Chapter 147 - 135: The Returning Spirit

Wei Yang’s eyes widened at the sight. She immediately ordered everyone out of the morgue. Turning around, she realized Bai Qiang and Yin Zhen hadn’t even followed them inside; they had been peeking from the outside the whole time.

One’s expression screamed, "It really is dangerous in there," while the other’s clearly read, "Thank goodness we didn’t go in."

Wei Yang scoffed. Fine. She had brought these people down to scout the path for her, yet these two were using her as their scout instead.

Besides following certain rules, ghosts also chose their targets based on the intensity of their emotions. With more people around, a ghost would prioritize attacking the one showing the most fear, which would also allow her to figure out the ghosts’ attack patterns as quickly as possible. Since Wei Yang and the group had fled quickly enough this time, and no one had run around screaming, they all made it out of the morgue safely.

Bai Qiang’s Feng Shui knowledge was still useful to Wei Yang, so she tolerated them. After coming out, she told Bai Qiang that she had seen a child inside a morgue drawer. Bai Qiang and Yin Zhen exchanged a glance, both thinking of the child the Ghost Nurse had been searching for.

[Event Progress: 91%]

Bai Qiang and Yin Zhen shone their flashlights down the passage ahead but found no immediate clues. Judging by the pale faces of the others, they probably wouldn’t dare enter another morgue room to investigate.

Bai Qiang signaled to Wei Yang that they should keep moving forward for now. They could turn left at the end of the passage; the layout was completely different from what it used to be.

The group cautiously proceeded. Every time they passed a morgue door, Yin Zhen and Bai Qiang would shine their flashlights through the glass window to peek inside. Every morgue room looked exactly the same, with almost no discernible differences.

At the end of the passage, they turned left, then left again, then left again, and then...

"Did we just loop back around? But where did the stairs go?" the bespectacled man asked in a panic.

"Go back the way we came," Wei Yang ordered.

The group retraced their steps, but the spot where the stairs should have been was still nothing but a solid wall. Wei Yang said nothing and continued wandering down the corridor. However, no matter which way they went, they couldn’t find a way out.

"We’re trapped!" the college student, Li, cried out in despair. Ding Yun was pale but much calmer than the rest. She just kept her eyes on Wei Yang and Bai Qiang, waiting for them to come up with a solution. Wei Yang pressed her hand against the wall, using the ghost’s Strength to seep through and investigate, but she found absolutely nothing.

The terrain here was very simple. It was a loop-shaped corridor, and each side of the corridor featured three morgue rooms. The layout, the style of the doors, and even the rust stains on the doors of every morgue room were identical.

After exchanging a brief look with Yin Zhen, Bai Qiang said, "In traditional Feng Shui, a looped shape corresponds to a ’returning curse.’ The air currents reach the end and cannot escape, circulating endlessly within the passage. This continuous cycle of yin energy forms a curse. This is a tomb without a door. It’s not suppressing ghosts; it’s breeding them."

Wei Yang looked at Bai Qiang, suddenly regretting coming down here. If this were just an ordinary Ghost Realm, all they had to do was find the Source or the suppression core and destroy it. But if someone had intentionally set up a formation here to breed ghosts, the implications ran much deeper. They might even encounter the Fierce Ghost that had been nurtured here for years.

"Ms. Zhang, do you have a solution?" Wei Yang asked.

Bai Qiang mimicked the charlatan fortune-tellers on TV, pinching her fingers as if calculating something. Acting as a front for her ’cheat code’—Yin Zhen—she scanned the surrounding morgue rooms.

"Help me count how many drawers there are in each morgue room, both horizontally and vertically," she instructed. Wei Yang glanced at the three people beside her. Although terrified, they didn’t dare complain and immediately got to work.

A moment later, the three returned to report their numbers to Bai Qiang. She responded with an enigmatic tone, stalling for time while waiting for Yin Zhen to calculate the answer.

"The person who designed this layout was incredibly meticulous. This space didn’t just appear out of nowhere; I suspect it was originally located directly beneath the cafeteria. If we make it out of here this time, your Abnormal Investigation Bureau had better investigate which master the corporation behind Renxin Hospital hired when constructing this building."

Wei Yang nodded. This was a big fish, and the Abnormal Investigation Bureau definitely wouldn’t let it go, but she had to survive to get out first.

"I’ve calculated it," Bai Qiang announced. "The Life Gate is in the Geng Position. Follow me."

Bai Qiang led the group to the spot corresponding to the Geng Position. In front of them was a wall with peeling paint, exposing the bricks underneath.

Bai Qiang put on a show of counting the bricks before reaching out to push one. It was wedged tightly, so she switched to smashing it with the police baton in her hand. After a few forceful strikes, the brick was knocked loose. A pungent stench of rotting corpses blew into everyone’s faces. Bai Qiang nearly gagged, while Yin Zhen had long since retreated far away, covering her nose and mouth. Wei Yang stepped forward with her flashlight. Just as predicted, there was a hidden space behind the wall. She looked at Bai Qiang with a mix of shock and admiration.

Covering her nose and mouth, Bai Qiang said, "You guys smash the rest. The location of the suppression core must be right down there."

Bai Qiang took the baton Yin Zhen handed her and passed it, along with her own, to the bespectacled man and Li. The space below was extremely humid. The walls were damp, and the mortar between the bricks was completely soaked through, making it easy for the two men to smash open the rest of the sealed brick wall. Behind it lay a short flight of stairs. At the bottom was a much larger space where the air was bone-chillingly cold, and the stench of rotting corpses was terrifyingly thick.

The group saw that three of the walls were completely lined with morgue drawers. The dense rows of metal drawer doors reflected a cold gleam in the dim light of their flashlights.

"Oh my god..." the college student, Li, said with a trembling voice, not daring to count how many bodies were kept here.

The bespectacled man swept his flashlight over the nearest drawer door, which bore a faded label. "There are names and dates."

"Over here too!" Ding Yun’s voice wavered. "Li Guodong, 1980-2016... Wang Aihong, 1955-2016... Ma Junhao, 1995-2016..."

As name after name and their corresponding birth and death years were read out loud, the group came to a horrifying realization: all the morgue drawers here contained the victims of the great fire from ten years ago.

"Open them and check." Wei Yang ordered the three of them to open the morgue drawers to confirm if there were actually bodies inside. Li and the bespectacled man hesitated, too afraid to step forward. Ultimately, Ding Yun bit the bullet and pulled open one of the drawers, instantly revealing a charred corpse to the group.

Standing beside Bai Qiang, Yin Zhen scanned the room with her Yin Yang Eye. Suddenly, she saw a little girl in a hospital gown appear by the wall, pointing at one of the morgue drawers.

In the blink of an eye, the little girl vanished. Yin Zhen immediately walked over to inspect that specific drawer. Stuck to it was a brand-new label that prominently displayed the name Luo Wensheng.

"Zhang Yueqin, come here." Yin Zhen called out to Bai Qiang, gripping the metal handle and pulling it outward with force. Bai Qiang shone her flashlight inside. The corpse within was indeed the gaunt, gloomy Luo Wensheng from the head nurse’s phone photo. His skin was an ashen gray, and his hands were clamped around his own neck. His face was twisted into an expression of absolute terror and despair from his final moments.

Bai Qiang’s voice was grave. "He looks like he’s been dead for a while, yet the Ghost Realm outside hasn’t changed. Could it be that destroying the suppression core is our only option left? What are you doing?"

Bai Qiang watched as Yin Zhen fished a box cutter out of her pocket.

"Drawing blood," Yin Zhen replied concisely. She needed to use Blood Source Resonance to read Luo Wensheng’s memories and piece together the complete sequence of events.

Bai Qiang hurriedly shielded Yin Zhen with her body. The space was massive, and Wei Yang along with the other three were inspecting the far side, temporarily oblivious to what they were doing.

Yin Zhen remained vigilant and extremely careful, even imbuing the box cutter with the Strength of her Inheritance. She smoothly sliced open the arm of Luo Wensheng’s corpse, and a small amount of viscous, purplish-red coagulated blood oozed from the wound. Right at that moment, Luo Wensheng’s hand abruptly shot out, grabbing Yin Zhen’s wrist with precise and ruthless force. The Strength behind the grip was astonishing, and a bone-piercing chill penetrated her skin, stabbing straight into her marrow. Given Yin Zhen’s current small stature and light weight, she was violently yanked straight into the morgue drawer. The metal door slammed shut with a heavy BANG.

Simultaneously, a fit of coughing echoed from the darkness. COUGH COUGH! COUGH COUGH COUGH!

The bespectacled man was already trembling in fear, and this sudden coughing sound happened to be closest to him. His throat tickled, and he instinctively let out a cough of his own.

"Cough..."

With just that single sound, his voice came to an abrupt halt. Under the horrified gazes of Li and Ding Yun, the bespectacled man’s eyes suddenly bulged. A deathly, ashen gray rapidly spread across his face before he pitched forward, falling stiffly to the ground.

"Don’t make a sound! Don’t move!" Wei Yang’s voice was more tense than ever before. Li and Ding Yun desperately clamped their hands over their mouths.

In the swaying beam of the flashlight, a hunched old man stood in the corner. His back was turned to the group, and his body heaved with suppressed coughing. COUGH COUGH! COUGH COUGH COUGH!

On the other side, Bai Qiang didn’t scream or shout. Maintaining utter composure, she used the Universal Key Yin Zhen had given her to unlock the sealed drawer door. The inside was completely empty, yet it clearly led to somewhere else. Without a moment’s hesitation, Bai Qiang crawled straight into the drawer.