"Oh, I don't know if I can help you, Miss. You see, many children have been admitted here, so I don't know which child you are looking for." The nurse gave Li Fei'er a wistful smile. Tending to sick children was harder than dealing with adults who had lived enough years to understand and enjoy the world.
Li Fei'er then understood that it wouldn't be easy for the nurse to identify the young ghost. She then tried to remember any distinct features the girl had.
"Little sister, has a birthmark on her right forearm. Have you seen or met her before?" She asked. It was the most notable feature the girl had, which Li Fei'er remembered.
"Oh, you mean, Jin Qian?" The nurse seemed to know who the girl was. "Unfortunately, she died three winters ago."
Li Fei'er bit her lower lip, feeling bad about the child. Something must have happened to the mother that kept her from coming and seeing her child at the hospital.
"I see, then her mother… had she come and met the little girl before she passed away?"
However, the pitiful look the nurse had on her face let Li Fei'er know that the mother hadn't. The nurse shook her head and sighed deeply.
"She never came back. The management had decided to host the final rights for Xiao Qian," she told Li Fei'er with a solemn expression. "We've tried to reach her, but no one knew where she went or where she was."
"I see." Li Fei'er couldn't help but pity the dead child. The girl had been long gone, but she was stuck here waiting for her mother to come back.
The nurse left her after telling her where the girl's body was laid to rest, just in case Li Fei'er was interested to visit Jin Qian at the local cemetery.
Once the nurse left, Li Fei'er opened the door of the room, only to find the girl seated by the windowsill, looking outside. She wanted to ask the girl if she knew she was already dead but decided not to. The girl might have known it already and was only having trouble accepting the truth.
"I have to go now, but I will leave something here to make sure the scary monster won't come here. Is that okay with you?" She asked.
Jin Qian only nodded and stared blankly outside, letting Li Fei'er place a talisman on the door to ward off evil spirits and demons from entering the room. Once done, Li Fei'er was about to leave when she heard the ghost ask her.
"Jiejie, are you going to visit me again soon?"
Li Fei'er knew that she shouldn't meddle with the girl's affairs. She might come from a long line of shamans, but if she didn't learn how to say no to wandering spirits, she would be left exhausted as she catered to their every demand.
"I'm a little busy right now, but tell you what, once I'm done, I'll make sure to see you and help you find your mommy."
She kicked and chastised herself mentally. She could have just turned her back and let the child wonder about her answer, but why did she take pity on the child?
Jin Qian seemingly improved her mood and smiled at Li Fei'er.
"Then, I would wait here for Jiejie to come back. Please don't forget me like what my mommy did to me."
"I'll surely come back for you! But you have to promise me not to step outside this room, or else those scary monsters would go after you again. I wouldn't be able to help you if that happens." Li Fei'er reminded Jin Qian. She wasn't sure if she would be able to exorcise the demon that was causing great havoc at the ICU area, but she wouldn't dare to turn back on her words and forget Jin Qian.
Darn it, she should have ignored the girl when she had a chance. Had her father known that she came here to the hospital to hunt a malevolent spirit on her own, Li Fei'er was sure she wouldn't hear the end of it. She might be too kind to be a shaman, but as a person who couldn't ignore another creature in need of her help, Li Fei'er didn't have the conscience to turn a blind eye to Jin Qian after knowing her story.
Anyway, back to the problem at hand, Li Fei'er continued walking towards the ICU. There were still humans roaming around, oblivious to the fact that many small demons had clung to them to feed on their life source. The hospital was supposed to treat humans' health back to its peak, but with demons swelling around to feed on them, Li Fei'er wouldn't be surprised if more people would succumb to death if the problem persisted.
It didn't take long before Li Fei'er reached the ICU and realized the kind of entity she would be dealing with. Among the demons, a creature that Li Fei'er never imagined encountering showed up as soon as she came back from her training. There weren't many occurrences of wraith sightings around the country.
"How come it's a wraith?" She muttered to herself confusedly. Of course, she had learned about wraiths before during her training as a shaman, but this was actually the first time she was going to see one. According to her master, it was one of the hardest entities to deal with.
However, aside from the wraith, she also sensed an oddity in a room located at the end of the hallway. Li Fei'er sensed a human under the protection of a powerful creature that demons wouldn't dare to offend.
'How odd. Just what kind of human is he to be able to get such protection?' Li Fei'er thought before making her way to the source of the wraith's traces that it left the day before, not noticing the two pairs of eyes watching her actions from afar.