Huo Ning’s face was expressionless as her fingers lightly rested on the jade bracelet on her left wrist.  

The ripples on the bracelet swayed almost imperceptibly. Cheng Shuang let out a fierce roar, and a surge of black energy shot straight toward the vengeful ghost’s vital point.  

The vengeful ghost was startled, barely dodging the attack with a swift sidestep, its spirit body trembling violently.  

It stared at Huo Ning’s direction with unwillingness and dread, but the vast gap in power forced it to retreat resentfully.  

The people around only felt that the temperature in the room wasn’t as cold as before, unaware that Huo Ning had just averted a disaster for them.  

Song Zhen’s gaze froze for a moment, her hair standing on end.  

She had just seen a fleeting black shadow at the door of the hospital room!  

Sensing her unease, Huo Ning silently grasped her hand, signaling her not to worry.  

With her hand held like this by Huo Ning, Song Zhen inexplicably felt a wave of calm wash over her and let out a soft sigh of relief.  

Huo Ning stayed by Grandma Song’s side, chatting with her for a long time until she lulled the old woman to sleep.  

She gently closed the door to the hospital room and stepped into the hallway, quietly inquiring about Grandma Song’s condition.  

Uncle Song Xingwen sighed.  

“Same as before. Your grandmother is sensitive by nature and tends to bottle things up. Over the past two years, her health has been declining day by day.”  

His expression was weary, and he instinctively reached for the cigarettes and lighter in his pocket.  

Remembering they were in a hospital, he silently withdrew his hand.  

Seeing the slight hunch in her uncle’s back, Huo Ning’s eyes flickered with complex emotions. She pressed her lips together before asking, “Uncle, do you still have enough money for Grandma’s treatment?”  

Song Xingwen stiffened, slowly lowering his head.  

His face was etched with bitterness, but he forced a smile for the sake of his younger relative.  

“Ningning, don’t worry. Your grandmother’s treatment doesn’t cost too much. Your uncle has enough savings.”  

He wasn’t lying.  

His savings were indeed enough.  

But doing so would leave him with little left by the end of the year.  

It always seemed to be this way—whenever the family managed to save some money, some unexpected crisis would arise.  

As a result, they had lived in poverty for so many years.  

Huo Ning sighed inwardly.  

Her uncle’s wealth palace showed a collapsing pattern. Even if he didn’t say it, she knew he could never hold onto money.

But she had no right to pity others.  

After all, she still owed nearly three million herself.  

Sigh.  

Huo Ning opened Alipay, found Song Xingwen’s account, and transferred 70,000 yuan to him.  

“Uncle, take this money for now. If it’s not enough, I’ll figure something out.”  

Some things were more urgent than others. The earliest repayment date for her loans wasn’t until next Sunday, so she still had some time.  

But Grandma’s illness obviously couldn’t wait.  

Song Xingwen was flustered when he saw the transfer notification.  

“Ningning, what are you doing? How can I take your money? Save it for yourself—whether for your own needs or for your future marriage. I can’t accept this!”  

Song Zhen quickly turned and nudged Huo Ning’s arm.  

“Ningning, don’t worry. I’m working now and have some savings too. Bai Ye also helps out at the hospital often. You don’t need to stress over Grandma’s medical bills. Keep this money for yourself.”  

Although the 70,000 yuan would ease her father’s burden and give their family some breathing room, Huo Ning had been struggling financially ever since the Huo family kicked her out.  

That 70,000 yuan was probably painstakingly saved over a long time.  

If she gave it to them, how would Huo Ning manage afterward?  

Song Zhen didn’t consider herself particularly generous, but she couldn’t stand by and watch her younger cousin—five years her junior—sacrifice her own well-being just to lessen their burden.  

Song Xingwen fumbled with his phone, trying to refund the money.  

Huo Ning immediately stopped him.  

“Uncle, listen to me. Grandma’s gallstones—we’ve been treating them at this hospital for a long time, but there’s been little improvement. I was thinking… maybe we should take her to a hospital in the city.”  

Besides gallstones, Grandma also had some minor heart and lung issues.  

As the saying goes, stones aren’t a disease, but the pain can kill you.

Huo Ning just wanted the old woman to suffer less.  

“On my way here, I noticed the doctors and nurses here are careless and indifferent, treating patients based on their status. I don’t trust them with Grandma.”  

But that wasn’t the only reason.  

The main issue was that Huo Ning sensed something wrong with this hospital.  

It was shrouded in an eerie, oppressive fog—the kind that made it hard to breathe the moment you stepped inside.  

Hospitals, with their heavy energy, often attracted supernatural entities, which wasn’t unusual.  

What was strange was how overwhelmingly concentrated the ghostly energy here felt.  

Her instincts told her that the vengeful ghost she’d encountered earlier was just the tip of the iceberg.  

Something far more sinister—with deeper resentment and higher malice—was lurking within these walls.  

Though Huo Ning was a practitioner of the mystic arts, she had little interest in playing the hero, vanquishing demons, or exorcising spirits.

As her master used to say, if she tried to capture and deal with every ghost in the world, would she ever manage it all?  

As long as there was no conflict of interest, it was better for everyone to mind their own business—sweep the snow from your own doorstep and leave the frost on others’ roofs alone.  

There was really no need to try to capture every ghost she came across.  

Song Xingwen fell silent for a long time.  

This hospital was indeed not the best choice.  

But Zhenzhen worked nearby, making it easier to look after Grandma.  

And compared to other options, it was already relatively close to where they rented.  

Song Xingwen also knew that the city hospital had more advanced equipment and more skilled doctors and nurses than the county hospital.  

But given their circumstances, he had no choice but to compromise.  

“Ningning, the city hospital is too far from the county. We can’t balance work and taking care of your grandmother at the same time.”  

Their family situation was another major issue.  

He had taken time off from his construction job today because Grandma was having surgery, and he didn’t feel comfortable leaving Zhenzhen alone to handle it.  

Even on normal days, Song Xingwen never rested after his construction shifts—he immediately started delivering takeout, pushing himself to the limit to save every penny.  

Yet despite all that, his savings still weren’t enough to send Grandma to the city for treatment.  

Huo Ning sighed inwardly.  

Her earlier suggestion had indeed been a bit naïve—like asking, Why not eat meat if you’re hungry?  

Seeing how life had weighed her uncle down, bending his spine under its pressure, her chest tightened with an indescribable ache.  

She really needed to work harder to earn money.  

Song Xingwen insisted on returning the money to Huo Ning. Every time she sent it back, he refunded it again.  

Finally, they reached a compromise: Huo Ning kept 20,000 for herself, while Song Xingwen treated the remaining 50,000 as a loan, even writing her an IOU.  

“Dad, Ningning, I have to get back to work. Let me know what you want to eat later—I’ll bring it after my shift.”  

Song Zhen worked near the hospital. She had originally wanted to take the day off, but her boss refused, only approving a one-hour leave—combined with her lunch break, that gave her three hours in total.  

Huo Ning frowned.  

From Song Zhen’s facial features, it was clear her career wasn’t going smoothly—she was probably enduring a lot of mistreatment at work.  

But Huo Ning couldn’t exactly tell her to quit—she didn’t have that kind of leverage.  

All she said was, “Be careful on your way, and watch the traffic lights.”  

Earlier, she had noticed that Song Zhen’s forehead was darkened with ominous energy, her face thick with the aura of impending death—likely indicating a life-threatening incident around 6 p.m.  

But with the protective talisman Huo Ning had given her, that disaster should be avoidable today.  

Still uneasy, Huo Ning pretended to walk Song Zhen out but deliberately lagged a few steps behind, quietly instructing Cheng Shuang to follow her cousin and protect her from any mishaps.  

She cast a talisman onto Cheng Shuang to temporarily suppress her ghostly energy, ensuring it wouldn’t physically affect any ordinary people she came into contact with.  

Once that was done, Huo Ning saw Song Zhen safely across the street before returning to the hospital.  

Standing outside the hospital room, her brows furrowed deeply.  

The room was thick with ghostly energy—but why was there so much demonic energy too?!