Chapter 3 Onboarding

Dai Lin took the contract and began to scrutinize it.

He was very serious, and Yin Wuque was patient, not rushing him.

"This..." But the more Dai Lin read, the uglier his expression became: "This... this..."

The female doctor was not surprised by his reaction, saying, "The first time I signed a contract, my reaction was the same as yours. That's right, working at our hospital is extremely dangerous. Especially for surgeons."

Upon reaching the last page of the contract, Dai Lin raised his hand and stroked his chin a few times.

"May I ask... must I sign this?"

"If you refuse," the female doctor seemed to have been waiting for him to ask this question, and she quickly replied, "We can only lay you in the morgue of our hospital. I should mention, this isn't a threat. I asked the same question when I was in your position, and I have personally seen what happens to those who refuse to sign the contract. We are all slaves to the Director. If he wishes, he can kill any doctor in this hospital at any time."

"Could it be that the Director... was also recruited?"

"You'd best not inquire about the affairs of the Director. You only need to remember one thing, to us, the Director is akin to a god or devil; it's absolutely impossible for us to resist him." Yin Wuque reminded him, "Dr. Dai, you have until... let me check the time, midnight. Not much time left. If you don't sign the contract before then... Well, what Dr. Gao said earlier was unpleasant, but indeed, it is the truth."

Dr. Gao then looked at Yin Wuque and said, "No matter how pretty we put it, death is still death, and nothing will change."

From beginning to end, the burly doctor didn't say a word.

Dai Lin noticed that whenever the Director was mentioned, Yin Wuque's previously cheerful expression changed, his face became incredibly stern, and his tone was not so polite anymore.

It didn't seem like acting. Plus, when mentioning the "absolute impossibility of resistance," Dai Lin noticed Yin Wuque placed emphasis on the words "absolutely no." He felt Wuque also deeply despised this so-called Director.

"It's fine," Wuque said. "Anyway, I don't have surgery today or tomorrow, so I can wait here with you. If Dr. Dai has doubts, you might consider it."

Yin Wuque's tone was very courteous, but Dai Lin could hear the confidence in his voice.

"Okay, I'll sign. Give me a pen."

Dai Lin didn't hesitate.

The content of the contract had no binding force from a legal perspective.

So, it was more likely the exertion of a supernatural force, akin to a pact between humans and devils in Western movies.

However, at this moment, Dai Lin had no choice. If he didn't sign, he faced the risk of death. Even if these people had ways to force him to sign, he didn't believe the police and the law could threaten them.

So, why waste time? Better to play along and possibly suffer less.

Dr. Gao handed the pen to Dai Lin and flipped to the last page.

Then, Dai Lin picked up the pen and signed his name in the party B section.

"Starting from tomorrow..." Yin Wuque watched Dai Lin sign his name, his face immediately brightened up, and he said, "Dr. Dai, you'll be temporarily following Dr. Gao Heyann for a clinical rotation internship at the Wraith Surgery Department."

Afterward, he stood up, walked over to Dai Lin, extended his hand with a smile, and said, "Welcome to our hospital, Doctor Dai Lin."

Dai Lin noticed that the enthusiasm of the Vice Director seemed to exceed the usual response to a candidate who had passed recruitment.

On this point, he was rather wary.

Dai Lin knew he was not in a position to push back, so he chose to lower his head for now and wait for the right moment to act.

And so, he shook hands with Yin Wuque.

...

"This is your doctors' resting room."

Dai Lin looked at the surprisingly spacious resting room before him and was astonished: Is this really meant for an intern?

Beyond the room's windows...

Lay an immensely profound, boundless darkness!

Behind him, the previously quiet burly doctor said, "The hospital's last group of interns has mostly become official staff, so currently, you're the only one staying here. You just signed the intern contract, so you can go back to complete your original work handover or arrange other personal affairs. You start work tomorrow afternoon. On workdays, you have to be on call, which means staying in the hospital, and you can only go home on weekends. Once the contract is signed, by merely a thought, your body can travel freely between the real world and the hospital's space, although each time you can only return to the last place you traveled from."

After exiting the interview room (which has a hidden door that only the Vice Director can open), the Vice Director had arranged for the muscular doctor to take Dai Lin to the intern doctors' rest room. This doctor had been rather silent, and only now did he speak for the first time.

Dai Lin nodded and asked the burly man, "May I ask... what should I call you?"

"Huo Ping, a doctor from the Ghost Surgery Department. The doctor responsible for your internship, Dr. Gao Heyann, is an attending physician in the Wraith Surgery Department. Among our departments, besides the Emergency Department, the Wraith and Ghost Surgery Departments are short-staffed the most. After your department rotation, your placement will be determined based on overall performance. Recruitment used to be managed by the department heads, but they've been too busy lately, so we're stepping in. Vice Director Yin values you highly and hopes you'll do well. Here, not progressing means getting closer to death. By the way, in your rest room, you'll find a detailed introduction to the hospital and a doctors' code of conduct, which you should read as soon as possible."

"Okay, I understand."

After Huo Ping left, Dai Lin found the hospital's introduction and the doctors' code of conduct in the resting room and read through them carefully.

After finishing, he stood in place thinking about returning to the real world.

Suddenly... he found that the surroundings instantly switched, and he was back in the corridor of the Ninth Hospital!

Back again!

Now, Dai Lin truly realized just how terrifying Hospital 444 was.

It all felt like a distant dream, but he knew it was no illusion.

This night was unbearably long.

Soon, his phone rang.

Dai Lin had noticed that as soon as he entered that hospital, his phone had powered off and couldn't be turned on no matter what. Yin Wuque told him that inside the hospital, phones couldn't be used, and doctors below the attending level were only allowed to use internal intercoms; only after becoming an attending could one use a special phone within the hospital.

"Dr. Dai, where on earth were you?" The caller was Dr. Zhao, "Listen to me, we checked thoroughly, and the patient you talked about... he passed away last night!"