Chapter 63: Wang Family Funeral Home
Clearly, there were many cars parked on the way here, but there were hardly any people in the service hall.
Only one young man was standing at the front desk with his head down, seemingly organizing something.
Seeing the four of them enter, he looked up and his first words were: “You’re the ones who came to apply for the job earlier, right?”
It seemed the train had already arranged everything for them, so they could start “working” right away.
Seeing this, worker Xiao Ping couldn’t help but complain: “If only the companies and bosses in reality were this efficient.”
“The only thing I don’t want to hear is praise for the train’s high efficiency like this hellish joke!” Chen Hai shook his head vigorously.
The young man didn’t hear their low voices complaining. He lowered his head, picked up a paper box from under the counter, and then beckoned to the four of them: “Come over here and get your name tags.”
The onboarding process was unusually simple, but this was inside the platform after all, where anything could happen.
Four name tags printed with names were placed on the front desk surface. The name tags had a black background with white letters, perfectly matching the funeral home’s atmosphere.
“You four as new employees don’t have much to do. Two per group, take turns on night shift. Those on night shift are responsible for patrolling, while those on day shift are responsible for receiving corpses and performing cosmetic surgery on them.”
“You don’t need to worry about anything else. Very simple, right?”
No. How is this simple at all?
This sounds like deadly work at first listen!
But the few of them had no way to refuse.
“Listen carefully to what I say next, remember it in your hearts, and absolutely don’t forget.” The young man looked at them and took out several strings of bells from the box.
“Those responsible for receiving corpses must perform cosmetic surgery and makeup on the corpses after they are delivered. During this process, you must tie a bell to the foot of every corpse.”
“Absolutely no omissions.”
“For those on night shift, the main places you patrol are the cold storage where corpses are kept and the equipment room for cremating corpses.”
“During patrols, don’t make loud noise, go in pairs, try not to be alone. If you encounter anything strange, don’t panic, stay in places with light.”
“Sometimes there will be sudden power outages. There are candles in the duty room that you can use.”
“No matter what, try not to stay in completely dark places.”
“That’s it. Got it memorized?”
The more they listened, the colder their hearts felt.
But under the mission’s requirements, they could only memorize these rules. Even knowing there were ghosts ahead, they had to move forward.
“Alright, here’s the car key, and here’s the shift schedule. There’s a corpse to be delivered at 6 p.m. this afternoon. The ones on duty remember to go receive it.”
“Don’t worry about not recognizing the way. The corpse will be delivered to the main entrance.”
After saying that, the young man confirmed that they all understood, then took them to the dormitory.
The dormitory was a six-person room, but currently unoccupied, so the four passengers moved in.
This kind of mixed-gender living situation wouldn’t normally happen in the real world, but inside the platform, it wasn’t the time to worry about such things.
Compared to pairing up in twos, everyone preferred all four to live in one dormitory.
Afterward, the young man took the four to tour their workplace, to familiarize themselves with the routes and the placement of items.
“Alright, you should all know what you’re supposed to do by now. I’ll head out first. I have things to take care of.”
After they had familiarized themselves with all the facilities and locations, the young man left.
Seeing him walk far away, the few of them looked at each other, seemingly all having a lot to say.
Chen Hai broke the silence first and said directly: “What he just said makes me feel like the danger is mainly concentrated at night. What do you all think?”
Lu Jinzhao didn’t choose to speak first, but listened to her teammates’ opinions.
Meng Ning largely agreed with Chen Hai’s idea and nodded: “I think so too. The things to do during the day don’t sound as dangerous as at night. That person emphasized the night the most. Such a large funeral home with frequent power outages is very suspicious just thinking about it.”
“Indeed, but we can’t ignore the daytime work either, especially the one he mentioned.” Xiao Ping added: “You should have guessed the purpose of tying bells to the corpses’ feet, right?”
The few of them looked at each other. No need to speak; they all understood each other’s meaning.
In past eras, bells were tied to corpses’ feet to avoid misjudging them as dead, but now medicine is advanced. Corpses sent to the funeral home for cremation require a death certificate. Tying bells to the feet of people confirmed dead—if the bell rings…
“Be sure to pay attention to the sound of the bells during night patrols.” Xiao Ping said.
“We saw the duty room earlier. There are six candles inside, definitely enough for three nights.”
“There are also flashlights. Our own mobile phones can provide light too. After a power outage, remember these tools, don’t panic, and absolutely don’t leave your companions.”
The few of them shared their thoughts with each other. Lu Jinzhao was a bit more silent, but not completely detached. The other three just thought it was her personality.
Overall, she thought the other three’s analysis wasn’t wrong. This mission didn’t seem complicated on the surface.
Now she only hoped that nothing would go wrong after nightfall.
“Little Lu and I are on duty today. Let’s prepare to go receive the corpse in a bit.” Xiao Ping pushed up his glasses and said.
“Nice, I want to be on day shift too.” Chen Hai somewhat bluntly said this out loud.
Meng Ning was clearly envious too, but she didn’t say it.
Lu Jinzhao looked at her teammates, who despite some worries were still preparing to follow the mission arrangements. She couldn’t help but think of her first platform. Back then, some people weren’t very willing to carry out missions, but after spending some time on the train, they all became exceptionally “obedient.”
The few of them wandered around the funeral home again, trying to familiarize themselves with the terrain as quickly as possible. Then, time gradually approached 6 p.m.
“Let’s go, Little Lu. It’s time for us to receive the corpse.”
Xiao Ping was a bit nervous, constantly pushing up his glasses. Even as an adult who had worked for a long time and faced many difficulties, inside the platform, he still couldn’t face things calmly.
He turned to look at Lu Jinzhao and found her expression exceptionally calm. He mocked himself in his heart for not even measuring up to a student, but seeing his teammate so calm, he relaxed a bit too.
The two put on gloves and hats, and went to the main entrance. Not long after, a black hearse drove in.
Two men wearing black work clothes pushed a trolley down. It was covered with a white cloth, and what was underneath was obvious.
Faint crying sounds came from the vehicle, but no one got off. Lu Jinzhao and Xiao Ping could only push the trolley into the funeral home.
“Were there family members in the hearse just now? Why were they only crying and not getting off?”
Xiao Ping was somewhat doubtful, but as soon as he spoke, he saw Lu Jinzhao looking at him and making a “shh” gesture with her hand raised.
He didn’t quite understand but immediately fell silent.
He didn’t know that Lu Jinzhao had similar experience. In the real world, when a corpse is transported from the hospital to the funeral home, family members would accompany and handle various procedures.
But just now, only crying sounds came from the vehicle, and the handover staff said nothing. No matter how you looked at it, it wasn’t normal.
They hadn’t gone far yet, and Lu Jinzhao didn’t think it was a good time to discuss.
Even more cautiously, during the process of performing cosmetic surgery on the corpse, it was best not to chat too much.
