Night Doll - Chapter 23
"Tell me about it!" An Qiqi asked with great interest.
The young man hesitated for a long time, then said in a low voice, "...About two years ago, we received a body for cremation. It was a woman. We checked her death certificate according to procedure, and then we started preparing for the cremation. Uncle Park was in charge of the cremation. Actually, Uncle Park told me all about this. He's always been honest and kind, and he never makes things up. I absolutely believe that what he told me is the truth, without any falsehoods."
"According to Uncle Park, the girl had very fair skin and was very beautiful. She must have been a very pretty person when she was alive. He felt very sorry for her and touched her nostrils as if he couldn't believe it. He was sure she wasn't breathing and was definitely dead. But at that moment, he suddenly noticed that the body trembled. Uncle Park was terrified. He thought he was seeing things, so he shook his head and turned to open the furnace door."
"When he had everything ready and turned around, he suddenly saw that the corpse had opened its eyes. They were extremely terrifying eyes, the pupils seemed to be filled with resentment, and they emitted a blood-red light..."
Chapter 111: The Doll Murder Case (111)
Uncle Park was so frightened that he fainted on the spot. He had been working with the dead for decades and had never encountered anything so bizarre. He even wondered if God was punishing him, or if he had committed too many sins in his job. After an unknown amount of time, he gradually woke up and struggled to his feet. He mustered his courage and glanced at the corpse again, only to find it still lying in the same spot. Had he just been seeing things? Was it a hallucination? Uncle Park didn't have time to think about it anymore; he just wanted to get rid of this terrifying corpse as quickly as possible.
"He tidied everything up, closed his eyes, and pushed the corpse into the roaring furnace. He kept praying to God. Then Uncle Park closed the furnace door, and suddenly he heard a heart-wrenching scream coming from inside the furnace, a sound as terrifying as if it came from hell..."
The young man let out a long sigh of relief; he had finally finished recounting this bizarre and true story.
After listening, An Qiqi remained silent for a long time before she came to her senses and said to He Zhiying, "Let's go, we should go in!"
The morgue crouched in the darkness like a monster, with a lamp in front of it emitting a pale light.
An Qiqi led He Zhiying up the steps, and he could clearly feel that He Zhiying's body was trembling slightly. He reminded her to try to think about pleasant things in life to counteract her fear of ghosts.
When the lock was opened, a "creak-creak" sound came from the crack in the door.
It was pitch black inside. He Zhiying had come prepared and handed her flashlight to An Qiqi, but the light wasn't strong, only faintly illuminating a corridor. The two stood at the doorway for a while, lost in thought.
"How about I go in and take a look first?" An Qiqi said.
No sooner had she finished speaking than He Zhiying stepped inside, her previous fear gone, and shouted, "Cui Zhenyang, where are you? Let me see your head!"
"Don't make such a loud noise, or the deceased's relatives will hear and say you're disrespecting the dead..." An Qiqi complained, then joked, "Even if there really is a ghost, you've scared it away!"
He Zhiying nodded and said nothing more.
The house had a strong smell of disinfectant. Most of the space was occupied by mortuary cabinets, which were like drawers. There were five layers of these cabinets, more than a dozen in each room, and it was unknown whether each drawer contained a dead body.
An Qiqi was bending over in front of the counter looking at the numbers when she suddenly heard a "whoosh" sound next to her.
It turned out that He Zhiying had pulled out a large section of a drawer.
An Qiqi steeled herself and looked over, only to see the head of a dead person in the morgue, a pale, aged face with its teeth clenched, as if in great pain.
"Miss He, let me take a look first. Don't open these drawers casually, or something might crawl out..." An Qiqi glanced at He Zhiying and said helplessly.
"Oh, okay!" He Zhiying gently pushed the drawer of the morgue into place.
Suddenly, the flashlight went out, plunging the surroundings into complete darkness, and a strong chill instantly enveloped An Qiqi. He took a deep breath, but the chill did not dissipate.
Chapter 112: The Doll Murder Case (112)
"Oh no, it seems to be out of power!" An Qiqi shook the flashlight, but no matter how she pressed the button, there was no response.
After a moment of silence, he couldn't help but ask, "Miss He, where are you? I can't see you!"
There was a deathly silence all around.
He Zhiying did not answer, as if she had suddenly disappeared.
"He Zhiying, are you there? Don't play tricks! Answer me!" An Qiqi's voice trembled slightly.
Another period of silence followed. An Qiqi was gripped by loneliness and fear, and each second felt like an eternity.
Just as An Qiqi was about to shout again, a soft voice came: "Shh! Don't make a sound!"
Thank goodness, it was He Zhiying's voice.
"What’s wrong with you?"
"I feel like something's not right. Listen... it sounds like something's moving!"
"What is that?"
"I don't know, do you think... Cui Zhenyang might have become a ghost?" He Zhiying's voice was almost inaudible, but it exploded like thunder in An Qiqi's ears. He pricked up his ears, trying to discern what the sound was. Police officers usually react faster than ordinary people, but he couldn't recognize any sound at all.
An Qiqi forced a smile. "You're just worrying yourself. There are no ghosts in the world; it's just that fools make them up. Okay, let's try to find the light switch; it's so dark here..."
Just then, a strange cry of "Ah—" came from the darkness again.
"He Zhiying, what's wrong?" An Qiqi felt a chill run down her spine, her heart pounding in her throat.
"Did you...did you sense anything unusual?" He Zhiying asked in alarm, unable to explain.
"What?"
"This...this...in the drawer..."
"It's so dark, what can you see? What is there?" An Qiqi asked warily.
“I felt a pair of eyes staring at me from inside… like they’d just been gouged out of a dead person’s eye socket, coldly staring at me…”
"Eyes?" An Qiqi muttered, groping her way to He Zhiying's voice.
Suddenly, the flashlight turned on again.
An Qiqi trembled. He looked at the pale-faced girl in front of him and said, "You... why does your face look a little scary?"
He Zhiying didn't bother to answer, she gripped An Qiqi's hand tightly, her eyes fixed on the drawer.
An Qiqi's palms began to sweat, and he was on high alert. He mustered his courage and forcefully pulled open the drawer.
A chill swept over me...
A headless corpse suddenly came into his view.
The empty neck revealed crimson flesh and teeth, with some white bone clearly visible. An Qiqi felt his blood rush to his head, a wave of shock, panic, and nausea washing over him, as if his gallbladder had burst, his mouth filled with a bitter taste. Suddenly, the naked, headless corpse sat up abruptly, gripping his neck tightly, then twisting his head off and attaching it to its own head…
How can someone sit out of a drawer with half a corpse lying inside?
Chapter 113: The Doll Murder Case (113)
Perhaps the body didn't move at all; the movement only occurred in his imagination. Normally, fear is contagious, especially in a closed, dark space.
An Qiqi jolted awake, instantly snapping back to reality. He glanced at the number on the drawer and said in a hoarse voice, "Cui Zhenyang!"
That's right, the body lying inside is Cui Zhenyang's!
"I really feel this place is eerie, let's go, okay? I'm scared!" He Zhiying was almost crying.
"Didn't you want to see this corpse?"
"Yes, I recognize him!" She nodded frantically, then shook her head frantically, tears streaming down her face.
"What's wrong with you?" An Qiqi looked at the pitiful He Zhiying, feeling a pang of heartache mixed with a sense of dread. "What did you discover? You said there was a pair of eyes watching you, but this corpse doesn't even have a head. How could it be watching you?"
“But…” He Zhiying opened her mouth, but couldn’t say anything. After a long while, she sighed softly, “Maybe it’s because I’m too scared!”
As soon as I finished speaking, the flashlight went out again. Perhaps it was due to a poor connection.
The room fell into darkness again.
"Let's go!" An Qiqi urged hurriedly.
"What are you doing? Why won't you let me leave?" He Zhiying shouted.
"What's wrong with me?" An Qiqi was a little confused.
"How annoying! You've been holding my shoulders the whole time, how am I supposed to walk?"
“I…” An Qiqi was speechless, but then she felt a chill run down her spine—he had one hand holding the flashlight and the other in his pocket, how could he possibly grab her shoulder?
Just then, a soft sound came from not far away, as if a slightly ajar door had moved. Immediately afterwards, a series of eerie female screams echoed from outside: "Cui Zhenyang... Cui Zhenyang..."
The entire morgue immediately resounded with echoes...
"Who is this woman?" He Zhiying asked in a panic. She was about to shout when An Qiqi covered her mouth.
"Zhenyang, Mom's here! Mom's come to see you! Come out, Mom knows you haven't left... Mom sees you..." The woman's voice grew closer, like waves surging in the darkness, crashing over him with increasing force...
Oh no! That's the voice of the deceased's family. Judging from the woman's tone, she must be Cui Zhenyang's mother! How did she suddenly get here? An Qiqi wiped her sweat and, in a panic, pulled He Zhiying to the end of the morgue, pointing to a gap against the wall and saying, "Quickly, crouch down there. The deceased's family is very unfriendly to the police right now. Let's hide for a bit!"
After saying that, An Qiqi slipped away to another crack in the wall and squatted down without looking back.
A moment later, the door opened, and a woman came in carrying a flashlight.
For a few moments afterward, everything was eerily quiet. In this silence, An Qiqi began to tremble uncontrollably. Undoubtedly, the room contained a large number of corpses, and the air was thick with yin energy; there was not a trace of human life in it.
Chapter 114: The Doll Murder Case (114)
A moment later, there was a "creaking" sound, and it seemed that the woman had opened a morgue cabinet!
An Qiqi tried her best to suppress her breathing and not make any noise.
With another soft "snap," An Qiqi caught another strange, fishy smell.
What is this woman doing?
A moment later, a strange noise, sometimes sharp and piercing, sometimes dull and grinding, shattered the silence. The noise lingered in An Qiqi's ears, sending chills down his spine. He finally couldn't help but peek over and was immediately stunned by what he saw.
Beside the morgue, a ghastly white beam of flashlight shone on the back of a woman. The woman's long hair was disheveled and hung low, facing the morgue. Inside lay a headless corpse… The woman held a large needle, sewing a doll-like head onto Cui Zhenyang's body…
The wind and rain shook the city, lightning frequently tore through the night sky, and the morgue was flickering with light, revealing the woman's five bloodied fingers in and out of sight...
Chapter 115: The Doll Murder Case (115)
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About half an hour later, the terrifying woman finally left the morgue, and the door was gently closed again.
An Qiqi wiped the sweat from her brow and breathed a sigh of relief.
He crawled out from the crack in the wall and groped his way to where He Zhiying was hiding.
Strangely, there was no sound from inside. He called out softly a few more times, hoping He Zhiying would come out, but after several calls, there was still no response.
Where did she go? Did she sneak out? But she should at least have said goodbye, why did she leave without a word? Did she encounter something again? What was that thing that grabbed her shoulder? On second thought, could it be Cui Zhenyang's spirit? But that's clearly an even more absurd assumption.
In the darkness, An Qiqi felt a chill run through her body and quickly walked towards the door.
The moment he opened the door, a black figure flashed in front of him, startling him.
The stark white light shone directly on the man's face. He was an elderly man, well past fifty, with a ferocious expression. A slight look of surprise crossed his face as he asked in a hoarse voice, "Who are you? What are you doing in the morgue? You've got some nerve!"
An Qiqi calmed herself down slightly and asked in return, "And who are you?"
"I am the administrator here!"
An Qiqi looked him over carefully, as if suddenly waking from a dream, and blurted out, "Uncle Park! So the Uncle Park he was talking about is you!"
The old man paused, then squinted and asked, "Who are you?"