Every footstep seemed to land directly on Chen Mo’s heart. Though the dim underground made it hard to see clearly, he could still sense the eerie force slowly encroaching upon him.
Urged on by the sound of footsteps, Chen Mo had no choice but to quicken his pace and dash forward. Soon, the duty room and the morgue door came into view. A single incandescent light was still on in the duty room, but Old Zhang was nowhere to be seen. Up ahead, the morgue door was eerily left ajar.
At the end of the corridor, he could vaguely see churning gray mist surging closer. Chen Mo hesitated for a moment, then finally pushed open the morgue door!
In the darkness, only that sound, like footsteps, echoed endlessly around him.
Then, it stopped right by his ear.
Through the morgue door, Chen Mo could even sense that something was standing just outside, silently watching him.
Then, the two sides seemed to fall into some kind of strange standoff.
After what felt like an eternity, Chen Mo suddenly noticed a wisp of eerie gray mist seeping slowly through the crack beneath the door into the morgue. At that very moment, a hand reached out from behind him, clamped over his mouth, and dragged him into the darkness.
The gray mist that had seeped in through the door crack churned near the entrance for a while, as if detecting nothing, and eventually retreated slowly. A moment later, the pattering sound resumed outside the door, but this time, it was fading away.
At the same time, the hand covering Chen Mo’s mouth finally loosened and moved away.
From the darkness behind him, a face emerged.
“Old Zhang… is that you?”
Chen Mo took a relieved breath. “Thanks.”
“Heh, how did you know it was me?” A familiar voice sounded from behind.
“When I saw the duty room empty, I figured you might have hidden in here.”
“Didn’t have time to warn you, but you’re a sharp one, kid.”
Chen Mo didn’t pick up on that thread and instead changed the subject. “What was that thing just now?”
“Don’t know.” In the darkness, Old Zhang seemed to shake his head. “A vengeful spirit, a malevolent ghost—whatever it is, it’s the embodiment of the supernatural force in the story, something that can kill us in an instant.”
“How did you know hiding in the morgue would let us escape its pursuit?”
“Just a guess. When a vengeful ghost hunts people, maybe it senses our life force. The morgue is full of corpses, steeped in death energy. When the supernatural attack came, I figured we could use that death energy to mask the living’s vitality and evade the ghost’s tracking.”
Chen Mo thought it over and figured it might be true. He was also glad he’d vaguely grasped that logic, which was why he hadn’t chosen the brightly lit duty room but instead fled into the grim mortuary.
And Old Zhang had clearly realized this even earlier.
Even so, the two waited another ten-plus minutes until they were sure the outside was completely calm before cautiously leaving their hiding spot.
Old Zhang wiped the sweat from his forehead. “Did you hear the footsteps? That vengeful ghost chasing us was probably the corpse that escaped from the morgue last night. And it seems the story has already given us a core clue, otherwise it wouldn’t be so blatant, having the ghost appear directly to kill.”
Chen Mo nodded, then told Old Zhang about how Nurse Yang Xiaoyu might be a participant in the story and the clues she’d left behind.
“Qi Dongsheng and Zhou Xue—both of them are connected to Zhao Heping. We’ve already got some info on Qi Dongsheng, but Zhou Xue is still pretty murky. And don’t forget, Yang Xiaoyu’s death and this supernatural attack happened after we encountered this new lead about Zhou Xue. That means she’s at least a key figure in the story.”
“What exactly is Zhou Xue’s identity, and what’s the connection between her, Qi Dongsheng, and Zhao Heping? We need to make this a priority for investigation.”
Chen Mo nodded. What Old Zhang brought up was also something that puzzled him.
“Too bad I’m not the real Zhao Heping.”
Since he wasn’t the actual Zhao Heping, only borrowing that identity in the story, Chen Mo had no memories of Zhao Heping in his mind. He figured this was another layer of difficulty the story added for participants.
With the supernatural force having receded, the two didn’t linger in conversation. After Old Zhang returned to the duty room, Chen Mo also left the basement level. As the elevator doors opened, the bustling hospital scene around him returned, as if everything that had just happened was merely an illusion.
Just as Chen Mo was staring blankly at the crowd, a voice sounded behind him again: “Dr. Zhao! Dr. Zhao!”
Chen Mo turned around and saw another nurse with an anxious expression. “Dr. Zhao, where did you go? The dean has been looking for you.”
“Dean Qin? Looking for me?”
The nurse nodded blankly. “Yes, please go quickly.”
Chen Mo nodded, but in his mind, he wondered if this had triggered a new plotline.
Arriving at the dean’s office, Chen Mo realized he’d overthought it. It was just that Dean Qin had arranged for him to check with Old Zhang in the morgue that morning and now wanted to hear his feedback.
Naturally, Chen Mo couldn’t bring up something as absurd as a “corpse rising.” He simply said that Old Zhang had been drunk and sound asleep during his night shift and didn’t know what had happened that night.
“That guy is practically derelict of duty!” After hearing Chen Mo’s report, Dean Qin was clearly furious. He was about to lash out but suddenly remembered that Old Zhang was a connection Zhao Heping had brought in, so he forcibly suppressed his anger.
After finishing his report, Chen Mo was about to leave when he looked up and caught Dean Qin’s hesitant expression.
Chen Mo’s heart stirred. “Dean Qin, is there something else?”
“Actually… ah…”
Dean Qin sighed before speaking. “Dr. Zhao, we’ve been short-staffed at the hospital lately, and it’s been tough on you.”
Dean Qin was clearly implying something.
With that, Chen Mo decided not to rush off. He sat back down. “Dean, just say what’s on your mind.”
“Dr. Zhao…”
“Nurse Zhou’s incident was an accident. Everyone knows it hit you hard, and your work hasn’t been at its best. But even if the surgery failed, don’t put too much pressure on yourself. The hospital will back you up, right?”
Dean Qin paused here, hesitating.
“The dead can’t come back. Let Zhou Xue’s matter rest. We have to look forward and move on step by step. Don’t you think so?”
Listening to Dean Qin’s words, Chen Mo put on a suitably sorrowful expression, but inside, he was quite shocked.
Dean Qin’s conversation had undoubtedly revealed new information.
Zhou Xue was also a nurse at the hospital.
Zhou Xue had a close relationship with Zhao Heping.
And she had died unexpectedly in an accident.
This Zhou Xue was clearly another important lead for investigation!
Back in his office, Chen Mo immediately turned on his computer and typed in keywords like “Seventh People’s Hospital,” “nurse,” and “death” into the search bar.
Soon, a long list of results appeared before him. At the very top was a post titled “Seventh People’s Hospital Nurse Dies by Jumping Off Building,” posted over a month ago.