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nEditor: SimoB

n“Have you heard of ghost doctors before?”

nAfter polishing off the ice cream cone, Shi Qing got two more, one for him and one for Meng Qing. They sat down on a bench to eat together.

nShi Qing finished first. He took out a handkerchief and passed it to Meng Qing.

nMeng Qing sulkily took the handkerchief and helped Shi Qing wipe the corners of his mouth. “I’ve seen them in my master’s books. They’re just another type of wandering spirit.”

n“There’s more to it than that.”

nWhen Meng Qing had wiped him clean, Shi Qing snuck over and took a bite of his ice cream. He chewed while the young cultivator continued wiping his mouth. “At least, the ghost doctor I found is different.”

n“Oh right, Mi Lang’s body is downstairs in the morgue. I don’t know how to perform exorcisms, so you should when you have the chance to later. It was a suicide after all. He’ll have less resentful energy on him and a better time down there if you do your thing.”

nMeng Qing’s hand holding the handkerchief paused. He glanced at Shi Qing.

nHe’d always held quite a bit of animosity towards Shi Qing before, but upon close inspection, he found that the demon king’s looks were indeed outstanding. He unconsciously blushed a little.

n“I didn’t think you’d be so kind.”

n“Oh be quiet!” The demon king gave him a shove. “This is just after-sales service.”

nThe young cultivator was sitting at the very edge of the bench, and he was somewhat distracted from looking at Shi Qing earlier. The light push was enough to send him tumbling to the ground.

nIt didn’t hurt, but it disoriented him.

n“Are you okay?”

nA young doctor who was hurrying by saw him fall and helped Meng Qing up.

n“I’m fine, thank you.”

nMeng Qing shook his head apologetically. He had studied the ways of Daoism since he was a child, so he should have a highly honed sense of balance. If he hadn’t been entranced by the sight of Shi Qing just now, he wouldn’t have fallen with such a slight push.

nShi Qing also followed suit and stood up, “Thank you doctor.”

nThe young doctor smiled, “It’s fine.”

n“Um doctor.” Seeing that he was about to leave, the demon king called out to him, “Excuse me, how do we get to the morgue?”

n“Go straight that way, turn left into the elevator and go down to B1.”

nThe doctor gave them directions very good-naturedly. “This way is the surgery department.”

n“Okay, thank you doctor!”

nShi Qing pulled Meng Qing in the direction the doctor pointed in. The embarrassed young cultivator couldn’t help but look back.

nThen the demon twisted Meng Qing’s head back towards him. “Why are you looking at him? I’m your companion. Look at me.”

nMeng Qing’s face reddened again.

nHe carefully glanced around at the passing patients, nurses and doctors before whispering, “Don’t say such things so loudly. What if someone hears you?”

n“Who says they can hear me?”

nEntering the elevator, the demon yawned and leaned on the young cultivator’s shoulder, “Hey, have you been to the Underworld?”

n“Never.”

nMeng Qing: “Isn’t the Underworld only for ghosts? If the living go there, they’ll be dragged down the River Styx.”

n“What a load of absolute nonsense.”

nThe demon king snorted coldly, “Anyone more powerful than the King of Hell can come and go as they please. It doesn’t matter if it’s one of you righteous cultivators or a demon like me. You’ll be fine going in and out seven out of seven times.”

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n“But&#k2026; “Shi Qing leaned on his shoulder and smirked wickedly, “I’d rather go in and out of you seven out of seven times.”

nMeng Qing’s expression lacked understanding.

n“…Forget it. Let’s talk business.” Shi Qing said, “Do you know why the boss of the Underworld’s called the King of Hell, and the judge’s called Meng Po and what not? Because at first the Underworld was simply a mess that no one cared about. Then a ghost, the King of Hell, practiced ghost cultivation and united the entire Underworld.”

n“This ghost basically plagiarized the details from the Chinese myths and proclaimed himself the King of Hell. Then he renamed the judge to Meng Po and so on and so forth. Only then did the Underworld gain a semblance of order.”

nMeng Qing never knew about these things. He had thought that the Underworld existed from the beginning.

nShi Qing: “There’s not much there, but the River Styx is rather pretty. Every spirit that recently arrived in the Underworld must cross it. Their souls glow in all sorts of colours. It’s like a bridge of light. I heard that, if a pair of lovers walk across that bridge hand in hand, they can be together again in their next life.”

nSeeing that Meng Qing still didn’t understand, the demon king took his hand and pulled it up to eye level. He raised his eyebrows: “Come with me to the Underworld today. I want to cross the River Styx hand in hand with you.”

nMeng Qing: “…I don’t think that’s a good idea. Neither of us are spirits so we’ll be breaking the rules of the Underworld.”

n“Funny. The last time I went to the Underworld, the King of Hell said the same thing to me.” Shi Qing smiled kindly at the young cultivator, “After beating him up, he never said that again.”

nMeng Qing: “……”

nHe wisely decided to shut up.

n–Ding!

nThe elevator door opened.

nThey held hands as they stepped out. Shi Qing suddenly asked: “Do you remember the name on the nametag of that doctor just now?”

nMeng Qing had a good memory, or else he wouldn’t have surpassed his martial siblings.

nHe closed his eyes and searched his mind for the memory from earlier.

n“Zhang Haixiang. His name is Zhang Haixiang.”

n***

nZhang Haixiang was a pretty ordinary doctor.

nHis family could be considered to have a strong medical background. His great-grandfather was apparently a barefoot doctor, his grandfather was the village doctor, and his father was also a doctor.

nWhen he was a child, he noticed how busy his father always was. He was mostly raised by his grandfather, who had retired by then. He told Zhang Haixiang that he should never become a doctor when he grew up.

nHis father agreed. But he disregarded their advice and insisted on becoming a doctor.

nZhang Haixiang applied to medical school.

nMaybe all those heavy medical texts he leafed through as a child influenced him, but when Zhang Haixiang’s father was in a car accident when he was a teenager, he sat on the bench in the hospital corridor and cried in utter despair because he knew what could go wrong in detail.

nThen the operating room’s door opened and a doctor in a white coat came out. He told him that his father’s life was not in danger for the time being.

nAt that moment, the doctor seemed to glow like a deity.

nDespite the opposition of his family, Zhang Haixiang enrolled in medical school. Even if everyone told him how hard it would be, he fearlessly strode forward.

nThere are a lot of bad things about studying medicine. The fast-paced emergencies and new literature to review never stopped coming. You often had to work on your feet for more than ten hours at a time. Sometimes you would barely be able to rest before being paged back to the hospital.

nHis parents sat him down and went over all of that with him when he decided to apply to medical school.

nZhang Haixiang still applied.

nHe was still a spirited and hot-blooded youngster at the time.

nHe thought, “If I don’t study medicine, if none of us study medicine, then who will the sick and injured come to see?”

nThe life of a medical student was always busy, with endless books, study sessions, and exams.

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nThey got up earlier than the roosters, went to bed later than the dogs, and worked harder than the cows.

nEven after graduating, they still had to go through a long internship period. Becoming a full-fledged doctor at the end of that was also just another beginning.

nZhang Haixiang was a surgeon. At 35 this year, he could still be considered a young man, but his hair had started to fall out already.

nIf there was any major event, such as a series of car accidents or an overturned bus, there would be no rest for the doctors.

nEvery day was busy. Every day was exhausting.

nBut Zhang Haixiang was quite happy.

nHis surgeries had saved many people. Everytime he saved a person and received sincere gratitude from their families, his heart felt warm.

nA human life hung in the balance, and he brought it back from the brink of death.

nBeyond that, his actions had also saved a family or two.

nZhang Haixiang felt that, as a doctor, his happiest moments were when he was saving a life or taking a vacation.

nAlthough there were times when he couldn’t save someone despite his best efforts.

nIt was hard to save a person whose condition suddenly deteriorated or died directly on the operating table.

nIn all his years of practice, he has sent many patients off and saved many more.

nThe more time that passed, the less he regretted his decision to become a doctor.

nSo many lives.

nAll saved by him.

nThe only remaining regret he had was towards his parents and family.

nHe was married to a teacher and they had a daughter together who was now five. She was a very obedient child who always looked forward to going out to play with him, but he spent too little time with her because of his work.

nZhang Haixiang had been saving up for a vacation, and he planned to travel with the whole family when he saved enough.

nBut he still had to get his work done first.

nHe didn’t know what was going on these days, but there were always a lot of patients who came for stitches, often one after another.

nHe pushed open a door purposefully. There was a young man with blood still on his body screaming shrilly.

nZhang Haixiang carefully inspected him and revealed a small smile, “Alright, you just need stitches on your knee. I’ll patch you right up.”

n“No anesthetic?”

n“There’s no need for that.”

nThe young man waved his hand: “Doctor, I’ve been in pain for a long time. I can’t even walk, so please give me something.”

n“It’s fine. We have wheelchairs here that you can rent if you really can’t walk.”

nZhang Haixiang meticulously and carefully completed the operation himself before standing up.

n“Done. Be careful not to get the area wet for a while. If it hurts take the painkillers I’ll prescribe you.”

n“Thank you doctor.”

nThe young man smiled gratefully, “This one really hurt. Man, was I unlucky! I mean the truck flipping over was one thing, but this pain has plagued me for so long. Dr. Zhang, thank you so much. Sigh. I’m so stupid that it took me a long time to find you. Otherwise I would’ve been able to leave a long ago.”

n?

nZhang Haixiang had never thought of himself as a popular surgeon. He smiled. “What are you talking about? Even if I stitched you up, it’ll be some time before you can walk normally without feeling pain.”

nThe young man smiled and waved his hand, “It’s not like I’m still alive. The stitches alone are enough. I can kind of walk now, Aiyo, I don’t think I could’ve standed one more minute of that pain!”

n“But Dr. Zhang, I’ll wait for you. Your time seems to be almost up too. You’ve helped me so much after all. I’ve been wandering around here for so long so I’m familiar with the roads. When you’re better I’ll show you the way.”

nZhang Haixiang felt that he technically knew every word this young man said, but why couldn’t he understand their meaning when put together?

nHe asked hesitantly, “What are you talking about?”

n“Huh?” The guy scratched his head, “Did I say something wrong? When I was looking for you earlier, I found your body coming this way. It looked like you were almost gone.”

n“What? What body? When was this?!”

nDazed, Zhang Haixiang took a step back. The sound of hurried footsteps suddenly came from outside. This was obviously the first time he had heard them, but dread pooled in his stomach.

nHe couldn’t help but push open the door. Immediately, he saw his wife being led away by a colleague he was close with. Their daughter was in her arms.

nPerhaps she was in too much of a hurry, but she tripped all of a sudden and fell to the ground.

n“Ah! Sister-in-law!”

n“Er Er!”

nZhang Haixiang subconsciously stepped forward to catch her, but his hand slipped through his wife like he was touching air.

nHe froze and stared incredulously at his hand.

nHis five year old daughter was eating a lollipop. Because her mother cushioned her from the fall, she was fine and even looked around curiously.

nTurning her head, she saw Zhang Haixiang and shouted happily.

n“Daddy!”

nJust like that, the wife who was just barely able to maintain a calm demeanor, instantly collapsed to her knees with her daughter in her arms and wailed.

nHis colleague next to her was busy comforting her: “Sister-in-law, don’t cry yet. Dr. Zhang’s condition might be worsening, but we’re already working on resuscitating him. He’ll definitely be fine.”

nHis wife shook her head, holding their daughter in a death grip like she was grasping at straws. She struggled to her feet with the help of his colleague and continued to stagger forward. “Sister-in-law, this way.”

nSeeing his colleague bringing his wife and daughter upstairs, Zhang Haixiang stood up slowly and looked down at his hands.

nWhat was going on….

nAs if he just understood something, he subconsciously headed for the elevator. The elevator door just closed before he could enter, so Zhang Haixiang turned for the stairs.

nHe ran very fast, like his life was depending on it.

nHe was heading to the operating room on the topmost floor.

nAs he ran up the stairwell, he just happened to see his own pale body on a ventilator being pushed into the operating room.

n–Ding!

nThe elevator door opened, and Shi Qing and Meng Qing walked out. The few people who followed them out couldn’t see them.

nShi Qing stepped forward with his long legs and pulled Meng Qing to Zhang Haixiang.

n“It’s him.”

nZhang Haixiang was trembling all over. He slowly raised his head.

nHe looked at the man who had asked him for directions before who said, “That man, Zhang Haixiang’s, body gave out after working nonstop for fifteen hours straight.”

n“He collapsed by the operating table in the middle of a surgery and has been in a coma for almost half a month. During that time, he’s been working as a ghost doctor. I guess his lifespan runs out today.”

n“Thirty-five years old. Cause of death: overworking.”

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