Chapter 1: The Corpse's Return

  My name is Yang Guo, and I live in Wu Village, Taixing, Jiangsu Province, along the Yangtze River. Those who have seen the news know that many years ago, a shocking incident occurred in Wu Village, Taixing. At that time, it was August, and the Yangtze River was in its flood season. The villagers made their living from the river. However, one evening, the Yangtze River suddenly stopped flowing, and even more strangely, all the villagers in Wu Village experienced sleep paralysis on the same night, except for my mother, who was giving birth to me at that time.

  That night, I was born. It might also be my bad luck that the year I was born, the Yangtze River flooded and all the crops were submerged, resulting in a complete loss of harvest for the village that year.

  The villagers behind thought I was a disaster star, drove our family out of the village, my mother was so sad that she died when I was ten years old, it was my father who raised me.

  Three years ago, I came to Jiangnan City alone and experienced the university life without relying on anyone. Like every medical student, I learned to weigh the weight of life and death with a doctor's values while operating between life and death, and gradually wanted to make a vow to be a conscientious doctor.

  Our school is called Jiangnan Medical College, the only medical college in Jiangnan City. In the center of the campus stands a thousand-year-old banyan tree with lush branches and leaves, and the school was built around this giant tree. It's said that when the medical college was being constructed, a Song Dynasty tomb was unearthed during excavation. A team of archaeologists was dispatched by the state to investigate, and they found a large number of artifacts from the Song Dynasty in the tomb. However, what puzzled the archaeological experts was that there was no coffin in the tomb, only a thick layer of burial objects. As a result, rumors about the owner of the tomb spread like wildfire.

  A month after the school was built, there were already students jumping off buildings to commit suicide. It's normal for a few students to die in a school, but what's strange is that those students' bodies were found in an unusually consistent state - all of them had jumped from the same place. This incident quickly shocked the police, but the result was ruled as suicide. After the hospital compensated the families, the matter was settled.

  Behind, there were still students committing suicide, and the school was really helpless. It didn't know whether it was the school's brain hole or if it had gone crazy, so it invited a Feng Shui master. The master said that under the big tomb, there was an underground river, which had not been dredged for a long time, accumulating yin energy. Under the guidance of the Feng Shui master, the school sent people to dig through the underground river and also diverted living water from the main river. A bridge was built on top of the underground river to suppress the yin energy, named Song Bridge. The name seemed poetic, but it was actually a bridge built over the underground river of a big tomb of the Song Dynasty.

  Since the dredging of the hidden river, there have been no more strange incidents of student suicides in the medical school. On the contrary, everything has gone smoothly and the school's popularity has grown. This period also became history, known to very few people, and I only heard it later from an old professor's mouth by chance.

  But just recently, another strange thing happened in the medical college. The river water of Song Bridge suddenly turned red, as if it was filled with fresh blood, and the bloody river water was terrifying. On the day when the river water of Song River turned red, a female student from the college jumped off the building and committed suicide, falling from the sixth floor without bleeding. This had already exceeded the scope of science. The forensic examination result of the body was: died from shattered internal organs due to the high fall. As for why there was no bleeding, the forensic doctor couldn't explain either.

  For a time, various speculations circulated widely.

  "You guys heard that the girl jumped off the building because she and her boyfriend broke up at Song Bridge (also known as Lover's Bridge), and then killed herself. It's very likely that it was her curse before she died, which is why the river water of Song Bridge turned red." Roommate Li Mong started gossiping as soon as he got back to the dorm.

  "It's not that, I heard it's because there is a big tomb under the school, and the ghost in the tomb came to seek revenge." Long Chenyu couldn't help but interrupt.

  "That's enough from you guys. College students still believe in those superstitions, with your attitude, can you become a qualified doctor in the future?" Ding gave them a white eye.

  "I bet she must have been dumped by her boyfriend, was feeling down and went to the rooftop to get some wind, then accidentally slipped and fell off!" Ding Ke's words instantly made everyone burst out laughing.

  "Yang Guo, what do you think?" Li Mochou asked when she saw that I hadn't spoken up.

  "You guys don't know squat, there's no such thing as ghosts in this world. I've known the truth all along." I said with a smug expression.

  "Cut, just you." The three of them puckered up and walked away together.

  Since I was young, my curiosity has been particularly strong, and I like to explore mysteries. However, due to family background reasons, when I got to university, I felt especially inferior, but on the surface, I always had an air of not admitting defeat, a bit like Ah Q, with a feeling of being a chicken among swans, only Li Meng, who also came from a rural area, was slightly closer to me.

  I knew the truth about what was going on. Earlier, I had gone to see the Blood River of Song Bridge, which is located at the confluence of the Dark River and the main river. It just so happened that only the Dark River had turned into a Blood River, while the main river was unaffected, indicating that the water quality of the two rivers was different. I took water samples from both rivers and tested them in my laboratory, adding hydrochloric acid to each sample. The Dark River sample turned yellow, while the main river sample showed no change, leading me to suspect that the Dark River contained a high concentration of iron ions. As expected, when I added potassium thiocyanate, the Dark River sample produced a blood-red precipitate, while the main river sample remained unchanged.

  The truth is that a large amount of iron trioxide appeared in the dark river, also known as red ochre or rust. It was this mineral powder that turned the Song Bridge water red.

  So I don't believe in those superstitious rumors, and I knew the school would come out to clarify. As expected, the school's official statement said that there was an iron mine upstream of the underground river, and a broken pipe caused polluted water to seep into the underground river, causing pollution.

  Once the official explanation came out, all the rumors collapsed on their own, and this led everyone to believe that the girl's death was indeed just an accident. Gradually, the matter was also settled.

  But no one had expected this was just the beginning of a nightmare.

  This afternoon was anatomy class, I arrived at the anatomy building early, the building was empty and there were no people. Every time I passed by an autopsy room, I could see the corpses lying quietly, the smell of formalin was pungent and unbearable. I dragged my footsteps to the classroom, there was no one in the classroom, looking around, the operating table was empty, the corpse box was gone, the human anatomy chart on the wall was blown up by the wind, I shivered with cold, a wave of drowsiness suddenly came over me, I randomly chose a seat and sat down, falling asleep quickly.

  Suddenly, a hand landed on my shoulder.

  "Damn it, I just fell asleep."

  Turning back in anger, he saw Teacher Chen with a face full of black lines.

  "Teacher Chen, oh, sorry about that, I thought it was a classmate, hehehe." I gave him a silly smile. In my heart, I thought: "This old guy is not a good thing, who knows what he'll ask me to do again, I'd better slip away first."

  Just as I was about to make a run for it.

  "Yang Guo, come with me and help move the body." said Teacher Chen.

  I nodded gloomily.

  "Teacher Chen, why move the body up and down? Isn't that a bit of a waste?" I couldn't help but ask as we walked out of the stairwell.

  "There's no way around it, the leaders are coming to inspect and require us to create a sanitary environment collectively. Our teacher is also helpless." Chen Laoshi shook his head and said.

  Upon entering the storage room on the first floor, a familiar pungent smell hit me in the face. Several corpses were neatly laid out on the ground, shrouded in white cloth, and I could clearly see the outlines of their faces, mostly male, as female corpses were rare in school.

  "You first help me register the body number, I'll go call others to come and help." Teacher Chen instructed me and was about to turn around and leave.

  After a two-second pause, Mr. Chen added: "The number is on the side of the box, and there are gloves in the toolbox."

  Before I could react, the storage room was left with only me and "them". "This Chen teacher, his face is pale yellow, his eyes are lifeless, probably due to kidney deficiency." I thought to myself with a smile.

  Surrounding the four weeks, the specimen room is not large, with a variety of specimens on display, including giant baby specimens and flower-like tumor specimens, which are highly ornamental.

  A large box in the corner caught my attention, with a label that read "Dangerous Goods". How come I had never seen it before? My curiosity was piqued.

  I cautiously poked my head out the door, made sure no one was around, and slowly approached the box. Upon closer inspection, I found it was locked, which only fueled my curiosity. As the son of a locksmith, I had picked up some skills through osmosis, so I found a piece of wire and opened it in three seconds. I slowly opened the box, and a pungent smell wafted out - the smell of formaldehyde. A corpse gradually came into view before me.

  It was actually a female corpse, and I felt a little excited in my heart, it's rare to have a female corpse to "appreciate". The female corpse had her limbs tightly attached to her body, with tense posture. I gently touched the sides of the female corpse's face with my hand, the facial muscles were somewhat contracted, there were some livor mortis, but still could see that this female corpse was probably over 20 years old, with a pretty face, must have been a great beauty when she was alive. From head to toe, her figure was quite striking, especially those prominent breasts, very perky, not F-cup nor D-cup either, I indulged in fantasy for a little while.

  As I was indulging in the autopsy, a chill suddenly swept over me. Formalin started boiling with a "gurgling" sound. I felt something was off and turned my head to the side, only to see the woman's eyes snap open, wide and staring straight at me. My whole body was covered in goosebumps as I tried to make a quick escape, but the female corpse grabbed my arm with an iron grip.