Chapter 13: The Ghostly Wails at Midnight (For 500 recommended votes, extra chapter)

  It seems that Wang Yongshun's predecessor as administrator had worked with him for five days. Moreover, judging from the handwriting, it should be a woman.

  As I turned the pages one by one, I found that sometimes the handwriting was in blue ink and sometimes in black ink. Moreover, according to today's date of May 28th, Monday, if we calculate backwards, the handwriting for the bodies stored on Saturday night, all day Sunday, and Monday morning were mostly sloppy; those stored from Tuesday morning to Saturday morning were also somewhat sloppy but still passable; while those stored from Monday afternoon to Saturday afternoon had relatively clearer handwriting.

  Such regularity is easy to explain:

  Wang Yongshun also needs to get off work and rest. While he is resting, the patients in the hospital will still die. This is a given. However, once a patient dies, their body will be immediately stored, and this storage time must be accurately recorded. It's not possible to wait until Wang Yongshun goes back on shift and then write it down as if it happened during his working hours, right?

  So, from Monday to Saturday evening after Wang Yongshun got off work, and on Sundays when he was off duty, if someone died in the hospital, the relevant personnel would transport the body to the morgue, put it in a storage cabinet, and stick an entry time on the door. The next day when Wang Yongshun went to work, he would check the entry time of the new bodies and copy them onto this form. Because there were many people, when copying, he would be impatient, and his handwriting would be quite sloppy; especially on Saturday evening and all day Sunday, with such a long period of time, there would definitely be more deaths. So on Monday morning when copying, Wang Yongshun, who was impatient, would write the characters extremely sloppily. And from Monday to Saturday during working hours, if someone died, Wang Yongshun happened to be at work and had more free time, so he would write the characters more neatly.

  Two facts become clear from this analysis: Firstly, there is only one administrator, Wang Yongshun, in the morgue and no one to take over his shift (the hospital would not pay an extra salary for such a simple job). Secondly, this also reveals Wang Yongshun's working hours: Monday to Saturday, 9 am to 7 pm.

  But... suddenly, I felt something was off.

  Hastily turned to the latest page, looking at the handwriting of May 25th and May 26th for two days.

  Between 7 pm on May 25th and 9 am on May 26th, a total of 5 corpses were brought in, including Xiao Luqi. The handwriting during this period should have been written by Wang Yongshun after he went to work on May 26th, and the handwriting should be more sloppy. However, the handwriting here is as neat as Wang Yongshun's handwriting during his usual working hours!

  I was shocked: Could it be that Wang Yongshun had never returned home? Judging from past records, this guy couldn't wait to leave as soon as he got off work!

  He... what is he waiting for? Is it... is he waiting for Xiao Luqi's death?

  How did he know when Xiao Luqi would die?

  It must be him who killed Xiao Luqi! When I saw that white, peach-pit-like thing in the freezer earlier, I had already suspected that Wang Yongshun might have killed Xiao Luqi. Now it seems that more and more evidence is proving my speculation to be correct!

  I was so angry I almost crumpled up this paper.

  Wang Yongshun, you've harmed my woman, damn you! Wait for me!

  By the time I managed to control my emotions and calm down from extreme anger, I found that this paper had been crumpled by me.

  Tomorrow morning when Wang Yongshun comes to work, he will definitely find out that someone has been sneaking a peek at these files.

  At this time, a faint and mournful cry suddenly came from afar.

  MD, this mortuary that's as gloomy as the underworld, how can there be crying sounds? This mournful and resentful crying sound, what is it trying to stir up? Is it dissatisfied with my bravery, wanting to come and test my courage?

  I pressed my ear against the door and listened carefully, the sobbing had been intermittent just now, but it was gradually becoming clearer!

  What's on the other side of the door? I don't know. It's precisely this unknown that makes me feel as if there's a long-haired, white-clad female ghost standing right outside the door, just like Sadako, or a vengeful spirit with a pale blue-white face and black holes for eyes, expressionless, standing just outside the door, ready to push it open at any moment.

  A faint thrust came, and this door really moved a bit!

  I was so scared I almost shouted out loud, cold sweat pouring down my back like soybeans.

  Calm down!

  Calm down!

  As long as you don't panic, you will definitely think of a way to cope with the situation.

  I suddenly came to my senses.

  This is not a ghost at all. It's...

  That crying sound was definitely not made by a ghost.

  It must be another death. These are the wails of the deceased's family members.

  The staff carried the body into the morgue, and the reluctant relatives followed.

  This mortuary is located underground, a relatively closed space. When these people open the door at the other end, the change in air pressure will cause this door to sway slightly. This is something that everyone knows, but only in this specific environment would it evoke an especially terrifying association.

  I hastily turned off the light and quickly thought back: after I entered the iron gate, I did close it, and the iron gate was quite heavy, so it wouldn't open by itself due to the slight change in air pressure just now; after entering this room, I had also closed the lights and doors of the organ storage room that I had previously entered. So even if the staff turned on the corridor lights, they wouldn't find anything unusual.

  Holding his breath and concentrating, he continued to press his ear against the door to listen in.

  As expected, the sound of family members calling out the deceased's name, accompanied by sobbing and the creaking of the stretcher bed's wheels, as well as the comforting voices of the staff, all came together. Then someone said, "Damn it, why hasn't this smell dissipated yet? It reeks!" The grieving family members apparently couldn't bear that strong stench either, and their crying grew softer. After that, there were sounds of doors opening and closing, which seemed to be coming from very far away, at the other end of the corridor.

  After a flurry of activity, the staff pulled away with the family members, and as the last door creaked shut, the entire mortuary fell silent once again.

  At this time, I already roughly knew the overall structure of this morgue: at the end of the corridor was a door, outside which there was another section of corridor, and the elevator that led directly to this place was also located there.

  The faint crying sound at first was what they heard when they entered the corridor outside, transmitted through the door.

  I sprang out, returned to the organ storage room, and fetched some water from the faucet to sprinkle on the back of the crumpled inventory list. Then I found a magazine to flatten it. Borrowing some light, I came to the morgue, turned on the lights, identified a running freezer, and pulled it open.

  A pair of dark greenish-black women's feet were exposed. I spread the paper flat and placed it at her feet, closing the cabinet door. Then I pulled open a certain drawer to take a look, but it was empty.

  This drawer once held a black cat. It must have been Momo's mother. I've always found it strange that after the black cat died, its two green eyes were still open. Did it die of hunger? Or did it freeze to death? Or was it killed?

  I couldn't help but recall the scene that day, and immediately ruled out the first two possibilities. If it was starvation, he must have struggled to get out before dying, and wouldn't have remained so still. Freezing... this is a constant-temperature morgue after all.

  If it was a case of freezing or starving to death, there is still the possibility that it had jumped into the morgue itself and got locked inside. If it was murder, then it must have been put in after death. Who did it? The most suspicious one is still Wang Yongshun.

  Why does Wang Yongshun have a grudge against this black cat?

  You're really crazy! Apart from avenging Xiao Luqi, I also want to seek justice for Mo's mother.

  In my heart, I have already drawn a red cross on Wang Yongshun's head.

  But now is not the time to grit my teeth and make tough remarks, I don't have much time, if another team comes in to deliver a corpse, I will be discovered in no time. The lost corpse might also be blamed on me.

  Although I was very curious about who the lost body was, time did not allow me to pull open each cabinet one by one to check. So, I entered the room diagonally opposite - the room where Xiao Luqi used to be.

  The cabinet that let Xiao Luqi go, the brand name on the cabinet door had been removed. I opened it and found nothing inside. I pulled the cabinet to the bottom, the room's light couldn't shine into the deepest part, so I could only put my hand in to feel around for a bit, when I took out my hand, there were several long hairs stuck to my glove. I quickly picked up these hairs and stuffed them into the pocket of my chest. Then I quickly restored everything to its original state, turned off the light and left.