A Price for Hope, a Glimpse of the Unseen

Inside the lavishly decorated private room at Jin Baihan, Bai Wanwan gazed at the large box of cash before her, a surge of excitement stirring within her.

To be honest, two hundred and thirty million might seem an insignificant sum in novels or television dramas, yet when such a vast amount of physical cash truly lay before one’s eyes, the sheer impact was considerable.

As for Liu Hanzhi, who stood beside her, her eyes were even wider, and she was subtly yet persistently urging Bai Wanwan to quickly take the money and leave.

After all, it was two million!

Liu Hanzhi had toiled painstakingly for over a decade among mortals, engaging in everything from fortune-telling and feng shui stalls to applying phone screen protectors and upgrading jailbroken devices, only to have scraped together a paltry sum of less than seven hundred thousand.

“Wanwan, let’s quickly grab the money and go. It’s two million, two whole million!”

Liu Hanzhi leaned closer to Bai Wanwan’s ear, whispering in a lowered voice.

Hearing her persistent urging, Bai Wanwan gave her an displeased glare.

‘During the earlier confrontation, Liu Hanzhi had vanished without a trace. Not only had she failed to offer assistance, but she had also hidden herself away so completely.’

‘Even Liu Guochang and Deng Shuqi, mere mortals, hadn’t fled. Yet she, a minor ghost, had run faster than anyone?’

‘What was it? Was she afraid of ghosts herself?’

Bai Wanwan was naturally displeased with Liu Hanzhi’s cowardly performance and her desertion in the face of danger, so she offered her no pleasantries.

“I’ll settle accounts with you later,”

Bai Wanwan declared, shaking her slender, pale fist at Liu Hanzhi.

Frightened, Liu Hanzhi huddled forlornly into the corner of the sofa, pouting her lips in a display of displeasure.

“Master Bai, here is two million three hundred thousand in cash. Please accept it,”

Deng Shuqi said with deep reverence, pushing the money-filled box towards Bai Wanwan, her expression a mix of awe and trepidation.

“Didn’t we agree on two million? This extra three hundred thousand…”

Gazing at the thick stacks of banknotes, Bai Wanwan likely understood the implication behind Deng Shuqi’s additional three hundred thousand.

“Regarding your brother’s situation, I am truly powerless,”

Bai Wanwan sighed, explaining softly.

“Although he suffered severe injuries due to being entangled by a malevolent entity, his current vegetative state is genuinely unrelated to supernatural forces.”

“You can only rely on medicine. It would be exceedingly difficult for me to awaken him.”

Hearing Bai Wanwan’s words, Deng Shuqi’s heart sank into near despair.

‘She couldn’t comprehend it. The problems at Jin Baihan had been resolved, such a monumental issue effortlessly settled…’

‘Yet her own brother’s injuries remained incurable.’

‘He shouldn’t have suffered this ordeal. If not for that malevolent spirit, he would likely be happily attending university now, embarking on a new chapter of his life, wouldn’t he?’

“Master Bai!”

Deng Shuqi suddenly dropped to her knees with a thud, startling Bai Wanwan.

Having grown up with her grandfather, Bai Wanwan understood intimately what a kowtow symbolized, so she quickly rose to help her up.

“Please… I don’t ask you to cure him; I only beg you to come and see him with me.”

“Just a glance would suffice, to see if there’s any hope left. If your conclusion remains the same even after seeing him… then I will accept it.”

Deng Shuqi was truly desperate. Bai Wanwan had told her to trust modern medicine, but modern medicine had also given her a conclusion of despair…

Given this, she might as well let Bai Wanwan try. She was willing to spend any amount of money.

“Master Bai, please, just go and take a look,”

Liu Guochang also interceded, gesturing towards the extra three hundred thousand.

“If you just go and take a look, you’ll earn this three hundred thousand. Why wouldn’t you?”

Liu Guochang tried to persuade Bai Wanwan from a pragmatic, financial perspective.

Meanwhile, the little female ghost beside Bai Wanwan was sinisterly whispering into her ear, telling her to go take a look. ‘There’s no need to cross money, even if you cross others,’ she seemed to imply.

“Alright, then, I’ll go take a look. But let me be clear: I don’t accept rewards without merit. A glance is fine, but I cannot accept the extra money.”

Bai Wanwan had long spoken of karma. Accepting money without fulfilling one’s duty would incur karmic debt, which could prove very troublesome.

Furthermore, even going to see him would be in vain. Bai Wanwan had already divined that there was a ninety-nine percent chance Deng Shuqi’s brother would not wake up.

His brain damage was irreversible. Unless a deity could once again be invited to possess someone, Bai Wanwan truly didn’t know how to repair a damaged brain.

“Thank you, Master Bai! I’m truly grateful! There’s no time to lose, let’s depart now.”

Seeing a glimmer of hope, Deng Shuqi was naturally quite enthusiastic, eager to rush Bai Wanwan directly to the hospital at once.

At the same time, her gaze fell upon Liu Hanzhi, who was huddled in the corner, her face a picture of wronged grievance.

It seemed Bai Wanwan had been harsh with her earlier, which was why she now maintained such a pitiful expression, shrinking alone in the corner, gazing wistfully at Bai Wanwan.

In Deng Shuqi’s eyes, Liu Hanzhi was, in fact, an entity no less significant than Master Bai herself.

After all, while Bai Wanwan had been unaware of what transpired earlier, Deng Shuqi had witnessed it clearly.

The malevolent spirit’s clones had not only approached Bai Wanwan from the front, but two more had lurked on the ceiling, attempting a sneak attack.

It was Liu Hanzhi who had discovered them in time, leaping forward with an arrow-like swiftness, and single-handedly fended off the sneak attack of those two malevolent spirits with a red hairpin.

‘It seemed… Liu Hanzhi had even been injured.’

At that moment, Deng Shuqi had been utterly terrified, unable to utter a single word. She had tried with all her might to warn Bai Wanwan, but the words had caught in her throat, as if she were being choked.

Bai Wanwan had still been drawing talismans and invoking deities at the time. It was safe to say that if Liu Hanzhi hadn’t blocked the malevolent spirits’ sneak attack for Bai Wanwan, all of them might have perished there.

And for some reason, Liu Hanzhi seemed to not want Bai Wanwan to know about this.

‘Was it to… conceal the fact that she had been injured?’

With a touch of confusion, Deng Shuqi personally drove Bai Wanwan and Liu Hanzhi to the hospital.

****

No sooner had they alighted from the car and before they even reached the hospital’s main entrance, Bai Wanwan instinctively froze in place.

“What’s wrong?”

Deng Shuqi watched Bai Wanwan suddenly halt and instinctively scanned her surroundings.

‘It was two or three in the afternoon, with the sun shining brightly. Surely, they hadn’t encountered anything unclean, had they?’

‘Deng Shuqi often heard urban legends about hospitals being haunted. Could this hospital before them also be…’

“This world, it truly seems to be changing,”

Bai Wanwan’s perception differed from others. Having just finished invoking a deity, she could perceive things invisible to ordinary people.

The hospital before her appeared far from peaceful. A heavy pall of Yin energy permeated it, and some of the patients coming and going weren’t even human…

For instance, an old man who had just passed by them, being supported by a young man.

To an ordinary person, they would appear to be a grandfather and grandson visiting the hospital together.

But in Bai Wanwan’s eyes, the old man had been dead for a long time, and the one supporting him was no young man, but a paper effigy.