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墨書 Inktalez
My greatest characteristic is my soft heart; I prefer gentle approaches over harsh ones. For instance, when it comes to relationships, the main reason I don't want to pursue a wealthy girl is that I can't stand a strong-willed woman bossing me around. On the other hand, if a girl is gentle and understanding towards us soldiers, I would be willing to do anything for her. Ah, this is what they call different people having their own aspirations.
Seeing Jing in this state, I realized it was my fault for scaring her first. I sighed inwardly; it was karma. Nodding to myself, I turned and left the ward.
Jing's room was diagonally across from ours, just a few steps away. As I stepped out of the ward, I suddenly noticed how quiet the corridor was. The dim lights illuminated the long hallway, and I was the only one standing outside.
The General Surgery Ward resembled a long "street," with patient rooms lined up on either side. The Nurse Station and Doctor's Duty Room were at the entrance. We were in the latter half of the ward, close to the far end where the Boiling Water Room and restroom were located. It usually felt peaceful here, but at this moment, the silence felt eerie.
I walked to Jing's room door, my footsteps echoing in the quiet corridor, creating a sound that seemed amplified in this stillness. Standing at the door, I raised my hand to check my watch; it was past eleven. At this hour, everyone in the ward should be asleep. The door to Jing's room wasn't locked, so I pushed it open. The room was dark; nothing could be seen inside. Out of habit from watching too many horror movies, I didn't just walk in but reached out to feel along the wall for the light switch.
The lights flickered on, revealing the room's layout clearly. Compared to my own room, this one had one less bed but included a wardrobe and air conditioning—almost like a hotel. To the right upon entering were the restroom and bathroom, leading further inside to the patient area.
Jing's belongings were strewn across the bed while her bag rested on the bedside table. Shaking my head, I thought how typical of a wealthy person not to worry about losing things. I picked up her bag and turned to leave.
People often have a strange psychology; even when lying, they tend to reflect on their falsehoods afterward. What I told Jing and her friends was purely fabricated by my imagination, yet I couldn't help but glance out the window.
The curtains were drawn back, revealing a dark expanse outside where a rectangular strip of yellow light glowed on the ground.
Hmm? How strange; why would there be a rectangular yellow light strip on the ground? Curiosity piqued, I took a few steps closer to examine it.
Outside was an open space about ten steps wide; across from me was likely a similar building structure. The light strip lay on the ground towards the far right.
It took me a moment to realize that it was actually coming from a basement vent! That’s why it appeared as a beam of light. Suddenly, it struck me that directly across was Maliao’s Morgue; therefore, that light strip must indicate something from below! My heart raced at this realization—was someone down there at this late hour?
Just then, that beam of light vanished! I quickly understood: someone had turned off the light! If that light went out, it meant there was indeed someone there. However, strangely enough, no lights had ever been turned on in that building across from me; if someone came up from below, they should have turned on some lights.
I stood by the window for quite some time; outside remained pitch black with no signs of movement. Just as I was about to leave, suddenly there was a loud bang from across! Startled, I widened my eyes and looked over just in time to see a shadow dart quickly down from one of the first-floor windows before disappearing behind the building!
"Who is it?!" I exclaimed. I thought it was a thief, so I dropped what I was holding and jumped out of the window to chase after them. To my surprise, when I reached the other side and turned around the building, I found myself in a wide green area with nothing in sight. About a hundred meters ahead was another building, and to the right was just a winding path along the lake, with a streetlamp every ten meters.
A thief?! What could a thief possibly steal from the Morgue? As someone trained in medicine, my first thought was whether they were trying to steal human organs.
No, I need to report this to the hospital. I hurried back to my ward and ran to the Doctor's Duty Room, knocking on the door. After a while, the on-duty doctor finally opened it. He was also a Military Doctor, and I quickly told him what I had seen.
He looked at me as if I were a monster and said, "The Morgue is across from here; there won't be anyone there at night. There are two locked doors: the main entrance is locked, and the basement door is locked as well. The staff only opens it in the morning. Even if there were an emergency at night, they would go in with the on-duty nurse from the Department. It's impossible for anyone to sneak in. As for someone coming out, that's even more impossible; the Morgue only has ventilation windows—those on the first floor are over two meters high, and the basement ones are at ground level. No one could get through. You must have seen wrong; hurry back to your room and get some sleep!" He impatiently closed the door.
I took the doctor's advice but found myself increasingly uneasy as I walked back to my room. My curiosity got the better of me; at that moment, I completely forgot about what the doctor had said and just wanted to figure things out.
I stepped out of my room and quietly walked down the corridor. The On-Duty Nurse was dozing off and didn’t notice me. After exiting the Department, I turned into the right corridor and quickly veered into another hallway.
This corridor was very dimly lit; instead of fluorescent lights, there was only one yellow bulb hanging lonely in the middle of the hallway.
Unlike the Department, this side had walls on the right and rooms on the left. The first room had a sign that read Storage Room, while the second room was likely where the staff worked. Both rooms had small windows that were darkened, and at the end of this ten-meter corridor was a door without any signage—only a No Entry sign hanging from it.
I first knocked on the door of what should be the duty room for Morgue staff. There was no response. I knocked again but still received no answer. Pushing against it yielded no results; it must have been locked. The curtains covered the window, preventing me from seeing anything inside.
Why wasn’t the Morgue Guard here? My mind raced with questions as I slowly made my way to the Morgue's main entrance—a heavy iron door separating life from death.
I placed my hand on the door when suddenly a cold breeze swept past me, causing goosebumps to rise on my skin. With a slight push, I heard a soft click—the door opened!
Inside was pitch black; I couldn’t see anything at all. At that moment, I felt uneasy—clearly, there should have been a Guard present, yet here was an unlocked door. Why?
After hesitating for a moment—partly due to youthful ignorance and partly due to overwhelming curiosity—I took a deep breath and pushed open the door, stepping into the Morgue!
The dim light from behind illuminated the room as I opened my eyes wide and looked around. It was an empty space, with a door at the far end. Contrary to my expectations of a freezer and a morgue table, there were just several mobile beds lined up side by side, covered with white sheets that seemed to be used for transporting bodies.
Next to the door, there were some tools piled up, but I couldn't make out what they were. I took a few steps inside. The sound of my footsteps echoed heavily, prompting me to slow down and approach the door quietly.
As I suspected, the wooden door was not locked. I gently pushed it open, and it creaked silently. Once inside, the light was insufficient, making it hard to see anything further. I stood at the threshold for a few seconds, allowing my eyes to adjust to the darkness. Gritting my teeth, I stepped inside.
Just two steps in, I suddenly heard a rush of wind coming from my right, heading straight for the back of my head. Startled, I lunged forward, rolling left as I fell to the ground. My hands braced against the floor while my feet kicked forcefully towards the source of the sound.
"Thud!" "Ouch!" I hit something!
At the same time, my left hand grasped a metal object—whatever it was—I swung it wildly. "Ouch!"
Suddenly, the lights flickered on. I looked up in surprise to see an old man with a sharp face standing before me. He had his left hand on the light switch and was bending over with his right hand clutching his thigh, baring his teeth at me. A short iron rod rolled on the ground beneath him; it must have been what I hit him with.
"Who are you?!" we both shouted simultaneously.
"I am the guard here," he replied in a low voice.
"I... I'm from the hospital next door. I noticed some commotion and came to check it out."
"Huh? You noticed something too?!" The old man exclaimed in surprise. "I felt something was off and opened the door to investigate. I didn’t expect someone would follow me in; I thought it was just you."
I forced a smile. "I was in the hospital across from here and saw someone jump out of this window. I thought it might be a thief stealing body parts, so I came to take a look."
"Impossible! I just opened this door; how could anyone have come in? Besides, take a look for yourself—can anyone really get out through that window?"
I followed the direction of his finger and saw three windows on the wall to the right of the door, each about two meters off the ground. The wall was bare, and the windows were no more than thirty to forty centimeters wide and twenty centimeters high. Although the middle window was open, it was impossible for a person to pass through.
"But I definitely heard something. Hey, didn't you make some noise just now?"
"Yeah, it's strange," the old man said, his eyes darting around.
"Let's check it out first," I said as I stood up.
The old man nodded. "Come on, let's go to the basement."
He picked up an iron rod from the ground and pointed behind me. A sloped path was not far behind me; it must be the passage used to move bodies to the cold storage. To my surprise, there was even an incense altar on the left side of the door, seemingly dedicated to a tablet of Zhong Kui. How odd; did this old man really believe in that?
"You're pretty agile for your age," I remarked as I turned around. Taking a couple of steps up the slope, I noticed someone lying there. I turned back and shouted, "Old man, look ahead! It seems like there's someone!"
As I turned back, I saw the old man's face twisted with malice. He raised the iron rod and swung it down toward my head. Startled, I barely managed to sidestep; the rod struck my right shoulder with a heavy thud, and I cried out in pain.
"You’re not one of the guards here!" I yelled at him while clutching my shoulder and glaring.
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