WTNL Chapter 22.1

Fukang Hospital
Chapter 22.1—The first underground floor: Mortuary

“Bzz… bzz…”

The fluorescent tube overhead emitted an unstable buzzing sound.

Perhaps due to years of disrepair, the elevator doors always had a slight lagging sensation when opening. The space inside was much larger than other ordinary elevators. The iron-gray walls were densely covered with reddish-brown rust, which looked almost like dried bloodstains under the dim light.

Wen Jianyan gritted his teeth and braced himself to walk in.

Whether it was a psychological effect or not, amidst the strong smell of disinfectant, a faint, looming stench of rotting flesh permeated the elevator, causing uneasiness to breed in his heart.

On the elevator’s button panel, there were only two buttons: the first floor and the first basement floor.

“-1” lit up.

Accompanied by a mechanical humming sound, the elevator dropped slightly and then began its slow descent.

The phone in Wen Jianyan’s pocket vibrated twice.

He paused, then reached into his pocket and took out his phone.

Although there was still no signal, two lines of text popped up on the screen:

[Due to the large number of NPCs in this instance, to ensure the quality of your live broadcast, the Nightmare backend APP service will be opened for you.]

[Please continue to work hard to create a more thrilling and novel viewing experience for the audience!]

The text disappeared.

Wen Jianyan saw that an app with a pitch-black icon had appeared on the screen at some point.

Beneath it were only one word: Nightmare.

He clicked on the icon and found that it had everything one could need. Except for the lack of bullet comments, it was practically a miniature version of the entire live broadcast backend. Not only did it have his ID card information, but he could also check his points and backpack, and even shop in the system mall.

The taskbar had been updated with his current main quest:

[Complete the first basement floor patrol task within two hours.]

[Completion: 0%]

[High-difficulty side quest refreshed: Protect NPC Qi Shen and leave the first basement floor.]

Wen Jianyan thoughtfully turned his head and exchanged a glance with Su Cheng.

Su Cheng shot a meaningful look toward Qi Shen in front of them, and Wen Jianyan instantly understood.

It seemed the other party’s quest was the same as his

 The main quest was to complete the patrol, and the side quest was to protect the NPC and leave. In that case…

Wen Jianyan took a step forward, smoothly throwing an arm around Qi Shen’s shoulders, and let out a long sigh:

“Sigh, I really don’t know what there is to patrol on the first basement floor. Isn’t it just the morgue? Could it be that the corpses inside can come back to life?”

Qi Shen clearly strongly resonated with this and nodded:

“Yeah… and having to patrol late at night, it’s so creepy.”

After a few exchanges, Wen Jianyan had easily established a rapport with the other party.

At this point, he suddenly changed the subject.

“Speaking of which, did you know? There seem to be some strange rumors about Fukang Hospital…”

Wen Jianyan narrowed his eyes slightly, his pupils glinting with a cunning light beneath his long, thick eyelashes, as he casually lowered his voice.

Qi Shen was startled: “Wh-what?”

“Didn’t you notice that the elevator is going down incredibly slowly?” Wen Jianyan’s voice lacked any fluctuation, sounding exceptionally eerie inside this special elevator meant for transporting corpses: “It’s said that…”

For the ensuing duration, Su Cheng witnessed with his own eyes how this dog scammer, without batting an eye, spun all sorts of bizarre, outrageous, and scalp-tingling ghost stories about the morgue.

What’s more, they were told with rich emotion, vividly described, and highly immersive.

Soon, the elevator emitted a “ding,” and the old elevator doors slowly opened.

Outside was a bottomless, livid-white corridor leading to several large halls in the distance. The temperature here was much colder than the first floor. Even through a layer of long sleeves and pants, it was enough to raise a layer of goosebumps.

“Snap!”

The overhead motion-sensor lights clicked on.

Even knowing that eighty percent of the stories Wen Jianyan just told were pure fabrication, under the atmosphere of the morgue, Su Cheng still couldn’t help but feel a bit weak in the knees, almost too afraid to step forward.

Let alone Qi Shen.

With a pale face, he subconsciously huddled closer to Wen Jianyan, using a feigned calm tone to say: “B-Brother Zhao, how about we stick together? It shouldn’t take too long to finish the patrol anyway.”

Wen Jianyan turned his head and blinked at Su Cheng, signaling mission accomplished.

Su Cheng was expressionless: “…”

You dog scammer, scaring an innocent NPC and terrifying your teammate in the process!

Although the other party’s methods were indeed shameless, it fully guaranteed that the NPC would stick closely to them along the way, greatly increasing the success rate of the side quest.

Wen Jianyan stopped in front of the map next to the elevator, silently memorizing the layout of the morgue.

The underground area here was much larger than he had imagined, consisting of three main inner chambers connected by narrow corridors.

The morgue had an independent power supply, with the only power switch located near the elevator.

The room closest to them was used for temporarily storing patients’ remains. Within a few days at most, the corpses inside would be claimed by relatives and sent to the crematorium. Another room not far away was responsible for storing the deceased who had voluntarily donated their bodies, respectfully referred to as “Silent Teachers.” They would later be transported to medical schools to contribute to the training of the next generation of medical students.

And the innermost chamber was also the smallest in the entire morgue.

The corpses stored there mostly died under bizarre and suspicious circumstances, requiring autopsies and lab tests at the police medical forensic center, and could not be encoffined before the cause of death was determined.

According to Xue Mingyan’s instructions before they left, they needed to inventory the number of remains and lock them securely inside the cold storage units within two hours.

Wen Jianyan turned to look down the deep corridor not far away, and the three inner chambers already connected by it.

“…”

Crap, the aftereffects of those ghost stories I just told are kicking in.

Now I’m getting a little scared myself.

Wen Jianyan maintained a calm expression, bracing himself to say to the other two: “Let’s go; let’s start. The sooner we finish the task, the sooner we can leave.”

Su Cheng and Qi Shen nodded, following behind him.

They first arrived at the temporary patient remains storage room.

This room was the largest of the three. Iron tables connected to cold storage units were neatly arranged in the spacious morgue. The ghastly bluish lights overhead hummed, becoming the only sound in the entire morgue.

The corpses lay stiffly on the tables, motionless, covered from head to toe in white sheets, vaguely revealing the undulating human shapes.

The three had a clear division of labor. Wen Jianyan was responsible for matching the names on the list with the corpses and checking them off, while the other two were responsible for pushing the corpses into the cold storage after he took notes.

The tip of the pen glided across the paper, making a rustling sound.

After making a mark, Wen Jianyan nodded to the two.

The metal pulleys beneath the iron bed emitted a sliding sound, and the corpse covered in the white cloth was forcefully pushed into the cold storage unit.

“Jingle,” “Jingle”—

In an instant, the crisp sound of a bell rang out in the spacious morgue, sounding exceptionally eerie.

The two pushing the iron table were both startled, subconsciously letting go and violently taking a step back.

The white cloth covering the corpse was tugged and slid down slightly, revealing a bruised, half-stiff toe. Besides the toe tag tied to it, there was also a tiny bell tied to the ankle.

“Ah…”

Qi Shen seemed to recall something. His eyes widened slightly as he spoke: “I didn’t expect Fukang Hospital to still keep this tradition.”

Su Cheng froze: “What do you mean?”

“In the past, many old morgues used to tie a bell to the corpses’ feet.” As a semi-professional who knew relatively more about this, Qi Shen explained eloquently: “Because technology wasn’t advanced enough back then, sometimes it was hard to determine if a corpse was dead or alive. So they would tie a bell to the foot to prevent misjudgments.”

He looked down, staring at the bell tied to the corpse’s ankle with some novelty.

“But later on, this method became more symbolic than practical. I didn’t expect Fukang Hospital to still be using it.”

Just as the few were talking, a faint sound suddenly echoed from deep within the morgue.

“…Jingle.”

The sound was very soft, across the deep corridor and the massive empty space, making one almost suspect it was an auditory hallucination. Yet it was inexplicably deafening, causing all three to subconsciously suck in a breath of cold air, abruptly halting their conversation, and looking in the direction the sound came from.

The air fell into a dead silence.

“…”

Su Cheng swallowed hard, his face turning somewhat pale: “Um, did you guys hear that too…”

The expression on Qi Shen’s face was stiff and panicked, as if trying to convince himself:

“No, impossible, right? We must be too tired and having auditory hallucinations, right?”

Wen Jianyan felt his stomach clench up again.

The symptoms of fear manifested physiologically. His body’s instinct urged him to flee this ominous place, but his reason knew very clearly that if he didn’t complete the main quest, going upstairs would still mean death.

Wen Jianyan took a deep breath, slightly speeding up his speech: “Let’s hurry up, finish the task, and leave quickly.”

Su Cheng, his face pale, nodded vigorously.

The three significantly sped up their actions.

In the first morgue, there were a total of twenty-five corpses: twenty male, five female.

In the second morgue, there were nine corpses in total: six male, three female.

At the very end of the corridor, the overhead motion-sensor light clicked on, illuminating the narrow room not far away—the third morgue was right before them. It was only ten paces wide, had no windows, and was enclosed by four solid walls, making it exceptionally claustrophobic and narrow.

Inside, there were only four iron beds, and only one had a solitary corpse lying on it.

Looking at the scene before him, Su Cheng couldn’t help but feel his hairs stand on end.

He subconsciously turned his head to look at Wen Jianyan standing nearby. Under the dim light, the young man’s profile was sharp and clear, his eyes pure and focused, staring fixedly into the third morgue.

For some reason, seeing the other party’s calm and composed gaze suddenly made Su Cheng feel much more at ease.

He took a deep breath, steadied his mind, and was the first to step forward: “Let’s go, just one last corpse.”

Wen Jianyan’s pupils instantly quaked, turning to look at Su Cheng in disbelief: ??

Bro, are you really that hardcore?

I’m still mentally preparing myself, and you’re already walking.

He sighed, raised a hand to wipe his face, and reluctantly followed.

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