Chapter 70: Wang Family Funeral Home
“It’s fine, we brought gloves.” Xiao Ping comforted, but he also knew this comfort seemed a bit pale.
He shrank back a little, thinking that since it was Meng Ning on the day shift anyway, he might not necessarily need to touch Chen Hai’s corpse.
But then he thought again, Meng Ning’s condition was clearly not good, and leaving her to handle it alone might lead to some mishap.
One teammate had already died; it was best not to have any more complications.
But he definitely wouldn’t be the one to touch the corpse first.
Seeing the atmosphere grow tense, Meng Ning also realized that even if her companions were willing to help her, they wouldn’t go so far as to test the danger for her first.
She could only force down the fear and discomfort in her heart, put on her gloves, and try touching Chen Hai’s corpse.
She already had experience with escaping; if anything seemed off, she would run immediately.
Her fingers touched the ice-cold corpse through the gloves, and Meng Ning felt like vomiting for an instant, but she held it back.
“No problem!” She looked delightedly at the part where her finger connected with the corpse; nothing unexpected happened.
Xiao Ping also breathed a sigh of relief. He was still some distance from the corpse and Meng Ning, but seeing this, he walked over a few steps.
“Let’s put him in the body bag together first.”
This was not an easy task. Lu Jinzhao came over to help too. Meng Ning had brought a bell and tied it to Chen Hai’s ankle, but because of the twisted posture in which he had died, they had to cause some damage to Chen Hai’s corpse in the process of putting him into the body bag.
“Like this, it should be fine, right?”
Meng Ning’s voice trembled as she spoke. She had never done anything like this in her life, and she was certain that this scene would stay with her until her death.
“If this were outside, we might even be considered criminals.” Xiao Ping panted as he sighed.
To get Chen Hai in, the arm of the corpse that was lifted had almost been broken off before it could be pressed down.
“Is that so?” Meng Ning didn’t quite understand, but Xiao Ping’s joke slightly eased the atmosphere.
“Alright, let’s send it in.”
Lu Jinzhao zipped up the body bag. After Chen Hai’s stiff, terrifying face disappeared from the three’s line of sight, the suffocating stench also lessened.
They hadn’t brought down the transfer vehicle, so they could only carry this corpse into the morgue.
The weight of a dead person was always surprisingly heavy. Meng Ning, walking in front, felt that her already unrested body found lifting this corpse especially difficult, but she didn’t dare complain too much.
Her teammates had already done more than enough; she could only be grateful.
Lu Jinzhao wasn’t carrying the corpse; she walked ahead to open the morgue door and then found an empty spot and opened it: “Put it here.”
After saying that, she watched her teammates carefully place the corpse, and once she confirmed it was fine, she turned and walked to the place she had been to yesterday.
Yesterday’s corpse had been placed by her and Xiao Ping in the freezer in front of her.
Lu Jinzhao’s complexion was even more serious than before. She raised her hand and, under Xiao Ping’s puzzled gaze, opened the freezer door.
“It’s gone.”
“What?!” Xiao Ping hurried over upon hearing this, and when he saw the scene, his brain went blank for a moment.
The corpse inside was gone.
“How could this be?” he muttered to himself, finding it hard to believe the sight before him.
But Lu Jinzhao wasn’t too surprised by this.
She just didn’t understand: why had the corpse moved?
Was it that all corpses brought here would resurrect, or was there some other reason?
She needed to know the reason.
It seemed that tomorrow she would also have to come to the morgue to check if Chen Hai’s corpse showed any abnormalities or had disappeared.
And now, she needed to do something else dangerous.
Hearing Xiao Ping and Lu Jinzhao’s words, Meng Ning finally reacted: “The corpse you sent over yesterday is gone?”
“Right!” Xiao Ping kept scanning left and right, as if very afraid that a corpse might suddenly appear somewhere: “Be careful.”
“I’m going to check the elevator.” Lu Jinzhao suddenly spoke up.
“Huh?” Meng Ning was very surprised: “The elevator… the elevator might be dangerous; maybe we shouldn’t go?”
She tried to stop Lu Jinzhao, after all, the other had been steady and very reliable so far, and she didn’t want to lose such a teammate.
Having someone like that nearby could make even a terrifying place feel a bit reassuring.
Lu Jinzhao just shook her head: “I’m just going to open it and look. Let’s go, back to the first floor.”
Hearing her say that, Meng Ning breathed a sigh of relief; she had really been afraid that Lu Jinzhao might lose her nerve and want to take that elevator.
If it was just going to the first floor to open and look, it should be okay, right?
The morgue door was closed again. The elevator not far away showed no abnormalities, but Meng Ning still remembered the sound of the elevator running last night.
That sound still occasionally echoed in her ears; she knew it was an illusion from being too nervous, but it also showed she had been quite frightened. Now, just seeing the elevator made her scared and unwilling to get close.
Probably after getting out, it would be like after surviving the train the first time—having nightmares for a whole month straight.
Sometimes, Meng Ning couldn’t tell if returning to reality alive but being immersed in nightmares day and night was what she wanted.
But she didn’t want to die on the platform either.
She still had great fear of death.
The three returned to the first floor, sunlight shining through the window onto them again, as if they had just returned from hell to the world of the living.
Lu Jinzhao’s gaze fell on the elevator button; it was very clean and showed nothing, so she reached out and pressed it.
Soon, the elevator door opened.
Meng Ning and Xiao Ping stood far away. Lu Jinzhao didn’t stand directly at the elevator door either but stepped back a few paces.
The elevator door slowly opened.
There was nothing inside.
No people, no ghosts.
Just a pair of footprints.
A pair of dirty, sticky footprints the same color as the foul-smelling liquid on Chen Hai’s corpse.
“As expected!” Meng Ning’s voice carried obvious fear: “Last night, there really… was a ghost in the elevator!”
After that ghost killed Chen Hai, where had it gone?
Lu Jinzhao slowly looked up and, in the instant the elevator door closed, looked toward the top where the light tubes were embedded—the elevator shaft.
Was there something up there?
Otherwise, why did she always feel that the elevator’s ceiling was slightly dented?
As if some heavy object was placed on top, pressing the elevator ceiling downward.
Had the area above the elevator been like this before?
From her memory, it didn’t seem so.
Even though she had only ridden the elevator once, she had observed it carefully.
In any case, this elevator absolutely could not be ridden again.
Tonight’s night shift would definitely face danger; she had to think about how to complete the patrol smoothly.
