Chapter 8

I suddenly turned my head and almost shouted out, but then I saw Officer Lin covering my mouth and whispering in my ear, "Don't respond, don't make a sound. Luo Ping said that no matter who calls our names, we shouldn't answer!"

How could I not know about what Luo Ping said?

My heart was pounding, and just then, a huge knock came from the iron door behind us.

Bang!

Since I was leaning against the iron door, I could feel the immense force, as if it wasn't a person but a wild bear that was smashing the door.

Bang, bang, bang...

The loud knocking echoed in the silent morgue. I tried to hold the door and asked who was outside, but the person not only didn't respond but also started knocking even harder. I felt a sharp pain in my back and instinctively took two steps forward. Turning around, I saw the green emergency exit sign on the door and noticed that there were several dented fingerprints on the iron door.

The person outside actually used their fists to smash the iron door into this state?

Is that person really the old gatekeeper?

A chill ran through me. I glanced at Officer Lin, whose lips were pale, and she asked me what to do.

What can I do?

I was almost in tears, and my head started to ache, making me feel dizzy and weak. However, in front of Officer Lin, I forced myself to stay strong. I looked at the wobbly iron door and said to her, "I definitely can't escape. If that thing rushes in, I'll grab it, and you take the chance to run away."

Saying such a brave statement, I couldn't believe myself.

But with a beautiful woman in front of me, a man's dignity still had some presence. I didn't care about the consequences and crouched down, ready to act.

Unexpectedly, after a while of knocking, the person slowly stopped.

Then, we heard heavy footsteps gradually fading away.

Although we didn't know why, Officer Lin and I both sighed in relief. At that moment, Officer Lin frowned and asked me, "Wang Ming, did you hear the sound of a flute?"

A flute sound?

Where could there be a flute sound in this morgue?

I strained my ears but didn't hear the flute sound. Instead, I heard Ah Gui's voice, which was sometimes far and sometimes near.

I was trembling and shook my head. Listening again, I heard nothing.

The person outside had left, and the morgue fell into a dead silence.

We couldn't leave or enter, and we were panicking at the door. I glanced at the iPhone tightly held by Officer Lin and suddenly had an idea. I said to her, "Officer Lin, don't you have colleagues in the hospital? Call them and ask them to come and pick us up."

Reminded by me, Officer Lin picked up the phone and found a name in her contacts, then dialed the number.

I nervously watched the phone, hoping someone would answer and come to our rescue.

However, due to the basement, Officer Lin tried several numbers, but none of them connected. In the silent room, the static from the phone made me feel as if something was scratching inside my head, which was very uncomfortable.

Just when we were about to give up, the phone suddenly connected.

I didn't know who Officer Lin called, but as soon as the call connected, she quickly shouted, "Ain, Captain Ai, I'm in the hospital morgue. We're trapped here. Something outside is like a wild beast, very scary... Hey, Captain Ai, did you hear me? Bring more people and come to pick us up..."

She said a long sentence with a crying voice, almost in one breath. However, as she spoke, no one on the other end responded, but a strange laugh came through.

How to describe this laugh?

It was like the suppressed and painful laugh of an old woman, a bit hoarse and a bit sharp, making my head "buzz" as if a needle had pierced it.

Officer Lin trembled in fear. At that moment, the phone on the other end transmitted the sobbing of several men. Then a choked male voice said, "Wang Ming, come quickly— if you don't come, we can't reincarnate..."

This voice... it was Xiao Zhang, who died in a car accident yesterday!

I also recognized the other two sobbing voices as Ah Gui and Wang Lei. Hearing these three dead people's voices from the phone, I shuddered, and Officer Lin, seeing my expression, also understood and, in fear, dropped the phone forward.

The phone, still in the call, drew a bright line in the dark morgue and flew into the depths.

My eyes followed the phone, and I saw two figures appear in the previously empty morgue.

The phone flew past the two dark figures, and the screen's light illuminated their faces.

They were faces I knew very well but also found extremely strange.

I knew them because I had worked with them for over two years. They were strange because their faces were almost completely destroyed, one of them even missing part of his head, which was terrifying.

Ah Gui, Wang Lei!

These two colleagues, who were still boasting with me a few days ago, had been lying in the morgue drawers just a few minutes ago, but now they were standing not far from us.

I was sure I was fully awake, and Officer Lin, who was next to me, also saw clearly and immediately let out a shrill scream.

Ah...

I was almost scared to death, but Officer Lin's scream made me feel a bit of a man's bravado. I wasn't sure if these former colleagues would remember our past friendship after death, but I knew the only way to survive was to escape.

Escape!

Where to escape? In a moment of desperation, I remembered the iron door that had almost been smashed earlier. I mustered my courage and pulled hard.

At first, the iron door was firmly embedded in the frame, but I went crazy and pulled hard. After several attempts, I suddenly heard a "clang," and the iron door opened.

The deformed iron door was pulled open, and the light from the corridor shone through.

I was almost ecstatic and pulled the door wide open, pushing Officer Lin out without caring if Ah Gui and Wang Lei would follow.

We ran like frightened rabbits and quickly reached the morgue's guard room. Just as we were about to go further, we heard heavy breathing from the corner.

The sound was exactly the same as the one who had been knocking on the door earlier.

This meant that the person who had been knocking hadn't left but was waiting for us at the basement exit.

With a wolf in front and a tiger behind, my mind went blank. At that moment, Officer Lin grabbed me and dragged me into the morgue's guard room.

The guard room was the only way to enter the morgue from the basement corridor. Everyone had to go through here to complete the procedures. An old man was on duty here. When we came in earlier, we had to wait for a while, and if it weren't for Officer Lin's police ID, we might not have been allowed in.

After all, the morgue was as important as the operating room in the hospital.

I was pulled into the guard room by Officer Lin, and at first, I was a bit confused. When she tightly closed the door, I heard the sound of a TV program.

I looked up and saw an old color TV playing Jiangsu TV's "If You Are the One," and in front of the TV sat an old man.

This old man was the gatekeeper of the morgue.

The old man was deaf and couldn't hear what was happening outside. He was happily watching TV. Seeing us rush in, he looked at us in surprise and shouted, "Officer Lin, are you done?"

Officer Lin hurriedly locked the door and then answered the old man, "Sir, did you hear anyone knocking on the door earlier?"

The old man opened his eyes wide and smiled with his toothless mouth, "What did you say?"

As he spoke, we heard a sound coming from the corridor. Officer Lin quickly waved to stop him from speaking and tried to turn off the TV, but the old man stopped her, pointing at the screen and saying, "This young man is good. I want to see which girl he likes. Don't interfere."

Seeing the old man's calmness, the sound from the corridor grew closer. I remembered that there was a small iron window on the wall, through which anyone entering or leaving could be seen, and I hurriedly went to close it.

Just as I rushed to the window, I saw a dark figure slowly walking towards it.

It was Ah Gui!

Ah Gui, with a purple and green corpse spot on his face, appeared at the window, tilting his head, with yellow and red fluid oozing from his eyes, and his teeth protruding, as if they had grown several inches...

Seeing this face, I fell to the ground in fear, but the old man, despite being deaf, reacted quickly. He rushed to the window and pulled the lever, immediately lowering a grille to block it.

Seeing the old man's quick actions, I was extremely excited and grabbed his hand, shouting, "Sir, you know how to do this?"

The old man turned around and immediately knelt in front of a Guan Gong statue, praying a few times before saying, "I deal with the dead every day. How can I not have some protection? Don't worry, I've had this place specially set up. Nothing can get in..."

Before he finished speaking, a heavy knocking sound came from the door of the guard room.

Bang!