Chapter 297


    Jonathan and hispanions entered the empty ward. Even the bulbs did not work.


    It was evident that the hospital director did not care about running the hospital anymore.


    However, they were not there toment the fate of the hospital. Beatrix sat cross-legged on the floor


    and cast her force field out. The act of doing so was to release one''s vitality and emotions from one''s


    core.


    A room could be said to be a skunk''s force field when the gas it expelled filled it.


    Though beasts such as skunks would not know how to detect and manipte the emotions of their


    enemies through their stench, it was a different matter altogether for a master like Beatrix.


    Her force field contained her emotions and vitality, thetter of which could control everybody standing


    within her domain. If those within its confines were weak of mind, she could easily cripple their will.


    Jonathan had not had an ounce of resistance when he faced Yasir''s force field for the first time back


    then.


    On the second asion, however, his disregard for life negated its effects upon him.


    The effects of a force field, though subtle in its use against the enemy, were not absolute.


    At that moment, Jonathan and Mabel could clearly sense Beatrix''s force field, which was something to


    behold. Warm and cleansing, it enveloped them like water.


    In an instant, Jonathan and Mabel felt as if they were in the middle of the sea. They swayed with the


    rhythm of the waves, calm and gentle. At the same time, they could also feel the might of the ocean


    pulsating beneath the surface.


    The sea, with its horizon disappearing into the sky, could be breathtaking in its beauty. It was also


    capable of devastating destruction in its stormy wrath.


    It was only at that moment Jonathan became aware of Beatrix''s power.


    As the seconds ticked past, he and Mabel waited quietly in the hospital in interminable silence.


    Upon the arrival of midnight, the atmosphere drastically changed. The air suddenly became dense with


    negative energy.


    Almost instantaneously, Jonathan noticed the temperature plummeting.


    He could tell since their arrival that the geomancy in the hospital was poor, with a smell of decrepit


    solitude in the air.


    Jonathan and Mabel watched Beatrix.


    Five minutester, a scream of terror sounded. “No! Go away!”


    It was a female voice.


    Beatrix''s signal was not needed. Jonathan and Mabel knew that the baby ghost had arrived.


    Beatrix leaped to her feet. “Apply the Cow''s Tears!”


    As one, the trio sprang into action. Jonathan''s eyes seared from the heat the moment he smeared the


    Cow''s Tears across his eyelids.


    However, he had no time to dwell on that. Leading the charge, he was the first to dash toward Room


    308, but before he could take more than a few steps, Beatrix appeared in his path and ced a hand


    on his shoulder gently. “Don''t be hasty.”


    Despite her light motion, Jonathan felt as though an immense weight he was helpless against was


    pressing down on his shoulder.


    Now I understand the gap between our skills a little better. More importantly, I finally see the distance


    between Edward and myself.


    N?velDrama.Org holds this content.


    However, he did not mull over that thought for long as his priority right now was to track down the baby


    ghost.


    Beatrix arrived at the ward and sted the door open with her palm, with Jonathan and Mabel following


    closely behind.


    At the moment of their entry, the trio''s sight was arrested by a girl in the hospital bed. A bloody figure of


    a baby, not yet fully formed, was crawling on her face and calling for its mother with a pitiful whimper.


    The girl was so frightened that she wet herself. Though she screamed and wed at her face


    endlessly, she could not seem to touch the baby ghost.


    “I''m begging you. Please forgive me. I didn''t mean it. I''m sorry!” The girl wept.


    Suddenly, the baby ghost finally noticed the neers'' presence. Jonathan saw its eyes the moment


    it whipped around. They were beady and full of resentment.


    The undead infant shrieked, exposing its densely packed and razor-sharp teeth.


    Without warning, it then dashed, or rather, flew toward Beatrix.


    Though she was not afraid of the baby ghost, she could not kill it.


    It won''t be worth anything if its dead.


    “Such insolence!” Beatrix shouted, her eyes shing fiercely at the baby ghost''s charge.


    With the authority of a Divine Master, her shout frightened the baby ghost to aplete halt.


    Then, it turned to flee.


    “Give chase!” Beatrix ordered.


    Beatrix, Jonathan, and Mabel immediatelytched their vitalities onto their quarry and pursued it in its


    flight toward the south side of the hospital.


    The baby ghost was swift. Soon, it stopped somewhere on the south side of the hospital.


    Not long after that, Jonathan and hispanions arrived before a dumpster behind the hospital.


    With the guidance of their vitalities, they managed to ascertain that the baby ghost was underneath the


    dumpster.


    “It went down the sewers!” Mabel said at once, pointing at a manhole cover.


    Without another word, Jonathan lifted the manhole cover. Stagnant air mixed with a foul smell rushed


    out in an overwhelming, poisonous smog.


    It stinks!


    Trying his best to ignore the stench, Jonathan turned on the shlight on his phone and pointed it into


    the opening.


    He recognized the sewage two meters below by the myriad of dposing articles floating upon its


    rippling surface.


    I can imagine somebody disposing of their unborn baby here. There is a high chance that the baby


    ghost''s remains lie here.


    By that point, Jonathan and hispanions were confident in their intuition that the baby ghost was


    hiding in the murky waters.


    “What do we do?” they wondered aloud.


    It''s clear as day. There is a baby ghost here, and it is unrted to the subordinate of the Infant King.


    “We have to banish it,” Jonathan said in a low voice. “It wouldn''t do to let it remain hidden. Given its


    sensitivity, it might make contact with the other baby ghosts.”


    “How would we do that?” Mabel whispered.


    I''m not a soldier who can bear getting waist-deep in sh*t water. I would rather die!


    “I''ll go,” Jonathan volunteered without hesitation.


    Mabel jumped in fright. “You would?”


    “I''ve been in every sh*thole imaginable,” Jonathan replied, his mind made up. “This is nothing.”


    “No need. I have a way,” Beatrix said suddenly, a cold glint shing across her eyes.


    Then, she condensed her mana into a sword of light before directing it into the sewer.


    As a Level Five Divine Master, Beatrix could transform the mana in her mind into a tangible weapon


    against her enemies.


    The sword of light startled the baby ghost, who immediately began to flee. Soon, it had gone beyond


    the hospital grounds.


    Beatrix''s eyes flew open. “After it!”


    Though in awe of Beatrix''s ability, Jonathan and Mabel did not dare waste time. “Let''s go!”


    The trio threw themselves deftly over the wall and out of the hospitalpound.


    Night had fallen, and a chill permeated the air.


    The baby ghost exited Styx Street, then turned the corner into Valley Street.


    Jonathan and hispanions quickly made their way there.


    Situated beside ake, Valley Street was a bustling route during the day due to its location behind the


    hospital.


    As the street was barren of shophouses, it grew dark and quiet during the night, with only the bus


    station and a cold row of streemps in sight.


    A foul stench emanated from theke across the road.


    Environmental pollution of various forms had turned the geomancy of that region from bad to worse,


    but nobody noticed it.


    When they arrived on Valley Street, Jonathan and hispanions were greeted by a strange sight.


    The baby ghost was no longer on the run. Instead, it had stopped at the bus stop and was sitting in wait


    like an adult, albeit with blood all over its tiny body.


    Jonathan and the others could only see it after applying Cow''s Tears, and only they knew how


    unsettling a scene it was.


    They did not startle the baby ghost. Instead, they waited quietly in the shadows to see what it was


    waiting for.


    Time passed slowly until something strange happened half an hourter.


    Mabel pointed to something a hundred meters ahead. “Look over there.”


    The trio had sharp eyes and saw the object despite its distance.


    “It looks like a vehicle!” Jonathan said.


    Though there was nothing out of the ordinary for a vehicle to appear on the road, this instance was odd


    because it was a bus.


    It''s two in the morning. Lightspring is not a big city, so the drivers'' shifts should have ended long ago.


    What is this bus doing here?


    “Could this be the legendary ghost bus?” Jonathan mused aloud.


    ording to popr legend, ghost buses appeared after midnight, and once upon a ghost bus, one


    would never return.


    “It counts as one, but this one came from Eara,” Beatrix exined. “The dark energy spirits in


    Chanaea fall under the jurisdiction of Eara. That''s why ghost buses will appear every night in every


    city to bring the wandering souls back there.”


    An idea urred to Jonathan. This is one way to pass through Eara Gate!


    He had once wracked his brains for ideas to see Lah, but he knew nothing about Eara Gate.


    However, he did not intend to visit Eara anytime soon as his priority remained to help Mabel


    absorb the Infant King''s primordial spirit.


    “It looks like this baby ghost is going to board the ghost bus. What do we do?” Jonathan said, his voice


    lowered.


    “The ghost bus passes through Eara Gate and has nothing to do with the subordinates of the


    Infant King. Hence, there is no need for us to keep up the pursuit.”


    “What?” Jonathan eximed anxiously. “This is our only lead. How can we just give it up?”


    “This is not a lead, as it has nothing to do with our mission. The ghost bus belongs in Eara, and we


    are beings of the overworld. Don''t pick a fight, or there will be severe consequences.”