Both calls reported nearly the same thing: Old Hou and Zhao Hongcheng were missing. If they had simply stepped out of the ward for some fresh air, they wouldn't have called. After hanging up, Feng Tian’s expression was extremely grim. The old Daoist priest beside them, though he hadn't clearly heard the content of the calls, grasped the general meaning and murmured involuntarily, "It has begun..."

"What do you mean?" Kuang Feifan couldn't help but ask.

"According to the legends mentioned, once the Nine Revolutions Soul Suppression Formation is activated, it must absorb the soul of its current medium before moving on to the next target, and it seems to proceed in increasing increments," the old Daoist priest said, trying to organize his words.

Kuang Feifan paused, looking at the old Daoist priest with confusion.

The old Daoist priest hesitated for a moment, then stated, "Right now, we must do everything possible to stop this formation from killing more people. Little Feng, you must find the missing people and save them if you can."

Feng Tian cast a worried glance toward that room.

The old Daoist priest seemed to know what he was concerned about, his expression solemn. "Don't worry, I can still handle things here. I will exert every effort to control the power emanating from this formation."

Feng Tian knew the situation was critical. Until they found a way to break the formation, all they could do was try to prevent further deaths.

He glanced at Kuang Feifan, then at Ji Ping.

"To the hospital," he told Kuang Feifan.

Kuang Feifan nodded.

Ji Ping interjected, "I'll go with you."

Kuang Feifan considered it for a moment, then shook his head. "No, I think it’s better for you to find the gas station manager right now. Find him, bring him here, and use whatever ability you have to find out what he knows."

Ji Ping was silent for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

Kuang Feifan and Feng Tian walked quickly toward the Daoist temple gate. Instinctively, as Kuang Feifan reached the entrance to the back courtyard, he turned to look back at the old Daoist priest.

Feng Tian noticed his hesitation and urged him, "Let's go, we don't know the situation at the hospital yet."

Once inside Feng Tian's car, Kuang Feifan still looked uneasy, though his worry wasn't about the safety of the Daoist temple.

Feng Tian watched as Ji Ping drove off in his own car before starting his engine and pulling onto the main road.

An unusual silence filled the car. After a while, Feng Tian suddenly spoke, "Do you have any questions?"

Kuang Feifan didn't reply immediately; he just stared out the window, pondering for a moment before saying, "Is there something you haven't told me?"

Feng Tian frowned. "What do you mean?"

Kuang Feifan suddenly waved a hand. "Nothing, just feeling unsettled."

Feng Tian took a deep breath, still voicing the question burning in his mind: "Your expression at the courtyard gate just now seemed a bit off. To be honest, do you suspect the old Daoist priest is involved in something?"

Kuang Feifan didn't answer directly, instead retorting, "What do you think?"

Feng Tian's face darkened, and he shook his head forcefully. "Impossible. I've known him for a long time. No matter how many hidden circumstances are involved in this, I believe the old Daoist priest is innocent. Even if he was deceived, it was by his own master."

Admittedly, Kuang Feifan had felt a flicker of suspicion toward the old Daoist priest, but that feeling carried more weight than actual evidence. Whether he was being overly suspicious or not, he didn't want to cause friction with Feng Tian right now based solely on a hunch.

So, he shrugged noncommittally, saying in an indifferent tone, "The truth takes time to uncover. For now, we should focus on how to rescue those people."

Feng Tian hesitated, then nodded.

He drove straight into the hospital's underground parking lot; the upper levels were already full.

They took the elevator up to the main lobby. Since the parking garage elevator didn't reach the inpatient floors, they had to transfer to another elevator in the lobby.

Kuang Feifan considered their options and said to Feng Tian, "Let's split up. You look for Old Hou's whereabouts, and I'll find Wang Hai. In any case, get Wang Hai and the others out of the hospital first, and then I'll look for Zhao Hongcheng."

Feng Tian thought it over and agreed that splitting up would be faster, but he knew it would significantly increase the danger for Kuang Feifan.

Kuang Feifan had already anticipated this, but he didn't want to constantly stay behind others; sometimes one had to take a risk, and this was one of those times.

If Old Hou and Zhao Hongcheng were still in the intensive care unit, finding them would actually be quite easy. Unfortunately, because their conditions had improved, they had both been moved to regular wards. Due to the relatively high number of inpatients, their rooms were not close together, nor were they on the same floor.

Kuang Feifan got off the elevator, while Feng Tian continued upward.

Upon exiting the elevator, Zhao Hongcheng's room was at the end of the corridor. But just as Wang Hai had said, he wasn't in his room, so Kuang Feifan immediately spotted Wang Hai sitting on a chair in the hallway.

Seeing Kuang Feifan appear, Wang Hai stood up from his chair and walked toward him.

They hadn't gone into detail over the phone, so upon seeing Wang Hai, Kuang Feifan asked directly, "How did Zhao Hongcheng go missing out of the blue?"

"He went to the restroom, very routine, but he didn't come back for a long time, and he wasn't in the restroom either. He just vanished. I searched almost everywhere," Wang Hai said helplessly.

Kuang Feifan inquired about the time and realized that Zhao Hongcheng disappeared shortly after they had broken a hole in the roof of that specific room.

Unable to explain the entire sequence of events to Wang Hai right then, Kuang Feifan could only tell him to leave the hospital immediately, not to delay on the road, pick up his girlfriend, and go straight to the Daoist temple.

Wang Hai initially wanted to stay and help search for Zhao Hongcheng, but Kuang Feifan vetoed the idea. Sometimes having more people wasn't much help, and Wang Hai also needed to ensure his own safety and that of his girlfriend.

Kuang Feifan's reasoning was sound, so Wang Hai didn't argue further and quickly left the hospital.

Unlike Wang Hai's method of searching, Kuang Feifan's first stop was the hospital's security office. Compared to ordinary people, the * things he carried often gave him an advantage in most situations.

After searching through the surveillance footage for quite a while, the only discovery was that after leaving the restroom, Zhao Hongcheng had entered a stairwell, but the stairwell had no security cameras. Therefore, they couldn't confirm his exact path, but one thing was certain: he had never reappeared in the hospital corridor after entering that stairwell.

Likewise, in the surveillance recordings, Kuang Feifan also found footage of Old Hou—he also left his room and entered the same stairwell, after which he was also lost to the recordings.

Kuang Feifan quickly sent this discovery to Feng Tian via text message, then proceeded to the entrance of the stairwell that Zhao Hongcheng had entered, based on the security footage.

When one has no leads, one of the methods for solving a case is to walk the path taken by the victim.

However, Kuang Feifan quickly realized he might have walked himself into trouble.

In fact, the entire hospital had more than one set of stairs, but the one he entered was relatively narrow. Furthermore, the voice-activated lights installed in the stairwell seemed unresponsive, or perhaps they were broken. After Kuang Feifan entered, neither clapping nor stomping made the lights on the wall turn on.

In the dimly lit stairwell, looking either up or down the shaft revealed only oppressive darkness.

Kuang Feifan was forced to pull a powerful flashlight from the back pocket of his trousers, feeling a surge of relief, though he couldn't shake the feeling that the beam of light seemed strangely dim, perhaps due to a power issue or just his imagination.

Ever since the spring-loaded door to the stairwell had closed behind him, he felt as if he had stepped into another world. Unlike the quiet of the hospital corridor, here there was a deathly silence. Yet, if he listened closely, various sounds still echoed in the air, faint yet distinct, rising and falling in succession: sounds like teeth grinding, others like screams, sharp laughter, and ragged, heavy gasps.

The more he tried not to focus on them, the more they commanded his entire attention. The light and shadow cast by the swinging flashlight beam on the walls added an eerie quality to the scene, causing Kuang Feifan an inexplicable tension, even making him consider turning back.

He had only entered to follow Zhao Hongcheng's footsteps, hoping to check for any noteworthy clues. This was a last resort method, and before entering, he hadn't expected to find much; the only thing he'd considered was whether he might encounter someone in the stairwell, perhaps a patient sneaking a smoke, whom he could question.

But now it seemed highly unlikely. This stairwell probably saw no other visitors but him, as people with a choice wouldn't intentionally climb a flight of stairs without lighting.

At this point, Kuang Feifan was already preparing to turn around and open the door to return to the hospital corridor, but in the very instant he turned, the beam of the flashlight swept across the stairs leading upward, and he thought he saw the light graze across a dark shape.

A shadow.

Kuang Feifan immediately shone the flashlight back, and sure enough, he saw a figure quickly retracting its upper body over the stair railing. Though it was just a fleeting glimpse, he thought he recognized the facial structure—even if he couldn't be one hundred percent certain, he believed it was Zhao Hongcheng.

However, Zhao Hongcheng’s posture and movements suggested he was terrified. Kuang Feifan noticed the expression filled with utter panic.

"Zhao Hongcheng?" Kuang Feifan tried calling out.

There was no reply from above, but he heard the rapid thump-thump-thump sound of someone scrambling up the stairs, clearly rushing upwards.

Although slightly frustrated, Kuang Feifan still held up the flashlight and followed, climbing rapidly. He intentionally sped up, hoping to catch up to Zhao Hongcheng.

Perhaps due to his recent recovery, Zhao Hongcheng's stamina wasn't as good as Kuang Feifan's. Even though they were separated by about one flight of stairs initially, Kuang Feifan quickly closed the distance by taking two or three steps at a time.

He could almost make out the figure ahead. Kuang Feifan, though not completely out of breath, was breathing heavily. He continued to run while shining the flashlight ahead. From the silhouette, the person's height and build were similar to Zhao Hongcheng's.

It seemed confirmed that it was Zhao Hongcheng. Kuang Feifan raised his voice to shout, "Zhao Hongcheng, stop! It's Kuang Feifan, I visited you before, remember? Stop for me..."

Perhaps because he mentioned his name, the figure ahead visibly stiffened. Zhao Hongcheng instinctively twisted his head, and under the beam of the flashlight, Kuang Feifan finally saw his face clearly, causing him to gasp in shock.