Chapter 624: White Fiend (2)

"What? Locked inside a morgue freezer?"

"The cycle of life continues, and so does the cycle of courting death."

"Call 119! Just repeat what you told us and see if they actually send anyone to save you."

"A famous streamer sneaks into a morgue for the night, only to get locked in a freezer by a female corpse to keep her company in bed. I have a feeling you'll be making headlines tomorrow!"

"Hahaha..."

Comments flooded the screen, and my mouth twitched. "I'm about to suffocate in here, and you guys still have time to joke around? Quit messing around—are there any reliable livestream viewers out there?"

Socrates Paradox: "Streamer, from a physics standpoint, the reason you can't open the freezer might be because hot air entered it. After the door was shut, the air rapidly cooled, reducing its volume. Since the external air pressure is greater than the internal pressure, it won't open. Give it some time to absorb outside air and refill, and you should be able to open it."

Socrates was a very reliable livestream viewer, but the crucial point was that the freezer I was locked in wasn't even powered on, let alone running normally. "Brother, this freezer has been abandoned for almost twenty years. I just simply can't get out. Let's not drag physics into this."

"An abandoned freezer? Then there's nothing I can do." Socrates Paradox tipped the Super Thriller Live Broadcast Room 99 Underworld Coins. "Sigh, I might never see you again. Take these Underworld Coins for the road."

"What do you mean you might never see me again?" I gave a bitter smile and continued reading the chat.

Master Tieling Biao tipped the Super Thriller Live Broadcast Room 1 Yuanbao: "What I'm curious about is, how did you even end up in there?"

"Yeah, what kind of normal person locks themselves inside a corpse freezer? Is it just for the show?"

"Trying to scam gifts again. My wise eyes have seen through it all!"

"This streamer's tricks run too deep. Mom, I want to go back to the countryside!"

Seeing the chat's rhythm go off the rails again, I hurriedly spoke up. "I'm really not joking around! Oh, right, I saw Daoist master Wan here earlier. Daoist master, stop lurking and give me some advice!"

I stared intently at the screen, and sure enough, it wasn't long before Daoist master Wan's ID popped up.

Daoist master Wan: "This poor Daoist has cultivated for over forty years, and you are the first person to ever ask me how to escape a freezer. This problem is both difficult and simple. You must look past the surface to see the essence. The Dao follows nature, so it is better to overcome tricks with brute force. As they say, absolute power breaks all schemes!"

"After saying all that, doesn't it just boil down to one thing: forcing it?" I pressed my hand against the metal panel, my face ashen.

Mr. Wang from Youkang Group: "Streamer, that morgue freezer looks a bit familiar. It seems like the long-discontinued STG Series."

Amid the flood of comments, one particular message caught my eye. "STG Series?"

I recalled seeing this serial number on the outside of the freezer the first time I entered the morgue. "Yes, it's from that series! Where did that livestream viewer go? Mr. Wang, you're an expert!"

Mr. Wang from Youkang Group: "I wouldn't call myself an expert; I just come into contact with them a lot because of my profession."

"May I ask which hospital you work at, sir?"

Mr. Wang from Youkang Group: "I sell medical equipment. Our company specializes in medicine refrigeration, blood refrigeration, and corpse freezers. 'Customer first, mutual benefit, professional operation, and dedicated service' is our corporate spirit. We aim to build the most professional medical equipment and instruments in Huaxia, creating a better future for the medical and health lives of all mankind!"

"Uh..." Dark lines practically slid down my forehead. 'I don't know if it's appropriate to drop an F-bomb right now,' I thought. "Since it's your company's product, can you tell me how to get out?"

"No problem. Our company's products are extremely user-friendly. To prevent situations involving suspended animation, the freezers can actually be opened from the inside." Mr. Wang from Youkang Group continued, "Today, I will educate everyone on how to save yourselves if you ever get locked in a morgue corpse freezer. First, Streamer, look to your upper right. The freezer lock is right there."

I looked to the right and spotted a piece of rusted metal. Peeling it back revealed a single-tongue lock (standard household security locks generally use a double-tongue).

"First, remove the three screws securing the linkage mechanism. Next, open the three connecting shafts of the linkage, and take out the three spring latches and three washers in sequence..."

I followed the livestream viewer's instructions, using my Brooch as a makeshift screwdriver. When I was only halfway done, I heard a click beside my ear. The metal panel sprang outward, and fresh air rushed into the drawer.

Teletubbies Died of Murder tipped the Super Thriller Live Broadcast Room 66 Underworld Coins: "That actually works? I learn so much from watching this stream."

With the freezer open, my hanging heart finally settled. After thanking the livestream viewers, I was just about to push the panel all the way open and climb out when I suddenly noticed Daoist master Wan spamming the chat. He seemed to be telling me to wait, as if he had something important to say.

"Daoist master, is something wrong?" I lowered my voice, staring at my phone screen.

Daoist master Wan: "Disaster is looming over your head, do you know that? Once you escape from there, absolutely do not linger. Leave immediately."

"Where is this disaster coming from? Please enlighten me, Daoist master." My brow twitched. Daoist master Wan was highly capable and had an arrogant personality. For him to explicitly warn me to leave meant I had encountered true danger.

"You ignorant brat, all you know how to do is run around blindly every day. I don't know whether to call you clueless or fearless." Daoist master Wan's messages continually popped up on the screen. "Ever since you first stepped foot in this hospital, I've been messaging you, trying to get you to leave. This is no place for the living."

"You saw that something was wrong the moment I entered the hospital?" I was a little surprised. "Aside from being extremely quiet, there isn't anything special about this place. There's barely any yin energy. I don't think it's even as scary as Xinhu High School."

"You're still too inexperienced. How can you judge whether a place harbors evil just by looking at the yin energy? There are many things in this world far more malicious than yin energy, far more vicious than ghosts and spirits."

"If not yin energy, then what?"

Daoist master Wan: "Upon arriving at a door, first observe the energy. Upon entering, first observe the soil. The yin energy here is sparse because it has all sunk underground, replaced by corpse energy. Corpse energy is the stench of death and decay. Its smell is clearly far more potent than yin energy, yet you completely ignored it. You simply lack experience."

"Corpse energy?" I remembered hearing Daoist Priest Xianqing mention this stuff back at Qingtu Temple.

"Yin energy can be seen with the Heavenly Eye, but corpse energy likes to cling to the soil and objects. Think back to the earth around the hospital; the soil here is vastly different from the outside."

I genuinely hadn't paid any attention to the color of the soil. I cupped my hands toward the screen. "Please elaborate, Daoist master."

Daoist master Wan: "The soil here is cold and yin-natured. Its structure is loose, black in color, extremely sticky, and inhospitable to insects and fungi. In earth like this, even if a body is buried, it struggles to decompose. Soil that is not true soil—it is a natural corpse-hiding ground. Look again at the layout of the hospital. The three buildings are of different heights. Viewed flat, it looks like the belly of a dead ox; viewed head-on, it resembles the skull of a black dog. In the Burial Scripture, this kind of terrain is known as Broken Face Wenqu! I am ninety percent certain that there is a Pit of Ten Thousand Corpses beneath the hospital, and I fear this place has already bred a white fiend!"

"What is a white fiend?" I asked earnestly, completely baffled.

"Huaxia tradition dictates that peace is found by returning to the earth, and a lavish burial is a sign of filial piety. When people born with a yin fate, or those who die in a yin year, yin month, yin day, or yin hour, are buried in a corpse-raising ground, there is a certain probability that their physical bodies will not rot. They might even undergo a secondary phase of growth. Once white hair sprouts on the surface of the body, it is called a white fiend."

"Could the monster I saw earlier be a white fiend? No, that's not right. I've seen the news about the Mawangdui female corpse not rotting for thousands of years, but even if a corpse undergoes secondary growth, it's merely a postmortem phenomenon. Without a soul, it wouldn't have any capacity for thought. It's fundamentally impossible for them to possess intelligence." I vaguely recalled the livestream at the medical university. The female doctor had spent years preparing to resurrect her husband, but in the end, her efforts still fell short. Therefore, the resurrection of the dead was absolutely impossible.

I shared my hypothesis with Daoist master Wan. A moment later, he sent another message.

"Resurrecting the dead is indeed harder than ascending to the heavens, because it requires preserving humanity's most precious memories and emotions. However, making a corpse move is not difficult at all." Daoist master Wan's messages were popping up faster and faster; I could barely keep up reading them.

"There is a Qingtu Temple in Jiangcheng. Its disciples excel at corpse driving, corpse hastening, and corpse refining. Moving a corpse is merely basic foundational work for them."

"But enough about that. I primarily wanted to tell you that once too many people die in a place like this hospital, it produces corpse energy and resentful energy. These energies attach themselves to everything in the compound, slowly transforming the area into a natural corpse-hiding pit. Even I wouldn't readily set foot in such a treacherous place. I advise you to run for your life while you still can."