in this. Personally, I don't like it. It adds uncontrollable variables and could lead to unnecessary casualties.
But the new Minister gave direct instructions, and you've already entered that domain. You might have an easier time finding clues later, and you're from Virtue City Funeral House.
So I have no choice but to cooperate.
I want to solve this matter. Everything will be based on that premise. I hope you'll cooperate, too.
If I think you can't cooperate, or you're dragging us down, I'll kick you out, even if that means pissing off the new Minister. I couldn't care less."
Feng Yao was dead serious. When he finished, he reached out his hand to Wen Yan.
"Everything based on solving this matter, right?"
"Right. If your contribution is big, I'll cooperate with you unconditionally. The main goal is resolving this." Feng Yao said, just as seriously.
Wen Yan nodded and shook his hand.
Honestly, he liked it when people laid things out up front, aired any complaints early—it beats bottling it up and blowing up when it comes time for real work.
Besides, anyone who can be this blunt up front probably isn't the type to stab you in the back.
"It's not like I want to be involved. I have no choice. I almost got killed by a falling leaf just now. Supposedly an accident."
...
Feng Yao drove Wen Yan to First Hospital.
Then he checked himself in as a patient—and asked for Tuina (massage) department…
And since Feng Yao, who was there for Tuina, ended up in the bed right next to Wen Yan's. The reasoning was fair enough: there aren't many Tuina beds, and none were available, and he only needed daytime treatment—any bed for sleeping at night would do.
Only then did Wen Yan realize you could actually do this: ten Tuina sessions counted as a treatment course; register as an inpatient, and you get reimbursed.
And, it really does fall within policy rules.
He asked Feng Yao about it—Scorching Sun Department Field Agents have one hundred percent medical insurance coverage.
Wen Yan immediately understood—this guy is way too practiced, he clearly does this all the time.
Once inside the ward, Feng Yao put on headphones and held his laptop, constantly keeping in touch with logistics support. Besides the two of them, other team members were apparently in other departments too.
There were also people adding things under the pretext of maintaining security cameras, and all the procedures looked totally legit.
Feng Yao finished compiling and updating his materials. Once everything was done, he looked over at Wen Yan.
"I've got new info here, and a new hypothesis. If what happened to you today wasn't really an accident, you must have broken some rule."
"Breaking rules isn't allowed during the day, either?"
"Can't be ruled out unless we know for sure, but more likely it was last night."
Wen Yan frowned, thinking hard. He really couldn't figure it out—surely snacking at the nurses' station doesn't break the rules?
Then it hit him—maybe it was that loud noise he made banging on the workstation?
No way to verify for now. According to Feng Yao's latest data, since he survived once, he probably won't get hit by the same thing twice.
When night fell, Feng Yao and Wen Yan had their bland hospital dinner.
"Today's mainly about gathering intel. We can't take risks or make a fuss; there are other patients here. If we can't find a solution, we'll just wait for now; safest approach first."
"Wait for the hospital to move? Or just demolish this building?" Wen Yan immediately thought of that.
"If it comes to that and still isn't solved, blowing up the building isn't out of the question."
"..."
Wen Yan was at a loss for words.
As night fell, the sounds outside faded away. At ten thirty, the corridor lights turned off, leaving only night lights. The room lights suddenly went out as well.
A strange feeling crept into Wen Yan's chest. Nothing around him had obviously changed, but it felt like the world had shifted. A suffocating deathly stillness pressed upon him.
He glanced at the bed to his right. Feng Yao, who'd just been chatting with his laptop, was already lying down and snoring.
In the darkness, through the dim moonlight at the window, Wen Yan could vaguely make out that the innermost bed, which had been empty earlier, now had someone in it—someone apparently fast asleep.
Without a word, Wen Yan took out his phone and snapped a picture of the person.
He walked over to Feng Yao and patted his face gently. Feng Yao didn't react at all. Lifting his eyelids, Wen Yan saw he was clearly past REM sleep, deeply out.
He wasn't surprised. Feng Yao had warned him about this—last year, people investigating intelligence here had all experienced it.
This time, Feng Yao had extra charms and took Scorching Sun Department's medicine, but still fell asleep instantly.
Their research said all the patients do this after entering the domain.
With so many patients involved, nobody dared risk waking them all up, so they went through proper admission procedures to get in as patients.
Nobody knows what would happen if you try to get in without being a patient.
Better to play it safe and gather intelligence for now.
If they couldn't solve things soon, it might just be best to go ahead and move First Hospital as planned, and take drastic measures afterward.
The main reason Wen Yan could join in at all was that after lights-out, he could still go out while maintaining his patient status—legitimately.
Wen Yan tiptoed to the door, cracked it open, and peeked out. The outside was dead silent.
The snores and murmurs and toilet flushes he'd heard before were all gone; only a faint buzzing remained.
He left the ward and crept toward the nurses' station, peeking inside the other rooms as he passed; those were pitch black, though he could faintly see some occupied beds. There were far fewer people than before lights-out, proving not every patient got pulled into the domain.
Step by step, he approached the nurses' station. Before he even arrived, he saw the little nurse with the bad tooth behind the workstation, though her complexion was terrible—ashen as a corpse, her right cheek burned black, the right side of her skull slightly caved in.
Wang Xin noticed Wen Yan and looked startled. She jumped up, craned her neck toward the department entrance. Seeing no fog rising outside through the glass, she exhaled in relief.
"Good evening." Wen Yan smiled and waved.
"Why are you out again? After lights-out, don't come out. Go sleep!"
"You look worse than usual. No makeup today?" Wen Yan leaned on the desk and asked casually.
"Keep your voice down! Go back, now! Inspector could come any second. If we get caught, we're both in trouble." Wang Xin dropped her voice, anxious.
"I work at Virtue City Funeral House. I saw your parents visiting you today."
"Ah..." Wang Xin froze for a moment, then realized Wen Yan knew her identity. She hesitated a while before asking, "How are they doing?"
"They made your favorite mung bean pastries for you, brought some little rolls and oranges. They miss you a lot."
Wang Xin was silent, her expression a complicated mix of sadness, helplessness, and pain.
"You should hurry back. If the Inspector comes, you'll be in danger. She already took someone away last night."
"I need to ask you about this place. Tell me what you know—whatever you're able to say."
"The Supervisor does rounds, and any patient caught out of bed at night gets taken. If you don't follow hospital rules, you'll be taken too. If the Supervisor finds you out after lights out, you'll also be in danger."
Wen Yan nodded—this matched what Scorching Sun Department had deduced from their existing information.
"How did you get here?"
"I dozed off at the desk during the night shift. The Supervisor caught me, and brought me here."
"So it wasn't an accident after all."
"It was an accident, but only because I dozed off and got caught. That's when the accident happened, then I was brought here—been working night shifts ever since. It's been a year."
Wen Yan nodded. It was just as he'd thought.
Scorching Sun Department's earlier investigation was so sure it was just an accident.
Now they could be certain: even when the domain vanishes, its rules can still affect someone outside who broke them before.
But then he caught another key point.
"A year? You've been here every day for a year?"
"Yeah, here every night shift."
"Besides last night, when was the last time someone got taken?" Wen Yan zeroed in on the key point.
"I don't know about the other departments. Here, the last person was taken three months ago."
"Do you know their name?"
"Not sure. The list is with the Supervisor. But I remember that person's mouth was lopsided, and they had about a five-centimeter-long bald scar on the side of their head."
Wen Yan furrowed his brow—this was far more serious than he'd thought.
"The Supervisor—when she patrols, is it on a schedule or random?"
"Usually she's on a schedule. She makes it here around three a.m.—but sometimes it changes..."
Just as they were talking, Wang Xin's face suddenly twisted in terror. She glanced toward the floor entrance. Through the glass, Wen Yan could just make out a chill mist rising.
"Go back, now—the Supervisor's coming!"