Chapter 1

The old man, with a snap of his fingers, calculated that you are now in bed reading a novel, and you are even lying on your side, and your phone is probably still charging.

Yang Jian, who was currently in his senior year of high school, was lying in his bed, idly scrolling through his phone. He casually tapped on a post, and there were quite a few netizens replying to it.

"Damn, the OP is truly a god, even this was guessed right."

"Heh, should I tell you I'm in the toilet right now? No need to ask, my legs are numb."

"Get a tattoo of someone, and never be a worker again."

"Social, social."

Yang Jian closed this post and opened another one with a high click rate. The opening line was:

"I am a doctor at the Third Central Hospital of a certain province. I have something to tell you. Recently, something very terrifying happened at my hospital. I'm so scared I don't dare to go to work and am currently on leave at home."

"Don't talk, I won't buy shoes or add WeChat."

"The OP must have been harassed by patients. If not, I'll eat shit and die."

"Quick, look, the third floor is scamming again."

Yang Jian found the replies boring and clicked to only see the OP's posts.

The post immediately became clean, leaving only the one from the self-proclaimed doctor, whose username was "Lightning King."

The post continued: "Here's what happened. Last week, it was my turn to be on night duty. Around midnight, an ambulance brought in an old man. The medical staff on the ambulance said the old man had fallen from the fifth floor. My colleague had something to attend to, so I was the only one responsible for the diagnosis. At that moment, I could be 100% certain that the old man had no signs of life and was already dead.

"Moreover, based on the characteristics of the old man's body and the temperature of his chest, it could be determined that the old man could not have fallen to his death that night.

"Anyone with a bit of common sense knows that within ten hours of death, the body temperature drops by about one degree per hour in a normal temperature environment. After 24 hours, the body temperature will be roughly the same as the environment. However, the old man's body temperature was at least ten degrees lower than the ambient temperature, and possibly even more, while the temperature that night was 22 degrees.

"At that moment, I judged that the old man had been dead for more than a day."

Immediately, a netizen commented:

"The OP's 'a bit of common sense' is terrifying. I bow to the master."

"Quickly check if the patient's shoes are missing. If not, there's still a chance to save him."

"Scary, OP, update quickly. I'm already hiding in my bed."

Yang Jian continued to scroll down:

Lightning King continued to post: "Based on my experience from watching over 300 episodes of detective anime in junior high, I can immediately determine that the old man did not die from a fall but was murdered. The body must have been stored in a freezer. I immediately reported this to the police and informed them of the situation.

"However, what I want to talk about today is not this incident, but what happened afterward."

The post paused, and the update time was two hours later.

"Sorry, someone just knocked on the door to ask about the situation, but it wasn't an investigator or a journalist. They had credentials, but never mind, let's move on."

"It was probably the morning of the next day.

"I wasn't at work yet, but my colleague told me that the body of the old man who was brought in last night had mysteriously disappeared from the morgue. The police were investigating thoroughly, suspecting that the murderer had taken the body. The commotion was quite big, and they even checked the hospital's surveillance cameras, but they still couldn't find the missing body or the murderer.

"I was on duty tonight...

"But the events of the day made me a bit uneasy. A patient at the hospital said he had seen the old man's body, but it wasn't carried out by someone; it walked out on its own. The patient even accurately pointed out the route the old man took, which indeed led from the morgue.

"I was a bit scared when I heard this, but I'm an atheist and didn't fully believe the patient's words.

"Later, I heard from the head nurse that the neurology department's Dr. Fang was planning to increase the dosage of the patient's medication, which made me feel a bit better.

"Indeed, not believing the patient was the right choice...

"But what I want to talk about is not this, but something that happened while I was on duty at night.

"That night, it was probably around 2 AM. I was playing 'Tangwan Lan Yue' in the emergency room. You can't imagine how fun the game is. If you're a brother, come and fight me...

"Damn, OP, you're really a genius."

"What about the sincerity between people? You turn around and play a trick, catching me off guard."

"Social, social. I guessed the beginning but not the end. But I want to say, third floor, where's your promise to eat shit?"

A bunch of netizens followed up, making the forum quite lively.

Yang Jian, lying in his bed, couldn't help but laugh and cry. Are people this good at trolling now?

But as he scrolled down, something was off.

Lightning King continued to post: "Sorry, sorry, I'm not trolling. That night, something truly bizarre and inexplicable happened. You probably can't imagine it. At around 2:15 AM, while I was playing a game in the emergency room, I suddenly felt a chill, just like in the morgue. My skin was covered in goosebumps.

"Then, what do you think happened?

"The old man who had disappeared from the morgue last night appeared outside the emergency room. He wasn't dead but was moving very slowly, step by step, heading out of the hospital.

"God, this is impossible. I saw the old man with my own eyes, and he had been dead for more than a day. How could he come back to life?

"Prank? Zombie? Medical miracle?

"At that moment, I thought of many things, but perhaps because I'm used to dealing with corpses, I wasn't that scared. The most important thing was to take a photo with my phone and post it on my social media.

"Here's the photo, with proof. It's definitely not photoshopped."

Yang Jian scrolled down, and a photo immediately appeared.

The photo was not blurry but very clear. Through the emergency room's glass window, an old man was walking outside.

The old man was wearing a black one-piece robe, with a somewhat retro style. He was very thin, with brown, spotted skin. From the angle of the photo, one could see one of the old man's eyes, which was... lifeless, hollow, devoid of any vitality, and filled with a terrifying stillness.

The photo didn't show any bloody or terrifying scenes, but the feeling it conveyed made one's hair stand on end and the scalp tingle.

Especially when considering that the posting doctor, Lightning King, had clearly stated that the old man had been a cold corpse, it made the fear even more intense.

The more he looked at the photo, the more eerie it became.

It was like looking at a dead person, or even... a ghost.

"Scary, this photo is so terrifying. The more I look, the more scared I get. Where did the OP find this photo?"

"How many spots are on the old man's hand? I have trypophobia."

"Those are livor mortis, which means the old man was already a corpse."

"Hey, demons, scatter. I, Lin Zhengying, am here." A netizen posted a picture of a Taoist priest.

"Phew, you're Lin Zhengying, and I'm a lolita voice."

But regardless of how the netizens commented, Lightning King continued to post: "The photo is real, taken by me. Later, the old man walked out of the hospital, and I don't know where he went. But if anyone is in the same city as me, be careful. Although I'm an atheist, some things can't be denied."

"Wait, someone is knocking on the door again. Probably someone is taking my statement. I'll be back in a moment to continue."

But less than a minute later, Lightning King posted again: "Damn, damn, it's the old man who ran out of the hospital. He's standing at my door, and I can see him clearly through the peephole. What should I do? I feel like I've provoked something I shouldn't have."

"OP, are you having fun trolling?"

"Damn, is this real? It can't be that eerie."

"Report it quickly, find the police."

"OP, stop trolling. It's fake. If it's not, I'll eat double the amount of shit."

"Again, you, the shit-eater. You still owe me from last time."

But Lightning King posted again: "I reported it, but what should I do now? The thing is still knocking on the door, and it doesn't seem to be leaving. Not good, just now, the lights in my living room suddenly went out. I'm so scared I don't dare to go to the living room."

"I've closed the door and turned on all the lights I can, but the old man is still knocking on the door."

At this point, the posts from Lightning King were very urgent, with each message less than thirty seconds apart, and some words were misspelled.

This showed that the posting doctor was now very scared and panicked.

Yang Jian also felt a chill run down his spine, even though he knew the story might be fake. The thought of the old man standing outside the door and knocking made him feel uneasy.

An old man who had come back to life and was now knocking on his own door—anyone would be terrified.

But the post continued: "No, it's not good. I hear footsteps in the living room. God, I'm the only one at home. I suspect the old man who was knocking at the door has come in. He must have gone into the living room. I didn't hear him open the door. How did he get in?"

"The footsteps stopped outside my door.

"The thing is knocking again. I feel very uneasy. I've recorded the sound as evidence and left my phone number. If my phone can't be reached, I must be in trouble. Please report it to the police: 138....."

"Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock..."

Below was an audio file. When opened, it played a dull, oppressive knocking sound.

Each knock seemed to hit the heart, making it hard to breathe.

The post paused here.

Yang Jian scrolled to the end and saw only the last line: "The old man came in..."